Point Frederick Artillery Battery

In November 1812, guns of the original fort here were fired against American ships attacking Kingston. The attack may have come in retaliation for the earlier Canadian one on Sackets Harbor, but more likely American commander Chauncey believed his squadron strong enough to destroy Anglo-Canadian power on the lake centered at Kingston. That effort failed, giving the British Army the opportunity to build here a new, more powerful battery of 6 and 9 pounder guns with a 45-foot square blockhouse. Supporting buildings at the tip of Point Frederick protected the blockhouse, which stood on the approximate location of the Fort Frederick Tower, constructed in 1846 and preserved today as the Museum of the Royal Military College. Additional batteries and fortifications were established on Point Henry, and fortified outposts were built on Amherst and Snake Islands, Lemoyne Point, and Lake Ontario Point to control the approaches to Kingston harbour, but these guns were never fired in action.

Ontario · Canada