Jean François Hamtramck

Jean François Hamtramck (sometimes called John Francis Hamtramck) (1756 - 1803) was a French-Canadian from Quebec who joined the Continental Army and became a decorated officer in the American Revolutionary War.

After the war he continued in the service and, in 1787, he was made commander of Vincennes in the Illinois Country, where he negotiated a peace treaty with local Native American tribes.

In Autumn of 1790, Major Hamtramck was ordered to move against Indian villages on the Wabash, Vermilion, and Eel Rivers to create a distraction from the campaign led by General Josiah Harmar. The Hamtramck expedition was comprised of his own garrison, with militia from the local French residents and Kentucky. They found only one empty village, and lacked the supplies to reach more villages with the full force. Hamtramck returned to Vincennes, learning later that a force of 600 warriors from the Wabash tribes had assembled to fight- nearly double his own force. Hamtramck considered the Wabash force evidence that his primary mission had been accomplished. [Barnhart, pp 287-288]

In 1793, Hamtramck was named lieutenant colonel in the Legion of the United States led by General Anthony Wayne to secure the Northwest Territory. Hamtramck was cited for bravery at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. Hamtramck, now a full colonel, took possession of the British Fort Lernoult and the settlement of Detroit for the United States on July 11, 1796. Fort Lernoult was later renamed Fort Shelby. He remained in Detroit until his death in 1803, living in a house on land that is now Gabriel Richard Park near the present bridge to Belle Isle. He was buried at Saint Anne de Detroit Catholic Church, his body being moved in 1817 to the new Saint Anne's, then, in 1866, to Mount Elliot Cemetery.

In 1827, one of the four townships in Wayne County was named for him, a portion of which later became the city of Hamtramck, Michigan.

Notes

Sources

* Barnhart, John D. and Riker, Dorothy L. "Indiana to 1816. The Colonial Period." ©1971, Indiana Historical Society. ISBN 0-87195-109-6