In August 1813, General Harrison prepared the army for the invasion of Canada by ordering the large fort destroyed and replaced with a small stockade about 50 yards square, surrounded by a steep-sided ditch six feet deep and five feet across. A blockhouse stood at each corner of the stockade, and permanent barracks and storehouses inside the post housed and supplied the much reduced garrison. This second fort enabled the United States to maintain control of the strategic Maumee Rapids while freeing most of the garrison to march against Canada.