[1] Built in the midst of the War of 1812, the British commissioned the construction of the fortification in 1813 to protect the head of the Gallop Rapids in the St. Lawrence.

Fort Wellington was commissioned by the British government during the War of 1812 to protect the head of the Galop Rapids in the St. Lawrence River.

Since Prescott is located only a mile from the town of Ogdensburg, New York, it was especially vulnerable to military action by the United States Army.

The fort was built on land owned by Major Edward Jessup, a prominent Loyalist from Connecticut who founded Prescott in 1784.

The ramparts were surrounded on the east, west and south facades by a dry ditch with a vertical palisade fence and a glacis.

Fort Wellington served as the rallying point for the local militia, and in early 1813 was also a base of operations for members of the Glengarry Light Infantry under the command of Lieutenant Colonel George Macdonell.

[4] The fort's guns and garrison again saw action in November, when an American army under General Wilkinson descended the St. Lawrence River in an attempt to capture Montreal.

Wilkinson feared Fort Wellington's guns enough that he unloaded his army upriver from Ogdensburg and marched it through the town at night while his boats slipped past, empty of passengers.

Wilkinson's army was decisively defeated by a much smaller British and Canadian force, and retreated across the River to Fort Covington, New York.

Among the citizens of the northern states of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan, these exiles found much sympathy and anti-British sentiment.

Early in 1838, these hunters conducted insurgent operations in the Niagara Region, the area around Windsor and Amherstburg, Ontario and on Pelee Island.

At one point, Navy Island, upriver from Niagara Falls, which was and remains Canadian territory, was occupied by a sizeable army of Patriot Hunters.

Tensions escalated when a force of Upper Canada militia seized a Hunter vessel, Caroline, in the Niagara River and burned it.

In November, 1838, a force of Patriot Hunters met at Sackets Harbor, New York and then travelled downriver on civilian vessels to Ogdensburg.

They planned to seize the militia strongpoint at Fort Wellington and organize the disaffected citizens of Upper Canada into a Patriot-led insurgent army with the goal of deposing the British Governor of the Colony.

When a Hunter vessel attempted to land early on the morning of 12 November at a wharf in Prescott, it was challenged and fired upon by alert Canadian militiamen.

With no regular British forces in the area, the local commander of the Upper Canadian militia summoned all available militiamen in Grenville, Leeds and Dundas Counties and began preparations to assault.

He also opened communications with the American military commander at Ogdensburg, who had arrived on the scene and had begun to restore order in that town.

Meanwhile, sufficient numbers of militia and a small party of British regulars had arrived in Prescott to allow an assault on Windmill Point, and this was attempted on 13 November.

Nonetheless, Von Schoultz and his men now realized that the Upper Canadians were not going to join the insurgency and that the promised reinforcements from Ogdensburg had more pressing matters to attend to safely across the border.

Surrounded by wounded men, running short of supplies, ammunition and food, Von Schoultz surrendered unconditionally.

The Army's solution was to only recruit veterans into the Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment, offer them a better rate of pay as well as pension benefits and the possibility of land grants upon the completion of their service.

Like all Parks Canada National Historic Sites, Fort Wellington has a series of "Commemorative Integrity Statements" that state its cultural significance.

Battle of the Windmill NHS is also open during the summer months, and visitors can climb the interior staircase to enjoy the building's commanding views of the River.