Petit Fort was a structure located in northwestern Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

, in or near the Indiana Dunes, near the mouth of Fort Creek. It may have been a French

New France

New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...

 military outpost, but was more likely a private residence, trading post

Trading post

A trading post was a place or establishment in historic Northern America where the trading of goods took place. The preferred travel route to a trading post or between trading posts, was known as a trade route....

, or at most a support station for larger forts in the area. The National Park Service

National Park Service

The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...

 refers to it as a "fur depot."

The fort came under the dominion of the British

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 following their ultimate victory in the French and Indian War

French and Indian War

The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...

. It is unclear whether the British ever really utilized Petit Fort; at best it was a station for British fur traders. It was abandoned in 1779 as American settlers rebelled and Great Britain consolidated power in more fortified strongholds.

There are few records of Petit Fort, it being mentioned in only a few letters and at least one map. "Petit Fort" is, in fact, a description rather than a proper name, translating literally to "small fort". It is remembered primarily due to a small military action that occurred there during the American Revolution

American Revolution

The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...

.

Battle of Petit Fort

In late Autumn 1780, a small band of about fourteen creoles

Louisiana Creole people

Louisiana Creole people refers to those who are descended from the colonial settlers in Louisiana, especially those of French and Spanish descent. The term was first used during colonial times by the settlers to refer to those who were born in the colony, as opposed to those born in the Old World...

 from Cahokia, Illinois

Cahokia, Illinois

Cahokia is a village in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2000 census, the village had a population of 16,391. The name is a reference to one of the clans of the historic Illini confederacy, who were encountered by early French explorers to the region.Early European settlers also...

, under orders from Augustin de La Balme

Augustin de La Balme

Augustin Mottin de la Balme was a French cavalry officer who served in Europe during the Seven Years War and in the United States during the American Revolution...

, set out for British-controlled Fort St. Joseph

Fort St. Joseph (Niles)

Fort Saint Joseph was a fort established on land granted to the Jesuits by King Louis XIV; it was located on what is now the south side of the present-day town of Niles, Michigan. Père Claude-Jean Allouez established the Mission de Saint-Joseph in the 1680s...

 in southwest Michigan, led by Jean Baptiste Hamelin and Lt. Thomas Brady, a former British officer and Indian Agent who now supported the rebelling Americans. The party recruited from frontier settlements along the way, and doubled in size to about thirty men. The company travelled up the Illinois River

Illinois River

The Illinois River is a principal tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately long, in the State of Illinois. The river drains a large section of central Illinois, with a drainage basin of . This river was important among Native Americans and early French traders as the principal water route...

 and Kankakee River

Kankakee River

The Kankakee River is a tributary of the Illinois River, approximately long, in northwestern Indiana and northeastern Illinois in the United States. At one time the river drained one of the largest wetlands in North America and furnished a significant portage between the Great Lakes and the...

, portaged near modern day South Bend, Indiana

South Bend, Indiana

The city of South Bend is the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total of 101,168 residents; its Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 316,663...

, and continued down the St. Joseph River

St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan)

The St. Joseph River is a river, approximately long, in southern Michigan and northern Indiana in the United States. It drains a primarily rural farming area in the watershed of Lake Michigan...

 to Fort St. Joseph, which they plundered. The raid was timed while local Indians would be away hunting, but La Balme also hoped to create a distraction for his journey up the Wabash River

Wabash River

The Wabash River is a river in the Midwestern United States that flows southwest from northwest Ohio near Fort Recovery across northern Indiana to southern Illinois, where it forms the Illinois-Indiana border before draining into the Ohio River, of which it is the largest northern tributary...

 to attack Fort Detroit

Fort Detroit

Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit or Fort Détroit was a fort established by the French officer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac in 1701. The location of the former fort is now in the city of Detroit in the U.S...

.

The raiders returned by way of the Sauk Trail with pack-horses loaded down with plunder, mostly trade furs. British Lt. Dagreaux Du Quindre, however, learned of the raid and quickly formed a band of loyalist traders and Potawatomi

Potawatomi

The Potawatomi are a Native American people of the upper Mississippi River region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a member of the Algonquian family. In the Potawatomi language, they generally call themselves Bodéwadmi, a name that means "keepers of the fire" and that was applied...

 under Chief Anaquiba and his son, Topeneble. They followed Brady's company and overtook it at the sandy dunes South of Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan

Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America and the only one located entirely within the United States. It is the second largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron...

. A race ensued for miles through the dunes, until the raiders took up defensive positions at Petit Fort. Major DePeyster

Arent DePeyster

Arent Schuyler DePeyster was a British military officer best known for his term as commandant of the British controlled Fort Michilimackinac and Fort Detroit during the American Revolution...

 reported the action 8 January 1781 in a letter to General Henry Watson Powell

Henry Watson Powell

General Henry Watson Powell was a British officer during the Seven Years' War and American Revolutionary War.Powell was born in England in 1733. He commissioned as a Lieutenant on 10 March 1753, with the 46th Regiment of Foot. He was promoted to Captain on 2 September 1756 and given command of...

:

A Detachment from the Cahokias, consisting of sixteen men only, commanded by a half Indian named Jean Baptiste Hammelain, timed it so as to arrive at St. Joseph’s with Pack Horses, when the Indians were out on their first Hunt, an old Chief and his family excepted. They took the Traders Prisoners, and carried off all the goods, consisting of at least Fifty Bales, and took the Route of Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

u. Lieut. Dagreaux Du Quindre, who I had stationed near St. Josephs, upon being informed of it, immediately assembled the Indians, and pursued them as far as the petite Fort, a days Journey beyond the Riviere Du Chemin where on the 5th December, he summoned them to surrender, on their refusing to do it he ordered the Indians to attack them. Without a loss of a man on his side, killed four, wounded two, and took seven Prisoners, the other Three escaped in the thick Wood. Three of the Prisoners were brought in here amongst whom is Brady a Superintendent of Indian affairs. The rest he suffered the Indians to take to M. Makina. I look upon these Gentry as Robbers and not Prisoners of war, having no commission, that I can learn, other than a verbal order from Mons. Trottier an Inhabitant of the Cahoes . . ..

External links

• History of Indiana Dunes, National Park Service
• Les Habitants du Petit Fort, a reenacting group which has researched Petit Fort.
• The St. Joseph Mission from the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology