Click on each year, one at a time, to find out how Pittsburgh came to be and grew up through the years.

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The British fail again. Major James Grant and about 750 British soldiers and Virginians come within sight of Fort Duquesne, but the French and Indians come out from the Fort and defeat them on September 14. The battle site is called “Grant’s Hill.” Grant Street in downtown Pittsburgh reminds us of the battle that took place near there.

Finally, the British succeed. In November, two months after Major Grant’s defeat, the British finally capture Fort Duquesne. General John Forbes leads his force of about 5,000 British and Virginian soldiers to the Point. Knowing they are out-numbered, the 400 French soldiers at Fort Duquesne burn their fort to the ground and escape in canoes up the Allegheny and down the Ohio.

On November 25, General Forbes names the place at the Point “Pittsburgh,” in honor of William Pitt the Elder. On November 27, Forbes begins to write a letter to William Pitt informing him of the victory and naming of Pittsburgh. Since winter is fast approaching, the British build a temporary fort, Mercer’s Fort, along the Monongahela near the Point.

Pitt never visits Pittsburgh, but he is the leader in the British government who devises the military strategy that results in the defeat of France in America and in other parts of the world. Pitt later becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain and is known as the “Great Commoner” and “champion of American rights.”

Visit downtown Pittsburgh to see the bust of William Pitt in the City-County Building and the painting celebrating the naming of Pittsburgh in the William Penn Hotel.