Fort Detroit (Detroit, Mich.)

Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit or Fort Detroit (1701–1796) was a French and later British fortification established in 1701 on the north side of the Detroit River by Antoine Laumet de Lamothe Cadillac. A settlement based on the fur trade, farming and missionary work slowly developed in the area. The fort was located in what is now downtown Detroit, northeast of the intersection of Washington Boulevard and West Jefferson Avenue. Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit was attacked by the Meskwaki during the Fox Wars, and was the target of an aborted attack by English-aligned Wyandot during King George's War. During the French and Indian War, Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit surrendered to the British on November 29, 1760 after the capture of Montreal. It was besieged by Indigenous forces during Pontiac's War in 1763. The British controlled the area throughout the American Revolutionary War, but replaced the French fort with the newly constructed Fort Lernoult in 1779. While the territory on what is now the Michigan side of the Detroit River was ceded to the United States in the Treaty of Paris in 1783, control of the fort was not transferred until 1796.