Fort Duart and Forbes Road Military Highway

THE MISSION FACTS, LORE, STORIES AND SUCH OTHER LINKS E-MAIL US

The defeat of General Braddock and his powerful army led the British to wonder how to best navigate the Allegheny Mountains in another attempt to take Fort Duquesne and secure the Greater Ohio Valley for the British Crown. The route Braddock selected was well known and it was certain the French and Indian forces would be waiting along the way to wreak havoc on the British and Colonials.

The Allegheny Mountain range, in what is present day Bedford and Somerset Counties, appeared to be a seemly impossible obstacle. The eastern face of the Alleghenies appears to rise in a nearly vertical ascent forbidding the movement of men, cannons, and supplies west over this mountain range for deployment against Duquesne.

After weeks of searching, a reconnaissance party, led by Ensign Rohr, discovered a small gap near the base of the mountain range now known as Rohr’s Gap. This gap required much manpower to make passable for horse and wagon. Trees were felled and the earth was moved on sheer muscle power and will to scale this forbidding mountain. All of this was done in the dangerous frontier wilderness. Added to this was the need for haste and efficiency.

Once completed, the Forbes Army moved across the Alleghenies making a military highway and dotting the landscape with a series of forts to guard and supply this mission. The first and only remaining one is Fort Duart at the top of the Rohr Gap.