Fort St. Joseph in Niles, MI

Fort St. Joseph in Niles MI

Fort Saint Joseph was a fort located on what is now the south side of the present day town of Niles, Michigan. Built by the French in 1691 on the lower Saint Joseph River, the fort was located where one branch of the Old Sauk Trail, a major east-west Native American trail, meets the Grand River Trail, which was a major north-south trail, and both ford the river. That ford is known as Paw-a-ting, Potawatomi for Shallow or Great Crossing. The fort was a significant stronghold of the fur trade at the southern end of Lake Michigan and the gateway to the Kankakee portage and the Mississippi River. The fort was established on land granted by Louis XIV to the Jesuit missionaries. Father Claude Allouez is buried near the fort site.

After the British victory in the French and Indian War, France turned the fort over to the British, who occupied it in October 1761. On May 25, 1763, during Pontiac's Rebellion, the fort was captured by Potawatomi Indians. Most of the fifteen-man garrison was killed outright, while the commander, Ensign Francis Schlosser, was taken to Detroit by the Potawatomis as a prisoner. After Pontiac's Rebellion, the fort no longer served as a military outpost, but it continued to be an important trading post.

Fort St. Joseph was important in equipping the Miamis, Potawatomies, and other American Indians who were at war with the United States during the American Revolutionary War. The fort was raided by Americans from Cahokia, Illinois in 1780, but they were overtaken near Petit fort (in present-day Indiana) while trying to escape. Fort St. Joseph was captured and plundered on February 12, 1781 by an expedition of about 140 militia, who were Frenchmen, and American Indians, carrying the Spanish flag, who had set out from the Spanish town of St. Louis. The attack was in retaliation for the attack on St. Louis in the previous year. By looting or destroying the goods held at Fort St. Joseph, they prevented a second British attack into Spanish territory. They were at the site less than 24 hours, planted the Spanish flag, left and never returned. Thus, Niles is knows as the city of Four Flags today.

The fort was finally abandoned by the British after the Northwest Indian War and the signing of Jay's Treaty in 1795. The specific location of the fort site was forgotten and not rediscovered until 1998.

This description is from June 13, 2008 from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_St._Joseph_(Niles)
This information was edited July 26, 2008 to give you more information than is contained on wikipedia.com
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Check out the links below to find out how Fort St. Joseph was discovered, it's history, the city of Niles, MI, and more about the organizations who were involved in finding and preserving the Fort.

Also discover the various books that are available about Fort St. Joseph in Niles, MI.

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