Coloured Corps Sword

This sword and scabbard are believed to have belonged to a member of the Coloured Corps. The Coloured Corps was a military unit made up entirely of Black men. The company trained at Fort George and fought at the Battle of Queenston Heights. The Corps was eventually assigned to construct a new fort in Niagara, Fort Mississauga. The initial work they did included digging trenches, building the outer defence wall, the beginnings of a stone and brick tower, the powder magazines and barracks. When the Coloured Corps was disbanded in 1815, Fort Mississauga had not yet been completed. The tower was finished in 1823, but the fort remained unfinished. Today, Fort Mississauga stands as a testament to the men who helped build it under the stressful conditions of war: enemy gunfire, the scarcity of resources and the constant threat of hunger and disease.