Fort Shirley (initially known as Croghan's Fort) was a military fort located in present-day Shirleysburg, Pennsylvania.
History
Location and description
No contemporary description of the fort survives, but in 1875 Milton Scott Lytle interviewed a man who had played in the ruins of the fort as a child. He told Lytle: "It was a log fort of considerable strength and size, standing on the edge of the plateau, south of the Fort Run and west of the road entering Shirleysburg from Mount Union."
[ Lytle, Milton Scott, History of Huntingdon County, in the state of Pennsylvania: from the earliest times to the centennial anniversary of American independence, July 4, 1876, Lancaster, PA: William H. Roy, 1876]
Construction
In 1753, George Croghan built a trading post and homestead at
Aughwick Creek and the
Juniata River.
The trading post grew into a small community called Aughwick Old Town, augmented by some two hundred Iroquois,
Lenape, and Shawnee refugees who had fled to Aughwick following the destruction of
Logstown in July 1754.
[ Henry Wilson Temple, "Logstown," The Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, vol. 1, no. 1, Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania., 1918. Pp 248-258] Conrad Weiser visited Aughwick in September 1754 and found it surrounded by fields of corn, squash and pumpkins as well as "about twenty cabins with...at least 200 Indians, men, women and children."
[ Burns, Jonathan A., Drobnock, George John, and Smith, Jared M. 2008. "Croghan at Aughwick: History, Maps, and Archaeology Collide in the Search for Fort Shirley." PAST Journal, Volume 33, 2010. The International Society for Landscape, Place, & Material Culture] Among these refugees was the
Seneca people leader
Tanacharison.
[ Hunter, William Albert. Forts on the Pennsylvania Frontier: 1753–1758, (Classic Reprint). Fb&c Limited, 2018.] In December 1754 Richard Peters wrote to Croghan that his trading post "ought to be fortified for the Security of the Province...Is it not absolutely necessary for the Settlers of Cumberland County to have a Place of Security to the West of the Blue Hills, and on this side of the Allegheny Hills? If so, can there be a more proper place than Auckquick?"
In September 1755, Croghan began fortifying his post[ Waddel, Louis M. and Bomberger, Bruce D. 1996. The French and Indian War In Pennsylvania, 1753–1763. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg PA, 1996.] to protect against Native American attacks after General Edward Braddock's defeat at the Battle of the Monongahela.[ Thomas Lynch Montgomery, ed. Report of the Commission to Locate the Site of the Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania, vol 1, Harrisburg, PA: W.S. Ray, state printer, 1916]
Military history
.]]In December 1755, the fort was taken over by the government of the Province of Pennsylvania, garrisoned with provincial troops, and Croghan was given a captain's commission.
[ Volwiler, Albert T. George Croghan and the Westward Movement, 1741-1782. Arthur H. Clarke and Co., Cleveland, OH 1926] In January 1756, the fort was named Fort Shirley in honor of
William Shirley, who was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in North America upon the death of General Braddock.
On 9 February, Governor Morris wrote to General Shirley:
- "...about twenty miles northward of Fort Lyttelton, at a place called Aughwick, another fort is erected something larger than Fort Lyttelton, which I have taken the liberty of naming Fort Shirley. This stands near the Kittanning Path used by the Indians and Indian traders, to and from Ohio River."
Croghan was assigned to build several other forts and to recruit men for their garrisons, and this required him to leave Fort Shirley. In March 1756 he resigned, unhappy with the way the Provincial government was managing the war, and Hugh Mercer took command of Fort Shirley.[ Wainwright, Nicholas B. 1959. George Croghan, Wilderness Diplomat. University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, N.C.]
On 18 April, Mercer wrote to Governor Morris that he found the 30-man garrison preparing to desert as they had not been paid for several months. He was unable to complete repairs at the fort due to lack of tools, and discovered that many of the garrison's 30 guns were unfit for use. There was a lack of gunpowder and lead for making bullets. Mercer requested that the garrison be doubled to 60 men.
Fort Shirley, along with Fort Granville, Fort Lyttleton, and Fort Patterson, formed a defensive chain that stretched from the lower Juniata River and Aughwick Creek valleys.[ J. W. Jordan, A History of the Juniata River Valley in Three Volumes, vol. III. National Historical Association, Harrisburg, PA, 1936](_blank) After Braddock's defeat, these forts came under attack by several Native American tribes, as well as French troops. French correspondence shows that, in June 1756, Ensign Pierre-Louis Boucher Niverville de Montizambert was ordered by Governor-General Vaudreuil to attack Fort Shirley, but when he arrived with seven French soldiers and 20 Indians led by the Lenape chief Tamaqua, they decided that the fort was too well-defended, and chose to assault Fort Bigham instead.
In March 1756, Croghan received a warning from Native American friends that preparations were being made by François Coulon de Villiers to assault Fort Shirley, and in July a combined force of 100 warriors and 55 French troops[ Daniel P. Barr, "Victory at Kittanning? Reevaluating the Impact of Armstrong's Raid on the Seven Years' War in Pennsylvania", The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. CXXXI, No. 1, January 2007, pp 5-32]
Kittanning Expedition
Immediately after Fort Granville was burned, Colonel John Armstrong began planning an attack on the
Lenape village of Kittanning, which served as a staging area for raids against English settlements, and where
Captain Jacobs and
Shingas, two prominent Lenape leaders, were believed to be residing. Troops gathered at Fort Shirley and made their way through a roadless stretch of mountains and forest to the village, which they destroyed on 8 September 1756, killing Captain Jacobs and rescuing 11 captives.
[ Robert Robison, "Colonel J. Armstrong's Attack on the Kittaning", in A Selection of some of the most interesting narratives of outrages committed by the Indians in their wars with the white people, Archibald Loudon, ed. Carlisle: A. Loudon Press, 1811] Captain Mercer participated in the attack.
[ William Albert Hunter, "Victory at Kittanning", Pennsylvania History, vol. 23, no. 3, July 1956; pp 376-407] He and a number of other soldiers who were separated in the fighting straggled back to Fort Shirley during the days following the expedition.
Abandonment
Following the attack on Kittanning, Colonel Armstrong wrote to Deputy Governor William Denny that Fort Shirley would be difficult to defend from a major assault:
- "As Fort Shirley is not easily defended, and their water may be taken possession of by the enemy, it running at the foot of a high bank eastward of the fort and no well dug, I am of opinion, from its remote situation, that it cannot serve the country in the present circumstances, and if attacked, no doubt will be taken if not strongly garrisoned, but, extremities excepted, I cannot evacuate this without your Honour's orders."
On 15 October 1756, Governor Denny announced to the Council at Philadelphia that Fort Shirley was to be evacuated by his order.
Archaeology
Using maps and
title deeds as guidance, archaeologists uncovered traces of the fort adjacent to the Benjamin B. Leas House, also known as the Shirleysburg Female Seminary, in present-day Shirleysburg, Pennsylvania.
In 2009, a metal detector survey uncovered musket balls and
pewter buttons dating to the 18th century, in addition to a copper charm which probably belonged to an African slave or indentured servant, bearing the inscription
Shahada in Arabic.
[ "Fort Shirley Archaeology Project: Faunal Analysis," November 29, 2017] In 2011, the Pennsylvania State University archaeological
field school found several charred
palisade logs that may have been part of the fort's stockade, as well as wire-wound glass
trade beads, a Jew's harp, Native American pottery
sherds and flint tools.
In 2012 the complete outline of the fort's foundations was identified, including original palisade trenches indicating that the fort was 135 feet by about 165 feet.
[ Rebecca Berdar, "Fort Shirley uncovered: Archeologists work to find fourth wall in Colonial era post," Huntington Daily News, June 25, 2012][Jonathan Burns, "Report from the Fort: A Brief Summary of the 2012 Penn State University Archaeology Field School at Fort Shirley (36HU94)," This Week In Pennsylvania Archaeology, Friday, July 6, 2012]
Excavations from 2010-2012 found a total of 25,786 artifacts, including some over 8,000 years old. In 2013-2014 the dig uncovered a bake oven, a Outhouse and a trash midden.[ Adam Watson, "James Creek native to lead Fort Shirley project for fourth year: Archaeologist shares tale with Three Springs Historical Society," Huntington Daily News, May 3, 2013] Analysis of animal bones found in the area provided evidence about the diet of soldiers stationed at the fort.
Memorialization
A historical marker was placed on the west side of U.S. Route 522 near
Aughwick Creek, Shirleysburg on 29 May, 1926.
[ "Fort Shirley Historical Marker," 2023] A stone marker with a brass plaque stands near by, also erected in 1926, by the Pennsylvania Historical Commission and the Society of Pennsylvania Women in New York.
[ Christopher Coleman, "Fort Shirley Marker," Historical Marker Database, 2 February 2011] A third marker stands on Croghan Pike near the site of the fort.
[ Howard C. Ohlhous, "Fort Shirley," Historical Marker Database, 21 July, 2011]
The Fort Shirley Heritage Association operates a museum which holds artifacts found in the vicinity of the fort, including Native American artifacts and blacksmith tools. There is also a replica of George Croghan’s trading post.[ "Fort Shirley Heritage Association," Huntingdon County Historical Society]
See also
External links
