Fort Mackinac is a former military base located on Mackinac Island, Michigan. It was built by the British during the American Revolutionary War to control the important Straits of Mackinac, which connect Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. This location helped the British manage the fur trade in the Great Lakes region. The British did not give up the fort until 13 years after the American Revolutionary War ended. Later, during the War of 1812, the fort was the site of two important battles for control of the Great Lakes. For most of the 19th century, the fort was used by the United States Army as a military outpost. It was closed in 1895 and is now a museum located on the grounds of Mackinac Island State Park.
History
Before 1763, the French used Fort Michilimackinac on the mainland south shore of the Straits of Mackinac to control the area. After the Treaty of Paris (1763), the British took over the French fort but found the wooden building hard to protect. In 1780/1781, its lieutenant governor, Patrick Sinclair, built a new limestone fort on the 150-foot (46 m) limestone bluffs of Mackinac Island above the Straits of Mackinac. The British controlled the outpost during the American Revolutionary War. Captain Daniel Robertson led the garrison on Mackinac Island from 1782 until 1784, when Lieutenant George Clowes replaced him. Despite the Treaty of Paris (1783), the British did not officially give up the fort to the United States until the Jay Treaty was approved in 1796.
In June 1812, British Major-General Isaac Brock learned that the United States had declared war and sent a canoe party to Fort St. Joseph, Ontario, to confirm the war. This group returned with orders to attack Fort Mackinac, then called Fort Michilimackinac. A small U.S. garrison of about sixty men, led by Lieutenant Porter Hanks, was stationed at Fort Mackinac. Hanks had not received messages from his superiors for months. On July 17, 1812, a British and Native American force of seventy war canoes and ten bateaux, under British Captain Charles Roberts, attacked Fort Mackinac. Roberts came from Fort St. Joseph and landed 2 miles (3.2 km) from the fort on the north end of Mackinac Island. The British moved residents from their homes and aimed two 6-pounder iron cannons at the fort. The Americans, led by Lieutenant Hanks, were surprised and realized they were outnumbered. The British and Native American force numbered about 200 (including 180 Canadians), with a few hundred Native Americans from different tribes supporting them.
Fearing that Native American allies might harm his men, Lieutenant Hanks agreed to surrender without fighting. The British allowed the American soldiers to leave after they promised not to take up arms again. The British also made the island’s residents swear an oath of loyalty to the United Kingdom.
Soon after the British captured the fort, two American ships arrived from Fort Dearborn (Chicago), unaware of the war or the fort’s capture. The British raised the American flag, and when the ships tied up at the pier, the British seized the two sloops as war prizes. The ships were Erie (Captain Norton) and Friends Good Will (Captain Lee), with the latter being renamed HMS Little Belt by the British. The schooners Mary and Salina, anchored at port, were sent by the British to Detroit as ships carrying prisoners.
After capturing the island, British Colonel Robert McDouall of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment built Fort George, a wooden fence and blockhouse on the island’s highest point, to stop the Americans from retaking the island using the same strategy. Lieutenant Hanks traveled to Detroit and the American military post there. His superiors accused him of cowardice for surrendering Fort Mackinac. Before a court-martial could begin, British forces attacked Fort Detroit. A British cannonball struck the room where Hanks was standing, killing him and another officer.
U.S. Army Colonel George Croghan and General William Henry Harrison planned to take control of the Great Lakes and break the British-Native American fur trade partnership. As part of this plan, the Americans tried to retake Mackinac Island in July 1814. The campaign also included an attack on Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, on the upper Mississippi River.
On July 26, 1814, five U.S. ships arrived near Mackinac Island, carrying 700 soldiers under Colonel Croghan. This began the Battle of Mackinac Island. Colonel Croghan found the new British blockhouse too high for naval guns to reach, forcing an unprotected attack on Fort George’s walls. The Americans shelled Fort George for two days, but most shells missed the fort and hit vegetable gardens.
A dense fog forced the Americans to retreat for a week. Major Andrew Holmes led the return, landing at the island’s north end near where the British had attacked in 1812. The Americans moved through thick woods, protected by British Native American allies, and reached a clearing below Fort George.
British Colonel McDouall had placed a small force with muskets, rifles, and two field guns behind low wooden barriers at the clearing’s opposite end. When the Americans emerged from the woods, the British guns targeted them easily. British forces killed 13 Americans, including Major Holmes and two other officers, and wounded 51 others. The heavy losses forced Colonel Croghan to order a retreat. The Americans returned to their ships and left.
The American loss at the Battle of Mackinac Island left the island and its forts under British control until the end of the War of 1812. After the Treaty of Ghent, American forces retook Fort Mackinac in July 1815. They renamed Fort George as Fort Holmes, honoring Major Holmes, who died in the 1814 battle. After the War of 1812 and the resolution of border tensions with Britain, Fort Mackinac became less important for military purposes.
No longer needed as a front-line defense against the British, the fort was used as a place to store troops for deployment elsewhere. The Army could move troops to Fort Mackinac until they were needed elsewhere. The fort was nearly abandoned at times. It also served as a fur trading post, as Mackinac Island was an important trading center. From 1816 to 1821, the post was led by Benjamin Kendrick Pierce, the older brother of President Franklin Pierce. He married the daughter of Magdelaine Laframboise, a prominent fur trader of Ojibwe and French descent.
On June 6, 1822, a fur trader named Alexis St. Martin waited to trade his furs when a gun accidentally fired just inches from him, causing a stomach wound. The post surgeon, Doctor William Beaumont, treated him. To his surprise, St. Martin recovered despite his injury. Beaumont cared for him for years. St. Martin healed with a hole in his stomach. Beaumont used this opportunity to study digestion, conducting experiments that revealed how the process works. Beaumont wrote a book about his research and became known as “The Father of Gastric Physiology.”
The fort became an important base for U.S. exploration of the northern Michigan Territory, including the 1820 expedition led by Lewis Cass to explore the headwaters of the Mississippi River. Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, a U.S. Indian agent, worked at Fort Mackinac in the 1830s. He studied Native American languages and culture, helped by his marriage to Jane Johnston,
Decommissioning
In 1895, Congress closed Fort Mackinac and Mackinac National Park. It gave the fort and park to the State of Michigan, which created Mackinac Island State Park, the first state park in Michigan. A partially independent group called the Mackinac Island State Park Commission began managing Fort Mackinac and other nearby historic sites, such as Colonial Michilimackinac, Dousman's Mill, the Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse, and Mackinac Island State Park. The Governor of Michigan appoints members of the commission. These members meet many times each year to manage Mackinac State Historic Parks. The commission and parks work to preserve, protect, and share the rich history and natural beauty of Mackinac Island and the Straits area.
In the 1950s, the Mackinac Island State Park Commission found a new way to fund the park, similar to how the Mackinac Bridge was funded. The state used money from toll fees paid by drivers to build the Mackinac Bridge. The commission used this idea for park restoration, using admission fees to Fort Mackinac as a source of income. More than three-fourths of the commission’s budget now comes from admission fees and other money the park earns on its own. Most U.S. parks and recreation groups rely on government funding. The Mackinac Island State Park Commission runs one of the largest parks in the United States that earns most of its money by itself.
The current museum at the park includes 14 historic buildings.
Today, Fort Mackinac is a popular place for tourists interested in history. Located on 150-foot high cliffs above the Straits of Mackinac, it is one of the few surviving forts from the American Revolutionary War and one of the most complete early forts in the country. In 2015, Fort Mackinac celebrated 235 years of guarding Mackinac Island.
During the main summer months (June through August), visitors experience busy activity inside the old British-built stone walls of Fort Mackinac after passing through its gates. Costumed staff greet visitors, show what life was like in the 1880s, answer questions, take photos, and lead tours throughout the day. Some of the "soldiers" carry original 45-70 Springfield Model 1873 rifles, the type used at the fort during the 1880s. Others play music or interact with visitors.
The 1841 model six-pounder cannon is fired many times daily. It is the second-largest cannon regularly demonstrated on the Great Lakes. Activities also include rifle demonstrations, talks about soldiers’ uniforms and equipment, and ceremonies showing soldiers on duty and formal parades.
There are 14 original buildings as part of the fort museum.