The Trojan Horse of the 1700s
STORY BY PAIGE JASMINE GILMAR
George Etherington was a man who took his military service seriously, spending the mid- to late-1700s climbing the ranks of the British army. But Etherington had one weakness—and that was for sports.
Born in Delaware in 1733, Etherington rose to the rank of captain in 1756 while serving in the Seven Years’ War. So, when he took command of Fort Michilimackinac, at the confluence of lakes Huron and Michigan, in 1762, he carried the confidence of British military superiority with him—but that wouldn’t last for long.
Etherington and his garrison were responsible for salvaging the tenuous relationship between the Brits, French and the Ojibwe and Sauk tribes, but even for Etherington, that was a big feat.
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