Fort Crevecoeur (French: Fort Crèvecœur) was the first public building erected by Europeans within the boundaries of the modern state of Illinois and the first fort built in the West by the French. It was founded on the east bank of the Illinois River, in the Illinois Country near the present site of Creve Coeur, a suburb of Peoria, Illinois, in January 1680. It was destroyed on April 16, 1680 by members of La Salle's expedition, who mutinied and abandoned it, fearful of being attacked by the Iroquois League as the Beaver Wars extended into the area.
Reestablishing a more lasting presence, the French founded Fort St Louis du Pimiteoui nearby in 1691, at the former Kaskaskia village destroyed by the Iroquois (Pimiteoui being the French name for what is now called Peoria Lake, a noted widening in the Illinois River). It became a center of trade and was partially settled during the colonial period. Henri de Tonti was a primary founder of both the Crevecouer and Pimiteoui posts.
Founding
On January 15, 1680, French explorers René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, and Henri de Tonti began construction of a stockade they would call Fort Crèvecoeur (Broken Heart). It was intended to help the local Peoria tribe defend themselves against the powerful Iroquois league, who had entered this region to secure hunting grounds for the beaver fur trade. On that day in January, Mass was celebrated and the Gospel preached by the Récollets, Gabriel Ribourde, Zenobius Membre, and Louis Hennepin. They finished the fort in early March, naming it "Fort Broken Heart" because of the difficulties, including desertions of troops, that they suffered during its construction.
Dr. Daniel Coxe wrote in 1719: Monsieur LaSalle erected a fort in the year 1680, which he named Crève-coeur, from the Grief which seiz'd him on the Loss of one of his chief trading Barks richly laden, and the Mutiny and villianous Intrigues of some of his Company, who first attempted to poyson and afterwards desert him.
La Salle also started building a 40-ton barque to replace Le Griffon, which had disappeared several months before. On March 1, 1680, La Salle set off on foot for Fort Frontenac for supplies (including rigging for the ship), leaving Henri de Tonti to hold Fort Crèvecoeur in Illinois.
Disputed Location
In 2022 appeared articles disputing the location of Fort Crevecoeur, placing it south of Beardstown. These build on work cited in 2006.
Destruction
While on his return trip up the Illinois River, La Salle concluded that Starved Rock might provide an ideal location for another fortification and sent word downriver to Tonti regarding this idea. Following La Salle’s instructions, Henri de Tonti had left Fort Crèvecoeur on April 15, 1680 with Father Ribourde and two other men, to begin fortifying the settlement and Fort St. Louis at Starved Rock.
The next day, the remaining seven men, led by Martin Chartier, pillaged Fort Crèvecoeur of all provisions and ammunition, destroyed the fort, and headed back to Canada. On visiting the ruins of the fort a few days later, La Salle observed that someone had written on the side of the unfinished barque, "Nous sommes tous sauvages," ["We are all savages"].
The mutiny was probably caused by the men's fear of being killed by Iroquois raiding parties. They had invaded the region from their stronghold south of the Great Lakes, and were disrupting and attacking the local Illinois communities at the height of the Beaver Wars. The men had demanded that La Salle return with them to Canada, which he was unwilling to do.
In addition, one of the mutineers, shipbuilder Moyse Hillaret who was later captured, testified that "some [of the men] had had no pay for three years," and alleged that La Salle had mistreated them. In a deposition made before the Sieur du Chesneau, Intendant of New France, dated 17 August 1680, Hillaret stated the mutineers were dissatisfied "because the said Sieur de La Salle wanted them to build sleighs to draw his goods and personal effects as far as the village of the Illinois [the site of the proposed Fort St. Louis (Starved Rock)]."