Oswego,
A city and county seat of
Oswego co., N. Y.; now noted for its manufactures and for its large shipments of grain and lumber; population in 1900,
22,199.
The following are among its points of historical interest:
Governor Burnet, of New York, wisely concluding that it would be important for the
English to get and maintain control of
Lake Ontario, as well for the benefits of trade and the security of the friendship of the Six Nations as to frustrate, the designs of the
French to confine the
English colonies to narrow limits, began to erect a tradinghouse at
Oswego in 1722.
This pleased the Indians, for they saw in the movement a promise of protection from incursions of the
French.
Soon afterwards, at a convention of governors and commissioners held at
Albany, the Six Nations renounced their covenant of friendship with the
English.
In 1756
Dieskau was succeeded by the
Marquis de Montcalm, who, perceiving the delay of the
English at
Albany and their weakness through sickness and lack of provisions (of which he was informed by spies), collected about 5,000 Frenchmen, Canadians, and Indians at
Frontenac (now
Kingston), at the foot of
Lake Ontario, crossed that lake, and appeared before
Oswego in force on Aug. 11.
He attacked Fort
Ontario, on the east side of the river, commanded by
Colonel Mercer, who, with his garrison, after a short but brave resistance, withdrew to an older fort on the west side of the stream.
The
English were soon compelled to surrender the fort.
Their commander was killed, and on the 14th
Montcalm received, as spoils of victory, 1,400 prisoners, a large quantity of ammunition and provisions and other stores, 134 pieces of artillery, and several vessels lying in the harbor.
The Six Nations had never been well satisfied with the building of these forts by the
English in the heart of their territory.
To please them,
Montcalm demolished the forts, and by this act induced the Six Nations to take a position of neutrality.
The capture of this fort caused the
English commander-in-chief to abandon all the
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expeditions he had planned for the campaign of 1756.
During the
winter and
spring of 1813-14 the
Americans and
British prepared to make a struggle for the mastery of
Lake Ontario.
When the ice in Kingston Harbor permitted vessels to leave it,
Sir James L. Yeo, commander of the British squadron in those waters, went out upon the lake with his force of about 3,000 land troops and marines.
On May 5, 1814, he appeared off Oswego Harbor, which was defended by Fort
Ontario, on a bluff on the east side of the river, with a garrison of about 300 men under
Lieut.-Col. George E. Mitchell.
Chauncey, not feeling strong enough to oppose
Yeo, prudently remained with his squadron at
Sackett's Harbor.
The active cruising force of Sir James consisted of eight vessels, carrying an aggregate of 222 pieces of ordnance.
To oppose these at
Oswego was the schooner
Growler,
Captain Woolsey.
She was in the river for the purpose of conveying guns and naval stores to
Sackett's Harbor.
To prevent her falling into the hands of the
British, she was sunk, and a part of her crew, under
Lieutenant Pearce, joined the garrison at the fort.
The latter then mounted only six old guns, three of which were almost useless, because they had lost their trunnions.
Mitchell's force was too small to defend both the fort and the village, on the west side of the river, so he pitched all his tents near the town and gathered his whole force into the fort.
Deceived by the appearance of military strength at the village, the
British proceeded to attack the fort, leaving the defenceless town unmolested.
The land troops, in fifteen large boats, covered by the guns of the vessels, moved to the shore near the fort early in the afternoon.
They were repulsed by a heavy cannon placed near the shore.
The next day (May 6) the fleet again appeared, and the larger vessels of the squadron opened fire on the fort.
The troops landed in the afternoon, and, after a sharp fight in the open field, the garrison retired, and the
British took possession of the fort.
The main object of the
British was the seizure of naval stores at the falls of the
Oswego River (now
Fulton), and
Mitchell, after leaving the fort, took position up the river for their defence.
Early on the morning of the 7th the invaders withdrew, after having embarked the guns and a few stores found in
Oswego, dismantled the fort, and burned the barracks.
They also raised and carried away the
Growler; also several citizens who had been promised protection and exemption from molestation.
In this affair the
Americans lost, in killed, wounded, and missing, sixty-nine men; the
British lost nineteen killed and seventy-five wounded. See
Ontario, Lake, operations on. 
