Fort Roberdeau - Sinking Valley, PA
N 40° 34.948 W 078° 16.440
17T E 730714 N 4495980
Fort Roberdeau is a reconstructed Revolutionary War location.
Waymark Code: WM165Z7
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 05/14/2022
Views: 1
The grounds are open from 8:00am to sunset.
Tours are available seasonally, from May through October:
Monday - Saturday 10:00am - 4:00m
Sunday 1:00pm - 4:00pm
The Lead Mine Fort
Standing before you is a reconstructed Fort Roberdeau, added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 29, 1974.
Why and How did Fort Roberdeau become a frontier fort during the American Revolutionary War?
Well the answers can be found in the Fort's name and nickname.
The Why and How: During the early phase of the Revolutionary War, the American Continental Army struggled to supply the soldiers with food, clothing, rifles, & muskets, cannon, pack horses, and lead for the manufacture of small arms ammunition, for example, musket balls.
The solution for shortage of lead was to find domestic lead or sites and mine them. Sinking Valley, the valley of this location, came to the attention of Pennsylvania authorities. In the Spring of 1778, an expedition was organized from Carlisle under the direction of General Daniel Roberdeau to mine the local lead ore deposits in order to supply lead for the Army. General Roberdeau served as militia general and member of Congress from Pennsylvania.
On March 30, 1778, the Pennsylvania Assembly approved Roberdeau to visit the lands and gave him permission to mine the lead. The Fort was named after the expedition leader General Roberdeau and nicknamed after the purpose of lead mining. The bulk of fort construction took place from April to June 1778.
On June 4, 1778, Daniel Roberdeau reported to General Washington, "To prevent the Evacuation of the frontier and general defense against Indian incursions I have built with logs at the Mine in Sinking Spring Valley at the foot of Tussee Mountain, a Fort, Cabbin fashion, 50 yds. square with a Bastion at each Corner."
The cabin fashion was the horizontal log wall technique in front of you. Historians speculate that the ground here was too hard and rocky to allow digging a ditch for a more common stockade (vertical) wall fort of the day. The timbers were simply set atop each other to the desired height and served as a wall for the cabins which helped stabilize the structure.
The bastion serves a military purpose by projecting out past the fort walls at an angle to the wall, so as to allow to better survey around the fort and provide defensive fire in several directions. Simply, the bastion allowed a few men, perhaps only eight with two on post in each bastion, to survey and cover the entire area around the fort. A pracical design for the manpower challenges on the frontier.
(from sign at location)
The year the "Fort" was constructed or started.: 1778
Name of "Country" or "Nation" that constructed this "Fort": Colonial militia
Was this "Fort" involved in any armed conflicts?: No it wasn't
What was the primary purpose of this "Historic Fort"?: Used for defence of a border or land claim.
Current condition: reconstructed
This site is administered by ----: Blair County
If admission is charged -: 6.00 (listed in local currency)
Open to the public?: Restricted hours -Admission charged
Official or advertised web-page: [Web Link]
Link to web-site that best describes this "Historic Fort": [Web Link]
Link if this "Fort" is registered on your Countries/ State "Registry of Historical Sites or Buildi: [Web Link]
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