Robert Griffing

signed and numbered limited-edition print

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Departure at Daybreak

Fort Niagara 1769. Mist rises from the Niagara River as the early morning sun greets four Ottawa canoes gliding swiftly across the still waters from Fort Niagara in the autumn of 1769. Settlers crossing Indian boundaries and a decline in trade goods from England created a period of unrest among the tribes of the Great Lakes. The log stockade, constructed in 1768 at Fort Niagara, was a result of this threat. However, the Ottawa, whose name in Algonquin means "he buys", were still trading during these unsettled times.

Thirty feet above the "Bottoms", stands Fort Niagara with its great stone building known today as the "Castle." The fort was established by the French in 1726 and later became a British post during the French and Indian War when captured in July of 1759 by His Majesty's forces under the command of Sir William Johnson.