Fort Cumberland (Maryland)
Encyclopedia
Cumberland, Maryland
Cumberland is a city in the far western, Appalachian portion of Maryland, United States. It is the county seat of Allegany County, and the primary city of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 20,859, and the metropolitan area had a...
, USA. It was an important military and economic center during the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
(1754-63) and figured significantly in the early career of George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
.
History
At the current location of the city of Cumberland, MarylandCumberland, Maryland
Cumberland is a city in the far western, Appalachian portion of Maryland, United States. It is the county seat of Allegany County, and the primary city of the Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the 2010 census, the city had a population of 20,859, and the metropolitan area had a...
, a crude frontier fort was constructed at the confluence of Wills Creek
Wills Creek (North Branch Potomac River)
Wills Creek is a tributary of the North Branch Potomac River in Pennsylvania and Maryland in the United States.Wills Creek drops off the Allegheny Mountains of southeastern Somerset County, Pennsylvania, and enters the North Branch Potomac River at Cumberland, Maryland.-History:thumb|220px|Fort...
and the Potomac River
Potomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...
in fall 1754 by troops of the Maryland militia, under the command of Captain John Dagworthy. Initially named Fort Mount Pleasant, it was renamed Fort Cumberland in 1755. Ft Cumberland figured prominently in the French & Indian War in 1755, when it became a rally point for British forces under command of
General Braddock
Edward Braddock
General Edward Braddock was a British soldier and commander-in-chief for the 13 colonies during the actions at the start of the French and Indian War...
. The wood palisade fort
Fortification
Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defence in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs...
is now gone, and occupying the site is the existing Emmanuel Episcopal Church
Emmanuel Episcopal Church (Cumberland)
thumb|rightThe Emmanuel Episcopal Church of Cumberland, Maryland located in Cumberland's Historic District, is built on the foundations of Fort Cumberland, where George Washington began his military career; earthworks from the fort still lie beneath the church...
, but the old fort tunnels still remain underneath.
This fort once marked the westernmost outpost of the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
in America
Thirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies were English and later British colonies established on the Atlantic coast of North America between 1607 and 1733. They declared their independence in the American Revolution and formed the United States of America...
, and was the jumping-off point for General Braddock's disastrous expedition
Braddock expedition
The Braddock expedition, also called Braddock's campaign or, more commonly, Braddock's Defeat, was a failed British military expedition which attempted to capture the French Fort Duquesne in the summer of 1755 during the French and Indian War. It was defeated at the Battle of the Monongahela on...
against the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
at Fort Duquesne
Fort Duquesne
Fort Duquesne was a fort established by the French in 1754, at the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers in what is now downtown Pittsburgh in the state of Pennsylvania....
. When Braddock was killed, a young officer of Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
, George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
, lead the troops back to Fort Cumberland. At the fort, Washington clashed with Captain Dagworthy over the issue of military rank and which colonial officer should be in command: Washington was a Major in the Virginia militia, outranking the Maryland Captain, but Dagworthy countered that because he also held a Royal commission as a Captain in the Regulars (British Army), he automatically outranked any colonial militia officer.
Description
In May 1755, one of the British officers with General Braddock described the newly-christened Fort Cumberland: "[It] is situated within 200 yards of Will's Creek, on a hill and about 400 from the Potomack; its length from east to west is about 200 yards, and breadth 46 yards, and is built by logs driven into the ground, and about 12 feet above it." Eleven days later, he reported that 100 carpenters were at work building a magazine and constructing a bridge over Will's Creek.Diagrams and drawings of the Fort exist in the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
. A scale model of the fort resides in the aforementioned church http://www.fortedwards.org/braddock/sites/cbe.htm.
Fort Cumberland's dependent forts
- Fort OhioFort OhioFort Ohio Fort Ohio Fort Ohio (also known as the "New Store" was a stockade fort erected by Job Pearsall in 1749 on the present site of Ridgeley, West Virginia. The building was of log construction, long and wide, with two stories...
, Earlier fort built across the river in Ridgeley, West VirginiaRidgeley, West VirginiaRidgeley is a town in Mineral County, West Virginia, United States, and part of the Cumberland Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 762 at the 2000 census but has fallen to 575 with the 2010 census.... - Fort SellersFort SellersFort Sellers was a small stockade on the east side of Pattersons Creek at the conflunce with the Potomac River, in Franklin District, in present day Mineral County, West Virginia. Thisfort was erected by Colonel Washington....
- Fort AshbyFort AshbyFort Ashby is a historic stockade fort located in Fort Ashby, West Virginia. A military installation constructed during the French and Indian War, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places....
, Earlier fort built in Fort Ashby, West VirginiaFort Ashby, West VirginiaFort Ashby is an census-designated place in Mineral County, West Virginia along Patterson Creek. It is part of the 'Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area'. The population was 1,380 at the 2010 census...
. - Fort CockeFort CockeFort Cocke was a stockade, made of wooden palisades up stream from Fort Ashby. It was a square ninety feet on a side and enclosed about 1/5 acre. Blockhouses were built at each of the four corners. A barracks to house fifty men was constructed within the stockade.It was built by Captain William...
, Earlier fort built upstream from Fort Ashby, West VirginiaFort Ashby, West VirginiaFort Ashby is an census-designated place in Mineral County, West Virginia along Patterson Creek. It is part of the 'Cumberland, MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area'. The population was 1,380 at the 2010 census... - Fort PleasantFort Van MeterFort Van Meter — also known as Fort Pleasant and Town Fort — was an 18th century frontier fort in the South Branch Potomac River Valley south of Romney in Hampshire County, West Virginia, USA. It is located approximately a mile and a half north of the rugged river gorge known as The Trough...
(Fort Van Meter), On the upper South Branch