Site of Fort Cumberland - Cumberland, Maryland
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 39° 39.037 W 078° 45.879
17S E 691786 N 4391368
Site of an early fort once commanded by George Washington in Cumberland, Maryland.
Waymark Code: WMJEX2
Location: Maryland, United States
Date Posted: 11/09/2013
Views: 7
The probable SITE OF FORT CUMBERLAND is on the hill above the intersection of Washing and Green Sts. near Emmanuel Episcopal Church. The square fort had star bastions at its corners, each manned with four cannon. The walls were stone, mud and logs. Barracks and a company parade ground were inclosed by a stockade. West of the fort was a grand parade ground, unstockaded; this is now Prospect Square.
After the fort was abandoned it rapidly disappeared. Settlers of the growing own found its unguared walls and houses cheap source of cut timber.
That the settlers feared and hated the Indians after the raids instigated by the French had begun is understandable; but the average frontiersman's attitude toward the natives of the land would have made for conflict without French interference. The Calvert policy of placating the natives and treating them equably was maintained with difficulty in the western part of the State. Away from the area where the proprietary's representatives enforced the long-sighted policy in the interest of peace, settlers treated the Indians with dangerous contempt. One incident that took place at the fort was typical; one day a local chief, Killbuck, arrived professing friendship and was admitted, only to be seized, disarmed, dressed in petticoats, and chased out into the forest amid hoots and ribald yells of the militiamen. How many later attacks on settlers could be traced to this insult is not known - Maryland: A Guide to the Old Line State, Cumberland section, pgs. 266-7.
Not much remains of the old fort.Around the old fort site are various markers indicating corners of the fort and other locations within the fort. There are tunnels beneath the Emmanuel Episcopal Church dating to the fort. A log cabin which is claimed to have been George Washington's headquarters has been relocated to nearby Riverside Park