Fort Osage

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fort Osage from the west. The "factory" trading post is on the left

Fort Osage (also known as Fort Clark or Fort Sibley) was part of the United States factory trading post system for the Osage Nation in the early 19th century near Sibley, Missouri.

The Osage in exchange for access to the trading post above the Missouri River in 1808 in the Treaty of Fort Clark ceded all of their lands east of the fort in Louisiana Territory effectively leaving them with a small band of territory on the extreme western border of Missouri.

The fort ceased operations in the 1820s as the Osage in subsequent treaties ceded the rest of their land in Missouri. A replica of the fort was rebuilt on the site in the 1950s.

[edit] History

Lewis and Clark noted the spot on June 1804 noting it:^[1]

high commanding position, more than 70 feet above high-water mark, and overlooking the river, which is here but of little depth

Also, in 1804 Pierre Chouteau of the Chouteau fur trading family and an agent for the Osage took Osage chiefs to meet President Thomas Jefferson who promised to build them a trading post.

In 1808 Chouteau negotiated a deal for the fort to be built for the protection of the Osage. The specific terms of the deal noted:^[2]

The United States being anxious to promote peace, friendship and intercourse with the Osage tribes, to afford them every assistance in their power, and to protect them from the insults and injuries of other tribes of Indians, situated near the settlements of the white people, have thought proper to build a fort on the right bank of the Missouri, a few miles above the Fire Prairie, and do agree to garrison the same with as many regular troops as the President of the United States may, from time to time, deem necessary for the protection of all orderly, friendly and well disposed Indians of the Great and Little Osage nations, who reside at this place, and who do strictly conform to, and pursue the counsels or admonitions of the President of the United States through his subordinate officers.

In order to get the protection, the Osage ceded all of Missouri east of the fort. The Great Osage were to receive $1,000 and the Little Osage were to get $500.

The fort was initially referred to as Fort Clark in honor of William Clark who was in charge of Indian Affairs. It was one of the first United States military installations in Louisiana Territory became a major stopping point for visitors traveling the Missouri. Daniel Boone was to visit it in 1814.

It subsequently became known as "Fort Osage" and then was informally called "Fort Sibley" for George Sibley who succeeded Chouteau as the Osage Indian agent. Sibley's 16 year old wife held piano concerts for the mountainmen and traders that visited the Fort.

As the Osage ceded more and more of their land a new trading post at Fort Scott, Kansas was established closer to the ancestral villages near the headwaters of the Osage River near Nevada, Missouri and its Osage mission formally ended in 1822.

The fort remained a landmark on the Santa Fe Trail and by 1836 it had been totally obliterated with its pre-cut wood used for other purposes.

In the 1950's, archeologists discovered the foundations of these buildings and rebuilt the Fort as closely as they could, it now stands, overlooking the Missouri River once again. A school district just outside Independence was named for it.