The Residents Of Fort Freeland In 1779

 
Each year the battle of Fort Freeland is reenacted at Fort Freeland Heritage Days in October.

"The story of Fort Freeland began  in 1772 when Garrett Vreeland moved from Essex County, New Jersey and began to develop his farm and to build a sawmill and a gristmill. By 1776 he owned 511 acres of land and in addition to the mills was taxed for a bound servant and a “negroe”, as well as four horses and five cows. The land, at the time part of Turbot Township, was one of the best developed properties in upper Northumberland County. It was probably for this reason and because of its central location that local settlers endeavored to fortify the site following the Great Runaway of 1778, and at least 12 families spent the winter of 1778-79 inside this fortification. " - Freeland Farm Website
After the battle,  surviving men were taken as prisoners and marched to Canada while the women, children, and old men were set free and walked eighteen miles to Northumberland.
 Three babies were born in the Fort.

" The fort was surrounded. There were twenty-one men in it and very little ammunition. Mary Kirk and Phoebe Vincent commenced immediately and ran all their spoons and plates into bullets. " 2

An Incomplete List In Progress, Of Those Who Were At Fort Freeland

This was my research while attempting to sort out some of the local stories.  It is not thorough, nor complete, but merely sorted out who was who for another project. I hope to get back to this and research it more thoroughly in the future.

Freeland, Jacob Sr - "At daybreak on the 28th, Jacob Freeland, senior, was shot as he was going out of the gate and fell inside." 2

Freeland, Jacob jr - 

Freeland, Michael - 

Gilfillen, Henry - Killed At Fort Freeland

Kirk, Mary - "Mary Kirk – Widow of Moses Kirk, was in Fort Freeland with her ten children. She is alleged to have melted pewter spoons and plates for bullets during the Battle of Fort Freeland. She dressed her son, William, age 16, as a girl to get him out of the fort after the battle." 4

Kirk, William - "Mrs. Kirk put girls clothes on her son William, a lad of sixteen, and he escaped with the women." 2

Little, John

McClung, William - Killed At Fort Freeland

McKee, George - Fought at The Battle Of Fort Freeland, escaped capture

The Miles Family

• Miles, William - " William Miles, who was taken prisoner at the fort, and afterwards resided in Erie County, said that, in Canada, Captain McDonald spoke in highest terms of Hawkins Boone His scalp, with that of Daugherty, was brought into Fort Freeland." 2
• Miles, James - Killed

Pack, George - 

• son of George Pack was born, and on the 10th of February, 1779

The Vincent Family - 

John & Elizabeth Vincent were around  70 years old when the fort was attacked. 

"Elizabeth Vincent was a cripple and could not walk. Her husband, John Vincent, went to Captain McDonald and told him her situation, and asked for the horse the Indians had taken from his son Peter a week before. He carried his wife to the lower end of the meadow, where they lay and saw the fort burned. It rained hard that night and she lay partly in the water. In the morning the horse came to them. Vincent plaited a halter out of the bark of a hickory tree, set his wife on and led it to Northumberland, where wagons were pressed to take the people down the country." 1

• Vincent, John
• Vincent, Elizabeth

Cornelius & Phoebe Vincent, Cornelius was the son of John & Elizabeth.  Cornelius & Phoebe were in their 40s when the fort was attacked.

• Vincent, Cornelius - Taken Prisoner.  When he died in 1812, it was said that the marks from leg irons, worn while a prisoner of war in Canada, were still visible
• Vincent, Phoebe - 
• Vincent, Mary - Born at Fort Freeland on February 10 1779, daughter of Cornelius  Married name - Mary Derickson.
• Vincent, Benjamin - " Benjamin Vincent, then only ten years old, hid himself in a furrow; he left it to fate of the others until in the afternoon, when an Indian thrust the capitulate., but could not agree, and one half hour was given to consult bloody scalp of his brother Isaac into his face." 2
• Vincent, Daniel - "Daniel Vincent outran the Indians, and, leaping a high log fence, escaped. Benjamin Vincent, then only ten years old, hid himself in a furrow; he left it to climb a tree and was seen and was captured. He knew nothing about the fate of the others until in the afternoon, when an Indian thrust the bloody scalp of his brother Isaac into his face."  
• Vincent, Bethuel - Captured.  Moved to Milton once he was released & returned to the area.
• Vincent, Peter
• Vincent, Isaac - Killed at Fort Freeland, age 22
• Vincent, George, Born at Fort Freeland on May 20th, son if IsaacVincent

This story was printed in the Columbian newspaper, and has been reprinted in history books many times since.  The story IS true, but it is about Daniel Vincent, not Bethuel.  The newspaper ran a correction a week later.

"It would be interesting to know who were taken prisoners, and who returned from the captivity. But one case is known, that of Bethuel Vincent, who had been married a short time before he was taken prisoner. His wife returned to her home in New Jersey. For four years she heard nothing from her husband. One evening she was out with a sleighing party, and having stopped at a tavern a roughly dressed stranger inquired if a Mrs. Vincent lived in the vicinity. She was pointed out to him, and he informed her that he knew her husband in Canada, had lately seen him, and that he was well. On the return home the stranger went with the party, and the extra passenger crowding the sled, he proposed to take Mrs. Vincent on his lap; but she indignantly declined the familiarity, whereupon the stranger discovered himself to be her husband, when the proffered courtesy was joyfully accepted."

"When Bethuel Vincent, a former Fort Freeland resident, returned from Canada after three years as a prisoner of the British during the Revolutionary War, he had considerable difficulty finding his wife. Finally gathering the family together, Vincent chose Milton as the center of commerce, and with the greatest opportunities. Their first home in Milton was a small frame house on the site that is now the north end of Lincoln Park.

Bethuel Vincent had been a farmer before the war. In 1782, or shortly thereafter, having returned from Canada, he purchased the big island from Marcus Hulings. He returned to that occupation by farming the big island (Milton State Park) and erecting a log house on the north end of the island for himself and his family. In January 1796, brothers William and Thomas Pollock came to Milton and started store keeping in the kitchen of the vacant Vincent house.

The Milton post office was established January 1, 1800. Bethuel Vincent was appointed as postmaster on June 29, 1803. The third postmaster to serve that post, he had returned to his house on Water Street (north Front Street) and turned it into a tavern. The post office was in his tavern." 3

Watt, James

Residents The Winter Before The Battle:

Durham, James - Captured at Fort Freeland, prisoner at Fort Niagara for most of the Revolution

Durham, Margaret (McClintock) -  "Margaret Durham was born in *1756 and was a member of one of the families that settled close to Fort Freeland. In the fall of 1778, while traveling toward Fort Augusta for protection during the First Great Runaway, Mrs. Durham was attacked just a short distance below the mouth of the Warrior Run Creek by Indians. They shot and killed her infant child in her arms. She fell from her horse, and the Indians proceeded to tomahawk and scalp her. When the men came to bury the dead, she raised herself up and asked for a drink of water. Elias Williams ran and brought her a hat fill of water and gave her a drink of water. They transformed her by canoe where Dr. Plunkett dressed her head. She survived the wounds and lived to the age of 73. She was laid to rest in the Warrior Run Cemetery in 1829."

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Those Killed At Fort Freeland

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• Freeland, Jacob Sr.
• Gilfillen, Henry
• McClintock, John (Father of Margaret Dunham, who was scalped in 1778 & lived until 1829)
• McClung, William
• Miles, James
• Watt, James

Men From Fort Boone, Killed At Fort Freeland (15 killed, 2 wounded)

• Hawkins, Capt. Hawkins  - "his scalp, along with that of Daughtery, was taken into Fort Freeland"
• Daugherty, Capt. Samuel 

Samuel Brady (uncle of Captain Samuel), James Dougherty and James Hammond, made their escape.

"Colonel Kelly went over with a party from the Buffalo Valley and buried the dead at the fort. Great consternation prevailed throughout the valley after the capture of Fort Freeland; the inhabitants fled, and the road to Fort Augusta was again thronged with terrified women and children"

"Those kill'd at Freeland's Fort in Capt. Boon's party. Capt. Boon, Capt. Saml Dougherty, Jeremiah McGlahglen, Natte Smith, John Jones, Edwd Costikan, Ezra Green, Samuel Neel, Matt'w McClintock, Hugh McGill, Andw Woods, a total of eleven." 4

" In 1774 he married Margaret McClintock born about 1750 died February 8 1828 In 1778 during the Revolutionary war she was scalped by the Indians but lived to survive the injury about fifty years Her father and brothers Matthew and John McClintock were soldiers in the Revoltionary war and were killed with others of Captain Hawkins Boone's company in going to the relief of Fort Freeland July 28 1779 at McClungs near Milton Pennsylvania "

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Those Taken Prisoner At Fort Freeland
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• Armitage, George
• Baily, George
• Dough, John
• Durham, James
• Forney, John
• Gillfillan, Samuel Henry - Sgt
• Gould, William
• Lytle, John - adjutant
• Martin, Aaron - (died at Fort Chambly, January 8 1780)
• Neely, John - Sgt
• Smith, Thomas
• Taggert, Thomas - (died 16th January, 1780)
• Townley, Henry
• Vincent, Cornelius - Quartermaster
• Vincent, Peter - Escaped That Same Day
• Watts, John (escaped that same day)
• Williams, Elias
• Williams, Isaac
• Williams, Peter

More about the battle of Fort Freeland

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-battle-of-fort-freeland.html

Find More Local Histories & Stories Here:

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Sources -

1.  Account of the fall of Fort Freeland is given by Mrs. Mary V. Derrickson, ("born the year of this calamity. " - was she born at Fort Freeland?) as retold in several history books, including 2
2. History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata Valleys, Embraced in the Counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder In The
   EVERTS, PECK & RICHARDS 1886, pp 97-99
   Commonwealth of Pennsylvania." In Two Volumes, Vol 1 Philadelphia: 
3. Milton History Site
4. History Of Fort Freeland By Frederick Godcharles

The Lee Family, Nearby - In August

(Winfield PA)"Captain John Lee, the third Captain in a most patriotic and distinguished early family of Pennsylvania, owned considerable property within a short distance of Freeland's Mills. During the time of the bloody incursions, John Lee was firm, and his resolution was a great comfort to the panic-stricken settlers. After the destruction of the fort, and its capitulation, the savage victors committed indiscriminate plunder and murder. They immediately proceeded to the house of Captain Lee, knowing that he possessed a well-filled money chest. At first they rushed by members of the frightened family, without injuring anyone, into the apartment where the chest lay. Captain Lee just at this time was returning from the fields. He was shot and killed. To' of his sons, young men, were slaughtered at the threshold of the home. His wife, with a suckling babe in her arms, and four other children, were led away captive. Two miles from the house, the baby's brains were dashed out against a tree; the tears and weeping of the mother caused the savages to end her sufferings with the barbarous tomahawk. 

The survivors of this unfortunate family, two girls and two boys, none of them above twelve years of age, were held in Indiana in bondage until 1784-85. When Robert Lee learned the whereabouts of his brother Thomas, he made arrangements to have him brought to Tioga Point, where he was turned over to his friends. Such was his love of Indian life, after so many years of captivity, that they were obliged to tie him, to prevent his escape, when placing him on board a canoe. When near Wilkes- Barre he was untied, but as soon as the canoe touched shore he jumped out and ran away. It was several hours 

before he was again caught. Upon finally arriving at Northumberland, he evinced all the sullenness of a captive, and Indian boys and girls had to be brought to play with him before he showed any disposition to be satisfied with his new home. At last he began to ask questions, and inquire for his relatives, and by degrees again became civilized. Both Thomas and Robert afterwards became officers in the U. S. Army. Rebecca Lee and her sister were also restored to their relatives, through the efforts of their uncle, Capt. Andrew  Lee, a distinguished Revolutionary hero. "   4

The attack on John Lee's (now Winfield) was made in August. A letter directed to Colonel Magaw, at Carlisle, found among his papers, from Colonel Butler, dated 25th August, says, a party of Indians, supposed to be sixty or seventy in number, killed Mr. Lee and family, a few miles above Sunbury. Letters of administration were issued to Captain John Lowdon and Thomas Grant on the 31st of August. Lee was assessor in April of this year. I copy from Meginness his narration of the occurrence, as I can find no contemporaneous account of it. Meginness, however, confounds Major John Lee with Sergeant Lee, killed at Fort Rice, on the 24th of October, and relates an incident occurring at Sergeant Lee's funeral as happening at Major Lee's funeral:

'It was a summer evening, and his family were at supper. A young woman named Katy Stoner escaped up stairs, and concealed herself behind the chimney. Lee was tomahawked and scalped, and a man named John Walker shared the same fate. A Mrs. Boatman and daughter were also killed. Mrs. Lee, with a small child and a boy named Thomas, were led away captives. They took the path up the Valley, crossing White Deer mountain, and then the river. One of Lee's sons, Robert, returning about the time, saw the Indians leaving. He fled to Northumberland, and gave the alarm. A party was organized by Colonel Hunter, and started in pursuit. Henry McHenry, father of A. H. McHenry, of Jersey Shore, was in this party, and gave an account of it to his son. In crossing the mountains, Mrs. Lee was bitten by a rattlesnake, and her leg became so much swollen, she traveled with great difficulty. The Indians finding themselves pursued, urged her on as rapidly as possible, but her strength failed her. When near the mouth of Pine run, four miles below Jersey Shore, she gave out and sat down. An Indian slipped up behind her, placed the muzzle of his rifle to her ear, and blew off the whole upper portion of her head. One of them seized her little child by the heel and dashed it against a tree. They then fled, crossing the river at Smith's fording, and ran up Nippenose bottom. When Colonel Hunter came up with his men, the body of Mrs. Lee was yet warm, and the child, but little injured, was moaning piteously. Near Antes' Gap the Indians separated, and ran up both sides of the mountain, and the party gave up the chase, as they were nearly exhausted. They came back and buried Mrs. Lee where she died, and brought the child back. They dug a hole alongside of Walker's body and rolled him in. Mrs. Boatman's daughter survived and lived many years afterwards. Young Thomas Lee was not recovered for many years afterwards. His brother made arrangements with the Indians to bring him to Tioga Point, (Athens now,) where he was delivered to his friends. Such was his love of Indian life that they were obliged to tie him and place him into a canoe to bring him home. When near Wilkesbarre they untied him, but as soon as the canoe touched the shore, he was out and off like a deer. They caught him, however, and, on arriving at Northumberland, he evinced all the sullenness of a captive. Boys and girls played about him for several days before he showed any disposition to join them. At last he began to inquire the names of things. By degrees he became civilized, and obtained a good education.' (Meginness, p. 276. )

John Van Buskirk told me when he came to the Valley, in 1816, the old people thereabouts showed him the spot where Lee was killed, by what is now (1877) a blasted pine, some little distance in a westerly course from the furnace stone stable; and he said Lee was buried, with his family, near their residence, which Isaac Eyer, senior, tells me, stood just where the furnace railroad crosses the road to the river, and that his father lived in it until he built the new house, within his own recollection.

I once had occasion to examine the title papers of Youngman's and Walter's place. Among them is the release of Thomas Lee, the eldest son, his signature, excellent hand-writing, dated 1st April, 1797, to Robert Lee, of Point township. Release of Sarah, married to William Beard, of Lycoming county, 24th April, 1797, to Robert. Rebecca, married to Robert Hursh, of Lycoming county, of same date; and Eliza Lee. She was probably the infant spoken of in the narrative. Robert Lee then sold to Abraham Eyerly, (now Eyer,) 2d May, 1797."

Another account was written in 1855, by Mary V. Derickson, who was born in Fort Freeland at about the time of Margaret (McClintock) Durham's attack. "In the fall of '78, as a company of settlers were leaving the country on account of the Indians, they were fired at and Mrs. Durham's infant was killed in her arms, she fell with it, and they came and tomahawked and scalped her, and when the men went to count the dead, she raised up and asked for a drink of water. Elias Williams, one of the men, ran to the river and brought his hat full of water and gave her a drink, they put her in a canoe and took her to Northumberland, where Dr. Plunket dressed her head, she recovered and lived about fifty years."