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

15. Northern Border Brigade Forts, 1857–1863

northern Border Brigade Forts, 1857–1863 While searching for the archaeological remains of frontier forts I became interested in the Iowa border stations. These were built in the Civil War during the aftermath of the Great Sioux Uprising of 1862 in Minnesota. During the course of my research I located and excavated the triangular stockade at Cherokee in 1967, but was unable to discover significant remains of the other forts. Some were covered over by the towns which grew up around the forts after the Civil War, while others never became the sites of towns and lie in the countryside unknown to those who live nearby.—Marshall McKusick In 1975Marshall McKusick, then state archaeologist of Iowa, wrote a comprehensive history of the Iowa Northern Border Brigade, dispelling many myths in the process and providing solid archaeological evidence for at least one of the fort sites, the triangular fort located at Cherokee (McKusick 1975c). This fort had been built in 1862–1863 and was garrisoned through the spring of 1864. By searching through the State Archives, McKusick brought to light the original plans for many of the Iowa forts and compiled information from various primary and secondary sources concerning the likely locations for the rest of the fort site locations. Since that time, little in the way of systematic archaeological study has been conducted on the suspected site locations, with this additional information presented here. The Spirit Lake Massacre and the Dakota Uprising Two incidents in the late 1850s to early 1860s resulted in the depopulation of a large area of both southern Minnesota and northwest Iowa and the l e a h d. r o g e r s 15 194 | Northern Border Brigade Forts eventual formation of the Iowa Northern Border Brigade. The first incident occurred in Iowa and involved a band of Santee led by Inkpaduta. The Santee are a tribal grouping of bands of Dakota (Sioux). Inkpaduta was actually a leader of the Wahpekute Dakota, a tribe that can also be identified as Santee. This band of Santee became involved in hostilities with Euro-American settlers in the Smithland area of Woodbury County, Iowa, in 1856. This touched off a series of retaliations by Inkpaduta’s band as they headed up the Little Sioux River, culminating in 1857in what came to be known as the Spirit Lake Massacre in Dickinson County, even though more murders occurred in the nearby Okoboji settlement than in the Spirit Lake settlement. Inkpaduta harbored a great rage against white people because part of his band had been murdered by a white whiskey trader and horse thief, whom the government failed to hold accountable. His group had also been left out of the 1851 treaty negotiations, which transferred northwestern Iowa from the Dakota to the United States. Inkpaduta reFig ur e 15.1. Forts in Iowa associated with Dakota unrest, 1854–1862. 45. Fort Eads, 1854 51. Peterson triangular fort, 1862–1864 46. Algona Fort, 1857 52. Fort Williams at Iowa Lake, 1862–1863 47. Irvington Fort, 1857 53. Fort Ingham (Fort Defiance), 48. Spirit Lake Fort, 1857–1864 1862–ca. 1864 49. Correctionville triangular fort, 54. Melbourne Fort, 1862–1864 1862–1864 55. West Fork Fort, 1862–1864 50. Cherokee triangular fort, 1862–1864 56. Ocheyedan Fort, 1862–1864 Leah D. Rogers | 195 fused to recognize the treaty restrictions as a result. What likely sparked the incident in Smithland was deprivation following a particularly severe winter, and the hostilities may have started with the band stealing food from the settlers, although local accounts vary as to what or who was to blame. Why it escalated into the slaughter of over 30 men, women, and children in the Spirit Lake area is also not entirely clear. Inkpaduta’s band eluded capture, and the massacre became frontier legend, increasing the tension between the settlers and Indians in general. While the settlement at Smithland was never attacked and was primarily only harassed by minor vandalism, the citizens were still alarmed enough by the massacre to build their own fortification (Baker 1967; McKusick 1975c:3–5; State Historical Society of Iowa 2007; Williams 1962:65–99; Woodbury County Genealogical Society 1984). The state of Iowa reacted to the Spirit Lake Massacre by authorizing a standing army of 30 to 100 men to protect the settlers in northwest Iowa from further attack, because at that time there were no federal garrisons in Iowa. Small log...