Fort Frontenac (formerly Fort Cataraqui)
Part of chain of French forts throughout Great Lakes and upper Mississippi region.
Mouth of Cataraqui River, Kingston, Canada
Plan of Fort Frontenac, 1685
Built	1673
Built by	Louis de Buade de Frontenac
Construction materials	Original: wood palisade, rebuilt with stone in 1675. The Cataraqui River (pronounced "ka-tah-RAH-kway" forms the lower portion of the Rideau Canal and drains into Lake Ontario at Kingston Ontario Kingston Ontario is a Canadian city located at the eastern end of Lake Ontario, where the lake runs into the St Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page Louis de Buade Comte de Frontenac et de Palluau ( May 12, 1622 &ndash November 28, 1698) was a French courtier and Governor
In use	1673 - present. Periods of abandonment.
Demolished	1689 but later rebuilt. Destroyed by British, 1758. Partly rebuilt, 1783.
Current condition	Present fort: military barrack buildings. Remnants of original stone fort can be seen.
Controlled by	Original: New France
Occupants	French, British, Canadian
Battles/wars	Iroquois siege, 1688, Battle of Fort Frontenac, 1758

Fort Frontenac was a French trading post and military fort built in 1673 in what is now Kingston, Ontario, Canada. The Viceroyalty of New France (Nouvelle-France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period extending from the exploration of the The Iroquois Confederacy (also known as the "League of Peace and Power" the "Five Nations" the "Six Nations" or the "People of the Longhouse The Battle of Fort Frontenac took place from August 25 to August 27 1758 during the Seven Years' War (referred to as the French A trading post is a place where the trading of goods takes place Kingston Ontario is a Canadian city located at the eastern end of Lake Ontario, where the lake runs into the St Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page It was strategically positioned at the mouth of the Cataraqui River where the St. Lawrence River leaves Lake Ontario in a location traditionally known as Cataraqui. The Cataraqui River (pronounced "ka-tah-RAH-kway" forms the lower portion of the Rideau Canal and drains into Lake Ontario at Kingston Ontario Saint Lawrence River (in French: fleuve Saint-Laurent; Kahnawáˀkye in Tuscarora, Kaniatarowanenneh meaning big waterway Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. The original fort, a crude, wooden palisade structure, was called Fort Cataraqui but was later named for Louis de Buade de Frontenac, Governor of New France (Count Frontenac), who was responsible for building the fort. Louis de Buade Comte de Frontenac et de Palluau ( May 12, 1622 &ndash November 28, 1698) was a French courtier and Governor The Governor of New France was the Viceroy of the King of France in North America The fort, however, was still often referred to as Fort Cataraqui.

Establishment and early use

The intent of Fort Frontenac was to control the lucrative fur trade in the Great Lakes Basin to the west and the Canadian Shield to the north. The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal Fur. The Great Lakes Basin consists of the Great Lakes and the surrounding lands of the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota The Canadian Shield &mdash also called the Laurentian Plateau, or Bouclier Canadien (French &mdash is a large geological shield covered by It was one of many French outposts that would be established throughout the Great Lakes and upper Mississippi regions. The fort was meant to be a bulwark against the English who were competing with the French for control of the fur trade. A secondary function of the fort was the provision of supplies and reinforcements to other French installations on the Great Lakes and in the Ohio Valley to the south. The Ohio River is the largest Tributary by volume of the Mississippi River. Frontenac hoped that the fort would also help fulfill his own business aspirations.

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, the original administrator and commander of the fort, built many additional buildings and even brought in domestic animals with the hope of inducing settlers to come to the Cataraqui outpost. René Robert Cavelier Sieur de La Salle, or Robert de LaSalle ( November 22, 1643 &ndash March 19, 1687) was a French He replaced the wooden fort with a more secure stone fort in 1675. A description of the fort written in the 17th century mentions that:

"Three quarters of it are of masonry or hardstone, the wall is three feet thick and twelve high. There is one place where it is only four feet, not being completed. The remainder is closed in with stakes. There is inside a house of squared logs, a hundred feet long. There is also a blacksmith's shop a guardhouse, a house for the officers, a well, and a cow-house. The ditches are fifteen feet wide. There is a good amount of land cleared and sown around about, in which a hundred paces away or almost there is a barn for storing the harvest. There are quite near the fort several French houses, an Iroquois village, a convent and a Recollet church. The Iroquois Confederacy (also known as the "League of Peace and Power" the "Five Nations" the "Six Nations" or the "People of the Longhouse The Récollets ( English Recollects) were a French branch of the Roman Catholic order the Franciscans ( Latin Ordo Fratrum Minorum) first established in " ^[1]

La Salle used Fort Frontenac as a convenient base for his explorations into the interior of North America.

The Iroquois wars

Fur trade rivalries resulted in the Iroquois Wars. The French and Iroquois Wars, also called the Iroquois Wars or the Beaver Wars, commonly refer to a brutal series of conflicts fought in the mid-17th century in eastern The French and Iroquois were never on very friendly terms. A peace treaty was signed in 1667, but the war was renewed in the 1680s, and this renewal of war affected Fort Frontenac. In 1687 several Iroquois, many of them friendly to the French, were captured and imprisoned at Fort Frontenac under the orders of the Marquis de Denonville[1]. Jacques-Rene de Brisay de Denonville Marquis de Denonville ( 10 December 1637 &ndash 22 September 1710) was Governor of New France Some were sent to France to be used as galley slaves. " Galley slave " is a term used to refer to prisoners condemned (in an obsolete form of punishment to man the oars of a Galley. Denonville's troops and native allies went on to attack the Seneca Iroquois south of Lake Ontario. The Seneca are a group of indigenous people native to North America.

In retaliation for these incidents and other "treacheries", the Iroquois attacked a number of French settlements, including Fort Frontenac. The fort and the settlement at Cataraqui were besieged for two months in 1688. Although the fort was not destroyed, the settlement was devastated and many defenders died, mostly from scurvy. Scurvy (NLat scorbutus is a disease resulting from a deficiency of Vitamin C, which is required for the synthesis of Collagen in humans The French abandoned and destroyed the fort in 1689, claiming that its remoteness prevented proper defense and that it could not be adequately supplied. The French again took possession of the fort in 1695 and it was rebuilt.

The Seven Years' War

Battle of Fort Frontenac, 1758. (Engraving by J. Walker)

In the early 1700s the French upgraded the fort's defensive capabilities by adding new guns, building new barracks and increasing the size of the garrison. These improvements, however, would be futile.

During the Seven Years' War the British considered Fort Frontenac to be a strategic threat since it commanded transportation and communications to fortifications and outposts along the St. The French and Indian War (1754&ndash1763 was the North American chapter of the Seven Years' War. Lawrence-Great Lakes water route and in the Ohio Valley. The British wanted French communications severed along this route. The fort was also regarded as a competitive and military threat to Fort Oswego, which was built by the British across the lake from Fort Frontenac in 1722 to compete with Fort Frontenac for the Indian trade, and later enhanced as a military establishment. Fort Oswego was an important Frontier post for British traders in the 18th century Indeed, General Montcalm used the Fort as a staging point to attack the fortifications at Oswego in August 1756. Louis-Joseph de Montcalm-Gozon Marquis de Saint-Veran ( February 28, 1712 &ndash September 14, 1759) was the commander of the French The Battle of Fort Oswego was one in a series of early French victories in the North American theatre of the Seven Years' War won in spite of The British wanted it put out of action. The British also hoped that taking the well-known fort would boost troop morale after their demoralizing battle defeat at Fort Ticonderoga (Fort Carillon) in July 1758. Fort Ticonderoga is a large Eighteenth-century Fort built at a strategically important narrows in Lake Champlain where a short traverse gives access [2] And so, in August 1758, the British under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel John Bradstreet left Fort Oswego with a force of a little over 3000 men and attacked Fort Frontenac. Major General John Bradstreet ( December 21 1714 – September 25, 1774) was a British Army officer during the French and Indian War The Battle of Fort Frontenac took place from August 25 to August 27 1758 during the Seven Years' War (referred to as the French Bradstreet destroyed the fort, and the fort's garrison of 110 men surrendered. Bradstreet quickly departed to avoid further conflict with any French support troops.

The fort's destruction secured Fort Oswego for the British but it did not succeed in severing French communications and transportation to the west since other routes were available (e. g. the Ottawa River-Lake Huron route). Supplies could be moved west from other French posts. [3] Since the fort was no longer important to the French, it was never rebuilt and was left abandoned for the next 25 years.

French imperial power was waning in the late 1750s, and by 1763 France had withdrawn from the North American mainland. Cataraqui and Fort Frontenac were in the hands of the British.

Reconstruction and modern times

United Empire Loyalists who had fled the United States after the American War of Independence formed a community in the vicinity of the fort and along the waterfront. This article concerns Loyalists in the American Revolution. For information on the role of those Loyalists in Canadian history after their emigration see United Empire The United States of America —commonly referred to as the In this article the inhabitants of the thirteen colonies that supported the American Revolution are primarily referred to as "Americans" with occasional references to "Patriots" To protect the growing population of Cataraqui (eventually to be called Kingston) from attack from the United States, the British partly rebuilt Fort Frontenac in 1783 to accommodate a military garrison. In 1787, the Tête-de-Pont Barracks were established on the site and the name Fort Frontenac fell out of favour. Many of the present barrack buildings were built between 1819 and 1824. [4]

After British troops were withdrawn from all Canadian locations except Halifax in 1870-71, the militia authorized the creation of two batteries of garrison artillery which provided garrison duties and schools of gunnery. "A " Battery School of Gunnery was established at Tête-de-Pont Barracks and other locations in Kingston ("B " Battery was located in Quebec). These batteries were known as the Regiment of Canadian Artillery. This regiment evolved into the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery (RCHA), with headquarters at the Tête-de-Pont Barracks until 1939. The Royal Canadian Horse Artillery is the name given to the regular field artillery units of the Canadian Army. In 1939 the site of the fort again became known as Fort Frontenac. [5]

Canadian Army staff training began at Fort Frontenac when the Canadian Army Staff College moved to the fort from the Royal Military College in 1948. Land Force Command ( LFC) is responsible for army operations within the Canadian Forces. The Royal Military College of Canada (RMC is the Military academy of the Canadian Forces, and is a degree-granting University. The college is now known as the Canadian Land Force Command and Staff College. The Canadian Land Force Command and Staff College (CLFCSC is a school for officers of the Canadian Forces, specializing in staff and operations courses Fort Frontenac was also the location of the National Defence College until 1994.

The fort has undergone extensive archaeological investigation and partially reconstructed remains of the northwest bastion and other walls can be seen. A bastion is a structure projecting outward from the main enclosure of a Fortification, situated in both corners of a straight wall (termed curtain with the shape

Fort Frontenac was designated a National Historic Site in 1923. A national historic site is a designation that an area possesses national historical significance

Footnotes

References

External links

• Biography of Louis de Buade de Frontenac at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• Biography of the Marquis de Denonville at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• Biography of René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• The Cataraqui Archaeological Research Foundation - Fort Frontenac History and Archaeology