A Massacre at Fort Bull Revisited with The Fort Plain Museum

On March 27, 1756, the quiet snow-covered peace on the Oneida Carry in Rome New York was shattered.

The French and Indian War had begun to invade the Mohawk Valley, and act as a harbinger of thing to come in both the French and Indian War and the American Revolution.

On the westerly side of the Oneida Carry (Rome NY) a small fort, garrisoned by 35 men of the British 51st Regiment of Foot (One of the Two American Regiments raised in 1755) was over run and destroyed by a 346 man French-Canadian-Indian Force from Fort La Presentation (Modern Day Ogdensburg New York). The fort died in a violent explosion.

These events should have been a minor footnote in history. However, the French struck the fort at a key moment- the Ordinance supplies for the British Army and Naval Forces at Oswego were in transit at this post. The loss of these critical supplies changed the British war plan from offence to defense, and the raid lead directly to the loss of the Forts at Oswego in August of 1756. That loss (of Oswego) and the evacuation of the Oneida Carry by General Webb and the British Army, caused the Six Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy’s adore for the British Cause to faulter.

It took almost two years of intense diplomacy by Sir William Johnson to repair the British status with the Six Nations. This lengthened the French and Indian War by two years.

These events changed the course of history and directly lead to a longer and more costly French and Indian War, which in turn lead to both the American Revolution and the French Revolution due to the crushing war debts of these wars.

For over 200 years the location of this lost fort has been debated. Using original maps, aerial photographs, Geographic Information Systems and careful reading of French and British Military Reports, Mr. Joseph Robertaccio show you how he rediscovers this lost fort, and what the remains of the fort looks like today.