Editing Fort Gibson, Oklahoma (section)

==History==
Fort Gibson was originally established as a military garrison, Cantonment Gibson, in April 1824. The camp was set up  to facilitate U.S. government policies of westward expansion and Indian removal.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1466.pdf|title=Headquarters Records Fort Gibson, Indian Territory 1830-1857|date=1987}}</ref> After the founding of Fort Gibson in 1824, military families, Indians desiring military protection, and free African-Americans settled near the fort, forming a town. After the Army abandoned Fort Gibson in 1857, the Cherokee Nation took over the military stockade and renamed the town Keetoowah.

The Army reoccupied Fort Gibson during the [[American Civil War]] and was renamed Fort Blunt from 1862 - 1865 for Maj. Gen. [[James G. Blunt]].<ref>{{cite web|last = Lees|first = William B.|title = Oklahoma's Civil War Monuments and Memorial Landscapes|publisher = William B. Lees|date = 2004|pages = 25–26|url = http://uwf.edu/wlees/Monuments.pdf|access-date = 2017-10-01|archive-date = 2016-06-14|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160614235541/http://uwf.edu/wlees/monuments.pdf|url-status = dead}}</ref> The town again prospered as refugees from fighting elsewhere fled to the relative safety of the fort.<ref name="EOHC-FtGibsonTown">Fort Gibson Genealogical and Historical Society. [http://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=FO034 "Fort Gibson,"] ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture'', Oklahoma Historical Society, Accessed May 6, 2015.</ref> By the spring of 1863, soldiers in the [[Indian Home Guard]] occupied the fort. For several months, the Federal supported garrison had to fight off raids by [[Stand Watie]] and his Confederate backed Cherokee horsemen. Aside from Confederate raids, the garrison also suffered from outbreaks of cholera and smallpox. [[Sonuk Mikko]], an officer in the Indian Home Guard, contracted smallpox while stationed at the Fort and succumbed to the illness.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Porter |first1=Kenneth W. |title=Billy Bowlegs (Holata Micco) in the Civil War (Part II) |journal=The Florida Historical Quarterly |date=April 1967 |volume=45 |issue=4 |pages=399–400 |url=http://palmm.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/ucf%3A22408 |access-date=13 April 2023}}</ref>

On May 20, 1898, the Articles of Incorporation for the town of Fort Gibson were established under the Arkansas Statutes, placing all of the densely settled areas under one jurisdiction.<ref name="EOHC-FtGibsonTown"/>

The townspeople considered Fort Gibson poorly located after suffering fires, mosquitoes, and other afflictions. They moved the town to higher ground around 1900. The first buildings had faced west toward the [[Kansas and Arkansas Valley Railway]] (later the [[Missouri Pacific Railroad]]) tracks. In 1904 the town of Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, was surveyed and platted. In 1904 the town was turned around and situated one block east when J. C. Pierce built the first brick building. In 1906 John C. Berd constructed a brick-and-stone building for his drugstore, and the commercial district grew around these two permanent features. It had 1,063 residents in 1907.<ref name="EOHC-FtGibsonTown"/>

One of the oldest non-Indian settlements in Oklahoma, Fort Gibson had other firsts for Oklahoma, such as: 
*the first telephone,
*first drama theater, 
*first steamboat landing, 
*first school for the blind, 
*first highway to Fort Smith
*the first interurban, which connected Fort Gibson to [[Muskogee, Oklahoma|Muskogee]].<ref name="EOHC-FtGibsonTown"/>

In 1896 J. S. Holden started a weekly newspaper, the ''Post''. At least six other newspapers followed in the early 20th century; the ''Fort Gibson Times'' continued into the 21st century.<ref name="EOHC-FtGibsonTown"/>

In 1940, 1,233 people populated the town, and by 1970 there were 1,418 citizens. Home to twenty-six churches and fourteen civic clubs and organizations at the beginning of the 21st century, the town boasted a strong civic spirit. The town has a board of trustees type of government. The manufacturing industry supports the majority of workers, and the health care sector is  close behind. The 2000 census listed 4,054 residents, and the school system housed 1,900 students at a teacher-student ratio of one to fifteen.<ref name="EOHC-FtGibsonTown"/>

===Steamboats===
Part of the reason for the locale’s original success was that Fort Gibson was placed on the [[Grand River (Oklahoma)|Grand River]] (a/k/a the lower section of the [[Neosho River]]) near where both it and the [[Verdigris River]] join and enhance the [[Arkansas River]].<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=AR010 |title=Arkansas River|publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society|accessdate=July 18, 2024}}</ref><ref name=Riverboat>{{cite web|url= https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc2016975/m1/14/?q=%22~1~1~1~1~1%22~1  |title= The Riverboat Frontier: Early-Day Commerce in the Arkansas and Red River Valleys|publisher=The Chronicles of Oklahoma, Oklahoma Historical Society, pp. 189-205|accessdate=July 18, 2024}}</ref>  This made it the [[head of navigation]] on the Arkansas—the farthest point up the river that could be navigated by significant ships—and an obvious river transportation point.<ref>Jason King, "[https://www.hiddenhydrology.org/bring-me-the-head-of-navigation/ Bring Me the Head of Navigation]", Hidden Hydrology, Oct. 27, 2018; accessed 2023.05.15</ref><ref name=Riverboat/><ref name=Steamboat>{{cite web|url= https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=ST026 |title=Steamboats and landings|publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society|accessdate=July 18, 2024}}</ref>  So, while some of the early vessels operating from the town were [[canoe]]s, [[bateau]]x, or even [[keelboat]]s (frequently pulled by men on shore with [[towrope]]s), the town was reached by [[steamboat]] as early as 1824 when the ''Florence'' delivered army recruits to Fort Gibson.<ref name=Riverboat/><ref name=Steamboat/>   In February 1828 the locale received a visit from a vessel called ''The Facility'' captained by one Philip Pennywit, and was within three years of that a regular steamboat stop.<ref name=Riverboat/>  In 1832, noted author [[Washington Irving]], who had spent twenty days traveling in Indian Territory—an experience documented in his book ''A Tour on the Prairies''—departed the territory via steamboat at Fort Gibson.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=IR004 |title= Irving, Ellsworth, Latrobe, and Pourtales Expedition|publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society|accessdate=August 1, 2024}}</ref>

Steamboat traffic grew and peaked in the two decades preceding the [[American Civil War|Civil War]].<ref name=Riverboat/>  For example, the riverboat ''Philip Pennywit'' (part owned by the aforementioned captain) was advertising in February 1849 its regular runs from New Orleans to Fort Gibson.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/philip-pennywit-steamboat-18950/  |title=Philip Pennywit [Steamboat]|publisher=Encyclopedia of Arkansas|accessdate=July 18, 2024}}</ref>  The usual "boating season" ran from January to June, but some ships attempted to operate year-round.<ref name=Steamboat/>

The Civil War curtailed riverboat activity, as when the Union steamer [[Ambush of the steamboat J. R. Williams|''J. R. Williams'' was destroyed by Confederate forces]] on June 15, 1864 trying to make a supply run to Fort Gibson.<ref name=Riverboat/><ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=TA010 |title=Tamaha|publisher=Oklahoma Historical Society|accessdate=July 18, 2024}}</ref>  Nevertheless, activity picked up again after the war, as shown by a report in 1870 that twenty cargo-laden steamboats averaging three hundred tons apiece were operating between Fort Gibson and various ports on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.<ref name=Riverboat/>  However, with the rise of railroads, riverboat usage trailed off and Fort Gibson declined as a transportation and commercial center.<ref name=Riverboat/>