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 (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du 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 ...

. 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 ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

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

History

Fort Chambly at the foot of the Chambly rapids on the

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, 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 Jacques de Chambly (died 1687) was from a French military background and became a seigneur in the New World and a governor of Acadia. Chambly arrived in New France in 1665 when he was a captain in the Carignan-Salières Regiment. He immediatel ...

, to protect

New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by 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 Great Britain and Spai ...

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 (french: La Grande paix de Montréal) 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 ...

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 that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...

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 Philippe de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil (; c. 1643 – 10 October 1725) was a French military officer who served as Governor General of New France (now Canada and U.S. states of the Mississippi Valley) from 1703 to 1725, throughout Queen ...

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 (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754� ...

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

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

and

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), 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 Communauté métrop ...

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

Montreal Campaign The Montreal Campaign, also known as the Fall of Montreal, was a British three-pronged offensive against Montreal which took place from July 2 to 8 September 1760 during the French and Indian War as part of the global Seven Years' War. The campai ...

during the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...

. 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, in the United States. It was constructed by Canadian-born French milit ...

. Subsequently, prisoners-of-war from the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

, 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 variet ...

, 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 a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. During the occupation, the 1st Canadian Regiment, 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 on November 20, 1775, with recognition by the

Second Continental Congress The Second Continental Congress was a late-18th-century meeting of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that united in support of the American Revolutionary War. The Congress was creating a new country it first named "United Colonies" and in 1 ...

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 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 James Truslow Adams (October 18, 1878 – May 18, 1949) was an American writer and historian. He was a freelance author who helped to popularize the latest scholarship about American history and his three-volume history of New England is well r ...

, 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, CHIN, and

Virtual Museum of Canada The Digital Museums Canada (DMC; , ''MNC'') is a funding program in Canada "dedicated to online projects by the museum and heritage community," helping organizations to build digital capacity. Administered by the Canadian Museum of History (CMH) ...

. {{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