Fort Howe

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fort Howe is the site of an 18th and 19th century British Army fortification built in present-day New Brunswick at the mouth of the St. John River where it empties into the Bay of Fundy. The site of the fort is now located within the city of Saint John.

[edit] History

Following British victory in the Seven Years' War in 1763, the area north of the Bay of Fundy which was formerly part of the territory of the French colony of Acadia was merged into the existing British colony of Nova Scotia. Fortifications were established in the area at the mouth of the St. John River upon the site of Fort LaTour, an abandoned French military outpost located on the east bank of the river approximately 1 nautical mile (NM) downstream from the Reversing Falls at a natural narrows formed by Navy Island. This facility was renamed Fort Frederick, however it soon became apparent that the site was strategically limited.

The British Army soon decided to establish a more permanent fortification upon the high ground overlooking the area, choosing a site immediately uphill from Fort LaTour. The fortification was located atop a low hill of ancient granite (thought to have originated in North Africa 1 billion years earlier), which rose approximately 100 feet above surrounding land, affording a commanding view of the narrows and Navy Island, as well as the immediate area upstream 1 NM to Reversing Falls and downstream 1 NM to the mouth of the river where it broadens into the Bay of Fundy. The entire portion of the river below Reversing Falls is deep and navigable in any tide, and was therefore a prime anchorage point for vessels, particularly during the age of sail when the falls presented a significant navigation hazard to such vessels.

By the 1770s at the beginning of the American Revolutionary War, this isolated Nova Scotian fort on the north shore of the Bay of Fundy held 8 cannons, barracks for 100 men, 2 blockhouses, and an outer wall composed of fascines, sticks and sod. By 1778, the fort consisted of a more substantial blockhouse and barracks located within a palisade, as well as an abatis. A further third blockhouse was constructed at the east end of the hill, which was the continuation of a ridge formed by the St. Croix Highlands - a coastal extension of the Appalachian Mountains along the north shore of the Bay of Fundy. Upon completion of the fort the British Army named it "Fort Howe", after Sir William Howe, Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in America between 1775-1778. The fortification provided watch over the strategic river mouth and offered protection for surrounding rural communities from American privateers and marauding forces.

Following the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, numerous Loyalist refugees from the American Revolutionary War moved to the area surrounding Fort Howe because of the protection it afforded, founding the communities of Parrtown and Carleton. Fort Howe became the military headquarters for the area of the lower St. John River valley.

In 1784, the British government responded to the wishes of the Loyalists settling in the area by designating the entire portion of the colony of Nova Scotia north of the Bay of Fundy as the new colony of New Brunswick. The cannons of Fort Howe were fired (on a rare occasion) on November 21, 1784 when they offered a 17-gun salute welcoming the colony's first Governor, Brigadier General Thomas Carleton (officially governor from 1786-1817).

In 1785, Parrtown and Carleton were merged by Royal Charter to form the city of Saint John. Fort Howe served as the first civic jail for the municipality. Fort Howe's cannon batteries were again fired in celebration upon hearing news of Admiral Nelson's 1805 victory at the Battle of Trafalgar.

A series of defences to guard Saint John Harbour were developed in response to the Napoleonic Wars. Fort Howe became the lynchpin in a system consisting of itself (protecting the river narrows), the Carleton Martello Tower, guarding the harbour from another rise on the west side of the River, and Fort Dufferin, guarding the harbour entrance near Partridge Island. Fort Howe's barracks also housed British Army troops and Royal Navy sailors who participated in raids along the coastline of present-day Washington and Penobscot counties in Maine (then part of Massachusetts), and provided support to an important blockhouse guarding the frontier on the St. Croix River at St. Andrews.

Fort Howe's cannons were again fired in celebration upon news of the Duke of Wellington's victory at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Following the War of 1812, Fort Howe fell into disuse as more modern defence facilities were better able to defend Saint John from attack, notably the Martello Tower on the west side of the harbour. It, like Fort Dufferin were allowed to gradually deteriorate over the ensuing century as nature reclaimed the land and buildings. Following Confederation in 1867, most British troops were removed from the city in favour of domestic militia and remaining harbour defences were largely abandoned in place.

The Second World War saw the site of Fort Howe host its final military activities when the Canadian 8th Anti-Aircraft Battery placed a 3.7 inch gun atop the hill overlooking the river mouth as part of Canada's coastal defense plan. The Canadian Army's Ordinance Corps also built an instrument repair shop nearby. Following the war, the last blockhouse and this repair shop were lost to fire and the site was mostly levelled.

[edit] National Historic Site

Fort Howe was designated a National Historic Site in 1929. Since then, there have been several schemes to rebuild the fortification in its entirety to depict its hey-day during the American Revolutionary War.

As part of the city's commemoration of the centennial of Confederation in 1967, the Saint John chapter of the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire and the city erected a full-size replica of one of Fort Howe's blockhouses upon the site. Several original or replica 18th century cannons, as well as one of the Second World War anti-aircraft batteries, are located on the site, which is a popular lookout for tourists and residents in the hill-top park overlooking the city and harbour.