Fort Niagara
Encyclopedia
Fort Niagara is a fortification originally built to protect the interests of New France
in North America
. It is located near Youngstown, New York
, on the eastern bank of the Niagara River
at its mouth, on Lake Ontario
.
built the first structure, called Fort Conti
, in 1678. In 1687, the Governor of New France, the Marquis de Denonville, constructed a new fort at the former site of Fort Conti. He named it Fort Denonville
and posted a hundred men under the command of Capt. Pierre de Troyes, Chevalier de Troyes
. The winter weather and disease was severe, and all but twelve perished by the time a relief force returned from Montreal
. It was decided in September of 1688 to abandon the post and the stockade was pulled down. In 1726, a two story "Maison a Machicoulis" or "Machicolated House" was constructed on the same site by French engineer Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Lery. It was called the "House of Peace" or trading post
to appease the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois
. The name used today, "The French Castle" was not used until the 19th Century. The fort was expanded to its present size in 1755 due to increased tensions between French and British colonial interests.
, and fell to the British
in a nineteen day siege in July 1759, called the Battle of Fort Niagara
. The French relief force sent for the besieged garrison was ambushed at the Battle of La Belle-Famille
, and the commander of the post, Pierre Pouchot
, surrendered the fort to the British commander, Sir William Johnson, who initially led the New York Militia. The Irish-born Johnson was not the original commander of the expedition, but became its leader when General Prideaux literally lost his head, stepping in front of a mortar being test-fired during the siege. The fort remained in British hands for the next thirty-seven years.
Fort Niagara served as the Loyalist base in New York during the American Revolutionary War for Colonel John Butler
and his Butler's Rangers
, a Tory militia in the command of the British Army. Lt. Col. William Stacy
, a high-ranking officer of the Continental Army
, was captured at the attack on Cherry Valley, New York
by Butler's Rangers. He was held captive at Fort Niagara during the summer of 1779. Niagara become notorious for drinking, brawling, whoring, and cheating. Crude taverns, stores, and bordellos sprouted on "the Bottom", the riverside flat below the fort.
Though Fort Niagara was ceded to the United States
after the Treaty of Paris
ended the American War of Independence in 1783, the region remained effectively under British control for thirteen years. Only after signing of the Jay Treaty
did American forces occupy the fort in 1796. In the interim, United Empire Loyalists
fleeing persecution in the new USA were given land grants, typically 200 acres (80.9 ha) per inhabitant in Upper Canada
, and some were sustained in the early years partly by aid from the military stores of the fort. The British captured Fort Niagara during the War of 1812
, on the night of December 19, 1813. British forces relinquished it to the United States with the Treaty of Ghent
. It has remained in US custody ever since.
and World War I
, and during World War II
as an induction center and later a POW camp for 1,200 German
soldiers captured in North Africa
. After WWII, the fort served as emergency housing for returning veterans. During the Korean War
, the fort was used as for the headquarters for anti-aircraft artillery and later Nike missiles. The US Army officially deactivated Fort Niagara in 1963. Military presence on the site continues with the United States Coast Guard
still operating at "The Bottoms" making Fort Niagara one of the longest continuously run military bases in the United States, 1726–presentday.
In 1931, after nine years of lobbying for repairs and preservation by local citizens, a formal operating license between Old Fort Niagara Association and the U.S. War Department established rights to preserve and operate the fort. In 1949, Congress transferred Father Millet Cross National Monument
(a small memorial at Fort Niagara) to the State of New York. In 1960 the fort was among the first sites designated as National Historic Landmark
s.
. The restored fort is the scene of frequent historical reenactments of 18th century battles that took place on the site, as well as period dances, fundraisers and other special events. Fort Niagara is a State Historic Site known as Old Fort Niagara State Historic Site. The site is also believed to be haunted, and was investigated by the Discovery Channel
show Ghost Lab
which aired on October 21, 2010.
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. It is located near Youngstown, New York
Youngstown, New York
Youngstown is a village in Niagara County, New York, USA. The population was 1,957 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area....
, on the eastern bank of the Niagara River
Niagara River
The Niagara River flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the Province of Ontario in Canada and New York State in the United States. There are differing theories as to the origin of the name of the river...
at its mouth, on Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south by the American state of New York. Ontario, Canada's most populous province, was named for the lake. In the Wyandot language, ontarío means...
.
Origin
René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La SalleRené-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle
René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, or Robert de LaSalle was a French explorer. He explored the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, the Mississippi River, and the Gulf of Mexico...
built the first structure, called Fort Conti
Fort Conti
Fort Conti was built in early 1679 at the mouth of the Niagara River and Lake Ontario as a post for the French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. Because of the fort's location, the French hoped to control the fur trade in the upper Great Lakes...
, in 1678. In 1687, the Governor of New France, the Marquis de Denonville, constructed a new fort at the former site of Fort Conti. He named it Fort Denonville
Fort Denonville
Fort Denonville, built in 1687 at the current site of Fort Niagara, and replaced Fort Conti on the mouth of the Niagara River and the shore of Lake Ontario. In the summer of 1687 the Governor of New France, Jacques-René de Brisay de Denonville, Marquis de Denonville, was on a military expedition...
and posted a hundred men under the command of Capt. Pierre de Troyes, Chevalier de Troyes
Pierre de Troyes, Chevalier de Troyes
Pierre de Troyes, Chevalier de Troyes , a captain in the French army arrived at Quebec in August 1685 with reinforcements for the colony...
. The winter weather and disease was severe, and all but twelve perished by the time a relief force returned from Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
. It was decided in September of 1688 to abandon the post and the stockade was pulled down. In 1726, a two story "Maison a Machicoulis" or "Machicolated House" was constructed on the same site by French engineer Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Lery. It was called the "House of Peace" or trading post
Trading post
A trading post was a place or establishment in historic Northern America where the trading of goods took place. The preferred travel route to a trading post or between trading posts, was known as a trade route....
to appease the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
. The name used today, "The French Castle" was not used until the 19th Century. The fort was expanded to its present size in 1755 due to increased tensions between French and British colonial interests.
British control
The fort played a significant part in the French and Indian WarFrench and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
, and fell to the British
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
in a nineteen day siege in July 1759, called the Battle of Fort Niagara
Battle of Fort Niagara
The Battle of Fort Niagara was a siege late in the French and Indian War, the North American theatre of the Seven Years' War. The British siege of Fort Niagara in July 1759 was part of a campaign to remove French control of the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley regions, making possible a western invasion...
. The French relief force sent for the besieged garrison was ambushed at the Battle of La Belle-Famille
Battle of La Belle-Famille
The Battle of La Belle-Famille occurred on July 24, 1759, during the French and Indian War along the Niagara River portage trail. François-Marie Le Marchand de Lignery's French relief force for the besieged French garrison at Fort Niagara fell into Eyre Massey's British and Iroquois ambush...
, and the commander of the post, Pierre Pouchot
Pierre Pouchot
Captain Pierre Pouchot was a French military engineer and officer in the French regular army.He was born at Grenoble, France, son of a merchant. In 1733 he joined the regular army as a volunteer engineer and on May 1, 1734 was appointed a second lieutenant in the Regiment de Bearn...
, surrendered the fort to the British commander, Sir William Johnson, who initially led the New York Militia. The Irish-born Johnson was not the original commander of the expedition, but became its leader when General Prideaux literally lost his head, stepping in front of a mortar being test-fired during the siege. The fort remained in British hands for the next thirty-seven years.
John Butler (pioneer)
John Butler was a Loyalist who led an irregular militia unit known as Butler's Rangers on the northern frontier in the American Revolutionary War. He led Seneca and Cayuga forces in the Saratoga campaign. He later raised and commanded a regiment of rangers.-Background:John was born to Walter...
and his Butler's Rangers
Butler's Rangers
Butler's Rangers was a British provincial regiment composed of Loyalists in the American Revolutionary War, raised by Loyalist John Butler.Most members of the regiment were Loyalists from upstate New York...
, a Tory militia in the command of the British Army. Lt. Col. William Stacy
William Stacy
William Stacy was an officer of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and a pioneer to the Ohio Country...
, a high-ranking officer of the Continental Army
Continental Army
The Continental Army was formed after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, it was created to coordinate the military efforts of the Thirteen Colonies in...
, was captured at the attack on Cherry Valley, New York
Cherry Valley massacre
The Cherry Valley Massacre was an attack by British and Seneca forces on a fort and the village of Cherry Valley in eastern New York on the cold, snowy and rainy morning of November 11, 1778, during the American Revolutionary War. It has been described as one of the most horrific frontier...
by Butler's Rangers. He was held captive at Fort Niagara during the summer of 1779. Niagara become notorious for drinking, brawling, whoring, and cheating. Crude taverns, stores, and bordellos sprouted on "the Bottom", the riverside flat below the fort.
Though Fort Niagara was ceded to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
after the Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris (1783)
The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain on the one hand and the United States of America and its allies on the other. The other combatant nations, France, Spain and the Dutch Republic had separate agreements; for details of...
ended the American War of Independence in 1783, the region remained effectively under British control for thirteen years. Only after signing of the Jay Treaty
Jay Treaty
Jay's Treaty, , also known as Jay's Treaty, The British Treaty, and the Treaty of London of 1794, was a treaty between the United States and Great Britain that is credited with averting war,, resolving issues remaining since the Treaty of Paris of 1783, which ended the American Revolution,, and...
did American forces occupy the fort in 1796. In the interim, United Empire Loyalists
United Empire Loyalists
The name United Empire Loyalists is an honorific given after the fact to those American Loyalists who resettled in British North America and other British Colonies as an act of fealty to King George III after the British defeat in the American Revolutionary War and prior to the Treaty of Paris...
fleeing persecution in the new USA were given land grants, typically 200 acres (80.9 ha) per inhabitant in Upper Canada
Upper Canada
The Province of Upper Canada was a political division in British Canada established in 1791 by the British Empire to govern the central third of the lands in British North America and to accommodate Loyalist refugees from the United States of America after the American Revolution...
, and some were sustained in the early years partly by aid from the military stores of the fort. The British captured Fort Niagara during the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
, on the night of December 19, 1813. British forces relinquished it to the United States with the Treaty of Ghent
Treaty of Ghent
The Treaty of Ghent , signed on 24 December 1814, in Ghent , was the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
. It has remained in US custody ever since.
Later use
The name "Old Fort Niagara" which is associated with the fort today does not refer to its age but to distinguish the colonial-era fortress from its more modern namesake. The post-Civil War era saw the building of "New Fort Niagara" outside the original walls of the fort. Following the Civil War, masonry forts were abandoned for the style of military camp we now know (masonry fared poorly under bombardment). The newer Fort Niagara contained a thousand-yard rifle range, access to rail lines, and access to large industrial areas (Niagara Falls and Buffalo). Fort Niagara was used to train troops for the Spanish-American WarSpanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
and World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, and during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
as an induction center and later a POW camp for 1,200 German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
soldiers captured in North Africa
North African campaign
During the Second World War, the North African Campaign took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943. It included campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts and in Morocco and Algeria and Tunisia .The campaign was fought between the Allies and Axis powers, many of whom had...
. After WWII, the fort served as emergency housing for returning veterans. During the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, the fort was used as for the headquarters for anti-aircraft artillery and later Nike missiles. The US Army officially deactivated Fort Niagara in 1963. Military presence on the site continues with the United States Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
still operating at "The Bottoms" making Fort Niagara one of the longest continuously run military bases in the United States, 1726–presentday.
Father Millet Cross
The Father Millet Cross is a memorial on the grounds of Fort Niagara in Youngstown, New York. The bronze cross is a replacement for the wooden cross erected by Pierre Millet at the New French Fort Denonville in 1688. During the preceding winter disease and starvation overwhelmed the fort's...
(a small memorial at Fort Niagara) to the State of New York. In 1960 the fort was among the first sites designated as National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
s.
Today
Fort Niagara has been renovated and now serves as Fort Niagara State park and museumFort Niagara State Park
Fort Niagara State Park is located in the Town of Porter in Niagara County, New York, USA. Historic Fort Niagara is located within the park. The park is northwest of Youngstown, New York near the northern terminus of the Robert Moses State Parkway....
. The restored fort is the scene of frequent historical reenactments of 18th century battles that took place on the site, as well as period dances, fundraisers and other special events. Fort Niagara is a State Historic Site known as Old Fort Niagara State Historic Site. The site is also believed to be haunted, and was investigated by the Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
show Ghost Lab
Ghost Lab
Ghost Lab is a weekly American paranormal documentary television series that premiered on October 6, 2009 on the Discovery Channel. Produced by Paper Route Productions and Go Go Luckey Entertainment, the program is narrated by Mike Rowe...
which aired on October 21, 2010.
See also
- List of French forts in North America
- Fort MississaugaFort MississaugaFort Mississauga National Historic Site is a fort along the shore of Lake Ontario, not far from the Niagara River in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. The fort today consists of a box–shaped brick tower and historic star–shaped earthworks—the only one in the country...
- opposite Fort Niagara, on the OntarioOntarioOntario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
side of the Niagara RiverNiagara RiverThe Niagara River flows north from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It forms part of the border between the Province of Ontario in Canada and New York State in the United States. There are differing theories as to the origin of the name of the river... - Fort George National Historic SiteFort George, OntarioFort George National Historic Site is a historic military structure at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, that was the scene of several battles during the War of 1812...
- also opposite Fort Niagara, in Ontario - Fort Erie National Historic SiteFort ErieFort Erie was the first British fort to be constructed as part of a network developed after the Seven Years' War was concluded by the Treaty of Paris at which time all of New France had been ceded to Great Britain...
- at the source of the Niagara River
External links
- Official Website
- State historic site: Old Fort Niagara
- Virtual tour
- "Old Fort Niagara", by Ann Kelleran, Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society, Adventures in Western New York History, volume I (downloadable from http://bechsed.nylearns.org/, click on Adventures in WNY History)
- Administration building (1 photo), Entrance gun tower (1 photo), Hot shot battery oven (1 photo), East gun tower (1 photo), Various (7 photos), French castle (1 photo), at Historic American Buildings SurveyHistoric American Buildings SurveyThe Historic American Buildings Survey , Historic American Engineering Record , and Historic American Landscapes Survey are programs of the National Park Service established for the purpose of documenting historic places. Records consists of measured drawings, archival photographs, and written...
. - The Storming of Fort Niagara, 1813
- USGS aerial image of fort and surroundings
- Historic Lewiston, New York
- Local Article on Fort Niagara
- "The FORT of FOUR Nations" Popular Mechanics, December 1934, pp.867-869