Fort Brady 1850

Fort Brady 1850. . American troops arrived in Sault Ste. Marie in the summer of 1822 to establish a fort by provision of the Treaty Lewis Cass signed here in 1820. The fort signaled the end of the long French and British occupation of the territory. The fort was established as the first American post in the Upper Peninsula with the purpose of protecting and spreading the American influence in the developing north country. , The troops sent to man the post constructed Fort Brady, named in honor of its first commanding officer. , The posts for the fort wall were cut in the vicinity of the fort. The wall was made of cedar posts about 8” in diameter, 12' high, placed close together and set firmly in the ground. The top of each post was sharpened to a point and holes were cut in the walls for observation and firing. , Timber for two blockhouses and the buildings within the enclosure were taken from the hill to the south of the settlement. Access to the hill was on a road cut by the soldiers, the greater part of this road is now Ashman Street. , Blockhouses were erected on the northeast and southwest corners of the stockade. They extended beyond the walls placing the interior walls under "crossfire, with half the stockade being commanded by each blockhouse. The foundation of the northeast blockhouse was at the river's edge permitting water to be secured from the river with it going outside the palisade. South of the fort wall, the post garden was located and beyond that, the cemetery. , Within the fort walls, the first buildings were constructed of logs and hewn timbers. They included a headquarters building, officer's and men's quarters, sickbay and bakery. The log buildings, repaired from time to time, stood until after the Civil War when they were replaced by frame structures which remained until the post was moved in 1892. , This reproduction of the fort wall is approximately on the west line of the original stockade.