to 331 pounds and 15 shillings, which were "in the hands of Thomas Burney and Andrew McBryar." By June 1753, Thomas Burney was operating a blacksmith's forge at Logstown. On 28 March 1754, he enlisted as a private in George Washington's regiment in the Virginia Militia and was employed briefly as a messenger. He served under Captain Andrew Lewis at the Battle of Fort Necessity in July 1754 and in November he applied for an officer's commission, which was denied. In a letter of 13 November 1754, from Governor Robert Dinwiddie to Maryland Governor Horatio Sharpe, Dinwiddie mentions that "The bearer hereof, Thos. Burney, lived some years among the Twightees [Miami], as a blacksmith." Burney was killed at the Battle of the Monongahela on 9 July 1755. Later history The remains of Pickawillany may have been the site of a 1763 battle during the French and Indian War, described by Black Hoof to Colonel John Johnston: In the French War ... a bloody battle was fought on the present farm of Colonel Johnston at Upper Piqua ... The Miamis, Wyandots, Ottawas and other northern tribes adhered to the French, made a stand here and fortified, the Canadian traders and French assisting. The Delawares, Shawanese, Munseys, part of the Senecas residing in Pennsylvania, Cherokees, Catawbas, etc., adhering to the English interest with the English traders, attacked the French and Indians. The siege continued for more than a week; the fort stood out and could not be taken. Many were slain, the assailants suffering most severely. The besieged lost a number, and all their exposed property was burnt and destroyed. The Shawnese chief, Black Hoof, one of the besiegers, informed Colonel Johnston that the ground around was strewn with bullets, so that basketfuls could have been gathered. Soon after this contest the Miamis and their allies left this part of the country ... and never returned. A few years later, the French commander of the fort at Vincennes, Indiana, sent traders to establish a trading post on the site of Pickawillany. At the same time, the French made efforts to establish an alliance with the Miami Indians living in nearby Piqua, "lavishing upon them a very large amount of money and a great variety of costly presents." The post did not profit much, however, until 1769, when Pierre-Louis de Lorimier established a store there. Eventually a small community grew up around the