Fort Ashby is a historic stockade

fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

located in

Fort Ashby, West Virginia Fort Ashby is a census-designated place (CDP) in Mineral County, West Virginia, United States, along Patterson Creek. It is part of the Cumberland, MD- WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,380 at the 2010 census. The communit ...

, US. A military installation constructed during the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

, it is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

Origin

On October 26, 1755, Colonel

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

gave orders to build a stockade and fort on the East Side of

Pattersons Creek Patterson Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 15, 2011 tributary of the North Branch Potomac River in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle, in the United States. ...

. The fort was completed about six weeks later, commanded by Captain John Ashby and his 2nd Company of Rangers. He had orders from Colonel Washington to remain quiet as long as he could and to hold the fort as long as possible, but if necessary rather than surrender, he should burn it and try to escape to

Fort Sellers Fort Sellers was a small stockade on the east side of Pattersons Creek at the confluence with the Potomac River, in Franklin District, in present-day Mineral County, West Virginia Mineral County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. I ...

on the east side of mouth of Patterson's Creek. The only major battle at Fort Ashby occurred in 1756 when Lieutenant Robert Rutherford and his Rangers were defeated by a band of French and Indians.

Ownership

The Friends of Ashby's Fort own Fort Ashby. The museum is open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, March - November, and for special events. It was listed on the

in 1970.

References

External links

* 1755 establishments in the Thirteen Colonies

Ashby Ashby may refer to: People * Ashby (surname) * Alan la Zouche, 1st Baron la Zouche of Ashby (1267–1314), governor of Rockingham Castle and steward of Rockingham Forest, England * Walter Ashby Plecker (1861–1947), American physician and publi ...

buildings and structures in Mineral County, West Virginia

landmarks in West Virginia military and war museums in West Virginia museums in Mineral County, West Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Mineral County, West Virginia {{MineralCountyWV-NRHP-stub

Origin

Ownership

See also

References

External links