History Around Us: Fort Loudoun revisited The Black Boys Rebellion

  The fort itself was built around December 22nd 1756 as a British supply outpost and was described by by Rev. Thomas Barton who was General Forbes chaplain. "...The fort is a poor piece of work,irregularly built & badley situated at the bottom of a hill subject to damps & noxious vapors..." (Fort Loudon on the Frontier by Gary Hawbaker) 

 November 16th 1765 a little know event occurred on the Pennsylvania frontier at a remote outpost just below Parnell’s knob along Conocochegue Creek. 

  The Western tribes (Shawnee and Delaware) would cross the mountains on a frequent basis conducting raids and killing the inhabitants of the fledgling settlements instilling fear and terror in the local population... and anger!!

  On March 21rst 1765 it was reported in the Pennsylvania Journal “...Sometime ago Capt.Calender employed several waggons to carry Indian goods to Mr. Pollan’s (Possibly Pawlings Tavern)in Conogochieg, to be carried thence by packhorses to Fort Pitt. Unhappily the head came out of one of the barrels which was full of scalping knives.....The news of this alarmed the upper end of the county, and the neighboring parts of Maryland and Virginia...”(The Black Boys Uprising of 1765 by Dan Guzy)

  In the spring of 1765 the king issued a proclamation prohibiting from anyone trading with the Indians. 

Around March 1765 eighty one pack horses arrived in present day Mercersburg and the report was not only trading supplies but scalping knive,ammunition and other implements that could’ve used against the settlers.

Some fifty armed citizens met them and implored them them not to continue but the traders made game of what they said and continued. 

   James Smith along with around ten of his Black Boys headed for Sideling Hill to intercept and stop the supplies, out of eighty one loads sixty three were destroyed, 

   After several members of the Black Boys were captured and some guns confiscated it culminated in a standoff where the armed settlers procured thier comrades back from the British but not the guns.

  Hence on November 16th 1765 James Smith and the Black Boys surrounded the fort and fired upon it as a show of force but were not trying to inflict any casualties amongst the British.

  The guns were returned and the fort abandoned to the settlers, the British left and went further west to Fort Pitt.James Smith and the Black Boys 

 

Stay Safe

Bob

History Around Us: Fort McDowell (McDowell's Mill)

   Located in the village of Marks is the site of the Pennsylvania frontier fort at McDowell's Mill.

    From the marker
    This strong marks the sight of the fort at McDowell's Mill. Erected by John McDowell before 1754 it was used as a base of supplies and as a magazine until the erection of Fort Loudon in 1756. The military road from Pennsylvania connecting with the Braddock at Turkey Foot was built from this point in 1755 under the supervision of Col. James Burd. During the period of Indian hostility the fort at McDowell's Mill was the scene of many thrilling events.

From the book The Indian Wars of Pennsylvania by C.Hale Sipe
Pg.292
Massacre Near McDowell's Mill 
Early in November, 1756, the beautiful valley of the Conococheague, in Franklin County, was again devastated and many of 
its inhabitants were killed by the hostile Indians. Robert Callender, writing from Carlisle, on November 4th, thus informed Governor Denny of these atrocities: 
"This Day I received Advice from Fort McDowell that, on Monday or Tuesday last, one Samuel Perry, and his two Sons went from the Fort to their Plantation, and not returning at the time they proposed, the Commanding Officer there sent a corporal and fourteen Men to know the Cause of their Stay, who not finding them at the Plantation, they marched back towards the fort, and on their Return found the said Perry killed and scalped, and covered over with leaves.
 Immediately after a Party of Indians, in Number about thirty, appeared and attacked the soldiers, who returned the Fire, and fought for sometime until four of our People fell ; the rest then made off, and six of them got into the fort, but what became of the rest is not yet known; there are also two families cut off, but cannot tell the Number of people. It is likewise reported that the enemy in their retreat burnt a Quantity of Grain and sundry Houses in the Coves." 
(Pa. Archives, Vol. 3, page 29.) 

Four days later. Colonel John Armstrong wrote Governor Denny, from Carlisle, giving the list of the killed and missing in this bloody raid, as follows: 
"Soldiers Kill'd — James and William McDonald, Bartholomew McCafferty, Anthony McQuoid. 

ATROCITIES IN THE SUMMER AND AUTUMN OF 1756 293 
"Of the Inhabitants Kill'd— John Culbertson, Samuel Perry, 
Hugh Kerrel, John Woods, with his Wife and Mother-in-law, 
Elizabeth Archer, Wife to J no. Archer. 
"Soldiers Missing — James McCorkem, William Cornwall. 
Of the Inhabitants Missing — Four Children belonging to 
John Archer, Samuel Neely, a Boy, James McQuoid, a Child." 
(Pa. Archives, Vol. 3, pages 40 and 41.) 

Within sight of the location exists the remnants of an old cemetery with stone markers in the corner. I can only wonder if the remains of some of the mill inhabitants lay here.

Stay safe

Bob