Larry A. Smail's Blog

On September 8, 1926, the community of Kittanning, Pennsylvania featured an event commemorating the Raid on Kit-Han-ne. The raid I am referring to occurred on September 8, 1756, when John Armstrong and around 300 men launched a surprise attack on the Lenni-Lenape natives. These people were often known as the Delaware Indians of their day.

This attack was during what has been called the French and Indian War. The war was known as the Seven Years War across the Atlantic Ocean and was a war between the English and the French. In the colonies various Indian tribes were forced to side with one side or the other to defend their homeland against the English encroachment.

In 1926 this stone with the bronze panel shown below had been erected on the September 8 day marking 170 years since this attack.

The stone was quarried in the Cowanshannock Creek area north of Kittanning. The arrowhead shaped stone reached almost fourteen feet high. The site is on the northern side of the bridge and eastern side of the Allegheny River at Kittanning.

Ojibway Chief Strong Wolf shaking hands with James King. Mr. King was president of the recently formed Armstrong County Historical Society. I found this interesting since the natives at Kit-Han-Ne in 1756 were the Delaware and Shawnees and not Ojbaway.

A number of dignitaries of 1926 stood by the erected stone monument.

To commemorate the 270 years since the raid and the 100 years since the erection of the stone monument, the current members of the Armstrong Couty Historical Society organized a rededication ceremony on the exact day of September 8, 2026.

Guest speakers and light buffet-style refreshments were supplied to educate and inform of this important date of local history.

There is much information to search and learn more of the French and Indian war and the Kit-Han-Ne battle.