Early British colonial efforts to establish Fort Pitt at the junction of the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers were foiled by the French. After unsuccessful efforts by Washington in 1754 and Braddock in 1755 to regain the fort during the French & Indian War, General Forbes built a new road over the mountains in 1758, and his army succeeded in ousting the French late that year. The treaty at Fort Stanwix, NY, signed with the Iroquois in late 1768, finally opened the way for land ownership by settlers in southwestern Pennsylvania and encouraged pioneers to move westward over the Forbes Road. The largest early village to develop along that road in western Pennsylvania was Hanna's Town, named for pioneer Robert Hanna, who operated a tavern at his home and had served as a justice for Bedford County when it was formed in 1771. After Westmoreland County was formed from Bedford County on February 26, 1773, Hanna's Town was chosen as its county seat, and the first court sessions were held at Hanna's house and tavern on April 6, 1773. It was the last county in the state formed under British rule and the first west of the mountains in Pennsylvania. Robert Hanna, who came from eastern Pennsylvania, secured his tract of land in 1769, sold lots in his town plan, and also served as one of the trustees for selecting the Westmoreland County government site. On May 16, 1775, Hanna's Town was the place where the Hanna's Town Resolves were signed, one of the earliest firm expressions of resistance to English tyranny. After the Revolutionary War erupted, the town became a site of area militia musters, usually for defense against recurring Indian raids on the frontier. A regiment of the Continental Line, the Pennsylvania 8th, was raised from Westmoreland and Bedford Counties and mustered there before later serving in the east under Washington and wintering at Valley Forge. In the final stages of the Revolutionary War, a group of Indians, aided by British loyalists, burned much of Hanna's Town on July 13, 1782, and captured several residents, including Hanna's wife and daughter. The damaged village remained the Westmoreland County seat until a new commission appointed by the state government chose Newtown, later Greensburg, in 1785. Hanna, then in poor health, died in 1786, and the community he founded, no longer on the rerouted Forbes Road, gradually faded away. About 200 years after Hanna's Town began, archaeologists and historians started uncovering remains and reconstructing the village.
