A handful of history enthusiasts set out on foot Friday morning on a 30-mile journey beginning at Fort Ligonier, a recreated 18th century military landmark along modern Route 30, and ending at Bushy Run Battlefield.
Their aim is to retrace for the first time one of the history-making troop movements begun at the fort — the last leg of the August 1763 march of British soldiers from Philadelphia to a site in what is now Penn Township. There they were ambushed by Native Americans in the Battle of Bushy Run, which ultimately ended in a British victory.
“We’ll be interpreting the soldiers that would have been on the march under Colonel Henry Bouquet,” said Matthew Gault, director of education at Fort Ligonier and leader of the trek.
Five of the six marchers wore kilts and bonnets, portraying the Scottish Highlander units that made up the bulk of Bouquet’s troops, according to Gault. They also carried period firearms.
As he often does for events at Fort Ligonier, Gault took on the appearance of a frontier ranger, clad in a breech cloth. “It’s what a frontiersman of the time usually adopted,” he said of the garb.
Gault said the marchers will follow Bouquet’s route “as close to the history as possible” along the original Forbes Road, though some segments have been obscured by modern development or are on private property, and thus inaccessible.
“It’s an historical experiment to put ourselves in the shoes of these people,” he said. “It’s a testament to what those soldiers did in 1763.”
Spencer Simpson, one of the six, said he’s up for the 30-mile trek even though he thinks “it’ll be tough.”
The 22-year-old from Latrobe said this is his third year reenacting with the 42nd Royal Highlanders.
“It’s pretty exciting,” said Simpson, the museum manager of the Lincoln Highway Experience in Latrobe. “I’m lucky to be a part of it.”
The first day’s leg of the march was expected to take Gault and his companions south on Route 711 and then west over Chestnut Ridge into Youngstown. They planned to camp overnight outside the Lochry Blockhouse, a log building dating from 1780 that has been restored on the grounds of the Winnie Palmer Nature Reserve, next to the Saint Vincent College campus in Unity.
The marchers invited the public to an open house from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday at their Lochry campsite, at which they will use only bedrolls, oil cloths and blankets for primitive camping. “We’ll talk about our period clothing and the related history,” Gault said.
Saturday’s path will take the group through the village of Crabtree and past Historic Hanna’s Town, a recreation of a 1773 frontier settlement that hosted the first English courts west of the Allegheny Mountains. It also served as the first seat of government for Westmoreland County.
Gault said the marchers expect to attract attention along this weekend’s route, as he did when taking part in a previous reenactment trek from Fort Ligonier to the site of Fort Dewart — a small British military redoubt constructed by Scottish Highlander troops in 1758 atop Bald Summit, at the border of Somerset and Bedford counties.
“People like to honk at us or get out and take pictures,” Gault said.
Simpson said the trek was “partially inspired” by the experiences had at Fort Dewart last year, which he said were “eye-opening.”
“(It’s) putting yourself literally in the 18th century buckled shoes of the soldiers that did these hikes,” Simpson said.
Gault said the route has been “talked about before” but never completed by reenactors.
The trek was David Horton’s first time in Ligonier, as he drove from just outside of Washington D.C. early Friday to make it on time.
Horton, who has been reenacting since 1995, said he made the drive to experience the area’s history.
“The era had always been of interest to me, but I didn’t know how to get started,” Horton, 40, said.
His endurance is what Horton said he’s most nervous about for the hike because the reenactors brought “limited supplies and provisions” to mimic the original soldiers.
Supplies included “basic necessities,” such as preserved food and extra socks, Horton said.
“(It) should be a challenge,” Horton said. “(I have a) few modern amenities to make it a little more bearable but nothing glamorous.”
However, Gault said safety is “number one,” and a relief vehicle will follow the group.
If all goes well, the reenactors will complete their 30-mile journey Saturday afternoon at the Bushy Run site, as activities wind down during the first day of a two-day encampment and re-staging of the 1763 battle.