Fort Halifax

Fort Halifax was among the strongest and most extensive 18th century frontier fortresses ever built in the District of Maine.  Its layout included 2 main blockhouses, a barracks, and main building called the “Fort House”, all enclosed by wooden palisades. There were 2 additional blockhouses built outside the compound on a hill overlooking the palisaded fort complex below. The originally approved layout was designed by Major General John Winslow and partially erected by the 500+ men under his command.  However, Major General Winslow was soon reassigned to another mission and Captain William Lithgow was brought in to preplace him in command of Fort Halifax.  Lithgow had a vision that included a completely new layout and the restructuring of sections of the fort that had already been put in place.  He considered that vision complete on May 30, 1756.

Fort Halifax was a bastion in the Maine wilderness and it attracted as much attention for those who needed it as those who were opposed to its existence. It was seen as a constant threat to the native Americans in the region, and to the French who had claimed the Kennebec Valley as a part of its empire.  The Fort, and anyone associated with it, were in a constant state of threat and danger until the French and Indian War came to an end in 1763. Captain William Lithgow commanded this fort, initially garrisoned with 100 men, for 12 years.

Life at the fort wasn’t always easy.  Hardships ranged from lack of food and clothes, to injury and disease, the constant threats of Indian attacks, and may other day-to-day concerns that oftentimes could have meant the difference between life and death.  Daily concerns about safety and survival were often balanced with happier times that reminded residents that frontier life wasn’t all ‘hazard and struggle’.  Yes, there were deaths at the fort, but there were also births, and marriages, social events, celebrations, and impromptu fun times that made for great stories.  A few examples for your consideration; in the winter, Captain Lithgow liked to have his men clear the snow off the iced-over Kennebec River so the men could “slide the ladies” across the top. In warmer months the soldiers and their wives would take excursions to a nearby island for dinner outings and barbecues. Sporting men would wager their liquor rations for a chance to take home the big win with target practice competitions. And it was a nightly routine for residents of the fort, soldiers and family members alike, to gather around the fire listening to each other tell stories, play music, and to sing and dance. 

The fort was functional in all ways and it existed, in large part, to support a community the British Empire wanted to see grow in the Kennebec Valley region. Having fun and bringing enjoyment to life at Fort Halifax was a major step in making this place feel welcoming to new settlers, and safe and normal to permanent residents.

Fort Halifax was abandoned by the military in 1767 and sold into private ownership by 1770. For the next 30 years buildings in the complex would serve the community as places to hold social gatherings and dances, church services and town meetings. 

By 1800 all of Fort Halifax except the sole remaining blockhouse still standing today, was torn down and removed.  The land and blockhouse were sold in and out of the possession of numerous deed holders until 1924, when it fell into the capable and historic minded hands of the Daughters of the American Revolution, a preservationist group dedicated to making sure this piece of Maine’s history is saved from further insults of time.  In 1966 the blockhouse was turned over to the State of Maine for safe keeping and routine maintenance. 

The beautifully preserved blockhouse on the grounds of Fort Halifax is original to the year 1754.  It’s the oldest blockhouse still standing in America, today.  A national treasure and a relic to the days of the French and Indian War.

10 Things to know about Fort Halifax

  • Fort Halifax was constructed at the very start of the French and Indian War. There were many reasons that are deeply rooted in British-Native interactions as to why a fort on the Kennebec River was necessary, but it was the French who lit the fire that spurned the British to build Forts Halifax and Western to protect the Kennebec Valley Region. 
  • Native Americans in the District of Maine, generally speaking, had a bit of an issue with white settlers encroaching on their fishing and hunting grounds. They also had a difficult time embracing the seriousness behind the “white man’s” ideology of buying, selling, and owning land.  Native Americans didn’t understand how anyone could ‘own’ land. It was as foreign a concept to sell land as it would be to sell the sky.
  • French Jesuit missionaries had been proselytizing Catholicism to Native American populations in the District of Maine for well over 150 years prior to the start of the French and Indian War. During that time French and English land claim boundaries in New England (for the purposes of this essay) shifted and changed a few times, causing confusion and instability for the people living within those boundaries. 
    1. France and England had been warring with each other in Europe for hundreds of years, and this was still ongoing throughout this period of pre-revolutionary U.S. history. The French were Catholic and the British were Protestant and the animosity between those 2 religious factions was stark. The fact that the French had been assimilating the local Native tribes in the District of Maine – specifically in the Kennebec Valley region since the early 1600’s – was a top-level threat to the British Empire.
    2. Native American tensions on the Kennebec (speaking only about the Kennebec for the purposes of this essay) had heated up to a boiling point, and in the early 1750’s Captain William Lithgow, at Fort Richmond, was warned by a small group of local Indians that the French were fully prepared to attack the British to assert their dominance over all of the Kennebec River Valley. The French had claimed the Kennebec River as its western boundary and also had amassed a considerable allyship with tribes up and down the Kennebec River region. The British had no settlements above Fort Richmond at the time of the warning, and as a result of this warning decided to build 3 more Forts to stabilize the region and to help bring in settlers to populate the area.
      1. Those forts were; Fort Shirley in Frankfort, Maine (Now Dresden), Fort Western in Augusta, Maine, and Fort Halifax in Winslow, Maine.  Fort Shirley and Fort Western being built as storage facilities to supply all manner of necessities to Fort Halifax in Winslow.
  • Directly put, Fort Halifax was built to bring stability to the entire Kennebec Valley region because the French and Indians were threatening the English Empire by harassing, warring with, and oftentimes, killing British settlers. Forts Western and Shirley were built, primarily, to be supply stations for Fort Halifax.

  • It was built between 1754-1755 along with the rest of the original Fort Halifax buildings which were no longer standing by 1800.
  • Despite warnings from local observers to tie down the blockhouse before the water rose too high, the blockhouse was swept down the river in the Great Flood of 1987.
    • Hard work and blind luck led to the retrieval of 22 of the original blockhouse wood beams and it was painstakingly reconstructed.
  • Fort Halifax was a massive frontier fortress, making it a very large establishment, the very nature of which placed it in an extremely precarious position along the bank of the Kennebec River.
  • The Plymouth Company (Kennebec Proprietors) agreed to build Fort Halifax, but because the region the fort would be settled was under constant threat of Indian attacks it was agreed that all the parts and pieces needed to complete the fort would be curated at Fort Shirley (Frankfort, ME – now Dresden) and then floated up the river to Winslow (Taconnet Falls) where it was fully constructed on-site.
    1. Parts of Fort Halifax were actually built into the rafts used to float the materials up the river to Fort Western where it was then taken out of the river and arduously trucked through the wilderness to Winslow. When the location of the Fort was reached the rafts were deconstructed and the parts were incorporated into the building of the fort.
  • This entire process, from start to finish, took a grand total of 56 days. This included the carrying of the awkward - large, heavy, cannons brought upriver to defend the new fortification. An amazing feat by most standards.

  • On numerous occasions Fort Halifax soldiers were killed, captured, or mysteriously disappeared.
    1. In 1754 white settlers killed 4 Native Americans. Two were killed in the District of Maine and 2 others were killed shortly thereafter in Boston, Massachusetts. Both of these events led to revenge attacks by Indians against the soldiers manning Fort Halifax.
    2. In November of 1754 3 soldiers were ambushed by Indians while out cutting wood. One soldier was killed and 2 were injured.
  • In 1755 there were 2 more incidents of violence initiated by local Indians. The first was a settler who was shot just outside the fort walls, the other, a courier named Edward Whaland, was captured and taken prisoner while canoeing his way back from Fort Western with official dispatches expected to be received at Fort Halifax. He never showed up and the worst was assumed.
  • Edward Whaland was held captive and brought to Canada where he was kept as a prisoner for 4 years.


  • Captain Lithgow, commander of Fort Halifax, sent 10 men down the Kennebec to warn Fort Western about the incident and to warn them there are hostile Indians in the area.
  • On their return trip the 10 men were attacked from the shoreline by Indians.  Volleys were fired from the shoreline to the boats and from the boats to the shoreline.  Two soldiers were badly injured and one Indian was seen falling and being carried away by comrades, and it seemed very likely that this Indian was killed in the exchange.


  • It’s been said time and again, the story of Fort Halifax cannot possibly be told without also talking about Fort Western in Augusta.
  • Fort Western in Augusta held all the stores that Fort Halifax needed to conduct its mission of protecting the area, while also supporting the settlement the British hoped would grow around it.  So Fort Western was absolutely vital to the success of Fort Halifax.  Without Fort Western it would be hard to speculate if Winslow would have survived, let alone thrived.


  • Henry Dearborn who later became the US Secretary of War under Thomas Jefferson was among the 600+ men who actually made it to Quebec. Unfortunately, he was captured and held prisoner until spring of 1776 when he was finally involved in a prisoner exchange.
  • Aaron Burr was just 19 years old when he entered into his first military service, which was the Arnold Expedition. He was an incredible soldier who did some pretty heroic things for America.  He left his military service behind to pursue a path in law and politics, and eventually managed to get himself elected Vice President under Thomas Jefferson.
  • Benedict Arnold, the leader and designer of the Arnold Expedition; By all reasonable accounts Benedict Arnold was an incredible military force for the Continental Army, which is probably why his traitorous acts came as such a blow to those he betrayed so intimately.   Arnold tried to sell West Point, with a side possibility of directly leading to the capture of General George Washington, but he was found out before the plan could be executed.  He evaded capture by fleeing into British custody.  He was rewarded with a commission as a Brigadier General in the British Army but was looked upon with suspicion for the rest of his days. No one trusted him. His legacy, even when still alive, was very similar to how we view him today – he was a traitor who betrayed his country.

     

  • Archaeological digs have uncovered evidence there were 5 major prehistoric villages present at the Fort Halifax site over the past 3,000 years.
  • There have been over 100 generations of Native American activity at the site and further physical evidences, including burials and artifacts, offer physical proof the aboriginal activity in this area pre-dates the building of the Great Pyramids of Egypt.

  • Even after the fort was de-garrisoned it still remained the center of the community. In 1770 the entire complex was sold into private ownership to Dr. Sylvester Gardiner, a very well-to-do physician, pharmacist, real estate mogul, and businessman. 
  • Dr. Sylvester gifted the land Fort Hill Cemetery sits on, to the people of Winslow.


  • The Fort House was the largest of the buildings at Fort Halifax. It was 40 feet wide and 80 feet long, and it served many functions over the years. While the Fort was active it served as housing for Captain Lithgow on one end and Officer’s on the other.
  • Post Fort Halifax the Fort House functioned as a church, a town meeting locale, and an inn – the same inn Benedict Arnold stated at on his way to Quebec.
  • In 1798 the original Fort House was demolished by its new owner, Richard Thomas, and another Inn was built in its place, called “The Halifax House”.