Fort Rice

Open Access

Abstract

Fort Rice was a small Revolutionary War stronghold built between 1779 and 1780 by the German Regiment of Maryland and Pennsylvania, the first ethnically based unit in the American military. The fort was built to protect the inhabitants of Northumberland County from Native American and British attacks. Regulars of the Eleventh Pennsylvania Regiment had been stationed loosely throughout the area to bolster the defense provided by the unreliable militia of the county, but they were called up to join Major General John Sullivan's campaign in 1779. In July of that year, while the Continental soldiers were gone, the area's wooden fort—Fort Freeland—was burned after a war party surrounded it and forced the people inside to surrender. As a response to the increased violence, the German Regiment was sent in to reinforce the militia and to rebuild two different fortifications, one of which was Fort Rice. Bloodshed on this central Pennsylvania frontier affected all settlers, no matter their distance from the Continental and British armies; the construction of Fort Rice, the only limestone fortification built, demonstrated that these people were determined to live in the area despite constant attack by their enemies.