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MICHIGAN AS A PROVINCE 1 - 5
In 1695 M. de Ia Motte Cadillac was in command at the post which then had a garrison of two hundred men. There was a French village of some sixty houses, beside two Indian villages of Hurons and Ottawas. It was the opinion of Cadillac that the interests of France required a strong fort and settlement four
hundred miles southward, on the strait of the Detroit, to resist the invasions of the hostile Iroquois and to stem the tide of oncoming commercial encroachments of the English. He visited France and presented his views so convincingly to Count Pontchartrain, the colonial minister, that he received a concession of land at Detroit and authority to establish a fort and colony there at once. The result of this movement was the abandonment of Michilimackinac. In spite of the remonstrances of the missionaries the savages removed to Detroit and the trade in peltries was likewise diverted. Charlevoix writing in 1721 speaks of the demoralization of the place caused by the establishment of the new post at Detroit. A few soldiers had been sent on in 1714 and the garrison was revived, but the post had ceased to be a flourishing one.
One of the most memorable events in the history of the post was the massacre which took place on the 4th of June, 1763. After the fall of Quebec, four years before, all the French possessions passed into the hands of the English. This transfer was very distasteful to the Indians of this region who were greatly attached to the French by reason of their long intercourse and the uniformly kind treatment they had received. They were bitterly hostile to the English and took no pains to conceal their sentiments. This hostility was organized by Pontiac who inspired active operations. At the date mentioned the post at Michilimackinac on the south side of the strait was in possession of the English under the command of Maj. Etherington with a garrison of about one hundred soldiers.
MICHIGAN
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