Fort Le Boeuf

Fort Le Boeuf
Waterford, Pennsylvania, USA
Fort Le Boeuf during 1754.
Coordinates	41°56′22″N 79°58′57″W / 41.939510°N 79.982452°W / 41.939510; -79.982452
Site information
Controlled by	Kingdom of France 1753–1759  Kingdom of Great Britain 1759–1763
Site history
Built	1753
In use	1753–1763
Demolished	1763-06-18
Battles/wars	French and Indian War Pontiac's Rebellion
Garrison information
Past commanders	Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre

Fort Le Boeuf, (often referred to as Fort de la Rivière au Bœuf), was a fort established by the French during 1753 on a fork of French Creek, in present-day Waterford, in northwest Pennsylvania. The fort was part of a line that included Fort Presque Isle, Fort Machault, and Fort Duquesne.

The fort was located about 15 miles (24 km) from the shores of Lake Erie, on the banks of LeBoeuf Creek, for which the fort was named. The French portaged supplies and trade goods from Lake Erie overland to Fort Le Boeuf. From there they traveled by raft and canoe down French Creek to the rivers Allegheny, Ohio and Mississippi.

Captain Francois Le Mercier began construction on 11 July 1753; Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre began command of the fort on 3 December 1753. This fort was the second in a series of posts that the French built between spring 1753 and summer 1754 to assert their possession of the Ohio Country. These four posts Fort Presque Isle, Fort LeBoeuf, Fort Machault, and Fort Duquesne ran from Lake Erie to the Forks of the Ohio; they represented the last links of France's effort to connect its dominions in Canada with those in the Illinois Country and Louisiana. The English trading post of John Frazier, at Venango at the junction of French Creek and the Allegheny River (where Franklin is now located) was seized and occupied. Leaving a force to garrison the new posts, the French command returned to Canada for the winter.

Fort LeBoeuf (modern Waterford, Pennsylvania) guarded the southern end of the portage road between Lake Erie and French Creek, which flowed to the Allegheny River. It served as a French trading post and garrison until 1759, when the capture of Fort Niagara forced the French to abandon the Ohio Country.