More notes on the General:
On July 29th,1776 the garrison at Fort Ticonderoga was
mustered for a memmorable occasion; the reading of the Declaration of
Independance by recently promoted Brigadier General Arthur St. Clair.
Also the opening shots of the Revolution were a year away, StClair, then a
civilian magistrate from Ligonier saved Pittsburgh Pa.from moving south.
The ruckus started when the Pa. assembly at Philadelphia created
,Westmoreland Co., to include what is now Pittsburgh & most of present day
Allegheny Co.
This move proved unpopular with Lord Dunmore , royal govenor of Virginia,who
had long coveted control of that area . Lord Dunmore had his militia, headed
by Dr. James Connelly, step in & rename Fort Pitt "Fort Dunmore".After
consulting with Governor William Penn , St Clair arrested Connelly
Confronted by a mob sympathetic to Va., he made a deal to release Connelly if
they would stop trying to seize the county by force.St Clair realized that
Pa. could not hold off trouble without the help of an army so he raised 100
militia ( rangers)& their presence maintained a balance of power in the area
until the Revolution pushed it into the background.
Post revolution days found Pa. & Va. back at it with Maryland sticking in a
claim now & then .It remained for an arbitration commision to award the
district to the Keystone state in 1785 . In that same year St Clair was
elected to the Continental Congress, &two years later became it,s president.
He also went on to become govenor of the Northwest territory & commander in
chief of the United States Army.