For example, an 1819 Brick Barrack restored in the style of one in 1839 is found directly across from the Hough House that represents the fort's history as an asylum, a lumber mill, and a private residence.

The United States declaration of war on Great Britain was made on 18 June of that year; yet, on 1 July, the US Army General William Hull had still not received word of this development.

[5] Hull had chartered the Cuyahoga to transport goods and army records, officers' wives, and the ill from Toledo, Ohio to Detroit, Michigan Territory, passing by Amherstburg.

[6] General Hull's reaction came on 12 July when, under his command, American forces crossed the Detroit River east of Sandwich (now Windsor, Ontario)[7] and took the town without opposition.

Resources had been directed to the Niagara region, and with no chance of receiving significant reinforcements General Henry Proctor was forced to abandon Fort Malden in September 1813.

Most of Fort Malden's involvement dealt with defending Upper Canada from American sympathizers belonging to Hunters' Lodges, who were frequently embarking on border raids along the Detroit River.

As a result of the United States now posing a real threat to the sovereignty of Upper Canada, Fort Malden underwent a period of development where several buildings were constructed and military earthworks repaired.

As the regiments were leaving the fort and taking with them much of their military defence arms, the townsfolk of Amherstburg complained that they no longer were properly defended against an American invasion.

During this period, the town of Amherstburg and Fort Malden were redesigned to accommodate the large numbers of retired military men living in Upper Canada.

They were offered homes and small land grants in accordance with the Ordnance Reserves where in exchange they were employed by the province to act as police and an interim military force.

Remaining either continually employed or receiving a full military pension, the retired soldiers were important financial assets to Amherstburg's local economy.

In addition, Dr. Fisher did not place patients in solitary confinement nor prescribe many medications, as is reflected in the 1862 annual asylum report where only $95.13 was recorded to have been spent on narcotics.

[19] Additionally, Dr. Fisher employed his patients as laborers for the asylum, with men doing much of the physical building repairs and women performing housekeeping chores such as laundry.

[19] As a result, while Fort Malden would serve several different functions throughout its history, it would always remain of utmost importance to Amherstburg's economy and development engendered by and originating from its military days.

[24] Not much is known about Park & Borrowman Lumber Mill except for the fact that the company remained inactive during the First World War, resulting in one of the owner's daughters selling the property in 1918 to Franklin A.

The first incident was in 1917 when an issue over unpaid back taxes resulted in the town of Amherstburg seizing a small area of privately owned land known as the Webber property and then turning over ownership of it to the Federal government.

[26] In the 1930s, the Cleveland Cliffs Iron and Coal Company were persuaded not to renew their mortgage on the north section of the northeast bastion, which resulted in the town purchasing the land and then turning it over to the Department of Mines and Resources National Parks Division.

[26] This acquisition and aggregation of property was due to the fact that there was a growing number of townspeople who were determined to have Fort Malden designated a Heritage Site in order to protect the area.

Finally, on 28 December 1940, an Order in Council from the Federal Government designated Fort Malden as a National Historic Park with its official opening taking place on 22 June 1941.

Currently, the National Historic Site is 4.5 hectares (11 acres) and includes the fort itself, the Brick Commissariat building constructed in 1831, the King's Navy Yard Park, and a stone lighthouse built in 1836.

[30] The abolitionist Levi Coffin supported this assessment, describing Fort Malden as, "the great landing place, the principle terminus of the underground railroad of the west.

[32] Though many fugitive slaves did not remain in the Amherstburg region, seeking to move far from the border and its threat of recapture, the influx of people made a dramatic and lasting impact upon the character and size of the settlement's population.

At the start of the American Civil War, "800 blacks called Fort Malden home" and these refugees constituted forty percent of the area's population.

[38] Fort Malden was thus an embodiment of freedom for those travelling along the Underground Railroad, acting as a gateway, refuge, and even a place of eventual settlement for those journeying into Canada.

Canadian novelist John Richardson, who witnessed Tecumseh first-hand at Fort Malden, described the chief as having an "ardor of expression in his eye that could not fail to endear him to the soldier hearts that stood around him.

[41] Tecumseh played a significant role in the Siege of Detroit, an event that helped to solidify the alliance between the British and First Nations of the Great Lakes region during the War of 1812.

Tecumseh was able to capitalize on this fear, and by repeatedly parading his men loudly through a distant clearing outside of Fort Detroit was able to convince General Hull that their numbers were much greater than was the reality.

When Britain's position on the Detroit frontier wavered and General Henry Proctor abandoned Fort Malden, Tecumseh's reaction was that First Nations had been betrayed.

He outlines the brief history of the First Nations' involvement in the war against the Americans, and scolds the British for what he perceives as cowardice, stating: You always told us to remain here and take care of our lands.

Rectangular in shape, the structure was designed to follow the theme of the Colonial Revival style of the other buildings located within the fort, and exhibits a limestone exterior, incorporated with stone chimneys, multi-pane windows, and primmed rear and frontal gardens.