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Author Topic: BSC2020 TaltosVTs Abandoned Blockhouse  (Read 1310 times)

Offline TaltosVT

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    • Lost in The Grants
BSC2020 TaltosVTs Abandoned Blockhouse
« on: December 22, 2019, 01:07:33 AM »
Here in Vermont during the American Revolution, several blockhouses were built to protect the northern frontier from attacks by British and natives coming down from Canada.  Some became homesteads for families, and others went little used or were abandoned.  For this build, I'm going to make an attempt at one of the abandoned versions.

Sketches of ideas to follow.

-Elroy


"The gods of the valley are not the gods of the hills, and you shall understand it." ~Ethan Allen

Offline AKULA

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Re: BSC2020 TaltosVTs Abandoned Blockhouse
« Reply #1 on: December 22, 2019, 11:29:42 AM »
Sounds like an interesting project

 :)

Offline Codsticker

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Re: BSC2020 TaltosVTs Abandoned Blockhouse
« Reply #2 on: December 22, 2019, 10:27:26 PM »
Yeah, I agree- a great project.

Offline TaltosVT

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Re: BSC2020 TaltosVTs Abandoned Blockhouse
« Reply #3 on: December 28, 2019, 09:00:50 PM »
When this idea came to mind, I was thinking about "Fort Rutland," which was built, and then abandoned, around 1775 in Rutland, VT.  I've never seen a description of it, I just knew that it had been quickly abandoned, so I had originally planned on just freelancing a blockhouse based on descriptions of others around the state.

This afternoon, I came across this, in a book from 1911, about 10 years after a monument was erected marking the original location of Fort Rutland:

Quote
Fort Rutland

About the commencement of the Revolutionary War a fort was built on North Main Street, near the corner of Terrill at the head of West Street on what was known as the burnt district, covering about half an acre of land.  This was known in the early days as the Picket fort.  It was built of palisades of maple, sunk in the ground some five feet and about fifteen feet high: the adjoining sides were hewn and joined together: the outside and inside were unhewn: at each corner was a flanker about eight feet square - in the nature of a bastion - so that each outside of the fort could be raked with shot from two flankers.  All around the fort, five or six feet from the ground, were portholes six feet apart, only large enough at the center to admit a musket, but radiating inside and outside so that the marksman within could sweep a wide field in front.  Within the fort was a small storehouse for provisions and ammunition.  The only means of entrance was a bullet-proof gate at the front or west side, a little south of the center.  In the southwest corner was a well.  The fort is said to have been built by voluntary labor as a place of defence from Indians, British or Tories at the beginning of the war.  As forst were soon after erected east and west of this, it became of little use and was gradually torn down and the pickets used for fuel.  The site is now marked by an imposing granite block on the west face of which is this inscription:
"Memorial - 11775 - Erected on Site of Fort Rutland by Ann Story Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution - June 14, 1901."

- "Historical Rutland: An Illustrated History of Rutland, Vermont, from the Granting of the Charter in 1761 to 1911," P.H. Brehmer, Rutland, VT, 1911.

So... I have an actual description of my inspiration now.  :)

Though the fort was abandoned in 1775, there is some mention of it being used as a rallying point for Continental troops after the Battle of Hubbardton in 1777, so it may have stood for a few years.  I think I'm going to model it in an abandoned, slightly overgrown, but not completely trashed state.

Offline Burnin Coal

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Re: BSC2020 TaltosVTs Abandoned Blockhouse
« Reply #4 on: January 03, 2020, 01:51:05 PM »
This is a great idea...also really good find with your research...look forward to seeing what you come up with
Figures painted 2020 : 100

Offline tomrommel1

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Re: BSC2020 TaltosVTs Abandoned Blockhouse
« Reply #5 on: January 07, 2020, 06:31:56 AM »
nice idea
In hoc signo vinces

Have a look at www.wargamesgazette.com

Offline TaltosVT

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Re: BSC2020 TaltosVTs Abandoned Blockhouse
« Reply #6 on: January 07, 2020, 11:37:20 PM »
A little more historical research to direct my build.  Most of the blockhouses in Vermont are described as being approximately the same size.   Most seem to be around 24 feet square.  However, I found a great detailed description of "Fort Frederick," built by Ira Allen (younger brother of the more famous Ethan Allen), in 1776 on the Onion (now Winooski) River in northern Vermont.

From Allen's autobiography:

Quote
For personal safety, &c. Capt. Baker and I thought proper to erect a block fort near the falls of Onion river, twenty by thirty two feet, every stick of timber was at least eight inches thick. In the second story, were 32 port holes for small arms.  The roof was so constructed, in case of fire, we could throw it off - the second story jutted four inches over the other, so that we could fire down, or throw water to put out fire; and the fort was built over a boiling spring for certainty of water. We made double doors, blocks, for the windows, and every part proof against small arms. We never walked out without at least a case of pistols.  In this situation, we were a terror to the New York claimants &c.

- "Ira Allen, Founder of Vermont, 1751 - 1814," James Benjamin Wilbur, Volume 1; Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1928.

With that, I have some historical dimensions to work to.  I'll combine the two forts and build at 1:56 scale.

Offline TaltosVT

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Re: BSC2020 TaltosVTs Abandoned Blockhouse
« Reply #7 on: January 15, 2020, 04:18:00 PM »
Initial sketch of what I'm thinking for dimensions and layout.  Right now I'm feeling like I may do the blockhouse itself as one base, the palisade fence as another base, and the well as a third.  That way players can lay out the terrain in different ways, depending on the scenario.