Part 7

The fort of Niagara stands immediately at the mouth of the river, on a point of land, one side of which is washed by the river and the other by the lake. Towards the water it is stockaded; and behind the stockade, on the river side, a large mound of earth rises up, at the top of which are embrasures for guns; on the land side it is secured by several batteries and redoubts, and by parallel lines of fascines. At the gates, and in various different parts, there are strong blockhouses; and facing the lake, within the stockade, stands a large fortified stone house. The fort and outworks occupy about five acres of ground; and a garrison of five hundred men, and at least from thirty to forty pieces of ordnance, would be necessary to defend it properly. The federal garrison, however, consists only of fifty men; and the whole of the cannon in the place amounts merely to four small field pieces, planted at the four corners of the fort. This fort was founded by the French, and constituted one link of that extensive chain of posts which they established along the lakes and the western waters. It was begun by the building of the stone house, after a solemn promise had been obtained from the Indians that the artificers should not be interrupted whilst they were going on with the work. The Indians readily made this promise, as, according to their notion, it would have been inhospitable and unfriendly in the extreme not to have permitted a few traders to build a house within their territory to protect them against the inclemency of the seasons: but they were greatly astonished when one so totally different from any that they had ever seen before, and from any that they had an idea of, was completed; they began to suspect that the strangers had plans in meditation unfavourable to their interests, and they wished to dispossess them of their new mansion, but it was too late. In the hall of the house a well had been sunk to keep it supplied with water; the house was plentifully stored with provisions in case of a siege; and the doors being once closed, the tenants remained perfectly indifferent about every hostile attack the Indians could make against it. Fortifications to strengthen the house were gradually erected; and by the year 1759 the place was so strong as to resist, for some time, the forces under the command of Sir William Johnston. Great additions were made to the works after the fort fell into the hands of the British. The stone house is a very spacious building, and is now, as it was formerly, appropriated for the accommodation of the principal officers of the garrison. In the rear of the house is a large apartment, commanding a magnificent view of the lake and of the distant hills at Toronto, which formerly was the officers mess room, and a pattern of neatness. The officers of the federal garrison, however, consider it more convenient to mess in one of the kitchens, and this beautiful room has been suffered to go to ruin; indeed every part of the fort now exhibits a picture of slovenliness and neglect; and the appearance of the soldiers is equally devoid of neatness with that of their quarters. Though it was on Sunday morning that we visited the fort, on which day it is usual even for the men of the garrisons in the States to appear better dressed than on other days, yet the greater part of the men were as dirty as if they had been at work in the trenches for a week without intermission: their grisly beards demonstrated that a razor had not approached their chins for many days; their hair, to appearance, had not been combed for the same length of time; their linen was filthy, their guns rusty, and their clothes ragged. That the clothes and accoutrements of the men should not be better is not to be wondered at, considering how very badly the western army of the States is appointed in every respect; but it is strange that the officers should not attend more than they do to the cleanliness of their men. Their garrisons on the frontiers have uniformly suffered more from sickness than those of the British; and it is to be attributed, I should imagine, in a great measure to their filthiness; for the men are as stout and hardy, apparently, as any in the world. The western army of the States has been most shamefully appointed from the very outset. I heard General Wayne, then the commander in chief, declare at Philadelphia, that a short time after they had begun their march, more than one third of his men were attacked in the woods, at the same period, with a dysentery; that the surgeons had not even been furnished with a medicine chest; and that nothing could have saved the greater part of the troops from death, had not one of the young surgeons fortunately discovered, after many different things had been tried in vain, that the bark of the root of a particular sort of yellow poplar tree was a powerful antidote to the disorder. Many times also, he said, his army had been on the point of suffering from famine in their own country, owing to the carelessness of their commissaries. So badly indeed had the army been supplied, even latterly, with provisions, that when notice was sent to the federal general by the British officers, that they had received orders to deliver up their respective posts pursuant to the treaty, and that they were prepared to do so whenever he was ready to take possession of them, an answer was returned, that unless the British officers could supply his army with a considerable quantity of provisions on arriving at the lakes, he could not attempt to march for many weeks. The federal army was generously supplied with fifty barrels of pork, as much as the British could possibly spare; notwithstanding which, it did not make its appearance till a considerable time after the day appointed for the delivery of the posts. The federal army is composed almost wholly of Irishmen and Germans, that were brought over as redemptioners, and enlisted as soon as they landed, before they had an opportunity of learning what great wages were given to labourers in the States. The natives of the country are too fond of making money to rest satisfied with the pay of a common soldier.

The American prints, until the late treaty of amity was ratified, teemed with the most gross abuse of the British government, for retaining possession of Niagara Fort, and the other military posts on the lakes, after the independence of the States had been acknowledged, and peace concluded. It was never taken into consideration, that if the British government had thought proper to have withdrawn its troops from the posts at once, immediately after the definitive treaty was signed, the works would in all probability have been destroyed by the Indians, within whose territories they were situated, long before the people of the States could have taken possession of them; for no part of their army was within hundreds of miles of the posts, and the country through which they must have past in getting to them was a mere wilderness; but if the army had gained the posts, the states were in no condition, immediately after the war, to have kept in them such large bodies of the military as would have been absolutely necessary for their defence whilst at enmity with the Indians, and it is by no means improbable, but that the posts might have been soon abandoned. The retention of them, therefore, to the present day, was, in fact, a circumstance highly beneficial to the interests of the States, notwithstanding that such an outcry was raised against the British on that account, inasmuch as the Americans now find themselves possessed of extensive fortifications on the frontiers, in perfect repair, without having been at the expence of building them, or maintaining troops in them for the space of ten years, during which period no equivalent advantages could have been derived from their possession. It is not to be supposed, however, that the British government meant to confer a favour on her late colonies by retaining the posts; it was well known that the people of the new states would be eager, sooner or later, to get possession or forts situated within their boundary line, and occupied by strangers; and as there were particular parts of the definitive treaty which some of the states did not seem very ready to comply with, the posts were detained as a security for its due ratification on the part of the States. In the late treaty of amity and commerce, these differences were finally accommodated to the satisfaction of Great Britain, and the posts were consequently delivered up. On the surrender of them very handsome compliments were paid, in the public papers throughout the States, to the British officers, for the polite and friendly manner in which they gave them up. The gardens of the officers were all left in full bearing, and high preservation; and all the little conveniences were spared, which could contribute to the comforts of the federal troops.

[Sidenote: REMARKS]

The generality of the people of the States were big with the idea, that the possession of these places would be attended with the most important and immediate advantages; and in particular they were fully persuaded, that they would thereby at once become masters of the trade to the lakes, and of three-fourths at least of the fur trade, which, they said, had hitherto been so unjustly monopolized by the British merchants, to their great prejudice. They have now got possession of them, and perceive the futility of all these notions.

The posts surrendered are four in number; namely, Fort Oswego, at the mouth of Oswego River, which falls into Lake Ontario, on the south side; Fort Niagara, at the mouth of Niagara River; Fort Detroit, on the western bank of Detroit River; and Fort Michillimachinack, at the straits of the same name, between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. From Oswego, the first of these, we derived no benefit whatever. The neighbouring country, for miles round, was a mere forest; it was inhabited by but few Indians, and these few carried their furs to Cataragui or Kingston, where they got a better price for them than at Oswego, as there were many traders there, and of course some competition amongst them; at the same time, the river, at the mouth of which this fort stands, was always open to the people of the States, and along it a small trade was carried on by them between New York and Lake Ontario, which was in no wise ever interrupted by the troops at the fort. By the surrender of this place, therefore, they have gained nothing but what they enjoyed before and the British government is saved the expence of keeping up a useless garrison of fifty men.

[Sidenote: SURRENDERED FORTS.]

The quantity of furs collected at Niagara is considerable, and the neighbourhood being populous, it is a place of no small trade; but the town, in which this trade is carried on, being on the British side of the line, the few merchants that lived within the limits of the fort immediately crossed over to the other side, as soon as it was rumoured that the fort was to be given up. By the possession of a solitary fort, therefore, the people of the States have not gained the smallest portion of this part of the lake trade; nor is it probable that any of them will find it their interest to settle as merchants near the fort; for the British merchants, on the opposite side, as has already been shewn, can afford to sell their goods, brought up the St. Lawrence, on much lower terms than what goods brought from New York can be sold at; and as for the collecting of furs, it is not to be imagined that the Indians, who bear such a rooted hatred to the people of the States, who are attached to the British, and who are not a people ready to forsake their old friends, will carry their furs over to their enemies, and give up their connexions with the men with whom they have been in the habit of dealing, and who can afford to pay them so much better than the traders on the opposite side of the water.

Detroit, of all the places which have been given up, is the most important; for it is a town, containing at least twelve hundred inhabitants. Since its surrender, however, a new town has been laid out on the opposite bank of the river, eighteen miles lower down, and hither many of the traders have removed. The majority of them stay at Detroit; but few or none have become citizens of the States in consequence, nor is it likely that they will, at least for some time. In the late treaty, a particular provision for them was made; they were to be allowed to remain there for one year, without being called on to declare their sentiments, and if at the end of that period they chose to remain British subjects, they were not to be molested[12] in any manner, but suffered to carry on their trade as formerly in the fullest extent; the portion of the fur trade, which we shall lose by the surrender of this place, will therefore be very inconsiderable.

Footnote 12:

This part of the late treaty has by no means been strictly observed on the part of the States. The officers of the federal army, without asking permission, and contrary to the desire of several of the remaining British inhabitants, appropriated to their own use several of the houses and stores of those who had removed to the new town, and declared their determination of not becoming citizens of the States; and many of the inhabitants had been called on to serve in the militia, and to perform duties, from which, as British subjects, they were exempted by the articles in the treaty in their favour. When we were at Detroit, the British inhabitants met together, and drew up a memorial on the subject, reciting their grievances, which was committed to our care, and accordingly presented to the British minister at Philadelphia.

The fourth post, Michillimachinack, is a small stockaded fort, situated on an island. The agents of the North-west Company of merchants at Montreal, and a few independent traders, resided within the limits of the fort, and bartered goods there for furs brought in by different tribes of Indians, who are the sole inhabitants of the neighbouring country. On evacuating this place, another post was immediately established, at no great distance, on the Island of St. Joseph, in the Straits of St. Mary, between lakes Superior and Huron, and a small garrison left there, which has since been augmented to upwards of fifty men. Several traders, citizens of the States, have established themselves at Michillimakinac but as the British traders have fixed their new post so close to the old one, it is nearly certain that the Indians will continue to trade with their old friends in preference, for the reasons before mentioned.

[Sidenote: LAKE TRADE.]

From this statement it appears evident, that the people of the States can only acquire by their new possession a small part of one branch of the fur trade, namely, of that which is carried on on one of the nearer lakes. The furs brought down from the distant regions in the north-west to the grand portage, and from thence in canoes to Montreal along the Utawa River, are what constitute by far the principal part, both as to quantity and value, of those exported from Montreal; to talk, therefore, of their acquiring possession of three-fourths of the fur trade by the surrender of the posts on the lakes is absurd in the extreme; neither is it likely that they will acquire any considerable share of the lake trade in general, which, as I have already pointed out, can be carried on by the British merchants from Montreal and Quebec, by means of the St. Lawrence, with such superior advantage.

It is worthy of remark, that as military posts, all those lately established by the British are far superior, in point of situation, to those delivered up. The ground on which the new block house is building, on the British side of Niagara River, is nine feet higher than the top of the stone house in the American fort, and it commands every part of the fort. The chief strength of the old fort is on the land side; towards the water the works are very weak, and the whole might be battered down by a single twelve pounder judiciously planted on the British side of the river. At present it is not proposed to erect any other works on the British side of the river than the block house; but should a fort be constructed hereafter, it will be placed on Mississaguis Point, a still more advantageous situation than that on which the block house stands, as it completely commands the entrance into the river.

The new post on Detroit River commands the channel much more effectually than the old fort in the town of Detroit; vessels cannot go up or down the river without passing within a very few yards of it. It is remarkable, indeed, that the French, when they first penetrated into this part of the country, fixed upon the spot chosen for this new fort, in preference to that where Detroit stands, and they had absolutely begun their fort and town, when the whole party was unhappily cut off by the Indians.

[Sidenote: REMARKS.]

The island of St. Joseph, in the third place, is a more eligible situation for a British military post than Michillimakinac, inasmuch as it commands the entrance of Lake Superior, whereas Michillimakinac only commands the entrance into Lake Michigan, which is wholly within the territory of the United States.

It is sincerely to be hoped, however, that Great Britain and the United States may continue friends, and that we never may have occasion to view those posts on the frontiers in any other light than as convenient places for carrying on commerce.

_LETTER _ XXXI.

_Description of the River and Falls of Niagara and the Country bordering upon the Navigable Part of the River below the Falls._

Fort Chippeway, September.

[Sidenote: NIAGARA FALLS.]

AT the distance of eighteen miles from the town of Niagara or Newark, are those remarkable Falls in Niagara River, which may justly be ranked amongst the greatest natural curiosities in the known world. The road leading from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie runs within a few hundred yards of them. This road, which is within the British dominions, is carried along the top of the lofty steep banks of the river; for a considerable way it runs close to their very edge, and in passing along it the eye of the traveller is entertained with a variety of the most grand and beautiful prospects. The river, instead of growing narrow as you proceed upwards, widens considerably: at the end of nine or ten miles it expands to the breadth of a mile, and here it assumes much the appearance of a lake; it is enclosed, seemingly on all sides, by high hills, and the current, owing to the great depth of the water, is so gentle as to be scarcely perceptible from the top of the banks. It continues thus broad for a mile or two, when on a sudden the waters are contracted between the high hills on each side. From hence up to the falls the current is exceedingly irregular and rapid. At the upper end of this broad part of the river, and nearly at the foot of the banks, is situated a small village, that has been called Queenstown, but which, in the adjacent country, is best known by the name of “The Landing.” The lake merchant vessels can proceed up to this village with perfect safety, and they commonly do so, to deposit, in the stores there, such goods as are intended to be sent higher up the country, and to receive in return the furs, &c. that have been collected at the various ports on lakes Huron and Erie, and sent thither to be conveyed down to Kingston, across Lake Ontario. The portage from this place to the nearest navigable part of Niagara River, above the Falls, is nine miles in length.

About half way up the banks, at the distance of a few hundred yards from Queenstown, there is a very extensive range of wooden barracks, which, when viewed a little way off, appears to great advantage; these barracks are now quite unoccupied, and it is not probable that they will ever be used until the climate improves: the first troops that were lodged in them sickened in a very few days after their arrival; many of the men died, and had not those that remained alive been removed, pursuant to the advice of the physicians, to other quarters, the whole regiment might possibly have perished.

From the town of Niagara to Queenstown, the country in the neighbourhood of the river is very level; but here it puts on a different aspect; a confused range of hills, covered with oaks of an immense size, suddenly rises up before you, and the road that winds up the side of them is so steep and rugged that it is absolutely necessary for the traveller to leave his carriage, if he should be in one, and proceed to the top on foot. Beyond these hills you again come to an unbroken level country; but the soil here differs materially from that on the opposite side; it consists of a rich dark earth intermixed with clay, and abounding with stones; whereas, on the side next Lake Ontario, the soil is of a yellowish cast, in some places inclining to gravel and in others to sand.

From the brow of one of the hills in this ridge, which overhangs the little village of Queenstown, the eye of the traveller is gratified with one of the finest prospects that can be imagined in nature: you stand amidst a clump of large oaks, a little to the left of the road, and looking downwards, perceive, through the branches of the trees with which the hill is clothed from the summit to the base, the tops of the houses of Queenstown, and in front of the village, the ships moored in the river; the ships are at least two hundred feet below you, and their masts appear like slender reeds peeping up amidst the thick foliage of the trees. Carrying your eye forward, you may trace the river in all its windings, and finally see it disembogue into Lake Ontario, between the town and the fort: the lake itself terminates your view in this direction, except merely at one part of the horizon, where you just get a glimpse of the blue hills of Toronto. The shore of the river, on the right hand, remains in its natural state, covered with one continued forest; but on the opposite side the country is interspersed with cultivated fields and neat farm houses down to the water’s edge. The country beyond the hills is much less cleared than that which lies towards the town of Niagara, on the navigable part of the river.

[Sidenote: PROSPECTS.]

From the sudden change of the face of the country in the neighbourhood of Queenstown, and the equally sudden change in the river with respect to its breadth, depth, and current, conjectures have been formed, that the great falls of the river must originally have been situated at the spot where the waters are so abruptly contracted between the hills; and indeed it is highly probable that this was the case, for it is a fact well ascertained, that the falls have receded very considerably since they were first visited by Europeans, and that they are still receding every year; but of this I shall have occasion to speak more particularly presently.

[Sidenote: NIAGARA FALLS.]