Places: Forts of Vincennes, Indiana

The Wabash was a historic river, being an important artery for the fur trade.  The trading post turned military garrison turned town of Vincennes, situated on the River, would also become important.  No less than five military forts would be built there as the area changed hands from Native to French to British and, finally, to American. 

European activity began at what is now Vincennes in 1702, when French traders from Montreal established a trading post in the area.  That post was short lived in trading in the area ceased for a time.  Then, Francois-Marie Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes arrived from Louisiana in 1731 with orders to build a garrison to secure the lower Wabash Valley, and strengthen alliances with the Miami, Wea and Piankeshaw nations.  Unfortunately, Monsieur de Vincennes got into a scrape with the Chickasaw in 1735, and his life ended at the stake.  A new commander was brought in to revitalize the trade at Vincennes and, by 1750, the Piankeshaw had settled a village nearby and the town was bustling with Canadien immigrants. 

The Fort changed hands in 1764, when the British took over the area pursuant to the Treaty of Paris which ended the Seven Years/French and Indian War (1755-1763).  It was renamed Fort Sackville, after a British commander who'd died during an important battle in the European theatre of the war.  The fort, which was located near where First and Main Streets intersect in Vincennes, was soon allowed to fall into disrepair because of the cost and logistics of maintaining such an isolated garrison.  However, the British resumed activity at the Fort in 1774, to enforce the provisions in the Quebec Act which prohibited American settlement in the frontier.  However, the American Revolution intervened in 1775 and the British once again pulled their garrison, having other things to do.

In 1778, residents of the town, which remained largely French-Canadian, heard that France had allied with the fledgling United States.  Hoping that France was on its way to take them back, they took control of the old fort.  George Rogers Clark sent a small garrison of militia to garrison the fort.  The British quickly took it back, with General Henry Hamilton, the Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec, coming to garrison the fort in person.  Not to be outdone, the townspeople cooperated when Clark himself besieged the Fort and captured Hamilton.  Clark renamed the outpost Fort Patrick Henry, in honor of the then-Governor of Virginia.  Clark intended to use the area as staging for his intended attack on Fort Detroit, but those plans never came to fruition.  As the War on the frontier moved elsewhere, more settlers came into the area, further complicated matter with the local tribes.

As the Northwest Indian War (1785-1795) heated up, the United States took control of the area but didn't use the site of Fort Vincennes/Sackville/Patrick Henry.  They built a new fort at where First and Buntin Streets intersect and named in Fort Knox, after then-Secretary of War Henry Knox.  (This was the first of several forts to bear his name, but not any of the nation's gold reserves).  For almost two decades (1787-1803), Fort Knox I was the westernmost outpost of the United States.  And, although the Natives in the area were relatively peaceful and on good terms with the garrison, the townspeople were not.  Matters got so bad that commanders issued orders to their men not to venture more than 100 feet outside fort walls and the commander petitioned the Secretary of War to relocate the facility altogether. 

The Secretary appropriated money for a new fort three miles outside the town of Vincennes, which was named Fort Knox II.  And there the dynamics and drama continued, as the members of the garrison fought several duels with each other.  It wasn't until 1811, when Captain Zachary Taylor was put in charge of the fort to shape it up in the wake of Tecumseh's Revolt that things settled down.  It was here that William Henry Harrison staged his troops for the assault on Prophetstown in 1811.  It was also here that casualties of the battle were brought back for treatment or a slow and painful death.  As the War of 1812 heated up and fears of the local Native population increased, soldiers dismantled and packed up the entire fort, floated it back into town and reassembled it near the original site of Fort Knox I.  After the War of 1812, the fort fell into disrepair and was abandoned in 1816.  A palisade based on archaeological records stands at the site today, which is on the register of National Historic Places.  An interpretive trail and annual reenactment keep its story alive today. 

Settlers versus Natives: the Siege of Fort Sackville/Battle of Vincennes, February 23-25, 1779

We're calling this Settlers versus Natives for a reason.  Although the Siege of Fort Sackville/Battle of Vincennes was a Revolutionary War battle in the frontier theatre of the war, and both Americans and British fought, the real object of the contest was to cut off British support for Native raids on American settlements.  At least that was true in the minds of the two men most concerned, George Rogers Clark and Henry Hamilton.

Fort Vincennes, now in present-day Vincennes, Indiana, was a French military outpost and trading post for local Native tribes.  Even after the French gave up their rights to what is now Indiana in 1763, a large part of the population was French-Canadian and generally sympathetic to both the French and the Native population.  Following their victory in the Seven Years' War (1755-1763), the British rebuilt and garrisoned the French fort, renaming it Fort Sackville, after a commander in the European theatre of the war.  The outpost was miles from any viable supply routes and soon fell into disrepair.  When the Revolution broke out, the local inhabitants ousted the flimsy British garrison and asked George Rogers Clark to send men for it.  He sent a militia officer, Leonard Helm and a small garrison, but soon the British retook the fort (in 1779) and local residents warned Clark that the Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec, General Henry Hamilton, was in personal command of the garrison there.

Rogers wanted Hamilton.  Washington wanted Hamilton.  American public opinion at the time wanted Hamilton, at the end of a rope.  Rumors abounded that Hamilton paid his Native auxiliaries scalp bounties, which was the reason that raiding on the frontier kept increasing.  In fact, no evidence has been found that he, or any other Redcoat officer, ever paid for scalps, but facts seldom stand in the way of popular opinion.  Clark decided that he would go to Vincennes and retake the town and Fort Sackville, and keep it this time.  On February 5, 1779, Clark set out for Vincennes with about 170 men, over half of whom were French from the area of what is now Kaskaskia, Illinois.  They had no sympathy for the British and neither did the townspeople of Vincennes, who welcomed Clark's force, provided food, ammunition and other supplies and also intelligence of what was going on at Fort Sackville. 

Clark demanded a formal surrender, which Hamilton scoffed off.  Clark's men then began digging siege works around the Fort.  The British fired their cannon, damaging houses in the village and further angering the residents.  On the way to Vincennes, some of Clark's canoes had overturned, wetting a large store of gunpowder.  Clark thought of taking the Fort by storm, but was about to dismiss the idea because of lack of gunpowder when eager residents of Vincennes came forward with stores of gunpowder they'd hidden from the British.  Clark decided to take the Fort, refusing an offer from a local Piankeshaw leader, Young Tobacco, on the grounds that, during the night attack, he didn't want his men mistakenly firing on Natives loyal to the Americans.  Clark was aware that a large body of Canadians and Native auxiliaries was on the way to enforce Hamilton and they were running out of time.

Clark again sent a demand for surrender and Hamilton sent out Helm, who'd been a prisoner of the British, to inquire for terms.  Clark demanded unconditional surrender or he'd storm the fort.  As these parley's were going on, the force of Canadian militia and Natives showed up.  They skirmished with Clark's men, but were easily beaten off.  Clark's men captured two Canadians and four Natives.  The Canadians were released as a gesture to the citizens of Vincennes, but the four Natives were ordered to kneel in full view of the fort and then tomahawked.  Although Hamilton did not witness the executions, he spread the story that Clark had murdered these prisoners with his own hand.   Likely, Clark ordered the execution (reprehensible enough), but did not actually kill anyone.  As terrible as this was, it was his message to any Native who would support the British. 

Hamilton and Clark met and the garrison of Sackville marched out with the honors of war.  For Hamilton, this should have meant an honorable captivity as a prisoner of war, an officer and a gentleman.  Instead, he was arrested as a war criminal, though never tried.  Clark believed that the capture of Hamilton and Vincennes would help put an early end to war in the western theatre.  He soon came to realize that there were other officers in Fort Detroit who would gladly take Hamilton's place in inciting Native raids on American settlements.  That would not stop until Fort Detroit was out of business and in American hands, which didn't happen until 1813, years after Clark had retired a lonely, broken and almost forgotten old man.