Editor’s note: This chronology was compiled by reporter Nancy Weil using a variety of sources including a series of papers written by Anna Price, who, on state and national grants, spent time in France researching Fort de Chartres, using original documents.
1682: Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, at the juncture of the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico, took possession of the Mississippi Valley and all land watered by its tributaries in the name of France.
1718: John Law formed a commercial venture, Law’s Company of the West, establishing the region’s first true government and trade structure. Law was granted a charter from France that gave the company control over Louisiana.
Louisiana spanned an area covering Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois and southeastern Indiana.
Law’s company held a trade and import monopoly, had jurisdiction over forts, ports and garrisons, owned all mines and appointed all officials. His company was succeeded by the Company of the Indies, created by merging commercial companies operating in India and Africa.
1720: Under the Company of the Indies, commandant Pierre Dugue Sieur de Boisbriant arrived in Kaskaskia with a staff of army officers, government officials, soldiers and assorted employees. He immediately began work on a fort, 18 miles north of Kaskaskia on the Mississippi River’s east bank.
The log two-bastion structure, named Fort de Chartres to honor the son of the French regent, was completed the same year.
Law’s trade structure collapsed, leading to administrative reform in the Company of the Indies, including the division of Louisiana into military districts.
1721: Louisiana was divided into nine military districts — New Orleans, Biloxi, Mobile, Alibamu, Natchitoches, Natchez, Yazoo, Arkans and the Illinois.
The Illinois Country was located north to Wisconsin, east to Vincennes, Ind., and west to the Missouri River. Settlement was concentrated on both sides of the Mississippi River from Cahokia to Kaskaskia.
1723: The Company of the Indies decided Louisiana wasn’t a good investment after hopes that the region contained vast stores of silver, copper and gold proved untrue. The company cut expenses and shipments to the colony’s north and reduced garrisons.
The governor was ordered to withdraw all the company’s Illinois property and the Fort de Chartres garrison to New Orleans
The order was not obeyed, possibly because of continued threats from the Fox Indians,
1725: Construction was begun on a second wooden fort, which was finished in February of 1726,
(These dates are based on Price’s research in France. Earlier histories and articles said the second fort was finished in 1726.)
The British exercised considerable influence over various Indian tribes, offering gifts and. cheap trade goods to the Chickasaw, Natchez and Cherokee tribes. This influence apparently was used to persuade tribes to simultaneously attack the French. The Natchez military district was prematurely struck in November of 1729 by Indians, who killed 238 French.
1731: The Company of the Indies, realizing its policies were endangering Louisiana, petitioned to have the colony returned to the crown. Louisiana became a royal province and government modeled on the English colonial system was introduced.
1732: Robert Groston, Sieur de St. Ange, commandant of the Illinois district, ordered a new fort built to replace the wood structure, which was “entirely decayed and indefensible,” according to a letter from the Louisiana government based at New Orleans.
A year later, St. Ange wrote that Indian tribes were restless and he felt a strong garrison and officers were needed at Fort de Chartres.
1723: Pierre Dartaguiette replaced St. Ange and immediately worked on suppressing the Cahokia Indians. Dartaguiette warned the governor that Fort de Chartres was in bad condition, with decaying stakes and cramped lodgings. The following year, Governor Bienville reported the concerns to French authorities and recommended a masonry fort to replace the wooden structure.
Throughout the mid-1730s, Fort de Chartres was threatened by Indian tribes aligned with the British. Dartaguiette died while attacking a Chickasaw village in 1736. The Indians were tipped off to the French invasion by British traders.
Meanwhile, plans for a stone fort at Kaskaskia hadn’t been completed. Labor difficulties and deficits in both supplies and soldiers, left Illinois Country in desperate need of an adequate fort. French forces received a convoy of supplies and some of the best soldiers from the New. Orleans garrison to replace those lost in the Chickasaw battle.
Governor Bienville sent with the convoy orders to build the fort near Kaskaskia. But in 1739, a host of problems convinced Bienville to build the masonry fort at the Wabash River.
1742: The new fort commandant, Sieur De Bertet, arrived from France. Assorted issues thwarted construction plans, so the military headquarters of Illinois Country remained at Fort de Chartres.
1743: Bienville was replaced by Pierre Francois, Baron De Cavagnal, Marquis De Vaudeuil. The new governor was more decisive than Bienville and quickly moved to take control of Indian tribes and halt the influence of British traders. He also established discipline among the soldiers.
1744: France and Great Britain declared war. The governor decided that a strong fort was needed and began preparations. De Bertet by then had persuaded Kickapoo and Mascoutah tribes to move from Terre Haute, Ind., to the new fort site. The Indians, with the proposed garrison, helped protect Illinois Country. A masonry fort was recommended, but plans were supplied for wood and stone forts in case the French decided that masonry was too expensive.
1749: Commandant De Bertet died unexpectedly after France finally agreed to fort construction. The project was halted when De Bertet died.
1751: Major Jean Jacques Macarty-Mactique arrived in April to become commandant.
Governor Vaudreuil had decided to build the fort in the Illinois Country, but unrest among Indian tribes and government policy calling for growth led officials to move the fort location back to Kaskaskia.
Commandant Macarty, however, pushed Vaudreuil to reconsider, arguing that Fort de Chartres was a more advantageous location. He couldn’t persuade the governor. But before construction began Vaudreuil was replaced by Governor Kerlerec, who agreed with Macarty.
1753: Work on the new Fort de Chartres started.
1754: The last in a series of campaigns in North America began with England fighting France. Called the French and Indian War, the conflict lasted until 1763 and ended French control in the West and Canada.
1755: The fort was occupied. (Most histories use this year as the date of completion, but according to Price’s research the fort was not finished until five years later.)
1760: Louisiana’s chief fiscal officer, Rochemore (who had complained about financial irregularities and exorbitant spending in the Illinois Country, and recommended control be given to Canada), told his superiors in New Orleans that the fort would be finished by the end of the year.
The fort was said to have cost $1 million to build. For a few years, it was the strongest fort in North America.
1765: Fort de Chartres was France’s administrative headquarters in the Illinois Country until France surrendered to England to fulfill the 1763 treaty that ended the French and Indian War. France surrendered Oct. 10, 1765, and British troops peaceably took over the fort, renaming it Fort Cavendish.
Fort de Chartres was the last place in North America to fly the French flag under that nations rule.
1772: The British abandoned the fort because the south walls were undermined by the changing course of the Mississippi River. Settlers carried away tons of stone for use in buildings. Part of the old powder magazine was all that remained of the original structure.