Fort Morris
Shippensburg, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Named for Gov. R.H. Morris, and built by local settlers under the supervision of James Burd after Braddock's defeat in July, 1755. Later garrisoned by provincial troops commanded by Hugh Mercer. The fort site, long marked by the soldiers' well, lies a block to the north on Burd Street.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
In the anxious summer of 1755, after General Braddock's crushing defeat on the Monongahela threw the Pennsylvania frontier open to French and allied Native raids, local settlers threw up a stockade here under James Burd and named it for provincial governor Robert Hunter Morris. Garrisoned by provincial troops under Hugh Mercer, it was one link in a chain of frontier forts meant to shield the exposed Cumberland Valley. Long after the timbers rotted, the soldiers' well still marked the spot a block north on Burd Street.
Why it matters
Frontier forts like this one show how ordinary settlers, not distant armies, held the line during the French and Indian War that decided whether Britain or France would rule the continent.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- Appalachian Trail Museum11.1 mi away
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Related people
- · Robert Hunter Morris
- · James Burd
- · Hugh Mercer
Related events
- · Braddock's Defeat
- · French and Indian War
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Braddock Expedition
Shippensburg, PA · est. 1961
In 1755, as General Edward Braddock's army marched toward the French at Fort Duquesne, supplies for the expedition were stockpiled in Edward Shippen's stout stone house at Shippensburg. His son-in-law James Burd cut a road westward to move those provisions toward the front. After Braddock's crushing defeat, the goods that remained were handed out to settlers fleeing Indian raids along the exposed Pennsylvania frontier.
Forbes Road - Raystown Path
Southampton Township, PA · est. 1952
At Shippensburg the old Raystown Path split, and in 1758 General John Forbes had to choose his army's line of march west. One branch climbed directly over three steep mountains toward Burnt Cabins; Forbes instead took the southern fork around Parnells Knob to Fort Loudon, crossing the Tuscarora Mountain at Cowan Gap to avoid the punishing grades. The choice shaped where his military road—and later settlement—would run.
Fort Chambers
Chambersburg, PA · est. 1947
In 1756, as the French and Indian War set the frontier ablaze, pioneer landowner Col. Benjamin Chambers fortified his house and mill with a stockade and cannon for defense against Native raids. Chambers had settled at this junction of waters years earlier and founded the town that still bears his name. His fortified homestead anchored one of the exposed western settlements during the war's dangerous years.
Fort McCord
Hamilton Township, PA · est. 1947
In the tense years of the French and Indian War, Pennsylvania's Cumberland Valley settlers threw up log stockades like Fort McCord to shelter their families when frontier violence flared. Named for the settler John McCord, this refuge was overwhelmed and burned on April 1, 1756, in a raid that left 27 people dead or dragged into captivity. Such attacks were part of the wider war between Britain and France, in which allied Native nations struck deep into the exposed backcountry.