Polk County IA Archives History - Books .....The Second Fort Des Moines 1898
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Book Title: Annals Of Polk County, Iowa And City Of Des Moines

CHAPTER VI.

THE SECOND FORT DES MOINES.

A UNITED STATES FRONTIER FORT, LOCATED AT THE FORK OF THE DES MOINES AND RACCOON
RIVERS, AT THE PRESENT SITE OF THE CITY OF DES MOINES, IOWA.

   THE preliminary agitation and reconnoissances incident to the location of a
military post at this point commenced as early as 1835, or soon after the time
when Lieutenant Colonel Kearney, with a detachment of the Dragoon regiment, was
sent up from St. Louis to establish and garrison a point at the mouth of the
river. In the summer of that year Colonel Kearney, at the head of a considerable
expedition, followed up the valley between the Des Moines and Skunk, under
instructions from the War Department to halt at the mouth of the Raccoon and
select a site suitable for a military post.

   His report on his return, which is embodied in the sketch of Fort Des Moines
No. 1, was unfavorable to the establishing of a post in that vicinity, for
reasons which in a military sense were perhaps conclusive. In this view of the
case, however, the War Department declined to join, and Colonel Croghan, the
inspector general of the army, who was about to visit the frontier, was
instructed to look into the matter carefully and report as to the expediency of
breaking up Fort Armstrong, at the mouth of Rock River, and transferring its
garrison to a suitable site up the Des Moines.

   Colonel Croghan's report in the case was more diplomatic than logical.
Doubting the expediency in any event of establishing a post in that vicinity, he
suggests that should it be decided to build, that five or six companies of
infantry be ordered to assist in the erection of the necessary buildings, though
"in all probability it will not be occupied beyond a few years." He has learned
with much regret that a bill has been introduced in Congress for the laying out
of a road from old Fort Des Moines to Fort Leavenworth. "There is now," he
remarks, "altogether too much traveling between the several forts for the quiet
of the frontier, and good roads will only increase the evil by opening the whole
territory to the ravenous appetites of lawless vagabonds and more greedy land
speculators. Already has this description of persons begun to talk about the
fine lands on the Iowa and Des Moines, and perhaps before two years are gone by
they will be crying aloud for new territory on that side of the Mississippi.
First will come a memorial to Congress from Missouri, to extend her northern
line until it shall strike the Missouri River; and then a new territory having
been created an urgent effort will be made to have the Indians sent to the south
side of the Missouri. From the changes that I have witnessed since my first
visit to that section of the country, and from my perfect acquaintance with the
character of those frontier men, and of the emigrants who are daily adding to
their number, I hazard nothing in predicting that in a very few years we will
positively need and perhaps may garrison but the two posts of St. Peters and
Council Bluffs upon the whole frontier."

   Colonel Croghan's fears as to the advance of quasi-civilization west of the
Mississippi were singularly prophetic, for almost precisely the course of
procedure outlined in his report of January 25, 1836, was developed within the
following two years. So rapid was the western inarch of emigration in this
direction, that before the Government could fix upon a point sufficiently
advanced whereat to build a post for the protection of the Iowa settlements, the
settlements had themselves pushed forward until most of the country east of Fort
Leavenworth had been seized by speculators, and much was already under
cultivation. The section immediately surrounding the junction of the Raccoon and
Des Moines had so far escaped the invasion. It was, as will be seen by reference
to the report of Colonel Kearney, before mentioned, a part of the Sac and Fox
reservation, especially prized by those tribes on account of the abundance of
game that frequented its resorts. These tribes, in every other respect-friendly
and peaceable, resisted with fury and war-like demonstrations all encroachments
upon their domain. The strongest objection advanced by Colonel Kearney to the
establishment of a military post at the Raccoon fork, was the protest of the
Indians that the soldiers would drive off the little game that was left them.
For these reasons the six or seven years following the visit of Kearny were
years of comparative quiet to the Sacs and Foxes, who freely roamed the country
along the Des Moines from its mouth to its upper fork, where the so-called
"Neutral Ground" separated them from their relentless enemies, the Sioux.

   Still, it was only by reason of the stubborn determination of the Government
to protect these tribes in their treaty rights that this section was so long
left comparatively undisturbed. Settlements swarmed about the boundaries on
every side; Congress was being flooded with petitions to open the lands to
settlement, and every possible pressure was being made upon the authorities at
Washington to remove the Indians and occupy their territory. In 1841 the
encroachments on the Indian domain had become so frequent and determined that it
became apparent to the Government that provision must be made to recognize the
inexorable demand of civilization which had crowded the red man from the shores
of the Atlantic to beyond the Mississippi within half a century, and which was
destined to continue its onward march until restrained alone by the waters of
the Pacific.

   Negotiations were accordingly opened with the chiefs of the tribes, and on
the 11th October, 1842, purchase of the reservation was finally effected. Still,
so reluctant were they to leave the lands that were attached to them by the
traditions of centuries that it was stipulated that they might remain yet
another three years, and that in the meantime no white man should be allowed to
settle on their reservation. To protect them in this stipulation, and to enable
the Government to carry out its part of the treaty, it was decided by General
Scott to locate a detachment of troops directly on the reservation within a few
miles of the agency buildings, then on the Des Moines, about three miles below
the Eaccoon fork.

   The selection of this particuler site was the result of a visit to the spot
by Captain James Allen, of the Dragoon regiment, whose company had for several
years been stationed between Leavenworth and Gibson, and who was familiar with
the locality. In a letter to the War Department, dated Fort Sandford, Iowa,
December 30, 1842, in referring to the expediency of protecting the Indians in
their treaty rights, by stationing troops within their reservation, he says:

   "I went up, as you know, last month, as high as the mouth of the Raccoon
River, and had in view at the time to look out: a suitable point for the
stationing of troops for the time required. And I did select, with a view to
recommend it, the point made by the junction of the Raccoon with the Des Moines.

   .   .   .   .

   "My reasons for selecting that point are these:

   "The soil is rich; and wood, stone, water and grass are all at hand. It will
be high enough up the river to protect these Indians against the Sioux, and is
in the heart of the best part of their new country, where the greatest effort
will be made by the squatters to get in. It is about equidistant from the
Missouri and Mississippi rivers, and offers a good route to both, the direct
route to the Missouri passing around the heads of many ugly branches of Grand
River. It will be twenty-five miles within the new line, about the right
distance from the settlements, and, above all, of the Indian villages and
trading houses (all of the Sacs have determined to make their villages on a
larger prairie bottom that commences about two miles below, and the traders have
selected their sites there also). It will also be about the head of keel boat
navigation on the Des Moines. I think it better than any point farther up,
because it will be harder to get supplies farther up, and no point or post that
may be established on this river need be kept up more than three years, or until
these Indians shall leave. A post for the northern boundary of future Ioway will
go far above the sources of the Des Moines.

   "Now, as to the process of establishing this post. I do not seek the job, but
I am willing to undertake it, if my suggestions for that purpose shall be
approved. I wrould build but common log cabins, or huts, for both men and
officers, giving them good floors, windows and doors, stables, very common, but
close and roomy, pickets, block houses, and such like not at all. The buildings
to be placed in relations of comfort, convenience and good taste; and of
defense, so far as the same may comply with the first rule.

   "Ten mechanics and five laborers and four yoke of oxen and tools and
implements, and the small material, ought to he furnished by the quartermaster's
department. All to be ready to go up and begin early in the spring. Pine lumber
for the most necessary parts of the buildings ought to be sent up in keel boats
in the spring rise of the river. Provisions and corn, etc., may be sent up at
the same time.

   "With such means, and the force of my company, I could make a good,
comfortable establishment at the mouth of the Raccoon during the next summer;
and, in the meantime give to the Indians all necessary protection. One of their
agents has told me that the American Fur company would probably send up a
steamboat to Raccoon on the spring rise. If they do, it will be a good time to
send up army supplies.

   "I could easily have corn raised for me in that country if I could now
contract for it, and permit a person to open a farm there. Such is the desire of
the people to get a footing in this country, that I believe that now I could
hire corn to be raised there next summer, for 25 cents a bushel. I could get
lumber on as good terms by allowing some one to build a mill. In short, there
will be no difficulty in establishing and maintaining a post there, if notice of
such a design shall be given in time. But I hope it will not be required of my
company, that they shall build this new post without the assistance of the hired
labor that I have suggested. I have not the necessary mechanics for the purpose;
and if I had, it would be requiring too much of them. It is not competent for
dragoons to build their quarters and stables; and get their wood and do their
duty as soldiers.

   "I have but little to add to what is contained in the foregoing extract of my
letter to the colonel. The new post will be so purely temporary that this
character of it ought to be kept in view in its construction. According to the
plan and method that I have recommended, this post may be built and established
for one company of dragoons for about twenty-five hundred dollars.

   "If a companyof infantry could also be sent to this new post, it would be
well, although it would increase some what the expense of its establishment. Of
the propriety of such an arrangement the Department will best judge.

   "But I will respectfully urge upon the Department the necessity for a speedy
decision on the subject of this new post, that if it is to be established, early
measures may be taken to secure the timely transportation of the necessary
materials and supplies. The rise of the Des Moines will occur in March.

   "In regard to the point recommended for the new post, I may remark that I
have seen much of the territory of Ioway, and particularly of the valley of the
Des Moines, having, in addition to my observations from there to the mouth of
the Raccoon, crossed the territory with my company last summer, on a direct
route from Fort Leavenworth to Fort Atkinson, crossing the Des Moines above
Raccoon, and from all that I have seen and learned, I would recommend the point
that I have designated as the most suitable for the post in question.

   "All of this is predicted on the supposition that the late treaty with the
Sac and Fox Indians will be approved and ratified, but this treaty is so very
favorable and advantageous to the United States that I feel no apprehensions for
its fate."

   Captain Allen's company of dragoons at that time was stationed at Fort
Sanford, on the Des Moines, at a point sixty-five miles west from Fort Madison,
twenty-five north of the Missouri boundary, and about four miles west of the Sac
and Fox agency (his nearest postoffice being at Fairfield, now the county seat
of Jefferson county); or as near as may be, at what is now the site of the town
of Ottumwa, in Wapello county, where it remained during the winter of 1842-3.
The captain's recommendations had met the approval of General Scott and the War
Department, and Colonel Kearney, then commanding the Third District, at St.
Louis, was directed to cause the post to be established. It was not, however,
until the following spring, during which the treaty had hung fire in the Senate
for so long a time that fears were entertained that it would not be ratified,
that it was fully determined to move the troops from the agency to Raccoon fork.

   By orders No. 6, dated Headquarters Third Military Department, Jefferson
Barracks, February 20th, 1843, it was ordered, that:

   "A temporary post will be established at as early a period as the weather
Avill permit on the River Des Moines, at or near the junction of the Raccoon,
for the protection of the Sac and Fox Indians and the interests of the
Government on that frontier.

   "The troops designated for the garrison of the new post are Captain Allen's
company of the First Dragoons, at present stationed near the Sac and Fox agency,
and a company of the First Infantry, now stationed at Fort Crawford, to be
selected by the lieutenant-colonel commanding the regiment.

   "The site of the post will be determined upon by Captain Allen, and he will
also have charge of the erection of the requisite buildings for the
accommodation of the command; which will be constructed with, as strict a regard
for economy as may be consistent with the health of the troops, and conformably
to the instructions forwarded from this office, or such order as he may
hereafter receive from proper authority."

   Captain Allen left Sandford with a small detachment of dragoons on the 20th
of April for the new station, whither a steamboat with supplies had been
dispatched from St. Louis, arriving in time to receive and land them. Leaving
his men to guard the stores, he returned to the agency to bring up the balance
of his company, from whence, on the 10th of May, he dispatched a report of his
movement to the War Department.

   "I have located the post," he writes, "on the point I selected for it last
fall, the point made by the junction of the Raccoon with the Des Moines. I have
delayed taking up my horses or removing my whole company because of the lateness
of the spring and the consequent scarcity of grass. It is too expensive now to
take up full rations of corn, and the Des Moines River being low, I could not
induce the steamboat that took up the corn and quartermaster's stores to make
another trip at reasonable rates. I am using a small keel boat and wagons, all
public, for transportation of corn and some other stores, and will move, with my
company, on the 18th instant. Fairfield, Ioway Territory, will be my first
convenient postoffice, until another shall be established in the new territory
just vacated by the Indians."

   It may possibly be an item of historical interest to the good people of the
capital of what is now one of the largest and most prosperous states of the
Union to learn how nearly their city escaped the burden of a ridiculous name,
and to what fortuitous incident is due the one that now attaches to it.

   "I have named the new post," writes Captain Allen at this time, "Fort
Raccoon, to which I respectfully ask the sanction of the Secretary of War. . . .
I have recommended this name because the place has already a great notoriety
under such designation for a great distance around it, as 'Raccoon River,'
'Raccoon Forks,' 'Raccoon,' etc., etc., by all of which it is known as perhaps
the most conspicuous point in this territory, and no other name will so well
designate the position of the new post." it is not surprising that this
suggestion did not strike the authorities at Washington with the same force as
it did the more practical mind of its worthy commandant. "Fort Iowa would be a
very good name," endorses Adjutant General Jones on the papers, which he submits
to General Scott, "but 'Raccoon' would be shocking; at least in very bad taste."
It is probable that General Scott agreed with this view of the case, for a few
days later he informs Captain Allen that the word "Raccoon" is not considered a
proper designation for a military post, and that until otherwise directed, he
will call the post "Fort Des Moines."

   Captain Allen does not give up his point without a struggle. "I am afraid,"
he writes later, "that the latter designation for the post will divert much of
our mails and supplies to the late post of this name on the Mississippi, the
recollection of which is yet in the minds of many of the postmasters and public
carriers. I know that at Fort Atkinson, last year, most of my letters and papers
came to me by the way of the old post of that name in Wisconsin, and with great
delay. I will therefore respectfully suggest and recommend that some name be
given to this post to which this inconvenience may not attach."

   If Captain Allen had limited the communication to that subject alone, it is
quite probable that his latter objection would have been sustained, and some new
name have been given to his post. But, unfortunately for him, if providential to
the fort, he raised a point in that letter regarding the right of the post to
"double rations" which at the time was a matter of contest between the War and
Treasury departments, with the result that his letter was buried in some
forgotten pigeon hole about the desk of the commanding general, from which it
was not extracted until nearly two years afterwards. By that date the lapse of
time had carried with it the main objection of Captain Allen, and the name of
Des Moines had so long attached to the fort, that equal objection would have
forbidden a change. To this trifling circumstance, the mislaying of a document,
the present capital city of Iowa undoubtedly owes its name.

   On the afternoon of the 20th of May, Captain Allen with his company of
dragoons, four officers and forty-eight men, landed at the new site, and went
into camp, where they were joined on the 21st by Captain J. R. B. Gardenier's
company "F," of the 1st Infantry, two officers and forty-four men. The landing
was made at the point where the Court Avenue bridge now stands, the camp being
laid out along the west bank of the Des Moines at the edge of the belt of timber
that extended along the river front, and about the present line of Second
street. First Lieutenant John H. King of the 1st Infantry (who subsequently
reached high rank in the army and wras retired as colonel of the 9th Infantry)
was appointed adjutant of the post, and Second Lieutenant C. F. Ruff, of the
Dragoons, quartermaster and commissary. Captain Allen being in command of the
post, the command of his company devolved upon First Lieutenant William N.
Greer, who was retired forty years later as colonel of the Third Cavalry; that
of the Infantry company being under the charge of its captain, J. R. B.
Gardenier, who died in 1850, while still in command of this company. These, with
Dr. John S. Griffin, the surgeon of the post, constituted the first roster of
Fort Des Moines.

   The command immediately fell to work erecting quarters and laying out its
gardens, building first a temporary wharf at the "Point" so often mentioned by
Captain Allen, at the convergence of the two streams. The first building erected
was the public storehouse, at a point some fifty yards from the north bank of
the Raccoon. This was first completed, followed by the hospital at the northern
boundary of the camp about three hundred yards from the west bank of the Des
Moines, which was first occupied about the twentieth of June. The company
quarters, built of logs, one story in height, with puncheon floors, and capable
of comfortably quartering ten men each, were next commenced at the northwest of
the* storehouse; and still further to the west, the stables for the dragoons,
behind which were the corrals, and beyond, following down the north bank of the
Raccoon, the company gardens. In the fall, the quarters for the officers were
begun, to tin* right of the storehouse along the west bank of the Dos Moines,
and another garden laid out, across the Raccoon, in the angle formed by the
south bank of the latter and the west bank of the Des Moines.

   The commanding officer's quarters stood on the site now occupied by the Des
Moines & Fort Dodge railway station, and the front of the officers' quarters,
along the line of Second street near the track of the Keokuk and Des Moines
railroad. One of the first acts of the council of administration was the
selection of Mr. Robert A. Kinzie as post trader, who immediately proceeded to
erect his store and dwelling at a point to the northwest of the flagstaff, where
now stands the Sherman block, at the corner of Third street and Court avenue.
Permits to cultivate patches of land in the vicinity of the post in order that
they might purvey for the garrison, were granted Benj. B. Bryant, John
Sturtevant and Alexander Turner. J. M. Thrift, a discharged soldier, was given a
room in the quarters to open a. tailor shop, and Charles Weatherford to build a
blacksmith shop. These people, together with Dr. T. K. Brooks, James Drake and
J. B. Scott, all attaches of the garrison, formed the first colony of Fort Des
Moines.

   By the time the winter of 1843-44 had fairly set in, all the buildings were
under roof, and the command abandoning their tents, moved in and made themselves
as comfortable as the circumstances of their isolated position would permit. The
contractor for supplying the post with forage and beef, Mr. J. B. Scott, of
Fairfield, had erected and that winter occupied, the largest and most
comfortable house on the reservation. By the terms of his contract, dated April
18, 1843, it was agreed by the United States that:

   "The said J. B. Scott shall be permitted to open and cultivate a farm in the
Indian country to embrace at least one section of land of 640 acres, the said
farm to be selected by the said Scott at any place not nearer than one mile of
the said military post from any single body of land not appropriated to the
purposes of the said military post, or for the Indian villages or the licensed
trading houses in the country. The said Scott to enjoy the use and the benefit
of the said farm until the time that, the Indians shall have left the country
agreeably to their late treaty with the United States to remove south of the
Missouri River; provided that the said Scott shall from time to time faithfully
execute all his agreements of this contract and provided further that he shall
not violate any law of the United States regulating trade and intercourse in the
Indian country nor any proper regulation of the said military post or order of
the commanding officer."

   Under this agreement Mr. Scott had selected a section of land on the opposite
or east bank of the Des Moines; the center of his western boundary line being
opposite the ferry, and his residence, built at the northwestern corner of his
farm, directly opposite the site of the officers' quarters at the fort.
Adjoining Scott's farm to the north, a half section had been assigned to the
Messrs. George Washington and Washington George Ewing, of Fort Wayne, Indiana,
who had been granted trading permits. The log house built by the Ewing brothers,
was the first dwelling house raised on the east bank. Adjoining the southern
boundary of the Scott farm was a thick growth of timber, some two miles in
width, at the eastern edge of which was the residence and farm of the Phelps
brothers, who were trading with the Indians under a permit from their agent, Mr.
John Beach. Next to the Phelps farm was the residence and buildings of the
Indian agent, the latter being about four miles in a direct east line from the
flagstaff of the fort. These parties were all occupying their premises during
the first winter of the new post. With the opening of spring their numbers were
largely increased by white settlers, who hoped to pre-empt the lands in advance
of the treaty, and their importunities and frequent overt acts, caused no little
annoyance to Captain Allen and his officers, as none of them were permitted to
settle on the premises. They, however, hovered about the vicinity, eking out a
precarious living in various ways, to await the expiration of the three years.
The necessity of watching these vagabond speculators, and at the same time
endeavoring to restrain the restless instincts of his more particular charges,
the Sacs and Foxes, afforded the commandant of the fort sufficient employment
for his meagre force.

   The settlements all about them had the consequent result of tempting the
Indians to depredations and trespass, and when restrained from these acts, to
war upon their neighbors, the Sioux. In February, 1844, upon the requisition of
the Governor of the territory, Captain Allen left the fort with an officer and
twenty-nine men, to find a party of these trespassing Indians and remove them
back to the reservation. He accomplished this; task without much trouble,
returning to the fort within a few weeks, but was called upon to repeat the work
at intervals during the whole period of his occupancy. These tribes do not
appear at any time to have been other than mischievous, no serious offense being
laid to their charge.

   During this season Lieutenant King left the post on an extended leave of
absence, and was succeeded in the adjutancy by Brevet Second Lieutenant Joseph
H. Potter, and later by First Lieutenant Robert S. Granger, both of whom a few
years later were brevetted for distinguished services in the war with Mexico,
and subsequently reached the highest grade in their profession. As the time drew
nearer for the termination of the treaty, the duties of the garrison increased.
Hundreds of settlers were "squatting" along the boundaries ready to pounce upon
the lands the moment they were evacuated by the Indians, and their frequent
incursions over the line, which were usually accompanied by the shooting of one
or more of the Indians, followed by acts of reprisal, required all the good
judgment and discretion of the commandant to maintain the peace. Nor was this
the least difficult of his duties. It became evident as the time drew nearer,
that so strong was the disinclination of the tribes to leave their country, that
many of them would not go, until removed by force. So trying was the situation
during the summer of 1845, that Captain Allen with his dragoons, was almost
constantly in the field; being aided in this patrol of the district by Captain
Sumner's company from Fort Atkinson.

   On the 29th of August, 1845, he writes the Department in regard to the
situation, and in strong disapproval of the assumed intention of the Government
to abandon the post at the expiration of the treaty:

   "I think the post ought not to be abandoned until after the Indians shall
have left the country and gone to their new home south of the Missouri River.
This they will not do before the time mentioned in their late treaty—October 12,
1845—and I fear that many of them will not go until they shall be forced to do so.

   "If then they are to be removed by troops, this garrison will be the most
convenient for the purpose. Moreover, after the 12th of October, it will be too
late to remove the public stores to another post without expense and
inconvenience; and the contract for forage and other supplies being let for the
winter, and much of them delivered, the Government must experience loss and
inconvenience on this account, by leaving them, or by exposing them to sudden sale.

   "On the whole, I will recommend that this post be kept up at its present
strength until next spring, and that it be abandoned as early in the spring as
practicable."

   In this recommendation the department commander, General Brooke, did not
join. He writes on Septembr 9:

   "I have had a conversation with Colonel Kearney, and he advises that the post
be broken up after the departure of the Indians, and that the Indians be
compelled to remove by the 12th proximo, as immediately after the 12th, a great
number of white persons will enter the country, for the purpose of squatting,
and that much disturbance and difficulty may be expected between them and the
Indians, if they are suffered to remain.

   "Besides this, if an Indian be not made to comply with a contract once made,
he is always looking after indulgences, which in the end lead to delays
extremely difficult, ever to obviate. I am informed by letter received in this
city, from Mr. Beach, the agent, that the Sacs and Foxes are now making
preparation and are willing to comply with the treaty. Notwithstanding all this
apparent readiness, I am well convinced that like all other emigrating tribes,
some will scatter on the march and many will endeavor to remain at their old
homes."

   Notwithstanding this, however, the views of Captain Allen obtained at the War
Department, and it was determined to keep up the post during the winter. On
September 22, 1845, Company I, 1st Infantry, left the post for Jefferson
Barracks, leaving the garrison with fifty-two men. At the termination of the
treaty, October 12, 1845, the Sacs and Foxes left the country without
resistance, and moved to lands set apart for them south of the Missouri, though
many remained and continued by their presence to create no considerable
disturbance. On January 1, 1846, Captain Allen reports that there are still from
ISO to 200 Sacs and Foxes yet remaining in the territory, but believes that they
will all remove* quietly to their new homes, south of tin4 Missouri, before
their next annual payment.

   The first act of the authorities, after the land came into the possession of
the United States, was to set aside a military reservation of one mile square,
of which the flagstaff of the fort was the center. Of this area, one hundred and
sixty acres, with all the buildings thereon, were subsequently ceded to Polk
county, on January 17, 1846.

   The order for the abandonment of the post is dated St. Louis, February 23,
1846. It reads:

   "First Lieutenant Grier, commanding Allen's company, 1st Dragoons, will, as
early as practicable, take up his line of march from Fort Des Moines, for Fort
Leavenworth, escorting all the Fox Indians who have not left the territory of
Iowa, in accordance with their treaty stipulations of October, 1842, to their
permanent homes, as designated by the President of the United States.

   "Lieutenant Grier will leave at Fort Des Moines, one steady non-commissioned
officer and two privates, for the purpose of taking care of all the public
buildings, quartermaster's and subsistence stores, ordnance and ordnance stores,
and all other public property until instructions are received from the War
Department for their final disposition.

   "Allen's company of dragoons will, after having executed the above duty, form
a part of the permanent garrison of Fort Leavenworth."

   Immediately upon the receipt of this order at the Fort, Lieutenant Grier, in
the absence of Captain Allen, began his arrangements for its evacuation.
Lieutenant Noble, with twenty men, was sent up the Des Moines in search of a
party of Indians known to be there, while another party marched to the Skunk
River to bring over two lodges of Foxes that were said to be there. By the 7th
of March all the Indians had been brought in. He writes:

   "They were found about thirty miles above this post on the Des Moines and
Raccoon rivers, assembled (as they pretended to tell me) for the purpose of
moving over to join their chief, Pow-a-shick. However, information derived from
a better source, and their total want of means and preparation, go to convince
me that they did not intend to move until compelled to do so. Their intention
was to move higher up on the Des Moines or Raccoon River, and by scattering)
they doubtless supposed they could keep out of the way of the dragoons. They
number about one hundred and ten. I found them in rather miserable condition for
the journey.

   "Mr. Scott, one of their traders, supplied them with provisions, but was
unwilling to furnish transportation, and I directed the A. A. quartermaster to
do so. Yesterday morning (the 8th instant) Lieutenant Noble, with a command of
twenty-five dragoons, conducted the Indians on their route to Fort Leavenworth.
I expect to overtake them in three days. I am not aware that there are any of
the Foxes left in this territory. If there are, they must certainly be so few in
number as to give no further trouble to the whites.

   "The public property has been packed up, and placed in store in charge of a
non-commissioned) officer and two privates."

   At noon on March 10, 1846, Lieutenant Grier, with the balance of Company I,
marched out of the town, and Fort Des Moines as a military post ceased to exist.
After conducting the command to Fort Leavenworth, Lieutenant Grier returned to
Des Moines, by way of St. Louis, in order to direct the sale of the public
property, which occurred on the 1st day of May. By this time the vicinity of the
fort had become a considerable settlement, as well as the county seat of the new
Polk county, that had been organized by the Legislature during its session of
that winter. The first survey of the new town was made on July 8, 1846, the
first entry on May 12, 1848; in 1853 the town of Fort Des Moines was
incorporated, and a year later by act of the Legislature, it was designated as
the capital of the new state of Iowa.

   Captain James Allen, the commandant of the fort from its first occupation to
within a few weeks of its abandonment, was a native of Ohio, born in 1806, and
at the age of nineteen appointed to the Military Academy from the state of
Indiana. He graduated July 1, 1829, and appointed as second lieutenant in the
5th Infantry, joined his regiment at Fort Brady, where he served until March
4,1833, when he was transferred to the new Dragoon regiment as a second
lieutenant. From this time until his death, his services on the frontier were
continuous and of the highest value to the Government. Joining his regiment at
Fort Dearborn, he remained on staff duty until his promotion as first
lieutenant, May 31, 1835, when he was assigned to certain engineer duties in
connection with the reconnoissance of the Indian country. He served during the
next decade at Forts Leavenworth, Gibson, Atkinson and Sandford, from whence he
marched to the establishment of Des Moines. On the abandonment of that work, he
was appointed lieutenant-colonel and commander of the Mormon battalion of
Missouri volunteers for the Mexican war, and was en route to New Mexico with his
command, when he died suddenly near Fort Leavenworth on August 23, 1846, at the
age of forty.

   The career of Fort Des Moines had upon the whole been uneventful. Like
hundreds of its associates it was the initial factor in the progress of that
grand movement which within less than a century had civilized a continent.

At the time of its establishment it was the extreme outpost on the northern
frontier, in the midst of a region that was comparatively unexplored. Around it
as a nucleus, slowly but surely, had gathered a colony of sturdy, determined
pioneers, who, rushing in as the soldiers marched out, turned the soil and
metamorphosed the camp into a thriving city. The first child born at the
settlement, a son of Lieutenant Grier, in 1845, was also the first to die within
its limits, and at its funeral was preached the first sermon by the first
minister, the Rev. Mr. Rathbun. The same year a Methodist church was organized,
and a log school house erected, so that when the flag was lowered for the last
time, and the garrison marched out, it left behind a thriving community complete
in all its parts. The fort had fulfilled its mission.

   Names of officers and men who constituted the first garrison of Fort Des
Moines, Iowa, June 30,1843:

COMPANY I, FIRST U. S. DRAGOONS.

Captain—James Allen.
First Lieutenant—Wm. N. Grier.
Second Lieutenant—C. F. Ruff.
Sergeants—James Miller, Parker Gideon, Charles Williams, John Haley.
Corporals—Robert Williams, Alexander Newal, Darius Halstead, Alonzo Williams.
Bugler—Loren Holcomb.
F. &. Bl.—-George Marshall.

Privates—
Joseph Brown, 
William Brown, 
James Batty, 
Frederick Banfield, 
John J. Buckmuller, 
James Caterson, 
Augustine Dame, 
George De Groote, 
Benjamin F. Fiss, 
James Gould, 
George Howlett, 
Michael Halpin,
James Hawkins, 
John Harcourt, 
John Happ, 
Alexander Howard, 
Cornelius Hutton, 
Willard Hill, 
John Jones, 
William Jackson, 
Francis Kirkwood, 
Lewis Knolle, 
Charles W. Lazier, 
William Martin, 
Joshua M. Merrill, 
John W. Miller, 
Joseph C. Moses, 
John Newton, 
Polk O'Conner, 
Alphens Pomroy, 
David Roach, 
Henry Robertson, 
Jacob Kichait, 
William Ramsey, 
Voorhus Robbins, 
Francis Sleinwinder, 
Anthony Stromberger, 
Henry Stuckenberg, 
V. H. Schlegel, 
Christopher Schultz, 
Charles Stewart, 
Geo. W. Silver, 
James M. Sampson, 
John Skillin, F. W. Sick, 
Michael Trainor, 
William Tyler, 
Ira Taylor, 
B. F. Vanhorn, 
Herman Walter, 
Charles W. Wentz, 
Thomas Woolcut, 
Erastus Washburn, 
Peter Yerick 
and 
Thomas Yeadon.


COMPANY F, FIRST U. S. INFANTRY.

Captain—J. R. B. Gardenier.
First Lieutenant—John H. King.
Second Lieutenant—T. d'Oremieux.
First Sergeant—Thomas Buxton.
Sergeants—John Farley, John Fortes, Augs. A. Sanford.
Corporals—Hiram G. Thorp, John Lynch, James Clore.
Drummer—Robert Porter.
Fife—Robert Lucky.

Privates—John Andrews, 
Ropon P. Andruss, 
John Barnes, 
William Burns, 
Palmer Cheesebro, 
James M. Calder, 
Abraham Canon, 
John Clee, 
Peter Collins, 
William B. Deros, 
Daniel Gatnet, 
Peter Grevelle, 
William Hutchinson, 
William Hanson, 
William Hazen, 
John Hamilton, 
Edmund L. Jarvis, 
James Keenan, 
Francis Kennedy, 
Samuel Kellogg, 
Terrence Lee, 
Michael McDonough,
Thomas McDonald, 
Frederick G. Potter, 
Thomas Pew, 
Soloman Palmer, 
John Smith, 
John G. Smith, 
Samuel Smith, 
Owen Sullivan, 
John Shay, 
Matthias Schlechtweg, 
Charles Schlechtweg, 
William Tate, 
David Thompson, 
John Welch.




Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

ANNALS OF POLK COUNTY, IOWA,
AND
CITY OF DES MOINES
BY WILL PORTER.

"And this volume, dedicated to its people, sets forth in attractive style all
the facts and incidents that go to make up the history of which all citizens are
justly proud."
—Major Hoyt Sherman.

GEO. A. MILLLER PRINTING COMPANY,
PRINTERS AND PUBLISHERS,
DES MOINES, IOWA,
1898.


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