Battle of the Sink Hole

From Wikipedia.

Fought May 24, 1815, after the end of the War of 1812 between Missouri Rangers and Indians led by Black Hawk.  The Sauk Indians were either unaware or didn't care that the British had signed the Treaty of Ghent.  Most likely didn't care.  Just because the British were out of the war didn't mean that their land was any safer from American encroachment.

It was fought near a low spot near the mouth of the Cuivre River near the present day Old Monroe near Fort Howard and Fort Cap au Gris.

It was an ambush on the Rangers and resulted in a siege in which seven Rangers, including their commander Captain Peter Craig, were killed.  One Sauk was killed.  There are conflicting accounts of the battle from both sides, however.

In 1816, Black Hawk reaffirmed the Treaty of St.Louis.

--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. & War of 1812-- Part 5: Death of James Callaway

In early march 1815, a detachment of the Rangers headed north out of Camp Clemson to recapture horses taken by the Indians.  They succeeded in doing this, but as they were returning they were attacked by Indians at Loutre Creek.  At least four Americans were killed, including James Callaway.

Afterwards, his father and a group of men traveled to the site and buried him.

By June, the company was operating further north out of Woods Fort where the town of Troy was later established.  This is where William Becknell was discharged at the rank of ensign after two years of service.

Later that year, he hire a lawyer to get money owed him for his second year of service.  Becknell considered it to be $601 that he was owed.

--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

St. Charles, Mo. & the War of 1812-- Part 3: Battle of Credit Island

William Becknell witnessed a conversation between Benjamin Howard and James Callaway where Howard either borrowed $400 from Callaway or had somehow ended up indebted to Callaway.  This came up in litigation several years later.

Shortly afterwards, the U.S. Mounted Rangers traveled up the Mississippi River to the Rock River in present day Quad-Cities, where the Battle of Credit island took place September 4 and 5.  The American force was led by General Zachary Taylor and was defeated forcing a retreat down the Mississippi River to Fort Johnson, located where the state boundaries of Missouri, Illinois and Iowa meet.

Benjamin Howard returned to St. Louis, but fell sick along the way and died soon afterward.

--Brock-Perry

St. Charles & War of 1812-- Part 2: Benjamin Howard

William Becknell was appointed ensign by order of General Benjamin Howard.  James Callaway at the same time was appointed captain of the company of U.S. Mounted Rangers.

In 1810, Benjamin Howard had been appointed governor of the Louisiana Territory by President Madison.  That territory was later renamed the Missouri Territory.  In 1812, he resigned his position to become a brigadier general and assumed command of American troops west of the Mississippi River, including the U.S. Mounted Rangers.

Becknell and his company then spent the majority of the next two years in service northwest of St. Charles, Mo. in an area between the Missouri and the Mississippi rivers.

In the mid-summer of 1814, the company was at Cap au Gris, where the Cuivre River flows into the Mississippi near present-day Troy.

--Brock-Perry

St. Charles (Mo.) & the War of 1812: A Boone Connection

From the World of Hannah Chribbs Evans blog.

The St. Charles militia was commanded by Nathan Boone.  They were replaced by a company of U.S. Mounted Rangers.

By 1813 that company was led by Captain Daniel Morgan Boone and Lt. James Callaway.   The two Boones were the sons of famous frontiersman Daniel Boone, who was then living at Femme Osage Creek, twenty miles southwest of St. Charles.

Lt. Callaway was the son of Flanders and Jemima Boone Callaway, and the grandson of Daniel Boone.

A Daniel Here, A Daniel There.  --Brock-Perry