Begun by the Royal Canadian Volunteers in 1796 to replace Detroit and maintain British influence among the western Indians, the post became the principal defense of the Detroit frontier in 1812, where Isaac Brock gathered his forces for the attack on Detroit. The next year, with supply lines cut and control of Lake Erie lost to the Americans, the British could not hold the fort and evacuated and burned it. Partially rebuilt by the invading Americans, it was returned on 1 July 1815 to the British, who maintained a frontier garrison there until 1851.