JAMES HYNDSHAW --
          LIEUTENANT

Nicholas Dupui's general store ledger reveals that James Hyndshaw was like many of the early area settlers, buying items such as shalloon, buckram, mohair, buttons, check linen, broadcloth, a cap, rum (lots of rum), a quier of paper, a course tooth comb, a paper of pins, laces, a pair of stockings, sides of leather and skippels of wheat.

What distinguishes the man, other than his purchase of a 107-gallon hogshead of rum, is an unusual payment he made to Dupui in "punch", a beverage of the day.  One has to suppose that having purchased the equivalent of a half-a-year's worth of rum for the entire neighborhood, he likely had no more particular need for a rather small bottle of punch.  In essence, the man displayed practicality.

As the owner of a local sawmill operation on the Little Bushkill Creek, Hyndshaw was well positioned to aid in the construction of a fort.  As noted in the roster of the 46 men initially assigned to Captain Van Etten's company, there were several local residents that aided in this fort's construction; they included members of the following families:  Decker, Cortright, Van Aken, Cole and Rosencrans.  Appreciative of his supply of the boards necessary to construct this fort (and doubtless appreciative of the rum that he provided while it was being constructed), Hyndshaw was duly honored by these men -- the fort would come to bear his name.

Unlike some of the other "house forts" in the area, Hyndshaw built a proper military fort with a stockade and bastions (although the bastions would later be altered).  As his installation was described as "this Fort the most Distant Frontier," it was initially supplied with 30 lbs. of powder and 90 lbs. of lead.