Fort de Chartres, built in the heart of what would become the American midwest, embodied French colonial power for half a century.
The book, Lives of Fort de Chartres, by David MacDonald, details the French colonial experience in Illinois from 1720 to 1770 through depictions of the places, people, and events around the fort and its neighbouring villages.
Published this year by Southern Illinois University Press, the book provides biographical sketches of various people who lived at Fort de Chartres, near what is Prairie du Rocher, Illinois today.
In his blog, Curieuse Nouvelle France, Joseph Gagné recommends this book to those interested in reading about the history of New France in the US. Last year, he had helped the author with the manuscripts. (In the book’s acknowledgements, Mr. Gagné is described as “emerging as a leader in the new generation of scholars of Nouvelle France and French Louisiana.”)
In the first section of th Lives of Fort de Chartres, Mr. MacDonald explores the history of French Illinois and the role of the fort, focusing on native people, settlers, slaves, soldiers, villages, trade routes, military administration, and the decline of French rule in Illinois.
The second section profiles the fort’s twelve distinctive and often colorful commandants, who also served as administrative heads of French Illinois.
In the third section, the author presents ten thought-provoking biographies of people whose lives intersected with Fort de Chartres in various ways, from a Kaskaskia Indian woman known as “the Mother of French Illinois” to an ill-fated chicken thief, and a European aristocrat.
The book is available from Amazon (where you can look inside at several pages), ChaptersIndigo, the publisher, and elsewhere.
