Cape Vincent, Jefferson, NY

Carlton Island

CARLTON ISLAND

Fox Island is small and of no historical importance. Carlton is a little small then Grenadier, and one of the most beautiful of all the "thousand islands" in the St. Lawrence. According to some old land-titles, this territory was reserved by the State of New York in the cession to Alexander Macomb.

In October, 1786, Mathew Watson and William Guilland purchased the military county warrant which ad been issued to one William Richardson, a Revolutionary sergeant, and located the right to this island. If, however, Carlton island had become a part of Canadian territory, it was conditioned that another portion of land would be granted elsewhere. Watson soon after bought out the interest of Guilland. Only one of his children lived to inherit the property, or, rather, Only Margaret Watson came into final possession of it, which she disposed of to Charles Smyth. Before this sale she had married Jacob T. Broock. The matter of this sale and title was brought to the notice of the State legislature in 1821, when it was found that the title to the land covered by the military bounty was not good. The British held the island when Richardson sold his right, and continued to hold it till it was surrendered, at the commencement of the War of 1812. By special legislation, the title was made a legal one, and on March 2, 1821, an act was passed directing a patent to be issued for the amount of land designated as the original military bounty. This was 500 acres on the west end of the inland. In 1823, F. R. Hasler, who had charge of the coast-survey for many years, made a survey of Carlton island, and reported an area of 1274 acres. Chas. Smyth purchased the remainder in 1821, and thus became proprietor of the whole territory. At the time of Mr. Hasler's survey there were about thirty acres of old and highly improved land, which was known as the King's Garden. This garden was on the south shore, and about half-way down.

The original settlers were squatters. When Avery Smith and Abijah Lewis were here engaged in the lumbering business, which the commenced in 1822, the residents had become permanent, and trade was full of life. There was a post-office, and a school, James Ester had a tavern, four dwelling-houses were standing around the old chimneys, David Briggs had a shoe-shop, Abijah Lewis, James Wood, and Mr. Shaw kept stores, and sometimes ten or fifteen lumber-vessels would be anchored in the bays. At this time the population numbered one hundred and fifty or two hundred persons. The island is not divided into farms, and seven or eight families are living thereon. It is about three miles northeast of Cape Vincent village, and was the first settled territory of Jefferson county.

THE OLD FORTIFICATION

No spot in northern New York has excited more historical curiosity than the head of Carlton island, on which are now seen the conspicuous ruins of an old fort. The ruins are extensive, and are found on a rocky promontory, the southwestern face of which is fifty or sixty precipitous feet above the water. Eight of the massive stone chimneys are standing. Deep Excavations in the rock, probably used for magazines or secret storage, are very noticeable. The old circular well that was blasted through the rock, ten feet in diameter, and it may be sixty feet deep, always attracts attention. The fort was built on the arc of a circle, and the ditch around it is six feet deep and about twenty-two feet wide. "the covered way is twenty-four feet wide, and scarp and counterscarp vertical, the outer parapet four feet high, and the glacis is formed of material taken from the ditch. The rampart within the ditch was of earth, and is very much dilapidated,--in places is entirely obliterated…. Bastions, were so placed as to command the various approaches very effectually."

Pieces of wrecked vessels are distinguished, on a still day, at the bottom of the river. There is a sunken dock on the west side, and some little distance in the rear are the broken and almost obliterated graves of the soldiers' cemetery.

When Charles Smyth obtained possession of the island many of the burial-places were still marked by carved oaken pieces of wood, but when Mr. Hough published his "History of Jefferson County." 1854, he found only one grave that was indicated by a head-stone; on it was the following inscription: "J. Farrar, D. 23 Fy, 1792." This has since been destroyed. Many various military buttons, axe-heads, balls, belt-buckles, coins, and the like, have been picked up and preserved as relics. The oldest coin ever found was dated 1696. In july, 1696, Count Frontenac, when on his way to fight the Iroquois, encamped a short time on this territory. Carlton Island was then called Isle aux Chevreuils; another French or Indian name, according to an old map in Yale College library, was Cahihouonage.

Who built the fort is a question that has not yet been fully answered. After much research, the conclusion has been reached that a fort was commenced by the French, and subsequently enlarged and made formidable by the English. Could the military records of the French and Indian War of 1756-60, and the military records of the English during the Revolutionary War, be examined, the mysterious origin of old Fort Carlton might be solved. It could hardly have been a point of much military importance previous to the French and Indian War, for a French officer (Pouchot), who kept a diary of all that he saw and did along the shores of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence, does not mention any military defenses on the site of the old ruins. If a fort was commenced by the French, it was commenced very soon after the visits of this military officer. It appears from some old Paris papers, still preserved in the documentary history of New York. That the governor of Canada, in 1758, had a plan in mind to build a fort at the head of this river, which had been left unprotected by the destruction of Fort Frontenac. Fort Frontenac was destroyed by Colonel Bradstreet, in August, 1758, and in November of the same year the governor had this plan of a new work on paper. The fort was to have magazines and barracks; certain shipwrights, whose names were given, were to be sent up the river from Quebec; supplies for those engaged in the work were to be obtained at Ogdensburgh; and the necessity for some fortification at the outlet of Lake Ontario was so urgently pressed that there is good reason to believe the first fort was commenced not far from 1759 This is a fair deduction, unless Frontenac stood on Carlton island, which is scarcely probable. If commenced by the French, it could not have been later than 1763, because the Dominion of Canada passed over to Great Britain on May 10, 1763, by the treaty of Paris. Fort Carlton was certainly occupied a hundred years ago. A Canadian author makes this statement:

"It (Carlton island) was a military and naval station during the American rebellion, at which government vessels were built for navigating the lake, and possessed fortification. Its name is derived from Guy Carlton, Esq." *

The building of ships indicates a post of much importance; and the origin of the old chimneys, the deep moat cut through the solid rock on the land side, the huge well, and other elaborate ruins now visible, will very likely be traced to the military records of the English, as indicated by the foregoing facts. In 1706, Fort Carlton was defended by a small British guard and six pieces of cannon. In 1812, as soon as the news reached Cape Vincent that a second war had been declared against Great Britain by the American Congress, Abner Hubbard, an old revolutionary soldier, living at Millen's Bay, authorized himself and several of his neighbors to capture the post. They crossed over the river in the night, and demanded its surrender. Two women and three invalid men surrendered. The following day the ofrt was destroyed and the prisoners taken to Sacket's Harbor.

In a letter received from Francis Parkman, the historian, regarding the question whether Fort Frontenac was or was not situated on the Carlton island promontory, he says:

"There are several French maps, both manuscripts and printed, in which Fort Frontenac is laid down, and several plans of it at different periods, from that of De Nouville, in 1685, to that made during the war of 1755. Many of these maps are in my possessions. I have also the tile deeds of neighboring lands, and of the place itself, in La Salle's Time†

"The impression that the fort on Carlton island dates back 150 years is certainly erroneous. There could not have been a fortification here of any consequence before the old French war. Even then I know of no mention of this or neighboring island as occupied for military purposes, except in one instance, when a guard of twelve men is reported to have been stationed here. They were sent from Fort Frontenac. The remarkable works of which the remains are now so conspicuous must have been of a later date and of British origin, probably early in the Revolutionary War." (Jefferson County History, by L. H. Everts, 1878)

Transcribed by Holice B. Young

Html by Debbie

December 27, 1999

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