Historical Development of the Fort
Fort Niagara, 1757
- 30 Officers' Quarters (French Castle), 1726
- 31a Bakehouse, pre-1755
- 34a Provisions Storehouse, 1756
- 35 Powder Magazine, 1757
- 57a "Gate of the Five Nations", 1756
- 401e Addition to Castle
- 401f Addition to Castle
- 403 Employees' Quarters, pre-1755
- 404 Barracks, 1755
- 405 Employees' Quarters, pre-1755
- 406 Barracks, 1755
- 407 Employees' Quarters, pre-1755
- 408a Officers' Quarters, pre-1755
- 409 Unknown (Privy?), pre-1755
- 410a Employees' Quarters, pre-1755
- 413a "Niagara Gate", 1757
- 417b Barracks, 1755-56 or 1756-57
- 420 Guardhouse, 1756
- 421a Privies, 1756
- 422 Merchandise Storehouse, 1757
- 425 King's Stables, 1757
- 426 Provisions Storehouse, 1757
- 427a Barracks, 1757
- 428a Barracks, 1757
- 429a Hospital, 1757
- 430 Blacksmith Shop, 1757
- 431 Chapel, 1757
Pouchot's defenses were perfected during 1756-57. By that time the old stockade around the Castle had been torn down, leaving a neat square of buildings to mark its former location. By September 1757, Pouchot could report that "Fort Niagara and its buildings were finished,and its covered ways stockaded." The fortifications required only one refinement - replacement of the sod wall-facing with stone. This was approved early in 1757. The stone, however, would have to come from Fort Frontenac (Kingston, Ontario), and it was impossible to begin transporting it before 1758. The British capture of Fort Frontenac and destruction of the French Lake Ontario sailing vessels in August 1758 nipped the project in the bud.
Pouchot's 1756-57 work included the erection of numerous
new buildings within the enlarged fort. Most were of log, but one was
an exceptionally large masonry powder magazine (35) that survives
today. The new wooden buildings included additional barracks
(427a and 428a) , storehouses (34a, 422 and 426), a forge (430) a
stable (425), and a hospital (429a). A church (431) was also
constructed, possibly of stone.
Although the expansion of Fort Niagara greatly increased the fortified area, not all of this space could be utilized. The gully, long a convenient natural defense, prevented use of much of the interior east of the old stockade. Efforts to adequately drain and fill the gully had begun even before 1755. This process would continue for many years, and no substantial buildings were erected at the lake end of the gully until just before the War of 1812. The graveyard east of the gully (in the vicinity of the new church) was another inconvenience in the expanded fort. By 1759, a new post burial ground, today popularly known as the "1812 Cemetary", had been established about one hundred yards southeast of the new walls.
When the British besieged Fort Niagara in 1759 the new earthen walls, still faced with sod and defended by Pouchot, served well. The French held for nineteen days before being forced to capitulate. The duration of their resistance was considered quite respectable for an "open entrenchment"-one which lacked bombproof shelters for its garrison. The accompanying plan is based on the last from the French regime and shows the fort much as it appeared when the British arrived. It too was drafted by Pouchot. Entitled "Niagara Cette Place a ete Commencee le 14 Janvier 1756 et Finie le 12 Octobre 1757 avec 80 Travailleurs partours", it was probably drawn about December 1757.