Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit
Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit or Fort Detroit was a French and later British fortification established in 1701 on the north side of the Detroit River by Antoine Laumet de Lamothe Cadillac. A settlement based on the fur trade, farming and missionary work slowly developed in the area. The fort was located in what is now downtown Detroit, northeast of the intersection of Washington Boulevard and West Jefferson Avenue.
Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit was attacked by the Meskwaki during the Fox Wars, and was the target of an aborted attack by English-aligned Wyandot during King George's War. During the French and Indian War, Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit surrendered to the British on November 29, 1760 after the capture of Montreal. It was besieged by Indigenous forces during Pontiac's War in 1763. The British controlled the area throughout the American Revolutionary War, but replaced the French fort with the newly constructed Fort Lernoult in 1779. While the territory on what is now the Michigan side of the Detroit River was ceded to the United States in the Treaty of Paris in 1783, control of the fort was not transferred until 1796, after the Jay Treaty.
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, 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 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 23. 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 was built from white oak and initially enclosed an area of about. The palisade was roughly 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 from Michilimackinac, and Wyandot 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."
Fox Wars
Before he was replaced as commander of Fort Pontchartrain, Cadillac naively invited the Meskwaki, 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 build 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, Ojibwe, 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.