Inscription
Theleaders in this Derry settlement were Robert Barr, James Wilson, John Pomeroy,William Guthrie, John Shields, Samuel Craig and Richard Wallace. A few of theircompatriots, among them Charles Campbell and George Findley, ventured to settlenorth of the Conemaugh river, in the valley of Blacklick creek, where they werein the most exposed situation in all the border region.
Thecabins of the Derry men were of logs, and, being furnished with loop-holes forrifles, were capable of stout defense against the Indians. Richard Wallacebuilt on a hill near the Conemaugh, about a mile and a half south of the siteof Blairsville. He erected a grist mill which ground the grain of the entiresettlement. When Dunmore's war began, in the spring of 1774, he constructed astrong stockade around his house, which afforded a refuge. for theneighborhood. This stockade became known as Fort Wallace.
Aboutfive and a half miles to the southwest, on a tributary of the Loyalhanna,settled Robert Barr and his sons, and when the Revolution began a stockade wasconstructed there, known as Fort Barr. A mile farther south, immediatelyoverlooking the Loyalhanna, was the log house of John Shields, and it also wassurrounded by a stockade. These three stockades were the strong places of theDerry settlement, frequently assailed but never overcome by the savages. RobertBarr's two sons-in-law, James Wilson and John Pomeroy, dwelt in isolatedclearings between Fort Barr and Fort Wallace.
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