Fort de Chartres

 (1720-1772) - First established in 1720 by the Frenchman, Pierre Duque de Boisbriant. Named after the son of Philip, duke of Orleans, regent of France. Renamed Fort Cavendish by the British when they occupied the Fort on 10 Oct 1765. Abandoned and destroyed in 1772.

French Fort History (1720-1765)
The French established Fort de Chartres as the seat of the Illinois country starting in the 1720's. Three different fort occupied the site, the first two forts were palisaded wood enclosures with corner bastions built in the 1820s. The third fort was a large stone star fort started in 1753 and completed in 1756. This third fort boasted walls two feet thick, eighteen feet high and enclosed about four acres. The buildings inside the walls included government buildings, two officers quarters, two barracks, a magazine and four prison cells. At the center was a large parade ground. The fort served as the center of the French government in Illinois until the French ceded the territory to the British in 1763.

British Fort History (1765-1772)
The British occupied the Fort on 10 Oct 1765 as a result of the 1763 Treaty of Paris which ceded all French lands east of the Mississippi to the British (with the exception of New Orleans). The British renamed it Fort Cavendish and occupied it until it was abandoned and destroyed in 1772.

Current Status
Fort Chartres State Historic Site. Portions of the 1751 third fort have been recreated and reconstructed to portray the times. Sources:
 * , page 259

Links:
 * North American Forts - Fort de Chartres
 * Fort de Chartres State Historic Site
 * Illinois Historic Preservation Agency
 * Capt. Philip Pitman's eyewitness description (1765, printed 1770)