Existing comment:
In this historic building: the commandant's quarters,
was concluded the surrender of French Fort Niagara
to the British, July 25, 1759.
"The parade was thronged with troops, victors and
vanquished, the latter eyeing uneasily the bold
and stealthy savages who stole their belongings
and coveted their scalp-locks. In the commandant's
quarters, the old mess-house still standing.
The officers gathered at table to break bread
together and drink a few healths. Of all the
scenes enacted in this structure during the
third of a century then past, this final ceremonial
of the days of the French was by no means least
in significance; for here France herself quaffed
a cup in acknowledgment of a conqueror to whom
she was yielding an empire vaster and more
potential than any statesman of that day could
see or dare predict." -- Frank H. Severance |