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Fort Madison had its origins in Article 9 of the 1804 Treaty of St.
Louis, a controversial agreement negotiated by the U.S. government with
the Sauk and Fox that ceded nearly all tribal lands of Wisconsin south
of the Wisconsin River as well as most of Illinois. In Article 9 the
United States promised to establish a trading house or factory “in order
to put a stop to the abuses and impositions practiced upon them by
private traders.” The factories were officially intended through a
series of legislation called the Indian Intercourse Acts to protect
Native Americans from exploitation. The factories, usually accompanied
by a fort, were also to provide protection for allied tribes and
settlers from hostile tribes and foreign agents, spur the fur trade, and
control the Native Americans by making them dependent upon government.
In the 1804 treaty it was agreed that the United States could set up a
trading post near the mouth of the Wisconsin River or on the banks of
the Mississippi in the Iowa country, which ever was most convenient.
In August 1805 Lt. Zebulon Pike was sent on a mission
similar to the one given Lewis and Clark – to explore the Mississippi
River, look for its source, record his observations, selected three
sites suitable for military establishments, and consider situations for
the government trading post to be erected in the Sauk and Fox country.
It was not until 1808 that the United States took action to carry out
the treaty provisions of 1804 and Lt. Alpha Kingsley, of the U.S. First
Infantry stationed at Fort Bellefontaine near St. Louis, received orders
proceed up the Mississippi River and select a good site for a fort as
near as possible to the Des Moines River. On September 26 he selected
the site for a fort initially named Fort Belle Vue. Instead of building
the fort at one of the places recommended by Pike, it was placed on a
flat area along the river bank that was surrounded by hills and wooded
ravines. Kingsley’s choice for the location of the fort would prove to
be decisive in its ultimate fate.
Kingsley had his men set up a
picket fence around a winter camp of temporary cabins. By the first of
December work began on a factory, storehouses, barracks, and other
buildings of hewed timber with work expected to be complete by June 1,
1809. The Upper Mississippi Valley was becoming increasingly to the
American presence in the region.
American laws prohibited with the native
tribes without a license and wouldn’t issue licenses to British traders.
The British ignored the American policy and continued to operate in the
region as they had for many years. The British supplied the tribes with
superior merchandise and were actively agitating the natives against the
Americans. In the spring Kingsley heard of a rumor that the natives were
planning to attack the fort. Fearing the inability to repel an attack,
Kingsley pushed his men to complete construction and took up quarters in
the fort on April 14, 1809, which was renamed Fort Madison after the
newly inaugurated president.
Initially Kingsley planned to build the factory house
inside the pickets, but the Sauk and Fox were clearly opposed to this
and so the factory warehouses were located inside the fort and the store
outside. When Captain Horatio Stark to take command of the new fort in
August, 1809, the garrison totaled 81 men and the factory, under the
supervision of John W. Johnson, employed 7 men as either interpreters or
clerks that packaged furs for transport to St. Louis and New Orleans.
Fort Madison and its factory weren’t welcome by all the natives,
particularly the Ho-Chunk (who the European settlers commonly referred
to as the Winnebago) a contingent of the Sauk led by Black
Hawk. However, when the Ho-Chunk and Black Hawk were conducting raids
in other areas the factory did a thriving business. Of the ten
government trading houses which reported for the years 1807-1811 Fort
Madison was one of six that operated at a profit. As a northern factory
at was successful because it took in hatter’s furs which found a market
in America and because the natives found additional occupations, in Fort
Madison’s case the mining and smelting of lead. The southern factories
bought up piles of deerskins, which could only be sold in Europe, and
eaten by vermin in warehouses because of British interference with
American commerce on the high seas in their efforts to starve out
Napoleon, a major cause of the upcoming War of 1812.
By 1811 the temperament of the Native Americans in
the Northwest and Louisiana Territories became increasingly hostile
towards the Americans. Tecumseh, a Shawnee leader, was attempting to
form a confederacy of all of the native tribes west of the Appalachian
Mountains that would put up a united front against the continued
encroachment of American settlers on tribal lands. Tecumseh was able to
bring a significant number of Sauk and Fox to his cause after a visit to
the Fort Madison area in January of 1812. To these were added the
Ho-Chunk who wanted to avenge the losses they suffered in the Battle of
Tippecanoe the previous November. In February and March the Ho-Chunk
turned upon Fort Madison, killing a few people around the fort and
bottling up the small garrison and trading agents at the trade factory
before moving on to Fort Dearborn, located on Lake Michigan at present
day Chicago.
Relations with Great Britain
had been becoming increasingly belligerent. The United States was
irritated by the failure of the British to withdraw from American
territory along the Great Lakes, their backing of the tribes on the
frontier, and trade policies that interfered with American commerce with
continental Europe, which was controlled by Napoleon. The British also
claimed the right to force any British sailors they found serving on
American merchant ships back into service with the Royal Navy. By 1812
they increasingly began to include many American sailors in this
practice as well. This practice of impressment became a major grievance.
On June 18, 1812 the United States declared war on Great Britain. The
commander of the region, Lt. Colonel Daniel Bissel stationed at Fort
Bellefontaine, received word of the war on July 12 and two days later
wrote a letter to Lt. Thomas Hamilton at Fort Madison that war had been
declared and to put his fortification into the best possible state of
defense and to exercise vigilance. Captain Stark was convalescing in
Ste. Genevieve, MO at the time as he found that his health didn’t agree
with conditions at the fort. During the month of July the fort was
attacked twice but in such small numbers as to be easily repulsed, but
at the loss of several soldiers who has been surprised and caught
outside the fort. On September 3rd Captain Stark departed Bellefontaine
with reinforcements but they wouldn’t arrive in time for the first major
engagement at the fort
On September 5th a band of over two hundred Ho-Chunk
accompanied by some Sauk under the command of Black Hawk attacked the
garrison, scalped a soldier, burned the boat and cargo of a trader and
two government boats, killed some cattle, and burned the homes of
several nearby settlers. For three days they besieged the fort, trying
to burn it down with flaming arrows and burning chunks of wood thrown
from the cover of the nearby ravines. Lt. Hamilton prevented the
buildings from catching fire by converting old musket barrels into
“syringes” or “squirts” to keep the roofs wet. It was believed that the
enemy was only waiting for a favorable wind to sweep flames from the
factory and thus set fire to the whole establishment. Accordingly he
decided to burn the factory down under conditions favorable to the
garrison. By the 9th the warriors had moved on with the American
casualties being one dead and one wounded. The garrison speculated that
many natives must have been killed, as they saw many fall. In a later
account Black Hawk claimed that only one Ho-Chunk was killed and one
wounded. The destruction of the factory cost the government $5,500 worth
of pelts and other goods. Hamilton, Vasquez, and the garrison were
complimented on defending a fort so badly situated and reports of their
deeds were printed in books and newspapers across the country.
After the siege Hamilton felt the fort should be
evacuated. Lt. Colonel Bissell at first disagreed believing that it
would be cowardly to leave after the fort had been “gallantly defended.”
Bissell did agree that Fort Madison’s location left the garrison
vulnerable and eventually agreed with Hamilton. Their superior, Governor
Benjamin Howard, overruled his subordinated because he thought that an
evacuation would make the Americans seem weak in the eyes of the
Ho-Chunk and Black Hawks Sauk. The Americans would continue to hold out
through most of 1813 with reinforcements bring the garrison to varying
levels of between 80 and 100 men. The garrison would make improvements
to their defensive position and fend off occasional raids, keeping vigil
night and day. The garrison at Fort Madison was finally defeated by a
most unlikely foe, the U. States government contractor that supplied the
rations to the post. The failure to supply the post forced Hamilton to
evacuate sometime in November. Under cover of darkness, the men of the
garrison slipped away downriver in boats, having set fires as they
departed, which left the fort engulfed in flames. All that was left to
be seen of the fort were chimneys. Hamilton and the garrison arrived
safely at Bellefontaine on November 25, 1813.
Only the partly open cellars of some of the buildings marked the site
when the town of Fort Madison was settled in 1833. In 1965 part of the
cellar of the middle blockhouse was uncovered by chance in the parking
lot of the Sheaffer Pen Company. Excavations at the fort site by the
Office of the Iowa State Archaeologist uncovered remains of two
blockhouses, officers' quarters, and enlisted men's barracks. In 1983
the city of Fort Madison received the first of two government grants to
reconstruct a full-scale replica of Old Fort Madison. Replicas of major
buildings (except the guardhouse, tail blockhouse and kitchens) were
fabricated from oak timbers by inmates at the Iowa State Penitentiary,
who volunteered to assist on the project. After completion at the
prison, the log structures were dismantled and re-erected in Riverview
Park at a point near the actual site of the historic fort. Today,
visitors can visit the reconstructed fort and watch living history
demonstrations. Authentically garbed historic interpreters perform such
duties as baking bread to military drill and musket firing as well as
hands-on activities. Throughout the year, several special event weekends
are conducted to enhance the living history program at the fort.
Visiting Old
Fort Madison
Visiting Hours
May
and September: Open weekends only, 9:30 am - 5 pm
June 1 - August 31: Open
every day but Monday and Tuesday,
9:30 am - 5 pm
Adults: $5, Children 14 and under: $2.50, Under 5: Free. Group
rates available by reservation only with groups of 10 or more. To book a
group tour call 1-800-210-TOUR.
Location:
Old Fort Madison is located in the
downtown area of Fort Madison in Riverfront Park off of Avenue H (US-61)
just west of the Fort Madison-Niota Bridge that crosses the Mississippi
River.
 Learn more about the
Fort Madison
area.
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