Fort Standing Stone
Huntingdon, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Built to protect the settlers against Indian raids. In July, 1778, Continental troops and Militia were ordered here as part of plan of defense against Indian attacks. Old Fort stood 200 yds. south, at Stone Creek and the Juniata.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Fort Standing Stone once guarded this bend of the Juniata River where Stone Creek joins it, throwing up a stockade against raids on the exposed frontier. In July 1778, at the height of the Revolutionary War, Continental troops and militia were ordered here as part of a broader plan to defend the backcountry from attacks. The old fort stood a short distance south of this marker; the settlement it protected grew into Huntingdon.
Why it matters
It recalls the brutal frontier dimension of the American Revolution, where the war was fought not only against British armies but in scattered stockades defending settlers far from the coast.
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Related events
- · American Revolution
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Phillips' Rangers
Liberty Township, PA · est. 1966
In July 1780, as the Revolution's violence spilled across the Pennsylvania frontier, Captain William Phillips and eleven men of his militia company were captured near this spot by a Native war party. Ten were killed and later buried by a search party, while Phillips and his son Elijah were taken prisoner and not freed until the British released them at war's end.
Capt. Phillips' Rangers Memorial
Liberty Township, PA · est. 1964
This memorial marks the graves of ten frontier militiamen of Captain Phillips' company, killed on July 16, 1780, during the brutal backcountry fighting of the Revolutionary War. Along Pennsylvania's western frontier, British-allied Native war parties raided isolated settlements, and local rangers like Phillips' men bore the danger of defending them. Their deaths were one small, bloody episode in a war whose frontier front is often overshadowed by the great eastern battles.
Bald Eagle's Nest
Milesburg, PA · est. 1947
Where Spring and Bald Eagle Creeks meet stood a Delaware Indian village named for the noted Munsee chief Woapalanne, whose name translates to "Bald Eagle." During the Revolutionary era this settlement was a staging point for raids against frontier settlements, part of the brutal borderland warfare that engulfed central Pennsylvania. The chief's name endures across the region today in creeks, mountains, and towns.
Hart's Log
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