Fort Sandoské was a French military fort, built about 1750 on what is now called the

Marblehead Peninsula Marblehead may refer to: Places in the United States * Marblehead, Illinois * Marblehead, Massachusetts * Marblehead, Ohio * Marblehead, Wisconsin Other uses * Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race, a biannual sailing race on the North Atlantic * USS ...

on the northern side of

Sandusky Bay Sandusky Bay is a bay on Lake Erie in northern Ohio, formed at the mouth of the Sandusky River. It was identified as ''Lac Sandouské'' on a 1718 French map, with early variations recorded that suggest the name was derived from Native American l ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, near the traditional portage place from the bay to

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( ) is the fourth-largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and also has the shortest avera ...

. It was built at a site formerly occupied about 1745 by a trading-post run by mostly Pennsylvanian ("English") fur-traders, who had been given permission by

Wyandot Wyandot may refer to: Native American ethnography * Wyandot people, who have been called Wyandotte, Huron, Wendat and Quendat * Wyandot language, an Iroquoian language * Wyandot Nation of Kansas, an unrecognized tribe and nonprofit organization ...

chief Nicolas Orontony. About 1748 or 1749, French soldiers from

Fort Detroit A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lati ...

expelled the English and took over the site. This specific site was never a British military outpost, but some historians asserted it had been. The English

Fort Sandusky Fort Sandusky refers to at least three separate military forts that were built by French and English forces at three different sites in the area of Sandusky Bay and the Sandusky River in northern Ohio. They were the French Fort Sandoske (built 1749 ...

was not built until 1761 and it was constructed in a different location southeast of the bay. The future site of

Venice, Ohio Ross is a census-designated place (CDP) in Ross Township, Butler County, Ohio, United States. The population was 3,478 at the 2020 census. Ross sits along U.S. Route 27 between Cincinnati, Ohio and Oxford, Ohio. Ross is part of the Cincinnati m ...

developed near here. That fort was overrun and destroyed in 1763 during

Pontiac's War Pontiac's War (also known as Pontiac's Conspiracy or Pontiac's Rebellion) was launched in 1763 by a confederation of Native Americans who were dissatisfied with British rule in the Great Lakes region following the French and Indian War (1754– ...

. There was much confusion about the affiliation of trading posts and forts around Sandusky Bay. The French briefly used Fort Sandoské to secure supply and communication between

Fort Niagara Fort Niagara, also known as Old Fort Niagara, is a fortification originally built by New France to protect its interests in North America, specifically control of access between the Niagara River and Lake Ontario, the easternmost of the Great L ...

and Fort Detroit. It was already abandoned by 1754, when French lieutenant and engineer Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Léry passed through the area with forces to reinforce Fort Detroit. He sketched the remains of this fort's layout/plan and included it in a campaign journal, one of eight of his held by

Laval University Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of: People * House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne * Laval (surname) Places Belgium * Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Luxe ...

in Quebec.

References

External links

Home , Ohio History Connection
Sandoske Buildings and structures in Ottawa County, Ohio Sandoske French-American culture in Ohio History of Ohio 1750 establishments in the French colonial empire {{NewFrance-stub