Colonel George Washignton was 26 years old when he left Fort Pitt, in early December 1758, and resigned his commission in the British Army. He returned to Virginia and married Martha Custis. His actions at Jumonville Glen and Fort Necessity in 1754 sparked a conflict far beyond what he planned for. But, perhaps most importantly, Washington learned on the Forbes campign that he would never be considered more than just a colonial annoyance to the British. His fire was lit and the next part of his life he would lead a new nation yearning for more.
The British Army turned Fort Ligonier over to the provincial Pennsylvania government in 1759. The fort was still an active waypoint and barracks for commercial traffic on the Forbes Road - fueling the growth of Fort Pitt and the surrounding settlement called Pittsburgh. In 1763, an Ottawa chief named Pontiac was able to unite dozens of tribes to attack British outposts in western New York, Pennsylvania, and the Ohio Country - starting with an uprising at Fort Detroit. A pan-Indian coalition besieged Fort Pitt for two months in the summer of 1763 and Fort Ligonier was attacked twice.
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