| Fort Augusta | |
|---|---|
| Sunbury, Pennsylvania,Northumberland County,Pennsylvania, USA | |
| Site information | |
| Type | Fort |
| Controlled by | Northumberland County Historical Society |
| Location | |
  Fort Augusta Location of Fort Augusta inPennsylvania | |
| Coordinates | 40°52′33″N76°47′31″W / 40.8757°N 76.7920°W /40.8757; -76.7920 |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1756 |
| In use | 1756-1780 |
| Battles/wars | French and Indian War American Revolutionary War |
| Garrison information | |
| Past commanders | Colonel William Clapham Colonel James Burd Colonel Samuel Hunter |
| Garrison | 16 officers and 337 men |
| Designated | 1948[1] |
Fort Augusta was a stronghold inNorthumberland County, Pennsylvania, in the upperSusquehanna Valley from the time of theFrench and Indian War to the close of theAmerican Revolution. At the time, it was the largest British fort in Pennsylvania, with earthen walls more than two hundred feet long topped by wooden fortifications. With a garrison of over 300 troops and walls specially constructed to resist artillery, it presented a formidable defense and was never attacked. It served as a refuge for local settlers during the French and Indian War and during the American Revolutionary War. It was abandoned in 1780 and dismantled in 1796.[2]
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The fort was erected by ColonelWilliam Clapham in 1756 at a site now within the limits of the city ofSunbury, on the site of the Lenape village ofShamokin,[3] which was abandoned only a few weeks before construction of the fort began.[4]: 73 Named forAugusta of Saxe-Gotha, the mother ofKing George III, Fort Augusta was the largest of the provincial forts. It was first constructed as part of the British defense against French and Indian raids from the upper Allegheny region.[3] The fort was positioned so as to prevent Native American war parties from descending the Susquehanna River, to serve as a refuge for civilians under attack, and as astaging area for military expeditions against enemy forces.[5]: 180 Later, it served as an American fortress to aid in protecting settlers of the upper Susquehanna from Britain's Indian allies to the north.[6]: 59 [7]
The plan of the fort had been previously drawn up by GovernorRobert Hunter Morris, who wrote to Clapham on 12 June recommending "a square with oneravelin to protect thecurtain where the gate is, with a ditch, covered way, andglacis."[6]: 54 In early July, Clapham marched with his troops fromFort Halifax, while eighteen canoes andbateaux carried supplies downriver, encountering numerous falls and rapids which hindered their progress.[6]: 55 [8] On 14 August, Clapham wrote to Governor Morris: "We have the walls of the fort now above-half finished and our other works in such situation that we can make a very good defense against any body of French and Indians that shall seat themselves before us without cannon."[6]: 55
Clapham had largely completed Fort Augusta by late August.[9]: 488 It was the largest British fort built in Pennsylvania, with earthen walls more than two hundred feet long topped by wooden fortifications.[10][11] Buildings included a bakery,smoke house, beefcistern, pork cistern, and apowder magazine with an undergroundpowder keg. The wall facing the river was composed of upright logs, and the rear wall was made up of lengthwise logs. Beyond the main wall was a drymoat that was half as deep as the wall was high. In front of the main gate, a small bridge over the moat could be raised in the event of an attack. Triangularbastions on each corner permitted acrossfire covering the entire extent of the wall. A well was located in the westernmost bastion.Blockhouses connected by astockade formed a covered way to the river.[12] Clapham took particular care to reinforce the fort's main walls so that they would resist artillery.[6]: 55
The fort was garrisoned by sixteen officers and 337 men[3] and had twelve cannons and twoswivel guns.[13]: 673 It served as a base for the Third Battalion, Pennsylvania Regiment of Foot, known as the Augusta Regiment, which was originally formed to build and garrison Fort Augusta.[14] Modifications and improvements continued to be made for months, and in late October, Clapham described the final stages of the fort's construction: "In eight or ten days more the ditch will be carried quite around theparapet, the barrier gates finished and erected, and the pickets of the glacis completed."[6]: 55 Construction of the fort was completed in 1757 under the command ofColonel James Burd.[15]
A description of the fort is written on the back of the plan of Fort Augusta in the Pennsylvania Archives:
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During theFrench and Indian War in 1756, several hundred French and Indian troops traveled theGreat Shamokin Path in an effort to destroy Fort Augusta, the main stronghold of the English at the junction of the East and West branches of the Susquehanna River. This army was gathered from the French posts atDuquesne,Kittanning,Venango andLe Boeuf and assembled at the mouth ofAnderson Creek, near the present location ofCurwensville,Clearfield County, Pennsylvania. Here, crude boats, rafts and bateaux were constructed for passage down theSusquehanna River for the proposed attack. They dragged along with them two small brass cannon, but after reconnoitering found the distance too great for the guns to shoot from the hill opposite the fort, and the attack was abandoned. A British defeat at Fort Augusta would have altered the course of the French and Indian War.[16]: 69 [17]
The fort saw no action duringPontiac's War, which was fought in the Great Lakes region, and the garrison was evacuated in June, 1765. An Indian trading post, opened in May 1758, remained in operation.[9]
During theAmerican Revolutionary War, Fort Augusta became the headquarters of the military department of the upper Susquehanna, 1778-1780. Following theBattle of Wyoming on 3 July 1778, Indian raids killed or captured nearly a fifth of the soldiers in local forts, and over three thousand settlers across theWest Branch Susquehanna Valley fled to Fort Augusta in a mass exodus known as "the Great Runaway."[18]: 424 [19] The fort at that time had a garrison of fewer than one hundred troops, and Colonel Samuel Hunter, the commander, made an urgent plea for reinforcements. Congress ordered eight hundred and fifty militia to defend the fort.[6]: 121–123
After 1780, the fort was abandoned,[16]: 369 although the colonel's residence was occupied until 1784 by the fort's last commander, Colonel Samuel Hunter (1732-1784), who died there and was buried nearby.[6]: 79–80 The fort was dismantled in 1796,[17] except for the colonel's residence, where Colonel Hunter's family lived until 1848, when it was burned down by a disgruntled servant.[12]
AWorks Progress Administration (WPA) investigation of the fort was conducted in 1938,[20] however the excavation records have been lost. Excavations in 1978-1979 uncovered portions of the palisade wall and the dry moat, and 18th-century artifacts such as animal bones, musket balls, gun parts, buttons, cannon balls, and colonial ceramics as well as older Indian objects were recovered.
Investigations in 1981, 1992, and 2005-2006 defined and located parts of structures mentioned in historic documents, including the probable location of the fort’s northeastbastion.[21] Excavations in this area uncovered the remains of a log footer, the dry moat, and various military artifacts.
Excavations in 1992 concentrated on thepowder magazine, a 10-foot by 12-foot underground brick-lined storage area built in 1758, which was repaired.[22] During the mid-19th century, a wooden building stood over the underground chamber and at one time it was enlarged and strengthened to serve as the first jail in Northumberland County.[23]
Today, on the site of the old fort, theNorthumberland County Historical Society has its headquarters in the Hunter House Museum inSunbury, Pennsylvania.[24] The museum contains historical and archaeological artifacts dealing with Fort Augusta and items of local history. It also contains Fort Augusta's well and the original powder magazine,[3] as well as a genealogical library of material on early families inNorthumberland County and surrounding counties. A model of the fort, built in 2013, stands in the front of the museum as a replica of the original model, which was built in 1939, and taken down in 1974.[25] The model of the fort was reconstructed and rededicated on 10 November 2013.[26]
