means of destroying us all; to prevent that, as the evening was very calm, the commanding officer, Thomas Hamilton, despatched a soldier with fire to the factory, and in less than three hours that building was consumed without any danger to the garrison. During the day several Indians crept into an old stable and commenced shooting out of it, but a shot from the cannon by Lieut. Barony Vasquez soon made their yellow jackets fly.

"On the 8th we heard but little from them; several canoes were seen crossing the river, and on the 9th not an Indian was to be seen, nor was a gun fired. I am happy to say no lives were lost in the fort, one man was slightly wounded in the nose. The Indians must have had many killed, as several of them were seen to fall."

This report has been quoted at length to show the conditions about Fort Madison at the time of the attack. From it the reader may see that there were a few houses about the fort-McNabb's and Julian's being burned-besides the factory building and smith shop. The loss of the factory department was considerable, as shown by a letter from the factor, John W. Johnson, to General Mason, superintendent of the Indian trade, under date of September 15, 1812, in which he tabulates the losses as follows:

On the recommendation of Gen. Benjamin Howard, governor of the Missouri Territory, the war department wrote to Colonel Bissell on October 1, 1812, to withdraw the troops from Fort Madison and other points, with all army stores, provided Governor Howard should still advise such action. In his reply Colonel Bissell recommended that the posts be maintained until the following spring. Thus matters stood until April 4, 1813, when Governor Howard wrote to Bissell, regarding the evacuation of the fort, as follows: "Had my opinion been taken before we were in hostility with the Indians, it certainly would have been in favor of its evacuation, but from a variety of considerations arising from existing circumstances, I deem the abandonment of it inadvisable. Were it to take place at this time the measure could be employed with great dexterity among the Indians by the British agents, as evidence of our inability to maintain

it, and would embolden those who are now hostile, and probably decide the wavering to take part against us.

* *

"The number of men now there and destined for the place, stated in your letter, is, in my opinion, entirely equal to its defense against any assault by Indians alone, if well supplied; but if a British force with artillery should cooperate, I fear it would be insufficient, unless the garrison is strengthened in a way not usual, nor necessary to repel attacks made by Indians."

At that time the garrison consisted of about one hundred men of the First and Twenty-fourth Infantry, with Lieut. Thomas Hamilton in command. Acting upon the recommendations of Governor Howard, it was decided to maintain the fort until a more favorable opportunity for its abandonment presented itself. Twice during the month of July, 1813, the post was attacked by Indians, but in such small parties that they were easily repulsed. On July 18, 1813, two days after the second attack, Lieutenant Hamilton wrote to Colonel Bissell, giving an account of the assault and begging for certain supplies, if he should be expected to hold the fort. He closed his letter by saying: "I must repeat that I do expect to hear from you within one month, and when I do, I wish most cordially that it may be for the evacuation or removal of this garrison. If I do not hear from you by the 20th of August and the Indians continue to harass me in the manner they appear determined to do, I do not know but I shall take the responsibility on myself, that is, if they will permit me to go away. It is impossible for us to do duty long in the manner that I have adopted."

This was the last official communication ever written from Fort Madison. The Indians, urged on by British agents, foremost among whom was the notorious Dixon, became daily more threatening and late in August began a regular siege. Reduced to the greatest extremity for want of ammunition and provisions, and seeing no disposition on the part of the authorities to relieve the situation, Lieutenant Hamilton decided to abandon the post and accept the consequences. By working under cover of night, a trench was dug from the southeast block-house to the river, where the boats belonging to the garrison lay. On the night of September 3, 1813, the garrison, moving noiselessly along this trench on their hands and knees and carrying the little remaining stock of provisions, their arms and a few valuables, gained the boats. They were fortunate enough to capture a large dugout belonging to the Indians. When all was in readiness, the torch was applied, the boats shot out upon the broad bosom of the Mississippi, and, although the Indians were encamped within easy

gunshot of the fort, the movements of Hamilton and his men had been conducted with such secrecy that they were gone and the fort was in flames before the savages discovered what had taken place. Thus ended the history of Fort Madison as a military post-the first ever erected by order of the Government in what is now the State of Iowa.

For many years after the destruction of the fort, one of the stone chimneys remained standing and the place became known to traders, trappers and travelers on the Mississippi as the "Lone Chimney." The Indians gave the site of the fort the name "Po-to-wo-nok," signifying the place of fire. One of the streets in the present City of Fort Madison is called Potowonok. The old fort stood near the southwest corner of the square bounded by Front, Second, Oak and Broadway streets. At the foot of Broadway, Jean Espy Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, erected a monument in the form of a chimney, called the "Lone Chimney Monument," to mark the site. It was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies on October 28, 1908, approximately a century after the fort was established by Lieutenant Kingsley. Where the fireplace would be in a real chimney is a tablet bearing the inscription:

"Erected 1908
by

Jean Espy Chapter

Daughters of the American Revolution.

on site of

Old Fort Madison

Built 1808

Evacuated and Burned

by Garrison 1813."

For nineteen years after the abandonment of Fort Madison, the beautiful valley where it stood remained unoccupied by civilized man. In 1832 Peter Williams, whom Isaac R. Campbell describes as "a botanical mullein leaf doctor," built a log cabin on the bank of the Mississippi, four or five hundred yards below the ground once occupied by the fort. The region had not yet been opened to settlement and a detail of soldiers was sent down from Fort Armstrong (now Rock Island, Illinois) to remove the trespasser. Williams' cabin was torn down, the logs were thrown into the river, and he was taken to Nauvoo as a prisoner. There some of his friends interceded

for him and he was released, probably with the injunction: "Go and sin no more."

The same year that Peter Williams was dispossessed, Gen. John H. Knapp, while on his way up the Mississippi River to Fort Snelling, learned from the steamboat captain that the site of Fort Madison was claimed by Augustus Horton, who lived on an island a few miles down the river. Knapp bought Horton's claim, took possession, and built a log cabin near the foot of Broadway, where he established an Indian supply store. After a short time he sold his stock of goods to Judge Cutler and spent the winter at a hotel kept by his cousin, Nathaniel Knapp, at Quincy, Illinois.

General Knapp is credited by some authorities with being the first white man to effect a permanent establishment at Fort Madison. He was born at Goshen, New York, May 30, 1791, and in his boyhood was apprenticed to a saddler. In the fall of 1814 he was a lieutenant for about three months in Captain Tuthill's company of New York militia and subsequently was commissioned brigadier-general of state militia. For some time he was engaged in coal and iron mining in the Tioga Field. In 1830 he made a trip via Buffalo and the Mississippi River to New Orleans, and it was while returning east that he decided to locate at Fort Madison. In the spring of 1833, accompanied by his cousin Nathaniel, he returned to his claim.

When the United States, in June, 1833, acquired full title to the lands of the Black Hawk Purchase, Peter Williams returned and reoccupied his claim, erecting his cabin on the bank of the river, between the present Chestnut and Walnut streets. After a brief residence there he removed to the Des Moines River, where he died in 1835.

Some time in 1833 Richard Chaney, who had previously located on the creek bearing his name opposite Keokuk, attracted by the settlement at Fort Madison, came up the river and made a claim on the upper part of the town site. He built his cabin near the mouth of the creek that empties into the Mississippi not far from the penitentiary. His claim included the old field that had been cultivated by the soldiers of the garrison twenty years before. Other early settlers were Aaron White and Zachariah Hawkins.

In 1835 John H. Knapp built a hewed log house on the exact site of the old fort, one of the old chimneys of which he utilized for his residence, cleaned out the old well that had been used by the garrison, erected a new store building and sent for his family. On October 9, 1835, his wife, Harriet, two sons, John H., Jr., and Jonas S., and a