rendezvous. The difficulty of the route from Conococheague to Fort Cumberland undoubtedly induced St. Clair to advise this change of base; later Governor Sharpe had a road cut from Fort Frederick to Fort Cumberland, but that was not until late in June. Following St. Clair's advice, Forbes changed his original plan and Raystown (Bedford, Pennsylvania) became the base of supplies and point of rendezvous. On the twenty-third of April Colonel Bouquet, commanding the Royal Americans, wrote Forbes of his arrival at New York and in less than a month this exceedingly efficient officer was on his way over the old road westward through Shippensburg and Carlisle. He was at Lancaster May 20, and wrote Forbes: "I arrived here this morning, and found Mr Young waiting for money to clear Armstrong's Path the Commissioners having disappointed him."[1] On the twenty-second he wrote again outlining the route and stages on the road to Raystown:
- ↑ This, as with all succeeding quotations from the correspondence of Bouquet, Forbes, and St. Clair, was copied by the writer from the originals in the Bouquet Papers in the British Museum.
