Fort Chambly is a historic fort in La Vallée-du-Richelieu Regional County Municipality, Quebec. It is designated as a

National Historic Site of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada () are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being of national historic significance. Parks C ...

. Fort Chambly was formerly known as Fort St. Louis. It was part of a series of five fortifications built along the

Richelieu River The Richelieu River () is a river of Quebec, Canada, and a major right-bank tributary of the St. Lawrence River. It rises at Lake Champlain, from which it flows northward through Quebec and empties into the St. Lawrence. It was formerly kno ...

to protect travellers on the river from the

Iroquois The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

. The region is informally known as la Vallée-des-Forts.

History

Fort Chambly at the foot of the Chambly rapids on the

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada, was built by the French in 1711. It was the last of three forts to be built on the same site. The first — then called Fort Saint Louis — was constructed in 1665 by captain Jacques de Chambly, to protect

New France New France (, ) was the territory colonized by Kingdom of France, France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Kingdom of Great Br ...

from

attacks. After minor repairs, the fort was burned by the Indians in 1702, but was reconstructed the same year. By then it was already known as Fort Chambly. However, with the

Great Peace of Montreal The Great Peace of Montreal () was a peace treaty between New France and 39 First Nations of North America that ended the Beaver Wars. It was signed on August 4, 1701, by Louis-Hector de Callière, governor of New France, and 1300 representati ...

in 1701, the war between the French and Iroquois was over. Also at this time the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict fought between 1701 and 1714. The immediate cause was the death of the childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700, which led to a struggle for control of the Spanish E ...

broke out, and boiled over into the colonies of France and England. Thus, to defend against a more powerful European attack, including the threat of cannon fire, Governor Philippe de Rigaud Vaudreuil ordered that the fort be rebuilt in stone in 1709. The engineer responsible for the design and construction of the new fort was Josué Boisberthelot de Beaucours. He also oversaw major improvements carried out on the fort between 1718 and 1720, modifications he felt would greatly increase the fort's defenses. For many years Fort Chambly was the main footing of the defensive chain of fortifications along the

, which was the easiest invasion route into New France. However, with the construction of Fort Saint-Frédéric (1731) and Fort Saint-Jean (1748) further south, Fort Chambly lost most of its defensive purpose and so was converted into a warehouse and rally-point for soldiers, although the fort was never abandoned. With the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

, Fort Chambly was re-fortified and reoccupied, although it failed to stop the British from approaching

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

and

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

. The substantial stone structure which still stands today was lost to the British in August 1760 in the Montreal Campaign during the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...

. Captured by American forces on October 20, 1775, during the American Invasion of Canada of 1775–76, it was held until the spring of 1776 when it was evacuated and burned, as the Americans retreated southward to

Fort Ticonderoga Fort Ticonderoga (), formerly Fort Carillon, is a large 18th-century star fort built by the French at a narrows near the south end of Lake Champlain in northern New York. It was constructed between October 1755 and 1757 by French-Canadian ...

. Subsequently, prisoners-of-war from the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...

, including Colonel

William Stacy William Stacy (February 15, 1734 – August 1802) was an officer of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and a pioneer to the Ohio Country. Published histories describe Colonel William Stacy's involvement in a variety ...

, were held at Fort Chambly until the end of the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

. During the occupation, the

1st Canadian Regiment The 1st Canadian Regiment (1775–1781) was an Extra Continental regiment of the American Patriots' Continental Army, consisting primarily of volunteers from the Province of Quebec. The 1st was raised by James Livingston to support Pat ...

, an Extra Continental regiment, was raised by James Livingston to support Colonial efforts in the

during the invasion of Quebec. Livingston recruited men from Chambly,

as early as September 1775, but a formal regimental designation was made by

Richard Montgomery Richard Montgomery (2 December 1738 – 31 December 1775) was an Irish-born American military officer who first served in the British Army. He later became a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and ...

on November 20, 1775, with recognition by the

Second Continental Congress The Second Continental Congress (1775–1781) was the meetings of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that united in support of the American Revolution and American Revolutionary War, Revolutionary War, which established American independence ...

following on January 8, 1776. The regiment, which never approached its authorized size of 1,000 men, saw action primarily in the Canadian theater and New York, and was disbanded on January 1, 1781. After the Fenian Raids in the 1860s, during which the fort was reoccupied, it was allowed to fall into ruin. In 1881 a citizen of Chambly, Joseph-Octave Dion, personally repaired and restored the site. In the 20th century the Canadian government recognized Fort Chambly's cultural and historical worth and undertook its maintenance. Between 1965 and 1985 extensive archaeological digs were carried out, and today a fully reconstructed version of the final phase of Fort Chambly (1718–1720) is maintained by

Parks Canada Parks Canada ()Parks Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Parks Canada Agency (). is the agency of the Government of Canada which manages the country's 37 National Parks, three National Marine Co ...

and is open to the public as the ''Fort Chambly National Historic Site of Canada''.

Legacy

On 28 June 1985 Canada Post issued 'Fort Chambly, Que.' one of the 20 stamps in the "Forts Across Canada Series" (1983 & 1985). The stamps are perforated x 13 mm and were printed by Ashton-Potter Limited based on the designs by Rolf P. Harder.

Gallery

File:Fort Chambly 2.jpg, Fort Chambly in the Summer File:Fort Chambly 1.jpg, Fort Chambly from a distance File:Fort de Chambly, Chambly, QC.jpg, Fort Chambly in Winter File:Fort_Chambly_1863.jpg, Fort Chambly 1863 File:Fort-Chambly-Quebec-2002.JPG, Fort Chambly 2002 File:Fort Chambly walls.jpg, Fort Chambly walls File:Photo aérienne du Fort Chambly.jpg, Aerial view of Fort Chambly File:Fort Chambly place d'armes and cannon.jpg, Place d'armes and cannon along river File:Fort Chambly river wall.jpg, Wall along the Richelieu River File:Fort Chambly cannon.jpg, Fort Chambly cannon File:Cannon in Fort Chambly.JPG, cannon in Fort Chambly File:Kmdacosta Fort Chambly.JPG, View of Fort Chambly in Chambly, Quebec, Canada.

References

Bibliography

* '' Archaeology at Fort Chambly '', by Pierre Beaudet and Celine Cloutier. Ottawa : National Historic Parks and Sites, Canadian Parks Services, 1989 * McHenry, Chris: ''Rebel Prisoners at Quebec 1778–1783, Being a List of American Prisoners Held by the British during the Revolutionary War'', Lawrenceburg, Indiana (1981). * '' The Role of Fort Chambly in the Development of New France, 1665–1760 '', by Cyrille Gelinas. Ottawa : National Historic Parks and Sites, Canadian Parks Services, 1983 * Dictionary of American History by James Truslow Adams, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1940 * Parks Canada, Fort Chambly National Historic Site brochure, 2007. * America's Historic Lakes
Fort Chambly on the Richelieu River
* Aimone, Alan, The Siege and Capture of Forts Chambly and St. Johns in 1775, in The Journal of America's Military Past, Vol. 28, No. 2, Fall 2001.

External links

Official Parks Canada Website – Fort Chambly National Historic Site
*
Google 3D warehouse

Fort Chambly Built Year ref 1

Fort Chambly Built Year ref 3

Fort Chambly Built Year ref 4

Affiliations

The Museum is affiliated with: CMA,

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, and Virtual Museum of Canada. {{NHSC Chambly French forts in North America Buildings and structures in Montérégie History museums in Quebec National Historic Sites in Quebec Museums in Montérégie Military and war museums in Canada Chambly, Quebec New France Chambly History of Montérégie 1675 establishments in the French colonial empire