Fort Granville

Fort Granville
1916 state historical marker near Lewistown
Location	Mifflin County, Pennsylvania
Coordinates	40°35′18″N 77°36′5.89″W / 40.58833°N 77.6016361°W / 40.58833; -77.6016361
Built	1756
Approximate location of Fort Granville

Fort Granville was a militia located in the colonial Province of Pennsylvania. Its site was about a mile from Lewistown, in what is now Granville Township, Mifflin County. Active from 1755 until 1756, the stockade briefly sheltered pioneer settlers in the Juniata River valley during the French and Indian War.

After the French victory in the Battle of the Monongahela on July 9, 1755, English settlers on the Pennsylvania frontier were exposed to hostile hit-and-run raids from their adversaries of the Franco-Indian alliance. As the Shawanese and Delawares grew bolder in their excursions in the frontier, it was decided by the provincial government that a string of forts should be constructed across the province from the Delaware Water Gap to the Maryland line. On December 17, 1755, Capt. George Croghan was issued the order below as signed by Benjamin Franklin, Joseph Fox, Joseph Hughs, and Evan Morgan:

"Sir:—You are desired to proceed to Cumberland County and fix on proper places for erecting three stockades, viz.: One back of Patterson's, one upon Kishecoquillas, and one near Sideling Hill; each of them fifty feet square, with Block House on two of the corners, and a Barracks within, capable of lodging fifty men. You are also desired to agree with some proper Person or Persons to oversee the workmen at each Place, who shall be allowed such Wages as you shall agree to give, not exceeding one Dollar per day; and the workmen shall be allowed at the rate of six Dollars per month and their Provisions, till the work is finished."

Instead of constructing the fort at the mouth of the Kishacoquillas Creek, Croghan went up the Juniata River to a site near a spring. The exact location can no longer be determined, as the construction of the Pennsylvania Canal destroyed the spring around 1829. According to historian Walter O'Meara, "This fort was an important link in the chain of strongpoints on the west side of the Susquehanna [River], commanding the point where the Juniata falls through the mountains."