Fort Augusta | |
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Sunbury, Pennsylvania, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, USA | |
Location of Fort Augusta in Pennsylvania | |
Coordinates | 40°52′33″N 76°47′31″W / 40.8757°N 76.7920°W |
Type | Fort |
Site information | |
Controlled by | Northumberland County Historical Society |
Site history | |
Built | 1756 |
In use | 1756-1780 |
Battles/wars | French and Indian War American Revolutionary War |
Garrison information | |
Past commanders | Colonel William Clapham Colonel James Burd Colonel Samuel Hunter |
Garrison | 16 officers and 337 men |
Designated | 1948[1] |
Fort Augusta was a stronghold in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, in the upper Susquehanna Valley from the time of the French and Indian War to the close of the American Revolution. At the time, it was the largest British fort in Pennsylvania, with earthen walls more than two hundred feet long topped by wooden fortifications. With a garrison of over 300 troops and walls specially constructed to resist artillery, it presented a formidable defense and was never attacked. It served as a refuge for local settlers during the French and Indian War and during the American Revolutionary War. It was abandoned in 1780 and dismantled in 1796.[2]