Old Fort Niagara

One of the most strategic locations in all of New York, Fort Niagara controlled the portage around Niagara Falls and thus access to the Great Lakes and the interior beyond – a vital link in the British supply chain during the American Revolution.  By the time of the American Revolution, the fort was serving as a British command center – a supply depot, a trade outpost, and a center of Native diplomacy. Throughout the war, British forces used Fort Niagara as a base to conduct devastating frontier raids. In 1779, thousands of Loyalist and Indigenous refugees fled to Fort Niagara after the Van Schaick, Brodhead, and Sullivan-Clinton expeditions destroyed their homes and lands. The British were unable to house and feed this enormous influx of people, and thousands starved or perished from exposure during the brutal winter of 1779-1780.