Fort Allen (Carbon County, Pennsylvania)

Not to be confused with Fort Allen (Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania).

Fort Allen
Franklin Township, Carbon County, Pennsylvania (near Weissport) in United States
Type	Military Fort
Site history
Built	1756

Fort Allen was a military structure built in Franklin Township (in what is now Weissport), in Carbon County, Pennsylvania in 1756. It was first of several frontier defenses erected by Benjamin Franklin for the Province of Pennsylvania during the French and Indian War.

History

Map showing the location of Fort Allen, upper right quadrant, to the east of Gnadenhütten.

In late 1755, Colonel John Armstrong wrote to Governor Robert Hunter Morris: "I am of the opinion that no other means of defense than a chain of blockhouses along or near the south side of the Kittatinny Mountains from the Susquehanna to the temporary line, can secure the lives and property of the inhabitants of this country." In January 1756 Benjamin Franklin supervised the construction of Fort Allen after Moravian Indians destroyed Gnadenhutten near Bethlehem, Pennsylvania during the French and Indian War. In a letter, Franklin says the name Fort Allen was chosen "in Honor of our old Friend," Chief Justice William Allen. In his biography, he wrote that he and his men then built Fort Allen in less than a week:

"It was the beginning of January, 1756, when we set out upon this business of building forts...I concluded to go myself with the rest of my forces to Gnadenhütten, where a fort was thought more immediately necessary...[We] arrived at the desolate Gnadenhutten...Our first work was to bury more effectually the dead we found there, who had been half interred by the country people; the next morning our fort was planned and marked out, the circumference measuring 455 feet, which would require as many palisades to be made, one with another of a foot diameter each. Each pine made three palisades of eighteen feet long, pointed at one end. When they were set up, our carpenters built a platform of boards all round within, about six feet high, for the men to stand on when to fire through the loopholes. We had one swivel gun, which we mounted on one of the angles, and fired it as soon as fixed, to let the Indians know, if any were within hearing, that we had such pieces; and thus our fort (if that name may be given to so miserable a stockade) was finished in a week...This kind of fort, however contemptible, is a sufficient defence against Indians who had no cannon. Finding ourselves now posted securely, and having a place to retreat to on occasion, we ventured out in parties to scour the adjacent country."

On 25 January, Franklin wrote to Governor Morris:

"This Day we hoisted your Flag, made a general Discharge of our Pieces, which had been long loaded, and of our two Swivels, and Nam'd the Place Fort Allen, in Honor of our old Friend Judge William Allen, father of James Allen who laid out Allentown in 1762, and also Chief Justice of the Province. It is 125 Feet long, 50 wide, the Stocadoes most of them a Foot thick; they are 3 Foot in the Ground and 12 Feet out, pointed at the Top."

Monuments and markers

Two Pennsylvania state historical markers commmemorate Fort Allen: one along U.S. 209 in Franklin Township near Wachovia Bank, and another in Weissport Borough Park opposite 112–116 Franklin St. A stone monument erected in 1922 in the same park reads:

"Erected by Col. Benjamin Franklin in the winter of 1758 at the order of the Province of Pennsylvania. The fort consisting of the two block houses and a well, surrounded by a stockade, was situated 201 feet southwest of this spot. It was used as a base of supplies and as a rendezvous for troops during the period of the French and Indian Wars. The well is the only trace left of the fort."

External links

• "Fort Allen 1756–1922 – Weissport PA," in "Pennsylvania Historical Markers." Waymarking.com, retrieved online August 20, 2023.
• Wesley Schwenk, "Benjamin Franklin," Forts of the French and Indian War, accessed August 20, 2023.