Fort Stanwix

Fort Stanwix was a colonial bastion fort in present-day Rome, New York.

It was built during the French and Indian War to guard a strategic portage along the water route from Lake Ontario to the Hudson River known as the Oneida Carry. Construction commenced on August 26, 1758, under the direction of British General John Stanwix, but was not completed until about 1762. Fort Stanwix National Monument, a reconstructed structure built by the National Park Service, now occupies the site.

After American forces captured and rebuilt the fort during the American Revolutionary War, they were besieged in August 1777 by a British army that invaded from Canada via Lake Ontario, hoping to reach the Hudson River. The fort's successful defense contributed to the defeat of a larger British army during the Saratoga campaign.

It was also the site of the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix between Britain and several Native American tribes, as well as of the 1784 Treaty of Fort Stanwix between the tribes and the American government.

Besides the fort reconstruction itself, the national monument includes three short trails that encircle it, one of which follows a portion of the Oneida Carry. The Marinus Willett Collections Management and Education Center preserves the monument's 485,000 artifacts and documents, displays exhibits about Fort Stanwix and the Mohawk Valley, and serves as a regional tourism center.