In revenge for an earlier attack on the Spanish Post of St. Louis, a Spanish force captured the British Fort St. Joseph (present Niles, Michigan) and raised Spain’s flag over Michigan on February 12, 1781 during the American War for Independence.
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The Spaniards’ one-day occupation of Fort St. Joseph allowed Niles residents to boast later that theirs was the only Michigan community over which four flags (French, British, Spanish and American) had flown.
Source : Michigan Historical Calendar, courtesy of the Clarke Historical Library at Central Michigan University
Fort St. Joseph courtesy of Military Detroit.