Fort Robinson (Pennsylvania)

Fort Robinson (often spelled Robison or Robeson and frequently referred to in contemporary documents as George Robinson's Fort or simply Robinson's Fort) was a stockaded blockhouse fort built in 1755 in the colonial Province of Pennsylvania for the security of settlers moving into the area following the Albany Congress. The fort was constructed in "Shearman's Valley," now known as Shermans Dale, Pennsylvania, near present-day Northeast Madison Township, Pennsylvania.

Location and construction

Harry Harrison Hain describes the fort in his History of Perry County:

"It was a log fort, surrounded by a stockade. It occupied a site...located on a tableland with a good view of the surrounding country...The lowlands below were heavily wooded with large oak and maple, which also afforded protection in going to the fort. A spring was located at the foot of the bluff where water was secured with the least exposure, the distance from the stockade being only the steep bank — probably twenty feet...The fort was evidently in the nature of a block house, surrounded by a stockade built of heavy planks or poles. It was located along the famous Allegheny or Traders' Path and was the only source of protection for the traveler along the Allegheny Path between the Kittatinny or Blue Mountain and the Tuscarora."

The fort was built on a bluff overlooking Bixler's Run, a tributary of Shermans Creek, on land owned by George Robinson (1727–1814, also spelled Robison or Robeson), a homesteader who later became a justice of the peace and fought in the American Revolutionary War. His son James was killed in 1756 at the Battle of Sideling Hill and two other sons, William and Thomas, were killed defending Fort Robinson in 1763. His grandson, James Fisher Robinson, was governor of Kentucky.

The fort was located centrally in Shearman's Valley, on high ground with visibility in all directions. It stood close to a well-traveled trade route from Shearman's Valley to Harris' Ford, later the site of Harrisburg.