Fort Armstrong
Manorville, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Located on the nearby river bank, this outpost was built in June, 1779, and abandoned that autumn. It served the Brodhead expedition against the Senecas and was named for Maj. Gen. John Armstrong.
The Story
In the summer of 1779, as the American Revolution raged along the western frontier, Continental soldiers threw up this small outpost on the bank of the Allegheny River. It was a staging point for Col. Daniel Brodhead's expedition northward against the Seneca — one arm of the wider campaign that year to break the power of the Iroquois nations allied with the British. The fort's usefulness was brief: raised in June and given up by autumn, once the campaign had passed through. It honored Maj. Gen. John Armstrong, a veteran Pennsylvania frontier officer.
Why it matters
It marks Pennsylvania's role in the brutal 1779 frontier war against the Iroquois, a lesser-known theater of the Revolution whose consequences reshaped Native homelands across the region.
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Related people
- · Maj. Gen. John Armstrong
- · Col. Daniel Brodhead
Related events
- · Brodhead Expedition
- · American Revolution
Themes & tags
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