Fort Northkill (Berks County (near Shartlesville), Pennsylvania)
Berks County (near Shartlesville) · Pennsylvania · French and Indian War
History & Significance
Conrad Weiser, Pennsylvania's long-time ambassador to the Six Nations, directed the construction of forts to protect German farm families in the northern part of Tulpehocken Township from Native American attacks, including Fort Northkill, erected in early 1756. On January 25, 1756, Captain Jacob Morgan was ordered to leave twenty men at Fort Lebanon and proceed to a location halfway between that fort and Fort Henry to erect a stockade of about four hundred feet square.
A commissary inspection on June 20, 1756, reported the fort was considerably smaller than specified—a thirty-two-foot square with half-bastions at each corner, poorly constructed palisades, and a log house inside with no chimney that afforded little shelter in bad weather. Although the fort was garrisoned by Pennsylvania militia, they were unable to prevent continued attacks on local farmsteads, but the fort did provide some protection for the settlers themselves.
A diary kept from June through September 1757 describes ongoing dangers, including a June 29 attack in which a farmer and his wife were killed and scalped, and four children between six and ten were taken captive. On October 1, 1757, an attack in the neighborhood of the fort prompted application to Conrad Weiser at Reading for assistance, resulting in two lieutenants and forty men sent for relief. Lenape chiefs Shingas and Captain Jacobs launched dozens of Shawnee and Delaware raids against British colonial settlements, killing and capturing hundreds of colonists and destroying settlements across western and central Pennsylvania.
Key Facts
Map
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Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Northkill
- https://www.uppertulpehockentownship.com/history.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Springs_massacre
- https://www.berkspa.gov/getmedia/08e1274e-436f-405e-88f3-bf2bd9951fbb/08_NBJCP_CHAP08.pdf
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