Fort McIntosh (3) (1778-1788) - A Patriot Revolutionary War era fort established in 1778 near present day Beaver, Beaver County, Pennsylvania. Named Fort McIntosh after Brig. General Lachlan McIntosh. The first United States Army post and site of the Treaty of Fort McIntosh (1785). Abandoned in 1788.
Fort McIntosh from the Ohio River Side.
History
Fort McIntosh Plan.
Built in 1778 under the direction of Lt. Colonel Louis Antoine Cambray-Digny, a French engineer, who directed the construction of Fort McIntosh as chief engineer. Located near the former site of King Beaver's Town, an important Delaware native town at the junction of the Ohio River and the Beaver River. The fort was constructed as a 50-yard square stockade with four bastions on a site that was 130 feet above the river. It was initially armed with one gun in each bastion, increased by 1785 to six guns total.
Fort McIntosh became the first United States Army post (except for small detachments at West Point and Fort Pitt) after the end of the revolution. The first American regiment was garrisoned at Fort McIntosh between 1784 and 1785 under the command of Lt. Colonel Josiah Harmar.
The Treaty of Fort McIntosh was signed here in January 1785. Over 400 chiefs and warriors of the Delaware, Wyandot, Chippewa and Ottawa tribes met at Fort McIntosh with the American Treaty Commissioners George Rogers Clark, Richard Butler and Arthur Lee. The tribes surrendered all future claims to the lands north of the Ohio River. This made possible the settlement of Western Pennsylvania and Northwestern Ohio.
Abandoned as a fortification in 1788 as the frontier moved further west.
Dates are formatted in yyyy-mm-dd to sort correctly. The Cullum Number is the graduation order from the United States Military Academy by year and class rank and links to a page for the officer on the website version of the Cullum Register. Listings without a Cullum Number indicate that the person was not a graduate of the United States Military Academy.
Current Status
Site excavated in 1974. A memorial plaza and eight assorted historical markers.
Roberts, Robert B., Encyclopedia of Historic Forts: The Military, Pioneer, and Trading Posts of the United States, Macmillan, New York, 1988, 10th printing, ISBN 0-02-926880-X, page 686.
