Benjamin Franklin Papers

Position of Troops in Northampton County, [23 February 1756]

Position of Troops in Northampton County5

AD: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission

[February 23, 1756]

Capt. Vanetten at Minisinks, a Lieut. and 30 Men
Capt. Craig at Fort Hamilton 41
Lieut. Wetterhold at Broadhead’s6 26
Ensign Sterling at Wind Gap Teet’s7 House 11
Capt. Orndt at Fort Norris 50
Capt. Wayne at Fort Allen 50
A Sergeant at Uplingers and 5
An Ensign of Wetterhold’s8 at Drucker’s Mill and 15
A Lieut, in Allen Township and 15
Capt. Foulk at the new Fort, not named,9
between Fort Allen and Fort Lebanon
} 63
Capt. Trexler (has posted himself contrary
to Orders within the Mountain)1
} 53
Capt. Martin (in the Settlement above Easton)  30
389
Capt. Trump’s Company 50 } reduc’d
Aston’s 50
Parson’s, Guard at Easton 24

Col. Clapham2 will wait on your Honour immediately, and acquaint you with further Particulars of the State of the Forces in Northampton County.

To the Governor.

Addressed: To / The Governor

[Note numbering follows the Franklin Papers source.]

5This roll, erroneously dated 1758 in I Pa. Arch., III, 325, was probably prepared by BF at Governor Morris’ request for incorporation into a full report on military measures taken in Pennsylvania that he made to Secretary of State Henry Fox, Feb. 23, 1756. Public Record Office, C.O. 5:17, fo. 161. Fox probably gave the report to the Duke of Cumberland, captain general of the British army, then planning North American military campaigns for 1756 with Lord Loudoun. Such a report bearing this date exists among the Cumberland Papers. It includes the information about all the units listed here except the three which had been “reduc’d” (i.e., no longer in service). Pargellis, Military Affairs, pp. 166–7; Lord Loudoun, pp. 56–7. A copy of the report is in Penn Papers, Hist. Soc. Pa. For the officers, places, and troop dispositions mentioned below and not otherwise identified, see above, pp. 343–7, and the map on p. 309.

6Jacob Wetterholt; the house of Daniel Broadhead, near Fort Hamilton and at the site of the present East Stroudsburg.

7Or Dietz’s; a fortified point about four miles from the Wind Gap near where the roads from Easton and Nazareth merged on the way to the Delaware Valley above the Water Gap. Hunter, Forts, pp. 275–6.

8Probably Ensign Henry Geiger of Capt. John Nicholas Wetterholt’s company. The sergeant at Uplinger’s and the lieutenant in Allen township, all in the same vicinity, were probably all detached from Wetterholt’s company.

9Later called Fort Franklin.

1Probably at John Everett’s, near the present Lynnport. Ibid., pp. 294–6.

2William Clapham, BF’s successor as commander in Northampton Co., apparently in Philadelphia at this time.

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