Fort St. Charles (3)
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History of Fort St. CharlesThe fur trading post established by Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye in 1732. The fort was built as a 60' by 100' rectangle with gates on the north and south sides. The walls were formed by a double row of cedar posts with bastions at the corners. The internal buildings included the commandant's quarters, the priest's quarters, a barracks, a chapel, a warehouse and a powder magazine. On 6 Jun 1736 an expedition left for Fort Michilimackinac from Fort St. Charles. Members included Jean Baptiste de La Vérendrye (the eldest son), Father Jean-Pierre Aulneau and nineteen French-Canadian voyageurs. The party was attacked on a small island by hostile Indians who killed and beheaded everyone. La Vérendrye had the bodies of his son and the priest, and the heads of the nineteen voyageurs brought back for burial at Fort Saint Charles. The fort was abandoned in 1754 during the French & Indian War. The remains of the fort were rediscovered in 1908 along with the remains of the massacre victims. The fort was restored in 1950 by the Minnesota Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus, who permanently marked it with a Memorial Altar and later a Chapel of pre-cast concrete logs. The fort stockade and two opposing corner bastions were erected during the summer of 1960. Current StatusFort St. Charles Archeological Site is on the National Register of Historic Places, Site - #83000911.
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