In 1758 Colonel George Washington led the Virginia troops to Fort Raystown in Central Pennsylvania. Under the direction of Brigadier General Forbes, British and Provincial troops had been ordered to cut a road 200 miles west and capture the strategic forks of the Ohio River from the French. Learning from the ill-fated Braddock's Expedition, Forbes had forts constructed at regular intervaals from Carlisle to Loyalhanna. By November the British had successfully captured Fort Duquesne , rebuilding it and renaming it Fort Pitt.