Treaty Monument - Portage des Sioux MO361

Portage des Sioux was of considerable importance during the War of 1812. An American military force was stationed here to intercept the enemy on their way to attack St. Louis. A blockhouse was built on the island directly downstream of the town. A fort was also located on the Mississippi River below town. This fort and site were washed away by high water in 1844.

On July 4, 1815, the war having closed, the Indians of nineteen different tribes which had been in hostility to the Americans, were invited to assemble in council at Portage des Sioux to treaty for peace. Among the tribes who signed the treaty were the Potawatomies, Piankeshaws, Sioux, Omahas, Kickapoos, Osages, Iowas, Kansas, and the party of the Sacs [Sauks] and Foxes. The treaty carries the signature of three white commissioners, William Clark, of the Lewis and Clark expedition; Ninian Edwards, the governor of the territory of Illinois; and Auguste Chouteaux, a prominent figure in fur trade west of the Mississippi River. These treaties at last ended the War of 1812 in Missouri.

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Portage des Sioux MO360

The seal of this town is a circle with two bands encircling a field, with an extended view representing a portion of that plane of country immediately above the junction of the rivers. [The Missouri River and Mississippi River] The "armorial achievement" is simple, yet highly suggestive, and commemorates the incident above related [The Naming of Portage des Sioux MO362]. It consists of a party of Sioux with canoes on their shoulders, and is surrounded with the words "Seal of the town of Portage des Sioux."

During the thirty year period following the Louisiana Purchase, the tribes living in Missouri relinquished their claims to Missouri lands by a series of treaties, and moved south and west into the Kansas and Oklahoma region. The first of these treaties, entered into November 3, 1804, between the United States and the Sauk and Fox at Portage des Sioux, was, according to Black Hawk, made without authority having been given to the chiefs who negotiated it. Ill feeling among the Indians over this treaty, which ceded an extensive territory, caused a schism between Sauk and Fox, and was the alleged cause for the depredations on white settlers during the War of 1812.

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Arkansas City River Port 1873-1927 AR9
Between the years of 1873 and 1927, Arkansas City had one of the most important ports on the Mississippi River. Before being an established port, a steamboat landing was located at this site as early as 1834. This port was also known as the Kate Adams Port because of the many landings of the steamboat "Kate Adams". The steamboat channel became no longer navigable to the many paddlewheel boats and other watercraft follwoing the great flood of 1927 when the river changed its course.

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First American Frontiersmen Weren't Cowboys MO356

Long before homesteaders in Conestoga wagons trekked to what modern people think of as the western frontier of America, herds of buffalo roamed east of the Mississippi River into Pennsylvania, and Kentucky and Tennessee were considered to be the Far West. Thousands of Native Americans hunted and traded across the continent, with whites as well as each other.

In those days, England still had the upper hand. Heavy-Handed, sometimes cruel rule by British locals too often deprived American colonists of money, property, even life. For relief, some men turned to courts, to new laws, and finally, war, to gain freedom.

Others, like Daniel Boone, took to the woods, hunting and trapping, and settling ever farther from government interference.

Hunting was a way to get rich. A Colonial farmer often scrabbled for a living all year long, his family sometimes close to starvation. But a hunter could make enough money in a single season to buy land and to support his family in style.

In the era before the Revolutionary War, such men were called long hunters, not only for the long rifles they hunted with, but for the many months spent on a typical hunt. Daniel Boone's most famous long hunt lasted two years.

Despite the money to be made, fear kept most men from becoming long hunters. The Indians considered the whites to be poachers, and would rob unwary or unlucky hunters: a best-case scenario.

Hunters needed the skills to anticipate and track their prey, to avoid Indians, and to find their way in the wilderness, living off the forest. Horses were used as pack animals rather than transportation. Dress was distinctive: leather breech clouts and moccasins, such as the Indians wore, plus leggings that went from ankle to thigh. Layers of linen or leather hunting shirts were worn all year long. Hair was often worn long. Daniel Boone wore his hair plaited, or braided, and "clubbed up," the braid tied close to his head.

"The stark edge of life and death inured the rough individualistic frontier folk to toil, hardship, heat, cold, rain, snow, ice...Such men were skilled in hunting, trapping stalking, hiding, reading sign, building shelter, surviving. They were their own doctors, veterinarians, boat builders, coopers, militiamen, cooks, cord wainers, blacksmiths, gunsmiths, skinners, and tanners. And more. Most were plain, poor men, seeking land, relief from debt, a way to feed hungry mouths." [Ted Franklin Belue]

Daniel Boone was different from some notorious long hunters, in that he respected Native Americans, relying far more on wits and diplomacy that a gun. Although he loved the wilderness, he also loved his family, giving away land to relatives, and taking his sons hunting with him. When he explored, he kept track of stands of timber, water, and fertile farmland, for future settlement.

He was a rare man who thrived in the wilderness and on solitude, yet, he was a sociable, compassionate, calm man, a leader who served his fellows by holding a succession of political and military offices, some nearly to the end of his days.

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Who Is Daniel Boone? MO355

Two hundred years ago, the real Daniel Boone was sixty-five years old. He and his family had just recently moved to the wilderness area west of the Mississippi River, and settled along the Missouri River. At that time he was already recognized as one of America's foremost legends. He personally knew George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, and ranked only behind Washington in recognition as one of America's early heroes.

In the years since Daniel Boone's arrival, memories of who he was and what he did have faded into oblivion. Myths have been created to replace the truths, and the important historic events in our history books have been replaced by modern revisionist history. Instead of protecting our heritage records with accurate history, America's history scholars have failed to search out the history facts. As a result of all of these things, we now know much less about Daniel Boone than was known two hundred years ago.

Well, he was a man of nearly impeccable character. He had courage to a fault (ignored fear), was very compassionate, totally honest, and because he knew the ways of the Indians and the Indian's means for survival in the wilderness, people on the frontier were totally willing to trust him with their lives. He was the quiet-type, natural leader along the frontier.

Daniel Boone was America's first non-European explorer. He was an exceptional hunter, marksman, path-maker and pathfinder, the epitome of man's challenge with nature, the colonizer, soldier, civil servant, and humanitarian. He is noted in accepted accounts for being captured several times by Indians and escaping, for healing the wounded, for rescuing children taken into Indian captivity, for rescuing white men who had been lost, and for relating to Indians as friends in peaceful times. In all things Daniel Boone represented a good image for others to follow.

Famous persons who came along later, such as Andrew Jackson, Davey Crockett, and Abraham Lincoln, all found some degree of acceptance and recognition as backwoods images due to the earlier acceptance of Daniel Boone. In Boone's image and way of life, and the legendary recognition of it, we still see his influence in how we hunt, camp, and explore in nature, and when we travel we still follow Boone's trails with our modern highways. As an example of his influence, much of the image and character traits of Daniel Boone were instilled into the Sons of Daniel Boone in 1905. Soon after this group was united with a YMCA group called the Tribe of Woodcraft Indians, to form the foundation for the Boy Scouts of America.

The Many counties, creeks, streets, towns, and other locations across America weren't created in the image of Walt Disney's Daniel Boone TV show, they were created many years earlier based on a respect for the legendary Daniel Boone, in who's example and image many Americans continue to accept life's challenges.

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Where the Rivers Merge MO352

Early explorers marveled at the vast resources along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. Boatmen reported fish large enough to upset canoes and described fertile wetlands arranged along the river edges as pearls on a necklace. Just as you are here, people have always been drawn to this powerful place.

River use changed over the centuries and the Missouri River and Mississippi River were altered to meet demands. Riverboats loaded with people no longer travel the streams. Instead, roadways line the banks to bring explorers back to the beauty of the river. Many needs have shaped the rivers that now flow past dams and levees for controlling floods. Waters float barges loaded with grain and coal, meet the needs of agriculture and generate electricity. The rivers are priceless resources.

The flood of 1993 reconnected the rivers with much of their historic floodplains, giving all within reach a new respect for the power of all rivers. Several government agencies, including the Missouri Department of Conservation, have come together with a new vision for the rivers. Their goal is to reconnect the life-giving waters with areas of floodplain. The nation is awakening to the role that people play as stewards of the great rivers.

Explorer's Note:

How deep was the floodwater of 1993 at this spot?
The tip of the 15-foot pole above you marks the water level.

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Lewis and Clark Expedition IL358
LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark originally planned to camp west of the Mississippi River during the winter of 1803-4. Carlos Dehault Delassus, the Spanish Commandant at St. Louis, however, had not received formal notification from his government of the Louisiana Purchase and would not permit the expedition to cross the river. Thus in the middle of December, 1803, Clark led about twenty-five men to winter camp on the American side of the mouth of the Wood River, then about 1¼ miles southwest of this site.

At Camp River Dubois Lewis and Clark gathered supplies, complied information and trained their men. Originally there were nine Kentuckians, fourteen soldiers, two French watermen, one hunter-interpreter and Clark's Negro servant at the camp. They were energetic, healthy individualists who did not accept discipline willingly. During the winter Lewis reprimanded several men for refusing to obey orders of their officers. Failing to perform sentry duty and making "hunting of other business a pretext to cover their design of visiting a neighbouring whiskey shop..."

Additional recruits were enlisted for the first part of the trip through hostile Indian country and in the spring three boats loaded with provisions, ammunition and merchandise were prepared for the long journey from the Mississippi to the Pacific Ocean and back. On May 14, 1804, Clark and about forty-five men "set out at 4 o'Clock P.M., in the presence of many neighbouring inhabitants, and proceeded on under a gentle brease up the Missouri...."

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Confluence, Missouri River & Mississippi River MO335

"SET OUT...in the presence of many of the
Neighbouring inhabitants, and proceeding on under a
jentle brease up the Missourie..." William Clark, May 14, 1804

"THE MISSISSIPPI, as if astonished at the
boldness of an intruder, for a moment recoils...and
views in silent majesty the progress of the stranger."
Major Amos Stoddard, War of 1812

[Benches on the confluence overlook platform contain various quotes, I share two with you here.]

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Mound City National Cemetery IL351
This National Cemetery
has been listed in
The National Register
of
Historic Places

Mound City National Cemetery, being one of twelve original National Cemeteries, was established in 1864 pursuant to the Act of July 17, 1862, whereby President Abraham Lincoln was authorized "to purchase cemetery grounds...to be used as a National Cemetery for soldiers who shall have died in the service of their country." The land was purchased by the United States in two separate parcels from S.S. Taylor and Edwin Parsons, Trustees.

Though Mound City and nearby Cairo, Illinois were not in the combat theater of the Civil War, their location near the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers made these areas important staging points for dispatch of men and material during the campaigns of the west which opened the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers for the Union Forces. Several of the famous Eads iron-clad gunboats were built at the Mound City Marine Ways and Shipyard. These specially designed shallow draft iron-clads played an important part in the western campaign giving valuable support to the Union troops on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers and at Vicksburg.

Grim casualty lists of the wounded and sick became a part of life as the war dragged on. Large army general hospitals were established at Mound City and at Cairo to care for some of the war casualties.

In 1861 a large brick building in Mound City was taken over by the U.S. Government for use as a general hospital. In service throughout the war, it was one of the largest military hospitals in the west. Another large hospital was established at Cairo. The services of Roman Catholic nuns of the Order of the Holy Cross at Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana were utilized as nurses to staff these hospitals. The establishment of these large hospitals was a determining factor in the location of the cemetery at Mound City, which later became Mound City National Cemetery. The hospital at Mound City was able to accommodate from 1,000-1,500 patients, and has been described as one of the best administered of the military general hospitals. Mother Angela, who was in charge of a school at South Bend when the war began, became supervisor of nurses at the Mound City hospital and rendered outstanding service. Among the outstanding surgeons at the hospital were Dr. E.S. Franklin and Dr. H. Warder, who was later in charge of the Illinois State Hospital at Anna, Illinois.

The first patients at the Mound City General Hospital were the wounded from the battle of Belmont, KY, November 7, 1861. Heavy fighting at Fort Donelson, February 13-16, 1862, and at Shiloh, April 6-7, 1862 brought many more patients to the Mound City and Cairo hospitals. The death rate from wounds and all too prevalent diseases was high in the hospitals of the Civil War period. The report of the inspector of National Cemeteries for 1869 indicates that the original interments in the Mound City National Cemetery from the area hospitals numbered 1,644 decedents. Additional reinterments of remains recovered from isolated locations along the Mississippi, Cache and Ohio rivers and from Cairo, Illinois, Columbus and Paducah, Kentucky brought the 1869 total of interments in the cemetery to 4,808, of which the number 2,441 remains were decedents who could not be identified and were buried as unknowns.

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History of The Battle of Pilot Knob MO288

In the fall of 1864, Confederate armies east of the Mississippi River suffered an almost endless string of defeats. Ulysses S. Grant and the Army of the Potomic had trapped Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia in the trenches around Petersburg, Va., and Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman captured Atlanta on Sept. 2. However, Confederate Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith's army, encamped west of the Mississippi River, faced no immediate threat. In an attempt to relieve the increasing pressure on his fellow armies to the east, Smith sent a massive mounted raiding force far behind Federal lines into the state of Missouri.

Smith appointed Maj. Gen. Sterling Price, Missouri's most famous Confederate, to lead the raid. Price's goals were to divert Union troops from east of the Mississippi River, gather Confederate recruits, capture and destroy Union war materials and, if at all possible, capture St. Louis of Jefferson City. Price entered Missouri on Sept. 19, 1864, with an army of 12,000 men headed for St. Louis. This was the largest Confederate cavalry raid of the war.

While on route to the St. Louis area, Price decided to attack the weakly defended post of Fort Davidson at Pilot Knob. Fort Davidson was a small hexagonal earthwork fort defended by Gen. Thomas Ewing, jr. and his 1,450 Union soldiers. Capturing Fort Davidson would provide arms for Price's 3,000 unarmed soldiers, prevent Ewing's garrison from reinforcing St. Louis or Jefferson City, and provide combat experience for the nearly 6,000 untested Confederate draftees.

Price's leading regiments engaged Union pickets at 1 p.m. on Sept. 26, driving into the town of Ironton. As the rebel strength grew, the small Union force was pushed back toward the fort. During the night, the Confederate army camped south of the fort and prepared to strike the next day.

On the morning of Sept. 27, the Confederates attacked. Two Union regiments fell back from their advance line near Ironton and retreated to the slopes of Pilot Knob and Shepherd Mountains. As the rebels appeared between the two mountains, the siege guns of Fort Davidson opened fire.

The Confederates pressed the attack. Price and his commanders felt that one swift assault would overwhelm the fort. Confederate cannons on Shepherd Mountain fired on the fort as four brigades of Southern troops charged. Union troops still defending Pilot Knob Mountain were engulfed, while those on Shepherd Mountain safely retreated to the fort with the Confederate wave cresting behind them.

Unfortunately for the Confederates, the poor timing of the assaults allowed heavy fire from the garrison to be directed at each attacking brigade. Only one Confederate brigade reached the fort. It advanced one mile under murderous fire, halting only when it reached the fort's moat where Yankees threw hand grenades down on them. The assault was broken. The Confederates fell back to reorganize and prepare for a renewed attack the next day.

Ewing, low on ammunition for his cannons, knew his Union forces could not hold out a second day. He ordered Fort Davidson evacuated. The soldiers silently exited the fort at 2:30 a.m., traveling north past Confederate guards under cover of darkness. At 3:30 a.m., a small group of soldiers exploded the fort's powder magazine, destroying the fort's remaining supplies. Ewing escaped Price's pursuing columns, marching 67 miles to the hamlet of Leasburg. From Leasburg, Ewing headed to Rolla, freeing that city's garrison to reinforce Jefferson City.

The Confederates paid a heavy price during the battle of Pilot Knob. As many as 1,000 troops were killed or wounded, and more importantly, Gen. Price no longer posed a threat to St. Louis. The Union force suffered 200 casualties, with 28 killed.

The small Union cavalry unit, commanded by Capt. Wilson, the one engulfed on Pilots Knob, were taken prisoner by Col. Timothy Reeves. He held them until he marched them 90 miles to Franklin County where he executed them and left them on the ground in the open for animals to use.

Price continued his advance into Missouri following the battle. Eventually, he encountered two Union armies at the battle of Westport, near Kansas City. It was there, in the largest battle fought west of the Mississippi River, where he was defeated and forced to return to Confederate Arkansas.

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