Forts of Vincennes, Indiana

Fort Vincennes was a French military outpost on the Wabash River. located at the site of the present-day city of Vincennes, Indiana.

Construction

François-Marie Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes, acting under the authority of the French colony of Louisiana, contructed the fort in 1731-1732. The outpost was designed to secure the lower Wabash Valley for France, mostly by strengthening ties with the Miami, Wea and Piankashaw nations. In with the death of the younger Vincennes in 1736, Louis Groston de Bellerive de St. Ange assumed command of the post. He rebuilt the fort, turned the post into a major trading center and attempted to recruit French traders and to lure native peoples to settle there. By 1750, the Piankashaw resettled their village near the post.

After the French and Indian War, the British and colonial governments could not afford the cost of maintaining frontier posts/ Fort Vincennes fell into disrepair. With the outbreak of the Revolution, however, the British rebuilt and reinforced the fort from Detroit, renaming it Ft. Sackville, after their Foreign Minister. This is the fort captured in a daring raid by Col. George Rogers Clark, during the winter of 1779. His victory essentially assured the new United States' claim to the vast region soon to be called the Northwest Territory (1787). The George Rogers Clark National Historic park is on the site today.

The new United States government built a new fort, just up the street from the old one, and named it Ft. Knox (usually referred to by local historians as Fort Knox I), after the US Secretary of War. During the relative peace with both the British and the Indians from 1787-1803, this was basically the western-most American military outpost.

In 1803 it was decided to move the fort north of Vincennes to a landing about three miles up the Wabash river. This fort,(also called Ft. Knox, and referred to locally as Ft Knox II) was built under the guidance of the new governor of the new Indiana Territory (1800), William Henry Harrison. The sleepy little fort was famous mostly for duels (the Captain of the fort at one point shot his second-in-command)and desertion. But by 1811 disagreements between Gov. Harrison and Indian leader Tecumseh were reaching a head. A new Captain, Zachery Taylor, was put in charge of the fort.

Late in 1811 the Ft. Knox II had its most important period, when it was used as the muster point for Gov. Harrison as he gathered his troops, both regular US army and militia, prior to the march to Prophetstown and the Battle of Tippecanoe. After the battle the troops returned to Ft. Knox at Vincennes and several died from their wounds there. The Ft. Knox II site is now a State Historic Site, with the outline of the fort marked with short posts,interpretive signage, and a park setting.

By 1813 it was determined that the site outside town was too far away to protect the town. Ft Knox II was disasembled, floated down the Wabash, and reasembled just a few yards from where Ft. Knox I had been. This fort was soon abandoned as the frontier rapidly moved west.