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 Armed Forces 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 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 has irregular-shaped earthwork with six bastions, and a number of reconstructed buildings within it. The restored gunpowder magazine is the only building that dates to the original Fort George. The fort forms a part of Fort George National Historic Site, which also includes Navy Hall to the east of the fort. The historic site serves as a learning resource for the War of 1812, 19th-century military life in Canada, and the historic preservation movement during the 1930s.
Background
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 higher than the elevation of Fort Niagara.
History
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 Royal Canadian Volunteers 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. Six earthen and log bastions, connected by a wooden 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 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; erecting palisades to cut off the abandoned sections from the rest of the fort.
War of 1812
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.