This Michigan historical marker is doing double duty, commemorating both British and American ownership over a period of about 30 years. This is the site of what was initially a British fort, then American, then surrendered to the British again during the War of 1812 and retaken by the United States a year earlier.
Marker text:
Fort Lernoult
This marks the site of the southwest bastion of Fort Lernoult. It was here, on July 11, 1796, that the American flag was first flown over Detroit. The fort was built by the British in 1778-79 to protect Detroit against the possibility of attack by George Rogers Clark and the American army. Overlooking the stockaded village and named for its commander, Richard B. Lernoult, the fort controlled river traffic and land routes. The fort was not attacked during the American Revolution. However, it was then the foremost British military post in the West, a base for Indian raids against American frontier settlements, and a guardian of the rich fur trade. Although the peace treaty of 1783 gave Michigan to the United States, the British did not evacuate the fort until 1796. In 1812 Fort Lernoult was surrendered to the British, but was regained by the Americans in 1813 and renamed Fort Shelby. The last troops were removed in 1826. The fort was leveled in the next two or three years.
"Found in Detroit, Michigan.Fort Lernoult (also known as Fort Detroit and then Fort Shelby) was constructed during the winter of 1778-79. It replaced Fort Pontchartrain. Originally a British outpost during the American Revolution, this fort changed hands several times between British and American forces and played a prominent role in the War of 1812. During the time the fort guarded Detroit, the town grew from a small British outpost to a bustling American city. The fort provided the military presence that helped the city to grow and prosper.
During the Revolutionary War, U.S. Colonel George Rogers Clark set his sights on capturing Detroit from the British, so British Captain Richard Lernoult ordered his troops to construct a new fort on a hill outside of the town, since Fort Pontchartrain was in disrepair. Construction on Fort Lernoult was completed in April 1779. Though hastily constructed, the fort, named after its commander, was a formidable defensive structure. It housed close to 400 men and was armed with several dozen cannon.
An attack on Detroit never occurred during the Revolution and the Treaty of Paris in 1783 officially passed Detroit into the hands of the Americans. Nevertheless, the British refused to surrender the post and troops remained at Fort Lernoult. It wasn’t until the Jay Treaty of 1796 that the British agreed to abandon Detroit and move to Upper Canada.
The following day, American troops under Colonel Jean François Hamtramck arrived at the fort. The Americans constructed new buildings and made improvements to the fort. The fort was officially renamed Fort Detroit in 1805, the same year that the entire village was destroyed by fire. Fort Detroit was one of the few structures to survive.
Fort Detroit was a strategic outpost during the War of 1812. On August 15, 1812, British General Isaac Brock landed a force on the American shore and demanded surrender of Fort Detroit. The next day Territorial Governor William Hull, fearing massacre from Brock’s Indian allies, surrendered the fort without much of a fight, and the fort once again passed into British hands. In September 1813, the British abandoned Detroit due to the advancing Americans following the Battle of Lake Erie. The United States reoccupied the fort and renamed it Fort Shelby after Governor Isaac Shelby of Kentucky, who helped lead the American invasion force under William Henry Harrison.
Though Fort Shelby remained in the city, the American military presence waned over time. In 1826, the last troops left Fort Shelby, and it was soon demolished. As the city expanded, artifacts of the fort were continually uncovered, providing a link to Detroit’s past. The center of the fort is at the present-day intersection of West Fort and Shelby streets."-
Detroit Historical Society