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Cantonment Belle Fontaine 1805-1826 the First U.S. Fort West of the Mississippi River

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Cantonment Belle Fontaine 1805-1826 the First U.S. Fort West of the Mississippi River Cantonment Belle Fontaine 1805-1826 The First U.S. Fort West of the Mississippi River David L. Browman 2018 A brief summary extrapolated from various unpublished archaeological and archival reports detailing the results of five seasons of test excavations from 1992 to 1997 at this National Register of Historic Places property. Some sections, as indicated, may include information from research report analysis data by former Washington University students Jennifer Bonarek, Rachel Boyarsky, Marco Brewer, Tiffany Bruckert, Ellen Chapman, Myla Coffie, Laura Downing, Jennifer Fee, Kelly Gelpi, Rui Guan, Ronald Hampton, Joe Harl, Emily Hollinger, Mary Holst, Lauren Hosek. Lauren Hunter, Alexandra Jensen, Bobby Kahlon, Stephanie Kain, Ian Kalish, Sarah Keast, Meghan Kenny, Joanna Kovalski, Catherine Koziol, Amy Kramer, Aimee Kryda, Duo Li, Christopher Lockwood, Jane Lucas, Robin Machiran, Nick May, Juan Carlos Melendez, Bryan Miller, Ryan Nelson, Ryan Newberger, Ray Nichols, Stephanie Pan, Jason Patel, Rachel S. Popelka, Michal Quennoz, Jim Railey, Alex Rechlin, Toi Saale, Kara San Joaquin, Suzanne Marielle Scott, T. J. Silverman, Christine Simurda, Kathleen Sipe, Kathleen Stahlman, Sam Steinberger, Tim Stinson, Jessica Straatmann, Meg Thornton, Brian Tyler, Susanna Vaihinpaa, Nicole Vanore, Joy Wang, Annie Way, or Adam Webb. 1 Table of Contents Creation of Cantonment/Fort Belle Fontaine p. 3 History of Cantonment Belle Fontaine after decommissioning p. 14 Archaeological Investigations and Analyses: p. 17 (a) Archaeological Investigations p. 17 (b) Analyses p. 25 Tree Usage p. 25 Zooarchaeology p. 28 Ground Penetrating Radar p. 30 Magnetometry p. 30 Horseshoes, Harness Fasteners, Scythe and Barbed Wire p. 31 Nails p. 32 Door Hardware p. 34 Personal Items p. 35 Military and Non-Military Buttons p. 36 Weaponry (Lead and iron shot, gun flints, bayonets) p. 39 Glass (Window panes and glass containers) p. 42 Plain Ware Ceramics p. 45 Decorated Ceramic Ware p. 46 Final Remarks p. 50 References p. 53 Illustrations p. 56 2 Cantonment Belle Fontaine 1805-1826 The First U.S. Fort West of the Mississippi River David L. Browman 2018 Text organization and content. Some aspects of the discussion of Cantonment/Fort Belle Fontaine in the following pages are in part supported by using analyses provided by Washington University – St. Louis student research papers. That research was part of the requirements for several years in my seminar on Historic Archaeology and explicitly included the understanding that the students were contributing to this consolidated report on the site. Thus the reader will see under each heading, where appropriate, the names of the students whose specific lab research that I integrate into the discussions of the materials covered in that section. Because the Belle Fontaine collections were worked on by the student analysts for a number of years, there often will be more than one student’s report assistance acknowledged under the section credits, because more than one student may have processed the same material as a class learning project in different years. After I describe the development of the site itself in the first section, and the activities which impacted the Cantonment area after its abandonment in the second section, a bit more explanation for the rather unusual procedures and their rationale, which resulted in the specific format of this report, are provided in the third section, ‘Archaeological Investigations’. Subsequent following analyses sections include summary descriptions of the materials recovered in the archaeological excavations. Because I have now retired, all of the artifacts discussed in this report, curated under WUSTL Anthropology Department Archaeological Collection Control Number 96-2847, have been removed from campus and placed in ‘temporary dead storage’ in the department’s long-term storage facility at Washington University’s Tyson Research Center, pending probable later transfer to the University of Missouri system’s curation facilities. This also means that any material illustration relies solely on my files or in rare cases on an item that the students may have included in their reports. The coverage of Cantonment Belle Fontaine focuses primarily upon the evidence for the second reincarnation of Cantonment or Fort Belle Fontaine from 1810 to 1826. The scattered cluster of log cabin-based buildings from the first version of the Cantonment site from 1805 to 1810, which was directly on the banks of the Missouri River, but unfortunately disappeared into that river more than 200 years ago, is briefly discussed. Fortunately the disturbed evidence of a portion of the cantonment’s second rebuilding, which was moved to a bluff above the river and the first site location, still exists archaeologically. Discussion is mainly limited to those features and manifestations which potentially might be recovered by careful surface collection and archaeological excavation at the second version of the Cantonment. Footnotes are integrated into the text. The remains of Encampment/Cantonment/Fort Belle Fontaine are located on a few acres of the 1,000 arpent Land Grant #1909, T47N, R7E; or UTM Zone 15, 43/00/360-43/01/550N, 7/40/640-7/42/000E; or 38049’36” N, 90012’59” W. It was listed as National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) property #16000031 as of February 23, 2016. It was listed as a Missouri Lewis and Clark Natural Heritage site on August 11, 2005. Cantonment/Fort Belle Fontaine is registered as the state of Missouri historic archaeological site 23 SL 441. Creation of Cantonment Belle Fontaine (with report assistance from Ray Nichols and Suzanne Marielle Scott) The formal ratification by the U.S. Senate of the treaty authorizing the Louisiana Purchase was passed effective October 21, 1803. This land purchase essentially doubled the size of the United States at the time, and the U.S. government was stretched thin to provide services for the new territory. Congress on March 26, 1804, divided the new territory into two segments: the southern part was to be known as the District of New Orleans, and the northern part was to be called the District of Louisiana. Subsequently in 1805 the names were changed to the Territory of New Orleans and the Territory of Louisiana, and in 1812, the northern half (where Belle Fontaine was located) once again had a name change, from the Territory of Louisiana to the Territory of Missouri. On November 3, 1804, a treaty was signed in St. Louis with members of the Sac and Fox tribes, which among other items promised the Indians that the United States government would 3 establish a trading house or ‘factory’ in the Louisiana Territory convenient for them, the Osages and other Missouri River area tribes. Then acting governor General William Harrison was to decide the location of such a trading factory, which would be situated so as to control trade along the Missouri River. This establishment was to be under the authority of the War Department. Following the Revolutionary War, Congress pruned the ranks of the existing army because the congressional majority argued that keeping a large armed force during peace was un- democratic, as well as too expensive. Thus on March 16, 1802, the authorized size of the army was reduced to 20 companies of infantry, 20 companies of artillery, and a small corps of engineers, for a total of 3,212 men of all ranks. The actual size of the military shrank even more over the next few years. By February 4, 1805 the size of the active Army had decreased to 2,579 officers and men, including 1,295 in the 1st and 2nd Infantry Regiments (Urwin 1988:40). In December of 1804, a few selected companies of 1st Infantry Regiment army troops were ordered to relocate to staff the proposed new military post in the Louisiana District which was to support the promised Indian trading house. Troop companies from Michigan under the command of Lt. Col. Jacob Kingsbury at Fort Michilimackinac and Lt. Eli Brady Clemson at Detroit, and from Illinois under the command of Capt. John Whistler at Fort Dearborn, were notified of their transfer to the Louisiana Territory. These troops reached St. Louis in the summer of 1805 with orders to build and man the requisite military encampment facility associated with the Indian trading factory. On July 23, 1805, General James Wilkinson, who had been named as the first Louisiana (only later Missouri) Territorial Governor, selected the site for this first American fort west of the Mississippi, Encampment or Cantonment Belle Fontaine, on the right or south bank of the Missouri River about four miles upstream from its confluence with the Mississippi River, on a part of Spanish Land Grant #1909 (Fig. 1). Land Grant #1909 consisted of 1,000 arpents originally claimed by Hezekial/Ezekiel Laird/Lord. He had built a house, grist mill, saw mill and cleared farmland on his claim prior to dying in 1799, but then his estate was not settled after his death until 1803 (Billon 1888:391, Scharf 1883, 2:1886). The size of an arpent varied over time and geography, but during the period of the Louisiana Purchase it was equivalent to roughly 0.84 acres, which was why Land Grant #1909 was also referred to in documents as being roughly 800 acres. Hence in July of 1805, Wilkinson, acting on behalf of the U.S. Government, purchased five acres of Land Grant #1909 for this first military post from its then new owner, William Massey, who had purchased it from the Laird/Lord estate only a short time before. Water from a freshwater spring, which earlier French settlers had dubbed Belle Fontaine, ran into the river at the western end of the new Cantonment parcel acreage. This spring was one of the reasons that Wilkinson said he had selected the specific site, because he noted that it was said to be able to provide a continual supply of fresh water estimated to be “competent to supply 1,000 men daily” (Gregg 1936:351-3).
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