Amherstburg

Town in Essex County, south Ontario, Canada; population (1991) 8,900. It is located in a rich agricultural region, 23 km/14 mi south of Windsor, on the Detroit River near Lake Erie. The town manufactures chemicals and auto parts and is involved in marine salvage. In 1796 the British built Fort Malden here following their evacuation from Detroit, 26 km/16 mi to the north. It served as their frontier base in the War of 1812 and subsequently as a garrison in the rebellion of 1837–38. With its strategic site on a narrowing of the Detroit River it also was an escape point for fugitive slaves on the Underground Railroad.