Hwy 20 runs south from Windsor, slicing through the industrial region that edges the Detroit River, whose murky waters form the border with the US. The enmity of the Americans prompted the British to build a fort here, close to the mouth of the Detroit River at AMHERSTBURG in 1796, but it proved difficult to supply and they were forced to abandon the stockade during the War of 1812. Reoccupied after the war, the British made half-hearted attempts to improve the fort’s defences, but it probably would have been abandoned had it not been for the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837. In a panic, the colonial powers rebuilt what was now called Fort Malden and garrisoned it with four hundred soldiers, stationed here to counter the efforts of the insurgents and their American sympathizers. The last troops left in 1859 and the fort was handed over to the province, which turned it into a lunatic asylum.