Fort Cumberland (Maryland)

Fort Cumberland was constructed by troops of General Braddock at the confluence of Wills Creek and the Potomac River, at the current location of the City of Cumberland, Maryland. The wood palisade fort is now gone, and occupying the site is the existing Emmanuel Episcopal Church, but the old fort tunnels still remain underneath. This fort once marked the westernmost outpost of the British Empire in America, and was the jumping-off point for General Braddock's disastrous expedition against the French at Fort Duquesne. When Braddock was killed, a young officer of Virginia militia, George Washington, lead the troops back to Fort Cumberland. The Fort was later abandoned, and the army and militia withdrew eastward. Diagrams and drawings of the Fort exist in the British Museum. A scale model of the fort resides in the aforementioned church [http://www.fortedwards.org/braddock/sites/cbe.htm] .

References

*Will H. Lowdermilk, "History of Cumberland", Clearfield Co., October 1997, Paperback, ISBN 0-8063-7983-9. [http://books.google.com/books?id=rU7QCQTpvroC Full Text Online]

ee also

*Braddock expedition, Braddock's expedition launched from Fort Cumberland to capture Fort Duquesne.
*Fort Ohio, Earlier fort built across the river in Ridgeley, West Virginia
*Fort Sellers
*Fort Ashby Eariler fort built in Fort Ashby, West Virginia.
*Fort Cocke Eariler fort built upstream from Fort Ashby, West Virginia