When George Washington first arrived at what became Pittsburgh's Point in 1753, he was seeking to take possession of the land at the Forks of the Ohio not only for the British crown but also for his home state of Virginia.

Not surprisingly, Virginia's claim was protested by the Penn family, which controlled Pennsylvania.

Squabbles between Virginia and Pennsylvania over which colony had jurisdiction over the region continued for more than 20 years. The dispute culminated in 1774 with a clash that saw rival militias and magistrates threatening and arresting each other.

As Pittsburgh prepares for its 250th birthday next November, the Post-Gazette will publish stories every other Sunday drawn from contemporary accounts in the region's newspapers and periodicals. The stories will offer snapshots at critical -- and sometimes comical -- junctures over the past two-and-a-half centuries.

Additional coverage of Pittsburgh birthday.

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British troops had abandoned Fort Pitt in 1772. Less than two years later, Lord Dunmore, who was Virginia's Royal Governor, authorized a sometime-Fort Pitt resident, Dr. John Connolly, to raise a militia to take control of the frontier outpost. Dr. Connolly's recruiting poster called for a public meeting on Jan. 25, 1774.

When Capt. Arthur St. Clair, Pennsylvania's representative in the region, saw one of the posters, he arrested Dr. Connolly the day before the meeting. He had him jailed at Hannas Town, the county seat of the then much larger Westmoreland County.

In a Feb. 2 letter to Gov. John Penn, Capt. St. Clair described the situation at Pittsburgh.

"Doctor Conolly [sic] was arrested previous to the meeting, by my orders, on his avowing himself the author of the advertisement requiring the people to meet as a militia. ...

"I was in hopes the sending of him out of the way would have put an end to it altogether; but I was mistaken. About 80 persons in arms assembled themselves ... and after parading through the town and making a kind of feu de joy, proceeded to the Fort where a cask of rum was produced on the parade and the head was knocked out. This was a very effectual way of recruiting."

The "feu de joy," or "feu de joie," was either a discharge of firearms or a bonfire; Capt. St. Clair's letter allows either interpretation.

Fearing "a scene of drunkenness and confusion was likely to ensue," Capt. St. Clair had town magistrates read a statement reminding them they were Pennsylvanians until the King in London ruled otherwise. "And it must be evident to you that Lord Dunmore, as Governor of Virginia, can have no more right to determine the matter than one of us," his statement said.

The crowd had appeared ready to disperse when things turned ugly. Capt. St. Clair decided to make himself scarce.

"[T]owards night, their peaceable disposition forsook them, and I should probably have felt their resentment had I not got intimation of their design. I thought it most prudent to keep out of their way."

Released on bail, Dr. Connolly returned to Virginia. When he came back to Hannas Town he was accompanied by 150 armed militiamen.

He took control of the public buildings, arrested Pennsylvania officials and sent them for trial to Virginia. Apparently worried about how his agent's actions would be viewed in London, Lord Dunmore ordered the Pennsylvanians released -- but he didn't abandon Virginia's claim to the region around Pittsburgh.

When he returned to the Point, Dr. Connolly began to rebuild the abandoned fortification, renaming the outpost Fort Dunmore, for his Virginia patron.

By 1775, the long-standing dispute between Virginia and Pennsylvania was overtaken by events elsewhere in the colonies. Once Colonial legislatures in both Pennsylvania and Virginia took steps to break away from Great Britain, no one was willing to let George III have the last word on which state should control the region around the Point.

The Continental Congress appointed Gen. Edward Hand in 1777 to take control of the outpost, which was known once again at Fort Pitt.

Resolution of the boundary dispute had to wait until after the American Revolution, when the Mason-Dixon Line -- the boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania -- was extended westward.