Fort Presque Isle

Fort Presque Isle
Erie, Pennsylvania, USA
Commemorative plaque of Fort Presque Isle location
Coordinates	42°08′14″N 80°04′46″W / 42.137085°N 80.079374°W / 42.137085; -80.079374
Site information
Controlled by	France 1753–1759 British Empire 1759–1763  United States 1786–1852
Site history
Built	1753
In use	1753–1763; 1786–1852
Demolished	1852
Battles/wars	Pontiac's Rebellion

Fort Presque Isle (also Fort de la Presqu'île) was a fort built by French soldiers in summer 1753 along Presque Isle Bay at present-day Erie, Pennsylvania, to protect the northern terminus of the Venango Path. It was the first of the French posts built in the Ohio Country,^[1] and was part of a line that included Fort Le Boeuf, Fort Machault, and Fort Duquesne.

History

The fort was built as part of the French military occupation of the Ohio Country; rival claims to the area by the British led to the French and Indian War. After the 1759 British victory at the Battle of Fort Niagara, the French burned the fort and retreated from the area.

The British built a new Fort Presque Isle, which was captured by American Indians during Pontiac's Rebellion. On June 19, 1763, the fort was surrounded by about 250 Ottawas, Ojibwas, Wyandots, and Senecas. After holding out for two days, the garrison of approximately sixty men surrendered on the condition that they could return to Fort Pitt. Most were instead killed after emerging from the fort.

Forts of 1753-54

General Anthony Wayne first arrived in the area of Presque Isle in 1786. In 1795, 200 Federal troops from Wayne's army, under the direction of Captain John Grubb, built a blockhouse on Garrison Hill, in present-day Erie, Pennsylvania. Also named Fort Presque Isle, the blockhouse was used as part of a defense against Native American uprisings. It was also used during the War of 1812. General Wayne was stricken ill at Fort Presque Isle and died there in 1796. At his request, his body was buried under the flagpole of the northwest blockhouse of the fort. This blockhouse burned in 1852. In 1880, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania reconstructed the blockhouse at Second and Ash Streets, Erie, as a memorial to General Wayne. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission has recognized the reconstructed blockhouse as eligible for placement on the National Register of Historic Places.

References

Sources

• "The Frontier Forts of Western Pennsylvania," Albert, George Dallas, C. M. Busch, state printer, Harrisburg, PA, 1896. Tracing of plan of Erie, on pg. 536b, shows the "old French fort" between Front Street and Second Street, on the northeast side of Parade Street.
• Google Earth indicates this position is 42.137085 -80.079374

• 2002 Congressional Resolution to Reconstruct the fort
• Location of the General Wayne Blockhouse

External links

• Sackville-Stoner Winifred, "Sketches of Fort Presque Isle", Erie, Pennsylvania, 1903

Pennsylvania during the French and Indian War
1754	Battle of Jumonville Glen Battle of the Great Meadows
1755	Braddock expedition Battle of the Monongahela
1756	Kittanning Expedition
1758	Battle of Fort Duquesne Battle of Fort Ligonier Treaty of Easton
1763	Paxton Boys
Frontier Forts	Fort Augusta Fort Bedford Fort Deshler Fort Duquesne Fort Halifax Fort Hunter Fort Le Boeuf Light's Fort Fort Ligonier Fort Loudoun Fort Machault Fort Necessity Fort Pitt Fort Presque Isle Fort Prince George Redstone Old Fort Fort Venango