Fort McIntosh 1778 The Campaign

Fort McIntosh 1778 The Campaign. . In June 1778, with the French Alliance a reality and Valley Forge behind it, the Board of War ordered an expedition against Fort Detroit to counter the British disruption of the western frontier. Washington ordered the 8th Pennsylvania Regiment and the 13th Virginia Regiment to Fort Pitt, and placed General Lachlan McIntosh of Georgia, a veteran of Valley Forge, at the head of the Western Army., The 8th Pennsylvania was raised in Bedford and Westmoreland Counties and the 13th Virginia was recruited from northwest Virginia and southwest Pennsylvania. Both regiments had served at Brandywine, Mcintosh Germantown and Valley Forge, and the 8th had provided three companies to Morgan's Rifle Corps at Saratoga., By late summer, the troops had arrived at Fort Pitt. Believing this was not the best, Mcintosh moved his troops to the mouth of the Beaver River and commenced building Fort Mcintosh. The fort was large and substantial, being built of squared logs laid horizontally with stone foundations and chimneys, and able to house 1,500 troops., By early October the fort was completed and McIntosh, with 500 Continental soldiers and 800 militia, immediately moved west into the Ohio Territory toward the Fort Detroit objective. They reached the Tuscarawas River on November 19th and began to build another fort named Fort Laurens. This post was short-lived and after being besieged by Indians throughout the winter, was abandoned in August 1779.