1756 -- DUPUI'S STORE
              BECOMES A MILITARY FORT

It was a process.  It didn't just happen overnight.  At first, Captain Isaac Wayne was assigned to temporary duty at Dupui's establishment while local Fort Hamilton was under construction.  On January 3, 1756, the captain received orders from Governor Morris to halt with his company at Nazareth, "and there to remain till further orders", at which point Lieutenant Nicholas Wetterholt was directed by Benjamin Franklin to station his detachment of 26 men at Brodhead's plantation (in proximity to Dupui's store).

By this point in time, one notes that the management of Dupui's operation had already been transitioned over to the capable hands of Dupui's son, Samuel, and thus, later references to the store are usually couched in language referring to "Sam'l Depues".  An example, penned by Commissary James Young, follows:

Came to Sam'l Depues, Mustered that Part of Capt'n Weatherholt's Comp'y that are Stationed here, a Lieu't and 26 men all regularly Inlisted for 6 months as are the rest of his Comp'y;  Round Depues house is a Large but very Slight, and ill Contriv'd Staccade with a Sweevle Gun mounted on each Corner.  M'r Depue was not at home, his Son with a Son of M'r Broadheads keeping house.  They express'd themselves as if they thought the Province was oblig'd to them for allowing this Party to be in their house, also made use of very arrogant Expressions of the Commissioners, and the People of Phil'a in General; they seem to make a mere merchandize of the People stationed here, selling Rum at 8d. p'r Gill.

The Commissary's closing observation warrants some commentary:

The sale of rum to militiamen at the outrageous rate of eight pence per gill was rightfully regarded by James Young as nothing less than unjustifiable war profiteering, as a capricious pricing level that went far beyond the pale of standard retail markups... and the Commissary was right.  One arrives at this conclusion by noting that Dupui himself had long-established a straight-forward pricing formula at his general store to govern the sales of rum:

8 shillings -- "to a gallon of rum" 4 shillings -- "to a half-gallon of rum" 2 shillings -- "to a quart of rum" 1 shilling --    "to a pint of rum"

By this given calculus, a gill of rum (1/4th of a pint), should have equated with 1/4th of a shilling -- 3 pence; instead, it was being sold to the militia at the scandalous rate of 8 pence per gill, making "a mere merchandize of the People stationed here".