Places: Fort Michilimackinac, Michigan

We complete one full year of Great Warrior's Path with a look at a historic French and British fort which takes the prize for the most complicated place name on the frontier.  Pronounced Mish-ilee-mac-inaw, this fort was built to guard the Straits of Mackinac, i.e., Mak-inaw, on the northern tip of the Lower Peninsula what is now Michigan.  The Straits connected Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, two of the Great Lakes.  The present-day town of Mackinaw City is built around the site of the fort, which has been partially reconstructed with out-buildings and a palisade. 

There were several reasons for building a fort in such a location.  Narrow passageways of water were always a vulnerable place where colonial powers wanted to protect their turf.  However, the fort's primary purpose was a trading post and supply base for fur traders in the 18th century.  A chain of forts connected France's possessions from the Atlantic Coast and St. Lawrence River through to the Mississippi River and into Illinois.  Beginning in 1671, Jesuit missionary Jacques Marquette established St. Ignace mission near present-day St. Ignace on the Upper Peninsula.  In 1683, the French established Fort de Buade to protect the mission and patrol the Straits.  The then-Governor of New France, Sieur de Cadillac closed the mission and the fort and moved both back to Detroit.  However, in 1713, the French began building Fort Michilimackinac on the Lower Peninsula and maintained a garrison there, which was a difficult task given the remote area.

In 1761, the French surrendered Michilimackinac to the advancing British during the Seven Years War.  Local tribes much preferred the French as trading partners, resenting the restrictions the British placed on key trade goods such as firearms, munitions and alcohol.  In 1763, in the windup to Pontiac's rebellion, a band of Ojibwe staged a game of baagawadowe, their version of what became lacrosse.  Once they gained entrance to the fort, the Ojibwe ambushed the defenders, killing most of the British inhabitants and sparing only metis and local French-speaking residence.  The Ojibwe held he fort for a year before the British retook the fort.  The British learned that they would have to be more generous with trade goods if they hoped to win the respect of the Native population.  By 1781, British authorities decided to build a limestone fort on nearby Mackinac Island.  Portions of Michilimackinac were dismantled and sent to the island.  What was left behind was eventually destroyed.

The site of the fort was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960.  It is part of Colonial Michilimackinac State Park.  Costumed interpreters hold reenactments and educate visitors on life in an 18th century fort and it has been extensively excavated by archaeologists.