There are two reasons which may be given which, we think, will show that the site of Falmouth would have been an improper and unsafe location for the fort, both of which would have suggested themselves to the constructors of the fort. One is, that the place is on the bend of the river and is surrounded by high hills, now known as Stafford Heights. From the crest of these hills the fort could have been attacked by the enemy and captured by any small force. And if it had not been captured the elevation would have given the Indians great advantage over the garrison, making their arrows very effective. To have placed the fort on either one of the high hills would have thrown the garrison too far from the river to protect their sail vessels, and in case they had been compelled to give up the fort they could not have reached their vessels in the river, which, in the past, had proved a safer refuge than the poorly constructed forts of that day. The other reason is, that to have constructed the fort on the north side of the river would have placed the almost impassable Rappahannock between the garrison and their remote friends on the south side, from whom alone they could look for relief in case they had been besieged, or if they had been compelled to retreat. For these reasons, if for no other, we are satisfied that the fort was not located on the north side of the river, but on the south side and in the vicinity of where Fredericksburg now stands. But this author, in speaking of the fort, says "not one stone or brick of the fort is left on another, but the terraces on the long hill back of the riverside houses still bear traces of ancient work." But this does not prove the contention. It should be remembered that forts were not constructed in those times of stones and bricks, nor even of earthen walls, as they have since been, but of wooden poles or logs, and very temporary at that. John Fontaine gives a minute description of the fort built by the Germans at Germanna in the year 1714, which will help us to understand what a fort was in those days. "We walked about the town, which is palisaded with stakes stuck in the ground, and laid close the one to the other, and of substance to bear out a mussket-shot. There are but nine families, and they have nine houses, built all in a line; and before every house, about twenty feet distant from it, they have small sheds built for their hogs and hens, so that the hog-sties and houses make a street. The place that is poled in is a pentagon, very regularly laid out; and in the very center there is a block-house, made with five sides, which answer to the five sides of the great enclosure; there are loop holes through it, from which you may see all the inside of the enclosure. This was intended for a retreat for the people, in case they were not able to defend the palisadoes, if attacked by the Indians."[11] Col. Byrd, in 1732, called this a fort. CHAPTER II THE KNIGHTS OF THE GOLDEN HORSE SHOE.