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105-451: The fort was erected by Colonel William Clapham in 1756 at a site now within the limits of the city of Sunbury , on the site of the Lenape village of Shamokin , which was abandoned only a few weeks before construction of the fort began. Named for Augusta of Saxe-Gotha , the mother of King George III , Fort Augusta was the largest of the provincial forts. It was first constructed as part of

210-404: A crossfire covering the entire extent of the wall. A well was located in the westernmost bastion. Blockhouses connected by a stockade formed a covered way to the river. Clapham took particular care to reinforce the fort's main walls so that they would resist artillery. The fort was garrisoned by sixteen officers and 337 men and had twelve cannons and two swivel guns . It served as a base for

315-498: A Saw within a Quarter of a Mile." In later correspondence he mentions the complete absence of roads along the river. The Lenape village of Shamokin had been abandoned a few weeks earlier. On 10 June, Clapham held a conference with Oghaghradisha, an Iroquois chief, at Clapham's military camp. Oghaghradisha presented Clapham with a wampum belt and gave Clapham the Iroquois name "Ugcarumhiunth." He told Clapham that Fort Halifax

420-447: A bakery, smoke house , beef cistern , pork cistern, and a powder magazine with an underground powder keg . The wall facing the river was composed of upright logs, and the rear wall was made up of lengthwise logs. Beyond the main wall was a dry moat that was half as deep as the wall was high. In front of the main gate, a small bridge over the moat could be raised in the event of an attack. Triangular bastions on each corner permitted

525-407: A bakery, smoke house , beef cistern , pork cistern, and a powder magazine with an underground powder keg . The wall facing the river was composed of upright logs, and the rear wall was made up of lengthwise logs. Beyond the main wall was a dry moat that was half as deep as the wall was high. Triangular bastions on each corner permitted a crossfire covering the entire extent of the wall. A well

630-569: A net height of 1,009 feet (308 m) between basins, requiring the use of more than 100 water locks , which were too expensive to be maintained under the new competition. The Susquehanna River figures in the history of the Latter Day Saint movement . It holds that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received the priesthood from heavenly beings at a site along the Susquehanna and performed their first baptisms of Latter Day Saints in

735-492: A reconciliation between the two men. Historian William Albert Hunter comments on this event that: On 5 June 1756, Clapham left Fort Hunter with five companies (400 men), marching north along the Susquehanna River to select a suitable location for Fort Halifax . Clapham and his men marched from Harris's Ferry (present-day Harrisburg, Pennsylvania ), while 18 bateaux and canoes loaded with materials traveled down

840-467: A reputation for being hot-tempered and arbitrary, and often had his subordinate officers arrested and imprisoned for minor infractions, releasing them after a few days without trial. By late 1756, construction projects and daily maintenance tasks were abandoned due to poor morale. On 8 December, Major James Burd took command of the fort. Clapham resigned his command of the garrison in March, 1757. He

945-532: A series of demands on Native American tribes with whom he was negotiating for peace as part of the 1764 Treaty of Fort Niagara , including "that they deliver up the murderers of Clapham...to be put to death for their Crimes." Both Keekyuscung and his son Wolf had been killed at the Battle of Bushy Run on 6 August 1763. William Clapham is buried in the cemetery at Trinity Cathedral in Pittsburgh. There

1050-697: A third major language family, with their peoples occupying much of the middle areas of the interior. Algongquian-speaking peoples predominated in the coastal areas. Iroquoian speakers , such as the Cherokee and Tuscarora peoples , generally occupied areas to the interior near the Piedmont and foothills. In 1615, the river was traversed by the French explorer Étienne Brûlé . In the 1670s the Conestoga, or Susquehannock people, succumbed to Iroquois conquest by

1155-473: A trading post nearby. He was appointed captain of "McKee's Volunteers," but provisions, clothing and ammunition were in short supply, and the post was vulnerable to attack. On 8 March 1756, Benjamin Franklin wrote to August Gottlieb Spangenberg that: On 7 April 1756, Governor Morris ordered Clapham to march his regiment to Hunter's Mill to begin construction. On 11 May 1756, McKee handed over command of

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1260-471: A very good defense against any body of French and Indians that shall seat themselves before us without cannon." Clapham had largely completed Fort Augusta by late August 1756. Named for Augusta of Saxe-Gotha , the mother of King George III , it was the largest British fort built in Pennsylvania, with earthen walls more than two hundred feet long topped by wooden fortifications. Buildings included

1365-679: Is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, crossing three lower Northeast states (New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland). At 444 miles (715 km) long, it is the longest river on the East Coast of the United States . By watershed area, it is the 16th-largest river in the United States, and also the longest river in the early 21st-century continental United States without commercial boat traffic. The Susquehanna River forms from two main branches:

1470-515: Is a practical ferry for up to four vehicles and 50 passengers, while the Pride of the Susquehanna , based at Harrisburg, provides a passenger-only pleasure cruise. Most of the canals have been filled in or are partially preserved as a part of historical parks. Dams generally are used to generate power or to provide lakes for recreation. The environmental group American Rivers named the Susquehanna " America's Most Endangered River for 2005 " because of

1575-537: Is a reference to "Captain Clapham" in an early version of the song Yankee Doodle , printed in an undated broadside titled “The Recruiting Officer, Together with Yanky Doodle,” probably published between 1748 and before Clapham completed his service in Canada in 1754: Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River ( / ˌ s ʌ s k w ə ˈ h æ n ə / SUSS -kwə- HAN -ə ; Lenape : Siskëwahane )

1680-791: Is regarded by many as one of the premier bass fishing rivers in North America. Canoe races are held annually on various sections of the river, such as the amateur race held in Oneonta, New York . Susquehanna rowing and paddling have a long history. Starting in 1874, rowers from Shamokin Dam, Pennsylvania , raced men from Sunbury . The General Clinton Canoe Regatta, a 70-mile (110 km) flat-water race, takes place each year in Bainbridge, New York , on Memorial Day weekend. Binghamton University Crew and Hiawatha Island Boat Club are also located on

1785-476: The 1751 raid on Dartmouth (also referred to as the Dartmouth Massacre ) on 13 May 1751, Miꞌkmaq warriors and Acadian militia under the command of Acadian Joseph Broussard , raided Dartmouth, Nova Scotia , destroying the town, killing twenty British civilians and wounding four British soldiers. Captain Clapham and 60 troops from the 45th Regiment of Foot were stationed on Blockhouse Hill. He and

1890-613: The Allegheny Plateau region of the Appalachian Mountains , cutting through a succession of water gaps in a broad zigzag course to flow across the rural heartland of southeastern Pennsylvania and northeastern Maryland in the lateral near-parallel array of mountain ridges. The river empties into the northern end of the Chesapeake Bay at Perryville and Havre de Grace, Maryland , providing half of

1995-547: The Battle at St. Croix on 23 March 1750, by arriving at Pisiguit with his company of rangers and two cannons, forcing the Mi'kmaq to withdraw. Clapham fought in the Battle at Chignecto on 3 September 1750. Although fighting continued across the Chignecto Isthmus during 1751, by summer Cornwallis had disbanded all ranger companies except Gorham's Rangers , a primarily Native American unit formed in 1744. During

2100-470: The Chernobyl nuclear accident . The remaining reactor at Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station was shut down in 2019. In 2015, a smallmouth bass with a rare, cancerous tumor was caught from the river, raising renewed concerns about toxic materials and water pollution. The Environmental Protection Agency reported, "we do not have sufficient data at this time to scientifically support listing

2205-572: The Chesapeake Bay . It was well established in the flat tidelands of eastern North America during the Mesozoic era about 252 to 66 million years ago. This is the same period when the Hudson , Delaware and Potomac rivers were established. Both branches and the lower Susquehanna were part of important regional transportation corridors. The river was extensively used for muscle-powered ferries , boats , and canal boat shipping of bulk goods in

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2310-587: The Civil War 's 1863 Gettysburg Campaign , Union Major General Darius N. Couch , commander of the Department of the Susquehanna , resolved that Robert E. Lee 's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia would not cross the Susquehanna. He positioned militia units under Maj. Granville Haller to protect key bridges in Harrisburg and Wrightsville , as well as nearby fords. Confederate forces reached

2415-620: The Endless Mountains in the Allegheny Plateau of Pennsylvania. It receives the Lackawanna River southwest of Scranton and turns sharply to the southwest, flowing through the former anthracite industrial heartland in the mountain ridges of northeastern Pennsylvania, past Pittston City ( Greater Pittston ), Wilkes-Barre , Nanticoke , Shickshinny , Berwick , Bloomsburg , and Danville , before receiving

2520-657: The French and Indian War . He was considered a competent commander in engagements with French troops and Native American warriors, but towards the end of his military career he was unpopular with troops under his command. Following his retirement from the army, he and his family were killed by Lenape warriors on his farm in 1763. Nothing is known of William Clapham's early life. He was appointed captain in Boston on 1 November 1747, and may have been born in Massachusetts. He

2625-516: The Lenape (Delaware) word siskëwahane meaning "Muddy River". Alternatively, it may come from the Lenape (Delaware) term Sisa'we'hak'hanna , which means "Oyster River". Oyster beds were widespread in the bay near the mouth of the river, which the Lenape farmed. They left oyster shell middens at their villages. A third account translates "Susquehanna" from the Susquehannock language , of

2730-803: The Monongahela , Allegheny Rivers and their confluence into the Ohio River flowing southwest towards the Mississippi River . The 82-mile (132 km) Union Canal was completed in 1828 to connect the Schuylkill River (flowing southeast towards the Delaware River at Philadelphia ) at Reading westwards to the Susquehanna River above the state capital of Harrisburg . Competition from faster transport via

2835-599: The North Branch , which rises in Cooperstown, New York , and is regarded by federal mapmakers as the main branch or headwaters, and the West Branch , which rises in western Pennsylvania and joins the main branch near Northumberland in central Pennsylvania. The river drains 27,500 square miles (71,000 km ), including nearly half of the land area of Pennsylvania. The drainage basin includes portions of

2940-592: The Ohio River . In 1792, the Union Canal was proposed in order to link the Susquehanna and the Delaware rivers in Pennsylvania along Swatara and Tulpehocken creeks. In the 19th century, many industrial centers developed along the Susquehanna, using its water power to drive mills and coal machinery, to cool machines, and as a waterway for the transport of raw and manufactured goods. Based on colonial charters, both Pennsylvania and Connecticut claimed land in

3045-630: The Penn's Creek massacre , the Great Cove massacre , and the Gnadenhütten massacre , Benjamin Franklin had been charged with the rapid construction of three small forts in northeastern Pennsylvania ( Fort Allen , Fort Franklin, and Fort Lebanon ) but he felt that the responsibility for building forts should be given to someone with more military training, and offered a commission to Clapham, who accepted. Franklin writes in his autobiography: Clapham

3150-534: The Susquehanna Gap through the Blue Mountain Ridge , just northwest of Harrisburg . Downtown Harrisburg developed on the east side of the river, which is nearly a mile wide here. Harrisburg is the largest city located on the lower river, which flows southeast across South Central Pennsylvania , forming the border between York and Lancaster counties, and receiving Swatara Creek from

3255-409: The Susquehanna River , arriving on 11 June to start construction. Clapham picked a site near a large stand of pines which he planned to use for construction, close to a water-powered sawmill on Armstrong Creek . In a June 11 letter to Governor Morris, Clapham noted that the site he chose for the fort was appropriate because of "...the vast Plenty of Pine Timber at Hand, its nearness to Shamokin and

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3360-571: The West Branch Susquehanna Valley fled to Fort Augusta in a mass exodus known as "the Great Runaway." The fort at that time had a garrison of fewer than one hundred troops, and Colonel Samuel Hunter, the commander, made an urgent plea for reinforcements. Congress ordered eight hundred and fifty militia to defend the fort. After 1780, the fort was abandoned, although the colonel's residence was occupied until 1784 by

3465-536: The Wyoming Valley along the Susquehanna. Connecticut founded Westmoreland County here and defended its claim in the Pennamite Wars . Under federal arbitration, eventually the state ceded this territory to Pennsylvania. In the 1790s English Lake Poets Robert Southey , Samuel Taylor Coleridge , and Robert Lovell formulated the " Pantisocracy Plan" to marry three sisters and move to the banks of

3570-430: The curtain where the gate is, with a ditch, covered way, and glacis ." In early July, Clapham marched with his troops from Fort Halifax, while the canoes and bateaux carried supplies downriver, encountering numerous falls and rapids which hindered their progress. On 14 August, Clapham wrote to Governor Morris: "We have the walls of the fort now above-half finished and our other works in such situation that we can make

3675-514: The history of the United States . In the 18th century, William Penn , the founder of the Pennsylvania Colony , negotiated with the Lenape to allow white settlement in the area between the Delaware River and the Susquehanna, which was part of Lenape territory. In late colonial times, the river became an increasingly important transportation corridor, used to ship anthracite coal , discovered by Necho Allen , from its upper reaches in

3780-859: The railroad industry by the 1850s resulted in reducing the reliance on the river for transport. Two canal systems were constructed on the lower Susquehanna to bypass the rapids. The first was the Susquehanna Canal , also called the Conowingo Canal or the Port Deposit Canal, completed in 1802 by a Maryland company known as the Proprietors of the Susquehanna Canal. The second was the much longer and more successful Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal . The canals required dams to provide canal water and navigation pools. As

3885-629: The Bay's freshwater inflow. The bay lies in the flooded valley, or ria , of the Susquehanna. The Susquehanna River is one of the oldest existing rivers in the world, being dated as 320–340 Myr , older than the mountain ridges through which it flows. These ridges resulted from the Alleghenian orogeny uplift events, when Africa (as part of Gondwana ) slammed into the Northern part of Euramerica . The Susquehanna basin reaches its ultimate outflow in

3990-495: The British defense against French and Indian raids from the upper Allegheny region. The fort was positioned so as to prevent Native American war parties from descending the Susquehanna River, to serve as a refuge for civilians under attack, and as a staging area for military expeditions against enemy forces. Later, it served as an American fortress to aid in protecting settlers of the upper Susquehanna from Britain's Indian allies to

4095-529: The Colonel [Clapham] frequently says he will soon resign and go to Philadelphia." Pay for troops and officers at Fort Augusta was delayed repeatedly, to the point where Clapham was forced to loan most of his salary to men and officers under his command to prevent them from deserting or leaving at the end of their enlistment. Shipments of provisions were frequently late, so that the fort's food supply sometimes dwindled to only one or two days' rations. Clapham had

4200-516: The English at the junction of the East and West branches of the Susquehanna River. This army was gathered from the French posts at Duquesne , Kittanning , Venango and Le Boeuf and assembled at the mouth of Anderson Creek , near the present location of Curwensville , Clearfield County, Pennsylvania . Here, crude boats, rafts and bateaux were constructed for passage down the Susquehanna River for

4305-513: The Governor of Ile Royale , the prisoners were released. After the 1749 raid on Dartmouth , Clapham raised a company of 70 men, known as "Clapham's Rangers," to fight the Mi'kmaq. Governor Cornwallis offered £10 for every Mi'kmaq scalp or prisoner. The bounty of scalps was raised to £50 in 1750, motivating Clapham and Francis Bartelo to form new ranger companies to search the land around Halifax for Mi'kmaq. Clapham relieved John Gorham in

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4410-531: The Great Lakes. The English of Pennsylvania referred to the Eroni people of Conestoga as "Susquehannocks" or "Susquehannock Indians", a name derived from the Lenape term. In addition, John Smith of Jamestown , Virginia, labeled their settlement as "Sasquesahanough" on his 1612 map when he explored the upper Chesapeake Bay area. In Virginia and other southern colonies, Siouan -speaking tribes constituted

4515-818: The Iroquoian family, as "the stream that falls toward the south" or "long-crooked-river". The Lenape are an Algonquian-speaking Native American people who had communities ranging from coastal Connecticut through New York and Long Island, and further south into New Jersey and Delaware in the mid-Atlantic area. Their settlements in Pennsylvania included Con'esto'ga ("Roof-place" or "town", modern Washington Boro, Lancaster County ), also called Ka'ot'sch'ie'ra ("Place-crawfish", modern Chickisalunga, Lancaster County), or Gasch'guch'sa ("Great-fall-in-river", modern Conewago Falls , Lancaster County). They were called Minquas ("quite different"), or Sisa'we'hak'hanna'lenno'wak ("Oyster-river-people") by others. The Lenape also called

4620-542: The New York system. Today 200 bridges cross the Susquehanna. The Rockville Bridge , which crosses the river from Harrisburg to Marysville, Pennsylvania , is the longest stone masonry arch bridge in the world. It was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1902, replacing an earlier iron bridge. Two seasonal ferries operate across the Susquehanna. The Millersburg Ferry at Millersburg, Pennsylvania ,

4725-593: The North Branch flowing from the northwest at Northumberland. Downstream from the confluence of its branches in Northumberland , the river flows south past Selinsgrove , where it is joined by its Penns Creek tributary, and cuts through a water gap at the western end of Mahantongo Mountain. It receives the Juniata River from the northwest at Duncannon , then passes through its last water gap,

4830-641: The North Branch of the river. Smith and Cowdery said that they were visited on May 15, 1829, by the resurrected John the Baptist and given the Aaronic priesthood . Following his visit, Smith and Cowdery baptized each other in the river. Later that year, they said they were visited near the river by the apostles Peter , James and John . Both events took place in unspecified locations near the river's shore in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania . During

4935-640: The Susquehanna River to start a socialist experiment. They made the marriages but Southey moved to Lisbon, Portugal , to visit an uncle, and they abandoned the plan to move to the United States. In 1833 John B. Jervis began a canal system to extend the Chenango River and connect the waters of the Susquehanna from Chenango Point to the Erie Canal , which ran through the Mohawk Valley of New York , ultimately connecting with Lake Erie through

5040-602: The Third Battalion, Pennsylvania Regiment of Foot, known as the Augusta Regiment, which was originally formed to build and garrison Fort Augusta. In August 1756, Fort Granville was destroyed by French and Indian forces, and soon afterwards Clapham was informed by chief Oghaghradisha that several hundred French and Native American troops had traveled down the Great Shamokin Path to destroy

5145-419: The Third Battalion, Pennsylvania Regiment of Foot, known as the Augusta Regiment, which was originally formed to build and garrison Fort Augusta. Modifications and improvements continued to be made for months, and in late October, Clapham described the final stages of the fort's construction: "In eight or ten days more the ditch will be carried quite around the parapet , the barrier gates finished and erected, and

5250-873: The Three Mile Island accident has not resulted in any harmful radiation effects. The areas in and along a 262-km length of the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania were monitored for the presence of radioactive materials. This study began two months after the 1979 Three Mile Island (TMI) partial reactor meltdown; it spanned the next 25 years. Monitoring points included stations at the PPL Susquehanna and TMI nuclear power plants. Monthly gamma measurements documented concentrations of radionuclides from natural and anthropogenic sources. During this study, various series of gamma-emitting radionuclide concentration measurements were made in many general categories of animals, plants, and other inorganic matter, both within and near

5355-690: The United States gaining independence in the Revolutionary War, in 1790 Colonel Timothy Matlack , Samuel Maclay and John Adlum were commissioned by the Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to survey the headwaters of the Susquehanna river. They were to explore a route for a passage to connect the West Branch with the waters of the Allegheny River , which flowed to Pittsburgh and

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5460-493: The West Branch at Northumberland. The origin of the official West Branch is near Elmora, Pennsylvania , in northern Cambria County near the contemporary junction of Mitchel Road and US Route 219 (locally Plank Road). It travels northeasterly through the towns of Northern Cambria , Cherry Tree , Burnside , Mahaffey and Curwensville (where the river is dammed to form a lake), into and through Clearfield , where it receives Clearfield Creek . The West Branch turns to

5565-471: The Wood Canal. In October 1836, water from the Susquehanna was connected to the Erie Canal at Utica, New York . Water travel was the main form of transportation during that era. The Erie Canal dramatically expanded trade between communities around the Great Lakes and markets in New York and Pennsylvania. With the expansion of construction of railroad lines, canal-transport became unprofitable, as it could not compete in speed or flexibility. Boats had to climb

5670-434: The area Sisa'we'hak'hanna'unk ("Oyster-river-place"). Peoples of the mid-Atlantic Coast included coastal peoples who spoke Algonquian languages , such as the Lenape (whose bands spoke three dialects of Lenape), and Iroquoian languages -speaking peoples of the interior, such as the Eroni and the Five Nations of the Iroquois League , or Haudenosaunee , based largely in present-day New York and upper Pennsylvania around

5775-403: The brief decades before the Pennsylvania Canal System was eclipsed by the coming of age of steam -powered railways . While the railroad industry has been less prevalent since the closures and mergers of the 1950s–1960s, a wide-ranging rail transportation infrastructure still operates along the river's shores. Also called the Main Branch Susquehanna , the longer branch of the river rises at

5880-577: The case is not recorded. In 1748, Clapham was sent as a company commander to defend Annapolis Royal as part of a New England reinforcement for Nova Scotia , where he served with Jedidiah Preble and Benjamin Goldthwait . Clapham was stationed in Nova Scotia during Father Le Loutre's War (1749–1755). On 19 August 1749, Captain Clapham was in command at Canso, Nova Scotia , when Lieutenant Joseph Gorham and his party were attacked by Mi'kmaq who took twenty prisoners and carried them off to Louisbourg . After Governor Edward Cornwallis complained to

5985-430: The company are reported to have remained within the blockhouse firing from the loopholes during the whole raid. A court martial was called on 14 May, the day after the raid, to inquire into the conduct of the commanding officers who allowed the town to be destroyed. In June, Clapham's sergeant was acquitted. In 1751, Clapham was prosecuted in Halifax for killing a drunk prisoner by gagging him too tightly. The case

6090-547: The evacuation of thousands of residents. In September 2011 the Susquehanna River and its communities were hit by Tropical Storm Lee , which caused the worst flooding since Agnes in 1972. The Susquehanna River is important in the transportation history of the United States . Before the Port Deposit Bridge opened in 1818, the river formed a barrier between the northern and southern states, as it could be crossed only by ferry . The earliest dams were constructed to support ferry operations in low water. The presence of many rapids in

6195-399: The excessive pollution it receives. Most of the pollution in the river is caused by excess animal manure from farming , agricultural runoff , urban and suburban stormwater runoff , and raw or inadequately treated sewage . In 2003 the river contributed 50% of the freshwater, 44% of the nitrogen , 21% of the phosphorus , and 21% of the sediment flowing into the Chesapeake Bay . It

6300-462: The first census of the population of Pittsburgh, conducted under the direction of Colonel Henry Bouquet , in which he recorded 104 houses and a total population of 332 people, composed of 95 officers, soldiers and their families, and 238 civilians. Soon afterwards, Clapham entered into an economic venture with Indian trader George Croghan to develop a trading post and a settlement, later referred to as Oswegly Old Town. In 1762, he applied for

6405-447: The former site of the Native American village of Shamokin . The fort was positioned so as to prevent Native American war parties from descending the Susquehanna River, to serve as a refuge for civilians under attack, and as a staging area for military expeditions against enemy forces. The plan of the fort had been previously drawn up by Governor Morris, who wrote to Clapham on 12 June recommending "a square with one ravelin to protect

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6510-419: The fort to Colonel Clapham. The fort probably consisted of a block house surrounded by a defensive ditch . There are references in historic documents to a stockade and to the construction (in January, 1757) of "a Room for the Officers & Barracks for the Soldiers...in Hunters Fort." It was described as having "a commanding view of the river." Fort Halifax was 160 feet wide with bastions , so Fort Hunter

6615-451: The fort's last commander, Colonel Samuel Hunter (1732-1784), who died there and was buried nearby. The fort was dismantled in 1796, except for the colonel's residence, where Colonel Hunter's family lived until 1848, when it was burned down by a disgruntled servant. A Works Progress Administration (WPA) investigation of the fort was conducted in 1938, however the excavation records have been lost. Excavations in 1978-1979 uncovered portions of

6720-482: The fort's walls: On 8 September 1756, he wrote to Franklin requesting additional supplies and horses: In late October, Clapham described the final stages of the fort's construction: "In eight or ten days more the ditch will be carried quite around the parapet , the barrier gates finished and erected, and the pickets of the glacis completed." The fort was garrisoned by sixteen officers and 337 men and had twelve cannons and two swivel guns . It served as base for

6825-400: The fort, built in 2013, stands in the front of the museum as a replica of the original model, which was built in 1939, and taken down in 1974. The model of the fort was reconstructed and rededicated on 10 November 2013. William Clapham William Clapham (1722 – 28 May 1763) was an American military officer who participated in the construction of several forts in Pennsylvania during

6930-432: The fort. This raiding party had been gathered from the French posts at Fort Duquesne , Venango , and Fort Le Boeuf , and the Lenape village of Kittanning , and had assembled at the mouth of Anderson Creek , where they built bateaux to descend the Susquehanna River, bringing with them two or three small brass cannons. They observed Fort Augusta from a distance, however they were too far away for their guns to shoot from

7035-413: The future site of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania . Captain Joseph Shippen later wrote to his father that Governor Morris had made some remarks which offended Clapham, so that Clapham refused to speak to the governor for several days afterward, and eventually saddled his horse with intent to ride away and abandon his troops. Captain Shippen and other officers persuaded Clapham not to leave, and were able to mediate

7140-420: The garrison was evacuated in June, 1765. An Indian trading post, opened in May 1758, remained in operation. During the American Revolutionary War , Fort Augusta became the headquarters of the military department of the upper Susquehanna, 1778-1780. Following the Wyoming Massacre on 3 July 1778, Indian raids killed or captured nearly a fifth of the soldiers in local forts, and over three thousand settlers across

7245-473: The governor instead decided to demolish Fort Halifax and transfer its garrison to Fort Hunter, strengthening it from 40 men to 80 men. The fort was abandoned after the end of Pontiac's War in 1763 and fell into ruins. The community of Fort Hunter, Pennsylvania was established nearby after 1787. Clapham's temperament was revealed in May, 1756, when he and several officers stayed with Governor Robert Morris at Harris's Ferry, operated by John Harris Sr. and

7350-433: The hardest-hit communities and the capital Harrisburg was flooded. The Chesapeake Bay received so much fresh water that it altered the ecosystem, killing much of the marine life that depended on saltwater. The Mid-Atlantic Flood of June 2006 , caused by a stalled jet stream-driven storm system, affected portions of the river system. The worst affected area was Binghamton, New York , where record-setting flood levels forced

7455-569: The hill opposite the fort. The force then withdrew after deciding that the fort was too well defended. In November 1756, Clapham informed Deputy Governor William Denny that about fifty miles up the West Branch Susquehanna River was an Indian village with only ten families, located near Great Island (now known as Lock Haven, Pennsylvania ). The inhabitants had formerly lived at Shamokin and were reportedly under French influence. Clapham believed that war parties from this village had been ambushing, killing and scalping soldiers and civilians, including

7560-587: The industrial age progressed, bridges replaced ferries , and railroads replaced canals. The railroads were often constructed on top of the canal right-of-way along the river. Many canal remnants can be seen; for example, in Havre de Grace, Maryland , along US Route 15 in Pennsylvania, and in upstate New York at various locations. These latter remnants are parts of the upstream divisions of the Pennsylvania Canal , of privately funded canals, and of canals in

7665-462: The introduction to his historical novel The Pioneers (1823). At Athens, Pennsylvania , then known as Tioga or "Tioga Point", Clinton met with General John Sullivan and his forces, who had marched from Easton, Pennsylvania . Together on August 29, they defeated the Tories and warriors of allied Iroquois bands at the Battle of Newtown (near present-day Elmira, New York ). This was part of what

7770-560: The line again through the twin towns of Waverly, New York , and Sayre, Pennsylvania , and their large right bank railyard, once briefly holding the largest structure in the United States devoted to the maintenance and construction of railroad locomotives. A couple of miles south, in Athens Township, Pennsylvania , it receives the Chemung from the northwest. It makes a right-angle curve between Sayre and Towanda to cut through

7875-403: The main stem of the Susquehanna as impaired ." The Susquehanna River has attracted boaters who watch or fish for its migratory species. Many tourists and local residents use the Susquehanna in the summer for recreation purposes such as kayaking, canoeing, and motor-boating. Due to the high volume of smallmouth bass in the river, it is the host of numerous bass fishing tournaments each year and

7980-542: The mountains to the markets downriver. In 1779 during the American Revolutionary War , General James Clinton led an expedition down the Susquehanna from its headwaters. His party had made the upper portion navigable by damming the river's source at Otsego Lake , allowing the lake's level to rise, and then destroying the dam and flooding the river in order for his flotilla to travel for miles downstream. James Fenimore Cooper described this event in

8085-568: The mouth of Fishing Creek , near its confluence with the Susquehanna River , in present-day Dauphin County . Fort Hunter was initially a stockaded gristmill in the Great Valley , owned by Samuel Hunter who lived on Fishing Creek. The mill was fortified with a simple stockade in January, 1756, and garrisoned with volunteer militia recruited by Thomas McKee, an Indian trader who operated

8190-517: The north. The plan of the fort had been previously drawn up by Governor Robert Hunter Morris , who wrote to Clapham on 12 June recommending "a square with one ravelin to protect the curtain where the gate is, with a ditch, covered way, and glacis ." In early July, Clapham marched with his troops from Fort Halifax , while eighteen canoes and bateaux carried supplies downriver, encountering numerous falls and rapids which hindered their progress. On 14 August, Clapham wrote to Governor Morris: "We have

8295-406: The northeast. It crosses into northern Maryland approximately 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Baltimore and is joined by Octoraro Creek from the northeast and Deer Creek from the northwest. The river enters the northern end of the Chesapeake Bay at Havre de Grace . Concord Point Light was built here in 1827 to accommodate the increasing navigational traffic. "Susquehanna" may come from

8400-590: The outlet of Otsego Lake in Cooperstown, New York . From there, the north branch of the river runs west-southwest through rural farmland and dairy country, receiving the Unadilla River at Sidney . It dips south into Pennsylvania briefly to turn sharply 90 degrees west at Susquehanna and again 90 degrees north at Great Bend hooking back into New York . It receives the Chenango in downtown Binghamton . After meandering westwards, it turns south crossing

8505-424: The palisade wall and the dry moat, and 18th-century artifacts such as animal bones, musket balls, gun parts, buttons, cannon balls, and colonial ceramics as well as older Indian objects were recovered. Investigations in 1981, 1992, and 2005-2006 defined and located parts of structures mentioned in historic documents, including the probable location of the fort’s northeast bastion . Excavations in this area uncovered

8610-503: The pickets of the glacis completed." Construction of the fort was completed in 1757 under the command of Colonel James Burd . A description of the fort is written on the back of the plan of Fort Augusta in the Pennsylvania Archives: During the French and Indian War in 1756, several hundred French and Indian troops traveled the Great Shamokin Path in an effort to destroy Fort Augusta, the main stronghold of

8715-510: The powerful Five Nations of the Iroquois League based in present-day New York, who wanted to control the fur trade with Europeans. The Susquehannock assimilated with the Iroquois. In the aftermath, the Iroquois resettled some of the semi-tributary Lenape in this area, as it was near the western boundary of the Lenape's former territory, known as Lenapehoking . The Susquehanna River has continued to play an important role throughout

8820-404: The proposed attack. They dragged along with them two small brass cannon, but after reconnoitering found the distance too great for the guns to shoot from the hill opposite the fort, and the attack was abandoned. A British defeat at Fort Augusta would have altered the course of the French and Indian War. The fort saw no action during Pontiac's War , which was fought in the Great Lakes region, and

8925-497: The remains of a log footer, the dry moat, and various military artifacts. Excavations in 1992 concentrated on the powder magazine , a 10-foot by 12-foot underground brick-lined storage area built in 1758, which was repaired. During the mid-19th century, a wooden building stood over the underground chamber and at one time it was enlarged and strengthened to serve as the first jail in Northumberland County. Today, on

9030-642: The right to settle on land 18 miles southeast of Fort Pitt , which he had purchased from George Croghan, and his application was approved by Colonel Bouquet and General Robert Monckton . Clapham cleared his land in February 1763, and subsequently operated a trading post and extensive plantation where Sewickley Creek enters into the Youghiogheny River (between present-day Sutersville, Pennsylvania and West Newton, Pennsylvania ). He and Croghan planned to sell corn, hay, and cattle at Fort Pitt. He

9135-538: The river at several locations in Cumberland and York counties. In 1972 the remnants of Hurricane Agnes stalled over the New York-Pennsylvania border, dropping as much as 20 inches (510 mm) of rain on the hilly lands. Much of that precipitation was received into the Susquehanna from its western tributaries, and the valley suffered disastrous flooding. Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania , was among

9240-572: The river meant that while commercial traffic could navigate down the river in the high waters of the spring thaws, nothing could move up. The Susquehanna was improved by navigations throughout the 1820s and 1830s as the Pennsylvania Canal . Together with facilities of the Allegheny Portage Railroad , loaded barges were transferred from the canal and hoisted across the mountain ridge into the Pittsburgh area with access to

9345-418: The river. Sampling began in 1979 before the first start-up of the PPL Susquehanna power plant. Although all species were not continuously monitored for the entire period, an extensive database was compiled. In May 1986, ongoing measurements from several monitoring stations along the river near Three Mile Island, Peach Bottom and Calvert Cliffs detected iodine-131 beta particles attributable to fallout from

9450-598: The said Mary, cohabiting and committing Adultery with Another Woman in Nova Scotia." The act allowed Mary to marry again, and the council later awarded Mary her household furniture, worth £100. Clapham then moved to Pennsylvania to assist Benjamin Franklin in constructing a series of forts along the frontier. In late 1755, Governor Robert Hunter Morris ordered the construction of forts garrisoned with colonial militia, and plans were made to begin building Fort Hunter , Fort Halifax , and Fort Augusta . Following

9555-756: The site of the old fort, the Northumberland County Historical Society has its headquarters in the Hunter House Museum in Sunbury, Pennsylvania . The museum contains historical and archaeological artifacts dealing with Fort Augusta and items of local history. It also contains Fort Augusta's well and the original powder magazine, as well as a genealogical library of material on early families in Northumberland County and surrounding counties. A model of

9660-880: The soldier killed in September at Bloody Spring . He ordered a raiding party of 42 men, with Andrew Montour acting as a guide, to destroy the village, and instructed the commander, Captain Hambright, "to Kill, Scalp, and capture as many as you can." The raiding party found the village empty, but returned later and destroyed it. Clapham and his men were dissatisfied when the Commissary General , James Young, arrived in mid-July to deliver their pay, much of which had been withheld. Young wrote to Governor Morris on 18 July: Clapham immediately wrote to Governor Morris: On 5 August 1756, Edward Shippen III wrote to his son, Colonel Joseph Shippen, at Shamokin: "You tell me

9765-629: The southeast and passes Karthaus (at Mosquito Creek), Keating (at Sinnemahoning Creek), Renovo and Lock Haven , where it receives Bald Eagle Creek . At Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania, Pine Creek, the largest tributary of the West Branch Susquehanna River, is received. Pine Creek has the largest watershed of all the West Branch’s tributaries. It passes Williamsport , where both Lycoming Creek and Loyalsock Creek empty into it, then turns south, passing Lewisburg , before joining

9870-432: The walls of the fort now above-half finished and our other works in such situation that we can make a very good defense against any body of French and Indians that shall seat themselves before us without cannon." Clapham had largely completed Fort Augusta by late August. It was the largest British fort built in Pennsylvania, with earthen walls more than two hundred feet long topped by wooden fortifications. Buildings included

9975-505: Was a stockade fort 160 feet (49 m) square, with four bastions and surrounding earthworks about 10 feet high. Once finished, it was garrisoned by Pennsylvania Colonial Militia and served as the chief supply post between the area settlements and Shamokin where Fort Augusta would be built later that summer. The fort was abandoned in late 1757, and was dismantled in mid-1763. In June, 1756, Major James Burd finally received sufficient funding and supplies to begin building Fort Augusta at

10080-509: Was a well known and respected figure on the trans-Appalachian frontier in Pennsylvania, but unlike his associate George Croghan, he was not trusted by the Ohio Valley tribes. Clapham's Trading Post was the site of the first attack in Pennsylvania of Pontiac's Rebellion . On 28 May 1763, Keekyuscung , his son Wolf, and two other Indians allegedly murdered and scalped Clapham, his wife and child at Clapham's farm on Sewickley Creek. This

10185-488: Was designated as one of the American Heritage Rivers in 1997. The designation provides for technical assistance from federal agencies to state and local governments working in the Susquehanna watershed. Another environmental concern is radioactivity released during the 1979 Three Mile Island accident . However, extensive radionuclide studies over a 25-year period from 1979 through 2003, confirm that

10290-456: Was evidently an unpopular commander, as suggested by Edward Shippen III in a letter to Major James Burd on 26 March 1757: On 5 April, Shippen wrote again to Major Burd, commenting on the news that Clapham intended to become a fur trader: After assisting in the establishment of frontier forts, Clapham retired from the army and moved to Pittsburgh in July 1760. On 14 April 1761, Clapham published

10395-507: Was known as the "Sullivan-Clinton Campaign" or the " Sullivan Expedition ". They swept through western New York, dominated by the Seneca people , destroying more than 40 Seneca villages, as well as the stores of crops the people had set aside for winter. Many of the Iroquois left New York and went to Canada as refugees; casualties from exposure and starvation were high that winter. Following

10500-458: Was likely similar in construction, but no drawings or plans exist. In March 1757, Governor William Denny met with Lord Loudoun , Conrad Weiser , and Colonel Clapham and determined that Fort Hunter should be demolished. Its garrison and supplies were to be divided between Fort Augusta and Fort Halifax. In July and August, settlers in the area protested that removing the fort would put their homes in danger, and after several months of consideration,

10605-467: Was located in the westernmost bastion. In front of the main gate, a small bridge over the moat could be raised in the event of an attack. Blockhouses connected by a stockade formed a covered way to the river. Clapham was concerned that the fort would be vulnerable to French assault from the west, if the French were to deploy artillery. On 7 September 1756, he wrote to Franklin requesting permission to hire another carpenter for additional fortification of

10710-527: Was married to Mary Clapham. He had one son, William Clapham, Jr., who served as a lieutenant in the Third Battalion, Pennsylvania Regiment of Foot after it was formed in late March, 1756, and who was killed by two Panis slaves in June 1762. Clapham also had a daughter Mary. Court records for Suffolk County, Massachusetts , show that on 30 June 1747, Clapham filed charges against William MacLanahan for defamation , claiming that MacLanahan The outcome of

10815-564: Was promoted from captain to colonel in February, 1756, and given command over the Third Battalion, Pennsylvania Regiment of Foot (known as the Augusta Regiment ), and over defenses in Northampton County . The Pennsylvania government decided to construct a fort at Hunter's Mill in response to the Penn's Creek Massacre in October 1755. The mill was located about six miles north of Harris' Ferry, probably five hundred feet east of

10920-810: Was reportedly done in retaliation for the destruction of a Lenape community at Great Island ( Lock Haven, Pennsylvania ), ordered by Clapham in November, 1756. Wolf may also have been seeking revenge for having been arrested and imprisoned at Fort Pitt in 1762 on charges of horse theft. He had escaped and plotted his revenge together with his father. Soon after the massacre, Pontiac’s allied tribes in other regions of Pennsylvania captured Fort Presque Isle and laid siege to Fort Pitt . William Trent , then Superintendent of Fort Pitt, wrote on 29 May: An article in The Pennsylvania Gazette on 31 May stated: On 2 May 1764, Colonel Henry Bouquet drew up

11025-594: Was unique in that Clapham was not brought before a court martial, but was instead tried in a civilian court. The outcome of the case is not recorded. Following his service in Nova Scotia, Clapham returned to Boston to face divorce proceedings. Records for the Massachusetts House of Representatives for 17 October 1754, show a "special act" in the case of Mary Clapham v. William Clapham, sponsored in part by James Otis Sr. , dissolving their marriage contract, after William Clapham stood convicted of "leaving

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