Fort Granville Fort Granville was a militia stockade located in the colonial Province of Pennsylvania . Its site was about a mile from Lewistown , in what is now Granville Township , Mifflin County . Active from 1755 until 1756 , the stockade briefly sheltered pioneer settlers in the Juniata River valley during the French and Indian War . Background . After the French victory in the Battle of the Monongahela on July 9 , 1755 , English settlers on the Pennsylvania frontier were exposed to hostile hit - and - run raids from their adversaries of the Franco - Indian alliance . As the Shawanese and Delawares grew bolder in their excursions in the frontier , it was decided by the provincial government that a string of forts should be constructed across the province from the Delaware Water Gap to the Maryland line . On December 17 , 1755 , Capt . George Croghan was issued the order below as signed by Benjamin Franklin , Joseph Fox , Joseph Hughs , and Evan Morgan : " Sir : — You are desired to proceed to Cumberland County and fix on proper places for erecting three stockades , viz . : One back of Patterson ' s , one upon Kishecoquillas , and one near Sideling Hill ; each of them fifty feet square , with Block House on two of the corners , and a Barracks within , capable of lodging fifty men . You are also desired to agree with some proper Person or Persons to oversee the workmen at each Place , who shall be allowed such Wages as you shall agree to give , not exceeding one Dollar per day ; and the workmen shall be allowed at the rate of six Dollars per month and their Provisions , till the work is finished . " Location and construction . Instead of constructing the fort at the mouth of the Kishacoquillas Creek , Croghan went up the Juniata River to a site near a spring . The exact location can no longer be determined , as the construction of the Pennsylvania Canal destroyed the spring around 1829 . According to historian Walter O ' Meara , " This fort was an important link in the chain of strongpoints on the west side of the Susquehanna [ River ] , commanding the point where the Juniata falls through the mountains . " Military history . By the summer of 1756 , the local settlers only left the fort when absolutely necessary due to an increase in the number of sightings of hostile natives . Assistance arrived under the command of Lt . Armstrong with a militia force to protect them during the harvest . Some of this militia was sent south to Tuscarora to help the settlers there . Around July 22 , some sixty to seventy warriors appeared outside the fort ready for battle , but the commanding officer declined to engage in hopes they would dissipate . On July 30 , Capt . Edward Ward , commandant at Fort Granville , took all but twenty - four men out of the fort to protect settlers in Sherman ' s Valley , leaving Lt . Edward Armstrong in command at the fort . The natives ascertained the number left behind , and one hundred of them , along with fifty - five Frenchmen , led by Francois Coulon de Villiers — not his brother , Louis Coulon de Villiers , as is often written incorrectly — attacked the fort on August 2 . " Most of the garrison was away , protecting harvesters in the vicinity ; but a Lieutenant Armstrong and 24 men held off the attackers until the next morning . " About midnight , Coulon ' s men succeeded in setting Fort Granville on fire . Armstrong was shot while trying to extinguish the fire , and the French commander ordered a suspension of hostilities . Coulon offered quarter to the defenders for their surrender several times , but Armstrong would not surrender . He was later shot a second time and succumbed . Shortly after Armstrong ' s death , Sergeant John Turner surrendered the fort , garrison , and civilians who had taken refuge inside the stockade . The unfortunate sergeant was made an example of by the victors . They tied him to a stake and " after having heated several old gun barrels red - hot , they danced around him , and every minute or two , seared and burned his flesh . . . After tormenting him almost to death , they scalped him , and then held up a lad , who ended his sufferings by laying open his skull with a hatchet . " The death of Turner was due to a personal feud with an Indian had had badly beaten at a previous time . The captives were taken to Fort de Chartres in the Illinois country , where they were ransomed from the Indians by the French officers and local inhabitants . Escorted to New Orleans , they were then repatriated to England and eventually returned to the American colonies . Following orders from the French commander , Fort Granville was burnt by Captain Jacobs , leader of the Delaware participants . The French and Indian raid led to retaliation in the form of the Kittanning Expedition , led by Lt . Armstrong ' s brother , John Armstrong .