Fort St . Joseph ( Niles , Michigan ) Fort Saint Joseph was a fort established on land granted to the Jesuits by King Louis XIV ; it was located on what is now the south side of the present - day town of Niles , Michigan . Père Claude - Jean Allouez established the " Mission de Saint - Joseph " in the 1680s . Allouez ministered to the local Native Americans . The French built the fort in 1691 mainly as a trading post on the lower Saint Joseph River . It was located where one branch of the Old Sauk Trail , a major east - west Native American trail , and the north - south Grand River Trail meet ; together the combined trail fords the river . The fort was a significant stronghold of the fur trade at the southern end of Lake Michigan . Prior to the French and Indian War ( also known as the Seven Years War ) , the post had a French garrison of 10 soldiers , a commandant , blacksmith , Catholic priest , interpreter , and 15 additional households . With their victory in the war , the British took over the fort and maintained it for the fur trade . During the American Revolutionary War , they used it to supply their American Indian allies against the rebellious Continentals . The Spanish raided the fort in 1781 and briefly claimed it and the St . Joseph River as their territory . The British maintained the fort until after the United States victory in the Northwest Indian War and the signing of Jay ' s Treaty in 1795 . After the British abandoned the fort , it fell into ruin and was overtaken by forest . The fort site was not rediscovered until 1998 . An archeology excavation has been underway since 2002 . Among the rare artifacts discovered is an intact Jesuit religious medallion from the 1730s , one of only two found in North America . In December 2010 , the team revealed a foundation wall and corner posts of one of the original buildings . The site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a state - registered site as well . French and Indian War . During the Battle of Jumonville Glen , considered the first battle of the French and Indian War in North America , Joseph Coulon de Jumonville was killed . He was the son of Nicolas - Antoine Coulon de Villiers and the half - brother of Captain Louis Coulon de Villiers , who was stationed at Fort St . Joseph . Louis Coulon de Villiers vowed revenge for his brother ' s death . After the British victory in the French and Indian War , France turned the fort over to the British , who occupied it in October 1761 . On May 25 , 1763 , during Pontiac ' s Rebellion , the fort was captured by Potawatomi warriors . They killed most of the British 15 - man garrison outright , and took the commander , Ensign Francis Schlosser , captive . They took him to Detroit to be ransomed as a prisoner , as was common for higher - ranking men . After Pontiac ' s Rebellion , the British no longer used the fort as a military outpost , but continued to maintain it as an important trading post . American Revolution . Raid of 1780 . During the war , the British used Fort St . Joseph to equip the Miami , Potawatomi , and other American Indians who were their allies in the war against the rebellious Continentals . In 1780 Americans from Cahokia , Illinois , led by Jean - Baptiste Hamelin and Lt . Thomas Brady , raided the fort . The British Lt . Dagreaux Du Quindre led forces after the raiding party ; he overtook and defeated them near Petit Fort ( in present - day Indiana ) . Spanish Expedition of 1781 . After the defeat of Hamelin ' s party , two Milwaukee chiefs , " El Heturnò " and " Naquiguen " , traveled to Spanish - held St . Louis ; they arrived on 26 December 1780 , to report the failed raid . They asked for assistance to raid the fort again . Don Francisco Cruzat , Commandant of St . Louis , dispatched the militia Captain Don Eugenio Pouré with 60 volunteers and Native allies . The force also included Ensign Charles Tayon and the interpreter Louis Chevalier . The Spanish and Native force travelled via the Illinois River and Kankakee River to modern Dunns Bridge , Indiana , where it turned Northeast and marched towards Fort St . Joseph . Before the Spanish and their allies attacked the fort , they promised the Potawatomi half the bounty if they would remain neutral . Captain Pouré took Fort St . Joseph by surprise on 12 February 1781 by racing across the ice and taking the fort before the defenders could take up arms . He had the Spanish colors raised and claimed Fort St . Joseph and the St . Joseph River for Spain . His troops plundered the fort for one day , distributing the goods among natives before departing . Lt . Dagneau de Quindre arrived the next day , but was unable to persuade his native allies to pursue the raiders as they had done the previous year . The Spanish arrived at St . Louis on 6 March without incident . Pouré delivered the British flag to Cruzat . Some historians have described the attack as Spanish retaliation for the British attack on St . Louis in the previous year . When Cruzat wrote about it to Governor Gálvez , he justified the raid as needing to appear strong to his Native allies , and to forestall British actions in the region . Although Cruzat treated the raid as an act of Indian affairs , the looting and destruction of goods held at Fort St . Joseph also dissuaded a second British attack into Spanish territory . Jay ' s Treaty . The British finally abandoned the fort after the United States victory in the Northwest Indian War and the signing of Jay ' s Treaty in 1795 . The fort gradually fell into ruin and was overgrown . Based on its Fort St . Joseph expedition , Spain claimed lands east of the Mississippi River , but this was not recognized by the United States . With the signing of Pinckney ' s Treaty ( 1795 ) with the US , Spain gave up any claim of land east of the Mississippi . Because of the long dispute over the land , the diplomats Benjamin Franklin and John Jay considered the Spanish Fort St . Joseph campaign to have been little more than a ploy to claim the Northwest Territory . Franklin warned they want to " shut us up within the Appalachian Mountains . " Rediscovery to present . Pothunters in the late 1800s recovered hundreds of artifacts from the fort site , which are now displayed in the Fort St . Joseph Museum in Niles . They include " trade silver , musket parts , glass beads , buttons , gunflints , knife blades , and door hinges . " The specific location of the 15 - acre fort site was forgotten , and part of is likely underwater since a dam upriver raised the water level . The site was not rediscovered until an archeological survey in 1998 . Support the Fort , a local interest group founded in 1992 , helped sponsor a major archeological excavation on site , which began in 2002 . The team from Western Michigan University ( WMU ) has conducted a public archeology program as the project has developed , with a total of 10 , 000 visitors coming to the annual two - day field school . WMU ' s related activities have included workshops for graduate students and volunteers , three week - long training programs for middle school and high school teachers , and community outreach , including biweekly lectures at the library . The seasonal excavations have uncovered rare artifacts , such as a 1730s Jesuit religious medallion , one of only two found in North America . In December 2010 the team made a critical find of a foundation wall and two wooden posts of one of the buildings , helping establish its scale . Support the Fort has arranged related annual living history exhibits and re - enactments , featuring elements of Potowatomi , French , British and American life at the fort and in the region . In the future , they intend to construct a replica of the fort , with space to interpret the artifacts found through controlled excavation . This was the only fort in Michigan to be controlled by four different nations : France , Great Britain , Spain , and the United States . It was always a multicultural site , a meeting and trading place for the ethnic Europeans with the Potowatomi , Ottawa and Ojibwe American Indian nations , and sometimes an occasion for marriage of their members .