Introduction

Fort Laurens was constructed in 1778 as part of an ill-fated campaign led by American Gen. Lachlan Mcintosh to neutralize the Indian threat and establish a western supply post for an attack on British Detroit. Twelve hundred men left Fort McIntosh, present Beaver, Pennsylvania, and reached the Tuscarawas River on November 18, 1778. There, where Col. Henry Bouquet had built a blockhouse in 1764 after the French and Indian War, McIntosh ordered construction despite warnings from neutral Delaware Indians that the site was too far north to protect their villages. The fort was named for Henry Laurens, president of the Continental Congress. When it was nearly finished, McIntosh and most of the troops returned east, leaving Col. John Gibson with 176 men and five women to face the winter. Because of the distance from supply lines, food and provisions were scarce, and the troops resorted to eating herbs and even boiling ox-hides and moccasins for soup. After a month-long siege by British-led Indians, reinforcements finally relieved them in March 1779. Gibson and his men departed, but the new troops fared no better, and the fort was abandoned in August 1779.

Ohio · United States