relocated to “better lands” when these became Soldiers and hired teamsters hauled pine Regulating and protecting the legal residents Fort Atkinson and the available. Promised annuities—goods, lumber, nails, and other building supplies from of the Neutral Ground—more than 2000 services, and cash—would be paid by an along a military road. Stone Winnebago—required patrols to locate the 13– Winnebago Occupation of official subagent whose duties also included masons quarried limestone blocks from 22 separate bands, round up individuals the education and “civilizing” of the Indians. bedrock next to the site. Soldiers cut local attempting to return to their , 1840–1849 trees for structures, pickets, and fuel. As homelands, remove illegal settlers and The Fort nearby timber diminished, soldiers traveled unscrupulous traders, and thwart intertribal Fort Atkinson became command-central for farther afield to cut wood, sometimes a skirmishes. the Winnebago occupation of Iowa Territory welcome excursion from more routine chores. Turkey River Subagency and Life Outside over the next eight years. The name honored By 1842, 24 log and stone structures were the Fort Brig. Gen. , commander at the completed at a cost of $90,000 including 1832 , Wisconsin, the final enlisted men’s barracks, officers’ quarters, Occupying camps and villages throughout Indian battle east of the Mississippi. The fort blockhouses, hospital, powder magazine, the Neutral Ground, Winnebago bands had three major goals: to monitor, protect, and commissary storehouse, and Sutler’s store,all congregated periodically near the Turkey River maintain Winnebago bands within the Neutral surrounded by a timber picket . After chipping Subagency, three miles south of the fort. Band Ground, to prevent pioneer settlement, and to through 70 feet of limestone, a well was members collected annuities and received reinforce the authority of the subagent. abandoned in favor of a cistern to collect medical care. Annuities included seed corn In 1840, U.S. infantry and mounted dragoons rainwater. Stables, ice house, bake house, and oats, blankets, fabric, traps, guns, escorted Winnebago Indian families from their granary, blacksmith’s, root house, carpenter’s ammunition, pipes, tobacco, kettles, pots, and homes in Wisconsin to new lands in the Iowa shop and laundress’s shacks stood north of livestock hauled over a trail from Dubuque. Territory. This scene, repeated throughout the the stockade. Annual cash payments of $20,000 to the tribe eastern in the nineeenth century, bought items from licensed traders. In 1842, was part of a policy designed to strip tribes of Whirling Thunder, one their lands and relocate them west of the Winnebago band chief, Mississippi. By the 1820s, sixty percent of the ordered the following from the U.S. Army was stationed along this Dousman Trading Outfit: lead frontier to ensure native cooperation for ($1), powder ($1), nine bags American settlement and enterprise. of corn ($18), silk handker- Beginning in 1832, the Winnebago (Ho- chief ($8), spurs ($1), and a Chief Winneshiek chungohrah), a Chiwere-Siouan-speaking tribe northwest gun ($12). related to the Ioway and , were forced to Situated more than twenty miles west of the At the subagency school, Winnebago relinquish their Wisconsin homeland through a , construction began in the children and some adults were taught reading, series of cession treaties in exchange for spring of 1840 at a site chosen by General writing, arithmetic, and English, as well as territory in the Neutral Ground—a forty mile- Atkinson. Post surgeon William King’s 1840 Throughout its brief existence, Fort Atkinson more domestic tasks such as spinning, wide buffer zone in the description hints at the setting’s desirability: was home to as many as 196 men at any one weaving, sewing, and gardening. A model farm northeast Iowa Territory. time. Families accompanied commissioned encouraged pioneer ways but was scorned by The U.S. Government Fort Atkinson is situated 50 miles west of Fort and noncommissioned officers, often living in Winnebago men Crawford [Wisconsin] on an elevated plot of assured the Winnebago quarters supplied by the post. Never threat- and boys who ground between the Turkey River to the north protection from other and Spring Creek on the south and east. The ened by attack nor engaged in military battles, traditionally hunted tribes, illegal settlers, and country between the station and Turkey River is soldiers’ lives centered around everyday tasks and fished. Women opportunistic traders, woodland. On the west, south, and east it is —patrols, drills, construction and repair of were farmers in with the understanding open prairie, affording a fine view of from 10–15 buildings and equipment, collection of ice and traditional that they would be miles in extent. firewood, tending of gardens and livestock. Winnebago society. Final Days Atkinson Rendezvous begun in 1977, is an area sites to tell a more complete story of the Quick Facts about Fort Atkinson annual event held each September to com- fort and the Winnebago experience within the In 1846 U.S. troops left Fort Atkinson for the Where is it? Winneshiek County, northeast Iowa memorate the 1840s time period. Neutral Ground. Ground-penetrating radar Mexican-American War, leaving behind Iowa Who was it named after? General Henry Atkinson survey identified many original structures volunteers. With settlers clamoring for land and Why was it built? To monitor and protect the including the stables and stockade, as well as Iowa’s impending statehood, the Winnebago Winnebago Tribe a number of undocumented foundations. negotiated a treaty for a new reservation, and When was it built? 1840–1844 Several miles from the Fort, other Neutral- Who built it? Soldiers and some hired craftsmen in June, 1848, were ushered first to Minnesota Ground-era sites have been partially exca- What was it made of? Logs, limestone, mortar, and later to . By 1865 many had vated including a Winnebago village, a trading wooden shingles, brick, planks joined the Omaha in northeast post, and the school at the Turkey River How large was it? Main buildings encompassed a where a new reservation was established. Subagency. Finally, Winnebago tribal history is parade ground over 1 acre in size Less than two decades later, disaffected How high was the log picket? 11 feet 9 inches crucial to understanding this important episode Winnebago, who had averted capture and How much did it cost? $90,000 (about 2 million in in frontier history. removal from Wisconsin, were joined by todays dollars) including a road from Ft. kinsmen from Nebraska and purchased Crawford, Wisconsin farmsteads in ten Wisconsin counties. Today, When was it abandoned? February 1849 Who lived at the fort? Infantry and dragoons, many of their descendants form the Wisconsin How Do We Know? enlisted men, and officers Ho-Chunk Sovereign Nation. Until recently, most of what we knew about Did the Winnebago live at the fort? No. Many lived Soldiers abandoned Fort Atkinson in Fort Atkinson was based on historical docu- around the Turkey River Subagency with February 1849, and government caretakers ments. Many of these are military records others scattered throughout the Neutral maintained the property for a few years after including official correspondence, post returns, Ground which it was auctioned to private bidders. The What weapons did they have? Muskets, swords surgeons’ report, and soldiers’ rosters. Many fort’s cut limestone block proved irresistible to Were there any battles at the fort? No. Small still remain untranscribed in the National the early inhabitants of the town of Fort skirmishes with regional tribes occurred Archives in Washington, D.C. Architectural Atkinson and most buildings were dismantled Was the fort ever attacked? No evidence exists from standing buildings and and removed. By the twentieth century only Is anyone buried at the fort? A cemetery less than foundations, and in the 1842 drawing and plan one mile to the northwest contains the four early structures remained, most of the of the fort prepared by Lieutenant Reynolds. burials of at least 16 soldiers original fort now hidden beneath the ground. Recent archaeological research emphasizes When did it become a state preserve? 1968 Recognizing its historical importance, local the rich potential of Fort Atkinson and related When is the rendezvous? Last full weekend in Winneshiek County residents prompted the September Iowa Board of Conservation to purchase much of the fort area in 1921. Forty-seven years Lynn M. Alex,Office of the State Archaeologist, University of Iowa, 2008 later, the Iowa State Preserves Board dedi- Image credits: Photos from the Office of the State cated Fort Atkinson as a State Archaeologist, University of Iowa; Drawing of Winneshiek by Preserve, acknowledging LuAnne Becker, Fort Atkinson its geological, historical, To learn more about Fort Atkinson see: and archaeological Carr, Jeffrey T., and William E. Whittaker significance. 2009 Fort Atkinson, Iowa, 1840–1849. In Frontier Forts: Indians, Traders, and Soldiers in Iowa, 1682– During this time, 1862, edited by W. E. Whittaker. University of Iowa archaeological excava- Press, Iowa City. In Press. tion and some repair and reconstruction of fort For information on Iowa State Preserves visit: structures commenced. The Fort www.iowadnr.com/preserves Drawing of the the fort by Lt. Reynolds