USA > New York > Niagara County > A brief history of old Fort Niagara > Part 6
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9
1 Weld's Travels, 1799, pages 300 and 301. 2 Weld's Travels, 1799. page 306. 3 Weld's Travels, 1799, pages 302 and 303. 4 Weld's Travels, 1799, pages 302 and 303. 5 Life of De Witt Clinton, 1849, page 124.
64
OLD FORT NIAGARA IN HISTORY.
The British, however, generously left fifty barrels of pork for the use of the new Federal garrison.1
The British commandant at the evacuation was Col. Smith, who led the British in the fight at Concord in 1775. It has been said "Col. Smith may with propriety be said to have participated in both the opening and the closing acts of the American Revolution." 3
1796-1812.
The advantages which the Americans, particularly those in any way interested in the carrying trade between the east and west, expected to derive from United States control of Fort Niagara were overestimated.
Soon after the evacuation, in September, 1796, Captain Bruff, the commandant at Fort Niagara, called an assemblage of the sachems and warriors of the six nations at that place, to exchange sentiments of peace, friendship, and mutual aid.
At the close of the Revolution (the "whirlwind " as they called it) these warriors finding they were left by the British under the control of the United States naturally felt alarmed as to what treatment they might expect, as they had been hostile to the colonists- the Thirteen Flames as they called them.
Finding that the conquerors were ready to overlook the past and to treat them with justice, they buried the tomahawk and became good friends and peaceable neighbors of the Americans.
So when the British finally evacuated Fort Niagara, which had been the great headquarters of England's influence so far as the Six Nations were concerned, it was fitting that at that spot the chain of friendship between these savage warriors and the United States should be brightened and vows of continued friendship interchanged.
Among the gifts bestowed on this assemblage, besides provis- ions, clothing and a barrel of rum, was a large United States flag. 3
From 1796 to 1812 there is but little public history in connec- tion with the fort.
In 1799, the United States Customs District of Niagara was cre- ated by act of Congress. It included the American shores and waters of Lakes Erie and Ontario, west of the Genesee River, and of the Niagara River.
1 Weld's Travels, 1799, page 302.
2 Lossing History of War of 1812, page 408. Turner's Holland Purchase, page 347.
05
OLD FORT NIAGARA IN HISTORY
Fort Niagara was the port of entry, and remained so till ESf1, when the port was removed to Lewiston.
In 1799, in anticipation of another Indian outbreak, the garrison was reinforced.
In May, ISO1, General Wilkinson, who was in command on the frontier, was directed to open a military road between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, and, at his direction, Major Porter, commandant at Fort Niagara, commenced operations. The road was not completed promptly, for in 1802 the United States mail was still carried front Utica to Fort Niagara via Buffalo and the Canadian side of the river.
In 1804, Tom Moore spent some time with General Brock at Fort George, and doubtless visited Fort Niagara.
In 1805, it became necessary to clear out an old sink attached to the mess house. In it were found the bones of a woman, no doubt the victim of a murder in days gone by.
In 1806, George Heriot, Deputy Postmaster-General of British North America, visited the fort, of which he wrote : "The ramparts are composed of earth and pickets, and contain within them a lofty stone building. The Americans seem to take no measures either for its repair or enlargement, as the waters of the lake make progressive encroachments on the sandy bank, whose summit it occupies, the foundations of the buildings will in a short time be undermined." '
In 1810, the commissioners appointed by the State of New York to explore the whole route of the projected Erie and connecting canals made a digression on their journey to visit Fort Niagara.
In De Witt Clinton's journal of the trip he says, "We were received with a national salute and other military honors." Dinner was served in the castle, which, he said, measured 105x47 feet, and was a complete fortification, with prisons, a well and only one door. The fort was in a ruinous condition, the only pleasant thing to the feelings of an American being the new barracks then in course of construction."
Among the troops at the fort during this period was one Carroll. the band leader, said to be a relative of the famous Irish harper of that name, and devoted to music and whiskey. One evening he ap- peared on parade drunk, and, when reprimanded by the commandant. became so abusive that he was confined in the "black hole" in the castle. Here, in the middle of the night, in answer to his yells, he
1 Heriot's Traveis, pages 14) and 150. " Life of De Witt Clinton, 1549 page 124
66
OLD FORT NIAGARA IN HISTORY.
was found in a piteous condition of fright, declaring all the hob- goblins and devils in existence had visited him, and begged for a light, a fife, and pen, ink and paper, which were granted him. In the morning he presented to the other musicians the notes of a tune he had composed in the dungeon, and which he called "Carroll's Thoughts on Eternity." He composed at the fort several marches and waltzes, etc., which delighted the garrison and guests on many occasions.
From 1796 till the war of 1812 there was a constant interchange of civilities between the garrison of the Fort Niagara and the inhab- itants of the Canadian village opposite, including the garrison of Fort George. Many ties of friendship and, no doubt, of relationship, were severed hereabouts by that war.
When it commenced, there was a yard on the north side of the castle, between it and the pickets, some forty feet wide, and beyond the pickets a space wide enough for two people to walk on abreast.1
The fort was then surrounded on three sides with strong pickets of plank, firmly planted in the ground and closely joined together, a heavy gate in front of double plank, closely studded with iron spike. This was enclosed by a fence, with a large gate just on the brow of the hill, called the Barrier Gate .? The fourth side was defended by embankments of earth, under which had formerly been barracks. These had been safe, but gloomy, and had been abandoned, and the entrances closed before this date ; as they had become infested with rattlesnakes. So numerous had these vipers become in this breeding place, that the soldiers not only did not dare to enter these barracks. but it was impossible to cross the parade ground without meeting them.
WAR OF 1812.
The official declaration of the war, made June 18th, reached Fort Niagara June 26th, a day after the news had reached the Canadian Frontier by private messengers sent to his agents hereabouts by John Jacob Astor, who had vast commercial interests at stake.
According to the commandant's private admission, the fortifications were out of repair, there was scarcely any arms or ammunition, and only one company of soldiers in the fort, showing great negligence on the part of the War department.
1 Turner, Holland Purchase, page 191. 2 Turner, Holland Purchase, page ISS.
OLD FORT NIAGARA IN HISTORY.
Work was immediately commenced to repair the picket and earth fortifications, and the well in the mess house was uncovered and cleaned out.
A heavy cannon was drawn into the porch of the castle, new embankments were thrown up and cannon mounted ; company after company of militia soon came pouring in from the east and south, raw and undisciplined recruits, gay with any and every sort of uniform and armed with any available weapon.
To make room for these welcome defenders, the officers' families were obliged to vacate their quarters in the fort and were sent away into the country. 1
Soon there appeared at the fort about a hundred young power- ful and active Tuscarora Indians, from their Reservation near by. decorated with war paint and armed with tomahawks and hatchets. Headed by the chief, they had hurried down to offer their assist ance to the United States. At this their first opportunity they promptly proved their appreciation of the fair treatment that the newly organized Federal government had extended to their race at the close of the Revolution.
Between the declaration of war and the battle of Queenston regulars and ammunition and ordnance were sent to Fort Niagara
On August 13, 1812, Gen. Van Renssalaer, who had been appointed to the command of the New York militia, arrived at Fort Niagara, but at once proceeded to and pitched his camp near Lewiston.
It was believed that Gen. Brock, then in command of the British troops along the frontier, contemplated an attack on Fort Niagara and an invasion of the United States, and Gen. Van Renssalaer begged for more troops. At this time there were 300 light artillery and 1000 infantry of the United States army at Fort Niagara.
When Gen. Brock returned to Fort George after the capture of Detroit, many of the American prisoners taken there, accom- panied by women and children, were brought to that fort. In September Gen. Van Renssalaer wrote to Gen. Brock relative to their condition, to the end that they might be relieved from Fort Niagara, and offering to receive the women and children at that fort, and by order of Gen. Brock these women and children were landed at Fort Niagara .?
1 Turner's Holland Purchase, page 190. " Tupper's Life of Sir Isaac Brock 1545, page 297
68
OLD FORT NIAGARA IN HISTORY.
Responding to Gen. Dearborn's insistance that Upper Canada should be conquered before winter, Gen. Van Renssalaer planned the capture of Queenston Heights, opposite Lewiston, and prepara- tions were made for the attack on October 13th. The flying artillery
THE SOUTHWEST BLOCK HOUSE.
under Lieut .- Col. Fenwick, as well as most of the garrison at Fort Niagara, were sent to Lewiston. It is not necessary to our subject to discuss the details of this battle.
Gen. Brock was at Fort George expecting an attack, but under the belief that it would be made from Fort Niagara. Hearing the cannonading he hastened to Queenston, only to see the heights carried by the Americans under Lieut. Wool. He at once sent word to Fort George for reinforcements and also an order for an immediate bom- bardment of Fort Niagara.
His instructions were obeyed and Fort Niagara was again under fire. The south block-house in this fort promptly replied and occasionally turned its guns on the Canadian village of Newark, where, by reason of
9
OLD FORT NIAGARA IN HISTORY
the hot shot used (for there was a furnace in Fort Niagara specially built for heating cannon balls), many of the buildings were set on fire.
The cannonading lasted for several hours ; shells also were thrown from Fort George, and from these the men in Fort Niagara had no protection. This fact, and the bursting of a cannon decided Capt. Leonard, who was in command, to abandon Fort Niagara, and with the small garrison of about twenty men he started for Lewiston, leaving the fort empty. He had proceeded but a short distance when he saw the British putting off in boats from near Fort George to occupy it. Reconsidering his action, he hurried his men back into it and
1
THE NORTHEAST BLOCK HOUSE.
held it unmolested till the regulars returned very early the next morning from Queenston.
In rallying his forces to recapture Queenston Heights Gen, Brock was killed. IIad he learnt that Fort Niagara was poorly garrisoned he was too good a soldier not to have ordered its attack, and why Major Evans, who was in command of Fort George, plainly
70
OLD FORT NIAGARA IN HISTORY.
seeing the small number of men in the garrison, and Leonard's cowardice, as evinced by his retreat, did not promptly storm it, for it would have been captured with ease, is unexplained.
After the battle of Queenston, many of the wounded Americans were conveyed to Fort Niagara and lodged in any available place, even the cellars of the castle being converted into a hospital.
The British army after its success at Queenston marched back to Fort George-at once a column of victory and a funeral train, for it carried the body of its late commander.
Gen. Brock was buried in a cavalier bastion at Fort George on October 16th. Col. Scott, who had been captured at Queenston, was then a prisoner at Newark, and at his suggestion, Gen. Van Renssalaer issued orders that immediately after the funeral was over minute guns should be fired from Fort Niagara, "as a mark of respect due to a brave enemy." 1
Early in the morning of November 21st hostilities were renewed. The British had prepared mortars and planted a long train of battering cannon behind breast-works on the margin of the river, under Fort George. Five of these batteries and the guns of Fort George bom- barded Fort Niagara from sunrise to sunset.
The garrison of that fort had been reinforced after the 13th of October by the 13th Regiment of U. S. troops, but was not yet sup- plied with a sufficient quantity of artillery or ammunition. Col. George McFeeley was in command. During November 21st, 2,000 cannon balls and 180 shells were discharged against Fort Niagara.
The shells did little harm, but many of the cannon balls, having been heated, set fire to several buildings in and about the fort. Thanks to the ceaseless efforts of the garrison, none of the buildings were burnt. Fort Niagara returned the fire of the British with alacrity and vigor. A six-pounder had been mounted on top of the mess house, a twelve-pounder on the southwest block-house, other cannon on the north block-house. There was an eighteen-pounder in the south- east battery, and an eighteen and also a four-pounder on the west battery. The Salt Battery, a dependency in the present village of Youngstown, mounting an eighteen and a four-pounder, also did effective work, and, when their gun wadding gave out during the worst of the bombardment, the officers and men tore up their flannel waist coats, shirts and trousers to supply their guns. Several houses in
1 Tupper's Life of Sir Isaac Brock, 1845, page 333.
OLD FORT NIAGARA IN HISTORY
Newark were set on fire by hot shot during this bombardment, but were saved. The mess house at Fort George and some buildings near it, however, were set on fire by hot shot and were burned.
An instance of female bravery at Fort Niagara on this day must also be chronicled. A private in the U. S. Artillery, Doyle by name, who had been stationed at the fort, was among the prisoners taken at Queenston. His wife had remained in the fort and, resenting the refusal of the British to parole her husband, she insisted on filling his place and doing his duty against the enemy. She accordingly, during the bombardment, attended the six-pounder on the Mess house, served it with hot shot, regardless of the shells which were falling around her, and never quitting her post till the last gun had been discharged.
The bombardment effected nothing of great moment on either side of the river. Buildings in both forts were set on fire and the works of both were damaged. American marksmanship silenced one of the Canadian batteries for a time. The loss of life, fortunately, was small on both sides, two being killed and seven wounded on the American side, and more on the British side.1
During the winter of 1812-13 there were no events of note at the fort. It was fully garrisoned, for it was by no means improbable that the British might, at any time, attempt its capture, and more than one of the officers at Fort George across the river formed plans for its assault, each hoping thereby to win for himself military fame; but none of these plans were ever attempted. Early in 1813, Col. Scott, who was among the prisoners exchanged, arrived at Fort Niagara.
At the breaking out of the war the Mohawk Indians had sided with the British, but the Senecas, located near Buffalo, had promised not to engage in the war, unless on the side of the United States.
When the British took possession of Grand Island, which the Senecas claimed as their territory, which claim the State of New York had recognized, the young Seneca braves could no longer be restrained, and they made a declaration of war in writing, said to be the first instance of its kind in Indian history. The United States had been reluctant to employ savages, but the action of the British in securing the aid of the Mohawks, caused Gen. Lewis, who com- manded Fort Niagara in 1813, to invite the Senecas to the fort and to seek their aid.
1 Official Report of Col. McFeeley's The War, page 109.
72
OLD FORT NIAGARA IN HISTORY.
Three or four hundred Senecas in their war paint came, but on learning that they were expected to exert rather a moral influence than to use the tomahawk they went away in disgust.
Their friendly attitude, and later on their active service along the frontier, however, were of great benefit to the Americans.
On April 27th the Americans captured Little York (Toronto), and the tremendous explosion of the powder magazine there was plainly heard at Fort Niagara.
On May 8th Commodore Chauncey's fleet brought Gen. Dearborn and his victorious army from York to Four-mile Creek, east of Fort Niagara, where they landed. As many as possible were quartered in Fort Niagara -every available room being occupied and the parade ground being covered with their tents. The balance encamped at Four-mile Creek. All of the wounded were also brought over and cared for at the camp or in houses in the neigh- borhood.
CAPTURE OF FORT GEORGE.
Gen. Dearborn established his headquarters in Fort Niagara, Col. Scott being his adjutant ; and plans were at once made to capture Fort George. Being confined to his bed by sickness, Gen. Dearborn's orders were issued from his sick room.
On May 26th, a number of boats which the Americans had built at the "meadows," five miles up stream from Fort Niagara, were launched. The British battery opposite opened fire on them, and as they came down stream the batteries and Fort George cannonaded them. Fort Niagara, its batteries and dependencies replied vigorously.
When night came the boats were safely taken past Fort George, and around Fort Niagara to the lake shore, to Four-mile Creek.
Early on the morning of May 27th the troops were embarked from the fort and the camp on the vessels and boats, and at once proceeded to the attack.
The guns of Fort Niagara and its batteries were turned on Fort George. The warships took their assigned positions, some to bom- bard Fort George and its batteries, some to silence the batteries on the lake near where the troops were to land.
Amidst a terrific bombardment, the men led by Col. Scott, landed, drove back the British, captured Fort George, and by noon were in quiet possession of every battery on the river, the British fleeing with precipitation.
OLD FORT NIAGARA IN HISTORY.
A storm coming up, the fleet sailed up the river and anchored nearly opposite Fort George.
From May 27th till December, 1813, Fort George was in the possession of the Americans, and the headquarters of the Army of the Center was here, and thus on British soil. General Dearborn, General Wilkinson, Colonel Scott, General Harrison and General McClure of the New York Militia were successively in command, and were frequently at Fort Niagara.
FORT GEORGE ABANDONED.
On December 10th, word came to Fort George that 1,500 British regulars and 700 Indians were advancing toward it, with a view to its capture and the expulsion of the Americans from Canadian soil hereabouts.
McClure's garrison was not a large one ; only sixty effective men. He was not a man of courage. He decided to abandon Fort George and to concentrate all his troops in Fort Niagara.
For about two months he had had in his possession the follow- ing, sent from Sackett's Harbor :
WAR DEPARTMENT, October 4, 1813.
Sir,-Understanding that the defense of the post committed to your charge may render it proper to destroy the town of Newark, you are hereby directed to apprise the inhabitants of this circum- stance, and invite them to remove themselves and their effects to some place of greater safety.
JOHN ARMSTRONG.
Brigadier-General MCCLURE, or officer commanding at Fort George.
McClure had never carried out this order. All of a sudden, in the middle of a most rigorous winter, he decided to abandon Fort George. Most of the guns were spiked, and all movable stores put on boats. Then, falling back on this old order from the war department (which had been sent to him long before winter set in, and with the very idea of preventing unnecessary hardship), he gave notice to the inhabitants of Newark that in a few hours the town would be burnt. This order of his own he carried out. The village was set on fire in several places, and 150 houses were consumed. While it was burning the American troops crossed to Fort Niagara.
74
OLD FORT NIAGARA IN HISTORY.
It was a sorry day for that fort (and for the frontier) when it be- came the headquarters of Gen. McClure.
In such haste was he to get away from the rapidly advancing British troops, and to get behind the guns of Fort Niagara, that he did not even try and demolish any of the works of Fort George; and his excuse for the burning of Newark, " that it might not be left as a shelter for the enemy," was nullified by the fact that he left the barracks on the river bank intact, and serviceable tents for 1500 men in Fort George.1 Several good cannons and a quantity of shot were also left behind.
When the British took possession of Fort George and the ruins of Newark it was toward Fort Niagara, behind whose walls McClure, the destroyer of Newark, had taken refuge, that their thoughts at once turned for revenge.
Gen. McClure, possibly appreciating this, promptly, on Decem- ber 12th, moved his headquarters to Buffalo, from whence, on December 18th, he issued a proclamation warning the people of the preparations of the British to make a descent on the American side of the Niagara.2
But he made no provision against it, not even sending a special message to the officers in Fort Niagara, trusting solely to his general order to them of some days before.3
Capt. Leonard had been left in command of that fort, and warned that an attack might be expected. It was this same officer, I believe, who a little over a year before had evacuated this same fort ; but, on seeing the British starting to occupy it, had plucked up courage to return and hold it.
Whether he was a traitor, as was strongly suspected, but not con- clusively proven, or merely without courage, military ability and fore- sight, like too many of the American officers who held commissions on this frontier during the War of 1812, his negligence was criminal.
FORT NIAGARA CAPTURED.
On their arrival, as they stood gazing on the ruins of Newark, Colonel Murray said to General Drummond, "Let us retaliate by fire and sword." " Do so," replied that commander, "swiftly and thoroughly."
1 British Official Report, Niles Register, vol. V., No. 21. 2 McClure's Proclamation, December 18, 1813. & McClure's General Order, December 12, 1813.
OLD FORT NIAGARA IN HISTORY.
So intense was the feeling of the Britishers that preparations were rapidly made. On the night of December 18th, a cold, dark night, Colonel Murray crossed the river at the " Meadows," five miles above Fort Niagara, with one thousand men, British and Indians. Carrying axes, scaling ladders and other implements for assault, shielded by the darkness, they pressed on to Fort Niagara. The advance pickets of the Americans were captured in silence, and the force placed for a simultaneous attack at several points - five companies of the 100th Regiment were to assail the main gate, three companies of the same regiment were to storm the eastern semi-bastion, the Royal Scots Grenadiers were to assault the salient angle of the works, and the Forty-first Regiment was to support the principal attack.'
These preparations were unnecessary. At four o'clock in the morn- ing of Sunday, December 19th, when the assailants reached the main gate of the fort, they found it wide open and unguarded. They rushed in and seized the sentinels, who, in fright, gave up the countersign. There were about 400 men in the garrison, some of them in the hos- pital; but enough, had the fort been properly patrolled and the most ordinary precautions been taken against a sudden attack, to have de- fended it. But the evening before, Leonard, their commander, without notice to his officers or instructions to them, had quietly slipped away to his home, which was at the meadows, where the assailants landed.
The occupants of the southwest block-house and the invalids in the red barracks jumped from their beds on hearing the noise, and made a determined stand, killing half a dozen, and wounding more, of the assailing party.
This resistance was overcome, and the fort was in possession of the British before the rest of the garrison were fully awake. Few shots were fired ; the bayonet was the weapon" and revenge the watchword. Little if any attempt was made to curb the British soldiers' thirst for blood, and many of the garrison, especially hospital patients, were bayoneted after all resistance had ceased.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.