F r. ^ THE MILITARY HISTORY OF GREEN BAY i; Y WILLIAM L. EVANS I From Proceedings uf The State Historical Sncietx- nf Wisconsin, iSoa ] MADISON State Historical Society of Wisconsin 1900 ass book i'i Wis. Hist. Colls., xi, pp.. 135, 139. Ubid., p. 149 "Ibid., pp. 271-315. GEEEN BAY MILITARY HISTORY. 137 of a government trading post. An interesting chapter in the economic history of Wisconsin is the attempt to control the fur trade by government factors under direct military protection, with headquarters at the fort. iSTo business, however, was di- verted from the old channels ; and the new American Fur Com- pany, with Astor as the moving spirit, came in and shrewdly followed up the old methods of direct visits to the Indians, ex- tension of credit, and plentiful distribution of whiskey and presents. It used the old instruments, and assumed the head- ship and control of the forces already working. It was not a happy crowd that saw the four vessels of Amer- ican .troops sail into the mouth of the Fox on the seventh of August, 1816. Their disgust w^as fairly well concealed, how- ever. The French and Indians contrived to give the troops a sort of welcome, through the speech of Nat-aw-pin-daw-qua, a Winnebago chief, delivered to Colonel Bowyer on August 23, 1816, which gives an idea of what was in the Indian mind. He asks for protection for his French brothers, says that if it is the intention of the Americans to destroy the Indian, he doubts if they will be able; that when the French agent resided among them they were happy, but that the American agents have cheated them.-^ From a letter written by the surgeon who accompanied the troops, we learn that they '"sailed from Mackinac on the 23d of July, with the schooners Washing-ton, Wayne and Mink, and the sloop Amelia, having on board Colonel Miller, of the 3d Regiment, Colonel Chambers of the Rifle, Major Gratiot of the Engineers, a detachment of Artillery under Captain Pierce, and four companies of the 3d Infantry, amounting in the whole to 500 men. We entered the mouth of the river on the 7th of August * * * the engineer has finally fixed on the position where the old French fort,, La Bay, formerly stood. It wiU be a stockade with strong pickets, a bastion at each angle, with a piece of artillery on each, amply sufficient to beat off any In- 'Wis. Hist. Colls., xiii, pp. 444, 445. 238 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. dian force that can be brought against it — the garrison will consist of two companies of infantry, all under the command of Colonel Chambers. * * * Everything at present bears a peaceable asj>ect, but the storm is murmuring at a distance, which, I am fearful, will, sooner or later, burst on us with all the accumulated horrors of savage vengeance."^ From this date until 1841 the fort, now named Fort Howard, in honor of Gen. Benjamin Howard, was continuously garrisoned, with the ex- ception of the time spent at Camp Smith, on the east shore. The change to American rule was not so disastrous as was ex- pected, and the Green Bay loyalists soon accepted the situation. By an ingenious legal fiction, these rebels who had, joyfully enough, thrown off American authority in 1812, were assumed never to have been rebels, upon taking an oath that they had been compelled to yield to the tyranny of England and its sav- age allies, because the protection of the American government was withdrawn. When the old private claims on both sides of the Fox River were confirmed to the settlers in 1823, at Detroit, it was necessary for each holder to have two or three neighbors swear to his loyalty to the United States, and his enforced submission to the ''tyranny and caprice" of England. It is noticeable, in these confirmations, that the most aggressive in the British cause had no trouble in proving their loyalty to the United States during the struggle.- Maj. Zachary Taylor, afterward president of the United States, succeeded Colonel Miller ; and his daughter, Knox, who became Mrs. Jefferson Davis, was here as a child. In 1819, Colonel Joseph Lee Smith assumed command. Colonel Smith was not satisfied with the location of the fort, and in 1820 had ^Wis. Hist. Colls., xiii, pp. 441-443. This letter establishes the time of the landing of the American troops, as August 7. Being a contem- porary document, it is no doubt correct. Augustin Grignon (in Wis. Hist. Colls., iii, p. 281) says it was July 16; and James H. Lockwood (Id., ii., p. 104) puts it in July — both of them spoke from memory. -Amer. State Papers, Public Lands, iv, pp. 704, 709. GREEN BAY MILITARY HISTORY. ^39 it removed to the other side of the river, some three miles further up stream, and on high ground a half mile back from the river. This was at what was subsequently called Shantytown. Old residents at Green Bay were wont to say that it was John Lawe's •desire to have the fovt located upon his own. lands, and his con- tinual representations of it as the more desirable location, which influenced the officer rather than real military advantage. How- ever, the garrison was back at Fort Howard in 1822 ; Camp Smith, which had been named in honor of the commanding officer, being abandoned. In 1821, Smith had been succeeded by Col. Xinian Pinckney, and in 1822 Col. John Mcl^eil was in command. In 1824 Gen. Hugh Brady commanded, being succeeded the following year by Maj. William Whistler, who, in 1827, led the expedition of volunteers, regulars, and Stock- bridge and Oneida Indians against Red Bird. 'Seav the Fox- Wisconsin portage this Indian warrior surrendered to Whistler without battle, though he had previously engaged in several fierce attacks on the whites. ^laj. (later General) David E. Twiggs succeeded Whistler. In 1828, Col. William Lawrence came with four companies oi the Fifth infantry from Jefferson Barracks through the Fox-Wisconsin portage, not having to imload their boats, the water being unusually high that year. During the Black Hawk War (1832) the garrison at Fort Howard was under the command of Capt. Xathan Clark. There was little exact information concerning the strength of the Indians, and absurd nunors as to their numbers and vin- dictive cruelty were rife. That utter dread of an Indian up- rising, amounting almost to consternation, which seized the Western settlers, was felt in extreme form here, although the soldiers remained at the fort for the protection of the surround- ing inhabitants. The Indian agent, George Boyd, was, how- ever, able to get 300 Menomonees to the fi*ont under his predecessor, Col. C. S. Stambaugh, whom they had requested as a leader in the event of their being called on to fight. There were other white officers in the company, as well 140 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. as a few volunteers under Robert Irwin, Jr.^ The war was so- soon over, however, that the massacre of a fleeing band of Sacs was the only ''service" of this so-called "Stambaugh expedition.'^ The next year. Black Hawk, now a prisonerj was in Green Bay, coming down the river with the soldiers on his tour to the East.^ It is significant that the Americans were able at this time to lead red men into battle against red men; and though personal enmity to the Sacs may have somewhat influenced the Menomonees, it is evident that like objects and aims to the French and English had led the American to the same consider- ate, conciliatory, non-aggressive treatment of the Indian which was accountable for the seldom-interrupted peace of two cen- turies which marked the contact of red man and white about the mission, trading station, and military post at La Baye, Gen. George M. Brooks was in command during the 30's. Bishop Jackson Kemper, in his journal, relates that in the sum- mer of 1834 he dined at the fort with the General. Under date of July 2-i, he has the following entry : ''Dined at Mr. Whit- ney's at jSTavarino;" besides others there were ''nearly a dozens oflScers from the garrison in full uniform — pitcher full of lem- onade and port, madeira and champagne, wines and roast pig,, veal, ham, venison and veal pie — sallid — cranberry (abound here) tarts and floating islands — cheese, raisins, almonds, Eng- lish walnuts and filberts. The two doctors of the fort drank no wine — have established a Soc. there which now included 80 odd on principle of total abstinence. Lieut. Clary belongs to^ it likewise."^ ^E. H. Ellis, of Green Bay, and Sam. Ryan, of Appleton, are author- ity for the statement that the company of white volunteers were raised and commanded by Robert Irwin, Jr. It has usually been stated that they were under Alexander J. Irwin, as in Mrs. Kinzie's Waubun and Neville and Martin's Historic Green Bay. Alexander J. Irwin seems to have been a first lieutenant and acting quartermaster in the Indian com- pany under Stambaugh. See "Boyd Papers," Wis. Hist. Colls., xiii, p. 279. " Wis. Hist. Colls., xi, p. 226. ^IMd., xiv, p. 415. GREEN BAY MILITARY HISTORY. i^^ Lieut. Robert E. Clary was first lieutenant in the Fifth in- fantry from 1833 to 1838. Randolph B. Marcy, who became inspector general of the United States army, was a second lieu- tenant in the same regiment, and here during the same time. His daughter Ellen became the wife of Gen. Greorge B. Mc- Clellan. Most of the under ofRcers at the fort, from 1820 to 1^41 were West Pointers, although I believe that no West Pointer except Capt. Moses E. Merrill, who succeeded General Brooks, was ever in command.^' Social relations between the garrison and the townspeople were most cordial, and brilliant social functions took place in the fort, at the hotels and at the residences of the better class of civilians. The Eifth infantry went to Florida in 1841, and was subse- quently in the Mexican War, our fort being ungai'risoned until 1849. At the battle of Molino del Rey, Capt. Moses E. Mer- rill, Martin Scott, and Kirby Smith, were killed, and Lieut, (later Colonel) William Chapman was wounded. Martin Scott is probably the most picturesque character of the American occu- pation. He was a man who thoroughly enjoyed life — 'a great hunter, a horseman, and a famous shot. Those who knew him here and at Mackinac, still delight to tell stories of his skill; of his throwing two potatoes in the air, and piercing them both with a single shot; of the coon that offered to come down from the tree when it saw Scott below ; and of the duel where the gen- erous Martin so skilfully shot away the diseased portion of his adversary's liver as to restore him to better health than he had before known. He never took aim, simply looked at an ob- ject, and fired, the butt of the gun at his hip. Rows of dog ken- nels lined the path to his front door, and out to the southwest ^ The following list has been prepared by Henley W. Chapman, of Green Bay, from Cullom's Biographical Register of the Graduates of the United States Military Academy, and is believed to contain the name of every West Point graduate who was ever stationed at Fort Howard. Many who were cadets at that institution, but did not graduate, were at Fort Howard, and do not appear in this list. John C. Robinson, for instance, who was at the fort in 1839 as a second lieutenant, and later 142 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. -of the fort was Scott's half-mile race track. In the gentler arts of floriculture and horticulture he was also noted ; and flowers, shrubs, and trees transformed his own grounds into a veritable little park. was a major general in the army, was at West Point for three years, but did not graduate. ■Officers Stationed at Fort Howard, Wis., who rvre Graduates of the U. 8. Military Academy, from 1S20 to 1H52. Name. Alexander R. Thompson Hilary Branot Henry Smith Benj. L. E. Bonneville . . Henry H Lorins John B. F. Russell Benjamin Walker Lewis N . Morris Wm. S. Maitland Otis Wheeler Henry Brambridge St. Clair Denny Geortre Wright David Hunter John D. Hopson Aaron M . Wright Henry Clark ■Oeorae H. Crossman. . . . John W. Cotton Edmund B. Alexander .. Egbert B. BirdsaU Ephraim W. Low Alexander Johnston Wm. Bloodgood Timothy Paige , Wm. R. Montgomery. .. , Gustavus Dorr James Engle Amos B Eaton Moses E. Merrill E. Kirby Smith Alexander S. Hooe David Perkins Alexandej' J. Center Edgar M. Lacey Isaac Lvnde Robert E. Clary James L. Thompson . . . Amos Foster Caleb C. Sibley Camillus C. Daviess George W. Patten George W. McClure Wm. Chapman Horatio P. Van Cleve.. Charles Whittlesey Lorenzo Sitgreaves Randolph B. Marcy James V. Bomford Henry W. Wessells Daniel Haggles James W. Anderson Wm. M. D. McKi:sack. Marsena R.Patrick .. .. Joseph H. Whipple Robert A. Wainwright . Samuel Whitehom Ben.iam'n D. Forsyth .. Elisha G. Marshall Henry C. Hodges Rank while at Fort Howard. Years at Fort Howard. Brt -Major 6th Inf 1826. 1st Lt. 3d Inf 2d Lt. 2d Inf 1820-21 . 1822 Lt.-Col. 4th Inf 1851-52. 1st Lt. 3d Inf 1820-26. Capt. 5th Inf 1832-33. 2d Lt. 3d Inf 1st Lt. 3d Inf 2d Lt. 4th Art 1822-23. 1821-26. 182C-21 . 2d Lt. 3d Inf 1821-22; 1823-24. 2d Lt. 3d Inf 1st Lt. 5th Inf .. 2d Lt. 3d Inf 1821-22. 1828-36. 1822-24; 1826. 1st Lt. 5th luf 2d Lt. 3d laf 1832-33. 1823-26 2d Lt. 3d Inf 1822-23. 1st Lt. 5th Inf 1828-29. 2d Lt. 6th Inf 1823-24. 2d Lt. 3d Inf 1824-25 . 2d Lt. 3d Inf 1825-26 . 2d Lt. 3d liif 1825-26 2d Lt. 1st Inf 1824-25. 1st Lt. 5th Inf 1829-30. 2d Lt. 2d Inf 1826-28. 2d Lt. 1st Inf 1825 . 2d Lt. 3d Inf 1826 2d Lt. 6th Inf 1826-27 1st Lt. 5th Inf 1831-33. 1st Lt. 2d Inf 1837 Capt. 5th Inf 1832-41. 1st Lt. 5th Inf 1827-29 ; 1832-33 ; 2d Lt. 5th Inf 2d Lt. .5th Inf . 1836-37. 1828-31. 1829-3 1 . 2d Lt 5th Inf 1829-31. 2d Lt. 5th Inf 18^8-29; 1830-31. 1st Lt. 5th Inf 1832-37 . 1st Lt. 5th Inf 1833-38. 2d Lt. 5th Inf 1829-32. 2d Lt. 5th Inf 2d Lt. 5th Inf 1831-32. 1832-36. 2d Lt. 5th Inf 1830-31. 1st Lt. 2d Inf 1837. 2d Lt. Bth Inf 1830-31. 1st Lt. 5th Inf 18:«-38. 2d Lt. 5th Inf 1831. 2d Lt. 5th Inf 1832. 2d Lt. Top. Eng 1839-40. 1st Lt 5th Inf 1833-37 . 2d Lt. 2d Inf 18:^7. 2d Lt. 2d Inf 1837. 2d Lt. 5th Inf 1836-37. 2d Lt. 2d Inf 1837. 2d Lt. 5th Inf 183.5-36. 2d Lt. 2d Inf 1837. 2d Lt. 5th luf 1837. 2d Lt. 5th Inf 1835-36. 1st Lt. 5th Inf 1836-37 ; 1839-40 2d Lt. 4th Inf 1849-52. 2d Lt. 4th Inf 1850-51. 2d Lt. 4th Inf 1851-52. GKEEN BAY MILITARY HISTORY. 143 Old settlers sometimes state that Jefferson Davis was stationed here ; but this is not trne, although he visited the fort, and on one occasion went deer hunting up Devil River, with Moses Hardwick. The boat was capsized, and Hardwick assisted Davis out; but he used frequently to say that if he could have peered into the future, the waters of the Little Devil River would have ended the career of the future president of the Southern Con- federacy. In the brief occupation of the fort from 1849 to 1851, Col. Francis Lee and Lieut. -Col. Benjamin L. E. Bonneville, both of the Fourth regiment of infantry, were in command. From 1852 forward, the fort was without a garrison. During the War of Secession, a volunteer company was stationed there part of the time, assisting in 1863 in the enforcement of the draft, and holding drafted men there until they were forwarded to the front. Curtis R. Merrill, as provost marshal, was in charge of the draft. There was some opposition to it in the eastern portion of the county, and at one time a party of some two hundred Belgians^ among whom were a number of women, came in with pitch-forks, brooms, etc., and were going to lynch Timothy O. Howe, whom they had concluded was responsible for the draft. The Senator caane down town and addressed them on Pine street, where they disbanded, no serious consequences following. The smoothing hand of time, hurried here by the enterprise of railway construction, has obliterated almost every vestige of the old fort and the natural monuments in and about it.-^ In the yards to the north of the Chicago & !N"orthwestern railway sta- tion, however, — between the tracks and the bank" of Fox River, close to the latter, and due west from Elevator A. of the W. W. ^For most of the matter with reference to the present remains of the old fort, its condition, and the situation of buildings in its later days, I am indebted to Thomas M. Camm and Henley W. Chapman, of Green Bay, both of whom were born in the old fort (the former in 1828 and the latter in 1837), and to James H. Elmore, who was about the fort more than any other person during its last days and at the time it was being torn down; and scattered. ^44 WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Cargill Co., which stands in the river on piles, — -may be seen the stone foundation of the old government (or commissary's) ware- house. This building stood outside the fort stockade, some sixty feet nearer to the river, and just north from the sallyport. It had three stories above the basement. In 1862 and 1863, it was used as a warehouse by Dousman & Elmore, and was later re- moved by Hiram Cornell to Valentine, ISTebraska, where for a time it w^as used as the county court house and where it was lately still standing. On the river shore a few feet to the south of this old foundation, and in front of where the sallyport used to be, there can be seen at low water the piles of stones which were in the cribs in the foundation of the fort pier. The soli- tary elm in the railway yards, a short distance to the north of the oil tanks, stood some forty feet from the rear or west side of the stockade, and just south of the commanding officer's quarters. In that level expanse of gravel, ties, and steel rails, with here and there little patches of smoke-begrimed grass, only these three memorials of the past help the old resident to point out and ex- actly locate the buildings of the fort; and unless other monu- ments be raised there will soon be nothing to mark the place of the first military occupation of Wisconsin, the post from which Trance sought to hold half a continent, and around which, as no other, are grouped the significant military facts in our history. The most of the old stockade, about twelve feet high, consist- ing of timbers fram ten inches to a foot square, and closely set together, with numerous loop-holes, splayed within for observa- tion and for firing, stood until the last. This stockade and the fort buildings were always kept of a dazzling whiteness. The cemetery was at the southwest of the fort, on a sandy knoll which, however, like the surrounding country, was very low. In dig- ging, water was reached a short distance below the surface, and soldiers used to say that they would hate to die at Fort Howard, as it was bad enough to die without being drowned afterward. Outside the stockade, and some fifty feet to the south stood the square, stone magazine, with metal doors and roof, nothing of GREEN BAY MILITARY HISTORY. ^45 which remains — if we except bhe key, now in the possession ■of James H. Elmore. This arrangement of a magazine outside the fort, has been commented on as unusual and unwise. South of this stood the hospital, which has been removed to the north- east corner of Chestnut avenue and Kellogg street, in the city of Green Bay, and is now occupied as a residence. Its eight solid wood Pinal's, supporting the roof of the deep porch along the entire front ; its long sweep of roof running straight dowTi to the top of the first story, broken in front by the three dormer windows of the second story, and in the rear by dormer win- dows and cliimneys; and the panelled doors^ with frames of •colonial effect — ^all these convey a fair idea of the fort's architec- ture. The pi"^sent stanch ap}>earance of the hospital speaks well for its material and workmanship. It was one of the largest and l)est of the buildings, and in the old days was the scene of many A festivity. Balls were given here by the oflScers, and its use was also tendered to the town "bloods'" for social functions. Pre- sumably there were no patients in those hilarious days. To the rear of this building, and detached from it, fronting on Chest- nut avenue and also used as a dwelling, stands wdiat used to be the rear portion of the hospital. South of the hospital, and at about the point where now stands the express office of the new Chicago & N^orthwestern railway station, was the surgeons' quarters, occupied by Maj. Ephraim Shaylor, a veteran of the war of 1812-15, when he was in charge of the fort buildings from 1852 until its grant to the railway company. It might be mentioned that at the time the company took possession, in 1862, the fort w^as intact, and upon the com- pany devolved the task of tearing down, giving away, and ped- dling out the several buildings. Between 1841 and 1849 also, the fort had not been garrisoned, and Major Shaylor was in charge most of this time. This officer was a rigid Presbyterian, and a nervous, fidgety man. He went with his wife one day, in the later 40's, to visit William Root, who had earlier been