Tue, Jun twenty first 2022 09:50 am
Outdated Fort Niagara will host its annual “French and Indian Battle Encampment” from July 2-4. The occasion is the historic website’s largest of the yr, welcoming greater than 400 reenactors and dozens of interval retailers and artisans.
The occasion begins as recreated army models, interval retailers and artisans erect a big tent metropolis on the fort’s grounds. By way of the course of the three-day occasion, members will reenact 4 battles, fireplace cannons and muskets, have interaction in frontier diplomacy, and current army pageantry with fifes, drums and banners.
OFN said, “Though largely forgotten, the French and Indian Battle was George Washington’s first army command, and the primary time massive European armies fought on American soil. Native People fought on either side and sometimes influenced the result of army campaigns. When the warfare was over in 1763, half a continent modified palms, and the stage was set for the American Revolution.
“Fort Niagara started the warfare as a French outpost. Constructed in 1726, the fort remained in French palms till the fifth yr of the French and Indian Battle. As a result of the fort guarded the strategic Nice Lakes water path to the west, the British set their sights on capturing the fort in 1759. A British expedition, mustered close to Schenectady, superior throughout New York throughout June. By July 6, 2,500 British and New York troopers and virtually 1,000 Haudenosaunee allies landed the place 4 Mile Creek State Park stands at the moment.
“After organising camp east of the fort, British forces proceeded to put siege to the strongly fortified French outpost. They completed this by digging a zigzag trench towards the fort. As the ditch moved ahead, the British moved their cannons ever nearer to the fort’s partitions. Defenders held out towards nice odds for 19 days, exchanging musket and artillery fireplace with the attackers.
“On July 24, a French reduction column, marching from what’s now northwestern Pennsylvania, tried to interrupt by to the fort, solely to be defeated only a mile from the fort at a spot referred to as La belle Famille (“The Lovely Household”). Though nobody is aware of for sure how this location received its identify, the positioning is now often called the Village of Youngstown, New York.
“With the fort’s wall breached by cannon fireplace, and the French reduction power defeated, the fort’s commander, Capt. Pierre Pouchot, sued for phrases of give up. Fort Niagara’s seize was the primary of three main British victories that led to the autumn of New France and a British takeover of Canada and the Nice Lakes.”
Outdated Fort Niagara recreates the drama of the historic Siege of 1759 with a full weekend of residing historical past packages. Hours are 9 a.m. to five p.m. every day. Extra data is obtainable by calling 716-745-7611 or by visiting www.oldfortniagara.org.
