Fort Sellers | |
---|---|
Type | Fort |
Location | Mineral County, West Virginia, U.S. |
Coordinates | 39°33′49″N78°43′28″W / 39.5637°N 78.7245°W |
Built | 1756 (267 years ago) |
Built by | George Washington |
Fort Sellers was a small stockade on the east side of Pattersons Creek at the confluence with the Potomac River, in Franklin District, in present-day Mineral County, West Virginia. [1] The fort was erected by Colonel Washington.
Fort Sellers was one of a chain of four forts protecting the frontier. Fort Ohio was the first in the chain with Fort Sellers being the second and Fort Ashby and Fort Cocke being the outermost forts.
The dimensions of this fort are not known, but it was most likely similar in size to Fort Ashby, the stockade being 90 square feet (8.4 m2). The fort did not figure into Washington's plans for the defense of the frontier for on May 18, 1756, he wrote Col. Stephen stating he wished it were possible to remove the stores at the mouth of Pattersons Creek to Ashby's fort. Stephen was further told that if he found it impractical to move the supplies stored there from the fort, then he was to make the fort as strong as possible and to strengthen the garrison. He was also instructed to "put a more experienced officer than Mr. Brockenbrough (Lieut. Austin Brockenbrough, 10th Company, Virginia Regiment) at it, whose youth perhaps may be a means of his doing something inconsistent." [2]
Mineral County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is part of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, the population was 26,938. Its county seat is Keyser. The county was founded in 1866.
Fort Ashby is a census-designated place (CDP) in Mineral County, West Virginia, United States, along Patterson Creek. It is part of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,380 at the 2010 census. The community was originally chartered as Frankfort and then known as Alaska before it took the name of its well-known historic landmark. Fort Ashby is the location of the Mineral County Fair.
Fort Ashby is a historic stockade fort located in Fort Ashby, West Virginia, US. A military installation constructed during the French and Indian War, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
David Morgan, sometimes known as "The Great Indian Fighter", was a notable soldier, mountaineer, pioneer, and frontiersman in what is now the state of West Virginia.
Redstone Old Fort — or Redstone Fort or Fort Burd — on the Nemacolin Trail, was the name of the French and Indian War-era wooden fort built in 1759 by Pennsylvania militia colonel James Burd to guard the ancient Indian trail's river ford on a mound overlooking the eastern shore of the Monongahela River in what is now Fayette County, Pennsylvania near, or on the banks of Dunlap's Creek at the confluence. The site is unlikely to be the same as an earlier fort the French document as Hangard dated to 1754 and which was confusedly, likely located on the nearby stream called Redstone Creek. Red sandstones predominate the deposited rock column of the entire region.
Stephen Heard was an American planter, politician and military officer who briefly served as president of Georgia and was sometimes called "governor". Born in Virginia, Heard fought in the French and Indian War in the Virginia militia under George Washington, then with his father and brother moved to the Georgia colony based on a land grant for such service, and built two forts in Wilkes County called "Fort Heard". During the American Revolutionary War Heard served as a lieutenant colonel in the Georgia militia under Lieutenant John Dooly. He fought with Gen. Elijah Clarke at the Battle of Kettle Creek where he was captured but escaped. Voters elected Heard to the Georgia House of Representatives, where he served from 1779 to 1795. Heard's Fort was designated the seat of government for Georgia on February 3, 1780 and remained such until 1781, then developed into the town of Washington, Georgia. Fellow llegislators elected Heard as the state's executive, where he served from May 24, 1780, until August 18, 1781. One source records Heard as resigning as president in 1782.
Fort Cumberland was an 18th-century frontier fort at the current site of Cumberland, Maryland, USA. It was an important military and economic center during the French and Indian War (1754–63) and figured significantly in the early career of George Washington.
West Virginia Route 28 is a north–south route through the Potomac Highlands of the U.S. state of West Virginia. The southern terminus of the route is at West Virginia Route 39 in Huntersville. The northern terminus is at the Maryland state line in Wiley Ford, where the route continues into Cumberland as Canal Parkway upon crossing the North Branch Potomac River.
Indian Mound Cemetery is a cemetery located along the Northwestern Turnpike on a promontory of the "Yellow Banks" overlooking the South Branch Potomac River and Mill Creek Mountain in Romney, West Virginia, United States. The cemetery is centered on a Hopewellian mound, known as the Romney Indian Mound. Indian Mound Cemetery is also the site of Fort Pearsall, the Confederate Memorial, Parsons Bell Tower, and reinterments from Romney's Old Presbyterian Cemetery. The cemetery is currently owned and maintained by the Indian Mound Cemetery Association, Inc.
Fort Ohio was a stockade fort erected by Job Pearsall in 1749 on the present site of Ridgeley, West Virginia. The building was of log construction, 45 feet (14 m) long and 25 feet (7.6 m) wide, with two stories. Its name comes from the Ohio Company which did have a trading post at that location. The Ohio Company found success because a trail across the Allegheny Mountains from the Potomac River at Cumberland to near modern-day Pittsburgh offered a direct route to the Ohio River.
New Creek Blockhouse, was built about 1 mile west of New Creek to protect local settlers in 1750. The fortification consisted of a log blockhouse but without a stockade around it.
Fort Cocke was a stockade, made of wooden palisades up stream from Fort Ashby. It was a square ninety feet on a side and enclosed about 1/5 acre. Blockhouses were built at each of the four corners. A barracks to house fifty men was constructed within the stockade. It was built by Captain William Cocke's First Company of Rangers under orders of George Washington dated October 26, 1755. It has been suggested that the fort was probably completed within a month.
Belleville is an unincorporated community in Wood County, West Virginia, United States. Its elevation is 594 feet (181 m).
Adam Stephen was a Scottish-born American doctor and military officer who helped found what became Martinsburg, West Virginia. He emigrated to North America, where he served in the Province of Virginia's militia under George Washington during the French and Indian War. He served under Washington again in the American Revolutionary War, rising to lead a division of the Continental Army. After a friendly fire incident during the Battle of Germantown, Stephen was cashiered out of the army, but continued as a prominent citizen of western Virginia, including terms in the Virginia General Assembly representing Berkeley County.
Fort Van Meter — or Fort VanMeter — is a mid-18th century frontier fort in the South Branch Potomac River Valley about 9 miles (14 km) southwest of Romney in Hampshire County, West Virginia, USA. It is located 15 miles (24 km) northeast of Moorefield and about a mile northeast of the former community of Glebe at the northern end of the rugged river gorge known as The Trough.
Patterson Creek is a 51.2-mile-long (82.4 km) tributary of the North Branch Potomac River in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle, in the United States. It enters the North Branch east of Cumberland, Maryland, with its headwaters located in Grant County, West Virginia. Patterson Creek is the watershed for two-thirds of Mineral County, West Virginia. The creek passes through Lahmansville, Forman, Medley, Williamsport, Burlington, Headsville, Reeses Mill, Champwood, and Fort Ashby.
Fort Dinwiddie (1755–1789) was a base for the Virginia Militia during the French and Indian War and Revolutionary War. It was located on the Jackson River, five miles west of Warm Springs, Virginia, in present-day Bath County.
Buffalo Creek is a stream which runs through the United States commonwealths of Pennsylvania and West Virginia. It rises in East Finley Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania.
Fort Madison was a stockade fort built in August 1813 in present-day Clarke County, Alabama, during the Creek War, which was part of the larger War of 1812. The fort was built by the United States military in response to attacks by Creek warriors on encroaching American settlers. The fort shared many similarities to surrounding stockade forts in its construction but possessed a number of differences in its defenses. The fort housed members of the United States Army and settlers from the surrounding area, and it was used as a staging area for raids on Creek forces and supply point on further military expeditions. Fort Madison was subsequently abandoned at the conclusion of the Creek War and only a historical marker exists at the site today.