| Fort Michilimackinac was originally built by the French in 1714-1715
to control the fur trade and European development of the upper Great Lakes.
More of a fortified community than a military outpost, the community was
located both inside and outside the walls. The walls were expanded several
times during the French and British occupation of the area. There was an
Odawa (Ottawa) community along the shore when Fort Michilimackinac was
built, but the Odawas moved 20 miles west to L’Arbre Croche (present day
Cross Village) in 1741.
In the summer months the community's population would swell (much like
today) as voyageurs and traders arrived from Montreal and points east,
and hundreds of Native Americans visited Michilimackinac.
The Church of Ste. Anne de Michilimackinac was built in 1743. The church
was one of the buildings movied across the ice when the commuinty was moved
to Mackinac Island. The parish records are preserved at Ste Anne Catholic
Church on Mackinac Island
During the French and Indian War, joint Native American and French forces
from Michilimackinac traveled south to battle British Forces. On July 7,
1765 those forces, led by Michilimackinac's Charles de Langlade
participated in the defeat of General Edward Braddock and a young George
Washington at the Battle of Monongahela River in Pennsylvania.
The French garrison departed at the conclusion of the French and Indian
War and British troops arrived 1761, but the French community remained
and encouraged the Native Americans to drive out the English. During Pontiac's
Uprising in 1763, Native Americans defeated the British garrison, using
the subterfuge of a bagataway (lacrosse) game to take the British unexpectedly.
Many of the British were killed with some taken prisoner. The French population
(which far out numbered the British) was unharmed. Alexander Henry's
journal provides a fascinating glimpse of life at Michilimackinac at the
time, as well as the battle and his life with family of Chief Wawatam
during the following year.
With the uprising's lack of success in Detroit, British troops were
unopposed when they retook the Fort in 1764. Native American and British
relations improved over the coming years and by the American Revolution,
Indian forces from the Michilimackinac region participated on the side
of the British.
The best known British Commander at Michilimackinac was Major Robert
Rogers who was Commandant from 1766-1768. A colonial farmer from New
Hampshire, Rogers created a the French and Indian war unit called Rogers'
Rangers. He was portrayed by Spencer Tracy in the movie The Northwest
Passage.
Soldiers from the 10th Regiment of Foot were transferred from Fort Michilimackinac
in 1774 and participated in the Battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775.
Fort Michilimackinac was relocated to the new Fort Mackinac on Mackinac
Island during the American Revolution, with some of the buildings moved
across the ice in the winter of 1780-1781. The remaining structures were
burnt to the ground to encourage the community to move to Mackinac Island.
The immediate area was uninhabited for nearly 80 years until the community
of Mackinaw City was started in the 1860s. The original 1857 plate laying
out Mackinaw City preserved the Fort Michilimackinac grounds as a park.
In 1904 the city turned over control of the park to the State of Michigan
and it became Michilimackinac State Park.
A WPA project erected a wooden palisade along the lines of the old walls
and the replica was opened on July 1, 1933 with a pageant re-enacting the
"massacre" of 1763. In 1959 archeological work at Michilimackinac
began and much more accurate reconstruction of the Fort began in 1960.
The work has continued every summer, making Michilimackinac the longest
running archeological dig in North America. |
