Fort Oswego

Originally built as a trading post in 1722, and later fortified as a blockhouse in 1729 after the French built Fort Niagara, it was known as Fort Burnet. In 1741, it was fortified with stone walls and bastions, known as Fort Pepperell for a short time before taking on the Fort Oswego name. Once the French and Indian War #4 began, it was fortified even further, and included an army of one thousand seven hundred British regular and colonial troops under General William Shirley.

Fort Oswego was the strongest of the three forts at the time, but subject to attack from the eastern side of the Oswego River. Once French General the Marquis de Montcalm brought his three thousand soldiers and Indian allies to bear on Fort Ontario from Lake Ontario on August 13, 1856, capturing it quickly, he trained his guns on Fort Oswego and Fort George the next day. They surrendered.

The British would return to the grounds in 1758, but not rebuild. In the War of 1812, the Fort Oswego site was used as a supply and transit point for American troops along the Great Lakes. It had only five cannons and two hundred and forty-two men of the 2nd U.S. Artillery guarding the area plus an equal amount of militia and sailors. That strength was not enough to ward off a direct attack from the British.

When the attack came in May 6, 1814, there was little the American forces could do to stop it. With one thousand troops attacking from the lake, British General Sir Gordon Drummond and British Commodore Sir James Yeo captured the fort, two thousand four hundred barrels of supplies, and further destroyed the fort. Fortunately, twenty-one additional American cannons that were in transport to the site were not captured and became imperative to the U.S. regaining control of Lake Ontario.

There is no Fort Oswego left today; only two markers remain at the corner of West First Street and Lake Street.

Photo above: Drawing of the Battle of 1814 along Lake Ontario (Fort Oswego batteries), unknown date or author. Courtesy Royal Military College of Canada. It is possible that this is an image from Fort Ontario in the 1814 battle.

Fort George

The fort was built as an outer defense to Fort Oswego on the high ground of the southern bank of Lake Ontario, on the western side of the Oswego River prior to the battle of 1756. It was incomplete at the time of the battle. Meant to be a log stockade one hundred and seventy foot square with barracks, watchtower, and surrounded by earthworks.

Commanding the fort was Colonel Peter Schuyler with the Jersey Blues militia from New York, consisting of one hundred and fifty men. His superior, commander of both Fort Oswego and Fort George, was Lt. Colonel James Mercer. When it was attacked by the French with a land attack and bombardment from Fort Ontario on the eastern side of the Otsego River, the British surrendered the fort on August 14, 1756 to the French commander Marquis de Montcalm.

The fort was lost, destroyed, and never rebuilt. It's location is now within Montcalm Park, where there are two markers about the fort and battle.

Photo above: Photo of an interpretive marker for Fort George, site within Montcalm Park in western Oswego, New York, 2012, John Stanton. Courtesy fortwiki.com.

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Fort Ontario

Fort Ontario was built in 1755 on the east bank of the mouth of the Oswego River and south bank of Lake Ontario. It had a spectacular view and post for the British to monitor French movements as the French and Indian War raged. It was originally known as the Fort of the Six Nations, but was insufficient in size to outlast an attack by French forces and Indian allies under the Marquis de Montcalm, eventually providing a launching pad against its stronger neighbor, Fort Oswego, for a land attack and bombardment. As stated before, all three forts were captured.

When the British returned, they rebuilt Fort Ontario. It was now a large earth and timber fort with a dry moat and outlying redoubts per 1759. For eighteen years, the British maintained Fort Ontario, but surprisingly abandoned it in the American Revolution during 1777, only to have the Continental Army from Fort Stanwix destroy it one year later. In 1782, the British came back and rebuilt the fort, retaining it until the Jay Treaty returned it to the United States in 1796.

Unfortunately, the American forces did little to maintain it, and during the War of 1812, in May of 1814, it, and the supply depot at Fort Oswego, were captured and destroyed by the British.

Once the War of 1812 ended, Fort Ontario was rebuilt as a garrison for one hundred and twenty troops by the United States in 1838 to protect against another invasion by the British from the north. It was improved during the Civil War, fearing British involvement on the Confederate side. Since that time, it has been subsequently abandoned by the Army, expanded to battalion size, and by 1941, included about one hundred and twenty-five buildings. During World War II, it housed victims from the Holocaust.

Photo above: The walls of Fort Ontario, 2009, Ad Meskens. Courtesy Wikipedia Commons C.C. 3.0.