First, hello to anyone who is finding their way here for the first time after my book signing this past Saturday! Thank you very much to everyone who turned out to see me. I had a really good time and they're hoping I'll come back again - maybe with a new book. We'll see what shakes out in the coming months.
I'm trying to get a little ahead of myself (instead of constantly feeling like I'm running behind) because the winter holidays are approaching, and since I'm in retail, you can imagine that my free time tends to be at a bit of a premium. So I'm doing my best to create a little bit of wiggle room in terms of having blog posts ready to fire up on a Wednesday. For this week's quest, we're heading back up to lovely Monroe County to have a look at a colonial fort which isn't there anymore.
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| The marker stands in front of the Jacob Stroud Mansion at 900 Main Street, Stroudsburg |
What happened was that in December 1755, a large family by the name of Hoeth was murdered by Natives; this forms part of the history of Fort Norris. The perpetrators then made their way to the home of Daniel Brodhead (who will appear in a future post), where they were successfully driven away, but the whole incident left the locals in terror. Governor Morris certainly had his hands full during the French and Indian War, so he appointed two men to work on improving the general defenses in eastern Pennsylvania. One of these was Benjamin Franklin, and I'm going to assume that he doesn't need much of an introduction; the other was James Hamilton, who later served as Deputy Governor of the Province of Pennsylvania. (His sister was Margaret Hamilton, who married William Allen, the founder of Allentown.)
Hamilton and Franklin arrived in Northampton County in time for Christmas, and Hamilton wrote to the governor about the state of affairs in the area. A pair of British captains by the names of Ashton and Trump were sent to Stroudsburg to oversee the construction of the fort, although it was slow work because of the harsh Pocono winter. Franklin dispatched 20 soldiers to guard a delivery of supplies of bread and axes, which reached the construction site in January and helped to speed things along. It's believed that the fort was finished on or about January 20, 1756, and named in honor of James Hamilton. Captain Trump was then sent to oversee the construction of Fort Norris, and was replaced at Fort Hamilton by a Captain Craig, native of the Northampton County community of Bath.
By the fort itself, however, Young was less than impressed, calling it "ill contrived and finished," with the stockades very poorly planted in the ground. In fact, he considered one of the stockades to be a danger, as it would be an excellent hiding place for attackers, and at his direction it was torn down entirely. It was also poorly manned; although designed for a garrison of 50 men at all times, it rarely had more than 40, and in fact usually had fewer than 20. Indeed, during Young's visit, there were only nine. According to his report to the governor, that was roughly half of the current garrison, and the others had escorted a prisoner to Easton to face charges of desertion.
Over the following year, Fort Hamilton was slowly abandoned, and by 1758 the visiting Col. James Burd found it to be in a "pitiable condition." It continued to be used by local families as a shelter for some time, but was eventually given up and entirely torn down. Fort Penn, which was built in the 1770s at the home of Jacob Stroud, replaced it in its purpose.
Montgomery concludes his thoughts about Fort Hamilton by offering an idea of what might have been.
At various times different plans were formulated for conducting the war and bringing it to a speedy termination. It had long been felt that the troops were too much scattered, and that too many insignificant stations and buildings were occupied by small garrisons. In April, 1757, it was therefore determined to concentrate the soldiers. Three forts were geographically selected as principal stations - Fort Henry between the Susquehanna and Schuylkill, Fort Allen on the Lehigh, and Fort Hamilton near the Delaware at the extreme eastern point. It was proposed to garrison each of these with one hundred men and abandon the remainder. The other troops were then to wage aggressive warfare against the enemy. This program, however excellent, could not be carried out. Had it been, Fort Hamilton might have occupied a more prominent niche in the early history of our State.
Sources and Further Reading:
Except where indicated, all writing and photography on this blog is the intellectual property of Laura Klotz. This blog is written with permission of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. I am not employed by the PHMC. All rights reserved.
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