High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Fort Shelby was a military fort in Detroit, Michigan that played a significant role in the War of 1812. It was built by the British in 1779 as Fort Lernoult, and was ceded to the United States by the Jay Treaty in 1796. It was renamed Fort Detroit by Secretary of War Henry Dearborn in 1805. The fort was surrendered back to the British by William Hull in 1812, and again reclaimed by the Americans in 1813. The Americans renamed it Fort Shelby in 1813, but references to "Fort Detroit" relating to the War of 1812 are to this fort, not to the earlier Fort Detroit, which had been abandoned by the British in 1779 in favor of Fort Lernoult. It was given to the city of Detroit in 1826 and dismantled in 1827.