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Description

Rare French & Indian War Plan of Fort Stanwix, New York

Nice example of the earliest obtainable plan of Fort Stanwix, located at the so called Oneida Station, a reference to the Oneida Carrying Place, an important Indian Portage between Lake Oneida and the Hudson River and the Mohawk River in upstate New York, near the present day Rome, New York.

The plan shows buildings in the fort, roads, the magazine, and the Mohawk River. A lettered key identifies locations on the plan, including a saw mill, Magazine and Officers Quarters.

This is also one of the only plans of an American Fort published by a woman. The map appeared in John Rocque's A Set of Plans and Forts in America, published by his wife, Mary Ann, after Rocque's death in 1762. In all, the work contained 30 plans.

Fort Stanwix

Fort Stanwix was a colonial fort for which construction was commenced in August 1758, under the direction of British General John Stanwix, at the location of present-day Rome, New York, but was not completed until about 1762. The star fort was built to guard a portage known as the Oneida Carrying Place during the French and Indian War.

Fort Stanwix was built to guard a portage between the main waterway southeastward to the Atlantic seacoast, down the Mohawk and Hudson rivers, and an important interior waterway northwestward to Lake Ontario, down Wood Creek and Oneida Lake to Oswego.

In 1768, Fort Stanwix was the site of an important treaty conference between the British and the Iroquois, arranged by William Johnson. By the time of this treaty, the fort had become dilapidated and inactive. The purpose of the conference was to renegotiate the boundary line between Indian lands and white settlements set forth in the Proclamation of 1763. The British government hoped a new boundary line might bring an end to the rampant frontier violence, which had become costly and troublesome. Indians hoped a new, permanent line might hold back white colonial expansion.

The final treaty was signed on November 5, 1768 and extended the earlier proclamation which happened much further west. The Iroquois had effectively ceded Kentucky to the whites. However, the Indians who actually used the Kentucky lands, primarily Shawnee, Delaware, and Cherokee, had no role in the negotiations. Rather than secure peace, the Fort Stanwix treaty helped set the stage for the next round of hostilities.

Fort Stanwix was abandoned in 1768 and allowed to go to ruin.

Rarity

The map is very rare. This is the first time we have seen the map on the market in more than 20 years.

Condition Description
Minor tear at top right, expertly repaired on verso.