The
3rd Battalion Pennsylvania Provincial Regiment, The Augusta Regiment,
was originally formed to build and garrison Fort Augusta at the
forks of the Susquehanna River at the site of the old Indian town
of Shamokin today known as Sunbury, Pennsylvania.
On
March 29, 1756, William Clapham was commissioned Lieutenant Colonel
and instructed to recruit 400 troops for the Susquehanna Expedition.
Construction of Fort Augusta began in July. French scouting parties
advanced as far as the top of Blue Hill opposite the fort and observed
construction already underway.
On
November 4, 1756, Lieutenant Colonel Clapham ordered a raid on Great
Island (Lock Haven, Pennsylvania) to destroy the Indians there,
now under French influence and who formerly lived at Shamokin.
On
December 8, Major James Burd took command of Fort Augusta after
Clapham's resignation. Burd continues the fort's construction and
fortification.
In
July of 1757, a French scouting party of six Canadians and fourteen
Indians reported to the Governor-General of New France, the Marquis
de Vaudreuil, that the English fort at the forks of the Susquehanna
was garrisoned with 600 men.
In
June of 1758, The Augusta Regiment was incorporated into the 2nd
Battalion of the Pennsylvania Regiment to join the Forbes Expedition
against Fort DuQuesne. Major Burd is elevated to Colonel and nearly
all of the Regiment participates in the Expedition. Forty men are
left at Fort Augusta under the command of Captain Trump.
In
February 1760, Colonel Burd returned to Fort Augusta and assumed
command.
In
1763, Pontiac lists Fort Augusta as one of 14 forts marked for annihilation.
Colonel Burd prepares the fort and garrison, but the attack never
comes. The Indians withdrew from Pennsylvania after their defeat
at Bushy Run.
The
Pennsylvania Regiment was disbanded after the threat to the civilian
population had been eliminated.
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