Fort Granville was a militia
stockade
A stockade is an enclosure of palisades and tall walls, made of logs placed side by side vertically, with the tops sharpened as a defensive wall.
Etymology
''Stockade'' is derived from the French word ''estocade''. The French word was derived ...
located in the colonial
Province of Pennsylvania
The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn after receiving a land grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania ("Penn's Woods") refers to W ...
. Its site was about a mile from
Lewistown, in what is now
Granville Township,
Mifflin County
Mifflin County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 46,143. Its county seat is Lewistown. The county was created on September 19, 1789, from parts of Cumberland County and Northumberlan ...
. Active from 1755 until 1756, the stockade briefly sheltered pioneer settlers in the
Juniata River
The Juniata River () is a tributary of the Susquehanna River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed August 8, 2011 in central Pennsylvania. The river is ...
valley 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 ...
.
Background
After the French victory in the
Battle of the Monongahela
The Battle of the Monongahela (also known as the Battle of Braddock's Field and the Battle of the Wilderness) took place on 9 July 1755, at the beginning of the French and Indian War, at Braddock's Field in what is now Braddock, Pennsylvania, ea ...
on July 9, 1755, English settlers, who set up farms on Native American lands that they had illegally squatted on drew in hostilities from Native Americans. Native Americans who never legally ceded their land, resorted to
hit-and-run
In traffic laws, a hit and run or a hit-and-run is the act of causing a traffic collision and not stopping afterwards. It is considered a supplemental crime in most jurisdictions.
Additional obligation
In many jurisdictions, there may be an ...
tactics on the Pennsylvania frontier. The Native American tribes whose land was underhandedly sold by the Iroquois and the Province of Pennsylvania then entered in alliances with Native Americans from present-day Ohio. The underhanded doings of the English and the Iroquois led to the
Franco-Indian alliance
The Franco-Indigenous Alliance was an alliance between North American indigenous nations and the French, centered on the Great Lakes and the Illinois country during the French and Indian War (1754–1763). The alliance involved French settlers on ...
with Native American Nations who distrusted the Iroquois, the British, and Pennsylvania. The Shawnee and Delaware sought to drive settlers off of land sold out from under the Shawnee by the British and Iroquois in western Pennsylvania. The provincial government of Pennsylvania decided that a string of forts should be constructed across the province from the
Delaware Water Gap
Delaware Water Gap is a water gap on the border of the U.S. states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania where the Delaware River cuts through a large ridge of the Appalachian Mountains.
The gap makes up the southern portion of the Delaware Water Gap N ...
to the Maryland line. On December 17, 1755, Capt.
George Croghan
George Croghan (c. 1718 – August 31, 1782) was an Irish-born fur trader in the Ohio Country of North America (current United States) who became a key early figure in the region. In 1746 he was appointed to the Onondaga Council, the governin ...
was issued the order below as signed by
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...
, Joseph Fox, Joseph Hughs, and Evan Morgan:
Sir:—You are desired to proceed to Cumberland County and fix on proper places for erecting three stockades, viz.: One back of Patterson's, one upon Kishecoquillas, and one near Sideling Hill; each of them fifty feet square, with Block House on two of the corners, and a Barracks within, capable of lodging fifty men. You are also desired to agree with some proper Person or Persons to oversee the workmen at each Place, who shall be allowed such Wages as you shall agree to give, not exceeding one Dollar per day; and the workmen shall be allowed at the rate of six Dollars per month and their Provisions, till the work is finished.
Location and construction
Instead of constructing the fort at the mouth of the
Kishacoquillas Creek Kishacoquillas Creek (pronounced Kish-e-kō-kwil´-lis) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed August 8, 2011 tributary of the Juniata River in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania ...
, Croghan went up the Juniata River to a site near a spring. The exact location can no longer be determined, as the construction of the
Pennsylvania Canal
The Pennsylvania Canal (or sometimes Pennsylvania Canal system) was a complex system of transportation infrastructure improvements including canals, dams, locks, tow paths, aqueducts, and viaducts. The Canal and Works were constructed and assemb ...
destroyed the spring around 1829.
According to historian Walter O'Meara, "This fort was an important link in the chain of strongpoints on the west side of the
Susquehanna iver
Iver is a large civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England. In addition to the central clustered village, the parish includes the residential neighbourhoods of Iver Heath and Richings Park.
Geography, transport and economy
Part of the 43-square- ...
commanding the point where the Juniata falls through the mountains."
Military history
![Un poste anglais attaqué par les Français vers 1754 - 1756](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Un_poste_anglais_attaqu%C3%A9_par_les_Fran%C3%A7ais_vers_1754_-_1756.jpg)
By the summer of 1756, the local settlers only left the fort when absolutely necessary due to an increase in the number of sightings of Native Americans intent on reclaiming their land. In 1754, the British and Iroquois had sold lands traditionally recognized as belonging to the Shawnee. In response, the Shawnee called on Indian allies from across the Ohio Valley. Delaware and Illinois warriors, along with a small group of French soldiers joined the Shawnee in their effort to drive off the new interlopers by attacking recently established farms. farms. By the summer of 1756, the combined Native American forces had driven most settlers in the area to Fort Granville. Assistance for the recent settlers arrived under the command of Lt. Armstrong with a militia force to protect them during the harvest. Some of this militia was sent south to Tuscarora to help the settlers there. Around July 22, some sixty to seventy Indian warriors -including Shawnee, Delaware, and Illinois - appeared outside the fort ready for battle, but the commanding officer declined to engage in hopes they would dissipate. The Native Americans fired at one man and wounded him but he was able to get back into the fort with no serious injury. A short distance from the river they killed a man named Baskins, burned his house, and took his wife and children captive. They also took Hugh Carrol and his family prisoners.
On July 30, Capt. Edward Ward, commandant at Fort Granville, took all but twenty-four men out of the fort to protect settlers in Sherman's Valley, leaving Lt. Edward Armstrong in command at the fort.
The Native Americans ascertained the number left behind, and one hundred of them, along with fifty-five Frenchmen,
led by
Francois Coulon de Villiers—not his brother,
Louis Coulon de Villiers
Louis Coulon, Sieur de Villiers (17 August 1710 – 2 November 1757) was a French military officer who served during the French and Indian War. Perhaps his greatest claim to fame is the fact that he is the only military opponent to force Geor ...
, as is often written incorrectly—attacked the fort on August 2. "Most of the garrison was away, protecting harvesters in the vicinity; but a Lieutenant Armstrong and 24 men held off the attackers until the next morning."
About midnight, Coulon's men succeeded in setting Fort Granville on fire. Armstrong was shot while trying to extinguish the fire, and the French commander ordered a suspension of hostilities. Coulon offered quarter to the defenders for their surrender several times, but Armstrong would not surrender. He was later shot a second time and succumbed.
Shortly after Armstrong's death, Sergeant John Turner surrendered the fort, garrison, and civilians who had taken refuge inside the stockade. The unfortunate sergeant was made an example of by the victors. They tied him to a stake and "after having heated several old gun barrels red-hot, they danced around him, and every minute or two, seared and burned his flesh... After tormenting him almost to death, they scalped him, and then held up a lad, who ended his sufferings by laying open his skull with a hatchet."
The death of Turner was due to a personal feud with an Indian whom he had had badly beaten at a previous time. The captives were taken to
Fort de Chartres
Fort de Chartres was a French fortification first built in 1720 on the east bank of the Mississippi River in present-day Illinois. It was used as the administrative center for the province, which was part of New France. Due generally to river floo ...
in the
Illinois country
The Illinois Country (french: Pays des Illinois ; , i.e. the Illinois people)—sometimes referred to as Upper Louisiana (french: Haute-Louisiane ; es, Alta Luisiana)—was a vast region of New France claimed in the 1600s in what is n ...
, where they were ransomed from the Indians by the French officers and local inhabitants. Escorted to New Orleans, they were then repatriated to England and eventually returned to the American colonies.
Following orders from the French commander, Fort Granville was burnt by
Captain Jacobs
Tewea, better known by his English name Captain Jacobs, (d. September 8, 1756) was a Lenape chief during the French and Indian War. Jacobs received his English name from a Pennsylvanian settler named Arthur Buchanan, who thought the chief resembled ...
, leader of the Delaware participants.
The French and Indian raid led to retaliation in the form of the
Kittanning Expedition
The Kittanning Expedition, also known as the Armstrong Expedition or the Battle of Kittanning, was a raid during the French and Indian War that led to the destruction of the American Indian village of Kittanning, which had served as a staging p ...
, led by Lt. Armstrong's brother,
John Armstrong.
See also
*
Province of Pennsylvania
The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn after receiving a land grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania ("Penn's Woods") refers to W ...
References
{{reflist
Granville
Granville
Granville
Mifflin County, Pennsylvania
Pre-statehood history of Pennsylvania