Fort Machault was the third of four forts placed along the water route from Lake Erie to the Ohio River by the French to protect their claim to the Ohio Country. Originally just a camp (Camp Machault), it replaced the incomplete Fort d’Anjou, started in that year, at the confluence of French Creek and the Allegheny River (now Franklin, Pa). The fort itself was not completed until 1757. Not only was it a supply depot for Fort Duquesne, it was also the launching point for raids by mixed parties of French soldiers and Delaware and Shawnee warriors. Upon the fall of Fort Niagara in the summer of 1759, it was abandoned and burned in July 1759. Rebuilt and renamed Fort Venango by the British in 1760.