Pennsylvania Indian Forts

Buckalew, John M., Captain The Frontier Forts Within The North and West Branches of the Susquehanna River Pennsylvania. Read Before The Wyoming Historical And Geological, Society, October 1, 1895. Reprinted From The State Report, 1896. Wilkes-Barre, PA.: E. B. Yoruy, Printer. 1896

Pennsylvania Indian Forts

To the Honorable the Commission appointed by his Excellency, Gov. Robert E. Pattison, under Act of Assembly, approved the 28d day of May, A. D. 1893, to examine and report to the next session of the Legislature upon the advisability of marking by suitable tablets the various forts erected against the Indians by the early settlers of this Commonwealth prior to the year 1783. This committee, having qualified, met in Harrisburg in November, 1893; after organizing, divided the State into five districts, one to each member to examine and report upon to the body at some time agreed upon. This … Read more

Fort Reed at Lock Haven, Clinton County, Pennsylvania

Fort Reed was the most westerly of the line of defenses thrown out in advance of Fort Augusta, for the purpose of covering that place and as a rallying place for the inhabitants and the scouts when hard pressed. The Continental Army had drawn largely upon the young active men of the region, leaving those less ht for active service at home to cope with an enemy, the most active and wily in border warfare of this kind in the world. In this forest country, with the inhabitants isolated by the size of their land claims, he could lay in … Read more

Fort McClure, Columbia County, Pennsylvania

Site of Fort McClure, Town of Bloomsburg

Col. Freeze says, the year 1777 and the next four or five following, were years of great activity and danger in the Indian fighting in and about what was originally Columbia county. The regular military authorities had done their best to protect the frontiers of the Pennsylvania settlements, but they had few officers and fewer men to spare from the Federal army, and therefore, the defense of the settlements fell upon the local heroes and heroines of the Forts of the Susquehanna. A chain of forts, more or less protective had been constructed, reaching from the West Branch to the … Read more

Fort Horn, Clinton County, Pennsylvania

Fort Horn was erected on a high flat extending out to the river and commanding a good view of the river up and down, as well as the north side of the river; is about midway between Pine and McElhattan Stations on the P. & E. R. R., west of Fort Antes. It was a place of refuge for those hardy settlers on the Indian lands on the north side of the river, as well as the residents on the Pennsylvania lands on which it was built. The river lands on the north side were outside the purchase of 1768, … Read more

Fort Brady, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania

Fort Brady was the dwelling house of Capt. John Brady, at Muncy, stockaded by digging a trench about four feet deep and setting logs side by side, filling in with earth and ramming down solid to hold the palisade in place. They were usually twelve feet high from the ground, with smaller timbers running transversely at the top, to which they were pinned, making a solid wall. Capt. Brady’s house was a large one for the time; he had been a captain in the Scotch-Irish and German forces west of the Alleghenies under Col. Henry Bouquet in his expedition, which … Read more

Fort Antes, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania

Fort Antes was erected by Lieut. Col. Henry Antes in 1778, about opposite Jersey Shore on the east side of Nippenose creek, and on the higher plateau overlooking it, and also the river. It was defended by Col. Antes, its builder, until ordered to vacate it by Col. Samuel Hunter, at the time the military authorities considered it unsafe to attempt to defend these forts. Col. Hunter sent word to Col. Hepburn, then commanding at Fort Muncy to order all above him on the river to abandon the country and retire below. Meginness’ Otizinachson says, “Col. Hepburn had some difficulty … Read more