Fort George

About

Fort George was a military fortification in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. The fort was used by the British Army, the Canadian militia, and the United States Army for a brief period. The fort was mostly destroyed during the War of 1812. The site of the fort has been a National Historic Site of Canada since 1921, and features a reconstruction of Fort George. The British established Fort George in the 1790s to replace Fort Niagara. Many of its structures were demolished in May 1813, during the Battle of Fort George. After the battle, American forces occupied the fort for seven months before withdrawing in December 1813. Although the British regained the fort shortly afterwards, little effort was put into its reconstruction after they captured Fort Niagara the following week. The poor wartime design of Fort George led to its replacement by Fort Mississauga in the 1820s, although the grounds of Fort George saw some use by the military until the end of the First World War. During the late-1930s, the Niagara Parks Commission built a reconstruction of Fort George. The site was opened in 1940, and has been managed as a historic site and living museum by Parks Canada since 1969. The fort...

A fort was first considered on the site by Gother Mann of the Royal Engineers. The fort was intended to serve as a secondary fort to Fort Niagara, assisting in that fort's defence in the event it was attack. Fort George's large size was due to its original purpose as a supply depot, rather than as a true defensive fortification. The fort neither defended the mouth of the river, nor any approach to the adjacent settlement.

However, after the Jay Treaty was signed, British forces were required to withdraw from U.S. territory, including Fort Niagara. In 1791, land was formally set aside to build new fortifications on the high ground adjacent to the Navy Hall at Niagara-on-the-Lake. The site was selected by members of the Royal Engineers, as its elevation was 4.3 metres (14 ft) higher than the elevation of Fort Niagara.

Although the British set aside land near Navy Hall to build a new fort, the British Army did not begin construction of Fort George, or its withdrawal from Fort Niagara until 1796, after the Jay Treaty was signed. Fort George was completed in the same year with a blockhouse/barracks, a stone gunpowder magazine, and two small warehouses. In an attempt to negate this advantage, American forces built a battery on an elevated river bank opposite of Fort George. In an effort to counter the American battery, the British built a half moon battery southeast of Fort George. Fort George was largely manned by members of 2nd Battalion of the Royal Canadian Volunteers (Macdonell’s Battalion) after British forces withdrew a number of soldiers from Upper Canada.

Tensions with First Nations and the U.S. government in the late 1790s prompted British forces to refortify the colony, including the fort itself. Six earthen and log bastions, connected by a wooden 3.7-metre (12 ft) palisade, and surrounded by a ditch were built around the fort; with the fort containing five log blockhouses/barracks, a hospital, kitchens, workshops, and officers' quarters by the start of the 19th century. Timber was obtained from trees felled in the area; and transported via the Niagara River. Most of the fort was built by members of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Canadian Volunteers, a unit that was later disbanded in 1802.

By 1812, the fort was used as the headquarters for the central division of the British Army and a depot for the Indian Department. Believing Fort George was too large to defend given the number of soldiers he had available, Major-General Isaac Brock drafted plans to reduce the size of the fort by a third. Specifically, he proposed to abandon the southern bastions, the octagonal blockhouse, and the stone gunpowder magazine, while erecting palisades to cut off the abandoned sections from the rest of the fort.

Shortly after the American declaration of war, work on the northeast bastion was undertaken by members of the York Militia. When the fort was manned by British during the war, the fort was occupied by British Army regulars; members of the Canadian militia, including the Captain Runchey's Company of Coloured Men ; and First Nation allies.

Given the fort's location near the Canada–United States border, the fort became the centre of several military actions during the War of 1812. In October 1812, the fort was subject to bombardment with heated shots from American forces in Fort Niagara, as a diversion for the American assault on Queenston Heights. The diversionary bombardment, in addition to another bombardment in November 1812 led to the destruction of several buildings in the fort. After Brock's death at Queenston Heights, he was buried in a military funeral at Fort George's northeast bastion.

The Battle of Fort George began on 25 May 1813, when Fort George was subjected to an artillery barrage and heated shots from Fort Niagara, and newly built and fortified shore batteries, resulting in the destruction of the log buildings within the fort. Two days later, an American landing force of 2,300 troops disembarked in four waves approximately 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from Fort George, on the shoreline of Lake Ontario under the cover of cannonade fire. By the third landing wave Brigadier General John Vincent realized that his force of 560 men were at risk of being outflanked, and trapped at Fort George; resulting in him giving the order to destroy the fort's ammunition, to spike its guns, and to retreat and evacuate the fort. First Nations warriors under John Norton covered the British retreat, although the Americans made no real effort to pursue them.

The Americans advanced cautiously towards the fort, wanting to avoid any potential casualties against a potentially sabotaged gunpowder magazine; which occurred at the conclusion of the Battle of York. American forces were able to prevent the destruction of a substantial portion of what remained of the fort, having arrived quickly enough for a U.S. artillery captain to extinguish one of the magazine fuses.

Although the British evacuated the fort on 7 June, American forces did not formally occupy the fort until 9 June. Once the Americans occupied the fort, they immediately began work on new fieldworks, refortifying the bastions of the fort, and extending the northwest bastion; with the fort serving as the U.S. Army of the center's headquarters. Although American forces used some parts of the fort's old fieldwork, the fort was made substantially smaller, into a more defensible pentagonal-shape fort. In addition to rebuilding the earthwork ramparts, they also repaired the palisades, and added entrenchments near the northeast bastion and towards the river. However, they did not erect any other permanent structures in the fort, with its forces instead garrisoning in small outlying outposts around the fort.

The fort was largely modified to defend the American encampment adjacent to the fort from an attack from inland. The Americans intended to use the encampment as a staging ground for an invasion further into the Niagara peninsula. During its seven-month occupation of the fort, the American military initially brought more soldiers to the fort in preparation for their advance, and raised a local volunteer corps (Upper Canadian Volunteers), making it the only military unit to be raised within the fort during the war.

Although the fort was intended to act as a bridgehead for an American invasion of the peninsula, the American military was forced to reconsider its invasion plans after facing several setbacks; including disease, increased desertion rates, continued risk of ambush outside the confines of the encampment, and a British advance towards the area after the battles at Stoney Creek, and Beaver Dams. Plans to advance further inland were eventually scrapped, and American forces commenced a slow withdrawal from the fort; with only 60 soldiers remaining in Fort George by December 1813. Upon receiving intelligence that 1,500 British and 700 First Nations warriors were advancing onto the fort, the American garrison was ordered to withdraw, and to raze the fort and the adjacent settlement. The American garrison left the fort on 11 December after spiking the fort's guns and razing the settlement; although they did not destroy what remained of the fort.

British forces arrived at the fort shortly after the Americans departure from the town, finding the only remaining buildings in the fort being the gunpowder magazine, and some temporary magazines erected by the Americans. Shortly after reoccupying the fort, the British began working on building a temporary barracks, officers' quarters, guardhouse, and another magazine. Nine days after reoccupying the fort, British forces conducted an assault that led to the capture of Fort Niagara, and the razing of communities on the American side of the river in retaliation for the burning of Niagara. As Fort Niagara remained occupied by the British for the remainder of the war, British military focus shifted towards the more strategically placed Fort Niagara; with no further investments made in maintaining Fort George.

In July 1814, American forces under Winfield Scott attempted to seize forts George and Niagara. However, Scott was forced to withdraw after realizing the naval support he was promised would not materialize.

In 1817, American president James Monroe visited the Canadian side of the Niagara River during a goodwill trip, and was entertained by British officers at the fort. However, Fort George's inability to guard the mouth of the Niagara River was criticized by military analysts after the war, leading to the construction of Fort Mississauga near the mouth of the river in the 1820s. During the same period, work on Butler's Barracks was undertaken southwest of the fort, and out of range of the batteries on the American side of the river.

The equipment within the fort was later auctioned away in 1821, and its palisades relocated to other sites in the next year. By 1825, the body of Isaac Brock was disinterred from the northeast bastion, and placed at Brock's Monument in Queenston. In 1828, the headquarters of British Army centre division was formally moved to York, with the fort reportedly only made up of a few "wooden decaying barracks". In 1839, Navy Hall was converted into a barracks for the British garrison, with the fort's former barracks being converted to a stables.

During the 1860s, the Canadian government took control of the British military complex in the area, which included Fort George, Fort Mississauga, Butler's Barracks, and the training commons; although the ruins of Fort George saw little use from the Canadian militia. The ruins of the fort was intermittently leased to a private citizen, who acted as a custodian-tenant of the property. During this period, several buildings were converted for other uses; with the officers' quarters incorporated into a farmhouse, the stone gunpowder magazine used for storing hay, and the property itself used as a grazing field for cattle. By the 1880s the bastions and the gunpowder magazine were in poor condition, portions of the fort were being used as farmland, with only the officers' quarters occupied by a custodian.

In 1882, the Wright family was granted a lease from the Department of Militia and Defence ; which led to the opening of a golf club in the area, with the golf course occupying portions of the ruins. The golf course was transformed into an eighteen-hole course in 1895, further expanding into the ruins in 1895. The fort's ruins were the subject of controversy when the golf club proposed clearing the ruins of the fort. As the golf club's membership was predominantly made up of American residents summering in the area, the proposal was subject to criticism from local and Toronto-based newspapers that published nationalistic editorials critical of the proposal; describing it as a "desecration of sacred heroic sites as [selling out] to Sabbath-breaking Americans". Facing stiff criticism, the golf club eventually abandoned their plans for the fort ruins. The golf club ceased operations shortly before the First World War.

During the First World War, the Canadian military built a military hospital on the site of the fort's esplanade, with a mess, kitchen, and guardhouse and lands adjacent to the fort; collectively known as Camp Niagara. The buildings remained in use by the military until the end of the war.