The Jesuit's Fort Saint Joseph In Michigan

The French established Fort St. Joseph as a mission

and later a fort in Niles. Not the city of St. Joseph, which was the site of LaSalle's short-lived Fort Miami. "It was abandoned after 18 months in 1679."

In the 1680s, Jesuits were granted a tract of land near Niles for their mission. In 1691, a post was established for what proved to be a multi-ethnic community. "There were not only French there," Nassaney said, "but also native peoples living at the fort. We've been able to demonstrate this archaeologically, and the documents also tell us this. At the fort in the early part of the 18th century, there was a commandant, a blacksmith, an interpreter, eight to 10 soldiers, there were about 15 fur traders and their wives. They had trouble attracting French women to the frontier back then, so the voyageurs often married native women. One of the things we have is a list of marriages and baptisms that the priests performed."

"There were about 50 to 60 people who lived in Niles at St. Joseph for almost a century," Nassaney said.

"It was quite a community. It was also one of the most important mission, garrison, trading post complexes in the western Great Lakes.

For instance, in the early part of the 18th century, there was a glut of furs. They'd been harvesting so many and shipping so many back, they had more than they could deal with, so they closed down a number of the posts throughout New France.

But Fort St. Joseph was one of the posts kept open because it was so important to have this relationship with the Indians. The idea of a 'fort' implies a mighty military bastion or a mighty military presence. That was not the case whatsoever. The strategy of the French was to ally themselves with the natives. The fur trade was the economic glue that maintained that alliance.

This was a very important place in that regard. The English took it over in 1761. The English treated the Indians a little differently than the French did. The English were a little more calculating than the French giving gifts of gunpowder and tobacco to cement an alliance. Everything was very businesslike, and the natives didn't like that. Ultimately, this led to Pontiac's Rebellion. Native people led uprisings at Detroit, at Michilimackinac and at Fort St. Joseph. The English were removed from the fort. The site continued to be a site for French traders until 1781, when a small contingent of soldiers under the Spanish flag came from St. Louis to southwest Michigan. They planted their flag in the ground, they spent the night, took a few things and left the next day. Hence, Niles and the fort are known for their four flags, the only place in Michigan which has waved the French, Spanish, English and American flags."

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