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| R e d i s c o v e r i n g | F o r t | H a l d i m a n d |
Compiled by Mike Franklin
“Obscurity … has hung like a cloud of oblivion over the history of this island.” Franklin Hough, 1880
By 1875, local folks had forgotten the story of the old fort on Carleton Island, referring to the ruins as “the French Fort.” The place was still a mystery until the later in the nineteenth century, when historians Franklin Hough and J. H. Durham undertook research and publications about “Fort Carleton,” as it was still known.
Benjamin Lossing in 1867 said, “At what precise time fortifications were first erected there is not positively known." He wrongly stated, "The English found it quite a strongly fortified post at the time of the conquest of Canada, at a little past the middle of the last century, and, perceiving its value in a military point of view (for it commands the main channel of the St. Lawrence), they greatly strengthened it." Tthe historian Emerson observed, [1898] “In regard to its origin and date of construction there was much conjecture, and not a little controversy among students of history,” … “until within the last score of years it was supposed that the fort was built by the French between 1758 and 1760, or during the last French and English struggle for supremacy on this side of the Atlantic, while some writers have ascribed it to a still more ancient origin, dating back in some cases almost to Champlain's time.” Research prior to 1880 by the eminent North Country historian, Dr. Franklin B. Hough, in the archives of the Dominion Government at Ottawa, subsequently revealed that this was never a French fort, but had been constructed by the English. Dr. Hough provided an extensive, detailed account of the sources that came to light. Eight tons of historical papers, dating from 1760 to about 1873, plus 233 volumes known as the “Haldimand Papers,” supplimented by the “Simcoe Papers” in the Library of Parliament, together told the story. Carleton Island was never occupied by the French, other than as occasional stopping place. Father Charlevoix who visited the island in 1720, left the first French reference, to "a pretty port that can receive large barques." No historians on either side mentioned Carleton Island related to the events of the French and Indian War (1754-1760), which would be expected had any fort here been of consequence or had the river been expected to be a frontier of hostilities. The earliest mention during that period was July 1777, when “Buck Island” was beginning to be used for military purposes—mostly as a point of rendezvous and supply, although still without fortification. Two years later, in spring of 1779, during the Revolutionary War, the Americans learned from two Native American prisoners that the British were fortifying themselves at Carleton Island. A garrison there consisted of Sir John Johnson’s Regiment, totaling less than two hundred men, but due to “disorder among them … they died very fast and that no other reason made him and some others leave that place.” A surviving order book of the period, kept at Carleton Island, in an entry for May 14 refers to a “fort, alarm posts, the duties of engineers and artisans, and the usual routine of garrison life.”
The ship Limnaide appeared, with the scow Seneca and sloop Cladwell, Mohawk, etc., as expense items at Carleton Island. The records are so complete, according to Dr. Hough, that “it would be easy indeed, to fish from the Sea of Oblivion scores of names, of high and low degree, down to the humblest laborer, and the chimney-sweep … and the chimneys still standing are silent witnesses of the accuracy of these accounts.”
Some writers, such as Edgar Emerson (1898), seemed to credit Maj. J. H. Durham with discovering the real history of Ft. Haldimand. Hamilton Child in 1890 said, “In the history of Carleton Island and the Old Fort recently by Major J. H. Durham, of Cape Vincent, is a letter written October 14, 1778, by Gen. Sir Frederick Haldimand … which proves conclusively that the fort was built by the English in that year.” The mentioned work of Durham was apparently an unpublished earlier version of his 1889 small book, with a different title, Carleton Island in the Revolution. Maj. Durham located the critical letter in question in St. Catherines, Ontario, in the collection of a historical society there:
Later historians Emerson and Child may have supposed that Durham's publication of the Haldimand letter was new evidence revealing the true history of Carleton Island. It appears, however, that Dr. Hough already had published his key historical findings in 1880, in The Thousand Islands of River St. Lawrence. In his earlier (1853) A History of Jefferson County, Hough referred not to “Fort Haldimand” but rather to “Fort Carleton,” but at that earlier date provided mostly a description rather than a history.
To move back in time from these historians, who reconstructed history in retrospect, we have some contemporary accounts and descriptions from the earlier times. The Haldimand letter, above, observed about the fort site:
Officers Twiss, Shank, and Aubrey from the inception were central to construction and operation of Fort Haldimand. Capt. Aubrey--a name coincidentally still prominent in Cape Vincent--“remained in command of Carleton Island for a long time.” Maj. Durham tells us: |
Lieut. John Shank was a naval, rather an army officer. He was responsible for establishing the shipyard at Carleton Island and constructing vessels there. Initially they built small whale boats (20' to 25' two-masted and oar-assisted) to be used for military raiding parties aganst the Continental Army's rear guard in the Mohawk Valley.
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Whale boat Then they constructed three sixty-foot gun-boats:
Admiralty draft of gun boat.
In 1780 the twenty-two gun brig sloop Ontario came off the ways. She was the largest war ship on the Great Lakes at the time.
H. M. Brig Sloop Ontario. John W. McKay drawing.
Next the shipyard produced the Limnade (shown in a painting above) very similar in size, although rigged and masted differently than Ontario.The sixteen-gun Haldimand was also stationed at Carleton Island (shown at right in painting below, which conveys at shipyard activity here). The ruins of Haldimand is at the bottom of the North Bay at Carleton Island today as well as those of the gunship Charity. Maj. Durham tells us:
Added to this troika of officers at Fort Haldimand was Rene-Hippolyte Laforce who had been responsible for constrction of the Seneca (pictured below), then became her captain. Subsequently Laforce became supervisior the the Carleton Island shipyard and received commission as commodore of the fleet. We should not envision these officers living in log barracks within the fort. Like Molly Brant, who had a "mansion" on Carleton Island, they would have had more commodious houses outside the fortifications, surrounded by gardens.
Lieutenant William Twiss was an engineer, responsible for design, construction and maintenance of the Carleton Island facility. Maj. Durham tells us:
A map dated 1810 shows the fort site at the time, mentioning a wreck in North (Shanks) Bay:
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Powder magazine and barracks.
In 1813, after Fort Haldimand was occupied by the Americans, Benjamin Lossing, in his Pictorial Field Book of the War of 1812, observed: “As we approached the rocky bluff at the head of the island we observed several chimneys standing alone (built of stone, some perfect, some half in ruins), which mark the remains of strong and somewhat extensive fortifications erected there by both the French [sic] and English during the last century, that post being a key to the internavigation of the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario.” Of course, Lossing was wrong in supposing the French had built fortifications here. He added: “There were also chimneys on the little peninsula … and along the shore northward, where, on a fine grassy point, vestiges of the gardens that were attached to the officers’ quarters may yet be seen.”
Hospital chimney on point.
Lossing continued: “We moored our boat in a small sheltered creek by which the head of the island is made a pleasant peninsula of eight or ten acres. On this stand the residences of Mr. Charles Pluche, an intelligent French Canadian (who owns five hundred acres of the western end of the island), and of his brother. That creek separates the peninsula from the higher bluff on which the ruins of Fort Carleton are seen. Mr. Pluche kindly accompanied us to these ruins and other interesting places near, and, but for the increasing violence of the wind, which became almost a gale at noon, our visit would have been one of unmixed satisfaction.” Lossing recalled that: “A little northward of the fort was the garrison cemetery; and beyond this, a fourth of a mile from the ramparts, is an ancient Indian burial-ground, in a grove of small trees on the verge of the river. In a grave that was opened there in the spring of 1860 was found the skeleton of a chief, bearing evidence that the body was first wrapped in the hide of a buffalo, then swathed in birch-bark, and next deposited in a board coffin. With the skeleton was found a silver gorget, on which was engraved a running deer; also a fine silver armlet (now in possession of the writer) bearing the royal arms of England, silver ear-rings, and other trinkets.
“Near this burial-ground was found, the year before, a silver medal given by the British government to Colonel John Butler. It is known that Butler and Sir John Johnson encamped, with the Indians from the Mohawk Valley, on Carleton Island in 1775, when on their way to join the British at Montreal.” The Butlers are infamous in history: John, for the "Wyoming Valley Massacre"; and Walter, for his part in the "Cherry Valley Massacre". Their hit and run style of warfare drew off Continental troops and supplies that were desperately needed elsewhere. Joseph Brant, as mentioned hereafter, was the powerful Native American leader in these forays. The Butlers and Brants (Joseph and his sister, Mary, “Molly”) were Loyalist refugees and combatants who made Carleton Island their base of operations. “Butler’s Rangers,” a re-created corps, today provides a regimental organization to further historical research, standardize uniform design and drill, and integrate company activities at historical re-enactments. The corps is headquartered in Brantford, Ontario (named for Joseph Brant). Independent companies exist in both Canada and the United States.
Lossing added, “The medal was doubtless lost there at that time, and the chief who bore the armlet and gorget was probably one of the expedition, who perished there.”
Butler’s Ranger and allied Native American combatant.
John A. Haddock (1895) observed in an article about Fort Haldimand: “During the War of the Revolution, Carleton Island was the most important post above Montreal. Many vessels of war and gunboats were built in the North Bay and the place was the great depot of military and naval supplies for the Northwest. It was the place of refuge for the Tories of New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Thayendanagea, [Joseph Brant] the great chief of the Six Nations, made this his headquarters. Large numbers of those tribes encamped on Carleton and Wolfe islands. The bloody massacres of the Cedars, Wyoming, Cherry Valley, and Stony Arabia, were planned here and executed by forces which went from here.”
The Canadian historian, Ernest Cruikshank, in an article about Fort Haldimand, quoted (1895) Captain Alexander Fraser, who commanded several hundred Canadian Native Americans: “The winter of 1779-80 was memorable for its severity, but scouts were kept out, and the Indians performed this service cheerfully, thanks to [fort designer William] Tice [Twiss] and the Indian officers, but chiefly to Molly Brant, who has more influence than all the chiefs put together; insatiable in her demand for her own family, but checks the demands of others.” In historical retrospect, Joseph and Molly Brant have become the most famous figures identified with Fort Haldimand, so are subjects of a separate article: Dr. Hough related (1854) that “Mr. F. R. Hasler, the distinguished mathematician, who for many years had charge of the coast survey, and was then residing in town on the south shore opposite, was appointed to survey the island in 1823, and from his report, we quote the following remarks. "There are about twenty acres of old improved land near the south shore, called the King’s Garden, which are very good land, the higher part is somewhat stoney, yet not impeding the plowing. The timber generally young, second growth, beech, maple, oak, birch, hickory, and a few pines. Value $5, without the improvements.’ This lot was about midway between the two extremities on the south side, and a hundred chains fomr the westerly point of the island. At the time of the survey there were 8 log housese and 2 shanties on the island, with 197 acres cleared, and improvements worth $1,020. The total area was 1,274 acres, mostly prized at $4 per acre. The map made by Mr. Hasler, in the state engineer and surveyor’s office (No. 266) represents the outline of Fort Carlton [sic] as it then existed, and must continue till the end of time, as the excavation that formed the moat was made in the rock.” The Hasler plan and section of the fort apparently appears at small scale in Hough’s article, “Carleton Island and Its Fort.” Hough also noted that Hasler was “the eminent [French] philosopher and engineer [who] became interested in real estate in this place, came here to reside with his family, and planned the establishment of a normal school, which he never perfected.” Hough continued: “This island became, after the war, an important lumber station, the bays at the head of the island affording a convenient and sheltered place for the making up of rafts. Avery Smith, a Canadian, located here in the business in 1822, and formed a partnership with Abijah Lewis. They afterwards dissolved partnership, and continued the business separately. Schools were established here, a store opened, and twenty or thirty families settled. By an act of April 17th, 1822, a justice of the peace was directed to be appointed. Mr. ____ Shumway was the only one who held the office here. In 1824-5, the business of the place began to decline, and but two families were residing on the island in June 1853. There is scarcely among the lovely scenery of the islands, a more delightful spot than that occupied by the ruins here, and the fruit trees growing abundantly without cultivation in the vicinity evince that the former occupants paid some attention to this branch of husbandry. The trees appear to have sprung from those planted by the English. …” [Native Americans more likely planted the orchard, as this was their custom]. Emerson (1898) noted that settlement “was the work of squatters. These improvements are said to have begun in 1822, when Avery Smith and Abijah Lewis began lumbering operations, and in the course of a few years the island possessed a post-office and a school; James Estes had a tavern, and four dwellings were built in the vicinity of the old chimneys on the site of Fort Carleton. A Mr. Shumway taught the school, and also served as justice of the peace to settle any differences which might arise among the settlers; and if local tradition be true, the worthy pedagogue dispensed justice with the same firmness with which he wielded the rod in the school room. Among the other denizens of the locality were David Briggs, who made shoes, and also James Wood and a Mr. Shaw, who kept stores. Abijah Lewis also kept store, and after he and Smith dissolved partnership, each carried on the lumber business alone until the island was practically stripped of its primitive forest growth. This having in due time been accomplished, the business importance of the island passed away, and where once was the semblance of a hamlet only the old smoke colored chimneys survived to mark the historic spot. Subsequently the island was divided into farm tracts, and has since been devoted chiefly to agricultural pursuits, except as non-resident persons have secured small parcels in the most attractive localities and turned them into summer resorts.' The permanent occupants of the island do not number more than half a dozen families."[1898].
TILT volunteers clearing invasive brush from the stone chimeys.
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