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History

The river flowing between Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie was called by Le Détroit du Lac Érié by the French, meaning "The Strait of Lake Erie." In 1698, Antoine Laumet de Lamothe Cadillac, who had previously commanded Fort de Buade at Michilimackinac, proposed the establishment of a colony at Detroit. French families would be recruited as settlers, and the Indigenous tribes living near Michilimackinac would be encouraged to migrate to the area. The settlement would not only prevent English expansion into the Pays d'en Haut (Upper Country), but would also deter Iroquois aggression. Jérôme Phélypeaux de Pontchartrain, the French Secretary of State of the Navy, approved the plan despite the misgivings of New France's Governor and Intendant.

In June of 1701, Cadillac set out from Lachine near Montreal with 100 settlers and soldiers. The expedition followed a northerly route up the Ottawa River and across to Georgian Bay and Lake Huron. The expedition reached Grosse Ile on the Detroit River on July 23rd. The following day, the expedition returned upstream several miles to a bluff on the north shore of the river at its narrowest point. Cadillac commenced the construction of a fort at this location which he named Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit. The first building completed was a chapel dedicated to Saint Anne, the patron saint of New France. In September, the first two European women arrived at the fort: Cadillac's wife, Marie-Thérèse Guyon, and Marie Anne Picoté de Belestre, the wife of Cadillac’s lieutenant, Alphonse de Tonty.

Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit in 1710

Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit was built from white oak and initially enclosed an area of about 0.85 acres (0.34 hectares). The palisade was roughly 12 feet (3.7 m) tall with a bastion positioned at each corner. Dwellings, a warehouse, and the chapel were constructed inside the fort. For many years the entire European population lived within the palisade. In October 1703, a fire destroyed the chapel and the house of the Recollect priest, Constantin Delhalle, as well as the residences of Cadillac and Tonty.

After the fort was established, Odawa (Ottawa) from Michilimackinac, and Wyandot (Huron) from Michilimackinac and the St. Joseph River migrated to Detroit and established palisaded villages. Groups of Miami, Ojibwe and later Potawatomi also migrated to the area. In 1705, Cadillac reported an Indigenous population at Detroit of 2,000.

Conflict among Indigenous tribes

In June 1706, while Cadillac was at Quebec, Odawa warriors at Detroit organized an expedition against the Sioux. As they were setting out, a Potowatomi who had married a Miami woman mistakenly warned the Odawa that the Miami were planning to raid their village during their absence. The Odawa chief known as Le Pesant or "The Bear" decided to turn back and lead a preemptive strike. They surprised eight Miami near the fort and slew seven of them. Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont, who was commanding Fort Pontchartrain in Cadillac's absence, provided sanctuary to the Miami and ordered his men to open fire on the Odawa. Father Delhalle and a soldier were caught outside the fort and were killed. In the series of raids, ambushes, and counter-attacks that followed, the Miami were joined by the Wyandot. About 30 Odawa, 50 Miami and an unknown number of Wyandot were killed. The Odawa abandoned their village and moved back to Michilimackinac but returned by 1708.

Contemporary accounts, both Indigenous and French, do not agree on the cause of the attack or who was to blame. Bourgmont was criticized for his handling of the incident and deserted after Cadillac's return. For the next several years, he lived as a coureur des bois before undertaking an exploration of the Missouri River in 1714. The Governor General of New France, Philippe de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil concluded that Le Pesant was responsible. Vaunreuil insisted that Le Pesant be turned over to the French, and gave Cadillac the authority to arrest and execute him. Le Pesant was apprehended at Michilimackinac and brought to Detroit but was allowed to escape. Angry that Le Pesant had not been executed, the Miami and Wyandot murdered three settlers in the vicinity of the fort. Cadillac later led a lackluster attack against the Miami settled on the St. Joseph River.

The Wyandot leader Cheanonvouzon may have orchestrated the conflict by spreading false rumours and encouraging Miami aggression. Cheanonvouzon, known as Quarante Sols by the French and Michipichy by the Odawa, was the leader of a band that had split from the Wyandot at Michilimackinac about 1690 and had lived among the Miami before rejoining the Michilimackinac band at Detroit. Cheanonvouzon sought to reclaim Wyandot autonomy from the more numerous Odawa. To this end he established a trade alliance with the Miami and Iroquois. The alliance with the Iroquois gave the Wyandot access to goods like Caribbean rum and scarlet woollens which could be acquired from the British at Albany but not from the French.

In 1707 Cadillac began granting land in the vicinity of the fort to French settlers. He required that they pay an exorbitant annual rent and a percentage of their crops to him. In response to complaints about Cadillac, Pontchartrain appointed François Clariambault d'Aigremont to investigate conditions at Detroit and other posts. In his November 1708 report, d'Aigremont accused Cadillac of profiteering and enacting policies that threatened French control of the Pays d'en Haut. He noted that in contrast to Cadillac's glowing reports, there were only 62 French settlers at Detroit and 353 acres under cultivation. He described Cadillac's rule as "tyrannical," and added that Cadillac had earned the hatred of both the French settlers and their Indigenous neighbours. D'Aigremont further noted that most of the furs passing through Detroit were going to the English at Albany, either directly or through Iroquois middlemen. As a result of d'Aigremont's findings, Pontchartrain decided to replace Cadillac by appointing him governor of Louisiana. Cadillac would later describe Louisiana as a "wretched place" whose inhabitants were "gallow-birds with no respect for religion and addicted to vice."

The Fox Wars

Jacques Nicolas Bellin's 1755 Map of the Great Lakes

Before he was replaced as commander of Fort Pontchartrain, Cadillac naively invited the Meskwaki (Fox), Kickapoo, and Mascouten living to the west of Lake Michigan to relocate to Detroit. The Meskwaki had long been enemies of the Ojibwe, as well as the Odawa, Potawatomi and the Illinois Confederation.

In 1710, two bands of Meskwaki along with some Kickapoo and Mascouten moved to the headwaters of the Grand and St. Joseph rivers. One group of Meskwaki established an encampment near Fort Pontchartrain later that year. Cadillac's successor, Jacques-Charles Renaud Dubuisson, was opposed to having Indigenous tribes settle at Detroit, and considered the Meskwaki and their allies to be troublemakers. The Meskwaki stole livestock, taunted the Odawa and Wyandot, claimed they were the rightful masters of Detroit, and openly boasted about their plans to trade with the English. This band abruptly abandoned Detroit early in the spring of 1712 and took refuge among the Seneca.

In April 1712, the Odawa war chief Saguima led Odawa and Potawatomi warriors in a surprise attack against the Mascouten living at the headwaters of the St. Joseph River. Over 150 of the Mascouten were killed including women and children. Saguima had initially planned to attack the Meskwaki living there, however, that band had moved to Detroit shortly before the attack. The Mascouten survivors took refuge with the Meskwaki who proceeded to built a fortified camp close to Fort Pontchartrain. In retaliation for the attack on the Mascouten, the Meskwaki raided the Odawa village at Detroit, captured three women including Saguima's wife, then invested Fort Pontchartrain. Dubuisson, however, was able to get word to Saguima and to the Wyandot who were at their hunting camps on Saginaw Bay.

On May 13, Jean-Baptiste Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes accompanied by seven French traders arrived from Fort St. Joseph and were able to reach the safety of Fort Pontchartrain. Soon the Wyandot returned from their hunting camp, followed by Saguima with 600 Odawa and Potawatomis. The Meskwaki withdrew into their fort which was then besieged by the Odawa, Potawatomis, Wyandot, and French. Following a parley, the three Odawa women were released, however, the siege continued as France's Indigenous allies were unwilling to negotiate with the Meskwaki. The Meskwaki war chief Pemoussa later offered his own life and a gift of seven young women as slaves if his people were allowed to leave but his offer was refused.

The Meskwaki escaped in late May during a series of severe thunderstorms. Indigenous and French forces led by Saguima and Vincennes tracked the escapees and entrapped them at Grosse Pointe near the outlet of Lake St. Clair. After four days of fighting Pemoussa proposed to surrender both himself and his warriors if the French would spare their families. Vincennes agreed, however, once the Meskwaki warriors had laid down their arms they were massacred. Pemoussa was taken prisoner but later escaped. The women and children were enslaved, and some were later sold or gifted to the French. The Wyandot, however, elected to torture and burn all of their captives rather than keep them as slaves.

In response, the Meskwaki still living west of Lake Michigan and those who had joined the Seneca began raiding in the vicinity of Detroit. Operating in small groups, they attacked and killed anyone who strayed too far from Fort Pontchartrain or the palisaded Indigenous villages. In 1713, the Wyandot intercepted a large Meskwaki war party on the Ile aux Dindes, a small island in the Detroit River about six miles downstream of Fort Pontchartrain. Raids continued in 1714 and 1715. In 1716, a French-led expedition from Montreal attacked the main Meskwaki village on the Fox River. After a four-day siege, the Meskwaki sued for peace. They provided hostages, agreed to return captives, and ceased their attacks against France's Indigenous allies.

Although conflict erupted between the Meskwaki and Illinois in 1719, the fighting had little impact on Detroit. In 1723, however, the Ojibwe sent out war parties against the Meskwaki, disrupting the flow of furs to Detroit and Michilimackinac. In 1728, the Governor General of New France, Charles de Beauharnois concluded that a genocidal campaign against the Meskwaki was warranted. 400 French soldiers and coureurs des bois led by François-Marie Le Marchand de Lignery were joined at Michilimackinac by Odawa, Ojibway, Potawatomi, and Wyandot from Detroit. The forewarned Meskwaki abandoned their villages and retreated west. Lignery burned the villages and destroyed the crops in the fields but returned to Michilimackinac without engaging the Mewkwaki in battle.

In 1729, the Mascouten and Kickapoo ended their long-standing alliance with the Meskwaki. The following year most of the Meskwaki began a long journey east to seek sanctuary with the Seneca. That summer they were discovered by the Cahokia while encamped on the Illinois River. The Meskwaki fled south and east across the tallgrass prairie located to the south of Lake Michigan but were constantly harassed by the Cahokia. The Meskwaki took refuge in a grove of trees and constructed a rough fortification. Warriors from the Potowatomi, Kickapoo, and Mascouten joined the Cahokia to besiege the Meskwaki encampment. French soldiers under the command of Nicolas Antoine Coulon de Villiers and traders from Fort de Chartres and Fort St. Joseph joined the siege as did warriors from the Sauk and Miami. Efforts to negotiate were rebuked and while the Sauk provided sanctuary for some of the children, almost all of the Meskwaki were killed or enslaved when they attempted a breakout.

In December 1731, a war-party of Wyandot from Detroit and Christian Iroquois from Lake of Two Mountains near Montreal attacked the remnant population of Meskwaki living on the Wisconsin River. 150 were slaughtered and 154 were taken captive. 56 of the captives were killed during the arduous return to Detroit, and most of the remainder were executed after their arrival. The survivors repulsed a second Wyandot attack the following year, after which the Sauk provided sanctuary at Green Bay. In 1633, Villiers, two of his sons, and several other Frenchmen were killed when they tried to intimidate the Sauk into turning over the Meskwaki. The Sauk and the Meskwaki fled west across the Mississippi River and established a fortified village on the Wapsipicon River. News of a large French expedition led by Nicolas-Joseph des Noyelles caused the Sauk and Meskwaki to move even further west to the Des Moines River. The French expedition reached the Des Moines in March 1735, but withdrew after a brief skirmish due to a lack of food and unreliable Indigenous allies.

Mission of the Assumption

In the summer of 1728, the Jesuit Father Armand de La Richardie, came from Quebec to establish a mission at Detroit. He chose a site on the south shore of the river at La Pointe de Montréal, and it was given the imposing title of The Mission of Our Lady of the Assumption among the Hurons of Detroit. In 1742, the mission moved to Bois Blanc Island but returned to La Pointe de Montréal in 1748. The mission became the center of la Petite Côte (Little Coast). Located in what is now Windsor, La Petite Côte represents the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in Ontario. In 1765, the roughly sixty French families living on La Petite Côte petitioned for a parish of their own. It was decided that the mission would become the Parish of Our Lady of the Assumption with the care of the souls of both the Wendat and the French settlers.

Renewed conflict

During the Fox Wars, the animosity between the Wyandot and Odawa at Detroit abated, but tempers flared again in 1738. For many years the two tribes had conducted joint raids against the Catawba (Flatheads) who lived far to the south. In 1738, the Wyandot announced that they would no longer participate, and furthermore, would inform their new allies of any planned attacks. Later that year, an Odawa raid was routed by the Catawba with Wyandot assistance. The Odawa proceeded to harass and threaten the Wyandot, prompting the tribe to relocate to Sandusky Bay on Lake Erie. At Sandusky, the Wyandot split into two factions. The pro-French faction reconciled with the Odawa, returned to Detroit, and established a village on Bois Blanc Island. The pro-British faction, led by Nicholas Orontony, remained behind and established a village on the Sandusky River which they named Junundat.

During King George's War, the Wyandot, Odawa, Ojibway and Potawatomis at Detroit initially supported the French and sent warriors to Montreal. They withdrew their support when the supply of trade goods vanished following the British capture of Louisbourg in 1745. Meanwhile, the Sandusky faction actively supported the British cause. In 1747, they killed five French traders and plotted to massacre settlers at Detroit. They were thwarted when a "loyal" Wyandot woman overheard the planning and informed the Jesuit missionary Father Pierre-Philippe Potier at Bois Blanc Island. Potier hastened to Fort Pontchartrain and warned its commander, Paul-Joseph Le Moyne de Longueuil about the threat. Fearing retribution, Orontony led his faction south and established the village of Conchake at the head of the Muskingum River. In the interim, the Detroit faction abandoned Bois Blanc Island and relocated to La Pointe du Montreal directly across the river from Fort Pontchartrain.

Following the death of Orontony, the two factions resolved their differences. The Muskingum River settlement was abandoned in 1753. While some of the Conchake Wyandot returned to Detroit, others reestablished their village on the Sandusky River.

French and Indian War (1754–1763)

Fort Detroit in 1763

During the French and Indian War, Ottawa, Potawatomi, and Wyandot warriors as well as a contingent of Canadian militia from Detroit participated in the defeat of Braddock's Expedition. In April 1754, the French had established Fort Duquesne at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela, and in July had forced George Washington to surrender Fort Necessity. The following year Major General Edward Braddock led a retaliatory expedition of 2,100 British regulars and provincials against Fort Duquesne. The French commander, Claude-Pierre Pécaudy de Contrecœur, most of his garrison and roughly 650 Indigenous allies to attack the approaching British vanguard. In the subsequent Battle of the Monongahela, the British, unfamiliar with wilderness combat, had 457 killed in action while the French and their Indigenous allies suffered 23 killed.

Odawa at Fort William Henry.

In September 1758, during the Forbes Expedition, a British reconnaissance force of 800 led by Major James Grant attempted to capture Fort Duquesne but was overwhelmed by the French, Odawa and Wyandot defenders. A third of the British force was killed, wounded or captured including Grant. Afterwards, most of the Wyandot and Odawa returned to Detroit with their captives and trophies, significantly weakening Fort Duquesne's defences. The French garrison destroyed the fort and withdrew from the area before the main body of the expedition arrived in November.

The disruption to the flow of trade goods that followed the 1758 Siege of Louisbourg and the capture of Fort Frontenac on Lake Ontario that same year effectively ended the participation of Detroit's Indigenous population in the war. On 29 November 1760, a few months after the capture of Montreal, Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit surrendered peacefully to a British contingent led by Major Robert Rogers and officially became known as Fort Detroit.

Pontiac's war

Main articles: Pontiac's War and Siege of Fort Detroit

Following the British conquest of New France, the newly-appointed governor of the Province of Quebec, Jeffrey Amherst, introduced a number of measures that strained the relationship between the English and the Indigenous population of the Great Lakes region. Amherst believed that although trade was necessary and desirable, the lavish giving of gifts was not. He failed to understand that Indigenous leaders considered gift-giving a necessary part of diplomacy. Amherst ordered that trading would be restricted to the forts ending the common practice of traders visiting Indigenous villages. Providing rum or other liquor to Indigenous people was forbidden. Finally, he severely restricted the amount of powder and lead that traders could provide, which severely limited the ability of the Indigenous population to hunt.

In response, Pontiac, war-leader of the Odawa, organized a loose confederation of tribes in an attempt to drive out British soldiers and settlers from the region. On May 7, 1763 Pontiac and 60 Odawa entered the fort with weapons concealed under blankets in an attempt to surprise the garrison. The British commander, Major Henry Gladwin had been forewarned and his garrison of 125 men was armed and ready. Pontiac withdrew and, two days later, initiated a siege of the fort. During the first week of the siege, 20 soldiers and 15 British civilians outside the fort were captured, killed or wounded, however, French settlers were not harmed.

As the siege progressed, Pontiac's force of 460 Odawa, Potawatomi, and Wyandot grew to 900 with the addition of Ojibway and warrior from two other tribes. 50 soldiers and batteaumen bringing a convoy of supply batteaux from Niagara was captured or killed. 19 soldiers and civilians on their way to the fort were also intercepted and captured. A single sloop arrived with provisions at the end of June.

On July 29, 260 British reinforcements arrived under the command of Captain James Dalyell. The following day, Dalyell attempted an attack on Pontiac's encampment 2 miles (3.2 km) north of the fort. Pontiac ambushed the British force at the Battle of Bloody Run, costing the British 23 dead and 34 wounded.

Despite their losses, the British continued to resist. In October, Pontiac offered a truce which Gladwin accepted. The need to begin the winter hunt had caused the number of warriors to dwindle while the British had twice been able to bring in provisions aboard the 6-gun schooner Huron. Pontiac lifted the siege on October 15 and withdrew south to the Maumee River.

American Revolution

During the American Revolutionary War, Detroit was far to the west of the main areas of action. The British used the fort to arm American Indian raiding parties, who attacked rebel colonial settlements to the southeast. American revolutionaries, particularly George Rogers Clark, hoped to mount an expedition to Detroit to neutralize these operations, but could not raise enough men to attempt. However, Clark did capture Henry Hamilton, the Lieutenant-Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs of the Province of Quebec and senior officer at Fort Detroit, when he travelled south to Fort Sackville.

United States fortification

In late 1778, while Hamilton was still being held as a prisoner of war, Captain Richard B. Lernoult began construction on a new fortification situated a few hundred yards to the north of the original fort. It was named Fort Lernoult on October 3, 1779. This new fort largely superseded the original fort and was often referred to as "Fort Detroit."

Following the United States gaining independence in the Revolution, the government made the Treaty of Greenville in 1795 with several Indian tribes. They ceded several blocks of land to the United States that were beyond the Greenville Treaty Line and within the Indians' territory.

Article 3, Item 12 notes:

The post of Detroit, and all the land to the north, the west and the south of it, of which the Indian title has been extinguished by gifts or grants to the French or English governments: and so much more land to be annexed to the district of Detroit, as shall be comprehended between the river Rosine [known today as the River Rouge], on the south, lake St. Clair on the north, and a line, the general course whereof shall be six miles distant from the west end of Lake Erie and Detroit river.

On July 11, 1796, under terms negotiated in the Jay Treaty, the British surrendered Fort Detroit, Fort Lernoult, and the surrounding settlement to the Americans, 13 years after the Treaty of Paris ended the war and ceded the area to Britain.

Some accounts say that only Fort Lernoult survived the 1805 fire that destroyed most of Detroit. It appears that no part of the original Fort Detroit remained after this time. Fort Lernoult was officially renamed Fort Detroit in 1805, then renamed Fort Shelby in 1813. Soon after its use by the military ended, the fort was demolished by the City of Detroit in 1827.

Legacy

Fort Pontchartrain a Wyndham Hotel, opened in 1965 and is located on the site of the fort. An earlier Hotel Pontchartrain was located on Cadillac Square at Woodward Avenue but was demolished in 1920. The Michigan Historical Commission Marker for Fort Pontchartrain is located at the southwest corner of the Crowne Plaza, at Jefferson Ave. and Washington Blvd.

References

Works cited

• Dunnigan, Brian Leigh (2001). "Fortress Detroit, 1701–1826". In Skaggs, David Curtis & Nelson, Larry L. (eds.). The Sixty Years' War for the Great Lakes, 1754–1814. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press. pp. 167–185.
• "Fort Detroit: British Rule, 1760–1796". HistoryDetroit.com.

Further reading

• Farmer, Silas (1884). The History of Detroit and Michigan, or, The Metropolis Illustrated: A Chronological Cyclopaedia of the Past and Present, Including a Full Record of Territorial Days in Michigan, and the Annuals of Wayne County – via Open Library.