Fort Deshler

Infobox Military Structure
name=Fort Deshler
location=Near Egypt, Pennsylvania, United States


caption=Engraving of Fort Deshler (1895).
type=Fort
built=1760
builder=Adam Deshler
materials=Stone
used=
controlledby=Province of Pennsylvania
garrison=
commanders=
battles=French and Indian War

Fort Deshler, located near Egypt, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, was a French and Indian War era frontier fort established in 1760 to protect settlers from Indian attacks.cite book |last= Roberts |first= Charles Rhoads |coauthors= Rev. John Baer Stoudt, Rev. Thomas H. Krick, William J. Dietrich |title= History of Lehigh County Pennsylvania and a Genealogical and Biographical Records of its Families |publisher= Lehigh Valley Publishing Company |year= 1914 |volume = 1Page 111.] The fort was near the location of what is presently the intersection of Pennsylvania Route 145 and Chestnut Street, between Egypt and Coplay.

The fort was built by Adam Deshler, who was employed during the French and Indian War furnishing provisions for provincial forces.cite book |author=Commonwealth of Pennsylvania|title= Report of the Commission to Locate the Site of the Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania |publisher= Clarence M. Busch, State Printer of Pennsylvania |year= 1896 |location=HarrisburgPage 175] The fort was actually a fortified stone blockhouse, convert|40|ft|m|sing=off long and convert|30|ft|m|sing=off wide, with walls convert|2.5|ft|m|sing=off thick, that also served as Deshler's home. Adjoining the building was a large wooden building, suitable as barracks for twenty soldiers and for storing military supplies. [Roberts, Page 111.]

There appears to be no evidence that the fort was either garrisoned with provincal troops or served any military purpose beyond functioning as a place of refuge and rendezvous for settlers of the region. [Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Pages 174-175.]

The fort remained in the Deshler family until 1899, at which time the building and its remaining convert|151|acre|km2 sqmi|2 of property were sold to the Coplay Cement Company for $100,000. [Roberts, Page 113.]

Historian Charles Rhoads Roberts, in his 1914 "History of Lehigh County Pennsylvania and a Genealogical and Biographical Records of its Families", wrote the following about Fort Deshler:

Fort Deshler was not preserved, and stood in ruins until it collapsed around 1940. Today, its former location is commemorated by a Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission marker.cite web |url=http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/DOH/markerresults.asp?secid=31&namesearch=Deshler&Submit=Search+by+Marker+Title | title = PHMC: Historical Markers Program - Fort Deshler | accessdate = 2008-06-21]

ee also

*Lehigh County Historical Society
*List of Forts in the United States

Notes

References

*cite book |author=Commonwealth of Pennsylvania|title= Report of the Commission to Locate the Site of the Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania |publisher= Clarence M. Busch, State Printer of Pennsylvania |year= 1896 |location=Harrisburg
*cite book |last= Roberts |first= Charles Rhoads |coauthors= Rev. John Baer Stoudt, Rev. Thomas H. Krick, William J. Dietrich |title= History of Lehigh County Pennsylvania and a Genealogical and Biographical Records of its Families |publisher= Lehigh Valley Publishing Company |year= 1914 |volume = 1