[8] On 11 November 1747 the Seneca leader Kanuksusy traveled from Kuskusky to Philadelphia with ten young Mingo warriors to deliver news of French activities in western Pennsylvania.

As the prospect of war between Britain and France grew increasingly imminent, Native American inhabitants of the Ohio River Valley were attempting to maintain their autonomy while extracting valuable trade goods from the Europeans.

In November, 1747 Scarouady and other Iroquois leaders visited Philadelphia to sign the "Treaty Between the President and Council of the Province of Pennsylvania and the Ohio Indians,"[12] promising a military alliance against the French in exchange for supplies and trade goods.

[11] The Council obtained £200 worth of goods and sent Croghan to Logstown in April, 1748 to cement the terms of the treaty and secure the tribes' loyalty to the British.

In any case, Weiser's instructions bound him to negotiate with the Indians at Logstown,[11] and he replied to the request, saying that "the Shawonese and Twightwees would be offended if the Council was to be held at Coscosky.

On October 20, 1748, William Trent wrote to Secretary Richard Peters, describing a murder which took place at Kuskusky: Last night came here from Allegheny one John Hays, who informs us that the night before he left it, the Indians killed one of Mr. [Hugh] Parker's [a factor of the Ohio Company] hands...Mr. Parker had a large quantity of liquor up with him, which he was tying up in his goods, in order to send to the Lower Shawna Town; and the Indians kept pressing into his house...Some he turned out, and others, as they came in, he pushed the door in their faces; upon which they were determined to take his liquor...They brought him wampum, and offered to leave it in pledge; but he refused to let them have it; upon which they took a quantity from him.

[1]: 347 In spite of this event, Parker maintained his trading post at Kuskusky and in 1749 employed Barnaby Curran to manage it after Brown was killed.

The Jesuit priest Joseph Pierre de Bonnecamps, who accompanied Céloron, wrote that "the savages, seeing our bold front and our superior number, quietly withdrew and saluted us very politely in passing before our camp.

On the other hand, the Indians chose not to attack, as they did not want to risk bringing a stronger French military force into the Ohio country, which likely would have been the response.

[24][25] At the beginning of the French and Indian War, the defeat of General Edward Braddock in July, 1755 left Pennsylvania without a professional military force.

[26] Shawnee and Delaware warriors launched dozens of raids against English settlements,[27] killing and capturing hundreds of people and destroying communities across western and central Pennsylvania.

His mother and a neighbor were killed by the Indians, and he was brought to Kittanning, where he was adopted by Shingas' brother Pisquetomen, a Delaware chief (who Gibson refers to as "Bisquittam").

In March, 1759, Gibson escaped, together with Marie Le Roy and Barbara Leininger and a Scotsman named David Brackenridge, and walked 250 miles to Fort Pitt (then under construction).

[34]: 115–122 After the raid on Kittanning in 1756, those of the population who were neutral or sympathetic to the English moved to Kuskusky, while those with pro-French sympathies resettled near Fort Duquesne and Logstown.

[35] The English realized that without Native American support, the French would be unable to continue the war, therefore they initiated a series of negotiations with Delaware leaders in an attempt to make them withdraw from the fighting.

[36] Fearing that the ever-advancing European settlers would permanently take control of their lands, Delaware chiefs hoped to bargain for a binding treaty that would grant them protected space.

Post described "Kushkushkee" as "a large Spot of Land about three Miles long,"[37]: 21  saying that it was "divided into four Towns, each at a Distance from the others, and the whole consists of about 90 Houses and 200 able Warriors."

Post then left Kuskusky for a few days to visit Saucunk and Logstown, and to address a group of Indians in front of Fort Duquesne, with French officers watching.

[6] In October, 1758 the Treaty of Easton was signed between British colonials and representatives of 13 Indian nations, including the chiefs of the Iroquois, the eastern and western Lenape and the Shawnee.

The treaty shifted the balance of power in favor of the British by removing several important Native tribes from the fighting, and was one of several factors leading to the surrender of Fort Duquesne in late November.

These may have included military actions at the very end of the French and Indian War, the encroaching English settlements, the lack of game due to over-hunting, or a combination of these.

On 7 February 1759, Colonel Hugh Mercer received a report from a Mohican scout that he had observed "at the Salt Spring above Kaskaskias [Kuskuskies] a large number of [French] troops."

At this council on February 24, he announced that the Delawares wanted to move in order to avoid any fighting between the French and the British, stating, "The Six Nations and you desire that I would sit down and smoke my pipe at Kuskusky.

Mercer reportedly replied, "Your Brothers, the English, desire to see you live in Peace and Happiness, either at Saucunk, Kuskusky, or wherever you think proper, and by no means intend to Limit you to one Place or another.

[40]: 29 In 1769 Custaloga brought a small group of Munsees from the Cuyahoga River Valley to settle at Kuskusky in order to be near English trading posts and Friedenstadt, a Moravian mission established by David Zeisberger.

In early February 1778, General Edward Hand launched a campaign against the Seneca-Cayuga people who had reportedly received guns and powder from the British with which to defend themselves against invading American settlers.

[44]: 32  He claimed approximately 50 acres (20 ha) at the confluence of the Shenango River and Neshannock Creek, at that time a part of Allegheny County, and the site of the easternmost of the Kuskuskies towns.

[47] Charles A. Hanna (1911) describes the archaeology of the Kuskusky region: It is at least certain there was a village where Edinburg stands, which was divided into two parts, one a short distance farther up the river than the other...In the vicinity have been picked up gun-flints, oxidized bullets, flattened and battered, old gun-locks and gun-barrels, bayonets, etc....Many bones have also been found.

This mound was examined some years since, and found to contain several layers of human skeletons; flag-stones were placed in regular order around the bodies, and the whole covered with earth.