the fortification of his mills during this period of war, protecting his family and property from the raiding Iroquois. The fort was known as Fort Bosley. The fort was occupied by continental troops and local frontier rangers for the next two years, some of which fought in the Battle of Fort Freeland, on July 29, 1779. But in August 1780, the troops left Fort Bosley and the region making it harder for American patriots to defend the regional forts. Fort Bosley was abandoned soon after, possibly attacked around September 6th, 1780, when Fort Rice (in modern-day Lewis Township, Northumberland County) was attacked by loyalists and the Iroquois. Historical records indicate that Fort Bosley was rebuilt in the spring of 1781 and staffed until peace was declared in 1783. Revolutionary War records further indicate that multiple skirmishes between Frontier Rangers and Iroquois-led warriors occurred during the duration of the war, at and surrounding Fort Bosley.
The cabin as it was first discoverd in downtown Washingtonville in 2020.
The exodus of settlers during this time was called the “Big Runaway”. Most of the settlers relocated to Fort Augusta at modern-day Sunbury at the confluence of the North and West Branches of the Susquehanna River, while their abandoned houses and farms were all burnt to the ground by the raging Iroquois. Some settlers returned soon after, but the attacks were renewed the following year, leading to a second evacuation known as the “Little Runaway”. These attacks on the Pennsylvania frontier led to retaliation by the American army against the Native Americans, known as Sullivan’s Expedition, and led to the destruction of more than 40 Iroquois villages.
On July 13, 1778, Bosley gave an account of his family’s evacuation from their frontier homestead and also pledged allegiance to the American Patriots. Bosley would serve as a Frontier Ranger, Northumberland Co., Robinson’s Volunteers, to the end of the Revolutionary War, and allowed
A new roof in process of being constructed for the cabin at the Montour DeLong Fairgrounds.
Workers preparing for the construction process.
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