Historical Development of the Fort
Fort Niagara, 1768
- 30 "The Large Stone House" (French Castle), 1726
- 31b Bakehouse, 1762
- 34b Provisions Storhouse, 1762
- 35 Powder Magazine, 1757
- 408b Officers' Quarters, pre-1755 or 1757-59
- 413b "Niagara Gate", 1768
- 417b Barracks, 1755-56 or 1756-57
- 420 Guardhouse, 1756
- 422 Ordnance Storehouse, 1757
- 427a Barracks, 1757
- 428a Barracks, 1757
- 429a Hospital, 1757
- 430 Blacksmith Shop, 1757
- 431 Chapel, 1757
- 436 Soldiers' Guarhouse, 1768
- 437 Officers' guardhouse, 1768
- 440 Lake Gate, 1768
- 441a Commandant's Quarters, 1768
The Fort mapped by Lieutenant Demler in 1762 faced an entirely new threat during the Indian Uprising of 1763-64. Earthworks designed to resist cannon were unnecessary when the enemy possessed no artillery, and the rambling defenses proved more a hazard than an asset in a war against Native Americans. It was fortunate that Niagara was not attacked, for it was reported in 1764 that friendly Indians had been able to "get into it in many places." The treaty between France and Britain guaranteed that new considerations would govern the nature of Niagara's defenses. From 1763 until the American Revolution, Indians were the most likely adversaries.
The defenses of Fort Niagara were about to be drastically changed to meet this new concern. As early as 1763, the weak earthworks along the lake and river sides had been replaced by a stockade. Plans to entirely re-picket the lake and river sides and the nearly ruined earthworks were projected in 1767. Work began during the summer of 1768.
Other forces intervened, however. The end of both the war against the French and the Indian uprising meant reductions in the number of troops available for Niagara and other posts. Further cost-cutting by the British military in the spring of 1768 caused the work at Fort Niagara to be suspended and then altered to allow the post to be defended against Indians by a garrison as small as forty men. Engineer Captain Thomas Sowers accomplished this work by the end of 1768.
This draft is based on Sowers' "Plan of the Fortifications of Niagara" drawn at the conclusion of the 1768 work. The results were striking and put the form of Fort Niagara's defenses back to much as they had been under the French. A stockade was erected around the "Castle" to provide a citadel and to enclose all the buildings needed for a small garrison. Two small guardhouses (436 and 437) were placed just inside the gate of the new stockade. Several buildings (425, 426 and 410c - the latter constructed since 1762) were removed to accommodate the stockade, and the rest of the large fort was picketed. Other buildings between the earthworks and the new stockade were left standing and were to be abandoned in the event that wholesale troop reductions actually occured. In the end, Fort Niagara's garrison was not reduced to forty men, but its tenability against European-style armies was returned to the level of 1755.