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

2. Historical Tribes and Early Forts

2c y n T h I a l. p e T e r s o n historical Tribes and early Forts A great while ago all the nations leagued against us and we were almost all cut off, only a few lodges remained and our Meshaum [medicine bundle] was all that saved us.—Meskwaki Chief Poweshiek Indians Meet Europeans Père Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet were the first Europeans known to lay eyes on Iowa when they passed down the Mississippi River in 1673. Iowa’s Native American groups already possessed European trade goods by that date. How did Indians obtain these European-made items? Trade versions of Jesuit rings, found at several of the earliest historical midwestern sites, may have been obtained through Native middlemen and not necessarily through direct trade with Europeans (Alex 2000:212–213; Mason 2006). The same river and overland exchange networks that prehistoric tribes used to convey marine shells from the Gulf of Mexico and obsidian from the Yellowstone region into Iowa later were used to transport beads, cloth, knives, and, inadvertently, smallpox and measles into the Upper Midwest. Some of the earliest material evidence of European contact in presentday Iowa appears at Native American sites of the Upper Iowa River valley and near the Iowa Great Lakes, sites that may be correlated with the Ioway and possibly Otoe tribes (Betts 2007; Wedel 1959, 1981). Gillett Grove in Clay County yielded glass beads, iconographic finger rings, brass kettle fragments, an iron ax, iron projectile points, and iron items that may be badly corroded knives. Radiocarbon dates from Gillett Grove suggest the site was occupied sometime between 1648 and 1664 (Doershuk 1997; Doershuk and Resnick 2008; Shott and Doershuk 1996; Titcomb 2000). The 2 Cynthia L. Peterson | 13 Milford site in Dickinson County dates to the early 1700s and has typical “prehistoric” items such as stone tools and ceramics as well as European trade goods such as glass beads, kettle fragments, iconographic rings, metal fishhooks, and possible gun parts (Anderson 1994). The Wanampito site in Bremer County also showed a mix of Late Prehistoric goods and early historic trade items such as beads and tinkler cones; this site was probably occupied by the Ioway in the 1600s (Whittaker and Anderson 2008). The Milford site in Dickinson County dates to the early 1700s and has yielded stone tools and ceramics as well as glass beads, kettle fragments, iconographic rings, metal fishhooks, and possible gun parts (Anderson 1994). European-made trade goods could be obtained through middlemen, but by time of the Milford site occupation in the 1700s, trading posts, including fortified ones, were present in Iowa. These earliest forts were built by Europeans to facilitate the exchange of imported goods for fur, skins, lead, tallow, and beeswax from Indians. The French, Spanish, British, and, lastly, the U.S. government supported trading forts as a means to legitimize territorial claims. Typically, early trading forts consisted of a few houses and sheds, sometimes surrounded by a log palisade (Trewartha 1938:182–183). Forts lasted only a few seasons; then the trader moved on to better circumstances or was forced to leave. The French ruled Iowa lands from 1680 to 1762; Spanish tenure extended from 1762 to 1801. The Louisiana Purchase of 1803nominally brought Iowa under U.S. control, although the British presence was strong until the Early Trading period ended with the close of the War of 1812. U.S.-operated forts of the Early Trading period included Fort Madison in Iowa; Fort Shelby (overrun by the British and renamed Fort McKay) in Wisconsin; and Fort Johnson and Fort Edwards in Illinois, all discussed in later chapters. Early forts along the Missouri River are discussed in chapter 9. French Trading Forts on the Mississippi River The first historical forts in the vicinity of Iowa were related to the French occupation of the Upper Midwest. Following the 1673 Marquette and Joliet expedition, French explorer René-Robert Cavalier de La Salle and his men mounted the next reported expedition to the region, leaving Lake Frontenac, Ontario, in 1678. They erected Fort Crevecoeur in 1680 near the present-day location of Peoria, Illinois, for the purpose of fur trading with Natives (Emerson and Mansberger 1991; Finley 1915). 14 | Historical Tribes and Early Forts As a result of La Salle’s expedition, France claimed the land that contained Iowa. This large expanse, called Louisiana, remained under French control for...