Fort Laurens is managed by the Zoar Community Association on behalf of the Ohio History Connection. We are committed to preserving the fort’s history and bringing its role in the American Revolution to life.
The under-manned fort drew the attention of the British and their American Indian allies. Simon Girty, an interpreter for the American Indians and a British agent, led a small group of Seneca-Cayuga natives to investigate the fort’s defenses in January 1779. The group encountered 16 militiamen, killing two and capturing one of who was carrying letters that divulged the poor conditions and low morale at the fort. This information prompted British Captain Henry Bird to plan an attack.
Conditions in Fort Laurens deteriorated throughout February and March. The starving men became so desperate they boiled their moccasins to make stew. Two men managed to sneak out of the fort to go hunting and returned with a deer carcass. Many men ate their portion of the meat raw because they were so hungry.
Outside the fort, the British and their allies were not faring much better and the siege was lifted on March 20, 1779. Three days later, a relief force of 700 men from Fort Pitt arrived. Once the men who had survived the winter at Fort Laurens were able to travel, most of the Americans returned to Fort Pitt. Only 106 men stayed behind under the command of Major Frederick Vernon.
During this time, McIntosh was replaced as Fort Pitt’s commander with Colonel Daniel Brodhead, who told General George Washington that Fort Laurens was too far from Detroit to realistically serve as a staging ground for an attack – nor was it close enough to the Delaware Indians to offer protection. Washington ordered the fort abandoned and the last of Fort Laurens’ soldiers left on August 2, 1779. In total thirty men lost their lives in association with Fort Laurens. Five were also wounded. Twenty-one were interred in fort cemetery.