2063

IL. Fort de Chartres. Joseph Lefebvre. June 17, 1764. VF, some folds.

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IL. Fort de Chartres. Joseph Lefebvre. June 17, 1764. VF, some folds.
<B>IL. </B><I>Fort de Chartres. </I>Joseph Lefebvre. June 17, 1764. Manuscript Troop Payment in the amount of <b>Six Livres Seventeen Sols, and Four Deniers. </b>Signed by Joseph Lefebvre, the King's Commissary. #893. <B>VF,</B> some folds. <BR>    In 1673, France claimed the Illinois Country. In 1718 the French reorganized the administration of their American possessions and removed the Illinois Country from Canadian jurisdiction and made it part of Louisiana. The Government of this vast territory was located in New Orleans, and was turned over to the Company of the Indies, a commercial enterprise chartered by King Louis XV.
In December of 1718 a contingent of soldiers, officials and workmen were sent north to establish a civil government in the region. A wooden fort was soon constructed eighteen miles north of the village of Kaskaskia from which the civil authority would operate and whose military presence it was hoped would pacify the Fox Tribe.
//This wooden stockade was surrounded by a dry moat and held several interior buildings including a storehouse and a counting house used by the Indies Company. The stockade, named Fort de Chartres in honor of Louis duc de Chartres, son of the regent of France, quickly deteriorated due to frequent flooding. Work on a larger fort, located farther inland, began around 1725.
//By 1731 the Company of the Indies went out of business due to bad management, poor relations with the local Native Americans, and the failure to discover any gold or other precious metals. In January of 1731 the company returned control of Louisiana back to the king. In 1747, with the second fort in considerable disrepair, the garrison relocated to nearby Kaskaskia.
//During the 1730s the French leaders began discussing building a stone fort to protect their interests in the region. Construction of the new fort was slow due to dissension on where the fort was to be located. Construction finally began in the 1750s and although the fort was operational by 1754, additions and improvements continued until 1760.
In 1763 France surrendered the Illinois Country along with most of its North American possessions to Great Britain when it signed the Treaty of Paris that ended the Seven Years War. British troops of the 42nd Royal Highland Regiment took possession of Fort de Chartres on October 10, 1765. <b>This note was issued between the time the Treaty of Paris was signed, and day the British took over.</b>
//By 1900 the only remnant of the fort that existed above ground was the powder magazine, considered by many to be the oldest building in Illinois.