Fort Shelby ( Michigan ) Fort Shelby was a military fort in Detroit , Michigan that played a significant role in the War of 1812 . It was built by the British in 1779 as Fort Lernoult , and was ceded to the United States by the Jay Treaty in 1796 . It was renamed Fort Detroit by Secretary of War Henry Dearborn in 1805 . The fort was surrendered to the British by William Hull in 1812 , and reclaimed by the Americans in 1813 . The Americans renamed it Fort Shelby in 1813 , but references to " Fort Detroit " relating to the War of 1812 are to this fort , not to the earlier Fort Detroit , which had been abandoned by the British in 1779 in favor of Fort Lernoult . It was given to the city of Detroit in 1826 and dismantled in 1827 . History . Fort Lernoult under the British . In the fall of 1778 , Captain Richard Lernoult , the commander of the British Army at Fort Detroit , feared that that existing encampment would not be sufficient to defend against the oncoming American forces , who , under the command of Colonel Daniel Brodhead , had advanced to within ninety miles . He dispatched his second in command , Captain Henry Bird , to plan a new fortification on higher ground . Work commenced on the project in November 1778 , and although construction was beset by problems due to severe weather , by October 1779 a total of 381 British troops were stationed at the new fort . The fort was constructed of a 4 ' high pile of tree trunks , topped with 7 - 8 ' long sharpened stake s , all of which were covered with an 11 ' high earth embankment , 12 ' wide at the top and 26 ' thick at the base . Outside of the embankment was a 5 - 6 ' deep ditch , 12 ' wide and containing a 11 - 12 ' picket . Although the British had promised to abandon their forts in U . S . territory following the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783 , they continued to occupy six of them , including Fort Lernoult . President George Washington sent Chief Justice John Jay to London in 1794 to negotiate a resolution to this and other issues . The Jay Treaty called for the forts to be turned over to the U . S . by June 1796 . The British abandoned Fort Lernoult and moved their forces to Fort Amherstburg on the other side of the Detroit River . The Americans occupied the fort on July 11 , 1796 , under the command of Colonel Jean François Hamtramck with 300 men . American control and the War of 1812 . On August 5 , 1805 , Secretary of War Henry Dearborn sent a letter to Fort Lernoult ' s commander , Samuel Dyson , informing him that the fort ' s name had been changed to Fort Detroit . Michigan Territory Governor William Hull expanded the fort in 1807 , building a higher ( 14 feet ) stockade . Upon the outbreak of hostilities with the British in 1812 , Hull was named a brigadier general and placed in command of the Army of the Northwest . Hull left Fort Lernoult on July 12 , 1812 to undertake an invasion of Canada , which was abandoned after he learned that the British had captured the island Fort Mackinac . Following Hull ' s retreat to the other side of the Detroit River , British General Isaac Brock set up artillery batteries in what is now Windsor , Ontario , directly opposite the fort . On the morning of August 15 , 1812 , Brock sent a demand to Hull , with an implicit threat of massacre at the hands of his Indian allies : Sir , The force at my disposal authorizes me to require of you the immediate surrender of Fort Detroit . It is far from my inclination to join in a war of extermination , but you must be aware that the numerous body of Indians , who have attached themselves to my troops , will be beyond my control the moment the contest commences . Hull initially refused to surrender , replying : Sir , I have received your letter of this date . I have no other reply to make , than to inform you that I am prepared to meet any force which may be at your disposal , and any consequences , which may result from any exertion of it you may think proper to make . The following morning , under cover from their batteries as well as the ships HMS Queen Charlotte and HMS Hunter , the British crossed the Detroit River and began advancing on the fort . As casualties began to rise , and fearing slaughter at the hands of the Indians , Hull surrendered the fort and all of its weapons , as well as two detachments of troops under the command of Colonels Lewis Cass and Duncan McArthur that were returning to the fort . General Hull was court - martial ed for surrendering the fort without a fight , and sentenced to be shot , but he was pardoned by President James Madison . The fort remained in British hands for over a year , until the Battle of Lake Erie . Following their defeat in the naval battle , and with General William Henry Harrison advancing on Detroit with 1 , 000 troops , the British retreated to the Canadian side of the river . Duncan McArthur , by then a general , took possession of the fort on September 29 , 1813 , and the fort was renamed Fort Shelby in honor of Governor Isaac Shelby of Kentucky , who had come to the aid of General Harrison with a regiment of volunteers . The fort was occupied for the next 13 years , but fell into disrepair . Congress gave it to the city of Detroit in 1826 , and it was demolished in the spring of 1827 . The site today . The fort was centered on the present - day intersection of Fort Street and Shelby Street in downtown Detroit , and bounded by Michigan Avenue , Griswold Street , W . Congress Street , and Cass Avenue . While excavating in 1961 to build the Detroit Bank & Trust Building , the remains of a wooden post from the fort were discovered . A total of over 8000 artifacts were retrieved and are now housed at the Anthropology Museum at Wayne State University . Today , the site is occupied by the Theodore Levin United States Courthouse , the western portion of the Penobscot Building , the former Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Detroit Branch Building , and other commercial buildings .