Fort Mackinac may appear to be a small and peaceful complex of 19th century buildings, but the pickets and cannon emlcements around its perimeter remind us that soldiers were expected to defend it to the last man. The three blockhouses form a triangle designed not only to withstand frontal attack, but to be the final place of refuge for soldiers and their families if an enemy broke into the fort. Three-foot thick limestone walls with overhanging second stories enabled defenders to withstand small arms and artillery fire and to return the fire through strategic gun ports.

Truly a formidable bastion, the island would be almost impenetrable to enemy attack from the east, south or west. Unfortunately for the Americans, the enemy came from the north. Fort Mackinac changed hands twice during its early history. Sinclair's British Army reluctantly moved to nearby St. Joseph's Island when the treaty ending the American Revolution awarded Mackinac Island to the young United States. In 1812 at the very outbreak of the second war with Enland, the Redcoats and their indian allies returned and secretly landed on the far north shore. Invaders crept through the woods to the heights overlooking Fort Mackinac, and at dawn on July 17 surprised the sleeping American garrison. The outnumbered and outmaneuvered Lt. Porter Hanks, U.S.A., chose to surrender, and His Majesty's colors waved once again on the post flagpole.

Two years later an american force attempted unsuccessfully to retake the island. What they could not win in battle was again given by treaty. Fort Mackinac once more became American in 1815, and the Army stayed until 1894. Since 1895, Fort Mackinac and the surrounding park have been under the stewardship of the Mackinac Island State Park Commission. The Commissiners manage and maintain the park and preserve the Fort. About 82 percent of the land area of Mackinac Island is within the State Park. In 1904 Michilimackinac State Park in Mackinaw City was addes to the Commissin's responsibilities, and in 1975, he 625-acre Mill Creek State Historic Park in Cheboygan County.

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