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From: "Sharon Banzhoff" <>
Subject: POWs at Fort Frederick
Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2005 21:45:57 -0500
References: <20050217.173245.-480635.0.Lgamby@juno.com> <000301c51545$03215510$e47ff2d0@gordoneyz72m3j>


The following is a quote from "MARYLAND - The Seventh State , A History by
John T. Marck, 4th Edition:

Fort Frederick is located about 13 miles west of Hagerstown in Big Pool, MD.
It was one of the last forts built at the time of the French and Indian War
(1754-1763). The stone fort was named in honor of Maryland's Lord
Proprietor, Frederick Calvert, Sixth Lord Baltimore, and erected by Governor
Horatio Sharpe in 1756 to protect the English settlers against the French
and their Indian allies. Most forts during this period were built of wood
and earth and were small in size but Fort Frederick is unique because of its
size and its strong stone stockade walls. Though never attacked by the
French, the Fort did serve as an important supply base for various English
campaigns.

In 1763, an Ottawa Indian Chief named Pontiac staged a massive Indian
uprising. It was during this uprising that several hundred settlers and a
militia force sought protection at the fort.

During the American Revolution, Fort Frederick saw service again as a refuge
for settlers and as a prison camp for Hessian and British soldiers. In
1791, the State of Maryland sold the Fort and for the next on hundred
thirty-one years, the land was used for farming. During the Civil War,
Union troops occupied the Fort and fought a brief skirmish with Confederate
raiders on Christmas Day, 1861. This was the only military engagement Fort
Frederick has seen.

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