by Jim Fulmer Past President NMLRA
Fort Roberdeau 1778-1780
History will come to life in Sinking Valley, near Altoona, PA. There will be a Rifle Frolic and 18th Century Marketfaire, Oct. 11-12, at historic Fort Roberdeau and the adjacent Altoona Rifle and Pistol Club.
Roland Cadle and Pam Roub of Village Restorations & Consulting Inc., approached the NMLRA about hosting the muzzleloading shooting portion of this 18th century event. Since I’m the current NMLRA VP, live in Pennsylvania, and know something about Fort Roberdeau, I was the person they contacted about the possibility of the event. The NMLRA will be utilizing the Altoona Rifle and Pistol Club’s facilities and the Fort Roberdeau grounds will host the Marketfaire. The two facilities are separated only by a Y in the road. If you are serious about shooting rifle, pistol, and smoothbore, and throwing the knife and hawk, I would camp by the range at the Altoona Rifle and Pistol Club. It’s a pleasant walk in the woods between the two sites. The event is located 8 miles northeast of Altoona, in rural Sinking Valley. It is east of I-99, northeast of Altoona, and southeast of Tyrone. If you want to come in a historic way, come in on US Route 22 west of Huntingdon to the village of Water Street, where you will turn on to PA453 towards Tyrone. You will go up the mountain pass on a good road. During the history of the fort, people would walk their horses up this same route because it was too rocky and wagons couldn’t even begin to pass up the narrow gorge.
Fort Roberdeau was reconstructed in 1976 as a Blair County Bicentennial project and is located on 230 acres of ground. Built on the original site, surrounded by steep heavily wooded mountains on three of its sides, and only having a rough trail through the mountain to the shallow Juniata River, it wasn’t the best place to construct a fort. Why was this fort built here? Who was Roberdeau? Daniel Roberdeau was born in the West Indies in 1727, but spent the majority of his life in Pennsylvania. He became a successful merchant and Free Mason. Through the Masonic Lodge in Philadelphia, he associated with Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton. He was active in politics and served in the Pennsylvania State Assembly. He became well known for his belief in Independence from England. In May of 1776, Roberdeau attended the public meetings in Philadelphia regarding whether or not Pennsylvania would support a Declaration of Independence. Roberdeau was recognized as one of the most powerful and influential speakers at these meetings. On July 4, 1776, Daniel Roberdeau was awarded the rank of general by the Associators of Pennsylvania, which was similar to our modern-day National Guard.
In the spring of 1778, after depleting most sources of lead for making musket balls for the revolution, there was a tremendous lead shortage. The French were coming to our aid, after the American victory at Saratoga, NY, in October, 1777, but, until the lead supply would start to flow again, Americans were searching for local supplies. The call went out across the country for patriotic Americans to melt down their pewter dishes, rain gutters, gate weights, or anything with lead in it to make musket and rifle balls. Most lead that did find its way into the hands of the Continental Army and State Militia was from France, but many states mined lead locally.
Numerous lead furnaces in Middletown, CT, hoped to produce enough lead to help the cause. The most productive mine was in western Virginia, which produced 20 to 25 tons of lead every year throughout most of the war. Mines even existed in Illinois and Mississippi, but they were so far removed that they couldn’t help the war effort very much.
The lead mines of the Sinking Valley were brought to the attention of Brig.
Gen. Daniel Roberdeau of the Pennsylvania Associators in the spring of 1778.
Roberdeau had recently given up his position with the Associators in order to serve in the Second Continental Congress. Roberdeau, convinced George Washington and others of the lead’s importance and headed up the expedition himself. By mid-April he reached Carlisle, PA, and, enlisting the aid of the Cumberland County Militia, he traveled up the Juniata River. At Fort Standing Stone (now called Huntingdon) he met with Maj. Robert Cluggage, who escorted them to the lead mines of the Sinking Valley. By the end of May 1778, the fort was nearly completed and Roberdeau returned to his seat in Congress and left the fort in charge of Cluggage.
On June 4, 1778, Roberdeau wrote to Washington: “To prevent the evacuation of the frontier of Bedford County and for the general defense against Indian incursions I have built with logs at the Mine in Sinking Spring valley at the foot of the Tussee Mountain, a Fort Cabin fashion, 50 yards square with a bastion at each corner. The Fort consists of 48 cabins, about twelve feet square exclusive of the Bastions.
I left Major Robert Luggage a discreet officer in Command with about 70 men chiefly Militia….” The fort would be named Fort Roberdeau, but it is referred by many people of the time as the “Lead Fort.” Despite the efforts, the lead deposits Roberdeau’s miners found where much poorer than anticipated and only 1,000 pounds was mined in 1778. It became increasingly expensive to smelt the ore.
The mining operations gradually came to a halt sometime before the fall of 1779. In spite of that, the fort still served as protection for the settlers from Indian raids and as a base for troops operating against the Indians.
By the late spring of 1780, the State of Pennsylvania believed the fort had outlived its usefulness and withdrew its stores to Carlisle. By mid-summer of 1780, Fort Roberdeau was abandoned.
This Oct. 11-12 will be a great event with the best of both worlds—a historical site for an 18th century Marketfaire for the sutlers, re-enactors, and visitors, and a primitive rifle range with plenty of room for a situational woodswalk and various shooting ranges. For more information about the Marketfaire, contact info@villagerestorations.com; for information about the shooting program, contact me at Fulmer1776@comcast.net. We will post more information about the NMLRA sponsored matches and the colonial Marketfaire as they become available.
So, mark the event on your calendar, keep your eyes on Muzzle Blasts for additional information, and come ready to enjoy some 18th century fun!
