Old Fort Niagara Captured

In the final hours of December 18, 1813, approximately midway through the War of 1812, some 500 British soldiers (regulars) as well as some 500 militia and Indians—crossed the Niagara River from Canada determined to seize Old Fort Niagara on the opposite shore in New York. By sunrise on December 19, the British were victorious and America’s Niagara frontier lay open to attack.

Old Fort Niagara. ca. 1900. Detroit Publishing Company. Prints & Photographs Division

From Old Fort Niagara, the British marched on to destroy Youngstown, Lewiston, Manchester, Fort Schlosser, Black Rock, and Buffalo. While America countered these losses on other fronts, denying the British a sizable lead in the war, control of the fort allowed the British to dominate the Niagara River and regulate access to the Great Lakes where fighting continued.

The British had launched their Niagara assault to retaliate against the destruction of Newark, Canada, on December 10, beginning their advance to Old Fort Niagara. U.S. troops had destroyed the Canadian city to deny shelter to advancing British forces, and, in so doing, left some 400 Newark residents homeless—outraging both the British and Canadians.

U.S. forces expected a British strike following the Newark incident but were caught unprepared on the night of the attack. Fort commander Nathaniel Leonard was miles away in Lewiston visiting family, and the garrison’s picket soldiers—stationed nearby at Youngstown—had retreated indoors to escape the cold. After disarming the Youngstown pickets without a shot, the British advanced silently to the fort gate, arriving just as it opened to receive an American guard. Pushing past the entrance, the British found the majority of the fort’s approximately 460 soldiers asleep. With little opportunity to resist, the fort soon fell.

Niagara River. Haines Photo Co., c1909. Panoramic Photographs. Prints & Photographs Division

Old Fort Niagara stayed in British hands throughout the remainder of the War of 1812. In accordance with the 1814 Treaty of Ghent, which settled the war and restored the prewar status quo, Britain returned the post to the United States in 1815 after which it operated as a peaceful border post. Old Fort Niagara served as a barracks and training station for U.S. soldiers during both World Wars; the last U.S. Army units were withdrawn in 1963.

Niagara-Falls, N.Y., 1882. Madison, Wi.: J.J. Stoner, c1881. Panoramic Maps. Geography & Map Division
A Trip to NiagaraExternal. William J. Cornish, composer; New York: Will Wood, 1908. Historic American Sheet MusicExternal. Duke University Libraries

Learn More

  • Read more about the War of 1812 in the following Today in History features:
    • Defeat of Tecumseh at Fort Meigs, Ohio, May 9
    • Burning of Washington, D.C., August 19
    • Battle of New Orleans, January 8
  • Consult War of 1812: A Resource Guide for links to selected materials about the war found on the Library’s website, a bibliography, and select external sites.
  • Search across the website on War of 1812 to find more items related to America’s “second fight for independence.”
  • The Digital Collections also have a wealth of materials on Niagara Falls.

The Williamsburg Bridge

On December 19, 1903, New Yorkers celebrated the opening of the Williamsburg Bridge, the second and largest of three steel-frame suspension bridges to eventually span the city’s East River. Designed by Leffert L. Buck and Henry Hornbostel, it had taken over seven years to complete. Built to alleviate traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge and to provide a link between Manhattan and the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, the Williamsburg Bridge—with its main span at 1,596 feet—was the world’s longest suspension bridge until the 1920s.

[Williamsburg Bridge, New York, NY]. Between 1903-1910. Detroit Publishing Company. Prints & Photographs Division

Originally open to horse-drawn carriages, bicycles, and pedestrians, the Williamsburg Bridge soon became a vital transportation route for trolleys and elevated subway trains, spurring the growth of Brooklyn’s working-class neighborhoods. In the 1920s, the bridge was reconfigured to accommodate eight lanes of traffic. As one of the major crossings of the East River it is said to carry approximately 140,000 motorists, 92,000 transit riders, 600 bikers and 500 pedestrians each day between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn and serves some of the busiest arteries in New York City.

Present to film the opening of the Williamsburg Bridge were cameramen James Blair Smith and G. W. “Billy” Bitzer. Their films, respectively, Opening of New East River Bridge, New York, produced by the Thomas Edison Company, and Opening the Williamsburg Bridge, produced by the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, each contain footage of the bridge along with close-ups of the dignitaries and press in attendance. Note the large wooden box cameras carried by the press photographers.

Opening of New East River Bridge, New York. James Blair Smith, camera; Thomas A. Edison, Inc., 1903. The Life of a City: Early Films of New York, 1898 to 1906. Motion Picture, Broadcasting & Recorded Sound Division
New York City Views. Pier of Williamsburg Bridge, from Below. Samuel H. Gottscho, photographer. Apr. 20, 1933. Gottscho-Schleisner Collection. Prints & Photographs Division

Learn More