Old Fort Niagara celebrates 300 year of military history

Old Fort Niagara press release & photo

This Memorial Day weekend, Old Fort Niagara will highlight 300 years of military history with special exhibits and programs tracing military life from the 17th century through modern times. The event, scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, May 23-24, will begin with a salute to the colors of three nations that garrisoned the fort over the years: the U.S., Great Britain and France. This will be followed at 11 a.m. by a program titled “Cocked Hats to Kevlar: Military Dress through the Ages.”

At noon, multiple artillery pieces from the 18th through the 20th centuries will fire a cannonade, complete with an explanation of how each leap in technology affected battlefield tactics. This demonstration will be followed at 12:30 p.m. by a guided tour of Fort Niagara’s Civil War-era underground casemates, areas not usually open to the public.

At 1 p.m. visitors will go back in time to the 18th century when military music played a significant role in military camps and on the battlefield. The site’s regimental field music will perform both duty calls and popular tunes from the French and Indian War, American Revolution and War of 1812.

The great French commander, Napoleon Bonaparte, reputedly said, “An army travels on its stomach.” Fort Niagara’s 1:30 p.m. program traces the development of military rations over three centuries. From pea soup and hard tack to MREs, volunteers will demonstrate the evolution of soldiers’ food in war and peace.

At 2 p.m. reenactors will demonstrate three centuries of military small arms technology as Fort Niagara presents “Matchlocks to M16s,” a firing demonstration that chronicles arms development and how it influenced battlefield tactics. At 3:30 p.m., visitors will get a closer look at firing a flintlock musket, the technology that was in use 250 years ago during the American Revolution.

Each day concludes with a leap forward to World War II, as reenactors representing soldiers from the First Infantry Division assault an enemy bunker, demonstrating American infantry tactics of the 1940s. This will be followed by a retreat ceremony as the garrison retires the colors.

The event also includes extensive special exhibits of World War II and Korean War military vehicles, period camps from the 17th through 20th centuries, camp cooking demonstrations, women in the military and the home front during World War II.

The French established the first Fort at Niagara in 1679. The U.S. Army decommissioned the post in 1963, making Fort Niagara one of the longest-held military posts in America.

More information is available on Old Fort Niagara’s website, www.oldfortniagara.org.