Colonial Fort

E-46

The Virginia General Assembly authorized the construction of a fort built nearby along the Rappahannock River in 1676. It served as a defensive fortification for settlers of European descent on the frontier when periodic conflicts occurred between Virginia Indians and settlers. Maj. Lawrence Smith commanded the fort. Smith had patented 6,300 acres of property with Robert Taliaferro in the region in 1666. Smith later obtained more land nearby. The fort was abandoned about 1682, when the General Assembly ordered the dismantling of many of these structures.

Department of Historic Resources, 2004

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

Oscar Darton, Colonial Fredericksburg and Neighborhood in Perspective (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1957), 47, 59; Paula S. Felder, Forgotten Companions: The First Settlers of Spotsylvania County and Fredericksburgh Town (With Notes on Early Land Use) (Fredericksburg, Va.: Historic Publications of Fredericksburg, 1982), 2-5, 164-167; William W. Hening, The Statutes at Large: Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia, from the First Session of the Legislature, in the Year 1619…13 Vols. (Richmond: 1809-1823), 2:327, 340, 347, 433-435, 448-455, 469-471, 498-501; W.B. McGroarty, “Additions to Western Explorations in Virginia,” Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 30: 232-234; James Roger Mansfield, A History of Early Spotsylvania (Orange, Va.: Green Publishers, Inc., 1977), 2-3, 6, 11, 73, 75.