*<:«{! ■ F ill iml ilir- i-dfiSUfH- ■ mm fi»* ¡to • i|l| mm : l «lit! •*#•.! {¿ui?-'*1 ■*fV»ti***' •TO&Hii ,:!ii&!| rijHJj hjfiS wm 4m Mm mm : Hi Ml iJ.*; :i:;j{i J [fflgflKi 'Mm : {jSOjHj "fed \ II® OUHIHhI \W& mm liH-ir. :Kg?'.qs fXxty SU&fcf ;};r. '?**•£‘it! i:'W ffiigg} It?; •’l!lf ii ssisis if®!» • ah-idii»1 i;’ vZ-j* -Hoji ?•: " *' -- ***** 7 >V I The ¡Niagara Frontier Data Compiled and Arranged for the Niagara Frontier Society of New York HOV Girt H >$?< ■ i •rtW'.vf* f, • • .*«a& 1 m* B 4 871 855 GIFT OF Author \ \ > \ / V > > <* V * 4 •K ‘ % 'n - ✓ V 0T I l *< , *C* * ’S* T> i \ * V *■* * Né * ♦ . \. ♦.1 '«.A, « _v > *> Ÿ ■ <* 5- ♦* ^ « * c à. -*> * V ' : ' * •*?£ « \ .." 4' V* « c- _- V.* * * <1 fr i* <1 « «1 fr fr j 0 * * « I4. * • fr V* fr fr * * fr fr fr « • fr fr * V « 6 * i fr fr 3 3 fr fr i* fr fr fr • » «I 9 * fr * fr o fr . fr fr fr fr fr # fr Hl « * * # 0 VI # fr fr fr fr « fr \ fr fr • « * 3 fr 3 fr fr fr fr fr « * fr.fr fr £ « * * * fr fr 0 # fr A '4 fr fr fr fr fr fr 3 fr Courtesy of J. B. Lyon Company Copyright, J. B. Lyon Company First Known View of Niagara, Hennepin, 1679The Niagara Frontier Data compiled and arranged for the^Niagara Frontier Society of New York, and presented w~tKe Members of the Society By WILLIAM P. MALONEY President of the Niagara Frontier Society of New York BOYD PRINTING COMPANY Albany, New YorkCopyright, 1923 By WILLIAM P. MALONEYCONTENTS 1. The Niagara FrontiefjX.’l..................................... 1 2. The Indians of the Niagara Frontier........................... 3 3. Early French Explorers—1535.................................... 5 4. Struggle Between the English and the French—To 1759........... 17 5. Military Campaigns on the Frontier........................... 35 6. The War of 1812............................................... 57 7. Later Development .......................................... 67 8. Societies Interested in the Niagara Frontier.................. 81 9. Bibliography.................................................. 82 10. Index...................................................... 92 iiiILLUSTRATIONS 1. First Known View of Niagara, Hennepin, 1679........Frontispiece 2. Map of a Large Country Newly Discovered in North America, 1679 .........................................Opposite page 6 3. An Old Frontier of France, About 1700..................... 12 4. Signatures Attached to Deed of Five Nations, 1701......... 23 5. The Niagara Frontier, 1759 ............................... 33 6. Northern Campaigns, 1812.................................. 56 7. The Niagara Frontier, showing every point of historical interest from the earliest times to the present day....Opposite page 61 IvFOREWORD Several years ago a number of gentlemen residing in the City of New York, who had formerly resided on the Niagara Frontier, organized the Niagara Frontier Society to endeavor to bring together the numerous residents of the city who were formerly denizens of that most interesting section. A banquet has been held annually since the organization. As a result of these banquets great interest has been displayed by the members in the origin and early history of the Niagara Frontier. Investigation revealed that there has been no connected history or sketch, which was at the same time fairly full and complete, of the origin of the Niagara Frontier, and the many interesting incidents which have occurred in that region. The within compilation has been prepared by Miss K. Courtenay Johnston, who is a member of the Bar of the State of New York, and whose diligence and research on this particular subject are shown throughout the pages of this pamphlet. The Niagara Frontier Society owes a great debt to her for the complete- ness and accuracy of this work. I have thought that the dissemination of this information wouH create additional interest in the Society. William P. Maloney, President. New York October, 1923THE NIAGARA FRONTIER THE name of the Niagara Frontier seems to have been applied to three distinct portions of the Canadian territory. At first, in the early days of the French explorations, it covered everything west of the Fall St. Louis. Beginning with Fort Frontenac, at the outlet of Lake Ontario, the Niagara Frontier stretched to Lake Superior and the headwaters of the Mississippi on the west, and to the Ohio River valley and the mouth of the Mississippi on the south. This region was unmapped, and the vaguest ideas were entertained of its extent. Father Hennepin, the historian of La Salle’s expedition in 1678, seemed to think there might be a western waterway leading from the lakes to the Pacific Ocean, near Japan;1 and also a waterway from the Ohio to some point in the Gulf of Mexico near Florida. (See Map of Hennepin, 1679.) During the struggles between the English and the French for the fur trade of the Indians along the northern boundary of New York, and westward into the Ohio Valley, the Niagara Frontier meant, not merely the boundaries of the Niagara River, but the country contiguous to Lakes Erie and Ontario,2 linked with the old route southward into the Ohio Valley by portages from the eastern end of Lake Erie. (See Map—An Old Frontier of France, about 1750.) Its present commonly accepted geographical boundaries were set in 1764 by Sir William Johnson, the most influ- ential white man with the Indians on this continent.3 He called a great meeting of all the tribes, from Arkansas to Hudson Bay, at Fort Niagara. There a treaty was signed, which surrendered to the king of England a strip of two 1 Hennepin, A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America, Extending Above Four Thousand Miles. 2 Severance, An Old Frontier of France. 3 Marshall, The Niagara Frontier, Embracing Sketches of Its Early History and Indian, French and Local Names. 1miles on each side of the River Niagara. At the north was Fort Niagara, in the center the important portage around the falls, of seven miles, at the entrance above the falls, two more forts. There were four block houses, and a second fort near the northern end. The Niagara portage was the best protected highway in America. (See Map—The Niagara Frontier, 1759.) “ Niagara is the oldest of all the local geographical terms which have come down to us from the aborigines. The name is probably derived from the Mohawks, through whom the French had their first intercourse with the Iro- quois. It is said to mean neck. The corresponding Seneca name, Nyahgaah, was always confined by the Iroquois to the section of the river below the falls, and to Lake Ontario. The portion of the river above the falls was sometimes called Gaigwaahgeh, one of their names for Lake Erie. The Senecas called the cataract Detgahshohseo, which means the place of the high falls, not, as some have poeti- cally tried to make it appear, thunder of waters.” Nowhere in America is there another area of equal size where history better exhibits first, explorations, and, later, contentions for control of trade and territory, than in the strip of land on the banks of the Niagara River. The Niagara was the key to all the west, the portage of seven miles around the falls being the only break in an all-water journey from Fort Frontenac to the ends of the upper lakes. Spain, Holland, Sweden, France, and Great Britain, each had a foothold there at one time, and coveted the rest. But only the French and the English were actually on the Niagara. The name Niagara is first so spelled in an early memoir of 1676 (La Chesnaye), and the first printed book to so record it is the Louisiane, 1683 (Hennepin). The early maps show it variously as Oxniagara, Oniaahra, or most commonly as Ongiara. On Sanson’s map, 1656, published thirteen years before La Salle came into the region, the falls he is popularly supposed to have been the first white man to discover are marked as Ongiara Sault (fall). 2THE INDIANS OF THE NIAGARA REGION FIRST in this region were the Attiowandaronk, or Neutral Nation,1 whose council fires were along the Niagara on the west, but whose hunting grounds extended nearly from the Genesee to the eastern shore of Lake Huron. They were mentioned by Champlain in 1615. They excelled the Hurons in stature and grace. In 1650 they were practically destroyed by the Iroquois, and the few survivors were adopted by the conquerors. In 1669, a small remnant were found by the Jesuit missionaries, living in the present county of Ontario. After their destruction, the country between the Genesee and the Niagara was left uninhabited, except for passing bands, for more than a century. The Senecas lived east of the Genesee till 1687, when they were badly defeated by an expedition sent out by the French governor of Canada, De Nonville. They were dis- trustful of both the French and the English, though, during the Revolutionary War, they espoused the side of Great Britain. After a massacre at Wyoming, Pennsylvania, Washington sent an expedition to chastise them under Sullivan, in 1779. They fled and sought British protection under the guns of Fort Niagara. Later they found a new home on Buffalo Creek, whence they had helped to drive the Neuters one hundred and thirty years before. The Iroquois were the fiercest of the tribes about Niagara. On the whole, they took the British side in the struggle for the fur trade. In 1701, they gave, by a formal deed, all their hunting grounds to the English. Thereafter the English claimed them as citizens of Great Britain, but the claim was not admitted by the French. Their villages were i Marshall, The Niagara Frontier. 3to the south of Lake Ontario, and farther down towards Albany and the head of the Ohio River.1 The Iroquois consisted of the so-called Five Nations, though later a sixth tribe, the Tuscaroras, was admitted, after which they were called the Six Nations.2 The name means People of the Long House, because their villages stretched in a row all along central New York, south of Lake Ontario. The five tribes were the Senecas, the Cayugas, the Onondagas, the Oneidas, and the Mohawks. The Iroquois exterminated the Neuters and the Eries, and warred with the Hurons. 1 Severance, An Old Frontier of France. 2 Parkman, Jesuits in North America. 4EARLY FRENCH EXPLORERS IT IS commonly said that Jacques Cartier, in 1535, was the first white man to hear about the falls of Niagara, and to make reference to them. Probably the honor belongs to Samuel de Champlain.1 Cartier, on his second voyage to Canada, ascended the St. Lawrence to Hochelaga, now Montreal. His voyage is described in Lescarbot’s Histoire de la Nouvelle France, published in 1609. On page 381, he says (as the substance of it is given a translation in Marshall’s The Niagara Frontier): He [Cartier] was told that, after ascending many leagues among rapids and waterfalls, he would reach a lake one hundred and fifty leagues long and forty or fifty broad, at the western extremity of which the waters were wholesome and the winters mild; that a river emp- tied into it from the south, which had its source in the country of the Iroquois; that beyond this lake he would find a cataract and portage; then another lake about equal to the former, which they had never explored; and still further on a sea, the western shores of which they had never seen, nor had they heard of anyone who had. This is the earliest historical notice of our great lake region. But a careful reading of Lescarbot’s book shows clearly that in this part of his work he is only quoting literally from Champlain’s Des Sauvages, which was first published in 1604, five years before Lescarbot’s book appeared. Lescarbot makes a reference to Niagara Falls, pages 379, 381, 383, but each is a literal quotation from Champlain. i Porter, Champlain—Not Cartier—Made First Reference to Niagara Falls in Literature. 5Hence the date of the first reference to Niagara must be changed from 1535 to 1604, and the honor of being the first white man to tell anything about it must be transferred to Champlain. Cartier may have heard of the “ grand sault ” or Niagara in 1535, but it is unlikely, for in an account published in 1545 he makes no reference to it, though he does refer briefly to the great lakes. Champlain did hear of “ un sault, entre deux lacs,” and gives, not only one but three, definite accounts of it that he heard in 1603 from the Indians. The passages of Des Sauvages are, in point of time, the second, but, as regards details, the earliest known accounts of our great lake country. To the founder of Quebec and the first governor of New France—the most picturesque figure in all Canadian history, Samuel de Champlain, is the honor of being the first white man in literature to refer to Niagara Falls. A story of La Salle’s visit to the Devil’s Hole is appar- ently of a much later date.1 However, the account states that La Salle, in company with an Indian, visited the hole, and had communication with the evil spirit which resided there. He was told that, if he would return from making an attempt to penetrate the west, the lands belonging to the Indians, he would be famous and successful, but that, if he persevered in his explorations, he would die a miserable death in the wilderness. The alleged prophecy was literally fulfilled. A diary of one of the earliest explorers,2 written shortly after the events narrated, is very interesting, and fairly veracious except when the historian, Father Hennepin, attempts to claim for himself much of the credit usually given to La Salle. Some of it is exaggerated, as in the state- ment that the falls of Niagara are six hundred feet high. 1 Colt, The Devil’s Hole, With an Account of a Visit Made to it by La Salle. 2 Hennepin, A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America Extend- ing Above Four Thousand Miles—1698 (The diary of Father Louis Hennepin, Missionaiy Recollect of the Franciscan Order). 6 ... rnitnm..""-p— - ißentpetls Port We!fin Cho njb ajkahu ®r Saltan ofstrùtta tnatt yenrtf/tit Marj/> Ptfiautaa attar LaKt Stla/iph] atta ns wsZake TChanaas Kata% \ I ShSottoMoots Tmthana, arSoften v Paknts fttaeue yt\ilatAew at Corsa /* »¿a/hti. ■ ftmat efSfBari, "¿yUrm&rt Zuauth of the ftcicha/tjpt : Copyright K^^^^S^^^EMlîiamÏP.BVIàloney' Map op a Labge ®5jntry Newly^Discovered in North America, 1679VHe pointed out the possibility of a passage by water to the Gulf of Mexico; “ by the conveniency of a great River called Hoio, which passes through the country of the Iroquese, a Passage might be made into the Sea at Cape Florida.” “ Lake Ontario ” (which means, he said, the pretty lake) “ received the name of Lake Frontenac for the Count, the Governor-General of Canada.” (In general, the early writers limited Canada to the country north of the St. Law- rence and extending west only to the Fall of St. Louis.) “ The Spainiards were the first who discovered Canada; but at their first arrival, having found nothing considerable in it, they abandoned the country, and called it II Capo Di Nada, that is, a Cape of Nothing; hence by corruption sprung the word Canada, which we use in all our maps.” In the winter he resolved to make a tour of five cantons of the Iroquese, and traveled seventy leagues, “ having our feet armed with large Rackets to prevent the injury of the Snow, which abounds in that country in time of Winter. . . . At length with much difficulty, we arrived at Gannickey, or Agniez, which is one of the five cantons of the Iroquese, situated about a large Day’s Journey from New Holland, called now New York.” Fort Frontenac was about one hundred leagues from Quebec, where Lake Ontario discharges itself. It was neces- sary to build this for a bulwark against the Iroquese, and to interrupt the trade of skins these savages maintained with the inhabitants of New York and the Hollanders, “ for they furnish the Savages with commodities at cheaper Rates than the French of Canada.” In the sixth chapter is “ a Description of Some Fresh Water Lakes, the Greatest and the Pleasantest in the Universe. . . . Lake Ontario is of an Oval Figure, and extends itself from East to West. Its Water is fresh and sweet, and very pleasant to drink; the Lands which border upon it being likewise very fertile. It is very navigable, and can receive large Vessels, only in Winter it is more difficult because of the outrageous Winds which are fre- 7quent there. From this Lake one may go by Barques, or by greater Vessels, to the foot of a great Rock that is about two Leagues off the Fall of the River Niagara.” Chapter seven contains the celebrated description of the Fall of the River Niagara, and there is a further description on page 216. “ Betwixt the Lake Ontario and Erie [which is called on his map the Lake of the Cat] there is a vast and prodigious Cadence of Water which falls down after a surprizing and astonishing manner, insomuch that the Uni- verse does not afford its Parallel. Tis true, Italy and Suedeland boast of some such things, but we may well say they are but sorry Patterns when compared to this of which we now speak. . . . This wonderful Downfall is com- pounded of two great Cross-streams of Water and two Falls, with an Isle sloping along the middle of it. The Waters which fall from this vast height do foam and boil after the most hideous manner imaginable, making an out- rageous Noise, more terrible than that of Thunder; for when the Wind blows off the South, their dismal Roaring may be heard above fifteen Leagues off.” “ Sieur de la Salle had a design to have built a Fort at the Mouth of the River Niagara, and might easily have compass’d it. . . . His design was to curb and keep down the Iroquese. . . . Such a Fort as this might easily have interrupted the Commerces betwixt these people and the English and the Dutch in New-York. Their custom is to carry to New-York the Skins of Elks, Beavers, and several sorts of Beasts, which they hunt and seek after some two or three hundred Leagues from their own home. Now they being obliged to pass and repass near to this mouth of the River Niagara, we might easily stop them by fair means in time of Peace, or by open Force in time of War; and thus oblige them to turn their Commerce upon Canada.” “ This Lake Erie, or Tejocharontiong, encloses on its Southern Bank a Tract of Land as large as the Kingdom of France.” Hennepin tells of joining the expedition fitted out by 8La Salle, and pushing on from Fort Frontenac up the Lake Ontario, to the Niagara River. “ On December 6, 1678, being St. Nicholas’ Day, we got into the fine River Niagara, into which not any such Ship as ours [a brigantine, ten tons] entered before. . . . The Iroquese inhabiting a little Village situated at the mouth of the River took above Three Hundred Whitings, which are bigger than Carps, and the best relished as well as the wholsomest Fish in the World. ... We saw great num- bers of Wild Goats and Wild Turkey Cocks, and on the eleventh we said the first Mass that ever was said in that country.” “ This Nation [the Iroquois] is the most cruel and bar- barous of all America; however, I must do them the Justice to observe that they have many good Qualities; and that they love the Europeans, to whom they sell their Commodi- ties at very reasonable rates. They have a mortal hatred for those, who, being too self-interested and covetous, are always endeavoring to enrich themselves to the Prejudice of Others. Their chief Commodities are Beaver Skins, which they bring from above a hundred and fifty Leagues of their Habitations, to exchange them with the English and the Dutch, whom they affect more than the Inhabitants of Canada, because they are more affable, and sell their Commodities cheaper.” The ship in which La Salle went up from Fort Frontenac to Niagara was cast awray on the southern coast of Lake Ontario. The seamen called this “ The Mad Cape.” Hennepin went with the party who were to build a ship on Lake Erie. “We went two leagues above the great Fall of Niagara, where we made a Dock for building the Ship we wanted for our Voyage. . . . Our Ship was in readi- ness to be launched, which we did after having blessed the same. ... We made all the haste we could to get it afloat, though not altogether finished, to prevent the Designs of the Natives, who had resolved to bum it. “ The ship was called the Griffin, alluding to the Arms 9of Count Frontenac, which have two Griffins for Supporters, and besides, M. la Salle used to say of this Ship, while yet upon the Stocks, that he would make the Griffin fly above the Ravens. We fired three Guns and sung the Te Deum, which was attended with loud Acclamations of Joy, of which those of the Iroquese who were accidentally present at this ceremony were also partakers, for we gave them some Brandy to drink, as well as to our Men. . . . [They] called us Otken, that is, in their Language, ‘ Most penetrating Wits.’ ” “ M. de la Salle . . . having called us together on the twenty-seventh of May, 1679, he acquainted us that, being Proprietary and Governor of Fort Frontenac, he would order in his Will that no other religious Order but ours [Franciscans] should be suffered to settle themselves near the Fort [Frontenac]; he afterwards marked out a Church- yard; and, having created a publick Notary, he ordered him to draw up an Instrument whereby the said M. La Salle gave to our Order the Property of Eighteen Acres of Ground along the Side of the Lake Ontario near the Fort, and about a Hundred Acres more in the next Forest, to be cleared and grubbed up. We accepted this gift in the name of our Order, and signed the Deed, which was the first that ever was transacted in that Country. The Notary’s name was La Meterie.” The Griffon was built to sail on west through the Great Lakes, of which reports had been got from the Indians, and perhaps to find a passage to China and Japan. Its launch- ing was considered very significant in the development of the Niagara frontier, even by the Indians. “ Some of the Iroquese . . . immediately went for New-York to give notice to the English and Dutch of our sailing into the Lake, for those Nations, affording their Commodities cheaper than the French, are also more beloved by the Natives.” In later chapters Hennepin told how, while La Salle was attempting to get support for the expedition which he later made to the Mississippi, the missionary went on alone 10some distance down the “ River Meschasipi.” These later expeditions of La Salle are better known than the first venture into the Niagara frontier, and, strictly speaking, have nothing to do with that territory. They were not possible, however, until that part of the country had been mapped, and settlements and posts established along Lake Erie and the Niagara, and friendly relation created there with the Indians. La Salle always considered Fort Fron- tenac, and also Fort Niagara, his base of operation. It is true, he did not discover the Mississippi River, that had been done one hundred years before from the south, and its mouth explored by De Soto and its upper regions by Joliet and Marquette, but La Salle was the first to traverse its entire length. This he did working from his base on the Niagara Frontier. In An Old Frontier of France/ Severance has made a scholarly contribution to the literature of this region." He tells in detail of the early French explorers. “ By ‘ the Niagara region ’ ... is meant not merely the borders of the river from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, but more or less broadly the country contiguous to both lakes and river. (See map.) It is a region especially linked with the old routes southward into the Ohio Valley, by portages from the eastern end of Lake Erie, which, with the Niagara, formed for many years a continuous and important highway into the heart of the continent. No study of the Niagara region in the days of the French is anything but fragmentary and inadequate if it fails to view the Niagara as a portion of a great thoroughfare which crossed the divide south of Lake Erie, and had as its main objective the posts of the Ohio Valley, the Illinois country, and communication with Louisiana.” “ Of the present settlements upon Lake Erie, the city of Erie is the only one which has any considerable ties with the French period. On Lake Ontario, numerous communi- ties do have, notably Kingston and Oswego, and, in a less i Buffalo Historical Society Publications, Vol. XX and Vol. XXI. 1112degree, Toronto. Of the' cities and towns on the Niagara River, those that are now least were, in French days, the greatest. In particular, the story to be told is of that por- tion of the Niagara River below, or north of, the great cataract. . . . One may say of this portion of the river, since the advent of the white man, that its annals are longer by a century and a half than those of Buffalo. The most populous portion of the Niagara frontier today will figure least in our story of it under French domination. The most stirring, the most dramatic, the most significant events will be found centering around the old fort at the mouth of the river, the sole remaining habitation which testifies to the period of French control on the Niagara.” That period ended with the surrender of Fort Niagara, July, 1759. The first white man known to have voyaged on the Great Lakes was Champlain. Probably he was preceded by the man who later acted as his guide, Etienne Bulé, who made a journey there in 1615, five years before the Pilgrims set foot in America. Then a priest went to the Neuter nation—Joseph de la Roche, about 1626. Brébeuf and Chaumont (Jesuits) went, about 1640, to the Niagara region, and passed the winter there, suffering hardship and ill usage. France took possession in October, 1669, when La Salle and two others accompanied a small missionary expedition to the frontier. The first Europeans who reached Niagara by Lake Ontario met Joliet coming east from looking for copper on Lake Superior. He had gone out by the Ottawa route. He was the first white man on Lake Erie. This party erected a cross with the royal arms at the foot, and formal possession was taken in the name of Louis the Magnificent. The expedition stayed all winter near Niagara, and La Salle is said to have been the first white man who visited the site of the city of Buffalo. He petitioned the crown for a grant on Lake Ontario, and was given Fort Frontenac (called by some early writers Fort Cataraqui) at the east 13end of the lake. He was also granted a patent of nobility. Here he began to prepare for his famous expedition of 1678. He said in his memoir to Colbert, 1674, that “ It is cer- tain the country will never be thoroughly formed until it will have towns and villages. . . . Following the example the English and Dutch have set, . . . [we should] designate the place where the Indian trade will be carried on, with a prohibition to pursue it in private settlements. It is thus our neighbors have built up Manette and Orange ” (New York and Albany). He went “ to discover the western part of New France,” and a way to penetrate as far as Mexico. The expedition was fitted out at his own expense, but he was granted as a privilege the trade in Cibola (buffalo) skins. In advance of his own party, he sent out a small expe- dition under the Sieur de la Mothe, accompanied by the missionary Louis Hennepin, to proceed above the falls and build a vessel upon Lake Erie. After some diplomacy, he succeeded in getting peaceful permission from the Senecas to built a fort on the Niagara. The vessel constructed by Hennepin’s party was built just north of the mouth of Cayuga Creek. It was launched in the eastern arm of the Niagara, just south of the mouth of the creek, in a very narrow channel between the east bank and Cayuga Island. (It was here that the Niagara Frontier Landmarks Association erected its first tablet, August 7, 1901, the two hundred and twenty-second anniversary of the launching.) The ship, the first one to sail the Great Lakes, was forty-five tons, and carried five small guns. The beakhead was adorned with a flying griffin, hence its name of the Griffon, and an eagle above it, and the rest of the ship “ had the same ornaments as men of war used to have.” A good many statements have been made about her appear- ance, and she has been called a two masted schooner, but no one really knows what she looked like. She was built partly for the projected voyage to the southwest, and partly for the profits of the fur trade in the lake region. Upon her return voyage from Green Bay on the northwestern 14shore of Lake Michigan in September, 1679, she was lost. There was a great deal of discontent among La Salle’s followers. While he was absent on one of his expeditions, Fort Frontenac was seized by his creditors, and his men made off with much of his goods. In 1682 he embarked on Lake de Conty, and in November he arrived at the River of Miamis. With his later and more famous expedition to the Mississippi, on which he took possession of Louisiana in the name of King Louis, the Niagara Frontier has nothing to do, but the start was made there. He was killed on his last journey by one of his own men. The first building erected on the Niagara was the pali- saded house at Lewiston, built by La Mothe, 1678. In 1679, ground was broken at Fort Niagara. The first letter on record as written from Fort Niagara is from La Salle, of date January 27, 1679. It concludes with a postscript admonition to “be careful of the new hatchet.” It was on the eastern side of the river, at present Lewis- ton, that the first altar for Christian worship was set up. An interesting account, illustrated by cuts, of the coming of La Salle to the frontier, and his plans for trade with the farther lakes by means of a large vessel is given by Porter.1 He states that Lake Erie is usually said to have been dis- covered by Joliet, who entered it in 1669 at the western end, having gone out to the west by the Ottawa River route. It has also been alleged that in 1632 two English- men, Price and Wilmherding, penetrated as far west as Niagara Falls, but this has not been authenticated. None of the early Jesuit missionaries ever reported seeing the falls, nor did any trapper tell of seeing them. There is no account of any one’s beholding the cataract till 1669, when La Salle’s small expedition went out. They met Joliet on his way back from Lake Superior. Father Hennepin visited i Porter, How Lake Commerce Began. 15and described the falls when he accompanied La Salle on his later expedition in 1678. A cabin of birch bark was made for Hennepin to use as a chapel. It was the first religious structure on the river. He always carried with him a portable altar, strapped on his back. A blockhouse was built then, and later a fort, to which the consent of the Indians was gained by the promise of sending a smith to live in it. This they desired very much, and the promise was kept. Tonty, of the iron hand, was put in command. 1GSTRUGGLE BETWEEN THE ENGLISH AND THE FRENCH FOR THE FUR TRADE JONCAIRE gained permission from the Indians to build a French post at Niagara.1 Governor Hunter of New York sent Peter Schuyler and Philip Living- ston to counteract his influence. The Five Nations thought a building at Niagara would “ shut them up in prison.” The chiefs sent to see what was going on, and found a small blockhouse, or loopholed storehouse, which had just been finished at Lewiston Heights, at the foot of the portage. They objected to this, but finally agreed to a building at the mouth of the Niagara, where De Nonville had erected one in 1687. Governor Burnet got permission of the Five Nations to build a loopholed house of stone at the present site of Oswego. The Assembly refused to vote the money for its cost, and Burnet built it at his own expense. It proved a thorn in the side of the French by its interference with their fur trade, and was later the starting point for military expeditions of the English. The French did not want to start war themselves, and tried to persuade the Five Nations to destroy the Oswego post. They established a trading post at Toronto to stop Indians on their way to trade in the English market, and built two armed vessels at Fort Frontenac to control the trade of Lake Ontario. As Niagara controlled the passage from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie, so did Fort Detroit control that from Lake Huron to Lake Michigan, while Fort Ste. Marie was at the outlet of Lake Superior. |||That immense extent of inland navigation was safe in the hands of France so long as she 1 Severance, An Old Frontier of France. 17held Niagara. Niagara lost, not only the lakes, but the valley of the Ohio was lost with it.” The British insisted on a British establishment for trade on the Niagara frontier. They claimed the Iroquois as English subjects, but that was not so specified in the Treaty of Neutrality signed between King James and King Louis in 1686. De Nonville had proposed to attack the Iroquois in force, but made an inglorious campaign. He was angered to find in a village the arms of the Duke of York, which the governor of New York, Dongan, had set up there in 1684. The Indians had asked for this as a sign of British protection, and the arms were ordered to be put up “ in each castle as far as Oniagra,” though probably this was not done west of the Genesee Valley. De Nonville pushed on to the Niagara River, and fortified a building which he called Fort De Nonville, more often referred to as Fort Niagara, and arranged for a permanent garrison. Their provisions were exhausted during the winter, sickness broke out, and it was decided to give up the fort, but to hold on to Fort Frontenac. This expedition was unique in that it was not undertaken for trade. One of the favorite legends of the frontier has to do with a dog taken to the Fort Niagara garrison by one of the soldiers. His name was Vingt Sols (Twenty Sous) and he rendered good service as a sentinel. A son of this dog was called Monsieur de Niagara. Taken by his master to Chambly, he developed a fondness for running through the woods to a neighboring post, La Prairie de la Madelains, where there was another dog. Seeing that he came and went faithfully, the soldiers fastened letters to his collar, which never failed of delivery. In this way was established the dog post (poste a patand) which was so useful and became so famous that the dog’s master applied to the Intendant at Quebec for the allowance of a daily ration for Monsieur de Niagara, and it was granted. He was formally added to the garrison list, and at roll call would reply—or someone would reply for him if he were absent—“ En course,” or “A la chasse.” This continued even several 18years after his death. The story has been a favorite with the French Canadian writers for two hundred years. The English either supplied the Senecas with arms or it was easy to get them at Albany. The two governors were constantly writing each other vehement letters. The English demanded that the fort at Niagara be demolished. This matter was finally referred to the two sovereigns themselves, and New York sent as a representative to Whitehall one Palmer. He was an English attorney, who came to New York from the Barbadoes, but was made King’s Ranger of Staten Island, and is often spoken of as Captain. He was the first judge of the New York Court of Oyer and Terminer. During the progress of these negotiations, De Nonville sent an expedition to the west under La Hontan, who pene- trated to the Detroit River. A station was here, Little St. Joseph, at the entrance to Lake Huron, built 1686 to keep the English out of the upper lakes. The return trip to Fort Niagara was made on foot overland. The next year, 1688, he went again “ to the south side of Lake Erie.” This is the first account of any exploration of the south shore. He was the second writer to allude to the site of the city of Buffalo. La Hontan was an interesting character. He loved adventures, and deserted his betrothed on the eve of the wedding, to the scandal of Quebec, because “ a solitary life is most grateful to me, and the manners of savages are perfectly agreeable to my palate.” When made lieutenant of Newfoundland as a recognition of his services against the English, he protested that it was an honor mistakenly bestowed. There are few annals of Lake Erie at this period. There was a bloody naval engagement between the Senecas, who, when their canoes were destroyed, swam to shore and dis- patched each other with knives. Shortly after Fort Niagara was abandoned, Fort Frontenac was also given up as a garrisoned post. The three ships on Lake Ontario made their base at La Gallette (Ogdensburg). The French were harsh in their treatment 19of the Indians, which inclined them to the English. Another expedition was made against the Indians on the Oswego River. The French found the Indians gone, but burned their villages. For forty years of the eighteenth century there are few records of the Niagara Frontier. The struggle for trade control between the English and the French continued, and, broadly speaking, there was warfare all that time, though nominally the two countries occasionally signed treaties of peace. After King William’s War, there was the Peace of Ryswick, 1697, and, following Queen Anne’s War, the Treaty of Utrecht, 1713, so that there was political peace for thirty-five years. But on the Niagara and the Great Lakes there was never a day in all the forty years when the spirit of commercial warfare was not active. France extended herself by distant posts along the lakes and the Allegheny region, really weakening herself for future defense. New York and the other English colonies developed home territory. Both bargained with, cajoled, and fought the Indians. The governors of New York had their attention somewhat distracted from the frontier by the necessity of putting down the pirates on the coast— Morgan, Kidd, and Blackboard. The one outstanding figure is the Frenchman Joncaire, who, by his diplomatic treatment of the Indians, gained a foothold for the French on the Niagara, both for the fur trade and for defense, and maintained it for a quarter of a century. He gained his influence originally when taken captive by the Senecas. “As they were fastening him to the stake to burn him, he gave a blow of his fist on the nose of the one who held him. It made the savage’s nose bleed, averted the tragedy, and saved his life, since he was soon adopted [into the tribe], the savages admiring a man who dared, alone, defend his life among many enemies.” His intimacy with the Senecas was of the utmost value to Canada in promotion of her plans for the fur trade. He married a Seneca wife, and two of his ten children were conspicuous in the Niagara region for the next generation. The two Englishmen sent 20out from Orange (Albany), Bleecker and Schuyler, reported with much irritation that Joncaire had tremendous influ- ence among “ our Indians.” Under sanction of the French, Indian parties fell on cer- tain New England settlements, starting apparently from the Niagara Frontier. The French government at home became actively interested in Niagara as the best point for a center of the fur trade with the Iroquois, but took no actual steps to establish themselves there. In 1707, La Mothe Cadillac, the commandant at Mackinac, and the founder of Detroit, proposed to the ministers in Paris a canal to connect Lakes Erie and Ontario. The suggestion was not acted upon, but it was so far entertained that an estimate of the possibHcost was asked for. In 1708, an interesting and valuable report was made by d’Aigrement, an agent sent out to investigate conditions for the French king himself. He did not recommend a fort on the site of the former Fort Niagara because, although it would attract some of the Iroquois who could give news of the doings of the English, and would also be likely to halt some of the far western Indians going on to Oswego with pelts for the English trading post there, he feared that the English would really benefit by the establishment of such a central post. They sold “ low priced druggets ” far below the French scale of prices. The French found constantly that the English could underbid them in both price and quality, and the Indians thought nothing of going two or three hundred miles further to make a better bargain. On the English side, some interesting facts are recorded in the manuscript records of transactions of the New York Indian Commissioners from 1678 to 1751. The originals were unfortunately destroyed by fire in the capital at Albany, but a careful copy had been made previously for Professor Mcllwain of Harvard. Governor Dongan of New York complained in picturesque language of the pretensions of the French.H ’Tis a very hard thing that all the countries a Frenchman walks over in America must belong to Canada.” And again: “[As] for the Five Nations of 21Indians being the King of England’s subjects, I know no better judge than themselves, and very ancient records of their submission, which is a very just title and farr better than that of yours of a poor Frenchman going with a pack upon his back to Onyagro.” Joncaire spent a winter at the Long House of the Iroquois (probably situated at the White Springs, two miles north- west of Geneva) and got permission to establish a trading post on the Niagara River. This was built as a magazine at the beginning of the portage, where Lewiston now stands. He was made Commandant. The English objected, and sent Schuyler and Livingston to persuade the Indians to object. Lawrence Classen went also. He was the first white man not French who is known to have visited Niagara except in a clandestine manner. He was the only man able to cope with Joncaire, and man- aged to secure a deed, by which the Five Nations conveyed their beaver hunting grounds to King William, 1701. They quit-claimed to the English crown all the country south of Lake Ontario and Lake Huron, on both sides of Lake Erie, as far west as Lake Michigan, “ including likewise the great falls of Oakinagaro.” Thus a stretch of country four hun- dred miles by eight hundred miles, a bone of contention among European powers because of the fur trade, was absolutely given, and “ forever quitclaimed to our great Lord and Master the King of England, called by us Corach- koo, and by the Christians, William the Third, and to his heirs and successors, Kings and Queens of England, forever.” The sole consideration was the liberty on the part of the Five Nations to hunt as they pleased in this their own domain, and to be protected by the English in the exercise of this right. (See Signatures attached to Deed of Five Nations, 1701.) This deed was confirmed in 1726 by the Onondagas, Cayugus, and Senecas in a trust deed to Governor Burnet as representative of King George. The second document was not so sweeping as the first, but included from Oswego County to Cleveland, Ohio, specifying “ all along said lake 22SlNNEKES SACHIMS CAYOUGES SACHIMS From Severance’s An Old Frontier of France Copyright, Dodd, Mead & Company Signatures Attached to Deed of Five Nations, 1701 23 Some of the signatures attached to the Five .Nations’ deed of July .19, 1701 (N.Y. Col. Docs., IY.)[Erie] and all the narrow passage from the said lake to the Falls of Oniagro, called Cahaquaraghe, and all along the River Oniagro.” After Classen’s stay among the Indians, they took back their agreement to let Joncaire build there, and said that he must tear down the magazine. But, after patient diplo- macy, he succeeded in getting them to spare the house. It was considered a great victory for the French. “ Local tradition fixes the site of the Magazin Royal on the present Bridge Street at Lewiston, a few rods east of the tracks of the International Railway Company, and within a stone’s throw of the bank of the Niagara. Here . . . one may yet trace the outlines of what appears to have been a well and of the foundations of a building.” A memoir of unknown authorship, 1718, gives the follow- ing account of the Niagara portage. “ The Niagara portage is two leagues and a half to three leagues long, but the road over which carts roll two or three times a year is very fine, with very beautiful and open woods, through which a per- son is visible for a distance of six hundred paces. The trees are all oak and very large. The soil along the entire [length] of that road is not very good. From the landing, which is three leagues up the river, four hills are to be ascended. Above the first hill is a Seneca village of about ten cabins, where Indian corn, beans, peas, watermelons, and pumpkins are raised, all of which are very fine. These Senecas are employed by the French from whom they earn money by carrying the goods of those who are going to the upper country, some for mitasses [leggins], others for shirts, some for powder and ball, whilst some others pilfer; on the return of the French they carry their packs of furs for some peltry. This portage is made for the purpose of avoid- ing the Cataract of Niagara, the grandest sheet of water in the world, having a perpendicular fall of two or three hun- dred feet. This fall is the outlet of Lakes Erie, Huron, Michigan, and Superior, and consequently of the numberless rivers discharging into these lakes. . . . The Niagara Portage having been passed, we ascend a river six leagues 24in length and more than a quarter of a league in width, in order to enter Lake Erie, which is not very wide at its mouth. The route by the southern is much finer than that by the northern shore . . . it is thirty leagues longer than that along the north. There is no need of fasting on either side of this lake, deer are to be found there in great abun- dance, buffalos are found on the south but not on the north shore.” Madame Cadillac, a Quebec woman, wife of the founder of Detroit, and Madame de Tonty went thither from Quebec, after a winter at Fort Frontenac. They were the first white women in the Niagara region. As there were no horses on the Niagara portage, they must have walked the eight miles, unless they were drawn on hand sleds. They were con- sidered heroines by the Canadians, and much lauded, while the Indians were astonished to see them. In the fifty-eight years that followed the establishment of Detroit, there was a constant migration thither, prac- tically all by the Niagara route. Finally one or two families ventured out, and in 1749 twelve families passed through Niagara. The emigrants were of fine quality, usually of the two social extremes—nobles or hunters, and later traders. There were no seigneries (royal grants of large tracts of land) on the lakes except that of La Salle at Kingston and one at Sault Ste. Marie, though Cadillac asked for one on Lake Erie. He proposed to use the mulberry trees there to establish a silk industry. No grant was ever made on the Niagara. It was a day of small things in trade as well as in war. The profits of the sale of peltries, to gain which two powers contended for Niagara, was, in 1722-23, a little over $1,000. A few soldiers seized half a continent for this, and another handful dispossessed them. No effort was made to increase the trade by building schooners, and the French used nothing larger than canoes or bateaux, some of them equipped with sails. The Griffon was not only the first deep water vessel sailed by the French on Lake Erie, it was the last. The English at one time proposed to establish a sort 25of caravan route by horse from Niagara to Albany. They suggested to an Iroquois chief on the frontier that this should be done, and that the profits would be divided with him, but apparently the suggestion was not entertained. Increasing interest was taken in the falls, and in 1721 the governor of Canada sent two young men to survey the cataract. There is no official report extant. It is said that they used a cod line and a stone of half a hundred weight, and that they found the perpendicular height to be “no more than twenty-six fathomH(one hundred and fifty-six feet). This must have been at the eastern edge of the American Falls, now known as Prospect Point. There was no exaggeration in what these two said except as to the size of the trout, one of which they affirmed had been taken weighing eighty-six pounds. Governor Burnet pushed the English claims actively, and urged building a fort above the falls, but got no royal en- couragement. Seven young Dutchmen (Peter Schuyler, Jacob Verplanck, Gilleyn Verplanck, Johannis Visger, Hermannes Schuyler, Johannis Van de Bergh, Peter Groen- endyck, David van der Hayden) went up from Albany and stayed all winter at an old Seneca village on Lake Ontario called Irondequoit. They accomplished nothing in the way of a permanent settlement, but a little later a fort was built at the present site of Oswego. The Indians were drawn to Albany for trade by the trail up the Oswego River, through Oneida Lake, and down the Mohawk. They came from as far as Mackinac, and often travelled twelve hundred miles to get to Albany. They especially wanted mirrors, red coats, and guns, and preferred rum to brandy, probably because it was cheaper. In 1726 the French built a stone fort at Niagara. It is the oldest edifice in the northern United States, west of the Mohawk. Joncaire got the consent of the Indians to its erection, and the king’s chief engineer in Canada con- structed it. Most of the stone was brought from Fort Frontenac in two barques. The rear was towards Lake Ontario. In the front were three doors. On the ground floor, 26at the right, was a room for barter with the Indians, and a clerk’s room. Opposite was the guard room. A bakery with an outside oven, a storeroom, and a powder magazine were ranged along the north side of the corridor, in the middle of which was a well. On the floor above was a chapel, a guardroom, chambers, and a kitchen. It was called a “ castle ” or “ mess house.” The building was placed where De Nonville had set his wooden fort, and not at the foot of the portage. Burnet was greatly excited when he heard of it. He per- suaded the Indians to confirm their former grant of land to the English king, by which they gave the newly erected French fort to King George. He claimed that the French were breaking the Treaty of Utrecht by hindering the trade of the Iroquois and shutting them off from the west at Niagara. The French did do their best to hinder the Indians from trading with the English, but what really killed their own fur trade at Fort Niagara was the restric- tion put upon the sale of brandy. The priests were reported to have refused to confess any one engaged in trading brandy to the Indians, and the storekeepers preferred to relinquish their posts rather than come under the ban of the church. The posts at Frontenac, Niagara, and Toronto were at first leased to storekeepers, but, after a not very successful trial of that system, they were reserved for the king’s trade. The English offered plenty of liquor and much cheaper goods at Oswego than any the French king could manage to provide. Niagara at one time reduced the prices of goods and sold below cost in an effort to secure the Indian trade. Racoon skins were the measure of trade, a blanket sold for “eight cats,” a pound of beaver skin was valued at “two cats.” Beaver was the great staple, and the object of all the trade. Fort Niagara was always dependent on the king’s pro- vision ships, whereas Detroit was self-supporting and grew its own grain. A project was advanced for bringing down flour to Niagara in large vessels, but no government aid was 27given it. There were several mutinies on account of bad food. Joncaire made several trips of exploration into New York, and one of his letters tells of the oil springs at Ganos, now Cuba. He was the first white man who ever went there, so he may be called the discoverer of petroleum, though re- ports of it are mentioned by other travellers as having been told of by the Indians. He died at Niagara in 1739. The trails into New York from the Niagara frontier are of immemorial age. One from Lake Erie to the Hudson is now the course of the New York Central Railroad. The Indians were great travellers, and it was common for them to come one thousand miles with their furs, travelling always by canoe. The trading season was from April to August. It is re- corded that traders had “ a pernicious Practice ” of putting water in the rum supplied to the Indians. George Clarke proposed to wrest land from the French by settling the southern shore of Lake Ontario. He was a young English barrister, appointed secretary of the Province of New York, then lieutenant governor and acting gover- nor till succeeded by Clinton. Two years later he went back to England with a fortune of one hundred thousand pounds. In 1755, the English launched at Oswego a schooner named the Ontario. This was the first English craft to sail the Great Lakes. The Niagara-Ohio Route Joncaire’s son was sent by the French to the Ohio River. He got to the present site of Economy, Pennsylvania, then De Chinique, a Shawanese village.1 Thus began the French struggle for the valley, the gateway to which was the Niagara. “ If we leave aside the alleged discovery of the Ohio by La Salle, it is an open question which people, French or English, had precedence in this region.” As trade expanded in the west, and expeditions began to the Ohio region, “ the need of a fortified trading post on the i Severance, An Old Frontier of France. 28Niagara River, above the falls, at the head of the portage, was more and more felt. As travel increased and expedi- tions multiplied, . . . Chambert [was] commissioned to build and command it.” It was difficult to get the con- sent of the Indians to a second fort. They took gifts, but hung off from a promise. At last, after many gifts, and a feast “ with several pots of wine,” they agreed. The new post was called Fort Little Niagara, or Fort du Portage, and it caused a great stir among the Indians and the English. It was about one-half a mile above the falls, midway be- tween Grass Island and the mouth of Gill Creek. “ The old French landing, earliest known to have been used, was still nearer the falls, below the lower end of Grass Island. Here the earliest portage road came to the river. . . . The increase of traffic made it advisable to have the point of embarkation further up the stream, the portage road being continued.” Governor Clinton complained bitterly of the new fort as a fresh violation of the Treaty of Utrecht. Four English traders, two of them Irishmen—*-Bourke and Irwin—were seized by the French and taken to Niagara. “ To whose seizure, as much as any single act, may be ascribed the ultimate conflict between the French and the English.” They were sent to France as prisoners, but were finally re- leased. The last war in this region “ was the outcome of a rivalry which had many centres of activity, but no cause was more far reaching than the strife for the fur trade; nowhere did the interest of the two powers clash more sharply than in the region between the lakes and the Ohio.” Fort Niagara was really pitifully weak. The Indians were not satisfied with the French goods, and their canoes could not be prevented from going on to the English at Oswego. In 1744, war was declared between the English and the French, and there was a great falling off in stocks of mer- chandise. War raised the prices. The French planned to seize Oswego, but peace was declared before they did so. Peace did not check the struggle for the fur trade. 29The French became alarmed at the caving of the banks near the fort. There was talk of removing the fort to the other side of the river. Out of the trade conditions and rivalries of the time came an establishment which grew into the present city of Toronto, about 1749. In 1749 there left the Niagara one of the two famous expeditions for the Ohio, via the south shore of Lake Erie. The French under Céloron camped at the little rapid at the entrance to Lake Erie, within or opposite the present site of Buffalo. A portage was made at Chautauqua Creek. They went down the Allegheny and the Ohio as far as the mouth of the Great Miami. Lead plates were left in six places to mark French occupancy, and English traders who were met were warned to leave the region. But really nothing of value was accomplished. The expedition went on to Detroit, and then back to Niagara. A second expedition was that of the Abbé Picquet, a Sulpitian missionary, who has left an excellent account of it. He made a tour of Lake Ontario, then went up to Niagara. He records that he met a runaway slave from Virginia, the first of a number estimated to have reached fifty thousand who escaped to freedom by way of the Niagara frontier. In 1752 Duquesne undertook the occupation and de- fense of the lakes and the Ohio Valley. A fort was built at Presqu’ Isle, the present site of the city of Erie, “ the finest spot in nature.” Another was at Le Boeuf, at the head of the Ohio River. A house at old Venango, now Franklin, was seized by the French and possession taken. In 1753, a party of English, led by Washington, appeared. They were re- ferred to the Presqu’ Isle post, and finally they returned home. Washington got no nearer Niagara than fifteen miles from the present city of Erie. Benjamin Franklin proposed, to a gathering at Albany of commissioners from seven colonies, that a strong fort should be erected near the Falls of Niagara. He printed regularly in the Pennsylvania Gazette all that pertained to the French on the frontier. After the surrender by the English 30of the fort at the forks of the Ohio, he printed a woodcut, famous in its day, called “ Join or Die.” This showed a snake in eight sections, one for each colony, and the legend. “ Many causes there were to bring the colonies together, but none more potent than this occupancy of Niagara and the lakes, this invasion of the Allegheny, by the French. Here more than anywhere else from 1749 to 1753, occurred those provocations which excited the thought of the English in America, and gave it a new ideal.” Gradually the urgency of American conditions awoke a feeling that the colonies must take protective measures independently of England. The most notable success of the French in the Ohio region was the surrender of Fort Duquesne (Fort Necessity) by Washington, in 1754. The colonial artillery, baggage, and stores were handed over, and the captured guns were taken to Fort Niagara to strengthen it. In the same year Braddock made his unfortunate expedi- tion. He was instructed to go on from Fort Duquesne, which it had been supposed he could easily capture, and make himself master of Niagara, “ which is of the greatest consequence.” His defeat stunned the colonists. In 1755 the New England states first began to compre- hend the importance of Niagara. They sent a great ex- pedition under General Shirley, of eleven thousand men, up the Mohawk Valley, through Oneida Lake, to Oswego, to attack Fort Niagara. It was planned that he should do what had been expected of Braddock, and that a fort should be built here to cut off the French communication with the Mississippi. But the Indians did not believe the promises made them of the return to them of their lands, and did not support the expedition. Shirley proceeded to Oswego, built a fort on the east side of the river, Fort Ontario, and a sloop on the lake. This was the first English vessel on the lakes. Then, for reasons not now clearly known, the general gave up the enterprise and returned to Albany. The New England states were very bitter over the failure. Fort 31Niagara was in wretched condition, and could probably have been taken with little effort. After a council of governors in New York, 1755, three vessels were built at Oswego. The French labored to im- prove Fort Niagara, which they knew was the objective of all these hostile preparations. A French ship carrying back to Canada the workingmen who had been employed on the fort, met the English ships. There were four French vessels, three English, and the English fled, after a short naval battle. Two of the English reached Oswego, but the third was captured, 1756. The Oswego settlement was feeble. In 1756 Montcalm attacked it, and the town surrendered. The English fleet did nothing. Though the attack had been expected, there was a general condition of unpreparedness. This was an important engagement, for it took away the English base on the lakes. The French made no attempt to garrison and hold the place, for it was not a useful post for them. It was hoped however, that now trade would develop at Fort Niagara. Neither side was averse to the help of scalping parties. Up to 1749, it was common practice to take Indian children as pledges for debt, and there were practically Indian slaves. An expedition led by Bradstreet took Fort Frontenac (Kingston), which had never been a strong post. The French capitulated and nine vessels were taken also. Two were sent to Oswego and the rest burned. It had been in- tended to go on and attack Fort Niagara, but no support was sent, and the French worked desperately to strengthen their fortifications. At last, in 1759, an expedition was sent under Prideaux to capture Fort Niagara. He went first to Oswego, then to Irondequoit, then on to Niagara by boat. The French fought bravely under Ponchot. Two of the English officers were killed, one of them General Prideaux himself. The Indians thought the expedition a failure, and began to desert. Command devolved upon Sir William Johnson, who distinguished himself by his handling of the Indians. The 32aCcihe Ontario ^■Mon{reai J/iciat From Severance’s An Old Frontier of France Copyright, Dodd, Mead & Company The Niagara Frontier, 1759 33French boats cruised up and down Lake Ontario but could do nothing to help. At last the portage could no longer be defended, and the fort above the falls was given up, the troops with difficulty joining those in the lower fort. A relief party from the far west in canoes was ambushed. This was the engagement at La Belle Famille. The fort capitulated July 24, after a siege lasting from July 5. The women and children were sent to Montreal. The sick and wounded were allowed to remain in the fort. The prisoners were sent to Albany and then to New York, where their arrival created a sensation. Many English prisoners who had been in the fort for years were released. It was very difficult to restrain the Indians from indulging themselves in a general massacre of the captured French. The French forts at Venango, Le Boeuf, and Presqu’ Isle were destroyed and deserted by the French after the fall of Fort Niagara, for the loss of that cut off all connection with the western settlements. Though the victory gained for the English the great falls, no comment on that phase of the conquest was made. All the talk was about the expansion of the fur trade. The English seized the plantations of Chabert at the mouth of the Buffalo River. He was the first white man to till the soil there, and had a monopoly on the portage. He was, in- deed, the greatest transportation monopolist in America. At that time the settlement was called the Little Rapid. No compensation was made to Chabert, and he took his claims to London, where he worried the ministry for some time. Two French vessels still remained on the lakes. They were attacked, 1760, and taken. The English then besieged Fort Levis (Isle Royale) and thirteen months after the fall of Fort Niagara it surrendered. Ponchot, who had done so much to hold Niagara for France, was, on his return to Paris, committed to the Bastile, though later he was released. Abbé Picquet still tried to hold the Indians to the French cause, which he fancied might be done by converting them. They would protest conversion for a blanket, and then refuse to fight, saying their religion forbade it. 34MILITARY CAMPAIGNS ON THE FRONTIER THIS strip of territory has had a martial career. There have been thirteen battles on the west bank, twelve of them in the War of 1812, and one in 1866.1 On the east bank there have been seven engagements of con- siderable importance to the communities thereabouts—two between Indian nations in 1651 and 1653, a siege sustained by De Nonville in 1687, the so-called Battle of La Belle ' Famille, 1759, the capture of Fort Niagara in 1759, the Devil’s Hole Massacre, 1763, and the attack by Wilkins, 1763. Then, in 1812, eight engagements were fought on this side, and one in 1837. These various struggles occurred in the course of the Indian wars, the Indian-French wars, the French-British wars, the War of , 1812, the Patriots’ War, and the Fenian War. There were four wars in Europe which involved the French and English colonists in corresponding struggles: 1. The wars with Louis XIV Called in America King William’s War (1695-1697) Ended by the Peace of Ryswick. 2. War of the Spanish Succession Called in America Queen Anne’s War (1703-1713) Ended by the Treaty of Utrecht. 3. War of the Austrian Succession Called in America King George’s War (1743-1748) Ended by the Treaty of Aix la Chapelle. 4. Seven Years’ War Called in America French and Indian War (1752- 1756) Ended by the Peace of Paris Under this France gave up her possessions in America. i Porteb, Landmarks of Niagara Frontier. 35Old Fort Niagara “ Probably no one spot of land in North America,1 the Heights of Quebec and the lower end of Manhattan excepted, had played so important a part, been so coveted, and exerted so great an influence, both in peace and war, on the control, on the growth, on the settlement, on the early civilization of the country as this little point of land at the mouth of and on the eastern shore of the Niagara River, bounded on one side by the stream, and on the other side by Lake Ontario.” Niagara River seems to have been known to the Jesuits in 1640. The Falls were mentioned by Champlain in Des Sauvages, 1603. The Indians objected to any buildings being placed there, both Hurons and those of Iroquois stock, between whom there was a deadly feud. But after forty years of diplomacy, the French got permission to erect a fortified structure. They had buildings for a trading post before that. After the Senecas (Iroquois stock) wiped out the Neuters, they claimed the land along the Niagara River, but did not actually inhabit it. They granted La Salle rights on the River in 1679, and in 1719 gave Joncaire permission to build there, but refused it to the English. In 1725, they agreed to a stone fort, erected by the French. The claims of the French to prior discovery and occupa- tion were undoubtedly superior to those of the English, but the British contended that all the Iroquois were their sub- jects while the Senecas maintained their independence. In 1701, Detroit was handed over to Cadillac, with a monopoly of the fur trade.2 This so frightened the Five Nations that they conveyed “ the whole country from Lake Ontario northward to Lake Superior, and westward as far as Chicago ‘ unto our souveraigne Lord King William the Third ’ and his heirs and successors forever. This territory is described in the deed as being eight hundred miles long 1 Porter, Old Fort Niagara. 2 Parkman, Half Century of Conflict. 36and four hundred wide, and was claimed by the Five Nations as theirs by right of conquest. It included Detroit.” Before that, in 1648, the Five Nations gave the English a protectorate over their lands,1 and the governor of New York set up the Duke of York’s arms in all the castles of the Five Nations as far as Oneigra. In 1726 the Senecas deeded in trust to the British king a large tract including “ all along the River Oniagara.” In 1764, a deed of two miles each side of the river, made by all the Indian tribes, was regarded as transferring to England this river. This was after the French had surrendered to England all their holdings in America. POSSESSORS OF THE SITE OF FORT NIAGARA Neuters to 1650; Senecas, 1651-1669; Seneca owner- ship, French influence, 1669-1725; Seneca ownership, French occupation, 1725-1759; Seneca ownership, Eng- lish occupation, 1759-1764; English ownership, English occupation, 1764-1783; American ownership, English occupation (Holdover Period), 1783-1796; American ownership, American occupation (except from Dec. 19, 1813, to Mar. 27,1815), 1796-1903. In 1669, La Salle first visited the river, and heard the roar of the Falls but did not visit them. He went on to Ohio and the Wabash River. In 1678 he returned, with the intention of building a vessel on the river above the Falls. This he did. He had suggested a fort to the French governor when he planned his expedition. He caused to be erected a palisaded house called Fort Conti. Later he put up two block houses nearer Lake Ontario. Just above Lewiston, men under La Mothe had erected the fortified trading post. Both the block houses were destroyed by fire in the course of a few months, during his (La Salle’s) absence on the Griffon. For the next few years, Niagara (meaning apparently both the point at the mouth of the river and the store house i Porter, Old Fort Niagara. 37at Lewiston) appears frequently in English and French official correspondence. In 1685, Englishmen in eleven canoes went up the river to Lewiston, and over the portage into Lake Erie. These were the first white men other than the French to penetrate here. Johannes Rooseboom led the trading expedition. The French governor, De Nonville, recommended to his government that a fort be built at Niagara, and so did Dongan, the governor of New York, to his home govern- ment. The latter sent two expeditions to the frontier, partly as traders, partly to spy out the land, and both wintered on the Niagara, but were captured by the French in the spring. De Nonville led an elaborate expedition against the Senecas from Irondequoit Bay, then went on to Niagara and built a fort in “ the angle of the lake on the Seneca side of the river.” It was on the site of La Salle’s block houses, and was the first real defensive work erected. He called it Fort De NonvilHbut the old name of Fort Niagara clung to it and was more generally used. Dongan protested against the building, and got the good will of the Indians, who besieged the fort. Very few of the garrison survived the siege and sickness, and De Nonville agreed to abandon Fort Niagara in order to save Fort Frontenac, at the outlet of Lake Ontario. The palisades were torn down in 1688, but the cabins and quarters were left. For thirty years the French tried to get the good will of the Indians and permission to build a fort. By the Peace of Ryswick, 1697, they had secured possession of the St. Lawrence and Mississippi valleys, but no right to build a fort at Niagara. After the Treaty of Utrecht, 1713, both sides claimed Niagara because of the vague wording of the instrument. In Joncaire, a remarkable frontiersman of the early eighteenth century, the French secured an invaluable leader in the Niagara region. His influence with the Indians was greater than that wielded by any other white man except, 38later, the English Sir William Johnson. In 1720, he secured permission to erect a cabin at Lewiston, which he called Magazin Royal. The British tried to destroy it, or to get the Indians to do so, and sent Schuyler and Livingston to protest to the Senecas. They also asked for permission for the English to erect a fort, but were refused. Lewiston was at the exact foot of the portage around the Falls, while Fort Niagara, or Fort De Nonville, was seven miles away, near Lake Ontario. The Magazin Royal was on the site of the first building erected there by La Salle upon his coming to the Niagara, but that building had long before fallen into decay. For five years it was a trading center. The French governor, De Vaudreuil, got the Iroquois to consent to a stone house at the mouth of the Niagara River. It was commonly called the Mess House or the Castle. The building was begun in 1725, and its foundations are the oldest on this frontier. This stone house was really the first Fort Niagara, though Fort De Nonville is often so called. Tradition says that it was erected only by a ruse. The Indians were persuaded to join the French in going off on a long hunting expedition, and during their absence the house was so fortified that it could be held and completed over their protests. A fort has been maintained on that spot continuously ever since. Joncaire’s block house, the Magazin Royal, was allowed to fall into decay, and was abandoned in 1728. The new fort was strengthened, and supplied with guns. Its cemetery, outside the walls, is probably the earliest consecrated piece of ground in the state of New York. But the Indians began to slip by the fort and go on down to the trading post established by the English at the present site of Oswego. War was declared between England and France, which ended in 1748 by the Treaty of Aix la Chapelle. While it lasted, four expeditions were directed against Fort Niagara. The guns taken from Braddock in the Ohio Valley were dragged overland to strengthen the fort. An elaborate 39expedition under Shirley was abandoned before reaching Niagara. Finally Prideaux was given a command. He found that the French leader Ponchot had greatly strength- ened the place, and there were practically three forts in one. The Indians at first supported the British but later threatened to abandon them. Prideaux was killed in the trenches, and command devolved on William Johnson. The siege lasted from July 6 to July 25, 1759, when the French surrendered. Among those taking part in the siege were George Clinton, later governor of New York, Charles Lee of Virginia, and Joseph Brandt, famous afterward as a Mohawk leader. The English established a garrison in the fort. Johnson’s influence greatly increased, and Niagara was really the seat of his authority. He built a fort at the upper end of the portage, a position formerly called by the name of Fort Little Niagara, and named it Fort Schlosser, 1761. All the Indian grievances were brought there. It was the center of the military life of the region as well as of the fur trade. After peace was declared in 1763, the French ceded to England all her possessions in North America east of the Mississippi. In 1763, during Pontiac’s conspiracy which united the Indian tribes for a short time in a formidable confederation, it was necessary to send men from the fort to the head of the portage, and a train of twenty-five wagons, guarded by troops, set out for Fort Schlosser. At Devil’s Hole, they fell into an ambush of the Senecas. The garrison at Lewiston sent up reinforcements when the firing was heard, but they, too, fell into the trap. Eighty men and six officers were killed. The spot is marked by a tablet erected by the Niagara Frontier Landmarks Association, and the engage- ment is commonly spoken of as the Devil’s Hole Massacre. The Senecas offered submission after the failure of Pontiac, and Sir William Johnson insisted that all land on both sides of the river be ceded to the English, taking in Fort Niagara and its two dependencies at Lewiston and Fort Schlosser, and the portage. Eight chiefs signed the deed. 40The Great Treaty of 1764 was signed by all the Indian tribes desiring peace with the English. Over 2,000 Indians, from Nova Scotia to Mississippi, attended. Israel Putnam, who was among the English, is said to have been the first white man to set foot on Goat Island. The former agree- ment of the Senecas was ratified. This gave the land where Fort Erie, on the Canadian side, stood. To Sir William personally were given all the islands in the river, and he presented them to his sovereign. The Indian title was abso- lutely extinguished. The cost was considerable. For food alone, the English paid £25,000 to supply the Indians stay- ing on the river during the negotiations, and £38,000 more for presents. Two stone block houses, now standing, were built. The walls were carried up above the roof, where batteries were placed. These are the best example of that style of building in America, and were used as late as 1812. During the Revolution, hostilities did not reach this spot, but Indian attacks on the colonists were planned here, and carried out from here. Butler recruited his band known as Butler’s Rangers on the Niagara River. He made his headquarters on the Canadian side, just opposite the fort. Joseph Brandt, cap- tain of the Six Nations, gathered a terrible force of Indians. There were raids every year from 1778 to 1782. One hor- rible massacre was in Wyoming, Pennsylvania. Another was the attack made on Cherry Valley. The Senecas were on the whole faithful to Great Britain. Washington sent Sullivan to chastise them in 1779, but he did not attack the fort. Many American Tories went to the Canadian side oppo- site the fort. The Treaty of Paris, 1783, made provision for loyalists living in the United States to have time to dispose of their property, and five forts, of which Fort Niagara was one, were left in British hands as pledges until this should be accomplished. This is known as the Holdover Period. Britain delayed their return, hoping by some chance she might be able to keep them. Upper Canada formed a sep- 41arate government, and the village opposite Fort Niagara was made the capital. It was called West Niagara, and the first Parliament of Upper Canada was convened there. For eleven years England held the fort, until Jay’s treaty secured her withdrawal. During that time they built a portage on the Canadian side, and also constructed Fort George, which was nine feet higher than Fort Niagara, and so commanded it. When at last the time came for the British evacuation, the Americans were not ready to occupy the fort themselves. But at last the English flag came down, AugustBl796. The capital was removed to York, and then to Toronto. There was little history made during the years from 1796 to 1812, though a succession of famous visitors came to Fort Niagara, including Lafayette, and the poet Tom Moore. News of the declaration of war in 1812 was sent to the fort by J. J. Astor, who had large interests in the region. During a battle at Queenstown, opposite Lewiston, Fort George bombarded Fort Niagara. This was a British victory. The Senecas sided with the United States, the Mohawks with the English. American troops under General Dearborn captured Toronto, and went on to Fort George, after a stay in Fort Niagara, which they took. Later the Americans abandoned Fort George, burning the town of Newark. The English were very angry over the destruction and undertook an expedition against Fort Niagara, 1813, under Colonel Murray. The fortress was taken, and was held by the British until the close of the war. By the Treaty of Ghent, it was surrendered to the Americans. After 1815 the great highway for American commerce was from Oswego to Lewiston, then by portage to Fort Schlosser and Buffalo. After the Erie Canal was built in 1825, trade took a new route. Buffalo, at the terminus of the canal, increased at the expense of the rest of the Niagara territory. On the Canadian side, the Welland Canal, 1829, also diverted commerce. 42In 1826 the troops were withdrawn from the fort, and one man was left in charge. In 1826 the fort was much in the public eye on account of the imprisonment there of William Morgan, suspected of betraying the secrets of the Freemasons. He was arrested and imprisoned at Canandaigua, and when freed was seized by unknown men, taken through Rochester to Lewiston, and finally to the old fort. Here he was confined for six days, and eventually he disappeared. A year later a body was found about twenty miles from Fort Niagara, which was said to be his. There was great excitement throughout the country over the alleged murder, and the Anti-Masonic party had its rise and brief period of power. In 1836 the fort was again occupied by a garrison. Other Forts Before the white men erected any fortifications, the Indians had built a number of forts, so called, of which traces of three are still to be seen.1 Of the many white man’s forts, only two remain in a good state of preserva- tion—Fort Niagara and Fort Mississauga. Three are in ruins—Fort Erie, Fort George, and Fort Drummond. Fort Niagara is the last of six different fortresses built on the same spot and called by that name. The French controlled a fortification there at intervals covering thirty-four years. It was captured by the British, who held it for thirty-seven years, and finally surrendered it to the United States. Two forts—Fort Erie (the fifth) and Fort Porter—were built by Americans. No flag but the Stars and Stripes ever floated over Fort Porter. Altogether, counting forts which have been destroyed or allowed to fall into ruins, forty-two forts have been built on this frontier, of more or less strength, and eighty offensive barriers. The first was a palisade built by La Salle, for a store- house. There was no defensive work proper here till De Nonviljelfortified the tongue of land which lies between the lake and river, and founded the present fort. It was wooden, 1 Marshall, The Niagara Frontier. 4^3and the material had to be brought from a distance. At first it was called Fort Conti, then Fort De Nonville, but finally Fort Niagara. The original fort was evacuated because of sickness in the garrison, and was partly destroyed. In 1725 it was reconstructed by consent of the Iroquois. This was the important point in the early history of the Niagara frontier. Standing at the commencement of the portage around the falls, it was the key to communication with the traffic on the great lakes. Heavy goods were raised or lowered in a sliding cradle, moved on an inclined plane by a windlass. The ascent was difficult, and was called by the Senecas Duh jik keh oh, or walking on all fours. The Indians carried goods over the portage for twenty cents a pack. Opposite Fort Niagara, on the Canadian side, was Mississauga Point. The present village of Niagara was known in 1780 by the name of Butlersburg. Afterwards it was called Newark after the city of that name in New Jersey, and again West Niagara, and British Niagara. In 1792 it became the resi- dence of the Lieutenant Governor of Canada, and the first session of the Parliament of the Upper Province was held there. It is an older settlement than any on the east side of the river. The village on the American side, now incorporated under the name of Niagara Falls, was at one time called Grand Niagara, and at another Manchester. Queenstown, named for Queen Charlotte, had no earlier name. The spots now called the Devil’s Hole, and the Whirlpool, were not noticed by early travellers. When the very first French explorers pushed out to the west, they took the Ottawa route, which was shorter and safer for a canoe voyage, with a far easier portage connect- ing with the headwaters of Lake Huron. Also the Indians of that region were not so hostile as those of the Niagara. The southern shore of Lake Erie was for a long time 44unexplored. La Hontan ascended the Niagara and entered Lake Erie in 1687. He recommended, as suitable for a fort, the present site of Buffalo, but no encampment was made there for some time. The name of Buffalo was first given on a map to a settlement in 1764. The Senecas, Onondagas, and Cayugus stayed there till they were crowded out. The ancient Indian village at Lewiston was called Onguiaahra.1 The Neuters were at peace both with the Iroquois and Hurons—hence their name—and there is no proof of the fort’s exact site. There was an earthenwork fort at South Buffalo, near the spot where Red Jacket was buried later, which was erected by the Eries. One mile away stood the ancient rock citadel of Kienuka, built by the Senecas, on the edge of the Niagara escarpment. The legend was that a virgin was selected and ordained as queen and peacemaker, and was stationed at this fort to execute her office of peace. To enforce her decrees, the entire strength of the Five Nations was pledged. The fort was one of refuge. No blood could be shed in its gates!* All fugitives were safe once their feet touched its threshold. The queen would take the fleeing man to one end of her house, in the center of which hung a deerskin curtain. His pursuers were taken to the other end. Each was given food, and then the curtain was drawn, and they faced each other. Both thereafter departed in peace. Fugitives who went out could not be harmed without the queen’s consent. The three French forts usually referred to as Fort Niagara—Fort Conti, Fort De Nonville, and Fort Niag- ara—were all built on practically the same site at the entrance to the river; the Magazin Royal of Joncaire was at Lewiston; Fort Little Niagara was at the head of the. portage. (Interesting cuts showing the type of construction of these early fortifications illustrate the article by Porter.) After the British took possession of Fort Niagara they strengthened and improved it. In 1760 they built a fort 1 Poster, Landmarks on the Niagara Frontier. 45at the upper end of the portage to replace Fort Little Niagara, which had been burned by the French at the time they abandoned it in the campaign of 1759. The new structure was named Fort Schlosser. The framework pre- pared by the French for a chapel at Fort Niagara was carted up over the portage and set up beside the stone chimney for a mess house. Here Steadman, master of the portage, lived, and the building came to be known as Steadman’s. The British also constructed another fort at the foot of the portage in 1764, and built an inclined rail- way from the water’s edge at this point to the top of the mountain. The portage was improved and extended, so that carts could travel upon it. The Senecas were very angry about this, for it cut down their profits as carriers. It was one cause of their joining the conspiracy of Pontiac, and planning the massacres at Devil’s Hole. There were ten blockhouses on the portage, 1,200 yards apart. A new fort was built at the outlet of Lake Erie, the first of five which were subsequently erected at the same spot, all of which were named Fort Erie. After the Devil’s Hole Massacre, the Senecas deeded to the English a strip of land on each side of the river, thirty- six miles by four miles, 92,000 acres. This was paying one thousand acres of land for each of the one hundred soldiers scalped in the Devil’s Hole Massacre. Fort Erie was the first fort on the Canadian side. A portage was built on the Canadian shore in 1792, from Queenstown to Chippewa Creek, planned by General Simcoe during the Holdover Period. The British also con- structed Fort George, directly across from Fort Niagara. In 1796, when the forts were finally turned over to the Americans, the British had held the territory for thirty- seven years. They had built twenty forts, fourteen on the eastern side—Fort Schlosser, the two forts at the foot and the top of the mountain, and eleven blockhouses on the portage. They had built six forts on the western bank— the first, second, and third Fort Erie (the two first having been abandoned) and forts at Chippewa, Queenstown, and 46the second Fort George. In 1812 the fourth Fort Erie was built, still further away from the bank of the river. In 1800 a military road from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie was begun by the United States, and a fort was proposed near the source of the river at Black Rock. The Senecas sold, by treaty, to the state of New York the mile strip from Gill Creek to Lake Erie. Then New York tried to get the federal government to pay for the expenses of the treaty. In the altercation which followed, the federal government refused to complete the military road, and gave up the fort at Black Rock. This was one of the several causes of the unpreparedness of this region when the War of 1812 broke out. In 1807 the state established a small navy yard at Black Rock, and a blockhouse to protect it. The United States has built five forts in this territory. Of the fifteen taken over from Great Britain, Fort Niagara was the only one of any strength. During 1812, two forts were constructed—Fort Tompkins, on top of the bluff at the bend of Niagara Street, where the railroad barns stand in Buffalo, and Fort Gray, on the brow of Lewiston Moun- tain. Fort Porter was built in Buffalo in 1844, but the works were razed in 1880. At the beginning of the War of 1812 the United States had three forts—Fort Niagara, which was good; Fort Schlosser, which was valueless; and the Black Rock block- house—to protect the navy yard. On October 13, 1812, occurred the Battle of Queenstown Heights, after which the forts on both sides of the river bombarded each other without doing much damage. There is a legend that a woman named Fanny Doyle served one of the cannon on the roof of the Castle all day, supplying the gunners with hot shot. Her husband, who was a soldier, had been taken prisoner at Queenstown, and she said “ she would take precious good care as his substitute that they [the British] made nothing by his absence.” The British captured Fort Schlosser in a dash of July, 1813, but did not hold it. They crossed to Black Rock, burned the blockhouse, and occupied Fort Tompkins. 47Finally they were repulsed, and retreated. This was the Battle of Buffalo. The Americans crossed and took Fort George, which they held for some time. When they finally retreated, 1813, they burned the surrounding town of Newark. This was in the dead of winter, and there was much suffering as a result of the wanton act. The British were furious, and planned a campaign which, a little later, captured Fort Niagara, while the Indians devastated the frontier, destroying Fort Gray. Buffalo was burned, and only one house was left standing. This spot is now marked with a tablet, erected by the Niagara Frontier Landmarks Association. The English built Fort Mississauga (or Riall) on the Canadian side, near the mouth of the river. They had been unable to do this till they had control of Fort Niagara, which commanded the spot. In 1814 the Americans captured Fort Erie, then went on down the Canadian shore and fought the two battles of Chippewa and Lundy’s Lane. The first was a victory for them, the second was a drawn contest, but the Americans after it returned to Fort Erie, which was besieged by the British, now reinforced. The siege lasted from August 2 to August 15, 1814. The English troops stormed the fort, with great loss of life. The siege was at last raised after a sortie by the Americans, which broke up the beleaguering army. In November, 1814, the Americans blew up the fort. During the war every Canadian fort except Fort Missis- sauga was captured by the Americans, and every American fort was captured by the British. Since 1815 no English forts have been built. The United States constructed Fort Porter, 1844, in the city of Buffalo. Fort Niagara, after a period of neglect, is now kept up as an interesting historical relic. Number 23 of the Niagara Historical Society Publications gives a brief account of the various spellings of the name Niagara, forty in all, and of the history of Fort Niagara. Several interesting legends as to the fort are recounted. One tells how in the center of the mess house there was a 48well, and on the curb might be seen a headless French officer, who presumably had been murdered and thrown into the well. Another is concerned with the dungeon or black hole. In one corner of it was fixed an apparatus for strangling victims. The wall had cut upon it names of prisoners, covering it from top to bottom. It was six feet by eighteen by ten, and had a well in it to boot. The only fragment of domestic life in the fort is described in the letters of Mrs. Graham, a wife of a doctor stationed there with the 60th Regiment, in 1767. She tells of homely family matters in a series of letters to her friends, of how she missed religious services, and went in constant fear of an Indian massacre. Later she lived in New York. The first Masonic lodge on the frontier was established when the King’s 8th Regiment was stationed at the fort. There is also an account of the military graveyard. A pamphlet containing excellent cuts of the blockhouse and the various types of frontier fortifications is Porter’s Niagara’s Old Stone Chimney. On September 15, 1915, Fort Schlosser’s chimney had affixed to it a tablet. It is the oldest structure in Buffalo, and, with the exception of the castle at Fort Niagara, built 1727, it is the oldest piece of masonry on the frontier, and the oldest in New York west of Albany. It was built in 1750, and originally stood to the west of the portage. Today, in its reconstructed form, it is one hundred and fifty feet farther eastward, and exactly in the line of that ancient highway. In 1745 the French built Fort Little Niagara, a small stone blockhouse, at what has ever since been called French- man’s Landing, now a city park. Five years later the larger boats which they were beginning to launch could not land there, so they built a larger fort, one-half mile up the stream, the second Fort Little Niagara. In 1750 the chim- ney was constructed, not in the fort, but some rods below it. It was a two story log building. The fort stood till 1759, when Chambert Joncaire evacuated and destroyed it. In 1760 Governor Gage gave John Steadman a contract 49to improve the portage road, which was widened and made passable for wagons. It was finished in 1763. The Indians were angry because the use of ox carts would deprive them of the carrying profits they looked upon as their perquisite, and joined the conspiracy of Pontiac. On the return trip of the first train over the road, there occurred the Devil’s Hole Massacre. Steadman was one of the three who escaped. It was Steadman who put goats on the island which got its name from them, because there they would be safe from the wolves. He preferred to reach Goat Island by swim- ming his horse across the channel to a shallow bar, rather than to go by canoe. When he removed to Canada H 1796, he said the Senecas had given him a tract of land amount- ing to 5,000 acres, because they thought the Great Spirit had saved his life at the Devil’s Hole Massacre. He had never made any such claim before, and it was clearly fraudulent. Steadman’s escape after the Devil’s Hole Massacre is, in one pamphlet,1 ascribed to the fact that both he and Brandt, his pursuer, were Masons. Brandt and two other Indians were close to him, Brandt ahead. At the top of a hill, when only Brandt could see him, he made the Masonic signal of distress. Brandt rode back and told the other two that he had escaped, and pursuit was vain. In 1812 occurred the first instance of an Indian tribe offering aid in war to the United States. Then one hundred Tuscaroras from the reservation at Lewiston suggested that they be allowed to garrison and hold Fort Schlosser. The buildings about the chimney were burned in 1813, only the chimney was left. Later a house was built around it by Porter. In 1880 the house was torn down. When the Niagara Falls Power Company bought the site for a factory, Mr. William B. Rankine had the chimney taken down stone by stone, at his own expense, and reerected on the present site. 1 Colt, The Devil’s Hole, with Account of Visit Made to It by La Salle. 50Surrender of the French Possessions The historian Parkman has told in short form and attrac- tive style1 the history of the siege of Fort Niagara in 1759, and very clearly of the Battle of La Belle Famille, in which the rescue party of French and Indians was forced to surrender, and the fort shortly after was also yielded up. He has given, too, a graphic account of the Devil’s Hole Massacre, which places the number of the attacking Indians at five hundred. The most full and interesting account of the final struggle for Fort Niagara between the French and English is to be found in Emerson’s Niagara Campaign oj 1759. It begins with the contest for the posts on the Ohio frontier, tells of Washington’s surrender of Fort Necessity, July 4, 1754, and of the events leading up to the climax of the surrender of Fort Niagara and the end of French supremacy in the region they had discovered and developed. An entertaining description is given of Sir William Johnson, who eventually secured the frontier from the Indians. He was an Irishman, who came to the Mohawk Valley as the agent of his uncle. He lived on and had charge of a tract of fifteen thousand acres, and early began to make friends with the Indians. The Battle of La Belle Famille has here a second name, that of Bloody Run. The Canadian Point of View In several of the publications of the Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada we get the point of view of the ldyalists^ After 1750, says one, by friendly treatment of the Indians, Fort Niagara prepared the way for an alliance, which, in the Revolution, turned the tomahawks of the tribes against the colonists.2 Fort Niagara was a center for all these negotiations, and also the mart for the western fur trade. On the Canadian side the country was a swamp, occupied by the Mississaugas, who had a village just oppo- 1 Parkman, Historic Handbook of Northern Tour. 2 Siebert, Loyalists and Six Nations Indians in the Niagara Peninsula. 51site the fort, where there had formerly been a village of the Neuters. Butler was a refugee to Canada from New York, a loyalist from Johnstown, where he had been deputy Indian superin- tendent to the nephew of Sir William Johnson. Joseph Brandt, the Indian, and Molly, his sister, stirred the Mohawks of Tryon County to loyalty to England. Guy Johnson removed to Montreal, with others, but Butler and Brandt went to Fort Niagara, where they were given com- missions in the army. The Americans sacked Johnson’s house, and took his wife and Butler’s to Albany as hostages. Butler collected Indians and volunteers for his Rangers among the loyalists who were gathered at the fort. By May, 1778, he had two thousand, seven hundred men, of whom seven hundred were Senecas. (The inhabitants of the Canadian side are very proiH to find the name of an ancestor in the roll of Butler’s Rangers. They pique them- selves on having shown great loyalty and willingness to lose their property in the colonies for the devotion they bore the British sovereign. No F. F. V. of Virginia can outdo them in reverence for these ancestors. V Butler made a raid on Wyoming, in eastern Pennsyl- vania. He had eleven hundred men, seven hundred of them Senecas, and the attack is commonly called a mas- sacre. It was accompanied by all the horrors of Indian warfare. He returned to Fort Niagara, which was his base. Washington sent General SiBvan against the Indians in 1779, to punish them for their part in the Wyoming mas- sacre. They took refuge at Fort Niagara. A settlement was begun across the river at Niagara by colonists who had flecLfrom the revolutionary colonies, to provide land for whom the government purchased territory from the Missis- saugas. These people feared to return to the United States, and provision was made in the treaty to give them an oppor- tunity to sell their property in what became the United States. Brandt demanded land for the Six Nations, who were not mentioned in the treaty. ButB’s Rangers had to be pro- 52vided for also. The Mohawks were offered land north of Lake Ontario, on the Bay of Quinté, but they asked to go on to the Grand River, north of Lake Erie. They event- ually got an enormous tract from Fort Niagara to Lake Erie. The Annals of Niagara1 is a strongly partisan book, but it is clearly and simply written. The account of the early missions is especially good. The author states that it is possible that the name of the River Nyahgeah meant “ tobacco smoke ”, from the Indian tobacco—a very different plant from the well known nico- tine—which was used by the Neuters living on the river. The Relations of the Mission of Angels to the Neutral Nation, 1641, describes the Indians in detail, and refers to the river of Niagara, but not to the falls. Père Joseph de la Roche Daillon, a Recollect, passed the winter among the Indians in 1626. In 1640 two fathers, Brébeuf and Lallemant, were sent out to the Neuters. In 1645 the Hurons were destroyed by the Iroquois, as were the Neuters and Cats (Eries) in 1650. Brébeuf and Lallemant were put to death with cruel tortures in a Huron village. Then the Chippewas came into western and central Ontario, doubtless with the permission of the Iroquois. The history then goes on with an account of the struggle between the English and the French, and tells of the con- tests on the Ohio frontier. A strong dislike is shown for Washington. The French commander, De Jumonville, was attacked and killed under a flag of truce—a murder, and the life of Washington was justly forfeited when Fort Necessity surrendered. Coming to the Revolutionary War, we are told that the attack of Butler’s Rangers was not accompanied by a mas- sacre, and all that he did was fully justified. An account is given of the loyalists living in Tryon County, and of their friendly relations with the Indians; particularly interesting is what is told of Mollie Brandt. i Kirby, Annals of Niagara. 53The tale is recounted of the settlement of Military Reserve, now Niagara, its early trials and struggles. The description of the Hungry Year, 1785, is graphic. Cruikshank has compiled the history of Butler’s Rangers.3 The family of Sir William Johnson, superin- tendent of northern Indians, was one of the most prosperous in the Mohawk Valley. Sir William succeeded better in managing the Indians than any other white man. One amusing story is told of how he secured a large tract of land from one of their chiefs. This man at the council informed Sir William that he had dreamed the night before that the Englishman had given him a handsome red coat, the same one, in fact, which Sir William was then wearing. Sir William asked if he really dreamed that, and, upon being assured such was the fact, observed seriously that then the dream must be true, and took off the coat without hesita- tion, handing it over to the chief. Next day he told the Indians he had dreamed during the night that they had given him a large tract of land, extending nine miles along the Mohawk River, to build farm houses upon and to form a settlement. The chief said that if the white man really dreamed this, he must have the land. But he added that he himself would never dream with Sir William again. At the end of the French war the King gave Sir William one hundred thousand acres at a peppercorn rent. It was called the Royal Grant. He married a German woman, which gave him a stand with those settlers, many of them very prosperous. After her death, for twenty years he cohabited with Mary Brandt, a Mohawk woman. His sud- den death was a great blow to the King’s cause. Next to Penn, he was the greatest landholder in British America. John Butler was an Irishman who came to the United States in a regiment. He made himself useful to Sir William, and he and his son later were important men in the valley. The son went to Niagara when the war broke out, and for a time was in command there. The Americans i Cruikshank, Story of Butler’s Rangers. 54feared him, and on one occasion tried to kidnap him. He had great influence with the Indians. When the loyalists of Tryon County left their homes, many went to Fort Niagara. Among them and the Indians Butler recruited his Rangers. He was, however, unable to restrain the Indians either at Wyoming or at Cherry Valley. They (the Rangers)® were rarely worsted in any skir- mish or action, though often obliged to retire when a superior force came against them. . . . Their advances and retreats were especially sudden and astonishing, and . . . the Americans say they might have as easily found out a parcel of wolves in the woods.” They harassed the frontiers of Pennsylvania and Ken- tucky, as well as New York and New England. They marched down the Mohawk Valley, destroying grist mills, grain, and flour, as well as houses. Expeditions were also sent west towards Detroit. A settlement was made for their benefit at Niagara, which was their base. After the war was over, Butler remained here, and his influence increased for a quarter of a century. He was the mainstay of the settlement. He served as judge of the District Court, and Deputy Superintendent of Indians. 55Courtesy of Harper & Brothers Copyright, Harper & Brothers Northern Campaigns, 1812 56THE WAR OF 1812 THE Americans planned an offensive war on the Canadian border.1 Hull was in command in the west, and he was ordered to move on against the Michigan and Indiana posts, and then down the Niagara frontier. He made a miserable failure of the operations, and surrendered Detroit to an inferior force. For this he was court martialed and condemned to be shot, but the sentence was remitted. New York and Vermont had put three thousand regulars and two thousand militia on Lake Champlain under Dearborn. He was very slow in getting under way from Plattsburg for the Canadian border. There was another force at Sackett’s Harbor, at the eastern end of Lake Ontario, and a third on the Niagara Frontier, which covered the territory from Buffalo to Fort Niagara, consisting of about six thousand men, half regulars and half militia and volunteers, with Van Rensselaer in command. He was a man with only volunteer experience, weak and incompetent. He quarreled with General Smythe, who was sent later to command the regulars. Van Rensselaer made an attack on Queenstown, and was defeated. Dearborn abandoned his attack on Lower Canada, and retreated, partly because the militia, as in the Battle of Queenstown, refused to leave their own state. The year 1813 closed with little to redound to the credit of the land forces, though Perry had won his brilliant victory at Lake Erie. The country generally was disgusted, and the New England states talked openly of secession. Harrison, the hero of Tippecanoe, won a victory at Thames River, and Lake Erie was recovered, though the operations in the far west were a failure. (See Map— Northern Campaign, 1812-1814.) 1 Babcock, Rise of American Nationality, 1811-1819. 57In November, 1812, there was an attempted invasion from Black Rock by the troops under Smythe. This was a huge failure, and Smythe’s name is still execrated on the Niagara Frontier. Harrison had won success at Tippecanoe, and was appointed in the west. He did nothing there until after Perry’s victory. Then he made an attack, and won a vic- tory at Thames River, October, 1813. The control of Lake Erie was recovered. In the meanwhile, Wilkinson had lost at Sackett’s Harbor, and at Chrystler’s Farm, two thousand Americans being defeated by eight hundred Canadians. In April, 1813, York (now Toronto) was captured by the Americans. In May, Fort George was taken by Dearborn, and in June there were two actions on the Canadian side, Stoney Creek and Beaver Dams. In September, Perry won the Battle of Lake Erie. After the Battle of the Thames, in October, there was renewed activity on the Niagara Frontier. In December the Americans felt obliged to evacuate Fort George, and retreated, after burning the town of Newark. This has been excused as a military necessity, but it was done wantonly, in bitter weather, and there was great indignation among the Canadians. Shortly afterwards they made an attack upon Fort Niagara, which was taken. A raid was made upon Buffalo and Black Rock by the British and the Indians, and the towns were burned. In the spring of 1814, the British destroyed the American fort at Oswego. On July 3, the garrison at Fort Erie sur- rendered to General Scott. Brown came to the Niagara Frontier, and led the American troops down the Canadian side from Fort Erie to win a victory at the Battle of Chippewa. There was a battle at Lundy’s Lane, fought by the light of the moon, in view of the falls. After five hours fighting, both sides rested, but the next day the Americans retreated, and the Canadians usually call it their victory. The Americans retired to Fort Erie, where they stood a siege. There was a midnight sally, and the English raised the siege. However, the Americans abandoned Fort Erie, blowing it up as they leftH 58The Americans were stronger on Lake Ontario, the British on Lake Erie, at the beginning of the war, until Elliot was sent to Black Rock to build up a fleet. This he did, and also captured an English ship. When Perry was sent to take command at Presqu’isle (now Erie) craft were in preparation at Black Rock. It was necessary to bring almost everything for the task from Philadelphia, lumber only excepted. On September 10, 1813, he was joined by six vessels from Black Rock, and won his famous victory, and sent his famous message, “We have met the enemy and they are ours. Two ships, two brigs, one schooner, one sloop.” The Americans also won a naval victory on Lake Cham- plain. For a long time controversy raged around the record of General Smythe on the Niagara Frontier.1 He was assigned in 1812 to command the regulars and to cooperate with General Van Rensselaer, who commanded the militia, and was technically his superior. He objected to Van Rensse- laer’s orders, and did as he himself thought best. After the disaster at Queenstown, Van Rensselaer resigned, and Smythe was chief in command. He issued the most extrav- agant proclamations concerning a projected invasion of Canada, and actually began it. But he had talked too much; the thing was a fiasco. He disbanded his army for the winter. After some aspersions on his personal courage, which were probably unfounded, he fought a duel with General Porter on Goat Island. Later he was deposed from the army without a trial. Niagara County claims a share in the Battle of Lake Erie, for a century ago that county embraced the whole of the county of Erie, which was not set off as a separate county till 1819. Of Perry’s fleet of ten vessels, four which were bought by the United States, and one which was captured from the British, were made over into gunboats, put into fighting trim, and started out from Niagara i Severance, Case of Brigadier General Alexander Smythe. 59County.1 Black Rock contributed largely to the regaining the control of Lake Erie. In July and August, 1812, the English captured nine vessels on Lakes Erie and Huron, five of which were owned by residents of Black Rock. Crossly, at Erie, got a contract to build four gunboats, three of which were later in Perry’s fleet. Altogether, five of Perry’s ships were prepared for service in Scajaquada Creek. When the war broke out, thirty-two vessels were on the upper lakes, twenty belonging to Americans. It was clear that the control of the lakes would mean control of the important Niagara portage. The British received early news of the declaration of war by a message sent by J. J. Astor from Washington to his agent in Queenstown. They struck first, and captured Mackinac and four Amer- ican vessels, three owned at Black Rock, and one at Erie. Later in the year they captured three more, and then two more from Black Rock. By September, 1812, they had twenty-one vessels on the lakes, while the Americans had but nine. With these they controlled the upper lakes until Perry’s victory in September, 1813. Chauncey, who com- manded the American navy on Lake Ontario, ordered Lieutenant Elliot to build two large and six small boats on the Niagara Frontier, to consult with the shipping interests at Black Rock, and to buy what vessels he could. He decided that Scajaquada Creek was the most desirable point for his headquarters, as there was already a small shipyard there. On October 9, two British vessels anchored under the guns of Fort Erie. An old Seneca Indian—Farmer’s Broth ^-advised Elliot to capture them. He went over with a small party and cut them loose. They drifted with the current, and Elliot managed to secure the Caledonia. The other went ashore, much battered. It was thought best to take her cannon and set her afire. The Senecas held a war dance, and made Elliot a member of their tribe. 1 Porter, Old Niagara County’s Share in the Battle of Lake Erie. 60A K E 0 N T 1759 Prïdeau*' A R n b 0 Fon H! 1814 Fort O Mississauga \ TMî agara-on-the-^àkeTîs \ ^ P813 Battle of'((Newark) \ F^rt George ------L \ G YoungStOWn / AV B 17^9 1st George l“799\nd ,J 1810 3rÿ “ l 1 H ■ 1/ <# I B o '0 I 1669 Fort La Satie 1679 Fort Conti 168 7 Fort De Nonvîlie- 1725 1st Niagara 6 Z 1730 2nd s I P757 3rd I '{687-88 De Nonvtlte beseiged 1759 Niagara captured front French by British i C81"2 Bombardment Niagara and. George 1813 Niagara captured fnom U.S..by British A* ---1759 Battle of La Belle Fatnllle —I 651 Destroyed by Senecas ■ X A ___L600? Fortress of Ongulaahra.’*' 11679 Fort Hennepin 1751 French Fort 176 I British Fort I A G ■ Brant’s Blockhouse ---1 71 9 Fort Joncaire A ^.R m 1792 FortQueenston 0 I ■ N / A G A B A p^ßäiiär B^B \ I 75 I French Fort i '1812 Battle of/_-- Queenston, Heights ■ rè J 3 Fort Drummond' ■ If __ ÍI764 I I Blockhouses / (_along Portage A I M E N T B o' i i i i i i i i i i \ j—< 1764 British Fort 1 M 812 Fort Gray 1 0 1 U £ 3 j T 1763 Devil’s Hole Massacra sd 186.4 Battle of) /Lundy'sLane J Niagara Falls ■ I If* if Faß» of Niagara— BB Í : Niagara Falls ^HSE I 4xy*bB \ bh 'SI792 Fort Chlppawa-—I; \ ChiPp diva Chippawa, i"GT ■ JV —■--1____.«__g 1814 Elattle of Chippawa- B ■ -I 745 I st Little Niagara -1751 2nd Little Niagara -1760 Fort Schlosser La Salle Ei GRAND INLAND N< North j Tonawand^ .Tveigg nt„ crii ■ \ ■ 1764 All islands In the river given by the Senecas to Sir Wm. Johnson BHB - ce |g3| Se I 45 FORTS % 17 BATTLES 70 BATTERIES ^ ON THE NIAGARA FRONTIER % R SI As ceded by the Senecas to the British Crown 1764 SCALE OF MILES \ ^1866 Battle of Ridgeway \ Forts________________.# Batteries_____________mm Battles_____________ Bl 764 I st "Fort Erie--—------ a si 1779 2nd l’791 3rd 1806 4th 18146th 1814 Siege and assault!, / of Fort Erie ) ----------~—-____________ I8J4 Sortie from Fort Erie I m ----BE __Fort. Erie 1 i Tonawanda i / tí \ 1 814 Battle of ■ \ V 1 0 1807 Fort BLack Rock \ \ m ^FortTompkins 1/1813 Battle ye _— ------11 of Buffalo *La Hontan’s "Fort'Supposé"' \ 11844 Fort Porter H o 1653 Eries annihilated I ®y Senecas L A K E E R I E iieooiïo^ the Erie* B cowmoKT, »eres a..porttea mo THE~MATTHEW8-N0RTHRUP W0AK8,'SUFFALQ, h¿y.. By Courtesy of Peter A. Porter The Niagara Frontier Copyright, J. B. Lyon Company Showing every point of historical interest from the earliest times to the present dayElliot decided that Black Rock was too exposed a point to build ships at, for it was practically commanded by the guns of Fort Erie. He sent his carpenters up to Erie, but did not dare to try to move his vessels, half be** m a drawing by Lieutenant Pierie of the Royal Artillery. Early Print of Niagara—Metz, 1783. Engraved by John Heath. 91INDEX Albany, 14, 26, 31, 34 Anti-Masonic Party, 43 Astor, J. J., 42, 60 Batavia, 69, 74 Bath, 74 Battle of Black Rock, 61, 62 Battle of Chippewa, 48, 58, 62, 66 Battle of Lake Erie, 59, 60, 61 Battle of Queenstown Heights, 47, 57, 66 Battle of Ridgeway, 66, 78 Battle of Scajaquada Creek, 66 Betty Flanigan’s Inn, 64 Black Rock, 47, 58, 59, 6b, 61, 62, 65, 66, 69, 72, 73, 76 Bleecker, 21 Bourke, 29 Braddock, 31, 39 Bradstreet, 32 Brandt, Joseph, 40, 41, 50, 52, 64 Brandt, Mary, 54 Brandt, Molly, 52, 53 Brebeuf, 13, 53 Brown (General), 58 Buffalo, 3, 13, 19, 30, 42, 45, 47, 48, 58, 61, 62, 64, 65, 66, 72, 75, 76 Buffalo’s First Schoolhouse, 61, 64 Buie, 13 Burnet (Governor), 17, 26, 27 Butler’s Rangers, 41, 52, 53, 54, 55 Cadillac, 21, 25, 36 Cadillac (Madame), 25 Caledonia, 60 Cambria, Town of, 68 Canada, Derivation of name, 7 Canal, between Lakes Erie and Ontario, 21 Caroline Affair, 70, 77, 80 Cartier, 5 Castle, The, 39 Celoron, Expedition to Ohio Valley, 30 Chabert, 34 Champlain, 5, 6, 13, 36, 76 Chapel, Catholic, at Niagara Falls, 79 Chaumont, 14 Chauncey, 60 Chautaugue Portage, 75 Chautauqua Creek, 30 Cherry Valley Massacre, 41 Clarke, George, 28 Classen, 22 Clinton (Governor), 28, 29, 40 Colbert, 14 Confederate Agents, 80 Conjocety, John, 61 Courthouse of Niagara and Erie County, 61, 65 D’Aigrement, 21 Daillon, 13 Dearborn (General), 42, 57, 58 De Creuxius, 76 Deed, Indian, of Niagara Frontier Of 1701, 3, 22, 23, 36 Of 1726, 22, 37 Of 1764, 1, 37, 40, 41, 46, 68 Of 1788, 68, 71 De Nonville, 17, 18, 35, 38, 39 Duquesne, 3Ô Detroit, 17, 21, 25, 27, 30, 36 De Vaudreuil (Governor), 39 Devil’s Hole, 6, 35, 40, 46, 50, 51, 61, 62 Dongan (Governor), 21, 38 Douglas, Ephraim, 79 Doyle, Fannie, 47 Eagle Tavern, 66 Ellicots, 74 Elliot, 60, 61 Erie, 30, 59, 61 Erie Canal, 42, 68, 72 Fall of St. Louis, 1, 7 Farmer’s Brother, 60, 65 Fellows, John, 73 Fenian War, 35, 66, 80 Fillmore, Millard, 66 Forts on the Niagara Frontier Fort Cataraqui, 13 Fort Chippewa, 46 Fort Conti, 37, 44, 45 Fort De Nonville, 18, 27, 39, 44, 45 Fort Drummond, 43, 66 Fort Duquesne, 31 93Forts on Niagara Frontier—Cont’d Fort Erie, 43, 46, 47, 48, 58, 61, 69 Fort Frontenac, 1, 2, 7, 10, 11, 13, 15, 17, 18, 19, 32, 38 Fort George, 42, 43, 47, 48, 61, 65, 66, 69, 73 Fort Gray, 48, 64 Fort Levis (Isle Royale), 34 Fort Little Niagara, 29, 45, 49 Fort Mississauga, 43, 48, 66, 69 Fort Necessity, 51, 53 Fort Niagara, 1, 8, 11, 13, 14, 15, 18, 19, 21, 26, 27, 29, 31, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37. 38, 39, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 51, 52, 58, 72 Fort Niagara, Possessors of Site of, 2 Fort Ontario, 31 Fort Porter, 43, 47, 48 Fort Schlosser, 40, 42, 46, 47, 49, 50, 68 Fort Tompkins, 47, 64 Forts, Indian, 43 Franciscans, 10 Franklin, Benjamin, 30 Free Soil Party, 66 French and Indian War, 35 Frenchman’s Landing, 49 Fur Trade, 1, 9, 10, 17, 21, 25, 26, 27, 29, 34 Genesee Country, 67 Goat Island, 41, 50, 59, 68, 78 ^ Gorham, Nathaniel, 68, 71 Graham (Mrs.), 49 Greeley, Horace, 79 Griffon, 10, 14, 25, 61 Harrison (General), 57, 58 Hennepin, 1, 6, 16, 76, 79 Holdover Period, 41 Holland Company (or Purchase), 67, 69, 71, 72, 74 Hull, 57 Hungry Year, 54 Hunter (Governor), 17 Indian Commissioners, 21 Indians of Niagara Frontier Attiowandaronk, 3 Cayugas, 4 Five Nations, 4, 17 Hurons, 3, 4, 36 Iroquois, 3, 4, 10, 36 Mohawks, 4, 53 Neuters, 3, 36 Onondagas, 4 Oneidas, 4 Senecas, 3, 4, 19, 36, 40, 52 Tuscaroras, 4 Irondequoit, 26, 38 Invin, 29 Jamison, Mary, 65 Jesuits, 3, 13, 76 Jews, Refuge City for, 66, 77 Johnson, Guy, 52 Johnson, Sir William, 1, 32, 39, 40, 41, 51, 54, 68 “Join or Die,” 31 Joliet, 13, 15 Joncaire, 17, 20, 21, 22, 24, 26, 28, 38, 39, 45 Kalm, 76 Kienuka, 45 King George’s War, 35 King William’s War, 20, 35 Kingston, 11, 25, 32 La Belle Famille, 34, 35, 51 Lafayette, 42 La Gallette (Ogdensburg), 19 La Hontan, 19, 45, 77 Lake Erie, 9, 11, 13, 15, 19, 45, 58, 59, 60, 61, 73 Lake Ontario, 8, 10, 11, 13, 17, 19, 59, 60, 73 Lallemant, 53, 76 La Mothe, 14, 15, 37 La Salle, 1, 6, 8, 9, 13, 15, 16, 28, 36, 37, 39 Le Boeuf, 30, 34 Legend of the White Canoe, 78 Lescarbo, 5 Lewiston, 15, 17, 38, 39, 42, 45, 64, 72, 73 Little St. Joseph, 19 Livingston, Philip, 17, 22, 39 Lockport, 68 Loyalists, American, 41, 53, 55 Lundy’s Lane, 48, 58, 62, 66, 77 Mackinac, 26, 60 Magazin Royal, 17, 22, 24, 39, 45 Maps Of 1679, Opposite 6 Of 1700, 12 Of 1759, 33 Of 1812, 56 Of Entire History of Niagara Frontier, Opposite 61 Masonic Lodge, 49 Mess House, 39 Military Road, 47, 69, 72 Mississippi, 1, 10, 11, 15, 31 Monsieur de Niagara, 18 Montcalm, 32 Moore, Thomas, 42 Morgan, William, 43 Morris, Robert, 68, 71, 74New Amsterdam, 71, 75 Newark, 42, 44, 48, 58 New York, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 19 New York, State of, 20, 71, 75, 77 Niagara County, 59, 65, 67, 68 Niagara Falls, 5, 8, 26, 36 Niagara Falls, Inc. (Grand, Niag- ara, Manchester), 44 Niagara Frontier, 1, 2, 20, 21, 33 Niagara Frontier Landmarks’ Association, Committee of, 66 Niagara, Name of, 2, 53 Niagara River, 9, 13, 36 Niagara, Village of (West Niag- ara, 42, 52 Noah (Major), 66, 77 Ohio River, 1, 7, 29, 31 Ohio Valley, 1, 11, 18, 30, 39 Old Stone Chimney, 49 Ontario, 28 Ontario County, 67, 69, 73 Oswego, 11, 17, 20, 28, 29, 31, 32, 39, 42, 58, 72 Ottawa Route, 13, 15, 44 Palmer, 19 Patriots’ War, 35, 77, 80 Peace, Centenary of, 79 Peace Conferences on the Niagara, 79 Peace of Paris, 35 Peace of Ryswick, 20, 35, 38 Perry, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61 Phelps, Oliver, 68, 71 Picquet (Abbé), 30, 34 Ponchot, 32, 34, 40 Pontiac’s Conspiracy, 40, 46, 50 Portage, 1, 2, 24, 44, 46, 49 Porter, Augustus, 69 Porter (General), 59, 66 Porter House, 66 Porter, Peter, 69 Presqu’ Isle, 30, 34, 59 Price, 15 Prideaux (General), 32, 40 Putnam, Israel, 41 Quaker Missions, 80 Queen Anne’s War, 20, 35 Queenstown, 42, 44, 59 RagueneauB76 Railroads, 72 Rankine, William B., 50 Red Jacket, 45, 65 Revolutionary War, 41 Rooseboom, Johannes, 38 Runaway Slaves, 30, 76 t Sackett’s Harbor, 57 Sailors’ Battery, 66 Sanson, 76 Scajaquada Creek, 60, 61, 72 Schuyler, Peter, 17, 21, 22, 26, 39 Scott (General), 62, 64 Scott’s Battery, 61, 64 Seneca Mission Church, 65 Seven Years’ War, 35 Shirley (General), 31 Smythe (General), 57, 59 Societies Interested in the Niagara Frontier, 81 Spain, 2, 7 St. John House, 61, 62 Steadman, John, 46, 49, 50, 63, 68 Sullivan (General), 3, 41, 52, 65 Sweden, 2 Thames River, 58 Tonty, 16 Tonty (Madame), 25 Toronto, 13, 17, 30, 42, 58 Trails, 28, 71 Treaty of Aix La Chapelle, 35, 39 Treaty of Ghent, 42, 79 Treaty of Neutrality, 18 Treaty of Paris, 41 Treaty of Utrecht, 20, 27, 29, 35, 38 Underground Trail, 76 Van Rensselaer (General), 57, 59, 64 Venango, 30, 34 Walk in the Water, 66, 73 War of the Austrian Succession, 35 War of 1812, 42, 57, 70 War of Spanish Succession, 35 Washington, George, 30, 31, 41, 51, 52, 53 Washington, 73 Welland Canal, 42 Wilkins (General), 35 Wilkinson, Jemima, 75 Wilmherding, 15 Wright, Asher, 65 Wyoming Massacre, 3, 41, 52, 55 York, 42, 58 Young King, 65 95 Si } I \ c THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY WILL INCREASE TO 50 CENTS ON THE FOURTH DAY AND TO $1.00 ON THE SEVENTH DAY OVERDUE.\