The French first named the peninsula in the 1720s; presque-isle means peninsula (lit. "almost an island") in French. They built Fort Presque Isle at the modern city of Erie in the summer of 1753, naming it for the peninsula that protected the fort. The French also built two "military outposts" on Presque Isle itself: one at the entrance to the peninsula and one at the eastern point.[5] During the French and Indian War, the French abandoned their outposts and burned their fort in 1759.[8] The British constructed a new fort of the same name that year, which later fell to Native American forces on June 19, 1763, during Pontiac's Rebellion.[9]