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Phil Porter is director of Mackinac State Historic Parks and has studied the Mackinac area extensively. We talk about his latest book on the soldiers of Fort Mackinac.
1:49 – Phil talks about how he got into Mackinac history 46 years ago. He’s written about US military authority after the American Revolution and he’s written another book on Fort Mackinac history.
5:27 – The book is a collection of images of soldiers who served at Fort Mackinac but also discusses the life of these soldiers and why they were at the Fort.
8:30 – Phil talks about some of the history of the British retaking of the fort in the War of 1812.
11:00 – Phil talks about the importance of the fort in the region.
18:05 – Phil talks about images of soldiers at the fort during the pre-War of 1812 period.
20:00 – We talk about uniform variations among soldiers at the Fort from the rest of the US Army.
23:31 – Phil talks about famed medical Dr. Beaumont who was a pioneer on digestive processes.
29:30 – Phil talks about relations between Native American and he soldiers of the fort over time.
31:07 – Phil talks about Civil War soldiers who had served at Fort Mackinac. One was Confederate officer John Pemberton.
36:00 – Phil talks about a soldier that served in the First Barbary War.
37:30 – Phil talks about three wealthy Confederates who were imprisoned at Fort Mackinac for a few months.
45:55 – Getting permissions to use images was a long and tedious process.
47:20 – They found a photo of soldiers playing baseball at the fort. They still play baseball at the fort at the same field.
54:43 – The parks’ books can be found on Amazon and on their website mackinacparks.com.
55:35 – Phil explains why the spelling is Mackinac but is pronounced Mackinaw.
Links of interest
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Guests: Phil Porter
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: military, history, military history, conflict, war, interview, non-fiction book, Revolutionary War, War of 1812, US Civil War, Mexican-American War, Native American, british, militia, First Barbary War, military prison, Michigan history