Fort Belle Fontaine

Fort Belle Fontaine. . , Cantonment Belle Fontaine and Fort Belle Fontaine, Fort Belle Fontaine, built in 1805, was the first U.S. military post located west of the Mississippi River in the newly acquired Louisiana Territory. A fort was more than a military stronghold; it was a gathering place in the wilderness. This would have been especially true for a fort with an Indian factory (trading post). , There would have been the officers and enlisted men who were garrisoned here (including families of the officers), soldiers of other units that were passing through, settlers from the French and Spanish eras as well as American settlers coming from east of the Mississippi River, people heading West to seek their fortune, trappers and traders, businessmen who had contracts to supply the fort with provisions and supplies and members of the various Native American tribes. , Lt. Col. Daniel Bissell, a Revolutionary War soldier from Connecticut, was given command of the fort in 1809. Finding the fort's buildings in disrepair and recognizing the danger of the fort's location at the bottom of a bluff, Bissell had a new fort built on the bluff which was completed in 1811 and consisted of 30 buildings of hewn logs with stone foundations. Blockhouses and palisades set the fort off in a rectangle atop the Missouri River bluffs., During the War of 18 12 the site was threatened by Native Americans who were in the pay of the English. , Three operations in the summer of 1814 against the British and Sauk-Fox Indians were conducted from Fort Belle Fontaine. In July 1815 soldiers form Fort Belle Fontaine provided security for the Indian council at Portage Des Sioux where representatives of several tribes took part in peace negotiations with the Governor of the Missouri Territory, William Clark. , Originally called Cantonment Belle Fontaine, the fort served as an American Indian factory or trading post for local Sauk-Fox and other Native American tribes. The factory was removed from Fort Belle Fontaine in 1808, with part of the trade goods sent to Fort Osage on the Missouri River (near today's Kansas City) and the remainder shipped up the Mississippi River to Fort Madison in Iowa., The legendary Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery expedition camped on a nearby island on May 14, 1804 on the first night of their great journey west. They camped at Fort Belle Fontaine, which was constructed in 1805 while they were still exploring the west, on September 22, 1806, the final night of the expedition before their return to St. Louis., Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery Expedition, At 10 am. It seased raining and we collected our party and set out and proceeded on down to the cantonment, at Coldwater Creek about 3 miles up the Missouri on its southern banks, at this place we found Col. Hunt and a Lieut. Peters and one company of artillerists we were kindly received by the gentlemen at this place. We were honored with a salute of guns and a harty welcome. , Captain William Clark , Monday 22nd of Septr. 1806