The U.S. Military Road was projected to transport troops and munitions of war between the forts at Detroit and Mackinac in the Territory of Michigan and also to induce settlers. Congress authorized the road from Detroit to Saginaw River and Bay on March 2, 1827. A survey signed June 7, 1827, laid out the route in 1828. The road was completed to the Flint River settlement, Flint, in 1833. United States Government work ended in 1835 at a point about five miles north of the Flint River. Major Gen. Alexander Macomb and Col. Charles Gratiot, U.S.A., were chief engineers, and Lieut. E.E. Sibley, U.S.A., was superintendent of construction.