Other fort sites.

[Robert Braun]

Larry, your plat book may be able to unlock the location of two other BHW-period stockades:

Luke McNett... he owned property circa 1880 that supposedly contained the site of the fort at Elk Grove;

The Winnebago War (1827) fort at New Diggings was supposedly located near the farm of Abraham Looney in 1880.

[Larry Koschkee]

My LaFayette County Atlas, 1874 indicates Luke McNett owning land in the N 1/2 of Section 7 of Elk Grove township, with his house located in the NE 1/4 of same section.

The text source I have is History of LaFayette County, 1881, pp 602 - 605. ( Town of Elk Grove )

"The first settler in the town of Elk Grove was a Frenchman, who had located on Section 7 some time previous to 1827, this being the date of the arrival and settlement of a Mr. Collette... Immediately after locating his claim, Mr. Collette erected a log furnace for smelting, on the Fever River, with a double furnace, where he continued to reduce the mineral found on his and adjacent claims until 1835, when, the mineral having become exhausted, the smelting works were abandoned.

While Collette was preparing his smelting works for operation, James C. Wright had built what at that time was considered a large double house, of oak logs, for the purpose of boarding the men connected wih the smelting works. Mr. Collette had also erected a dwelling-house of logs, nicely hewn inside and out, the lumber used in the construction of the building being brought from St. Louis. The shingles covering both houses were of black walnut, found in the woods which at that time bore the name of "Collette's Grove." At this beautiful and romantic section of the country was located a fort, called Fort De Seelhorst.

The first farm cultivated in Elk Grove, was that of Mr. Collette, comprising the south half of the north-east quarter of Section 7, which was entered in 1835, and is now owned and occupied by Luke Mc Nett... During the Black Hawk war, from May 12 to August 20, 1832, the company of volunteers commanded by Capt. Cornelious DeLong made this their headquarters. The fort consisted of one acre of ground inclosed by split wooden pickets. Inside the pickets were two block-houses, in which the settlers sought refuge every night. THE INCLOSURE ALSO CONTAINED THE RESIDENCE OF MR. COLLETTE."

The text on the same page is somewhat confusing as it states: "At the former farm of Capt. Justus De Seelhourst, now occupied in part by Luke McNett, in the midst of a beautiful and romantic section of the country, stood Fort De Seelhorst, which became the headquarters of Capt. Cornelius DeLong's company during the Black Hawk war, as also the place of refuge for the endangered settlers...

The question is where did the fort actually stand? The text continues to try to explain: "As already stated, a fort was constructed of logs, in which a company was stationed, and hither miners, farmers and inhabitants generally, within a circuit of several miles, "focused" for protection. The fort stood opposite the present residence of Luke McNett, and was commanded either by Capt. DeLong or Col. J. H. Gentry, there being some doubt as to the personality of the commandante, though Capt. De Long enlisted and directed the maneuvers of the company therein domiciled...

The fort was never assailed by the Indians, who would have unquestionably been treated to a warm reception by the trusty garrison. On the site of the old fort, in 1836, a brewery was built jointly by Henry Rablin and Thomas Bray. The building was made of hewn logs and rough rock, and was partially destroyed by fire April 1, 1848. The burned portion was rebuilt in stone."

Regarding Abraham Looney, the LaFayette County Atlas shows his principle residence and farm in the South-east 1/4 of Section 2 of New Diggings township. In the South-west 1/4 of the South-east 1/4 of that same section is a church with a cemetery. Adjacent to church, but in the South-east 1/4 of South-west 1/4 of Section 2 is a school.

My text source for Looney is Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin, 1901, pg 360.

"Abraham Looney was born in Knoxville, Tenn, in 1900, his wife Huldah (Bean), in Missouri in 1811. In 1826 Abraham Looney settled in New Diggings, WI, when for a time he was engaged in smelting ore. Later he took a farm of prairie land, by pre-emption... During the Black Hawk War, with others, he erected a fort on his farm, to protect the families from the Indian raids."

[Robert Braun]

My thanks, Larry. I have previously read the quoted works from the county histories. Your plat map work goes a long way to closer defining the locations of these stockades for me!

Thanks!


Bob.

P.S. I will provide a rejoinder to the assertion in another thread that an example of "arrogance and greed" was the seperate deal cut by Dodge with the Winnebago in the near future. ADIOS!

[Stan Herrin]

My great great grandfather was mustered into the Blackhawk War as a private in Captain Richard Matson's Independent Company, Missouri Mounted Rangers on 13 June 1832 and mustered out on 20 July 1832.

At that time he was living east of New London, Ralls County, Missouri. I have read in the Ralls County infomation that Matson's Company went to the Missouri/Iowa border and built a fort.

Where was the fort built and what was the fort's name?

For this month of service, he received 160 acres of land on the Charitan River in Macon County, Mo. Nice compensation.

Thanks for any help.

[Robert Braun]

Sorry... no info. regarding yuor query at present. Will keep an eye out for material of interest as it becomes available.

Bob.

[Stan Herrin]

I found my notes.

The following are selected portions of text from the history of Ralls County Missouri, published in the 1980's. The complete text is four pages long, and very interesting. If anyone wants a copy, please email me your snail address. It reads:

On 29 May 1832 orders were issued by Major General Richard Gentry of Missouri State Militia to Brigadier Generals Benjamin Means of Palmyra of the 7th Bridade; Jonathan Riggs of the 8th Brigade and Jesse T. Wood of the 9th Brigade, of the Third Division, to raise the required quota; Means to raise 400 and the others 300 each.

General Means raised a battalion for his own command, consisting of a Company from Pike under Captain Adam Mase, and one from Ralls under Captain Richard Matson.

Richard Matson took his company north into what is now Schuyler County, on what was called the Chariton River trail. In 1829 a party of Indians had raided the settlements there and killed several men and two women. It was thought that should Indians come into Missouri, one line of invasion might be this trail. They started Ft. Matson, named for the Captain.

Adam Mase took his Pike County mounted volunteers to the northeast corner of the State, two miles from the mouth of the Des Moines River, in what is now Clark County. Mase immediately set the men to work building a fort, to be called Fort Pike, in honor of their county.

The forts were block houses, surrounded by palisades, like other forts of that period. Ft. Pike was completed, but the buildings and palisades with earthwork were never completed for Ft. Matson.

Mase's first communications are datelined "Camp Weaver's Spring"; when the fort was suitable for occupancy he changed to "Ft. Pike".

[Greg Carter]

Just for sport I thought I would throw up this picture of Fort Dearborn. This picture pre-dates 1832, however it is a close representation to what the fort looked like when hostilities with Black Hawk broke out.



According to the Chicago Public Library, this is a picture of the fort in 1803. According to what I have read, however, the barracks built outside the wall (at right in picture) were not erected until after the fort was rebuilt following Mr. Madison's War.

GMC