Kings adventures: Fort George, Niagara on the Lake

A little bit of history was called for so we made our way back today to Niagara on the Lake to visit Fort George, a British fort built to guard the river mouth of the Niagara and Newark, what Niagara on the Lake was then called. During the war of 1812, the American campaign on the Niagara region focused on Fort George. In the autumn of 1812 there were repeated artillery duels, which damaged defenses on both sides, between Fort George and Fort Niagara on the other side of the river and part of the US. In May 1813, bombardment by American artillery batteries and warships pounded the fort into a smoking ruin. The Niagara peninsula was invaded and the outnumbered British forced to withdraw. American army engineers later re-fortified the site and occupied it throughout the summer and autumn of 1813. In December 1813, the Americans abandoned Fort George and retreated to Fort Niagara. They burned the thriving town of Niagara to the ground, driving the inhabitants, mostly women and children and elderly, out into a fierce winter storm. The British then re-occupied the fort, attacked and captured Fort Niagara and took firm control of the Niagara frontier. When a new fort, Fort Mississauga, was built to replace Fort George, Fort George was allowed to fall into ruin and was abandoned, finally, in the late 1820s. More than a century later, ther historic stronghold was reconstructed to its pre-1813 appearance and in 1950 it was opened officially to the public. It is now administered as a national historic site.

There were 4 parties to the 1812 War - America who wanted to increase their territory; Canada who wanted to protect themselves from invaders; Britain who wanted to protect their colonies and hold on to the rich resources of their Canadian territories; and the first nations who wanted to hold onto their traditional ways and territory. The US thought that it would be "a mere matter of marching" but as the war went on, American invasions kept failing and the war became more and more brutal. For the British, 1812 was when they were locked in a death struggle with Napoleon, so they could not afford to devote all their men and ships to the war in Canada. To try to expend as little money on the war with America as possible, and to hold on to Canada, they formed alliances with the first nations along the Canadian-US border, promising to protect their lands from American appropriation. However, these promises were not kept and the warriors and their families lost their dream of an Indian Homeland.The war of 1812 ruined Native American hopes forever.

This year is the bicentennial of the War of 1812 and there are lots of events at the varying forts and elsewhere to celebrate the Niagara Peninsula's historic local heroes.

Me and my soldier boy.

A bunk house, set up to accommodate about 48 but normally there would be about 90 to 100 - a bit cramped and lacking in privacy!

"Brown Bess" muskets.

Corporal Boreass gives a musket firing demonstration after a long talk about how unreliable the "Brown Bess" was. It is important not to fire the musket with the ramrod still inserted into the barrel for fear of shish-kebabing someone and because of the resultant necessity of having to follow your ramrod onto the battlefield in order to retrieve it so that you can fire the musket again!