Side A: Desperately trying to protect their homeland, the Delaware Indian Nation who lived here in the Tuscarawas Valley, joined the French against the English during the French and Indian War, 1754-1763. After the French defeat, the Delawares, dissatisfied with the treaty terms, joined an Indian Confederacy to attack the English in early 1763. Known as Pontiac’s Rebellion, the uprising was lead by Ottawa chief Pontiac. In response, the English commander, General Jeffrey Amherst, ordered Colonel Henry Bouquet to mount a 1,500-man expedition to subdue the Confederacy in Ohio. The Army arrived at this location on October 13, 1764. The camp, known as Camp 14, was located in this valley between the two small streams on the side of the hill. Proceeding on to the Delaware town of modern-day Coshocton, Bouquet negotiated a surrender with the Delaware, Shawnee, and Wyandot who then relinquished over two hundred white prisoners.
Side B: Henry Bouquet was born in 1719 at Rolle, Canton Vaud, Switzerland. Fluent in English he immigrated to America in the spring of 1756 to assist the English during the French and Indian War. He was promoted to full colonel in 1758, and served as second in command under Brigadier General John Forbes. Bouquet led the Forbes Expedition, which blazed a trail, later known as the famous “Forbes Road,” from Carlisle, Pennsylvania, to the Ohio River. This campaign forced the French to abandon and destroy Fort Duquesne. Bouquet then supervised the building of Fort Pitt at the same location. Bouquet was called on during Pontiac’s Rebellion to rescue the besieged garrison at Fort Pitt. On August 6, 1763, he decisively defeated an Indian Army at the Battle of Bushy Run, and in 1764 he successfully led the Bouquet Expedition in Ohio. In 1765 he was appointed brigadier general and sent to Florida where he died the same year of yellow fever.
Sponsors: Ohio Bicentennial Commission, The Longaberger Company, The Tuscarawas County Historical Society, Rosenberry Foundation, and The Ohio Historical Society