Fort Machault facts for kids
Fort Machault was a fort built by the French in 1754. It was located where French Creek meets the Allegheny River in what is now Franklin, Pennsylvania. This fort was an important part of a line of French forts that included Fort Presque Isle, Fort Le Boeuf, and Fort Duquesne. These forts helped the French control the land and trade routes in the Ohio Country.
What Fort Machault Looked Like
Fort Machault was built on a hill, not far from the Allegheny River. It was shaped like a rectangle, about 75 feet long and 105 feet wide. The fort's walls were made of strong, cut logs stacked on top of each other.
At each of the four corners, there were special lookout towers called bastions. These towers were made from thick young trees and stood about 13 feet tall. The main gate of the fort faced the river. Inside, there was a place to store gunpowder and several two-story buildings for officers. Outside the fort, there were 45 buildings where the soldiers lived.
How Fort Machault Was Built
In 1753, the French Governor, Jean de Lauson, wanted to build a strong trading post where the Allegheny River and French Creek met. This area was known as Venango. The French removed English traders from Venango and Captain Philippe-Thomas Chabert de Joncaire built a small fort called Fort d'Anjou there. This fort had a group of soldiers living in it all the time.
In December 1753, a young George Washington traveled to Fort Machault. He was carrying a letter from the Governor of Virginia, Robert Dinwiddie. The letter told the French to leave the lands that Great Britain claimed. The French officer at Fort Machault said he could not make such a big decision. He told Washington to go to Fort Le Boeuf to speak with a higher-ranking officer. This disagreement was one of the reasons the French and Indian War started on May 28, 1754.
Captain Philippe-Thomas Chabert de Joncaire finished building Fort Machault in April 1754. It was named after Jean-Baptiste Machault d'Arnouville, who was an important French leader at the time. The fort was also sometimes called "Venango" because it was near a Native American village of that name.
Another officer, Michel Maray de La Chauvignerie, took over building the fort in 1754. He faced problems like not having enough workers or wood. Because of this, construction was slow until November 1758. Then, François-Marie Le Marchand de Lignery became the officer in charge.
Life and End of Fort Machault
Fort Machault was one of four forts built by the French and Canadiens. These forts helped them control the important Venango Path, which connected Lake Erie to the Ohio River. Fort Machault was the last stop for supplies traveling from Canada to Fort Duquesne. Before the French arrived, an English trader named John Fraser had a shop here. He traded with Native Americans and fixed their tools and guns. The French built forts like Machault to stop the English from expanding their fur trade and gaining influence with the Native Americans.
In 1756, a man named William Johnson, who had escaped from Native Americans, described Fort Machault. He said it had about 50 soldiers, was made of weak wooden fences, and did not have many supplies.
In 1758, a report from Fort Pitt said that Fort Machault had about 100 soldiers. The French also had 11 flat-bottomed boats called "batteaus" and a large gun.
After the French left Fort Duquesne in November 1758, they moved back to Fort Machault. The British thought the French would attack them from there. In July 1759, nearly a thousand French and Canadiens soldiers, along with a thousand Native Americans, gathered at Fort Machault. They planned to attack Fort Pitt.
However, the British began to attack Fort Niagara. When Fort Niagara fell in the summer of 1759, the French realized they could not hold onto the Ohio Country anymore. The plan to attack Fort Pitt was stopped. Instead, the soldiers were sent to try and help Fort Niagara, but it was too late.
On July 25, 1759, the French gave up Fort Niagara. In August 1759, the commander of Fort Presque Isle sent orders to Fort Le Boeuf and Fort Machault to leave their forts. The French burned Fort Machault to the ground and went back to Canada. They expected the British to move north from the Ohio River. In 1760, the British built Fort Venango near the same spot.
- "The Frontier Forts of Western Pennsylvania," Albert, George Dallas, C. M. Busch, state printer, Harrisburg, 1896. This book describes the fort on pages 585–590. It says the fort's location is on page 586: "On the present plan of the city of Franklin, Elk street passes through the site of the fort, whilst its southern side reaches nearly to Sixth street."
