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  FORT FREDERICK STATE PARK Washington County, Maryland sources: "Maryland Parks" ________________________________________ The site of Maryland's frontier defense during the French and Indian War (1754-1763), the Fort's stone wall and two barracks have been restored to their 1758 appearance. Historic displays are in the Fort, barracks and Visitor Center. The park annually holds military reenactments and other special events. Park lands adjoin the Potomac River and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal passes through park acreage. The stone fort, named in honor of Maryland's Lord Proprietor, Frederick Calvert, Sixth Lord Baltimore, was erected by Governor Horatio Sharpe in 1756 to protect English settlers from the French and their Indian allies. Fort Frederick was unique because of its large size and strong stone wall. Most other forts of the period were built of wood and earth. The fort served as an important supply base for English campaigns. During 1763, an Ottawa Indian chief named Pontiac forged a massive Indian uprising. Several hundred settlers and militia force sought protection within the fort during this brief uprising. Fort Frederick saw service again during the American Revolution as a prison for Hessian (German) and British soldiers. In 1791, the State of Maryland sold the fort. For the next 131 years, the fort and surrounding lands were farmed. During the Civil War, Union troops were often stationed around the fort to guard the C & O Canal. In 1922, the State of Maryland re-purchased the fort. Throughout the 1920's, the State began development of Maryland's first state park. During the Great Depression of the 1930's, a company of the Civilian Conservation Corps was assigned to the park to reconstruct the dilapidated stone wall, perform archaeology and locate the foundations of the original interior buildings. Restoration continued in 1975. Future plans include reconstruction of the Officer's Quarters and other defensive works ________________________________________ Additional history: Fort Frederick State Park History Fort Frederick encapsulates American history from the colonial period to the present and is one of the largest fortifications built by English colonists in North America. The fort's exterior lines are 355 feet from bastion point to bastion point. Its stone wall is about 18 feet high and at least three major buildings originally stood inside that wall. Horatio Sharpe, Governor of Maryland, commenced work on the fort in 1756 -- at the outset of the French and Indian War. This war was the culmination of nearly a century of imperial rivalry between France and England over each other's claims in North America and elsewhere over the globe. The two powers had fought three major wars already without final resolution of the issue. Hostilities broke out again in 1754 when a young Virginia militia colonel named George Washington was defeated in western Pennsylvania by a superior force of French. After Washington's defeat, the French unleashed their Indian allies all along the English frontier. Alarming reports of bloody depredations came flooding into Annapolis. Sharpe, a man of military experience, prevailed upon the Maryland Assembly to vote the funds to build a major fort on the colony's frontier. Sharpe named the fort after Frederick Calvert, who was Lord Baltimore and Proprietor of Maryland. Sharpe also personally directed much of the construction. The design of the fort conforms to the style developed early in the 18th century by Sebastien de Vauban, a French military engineer who is considered the father of modern fortification. ________________________________________ BUILDING FORT FREDERICK Work on Fort Frederick took up the better part of two years. Mounting expenses finally compelled the assembly to cut off funds in 1758, although the fort does seem to have been substantially complete by that time. The English capture of French Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburgh) late that same year relieved the pressure on the Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia frontiers. The war continued, however, further north and on the high seas until 1760 when the English finally took the last major French strongholds in Canada. The Treaty of Paris (1763) formally ended the struggle with England taking possession of most of France's empire, including Canada. During the French war, a number of different types of troops garrisoned Fort Frederick and the other Maryland frontier posts such as Fort Tonoloway in present day Hancock, Maryland. From time to time, Governor Sharpe called out county militia companies from the more settled parts of the province to do duty on the frontier. Provincial troops from Virginia and North Carolina were billeted at the fort on several occasions. Volunteer ranger companies passed through from time to time. And in one instance a company of royal regulars (from the 60th Regiment of Foot, the "Royal Americans") conveyed a train of artillery stores to the fort and were kept on for a while to help construct roads in the area. ________________________________________ DEFENDING THE FORT The most important group of soldiers to see service at Fort Frederick were the 450 men of the Maryland Forces. This body was composed of men raised and supported by Maryland as provincial regulars. Their field commander was Captain (later Lieutenant Colonel) John Dagworthy. The Maryland troops were efficient and spirited soldiers accustomed to the guerilla style warfare of the frontier. General John Forbes, who commanded the successful expedition against Fort Duquesne, had some of the Maryland men with him and spoke highly of them on several occasions. Although no military action occurred at Fort Frederick during the war, it did serve as an important staging area and supply base for English operations further west. After the fall of Duquesne, the Maryland Forces were disbanded and Fort Frederick was closed. In 1763 the Ottawa Chief Pontiac led a massive Indian rebellion against the English. Governor Sharpe reactivated the fort and sent arms and militia to garrison it. Seven hundred area settlers flocked to the fort for protection. Although the Indians besieged the new English Fort Pitt, which stood on Duquesne's old site, they never got close to Fort Frederick. Pontiac's Rebellion was eventually put down, and Fort Frederick again found itself abandoned. During the next decade, the English colonists in America grew increasingly at odds with England over the home government's changes in imperial policy. By 1775 the Americans were in open rebellion and in 1776 declared their independence from Great Britain. In 1777 the Continental Congress decided to press Fort Frederick back into military service -- this time as a prison camp. Under the command of Colonel Moses Rawlings, the old fort was refurbished, and captured British troops were imprisoned. By the end of the Revolution, thousands of enemy prisoners were kept there. After the war, the new State of Maryland sold the fort and surrounding land at public auction. For the next century and more, the land was farmed. A brief interlude during the Civil War saw two companies of Union infantry stationed at the Fort. These troops are believed to have knocked a hole in the south curtain wall through which they trained a cannon toward rebel territory across the Potomac. Confederate troops tried to dislodge the Union soldiers but were unsuccessful. For much of the 19th and the early 20th centuries, a family of free African-Americans owned and farmed the fort grounds. The family patriarch, Nathan Williams, first bought himself out of slavery, then the woman he would marry. The couple had many children and operated a successful farm.  Back to the MD Index Page
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