18th-century frontier fort at the current site of Cumberland, Maryland
Fort Cumberland, 1755 (1878)
Fort Cumberland (built 1754) was an 18th-century frontier fort at the current site ofCumberland, Maryland, USA. It was an important military and economic center during theFrench and Indian War (1754–63) and figured significantly in the early career ofGeorge Washington.
At the current location of the city ofCumberland, Maryland, a crude frontier fort was constructed at the confluence ofWills Creek and thePotomac River in fall 1754 by troops of the Maryland militia, under the command of CaptainJohn Dagworthy, and under the overall command of ColonelJames Innes, the commander-in-chief of colonial forces at that time.[1] A few years earlier,Thomas Cresap had established a trading post nearby, and hired Native Americans including the local chiefNemacolin to blaze a shorter path across the Allegheny Mountains to Redstone Creek on theMonongahela River, which became known asNemacolin's Path. Initially namedFort Mount Pleasant, it was renamed Fort Cumberland in 1755.[2] Ft Cumberland figured prominently in the French & Indian War in 1755, when it became a rally point for British forces under command ofGeneral Braddock. The wood palisadefort is now gone, and occupying the site is the existingEmmanuel Episcopal Church, but the old fort tunnels still remain underneath.
This fort once marked the westernmost outpost of theBritish Empire inAmerica, and was the jumping-off point forGeneral Braddock's disastrous expedition against theFrench atFort Duquesne in present-dayPittsburgh,Pennsylvania. When Braddock was killed, a young officer ofVirginiamilitia,George Washington, led the troops back to Fort Cumberland. At the fort, Washington clashed with Captain Dagworthy over the issue of military rank and which colonial officer should be in command: Washington was a major in the Virginia militia, outranking the Maryland captain, but Dagworthy countered that because he also held a royal commission as a captain in theProvincial Troops, he automatically outranked any colonial militia officer.[3][4]
Fort Cumberland was a supply center of basic provisions such as flour, salt, and lead for theWestern Department of the Continental Army during theAmerican Revolutionary War.[5] The fort also served as a prisoner-of-war camp for British prisoners from about 1778 until the end of the war.[5]
In May 1755, one of the British officers with General Braddock described the newly christened Fort Cumberland: "[It] is situated within 200 yards of Will's Creek, on a hill and about 400 from the Potomack; its length from east to west is about 200 yards, and breadth 46 yards, and is built by logs driven into the ground, and about 12 feet above it." Eleven days later, he reported that 100 carpenters were at work building a magazine and constructing a bridge over Will's Creek.[6]
Eventually Fort Cumberland evolved into an earthen fort with twenty-foot-thick earthworks.[5]
Diagrams and drawings of the fort exist in theBritish Museum. A scale model of the fort resides in the aforementioned church[1].[7]
^Edward H. Nabb Research Center for Delmarva History & Culture, Special Collections & Exhibits,Salisbury Times – June 29, 1962,Delmarvan Once Disputed Gen. Washington’s Rank, by Dr. William H. Wroten, Jr.; accessed 13 October 2010.
^abcDietle, L. (2019)."Fort Cumberland", Volume 2, Allegany County Historical Society.ISBN978-1080955091.
Clites Sr. Gary Ridgeley and Carpendale, West Virginia From 1750 A History, 2008, Knobley Mountain Press,ISBN978-1-4357-2044-2.
Fenwick, George Map of the Potomac River and Wagon Road to Monogahela River, 1800, drawn by George Fenwick, based on the surveys of Colonel Francis Deakins, NPS, MARS Facilities, Abner Cloud collection, ABCL 000041.
Fort Cumberland Bicentennial, 1755-1955 Souvenir program, 1955, Commercial Press, Cumberland (out-of-print) (Allegany College Library).
Fowler, William M. Jr. Empires Collide: French & Indian War 1754-1763, 2006, Osprey,ISBN1-84603-089-7.
Hansrote, Hazel Groves Historic Fort Cumberland Maryland, 1979, Preservation Society of Allegany County (MD). (out-of-print) (Allegany College Library).
Hunt, J. William, "Nearly Half Century of Cumberland History Associated with George Washington," Cumberland Times-News, 1955. (Allegany College Library).
Muller, John A Treatise Containing the Practical Part of Fortification, 1755. London. Reprinted 2010,ISBN114845280X.
Powell, Allan, Fort Cumberland, 1989,ISBN0961999527. (out-of-print) (Allegany College Library).
Powell, Allan, Maryland and the French and Indian War, Gateway Press; 1st edition (1998), ASIN B004ZRLCCO., Gateway Press; 1st edition (1998), ASIN B004ZRLCCO.
Smith, Claiborne T. Jr. (1988)."Innes, James". In Powell, William S (ed.).Dictionary of North Carolina Biography. Vol. 3 (H-K). Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.ISBN9780807818060.
Stegmaier, Harry Jr., et al. Allegany County - A History, 1976, McClain Publishing, Parsons, WV.ISBN0-87012-257-6.
British Library,http://catalogue.bl.ukArchived 2012-05-04 at theWayback Machine, System number 004987636, A Plan of Fort Cumberland, on Will’ Creek and Potomack River…., scale 1:960, 12 Feb. 1755. Part of King George III’s topological collection.
British Library,http://catalogue.bl.ukArchived 2012-05-04 at theWayback MachineSystem number 004987637, A Plan of the fort and barracks at Mount Pleasant (Fort Cumberland)…1755, scale 1:420, Part of King George III’s topological collection.
Stakem, Patrick H. Fort Cumberland, Global War in the Appalachians: A Resource Guide, 2012, PRB Press, ASIN B0088BWK06.
