[1] The Battle of Sorel was part of the Beaver Wars, which pitted the nations of the Iroquois confederation, led by the dominant Mohawks, against the Algonquian peoples of the Great Lakes region, supported by the Kingdom of France.

He had a commercial rationale: the northern Natives provided the French with valuable furs and the Iroquois, based in present-day New York State, interfered with that trade.

Furthermore, this battle created 150 years of mistrust that poisoned any chances that French-Iroquois alliances would be durable and long lived.

The fort was built by Charles Huault de Montmagny, the first Governor and Lieutenant-Governor of New France and named in honour of Cardinal Richelieu, chief minister to King Louis XIII.

Fort Richelieu was burned by the Haudosaunee in 1647 then rebuilt in 1665 by the Carignan-Salières Regiment, under the direction of Pierre de Saurel.