Talk Tonight About Battle of Rock Island Rapids-- Part 2

Campbell's Island (near East Moline) was the site of the Battle of Rock Island Rapids, one of the western-most battles of the War of 1812.  (The Battle is also called the Battle of Campbell's Island.)

A band of approximately 500  Sauk warriors, allied with the British Army, clashed on July  19, 1814, with an American force let by Lieutenant John Campbell of the 1st United States Regiment of Infantry.

Campbell was leading three small gunboats along the Mississippi River to carry military supplies to Fort Shelby, located at the present-day site of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, when they were ambushed by Sauk, Fox and Kickapoo Indians led by  Chief Black Hawk.

There were some 400 Indians versus 33 U.S. Regulars and  65 Illinois Rangers.  This was an American loss.

Losses for the Indians put at more than two killed.  For the Americans 14 killed and 37 total casualties.

--Brock-Perry

Old Fort Madison in Iowa-- Part 1: A Major Indian Trading Post

From the May 24, 2021, Des Moines (Iowa) Register "Trip on a tankful:  Old Fort Madison 'an odd piece of American history" by Paula Reece.

A lesser-known piece of American history is the establishment of the United States  Government Factory System.  In response to the 1804 Treaty of St. Louis, government trading posts were set up as part of the payment to the Sac and Fox Nations for lands they gave to the United States.

To keep peace and good will, the government sold everything to the Indians at cost and offered high prices on Native goods.

What set the government  factories apart from private trading posts was the fact that no alcohol was sold.  One of the most successful government  trading posts was along the Mississippi River in what is today the town of Fort Madison, Iowa.

Eugene Watkins, site manager at Old Fort Madison, a replica of the original fort, says it is one of the most unique spots to visit in Iowa.

--Brock-Perry

Samuel C. Muir-- :Part 3: Some Facts About Him

Other sources on Muir:

**  Muir helped lay out the City of Keokuk and named most of the main streets.

**  One of the early pioneers of Iowa.

**  While at Fort Edwards at Warsaw, Illinois in 1820, he crossed the Mississippi River to where Keokuk is today and married "a beautiful and intelligent Indian girl of the Sac nation."

**  In 1820, Dr. Samuel C. Muir built the first house in what is today Keokuk near Main and Water Street.  In 1839 the house was bought by C.B. Fleck.

**  Keokuk was named for Chief Keokuck, Chief of the Sac and Fox Indians.  In 1883, his bones were dug up from Franklin County, Kansas, and brought to Keokuk.  He was reburied in Rand Park under a massive stone.

--Brock-Perry

Woods Fort, Missouri: Built By Nathan Boone and His Men

From the Great River Road.com.

Captain Nathan Boone's (youngest son of Nathaniel Boone) company of U.S. Mounted Rangers built a series of forts to protect Missouri from Indian attacks.

Woods Fort was built at the Cottle/Woods settlement and was an almost square stockade made of strong oak timbers set perpendicular in the ground and extending to a height to afford protection from attack.

Woods Fort was the most extensive fort in the region near St. Louis and enclosed the spring, cabins, Woods Tavern and Inn and Deacon Cottle's Universal Church.  During the War of 1812, the fort served as the headquarters for Lieutenant Zachary Taylor, later the 12th U.S. president.

The settlement around Woods Fort eventually became Troy,  Missouri.

The Sac/Fox Treaty of 1815-1816 ended hostilities with the Indians.

--Brock-Perry

Woods Fort, Present-Day Troy, Mo.-- Part 1: Named After Zaddock Woods

From Waymarking.

In the last post I mentioned the U.S. Mounted Rangers being based at Woods Fort in 1815, present-day site of Troy, Missouri.

Woods Fort was where settlers gathered for protection from the Indians (primarily Sac and Fox Indian tribes) during the War of 1812.  It was the headquarters of Lieutenant Zachary Taylor (later U.S. president).

Troy was laid out on the site of Woods Fort in 1819.  Before whites came to the area, it was the site of an old Sac and Fox Indian camp.  The first white settlers to the area were Joseph Cottle and Zadock Woods and they built their cabins there in 1810.

--Brock-Perry

St. Charles, Mo. & the War of 1812-- Part 4: War on the Frontier Did Not End With Treaty of Ghent

Even after the War of 1812 ended with the Treaty of Ghent, the war along the frontier with the Indians continued.

During the winter of 1814-1815, Captain James Callaway and the U.S. Mounted Rangers operated from Camp Clemson on Loutre (Otter) Island located where the Loutre Creek enters the Missouri River.  This is where present-day Hermann is located.

North of this place was the home of the Sac and Fox Indian tribes.

--Brock-Perry

Benjamin Howard (Missouri)-- Part 2: Attack on Peoria

The Louisiana Territory for which Benjamin Howard was governor was renamed the Missouri Territory in June 1812.

He resigned his post as governor in the War of 1812 and became a brigadier general in the 8th Military Department.  He and Nathan Boone (Daniel Boone's youngest son) attacked Sac and Fox villages in Illinois and established Fort Clark by Peoria.

--Brock-Perry