Northeast Historical Archaeology Volume 44 Special Issue: War of 1812 Article 12 2015 “A Mere Matter of Marching”: US Soldiers on the Niagara Frontier during the War of 1812 Susan E. Maguire Follow this and additional works at: https://orb.binghamton.edu/neha Part of the Archaeological Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Maguire, Susan E. (2015) "“A Mere Matter of Marching”: US Soldiers on the Niagara Frontier during the War of 1812," Northeast Historical Archaeology: Vol. 44 44, Article 12. Available at: https://orb.binghamton.edu/neha/vol44/iss1/12 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB). It has been accepted for inclusion in Northeast Historical Archaeology by an authorized editor of The Open Repository @ Binghamton (The ORB). For more information, please contact [email protected]. 196 Maguire/US Soldiers on the Niagara Frontier “A Mere Matter of Marching”: US Soldiers on the Niagara Frontier during the War of 1812 Susan E. Maguire The Niagara Frontier was as a primary location for the battles of the War of 1812. Old Fort Niagara, located at the mouth of the Niagara River and Lake Ontario, served as a headquarters for both the Americans and the British military during the war. Archaeological excavations of a soldiers’ barracks at the fort revealed important material evidence for these occupations. This article reviews the ceramics, gun flints, military buttons, and a cap plate recovered from excavations in the summers of 2011 and 2013. This research seeks to distinguish between the American and British occupations of the fort and to better understand the meaning of this material culture to the soldiers living at the fort. The excavations recovered more evidence of the American, rather than the British, occupation of the fort. These excavations reveal the United States’ poor preparation for war along with the lack of adequate and consistent sources of supply. La frontière du Niagara était l’un des principaux endroits où se sont déroulées les batailles de la guerre de 1812. Le Old Niagara Fort, situé à l’embouchure de la rivière Niagara et du Lac Ontario, a servi de quartier général pour les Américains et l’armée britannique pendant la guerre. Les fouilles archéologiques d’une caserne de soldats au fort révélèrent des preuves matérielles importantes pour ces occupations. Cet article passe en revue les céramiques, les pierres à fusils, les boutons militaires et une plaque de casque récupérés lors des fouilles entreprises en 2011 et 2013. Cette recherche tente de distinguer les occupations américaines et britanniques au fort et de mieux comprendre la signification de cette culture matérielle pour les soldats qui y vivaient. Les fouilles ont permis de récupérer plus de preuves de l’occupation américaine du fort. Fait intéressant, la poterie fabriquée en Angleterre domine l’assemblage céramique, indiquant que ces articles n’étaient pas rejetés comme symboliques de leurs ennemis britanniques par les soldats américains vivant au fort. Introduction material culture recovered from excavations at Old Fort Niagara (FIG. 2), including ceramics, Prior to the start of the war, United States gun flints, military buttons, and a shako cap President Thomas Jefferson believed that the plate, in an effort to disentangle American and taking of Upper Canada would be “a mere British occupations as well as to better matter of marching”. Small British garrisons in understand everyday life for soldiers at the the province coupled with uncertain loyalties fort during the War of 1812. Despite Jefferson’s of recently arrived American settlers led many confidence that the war was a “mere matter of to believe that Upper Canada could be taken marching,” in fact, it was a hard fought by the nascent American military. The Niagara conflict and the Americans were woefully Frontier became a primary front for the war, unprepared. These excavations reveal the with Old Fort Niagara serving as the United States’ poor preparation for war along American military headquarters for the with the lack of adequate and consistent regular army (FIG. 1). The fort was poorly sources of supply. maintained and not situated to defend against attacks from British-held Fort George just across the Niagara River. A mix of regular Plans of the Fort army, militia members, and volunteers Historic plans of Old Fort Niagara provide occupied the fort until the British takeover on a wealth of information about the evolution of December 19, 1813. The British would hold the the landscape and the changes made with each fort for the remainder of the war. succeeding occupation. This project focused Archaeological excavations of early 19th specifically on the construction and renovation century structures at the fort have recovered of the Red Barracks. The Red Barracks, as the features and artifacts dating to the War of structure was known during the early 19th 1812. This material culture consists of artifacts century, served primarily as a soldiers’ of military life along with items of everyday barracks. During the capture of the fort by the life. This paper will review some of the British on December 19, 1813, the Red Barracks Northeast Historical Archaeology/Vol. 44, 2015 197 Fig. 1 Map of Niagara Frontier. (Lossing 1896). 198 Maguire/US Soldiers on the Niagara Frontier Figure 2. Old Fort Niagara pictured with 2013 excavations in foreground. (Photo by author, 2013). was serving as an infirmary for wounded the next 12 years. Between 1807 and 1810, the soldiers and it was during this important barracks were renovated and what may be a battle that the Red Barracks became marked in new or renovated barracks is depicted on an the historic memory of Old Fort Niagara. 1810 plan of the fort and continues in a similar Historic accounts indicate that the men in this dimension on the 1814 plan (Grey 1810; barracks, along with the guard detail in the Williams 1814). The 1816 plan shows an South Redoubt, offered the greatest resistance elongated barracks structure (Smith 1816), to the British attack (Porter 1896). most likely renovations conducted by the The name “Red Barracks” comes from an British during their brief occupation of the 1816 American plan of the fort which Fort between 1813 and 1815. The barracks fell designates the structure as “Red Barracks used into disuse and disrepair after the War of 1812 by the artillery” and differentiates it from the and was removed between 1840 and 1864, “Yellow” Officers’ Barracks (Smith 1816 ). This based on its appearance on the 1840 plan but barracks stands just south of the bakehouse not the 1864 plan of the fort (Dunnigan and and was the site of an early French employees’ Scott 1991; Scott, et al. 1991). Thus the Red quarters listed as ‘old’ on a mid-18th-century Barracks is thought to have been constructed French plan (Dunnigan and Scott 1991; by the American military in the late 18th Pouchot 1756). The French structure appears to century over the remains of at least one earlier have been torn down early in the British barracks. This structure was expanded by the occupation as it does not appear on a 1768 British military between 1814 and 1815. British plan of the fort (Dunnigan and Scott 1991; Sowers 1768). The British built a new barracks at this location, most likely during Archaeological Excavations the waning years of the American Revolution, Excavations conducted by the SUNY as they ceased most new construction at the Buffalo State Archaeological Field School in end of the Revolutionary War (Dunnigan and 2011 and 2013 focused on the early Scott 1991). The Rivardi plan (1798) shows the 19th-century ‘Red Barracks’ within the parade parade ground to be crowded with structures, ground at the fort (FIG. 3). In 2011, four units most of them in ill repair. Many of these were excavated on the southern side of the structures were removed over the course of structure (Maguire 2012, 2014b). These units Northeast Historical Archaeology/Vol. 44, 2015 199 in nature. Similar to the foundation walls revealed in the 2011 excavations, the foundations in the northern part of the structure were placed over clay deposits. But the 2013 excavations also recovered evidence of earlier occupations just below some of the 19th century occupations. Given the proximity to the bakehouse and the French Castle, and this structure’s placement over the site of an earlier barracks, it is not surprising that the stratigraphy of these units was more complex and that excavations encountered remains of earlier British and French occupations. A timber frame construction was most likely placed over this single-course foundation. The excavated foundation fits with the documentary record which describes the structure as poorly constructed and the Williams 1814 plan which refers to the structure as a ‘temporary barracks’ (Williams 1814). Unit 35 revealed the northwest corner of the structure and Units 36 and 37 Figure 3. Red Barracks with 2011 and 2013 archaeological units. (Map encountered portions of the by author, 2016). western foundation wall. These excavations support the findings were placed to explore the British expansion of from the 2011 excavations (Maguire 2014b) the structure. In 2013, the field school returned that the Red Barracks was quickly constructed to the Red Barracks to explore the northern on a small stone foundation. Unlike the 2011 end of the structure (Maguire 2014a). Three 2 x excavations of the southern portion of the 2m units were placed to coincide with the structure, which recovered primarily features northern portion of the structure in hopes of and artifacts from the early 19th century, the locating traces of the foundation of the 2013 excavations encountered features and barracks constructed by the Americans. The artifacts from both earlier and later periods.