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Historic flag unveiled at Old Fort Niagara by Larry Austin
Flag Day at Old Fort Niagara took on added meaning June 14 as the historic site unveiled the new home of the War of 1812 flag. The flag revealing foreshadows next week’s opening of the new visitor center just outside the Old Fort’s walls. “This flag is of great historical significance. It’s the oldest United States flag in Western New York, second oldest in the state of New York, and one of only about a dozen flags of this vintage to survive,” said Robert Emerson, executive director of Old Fort Niagara. “So it is truly a national historic treasure. The other important thing to know about this flag is that it’s a predecessor of the Star Spangled Banner.” The 28-by-24-foot flag is at home in the new visitor’s center and museum, still under construction on Flag Day but to have its ribbon-cutting and dedication June 23. Workers installed exhibits June 15. The center is 10,000 square feet in size and will provide exhibits that trace the history of Fort Niagara from pre-contact times through the restoration of the Old Fort, Emerson said. Global Significance “It’s going to be a great facility,” Emerson said. “It will orient visitors to the site and tell them all about the site’s global significance, so when they go into the Old Fort, they will not just be going into a collection of curious old buildings, but they will know that the ground they’re walking on is truly internationally significant.” Emerson thanked state parks officials during a Flag Day media conference for their support in making the center, long hoped for, a reality. The state contributed $2.9 million of the $6 million cost to construct the visitor center, which is in the old Building 102, a former warehouse. The War of 1812 garrison color is an example of the 15 star and 15 stripe flag that flew above Fort McHenry, which inspired Francis Scott Key to write the Star Spangled Banner in 1814. On Dec. 19, 1813, British troops captured Fort Niagara and its colors from the United States during the second year of the War of 1812. In the 18th and 19th centuries, capturing the opponent’s colors was a great honor for the victors and a great disgrace for the vanquished, Emerson said. It was common practice to parade a captured enemy’s colors through the home capital as a symbol of victory over the enemy. “In this case, it was placed at the feet of the Prince Regent of England and eventually ended up in the Drummond family,” Emerson said. “It was a time when honor meant a lot more than it may today.” General Gordon Drummond, commander of British forces in Upper Canada, was given the flag, and it stayed in his family intact until a fire in Megginch Castle in 1969. The flag meant so much to the Drummonds that they risked their lives to enter their burning castle and save it from the flames. The Old Fort Niagara Association bought the flag in 1994 and had it conserved by the Textiles Conservation Laboratory of the Peebles Island Resource Center, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Technically, the flag has been back in America for 10 years, but for most of that time it’s been in storage and unavailable for public viewing. On Saturday, June 24, however, the new Visitor Center and Museum will open to the public, giving the public its first opportunity to see the flag up close in its new home. “For most of that time period it’s been in storage, so people couldn’t come and study it, or enjoy it. What this facility means is that it will now be on permanent display and the public can come and see this original piece of Niagara history,” Emerson said. The opening celebration of the Visitor Center precedes a busy July at the Old Fort. From July 1 to 3, the annual French and Indian War Encampment takes place with some 1,000 re-enactors recreating the 1759 Siege of Niagara. On July 29 and 30, the fort hosts the War of 1812 encampment with a night battle re-enactment on Saturday. |
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