C. Frederick Post: The Moravian Who Ended the French Alliance
Near Youngstown, Pennsylvania
In the summer of seventeen fifty-eight, the fate of the Ohio Country hung on diplomacy as much as arms. General Forbes was marching an army toward Fort Duquesne, but French-allied Indian nations guarded the approaches. Pennsylvania's provincial government sent a Moravian missionary named C. Frederick Post directly into those communities.
Post held councils at the Kuskuskies Towns in western Pennsylvania through the late summer and fall, meeting with Delaware and other nations and presenting the British case for friendship. His message, combined with the looming threat of Forbes's army, persuaded many warriors to stand aside. The French, suddenly isolated and badly outnumbered, abandoned Fort Duquesne in late November, seventeen fifty-eight, destroying it as they fled. Post's missions are remembered as a remarkable act of personal courage that helped end French power in the Ohio Valley without a battle.
