Michilimackinac was a crossroads. This fortified trading village of only a few hundred winter residents was the center of a complex fur trading industry which reached far north of Lake Superior, west across the Mississippi River, south into the Illinois Country and along the wooded shores of Lake Michigan. Michilimackinac was located at the juncture of Lakes Michigan and Huron, where the vast network of lake and river routes in the north-west converged.
The Revolution’s impact on Michilimackinac has remained largely untold. American historians writing about the Revolution in the Old Northwest have been fascinated by the success of George Rogers Clark and have usually focused on his efforts to displace the British in the Illinois Country. Maps depicting the “Revolution in the West” frequently find Michilimackinac too far to the north to include.
This book corrects the deficiency by portraying life at Michilimackinac during the Revolutionary War years.
