the park. An Erielhonan legend taught that the Great Spirit led them to Presque Isle because of the wealth of game, the abundance of clean fresh water, and the cool breezes "coming from the land of snow and ice" (i.e. Canada). Another legend explains how the Erielhonan ventured into Lake Erie in search of the land where the sun set, but the spirit of the lake blew a fierce storm to keep them from finding it. To protect the Erielhonan from the storm, their god laid his outstretched arm into the lake, giving them safety during the storm. The god's arm remained in the lake, protecting the tribe's future generations. The Erielhonan are believed to have lived and farmed on the peninsula. They fought several wars, the last starting in 1653 with the Five Nations of the Iroquois. Despite initial victories over the Senecas, in 1654 the Erielhonans' largest village, Rique (at the modern city of Erie), was destroyed by 1,800 Iroquois warriors. By 1656, the Erielhonan had been destroyed as a people, although the Iroquois adopted survivors who were absorbed primarily into the Senecas. Forts, settlers, and War of 1812 The French first named the peninsula in the 1720s; presque-isle means peninsula (lit. "almost an island") in French. They built Fort Presque Isle at the modern city of Erie in the summer of 1753, naming it for the peninsula that protected the fort. The French also built two "military outposts" on Presque Isle itself. The first outpost was located at the entrance to the peninsula and the second was built at the eastern point. During the French and Indian War, the French abandoned their outposts and burned their fort in 1759. The British constructed a new fort of the same name that year, which later fell to Native American forces on June 19, 1763, during Pontiac's Rebellion. Presque Isle passed from British to American control after the American Revolutionary War, and the Iroquois sold their rights to the land containing the peninsula to the United States at the second Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1784. Pennsylvania did not acquire an undisputed title to the land until it purchased the Erie Triangle from the federal government on April 3, 1792. In 1795 General Anthony Wayne built a new, American "Fort Presque Isle", and on April 18 of that year the town of "Presqu' Ile", since renamed Erie, was laid out