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Fort johnson, cantonment davis, and Fort edwards, 1814–1824 We have not more than ten Days of provisions for the troops at this place and I am assured by Major Taylor that if Provisions does not Reach this place against the Last of this month that the post will be Evacuated.—Captain James Callaway, 1814, Fort Johnson As you gaze out across the Mississippi Valley from the bluff top at Warsaw, Illinois, the strategic importance the area once held is overwhelmed today by the magnificent vistas. Nearly 200 years ago this spot afforded the U.S. military a commanding view of the mouth of the Des Moines River, the Mississippi Valley, and the foot of the Des Moines Rapids. This was a vital location in the early struggle with the British and allied Indians for economic and political control along the country’s western frontier. While many of Warsaw’s current residents know the importance this area once held, the military posts directly associated with the War of 1812 have long since vanished , along with the secrets of their location. This chapter briefly summarizes the results of ongoing archaeological investigations associated with the search for Fort Johnson and Cantonment Davis, two short-lived military installations that led to the establishment of Fort Edwards, a long-term fur trade facility that is now marked by an obelisk monument (plate 8). The historical backdrop of these military and trading posts had already been ably summarized by William Talbot (1968) when Joe Bartholomew, Steve Tieken, and I began a systematic archaeological search for the fort locations in the summer of 2003. Our efforts built upon Talbot’s thorough documentary research by conducting field investigations to establish the actual physical locations of these early-nineteenth-century military outposts. d av I d j. n o l a n 7 86 | Fort Johnson, Cantonment Davis, and Fort Edwards The Historical Context Brevet Major Zachary Taylor, the future U.S. president, established Fort Johnson in September 1814 after an unsuccessful river battle at Credit Island , near the mouth of the Rock River (Meese 1915). After being turned back by the Sauk and their British allies, Taylor was charged with erecting a fort on a defensible site of his choosing east of the Mississippi to control the mouth of the Des Moines River. It had to be large enough to accommodate a full company of men. Completed in a matter of weeks, the fort and its works were razed and burned in late October when the troops ran out of provisions and subsequently retreated downriver to Cap au Gris (Talbot 1968:140). Black Hawk described the founding of the fort and a skirmish in his autobiography: A party of braves followed to watch where they landed, but they did not stop until they got below the Des Moines rapids, where they came ashore and commenced building a fort. . . . I soon came in sight of the place where they were building the fort, which was on a hill at the opposite side of the creek. I saw a great many men. . . . My brave went down the creek, and I, on raising the brow of a hill to the left of the one we came down, could plainly see the men at work. I saw a sentinel walking in the bottom near the mouth of the creek. . . . I observed my brave creeping towards him, at last he lay still for a while, not even moving the grass, and as the sentinel turned to walk away, my brave fired and he fell. I looked towards the fort, and saw the whites were in great confusion, running wildly in every direction, some down the steep bank toward a boat. My comrade joined me, we returned to the rest of the party and all hurried back to Rock River, where we arrived in safety at our village. I hung up my medicine bag, put away my rifle and spear, feeling as if I should want them no more, as I had no desire to raise other war parties against the whites unless they gave me provocation. Nothing happened worthy of note until spring, except that the fort below the rapids had been abandoned and burned by the Americans. (Black Hawk 1882:49–51) After the War of 1812, trade disputes with Native peoples continued, and the United States asserted its control over the region by fortifying strategic trading locations along the Upper Mississippi River to ensure the orderly flow of commerce, traffic...

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