Fort Ashby (Fort Ashby, Mineral County, West Virginia)
Fort Ashby, Mineral County · West Virginia · French and Indian War
History & Significance
After settlers were killed by Indians along Patterson Creek during summer and fall of 1755, George Washington ordered Fort Ashby and Fort Cocke be built to dissuade remaining settlers from fleeing and to protect them. Both were to be built in a quadrangular shape with 90-foot-long walls, bastions in the corners, barracks, and a magazine.
Captain John Ashby's Virginia Regiment company completed the fort in late October and early November 1755. During April 1756, a large party of Indians surrounded the fort and demanded its surrender; Captain Ashby refused and the Indians soon departed.
Among the enlisted men was Daniel Morgan, who would achieve fame during the Revolutionary War. After Washington ordered the Virginia Regiment to abandon the fort in 1757, it was probably garrisoned by local militia until Indian troubles ended, then disappeared from all official military correspondence.
In 1794, the fort was utilized by General Washington during the Whiskey Rebellion, with more than 1,500 soldiers commanded by General Morgan camping there en route to suppress the rebellion in western Pennsylvania. Today an old log building, probably a barracks, is all that remains of Fort Ashby; this structure, added to the National Register of Historic Places, is the last original structure associated with a frontier fort in West Virginia.
Key Facts
🧳 Visiting
What you’ll see when you visit:
- Original 1755 stockade fort built under George Washington's orders
- Period military architecture and earthworks from French and Indian War
- Museum exhibits and interpretive displays on colonial frontier life
- Historic setting along Pattersons Creek in Mineral County
Sources
- https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/entries/1980
- https://www.dar.org/national-society/historic-sites-and-properties/ashby-fort-site
- https://www.fortashby.org/
- https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=215882
- https://wvpublic.org/story/radio/april-17-1757-col-washington-orders-closing-ft-ashby/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Ashby,_West_Virginia
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