Old Wisconsin Forts - March 4, 1894

[Yance]

This article about the old days of Wisconsin forts was from the Milwaukee Sentinel of March 4, 1894. It tells of a time when much of the state was a wild frontier and when the military was used to subdue Native Americans.

OLD WISCONSIN FORTS

Erection of Forts Howard and Winnebago.

REPRESSION OF THE INDIANS WAS THEIR PURPOSE.

Reminiscences and Anecdotes of the Several Commandants in Charge of the Forts—Jefferson Davis at One Time an Officer at Fort Winnebago—Little Left of the Forts.

MADISON, Wis., March 3.— When Morgan's riflemen were clearing away the rubbish of old Fort McKay preparatory to building a new fort on the site the Washington dropped anchor in Fox river and the report of her cannon shook the little settlement of La Baye and woke the echoes in the surrounding forests. The Washington was accompanied by the Hunter and the Mink. This little fleet bore Col. John Miller of the Third United States infantry and a detachment of United States troops. The sight was anything but welcome to the Menominees and Winnebagos about the bay. This was the Col. Miller who gave Col. McDouall, at Mackinac, such a start and who was reported by McDouall as being on his way up the Mississippi. Instead of going up the Mississippi he had come up the lakes for the purpose of establishing a post at Green Bay which would serve to awe the surrounding Indian tribes.

It was of those same tribes that Col. Miller was thinking a great deal, as the vessels of the fleet swung at their anchors. Would they greet him with war or peace. He very much expected the first but hoped for the last. Without waiting to speculate he put the question to crucial test by going ashore with his officers and preferring a formal request to the Menominee for permission to build a fort. This was done as a matter of courtesy. Both Col. Miller and the Menominee chiefs knew that the fort would go up just the same whatever reply was made. The Menominees swallowed their medicine with wry faces and graciously granted the required permission. Then the Winnebagos had to be seen. They were a little more truculent, but the black muzzles of the cannon trained on shore spoiled their ardor for a fight and they fell into line. This was the middle of July. A month later the troops were hard at work whipsawing the timber that was to be used in barracks and quarters, while huge piles of oak logs for palisades and block houses were scattered about. Maj. Gratoit, of the engineers, accompanied the little army and laid out the lines of the new fort after which he sailed for the lower lakes leaving Col. Miller and his troops to finish the work. Before the frosts began to tinge the leaves with gorgeous autumn color the fort was ready for occupancy. When completed it was given the name of Fort Howard after Gen. Benjamin Howard. It was a well built post. The site elected was a mile above the mouth of the river on the west side. The barracks and quarters occupied three sides, of the parade. The commandant had a separate residence as befitted his rank. All were surrounded by a stout stockade of oak palisades high enough to make scaling an impossibility unless the assailant had wings, while solid block houses at two angles promised a lively entertainment for an enemy.

THE COMMANDANTS.

Col. Miller turned over the post to Maj. Zachary Taylor, whose brilliant services in the 1812-15 war had carried him up the ladder of rank rapidly. Maj. Taylor's family at the time consisted of his wife and three children. Among the latter was Knox, who was later to become the wife of Jefferson Davis. Col. Joseph L. Smith and Col. Pinkney followed Maj. Taylor. Col. Smith left as a relic of his period of command the so-called "Shantytown." Col. Smith had his own view as to the proper location of a fort and the site of Fort Howard did not agree with them. By persistency in attacking the war department he succeeded in securing permission to locate a camp to suit himself. He accordingly took the troops two and a half miles further up the river where, on an eminence on the left bank, he built a stockade which was given the title of Camp Smith.

It was soon surrounded by a group of huts known as "Shantytown." The section did not meet the approval of his superior officers and Col. Pinkney was sent out to relieve Col. Smith and move the troops back to Fort Howard where they remained in the future. Col. John Niel who followed Col. Pinkney in command was one of the most popular as well as one of the best commandants Fort Howard fell heir to. He was one of the heroes of Chippewa and Niagara. He brought the command up with a round turn. The dolce far niente system which had been in vogue gave way to a vigorous attention to duty until the fort was as spick and span as a Holland village. Having toned up the discipline of his force the bluff old colonel turned his hand to providing them with amusements and so successfully that the winter of his command was long remembered as one of the jolliest in the history of the post and this in spite of the rigid discipline maintained. Gen. Hugh Brady, another Niagara hero, followed Col. McNiel the next year. Maj. Whistler came in 1825. It was he who received the dramatic surrender of Red Bird at the Portage in 1827.

Maj. Twiggs, who bad a knack of making himself cordially detested both by his troops and civilians, remained for a year when he was ordered over to the Portage to erect a new fort, which was afterwards known as Fort Winnebago. Among the junior officers who served at Fort Howard was Randolph Marcy afterwards inspector general of the army. While there a little daughter was born to him who afterwards became the Wife of Gen. George B. McClellan.

In 1837 the detachment of the Fifth infantry, which regiment had been closely identified with Fort Howard was marched out and from that time on only small squad of men were kept in garrison. The necessity which caused the building of the post had disappeared. The Indians which it was to awe had become "good Indians" by evolution an well as the laws of nature. From the fifties on until the breaking out of the rebellion a sergeant and a couple of men served as a garrison for the post. When the Civil war broke out the post was occupied by a company of volunteers. At the close of the war the old fort was left with its memories to become the prey of decay and furnish sport for storm and gale.

The officers in command at Fort Howard from the first pursued a more enlightened course in dealing with the inhabitants than did the commandants of Fort Crawford and in consequence were held in pleasanter memory. The post instead of being a symbol of despotism was as a general thing a center of social gayeties as well as a menace to the surrounding tribes. The few attempts to exercise autocratic power were so few and far between that they only served as a foil to bring out pleasanter memories. The old fort gradually fell into decay and shortly after the Civil war all that was left were one or two houses which had formerly been used as officers' quarters. The picture of Fort Howard given here is from one in the possession of the State Historical society. With the disappearance of the last vestiges of the fort the grounds were absorbed in the yards of the Chicago & Northwestern road and today iron rails gird the ground which used to be Uncle Sam's.

FORT WINNEBAGO.

The disagreeable habit which the Winnebago Indians had of levying toll on goods of the American Fur company, crossing there caused the building of Fort Winnebago. John Jacob Astor, who was at the head of the company, objected to dividing profits in this way and brought what in political argot to-day is known as a "pull" to bear on the government. How strong the "pull" was was shown in 1828 when Maj. Twiggs, then in command at Fort Howard, was ordered to proceed to the portage and construct a post that would put a stop to any further requisitions by the Indians on prospective profits. Twiggs took with him three companies of the First infantry. In this little command, however, were three officers who afterwards rose to great prominence. These were Captain, afterwards General, Harney, Lieut. Jefferson Davis and Lieut. Abercrombie, who afterwords rose to a general's rank in the Civil war.

Maj. Twiggs on reaching the portage selected as a site for the new post a beautiful plateau on the east side of the Fox river and forty or fifty feet above it. After building tamarack huts in which to winter his command he sent out parties to prepare material for the fort which was commenced the next spring. It was completed in 1830 and the command moved in. The fort and grounds included from ten to fifteen acres on the plateau. The barracks and quarters were built about a square with heavy block houses at the northeast and southwest angles. That there was little real apprehension of Indian attacks was shown by the absence of cannon and the open spaces left between the houses. The hospital and quarters of the medical staff were across the Fort Howard road. The drill and parade ground was east of the fort.

It is with Fort Winnebago that the name of Jefferson Davis is closest connected. Davis took an active part in the construction of the fort and his invention of a unique close-press made his name prominent and heartily blessed by the army housewives who occupied Fort Winnebago at different times.

But it was of Capt. Harney bluff and bold that the settlers about the post piled up stories without number. Of these two, contemporary with his service at Fort Winnebago, have been preserved. Harney was a strict disciplinarian but eminently fair in his dealings both with his men and others. His activity and strength were such that he feared nothing. Once when he was about to horsewhip an Indian for some offense an appeal was made to his sense of fairness and he offered give the savage a chance. He took him down to the bank of the river and gave him an opportunity to go free if he passed a certain point before Harney caught him. The Indian was to have one hundred yards start. When the word was given Harney bounded off like a race horse and the spectators saw it was only a matter of a few minutes before the redskin would be made captive. Just as Harney was about to seize bis victim the two came to a pond which was frozen over with thin ice. The Indian whirled and darted across this. Harney followed. The Indian was light while the captain was in the heavyweight class. Before he had taken a half dozen steps down he went. He staggered up dripping from his bath and roared to a sentry to shoot the wily savage. The order was obeyed but the sentry's aim was disturbed by laughter. The ball went wide of its mark and the Indian was soon out of sight.

In Harney's company was a soldier named Hewitt who had quite a reputation in the garrison as a pugilist. One day he was ordered punished for an infraction of discipline. As he was being taken out he said to is captain "If you were in the ranks or I an officer you wouldn't treat me this way." This was too much for Harney. Ordering the guard to release Hewitt, Harney told the soldier to follow him. Reaching a secluded place behind the buildings Harney doffed his coat and told Hewitt to consider himself an officer for the time being. The fellow accepted the challenge with avidity and proceeded to get even for past and future punishments. Somehow his plans did not work. The first round ended in a knock-down for Harney. The succeeding half dozen rounds went much the same way. After the champion had been banged and buffeted scientifically and outrageously for a quarter of an hour or thereabouts he refused to come to time saying meekly, "Captain, I have been an officer long enough, I should like to be reduced to the ranks again." His request was complied with. When the story got out, however, Harney was more of a hero with his men than ever before.

Maj. Twiggs was followed in command by Brevet-Maj. Plympton who remained during tho Black Hawk war. At one time it was thought the post was in extreme danger from an attack by Black Hawk. The garrison staff that time was very small and considerable anxiety was felt for its safety, until Gen. Attkinson hurried up a large force of troops to its relief. They were not necessary as Black Hawk on hearing of their approach headed for the Wisconsin river further down, crossing the Four Lake region at what is now Madison. Col. Cutler, with four companies of the Sixth infantry, succeeded Maj. Plympton and remained in command until 1835 when Maj. Nathan Clark took over the command. He died the same year and was succeeded by Maj. John Green who remained until 1838. During this time the garrison was from the First infantry two companies of which were stationed there.

Maj. W. V. Cobbs, Capt. Low, Col. McIntosh and Lieut. Mumford were successively in command until 1845. That year it was decided by the war department to abandon the post as there was no further need in the settled state of the country of maintaining a garrison there. The fort was accordingly evacuated and Ordnance Sergeant Van Camp left in charge of the post. At his death in 1847 William Weir, a discharged soldier who had served in the garrison at the fort in former years, was placed in charge.

In 1853 the war department ordered the sale of the property. It in an odd coincidence that the order was signed by Jefferson Davis, then secretary of war, who as a lieutenant had assisted in the construction of the post. The property, comprising about 4,000 acres, was purchased by a syndicate of Milwaukee capitalists headed by J. B. Martin. They purchased for speculative purposes. The land was held ont of the market for some time. During this period the buildings which had shown distinct signs of decay before began to drop to pieces and a few years later there was little left of old Fort Winnebago but the name and a host of memories, many of which were preserved, by Mrs. McKinsie in her bright story of frontier life "Waubun."

With the advent of the railroads the great waterway which tho old fort had guarded so many years lost its usefulness. Commerce took new routes. The dancing waters returned to their old time solitude until reawakened by the bustling city which was to grow up along their shores and swallow up in its growth the last remnants of Fort Winnebago.

G. P. M.

[just1paul]

Fort Howard? As in Fort Howard Paper Co.?