Task

Due to your vast knowledge of the area and the native people in this area, you have been selected to construct a viable fort for the troops that are heading your way. Your fort must provide protection from the enemy, shelter, and support for the troops inside. Word has come from the General that time is of the essence.

In the short amount of time that you have, you will need to accomplish the following to get the fort up and running adequately in enough time:

•  Examine local maps to select the strategic location for the fort.
• Make blueprints for the fort labeling a floor plan and showing nearby geographic features like rivers, mountains, etc.
  • You also must include the contents of the fort and where they are located such as:
    • hospital, barracks (living quarters), gunsmith shop, bake ovens, gun powder, etc.
• Sketch the outside of your fort and then name it.
• Be prepared to present your fort to the messenger that will arrive two days before the Army troops. You should be able to explain why your fort is the best place for the troops to stay.

Process

Your teacher will organize your class into small groups. You will work together to research, design and present your fort for the messenger. Your presentation can be written, oral, multimedia, video, etc. You are ultimately looking for the approval of the messenger, the General's right hand man.

Resources

Textbook: Build Our Nation, Level 5 Volume 1 pgs. 235-241

U.S. maps of the area

Fort Ticonderoga - http://www.fort-ticonderoga.org/index.html

Fort Carillon - http://digitalhistory.org/fort_carillon.html

British Forts - http://digitalhistory.org/bfort.html

French Forts - http://digitalhistory.org/ffort.html

How Fort Necessity was built - http://www.nps.gov/fone/home.htm

French and Indian War (info.) - http://web.syr.edu/~laroux/history/history.html

Maps for war - http://www.philaprintshop.com/frchind.html

More info on British Forts - http://fiwar.virtualave.net/forts/british.html

Mrs. Luke's French & Indian War info - http://www.valdosta.edu/~dajohnso/topic.html

Evaluation

• What did you do to contribute to the presentation that your group put together?
• How well you work with your group members?
• How well did your group work as a team?
• How do you know the design of your fort is accurate?

Conclusion

Now that you have designed your fort, why do you think it is important to consider location, geographic features and supplies when building a fort?

Extension

Now that you have done an excellent job with the sketches of your fort; it has been chosen to be constructed. Before your fort can be constructed a model of the fort must be built. Build your model out of any type of material that you may have available to you like: clay, tape, toothpicks, etc.