The Spanish explorer
Hernando de Soto and his soldiers may have built a fort nearby as early as 1540. Maps from the early 18th century show an "Ancien Fort" ("Old Fort") near this location. shoreline in 2010 Fort Massac was built by the French in 1757, during the
French and Indian War and was originally called "Fort de L’Ascension". The name was changed in 1759, to honor of
Claud Louis d'Espinchal, Marquis de Massiac, the
French Naval Minister.
Massiac is a French town in the
Cantal department. The French left the fort at the conclusion of the war, and it was destroyed by the
Chickasaw sometime after 1763. In 1778, during the
American Revolutionary War, Colonel
George Rogers Clark led his regiment of "
Long Knives" into Illinois near the site of the fort at Massac Creek. The fort was rebuilt in 1794, during the
Northwest Indian War. In 1805, General
James Wilkinson and Vice President
Aaron Burr held discussions at the fort. It is unclear, what connection this meeting may have had to the unfolding
Burr Conspiracy (1806–1807), but as an important river fort in what was then the western United States, the fort was connected to several events related to the conspiracy. The Fort was repaired after being damaged in the
1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes, but it was decommissioned in 1814. ==State park and historic site==