"The Last Post"
The Post Cemetery
at
Fort Ontario
1759 - 1943

 

While working on building Fort Ontario and George, strengthening Fort Oswego, and constructing  a fleet of ships, several hundred British and Provincial officers, enlisted men, sailors, civilian craftsmen, women, and children died of disease, malnutrition, accident, and Indian attack during the chaotic year leading up to the French capture, and dest of Oswego in 1756.  Construction of a modern Fort Ontario in 1903 revealed the presence of unmarked graves, possibly related to the 1755-56 period, scattered throughout the 75 acre military reservation.  However, no record of what happened to these human remains exists.

Upon construction of the second Fort Ontario in 1759 a cemetery was established about 300 yards southeast of the fort.  This cemetery was used through the French and Indian and Revolutionary  Wars reopened in the 1850's and used until the old post  closed in 1901.

In 1903 bodies interred in the post cemetery were moved to their present location near the shore of Lake Ontario.  Dedicated on July 1, 1906, the Post Cemetery at Fort Ontario contains the graves of 77 British and American officers, enlisted men, wives, and children. For those interred here, accustomed to an active life on campaign, or transfer from one fort to another in service to their King, Country, or Nation, Fort Ontario became their last post.

  Those buried in the post cemetery were mostly enlisted men along with their wives and children who followed then from post to post.  A large percentage of the soldiers buried here were non-commissioned officers.  Most men died of sudden or protracted illness or accident in service, but several stones mark the graves of men like Sergeant John S. Trowell, who retired from the army to Oswego.  Gravestones of infants and small children testify to the precarious nature of young life from the 18th century to present.

Only two officers are known to be buried in the post cemetery; Lt Basil Dunbar, of the 60th Regiment of Foot, who died in 1759 from a bullet wound received in a duel, and Capt Albert H. Lange who died in 1935.  Corporal George Fykes, of the King's Royal Regiment of New York, passed away during a  fever epidemic which swept through the garrison in 1782.  Twelve stones marked "Unknown" may represent the graves of soldiers of the 3rd U.S. Artillery Regiment, Light Artillery Regiment, and U.S. Navy which defended the fort during the May 1814 British attack.

Accident and tragedy claimed the lives of some in the cemetery; Privates James Brannighan in 1865 and Partrick Callighan in 1887 drowned in the harbor.  Sergeant Joseph Kasper died in a car crash in 1939,  Mrs. Celia Davis endured the sudden death of her husband, Private Henry P. Davis from a heart attack suffered during a throat operation on April 3, 1937, and the death of their infant son four days later.  Joshua Hibbard, a retired solder, was murdered with his oservice sword at his farmhouse in 1857. Hibbard's murderer became the only man sentenced to death and hung legally in Oswego County.

Soldiers on army posts often endured years with little or no contact with their families.  From loneliness or other causessome succumbed to alcoholism such as Sergeant Orthello Cox in 1892, or suicide.  For many, their company or regiment was their family and home.  Soldiers often contributed part of their meager pay towards more elaborate gravestones for those they admired and respected, such as Private Patrick Coyle and Sergeant Junius Caldwell, who died of a tropical disease contracted during the Phillipine Campaign.

Prvate William Zuill of the 15 N.Y. Regiment, NYNG (369th Infantry - Harlem Hellfighters) died of tuberculosis at the Post Hospital at Fort Ontario.  During World War I Fort Ontario became the largest Post Hospital in the United States.

For more Information, contact the Fort Offices @ (315)343-4711