Fort Frederick (Kingston)

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Fort Frederick is a historic military installation in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. The Fort consists of earthworks surrounding a Martello tower.

Point Frederick was a strategic location for the defence of the loyalist settlement at Cataraqui (Kingston). In 1788, it was named after Sir Frederick Haldimand, Governor of Quebec (1778-86). The guardhouse and storehouse were built in 1790-91. A dockyard was in operation by 1792. This naval base was fortified during the War of 1812. On November 10, 1812, the Fort Frederick battery took part in repulsing an American naval squadron under Commodore Isaac Chauncey. Four massive stone Martello towers were built to strengthen Kingston's defences in 1846-47 during the Oregon Boundary crisis between the United States and Britain. The dockyard was closed in 1852 and Fort Frederick was abandoned in 1870. ^[1]

Fort Frederick was part of a series of fortifications constructed in the Kingston area during and after the War of 1812. The aim of these was to protect the Royal Navy shipyard at Kingston, and the entrances to the Rideau Canal and St. Lawrence River, from the United States.

Fort Frederick is located at the tip of Point Frederick. It faces downtown Kingston across the Cataraqui River. On the other side of the Point, across Navy Bay, is Fort Henry.

Today, Fort Frederick is part of the campus of the Royal Military College of Canada, and acts as the cadets' outdoor relaxed area, where all cadets are considered equal in rank, headress may be removed, and cadets have free rein to relax. Its Martello tower houses the College's museum.

The Royal Military College of Canada class of 1931 gifted Fort Frederick with wooden gates and a plaque in 1971 in remembrance of the days when Fort Frederick was a recruit refuge.