Fort Oswego

Fort Oswego was an 18th-century trading post in the Great Lakes region in North America, which became the site of a pitched battle between French and British forces in 1756 during the French and Indian War. The fort was established in 1727 on the orders of New York governor William Burnet, adjacent to a 1722 blockhouse that had originally been a way station for French traders. The log palisade fort established a British presence on the Great Lakes.

In 1756 the fort's garrison of British soldiers from the 50th and 51st regiments were easily defeated by a combined French and Native American force. More than one hundred British soldiers were killed, many of them after the fort had been formally surrendered. The French took a further 1,500 British prisoners, and destroyed the fort itself. The site is now included in the city of Oswego, New York.

Many historic references to Fort Oswego actually refer to other forts that existed simultaneously or later. The terrain at the site explains this. The original fort was built around the trading post on the lower ground on the north west side of the mouth of the Oswego River. This was convenient to canoe and bateaux traffic. A stone blockhouse was added in 1727, and was called Fort Burnet. A triangular stone wall, ten feet (3 m) high and three feet (1 m) wide was added in 1741, and the entire enclosure was called Fort Pepperrell (a marker can be found designating the area of Fort Oswego on the north west side of the river along a sidewalk). Besides these expansions, Fort Ontario was started in 1755 as a palisade on the high ground on the north east side of the river, and Fort George was added to the bluff located a half mile (800 m) to the southwest from Fort Oswego. Fort George was also called Fort Rascal or the West Fort. Fort Ontario was also known as the Fort of the Six Nations or the East Fort. The French knew Fort Oswego as Fort Chouaguen. Some references to Fort Oswego refer to the entire complex. Except for the marker in Oswego, nothing is left of Fort Oswego itself.

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