Fort Wellington - Fort Wellington 1838 To Present

Fort Wellington 1838 To Present

Fort Wellington retained a regular garrison of British soldiers after the Rebellion. If you visit today, the Fort is restored to its condition in 1846, when the garrison comprised a modest detachment of Royal Artillerymen and a company of riflemen from the Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment.

This Regiment was composed of veterans of the British Army who volunteered to serve in the border fortifications in Canada. Because of the close proximity of the United States, the British garrison in Canada suffered from high rates of desertion. British deserters who could reach the United States were not deported back to Canada. 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. Consistent with the Duke of Wellington's suggestion that light infantry and rifle units would be most useful in Canada, the Regiment was also raised as an elite, rifle-armed unit.

The task of the Fort's garrison was to occupy the Fort and prevent it from being seized by surprise by insurgents or other belligerents. The Fort's main purpose was to hold the military stores of the Upper Canadian militia for the region.

The British Army left Fort Wellington in 1863, when the Fort became the sole responsibility of the militia. It was a regular site of militia operations, and was garrisoned during the Fenian Raids of 1866.