Fort Franklin (Venango County, Pennsylvania)

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Revision as of 01:47, 23 January 2025 by Cmacauley (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) 18th century fort in Pennsylvania Not to be confused with Fort Franklin (New York) or Fort Franklin (Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania).

Fort Franklin
Near Franklin, Pennsylvania, United States
Fort FranklinFormer location of Fort Franklin in Pennsylvania
Coordinates	41°23′22″N 79°49′20″W / 41.38932°N 79.82217°W / 41.38932; -79.82217
Type	Fort
Site history
Built	1787
In use	1787-1796
Materials	Wood
Battles/wars	Northwest Indian War
Garrison information
Past commanders	Captain Jonathan Heart
Garrison	25-87

Pennsylvania Historical Marker
Designated	1947

Fort Franklin was a post-Revolutionary War fort built in 1787 on French Creek in what is now Venango County, Pennsylvania to protect local settlers from Native American raids during the Northwest Indian War. During the preceding years, settlers threatened by raids would have to seek shelter at Fort Pitt. Westward expansion of white settlements led to continual conflict with Native Americans, who were forced out of lands they had traditionally occupied. Fort Franklin quickly became the center of a growing community, the town of Franklin, Pennsylvania. Fort Franklin was never attacked, and it was replaced in 1796 by "The Garrison," a stockaded blockhouse, which was in turn abandoned in 1803, after military protection was no longer considered necessary.

History

Construction

In April 1787, Captain Jonathan Heart was ordered from Fort Pitt to take a detachment of 87 soldiers from the 1st Infantry Regiment and about a dozen workmen to a site on French Creek, about 85 miles north of Pittsburgh, not far from where Fort Venango had been burned during Pontiac's War in 1763. The site, situated on a bluff on the creek, twenty-five or thirty feet high, was chosen because of a ford across French Creek at that spot. The location also gave the fort strategic control over both the Allegheny River (a major trade route) and French Creek. Initially known as Captain Heart's Fort, Fort Franklin was built on a plan similar to Fort Venango, with a square redoubt about one hundred feet square and a blockhouse three stories high in the center. There were four bastions, each with a six-pounder cannon or a swivel gun. The fort featured a stone-lined gunpowder magazine and barracks with stone chimneys, adding to the expense of construction.

The site was controversial, as the fort was some 990 feet from the confluence of French Creek and the Allegheny. Captain Heart defended his choice because of the "proximity of timber".

The fort was surrounded by fertile farmland along the river. Within months, farmers, craftsmen and vendors had started constructing buildings near the fort, including a hotel. Within a year, Andrew Ellicott, who surveyed Washington, D.C., was hired to lay out the town of Franklin. In May 1788, the fort was inspected by Major Ebenezer Denny.

The fort's garrison was reduced to 25 men by June 1794, when Andrew Ellicott visited, noting that the fort was in need of repairs. Rising tension with Native Americans led the Pennsylvania government to refurbish forts along the New York border. Ellicott wrote:

"On my arrival, the place appeared to be in such a defenceless condition, that, with the concurrence of Captain Denny, and the officer (Captain Heart) commanding at the fort, we remained there some time, and employed the troops in rendering it more tenable. It may now be considered as defensible, provided the number of men is increased. The garrison, at present, consists of twenty-five men."

The Garrison

By 1794, a bridge had been built over French Creek adjacent to the fort. The fort's garrison was increased to 100 men, after warnings that the British were in alliance with Cornplanter and intended to attack the area. In a deposition at Fort Pitt on June 11 1794, D. Ransom, a trader at Fort Franklin, reported that "he had been advised to leave ...that the British and Indians would soon...form a junction with Cornplanter, on French creek; and were then to clear it by killing all the people, and taking all the forts on it." The attack did not happen, as a peace treaty was signed in August 1795.

In 1796, the Garrison, a strong wooden building about thirty by thirty-six feet in size and a story and a half high, was built. This smaller fortification was located close to the confluence of French Creek and the Allegheny and was intended to house a reduced garrison, mainly to protect the bridge over French Creek.

Abandonment

Following the Treaty of Greenville in August 1795, there was no further need for military protection, and Fort Franklin was dismantled and its materials repurposed in the construction of the town. The Garrison (now referred to as the Old Garrison) served as the Venango County Jail from 1804 to 1819, after which it was abandoned. It collapsed in 1824. The site has been inundated by the Allegheny River.

Memorialization

A historical marker was erected in 1947 by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission at the intersection of 13th Street (U.S. 322) and Franklin Avenue in Franklin. A historical marker for the Old Garrison was also placed in 1947, at the intersection of Liberty Street and 10th Street in Franklin.

References

External links

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