| During
the War of 1812 the United States was poorly
equipped having practically no army, no navy and
few forts. The only fort in this region at the
time was the one in Detroit, but the surrender of
that city by General William Hull left this area
under British control which was also aided by the
Indians in that territory. Charles Gratiot, who had
graduated from West Point in 1806 and was
appointed to the Corps of Engineers and promoted
to captain in 1808. Serving with General Harrison
who was put in charge to recapture Detroit in
1813, Gratiot took part in the defense of Fort
Meigs against Proctor, and though Detroit was
recaptured, most of the Indians continued to ally
themselves with the British.
To protect the
Americans from the hostile Indians, General
Harrison directed a fort to be built and Captain
Gratiot, then engineer, selected this site which
was probably the site of, or in very close
proximity, to the fort erected by the Frenchman
Duluth. Here Gratiot laid out the plans for the
construction of the fort whose base was formed by
logs, and upon this was piled earth with upright
timbers forming the stockade. The fort was
occupied from this time until 1821 and then was
abandoned and left to rot until 1828 when the
unrest among the Wisconsin Indians gave cause to
rebuild and again occupy the fort.
In 1817 General
Charles Gratiot became Chief Engineer of Dept.
No. 3, which embraced Michigan and the Northwest
Territory and thus made his home for a time in
Detroit. Two years later, in March of 1809 he was
ordered to Old Point Comfort and put in charge of
the important defenses at Hampton Roads,
including Fortress Monroe and Fort Coalhoun which
were deemed of great importance. In 1819 he was
promoted to colonel and chief engineer in the
United States Army, and put in charge of the
Corps of Engineers and the Engineer Bureau at
Washington. He served in this position until
1838. A matter over the financing and delay of
construction later led President Van Buren to
dismiss Charles Gratiot from the service of the
United States and a suit was brought against him
and would for several years and through different
presidential administrations continue to clear
his name and the matter of dismissal. While
fighting his case, he remained in Washington and
supported his family by serving as a clerk in the
General Land Office. He continued to hold this
office until a short time before his death when
he returned to St. Louis and died at the age of
sixty-nine on 18 May 1855 and laid to rest at
Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis.
Note: Gratiot's
address to the Senate is entitled "Memorial
of Charles Gratiot, stating that he had been
unjustly dismissed from the Army of the United
States, and asking an expression of the opinion
of the Senate as to the legality of the course
pursued towards him," and is dated 15 Jan
1852.
See my Google Library for the full text.
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