Fort Freeland
Delaware Township, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Jacob Freeland's house was stockaded in 1778 as a protection against Indians. On July 29, 1779, it was taken by British and Indians. The garrison of 21 were killed or taken prisoner. The site is a quarter-mile from here.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
As the Revolution reached the Pennsylvania frontier, settlers fortified Jacob Freeland's house in 1778, ringing it with a stockade against raids. On July 29, 1779, a force of British and allied Indians overwhelmed the small post, and its garrison of 21 were killed or captured—one of the sharp, deadly clashes that made the upper Susquehanna a war zone.
Why it matters
It marks how the Revolutionary War was fought not only in famous battles but in the brutal frontier struggle over the Susquehanna Valley, where settlement and Native alliances collided.
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Related people
- · Jacob Freeland
Related events
- · Capture of Fort Freeland (1779)
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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.
Fort Bosley
Derry Township, PA · est. 1947
In 1777, as the Revolution raged and the Pennsylvania frontier grew dangerous, settlers along the forks of Chillisquaque Creek fortified Bosley's mill, stockading and garrisoning it against raids. Such improvised frontier forts were the everyday reality of the backcountry war, where mills, farms, and blockhouses doubled as refuges. The site reflects a conflict fought not only on famous battlefields but in the woods and clearings of the northern branch of the Susquehanna.
Muncy Mills
Muncy Creek Township, PA · est. 1947
Around 1772 John Alward raised this valley's first gristmill, a cornerstone of any frontier settlement where neighbors brought grain to be ground into flour and meal. Burned by Native raiders in 1779 amid the Revolution's border warfare, it was rebuilt again and again—new mills rising in 1783 and 1800—and the last of them ground on until 1872, a full century of milling on one spot.
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.