Date Published:
July 2005

L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

Fort Oswego

Fort Oswego, a British fort built in 1726 on the south shore of lake Ontario, at the mouth of the Oswego river. Its object was trade with the Indians about lake Ontario and farther north; and it was built under protest from the French, who called the place Chouaguen. It was captured by the French under Montcalm in 1756, and was demolished; but it was rebuilt by the British after the conquest of Canada, and re-named Fort Ontario. During the American Revolution, the fort became a rallying-point for the loyalists; but by the Peace of Versailles in 1783 it fell within American territory, and it was finally surrendered to the United States after Jay's treaty, 1794. It was captured by a British naval force in 1814, but was returned to the Americans at the close of hostilities.

Source  : W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. II, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 411p., p. 373.