Fort Gray On the Niagara Escarpment-- Part 4: Site Visible for Many Years Afterwards

After the British left in December 1813, this ended almost 65 years of continuous military presence at the very top of the Niagara Escarpment at Lewiston.

Major Mallory later made Lockport his home and died there in 1853 at the age of 94.

The ruins of Fort Gray were visible for many years afterwards.  Actually, the exact location of the fort was known until the mid 1900s.

There was hope that Fort Gray would become part of the Lewiston Historical Park, but the park never came to pass and the Fort Gray site was bulldozed for the Robert Moses Parkway along the Niagara River.  Part of the Lower Landing became a part of the Art Park and many sites are marked there.

--Brock-Perry

Fort Gray on the Niagara Escarpment-- Part 3: British Attack in 1813

In 1812, the U.S. Army erected another blockhouse on the site.  Army captain Nicholas Gray arrived and found the remains of the British blockhouse overlooking the Niagara Gorge above Lewiston.

In December 1813, the British attacked Lewiston.  A small detachment from Fort Gray, under Major Benajah Mallory, a Canadian volunteer, was able to hold the British at bay for a short time while they advanced toward Manchester, now Niagara Falls.  This enabled local residents time to flee.

The British marched from Lewiston to Fort Niagara, south of Niagara Falls and east along the Ridge Road, burning everything in its path.

--Brock-Perry

Fort Gray on the Niagara Escarpment-- Part 2: British Take Control After the French and Indian War

Hundreds of Seneca Indians carried 100-pound packs up the steep hill on all-fours.  At the top these were loaded on wagons for the next leg of the journey to Fort du Portage on the Niagara River above the falls. From there the cargo was transported to boats for the rest of the journey to the Great Lakes.

The French used the site until 1759 when it was burned and destroyed to keep it from the British in the French and Indian War.

Five years later, the British built eleven new blockhouses along the portage route between the top of the escarpment and Fort Schlosser (former Fort du Portage) after the Devil's Hole Massacre of September 1763.  One of these was the one that replaced the former French blockhouse at the site.

The Seneca Indians were replaced with a mechanized tramway system.

The British held this blockhouse until 1796 when they finally evacuated Fort Niagara.

--Brock-Perry

Fort Gray on the Escarpment-- Part 1: Formerly a French Blockhouse

From the December 26, 2015, Lockport (New York) Union-Sun & Journal "Niagara Discoveries: Fort Gray on the Escarpment" by Ann Marie Linnaberry.

Forts and barracks are scattered all across western New York and southern Ontario.  Fort Gray (Grey) is located on the Niagara Escarpment just north of the present-day Lewiston-Queenston Bridge and west of the Niagara Falls Country Club.  A residential street running from Route 104 to the edge of the gorge is named for the lost fortification.

An escarpment is a steep slope or cliff formed as a result of faulting or erosion.  Part of the Niagara Escarpment is where the Niagara River becomes Niagara Falls.

In 1750, the French built a log blockhouse on the site.  It was the ending point of a trail up the escarpment along the portage route.

--Brock-Perry