Fort Mississauga-- Part 2: Built from Ruins of Newark, Upper Canada

The site of was used by three different First Nations (Indians) before the fort was built.  In 1804, a lighthouse was built there and the site became known as Mississauga Point.  The lighthouse was dismantled in 1814 to make way for the fort.  It incorporated stone from the lighthouse in its construction.

Mississauga Point Lighthouse was designated a National Historic Site in 1937 and today commemorated by a plaque within the walls of the fort.

After the British captured American Fort Niagara across the river on 19 December 1813,  Captain Runchey's  Company of Coloured Men was attached to the Royal Engineers to help repair the fortifications at the mouth of the Niagara River.

Toward the spring of 1814,  the company was ordered to construct a new fort there which became Fort Mississauga. Many of the materials used were acquired from the nearby City of Newark, Upper Canada, which had been razed by the Americans when they retreated from the Canadian side and gave up Fort George.

--Brock-Perry

Historic Fort George-- Part 9: After the War of 1812

Fort Niagara remained under British control for the rest of the war and their focus shifted to more strategically located Fort Niagara across the river instead of Fort George.

In July 1814, American forces under Winfoeld Scott attempted to capture Fort Niagara, but called off the attack when he realized  that the naval support he had been promised would not come.

In 1817, American President James Monroe visited the Canadian side of the river on a goodwill trip and was entertained at Fort George by British officers.  However, Fort George's  inability to guard the entrance to the Niagara River caused a new installation named Fort Mississauga to be built near the mouth of the river in the 1820s.

During this same period, the constuction of Butler's Barracks was undertaken southwest of Fort George and out of range of American batteries.

The equipment within the fort was auctioned off in 1821 and the palisades relocated to other sites in the next year.  By 1825, the body of Isaac Brock was exhumed from the northeast bastion and placed at Brock's Monument in Queenston.

--Brock-Perry

Historic Fort George-- Part 8: British Recapture It and Then Capture American Fort Niagara

The Americans had intended to use Fort George as a bridgehead in Canadian territory to launch further attacks.  However, that did not come to pass.  Disease,  increased desertion rates,  risks of ambushes and a general British advance toward the fort following their victories at  Stoney Creek and Beaver Dams kept it from doing that.

American forces began a slow withdrawal from the fort until in December 1813, there were but 60 soldiers there.  Upon receiving intelligence that a force of 1,500 British and 500 First Nations Indians were advancing the Americans withdrew and razed the fort and nearby settlement.

The American garrison left the fort on December 11 after spiking the cannons and destroying the town.  However, the fort itself was left intact.

British forces arrived shortly after the Americans left.  Nine days later, they conucted an attack across the Niagara River that led to the capture of the American Fort Niagara and the razing of American communities in retaliation for what had happened to Niagara (the name of Niagara-on-the-Lake as it is called today).

--Brock-Perry

Historic Fort George-- Part 6: The Battle of Fort George

The Battle of Fort George began on 26 May 1813, when Fort George was subjected to an artillery barrage and heated shots from Fort Niagara across the river. Joining also from the Americans were new batteries along the shore of the Niagara River.  The result was the destruction of log buildings inside the fort.

Two days later, an American landing force of 2,500 crossed the river in  four waves about 1.9 miles from Fort George under cover of cannonade fire.  By the time the third wave attacked, Fort George's commander, Brigadier General  John Vincent, realized that his force of 560 men could not hold the place and were in risk of being outflanked and trapped in the fort.

He ordered the fort evacuated after the ammunition was destroyed and cannons spiked.  First Nations warriors under John Norton covered the British retreat although the Americans made no real effort to pursue them.

The Americans approached the fort carefully wanting to avoid possible casualties from the explosion of the fort's magazine, like had happened at the conclusion of the Battle of York.  Even so, they arrived in time to prevent the destruction of a substantial part of the fort.  They were able to extinguish one of the fuses that was going to blowup the magazine.

--Brock-Perry

Historic Fort George-- Part 5: The Battles of Fort George and Isaac Brock Buried There

After the declaration of war in June 1812, work began on the  northeast bastion.  During the war, the fort was manned by British Army regulars, the Canadian militia and members of Captain Raunchey's Company of Coloured Men as well as First Nation allies.

Given the fort's location on the U.S. Canada border, it became the scene of much action during the war.

In October 1812, th fort was the subject of bombardment by heated shots from American forces at Fort Niagara as a diversion for the American attack on nearby Queenston Heights.  This bombardment, as well as  another one in November of that year, caused the destruction of several structures in the fort.

After Isaac Brock's death at  Queenston Heights, he was buried in a military funeral  at Fort George's northeast bastion.

--Brock-Perry

(The Brock in the signoff Brock-Perry is there for Isaac Brock.)

Historic Fort George-- Part 3: Who's Higher?

Fort George was built by the British to serve as a secondary fort to Fort Niagara, across the Niagara River. Its large size was because it was originally also supposed to serve as a supply depot.

However, the Jay Treaty required the British to withdraw from Fort Niagara. In 1791, land was set aside to build the fortifications that became Fort George on the high ground next to the Navy Hall at Niagara-on-the-Lake.

The site was selected by mermbers of the Royal Engineers at an elevation of 14 feet higher than Fort Niagara across the river.

However, the British Army didn't leave Fort Niagara until 1796 after the Jay Tearty was signed.  Fort George was completed the same year with a blockhouse/barracks, a stone gunpowder storage magazine and two small warehouses.

In an attempt to negate the elevation advantage, Americans built a battery on an elevated bank across the river.  In an effort to counteract this, the British then built a half moon battery southeast of Fort George.

Fort George was largely manned by members of  the Royal Canadian  Volunteers after British forces withdrew many troops from Upper Canada.

--Brock-Perry

Two Heroines Along the Niagara River-- Same Forts, Different Years

As I was writing about Mary Madden Henry and her role at a battle at Fort George, Upper Canada, it came to mind that I had also written about another woman, only she was on the American side of the fighting there between Niagara, Upper Canada and the American Fort Niagara.  She too was a hero.

During the fighting on November 12, 1812, she had carried hot shot to American cannons firing at Fort George across the Niagara River.  Like with the case of Mary Henry, she was under fire as well.

I wrote quite a bit about her earlier this year in January and February.  Just click on her name below.

The battle where Mary Henry distinguished herself took place about six months later on May 27, 1813.

Some bravery with these two women.

Sadly, not a lot is known by most people about these two women.  There isn't even an entry on Wikipedia on either of them.

--Brock-Perry

Betsy Doyle

From Alexanders Map.com  "Betsy Doyle" by N.H. Carmichael.

Fort Niagara came under fire from the British on November 21, 1812.  Thirteen months later, the British and their Indian allies captured the fort after the Americans had refused to surrender. The British commander ordered no quarter, in other words, no surrender.  All captured were to be killed.  

Somehow, Betsy Doyle and her family escaped.  However, fleeing on foot and now in enemy territory along with the cold of December and winter, their chances weren't good at all.  But somehow they did and after four months reached American forces near Albany.

She was never paid for her heroism at Fort Niagara and died six years later.  The author of this wanted to know where she was buried.

There is a plaque at Fort Niagara that isn't prominently displayed on the top floor of the French Castle where she brought the red hot shot to a cannon.  However, it misidentified her as Fanny Doyle.

Her husband Andrew Doyle came back to the United States after his release, but never found her. He married someone else the same year Betsy died.

I Also Would Like To Know Where She Is Buried.   --Brock-Perry

A Video and More Information on Betsy Doyle

From the William G. Pomeroy Foundation, "Heroine of Fort Niagara Betsy Doyle:  History happened here."

There is a minute and a half video as well as a historical marker featured at this site.

Some more information about Betsy Doyle:

**  She has been called "The Hero of Fort Niagara."

**  After the fort fell to the British in 1813, she took her family 310 miles to the Greenbush Cantonment.

**  There, she continued to support the American cause, often without pay.

**  She died in 1819.

**  In 2012, she was named a New York State Woman of Distinction for her bravery.

--Brock-Perry

Some More on Betsy Doyle-- Part 3: What Did She Look Like?

Several months later, in the spring of 1813, a group of young American officers at Fort Niagara were discussing Betsy's exploits and decided to summon her to the roof of the Mess House to view the reputed charms of a "sort of Gallic Amazon,"

(Supposedly, Betsy was said to be quite pretty.  I imagine the officers had been there during the battle.)

According to William Worth, the group was  "sadly disappointed" to discover that Mrs. Doyle more resembled  Meg Merilles, a gypsy-witch character in literature, rather than the Maid of Orleans (Joan of Arc).

If you look up Meg Merilles like I had to do, you'll see what they meant.

Not So Pretty.   --Brock-Perry

Some More on Betsy Doyle-- Part 2: Her Feat

After the Battle of Queenston Heights, the two sides agreed on a 30-day truce needed to recover from the battle and strengthen  their respective positions.  When the truce expired on November 21, 1813,  the guns of Fort Niagara and Fort George, just 600 yards apart across the river, opened fire.  

To gain a height advantage, the Americans had removed the roofs of several buildings in Fort Niagara and installed artillery batteries on the buildings' top floors.

As an added advantage. American gunners employed hot shot which were cannonballs heated red hot to set fire to Fort George's wooden buildings.  One particular gun was located  on the top floor of  Fort Niagara's  stone Mess House (today called the French Castle), a structure built by the French in 1726.

As casualties began to mount, Betsy Doyle  swung into action, carrying red hot cannonballs from downstairs fireplaces to the cannon on the exposed top floor.  

This was her moment of fame.

--Brock-Perry

Some More on Betsy Doyle-- Part 1

FromWCNY Org. Fort Niagara.

By Cathy Emmerson.

Betsy Doyle was a woman of the Army, one of a small number of military wives who were permitted to accompany their husbands to perform menial tasks like nursing and laundry.  Prior to the War of 1812, she had married  Andrew Doyle, a private in the 1st U.S. Artillery Regiment.

He was stationed at  Fort Niagara, an antiquated outpost on the Canadian/U.S. border, about 30 miles north of Buffalo, New York.

When U.S. forces invaded Upper Canada, just seven miles south  of the fort, on October 13, 1812, Private Doyle was among the forces crossing the Niagara River.  The subsequent Battle of Queenston Heights was a disaster for the Americans and Doyle became a prisoner of war.

When he was recognized as a  native of Upper Canada, he was sent to England to be tried for treason.  There he remained for the balance of the war, an inmate at the infamous Dartmoor Prison.

Andrew's capture left Betsy Doyle and her four children  alone at Fort Niagara.

--Brock-Perry

Betsy Doyle and Battle of Fort Niagara-- Part 6: After the Battle and Death

Although one man was killed and five wounded loading hot-shot, Betsy survived the artillery barrage and her bravery was mentioned in several battle reports.  The story of her actions spread quickly among the American troops at the fort and the whole region. 

In December 1813, Betsy fled the Fort Niagara area when the British invaded and captured Fort Niagara.  Withn her children at her side, she fled 300 miles to the East Greenbush Cantonment near Albany, New York.

This journey took nearly four months.

Betsy Doyle then served for six years as a nurse and  laundress at the cantonment.  Sometimes, she did not receive pay from the Army.

Betsy fell ill  and was bedridden for  a month before her death in April.

According to one officer:  "Her death was accelerated by the want of necessities which her pay would have procured."

Despite her service, Betsy Doyle became  a victim of the war long before it ended.

--Brock-Perry

Betsy Doyle and the Battle of Fort Niagara-- Part 5: A 12-Hour Bombardment.

About an hour before sunrise, the British cannons at Fort George opened fire on Fort Niagara.    For the next twelve hours, the American and British artillery exchanged a cannonade  that was heard along the entire length of the Niagara River.

During this exchange, Betsy Doyle carried red-hot cannonballs from a fire to the six pound cannon mounted on top of the mess hall.  That hot-shot" was intended to set fire to British buildings and battlements.

But loading hot-shot was difficult and dangerous.  The hot iron  could cause gunpowder to explode prematurely in the cannon, wounding or killing anyone standing nearby.

--Brock-Perry

Betsy Doyle and the Battle of Fort Niagara-- Part 4: 'An Instance of Extraordinary Bravery'

From the National Park Service "Autumn 1812:  Betsy Doyle helps operate a cannon to defend Fort Niagara."

While British cannonballs crashed around her, Betsy Doyle carried red-hot iron shot to the American cannons atop Fort Niagara.  With her husband a prisoner of the British, Betsy was left alone to fight for survival on the frontier, going above and beyon the call of duty.

"An instance of extraordinary  bravery"--  Lieutenant Colonel  George McFeeley.

In the early  dawn of November 21, 1812, Betsy Doyle looked out from Fort Niagara across the Niagara River to British Fort George, waiting for the first shots to be fired.  With ammunition for only a 12-hour bombardment, the American artillery was ordered to hold fire  unless fired upon by the British.

Betsy stood alongside soldiers of the First Regiment of United States Artillery, with whom her husband had served before his capture at  the Battle of Queenston Heights just one month earlier.  While Andrew Doyle remained imprisoned, Betsy continued to live and work at Fort Niagara with her children.

--Brock-Perry

Betsy Doyle, American Heroine-- Part 3: Carrying Those Red-Hot Cannonballs

After the capture of her husband, Betsy Doyle was left to fend for herself at Fort Niagara.  Like many women, she supported herself and her family by laundering soldiers' clothing.

When the cannons began to roar on November 22, 1812, Betsy abandoned her washtub and offered her services to the gun crew from her husband's regiment.

During the ensuing barrage she carried red-hot cannon balls from the furnace to the cannon which was then fired at Fort George, 1,300 yards away.  Fort Niagara's commandant noted that Betsy "showed fortitude  equal to the Maid of  Orleans (Joan of Arc)."

The participation of women in America's wars is recorded in many scattered sources -- order books, letters, journals, and official records for all  of America's early wars, and these sources are well represented in the University of Michigan Clements Library.

--Brock-Perry

Betsy Doyle, American Heroine-- Part 2

From the  Nov. 12, 2012, Clements Library Chronicles "Today in History:  Heroine of Fort Niagara" by Brian Dunnigan.

Two hundred years ago, Betsy Doyle, wife of a U.S. artilleryman at Fort Niagara, New York, stood by the soldiers stationed at a gun platform during a ferocious exchange of cannon fire with the British-held Fort George across the Niagara River.

Betsy, whose name is often incorrectly given as "Fanny,"  was the wife of artilleryman Andrew Doyle.  As such, she was one of the many married women who accompanied their husbands into the field with both the British and American armies.

Doyle, however, was not present to see his wife's heroism; he had fought at the Battle of Queenston Heights on October 13, where he was taken prisoner.

--Brock-Perry

War of 1812 Heroine Betsy Doyle

While doing research about the Greenbush Cantonment I came across the name of this woman in connection to her role in the War of 1812 and to Greenbush, New York.  I decided to follow up on her.

Historical Marker located in Youngstown, Niagara County, New York.

BETSY DOYLE

Heroine of Fort Niagara.  Carried hot shot to cannon, stood  sentry duty.

Fled  310 miles to Greenbush, NY when enemy attacked fort in 1812.

--Brock-Perry

Ceremony Is Tribute to War of 1812 Veteran William Burch

From the September 7, 2022, Observer (Fredonia, N.Y.).

The local Celea Sampson Cole chapter of the United States Daughters of 1812 will hold their first grave marking ceremony since receiving  their charter September 11, 2020.  The ceremony will be at Plot  E/30 Forest Hill Cemetery in Fredonia on Sunday.  The ceremony will honor William "Billy" Burch.

Burch is the 3X great grandfather of 1812 Daughter Sandra Johnson of Lakewood.  He was born November 19, 1787 in New York state.  He entered U.S. service in Cooperstown into the 23rd Infantry of the Regular Army on August 12, 1812, and served until February 1815.

He was stationed at Fort Niagara, Fort George and Sackets Harbor.

After the war, he settled in Pomfret and married Jemima Adams in November 1817.  He died  February 16, 1818 at the age of 33 in Randolph.

His Find-A-Grave site says he died  16 February 1881 at age 93.

(Fredonia was also the home of Civil War heroes Alonzo and William Barker Cushing.)

--Brock-Perry

War of 1812 Encampment at Old Fort Niagara-- Part 2: Schedule of Events

Scheduled demonstrations:

**  Infantry drills and firing at 10:30 daily

**  Artillery firing at 11 daily

**  Uniforms of the War of 1812 at 11:30 daily

**  Musket firing at noon, 1, , 2, 3 and 5 p.m. Saturday and noon, 1, 2, 4 and 5 p.m. Sunday

**  Regency women's fashions at 12:30 daily

**  "Hot Shot" artillery firing at 1:30 daily

**  Firepower weapon's program at 3:30 Saturday and 2:30 Sunday

There will also be a tour of  Fort Niagara in the War of 1812 at 3:15 p.m. Sunday.

Sounds Like a Great Time.  --Brock-Perry