was then surrounded on three sides with strong pickets of
  plank, firmly planted in the ground and closely joined together;
  a heavy gate in front of double plank, closely studded with
  iron spikes. The fourth side was defended with embankments of
  earth under which were formerly barracks, affording a safe
  though somewhat gloomy retreat for the families of soldiers, but
  which had been abandoned and the entrance closed long before my
  remembrance, having been so infested with rattlesnakes that had
  made their dens within that it was hardly safe to walk across the
  parade.

The last chapter in the history of the fort was not a glorious
one, though thoroughly typical of the desultory character of the
conflict between Great Britain and the United States which is known
as the War of 1812. The official declaration of the imminence of
hostilities reached Fort Niagara, June 26, 1812, and preparations
were immediately undertaken to strengthen and defend the work.
The fort was then under the command of Captain Leonard, United
States Artillery, with 370 men. During the night of December 19,
1813, the English, 500 strong, under Colonel Murray, crossed the
river, captured the sentinels and took the work by surprise,
killing 65 of the American garrison and taking prisoner almost all
of the remainder, with a loss to themselves of five men killed
and wounded. A disgraceful side of the matter is that none of the
American officers were at their posts at this time, but were off
junketing somewhere in the country near by. Twenty-seven cannon
of large calibre, 3000 stand of small arms, and a large amount
of clothing, garrison equipage, and commissary stores fell into
the hands of the British, who, as well, destroyed the villages of
Lewiston and Buffalo, besides all of the dwellings on the lake as
far as Eighteen-Mile Creek.

The capture of Fort Niagara was shortly afterwards characterized
in the following terms by General Cass who was ordered to the
frontier: “The fall of Niagara was owing to the most criminal
negligence