On the fourth day of May, Ecuyer had written to Colonel Henry Bouquet, who was stationed at Philadelphia, saying that he had received word from Gladwyn that he 'was surrounded by rascals.' Ecuyer did not treat this alarm lightly.

He not only repaired the ramparts and made them stronger, but also erected palisades within them to surround the dwellings.

Everything near the fort that could give shelter to a lurking foe was levelled to the ground.

There were in Fort Pitt at this time about a hundred women and their children--families of settlers who had come to the fertile Ohio valley to take up homes.
These were provided with shelter in houses made shot-proof.
Small-pox had broken out in the garrison, and a hospital was prepared under the drawbridge, where the patients in time of siege would be in no danger from musket-balls or arrows.

But the best defence of Fort Pitt was the capacity of Ecuyer--brave, humorous, foresighted; a host in himself--giving courage to his men and making even the women and children think lightly of the power of the Indians.
It was nearly three weeks after the siege of Detroit had begun that the savages appeared in force about Fort Pitt.
On May 27 a large band of Indians came down the Alleghany bearing packs of furs, in payment for which they demanded guns, knives, tomahawks, powder, and shot, and would take nothing else.