“I assure myself, your Honor, will omit no opportunity of extricating me from embarrassments arising from the want of money, both for the Battoe-men and the soldiers; twenty-six of whom being Dutch (German) are now in confinement for mutiny on that very account. I am with all respect your Honor’s obedient servant.
”William Clapham.
“P. S.—The Fort at this place is without a name till your Honor is pleased to confer one.”
On the 25th of the month the Governor wrote from Philadelphia to Colonel Clapham. “The Fort at Armstrong’s I would have it called Fort Halifax.” This was in honor of the Earl of Halifax.
The exact location of this fort is discernible today, if one will drive along the concrete highway above the present borough of Halifax and turn off toward the river, after crossing the bridge which spans Armstrong’s Run. The covered bridge, near the mouth of the creek is the site of the old Armstrong sawmill to which Colonel Clapham referred. A short distance below are the remains of the foundation of the Armstrong home which was built prior to 1755, and a few hundreds yards below will be seen a small rise in the ground which is also marked with a small square monument. It was on this slight eminence that Fort Halifax was built.
Colonel Clapham, July 1, thanked the Governor for £100, which he distributed to the bateau men, but complained that the sum sent was insufficient. He commented upon the difficulties of conducting so “amphibious” an expedition.
When Colonel Clapham departed from Fort Halifax he left a detail of thirty men, under command of Captain Nathaniel Miles, to whom he gave most explicit instructions, even down to the detail of mounting guard and where the sentries should be stationed about the post, and in event of a surprise attack, just how each one should demean himself.
During the long period in which the provincial soldiers were building the most important Fort Augusta at Shamokin, there was much activity at Fort Halifax.
Ammunition, clothing, food and supplies were all stored there and carried farther up stream in bateaux when conditions permitted such transportation. The garrison usually consisted of thirty to fifty soldiers, under command of a captain. Escorts were furnished from this post in either direction as the urgency of the mission required.
Colonel Clapham was convinced that the garrison at Fort Halifax should never be less than 100 men, so that proper communication between the inhabitants and Fort Augusta could be maintained.