From this day for four years Fort Michillimackinac was without a garrison. Then, with the subjection of the red tribes, the English came back to their border posts and Michillimackinac was once more filled with soldiery. In the early days of the Revolution the walls of the fort were strengthened and the garrison was increased.
The strategic location of the fort had never been advantageous for purposes of defence, however, so in November, 1779, Major de Peyster, fearful of attacks by the Americans, moved his garrison over to the little island of Michillimackinac and built the third Fort Michillimackinac, that which is standing to-day. The location which Major de Peyster chose was on the southeastern portion of the island, which is three miles wide and seven miles long, and there is a fine harbor at the point chosen for the location of the fort. This third fort Michillimackinac was occupied by the British on July 15, 1780, but was not used by them during the Revolution. In 1796 it was turned over to an American garrison as the sequel of an extensive correspondence between the young new nation and its tenacious old mother country.
As it was necessary to know what disposition to make of her newly-acquired border forts, the United States at the close of the eighteenth century despatched a certain Uriah Tracy to visit the frontier of the country and report on the condition of the fortifications there. His letter about Michillimackinac, preserved in the War Department files, gives a picture of the place in December, 1800. The body of the letter follows:
Hon. Samuel Dexter, Secretary of War:
In consequence of your predecessor’s request to visit post in the Western territory I proceeded to Plattsburg ... and on to Michillimackinac. Our fort at Michillimackinac is one of our most important posts. It stands on an island in the straits which lead from Lake Michigan into Lake Huron four or five miles from the head of the strait. Fort Michillimackinac is an irregular work partly built with a strong wall and partly with pickets; and the parade ground within it is from 100 to 125 feet above the surface of the water. It contains a well of never-failing water, a boom proof used as a magazine, one stone barracks for the use of the officers, equal if not superior to any building of the kind in the United States, a good guard-house and barracks for soldiers and convenient store-houses for produce, etc., with three strong and convenient block-houses. This post is strong both by nature and by art and the possession of it has a great influence with the Indians in favor of the United States. The whole island on which the fort is situated belongs to the United States and is five or six miles in length and two or three miles in width. On the bank of the strait adjacent to the fort stands a large house which was by the English called Government House and was kept by the British commander of the fort which now belongs to the United States.
The island and the country about it is remarkably healthy and very fertile for so high a northern latitude.
Uriah Tracy.
The breaking out of the War of 1812 found only 57 soldiers under Lieutenant Porter Hanks at Fort Michillimackinac. Moreover, the federal authorities at Washington neglected to notify several of their border forts that war had been declared. Accordingly when Captain Roberts, in command of a British force consisting of English soldiers, volunteers and Indians to the number of about 900, descended upon the little post, Michillimackinac was not in the attitude of resistance.
