In response to the late November 1755 attack and massacre at the Moravian settlement at Gnaddenhuetten and other uprisings that left Northampton County settlers fearful and angry, Pennsylvania governor Robert H. Morris ordered a chain of forts to protect rural settlements and placed Benjamin Franklin in charge of supervising construction between the Lehigh and Delaware rivers. Franklin arrived in Bethlehem with his son William on Dec. 18, 1755, assembled a force that grew to 560 men, and on Jan. 10 left with 46 men and provisions bound for the devastated settlement through the Lehigh Gap. After weather delays and a stop at Nicholas Oplinger's fortified home, Franklin's party reached Gnadenhuetten on January 19 and quickly threw up a musket-proof breastwork and temporary shelters before beginning the permanent fort. Working through rain, fog, and difficult conditions, the men dug a stockade about 350 feet in perimeter, set pointed pine logs 15 to 18 feet high into three-foot-deep holes, added a firing platform with loopholes and two swivel guns, and completed the work in one week. On Sunday they raised a flag, fired their weapons, and named the post Fort Allen in honor of William Allen. Franklin observed signs that Indians had watched the work from concealed fire pits nearby, and although he dismissed the result as a miserable stockade, the fort fulfilled its purpose of giving area settlers greater security in a dangerous frontier environment.
