The posted coordinates take you to stop 1 of 9 different stops. It is right by the museum entrance. If the museum is open, you can stop in and get free brochures on the hiking trails and information on special events and park conditions. There is a fee to tour the museum. You do NOT need to enter or tour the museum to do this cache.
The Battle of Bushy Run was fought at this site on August 5th & 6th, 1763.
This engagement was fought by British regular soldiers, frontier rangers, drovers, and herdsmen, all of European decent. They were fighting against a number of different Native American tribes including but not limited to the Seneca, Shawnee, Wyandot, Miami, Delaware, Mohican, Ottawa.
Pontiac’s War is the name of the overall conflict. This war ran from the spring of 1763 till Halloween night 1763. The Battle of Bushy Run was just one of a number of battles fought in this war. It could be argued that it’s one of or even the most important battle of the conflict. Pontiac's War was fought from modern day Western Virginia, North to the Niagara River at Niagara Falls and from Fort Ligonier in Western Pennsylvania into the modern-day states of Indiana and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to the West.
English forts on the frontier burned. The soldiers who were there are killed or captured, some burned alive or tortured to death in other ways. Other European people such as traders were killed and scalped, frontier settler farms are torched, and the inhabitants massacred.
Why did the Native Americans wage war on the frontier? At the height of the French & Indian War here in North America, a treaty was signed in Easton Pennsylvania in 1758 between Native Americans and the British Empire. In a nutshell the treaty said that the Native Americans would either fight with the British against the French or remain neutral and not take up arms at all. What the English guaranteed to the Native Americans was:
- English forts on the frontier would be dismantled and abandoned after the war with the French.
- Liquor would NOT be sold or traded to the Native Americans
- Encroachment by settlers over the Allegheny Mountains would stop.
- The Ohio River Valley would remain an Iroquois nation hunting ground.
- Yearly presents in the form of firearms, gun powder, iron knives and tools, and cloth would be given to the various tribes.
As soon as the French and Indian War ended the English reneged on ALL the promises in the treaty. The forts on the frontier were kept and some even improved on. The French still held the Mississippi River Valley and the British kept their forts open to keep an eye on them. Unscrupulous traders would cheat Native Americans, getting them drunk and stealing or underpaying them for goods. Trading alcohol for furs instead of things the Tribes really needed. Settlers poured over the Allegheny Mountains looking for cheap or free land to farm and settle. But the most pressing item was that the presents had stopped. No new firearms or gunpowder, iron pots, knives, fishing hooks and sewing awls, cloth, wool blankets. The Native Americans have been using firearms and other manufacturered goods for at least 3 generations now and relied on European technology in everyday life.
In the spring of 1763 an Ottawa warrior named Pontiac from the Detroit area, sent messengers out to the neighboring tribes. In short, if the English have disregarded the treaty they signed, then the Tribes will enforce it themselves and drive the English back over the Allegheny Mountains.
The two largest forts did not fall, Fort Detroit (At the present-day Detroit, Michigan.) And Fort Pitt. (At the “Point” in Pittsburgh.) Both these forts were put under siege. Fort Detroit could be supplied by boats going up Lake Erie. However, to supply Fort Pitt an army had a grueling march west from present day Carlisle over the mountains.
Colonel Henry Bouquet started form Carlisle Pennsylvania with 500 soldiers + civilian teamsters and drovers. Plus, tons of wheat flour in barrels carried in wagons. Cattle and sheep were hurded along to raise the siege of Fort Pitt. By the time he reached Fort Ligonier he had lost almost 100 of his men to disease and exhaustion. At Fort Ligonier, Bouquet put the flour in sacks, each weighing about 110 pounds. One sack each was thrown over the back of a pack horse. 340 of these pack horses had to be guided through the wilderness to Fort Pitt.
It is now time for you to learn what happened here on your own.
You are given a series of coordinates for nine stops at historical markers or monuments. Each stop has a question. You must e-mail or message me the answers to all nine of these questions. There is going to be some backtracking. This is going to take about an hour, maybe a little less. I would like you to take a photo of yourself or personal item at the battlefield. A handwritten sign with your caching name on it would be appropriate. Any shot of the background of the battlefield is OK. I am a volunteer tour guide at Bushy Run Battlefield, so I’m very familiar with the park.
Stop #1. N 40 21.529 W 79 37.540 “Central Fire” Who made the drawing of the “Town of Pometock”?
Stop #2. N 40 21.527 W 79.37.515 “Pontiac’s War” In the spring of 1763 The Native Americans attacked which Fort?
Stop #3. N 40 21.339 W 079 37.279 “Rescue” How may sheep where there?
Stop #4. N 40 21.403 W 079 37.552 “Ambushed” In the center right of the painting under the words “to change”. How many Drummer Boys do you see?
Stop #5. N 40 21.365 W 079 37.338 “Flour Bag Fort.” How many fake cement flour bags are nearby?
Stop #6. N 40 21.370 W 079 37.339 is the large Blue Ligonier stone monument. On the Southern side there is a bronze plaque with a map on it. At the bottom of the plaque, it has the word “References”. What is reference #1?
Stop #7. N 40 21.354 W 079 37.374 At historical marker “Strategic Attack” In the center of the painting the Native American Warrior has ties around his buckskin leggings. What colors are those ties?
Stop #8. N 40 21.432 W 079 37.699 The 2013 Monument for the 250th Anniversary of the battle. The top of the monument has a Native American and a Scottish Highlander. At the bottom there is a wounded/sick European suffering from dehydration. What does the destressed European have in his left hand?
Stop #9. N 40° 21.484 W 079° 37.767 “Aftermath” In the drawing what are “The Indians Delivering Up The _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ to Colonel Bouquet? (Two Words)
For European colonization, this victory by the English was a giant step forward for Westward expansion. For the Native American Tribes, this defeat was a giant step backwards from there Eastern Homelands.
You will be out in open fields. If it’s hot or bright sunshine, don’t get sunburned, overheated, or dehydrated. Use common sense.
There is no fresh water source at the park. I suggest you bring some.
There is a restroom on the battlefield near the pavilion at the main parking lot. There are some older restrooms near the upper parking lot up the hill in woods to the east. They are tough to see and blend into the area. I cannot vouch what kind of shape they are in. I have not been in them for over a decade.
The museum is open most weekends during the year. Its open Wednesday-Sunday, April through October. Check the website https://bushyrunbattlefield.com/ for specific times. There is a fee to tour the museum and guided tour of the battlefield. The only days there is a cost to come to the park is Battle Reenactment Weekend which is always the first weekend in August.
Walking the grounds of the park is free 363 days a year. (Again, Not Battle Reenactment weekend) You do not need to go into the museum to do this virtual cache.
Virtual Rewards 3.0 - 2022-2023
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between March 1, 2022 and March 1, 2023. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 3.0 on the Geocaching Blog.