Purpose of Fort Jefferson & Town of Clarksville

Purpose of Fort Jefferson and Town of Clarksville. . The purpose of George Rogers Clark's Fort Jefferson was multi-faceted. Both Great Britain and the American Colonies (Virginia) claimed the Confluence area, and both wanted to fortify this strategic, and potentially economically important area. Americans wanted to secure the location so they could obtain goods directly from their American agent in New Orleans, Oliver Pollack, and receive continued assistance from Spain and France, traditional enemies of Great Britain. Virginia also claimed this land through their original 17th century "Sea to Sea" charter. However, the area was claimed also by the British allied Chickasaw Nation. Although Clark offered to purchase the Chickasaw land through his Kaskaskia emissary, the Kaskaskia Chief was rebuffed by the Chickasaw., Military battles at, or initiated from, Fort Jefferson , The British allied Chickasaw warriors attacked Fort Jefferson and Clarskville briefly in June, July, and for three days at the end of August 1780. (All who died at Clark's Fort Jefferson and Clarksville, either through warfare or from disease, based on current research, are memorialized on the adjacent bronze monument). The Chickasaw attacks on FJ were part of a much larger, planned, three-pronged British attack that failed to occur simultaneously against St. Louis/Cahokia, the Fall of the Ohio, and Fort Jefferson. The third attack against Ft. Jefferson was led by Lt. John Whitehead from the British Southern Indian Dept, out of Pensacola, Florida. Second in command of the attack was James Colbert, a Chickasaw "Big Man"., Soldiers at from Ft. Jefferson helped defend St. Louis and Cahokia from a large British-led Native attack in May 1780. In July 1780, many FJ soldiers went with Clark to attack the Shawnee at Old Piqua (near Springfield, Oh), and FJ and Clarksville were once again attacked by the Chickasaw. The third attack by the Chickasaw, however, was the most destructive, and as a result, 20 of the FJ civilian families decided to move away from Fort Jefferson on Sept. 12, 1780. Later, however, Clark's Kaskaskia Native allies from Fort Jefferson twice raided the Chickasaw in present day Mississippi in December 1780 and again in January 1781., Abandonment of Fort Jefferson , Although the 1780 Chickasaw attacks during the summer against Fort Jefferson and the town of Clarkville created food shortages for the inhabitants and soldiers, such was not the sole reason why both fort and town were abandoned on short notice on June 8, 1781. An express (Jacobs Pyeatt), arrived with messages from now General Clark, who received permission from Gen. Washington for Clark to attack the British seronghold at Detroit (Ft. Lernoult) at the end of 1781. Clark recalled all his soldiers from the Illinois Country to the Falls of the Ohio to try to raise a 2000 man army for the attack against Detroit. Doing so meant abandoning Fort Jefferson and the Town of Clarksville for every abled fighting man, accoutrements, and supplies!, Unfortunately, before Clark's army could be outfitted and marched north against Detroit, British General Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown on October 19, 1781, dashing Clark's long-awaited plans to attack and take British Detroit , Meanwhile, in France, Benjamin Franklin who had been one of the initial diplomats sent to Europe to begin peace negotiations, had been made aware by letter of Clark's successes (and British failures) throughout the western frontier (Illinois Country) at Kaskaskia, St. Louis, Cahokia, Vincennes, Fort Jefferson, and against the Shawnee at Old Piqua. All this information became important factors during peace negotiations that led to the United States receiving the Old Northwest Territories as a result of "uti possidetis" , or, loosely translated: "to the victors go the spoil!" And, as a result, the addition of the Old Northwest Temicories more than doubled the size of the young new Nation. Clark's Ft. Jefferson played a vital role during the American Revolutionary War in the West in this land acquisition!, After the American Revolution and the Treaty of Paris in 1783 , The young United States planned to reoccupy either Clark's Fort Jefferson or old French Ft. Massiac in 1796. This was the result of the Spanish government's, no longer our allies, closing the Mississippi River at the Confluence in June 1784. Spain did this to prevent American farmers from shipping their goods to markets in New Orleans unless paying an extremely steep toll to Spain. Later, Spain completely closed the Missisippi River as part of the "Spanish Conspiracy" to encourage Kentuckians, now the 15th state in the Union (1792), and western North Carolina (not yet the State of Tennessee), to secede from the US, and join Spain as a means for Spain to regain and enlarge the northern boundary of "New Spain." Such would settle the Southern boundary question in Spain's favor, but not in favor for the United States., By the request of General Anthony Wayne, young Lt. William Clark (Clark's younger brother) assessed and mapped the area of old forts Jefferson and Massiac and determined Ft. Jefferson should not be regarrisoned, but that Ft. Massiac (near Paducah) should be. The name "Massiac" was Anglicized in 1794, and Fort Manac was regarrisoned., The Spanish Conspiracy ended through the Treaty of San Lorenzo, also called Pinckney's Treaty, and war was averted once word reached the western American frontier. Once again Kentucky and western N. Carolina farmers had free use of the Mississippi River. Ft. Jefferson was still present in 1804 when the mother of B. Hardy Stovall, as a young child, played within the fort. However, the fort was destroyed during the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811 and 1812., Epilogue of Fort Jefferson's Significance: , The overall historical successes of Clark's Ft. Jefferson are tied specifically to Clark's successes resting "control" of the Midwest away from Great Britain. If Clark had not been successful at Kaskaskia, Vincennes, St. Louis/ Cahokia, Old Piqua, or at Fort Jefferson, it is doubtful the US would have obtained lands of the Old Northwest Territory by the Treaty of Paris Treaty in 1783; nor put Spain or France in a position to sell the Louisiana Purchase to the United States 20 years later., (Captions) , One of Fort Jefferson's Company of Soldiers. Photo by Frank Doughman, National Park Service. , Todd Bitler, Native Re-enactor. Photo by Candy Stoer. Used with permission. , Type of brass cannon found at Fort Jefferson in 1858 by J. C. Depoyster. The cannon is on display at French Fort de Chartres near Chester, Illinois. , Greg Holm portraying a Sgt. in Captain Edward Worthington's unit at Fort Jefferson with the Clarksville militia in the background. Photo by Frank Doughman, National Park Service