Fort Le Boeuf

Fort Le Boeuf, (often referred to as Fort de la Rivière au Bœuf), was a fort established by the French in 1753 on a fork of French Creek, in present-day Waterford, in northwest Pennsylvania. The fort was part of a line that included Fort Presque Isle, Fort Machault, and Fort Duquesne.

The fort was located about 15 miles (24 km) from the shores of Lake Erie, on the banks of LeBoeuf Creek, which the fort was named for. The French portaged trade goods, materiel, and supplies from Lake Erie overland to Fort Le Boeuf. From there they traveled by raft and canoe down French Creek to the Allegheny River, the Ohio and the Mississippi.

History

Captain Francois Le Mercier began construction on 11 July 1753; Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre took command of the fort on 3 December 1753. This fort was the second in a series of posts that the French built between spring 1753 and summer 1754 to assert their possession of the Ohio Country. These four posts Fort Presque Isle, Fort LeBoeuf, Fort Machault, and Fort Duquesne ran from Lake Erie to the Forks of the Ohio; they represented the last links in France's effort to connect its dominions in Canada with those in the Illinois Country and Louisiana. The English trading post of John Frazier, at Venango at the junction of French Creek and the Allegheny River (where Franklin is now located) was seized and occupied. Leaving a force to garrison the new posts, the French command returned to Canada for the winter.