Historical Markers
Marker Details
Name: Fort Venango
Region: Lake Erie Region
County Location: Venango
Marker Location: 8th and Elk Streets (on US 322), Franklin
Dedication Date: October 10, 1971
Region: Lake Erie Region
County Location: Venango
Marker Location: 8th and Elk Streets (on US 322), Franklin
Dedication Date: October 10, 1971
Marker Text
To assert control over the area, Fort Venango was built near this point by the British in 1760. The fort was attacked and destroyed by Indians in 1763 during Pontiac's uprising.
To assert control over the area, Fort Venango was built near this point by the British in 1760. The fort was attacked and destroyed by Indians in 1763 during Pontiac's uprising.
Behind the Marker
The purpose of Fort Venango was to protect the passage from French Creek to the Allegheny River. The British intended for it to replace Fort Machault, which the French had destroyed when they retreated from the Ohio Valley in 1759.
Fort Venango was essentially a large blockhouse with earthwork defenses. It was much smaller than
Fort Pitt, the primary British post in the Ohio Country. Seneca Indians attacked it during Pontiac's Rebellion in June 1763 and burned it to the ground, killing its small garrison. They forced the post's commander, Lieutenant Francis Gordon, to write down their grievances concerning the British occupation of the Ohio Country before torturing him to death. When General Amherst learned of Gordon's fate, he wrote to Colonel Henry Bouquet, "
no Punishment We can Inflict is Adequate to the Crimes of those Inhumane Villains." This remark, indicative of Amherst's hatred for Indians, reflects the tone of his exchange with Bouquet about using smallpox as a weapon against them.
This 1878 map shows the positions of Fort Venango, Fort Machault and Fort Franklin...
Credit: From A History of Venango County, 1879 Courtesy the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
Credit: From A History of Venango County, 1879 Courtesy the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
Fort Venango was essentially a large blockhouse with earthwork defenses. It was much smaller than
Fort Pitt, the primary British post in the Ohio Country. Seneca Indians attacked it during Pontiac's Rebellion in June 1763 and burned it to the ground, killing its small garrison. They forced the post's commander, Lieutenant Francis Gordon, to write down their grievances concerning the British occupation of the Ohio Country before torturing him to death. When General Amherst learned of Gordon's fate, he wrote to Colonel Henry Bouquet, "no Punishment We can Inflict is Adequate to the Crimes of those Inhumane Villains." This remark, indicative of Amherst's hatred for Indians, reflects the tone of his exchange with Bouquet about using smallpox as a weapon against them.Beyond the Marker
Charles M. Stotz, Outposts of the War for Empire: The French and English in Western
Howard H. Peckham, Pontiac and the Indian Uprising (Detroit, MI: Wayne State
Charles M. Stotz, Outposts of the War for Empire: The French and English in Western
Pennsylvania: Their Armies, Their Forts, Their People, 1749-1764 (Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1985).
Howard H. Peckham, Pontiac and the Indian Uprising (Detroit, MI: Wayne State
University Press, 1999).
