Copyright Detroit Publishing Company
OLD BLOCK HOUSE AND MISSION POINT, FORT MICHILLIMACKINAC RESERVATION, MACKINAC ISLAND, MICHIGAN
Thus captured by the British, the post was a most important stronghold for them during the continuance of the conflict between the two countries. Not only did it give them a base of great strategic possibilities, but its easy capture had an immense moral effect upon the Indian tribes round about, bringing many of these tribes to the British aid and being the direct cause of much of the Indian trouble that Americans suffered on the western frontier at this time.
The English set to energetically fortifying the point as soon as they had assumed charge. A hill-top back of Fort Michillimackinac became the site for a block-house which is standing to this day, and the walls of Mackinac were strengthened and made greater. A letter from R. McDouall, the British commander, of date July 17, 1814, says:
I am doing my utmost to prepare for their (the American) reception. Our new works on the hill overlooking the old fort are nearly completed and the block-house in the centre will be finished this week, which will make the position one of the strongest in Canada. Its principal defect is the difficulty of finding water near it, but that obviated and a sufficient supply of provisions laid in, no force that the enemy can bring will be able to reduce it.
The Englishman’s opinion of the invulnerability to attack of his block-house was proved by events and was evidently shared by the Americans, for, when they came in force against Michillimackinac, they attacked from a different quarter. The American forces were under the command of Colonel Croghan and Major Holmes, who was beloved throughout the American army for his engaging personality and many fine qualities. During the short and unsuccessful attack Holmes was mortally hurt. At the conclusion of the war, when Michillimackinac and its new block-house were surrendered by Great Britain to the United States, the name of this talented young officer was applied to the block-house. The surrender of Michillimackinac took place July 18, 1815.
From the date of its surrender until 1895 Fort Michillimackinac was regularly garrisoned by United States troops, but in this latter year the garrison was withdrawn and the works were left in the charge of a caretaker. The block-houses were in rather dilapidated condition and the grounds had become overgrown when, in 1909, the Mackinac Island State Park Commission of Michigan was created and in the hands of this organization the old fort has fared well. The block-house has been restored and the grounds of the fort and its buildings have been maintained at the public expense. Every year Michillimackinac is visited by sight-seers and the island is a popular summering place for many.