Kittanning was an 18th century Native American

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 village in the Ohio Country

Ohio Country

The Ohio Country was the name used in the 18th century for the regions of North America west of the Appalachian Mountains and in the region of the upper Ohio River south of Lake Erie...

, located on the Allegheny River

Allegheny River

The Allegheny River is a principal tributary of the Ohio River; it is located in the Eastern United States. The Allegheny River joins with the Monongahela River to form the Ohio River at the "Point" of Point State Park in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...

 at present-day Kittanning, Pennsylvania

Kittanning, Pennsylvania

Kittanning is a borough and the county seat of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania in the United States. It is situated northeast of Pittsburgh, along the east bank of the Allegheny River. The name means "at the great stream" in the Delaware language...

. The village was at the western terminus of the Kittanning Path

Kittanning Path

The Kittanning Path was a major east-westNative American trail in western Pennsylvania used during the 18th century. It provided an overland route for the Lenape, Shawnee, and early European settlers across the Allegheny Mountains, terminating at its western end on the Allegheny River at the Native...

, an Indian trail that provided a route across the Alleghenies between the Ohio

Ohio River

The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...

 and Susquehanna

Susquehanna River

The Susquehanna River is a river located in the northeastern United States. At long, it is the longest river on the American east coast that drains into the Atlantic Ocean, and with its watershed it is the 16th largest river in the United States, and the longest river in the continental United...

 river basins. The village, inhabited by Delaware (Lenape)

Lenape

The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...

 and Shawnee

Shawnee

The Shawnee, Shaawanwaki, Shaawanooki and Shaawanowi lenaweeki, are an Algonquian-speaking people native to North America. Historically they inhabited the areas of Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Western Maryland, Kentucky, Indiana, and Pennsylvania...

 Indians, was most likely the largest such village on the western side of the Alleghenies

Allegheny Mountains

The Allegheny Mountain Range , also spelled Alleghany, Allegany and, informally, the Alleghenies, is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the eastern United States and Canada...

 at the time, having an estimated 300–400 residents in 1756. Kittanning was settled in 1724 by Indians who had migrated from eastern Pennsylvania as white settlement rapidly expanded. The name means "at the great stream" in the Delaware language.

During the French and Indian War

French and Indian War

The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...

, Kittanning was used as a staging point for raids by Delaware and Shawnee warriors against British colonists at Fort Granville

Fort Granville

Fort Granville was a militia stockade located in the colonial Province of Pennsylvania. Its site was in what is now Granville Township near Lewistown...

 in the Juniata River

Juniata River

The Juniata River is a tributary of the Susquehanna River, approximately long, in central Pennsylvania in the United States. The river is considered scenic along much of its route, having a broad and shallow course passing through several mountain ridges and steeply-lined water gaps...

 valley in central Pennsylvania. In response, Lieutenant Colonel John Armstrong led Pennsylvania militiamen on the Kittanning Expedition

Kittanning Expedition

The Kittanning Expedition, also known as the Armstrong Expedition or the Battle of Kittanning, was a raid during the French and Indian War that led to the destruction of the American Indian village of Kittanning, which had served as a staging point for attacks by Delaware warriors against...

, which destroyed the village on about 8 September 1756.