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.