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EDITED BY John C. Parish
Associate Editor of the State Historical Society of Iowa
| Volume II |
September 1921 |
No. 9 |
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Copyright 1921 by the State Historical Society of Iowa
(Transcribed by Gayle Harper)
PIKE'S HILL
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Opposite the place where the Wisconsin River empties into
the Mississippi rises a bold promontory known as Pike's Hill.
It is a part of the range of steep, almost perpendicular
bluffs cleft here and there by deep ravines, which form the
Iowa shore of the Mississippi River above Dubuque. Visited by
Lieutenant Zebulon H. Pike on his journey up the river in the
fall of 1805, and selected by him as a site suitable for the
erection of a military post, it has since been known by the
various names of Pike's Peak, Pike's Mountain, and Pike's Hill
Writing of this spot in his report to General James Wilkinson,
Pike said:
I therefore pitched on a spot on the top of
the hill on the W. side of the Mississippi which is [ ] feet
high, level on the top, and completely commands both rivers,
the Mississippi being only one-half mile wide and the
Ouiscousing about 900 yards when full. There is plenty of
timber in the rear, and a spring at no great distance on the
hill. If this position is to have in view the annoyance of any
European power who might be induced to attack it with cannon,
it has infinitely the preference to a position called the
Petit Gris on the Ouiscousing, which I visited and marked the
next day.
Twenty-two years after Pike recommended this
site for a military post, another officer of the United States
Army, Major General Edmund R. Gaines, then in command of the
Western Department, proposed that a fort should be created on
Pike's Hill to replace the fast decaying Fort Crawford. Fort
Crawford had been erected at Prairie du Chien during the
summer of 1816, and was occupied continuously by a garrison
from that date till October, 1826, when its troops were
withdrawn and sent to Fort Snelling. In August, 1827, it was
reoccupied due to the threatening attitude of the Winnebago
Indians and the uneasiness of the inhabitants of the village
and the nearby settlers. In the fall of 1827, General Gaines
after inspecting the posts in his department made a report
which includes the following statements in regard to Fort
Crawford:
Fort Crawford, consisting of block-houses and
huts, all of wood, is, as heretofore reported, so much decayed
as to be uninhabitable without extensive repairs, and even
with repairs the barracks cannot be rendered sufficiently
comfortable to secure the health of the troops. The floors and
lower timbers are decayed in part by frequent overflowing of
the river, which has left the wood soaked and filled with damp
sediment. Orders have been given to Major Fowle, the
commanding officer, to repair the barracks in the best manner
the means under his control will permit. Ten thousand feet of
plank was brought from Fort Snelling, and an additional supply
ordered to be furnished for the purpose, with the requisite
tools. With these supplies it is believed that the mechanics
of Major Fowle's command will be able to render the troops
tolerably comfortable until the next spring, when it is
apprehended that the usual freshets in the river will again
overflow the place. These freshets have often brought the high
water into the barracks to the depth of four feet for several
days in succession. This has sometimes occurred in the months
of June and July. When this is the case bilious diseases are
sure to follow.
At the time of his visit, Gaines found
one officer and forty-four enlisted men sick out of a total
force of one hundred and seventy-seven officers and men, —
more than one-fourth of the garrison. In addition to this
several, women and children in the families of the officers
were ill.
The general embodied in his report a
statement from R. M. Coleman, the assistant surgeon of the
garrison, to the effect that the location of Fort Crawford was
decidedly unhealthy and that a site across the river would be
better suited to the health of the men. Major John Fowle,
commandant at Fort Crawford, confirmed the report of Doctor
Coleman in respect to the sickliness of the place. He, too,
felt that the health of the garrison would be improved by its
removal to the opposite shore and, recommended Pike's Hill as
the best site for the post.
Accordingly, General
Gaines, fully convinced of the necessity of, a. new location
for Fort Crawford, not only because of the unhealthfulness of
the place but .also because of its nearness to "tippling
shops" in the adjoining village, recommended the erection of a
new fort upon Pike's Hill on the right bank of the
Mississippi, nearly opposite to the mouth of the Wisconsin,
about four miles from Fort Crawford, and in full view of the
fort and the neighboring village. "
Against his
proposal he foresaw the objection that Pike's Hill did not
afford immediate protection to the village of Prairie du Chien
and that the expense of transporting supplies to the top of
the hill would be greater than that incurred at Fort Crawford.
However, he argued that this expense would be more than offset
by the advantages of the new site from the standpoint of
health and by its nearness to a supply of timber for building
and fuel. He believed that a road could be built by ten men in
the course of a week, which, avoiding the precipitous face of
the bluff, would extend in, a series of grades from the top of
the hill to the landing below at a distance of about a mile. A
spring in the hollow of the hill about one hundred and fifty
yards from the top would furnish an ample supply of excellent
water.
The top of the site consisted of about five
acres of almost level tableland which, Gaines asserted, would
afford sufficient space for the fort with room for company and
battalion exercise. Back of the hilltop for half a mile
stretched a field sufficiently level and well adapted to all
purposes of cultivation as should occupy the attention of the
troops, viz; for gardening, grass lots and pasturage".
Convinced of the feasibility of his proposal, Gaines drew up
and incorporated in his report a plan for a fort on Pike's
Hill. On the opposite page this plan slightly reduced, is
reprinted from a cut which appears with the report in American
State papers: Military Affairs, Vol. IV, p. 125. The following
descriptive and explanatory matter is reprinted from the same
source:
Ground plan of a fort for one hundred and
twenty-five officers and men, recommended to be erected on
Pike's Hill, near Prairie du Chien: To be considered with a
view to defense against small arms only. ''
A.—Stone
towers, 30 or 40 feet in diameter, two stories high.
B.—Barracks, two stories high.
C.—A passage 12 feet wide.
D.—Officers' quarters, two stories high.
E.—Kitchens.
F.—Storehouses
G.—Magazine.
H.—Stone wall and ditch.
NOTE.—The stone wall need not be more than 2 feet thick.
The ditch 4 feet deep, and 8 feet wide; 2 six-pounders, and 2
five-inch howitzers to be put into each tower.
The work
to be constructed should consist of two small stone towers or
castles placed 120 feet apart, with the intermediate space
filled up with a block of stone barracks. These to be enclosed
by a wall with a ditch, terminating at each castle, and so
constructed as to receive the support of a dank fire from each
castle. This work should not be larger than to accommodate a
garrison of five officers, with one hundred and twenty
non-commissioned officers, artificers and privates, together
with storage for their supplies.
This report together
with others picturing the unfitness of the old site convinced
those in authority in the War Department of the necessity at
least of relocating and rebuilding Fort Crawford. An
appropriation for this purpose was secured, and Major General
A. E. Macomb, wrote from Washington, D. A., to the commanding
officer at Prairie du Chien, under the date of April, 2, 1829,
and directed him to make an examination of the "Prairie, or
immediate country, and select a site for the contemplated
barracks ". He was to select the most suitable position taking
into consideration "health, comfort and convenience to the
water courses".
Accordingly, Major S. W. Kearny
assisted by Major John Garland proceeded to select a site
which they considered best adapted for the new barracks. They
chose, ultimately, a spot about a mile south of the old fort
on an elevation of the prairie above the high-water mark of
the river and near a suitable landing place for the keel boats
which brought supplies for the garrison from St. Louis. Here
was erected the new fort, larger and more formidable than its
predecessor whose worthy name it was to bear. The site
proposed by Pike in 1805 and by Gaines in 1827 was
disregarded, primarily, it is said, because of the
difficulties involved in building a road up the hill and in
transporting supplies to the summit.
Pike's Hill was
never fortified, but even to-day the visitor who has climbed
to its top and has looked at the river below dotted with
wooded islands and at the sweep of prairie on the opposite
shore is struck with the advantages of this spot as a military
site.
BRUCE E. MAHAN |
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