Among them was Molly Brant - sister of Mohawk War Chief Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea) and consort of the late Sir William Johnson - who had taken up residence in a house built for her outside the fort’s walls, following the continued loyalist exodus from the Mohawk Valley (Molly abandoned much of her wealth when she was forced to leave her home in Canajoharie, after the Battle of Oriskany). As early as 1777, Native Americans and Euro-Loyalist families began to flock to the protection of Fort Niagara. The fortress, as a center for Indian diplomacy and a depot for much needed supplies and trade goods, quickly became a natural destination for displaced persons to seek. Its importance centered on the “portage” path around Niagara Falls, which needed to be protected at all costs. Fort Niagara was also the command center and critical link facilitating the routes of military communi- cation and supply with other frontier outposts in the upper Great Lakes region (including Detroit and Michilimackinac). In the years since the 1759 conquest it had become a heavily diversified cultural Mecca whose frontier society included soldiers, sailors, traders, workers - and their families - of British, Indian and Canadian ancestry. The start of the American Revolution found Fort Niagara serving its traditional role as a trade and supply depot, military headquarters, and diplomatic center. He recorded his intentions “to carry the war into the Heart of the Country of the six nations to cut off their settlements, destroy their next Year’s crops, and do them every mischief of which time and circumstance will permit.” This action is recorded in history books as the “Sullivan-Clinton Campaign ” to traditional Native storytellers, its aftermath is known as “The Winter of Hunger.” In an attempt to halt these raids, George Washington - commander of the fledgling revolutionary army - decided that a punitive strike against the Iroquois-Loyalists had to be taken, and Niagara seized. Britain and her Indian allies - in particular, elements of a divided Iroquois Confederacy - had sponsored raiding parties that ventured forth from the shores of Lake Ontario to wreak havoc on Rebel communities. The dilemma which manifested itself was due to the multitude of Native and Loyalist families displaced by war and the advancement of rebel forces. A great social and political upheaval was taking place on the North American continent in the form of “revolution.” Fort Niagara, situated uneasily upon a promontory where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario, soon found itself facing an unexpected and ill-prepared-for crisis. The story of the Niagara refugees, though from a distant era, is still as poignant today as it was then. Before this time I had never taken into account the problems posed by the mass exodus of people, forced by war, into displacement camps. Until recently, my view of Fort Niagara was one of a strictly myopic military historian…someone who only sees the military importance of given strategic situations pertaining to a frontier post. Yet, while digesting these paragraphs, many of us are not aware of a similar desperate drama that unfolded here, during the American Revolution, on the Niagara Frontier of New York State. John Sullivan, Įach morning, as the Middle East’s crises unfold, we read statements in our newspapers that we’re devoted to the plight of the region’s refugees. It will be essential to ruin their crops now in the ground and preventing their planting more…Should Niagara fall into your hands in the manner I have mentioned you will do everything in your power for preserving and maintaining it by establishing a chain of posts in such a manner as shall appear to you most safe and effectual and tending as little to reduce our general forces as possible…. The immediate objects are the total destruction and devastation of their settlements and the capture of as many prisoners of every age and sex as possible. The expedition you are appointed to command is directed against the hostile tribes of the Six Nations of Indians, with their associates and adherents. REFUGEES OF NIAGARA 1779-1780: THE WINTER OF HUNGER
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