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American Revolution

The Sullivan Expedition Against the Iroquois Indians - Fort Augusta - PLAQUE

Sunbury, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania

Marker Inscription

First selected as rendezvous for Sullivan Expedition Lt. Col. Adam Hubley's Command. The only regiment quartered here to march against the Six Nations.

Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission

The Story

Fort Augusta, guarding the forks of the Susquehanna at Sunbury, was first chosen as a rendezvous for the Sullivan campaign. From here Lt. Col. Adam Hubley's regiment — the one unit quartered at the fort — marched to join the offensive against the Six Nations in 1779. The old fort thus became one of several launching points feeding troops into the larger expedition.

Why it matters

A key Susquehanna stronghold, Fort Augusta shows how frontier forts built for defense became springboards for the Revolution's westward campaigns.

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Related people

  • · Lt. Col. Adam Hubley

Related events

  • · Sullivan Expedition of 1779

Themes & tags

Nearby & related markers

Lee Massacre

Union Township, PA · est. 1947

On August 16, 1782, Major John Lee and his family were killed near this place in a raid by an Indian war party, with only his son Robert surviving. The attack came during the violent final years of the Revolutionary War on the Pennsylvania frontier, when British-allied raids terrorized isolated valley settlements. Such tragedies were a grim feature of life on the contested edge of the new nation.

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.

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.

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.