For views of an unusual early American fort
go to www.fortat4.com/. This is a recreation of Fort
No. 4 in what is today the state of Vermont. Build
during the early French and Indian Wars, it survived
several raids and one major attack. The original fort
is long gone, but the recreation is near the original
site and looks just like it. Fort No. 4 was where
the famous ranger Major Robert Rogers returned after
his most famous exploit - his raid on the St. Francis
(Abenaki) Indians in Canada.

At this fort, the settlers' houses were all build
side-by-side, facing inward in a square. This made a
fort out of the houses' back walls. A wooden stockade
was then build a short distance beyond the square of
buildings. But, unlike most stockades, the upright
stakes were not touching but had a gap of a few inches
between them - not enough space for a man to sqeeze
through, but enough so that people in the fort could
see through it and fire from the back walls of their
houses. It thus served as a kind of barbed-wire - it
stopped attackers, but left them vulnerable to enemy
fire at the same time. Its worth a look.

Dear Britsfan,

Wow! A fantastic link to a piece of "Living History!"

I wish I could afford to build a log-cabin, however, I am satisfied with members links such as this. Beautiful!

Thank you and Happy New Year :-)

A very interesting period. Most of the early forts on the frontier of the Ohio River and tributaries ("Old" Northwest Territory) were pretty simple affairs but extremely effective. The following websites show examples of reconstructed forts today at Boonesborough, Ky and Nashborough(Nashville), Tn. Both were subject to regular attacks in their day.

http://www.wnfoundersmuseum.org/ftnash.htm

http://www.graphicenterprises.net/Fort_Boonesborough/fort_boonesborough.html

Here is another site with several pages showing a beautiful model of Fort Duquesne and Fort St. Clair.

http://www.terragenesis.co.uk/infopages/page262.html

A common feature were strong blockhouses at the corners that provided enfilading fire along the palisades. The palisades were less substantial with walls of interior cabins often contributing to the stockade perimeter. Large trees were available but smaller timbers were easier to handle with the man/horse power at hand.

Good luck with your project.

A little more elaborate frontier fort would be Fort Stanwix. The US National Park Service has reconstructed it. Their website is very good. http://www.nps.gov/fost/ There was extensive fighting there during the Revolution. It is really a wooded version of a Vauban fortress.
Another extreme example is Fort Klock. It was really just a fortified farm house that same some fighting in NY State in the Revolution. Their website is http://www.fortklock.com/intro.htm
The actions at both sites are well within reasonable range to war game. And both sites are well worth the visit if you are in the Mohawk Valley of New York State.
David Moore

If anyone is in the Washington area before March, the Smithsonian currently has the exhibition "Clash of Empires: The British, French & Indian War, 1754-1763." It's been making the rounds in canda and elsewhere in the US.
It's a nice overview of the north american war from all sides. They include a fabulous diorama of Fort Duquesne (i'm guessing about 6-10mm scale.) and another one of Braddock's defeat. same scale.


http://www.si.edu/visit/whatsnew/Ripley.asp

cheers

Dear 'madpenman'
Zvezda are really rather good with their modular fort designs. Better buy the wooden fort rather than separate bits - cheaper.
As for any internal buildings made of stone, you may have to visit a model railroad shop for scratch-building materials such as stone walling etc and go from there.
Les

good suggestions from you all. i'm really looking forward to this project. as it is, i'm painting a lot of ARW figures that i put on backburner because of napoleonics. the imex artillery sets and italieri indians made me interested in the period again as a possible wargame. thanks again for the info people, and happy new year as well. (i'm off the forum for seven days.)