8. Colonial Records, Vol. 14, p. 585. Archibald Loudon, Supra, p. 50. 9. Pennsylvania Archives, Vol. X, p. 468. 10. Colonial Records, Vol. 13, p. 774. 11. Pennsylvania Archives, Vol. X, p. 462. 12. Ibid, pp. 477-478. 13. Ibid, p. 483. 14. Colonial Records, Vol. 14, p. 498. 15. Pennsylvania Archives, Supra. p. 497. 16. Colonial Records, Vol. 14, p. 549. Pennsylvania Archives, Supra, pp. 462-464. 17. Pennsylvania Archives, Supra. p. 498. 18. Military Journal of Major Ebenezer Denny, Philadelphia, 1859, p. 152. 19. Journal and Letters of Col. John May, of Boston, Cincinnati, 1873, pp. 33-49. 20. John Pope. A Tour Through the Southern and Western Terrio tories of the United States, Richmond, MDCCXCII, pp. 14-17. 21. Neville B. Graig. Sketch of the Life and Services of Isaac Craig, Surpa. p. 54. 22. Historical Register. Harrisburg, 1883, Vol. I, pp. 292-304. 23. Ibid, 1884, Vol. II, p. 123. CHAPTER VII. THE OLD REDOUBT. I. Location and Date of Erection. The only relic of Fort Pitt remaining in Pittsburgh today is the Old Redoubt, also known as the Block House, situated at the Point. It is the oldest building in Pittsburgh, and next to Trinity Churchyard, the oldest landmark in the city. It is a place of great interest, not only locally, but to students of history all over the country. That it was connected with Fort Pitt is beyond question, yet the claim has been made that it was part of Fort Duquesne. Russell Smith, the artist, who studied his art in this city, was guilty of this error. In 1832 he made a sketch of the Redoubt, and of the Powder Magazine of Fort Pitt which, until sometime prior to 1844, stood on the northerly side of Liberty Street about midway between Marbury and Water streets. In The Pittsburgh Dispatch of Sunday, January 11, 1885, cuts of these sketches were published, along with others of local interest, together with the statement that the artist had presented the originals to the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania on the preceding Thursday. In these cuts the Redoubt, as well as the Powder Magazine, are represented as having been part of Fort Duquesne. The date on the tablet on the Redoubt is given as 1755, which would bring it within the period of the French occupation; and Colonel Bouquet's name is omitted. Today unfortunately the whereabouts of these two sketches are not known. However, subsequent to the date of the sketches, paintings were made from them by the artist, that of the Redoubt being now in the possession of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, a copy being printed in John Martin Hammond's, "Quaint and Historic Forts of North America," and an engraving of the painting of the Powder Magazine having been published in Gody's Magazine And Lady's Book, for September, 1844. A writer in Watson's Annals who saw the Redoubt in 1804, (1) and to whom it was known as the Guard House, also credits it as belonging to Fort Duquesne. Attached to the bill of sale by which Captain Edmonstone sold certain property, being part of Fort Pitt, to William Thompson and Alexander Ross, was a schedule of items, one of which was for "two redoubts." Nothing is said about any blockhouses, except "a square log house fifty feet long." (2) General Irvine in 1782, complained of trespassers on the fort. He tells of Major Edward Ward having a house in the King's Orchard which was formerly a redoubt and had been removed from its orginial location and taken there and "built house fashion." (3) He complains further, about "Irwin's house" and states that this was also formerly a redoubt, "but is now environed by the other houses of the town of Pittsburgh." This Irwin was undoubtedly, Captain John Irwin, who was at the time deputy commissary-general of issues. (4) Here there are two redoubts accounted for. Ward's could hardly have been the Old Redoubt, as it was located in the King's Orchard, and the Redoubt still standing, must therefore have been the one occupied by Captain Irwin. The Old Redoubt is located one hundred and fifteen feet north of Penn Street and six hundred and sixty-seven feet west of Marbury Street. It is a five-sided structure, the side facing the city being twenty-three feet in width; the two sides at right angles with the front, as well as the two rear angling sides being each about sixteen feet. It has a stone foundation standing about five and a half feet above the level of the ground; the upper part of the building which is about eight and a half feet in height, is constructed of brick. It has two ranges of loop holes for musketry cut into sticks of timber which are let into the walls on every side of the building and are a foot thick, one row being placed a short distance below the roof and the other immediately above the foundation. In the easterly front facing the city, immediately under the eaves, is a stone tablet bearing the following inscription: "A. D. 1764 COLL. BOUQUET." The whole is surmounted by a high sloping roof covered by wooden shingles. Since March 15, 1894, the old relic has been the property of the Daughters of the American Revolution, having been conveyed to that organization by Mrs. Mary E. Schenley who had been the owner for many years, having inherited it, together with the entire block bounded by Penn Street, Duquesne Way, Marbury and Water streets, from her grandfather, Colonel James O'Hara. Turnbull, Marmie and Company having acquired the land on which Fort Pitt stood, probably obtained possession of the Redoubt before securing control of the rest of the fort, as Neville B. Craig says Turnbull, Marmie and Company built an addition to it in 1785, with bricks taken from the walls of the fort, thus constituting a dwelling house. He also tells that this was occupied by Mr. Turnbull for a year, and by his father for the three following years, and that he was born there in 1787. (5) There is no evidence that either Mr. Holker or Mr. Marmie ever resided in Pittsburgh, but Mr. Turnbull for a number of years after he removed from the Redoubt, lived in a stone house on Second Street, now Second Avenue, west of Market Street. He was a prominent citizen and was noted for the lavish manner of his entertainments. Major Samuel S. Forman of New Jersey was in Pittsburgh in the latter part of November, 1789, accompanying his uncle, General David Forman and his famliy, who with a large number of negro slaves were on their way to settle in the Natchez country, then under Spanish authority. He records in his diary about the party being entertained by Mr. Turnbull, "late of Philadelphia," whom he calls Colonel Turnbull. He tells of an "elegant" dinner given in their honor by Mr. Turnbull which was attended by several Pittsburgh gentlemen, and that the Pittsburghers accompanied them to the boat as they left Pittsburgh. (6) For perhaps two score years the Redoubt was the habitation of refined and cultured people. In 1831, according to The Pittsburgh Gazette of August 19th, of that year, it was occupied by a French engineer, presumably Jean Barbeau, who with Lewis Keyon had made a plan of Pittsburgh which was published the year before. After the engineer left the Redoubt, it was allowed to become dilapidated, grow |