It was in 1722 that Oswego, New York, was made the site of an armed camp and, at that, it was more through the stubborn determination of Governor Burnet of the colony that the thing should be done than through any willingness of the staid burghers of the State Assembly to co-operate with their executive in schemes leading to future good. As a matter of fact, Governor Burnet is said to have paid the bill for establishing his little fort out of his own pocket, though he may have made this sum up in some other direction--authorities do not tell us this kind of thing! Yet this little post was to become one of the most decisive factors in determining the result of the conflict between France and England for the New World, the flags of three Christian nations were to fly over it at different periods, and warriors white, red, French, English and colonial were to struggle for its possession. So much grows out of so little! [Illustration: The SOUTH VIEW of OSWEGO on LAKE ONTARIO General Shirley _in 1755 Strengthen’d & inlarged this_ Fort _and erected two others; one Westward 170 Square with a Rampart of Earth & Stone. Another on the Opposite side of the Bason, 470 Yards distant from the_ Old Fort. _This which is called the_ East Fort, _is built of Logs and the Wall is surrounded by a Ditch. The Projection of the Rocks, renders the Channel at the Entrance into the_ Onondaga River _very Narrow, and our Vessels are generally warp’d from the Lake into the Bason_. Explanation. 1. _The River Onondaga_ 2. _The Lake Ontario_ From William Smith’s view of the Province of New York, London edition of 1757] One of the earliest mentions of Oswego in the history of the colonies is that in 1687 the Onondaga Indians presented a petition to the mayor and common council of Albany, that busy little trading post, requesting them to establish a trading post and fort at this point. The mayor and common council evidently thought that this was too wild an undertaking; for no defences existed there when, in 1696, the restless Frontenac landed at Oswego Point on a punitive expedition against the Five Nations and built himself a little stockade fort before pressing on to fruitless victory into the interior of the country. The strategic importance of the location to the English was not lost on these astute empire builders, giving access as it does with the Hudson Valley by way of the Oswego River, through Oneida Lake, to the headwaters of the Mohawk River, or giving access to the Susquehanna Valley by way of the Oswego River, Lake Onondaga and the head of the Susquehanna. During the governorship of Lord Bellemont, in the province of New York, the establishment of a post at Oswego was contemplated, and material was even ordered from England for the purpose, but it remained for Governor Bellemont’s successor to carry out in effect what had been before done in theory.