Fort Duquesne

This Fort Duquesne stamp commemorates the bicentennial of the establishment of Fort Duquesne at the future site of the city of Pittsburgh. The fort was established by the French in 1754 at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, which form the Ohio River; it was an important line of defense against British forces during the French and Indian War, also known as the Seven Years War. The fort was abandoned and destroyed in 1758 as a result of the British’s successful Forbes Expedition. The British built a much larger fort at the site and named it Fort Pitt, after William Pitt the Elder. The stamp features an image of the British capture of Fort Duquesne.