History
Detroit
- British Rule 1760-1796
For many years, the French maintained a huge fort at
Louisburg
to protect the mouth of the
St. Lawrence River
from the British. They knew that closing the waterway to the British would
make it very difficult for them to takeover settlements and trade in the
west. On April 30, 1745, 100 New England ships, along with 3600 men, under
the command of Colonel William Pepperell, met a British squadron, commanded
by Commodore Warren, at the fort at Louisburg and began a 10-week assault
against the post. In the end, the French surrendered the post (the British
victory was short lived as the Treaty of Aix la Chapelle,
signed in 1748, put the fort back in the hands of the French).
In order to try to circumvent any further attacks, the French developed a
string of fortifications in present day
Pennsylvania
and
Ohio
to extend coverage that already
existed from the Niagara River to the head of the
Ohio
River
. The British, in response made an offer of 500,000 acres
of land to any
New England
colonist who
would build and maintain a fort in the same area. When the men arrived in the
area to establish the post, they found the French were already there. The
British sent a surveyor named George
Washington to try to convince the French to concede some of the
territory. They refused.
In 1745, both the French and the British dispatched men to found a post
near present day
Pittsburgh
.
When the two groups met, a fight broke out, and the British group, led by
George Washington, killed several of the Frenchmen. Despite the apparent
victory, the British knew that another group of Frenchmen were on their way
to the area. Wisely, they retreated - for the time.In 1754 the French successfully established
Fort
Duquesne
in the area where the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers join. The same year
marked the beginning of the French and Indian War. (In All Our Yesterdays,
Woodford says that
Washington
led an attack
on
Fort
Duquesne
in 1754. Whether this is the
same as the battle above which
Burton
attributes to 1745, or if
Washington
attacked the area twice, is not clear). In 1755, General Braddock led a
failed British attack on the fort.In June of 1758,
General Jeffrey Amherst led the British in another attack on
Louisburg
. The move was
successful and
Louisburg
fell to the British once again. On October 28 (or November 23) of the same
year, the British again attacked
Fort
Duquesne
. the French
retreated, destroying the fort on the way out. The British immediately began
construction of
Fort
Pitt
in
Fort
Duquesne
's place.Fort Niagara was taken by the British in July of 1759, forcing the French to
abandon all of their posts east of Detroit.At this
time, the significance of the post at
Detroit
grew dramatically.
Detroit
was, in a sense,
the last chance the French had to hold on to at least part of
New France
. To try to insure the survival of
Fort
Ponchartrain
, the size of
the fort was increased and some much needed repairs were completed. To
reinforce the soldiers at the fort, the Canadian Governor offered free land,
tools and livestock to anyone who would settle in Detroit.Despite these measures, the odds were heavily against the French. Most of the
settlers who accepted the governor's offer used or sold their
"incentives" and returned to
Quebec
where life was more secure and stable. The Iroquois and some Wyandotts allied themselves with the British and
immediately began random, individual attacks on settlers and soldiers.
Incidentally,
Detroit
's
fate did not depend on the garrison and its ability to defend the fort.
Rather,
Detroit
's fate was decided on
September 8, 1760, when General Amherst captured
Montreal
and the Articles of Capitulation stipulated that all remaining French
holdings, including
Detroit
,
were to be part of the spoils. With
Quebec
having been taken by British forces on September 13, 1759, there was little
point to trying to defend
Detroit
.
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