At the same time Governor Morris wrote to James Galbraith, Esq., a Provincial Commissioner, rehearsing the sundry orders given to Captains Read and McKee, to which he added:
“I have also instructed Capt. McKee to advise with you whether to finish the fort already begun at Hunter’s Mill, or to build a new one, and as to the place where it would be best to erect such new one. I therefore desire you will assist him in those matters, or in anything else that the King’s service and the safety of the inhabitants may require.”
On December 9, 1755, Thomas Foster and Thomas McKee were furnished with “12½ pounds powder and 25 pounds swan shot.” It is therefore more than probable the soldiers ordered there in January, 1756, by Governor Morris were the first Provincial soldiers put on duty at Fort Hunter.
The activity of the French, in their efforts to enlist the Indians of the Province to take up the hatchet against the English, was felt at this post, as letters written by Captain McKee to Edward Shippen and others reveal.
At this time the Province had decided to erect a great fortress at the forks of the Susquehanna, which was subsequently built and named Fort Augusta. Colonel William Clapham was commissioned early in April, 1756, to recruit a regiment of 400 men for this purpose.
Governor Morris advised Colonel Clapham[Clapham], April 7, that he had directed a rendezvous to be established at Fort Hunter and advised the colonel to use it for the safe storage of supplies and stocks which he would require in his expedition farther up the river.
June 11, 1756, Colonel Clapham stationed twenty-four troops there, under command of a Mr. Johnson, and directed him to “escort provisions, from there to McKee’s store.” November 3 the garrison consisted of “2 sargants and 34 Private Men.”
March 14, 1757, at a conference on the defense of the Province, held at Philadelphia, it was decided that 400 men should be kept at Fort Augusta; 100 should constitute the garrison at Fort Halifax, and that Fort Hunter should be demolished, only fifty being retained there temporarily until the removal of the magazine which was to take place as soon as possible.
The long frontier of the Blue Mountain, between the Susquehanna and Delaware was to be defended by Colonel Conrad Weiser’s battalion, and the forts reduced to three in number.
This caused consternation among the settlers near Fort Hunter and they appealed to the Provincial authorities.