Colonial Michilimackinac - Part II

Fort Michilimackinac
Around 1715 Constant Le Marchand de Lignery established Fort Michilimackinac for the French at the site of a Jesuit mission.  During the next fifty years as France and Great Britain struggled for control of the fur trade in the Great Lakes region, the fort expanded as a trading settlement and a military post.  Soon after hostilities of the French and Indian War ceased, the British took control of the fort in the fall of 1761.  Two years later local chippewa (ojibwa), angered by British policies, captured the fort as part of Pontiac's Uprising.  The British regained control in 1764.  Between 1779 and 1781, during the American Revolution, the British built Fort Mackinac on nearby Mackinac Island and abandoned Fort Michilimackinac.
--from Michigan historic site signage

As I mentioned previously after we watched a musket demonstration in Fort Michilimackinac we took a short tour of the fort.  This particular interpreter was most interesting and helpful.  I ended up talking to him a bit later in the day.


By the time the tour was done it was time to watch the cannon firing demonstration.  I believe that the musket firings were done on the half-hour and cannon firings on the hour.


Here you can see the slow match being lit.  It was fascinating to watch them use flint and steel to get a scrap of cloth smoldering (not brightly burning) and then using that to light the match.  When you hear of matchlock guns they weren't using modern sulphur matches--this length of slow-burning cord was the match in question.

This time I did manage to snap a picture with the smoke still in the air.

After watching the demonstration we headed back into the fort and started going through the buildings.  For more information about the buildings check out the virtual tour on the state park's website.  The first building we went into was the King's Storehouse.

Built by British soldiers of the 10th Regiment of Foot in 1773, the King’s Storehouse contained nearly everything needed to supply the military garrison of Michilimackinac. Soldiers kept careful stock of the uniforms, equipment, and weapons stored inside. The commanding officer also used the Storehouse to store trade goods and other provisions, which he regularly used to create and maintain alliances with various Native American groups. The British dismantled the original Storehouse in 1781, reassembling it at Fort Mackinac on Mackinac Island. The current reconstruction was built in 1961, and includes a historic stone basement [visible above] from the original structure.
--from Virtual Mackinac

Next we went into the Commanding Officer's House, which was located right next to the open parade ground.  According to Virtual Mackinac the original British structure was built sometime in the 1770s.  It was a good location to watch over activities within the fort.  The structure had two large stone fireplaces and was luxurious compared to other quarters.  The reconstruction was built in 1963.

This mug reminded me of similar ones that I've seen at Colonial Williamsburg (I even own one that my father-in-law gave to me).

There weren't too many mannequins throughout the fort, but there were a few.  I imagine that the combination of these and the live interpreters makes for some excellent opportunities to explain the past.

The British Trader's house was next.

Many of the original French homes at Michilimackinac were constructed in the form of rowhouses. Similar to a modern apartment building, each rowhouse contained several housing units under a single roof. The Northwest Rowhouse was likely built in the 1730s, and contained five units. Each house unit featured living and cooking spaces on the first floor, with sleeping rooms in the attic. Three of the five units that stood here were reconstructed between 1962 and 1977.
--from Virtual Mackinac

The mechanism used to hold the shutters open was very interesting.  It also looks like it would be possible for a local blacksmith to fashion, or at least repair or replace if necessary.

Traders at Michilimackinac purchased corn and meat from local Indians with cloth, blankets, beads, kettles and liquor from Montreal.  Canoe crews depended upon corn while traveling, so merchants scoured the shores from Detroit to Milwaukee to secure supplies. 

The bales and boxes also contained specialty foods and household items for the residents: cheese and wine for the officers, shoes and clothing for women and children, and soap, and wine for the officers, shoes and clothing for women and children, and soap, candles and window glass for household use.  "Colour'd prints", "some maps" and "metzotinte prints" were sold by merchants to brighten house interiors.
--from Colonial Michilimackinac signage inside British trader's house

It was also possible to look down into the basement to see some original artifacts.

After going through the rest of the house we took a look out the back door.

Once we had looked around we walked down into the basement.

Several buildings had underground areas with further exhibits.  I thought this was an excellent want to display artifacts where the structure was out of sight (a modern building wouldn't have fit with the reconstructed structures in the fort) and still connected with the historical buildings.

Treasures from the Sand 

Archaeology at Michilimackinac 

In 1781 British soldiers moved the community to nearby Mackinac Island.  They leveled and burned the buildings they left behind.  Despite the demolition, pieces of Michilimackinac remained--buried in the sand.  Archaeologists discovered these rich deposits of artifacts and ruins when reconstruction began in 1959. 

This exhibit explains how each archaeological discovery links us with the eighteenth century village.  These archaeological treasures help us to accurately reconstruct Michilimackinac and interpret its rich history.
--from Colonial Michilimackinac signage, Treasures from the Sand exhibit

A video at the beginning of the exhibit area explained how different layers are laid down and excavated.

Then a series of cases illustrate a sampling of the many artifacts that have been uncovered over the course of excavations conducted every summer since 1959.

This is the portion that can be seen from ground level (pictured above).  The sign explains that these are the original cellar ruins of the building.  "These logs once reached up to the floor of the house above creating a subterranean storage cellar.

This set of exhibits was my favorite--a series of models of the fort from various historical areas.

Captain De Lignery built the first European outpost here on the south side of the Straits of Mackinac in 1715.  An earlier French fort, constructed on the north side of the Straits at St. Ignace in 1690, was abandoned by French troops in 1698.  De Lignery returned to the Straits to protect the French fur trade against English traders from Hudson Bay and to reestablish relations with the local Ottawa and other area Indians. 

Archaeologists have located some of the palisade lines and structures of this original fort.  Much smaller than the later village, De Lignery's fort contained accommodations for about 20 soldiers, private homes for fur traders and the Jesuit mission of St. Ignace de Michilimackinac.
--from exhibit signage

De Lignery's Fort, 1715-1730s

The French completely rebuilt Michilimackinac in the mid-1730s.  As the fur trade grew, De Lignery's tiny compound could no longer contain the expanding population.  The size of the community tripled with the addition of seven rowhouses, a new church and rectory, and a semi-subterranean powder magazine, all situated around a military parade ground.  This basic settlement pattern changed little during the remainder of the fort's history.
--from exhibit signage

The French settlement expands, 1730s-1744

French troops reinforced the defenses at Michilimackinac at the outbreak of King George's War (1744-1748).  This conflict between France and Great Britain for control of Canada continued until the British conquest in 1760.  To protect their small village, the French constructed a new stockade around the earlier wall.  Together the two walls formed a space known as the "Chemin de Ronde," or sentry beat, which served as the defensive perimeter for patrolling French soldiers.
--from exhibit signage

Michilimackinac braces for war, 1744-1761

British troops took control of Michilimackinac from the French in 1761.  Archaeological excavations clearly reveal that the community expanded as the fur trade prospered under British rule.  In 1764-65 Post Commandant William Howard enlarged the protective palisade into a hexagonal outline and added new bastions.  Residents remodeled their crumbling houses and built a large village east of the fort to accommodate the growing number of traders.  Artifacts found in British-period deposits consistently outnumber those in French soils, sometimes as much as twenty to one.  This increase in material wealth at Michilimackinac reflects the sophistication of British industrial development and mass production in the eighteenth century.
--from exhibit signage

The British fort, 1761-1779

Michilimackinac changed dramatically as a result of the American Revolution.  In anticipation of an attack by American forces, Major De Peyster replaced rotten pickets, built a palisade around the soldier' barracks, and constructed a "banquette", or raised firing platform, underneath the catwalk.  In 1779 Lt. Governor Patrick Sinclair decided to transfer the fort to the high, protective bluffs of mackinac Island.  he first moved Ste. Anne's Church and replaced it with a military blockhouse.  Sinclair completed the move in 1781 and burned that leveled the remnants of Michilimackinac leaving a rich archaeological deposit called the "demolition" layer.
--from exhibit signage

The American Revolutionary fort, 1779-1781

The underground exhibit area, since it wasn't based off a historical basement actually connected to an underground area associated with another building.  This ladder led up into the Priest's House (not that you could easily climb it--it was behind glass).

Once we came back above ground we walked over to the Priest's House.  The picture at right shows the view of the area pictured above from the inside of the house.

Catholic priests serving the parish of Ste. Anne de Michilimackinac lived in this house, which was originally built sometime in the 1740s. Priests had a large Catholic community to serve in the Straits of Mackinac region, and performed marriages, baptisms, and funerals in addition to regular masses and other services. The Priest’s House was regularly inhabited until 1765, when the last resident priest, Pierre du Jaunay, was recalled to Montreal. No permanent priest served at Michilimackinac after his departure. Instead, itinerant priests occasionally traveled to the community to conduct services. The house was moved to Mackinac Island in 1780, and reconstructed in 1970.
--from Virtual Mackinac

The interior of the priest's house looked nice.  It was also directly connected to the church.

Standing underneath the bell pull made for an interesting perspective.

The decorations seemed to be ornate for an outpost, but if it was the only church in the area I guess that makes sense.

Confessional, parish register copies on shelf to left

The parish register of the church of Ste. Anne's de Michilimackinac dates from 1695 to the present.  The first volume of the register (1695-1821), which contains baptisms, marriages and interments, tells us a great deal about the people who lived at Michilimackinac.  We learn about the religious life of the congregation, the administration of the parish, family relationships and the ethnic and racial diversity of the community.  The original books are still with Ste. Anne's Church, an active year-round parish on Mackinac Island.
--from exhibit signage

I think this post is long enough, so I'll conclude the tour of the fort in the next post on this subject (which should be in two days).

~Matt