Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1912-05-18
MARYLAND TO OWN
FORT FREDERICK
STATE Will PURCHASE TRACT
WITH HISTORIC LANDMARK
Built 10 Protect Early Settlers Against
Attacks From indians Which
Swarmed About Its Walls

Frederick, In the eastern part OF Wash
\ ington county. perhaps the oldest Col
onial landmark OF it's kind In the Unit
I'd States, win pass into the ownership
Of the State OF Maryland soon. and the
State win then possess what the Prov
lnee once wned but sold soon after
the conclusion of the Revolutionary
war.
A Law authorizing the State Fores-
I try Commission TO acquire tract Of
land including the fort for forest
reserve was passed at tile recent SEES
sion of the Maryland General Assem-.
1 ~, and $500 was appropriated for
that purpose. The for. WAS built in
1855. when iIoratio Sharpe was Gov.
ernor of the Province OF Maryland.
and 1t was sold by MARYLAND in 1870.
For many years II has been allowed
TO so to ruin. Various owners of the
4 farm of which II was an appurtenance
paid little attention 10 It. Nathan
Williams. a thrifty negro farmer took
down one OF its bastions TO get rock
to build barn. Since that time more
persons have been free with criticisms
OF Nothan Williams and what he did
with his own property than they have
been with money to help the State re-
gain one of its oldest landmarks. Not
until this year has the effort to get
the State interested In taking over the
property been successful.
Many previous efforts have been
made to appeal to the Legislature. and
ex-Gov. Edwin Warheld worked hard
as the head OF the Fort Frederick Pro-
tective Association, but despite the aid
OF many patriotic men and women of
Maryland he failed Judge Henry
Stockbridge. Jr., president OF the
Maryland Historical Society worked
hard for the measure. aided by many
others in the patriotic organizations.
Many Hostile indians
Indians were particularly hostile at
the time the fort was built, and the
countryside rang with tales of atroci-
ties committed by the redskin allies
of the French after Braddock's defeat
The fort became the refuge OF the set.
tiers Of what was then the western
frontier. and Col. George Washington
said In a letter written about that
time to Lord Fairfax:
THAT the Maryland settlements are
all abandoned Is certainly fact" The
garrison at the fort usually consisted
OF English officers and Colonial sold
iers OF Maryland, whose marksman-
ship was afterward so dreaded by the
redcoats In numerous Revolutionary
battles. The fort was peopled for
many years by men. women and child
rem seeking shelter behind its walls.
and not only dicing and card-playing.
but dancing with music on the harpsi-
chord and fiddle gave amusement for
the refugees sheltered there.
The redskins dared not so near the
fort. They kept aloft also from the
outpost sentinels. They we're dragged
In often by scouting parties, and ira
dition says that their usual fate was to
be taken short distance from the
fort at dawn of the following morning
and shot.
city OF Cumberland, was built long be-
fore Fort Frederick, but no trace OF II
is left, fine church edihce occupying
the brow OF the hill where once stood
this famous military outpost. The
structure that Gov. Horatio Sharpe
had built nearly 20 miles eastward
was one of the most formidable FORTH
cations erected In Colonial days. II IL
auadrangular in shape. each wall being
1870 feet long, 10 feet high, AZ feet
thick at the base and 2 feet at the top,
with bastion at each corner sur
mounted by six-pounder. The mas
sive gates swung on hinges that weigh
ed AZ pounds each. Cement was
brought from New YORK to hold TO-
gether the tough native limestone IN
a solid mass and in the wilderness
was completed a citadel that would
have proved no easy conquest for the
artillery OF the middle Eighteenth Cen
tury. No wonder the redskins Kept ~
a safe distancel No wonder the MS
tory of Fort Frederick lacks tragedy
ar even the account OF holly fought
battle. The ravages Of time and the
elements and OF the modern spirit OF
putting everything TO a commercial
use have made its marks upon II That
foe dared not make.
difference of opinion exists as to
how Fort Frederick Roi It's name
Some say IL was named after Freder'
lex Calvert, the last Lard Baltimore
others after the heir-arparent OF Eng
land at the time. George Frederick,
who became renowned within the per
iod beginning a few years before 1875
and ending few years later az
George III. Some say the wise Old GOV
ernor of the Province OF Maryland
paid compliment to both in the erec'
lion of his forest citadel II may be-
Used as Prison
After Burgoynes surrender at Sara
toga. Fort Frederick was used a. a
prison house for men who laid down
their arms at that noted battle. IN me
s4.stI N GarfRu