[Footnote: Denonville, _Memoire du_ 10
_Aoust_, 1688.] The fort was first a prison, then a hospital, then a
charnel-house, till before spring the garrison of a hundred men was
reduced to ten or twelve. In this condition, they were found towards
the end of April by a large war-party of friendly Miamis, who entered
the place and held it till a French detachment at length arrived for
its relief. [Footnote: _Recueil de ce qui s'est passe en Canada depuis
l'annee_ 1682. The writer was an officer of the detachment, and
describes what he saw. Compare La Potherie, II. 210; and La Hontan, I.
131 (1709).] The garrison of Fort Frontenac had suffered from the same
causes, though not to the same degree. Denonville feared that he
should be forced to abandon them both. The way was so long and so
dangerous, and the governor had grown of late so cautious, that he
dreaded the risk of maintaining such remote communications. On second
thought, he resolved to keep Frontenac and sacrifice Niagara. He
promised Dongan that he would demolish it, and he kept his word.
[Footnote: _Denonville a Dongan_, 20 _Aoust_, 1688; _Proces-verbal of
the Condition of Fort Niagara_, 1688; _N. Y. Col. Docs._, IX. 380. The
palisades were torn down by Denonville's order on the 15th of
September.
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