1760 a new fort had been erected and named Venango. In
1763 there was a small garrison here under Lieutenant
Gordon. For a time all that was known of its fate was
reported by the fugitives from Le Boeuf and a soldier
named Gray, who had escaped from Presqu'isle. These
fugitives had found Venango completely destroyed, and,
in the ruins, the blackened bones of the garrison. It
was afterwards learned that the attacking Indians were
Senecas, and that they had tortured the commandant to
death over a slow fire, after compelling him to write
down the reason for the attack. It was threefold: (1)
the British charged exorbitant prices for powder, shot,
and clothing; (2) when Indians were ill-treated by British
soldiers they could obtain no redress; (3) contrary to
the wishes of the Indians, forts were being built in
their country, and these could mean but one thing--the
determination of the invaders to deprive them of their
hunting-grounds.

With the fall of Presqu'isle, Le Boeuf, and Venango, the
trade-route between Lake Erie and Fort Pitt was closed.
Save for Detroit, Niagara, and Pitt, not a British fort
remained in the great hinterland; and the soldiers at
these three strong positions could leave the shelter of
the palisades only at the risk of their lives. Meanwhile,
the frontiers of the British settlements, as well as the
forts, were being raided. Homes were burnt and the inmates
massacred. Traders were plundered and slain. From the
eastern slopes of the Alleghanies to the Mississippi no
British life was safe.