Fort Jefferson (Kentucky)

Fort Jefferson was a town on the Mississippi River about one mile south of Wickliffe, Kentucky in southwestern Ballard County.[1] The formal town was founded in 1858;[1] however, in 1779, George Rogers Clark built a stronghold of the same name at the intersection of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers in order to consolidate his forces and to control access to the Ohio.

The original fort was occupied until 1781, and while the town itself no longer exists, the site is now home of the Westvaco paper factory.[1] In 1780 during the Revolutionary War, Brigadier General George Rogers Clark established Fort Jefferson on a hill overlooking the Mississippi River one mile south of present-day Wickliffe. The fort was intended to protect what was then the western boundary of the infant United States from raids by the British Army and Native Americans. It was abandoned in 1781 after a siege by the Chickasaw.

After Clark's victories at Kaskaskia, Cahokia and Vincennes, America controlled the Illinois Country. Soon after these victories Clark's reputation grew and he became famous. He returned to his base fort on Corn Island, at the Falls of the Ohio, near present day Louisville, Kentucky. There he received orders from Jefferson to begin making plans to build a new fort at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

Clark chose a spot five miles below the mouth of the Ohio River on Chickasaw Indian land, near present day Wickliffe, Kentucky, for the new Fort Jefferson. The site was 200 feet above the river in Kentucky Territory and offered a commanding view of both rivers. Clark's plan was to keep at least 200 soldiers at Fort Jefferson and another 100 settlers would receive a grant of 400 acres of land around the fort in exchange or growing the food necessary to sustain it. It would be the base where American Regulars would begin their missions against the British Western Army.

Many American settlers at the Falls had ventured west because land disputes between the Colonies of Pennsylvania and Virginia had left them squatters on lands that had been earlier claimed by others. These pioneers had the same concerns about settling on claims in and around the Falls of the Ohio. The settlers decided that they should continue on westward if their dreams of owning their own farms were to be realized. When General Cark returned to the Falls of the Ohio in August the settlers learned of his plan for Fort Jefferson. Captain Silas Martin, the commander of the militia at the Falls, selected Captain James Piggot to lead a new militia, made up of settlers, to Fort Jefferson. Colonel Clark ordered Captain James Patton to remain at Corn Island to oversee the settlers who remained behind. Each settler at Fort Jefferson would receive a 400-acre land grant from Virginia if they would till the soil to provided food for the troops. James Piggot rounded up settlers to make the journey with them. In 1780 the frozen Ohio thawed early, and in April Piggot's militia departed. When they arrived they felled trees to build the fort and a stockade village, the Burrough of Clarksville, outside of the fort.

Thomas Jefferson intended on Clark purchasing the land for the fort from the Indians, but Clark had just taken it. Later this decision proved to be a crucial error. Clark left for the frontiers of Kentucky soon after the fort was finished in 1780. He left Captain Piggot in command of the militia and appointed Captain Owens as head of 30 regular soldiers who remained at Fort Jefferson.

Two Kerr brothers were killed by Indians near the fort and the settlers at Clarksville wrote to the Virginia Legislature seeking the authority to form a new County District in that portion of the Kentucky Territory, with elected official who could make rules and regulations to stop the confusion that existed without representative leadership. They elected James Piggot, Ezekiel Johnson, Henry Smith, Mark Isles and Joseph Hunter as the five trustees of the Borough of Clarksville.

The Chickasaw Indians, unhappy that the fort was built on their land without their approval, harassed the settlement. A full-scale attack was made on July 25, 1780, at daybreak, while settlers were at work in the fields. Three hundred war-painted Indians emerged from the forests and the settlers raced toward the fort. Many were killed by arrow, hatched and club. The guards fired their muskets at the Indians as settlers sought refuge inside Fort Jefferson. The fort's five light cannons fired repeated rounds under Captain Owens' direction. The Indian attacks lasted two weeks before the main army of Chickasaw arrived. Commanded by a white British officer, Scotsman James Colbert, the Chickasaw continued the siege by blockading the fort without approaching within cannon-shot of the walls. The Indians burned crops and destroyed livestock in order to starve out the Americans. This tactic left the pioneers unable to sustain themselves, and a number of soldiers and settlers began to die from malnutrition. Private Jack Ashe and a friendly Indian slipped out of the fort and over the next four days made their way up the Mississippi to Kaskaskia, seeking reinforcements.

The food supplies in the fort began to run out and the Mississippi River began receding, leaving a half mile flood plain between the river and the fort on the high plateau. The water from the spring at the fort ran low as well and sickness spread throughout the fort. Piggot's wife, Eleanor, died from the effects of near starvation. Malnutrition, food poisoning and malaria were rampant and 17 victims were buried inside the fort. When the Indian assault came half of the 30 soldier garrison were in the sick bay and after six days the Americans had only newly ripened pumpkins to eat and a couple of rounds of cannonballs left. At dusk that day the British Commander Colbert and several Indians approached the fort under the white flag. The gates were opened and Captain James Piggot and Captain Owens marched out for the pow-wow. Piggot and Owens returned to the fort with the British demands for surrender. Piggot came back out with the response that Colonel Clark's soldiers had never been defeated and would never give up. Captain Piggot acknowledged that the Indians believed the Americans had settled the land without permission, and offered to leave the fort and move to another area if Colbert's band would retreat. Colbert declined, and before the meeting could continue a shot was fired from the fort that hit Colbert in the arm. Piggot apologized for the breach of etiquette, and helped treat the British soldier before returning to the American side. The Indians, angry about the shooting under a white flag, threw caution aside and attacked. Captain Owens made up grapeshot with nails, rocks and musket balls and waited until the Indians were on the wall before firing the swivel cannons. The grapeshot tore into the attackers and they retreated dragging the dead and wounded behind them. James Colbert later died from his wound.

The Commonwealth of Virginia was nearly bankrupted by the Revolutionary War and battles with the British and Indians. Brigadier General Clark had mortgaged all of his personal lands and had been using his own money to buy supplies for his troops. Settlers who had cleared their 400 acres were losing land in boundary disputes because the Territories had not yet been surveyed. Clark sent his emissary to assess the situation at Clarksville and received the report that things were deplorable. After the Battle of Fort Jefferson many of the settlers began to leave Fort Jefferson and returned east. Only about 100 stayed with Captain James Piggot and Captain Joseph Hunter. In 1781 it was determined that the fort was not worth the effort and it was abandoned completely. Joseph Hunter took settlers across the Mississippi to Spanish Louisiana (Arkansas and Missouri), and James Piggot led the first large group of American settlers into the Illinois Country.

The site later served as a Union Army post during the American Civil War. General Ulysses S. Grant directed a demonstration against the Confederate-held position at Columbus, Kentucky, in January 1862. Troops from the post joined in capturing Fort Henry in February 1862. It served as a Union supply post for operations in the western theater of the war.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Fort Jefferson, Kentucky". Kentucky Atlas & Gazetteer. 1994. Retrieved 2007-05-29.

External links