Upper Canada, sent a message to Captain Charles Roberts, commander of Fort St. Joseph, ordering to prepare for immediate attack on Michilimackinac. On 16 July 1812, Captain Roberts and an army of British soldiers, French Canadian voyageurs (most of them from nearby Sault Ste. Marie), and about four hundred Ottawa, Ojibwa, Menominee, and Winnebago warriors set off on an flotilla towards Fort Michilimackinac. The mission was accomplished without major incident and the task force landed at British Landing on Mackinac Island on the morning of 17 July 1812. Lieutenant Porter Hanks, commander of Fort Michilimackinac, was unprepared for an attack and Fort Michilimackinac was severely under-manned. Before Lieutenant Hanks' men could act, Captain Roberts's army had already taken position and Hanks had no choice but to surrender. Meanwhile, Americans from Detroit arrived at Fort St. Joseph to find it deserted and they burned the fort and the North West Company storehouses that were present there. Until the end of the war, it was indisputable that Michilimackinac was British, but when the peace treaty was signed in December 1814, Michilimackinac was restored to the Americans and the British decided not to rebuild Fort St. Joseph. The British then built a fort on Drummond Island between St. Joseph and Mackinaw, but maintained the use of the powder magazine at the otherwise abandoned Fort St. Joseph. Fort St. Joseph was then forgotten when the British moved the garrison to Penetanguishene after the decline of the fur trade. Today Until the early 1920s, no one had undertaken a serious interest in the forgotten fort. At that time, the Sault Ste. Marie Historical Society began to explore the ruins. It wasn't until shortly after World War II that a road was built to the site and a small picnic area established. The University of Toronto showed interest in the site in the late 1950s, and teams began archaeological digs in the summers of 1963 and 1964. It was not until 1974 that Parks Canada assumed control of the site and a visitor centre was built. Today, archaeological digs continue and many new artifacts are discovered with each new excavation. The park attracts hundreds of visitors annually. See also Chronology of the War of 1812 War of 1812 Campaigns List of forts Upper Canada Fort Mackinac Islands of the Great Lakes Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Affiliations The Museum is affiliated with: CMA, CHIN, and Virtual Museum