Fort Niagara

About the Book

Fort Niagara is located at the northern mouth of the Niagara River about twelve miles from Niagara Falls. This scenic river and world-famous tourist area, which is now shared by the United States and Canada, was Iroquois territory in the 18th century being fought over by France and England. Fort Niagara: The British Occupation 1759–1796 dramatically portrays how the British Army took Fort Niagara from the French and Indians in 1759 and held it for thirty-seven years while Indian, French, British, and American warriors and diplomates vied for control of the Niagara River and its portage route into the Great Lake. If the men who garrisoned Fort Niagara joined up to “see the world,” they probably didn’t anticipate being stationed at this isolated frontier post. It is doubtful that few, if any, of the thousands who served at Fort Niagara recalled their time there as the best part of their military life, even as one British officer wrote home that it wasn’t as bad as he had expected. Some died at the fort, in raids out of the fort, or by accidents in the icy cold and volatile waters of the Great Lakes. Others, thinking they were on their way home for a welcomed leave, were unexpectedly rerouted to Boston in 1775 and fought in the battles of Lexington and Concord, Bunker Hill, and other famous battles of the Revolution. This second book about Fort Niagara by Patricia Kay Scott and William E. Utley carries on the history presented in Fort Niagara, the Key to the Indian Oceans and the French Movement to Dominate North America, published in 2019.

About the Author

Patricia Kay Scott earned a bachelor's degree from the Anthropology Department of the State University of New York at Buffalo. During a museum and teaching career, she spent summers researching historical aspects of the Conquest and Early Postconquest Periods in the Marismas Nacionales on the west coast of Mexico. After retiring in 1981, she worked with her husband, Dr. Stuart D. Scott, in co-directing the 1979–1990 Old Fort Niagara Archaeology in Progress Project and the 1984 excavations of Fort Ontario. Patricia Kay Scott was awarded the 1999 New York State Seaway Trail's Award for spearheading the creation of the Lower Landing Archeological District National Historic Landmark. William Edward Utley earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Syracuse University, a master’s degree in criminal justice from the University of New Haven, and a master's degree in military history from Norwich University. He served in the US Army as an infantry officer and in Vietnam with the 101st Airborne Division. He was a special agent with the Treasury Department for twenty-seven years. As an avocational archaeologist he has participated in numerous site excavations, including Thanet, England; LaBelle; Yorktown Shipwreck Project; George Washington’s Ferry Farm; Gettysburg National Military Park; and Fort Niagara. At Niagara, Utley was involved with all aspects of the research and especially known for his knowledge of arms, artillery, ammunition, and metal conservation. William Utley and Patricia Kay Scott have previously co-authored contract reports for the New York State of Parks Recreation, and Historic Preservation, such as the 2007 An Archaeological View of Old Fort Niagara, Volume II about the excavated Small Arms & Artillery Ammunition, and the 2012 digitized version of Volumes I–IV of An Archaeological View of Old Fort Niagara. In 2019, they published Fort Niagara: The Key to the Inland Oceans and the French Movement to Dominate North America. While Scott is now retired in Tucson, Arizona, Utley is also retired but remains actively involved as a volunteer in archaeological projects at Gettysburg.