User:Russell D. Jones/Beaver Wars/Draft

1643 -- The Iroquois sack Ste. Marie

1680 -- Iroquois sack Fort Crevecoeur in Illinois country.

1684 -- Goaded by New York governor Thomas Dongan, Iroquois attack southern Ontario and east, eventually reaching Montreal. This allowed English fur traders to infiltrate New France as far as the Straits of Mackinac by 1685.

1686 -- French counterattack under Marquis de Denonville.

Denonville ordered the construction of more forts. Nicholas Perrot placed in charge of construction. Built one fort in the Wisconsin area between Green Bay and the Mississippi River intending to demonstrate to the Miami, Fox, Sauk, Pottawatomie, and other nations of the region that the French meant to repel further westward encroachments by the Iroquois. A second fort was built in the St. Joseph river valley to send the same message to the Miami and Pottawatomie that were then migrating around the southern tip of Lake Michigan. To facilitate strengthening this fort, Denonville authorized a Jesuit mission at St. Joseph. The mission was built near present day Niles, Michigan, by 1690.