P 127 N6 P8 c °py 2 AND- MARKS ON THE NIAGARA FRONTIER PORTER Landmarks ON THE NIAGARA FRONTIER A CHRONOLOGY BY PETER A. PORTER^ NIAGARA FALLS 1914 F/zf Copyright, 19 14 By Peter A. Porte ./ TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY SIGNED AND NUMBERED COPIES PRINTED THIS COPY IS No MG -8/914 © CIA376936 ^ BATTLES ON West Bank Caledonia captured, Queenston Heights, Smyth's Invasion, . Ft. George, . . Newark burnt, . . Capture of Ft. Erie, Chippawa, . . . Lundy's Lane, . . Siege of Ft. Erie, . Assault on Ft. Erie, Sortie from Ft. Erie Capture of "Somers Ridgeway, .... THE NIAGARA FRONTIER East Bank Onguiaahra, Senecas-Eries, .... Ft. De Nonville besieged, La Belle Famille, . . . Ft. Niagara captured, . Devil's Hole Massacre, Wilkin's attacked, . . . Bombardments Forts Niagara and George, Bombardments Buffalo and Fort Erie, . . . Buffalo, Ft. Niagara captured, . Devastation American Frontier, Black Rock, ... Caroline burned, . . . 812 812 812 813 813 814 814 814 814 814 814 814 866 13 1651 1653 1687 1759 1759 1763 1763 1812 1812 1812 1812 1813 1813 1813 1814 i837 16 29 COMBATANTS IN ABOVE BATTLES Indian (Inter-tribal), 2 Indian — French, 1 French — British, 2 Indian — British, 2 War of 1812, 20 Patriot War, 1 Fenian War, I — 29 J) [3] : ' ^'v-^Mi < ll c - : 1.1 ~"1 sj% : " | h ■"■ ' ] n £A % R ;" fi» - * IE f LOCATION OF FORTS ON THE NIAGARA FRONTIER West Bank East Bank Buffalo Creek Fort of the Eries, . . 1 600 ? First Erie, Second Erie, Third Erie, Fourth Erie, Fifth Erie, Source of River, Space of 3 Miles 1764 Black Rock, .... 1807 1779 Tompkins, 1812 Porter, : §44 1791 1806 1814 Black Rock to Chippawa, 16 Miles Chippawa to Lewiston, 10 Miles Chippawa, . . • J 792 Kienuka, .... • i5 00? Queenston, . . • !792 Onguiaahra, . . . . 1 600 ? Drummond, • 1813 Hennepin, • 1679 Joncaire, • i7 J 9 First Little Niagara, • J 745 Second Little Niagara > l 7S l Top of Mountain, . ■ l lS l Foot of Mountain, . ■ J75 1 Schlosser, 1760 Foot of Mountain, . . 1761 Top of Mountain, . • 1764 Eleven along Portage, 1764 Gray, 1812 26 From Lewiston, North, 5 Miles Mouth of River, 2 Miles First George, . . 1796 Second George, . 1799 Third George, . 18 10 Mississauga, . . 18 14 La Salle, . . . Conti, .... De Nonville, . . First Niagara, . Second Niagara. Third Niagara, 6] 1669 1679 1687 1726 1730 i7S7 10 45 DATES OF ERECTION OF FORTS ON THE West Bank First Erie, . . Second Erie, . Third Erie, . . Canada Chippawa, . . Queenston, . . First George, . Second George, Fourth Erie, . Third George, Drummond, Mississauga, . Fifth Erie, French NIAGARA FRONTIER East Bank Indian Kienuka (Aboriginal), Onguiaahra (Neuters), Buffalo Creek (Eries), La Salle, . Hennepin, Conti, . . De Nonville, Joncaire, . First Niagara, . Second Niagara, First Little Niagara, Second Little Niagara, Top of Mountain, Foot of Mountain, Third Niagara, . British 1764 1779 1791 Schlosser, Foot of Mountain, . Top of Mountain, . Eleven along Portage, 1500 ? 1600 ? 1600 ? 3 1669 1679 1679 1687 1719 1726 1730 1745 1751 1751 1751 1757 12 1760 1761 1764 1764 1792 1792 1796 1799 1806 1810 1813 1814 United States Black Rock, .... 1807 Tompkins, 1812 1814 Gray, 1812 Porter, 1844 [7 ] 25 45 DATES AND LOCATIONS OF BATTERIES ON THE NIAGARA FRONTIER West Bank East Bank mouth of river 1759 i 6 IN WAR OF 1812 8 Mouth of River 6 Youngstown to Lewiston 3 IO Newark to Queenston 2 Queenston Heights Lewiston 4 2 Queenston to Falls 3 Niagara Falls 6 Chippawa 3 Chippawa to Squaw Island H Source of River 8 48 — — 21 69 patriot war 1837 Canada Shore 4 Navy Island, 84 FORTS ON THE NIAGARA FRONTIER IT is doubtful if there is elsewhere in North America an area of equal size, whose history better exhibits, first the explorations and later the contentions among the nations during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries for the control of territory and trade, than the strip of land which embraces the banks of the Niagara River, the connecting link, thirty-six miles long, between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. For Niagara was the key to all the West; its portage of seven miles around the Falls being the only break in an all-water journey between Fort Frontenac and the far ends of all the upper lakes. Spain, Holland, Sweden, France, and Britain all coveted and all secured a foothold on this continent. The tenures of Holland and Sweden were of comparatively short duration. Spain, with longer occupancy and larger possessions (her territory lying to the south), made but little progress in the settlement of the country. France settled the northern and Britain the central Atlantic coast. Both gradually but surely increased their areas, extending their control westward, until, in their inevitable contest for supremacy, France was entirely dispos- sessed. These two were the only European nations that ever secured any foothold whatever on the Niagara. The territory, known in history as the "Niagara Frontier," received its commonly accepted geographical boundaries at the hands of Sir William Johnson, who, so far as dealing with the various Indian tribes, was the most influential white man who ever trod this continent. At the great treaty held by him, in behalf of Great Britain, at Fort Niagara in 1764, there were present representatives of many Indian tribes from the East, West, North, and South; from the Hudson and from the Missis- sippi; from near the frozen regions of Hudson's Bay, and from the sunny lands of the Arkansas. A British army (under command of General Bradstreet), then on its western journey, lay encamped at the fort. With such an argument, and with their recent hostilities to the British fresh in their minds, "the Chenuseo Indians and other enemy Senecas" were in no posi- tion to refuse Sir William's request for a large grant of land. Only three months before, in expiation of the "Devil's Hole Massacre," they had agreed (though it is doubtful if they ever intended to fulfill the agreement) to grant to Great Britain the lands along both banks of the Niagara River, from a point [9 ] some two miles above the Falls to Lake Ontario. The grant was to be signed at a Treaty Conference to be held at Fort Niagara during the coming summer. When it assembled, the non-attendance of the Senecas caused Sir William to send and demand their immediate appearance, under threat of anni- hilation. They came at once, and when they arrived he calmly requested them to enlarge their promised grant so as to include both sides of the river from the Falls to Lake Erie, of the width of two miles on each bank, and to formally com- plete the transaction at once. So the Senecas promptly "sur- rendered to his Majesty for His sole use and that of the garri- sons," the territory four miles wide, that is, two miles back from the river on each bank, along both sides of the Niagara River from its source to its mouth. The Senecas also now presented all the islands in that river to Sir William, who immediately transferred them to the Crown. He wanted Great Britain to have a record title to all this territory from lake to lake. At its northern end was situated the famous Fort Niagara, the key to the entrance to the western country. Near its center was that indispensable portage around the Cataract. Along the seven miles of thai portage and for its proper protection, the army had just completed eleven blockhouses, and had also built a blockhouse at the brow of the mountain ; while for the defense respectively of its upper and lower terminals it had built, but three years before, Fort Schlosser and a new fort just below the mountain. The Niagara portage, in the fall of 1764, was the best protected highway in all America. At the source of the river, without even the formality of asking the permission of the Senecas who owned the soil, a depot of supplies (the first Fort Erie) had just been built by the British army, and was now "defensible," though not fully completed. That he might have a legal title to this territory, where he had just built so many forts, and the specific legal, as well as martial, right to maintain them, was the white man's reason for demanding that the red man publicly deed away the Niagara Frontier, and for compelling him to do so. In this article I make reference to some places, not included within the boundaries of the above designated Niagara Frontier, but not far beyond them, because of their direct connection with our Frontier History. Along that Frontier, for over 150 years before Sir William Johnson held that great treaty, and during the century and a [ 10] half that has elapsed since, there have been "many wars and rumors of wars," and in those wars four great nations, namely the Indians, the French, the British, and the United States, have borne their parts. And in preparation for, during, and as a result of those wars, each of these nations have, in turn, erected forts and fortifications within its boundaries. Of at least one fort that there is good reason to believe the Neuters erected on this Frontier, about 1600, no vestige remains; of two other Indian forts, traces exist; while of the many forts built by the white man on the river, or along the portage, only two (third Niagara and Mississauga) remain perfect. Five others still exist, three of them in ruins (fifth Erie, third George, Drummond). The exact site of one portage blockhouse is recognizable. Fort Porter is still maintained as a garrisoned post, but all its works have been leveled to the ground. Of these seven forts, one (Niagara) was built by the French ; four (Portage Blockhouse, third George, Mississauga, Drummond) by the British; and two (fifth Erie and Porter) by the United States; and of them Niagara, the Portage Blockhouse, and part of George ante-date 1800. Niagara, the most famous of them all, the last of six different forts on the same site, was owned by France for thirty-four years, then captured by the British and held for thirty-seven years, and then surrendered peaceably to the United States, who have held it, with the brief exception of fifteen months during the War of 18 12, ever since. Over Fort Porter no flag save that of "the stars and stripes," and that always in peace, has ever floated. The location of these seven forts is as follows : At the source of the Niagara River, on the Canadian shore, stand the ruins of the fourth and fifth Forts Erie, and opposite, in Buffalo, is the now rampartless Fort Porter. At the mouth of the same river, on American soil, is the historic structure, the third Fort Niagara, which, during the latter half of the eight- eenth century, was, next to Quebec, the most important forti- fication in North America; on the Canadian shore opposite are the unoccupied Fort Mississauga and the perfectly outlined earthworks of third Fort George. On Queenston Heights are the earthworks of Fort Drummond; on the Portage road, in the American city of Niagara Falls, about half a mile from the river, are the traceable remains of the embankment that sur- rounded one of the blockhouses. The isolated stone chimney, that stands not far from the river bank, some two miles above the Falls on the American side, while not inside of either, is [ 11] closely connected with the history of two of the forts hereafter mentioned (second Little Niagara and Schlosser), having been a part of the "quarters" for the attaches of both. It originally stood much nearer to the river, a large amount of land having been made by filling in along the shore with the rock excavated in the construction of the tunnel of the Niagara Power Co. The thus enumerated seven are all that are left of forty-five forts, all intended for permanencies, that were built on, or near, the shores of the Niagara River; forty-four of them between 1600 and 1844. Of thirty-four of the other thirty- eight, no trace remains, yet the approximate location of each is pretty well known. Parts of the fourth Erie and of the second George are included in the present remains of those two forts. The word "fort" is used here in accordance with the custom of those early days, when it was applied not only to forts of a larger size (of which there were comparatively few hereabouts), but also to defensive works generally, whether blockhouses, stockades, or earthworks that were protected by cannon, and were intended to be regularly garrisoned and maintained. And, in this enumeration, I have treated as a new fort each case where a new work either entirely replaced its predecessor, or so enlarged and strengthened it as to be really a new forti- fication — whether it stood on the exact site of the old one or near by it. Taking into consideration the needs and the periods of their erection, the forty-two forts which were built by the white men may be classed as follows : One of the first grade : third Niagara. Five of the second grade : second Niagara ; fourth and fifth Erie; second and third George. Six of the third grade : De Nonville, second Little Niagara, Schlosser, first Erie, Mississuaga, Porter. Five of the fourth grade: second and third Erie, Gray, Tompkins, Drummond. Six blockhouses, very strong : Conti, Joncaire, first Niagara, first George, British Top and Foot of Mountain. Nineteen blockhouses: LaSalle, Hennepin, first Little Niagara, French Top and Foot of Mountain, eleven along the Portage, Chippawa, Queenston, Black Rock. It must be remembered that in each case these forts were built, not under the stress of immediate attack, but at selected strategic points, of materials deemed to be the most available, in the form, of the size, and of the strength that seemed to their [ 12] builders requisite for the protection needed. Along this Frontier, against the attacks of the crudely armed Senecas, the well-equipped French needed less powerful defensive works than they did later on against the artillery of the British. After their defeat of the French, the British (during their most conspicuous period of fort building hereabouts) had only the poorly armed Indians to contend with. During the War of 1 8 12, the weight, calibre, and efficiency of cannon having increased, the resisting strength of the forts on both sides of the river had to be correspondingly improved. At that period, earth-work batteries, being capable of more rapid construction than regular forts, and gun for gun covering many more points, were the preferred form of offensive and defensive structures. Of the forty-five forts thus enumerated, nine were at or near the source of the Niagara River; four of them within the limits of the present city of Buffalo; and five on the Canadian shore opposite. Twenty-six of them were built between Navy Island and the village of Lewiston, a distance of 9 miles; twenty-three of these being on the New York side, and three on the Canadian side. The remaining ten were at the mouth of the river; six of them on its eastern shore, built successively on the same site, and four on its western shore. Of the entire number of forty-five forts, thirty-three stood on what is to-day United States territory, and twelve on what is now Canadian soil. Three were built by the Indians, before 1640. . Twelve were built by the French, between 1669 and 1758. Twenty-five were built by the British (Britain, seventeen; Canada, eight), between 1760 and 1815. Five were built by the United States, between 1807 and 1844- In addition to these forty-five forts, over eighty separate, offensive or defensive, temporary batteries have been erected along this Frontier. A few of these were built in 1759, a few in 1837, but the great majority were constructed during the War of 1 8 12. So far as the efficiency of several of these batteries was concerned, they might be classed as "forts," with as much propriety as some of those enumerated above; except that they were all intended for temporary use and were invariably referred to, in the nomenclature of their day, as "batteries." [ 13 ] INDIAN FORTS A S to forts along this frontier, which may have been built by / \ the Indians prior to the advent of white men, we can in A. \. general only surmise ; but three, at least — one aboriginal, one of the Eries,one of the Neuters — seem to be certainties. We do not even know when the Neuters came into existence as a separate tribe; it certainly was as early as 1600, for in 1615 Champlain speaks of them as well established. They lived on the north shore of Lake Erie, their lands, according to Sagard, being eighty leagues long; and thus extending from near the Detroit River to the Niagara River, and some thirty miles farther east. They had thirty-six villages west of the Niagara River, and four villages east of it, one of these four being Onguiaahra, on the east bank of that stream on the site of the present village of Lewiston. The authorities differ, though I think in an explainable way, as to the site of Onguiaahra. Our two authorities on this point are : First, the record of Father Daillon's visit to the Neuters, written by himself, and given in full in LeClercq's "First Establishment of the Faith in New France" (Shea's Translation, Vol. I, page 268); second, Father L'Allement's letter, describing the visit to that same nation by Fathers Chaumonot and Brebouef in 1640, this letter being found in the Jesuit Relation of 1641, published in 1642. (Thwaite's Translation, Vol. 21, page 209.) Daillon's letter says "the easternmost village of the Neuters was Ouaroronon." L'Allement's letter says, the last village of the Neuters "was called Onguiaahra, of the same name as the river, being one day's journey, on the east side, from the country of the Iroquois." A day's journey then was about fifteen leagues (French), equal to about thirty-five miles, or half way to the Genesee River, which was the supposed Iroquois frontier. Daillon's letter about his own journey would seem to me to be more likely to be exact in such details than L'Allement's letter about the journey of others. Again, Brebouef and Chaumonot suffered greater hardships among the Neuters, and returned to their Mission in more deplorable condition, both physically and mentally, than did Daillon — therefore more likely to confuse details. Hence my deduction that the undeniably ancient Indian village at Lewiston was Onguiaahra, "of the same name as the river" ; [ 14 ] mistakenly located by L'Allementasthe Neuter's easternmostvil- lage — a very easy mistake, by the way, under the circumstances. Daillon's easternmost Neuter village would then be correct, and may have stood about one mile west of Lockport, N. Y., where are the remains of an ancient Indian fortification on the mountain; though I am inclined to believe that it is more likely to have been at Oakfield, Genesee County, N. Y., where are the remains of an extensive Indian work. The Neuter nation derived its name from the fact that it was at peace with both the Iroquois, who dwelt to the east, and with the Hurons, who dwelt to the west. Between these two latter tribes there existed a bitter hatred, yet in the villages and wigwams of the Neuters even these dire enemies met in peace. The Neuters were not otherwise a peaceful nation and were often at war with other tribes. They were a fort-building tribe, and it is therefore deducible that each of their villages had the usual fortification or means of defense. We know that their village on the Iroquois frontier was so defended, and we know that their village, known as the "Southwald earthwork," near the site of St. Thomas, Canada, was also so protected, remains of these forts being traceable to-day. Let me here note a very clear distinction between the village site and the camp site of the Indians, which should be specially borne in mind along this frontier. The shores of the Niagara River were permanently owned and, at Onguiaahra at least, permanently occupied by the Neuters until they were annihilated by the Senecas in 165 1. Then the Senecas became the owners of these lands, although it was many years before they permanently occupied them. Yet during all that period the Senecas claimed and exercised control over them, and continually used them for hunting and fishing. Hence, Seneca camp sites are often found along the river, and, no doubt, earlier camp sites of the Neuters may be located there. Numer- ous evidences of Indian occupation abound hereabouts; spots where old ash beds are uncovered, and hammer stones, arrow heads, etc., have been, and are, found. These prove that Indians once camped there, but it does not follow that such spots were the sites of Indian villages, or their regular abodes. Indeed, unless the find, when carefully examined, for a very large area, shows many and deep ash beds, remains of pottery, implements of domestic use and of warfare, and an abundance of flint chips, flaked off in the manufacture of such implements, all in such abundance as to clearly indicate a long-continued [ 15 ] and permanent abode, it goes to disprove the assumption that the spot was anything more than a temporary camp. At their permanent abodes or villages the Neuters had fortifica- tions, palisades or palisaded earthworks. Onguiaahra was one of their permanent abodes before 1640, being the first settlement on the frontier of which we have any actual record. It was located, as were all such Indian towns, on high ground, that it might be easily defended, and where water was obtain- able in case of a siege. All over a very large area at Lewiston, there have been, and to-day are, often found relics and proofs of an extensive and permanent Indian occupation. There is no proof of this fort's exact site, but it can safely be said that at Lewiston stood a Neuter fort, which was probably the earliest really defensive work ever built on this frontier. Fort of the Eries [ 16] The earthwork fort at South Buffalo, near which the bodies of Red Jacket and Mary Jemison were first interred, was a fort of the Eries (who are believed to be identical with the Kah-kwas), and so antedates 1653, when they were annihi- lated. Tradition names this fort as the spot where the last decisive, and to the former the annihilative, battle was fought between the Eries and the Senecas. Joseph Brant, in a letter to Colonel Timothy Pickering, dated Niagara, December 30, 1794, says the Eries "formerly lived southwards of Buffalo Creek," and D. M. Silver, of Buffalo, interprets this as proof that that creek was the northern boundary of their territory, and the dividing line between their lands and those of the Neuters, east of the Niagara River. Accepting this view, the location of this fort would be on the extreme northern boundary of the Eries' territory and confronting that of the Senecas', which the latter had acquired two years before, through their conquest of the Neuters. The authorities and the deductions support the ancient Indian tradition, handed down even to the present day, that this was a fort of the Eries. Not within the limits of the frontier as given above, but only about a mile and a half distant from it, is the site of one of the most interesting spots in all America in Indian history — the ancient rock citadel of Kienuka. The Indian traditions regarding it, as gathered from the story of Elias Johnson, the historian of the Tuscarora Tribe, is one that fascinates. The word means a fort or stronghold, while the original designation of the spot was Gau-strau-yea, meaning "Bark laid down"; its metaphorical meaning, being in the similitude of freshly peeled slippery-elm bark, laid throughout the fort as a flooring, so that persons going in should be most careful and act according to the laws of the place or they might slip and fall to their destruction. Tradition says that at the formation of the Iroquois Confederacy, a virgin was selected from the Squawkihaw Nation, ordained as queen or peace- maker, and stationed at this fort to execute her office of peace — her official name being Ge-keah-saw-sa. The fort was built by the Squawkihaws and Senecas, the former living along the Niagara River. It was situated on the very edge of the Niagara escarpment, which is the old shore of Lake Ontario. On the east, west, and south was dug a trench and in it were set upright posts, projecting ten or twelve feet above the ground, enclosing a space about twenty by fifty rods. [ 17 ] The queen's house was in the center of the enclosure, and adjacent houses were built in two rows, one on each side of the queen's house. The entrances to the fort were at the east and west ends, the doors of the queen's house, respectively, facing the entrances. Fortress of Kienuka The queen was selected by the Iroquois or Five Nations, and to enforce her decrees, the entire strength of the Confed- eracy was pledged. A suitable number of warriors were selected from the Squawkihaw tribe, their bravest and ablest warriors; and these were stationed here to keep it in order and to enforce its laws. Kienuka was decreed to be a Fort of Refuge. At the formation of the Confederacy the law was established that no nation belonging thereto should make war against any other nation of the league, and that the Iroquois should not war against any alien nation without the consent of the queen. Kienuka was ever to be held sacred as a place of peace, and no blood was ever to be shed within its gates, any executions decreed by the queen were to be made outside the fort; and no one aside from the keepers should ever move faster than a walk within its enclosure. The queen must at all hours have food — it was designated "A kettle of hominy" — ready for fugitives and persons, no matter of what tribe nor from what part of the continent. All fugitives, irrespective of nation- ality, fleeing from an enemy — once their feet touched the threshold here, were safe from attack while they remained. [ 18] On reaching the fort, the queen would lead the fugitive into one end of her house, which was divided by a deer skin curtain in the center. When the pursuers arrived, she would conduct them into the other end of her house. She would give food to each, and then pull aside the curtain, and let them face each other. Both pursuers and pursued could then depart to their homes in peace. It was contrary to law, after a fugi- tive had reached Kienuka, and gone out from' there, for his enemies to murder him without the queen's consent. Was this law violated, the Iroquois Confederacy were to demand the offender from the nation to which he belonged. If delivered up, he was to be put to death ; if not delivered up, that nation was to suffer the devastations of war at the hands of the Iroquois. Elias Johnson says the Kah-kwahs and Eries were branches of the Squawkihaws; all being of one language and nation — the former deriving their name from their settlement, named Kah-kwah-ka, near Buffalo. Resentment grew up on the part of the Squawkihaws against the Senecas, because the latter were victorious in several contests to which the former challenged them. The Peace Queen, being a Squawkihaw, though ordained to her office by the Iroquois Confederacy, shared in their resentment against the Senecas. Soon after, a party of Senecas scouting on the west of the Niagara River, were pursued by the Masassaukas, and at night reached Kienuka, where their pursuers followed them. Both laid down to sleep in peace, as they were wont to do within this fortress. But in the stillness of the night the treachery of the queen was tested. The Masassaukas asked her consent to murder the Senecas as they slept. She gave her consent and they were massacred, and buried southwest of the fort — the mound over them being recognizable until the early half of the nineteenth century. This breach of the law of the fort, the queen's consenting to the shedding of blood in that sacred place, grated on the conscience of the Squawkihaws; and knowing that their punishment would speedily follow, they urged the queen to consent to their exterminating the Senecas, and she finally consented. They planned to attack the Senecas unaware. By chance, a Seneca who had married a Squawkihaw lived near the fort, learned of the queen's consent and informed the Seneca's chiefs. Thus advised, the Senecas assembled their warriors, and [ 19 ] when the Squawkihaws arrived to annihilate them, they gave battle, and at the end the Senecas had killed or taken prisoners all their warriors, and the Squawkihaws were ended as a nation. The fortress of Kienuka was forever abandoned as a Fort of Refuge; and according to Seneca tradition it was 600 years before another Peace Queen was ordained — which event happened about the middle of the nineteenth century, when Caroline Parker, of the Tonawanda Senecas, was elected to the office. This tradition does not fit in with history, so far as the occupation of the Niagara Frontier by the Neuters is con- cerned; yet, as to Kienuka being the principal, if not, indeed, the only Indian Fort of Refuge in the northeastern portion of the United States of to-day (there were other known Indian Forts of Refuge in the South and Southwest), there is every possibility of its being correct. I The tradition of its being a Peace Fort, and, therefore, in its day the best-known ancient Iroquois fortress, as well as the early date assigned to its erection, makes it a most historic spot. In 1905, a mound, some 500 feet southwest of the fortress which had been mapped by Henry R. Schrolcraft in 1846, was opened, and numerous bones, and skulls, two sword blades, brass kettles, shells, pipes, bits of French pottery, as well as Indian pottery, and over 4,000 discoidal beads were dug up. The date of the burial was considered to be 1640, the last of the ten-year burial ceremonies of the Neuters, thus adding additional proof of the occupation of the eastern shore of the Niagara River by the Neuters. Situated three and a half miles east of that river, Kienuka was doubtless used by the Neuters during their occupation of this region as a lookout or outpost for the protection of their larger village, Onguiaahra, situated to the west, on the plain below. [20] FRENCH FORTS FRENCHMEN had been on the Niagara River before 1640. Brule, Champlain's interpreter, was in western New York in 1615 ; but was never on our river. French traders or "coureurs de bois" had been there perhaps before, no doubt soon after, that date. Father Daillon was there in 1626. Fathers Breboeuf and Chaumonot were there, on their mission to the Neuters, in 1640. But all these sought either trade as individuals, or the spread of the Gospel. In 1669, however, there came to this region a man primarily on a voyage of discovery, and, as a result, seeking control of the western Indian trade; but neces- sarily he sought the resultant control by France over the Indian tribes and their territory, and such control meant fort- building. In company with de Casson and Gallinee, and their joint party, LaSalle in that year passed the mouth of the Niagara River, went as far west as the end of Lake Ontario, then, accompanied by a few men, turned back, ostensibly to return to Montreal, leaving the Fathers to proceed to and winter on the north shore of Lake Erie. Of LaSalle, during the next two years, we know little, only that he reached the Ohio in 1670; and made a trip on Lakes Erie, Huron, and Michi- gan in 1 67 1. My own belief is that he and his small party went from the western end of Lake Ontario to the Niagara River, of whose importance as the "great river of the Neutrals" he had heard, and whose mouth he, no doubt, as he passed it shortly before, recognized as a desirable point for trade and as a base of supplies. At its mouth, I think, he spent the winter of 1669-1670. For here, according to the official report of de Nonville (made in 1686), he built "logements" or quarters in 1668. This date is clearly an error, and should be 1669, for LaSalle was never in the Niagara region until 1669. The destruction of these "quarters" of LaSalle's by the Senecas, in 1675, was given by de Nonville as one of the main reasons for his expedition against them in 1687. In building quarters for himself and his party in an unknown and semi-hostile country, LaSalle doubtless made them defensible from attack. Hence, in 1669, on tne s ^e of Fort Niagara, LaSalle built the first white man's house on the frontier. It was a temporary fort and I include it in my list of forts, and name it Fort LaSalle. In 1670, de Courcelles, governor-general of Canada, is said to [21 ] have recommended to his government the erection of a regular fort on the Niagara River. If so, he was probably instigated by suggestions made to him by LaSalle, after the latter re- turned to Quebec that year. In 1673, LaSalle himself was again in Quebec, and that year Frontenac, then governor- general, a personal friend of LaSalle, and without doubt at his request, recommended the erection of such a fort, and renewed the recommendation the following year. In 1678, LaSalle, finding that the French Government paid no attention to the project of a fort on the Niagara, arranged to build it as a private venture, in connection with his projected western explorations and for the building of forts where he thought necessary in connection therewith, for which he had obtained official consent in "Letters Patent." In December of that year, the advance party of his expedition, under command of LaMotte, in a brigantine of ten tons, entered the Niagara River; and some days later, near the site of Lewiston, they built a cabin, surrounded with palisades, which, though intended for a "fort," under the name of a "magazine," they felt com- pelled, in order to allay the suspicions of the Senecas, to call "an habitation." For the purpose of giving a distinctive name to this structure, the first one on the river that is recorded as being "palisaded," or protected, I have assumed to call it Fort Hennepin Fort Hennepin, after the priest and historian of the expedition, who helped to construct it. It seems, perhaps, incongruous to name a fort after a priest; but Hennepin was a very worldly Father, took a prominent part in furthering the commercial features of the expedition, and, by publishing the earliest detailed description and picture of Niagara Falls, has associated his name forever with this region, so it may be pardoned. [22 ] In January, 1679, LaSalle obtained the consent of the Senecas to the erection of a storehouse at the mouth of the river, and a few days later, in the presence of Tonti, Hennepin, and LaMotte, he traced out, on the high bank there, the outlines of the structure, to which he had two months earlier promised to give the name of "Fort Conti." It consisted of Fort Conti two blockhouses, forty feet square, built of logs, and connected by palisades. It stood on the point of land now embraced within the limits of the earthworks of Fort Niagara; but in the following August, through the carelessness of the sergeant in charge, this first pretentious defensive structure on the Niagara was reduced to ashes. It was the first distinctly so-called "fort" built by white men west of Frontenac. To LaSalle must be given all the credit for the first "fortification" of this frontier. He first saw the needs and benefits of it, and through official channels had urged it upon the French Government. When he could get no assistance in that direc- tion, he accomplished it at his own expense. Seven years later, France recognized, and recognized most decidedly, the desirability of a fort at this point. In 1687, de Nonville, after defeating the Senecas in the Genesee Valley, led his army to Niagara, where, in July of that year, on the site of the burned Fort Conti, he constructed a fort "of pales with four bastions," which he named after himself, "Fort de Nonville." He left in it a garrison of one hundred men, with provisions for eight months. No sooner had his army started eastwards, Fort De Nonville [23 ] than the Senecas, who, though defeated, had not been sub- dued, besieged it, maintaining the siege all winter. In the spring, its garrison, then reduced to a dozen men, was rein- forced. On the erection of the fort, the British had promptly demanded its demolition, and the Senecas, at British instiga- tion, refused to consider negotiations with France for a treaty of peace so long as it existed. So, in the summer of 1688, de Nonville, under compulsion, gave orders for its destruction. The French evacuated it, having first torn down the pales, but leaving the buildings, seven in number, and a great Cross, eighteen feet high, which stood on the parade ground, intact. The Senecas probably did not allow even these evidences of a hostile occupation of their territory to remain long. Baron La Hontan, who had helped to build this fort, and had then been ordered to the west, had a soldier's eye for strategic sites ; for, as soon as he saw the present site of BufFalo, he declared it to be a most desirable point for a fort, and on a map which he included in his subsequent book, he there marked "Fort Suppose"; but no move was ever made by the French towards its erection. During the next thirty years no fort was erected on the Niagara, though both France and Britain were watching for an opportunity to build one, and the influence of the French over the Senecas was constantly increasing. In 17 19, through the personality of Joncaire, a Frenchman by birth, but a Seneca by adoption, the man who spoke "with all the good sense of a Frenchman, and with all the eloquence of an Iro- quois," France obtained the consent of the Senecas to the erection of a house on the Niagara. The Senecas had pre- viously told Joncaire that he might build a house for himself wherever he chose; and he now selected a site on the eastern bank of the Niagara River at the foot of the Trail or Portage, and here he built the first "trading house" in the western Indian country. The Senecas, true to their friendship for the French, but on the ground that Joncaire was a child of their nation, refused Britain's urgent demand for its demoli- tion; they also refused her subsequent demand for permission to erect a similar "trading house" on the river. Within a year Joncaire had enlarged his original "cabin" into a "blockhouse, forty feet long by thirty feet wide, musket proof, with port holes and surrounded by palisades." He was its "commander"; it was styled "Magazin Royal," and over it floated the flag bearing the Lillies of France. It [24] became a great center of trade, its attendants were French soldiers, and in it France again had a real fort on the Niagara. In 1726, so well had Joncaire played his part, the French obtained the consent of the Iroquois to the erection of a stone house "on the river," and one hundred men were sent to build Fort Joncaire it. The engineer, Chassegross de Levy, saw the superior advantages of the site at the mouth of the river, seven miles away; and, contrary to his official instructions, but very possibly in accordance with secret orders, built there (and not alongside of Joncaire's fort), a very large single structure, which is to-day the "castle" at modern Fort Niagara. LaSalle's plan of fifty years before was now a reality, and on the site of Fort Conti was thus commenced a fort destined in a few years to become the most important fortification on the lakes, and to play a most historic part in the history of the Iroquois, of the French, of their conquerors, the British, and of Britain's seceding and victorious colonies, the United States of America. The new structure was a large stone house, which later on became the residence of the French, and still later the residence of the British commandants, and was by them designated as "The Castle"; a name it has retained ever since. It was a two- story structure, the oldest masonry on the frontier, or west of Albany. The British protested vigorously against the main- tenance of this stone house, and used all their influence with the other five Iroquois nations (the Senecas, the sixth nation of the Confederacy, were the firm friends of the French) to [25 ] have it torn down. But it was unavailing; the stone house, the first Fort Niagara, remained and in French possession. Joncaire's house, at the foot of the Portage, had served its pur- pose and served it well ; now it was allowed to fall into decay. After it had been settled that France's ownership of this new house, or fort, was not to be disturbed, she proceeded to construct around it a real fort. Ramparts made of pickets, with four bastions, and enclosing about an acre of ground, were constructed around the buildings. This fortification, a fortress in every sense of the word, the second Fort Niagara, must have been finished about 1730; for by 1736 it mounted thirty guns. By 1739 the pickets of the ramparts had decayed and were falling down, necessitating repairs. The location and relative size of this second Fort Niagara is shown by Pouchot, on his map or plan of the greater fort, as it was when, under his command, it was besieged and captured by the British, in 1759. French influence over the Senecas was now absolute and Fort Niagara, Pouchot's Plan, 1759 [ 26 ] was in the ascendency among the western tribes, where French forts multiplied. The fur trade between Detroit, then the great western metropolis for peltries, and Quebec, by way of Fort Niagara, was very large. So great was the value of the military stores and the merchandise of the traders going west, and of the canoe loads of furs coming east, that it became necessary to erect some fortification at the upper end of the Portage, as a protection for this commerce. About 1745, a small fort or blockhouse, also a storehouse, was erected at this point, which is still called "the Frenchmen's Landing," and is situated just above the entrance of the Hydraulic Canal in the city of Niagara Falls. DeWitt Clinton, who was at Niagara in 18 10, noted the "remains of stone buildings" at this spot. Local historians, of the succeeding generation, have also told of these remains, which were those of the first Little Niagara. But the current above was too swift, and the rapids below were too near, to permit the Frenchmen's heavily laden boats, which, with the increase of commerce, were gradually enlarged, to be handled with ease and safety at this point. So, in 1 75 1, this upper end of the portage was moved about half a mile up stream, where was built a larger and more preten- tious fort, called "Fort du Portage," or "Fort Little Niagara"; this, the second Fort Little Niagara, being merely a depend- ency of the greater fort. It consisted of three good-sized Second Fort Little Niagara blockhouses made of logs, and between them, as well as between the outer ones and the bank of the river, were strong palisades. Near it were barracks for the soldiers, cabins for the Frenchmen employed thereabouts, and huts for the Indians who carried the stores and peltries up or down the portage. At one end of the barracks was built the stone chimney, which is still standing, the only existing relic of what was in its day an important military post. That fort stood until 1759, when its commandant, Joncaire (a son of that Joncaire previously mentioned), acting under orders from Fort Niagara, burned it, removed all its transport- able goods to a location on Chippawa Creek, and took its [ 27 ] garrison of sixty men to aid in the defense of the greater fort, which was being besieged by the British. This second Fort Little Niagara had been kept in a fair condition, for after its erection the French felt more secure in their supremacy on this frontier. At the same time, for the further protection of the portage and of its increasing business, they built and garrisoned fortified warehouses or small forts both at the top and at the foot of Lewiston Mountain, the former close to the portage roadway where it reached the crest of the mountain, the latter at its terminal on the river bank below, which was the head of the lower Niagara River's navigation. A year or so later they built two more warehouses alongside of the one at the foot of the mountain. This fort stood on the river bank, some thirty feet above the river. The Portage termi- nated at the water's edge below it, descending thereto through a gully which still exists. In 1754, Britain's aggressiveness and plans for war in the New World, caused France to make preparations for the inevitable coming struggle for control of North America. Fort Niagara, the one fort in the West that Britain specially coveted, was in a dilapidated state, in no condition to resist an attack by a large force. In 1755, France decided to greatly strengthen it, in fact, to entirely rebuild it; and that fall Pouchot, an experienced engineer, was sent there for that purpose. During the next three years, Pouchot was at Fort Niagara nearly half the time ; at first as an engineer, later as its com- mandant. He made it a fort of enormous strength; built extensive new fortifications, extending from the lake to the river, thus increasing the enclosed area of the fort fully eight- fold, and built new barracks to accommodate the enlarged garrison. The work was commenced on January 14, 1756, appears to have been carried on uninterruptedly, and was not completed until October 12, 1757. All the earthworks on the land side, on the lines of the present ones, were constructed at this time. The palisades of the "old," or second Fort Niagara, were evidently removed on the completion of this new, or third Fort Niagara; but the buildings of the old fort (and it would seem that there were a number of them), so far as they were useful, were retained. In the spring of 1759 the fortifications were extensively repaired under Pouchot's supervision, and when, a month after their satisfactory completion, the British besieged it, Fort Niagara was the most important fort in the West. There were then inside of the walls twenty buildings, [28 ] at least four of them solid stone structures. It had accommo- dations for 1,000 men; its fortifications embraced some eight acres; its land side was heavily fortified; its lake and river sides being further protected by the steep banks. Its earth- work fortifications and four stone buildings, the former several times repaired, are to-day substantially as they were then. The story of the siege and capture of Fort Niagara need not be told here, but its surrender to the British in July, 1759, put an end forever to French control along this frontier. During the times both of her earlier influence and of her subsequent control over this region, which jointly extended over a period of ninety years, France had built twelve forts on the Niagara River, all on its eastern bank. Of these, one (Conti) had been accidentally burned; one (de Nonville) had been compulsorily abandoned; one (second Little Niagara) had been intentionally destroyed; four (LaSalle, Hennepin, first Little Niagara, and Joncaire's) had been allowed to decay; two (first and second Fort Niagara) were now included in the third and greater fort of that name ; while three (third Niagara, one at the foot, and one at the top of the mountain) passed into the hands of the victorious British. Fort Schlosser Built by the British 1760 ; to replace the Second Fort Little Niagara, burned by the French. [29 ] BRITISH FORTS WHEN Britain, through her victories over the French in 1759, succeeded to the control of the Western country, she had to contend with the remains of French influence among the Indians who had been the friends of her former rival, and she at once took steps partly to conciliate, partly to awe, those tribes. Of course, the maintenance of all existing forts was a necessary part of her policy. The former French forts in the West were strengthened and new ones were built there ; and, of course, the defense of the territory on the Niagara River was not overlooked. The fortifications of Fort Niagara, badly bat- tered by their artillery during the siege, were repaired and strengthened by the British. The need of a fort at the upper end of the portage was imperative. So, in 1760, a new fort to replace the burned Fort Little Niagara was con- structed and named after its builder, Fort Schlosser. It was a strong fort; located some forty rods farther up stream, where the current was not so swift, and the water was deeper. It was a square earthwork and stockaded post, with four bastions; the inner plateau elevated, and the whole sur- Stedman House rounded by a ditch. A framework, which had been pre- pared by the French for a chapel at Fort Niagara, was carted over the portage by the British, and set up beside the stone chimney, for a "mess house." Here John Stedman, the master of the Portage lived; the building known as "Stedman's" — it was portholed. The warehouses, built by the French, still stood at the lower end of the portage, below the Mountain. The British constructed another fort [ 30 ] at this point, probably by surrounding these and some new structures with a stockade ; and here two companies of soldiers were maintained, this fort having been finished during the year 1761. In 1764, when the British built an inclined railway up the bank, from the water's edge at this point, which was the head of navigation on the lower river, to the top of the mountain, this fort became of considerable importance. A better roadway over the Portage was next planned, and a contract for its construction made with John Stedman. The French had used but few carts, and these only for carrying boats, in transporting goods over the carrying place. By hiring the Senecas, each of whom would carry about 100 pounds' weight on his shoulders, for this work (in 1750, some 200 of them were thus employed regularly), they kept "the friendship chain" bright between themselves and the only tribe of the Iroquois that had not generally sided with the British against them. The British, partly overlooking this feature of the French policy, possibly as a punishment for past hostilities, not appreciating the resentment the Senecas would entertain, and in the interest of better transportation, decided to abandon the employment of carriers, and to use ox teams instead. Thus angered at the British, and recalling their former friendship for the French, the Senecas lent a willing ear to Pontiac's advances for a concerted hostile move- ment on the part of all the Western Indian tribes against France's conquerors. In September, 1763, Stedman completed the new portage road, and conducted the first wagon train over it from Fort Niagara to Schlosser. The next day on the return journey, as the train, guarded by soldiers, reached the spot now known as the* "Devil's Hole," a large party of Senecas, who had concealed themselves in the woods, attacked it, slew and scalped the escort (but three of them escaping), rifled the wagons, and drove off the oxen. The garrison, in the fort at the foot of the mountain, hearing the guns, hurried to the relief of their com- rades, which was just what the Senecas had anticipated. They ambushed this party also; of the two companies that composed it but eight escaping, nearly one hundred British being slain in all. Britain was now compelled, for her own protec- tion, to thoroughly fortify the portage. Before traffic opened, in the spring of 1764, four hundred Senecas waited on Sir William Johnson, at his home in the Mohawk Valley, to sue for forgiveness. He was Britain's agent, with practically abso- [ 31 ] lute power, and exercised greater influence over the Indians than any white man who had ever dealt with them. He recognized that here was an unrivaled opportunity to advance Britain's interests, and he improved it. "Land for lives" was the policy that he adopted, and the Senecas gladly acquiesced. He consented to forgive the "Devil's Hole Massacre" if a strip of territory, fourteen miles long by four miles broad, embracing both banks of the river from Lake Ontario to a point above Fort Schlosser (thus embracing the whole length of the portage), should be ceded to the Crown. The Senecas agreed to complete this transfer at a great gathering of Indian tribes that was to be held, on Sir William's invitation, at Fort Niagara, in July of that year. Sir William knew that at that time he would have there an army sufficiently strong to compel them to carry out this agreement, so he arranged to have the entire length of the portage fully fortified before the date set for the treaty gathering. On May 19th, Captain John Mont- resor arrived at Fort Niagara. He was the engineer of General Bradstreet's army that during that very summer was to pro- ceed to the West, there to enforce British supremacy. He was now sent on in advance to make all provisions that Bradstreet's communications, after leaving Niagara, might not be inter- A Portage Blockhouse rupted. His first duty was to see to the safety of the portage, and along this he marked out sites for ten blockhouses, one about every twelve hundred yards, between Fort Schlosser and [ 32] the top of the mountain. In his journal he speaks of them as "redoubts" or "entrenchments," but they were ordinary blockhouses, the first story built of the trunks of trees, firmly set upright in the ground; the second story overhanging and formed of heavy framed logs ; the whole strongly built with a view to permanent occupancy. Plenty of men from the garri- sons at Fort Niagara and Fort Schlosser were detailed for the work of construction, ninety men being set at work on one of them. The "redoubt" nearest to Fort Schlosser, of which the embankment outlines are still traceable, was a "log work," instead of a stockade, this being made necessary on account of Portage Log Work the rocky nature of the ground. By June 6th, these ten forts were all completed, and were garrisoned as fast as finished. About a dozen men were quartered in each, which was defended by a cannon, a brass six-pounder. A cannon, of this caliber, was also placed at this time in the fort at the foot of the moun- tain. On July 13th, Captain Montresor received orders from General Bradstreet, to construct an additional "redoubt," "at the three-mile bridge," which point, from the distance typified The Eleventh Portage Blockhouse [33] • ::■■■ ' . . . i % in the name, was the scene of the "Devil's Hole Massacre." Bradstreet wanted that point, the one selected by the Senecas as the best along the portage for an attack, specially protected before his army reached it. One hundred and fifty men were at once detailed for this work, and the eleventh redoubt on the portage was speedily completed and garrisoned. The blockhouse surrounded by a fence, of which a reproduction is given herewith, is probably something like this last or eleventh blockhouse on the Portage, erected at the site of the Devil's Hole massacre. In order to facilitate the forwarding of the supplies, munitions, and boats of Bradstreet's army on its western journey, Montresor devised and built in 1764 the first railway in America, an inclined plane (up the steep bank nearly four hundred feet high) from the head of navigation on the lower Niagara River to the top of the mountain above. And for its special protection he erected a fortified blockhouse and quarters for soldiers on the brow of the mountain at its upper end. These were supplemental to the fortified warehouse which the French had built near the same site in 1751, which stood back from the edge of the mountain. The lower ends of the logs which formed the lower story of this special block- house of Montresor were unearthed in 18 12 by the Americans in building Fort Gray on the same site. This blockhouse and the inclined railway are shown in the accompanying sketch. The fort and warehouses erected in 1 76 1 by the British at the foot of the railway stood just beyond and around the foot of the mountain. Bradstreet had planned his western expedition with great care. He now foresaw the need of a depot for provisions at the point where Lake Erie pours its waters into the Niagara River; and he well knew that it must be a fortified post. So he requested Sir William Johnson to ask the Senecas for their consent to its erection. Sir William was just then in the midst of a good-sized land deal with that very tribe, which he expected to complete at the treaty gathering at Fort Niagara, where he and General Bradstreet then were. There had come to this treaty, and were then at Niagara, representatives of almost every Indian tribe, living between the Mississippi and the Central New York of to-day, save only the Senecas. Their presence was of more importance than that of any other tribe in America. They had not yet fully determined whether they would keep the agreement, so recently made with Sir William, as to the cession of the land along the Niagara River. But [ 35 ] he would attend to none of the important business, for which he had called the treaty assemblage, until he had settled with the Senecas for the "Devil's Hole Massacre." He sent a peremptory message to them, that if they did not at once attend, Bradstreet's army would be sent to annihilate them. It is needless to record that representatives of that tribe promptly repaired to Niagara. Then Sir William had them in his power, and intended that they should comply with General Bradstreet's request, but he managed it in his own way. Captain Mont- resor had already examined the lands, on both shores, at the source of the river, where the projected fort was to be built. He had ascended Buffalo Creek, and viewed the present loca- tion of the City of Buffalo, but as a site for the fortification, he selected a point "just at the discharge of the lake," on the western bank. The fact that the Senecas, through their conquest of the Neuters, owned this location, and that their consent was desirable, though it had not yet been asked, made no difference to Sir William. He knew perfectly well that if they came to the treaty gathering, they would not dare to refuse his request; and that if they did not come he could and would annihilate them. In either event Britain would own the desired strip of territory. The Ojibways, who were repre- sented at the treaty, occupied the land on the western bank of the river near Lake Erie, probably by consent of the Senecas. So Sir William in advance strengthened the position he intended to take, in case the Senecas failed to appear, by obtaining from the tribes present, including the Ojibways, "the liberty of building a post on the N. W. side of the river, at the mouth of Lake Erie." This permit was given on July 16th, and the very next morning Captain Montresor set out from Fort Niagara with five hundred men to begin work on it. Soon after that date representatives of the Senecas appeared, and when the treaty with them was signed, on August 6th, Article 5 read: "In addition to the grant made by the Chenusio Deputys to His Majesty at Johnson Hall in April, of the lands from Fort Niagara to the upper end of the carrying place beyond Fort Schlosser, and four miles in breadth, on each side of the river, the Chenusios now surrender up all the lands from the upper end of the former Grant (and of the same breadth) to the Rapids of Lake Erie, to his Majesty for His sole use and that of the garrisons, but not as private prop- erty." The right to erect and maintain forts was all that Sir William wanted; once the territory was legally in the control [ 36 ] of the army, it made but little difference what the Indians claimed. The Senecas had been powerless to object; they were paying for the "Devil's Hole Massacre" and for self- preservation. Sir William's first demand had been for a territory fourteen miles long by four miles broad, comprising some 36,000 acres. This treaty granted more than double that acreage. It surrendered a tract thirty-six miles by four miles, or some 92,000 acres. Nearly one hundred British soldiers had been killed at the "Devil's Hole Massacre," so the Senecas paid approximately 1,000 acres for each and every scalp they then took. Yet, for them, it was a cheaply bought forgiveness. General Bradstreet wanted the new fort completed by July 30th. On July 31st, or six days before that treaty was signed, Captain Montresor had reported that the new post (he named it Fort Erie, the first of five structures that have been built at that point, all bearing the same name) bH5j« First Fort Erie was "defensible." It was a "stockaded post," and consisted of a revetment made of stone surmounted by pickets facing the lake, and surrounded on the other three sides by a line of tree trunks sunk in the ground. It was built close to the water's edge, so as to be adjacent to the wharf. On its com- pletion, Britain's line of communication between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie was well guarded; Fort Niagara stood at one end, Fort Erie at the other; while the seven miles of land portage, around the Falls, had Fort Schlosser at its upper, and the forts respectively at the top and at the foot of the mountain at its lower extremity, with eleven blockhouses between them. At this treaty the Senecas also presented to Sir William Johnson all the islands in the Niagara River, and he promptly turned them over to the Crown. It is interesting [ 37 ] to note that Israel Putnam, the "Old Put" of the Revolution, is said to have been among the detachment of Connecticut troops that built this first Fort Erie. It is by no means improb- able, for he was with the Connecticut Provincial troops that were in Bradstreet's army then at Fort Niagara, and Mont- resor records that these Connecticut troops were among the builders. From now on, Fort Niagara, the most important fort ofF the seaboard, was kept up in a strong, defensive state. Its commander was the ruler of a large territory, extending both east and west. During the Revolution it was probably in the most important defensive condition of its entire history ; and at that period there were within its walls at least seven stone and over a dozen wooden structures, besides a number of buildings outside of the ramparts. In 1766, probably on account of the great expense of maintaining so large a fort, "A Scheme, to inclose the present publick buildings at Niagara, and to prevent the expence of levling the old works," was presented to the military authorities, and was evidently care- fully considered; for in 1768, John Montresor, Engineer, "agreeable to an order he received from the Hon'ble Major Gen'l Gage, Commander in chief of his MAJESTY'S Forces in North America," submitted a "design for contracting this Post," his "plan" being to reduce its size to that of the second Fort Niagara, which is shown on the plan of the third Fort Niagara. He does not state therein whether he proposed to level the great earthworks or not, but evidently not; his idea being to erect a fort within the fort. The inner fort with four bastions was to be located at the extreme point of land, its defenses coinciding with those of the second Fort Niagara; as in dotted lines is indicated the shape and area of that old fort. He also describes the "Castle" as having "a platform on the top." The sketch of the fort herewith given, showing the Castle with the second story and a peaked roof as built by the French, is taken from a very inaccurate drawing " made on the spot in 1758," attributed to Captain Jonathan Carver. Montresor's plan for a "contracted Post" does not seem to have been favored, for in 1770 and 1771, the two stone blockhouses were built outside of the lines of the contemplated "inner" fort; but inside of the earthworks, — adding much to the strength of the fort. This John Montresor, who had been intimately connected with the Niagara Frontier, where he had built more forts than any other man, was, in 1 775' appointed by George III. as "Chief Engineer of America." [38] The Revolution, in actual warfare, never reached the Niagara Frontier, but Fort Niagara was a plague spot to the colonists. Here Brant and the two Butlers had their head- quarters, with those of their savages and rangers; here were planned, and from here started out, during the seven years of AVikw of XiAtrAKA Pout, f,,Ar,i /y , So II, ft,',,,.; /■■/,„.„;,. oti the *j£?aF,rul\ : i~,;^\- that war's duration, those murdering and marauding parties which devastated Western New York and Northern Pennsyl- vania. Among these expeditions were the ones that wrought the massacres of Wyoming and Cherry Valley; and it was to Fort Niagara that these, and many other similar expeditions, returned with their scalps and their booty. The capture of Fort Niagara was the ulterior object of General Sullivan's expedition sent out by General Washington in 1779. Had it not needlessly ceased its advance, after having defeated the Senecas in the Genesee Valley, it would have found the fort feebly garrisoned and surrounded by nearly 5,000 Indians, who, after their defeat had fled here, seeking the protection of the fort's cannon, as well as food, to prevent starvation. But it was not to be so. Fort Niagara was not then captured by force, and it was not until seventeen years afterward that the American flag floated over its ramparts, it being then evacuated peaceably by the British under the terms of Jay's Treaty. Fort Erie had frequently been mentioned in official [39] reports as practically useless for any defensive purpose; so in 1779 work was commenced on another fort at that point. The location selected by Montresor in 1764 was at the water's edge, where the waves beat upon and undermined the founda- tions, thus necessitating constant repairs; and even these proved ineffectual. The new structure, the second Fort Erie, was intended to be rather more of a defensive work than its predecessor, so a location a little farther away from the water, and farther south, was selected. It was a blockhouse, defend- ing an adjacent storehouse and barracks, all surrounded on three sides with palisades, the water side "consisting of two bastions built of masonry upon a flat rock, and on the wall a stockade." It was built by Captain Matthews of the eighth regiment, under supervision of Lieutenant-colonel Bolton of the same regiment, who was then commandant at Fort Niagara. The new location was, no doubt, selected because of a better anchorage for vessels, the first fort being on the shore of the river where the current was swiftest, while opposite this new location there was much less current. After the close of the Revolution, Great Britain retained, by consent, five forts (of which Niagara was one) on concededly United States territory, as a guarantee that her subjects, known as United Empire Loyalists, still living under the new nation, should be allowed reasonable time and protection to dispose of their possessions and move from the country. It was pre- sumed, by the United States signers of the treaty of peace, that such occupation of these five forts would be of compara- tively short duration ; as a matter of fact it lasted for thirteen years, 1783 to 1796, being generally referred to as the "Hold Over" period. Not until 1795, on the ratification of Jay's Treaty with Great Britain, did that nation really abandon the hope of regaining control of her former colonies; although, after 1783, it would seem that all the smaller forts on the American side of the Niagara River were allowed to become much dilapidated, and after Jay's Treaty was signed all of these forts were practically abandoned. After the close of the Revolution, the Six Nations, who (with the exception of a part of the Oneidas and Tuscaroras) had been allies of the British, complained that Britain, having induced them to engage in the war, in the treaty of peace had made no provision for their protection by the United States, under whose control their territory now came. Brant had used his influence to have them remove to Upper Canada, [40] and many did so. Under his leadership a band of Mohawks had started westward in 1780; but on reaching Lewiston, which was in territory directly controlled by the British at Fort Niagara, they encamped and remained many months; later continuing their journey to Canada. East of Lewiston they had quite a settlement, and Brant lived among them in a blockhouse. This blockhouse is not included in my list of forts, for it is to be regarded rather as a private dwelling — fortified after the manner of Johnson Hall, the residence of Brant's brother-in-law, Sir William Johnson, in the Mohawk Valley — than as a regular fortification. CANADIAN FORTS In 1 79 1, the Province of Upper Canada was formed, Gen- eral John Graves Simcoe, a noted warrior, who believed in forts and fort-building, being its first governor. He estab- lished the capitol of his province at Newark, directly across the river from Fort Niagara, where it was both protected and controlled by the guns of that fort. He was fully persuaded that the new government of the United States would soon col- lapse, and that they would again become colonies of Great Britain, and that the control of Fort Niagara, which she then held, would never pass from her hands. In that same year, following the recommendations previously made by engineers, the foundations were laid for a new, the third, Fort Erie. Even as the second Fort Erie stood farther south than did the one Montresor built in 1764, so this new structure was located still farther south. It stood on the low blufF, on a site which had previously been recommended as "at short musket shot" from the second fort. In 1 79 1, Governor Simcoe received orders, and made prepa- ration, to build a new portage road around the Falls of Niagara, which should be entirely on Canadian soil. This road ran from Queenston, at the upper end of the navigation on the lower river, to Chippawa Creek. In 1792, as a protection for its upper end, he built, on the northern side of that creek, some two hundred yards therefrom, and about the same dis- tance from the river, a blockhouse, surrounded by cedar posts, twelve feet high and enclosing about a rood of ground, which was known as Fort Chippawa, or Welland. Outside of this enclosure stood the usual barracks and storehouses. At about the same time, for the protection of the lower end of this same [41 ] portage, on the high bank of the river, in the present village of Queenston, he built another small fort of stone, its roof covered with some sort of metal, which, for the purpose of identifica- tion, I call Fort Queenston. In 1795, on the ratification of Jay's Treaty, which provided that in 1796 Great Britain should definitely conclude the Fort Chippawa "Hold Over" period and surrender possession of the five forts she was holding, Governor Simcoe at last realized that he must soon give up Fort Niagara. When that time came, his capitol would be at all times under the guns of a hostile fort, and no longer a desirable location. So he completed arrange- ments, already commenced, for its removal across the lake to York, now Toronto. In 1795, the Duke of Liancourt visited this region, and of Fort Erie he wrote, "Fort Erie, as it is called, though we know not why, consists of some houses roughly formed of wood, and surrounded with tottering palisaides. It has neither a rampart, a covered way, nor any other works. * * * It is to be considered merely as a point of defense against the Indians, for the British trade on the lakes." He added that all the buildings were blockhouses. Isaac Weld, who visited it in 1796, described it as "a small stockaded post. Fort George, planned and the site selected as early as 1789, was not commenced until 1796. According to the terms of Jay's Treaty, Fort Niagara was to be evacuated on June 1, 1796; as a matter of fact, it was not until August nth that the British soldiers left it. They then crossed the river and occu- pied a stone blockhouse and wooden barracks that had recently been completed for their reception. These constituted the first Fort George, but, in 1799, they were enclosed with a heavy earthwork, making a fairly strong fort, this being the second [42 ] Fort George, whose outline is included in the plan of the third Fort George. As built, it was smaller and less pretentious than as planned by the government. When Britain, in 1796, gave up Fort Niagara, and with it the control, both military and civil, which while she occupied it she had necessarily exercised over all the territory on the eastern bank of the Niagara River, she had had possession of this frontier for thirty-seven years. During that period she had built thereon twenty forts, of which fourteen stood on the eastern, and six on the western bank of the river. Those fourteen on the eastern bank she surrendered to the United States, namely Fort Schlosser, eleven blockhouses along the portage, and the forts at the top and foot of the mountain, — every one of them being in a dilapidated condition, — for with the probability of surrendering them, they had been allowed to fall into decay. Of the six which she had built on the western bank, the first and second Fort Erie had been abandoned; the other four she still had : namely, third Erie, Chippawa, Queenston, and second George, the latter being the only one of any strength. Fort Niagara was in good repair; in fact, it was a stronger post than it had been when she laid siege to it in 1759. From 1796, events gradually led up to the inevitable conflict between Britain and her former colonies which culminated in the "War of 1 8 12." For this, along the Niagara Frontier, Britain made far better preparations than had the United States. General Sir Isaac Brock had charge of the Canadian Frontier after 1806, and it was due to his foresight that such prepara- tions were made, both in the assembling of cannon and in the availability of troops. In 1806, Sir James Craig, governor of Upper Canada, received orders for, and began the construction of, a new fort at the source of the Niagara River. This was to be the fourth Fort Erie ; and, unlike its predecessors, it was to be a permanent structure. It was erected quite a distance south of the site occupied by the existing fort. As each succes- sive Fort Erie, second, third, and fourth, was erected, a site farther south, away from the rapid current at the source of the Niagara River, was selected. It was a strong, but not remarkably large, earthwork fort, with two bastions, facing the river. There were heavy woods close to it on the land side, a line of pickets at a very blunt angle defending it in that direction. Facing the river, midway between but extend- ing far out in front of the bastions, was a ravelin. The possi- bility of this fort ever being attacked from the land side never [43 ] seems to have been considered by its builders. Inside of the earthworks were two large stone buildings, one used as a "mess house," the other for officers' quarters; besides barracks and other necessary buildings. These stone buildings were later on both enlarged and strengthened by the British. The plan of the fourth Fort Erie is included in that of the fifth Fort Erie. fe Sfe '.: --' '