Existing comment:
Fort Niagara in the American Revolution:
During the American Revolution, Fort Niagara was a British post and the center of diplomacy and trade with the Native peoples in the region. It also controlled access to the Upper Great Lakes, providing a vital supply link between the British command at Quebec and western posts, including Detroit and Michilimacknac.
At the outbreak of war in 1775, Niagara became a refuge for Loyalists fleeing their rebelious colonial neighbors.
Fort Niagara was also a supply depot and headquarters for offensive operations against the American frontier by British regulars, Loyalists, and Iroquois warriors. Butler's Rangers, one of the most famous loyalist military units of the Revolutionary War, was organized here in 1778. Raiding parties from Niagara attacked settlements as far away as the Hudson Valley, Kentucky, and Virginia.
In late 1779, an American military expedition led by Generals Sullivan and Clinton advanced through central New York, destroying crops and settlements belonging to Indians allied with the British. Thousands of Natives then sought winter refuge at Niagara, straining the fort's resources.
Britain retained possession of the fort until 1796, when treaty disputes with the United States were finally resolved. |