Fort Henry and Cedar Island, Kingston, Upper Canada

The pretty landscape on this page was drawn expressly for us by Mr. Kilburn. We see on the left, the long, embattled lines of Fort Henry, on a point overlooking the town of Kingston, while on the island in front, Cedar, is a picturesque Martello tower. The harbor is defended by several other Martello towers. The name of this kind of tower is a corruption from Mortella, in Corsica, where a certain strong tower maintained a determined resistance to a superior English force in 1794. In consequence of the great strength exhibited by this fort, the British government erected twenty-seven similar towers on the coast of Kent, at intervals of about a quarter of a mile, as a defence against the threatened invasion from France. They are circular, with walls of great thickness, and roofs bomb-proof. One traversing gun is mounted upon each, in working which, the men are secured by a high parapet. They are surrounded by a deep, dry ditch; the entrance is by a door several feet from the ground, approach to which is then cut off by drawing up the latter. The ordinary guard consists of from six to twelve men. The Indian name of Kingston is Cadaracqui. The French commenced building a fort here in 1672, under the orders of M. de Courcelles, then governor of Canada, and it was finished by his successor, Count Frontenac. In 1688, upon hearing of the capture of Montreal by the Indians, the garrison abandoned the fort, leaving slow-matches burning in connection with a train of powder leading to the magazine, in order to destroy the works. By some mismanagement, however, this purpose was defeated. The position was again garrisoned by the French, in 1689, and held by them till 1758, at which time an expedition under Col. Bradstreet embarked from Oswego, and after two days’ hard fighting, obtained possession, and destroyed the fort and vessels. The peace of 1762 extinguished the French title, and the English named it Kingston. It is now one of the most important towns in Canada, and, next to Quebec, the most strongly fortified.