Historic Sites You Can Visit to Commemorate the 250th Anniversary of the French and Indian War

By Robert Emerson, Executive Director Old Fort Niagara Association

Twenty years before American colonists declared their independence from Great Britain, another great conflict was fought for control of North America. Popularly known as the French and Indian War, the struggle began as a contest for the Ohio River Valley and quickly developed into a multinational struggle fought throughout North America and in Europe, Asia and on the high seas.

The war pitted Britain and her American colonists along the Atlantic seaboard against the French and their colonists in Canada, the Great Lakes Basin and Louisiana. Native peoples supported both sides, but early in the war, France had the upper hand in recruiting Native warriors to her cause. The Great Lakes-Seaway Trail region was the vital transportation and communication link between France and her colonies. The struggle for control of this area was essential to the overall strategy for dominion of North America.

The French and Indian War began in southwestern Pennsylvania in 1754 when French troops forced English colonists from Virginia to evacuate the Forks of the Ohio (Pittsburgh). It was in this campaign that young George Washington got his first taste of combat. It was a bitter taste — Washington was forced to surrender to the French on July 4, 1754.

The British countered in 1755 with a plan to seize important French posts in Acadia, at Crown Point (New York), Fort Niagara, and Fort Duquesne (Pittsburgh). Only the Acadian mission succeeded. Over the next two years, France scored important victories at Oswego in 1756 and Fort William Henry (Lake George, NY) in 1757. Meanwhile a series of raids by French-allied Native warriors rolled back the frontiers of Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.

By 1758 the tide began to turn. British and American provincial forces captured Fort Duquesne as well as France’s most important North American naval base, Fortress Louisbourg (Cape Breton Island). The next year, Quebec, Fort Carillon (Ticonderoga), and Fort Niagara fell. Finally, the French surrendered their final stronghold, Montreal, in 1760, signaling the end of armed conflict between the French and the English. The Peace of Paris in 1763 formally ended the war, ceding all of North America as far west as the Mississippi to Britain.

In addition to determining that England, and not France, would control the American interior, the war had other far-reaching consequences. Many future leaders of America’s revolutionary cause received their early military training in this conflict. American attitudes about Native peoples also hardened during the war’s long years of violent border warfare.

Several organizations have set out to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the conflict. French and Indian War 250, Inc. a Pittsburgh-based organization, is spearheading the national commemoration of the war’s anniversary by developing and coordinating programs and educational resources to raise awareness of this significant period in American history. WQED Multimedia produced a PBS documentary entitled "The War That Made
America," which aired nationally.

New York State created a commission to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the war. The aim of the 19-member commission has been to plan and execute an organized series of French and Indian War reenactment events from 2005 to 2010, encouraging travel and helping to educate the public about the conflict.

Seaway Trail, Inc. is commemorating the war’s anniversary by developing collaborative programs and interpretation linking French and Indian War heritage sites along the Seaway Trail from Ogdensburg, NY to Erie County, Pennsylvania. Here are some of the significant French and Indian War sites along the Seaway Trail you may want to explore: Public interpretive facilities are preceded by *.

1. OGDENSBURG, NY Fort de La Presentation. In 1749, a fortified mission is erected by Abbe Francois Picquet extending French influence over the western nations of the Iroquois.
2. OGDENSBURG (Chimney Island) Fort Levis. Battle of Fort Levis 1760. During the final campaign of the French and Indian War, the French fortify Chimney Island to delay a British advance down the St. Lawrence toward Montreal.
3. NIAOURE BAY Black River Bay and the Sackets Harbor and Henderson Harbor area serve as an advanced staging area for the Marquis de Montcalm’s attack on the British forts at Oswego in August 1756.

      On July 5, 1756 Captain Coulon de Villiers and about 600 men establish a camp here to be used as a base for the harassment of Oswego and the interception of British supplies destined for Oswego. On July 27, Francois-Pierre Rigaud de Vaudrieul, brother of New France’s governor, arrives with reinforcements, bringing the total number of soldiers in the French camp to 1,200. On August 6, the Marquis de Montcalm arrives with the first division of the main French Army. By the 8th, the army’s second division arrives (Montcalm’s force totaled about 3,000 men and plenty of artillery). On August 9, Rigaud marches off through the woods to protect a landing site east of Oswego. The rest of Montcalm’s force travel by  batteau. After a brief siege, Oswego surrenders.

1. OSWEGO, NY Fort Oswego, Fort Ontario and Fort George. British fur trading post established 1727. In 1755, Fort Ontario constructed and first British battle fleet built on Great Lakes; 1756 French forces under Montcalm besiege, capture and destroy all forts; 1758 Colonel John Bradstreet uses Oswego as advanced base to stage successful attack on French Fort Frontenac (Kingston); 1759 British reoccupy and refortify Oswego and fight off French attack, protecting the rear of General Prideaux’s expedition to capture Fort Niagara; 1760 British forces gather at Oswego to descend St. Lawrence River and capture Montreal. FORT ONTARIO STATE HISTORIC SITE, a 19th century successor to the French and Indian War fort, interprets military life during the 19th century. Exhibits trace the fort’s history from the French and Indian War to World War II.
2. * FULTON NY DeVillier’s Raid. In 1756, Coulon de Villiers (the French officer who accepted George Washington's surrender at Fort Necessity two years earlier) and a French raiding party attack boatmen and soldiers under John Bradstreet. The raiders inflict heavy casualties, but Bradstreet successfully repels the attack. * = Historic marker.
3. SODUS BAY, NY (Bay of the Cayugas) On July 1, 1759, General John Prideaux’s army camps here on its way to besiege Fort Niagara.
4. * ROCHESTER, NY Irondequoit Bay. Site of both French and British trading posts prior to war. In 1759, Prideaux’s army camps here on the way to Niagara. * = Historical marker
5. BRADDOCK’S BAY, NY On July 4, 1759, General Prideaux’s army camps here on the way to Niagara.
6. LAKESIDE, NY Johnson’s Creek. On July 5, 1759, General Prideaux’s army camps here on the way to Niagara.
7. * FOUR MILE CREEK, NY Le Petit Marais, General Prideaux’s army lands here July 6, 1759 to besiege Niagara. * = Historic marker at Four Mile Creek State Park (campground).
8. * YOUNGSTOWN, NY Known to contemporaries as “The Key to the Continent,” Fort Niagara was first erected by the French in 1726; the fort was expanded 1755-57 to prepare for British attack. Fort was besieged in 1759 and surrendered to British. OLD FORT NIAGARA contains original 18th century buildings; historic site interprets the fort’s history from the French era through the Civil War using exhibits and programs. Period rooms in the 1726 French Castle interpret soldier life during the French era.
9. * YOUNGSTOWN, NY Battle of la belle Famille fought July 24, 1759 between some 464 British soldiers, their Iroquois allies and about 800 French soldiers and 30 native allies. British troops in a short but bloody battle stopped French efforts to relieve the besieged Fort Niagara. * = Historic markers, interpretive pedestal labels, walking tour.
10. * LEWISTON NY The Lower Landing. Native Americans, French and British soldiers left the Niagara River here to begin the difficult portage around Niagara Falls. Important French expeditions to the Ohio Valley pass this way: 1749 Celoron; 1753 Marin goes to Erie, PA to build Fort de la Presque Ile; 1754 Contrecoeur builds Fort Duquesne at  Pittsburgh; 1755 Beaujeu/Dumas defeat General Braddock near Pittsburgh. Now the site of ArtPark, the area features interpretive pedestal labels.
11. * NIAGARA FALLS, NY Devils Hole State Park. In September 1763, a British force is ambushed and defeated by Seneca warriors during Pontiac’s War.
12. * NIAGARA FALLS, NY The Falls of Niagara were a tourist attraction even in the 18th century. Visitors to Niagara Reservation State Park today experience much the same thrill as visitors to this natural wonder before and during the French and Indian War. A cruise on the The Maid of the Mist and a visit to the Cave of the Winds allow visitors to experience the Falls from the perspective of those 18th century travelers who ventured to the bottom of the gorge.
13. * NIAGARA FALLS, NY At the upper landing in 1751, French erect Fort du Portage to help divert fur trade from English at Oswego; 1759 fort burned and garrison withdraws to Fort Niagara; 1760 British reestablish a stockade above the Falls; 1763 Fort rebuilt and named Fort Schlosser. * =Interpretive pedestal labels on Goat Island.
14. BARCELONA/MAYVILLE NY Chautauqua Portage. This important portage connected the waters of the Great Lakes with the Ohio River drainage, making the route extremely important in the 18th century. 1749 Captain Celoron de Blainville passes the portage in his effort to sail down the Ohio burying lead plates to reclaim the Ohio Valley drainage for France. The French continue to use this route even after they decide in 1753 that the Erie, PA to Waterford, PA portage will be the main route to the Ohio.
15. * ERIE, PA Fort de la Presque Ile, established 1753 to protect northern end of new portage road to the Ohio. In 1759, French muster forces to relieve the siege of Fort Niagara, burn fort; 1760 British construct Fort Presque Isle; 1763 Fort Presque Isle destroyed during Pontiac's war. Historic markers and monument overlooking Fort’s original site. Nearby Erie County Historical Society contains a painting of the French fort’s destruction as well as archaeological remains.
16. * WATERFORD, PA Fort Sur la Riviere aux Boeufs.1753 Washington arrives at French Headquarters to deliver demand that French evacuate Ohio Valley; 1759 French abandon and burn the fort; 1760 British erect Fort Le Boeuf; 1763 British Fort attacked and burned during Pontiac’s War. Fort LeBoeuf Museum offers exhibits and programs on the fur trade and the French and Indian War.

ROBERT EMERSON is Executive Director of the Old Fort Niagara Association. He has been an avid student of the French and Indian War for the past 30 years.