Fort Steuben
Fort Steuben was a fortification erected in Feb. 1787 on the Ohio River in eastern Ohio Country at the northern end of the Seven Ranges land tract to be surveyed. It was at the location of the modern city of Steubenville, Ohio. The fort was built by Major John Hamtramck and named for Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, a Prussian army officer who had served under General Washington. The original purpose was to provide protection from Indians for the first surveyors to venture into the Northwest Territory.
History
Acquired by
On July 20, 1786, Hutchins and his group gathered at
Fort constructed
The site was chosen for a fort on October 11, 1786.[1] Major Erkuries Beatty,[4] who made a drawing seen here, described the site as 47 miles below Fort McIntosh and 23 above Wheelin‘, a site he erroneously calls Mingo Bottom.[5] Major Beatty described the fort:
It is about 120 yards from the river on very high excellent bank of commanding ground. A square with a large blockhouse on each corner and picquets between each blockhouse form the fort. . .The big gate fronting the main on the west, and the sally port the river, with the guard house over the latter. The blockhouse serves for all the men and the officers‘ houses are each side of the big gate, the back part of them serving as a row of pickets. It is garrisoned by Capt. Hamtramck‘s and Mercer‘s companies, the former commanding.
— Major Erkuries Beatty, 1787[5]
Hamtramck named the fort for military officer
See also
References
- ^ a b c d Professional Surveyor Magazine - History Corner, Ft. Steuben, 2009
- The Ohio Historical Quarterly. 68: 125.
- Ohio History Central. July 1, 2005.
- ^ Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
- ^ Ohio Archaeological and Historical Publications. VI: 192.
External links
- Historic Fort Steuben
- Holmes, John R. (2010). The story of historic Fort Steuben. Charleston, SC: The History Press. ISBN 978-1-59629-908-5.