Frontier Forts of Iowa: Indians, Traders, and Soldiers, 1682-1862

9. Fort Atkinson, Nebraska, 1820–1827, and Other Missouri River Sites

g ay l e F. c a r l s o n Fort atkinson, nebraska, 1820–1827, and other Missouri river sites I now saw the Council Bluffs, one of the most picturesque points along the often all too monotonous banks of the great river. The good-looking white washed buildings of the fort could be seen at a considerable distance from almost every direction. For me it was a genuine pleasure to see the dwellings of civilized men, indeed a small town again, after the months of separation in the wilderness. The garrison indeed deserved this name for it had several hundred troops stationed in it. Many of them had their homes here. In addition to these there were many families here whom the circumstances had drawn hither. Except for St. Charles and Franklin, Fort Atkinson was perhaps the most populous place on the Missouri. The very romantically situated hills, sloping abruptly toward the river, were chosen as a suitable location for a military post.—Prince Paul Wilhelm, Duke of Wuerttemberg, visiting Fort Atkinson, summer 1823 Before the 1840s, Indians, traders, and the military primarily accessed western Iowa from the Missouri River. Even after statehood the Missouri was a major route of transportation and trade until the maturation of the rail networks in the 1870s. The principal military and trading posts that served western Iowa before statehood were situated along the Council Bluffs area. Not to be confused with the modern-day Iowa city of Council Bluffs on the other side of the river, the Nebraska Council Bluffs are majestic valley walls and bluff peaks situated north of Omaha. They received their name because of a meeting held there between Lewis and Clark and 9 Gayle F. Carlson | 105 Indians in 1804, and had long been an important Indian landmark. As in eastern Iowa, trading posts and forts appeared along the Missouri before military forts, and it was not until 1819 that a substantial U.S. military presence appeared in the region. During the seventeenth century, Indians in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa began to trade for European goods, such as glass beads and metal items. Whether the items were traded from tribe to tribe or were received directly from European traders visiting the area has yet to be determined (Carlson 1994:150). The earliest trading forts date from the turn of the eighteenth century; however, no fort or trading post built before 1820 has been found archaeologically, and scant historical information is known about these early sites. Fontenelle’s Post, occupied from 1822 to 1838, has been found, as have other early posts and forts, including Cabanné’s Fort (1822–1838) and Engineer Cantonment (1819–1820). Nebraska’s Fort Atkinson (1820–1827) has been extensively surveyed and excavated. Early Trading Posts and Forts along the Missouri Fort Charles, 1795–1797 The oldest-known fort or trading establishment in the region was Fort Charles, also known as Fort Carlos, built in northeastern Nebraska in 1795 by James Mackay as a headquarters for trade with the Omaha. Although the search for the archaeological remains continues, it may have been destroyed by the Missouri River (fig. 9.1; Carlson 1994:150, 1995; Wood 1995). The fort was located somewhere between the mouths of the Little Sioux and Big Sioux rivers by members of an expedition led by Mackay and John Thomas Evans in 1795, sponsored by Spanish traders in St. Louis. Wood (1995) believes the fort was built somewhere near Blyburg Lake, near the south border of Dakota County. The fort was possibly built to foster trade with the Omaha, whose largest town, Big Village, was located about five miles northwest. Unlike Fort Charles, Big Village has been archaeologically surveyed and partially excavated (fig. 9.1; O’Shea and Ludwickson 1991). Two primary maps exist of Fort Charles, one made by Evans (1796– 1797), which shows it only approximately (fig. 9.1), and one from Lewis and Clark’s expedition in 1804, which is fairly detailed, showing it situated along a slough of the Missouri. The Lewis map, however, is not very useful in relocating the fort because the river has meandered and looped many times in the 200 years since the map was completed (Wood 1995). The fort 106 | Fort Atkinson, Nebraska, and Missouri River Sites probably consisted of a few small buildings and possibly a stockade. Attempts to find the fort in 1987and 1990 through deep survey...