Fort Venango
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Kordite
N 41° 23.359 W 079° 49.330
17T E 598473 N 4582645
Marker at 8th & Elk Streets (on U.S. 322), Franklin.
Waymark Code: WM4G7
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 12/04/2005
Views: 55
The marker reads: "Fort Venango: To assert control over the area, Fort Venango was built near this point by the British in 1760. The fort was attacked and destroyed by Indians in 1763 during Pontiac's uprising."
The purpose of Fort Venango was to protect the passage from French Creek to the Allegheny River. The British intended for it to replace Fort Machault, which the French had destroyed when they retreated from the Ohio Valley in 1759.
Fort Venango was essentially a large blockhouse with earthwork defenses. It was much smaller than Fort Pitt, the primary British post in the Ohio Country. Seneca Indians attacked it during Pontiac's Rebellion in June 1763 and burned it to the ground, killing its small garrison. They forced the post's commander, Lieutenant Francis Gordon, to write down their grievances concerning the British occupation of the Ohio Country before torturing him to death. When General Amherst learned of Gordon's fate, he wrote to Colonel Henry Bouquet, "no Punishment We can Inflict is Adequate to the Crimes of those Inhumane Villains." This remark, indicative of Amherst's hatred for Indians, reflects the tone of his exchange with Bouquet about using smallpox as a weapon against them.
Marker Name: Fort Venango
County: Venango
Date Dedicated: 10/10/1972
Marker Type: City
Location: 8th & Elk Sts. (on U.S. 322), Franklin
Category: Military, Native American, Forts, French & Indian War
Website: [Web Link]
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