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Place Name
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Fort Duquesne
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Pronunciation
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DOO-kain
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Place Status (Type)
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historic site
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Location
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Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (PA), United States, North America
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Latitude
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40°26'N
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Longitude
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80°00'W
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Fort Duquesne
(DOO-kain), historic site, in Point State Park,
downtown Pittsburgh, Allegheny co., W Pa., at the confluence of the
Monongahela and Allegheny rivers, which form Ohio R.; 40°26'N
80°00'W. Because of its strategic location, it was a major objective
in the last of the Fr. and Indian Wars. The fort was begun by a group
of Virginians in 1754 at the insistence of Gov. Robert Dinwiddie. The
French drove the Virginians away on April 17, 1754, and completed the
fort; they named it after the Marquis de Duquesne, governor general of
New France. George Washington's Va. militia had failed to reach the
fort before the arrival of the French. Fort Duquesne was also the goal
of an unsuccessful expedition under Eng. Gen. Edward Braddock in 1755.
On Nov. 24, 1758, the French abandoned their position without a fight
to advancing Br. troops led by Gen. John Forbes, and retreated N after
burning Fort Duquesne. The English rebuilt it and renamed it Fort Pitt,
around which Pittsburgh grew.
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