USA > New York > Niagara County > A brief history of old Fort Niagara > Part 3
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1744-1759.
By 1744, the time had come when if England ever expected to own more than the Atlantic slope of the continent she had to arouse herself to greater efforts than mere intriguing with the Indians and sending continual remonstrances to Quebec.
In March of that year war was declared between France and Eng- land, and the colonies of New York and New England, in 1745 and
OLD FORT NIAGARA IN HISTORY.
1746, made united efforts to conquer Eastern Canada; yet England failed to aid them to the extent promised, and in 1748 the war was ended by the treaty of Aix la Chapelle.
In 1754, though these two nations were nominally at peace, the frontier was desolated by the Indians at the instigation of the French, and in 1755 four expeditions were planned by the English against French territory - one of these, under Braddock, being for the recovery of the Ohio Valley. Braddock's army was ambushed and routed, and among the spoils captured was his artillery tram. which was subsequently taken to, and used in, strengthening Fort Niagara, which was then garrisoned by 500 men.'
To another of these expeditions, under Gov. Shirley, of Massa- chusetts, was assigned the duty of capturing Fort Niagara. Soon after leaving Albany, news of Braddock's defeat was received, and many of the men deserted. The troops were delayed at Oswego for various reasons, till the season was too late, and Shirley led his forces back to Massachusetts.
War between France and England, though it had existed in America for nearly two years, was officially declared in 1756, and in that year another attempt to capture Niagara was planned. Changes in commanders bred internal army troubles, and when the Earl of Loudon finally assumed command, he abandoned the plan that had been formed to attack Niagara.
In 1757, fifty Senecas, headed by one of the principal chiefs of the Five Nations, came to Niagara and held a council with Pouchot, who was earnestly intriguing to detach the said Five Nations from their friendship toward the English."
In 1758, none of the three expeditions sent out by England was directed against Niagara.
In 1759, three more expeditions were sent out by the English, one of them, under Gen. Prideaux, to capture Niagara.
The English reverses of latter years in America had aroused the English Government to the need of a more able management ; and under William Pitts' Premiership was commenced the campaign of 1759 that was to retrieve England's honor and losses, and leave her the absolute victor over her great rival on this continent.
The contemplated attack on Fort Niagara, in 1755, under Shirley, had told the French that that fort must be further strengthened, and 1 Col. Doc. N. Y., vol. X., page 326 2 Col. Doc. N. Y., vol. X., page 586.
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OLD FORT NIAGARA IN HISTORY.
Pouchot, a captain in the regiment of Bearn, and a competent engineer, was sent to reconstruct it. He reached the fort with a regiment in October, 1755. Houses for these troops were at once constructed in the Canadian manner. These houses consisted of round logs of oak, notched into each other at the corners, and were quickly built. Each had a chimney in the middle, some windows and a plank roof. The chimneys were made by four poles, placed in the form of a truncated pyramid, open from the bottom to a height of three feet on all sides, above which was a kind of basket work, plastered with mud. Rushes, marsh grass or straw rolled in diluted clay were driven in between the logs, and the whole plas- tered.'
The work of strengthening the fort was pushed on all winter, 300 men being in the garrison, and in March, 1756, the artillery taken from Braddock arrived .?
By July, 1756, the defenses proposed were nearly completed, and Pouchot left the fort.
Vandreuil stated that he (Pouchot) "had almost entirely superin- tended the fortifications to their completion, and the fort which was abandoned, and beyond making the smallest resistance is now a place of considerable importance in consequence of the regularity, solidity and utility of its works." 3
Pouchot was sent back to Niagara, as commandant, with his own regiment, in October, 1756, and remained there for a year. He still further strengthened the fort during this period, and when he left he reported that "Fort Niagara and its buildings were completed and its covered ways stockaded." 4
On April 30, 1759, he again arrived at Niagara to assume com- mand and " began to work on repairing the fort, to which nothing had been done since he left it. He found the ramparts giving way, the turfing all crumbled off and the escarpment and counter escarpment of the fosses much filled up. He mounted two pieces to keep up appearances in case of a siege."" A plan of Fort Niagara in 1759, from Pouchot's own work, " Memoires sur la derniere guerre," etc., published in 1781 is given herewith.
From the general laudatory tone of his own work we are led to feel that Pouchot overpraised his own work of fortifying Niagara in
1 Hough's Pouchot, vol. I., page 53. 2 Col. Docs. N. Y., vol. VII., page 282. 3 Col. Doc. N. Y., vol. X., page 411. 4 llough's Pouchot, vol. I., page 94. 5 Hough's Pouchot, vol. I., page 142.
OLD FORT NIAGARA IN HISTORY.
1-Birbette Battery /
A .- Galleriest continue ste with
LAC ONTARIO
2 - Relief Gale.
the exterior works.
B .- Lake Ontario Bastion.
3. An cher Birbette Battery of'S Own
C -Barracks, Stores and vestiges of the old Furt.
4 - In tian Huta
D - Ningaru Gute.
E-Bastion at the Gate of the
Fice Nations.
YYYYY
Porlage
Hiciera de NIAGARA
POUCHOT'S PLAN OF FORT NIAGARA, 1750,
With the addition of the three parallels built by the English alur ng the siege. Inside the fortifications is shown the shape and plan of the Old Fort, namely, that built by De Nonville in 1687, whose hape was no doubt retained after 1725, when the I'rench built the castle (which is shown in this cut in dotted lines), and gradually bunt the fort with bastions around it.
5 Gws.
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OLD FORT NIAGARA IN HISTORY.
1756 and 1757, when no immediate attack was looked for, otherwise it could hardly have been in so poor a condition eighteen months after- wards (1759, as first quoted), unless, as is very likely, he foresaw defeat when attacked, as he was advised it would be, and wanted to gain special credit for a grand defense under very disadvantageous conditions.
By July. Pouchot had finished repairing the ramparts. He gives this description of the defense :
" The batteries of the bastions which were in barbette had not yet been finished. They were built of casks and filled with earth. He had since his arrival constructed some pieces of blindage of oak, four- teen inches square and fifteen feet long, which extended behind the great house on the lake shore, the place most sheltered for a hospital. Along the faces of the powder magazine to cover the wall and serve as casemates, he had built a large storehouse with the pieces secured at the top by a ridge. Here the guns and gunsmiths were placed. We may remark that this kind of work is excellent for field-forts in wooded countries, and they serve very well for barracks and magazines, a bullet could only fall upon an oblique surface and could do little harm, because this structure is very solid." 1
Pouchot says that the garrison of the fort at this time consisted of 149 regulars, 183 men of colonial companies, 133 militia and 21 can- noniers.
A total of 486 soldiers and 39 employees, of whom 5 were women or children. These served in the infirmary, as did also two ladies, and sewed cartridge bags and made bags for earth.2
There were also some Indians in the fort, and the officers may not have been included in this number. The fort was capable of ac- commodating 1,000 men.
A corvette, called the Iroquoise, fully manned and carrying ten or twelve guns, arrived at Niagara July 6th, and, during the early part of the siege at least, its commander placed himself under Pouchot's orders.
THE BRITISH BESIEGE THE FORT.
On July 6th an English army, which had been collected at Oswego, under command of Gen. Prideaux, consisting of 2,200 regulars and militia, and 750 Indians under Sir Wm. Johnson, arrived at the Little Swamp, about four miles east of Fort Niagara, and threw up an entrenchment.
1 Hough's Pouchot, vol. I., page 161. 2 Hough's Pouchot, vol. I., page 161.
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OLD FORT NIAGARA IN HISTORY
Prideaux had hardly gotten out of sight of Oswego before a force of Canadians and Indians under La Corne arrived there, intending to surprise and capture the place, and cut off the troops from joining in the attack on Niagara. But the French did not make the most of their opportunity for a surprise, and the English threw up breast works, and on two successive days repulsed the attacks of the French.
Pouchot says of this attack on Oswego, " If all our forces had fol- lowed the first detachment, we might have taken these English troops very easily, because they were surprised and much disconcerted at the first moment. Had this body been defeated Niagara would have been saved, as their army could not have received the troops and supplies that were sent for them."
In which view, considering the history of the siege of Fort Niagara, I think Pouchot is entirely wrong.
On the evening of July 6th one of the garrison, who had been out hunting, rushed in and told Pouchot that he had seen an Indian war party. A reconnoitering force was sent out, which learnt the truth of the hunter's report, by encountering a volley that drove it back to the fort.
Fully satisfied that a siege was about to be begun, Pouchot, while communications were still open, sent a messenger to the French posts in the south-west, calling on their garrisons and the friendly Indians to come to his aid.
In spite of warnings Pouchot seems to have been taken somewhat unawares, or he would have had all needed available troops at Fort Ni- agara, instead of having to send for them at the very last possible moment.
Pouchot's messenger stopped first at Fort de Portage or little Ni agara, a dependency of Fort Niagara, which had been erected by the French at the upper end of the Portage, a mile or more above the Falls, about 1750. This was now commanded by Chabert Joncaire, a younger son of that Joncaire who secured the consent for Fort Ni- agara's ultimate erection through the Senecas' cession to him for a cabin at Lewiston. Pouchot ordered him to retreat to Chippawa, on the Canada side of the river, and just opposite, if the English ap- peared, the dependency being in a weak condition. Joncaire removed all the movable property to Chippawa Creek, burned the buildings in
1 Hough's Pouchot, vol I, page 209
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OLD FORT NIAGARA IN HISTORY.
Fort Little Niagara, and hastened to Fort Niagara, where his brother had preceded him.1
Prideaux's army consisted of the Forty-fourth and Forty-sixth regiments, the Fourth Battalion of Royal Americans, two battalions of New York troops, a detachment of the Royal Artillery and a large body of Indians, many of whom had till recently been hostile to the English, under Sir William Johnson, 2 whose success in this campaign added to his already great reputation of being the best Indian manager that England ever had on this continent. His name must forever be closely associated with the history of Fort Niagara.
It is impossible in this article to treat of the details of this. memorable siege. For these, from the French side, I refer the reader to Pouchot's " Memoires sur la derniere guerre, etc.," published in 1781, a very rare book. Hough's translation, 1866, is obtainable with greater ease.
For the English view I refer him to Mante's History of the late War in North America, 1772. That part of the Journal of Sir Wil- liam Johnson published by Stone in his life of the Baronet is also an authentic record of events soon after the surrender and as to his dealings with the Indians at that time and later.
On July 8th the English reconnoitered, and on the 9th Prideaux sent a captain of the Royal Americans, Blaine by name, with a letter to Pouchot, demanding his surrender, which was refused; and that night the English, who had already sent a force to occupy the river bank and the roads south of the fort, thus completely hemming Fort Niagara in by land, began opening a trench east of the fort, and on the 11th they erected batteries. Parleys between some Indians in the fort and the Indian chiefs in the English army were held outside the fort, firing on and from the fort being suspended meanwhile. -
Several other parleys followed during several successive days, but Sir William Johnson's influence proved strong enough to keep the great majority of his Indian allies from abandoning the English and suddenly becoming neutral, and thus Pouchot's hopes and attempts to detach the large body of Indians from the besiegers proved futile.
The English, working especially at night, slowly but steadily, built three trenches, all east of the fort and each one nearer than the former, the last one being only about one hundred yards from the outworks. They kept adding new batteries, from which showers of
1 Hough's Pouchot, vol. I , page 166. 2 Ilough's Pouchot, vol. I., page 159.
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OLD FORT NIAGARA IN HISTORY
hot shot and shell were poured upon the fort night and day. Those in the fort replied almost continuously, and each morning battered those new works which the English had built during the night. The cannonading on the part of the besiegers, however, was carried on with the most vigor.
On the 17th the English had occupied the west bank of the river at its mouth, and thrown up works and mounted batteries on the then called " Montreal Point," and attacked the fort from that side also. This caused much alarm and danger to those in the fort, and com pelled them to erect defenses, as that side of the fort was protected only by an entrenchment
On the 19th General Prideaux was killed in one of the trenches by the bursting of a shell from a cohorn, before which he was pass- ing. The command of the English forces devolved on Sir William Johnson, who carried on the siege with even greater vigor. The continued firing had on the 22d made a large breach in the walls of the fort, the battery and parapet of the flag bastion being com- pletely demolished, and into this breach grape and musketry were continuously poured in a way that one of the garrison described as terrific.
On the 22d hot shot was poured into the fort from both sides. fires were started by them in several places, but, by great precautions and risk, the fires did no great damage, although many of the fort buildings were of wood.
By the 23d the garrison were in straights. Sacks to be filled with earth and used to repair the damage by shells were all used. There were no cannon wads left, and even hay, used in their place, was not on hand-and the mattrasses on the beds, both the covering and the straw, had been used up. The arms were also in such bad condition, that scarcely one gun in ten was of service.
On the morning of the 23d, under a white flag, four Indians came to the fort. They brought two letters from D' Aubrey and De Lignery. the French commanders at Venango and Presque Isle, in answer to Pouchot's summons for aid - the earlier one saying they were about starting, and the other telling of their arrival at Navy Island, just above Niagara Falls, and asking for information and advice.
Pouchot had sent word that the English besiegers might number 5000, besides 4000 Indians, and the replies said 1600 French and 1200 Indians were coming to his aid.
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OLD FORT NIAGARA IN HISTORY.
Pouchot sent four copies of his answer, one by each of the messen- gers, hoping, as proved to be correct, that one might reach its destina- tion.
On the 29th firing was heard south of the fort and an Indian later brought in word to Pouchot that the French relieving party had been routed. Trembling for the safety of this important post, D'Aubrey and De Lignery had sailed with their forces and coming down the Niagara River (appearing like a floating island, as the river was covered with their bateaux and canoes) had first landed on Navy Island, then crossed the river to Fort Little Niagara, and hurried along the shortest route to Fort Niagara.
Sir William Johnson, apprised of their movements by his Indian scouts, on the 23th, leaving a large force in the trenches, to prevent the garrison of Fort Niagara from co-operating with D'Aubrey, marched south, and, early in the morning of the 24th, met them an eighth of a league from the fort, at a place then called " La Belle Famille," in the present village of Youngstown, in sight of the fort, whose garrison, owing to Johnson's foresight, were prevented from making a sortie, as had been planned, as the relieving force approached. His regulars occupied the road leading from the falls to Fort Niagara, along which the French were advancing, while his Indians were posted on his flanks. The French being thus caught in an ambush, and seeing the English forces lightly entrenched, opened fire on them at short range.
The English Indians poured a galling fire into their ranks, the Brit- ish regulars charged with great fury, and at the end of half an hour the French broke and fled in confusion. They were pursued for over five miles, one hundred and fifty of them were killed, and ninety-six pri- vates and twenty-seven officers, among them the commanders D'Aubrey and De Lignery, and the famous Marin, were taken prisoners. The Indians of the English force behaved uncommonly well.
Sir William Johnson soon after sent Major Hervey to Pouchot, de- tailing the above events, and demanding his surrender. Pouchot sent an officer to the English camp, who saw and talked with the prisoners, and returned with the statement that all was true as reported.
An examination of their fortifications, etc., having been made, a conference of the fort officers urged a surrender, and the garrison it- self clamored for an end to the siege.
Pouchot had left but 135 men fit and equipped for duty ; there were only 140 guns left that were in condition for service; 24 000
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OLD FORT NIAGARA IN HISTORY!
pounds of powder had been burnt, and 54,000 pounds were yet left, 109 men had been killed or wounded, 37 were sick, and under the mast favorable conditions the fort could not hold out longer than two days. it being in a battered and exposed condition on all sides.
Pouchot assented to a surrender and contended for the best possi- ble terms.
SURRENDER AND EVACUATION.
These terms stipulated that the garrison should march out with arms and baggage and one cannon, lay down their arms but retain their baggage, be transported in vessels, furnished by the British, to New York, and that they should be protected from attacks by the Indian allies of the English.
These articles were signed on the night of the 24th, and between ten and eleven o'clock on the morning of July 25, 1759, a part of the English forces occupied the fort. Johnson had posted troops on every side of the fort to prevent the Indians from entering it, but an hour after the English troops had entered the Indians scaled it on every side, and in half an hour after more than 500 of them were inside the ramparts, but they remained quiet.
The English had asked Pouchot to have the garrison deliver up their arms under the pretext that they would then be in a better condition to defend the Frenchmen. Pouchot steadily refused, and assured them that if it were done they could not restrain their Indian allies. His judgment was undoubtedly correct, for if, as it turned out, the English could not prevent the Indians from entering the fort, it is not probable that they could have prevented them from assaulting the French had these been unarmed.
Pouchot dined Johnson and some officers, and these officers, after the dinner, helped themselves to all movables in the room.
The Indians took everything they could reach, even to door-hinges; they pillaged the King's store-house, and broke open all the barrels of flour.
The French officers had taken the precaution to put some of their belongings in the powder magazine; these were saved, but everything else was carried off by the victors.
The English officers probably took first pick of everything, the soldiers had the next chance at what was left, then the Indians were allowed to pillage the fort, which they did most thoroughly.
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OLD FORT NIAGARA IN HISTORY.
The garrison was drawn up in line of battle on the parade ground, their arms in their hands, their haversacks between their legs. Their officers were with them, and in this position they remained for 30 hours, or until the time for embarkation.
FRENCH MAGAZINE AND BARRACKS.
The Indians at first tried to take the arms from the men as they stood in line. Pouchot had warned his men not to use their weapons against the Indians, but, if attacked by them, to kick them or strike them in the stomach with their fists, for it was of no consequence to an Indian to be struck in this way, nor would other Indians take his part, as they would, were he struck with a sword or a gun. The men obeyed their orders, struggled for and retained their arms.
Had the wind permitted the bateaux in which the English had come from Oswego to be gotten out, it was Pouchot's intention to send a part of the garrison away before giving up possession of the fort, but this proved impossible.
On the afternoon of July 26th, the garrison, with guns on their shoulders, drums beating, and with two cannons at the head of the column, marched out of the fort and down to the beach. Here they laid down their arms, entered the boats that were in readiness, and started for Oswego.
SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON.
Good diplomat that he was, with such an unruly crowd as his Indians were likely to be, Sir William Johnson seems to have been willing to grant as favorable terms of surrender as he consistently could.
OLD FORT NIAGARA IN HISTORY
Ile had established for himself a new line of fame -a military commander. He wanted to have the glory of capturing tile Qooof Fort Niagara ; he did not want any delay that would enable Prideaus - successor, who proved to be Gen. Gage, to reach the spot and be m command at the surrender. His one aim was to take Fort Niagara He succeeded ; and as the last of the French garrison put off in the bateaux on their journey to New York, he must have stood on the broken ramparts, his mind filled with pleasant thoughts.
He had won for England, and won by his own energy and diplo- macy, that spot which she had craved for fully 80 years. Innumer- able times had the suggestion for the erection of a fort here by force been made to her by various ones of her colonial officers. Seventy-one years before she had caused France to abandon the fort that that nation had erected here; but for the last 33 years that hated rival had maintained here a center of commercial and military power.
Now all was changed. The English flag floated over the long coveted spot, and the credit of its capture, at the time and for all time, belonged to him - Sir William Johnson.
BRITISH CONTROL.
Sir William Johnson's diary gives the number of prisoners in tic garrison as 607 men and II officers, besides women and children. O: the relieving force which he routed, he captured 27 out of 30 officers whom he ransomed. Ninety-six prisoners, and 150 scalps, taken in the rout of this relieving force, he divided among the several nations of his Indian allies.1
The English losses during the siege, including the action of July 24th against the relieving force, he states as 60 killed and 180 wounded. besides three Indians killed and five wounded."
The ordnance stores captured in the fort were 43 iron canton ut various sizes, 1,500 round shot, 40,000 lbs. musket balls, 500 hand grenades, besides axes, hatchets, picks, shovels, etc., for use in creet ing fortifications - also tomahawks, scalping knives, etc.
Let us here note the presence, in the besieging army, of two njen. whose names will appear again later on in this narrative.
Joseph Brant, the great Mohawk chieftain, later one of the greate t Indians of history (in some particulars one of the best, in others 1 Stone's Life of Sir Wm Johnson, vol VI page 315 . Stone's Life of Sir Wim John vol. II. page 395
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OLD FORT NIAGARA IN HISTORY.
far from it), was with Sir William Johnson's Indian allies at the siege, then a lad only seventeen years of age.
John Butler, noted later on as commander of Butler's Rangers, father of the notorious Walter Butler, was second in command of the Indians, until Johnson became commander of the army at Prideaux' death, when he succeeded him as leader of the Indian contingent.
After the capture John Butler was a member of the council estab- lished at Fort Niagara for the trial of civil cases.
In view of this successful siege, as well as the conquest of Quebec and Ticonderoga in this campaign, it is interesting, and even amusing, to read the criticisms on Pitts' plans for 1759.
"The Niagara expedition was a mistake in the judgment of some military critics, since the troops directed to accomplish it had been used more effectively in Amherst's direct march to Montreal. More expedition on that general's part in completing his direct march would have rendered the fall of Niagara a necessity without attack. Perhaps the risk of leaving French forces still west of Niagara, ready for a siege of Fort Pitt, is not sufficiently considered in this view." 1
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