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History The primary purpose of the fort was not military, but rather as a link in the French trading post system that stretched from the Mississippi River through the Illinois Country to the St. Lawrence River . The fort served as a supply for traders in the western Great Lakes. The French had first established a presence in the Straits of Mackinac in 1671 when Father Marquette established a Jesuit mission at present-day St. Ignace . In 1683 , they augmented the mission with Fort De Buade . In 1701 , Sieur De Cadillac moved the French garrison to Fort Detroit and closed the mission. By 1715 , however, the French built Fort Michilimackinac to re-establish a presence along the Straits of Mackinac. The French relinquished the fort, along with their territory in Canada , to the British in 1761 following their loss in the French And Indian War . Although British continued to operate the fort as a major trading post, the Ojibwe and Chippewa in the region resented British policies as harsh. On June 2 , 1763 , as part of the larger movement known as Pontiac's Rebellion , a group of Ojibwe staged a game of ''baaga'adowe'' ( Lacrosse ) outside the fort as a ruse to gain entrance. After gaining entrance to the fort, they killed most of the British inhabitants and held the fort for a year before the British retook it. The British eventually deemed the wooden fort on the mainland too vulnerable to attack, and in 1781 they built Fort Mackinac , a Limestone fort on nearby Mackinac Island . Fort Michilimackinac was abandoned after the move. The fort grounds were designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960 . It is a popular tourist attraction as part of Colonial Michilimackinac State Park in Mackinaw City . The site has numerous restored historical wooden structures and is considered the most extensively excavated early French Archaeological site in the United States. See also External links
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