page_title: Fort Mackinac
section_title: Later years
hierarchical_section_title: Fort Mackinac / History / Later years
caption_attribution_description: English: "Fort Mackinac, Michigan" by Seth Eastman, Oil on canvas – Sight measurement: Height 24.75 inches (62.865 cm), Width 35.5 inches (90.17 cm) – Signature (lower right corner): S. E. / 1872 – Cat. no. 33.00014.000 Čeština: Seth Eastman: Fort Mackinac, Michigan. Olej na plátně. Rozměry: výška 62,865 cm, šířka 90,17 cm. Podpis v pravém dolním rohu: S. E. / 1872. Katalogové číslo: 33.00014.000
context_page_description: Fort Mackinac is a former British and American military outpost garrisoned from the late 18th century to the late 19th century in the city of Mackinac Island, Michigan, on Mackinac Island. The British built the fort during the American Revolutionary War to control the strategic Straits of Mackinac between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, and by extension the fur trade on the Great Lakes. The British did not relinquish the fort until fifteen years after American independence.
  Fort Mackinac later became the scene of two strategic battles for control of the Great Lakes during the War of 1812. During most of the 19th century, it served as an outpost of the United States Army. Closed in 1895, the fort has been adapted as a museum on the grounds of Mackinac Island State Park.
context_section_description: No longer needed as a front line border defense against the British in Canada, the fort was used as a strategic troop reserve.  The Army essentially could deploy troops to Fort Mackinac until a need arose to transfer them to other locations of military importance.  The Army nearly abandoned Fort Mackinac between such uses. It was also used as a fur trading post, as Mackinac Island was an important fur post. From 1816 to 1821 the post was commanded by Benjamin Kendrick Pierce, the older brother of President Franklin Pierce. He married the daughter of Magdelaine Laframboise, a prominent fur trader of Ojibwe and French descent.
  On June 6, 1822, a fur trader named Alexis St. Martin waited to trade in his furs when a gun accidentally discharged just inches from him, blowing a hole in his abdomen.  The post surgeon, Doctor William Beaumont, attended to him. Dr. Beaumont cared for the presumably doomed St. Martin the best he could.  To his surprise, the man appeared to make a recovery.  Beaumont took St. Martin into his home, caring for him for several years.  St. Martin healed although his stomach had a hole. Beaumont seized the opportunity and began observing and conducting experiments on the man.  Through these experiments, Beaumont described the process of digestion in detail, unlocking its mysteries. Beaumont wrote a book about his experiments and later became known as "The Father of Gastric Physiology."
  The fort developed as an important staging area for US exploration of the northern Michigan Territory, including the expedition in 1832 under the command of Lewis Cass to explore the headwaters of the Mississippi River. Henry Rowe Schoolcraft held the post of United States Indian agent at Fort Mackinac for a time in the 1830s. He did extensive study of the Native American languages and culture of the region, aided by his marriage to Jane Johnston, the Ojibwe-British daughter of Johnston, a wealthy British fur trader at Sault Ste. Marie. Both her parents' families were prominent among the elite of the region.
  During the Mexican–American War and for long periods during the Civil War, the Army left the care and upkeep of Fort Mackinac to an ordnance sergeant. Despite these periods of relative inactivity, the fort played a small role in the Civil War, briefly used as a prison for three Confederate political prisoners.  Brought to Mackinac Island and the fort during the summer months, these three men enjoyed relative freedom, guarded only by a volunteer militia.  When faced with the prospect of enduring a long, harsh winter on the island, two of the prisoners signed loyalty oaths and obtained release.  The third Confederate refused, and the Army ultimately transferred him to another post.
  Seth Eastman, an officer and artist in the United States Army, in 1872 made an oil painting of Fort Mackinac, as a commission by the US Congress of paintings of military forts. It is now part of the collection of the United States Senate. His more important work was to illustrate Henry Rowe Schoolcraft's six-volume history of the American Indians, commissioned by Congress in the 1850s.
caption: Fort Mackinac, Michigan by Seth Eastman
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