cultures and perspectives.
Departmental officials also had to deal with other intruders. Townsfolk who regarded the military reserve as their commons were helping themselves to the extensive gardens and orchards on the premises, hence they were told explicitly that “Towns people can have nothing to do with it (any) more than the King can interfere with their property without previous consent.”[56]
One gentleman who was welcome was the garrison’s commissariat officer. With no space for his offices in the new fort, he was permitted to use one of the outbuildings on the estate.
Although some of the buildings of the Indian Department were destroyed by the bombardment of Fort George in May 1813 and the subsequent occupation by the Americans, a post war map (1817) of the military reserve[57] indicates a building very near the site of the original commodious dwelling’s stable, so it may have survived the war, at least in part. It is labeled “Commandant Quarters,” which makes sense as it is halfway between the crumbling but still occupied Fort George and Navy Hall to the east and the new Butler’s Barracks complex being built to the west. The twenty-one-year lease had expired and the much diminished Indian Department no longer had any need for the building and was gradually transferring its properties back to the British Army.
In 1970 an extensive archaeological excavation of the site was undertaken.[58] It found evidence of a frame building on a stone foundation with cellars dating from the early nineteenth century. The foundations indicated that a number of additions were made to the structure. David McConnell in his exhaustive review of the known references to the Commandant’s Quarters[59] confirmed from military reports that indeed repairs and additions had been undertaken in 1817, 1819, and again in 1823. However, E.W. Durnford of the Royal Engineers concluded in his report of 1823 that “[t]his is a very old house to which additions have been made from time to time,”[60] which certainly suggests a much earlier origin.[61]
In 1823 the commandant moved to the more comfortable Commanding Engineer’s Quarters near the Niagara River while the more junior Commanding Engineer took up quarters periodically on the Commons. On occasion, the premises were also rented out. The first tenant in the 1830s was “Mr. Powell,”[62] who presumably was John Powell (1809–1881). John was the grandson of two influential personages: William Dummer Powell, the Chief Justice of the province, and Major General Aeneas Shaw, one time Queens Ranger and later Adjuvant General of the Provincial Staff in the War of 1812. John grew up in the home built by his father overlooking the military reserve. The property, later known as Brockamour (see chapter 21) was sold out of the family in 1836. This may have prompted John and his young family to temporarily rent the quarters on the military reserve. In late 1837, however, John was in Toronto where he became embroiled in the rebellion of 1837. He supposedly killed one of the rebels and sounded the alarm of a threatened rebel attack on the city. For his heroism he was elected Mayor of Toronto at age twenty-eight. John later returned to Niagara, became registrar of the county of Lincoln, and was commanding officer of the Number One Company, a militia unit raised in Niagara during the American Civil War.
Colonel’s Residence, 1854, artist uncertain, watercolour. This may be the commandant’s quarters on the Commons. Archaeological studies suggest the quarters may have retained elements of Russell’s original pre-war commodious dwelling. Courtesy of the Niagara Historical Society and Museum # 988.273.
A later tenant was Lewis Clement, the son of a famous father, “Ranger John” Clement who had a legendary career as a Butler’s Ranger. Carrying on the family tradition, Clement served with distinction in the militia artillery at Vrooman’s Battery during the Battle of Queenston Heights. A one-time successful merchant in Niagara, he invested in the financially troubled Niagara Harbour and Dock Company (NHDC), which may explain why he was reduced to renting premises on the Commons for several years.
With the great alarm of Mackenzie’s Rebellion in 1837, several regiments were deployed to Niagara. The new commandant appears to have taken up quarters on the Commons once again after they had been extensively renovated. A painting of the quarters in the 1850s has survived, which is the only view we have of any building on this site. While vacant it burned to the ground in 1858.
There is no visible remnant of the “commodious dwelling” on the Commons today. There is still a spring in the area seeping to the grassy surface and occasionally a groundhog digs up a piece of brick or pottery shard at the site. The natural configuration of the nearby creek bed may have been altered over the years. Otherwise, the site today probably looks remarkably as it did that August morning in 1792 when Peter Russell first came out to see Widow Murray on her farm. On an early hot summer’s morning with the heavy mist layered across the Commons, it is quite easy to conjure up the restless spirits of some of those characters who had a presence here so many years ago.
Chapter 5
Navy Hall
Below the ramparts of Fort George near the edge of the Niagara River, the long, low stone-clad building known as Navy Hall is a popular venue for various social gatherings and educational events. Inside, the exposed hand-hewn beams, interior shutters, and welcoming fire in the huge stone fireplace evoke an ambiance of two centuries ago. Through excellent interpretive displays on the walls, visitors may learn the Navy Hall site is nearly 250 years old. The Navy Hall wharf, now a popular perch for amateur fishermen and the occasional mooring site for commercial marine enterprises, has been a naval and public dock for a similar period. In recognition of its rich and colourful past, Navy Hall was designated a National Historic Site in 1969.
In its formative years, the isolated Fort Niagara was completely dependent on sailing ships bringing in provisions, ammunition, and reinforcements across Lake Ontario from the St. Lawrence River, and later from the more easterly outpost of Oswego. The wharf below the fort was busy and several vessels were built there. However, the site was not ideal, and by late 1765 the British commander of Fort Niagara reported that “they [Naval Department] have been building a Navall Barracks 1200 yards above this Fort upon the opposite side of the river; they have also begun a warfe [sic] there.”[1] It was easier for tall-ships to get underway from the west side of the river, the site was more protected for ship-building and wintering, plus there was a ready supply of oak beyond the grassy plain above. Initially, the building consisted of a barracks for seamen and a room for officers and was set at right angles to the shoreline. In order to accommodate increased naval activity during the American Revolutionary War, more barracks, a “house,”[2] and outbuildings including a “rigging and sails loft” were added. The shipyard was busy repairing and building various new vessels for the Provincial Marine and private merchants. The first official use of the name “Navy Hall” appeared in a memorandum in May 1778,[3] but it actually referred to the general area and the complex of buildings on the site.[4] Under the terms of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, the British would eventually have to cede Fort Niagara to the Americans. Almost immediately Governor Haldimand directed his surveyors to reserve the plain above Navy Hall for a protective military post[5] (see chapter 8).
A View of Niagara Taken from the Heights Near Navy Hall, artist James Peachey, watercolour, 1783 or 1787. This painting clearly shows a portion of Navy Hall at the water’s edge and British-held Fort Niagara across the river. The open grassy plain on the left with the Rangers’ Barracks in the distance, although already reserved for military purposes, is being used as common lands. Library and Archives Canada, James Peachey collection, C-002035.
By 1788 the buildings were already “in exceeding bad repair,”[6] so when Lieutenant Governor Simcoe arrived in the summer of 1792, he immediately ordered an extensive renovation of Navy Hall (by then only the original building was still standing) as a residence
