A tale of two settlements
By JOHN R. GRODZINSKI
The story of John Bradstreet's 1758 expedition to Fort Frontenac during the Seven Years' War is well known to Kingstonians. Last year, a commemoration honouring the 250th anniversary of this raid was held at Fort Frontenac. At the same time, local historical groups suggested renaming Breakwater Park after Bradstreet, commander of the 1758 expedition, to mark his importance in the development of Kingston.
While Bradstreet's raid was a significant event, it also ended the European settlement at Cataraqui, at least until the arrival of refugees from the American War of Independence in 1784, which began Kingston's modern history.
Following the debacle at Fort Ticonderoga in July 1758, Col. John Bradstreet led some 3,000 men on a difficult journey from Albany, N. Y., along the Mohawk River, overland to Lake Oneida and finally up the Oswego River to Lake Ontario. Their goal was Fort Frontenac, the French outpost at Cataraqui.
On Aug. 25, 1758, Bradstreet's men landed about a mile from Fort Frontenac and, two days later, Captain de Noyan, the commander of the fort, surrendered. The French civilians and military personnel were allowed to return to Montreal, while Bradstreet's men spent the remainder of the day razing the fort and loading whatever supplies, furs and loot they could onto two seized vessels. Anything they could not carry was burned, as were the surrounding houses, barracks, fences and breastworks.
Bradstreet and his men then left. Nothing remained where there was once an outpost and community with more than 110 soldiers, eight natives and several civilian families.
Thereafter, few soldiers or traders saw Cataraqui, as the common transportation route followed the south shore of the St Lawrence River, bypassing the ruins. In September 1780, Major Robert Rogers of the Rangers visited Cataraqui and noted the state of the ruins. There were no inhabitants save a few natives who had stopped there briefly to hunt.
For the British, who now controlled the eastern half of the continent, Cataraqui held much less importance as a transshipment post from the St. Lawrence to Lake Ontario than it did to the French. While Gen. James Murray, the British commander-in-chief in Canada, had recommended an outpost be built there, nothing happened, as other outposts, such as Oswego, held greater importance. British merchants were not interested in it, either. The fur trade routes used the Ottawa River and St. Lawrence River routes to get into the interior, but few licences were granted for Cataraqui.
During the American War of Independence, Buck Island, later named Carleton Island, served as a fortified transit depot between Montreal and Oswego. The latter was the gateway to Lake Oneida and the Mohawk River valley, an important theatre between 1777 and 1781. Carleton Island was far more suitable a base than Cataraqui, and construction of a naval and military outpost began in late 1778.
As the American War of Independence neared its end and it appeared that Oswego and Carleton Island were to be surrendered to the Americans, a replacement post was needed. Cataraqui regained its former importance, not only as a military base but also as a settlement for American refugees who, having lost hope of regaining their homes in the United States, chose exile in Canada. A large tract of land encompassing Point Frederick, Point Henry and Cartwright Point was reserved for the Crown, and surveying began.
During 1783, Capt. Walter Butler, son of the founder of Butler's Rangers, visited Cataraqui. Butler reported that Cataraqui had a good harbour, but the land was "very low & swampy." Little of the French fort remained "but the walls of the Barracks & houses," giving little indication that it was once "a place of strength."
Butler believed that Cataraqui would make a suitable location to resettle the loyalists and Mohawk allies. Shortly thereafter, Maj. Samuel Holland, the surveyor general of the Province of Quebec, set off with Chief Joseph Brant to examine the suitability of various potential settlements between Cataraqui and Niagara.
Holland's June 1783 report discussed "arrangements for the re-establishment of this important Post" at Cataraqui. Enough of the French fort remained to "lessen the expence of its reestablishment." Gov. Frederick Haldimand then ordered Maj. John Ross, the commandant at Oswego, to lead the expedition to "Establish a Post at Cataraqui," one of five townships that were to be established along the north shore of Lake Ontario.
Once Ross and his men arrived, they commenced building a temporary barracks inside the old French fort and several new buildings outside the ruins and on Point Henry. A wharf was also constructed. By 1785, Cataraqui had replaced Carleton Island as the official trans-shipment depot for Lake Ontario.
A town survey was also made on the west side of the Cataraqui River by Lieut. John Frederick Holland, son of Maj. Holland and a former officer in the King's Royal Regiment of New York. Again, some of this new construction was over the ruins of the earlier habitation. Most of the settlers came from the 2nd Battalion, Royal Regiment of New York, a loyalist unit first raised in Montreal in 1776. Ironically, several of these men had been involved in Bradstreet's 1758 raid.
A proclamation issued five years later set out new names for the settlements. Cataraqui was renamed "Kingstown," but became more popularly known as Kingston.
Between Bradstreet's departure in 1758 and the arrival of the first surveyors in 1783, there was no European settlement at Cataraqui. The French fort and outer buildings lay in ruins and the area was of little interest until the closing of the American War of Independence.
There is no truth to the popular claim that Bradstreet helped lay the foundation of Kingston. This is not to diminish the significance of his raid or his role during the Seven Years' War, but it took another conflict and the emergence of a new military and refugee problem for the British to gave Cataraqui a new lease on life, leading to the founding of "Kingstown."
Maj. John R. Grodzinski teaches history at the Royal Military College of Canada.
Article ID# 1731214