Historic Fort George-- Part 4: Increasing the Size and Reducing It

Tensions with First Nations and the United States in the late 1790s prompted British forces to refortify the colony, including the fort.  Six earthen and log bastions, connected by a wooden 12 foot high palisade and a ditch was built around the fort.

The fort was expanded to include five log blockhouses/barracks, hospital,  kitchens, workshops and officers' quarters by the start of the 19th century.  Timber was obtained from trees felled in the area and transported along the Niagara River.  Most of the fort was built by  members of the Royal Canadian Volunteers, a unit that was later disbanded in 1802.

By 1812, the fort was used as the headquarters for the central division of the British Army and a depot for the Indian Department.

Believing Fort George was too large to defend given the number of troops he had at his disposal, Isaac Brock drafted plans to reduce the fort's size by a third.  Specifically, he proposed to abandon the southern bastions, the octagonal blockhouse and the stone gunpowder  magazine.  A palisade fence would be built to partition the abandone parts off from the remaining fort.

--Brock-Perry