; the force in it was fully competent for its defence.”

The English held Niagara until the close of the war and surrendered
it to the United States in March, 1815. The career of the point
from that time to the present has been merely one of growing old
gracefully.




FORT ONTARIO

OSWEGO--NEW YORK


It was in 1722 that Oswego, New York, was made the site of an armed
camp and, at that, it was more through the stubborn determination
of Governor Burnet of the colony that the thing should be done than
through any willingness of the staid burghers of the State Assembly
to co-operate with their executive in schemes leading to future
good. As a matter of fact, Governor Burnet is said to have paid the
bill for establishing his little fort out of his own pocket, though
he may have made this sum up in some other direction--authorities
do not tell us this kind of thing! Yet this little post was to
become one of the most decisive factors in determining the result
of the conflict between France and England for the New World, the
flags of three Christian nations were to fly over it at different
periods, and warriors white, red, French, English and colonial were
to struggle for its possession. So much grows out of so little!

[Illustration: The SOUTH VIEW of OSWEGO on LAKE ONTARIO

General Shirley _in 1755 Strengthen’d & inlarged this_ Fort _and
erected two others; one Westward 170 Square with a Rampart of
Earth & Stone. Another on the Opposite side of the Bason, 470
Yards distant from the_ Old Fort. _This which is called the_ East
Fort, _is built of Logs and the Wall is surrounded by a Ditch. The
Projection of the Rocks, renders the Channel at the Entrance into
the_ Onondaga River _very Narrow, and our Vessels are generally
warp’d from the Lake into the Bason_.

  Explanation.

  1. _The River Onondaga_
  2. _The Lake Ontario_

From William Smith’s view of the Province of New York, London
edition of 1757]

One of the earliest mentions of Oswego in the history of the
colonies is that in 1687 the Onondaga Indians prese