Fort de La Présentation facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Fort de La Présentation |
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| Ogdensburg, New York | |
Map of Fort de La Presentation
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| Type | Fort |
| Site information | |
| Controlled by | New France |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1749 |
| In use | 1749–1760 |
| Battles/wars | |
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Fort de La Présentation Site
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 Location in New York
Location in the United States
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| Location | Lighthouse Point, near Ogdensburg, New York |
| Area | 23.75 acres (9.61 ha) |
| NRHP reference No. | 10000944 |
| Added to NRHP | November 26, 2010 |
The Fort de La Présentation was a special kind of fort built in 1749. It was also a mission to teach Christianity. A French priest named Abbé Picquet gave it its name, which means "Fort of the Presentation." Sometimes, people called it Fort La Galette.
This fort was built where the Oswegatchie River meets the St. Lawrence River in what is now New York. The French wanted to make their friendship with the powerful Iroquois people stronger. They also hoped to teach them about Catholicism. France was worried about their small Canadian colony, especially as tensions grew with Great Britain.
By 1755, about 3,000 Iroquois lived near the fort. They were loyal to France, partly because of the fur trade. They also disliked how British colonists were moving onto their lands. To give you an idea, the city of Montréal only had 4,000 people at that time.
In 1758, during the Seven Years' War, a French-Canadian military leader took charge of the fort. But in 1759, French soldiers left the fort to move to Fort Lévis. The British later attacked Fort Lévis and Montréal. After the British won in 1760, France gave its Canadian lands to Great Britain. The British renamed the fort Fort Oswegatchie.
It stayed under British control until 1796. This was after Jay's Treaty, which changed the border between the US and Canada. The land then became part of the United States. The first American settlement started that year. American residents named the town Ogdensburg after an early settler, Samuel Ogden.
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Why Was This Fort Built?
As the French colony of New France grew into the Great Lakes area, the St. Lawrence River became very important. It was a key waterway connecting French outposts on the lakes to Montréal. The French started building forts to protect this route. They wanted to stop the British and Americans from expanding.
Before 1683, the French had built an earlier Fort la Galette. This was a fortified trading post on the north side of the St. Lawrence River. It was near where Prescott, Ontario is today. This old post was used for trading and was sometimes abandoned and then used again.
Building Fort de La Présentation
As British and American settlers kept moving west, the French picked a new spot for a fort. This new location was where the Oswegatchie River and the St. Lawrence River met. It was on the south side of the St. Lawrence River. There had been a mission there since 1688.
The site was good because it had a safe harbor. It was also in a perfect spot to stop the British and Americans. It could prevent them from traveling up the Oswegatchie River. It also stopped them from moving west of Fort Oswego.
Goals of the Fort
Besides blocking the British and Americans, the fort's main goal was to teach Christianity to the Iroquois. Abbé Picquet, a Sulpician priest, led this mission. Picquet even encouraged Iroquois war parties to raid English settlements.
Construction of the fort began in 1748. At first, it was just a small house and a barn. There were only three soldiers guarding it. On June 1, 1749, Picquet officially opened the fort. He was its commander, with 25 Frenchmen and 4 Native Americans.
By late 1749 and early 1750, the fort grew. It had rooms for the commander, missionaries, and a storekeeper. Four tall wooden towers were built on stone bases. A wooden palisade (a fence of strong posts) connected these towers. More soldiers from the Compagnies Franches de la Marine arrived. About 300 Iroquois, Huron, and other Native Americans lived at the fort.
In 1749, six Iroquois families lived there, not counting the soldiers. By 1751, there were 396 families in three villages. These villages had 49 bark cabins, each about 60 to 80 feet long. Each cabin housed three to four families. There were also about 20 cabins near the fort itself. By 1756, trenches were dug around the villages for protection.
Fort de La Présentation During the French and Indian War
Starting in 1755, Picquet began joining military trips during the French and Indian War. He left another priest, Abbé Pierre-Paul-François de Lagarde, in charge of the fort. The fort was very important for defending New France. News from the Great Lakes and Native American groups would arrive there first. Then, it would be sent to the right leaders.
As the war with the British and Americans grew, Governor Vaudreuil removed Picquet as the fort's commander. Captain Claude-Nicolas de Lorimier de La Rivière took over. Picquet remained the chief missionary. This caused problems because Picquet was the real leader of the Native Americans. He trained them for war, while Lorimier only commanded the French soldiers.
Lorimier led his Frenchmen in an attack on Fort Bull in 1756. His soldiers also watched the British at Fort Oswego. In November 1757, a raid from Fort de La Présentation destroyed the British settlement of German Flatts. This happened in the Mohawk Valley on November 12.
In February 1758, Picquet left for his abbey. The Native Americans then asked for him to return. The fall of Fort Frontenac in August 1758 made the threat to Fort de La Présentation much bigger. Lorimier was called away, and Captain Antoine-Gabriel-François Benoist replaced him. With Lorimier gone, Picquet returned to Fort de La Présentation.
On August 30, 1,500 soldiers were sent to Fort de La Présentation. Their job was to stop any British attack down the St. Lawrence River. This made the fort the main center of French defenses. Captain Pierre Pouchot replaced Benoist in March 1759.
Pointe-au-Baril: A Shipbuilding Site
After Fort Frontenac fell in August 1758, New France had no place to build ships. This was true for the area between the upper Great Lakes and Montréal. A new site was chosen on the north side of the St. Lawrence River. It was about 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) west of Fort de La Présentation.
This new site, called Pointe-au-Baril, was set up in 1759. It is now in Maitland, Ontario. Pointe-au-Baril was a protected shipbuilding area. It had earth walls inside and a wooden palisade 10 to 12 feet high outside. On April 4, 1759, Captain Pierre Pouchot was put in charge of both Pointe-au-Baril and Fort de La Présentation. He stayed in command until two small warships, called corvettes, were finished being built there.
The Battle of the Thousand Islands
By August 1760, only Pointe-au-Baril, Fort de La Présentation, and Montréal were still under French control. These were the last French strongholds along the upper St. Lawrence River. Pouchot, who had been captured at Fort Niagara and then freed, was sent to build a new fort. This new fort, Fort Lévis, was on an island in the St. Lawrence River, downstream from Fort de La Présentation.
Fort de La Présentation was on low ground, so it could be easily attacked by British cannons. Because of this, Pouchot ordered its evacuation. Picquet moved his mission to Île Picquet. But he didn't have French support, and his Native American allies started to starve and leave. In March 1760, Picquet left the mission and went to Montréal. In July, the French sent a group to Fort de La Présentation to start tearing it down. They removed the roofs of the buildings. However, some Iroquois still lived in the villages. They sometimes sent out war parties to scout.
On August 16, 1760, the British, led by General Jeffery Amherst, captured the empty Pointe-au-Baril. They set up an artillery battery (a group of cannons) there. From August 19 to 24, the British attacked Fort Lévis in the Battle of the Thousand Islands. Fort Lévis eventually surrendered. This broke French control over the area.
During the battle, the British took over Fort de La Présentation. A group of soldiers from Connecticut, led by Colonel Nathan Whiting, stayed there. They used the fort as a supply base while they attacked Fort Lévis.
Fort de La Présentation Site Today
The Fort de La Présentation Site is an archaeological site. This means it's a place where people find old things buried in the ground. It's located on Lighthouse Point, near Ogdensburg, in St. Lawrence County, New York.
In 1987–88, experts found remains from at least eight different time periods at the site. These include things left by the French and Native Americans from 1749 to 1760. They also found items from the English and Native Americans from 1760 to 1796. There are also remains from American settlers in Ogdensburg from 1796 to 1812. Finally, there are things from American soldiers who were there during the War of 1812.
The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2010. This list helps protect important historical places in the United States.
