The date that would be carved on the monuments and printed in all the histories and textbooks was April 19, 1775. On that day Americans in arms would march out to face British regulars across the village green in Lexington, Massachussetts. But they would not be the first Americans to march out for that purpose. They would not be the first by ten years, one month, and eleven days. The day on which James Smith's three hundred men marched down the muddy road to Fort Loudoun in Pennsylvania was March ninth, 1765.

During the mid-18th century, the wild frontier of the Colony of Pennsylvania could be a dangerous place to live. By 1753, the French had build three forts within western Pennsylvania, and had found strong allies among the local indians living there. Numerous attempts made by the Colonial government failed to subdue the French and Indians on the Pennsylvania frontier. By early 1756, the Pennsylvania General Assembly finally decided to take action to defend the settlers, and voted to build a chain of forts along the Blue Mountains from the Delaware River to the Mason & Dixon Line. It is at one of these forts, Fort Loudoun, that the first armed uprising against royal troops took place.