In 1681, the Huron and Illiniwek at St. Ignace killed the Seneca chief Annanhac, who had been leading his forces against the western peoples.

In the spring of 1684, La Durantaye led a relief expedition from Saint Ignace to Fort Saint Louis des Illinois, which had been besieged by the Seneca as part of the Beaver Wars as they sought to gain more hunting ground to control the lucrative fur trade.

That summer, and again in 1687, La Durantaye led coureurs de bois and Indians from the Straits against the Seneca homeland in upstate New York.

During the 1690s, the fort became a staging area for French and Indian attacks against the Seneca, who were then allied to the English.

It remained an important fur trading center and a distribution point for arms and munitions for the war against the Iroquois.

Cadillac made a small fortune as the post commander, possibly by collecting bribes.

Four years later, Kondiaronk took a leading role in forging the Great Peace of Montreal, which would conclude the war.

The missionaries, led by Etienne de Carheil, accused Cadillac of encouraging the sale and trading of brandy to the Native Americans.

In 1701, Cadillac asked permission from Paris to found a new post on the Detroit River, to interdict the flow of British trade goods into the Lake Huron area.

In that sense, the Fort de Buade garrison was related to development of the future city of Detroit.

The Ottawa moved from East Moran Bay to the new fort, and the St. Ignace area was largely abandoned until the nineteenth century.