The Doctor's Secret Journal

PAGES FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT AS WRITTEN BY DANIEL MORISON, SURGEON’S MATE 2ND BATTALION, 60TH REGIMENT FORT MICHILIMACKINAC 1769-1772
“... swore by a bloody oath he would come with a Hatchet and pull down my house.”
by DANIEL MORISON, Surgeon’s Mate
Edited by George S. May
Illustrated by Dirk Cringhuis
Mackinac State Historic Parks Mackinac Island, Michigan
ISBN-0911872-05-1
Private BRITISH 60th FOOT ROYAL AMERICANS
Copyright © 1960 by The Fort Mackinac Division Press Printed in the United States of America by Harlo Printing Co., Detroit Michigan Third Printing, 1969 15,000 copies Fourth Printing, 1974 15,000 copies Fifth Printing, 1984 10,000 copies Sixth Printing, 1993 5,000 copies Seventh Printing, 2001 3,000 soft cover—1,500 hard bound
O n September 28, 1761, a year after France’s vast North American empire had been surrendered to the British at Montreal, Canada, the flag of Great Britain was raised over Fort Michilimackinac, far to the west at what is now Mackinaw City, Michigan. A force under Major Robert Rogers, leader of the almost legendary Rogers’ Rangers, had reached Detroit in 1760 and had taken control of that post, but the coming of winter had compelled the British to wait until the following year to take over the other French outposts in the upper Great Lakes.
Although Major Rogers later was to serve as commanding officer at Michilimackinac, the red-coated troops who marched into the little stockaded fort on the south shore of the straits connecting Lake Huron and Lake Michigan were commanded by Captain Henry Balfour. He found that the French garrison had departed for the west months before, leaving the fort in charge of Charles Langlade, a native of the area who had fought brilliantly on the French side during the French and Indian War. Balfour was greeted by several enterprising Englishmen who had gotten a head start in the race to gain control of the lucrative fur trade which for so long had been monopolized by French traders at Michilimackinac.