Fort Allison

A Fort in our family history?  Intrigued, I

searched and found a tiny postcard image of
Fort Allison.

Really, this is it? My picture of a fort is a building surrounded by a high stick fence with pointy ends. There's a big gate that swings open to welcome cavalry officers into a log stockade. Old Glory flies overhead. So, what's wrong in my picture? My fort is based on the old West cowboys and indian version of a fort.  Allison's Fort was built around 1750, an era is before the American flag even existed. 

Fort is short for fortified. Forts on the Pennsylvania frontier were fortified houses: buildings with stone walls and lead roofs that offered protection against Indian torches. Forts were placed near a spring for water, a necessity for surviving an Indian siege. They were centrally located, so when the Indian alarm went up people, could run for their lives to seek shelter. Forts were stocked with food and ammo. 

Here is what various historians say about Fort Allison:

"This was a brutal time for everybody on Pennsylvania’s western frontier. Raids by settlers and Native Americans alike were often vicious and deadly. The area’s population dropped from about 3,000 in 1755 at the start of the war to about 300, with most settlers not returning until after 1764 when the peace treaty was signed. Over 20 forts sprouted up around the area, built by settlers to offer collective protection from Native American raids. These forts include McCauley’s Fort near Greencastle, Allison’s Fort near Waynesboro, Chambers’ Fort present day Chambersburg, Sharp’s Fort, and Aull’s Fort."

Source: http://franklincountypa.gov/index.php?section=archives_blog/doctor_johnston

from: The Life & Times of Dr. Robert Johnston, An exploration of one of Franklin County's most extraordinary sons. By: Justin McHenry 

"As the records show, at a meeting of the General Committee, of Cumberland county, convened by order of John Potter, sheriff of the county, at the house of Mr. Shippen, October 30th, 1755, at which eighteen persons were present, it was then resolved "to immediately build five large forts, namely, Carlisle, Shippensburg, Col. Chambers, Mr. Steel's Meeting House, and at William Allison, Esquire, in which the women and children were to be deposited, from which on alarm intelligence was to be sent to the other forts."

Source: REPORT OF THE COMMISSION TO LOCATE THE SITE OF THE FRONTIER FORTS OF PENNSYLVANIA. VOLUME ONE. CLARENCE M. BUSCH.STATE PRINTER OF PENNSYLVANIA, 1896. From: The Frontier Forts in the Cumberland and Juniata Valleys, by Jay Gilfillan Weiser.

"As more white men came into the colony of Pennsylvania Indian uprising became a menace to the people living in the Cumberland Valley. The Conocoheague settlement was plagued by raiding parties and during the French and Indian War and the Pontiac Rebellion people living in the Greencastle-Antrim community suffered from these raids. 

Two fortified places for protection against the Indians are known to have existed in the local area. One as located southwest of Greencastle in the field west of the present Hovey-Stanter gilding along South Antrim Way. It is identified by early records as Fort Allison at the McCauley Spring."

Source: Conococheague: A History of the Greencastle-Antrim Community 1736-1971, W.P.Conrad, 1971, p. 7

"Hundreds of pioneer families settled along the Conococheague Creek... The “Conococheague Settlement” and “East Conococheague Settlement” became the homes of settlers among whom numbered Allisons, Craigs, Davidsons, McClellans, Poes and Watsons.

William Allison acquired a large tract of land in the Conococheague Settlement and built a fort for the community’s protection (and to safeguard his investment).  Fort Allison became a nucleus of settlement, as did a blacksmith’s shop located at the intersection of the King’s Highway and a pioneer trail. The community’s first church, “the old red meeting house,” was built circa 1737 and located at Moss Springs.  The first pastor to this Presbyterian congregation, Rev. Samuel Cavin, ministered to both sides of the Conococheague Creek, as did the steely John Steel in the mid-1750s."

Source: From Rostrevor to Raphoe: An Overview of Ulster Place-Names in Pennsylvania, 1700-1820, By Peter Gilmore. page 12