Fort Saint Charles (1732) on

Lake of the Woods Lake of the Woods (; ) is a lake occupying parts of the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba and the U.S. state of Minnesota. Lake of the Woods is over long and wide, containing more than 14,552 islands and of shoreline. It is fed by t ...

was the second post built by

La Vérendrye La Vérendrye, La Verendrye or Verendrye may refer to: People *Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye (1685–1749), French Canadian military officer, fur trader and explorer, often called simply "La Vérendrye". His sons were: **Jean ...

during his expansion of trade and exploration west of Lake Superior. It was located on Magnuson's Island on the

Northwest Angle The Northwest Angle, known simply as the Angle by locals, and coextensive with Angle Township, is a pene-exclave of northern Lake of the Woods County, Minnesota. Excluding surveying errors, it is the only place in the contiguous United States ...

of Minnesota, 3.5 miles east of

Angle Inlet, Minnesota Angle Inlet is a census-designated place (CDP) and unincorporated community in Angle Township, Lake of the Woods County, Minnesota, United States. Its population was 54 as of the 2020 census. The community is part of the Northwest Angle, the ...

and one mile southwest of Penasse, Minnesota, the most northerly point in that state. The site of the modern reconstruction may be somewhat different since the lake levels were raised by control structures on the

Winnipeg River Winnipeg River is a Canadian river that flows roughly northwest from Lake of the Woods in the province of Ontario to Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba. This river is long from the Norman Dam in Kenora to its mouth at Lake Winnipeg. Its drainage basin, w ...

. For related forts, see

reached the north shore of Lake Superior in late 1731 and sent men ahead to build Fort St. Pierre on

Rainy Lake Rainy Lake ( French: '; Ojibwe: ') is a freshwater lake with a surface area of that straddles the border between the United States and Canada. The Rainy River issues from the west side of the lake. Today it is harnessed to make hydroelectricit ...

. In July or August 1732 he, his eldest son

Jean Baptiste de La Vérendrye Jean-Baptiste Gaultier de la Vérendrye (September 3, 1713 – June 6, 1736) was the eldest son of Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye and Marie-Anne Dandonneau Du Sablé. He was born on Île Dupas near Sorel, New France Jean Baptis ...

, his nephew

Christopher Dufrost de La Jemeraye Christopher Dufrost de La Jemeraye, also known as Christophe Dufrost de La Jemerais with various variations on the last name (December 6, 1708May 10, 1736), was the lieutenant and nephew of Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye in the exp ...

, Father Charles-Michel Mesaiger and 50 canoes of Indians left Fort Saint Pierre and built Fort Saint Charles on Lake of the Woods. The fort was 60 by 100 feet with two gates and a double row of 15-foot palisades and four bastions and a watch tower. The internal buildings were roofed with bark. There was abundant fishing, hunting and

wild rice Wild rice, also called manoomin, mnomen, psíŋ, Canada rice, Indian rice, or water oats, is any of four species of grasses that form the genus ''Zizania'', and the grain that can be harvested from them. The grain was historically and is sti ...

, an important matter since it was difficult to haul food from Montreal or

Fort Michilimackinac Fort Michilimackinac (/fóːt ˌmɪʃələˈmækənɔː/ FAWT MISH-ə-lə-MAK-ə-naw) was an 18th-century French, and later British, fort and trading post at the Straits of Mackinac; it was built on the northern tip of the lower peninsula ...

. Next spring he sent Jean Baptiste and La Jameraye down the Winnipeg. They got to within 15 or 20 leagues of the lake when they were blocked by ice. The English on Hudson Bay reported increased activity of

Coureurs des bois A coureur des bois (; ) or coureur de bois (; ) were independent entrepreneurial French Canadians, French Canadian traders who travelled in New France and the interior of North America, usually to trade with Indigenous peoples of the Americas, ...

west of the fort, but La Vérendrye said nothing about them in his reports. On the first of January 1734 a group of

Assiniboines The Assiniboine or Assiniboin people ( when singular, Assiniboines / Assiniboins when plural; Ojibwe: ''Asiniibwaan'', "stone Sioux"; also in plural Assiniboine or Assiniboin), also known as the Hohe and known by the endonym Nakota (or Nakoda ...

reached the fort and brought the Europeans their first news of the Mandans. Some time after this two of his men returned from Lake Winnipeg and the first

Fort Maurepas (Canada) Fort Maurepas was the name of two forts, or one fort in two locations, built by the French in the Lake Winnipeg area in the 1730s: * First Fort Maurepas (Red River) * Second Fort Maurepas (Winnipeg River) They were both named after Jean-Frédé ...

was built soon after. In 1735 La Jameraye's men returned to the Lake from the

Red River of the North The Red River (), also called the Red River of the North () to differentiate it from the Red River of the South, Red River in the south of the continent, is a river in the north-central United States and central Canada. Originating at the confl ...

via the

Roseau River (Manitoba-Minnesota) There are several rivers called the Roseau River: * Roseau River (Dominica), in Dominica * Roseau River (Manitoba–Minnesota), in the Canadian province of Manitoba and the U.S. state of Minnesota *Roseau River, Manitoba, an unincorporated communit ...

, Portage de la Savanne and Reed River. On June 6, 1736 an expedition departed from Fort Saint Charles, consisting of

(the eldest son) with the

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

Father

Jean-Pierre Aulneau Jean-Pierre Aulneau de la Touche (21 April 1705 Moutiers-sur-le-Lay, La Vendée, Kingdom of France – 8 June 1736 Massacre Island, Lake of the Woods, New France, now Ontario, Canada) was a Jesuit missionary priest from La Vendée and a pionee ...

and nineteen French-Canadian ''

voyageurs Voyageurs (; ) were 18th- and 19th-century French and later French Canadians and others who transported furs by canoe at the peak of the North American fur trade. The emblematic meaning of the term applies to places (New France, including the ...

''. They were headed for

to get winter supplies before exploring further west. They had traveled only a few kilometres from the fort when they were attacked by

Dakota people The Dakota (pronounced , or ) are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe (Native American), tribe and First Nations in Canada, First Nations band government in North America. They compose two of the three main subcultur ...

, who killed everyone in the party. The Dakota were retaliating against La Vérendrye ''père'', who was trading guns for beaver skins to their traditional enemies, the

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

and

Assiniboine The Assiniboine or Assiniboin people ( when singular, Assiniboines / Assiniboins when plural; Ojibwe: ''Asiniibwaan'', "stone Sioux"; also in plural Assiniboine or Assiniboin), also known as the Hohe and known by the endonym Nakota (or Nakoda ...

, in an effort to both cover his mounting expenses and get out of debt. The expedition members were killed on a small island, called

Massacre Island, Ontario Massacre Island, Ontario is a small island in Lake of the Woods, a large lake between the United States and Canada. It is believed that this island was the site where, on June 6, 1736, a mixed group of Lakota people, Teton-Lakota, Dakota people, ...

, however historians have been unable to reach consensus on its exact identity. After the massacre was discovered, La Vérendrye ''père'' directed that the bodies of his son and the priest, and the heads of the 19 ''voyageurs'', be brought back for burial at Fort Saint Charles. The remains of his son and the priest were buried under the altar stone of the chapel, and the ''voyageurs'' were buried outside. The fort was abandoned in 1749.

Reconstruction

Long after the fort had been abandoned and disappeared, newly discovered historic documents helped people find its location. In 1890 Father Aulneau's letters sent to family in Vendée, France were discovered. They were translated and published in 1893 by A. S. Jones, s.j.,

archivist An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist can cons ...

of St. Mary's College in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, as ''The Aulneau Collection''. They contributed to the work of

Reuben Gold Thwaites Reuben Gold Thwaites ( May 15, 1853 – October 22, 1913) was an American librarian and historical writer. Biography Thwaites was born in 1853 in Dorchester, Massachusetts. His parents were William George and Sarah Bibbs Thwaites, who had m ...

on compilation and publication of the ''

Jesuit Relations ''The Jesuit Relations'', also known as ''Relations des Jésuites de la Nouvelle-France (Relation de ce qui s'est passé ..'', are chronicles of the Jesuit missions in New France. The works were written annually and printed beginning in 1632 an ...

'', the accounts of missionary Jesuits in New France. Academics at St. Boniface College in Winnipeg read ''The Aulneau Collection'', which inspired a number of expeditions to discover the old sites. By 1908 the old fort location and probable location of Massacre Island had been established. The group that found the fort, accompanied by Louis Arthur Prud'homme, also discovered the skulls of nineteen voyagers from the expedition. In 1911 Prud'homme recounted the conclusions of such expeditions in the ''Bulletin of the Historical Society of St. Boniface.'' In 1912 a

team excavated at the site of the fort, where they identified remains as those of La Vérendrye and Aulneau of the 1736 expedition by artifacts, including Aulneau's

rosary The Rosary (; , in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), formally known as the Psalter of Jesus and Mary (Latin: Psalterium Jesu et Mariae), also known as the Dominican Rosary (as distinct from other forms of rosary such as the ...

and the hook to his

cassock The cassock, or soutane, is a Christian clerical clothing, clerical coat used by the clergy and Consecrated life, male religious of the Oriental Orthodox Churches, Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church, in addition to some clergy in ...

, buried with him under the altar. To celebrate the Golden Anniversary of the Catholic

Knights of Columbus The Knights of Columbus (K of C) is a global Catholic Church, Catholic Fraternal and service organizations, fraternal service order founded by Michael J. McGivney, Blessed Michael J. McGivney. Membership is limited to practicing Catholic men. ...

in Minnesota, they and co-religionists in Manitoba raised funds to buy the property of the fort and reconstruct it, including a

shrine A shrine ( "case or chest for books or papers"; Old French: ''escrin'' "box or case") is a sacred space">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...: ''escri ...

to Fr. Aulneau. (This may be a distortion of the history, as the fort was for commercial purposes.) Begun in 1949, they completed the project in 1950. The Fort is situated on Magnuson's Island, at the site of the old fort, at the mouth of Angle Inlet. Local NW Angle pioneer residents (in particular Norman Carlson and Joe Risser) were instrumental in the reconstruction of Fort St Charles. They provided invaluable machinery and knowledge of the area, and without their assistance, the

would have fallen on hard times in their quest for the restoration.

References

*Elizabeth Browne Losey, "Let Them be Remembered: The Story of the Fur Trade Forts", 1999 *Arthur S Morton, "A History of The Canadian West to 1870-71", (no date, probably 1939)

External links

George Bryce, "The Lake of the Woods: Its History, Geology, Mining and Manufacturing"
MHS ''Transactions Series'' 1, No. 49; Read 23 February 1897, Manitoba Historical Society
Graham A. MacDonald, Review of Robert M. Tegeder, ''Rediscovery & Restoration Fort St. Charles''
{{Coord, 49.361974, N, 94.980921, W, type:landmark_region:CA-MB, display=title Culture of Manitoba Saint Charles Buildings and structures in Lake of the Woods County, Minnesota Saint Charles Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Saint Charles 1732 establishments in the French colonial empire Lake of the Woods National Register of Historic Places in Lake of the Woods County, Minnesota Catholic Church in Minnesota Catholic pilgrimage sites Christian pilgrimages Roman Catholic shrines in the United States