Siege of Fort Pitt

<p>The siege of Fort Pitt took place during June and July 1763 in what is now the city of <a href="/facts/Pittsburgh/42yPHyS0">Pittsburgh</a>, <a href="/facts/Pennsylvania/HGqC5bBm">Pennsylvania</a>, <a href="/facts/United_States/P0sCdLe5">United States</a>. The <a href="/facts/Siege/7RAugQoD">siege</a> was a part of <a href="/facts/Pontiac%2527s_War/V524jMlH">Pontiac's War</a>, an effort by <a href="/facts/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States/lr8Qmd6N">Native Americans</a> to remove the Anglo-Americans from the <a href="/facts/Ohio_Country/y0PqGsFt">Ohio Country</a> and <a href="/facts/Allegheny_Plateau/weRnIgyb">Allegheny Plateau</a> after they refused to honor their promises and treaties to leave voluntarily after the defeat of the French. The Native American efforts of diplomacy, and by siege, to remove the Anglo-Americans from <a href="/facts/Fort_Pitt_(Pennsylvania)/LfP0y2N4">Fort Pitt</a> ultimately failed.
</p><p>This event is known for a possible attempt at <a href="/facts/Biological_warfare/hLnbu8Sd">biological warfare</a>, in which <a href="/facts/William_Trent/DDLWeJ8c">William Trent</a> and Simeon Ecuyer, a Swiss mercenary in British service, may have given items from a <a href="/facts/Smallpox/cxNeetP4">smallpox</a> infirmary as gifts to Native American emissaries with the hope of spreading the deadly disease to nearby tribes. The effectiveness is unknown, although it is known that the method used is inefficient compared to respiratory transmission and these attempts to spread the disease are difficult to differentiate from epidemics occurring from previous contacts with colonists.
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Siege of Fort Pitt