Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit, also called Fort Detroit (1701–1796), was a French and later British fort built in 1701 on the north side of the Detroit River by Antoine Laumet de Lamothe Cadillac. A settlement that grew from fur trading, farming, and missionary work slowly developed nearby. The fort was located in what is now downtown Detroit, northeast of the intersection of Washington Boulevard and West Jefferson Avenue.
The fort was attacked by the Meskwaki during the Fox Wars and was the target of an unsuccessful 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 built Fort Lernoult in 1779. Although the territory on the current Michigan side of the Detroit River was given 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 between Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie was named Le Détroit du Lac Érié by the French, meaning "The Strait of Lake Erie." In 1698, Antoine Laumet de Lamothe Cadillac, who had previously led Fort de Buade at Michilimackinac, proposed creating a colony at Detroit. French families would be brought to settle there, and Indigenous tribes near Michilimackinac would be encouraged to move to the area. The settlement was meant to stop English expansion into the Pays d'en Haut (Upper Country) and prevent attacks by the Iroquois. Jérôme Phélypeaux de Pontchartrain, the French Secretary of State of the Navy, approved the plan even though the Governor and Intendant of New France had concerns.
In June 1701, Cadillac left Lachine near Montreal with 100 settlers and soldiers. The group traveled north along the Ottawa River, then across to Georgian Bay and Lake Huron. They reached Grosse Île on the Detroit River on July 23. The next day, they went upstream to a narrow point on the river’s north shore and began building a fort, which Cadillac named Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit. The first building completed was a chapel dedicated to Saint Anne, the patron saint of New France. In September, 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 using white oak and covered an area of about 0.85 acres (0.34 hectares). The wooden fence surrounding the fort was about 12 feet (3.7 meters) tall, with a bastion at each corner. Inside the fort, homes, a warehouse, and the chapel were built. For many years, all European residents lived within the fort’s walls. In October 1703, a fire destroyed the chapel, the home of the Recollect priest, Constantin Delhalle, and the residences of Cadillac and Tonty.
After the fort was built, Odawa (Ottawa) from Michilimackinac and Wyandot (Huron) from Michilimackinac and the St. Joseph River moved to Detroit and created villages with wooden fences. Later, groups of Miami, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi also settled in the area. In 1705, Cadillac reported that about 2,000 Indigenous people lived in Detroit.
In June 1706, while Cadillac was in Quebec, Odawa warriors at Detroit planned an attack on the Sioux. A Potawatomi man who had married a Miami woman mistakenly warned the Odawa that the Miami were planning to attack their village during their absence. The Odawa chief, Le Pesant ("The Bear"), decided to return and attack the Miami first. They surprised eight Miami near the fort and killed seven of them. Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont, who was in charge of the fort during Cadillac’s absence, gave shelter to the Miami and ordered his soldiers to fire on the Odawa. Father Delhalle and a soldier were killed outside the fort. In the following battles, about 30 Odawa, 50 Miami, and an unknown number of Wyandot were killed. The Odawa abandoned their village and returned to Michilimackinac but came back to Detroit by 1708.
Different accounts from Indigenous and French sources disagree on who was responsible for the attack. Bourgmont was criticized for his actions and left Detroit after Cadillac returned. For several years, he lived as a coureur des bois before exploring the Missouri River in 1714. The Governor General of New France, Philippe de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil, blamed Le Pesant and ordered Cadillac to arrest and execute him. Le Pesant was captured at Michilimackinac and taken to Detroit but escaped. The Miami and Wyandot later killed three settlers near the fort. Cadillac led a weak attack against the Miami living on the St. Joseph River.
The Wyandot leader Cheanonvouzon, known as Quarante Sols to the French and Michipichy to the Odawa, may have caused the conflict by spreading false rumors and encouraging Miami attacks. Cheanonvouzon had split from the Wyandot at Michilimackinac around 1690 and lived with the Miami before returning to Detroit. He aimed to regain Wyandot independence from the Odawa by forming a trade alliance with the Miami and Iroquois. This alliance allowed the Wyandot to trade for goods like Caribbean rum and scarlet wool, which the French did not provide.
In 1707, Cadillac began giving land near the fort to French settlers but required them to pay high rents and give him a share of their crops. Complaints about Cadillac led Pontchartrain to send François Clariambault d'Aigremont to investigate conditions at Detroit and other posts. In his November 1708 report, d'Aigremont accused Cadillac of profiteering and policies that weakened French control of the Pays d'en Haut. He noted there were only 62 French settlers at Detroit and 353 acres of farmland. He called Cadillac’s rule "tyrannical" and said he had angered both settlers and Indigenous neighbors. He also reported that most furs in Detroit were going to the English at Albany, either directly or through Iroquois traders. Because of d'Aigremont’s findings, Pontchartrain replaced Cadillac with a new governor for Louisiana. Cadillac later described Louisiana as a "wretched place" with people who "disrespected religion and were addicted to vice."
Before leaving Detroit, Cadillac invited the Meskwaki (Fox), Kickapoo, and Mascouten living west of Lake Michigan to move to Detroit. The Meskwaki had long been enemies of the Ojibwe, Odawa, Potawatomi, and Illinois Confederation.
In 1710, two groups of Meskwaki, along with some Kickapoo and Mascouten, moved to the headwaters of the Grand and St. Joseph rivers. One group of Meskwaki set up a camp near Fort Pontchartrain later that year. Cadillac’s successor, Jacques-Charles Renaud Dubuisson, opposed allowing Indigenous tribes to settle in Detroit and saw the Meskwaki and their allies as troublemakers. The Meskwaki stole livestock, taunted the Odawa and Wyandot, claimed Detroit belonged to them, and boasted about trading with the English. This group left Detroit in early 1712 and sought refuge with the Seneca.
In April 1712, the Odawa war chief Saguima led an attack on the Mascouten living at the headwaters of the St. Joseph River. Over 150 Mascouten, including women and children, were killed. Saguima had planned to attack the Meskwaki, but they had moved to Detroit before the attack. The surviving Mascouten fled to the Meskwaki, who built a fortified camp near Fort Pontchartrain. In retaliation, the Meskwaki attacked
Legacy
Hotel Pontchartrain, a 25-story hotel with 367 rooms, was built in the early 1960s on the site of Fort Pontchartrain. The hotel officially opened on July 24, 1965, 264 years after Detroit was founded. After changing names and owners several times, the hotel became Fort Pontchartrain a Wyndham Hotel in 2021.
A previous Hotel Pontchartrain was located at Cadillac Square on Woodward Avenue and opened in 1907. It started with 10 floors and added 5 more in 1909. It could not keep up with newer, more modern hotels, so it was sold in 1919 and torn down in 1920.
A marker from the Michigan Historical Commission for Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit was placed in 1967 at the southwest corner of Washington Boulevard and Jefferson Avenue. A marker for Fort Lernoult is located at the intersection of Shelby Street and West Fort Street.