Fallen of Bushy Run to be honored
By the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Bushy Run next year, the battlefield site near Harrison City will include a monument honoring the men killed in the conflict.
Commissioned by the Bushy Run Battlefield Heritage Society, the monument will mark the spot of the first day's action on Aug. 5, 1763.
For several years, the society has been setting aside money for the 250th anniversary, said Kelly Ruoff, treasurer and memorial committee chairwoman.
The monument will include three granite pedestals and three bronze statues representing the American, British and Indian forces that fought during the two-day battle.
The plan is to reveal the monument and memorial courtyard on Aug. 3, at the beginning of the anniversary weekend.
“This will be a tribute to those who fought and died,” Ruoff said.
The monument is expected to cost about $200,000; about half has been raised.
“We do have a nice pot saved, and we have received a couple of grants,” Ruoff said.
This summer, the society began a fundraising campaign through the sale of engraved bricks.
In the Battle of Bushy Run, British Col. Henry Bouquet and his troops defeated Indian forces that had ambushed the British on their way to save besieged Fort Pitt. The British victory was a turning point in Pontiac's War, a rebellion by Indians, and is credited with opening Western Pennsylvania to settlement.
Artists Robert Griffing of Gibsonia and John Buxton of Allison Park came up with the concept for the monument, which Griffing sketched.
Bushy Run is the subject of paintings by both men.
“Bushy Run has always been one of my favorite historical sites around,” Griffing said.
His painting of the first day's battle hangs inside the museum. Its image will be used for the 250th anniversary celebration poster, he said.
Griffing said he placed the ranger on flour bags below the Indian and the highlander, who aim weapons at each other.
“It's a nice, large statue, and it commemorates the men that fought there. It's a good representation.” he said.
On the first day of the conflict, wounded soldiers were laid behind a “flour bag stockade.” Other soldiers guarded the circle from the outside, Griffing said.
He and Bedford County bronze sculptor Wayne Hyde photographed re-enactors for the design. Two photos were taken at Bushy Run. A third involved the quick substitution of a visitor at the Seneca-Iroquois National Museum in Salamanca, N.Y., when a re-enactor canceled.
Historian Michael Galban, who was traveling with Hyde and Griffing, provided clothing and makeup to transform the young man.
Hyde sculpted the bronze statue of the late U.S. Rep. John P. Murtha that stands in a plaza outside the Cambria County War Memorial Arena.
“I do a wide range of American history work,” Hyde said. “This area of the country has such rich history,”
Mary Pickels is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 724-836-5401 or mpickels@tribweb.com.
