Fort Seybert Historical Marker

Fort Seybert, located on the land of Jacob Seybert along the South Branch of the Potomac River, constituted one of many frontier fortifications built in the eighteenth century to protect white settlers who encroached on Native American lands. In April 1758, during the Seven Years' War, British-allied Shawnees besieged Fort Seybert and the dozens inside. Managing to convince the settlers to surrender, many were instead massacred and the remainder taken captive. The affair shocked the frontier community. Several of the captives eventually escaped to tell the tale. Today, seventeen of the slain settlers are buried in marked mass grave, and a West Virginia historical marker acknowledges Fort Seybert's grim history.

In the mid-eighteenth century, the mountainous western regions of Virginia constituted a backcountry frontier, where white settlers encountered indigenous Native Americans. As white settlers encroached on Native lands, the possibility of violence constantly simmered. Settlers routinely built small forts, often consisting of a stockade and blockhouse, near their communities to provide protection in case of Indian attack. In the 1750s, these frontier forts proved critical as the Seven Years' War erupted between France and Great Britain. Many Native tribes allied with France (hence the colonial term for the conflict, the French and Indian War), and Indians targeted colonial frontier settlements.

One such frontier fort was tucked along the South Fork of the South Branch of the Potomac River. Fort Seybert (sometimes written as Sybert) was built on the lands of Jacob Seybert. Seybert owned a mill along the South Branch, and Fort Seybert was built to offer protection to Seybert and other surrounding families. The exact design of the fort is unknown. It very likely consisted of a stockade wall encircling a two-story fortified blockhouse, despite later illustrations that depict a larger, rectangular post.

The small frontier fort proved vulnerable. In November, 1756, Virginia militia officer (and future U.S. President) George Washington wrote to Virginia Governor Dinwiddie of the vulnerability of the backcountry: "In short, they [the inhabitants] are so affected with approaching ruin that the whole back country is in a general motion toward the other colonies; and I expect that scarce a family will inhabit Frederick, Hampshire or Augusta county in a little time."[3] Later, Major Andrew Lewis specifically warned that Seybert's Fort did not have a garrison and worried for its fate.

In April 1758, a party of approximately 50 Shawnee warriors led by Chief Kill Buck surrounded Fort Seybert. Although originally neutral during the Seven Years' War, the Shawnee were driven into the French camp by British encroachment on their territory. Having carried out frontier attacks for several years, the Shawnee now target Fort Seybert, hoping to take it quickly. The Indians besieged the fort and promised safety to the garrison if they would surrender peaceably. Meanwhile, the Shawnees kept the fort surrounded and carefully watched the fort's gate if an opportunity to strike arose.

Around 30-60 settlers occupied the besieged fort. Opinions of their situation varied; while most of the settlers were apparently willing to wait, one old man (unnamed in records) feared the worst and wished to escape. More defiant was young Nicholas Seybert, who from the fort's walls managed to two kill two of the surrounding Indians, despite the entreaties of the scared older man not to worsen the situation. The old man's fears eventually got the best of him, and he opened the fort's gate and attempted to get away. Captain Seybert (possibly Jacob Seybert) chased after him, and the two men were captured. The besieging Shawnees attempted to convince their two prisoners to get the entire garrison to surrender.The Shawnees and the garrison held a parley, and the settlers agreed to surrender the fort to save their own lives and the lives of the prisoners.

Perhaps aggrieved by the death of their two warriors, the Shawnees had other ideas. As soon as they gained entry, they ransacked the fort. Lining up the prisoners into two rows, the Shawnees proceeded to kill any settler considered unable to travel, including the elderly. When Nicholas Seybert appealed to Chief Kill Buck, the Shawnee leader merely remarked that Nicholas' life would be spared. At least seventeen settlers were killed; the remaining were taken back to Shawnee territory west of the Ohio River. This was not unusual; Native-Americans often took captives to either torture or adopt as new members of their tribe. The journey west was brutal, and the Indians killed a baby among the settlers along the way.

Learning of the massacre, George Washington reported:

"From the best accounts I have yet been able to get there are about 60 persons killed and missing. Immediately upon receiving this Intelligence I sent out a Detachment of the Regiment, and some Indians that were equipped for war (Indians were in the employ of the colonists as well as the French) in hopes of their being able to intercept the Enemy in the retreat. I was fearful of this stroke, but had not time enough to avert it."[3]

The fate of only a few of the surviving setters is known. Nicholas Sybert was eventually sold to a French party near Lake Erie and eventually made his way back home. One account indicates that a young man named "Dyer" later escaped captivity and returned to tell the tale (it's possible Dyer and Nicholas Seybert are one and the same). Several other Seyberts apparently escaped in the vicinity of Fort Pitt and made their way home as well.

Although the Shawnees were successful in capturing Fort Seybert, and indeed, in wreaking havoc along the colonial frontier, their French allies were defeated in the Seven Years' War. The French defeat and relinquishing of claims on American territory paved the way for future conflict among Native Americans and white settlers, as well as exacerbating colonial-British tensions that led to the American Revolution.

The graves of the seventeen settlers killed at Fort Seybert are buried together in a massive gravesite, fenced in today. A West Virginia state historical marker denotes the history of Fort Seybert and the Fort Seybert Massacre.

1. Samuel Kercheval. History of the Valley of Virginia. 2nd ed. Woodstock, VA: John Gatewood, 1850. Web. Digitized via Google Books. https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=dVQVAAAAYAAJ&rdid=book-dVQVAAAAYAAJ&rdot=1

2. Wills de Hass. History of the Early Settlement of Indian Wars of Western Virginia. Wheeling, VA: H. Hoblitzell, 1851. Web. https://archive.org/details/historyofearlyse00deha

3. Lee Keister Talbot. "Fort Seybert Massacre: New Interpretations of Fort Seybert." May 13, 1937. Grant County Press. Web. http://www.wvculture.org/history/settlement/fortseybert01.html

4. Colin G. Calloway. The Shawnees and the War for America. New York: Penguin Books, 2007.

4. George W. Summers. "Pendleton Indian Massacre One of History's Worst; Fort Seybert Attack Scene; Escaped Captives Narrate Horror." January 1, 1939. Charleston Daily Mail. Web. http://www.wvculture.org/history/settlement/fortseybert03.html