Plaque is between the visitor information centre and the parking lot.
Commemoration
The first Fort Wellington was erected on this site during the War of 1812 to shelter British regular troops and Canadian militia defending the vital St. Lawrence River transportation route. In February 1813 those soldiers crossed the ice to capture Ogdensburg, N. Y. When rebellion threatened Upper Canada in 1838 the fort was in ruins. Construction had scarcely begun on the present fort in November 1838 when a band of Canadian rebels and American sympathizers attached, they were defeated nearby at the Battle of the Windmill by troops assembled at this fort.
Background
Fort Wellington, named after the Duke of Wellington, was in service with the British Army and later the Canadian Militia until 1923. The original fort was made of earth ramparts with horizontal wooden pickets. It served as a base for units, such as the Glengarry Light Infantry, who fought elsewhere in Upper Canada.
The fort seen today resembles its look in 1846. It was home then to a unit of the Royal Artillery. The British Army left the fort in 1863 and the Fencibles took over after that. In the First World War it served as a depot for troops on the move east to training in Valcartier and then Europe.
Fort Wellington was never directly attacked.