Cheney Clow - The Site Description of Cheney's Rebellion

The Site Description of Cheney's Rebellion

The present and original appearance of the site of the Cheney Clow Rebellion was summarized in the US Department of the Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form:

The scene of Cheyney Clow's Rebellion is on two farms, very near the Maryland line, in Delaware's Kent County; both farms extend across the line into Maryland in Northern Queen Anne's County. The southern half of the site is the farm of Mary Ford, on which stands the Clark House, a 21/2-story structure that was built in three parts, with frame portions flanking the original two-bay brick portion. Part of this house may have been standing during the Revolution.

Northward from the Clark House, the Gravelly Branch of Chester River divides the Ford farm from the Holtz farm. Nearby is the survey corner that in 1829 was described as being near the Cheyney Clow fort site.

In 1829, while James E. B. Clark was assembling his farm, he bought a piece of land from John and Sophia Chase. One of the corners of the deed was a "small distance above Cheyney Clow's fort." When this deed is plotted, the point is very near the Gravelly Branch bridge, north of the stream. This property had descended through the heirs of Robert Wright, a governor of Maryland; his father, Solomon Wright, a member of the Maryland convention of 1775, had owned the property during the Revolution.

Because the fort lay on or near the Wright-Tilghman property line, it is impossible to discover who owned it during the Revolution. Since both owners were ardent patriots, it is impossible that they would have knowingly harbored Cheyney Clow.

The acreage that is the subject of-this nomination was the scene of Cheyney Clow's Rebellion. Documentary sources place Clow's fort on the site, although cursory archaeological surface collection has failed to reveal tangible evidence of its exact location. Since the fort probably stood in a large swamp near the confluence of two prongs of Gravelly Branch, it is unlikely that many surface indications would be found in the plowed fields nearby.

It is known from contemporary military dispatches that the fort stood in the swamps. According to an 1839 article, some logs of the fort were still in place, even though the Delaware militia is supposed to have burned it. Since scorching retards rot, and since logs in wet ground sometimes last many years, it is not surprising that part of the structure should have survived for half a century after 'the battle.