The fort could wait; the Indians would endeavour to annihilate Bouquet's force as they had annihilated Braddock's army in the same region eight years before; and if successful, they could then at their leisure return to Fort Pitt and starve it out or take it by assault.
In June, when Amherst had finally come to the conclusion that he had a real war on his hands--and had, as we have seen, dispatched Dalyell to Detroit--he had, at the same time, sent orders to Colonel Bouquet to get ready a force for the relief of Fort Pitt.

Bouquet, like Ecuyer, was a Swiss soldier, and the best man in America for this particular task.

After seven years' experience in border warfare he was as skilled in woodcraft as the Indians themselves.

He had now to lead a force over the road, two hundred odd miles long, which connected Fort Pitt with Carlisle, his point of departure in Pennsylvania; but every foot of the road was known to him.

In 1758, when serving under General Forbes, he had directed the construction of this road, and knew the strength of every fort and block-house on the way; even the rivers and creeks and morasses and defiles were familiar to him.
Best of all, he had a courage and a military knowledge that inspired confidence in his men and officers.