Located on the Detroit River between Lake Huron and Lake Erie, Detroit was a crucial military and trading outpost in the 1754-1815 period. The French established Detroit in 1701 in a successful effort to extend their influence throughout the Great Lakes region in the first half of the 18th century. During the early years of the French and Indian War (1754-63) the French used Detroit to recruit Native Americans to fight the British. However, after the British seizure of Fort Niagara in 1759, Detroit became isolated from the rest of Canada. The British gained control of Detroit as part of the capitulation agreement of Montreal in 1760, and a British garrison took possession of the fort on November 29, 1760. During Pontiac's War (1763-65) Detroit remained one of the few British posts in the West not captured by the Indians, despite a five-month siege led by Pontiac.

During the Revolutionary War (1775-83), Detroit became a crucial staging area for British operations throughout the region. George Rogers Clark launched his famous expedition in 1779 in the hope of eventually seizing Detroit, but despite capturing Vincennes (February 25, 1779), he did not get within a hundred miles of his real objective. Revolutionary troops marched into Ohio country aiming to take Detroit several times during the war, but they either withdrew far short of their goal or suffered disaster at the hands of British troops and Native Americans, as occurred at the Battle of Sandusky (June 4-5, 1782).

Although Detroit lay on the west bank of the Detroit River and was technically ceded to the United States as part of the Treaty of Paris (1783), Great Britain retained possession of the outpost. The British insisted that they would evacuate neither Detroit nor several other frontier forts until the United States abided by the Treaty of Paris by compensating Loyalists and permitting the collection of pre-war debts. Detroit was also important to British fur-trading interests and allowed them to continue to exert influence on Native Americans throughout the region. However, as a result of Jay's Treaty (1794), the British agreed to withdraw from all forts in the United States, abandoning their Indian allies. This action helped to open up much of Ohio to European-American settlement. The United States finally occupied Detroit on July 11, 1796.

Detroit's strategic location meant that it would become the scene of conflict in the War of 1812 (1812-15). General William Hull, who had command of more than 2,000 soldiers at Detroit at the beginning of the war, crossed the river and tentatively advanced into Canada. Losing his nerve, he retreated back to Detroit, where he was surrounded by a smaller British and Indian army. Fearing a massacre, he surrendered his entire garrison to the British on August 16, 1812, a military disaster for the United States that led to Hull's court-martial. The United States could only reoccupy Detroit after the Battle of Lake Erie (September 10, 1813).

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