FORT MICHILIMACKINAC (Colonial Michilimackinac) Mackinaw City, MI 49701 231-436-5563

Colonial Michilimackinac,(Fort Michilimackinac), is a reconstructed 1715 French fur-trading village and military outpost that was later occupied by British military and traders.   In 1761 the French relinquished Fort Michilimackinac to the British who had assumed control of Canada as a result of their victory in the French and Indian War. Under the British, the Fort Michilimackinac continued to serve as a major fur trade facility. But the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians in the Straits area found British policies harsh compared to those of the French so they resented the British takeover. In 1763 as part of Pontiac's Rebellion, a group of Chippewa staged a ball game outside the stockade to create a diversion and gain entrance to the post and then attacked and killed most of the British occupants. The use of Fort Michilimackinac came to an end in 1781 as the British abandoned the post and moved to Fort Mackinac on Mackinac Island.