The Section
of Archaeology has highlighted the excavations at Fort Hunter on many
occasions, but Fort Hunter was only one link in a chain of French and Indian
War-era blockhouses, forts, and stockades located along the frontier of
Pennsylvania. Another one of these forts was Fort Halifax, located
approximately 18 miles north of downtown Harrisburg along the Susquehanna
River. Along with Fort Hunter, Fort Halifax served as a stopping point and
supply depot for Fort Augusta, located in Sunbury another 35 miles upriver. Excavations
and searches for evidence of Fort Halifax over the last few years have led to a
better understanding of its role in the defense of Pennsylvania’s frontiers
during the war.
The land
upon which Fort Halifax would be built was settled in the early 1750s by Irish
immigrant brothers Robert and Alexander Armstrong. The Armstrong’s warranted
100 acres of land at the mouth of a small run that would come to be known as
Armstrong’s Creek and here they set up a farm and saw mill. Robert and
Alexander were among the first residents of this area and no roads yet existed
to their farm; instead the river provided the main means of transportation.
In October
of 1755, the massacre of settlers at Penns Creek on the west bank of the
Susquehanna River, just below what is now Selinsgrove, sent the inhabitants of
the frontier rushing back to Lancaster, Philadelphia, Carlisle, and other
“civilized” parts of Pennsylvania. Locally, residents of Paxton Township began
construction of a fortified structure at Hunter’s Mill, later to be known as
Fort Hunter, and John Harris stockaded and strengthened his house at Harris’s
Ferry in anticipation of trouble with the Indians. Continued attacks in the
winter and spring of 1756 led the government to approve the construction of a
line of forts and stockades running from the Pocono Mountains southwest toward
Pittsburgh along the frontier.
In addition,
a large fortification was to be constructed at Shamokin to provide an extra
defense of the Susquehanna River and calm the fears of the local Indians who
had traditionally been allies of the English. In April of 1756, Colonel William
Clapham was ordered to assemble local men and supplies for the trip to Shamokin
to begin working on Fort Augusta. In June, they marched north and searched for
a mid-way point to place a secondary fortification. Arriving at Armstrong’s
they quickly set about erecting a square log fort nearby with walls
approximately 160 feet long and corner bastions. Clapham decided this location
was,
“the most convenient Place on the River between Harris’s and
Shamokin for a Magazine on account of its good natural Situation, its Situation
above the Juniata Falls the vast Plenty of Pine Timber at Hand its nearness to
Shamokin and a Saw [mill] within a Quarter of a Mile (Hunter 1960).”
Possible plan of Fort Halifax
(Egle 1853)
Clapham and most
of the regiment continued on to Shamokin leaving Captain Nathaniel Miles and 30
men to complete barracks, a storehouse, and shooting platforms in the bastions.
The fort was named by the Governor in honor of the Earl of Halifax. For the
next year, the fort was garrisoned by approximately 30 men and served as a
supply depot for the movement of food, equipment, and other supplies to Fort
Augusta. However, in the fall of 1757, Fort Halifax was deemed to be obsolete
and it was abandoned in favor of Fort Hunter.
Although it
was only used for a short period of time, Fort Halifax would have had many
people passing through on military business and thus has the opportunity for important
information to be recovered from this site. The exact location of the fort has
been sought for years with little luck. Several archaeological investigations
have been conducted to locate the fortifications and determine the construction
methods as well as to identify archaeological evidence of the soldier’s daily
lives. Investigations were conducted from 2011 through 2013 by PennDOT, metal
detecting in 2015, and additional fieldwork was performed for a master’s thesis.
Investigative measures included surface collection, ground penetrating radar
(GPR), excavation, mechanical stripping, metal detecting, archival research,
and geomorphology. Although these were all unsuccessful in locating the
physical remains of the fort, many artifacts were recovered that point to the
site of the fort being close by.
A variety of
gunflints and musket balls of various sizes were found, indicating the
possibility of military activity in the vicinity. Lead musket balls were used in muskets, a
smoothbore gun popular in the eighteenth century, and came in different sizes. The
musket balls in the photo below are .72 cal., .61 cal., .53 cal., and .39 cal.
as well as two lead sprue or disfigured balls that may have been fired. In
addition, a square grey, English gunflint was recovered.
Various sizes of musket
balls and two flattened balls with an English gunflint
Clothing
fasteners such as buttons and buckles were also recovered from these
excavations. The men garrisoning this fort would likely not have been issued
British uniforms, instead wearing a jacket or linen smock (long overshirt),
breeches or trousers, a waistcoat, shirt, leather shoes, stock or cravat at the
neck, and a hat – clothes they would have had at home. These items of clothing generally
fastened with or were decorated with buckles and buttons of various materials
such as brass, wood, bone, and pewter.
Eighteenth century
brass and metal buttons and buckles
The men
would have been fed with supplies provided by the Colonial government, usually
consisting of fresh or dried meat, Indian corn, bread or biscuits, and a daily
ration of rum. Tableware was not standardized and would have consisted of
whatever was available, possibly some of it brought along with the soldiers.
Many types of ceramics that would have been common at the time were found at Fort
Halifax.
Common 18th
century ceramics: Salt-glazed stoneware, redware, white salt-glazed stoneware, scratch-blue
white salt-glazed stoneware, and Westerwald stoneware
The soldiers
would also have carried personal items with them to the fort, including things
like combs, mirrors, pocket watches, coins, rings and jewelry, smoking pipes,
and musical instruments. Two personal items that were recovered from the Fort
Halifax excavations included pieces of a kaolin clay smoking pipe and a Jew’s
or mouth harp. Clay smoking pipes were very common and were easily breakable
and so are found on virtually all sites of this time period. The brass Jew’s harp was a small musical
instrument, played by placing it to the lips and “plucking” the metal tongue
(missing on this example).
Fragments of a clay
smoking pipe and a Jew’s harp recovered from Fort Halifax
These are
just some of the artifacts recovered from the excavations at Fort Halifax. And
although the physical fort has not yet been found, artifacts recovered from
investigations of the area indicate that archaeologists are likely in the close
vicinity of the former structure. The collection, although small, is important for
its research potential. Artifacts are similar to those in collections from
other forts, such as Fort Hunter, and add to the collective information on
Pennsylvania forts of the French and Indian War period. Continuing research
into the location of the fort and study of its artifact collections should help
in its eventual discovery and add to the overall knowledge of Pennsylvania fort
sites.
We at the
Section of Archaeology wish everyone a terrific Holiday season! We hope
to see you all at the Section of Archaeology exhibit at the 2019 Pennsylvania State
Farm Show, January 5th – 12th.
References
and further reading:
Baker, Joseph and Angela Wentling
2012 Archaeological
Reconnaissance at Fort Halifax Park. PennDOT Highway
Archaeological Survey
Team. Submitted to Pennsylvania Historic Museum Commission.
Copies available from
PennDOT Highway Archaeological Survey Team, Indiana.
Baker, Joseph and Laura Kaufman
2013 Supplemental
Testing at Fort Halifax Park (36DA008). PennDOT Highway
Archaeological Survey
Team. Submitted to Pennsylvania Historic Museum Commission.
Copies available from
PennDOT Highway Archaeological Survey Team, Indiana.
Colonial Records
1851 Minutes of the Provincial Council of
Pennsylvania, Vol. 6, April 2, 1754, to January 29th, 1756.
Harrisburg: Theo. Fenn & Co.
1851 Minutes of the Provincial Council of
Pennsylvania, Vol. 7, January 28th, 1756, to January 11th,
1758. Harrisburg: Theo. Fenn & Co.
Egle, William
1853 Pennsylvania
Archives, Selected and Arranged from Original Documents in the Office
of
the Secretary of Commerce, Conformably to the Acts of the General Assembly,
February 15, 1851 & March 1, 1852., Volume II. Joseph Severns & Co,
Philadelphia.
Hunter, William A.
1960 Forts
on the Pennsylvania Frontier, 1753-1758. The Pennsylvania Historical and
Museum Commission, Harrisburg, PA.
For more information, visit
PAarchaeology.state.pa.us or the Hall of Anthropology and Archaeology at
The State Museum of Pennsylvania .
