Fort de la Presqu'ile

Fort de la Presqu'ile was the first in a proposed French line of forts intended to guard a route to the Mississippi. In 1753 the French aimed to build four forts—Presqu'ile, le Boeuf, Machault, and Duquesne—but by late summer it was clear that only Presqu'ile, le Boeuf, and the portage between them would be completed. The first French forces left Montreal in February, pulling supplies over ice and snow, but because a large force could not be supported through the winter, most of the men had to return in the fall. Transporting heavy supplies and weapons to Fort le Boeuf was slow and difficult because the road turned to mud and had to be bridged with logs. Led by Paul Marin de la Malgue, the French campaign sought to establish forts at strategic locations to control the waterways leading from Lake Erie by way of a portage to French Creek, then into the Allegheny River, the Ohio River, and ultimately the Mississippi, a move that became a real provocation to the British. The fort itself was a square stockade with bastions, built of horizontally laid logs stacked to a height of 12 feet rather than the usual vertical-log palisade. Advance forces led by Boishebért laid out Fort Presqu'ile on May 15, 1753, François le Mercier arrived on May 3 and work soon began in earnest, and Marin reached the site with the bulk of the detachment in June before moving on to begin Fort le Boeuf. By August 1753, Forts Presqu'ile and le Boeuf were completed, although on September 2 and 3 Half King Tanacharison, leader of the Ohio Iroquois, demanded that the French stop building forts. The main contingent departed for Montreal in October 1753. Earlier, in 1749, Céleron had conducted an expedition into the Ohio River Basin. Later, Fort Duquesne fell to the British in 1758, Fort Niagara fell in 1759, leaving the outlying French forts vulnerable, and in 1759 the French abandoned and burned the forts in the face of British victories.

Erie, Pennsylvania · United States