Fort Gaddis (South Union Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania)
South Union Township, Fayette County · Pennsylvania · American Revolution, Whiskey Rebellion
History & Significance
Built between 1769 and 1774, this one-and-a-half story log structure measuring 26 feet long and 20 feet wide served as the homestead of Colonel Thomas Gaddis, a military officer responsible for frontier defense who likely designated his home as a refuge from hostile Indians and a venue for community gatherings during emergencies. The property was situated near the Catawba Trail, an important north-south trade route extending from New York to Tennessee, which later became locally known as the Morgantown Road and eventually old U.S. Route 119.
Thomas Gaddis (1742–1834) was born in Virginia and married Hannah Rice in 1764, the same year he built Fort Gaddis, a refuge from the Indians located on the Catawba Trail. During the American Revolution, Gaddis enlisted as a private in the 13th Virginia Regiment, was commissioned a lieutenant colonel and promoted to full colonel by Governor Patrick Henry, and subsequently took command of multiple frontier forts including Fort Pickett, Fort Scott, Fort Jackson, and Fort Lindley.
In the summer of 1794, during the Whiskey Rebellion, a liberty pole was erected at Gaddis' home in a public protest event attended by insurgents opposing the federal excise tax on whiskey. The structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 as the Thomas Gaddis Homestead.
Key Facts
Map
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🧳 Visiting
What you’ll see when you visit:
- Oldest known building in Fayette County, a late 18th-century log cabin
- Original Revolutionary War-era structure with later additions removed
- Site of political gatherings during the Whiskey Rebellion uprising
- Community shelter and gathering place dating to early colonial Pennsylvania
Sources
- https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/pa1916/
- https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Fort_Gaddis
- https://www.revwartalk.com/thomas-gaddis/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Union_Township,_Fayette_County,_Pennsylvania
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiskey_Rebellion
- https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/whiskey-rebellion
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