Catoctin clarion., 1923-02-15
FORT FREDERICK
TO BE PRESERVED

the Potomac River, near Big Pool,
Washington County, which was re-
Gently acquired by the old State Board
of Forestry, now known as the De-
partment of Forestry of the Univer
sity of Maryland, will be preserved
according to announcement just made.
The fort is more than 130 years old.
1t is on one of the eastern foothills
of the Allegilany mountains, overlook
ing the Potomac. The walls are of
stone, about 20 feet in height, four or
five feet in thickness at the base and
three feet at the top. At the foot of
the hill upon which the fort stands is
the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, be-
gun by President John Quincy Adams
as a national work on July 4, 1928, the
same day that Charles Carroll, of Car
rollton, laid the cornerstone of the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
Fort Frederick was erected by the
Colonial Government of Maryland in
the autumn of IT'S to protect the col
onists from the numerous Indian
raids which followed the defeat of
General Braddock that year. The sud-
den and hostile return of the Indians,
with some of their parties in command
of French officers, found the colonists
unprotected. Horatio Sharpe was gov
ernor of Maryland.
The Colonial Legislature was COM
posed principally of men who lived in
communities that We're not subject to
Indian raids and killings and they
we're slow in making appropriations
for the defense of this section of the
state, which in those days was "the
frontier"
Early in the strife Governor Sharpe
succeeded in getting an appropriation
of 5000 pounds sterling for the con-
struction of Fort Frederick, and so
great was his industry and determine
ton that in two months the fort had
been sufficiently advanced to accom-
modate 200 men. Governor Sharpe's
activity in behalf of the colonists dur
ing the Indian troubles, which contin-
ued for many years, was unremitting.
The history of the fort is not with
out it's romance. Several times dur
ing the Indian wars the French dis
patched raiding parties to capture it.
In 1855 a party of about SO Indians
under a French captain, crossed the
mountains from the west. The cap
tain carried written instructions to
proceed to Fort Frederick and there
meet another raiding party which
had preceded it, to capture the fort
and blow up the magazine. This party
marched through the Virginia settle
ments which skirted the south bank
of the Potomac and burned the houses,
killed and scalped the people or car
ried them off as prisoners.
A body of the settlers met an de-
feated this party of raiders and killed
the French captain. The other raid
ing party having met with losses at
the hands of the rifles of the sttlers,
abandoned the attack on the fort.
After the close of the Indian wars
Fort Frederick was abandoned until
the Revolutionary war when it was
fitted up and used as a prison for
British captives. Some of the prison
ers, including men of Burgoyne's army
who, after being exchanged, became
citizens of Washington county. During
the Civil War the fort was several
times occupied by troops as tempor-
ary encampment.
The first settlement in Washington
county was made by party of Scot
tish-Irish at the mouth of Conoco-
cheague creek, about 1875. The site
of this settlement was the point of
land opposite the present town of
Williamsport. Il was here that Cen
eral Braddock crossed the Potomac
and it was here that great magazine
of supplies was stored for the support
| of his army. Many Of those supplies