Fort Antes
Jersey Shore, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Built 1776 by Col. Henry Antes. Site on the opposite side of the river at the mouth of Antes Creek. Nearby was Antes Mill, first in the region. The stockade was abandoned during the Great Runaway; burned by Indians.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Colonel Henry Antes built this stockade in 1776 at the mouth of Antes Creek on the West Branch of the Susquehanna, near the region's first gristmill. When the frontier collapsed in the panic of 1778 known as the Great Runaway, settlers fled downriver and the abandoned fort was burned by Native raiders—leaving the valley emptied of the families who had briefly tried to hold it.
Why it matters
Fort Antes and the Great Runaway capture the moment the Revolution drove settlers off the West Branch entirely, a frontier undone by war.
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Related people
- · Henry Antes
Related events
- · Great Runaway
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Fort Muncy
Muncy Township, PA · est. 2017
During the American Revolution, the West Branch Susquehanna Valley was a violent frontier, and Fort Muncy stood as the principal defensive post north of Sunbury. Built to shield settlers from raids, it was overrun by British forces and their Native allies in 1778, rebuilt and destroyed again in 1779, and raised a third time because its position was too important to abandon. From here scouting parties ranged out to guard a settler frontier caught in the wider war for independence.
Fought's Mill
Mifflinburg, PA · est. 1947
A mill has stood near this spot since 1771, when Fought's Mill first turned grain for the settlers of Buffalo Valley. During the Revolution, the sturdy mill doubled as a place of refuge when frontier raids threatened the scattered farms of the region. It was also here, on November 3, 1776, that Buffalo Valley held its first election under Pennsylvania's new revolutionary state constitution.
Capt. John Brady
Muncy Creek Township, PA · est. 1947
John Brady earned his reputation across the colonial wars and the Revolution as a hard frontier soldier, commanding a fortified post on the West Branch of the Susquehanna at present-day Muncy. On April 11, 1779, he was ambushed and killed by Native warriors near here, one of countless settlers and soldiers who fell in the running border warfare that consumed the region.
The Sullivan Expedition Against the Iroquois Indians - Fort Freeland - PLAQUE
Delaware Township, PA · est. 1929
Jacob Freeland raised a mill on this ground in 1773 and, as war reached the frontier, stockaded it in 1778 for defense. On July 28, 1779, British-allied Tories and Seneca warriors attacked and destroyed the fort, and the inscription records that 108 settlers were killed or taken prisoner. The assault came at the height of the brutal frontier fighting that Sullivan's expedition was meant to answer.