Plan of Fort Frontenac, 1685

Fort Frontenac was a French trading post and military fort built in 1673 in what is now Kingston, Ontario, Canada. It was strategically positioned at the mouth of the Cataraqui River where the St. Lawrence River leaves Lake Ontario in a location traditionally known as Cataraqui. The original fort, a wood pallisade structure, was called Fort Cataraqui but was later named for Louis de Buade de Frontenac, Governor of New France (Count Frontenac), who was responsible for building the fort. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1312x1569, 1174 KB) Summary Fort Frontenac at Cataraqui, 1685. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1312x1569, 1174 KB) Summary Fort Frontenac at Cataraqui, 1685. ... A trading post is a place where trading of goods takes place. ... Kingston, Ontario, with a 2001 Canadian census population of 114,195 people, is a Canadian city, located in the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor at the eastern end of Lake Ontario, where the lake runs into the St. ... The Cataraqui River (pronounced ka-tah-RAH-kway) forms the lower portion of the Rideau Canal in Canada. ... The Saint Lawrence River (French fleuve Saint-Laurent) is a large west-to-east flowing river in the middle latitudes of North America, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. ... Lake Ontario seen from near Wolcott, New York Lake Ontario, bounded on the north by Ontario and on the south by Ontarios Niagara Peninsula and by New York State, is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. ... Frontenac Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac et de Palluau (May 22, 1622 – November 28, 1698) was a French courtier and Governor of New France from 1672 to 1682 and from 1689 to his death in 1698. ... The Governor of New France was the head of state representing the King of France in North America. ...

The intent of Fort Frontenac was to control the luctrative fur trade in the Great Lakes Basin to the west and the Canadian Shield to the north. It was a bulwark against the English who were competing with the French for control of the fur trade. A secondary function of the fort was the provision of supplies and reinforcements to other French installations on the Great Lakes and in the Ohio Valley to the south. // Indian trade The fur trade (also called the Indian trade) was a huge part of the early history of contact in North America between European-Americans and American Indians (now often called Native Americans in the United States and First Nations in Canada). ... The Great Lakes from space The Great Lakes are a group of five large lakes on or near the United States-Canadian border. ... Canadian Shield The Canadian Shield is a large craton in eastern and central Canada and adjacent portions of the United States, composed of bare rock dating to the Precambrian Era (between 4. ... Carl D. Perkins Bridge in Portsmouth, Ohio with Ohio River and Scioto River tributary on right. ...

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, the original administrator and commander of the fort, built many additional buildings and even brought in domestic animals with the hope of inducing settlers to come to the Cataraqui outpost. He replaced the wooden fort with a more secure stone fort in 1675. A description of the fort written in the 17th century mentions that: Engraving of La Salle René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, or Robert de LaSalle (November 22, 1643 – March 19, 1687) was a French cleric and explorer. ...

"Three quarters of it are of masonry or hardstone, the wall is three feet thick and twelve high. There is one place where it is only four feet, not being completed. The remainder is closed in with stakes. There is inside a house of squared logs, a hundred feet long. There is also a blacksmith's shop a guardhouse, a house for the officers, a well, and a cow-house. The ditches are fifteen feet wide. There is a good amount of land cleared and sown around about, in which a hundred paces away or almost there is a barn for storing the harvest. There are quite near the fort several French houses, an Iroquois village, a convent and a Recollet church." The Iroquois Confederacy (Haudenosaunee, also known as the League of Peace and Power, Five Nations, or Six Nations) is a group of First Nations/Native Americans. ... The Recollets (English: Recollects) were a French branch of the Roman Catholic order, the Franciscans (Latin: Ordo Fratrum Minorum), first established in France about 1570. ...

Fur trade rivalries lead to the Iroquois Wars. The French and Iroquois were never on very friendly terms. There was a peace treaty signed in 1667, but the war was renewed in the 1680s. The renewal of war affected Fort Frontenac. The Iroquois, who were angry after having been attacked by French troops, besieged the French settlement at Cataraqui in a reprisal raid in 1688. The settlement was devastated and many defenders died, mostly from scurvy. The French abandoned and destroyed the fort in 1689 claiming that its remoteness prevented proper defense. Count Frontenac eventually rebuilt the fort, which again became a thriving trading post. The English resented the renewed friendly trade between the French and Indians and build Fort Oswego across the lake from Fort Frontenac to compete for this trade. The French and Iroquois Wars (also called the Iroquois Wars or the Beaver Wars) were an intermittent series of conflicts fought in the late 17th century in eastern North America, in which the Iroquois sought to expand their territory and take control of the role of middleman in the fur... Scurvy is a disease that results from insufficient intake of vitamin C and leads to the formation of livid spots on the skin, spongy gums, and bleeding from almost all mucous membranes. ... Fort Oswego was an important frontier post for British traders in the 18th century. ...

During the Seven Years' War, Fort Frontenac was a highly strategic point on Lake Ontario. The fort commanded transportation and communications along the St. Lawrence-Great Lakes water route and was a threat to Fort Oswego. Indeed, General Montcalm used the Fort as a staging point to attack Fort Oswego in 1756. The British wanted it put out of action. Taking the well-known fort would also be a morale-boosting coup for the British, who were demoralized after having lost a battle at Fort Ticonderoga (Fort Carillon) in July 1758. And so, in August 1758, the British under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel John Bradstreet left Fort Oswego with a force of a little over 3000 men and attacked Fort Frontenac. Bradstreet destroyed the fort and quickly departed to avoid any more conflict with the French. This battle is often referred to as the Battle of Fort Frontenac. At this stage in the war, Fort Frontenac was not that significant to the French since the fort was left abandoned for the next twenty-five years. The French and Indian War is the common American name for the decisive nine-year conflict (1754–1763) in North America between the Kingdom of Great Britain and its North American Colonies against France and its North American Colonies, which was one of the theatres of the Seven Years War. ... Portrait of Montcalm Montcalm trying to stop Native Americans from attacking British soldiers and civilians as they leave Fort William Henry. ... Fort Ticonderoga is a large 18th century fort built at a strategically important narrows in Lake Champlain where a short traverse gives access to the north end of Lake George in the state of New York, USA. The fort controlled both commonly used trade routes between the English-controlled Hudson... John Bradstreet (born 1711 - died September 25, 1774) was a Lieutenant Colonel in the French and Indian War who helped Britain gain control of Lake Ontario by capturing Fort Frontenac, now Kingston, Ontario. ... The Battle of Fort Frontenac took place from August 25 to August 27, 1758 near the end of the Seven Years War (referred to as the French and Indian War in the United States) between France and Britain. ...

Loyalists who had fled the United States after the American War of Independence formed a community in the vicinity of the fort and along the waterfront. To protect the growing population of Cataraqui (eventually to be called Kingston), Fort Frontenac was rebuilt in 1783 to accommodate a military garrison. A few years later it was given the name Tête-de-Pont Barracks. From 1889 - 1939, the fort was headquarters for the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery. In 1939 it again became known as Fort Frontenac. Fort Frontenac remains in military hands and now houses the Canadian Land Force Command and Staff College. Loyalists (often capitalized L) were British North American colonists who remained loyal subjects of the British crown during the American Revolution. ... The American Revolution is the series of events, ideas, and changes that resulted in the revolution and ensuing political separation of thirteen colonies in North America from the British Empire and the creation of the United States of America with a new political system. ... The Royal Canadian Horse Artillery is the name given to the regular field artillery units of the Canadian Army. ...

The fort has undergone extensive archaeological investigation and partially reconstructed remains of the northwest bastion and other walls can be seen.

External links

• The Canadian Archaeological Research Foundation - Fort Frontenac History and Archaeology