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Photo Diary: Fort Ontario, Oswego NY [1]
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Date: 2022-07-21
The British raid on Fort Ontario in Oswego NY in 1813, during the War of 1812, resulted in the destruction of the American harbor, but still resulted in a strategic stalemate in the naval conflict on Lake Ontario.
For those who don't know, I live in a converted campervan and travel around the country, posting photo diaries of places that I visit. I am currently in New York.
After the battle at Sackets Harbor in May 1813, both the United States and England recognized that neither side here could have an advantage unless they controlled Lake Ontario. So both sides set to building as many armed warships as they could, in an attempt to outclass the other side. The American Navy was centered at Sackets Harbor under Commodore Isaac Chauncey, while the British fleet under Commodore James Yeo was based at Kingston.
This in turn led to a furious arms race as each side tried to gain dominance over the other: when one side began to build a large heavily-armed ship, the other immediately began work on an even bigger and better-equipped vessel. The result, ironically, was stalemate, as neither side could gain a decisive advantage, yet neither would risk their fleet in action until it had won clear superiority.
By the time the winter ice on Lake Ontario had begun to break up in April 1814, it was the British who held the lead in the naval arms race: they had just finished two frigates, christened HMS Prince Regent and HMS Princess Charlotte. But the Americans had in turn already begun construction on two larger frigates that would, when finished that spring, switch the advantage once more to their side.
In an attempt to break this seemingly endless cycle of inaction, though, General Sir Gordon Drummond suggested to Yeo that the British use the brief period between the spring thaw and the completion of the American warships–during which he would have a temporary advantage–to launch another attack on Sackets Harbor and attempt to destroy the American base.
Yeo agreed to the arrangement, but when they submitted a request to Canada’s Governor General Sir George Prevost for enough additional troops for the attack, Prevost was unwilling to pull any of his scarce forces from elsewhere in Canada and rejected the plan.
Instead, Prevost recommended that Yeo and Drummond make preparations for a naval raid on the American outpost at Oswego, on the lake shore. An attack here, Prevost argued, would be just as effective as a raid on Sackets Harbor, since most of the American supplies passed through Oswego, and it was believed that the cannons intended for the unfinished American frigates were already being stored here. And unlike the heavily-fortified base at Sackets Harbor, Oswego had only 300 defenders divided among a number of forts.
After a two-day voyage, Yeo’s fleet reached Oswego on the morning of May 5. But with the winds against him, Yeo could not get his ships close enough to shore for a landing, and when a storm blew in, the whole fleet withdrew to the open lake waters to ride it out.
When the British returned the next morning, they successfully landed a mixed force of British Regulars, Royal Marines, Canadian militia, and a company of armed Royal Navy sailors. The 300 American defenders were clustered in Fort Ontario.
Unfortunately for the British, they had waded ashore at a spot that was unexpectedly deep, and most of the troops, their powder and ammunition soaked and useless, had to advance armed only with a bayonet. The Americans, meanwhile, had been able to shift their five small cannons into a position to rake the landing area, and were also firing hot-shot at any British ship that ventured into range. A small group of American infantry was able to pin down the landing parties for a short time, but they were driven off by an English bayonet charge.
The British took serious casualties, but in the end their superior numbers were decisive. The fort was overrun and the Americans surrendered.
British casualties numbered around 90, and the Americans about 70. But the raiders had gained a rich haul. In addition to several small armed schooners, the British captured 2400 barrels of food and gunpowder, and seven naval cannons. The Americans were fortunate in that another 21 cannons were on the way to Oswego but had not arrived yet.
The British spent the next day burning the town of Oswego and the surrounding forts before withdrawing. But although the Battle of Oswego had been a tactical win for Yeo, it had failed in its larger strategic goal of preventing Chauncey from completing his frigates and once again gaining temporary superiority. The naval arms race on Lake Ontario entered yet another round.
The destroyed Fort Ontario was rebuilt in 1840 and expanded in 1845, during a time of renewed tensions along the Canadian border, and served as a military hospital during World War One. Today, the battleground is part of the Fort Ontario State Historic Site in Oswego, run by the state of New York. The park features the reconstructed Fort and a museum display.
Some photos from a visit.
The park. (The white van in the parking lot is my little Ziggy the Snail Shell.)
Lake Ontario
The fort’s outer walls
Cannon ports
The whole fort would have been surrounded by a ring of earthen banks and ditches
Cannon bastion
Main gate
The Guard Houses
Looking across the Parade Ground
Enlisted Men’s Barracks
Mess Hall
Officer’s Quarters
Atop the outer wall
Cannon bastion
Looking out over the lake
The fort’s cemetery
The gravestones range from the time of the French and Indian War to WW2 veterans
During WW2 the fort served as a temporary barracks for around 1000 Jewish refugees from Germany. This stone memorializes them.
And of course some idiot goober had to vandalize it
The lighthouse
The lightkeeper’s house was built on the fort’s grounds
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