Coloured Corps-- Part 8: Fort Mississagua on the Niagara Frontier

One British officer later noted that:  "Mississagua... is a pretty  little Fort, and would prevent vessels coming up the river.."

These duties prevented the Coloured Corps from participating in the Niagara Campaign that summer.

Their services would have been of great assistance during the British Siege of Fort Erie in which the British desperately lacked the services of trained engineers.

Fort Mississagua:  The tower and earthworks are all that remain  of the barracks, guardroom and cells of Fort Mississagua.  Built between 1813 and 1816 to replace Fort George as the counterpoise to the American Fort Niagara directly  across the Niagara River from it,  it was garrisoned until 1826.

Repaired and rearmed following the Rebellion of 1837, it continued to be maintained  until 1854 in response to border disputes with the United States.

It was manned during the  tense years of the American Civil War and the Fenian Scare of 1866, but by 1870 it was no longer considered of military value.

--Brock-Perry

Canada's Coloured Corps-- Part 7: Construction of Fort Mississauga

After the British captured Fort Niagara on 19 December 1813, the Coloured Corps was attached to the Royal Engineers to help repair fortifications at the mouth of the Niagara River.

Whether racism influenced the authority's choice for this duty is not known,  as one engineer later reported:  "When I visited the Niagara Frontier... I found that  a corps of Free Men of Colour had been raised... but had been turned over to that of the Engineers, any necessity for this I could never learn, but it seemed to be the fashion in Canada to heap all kinds  of duties upon the latter."

Toward the spring of 1814,  the company was ordered to construct a new fort on the Canadian shore named Fort Mississauga.  With the American Navy in control of Lake Ontario, this work was essential to  the security of British forces on the Niagara Peninsula.

--Brock-Perry

War of 1812 Timeline, April 1814-- Part 3: Construction of Fort Mississauga

In April 1814, the British commenced construction on Fort Mississauga in Niagara, Upper Canada. 

After capturing American Fort Niagara, the British built a new fort across the Niagara River on Mississauga Point. Together, these two forts commanded the mouth of the river. 

Fort Mississauga was a small star-shaped earthwork surrounded by a dry ditch and a log palisade. It was armed with four 24-pounder cannons and equipped with a hot-shot furnace and it was stronger than the badly damaged Fort George. 

Stone and brick rubble from the destroyed town of Niagara was used to begin construction of a central brick tower inside Fort Mississauga. 

Also, the first lighthouse built on the Great Lakes before the war on Mississauga Point was demolsihed. 

By July, the fort was deemed defensible, just in time as an American invading army once again crossed the Niagara River. 

--Brock-Perry