Fort Douglas (2)

 (1812-1824, 1824-1826) - A Scottish settler Fort established in 1812 in present-day Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Named Fort Douglas after Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk who purchased the land from the Hudson's Bay Company to establish the Red River colony. Original site abandoned in 1824 and relocated to the forks next to Fort Garry (formerly Fort Gibralter) both forts were severely damaged in the 1826 flood.

History
Established on 30 August 1812 by settlers of Lord Selkirk's Red River Colony on the west side of the Red River in present day Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The settlers were harassed and attacked by the North West Company in 1814 and the few remaining settlers were driven off to await the arrival of a new batch of settlers in 1815. Lord Selkirk himself came to Montreal in 1815 to try to negotiate a truce between the settlers and the North West Company.

By June of 1815, the settlers had returned and they were again attacked, this time with twenty-some settlers killed along with the appointed Governor Semple. Fort Douglas was surrendered and the settlers again were driven off. When Lord Selkirk received the news, he organized an attack against the North West Company headquarters at Fort William and captured it, arresting the North West Company officers. A small party of twenty-two men then seized back Fort Douglas on 10 January but this did not end the harassment of the settlers.

Lord Selkirk returned to Scotland in 1819 a sick man, he died there on 8 Apr 1820. The few settlers that remained faced great hardships to retain their land grants.

The merger of the NWC and the HBC occurred in 1821 and the resulting company emerged under the HBC name. Fort Gibraltar was renamed Fort Garry. The original site of Fort Douglas was abandoned in 1824 and relocated to the confluence of the Red River and the Assiniboine River (the Forks), side by side with Fort Garry. Both forts were ruined in the 1826 flood and are shown in later drawings as "Old Fort Garry".

Current Status
No visible remains at either location. A stone marker and cairn are located at the first site of Fort Douglas in Fort Douglas Park, 401 Waterfront, Winnipeg. The Scots Monument is at this same location. Memorials to the first settlers from Scotland include a plaque listing all of the passengers on the first ship.

A map showing most of the fort locations in Winnipeg, including the two Fort Douglas locations, is located at the Upper Fort Garry site in downtown Winnipeg.

See Also:
 * Upper Fort Garry
 * Fort William
 * Hudson's Bay Company
 * Hudson's Bay Company Forts

Sources:
 * Manitoba Historical Society - The Old Forts of Winnipeg, 1738-1927

Links:
 * North American Forts - Fort Douglas
 * Wikipedia - Fort Douglas (2)
 * Manitoba Historical Society - The Lord Selkirk Settlement at Red River (three parts)