Fort Robinson (Pennsylvania)
Fort Robinson was a stockaded blockhouse fort built in 1755 in the colonial Province of Pennsylvania for the security of settlers moving into the area following the Albany Congress. The fort was constructed in "Shearman's Valley," now known as Shermans Dale, Pennsylvania, near present-day Northeast Madison Township, Pennsylvania.
Location and construction
Harry Harrison Hain describes the fort in his History of Perry County:The fort was built on a bluff overlooking Bixler's Run, a tributary of Shermans Creek, on land owned by George Robinson, a homesteader who later became a justice of the peace and fought in the American Revolutionary War. His son James was killed in 1756 at the Battle of Sideling Hill and two other sons, William and Thomas, were killed defending Fort Robinson in 1763. His grandson, James Fisher Robinson, was governor of Kentucky.
The fort was located centrally in Shearman's Valley, on high ground with visibility in all directions. It stood close to a well-traveled trade route from Shearman's Valley to Harris' Ford, later the site of Harrisburg. The fort was built with private funds by local settlers and most likely consisted of a stockade surrounding a two-storey blockhouse, typical of non-military forts of that period. As of July, 1756 the fort was capable of housing 40 men and their families, although no militia were posted there. It was not occupied unless settlers needed to move there for security.
History
Capture of Hugh Gibson
The earliest reference to the fort comes from the narrative of Hugh Gibson, who was captured in July, 1756 by Delaware Indians. In his first-person account published in 1811, he states that he was living at the time outside Robinson's Fort. Due to recent attacks by Indians, most of the local population had taken refuge inside the fort. Nearly all the adult males were either working in the fields and only two men remained at the fort as guards. Gibson, his mother, and Elizabeth Henry, a neighbor, were outside the fort looking for lost cattle when they were attacked by Lenape warriors. Gibson's mother was killed and he was taken captive by "a son of King Beaver." Elizabeth Henry was also captured, but the two were separated and Gibson never saw her again. Indians attacked the fort at the same time, killing a woman and a guard before the men in the fields returned to drive them off.Woolcomber Massacre
In late 1756, men at the fort were alerted that the Woolcomber family had been massacred. Mr. Woolcomber had been warned, but he insisted that the Indians were harmless, and when they knocked on his door, he had invited them into his home for dinner. A 15-year-old boy escaped to the fort, reporting that his parents, sisters and brother were killed by the Indians. This event is referred to as the Woolcomber Massacre. Forty men were sent out from the fort to the Woolcomber homestead to bury the deceased.In December 1757 and January 1758, James Patterson wrote to Deputy Governor William Denny from Fort Hunter: "I took with 19 men & ranged from this Fort as far as Robinson's Fort, where I lodged, keeping a guard of six men & one Corporal on Centry that night."