Book on Henry Bouquet
As a response to Braddock's Defeat (Battle of Monongahela) in 1755, the British Army had to adapt to forest warfare. A new regiment, the 62nd Royal Americans was raised (Christmas Day, 1755) and was supposed to be composed of Swiss or German immigrants. Swiss Col. Henry Bouquet was given command of the 2nd Division of the First Battalion of the now renumbered 60th Regiment. He served mainly in Pennsylvania while the rest of the 1/60 (1st Division) served in upstate NY (Ticonderoga area). They were armed with the 46" barrel Brown Bess musket with wood ramrods. I think iron later replaced the wood ones as Bouquet's papers includes accounts of spare ramrods both wood and iron.
Anyway, after the second battle of Quebec was fought, the British received reinforcements first and so the French conceded at the Treaty of Paris, 1763. However, the locals weren't too happy (many supported the French) and when the British got cheap with the gifts and couldn't stop the incursions into land that was supposed to be theirs, the locals united under Pontiac and in a coordinated attack, destroyed many of the small British garrisons that guarded the frontier. Fort Detroit and Fort Pitt (modern day Pittsburg) held.
To relieve the besieged garrison and settlers at Fort Pitt, Col. Henry Bouquet led a small column from Fort Ligonier westward. Before they reached Fort Pitt, they were attacked. Driven to a hilltop, Bouquet arranged a flour bag fort to protect his wounded. The locals almost encircled the British and left an opening in the back. They hoped that if they pressured the British enough, the British would panic and flee and then the heavily encumbered redcoats could easily be slaughtered by them.
Bouquet had studied Indian tactics and knew about their use of ambushes to lure an enraged enemy into a pursuit -- into a bigger ambush. He planned to use their tactics against them.
Instead Bouquet arrange two light companies in the front and the line companies on the flank. Two more light companies and the American riflemen were formed into a line along the flank of the hill. On the next day when the fighting renewed, the two light companies in the front fell back as if in panic. The locals sensing a British collapsed charged the collapsing center. Then the surprise. The two retreating companies wheeled about, fired and charged. At that moment the hidden light companies and Americans swept one flank of the hill, adding to the surprise and driving off the locals.
Bouquet gathered his men and marched to Fort Pitt. While some British historians claim that Bushy Run demonstrated the redcoats mastery of forest warfare, this ignores Bouquet's order that should they be attacked again, that it was
sauve qui puet! and each man was to make his best way to Fort Pitt. Secondly, James Smith (memoirs published as Scoougwa (sp)) who was a former captive of the locals opined that but for the presence of the long knives (American riflemen), the attack would not have been successful. Anyway, Bouquet became a hero among the Colonists. In 1764 he led a punitive expedition that resulted in a peace treaty and the return of the prisoners (many of whom had been adopted by the locals).
Bouquet's next assignment was in Florida where he died of malaria (1765). The family owned inn, The Negro's Head/Le Negre Tete, still stands in Switzerland. I wonder if it's a play on the dark chocolate covered marshmallow treat.
Bushy Run Battlefield is a PA State Park and is located near several other historic places worth visiting. Braddock's Grave and Road, the Compass Inn, Jumonville Glen (Where Washington attacked a French party that was going east for parlay and ignited the Seven Years or French and Indian War) and Fort Necessity are all nearby.
Anyway, yesterday I found a link to an out of print book (unless it's print on demand by now) on Bouquet. Here is it:
https://archive.org/stream/colhenrybouqueth00cortuoft/colhenrybouqueth00cortuoft_djvu.txt