Fort Venango

Fort Venango
Near Franklin, Pennsylvania, United States
Fort Venango Former location of the Fort Venango in Pennsylvania
Type	Fort
Site information
Controlled by	United Kingdom
Site history
Built	1760
In use	1760-1763
Materials	Wood
Battles/wars	Pontiac's Rebellion
Pennsylvania Historical Marker
Designated	October 10, 1972

Fort Venango, a small British fort built in 1760 near the site of Franklin, Pennsylvania, replaced Fort Machault, a French fort burned by the French in 1759 near the end of the French and Indian War. About June 16, 1763, during Pontiac's War, the fort was captured by Seneca and Mingo warriors. The 12 to 16 soldiers of the fort were killed outright, except for the commander, Lieutenant Francis Gordon, who was forced to write a letter detailing why the Indians had risen against the British. He transcribed two complaints: the scarcity of gunpowder for the past two years and the fact that the English, contrary to their promises, were keeping forts, and building new forts, in Indian territory. He was then slowly tortured and roasted to death at the stake, and the fort was burnt to the ground.

The fort was named after the nearby Delaware/Munsee Indian village, Venango.

References

• Charles M. Stotz, Outposts of the War for Empire: The French and English in Western Pennsylvania: Their Armies, Their Forts, Their People, 1749-1764 (Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1985).

External links

• Historical marker in Pennsylvania