Bushy Run Station

In 1758, Capt. Nicholas Wetterholt of the Pennsylvania Provincial Regiment was assigned to build an outpost along the new South Fork of the Forbes Road as a supply depot for the army, and he chose a site on Bushy Run for the fortified house. In May 1761, Sergeant Andrew Byerly of the 60th Royal American Regiment was assigned to run the outpost, and by 1762 the post had been expanded to handle the men, supplies, and information moving daily between Fort Pitt and Fort Ligonier. Byerly also developed a vibrant trade with local Native Americans, a relationship said to have helped save his family’s lives. According to local legend, in the spring of 1763 a party of Mingo Indians came to the station warning the Byerly family and the soldiers to leave or all would be killed in four days. The post was evacuated several days before the battle and apparently later burned by Indians. While Andrew was away, his wife, newborn baby, and two other children escaped safely to Fort Ligonier and were reunited with him there. On the night of August 5, Andrew Byerly, after returning with the army, purportedly crept to a spring near the battlefield and carried water in his wool cap to wounded men on Edge Hill. Andrew and his family returned in 1765 and built a new station on the battlefield site, and by 1769 he was operating it as a tavern and owned almost 300 acres of land at Bushy Run.

Pennsylvania · United States