Remember that old song from the musical, Annie Get Your Gun? It reminds me of a friendly competition I had with one of the neighborhood kids of my youth. It started when he got a new bike for his birthday. My next birthday produced a bike too, but a three-speed! You could be sure that if I got a new basketball, he would soon have a new football. It got really ugly when my Detroit Tigers won the World Series in ’68 and his Cleveland Indians, well, didn’t. Even our fathers got in on that rivalry! This one-ups-man-ship attitude is what prompted the building of the British Fort Amherstburg at the mouth of the Detroit River in Canada.
In 1796, Jay’s Treaty stipulated that the British finally surrender possession of Fort Detroit to the Americans – something they were supposed to have done at the end of the Revolution, thirteen years earlier. The concession stung the British because Detroit was a very lucrative trading center with the Native Americans. Solution – construct a comparable fortress right across the Detroit River, right across from the now American Fort Detroit. It would be named after Jeffery Amherst, a British hero of the French and Indian War. Besides being the first British Governor General in the Canadian territories, Amherst is also notorious for being the first to employ biological warfare. Are you ready? He actually ordered the distribution of blankets, to unknowing Native Americans, which were infected with the smallpox virus.
The post became known as Fort Amherstburg, and being just a military stronghold, or just a trading center, simply wouldn’t do. Yes, it was both of those things, but alongside of it a ship-building facility was constructed – the King’s Navy Yard. Here, four of the six ships to do battle with Oliver Perry in 1813 would be built.
Physically the fort took on the general design of many other British forts. Palisades enclosed the 900- yard rectangular perimeter at a height of ten feet. The four corners had diamond shaped earthworks which hid four cannons each. Inside, buildings housed the supplies and occupants.
At the onset of war, in August of 1812, it was this fort that US General Hull came within a few miles of attacking before having a change of heart and retreating to Fort Detroit. Here also, Alexander McKee spent many years as a frontier trader with other infamous characters like Simon Girty. Earlier, McKee ran a trading post on the lowlands of the Maumee River just below the current 577 Foundation property in Perrysburg, Ohio.
It was at Fort Amherstburg that such famous leaders as Tecumseh and General Brock would meet to plan military maneuvers throughout the Northwest Territory. These two giants of military prowess made their first War of 1812 move when they successfully attacked Hull and regained possession of Fort Detroit. Just two months later General Henry Proctor was awarded command of the fort after Brock was killed at Queenston Heights. From this base, Proctor and Tecumseh directed the attack at the Raisin River, and later unsuccessfully led their forces against Fort Stephenson and Fort Meigs.
The victory of Oliver Perry over the British fleet on September 10, 1813 triggered heated arguments between Tecumseh, who wanted to fight the approaching American force at the fort, and Proctor who wanted to retreat. Proctor won the debate and the withdrawal began, but not before Fort Amherstburg, which had stood for seventeen years, was torched.
The Americans would catch and defeat their opponent at what is known as the Battle of the Thames and so the smoldering ruins of Fort Amherstburg would temporarily come into their possession, but only until the end of the war in 1815.
From this time on it was referred to more often as Fort Malden, in the city of Amherstburg. It was only sparsely manned for years and was even used as an insane asylum for a time, until the property was eventually sold off for urban development. Since 1939 the original grounds have been regained and opened to the public. Next time you take a trip to Canada, set aside a day to visit this historic location. You’ll have one up on your friends.
Frank Kuron is author of the War of 1812 book, “Thus Fell Tecumseh.” Email him at kuronpubs@bex.net
Bugle Call: Upcoming Events
Some key websites to learn of upcoming 1812 Bicentennial events:
www.1812amherstburg.com/event/roots-to-boots — August 3-5, 2012 — Roots to Boots Weekend Festival in Amherstburg, Ontario.
www.pc.gc.ca/eng/lhn-nhs/on/malden/index.aspx — Fort Malden National Historic Site of Canada.
www.warof1812.ohio.gov — Most Ohio events are listed.
www.opsail.org – Details of the US Navy’s OpSail tour of the eastern seaboard and Great Lakes. The Niagara and ships of today’s military will be in Toledo from August 22-27, 2012.
www.battleoflakeerie-bicentennial.com – Details of a full re-enactment of the Battle of Lake Erie planned for September of 2013 in which you can participate.
www.fortmeigs.org – Numerous activities year-round.
www.riverraisinbattlefield.org – Numerous activities year-round.
