Editing Fort Madison, Iowa (section)

==History==
Fort Madison was founded as the location of the first U.S. military fort in the upper Mississippi region.<ref name=Gen>{{Cite journal | last1 = Knapp | first1 = Henry E. | year = 1919 | title = General John Holly Knapp | jstor = 4630171 | journal = The Wisconsin Magazine of History | volume = 2 | issue = 3 | pages = 337–340 |publisher =Wisconsin Historical Society }} &mdash; A biographical sketch of the first settler and founder of the new Fort Madison</ref> A replica of the fort stands along the river.<ref name="oldfortmadison.com">Old Fort Madison: {{cite web|url=http://www.oldfortmadison.com/ |title=Welcome to Old Fort Madison |access-date=2008-03-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080305185627/http://www.oldfortmadison.com/ |archive-date=2008-03-05 }}</ref> [[Sheaffer|Sheaffer Pens]] were developed and made in Fort Madison for many years. The city is the location of the [[Iowa State Penitentiary]]—the state's maximum security prison for men. Fort Madison is the Mississippi river crossing and [[Fort Madison station (1968–2021)|station stop]] for Amtrak's ''[[Southwest Chief]]''. Fort Madison has one of two remaining double swing-span bridges on the Mississippi River, the [[Fort Madison Toll Bridge]], the other being the Government Bridge in Rock Island, Illinois. It has a top level for cars and a similar level for trains; it is also the world's largest [https://web.archive.org/web/20070607222054/http://www.fortmadison.com/pages/living.htm].

The [[Fort Madison Downtown Commercial Historic District]] is a collection of well-preserved historic storefronts from the late 19th century. Along with this is the [[Park-to-Park Residential Historic District]]. The Historic Park to Park District is a seven block long, three block wide section of homes that represent the Gothic, Victorian, and Tudor era. With a rich variety of architectural styles like Gothic Revival, Italianate, Second Empire, Eastlake Stick, Richardson Romanesque, Queen Anne, and Tudor. With two of the six parks within the District. It is on the National Historic Registry.

===Original Fort Madison (1808–1813)===
[[File:Old Fort Madison, built in 1808 - History of Iowa.jpg|thumb|Fort Madison, built in 1808 (1903 artist's interpretation)]]
[[Image:Fort Madison 1810.jpg|thumb|upright|Plans of Fort Madison, drawn in 1810 by a trading post factor]]
The city of Fort Madison was established around the site of the historic Fort Madison (1808–1813), which was the first permanent U.S. military fortification on the Upper Mississippi. Fort Madison was the site of [[Black Hawk (chief)|Black Hawk]]'s first battle against U.S. troops, the only real [[War of 1812]] battle fought west of the Mississippi. It was also the location of the first U.S. military cemetery in the upper Midwest.<ref>For general histories of Fort Madison, refer to Jackson 1958, 1960, 1966; Prucha 1964, 1969; Van der Zee 1913, 1914, 1918.</ref> The fort was named for [[James Madison]], fourth President of the United States.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ | title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States | publisher=Govt. Print. Off. | author=Gannett, Henry | year=1905 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n128 129]}}</ref>

Fort Madison was one of three posts established by the [[U.S. Army]] to establish control over the newly acquired [[Louisiana Purchase]] territories. Fort Madison was built to control trade and pacify Native Americans in the Upper Mississippi River region. The other two posts were [[Fort Belle Fontaine]] near [[St. Louis, Missouri|St. Louis]], which controlled the mouth of the Missouri, and [[Fort Osage]], near what is now [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]], which controlled trade with western Native American tribes.<ref>Prucha (1964, 1969)</ref>

====Location of the Fort====
A disputed 1804 treaty with the [[Sauk people|Sauk]] and affiliated tribes led to the U.S. claim of control over western [[Illinois]] and parts of what is now [[Iowa]]. To establish control, the U.S. Army set out to construct a post near the mouth of the [[Des Moines River]], a major trading route into the interior of Iowa. Not finding suitable land near the mouth of the Des Moines, the expedition also considered land near [[Quashquame]]'s [[Sauk people|Sauk]] and [[Meskwaki]] village at the head of the [[Des Moines Rapids]], a choke point of trade and transportation on the Upper Mississippi below modern [[Montrose, Iowa|Montrose]]. Again, this land was not considered suitable for a fort. The Army settled on a location several miles upstream at what is now the city of Fort Madison.<ref>Jackson (1958, 1960)</ref>

First called Fort Belleview, this post was also soon deemed inadequate. It was poorly situated at the base of a bluff next to a deep ravine, areas from which enemies could safely fire at the fort. Its construction led to resentment among the local Native Americans, especially the Sauk: They considered the 1804 treaty invalid, the fort threatened established trading networks, and American trade goods were considered inferior to French or British goods.<ref>Jackson (1960); Van der Zee (1914)</ref>

Black Hawk lamented over the new fort, and disparaged its construction in his autobiography.

====Attacks on Fort Madison====
Almost from the beginning, the fort was attacked by Sauk and other tribes. U.S. troops were harassed when they left the fort, and in April 1809, only threat of cannon fire stopped an attempted storming of the fort.<ref>Van der Zee (1918); Jackson (1958; 1966)</ref>

During its existence, several improvements were made to the fort, including reinforcing the stockade and making it higher, extending the fort to a nearby bluff to provide cover from below, and constructing of additional blockhouses outside the stockade. These improvements could not fully compensate for the fort's poor location, however, and it was again attacked in March 1812, and was the focus of a coordinated siege in the following September. The September siege was intense, and the fort was nearly overrun. Significant damage resulted to fort-related buildings, and the attack was only stopped when cannon fire destroyed a fortified Indian position.<ref>Jackson (1960); Van der Zee (1913, 1918)</ref> Black Hawk participated in the siege, and claimed to have personally shot down the fort's flag.<ref name="Black Hawk 1882">Black Hawk (1882)</ref>

====Final siege and abandonment====
As the War of 1812 expanded to the frontier, British-allied Sauk and other tribes began a determined effort to push out the Americans and reclaim control of the upper Mississippi. Beginning in July 1813, attacks on troops outside the fort led to another siege. Conditions were so dangerous that the Army could not recover the bodies of soldiers killed outside the fort and troops could not leave the fort to collect firewood. The Army burned outbuildings to prevent them from falling into Indian hands.<ref name="Zee 1918">Van der Zee (1918); Jackson (1958, 1960, 1966)</ref>

After weeks of paralyzing siege, the Army finally abandoned the post, burning it as they evacuated. They retreated in the dark through a trench to the river, where they escaped on boats. The date of the abandonment is unknown, as much of the military correspondence from this period of the war is missing, but it probably happened in September.<ref name="Zee 1918"/> Black Hawk observed the ruins soon after. "We started in canoes, and descended the Mississippi, until we arrived near the place where Fort Madison had stood. It had been abandoned and burned by the whites, and nothing remained but the chimneys. We were pleased to see that the white people had retired from the country."<ref name="Black Hawk 1882"/>

United States government had established [[United States Government Fur Trade Factory System|a federal fur trade station]] at Fort Madison in 1808. It was burned down in 1812 by order of the military commander who feared that it would endanger the fort.<ref>Wesley, Edgar Bruce (1935). Guarding the Frontier. University of Minnesota Press, p. 40.</ref>

[[Active Regular Army units with campaign credit for the War of 1812|Three active battalions of the current 3rd Infantry]] (1–3 Inf, 2–3 Inf and 4-3 Inf) perpetuate the lineage of the old 1st Infantry Regiment, which had a detachment at Fort Madison.

====Fort ruins and archaeology====
Early settlers built their homes near the ruins and named the town that grew up around them for the fort.<ref name=Gen/> A large monument was erected in the early 20th century at the fort location. Archaeological excavations in the parking lot of the [[Sheaffer|Sheaffer Pen]] Company factory in 1965 exposed the fort's central blockhouse and the foundations of officers' quarters.<ref>McKusick (1965, 1966)</ref> The site was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1973.<ref>{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref> A replica fort was built several blocks away; much of the labor was supplied by volunteer inmates at the nearby [[Iowa State Penitentiary]].<ref name="oldfortmadison.com"/>

====Preservation and threats to the fort site====
The fort site is now the subject of preservation efforts. After the Sheaffer Pen factory closed in 2007, the site was sold to developers. Arguing that Fort Madison is "Iowa's most important historical site", preservationists want to convert the parking lot into a memorial park dedicated to soldiers killed at the fort. So far, no agreement has been reached for its preservation.<ref>Bergin, Nick: "Effort to preserve fort site heats up." ''Burlington Hawk Eye'', December 3, 2008.</ref><ref>Delany, Robin: "Preservationists fear future development will rob Fort Madison of original fort site." ''Fort Madison Daily Democrat'', December 3, 2008</ref><ref>Save Fort Madison Website, http://fortmadison.googlepages.com/home</ref>

===Founding of the town of Fort Madison===
The first settler at the ruins of the fort was General John Holly Knapp, who in 1832 bought a claim to some land of the fort and built the first building in the fall of the same year, utilized as an Indian Supply Store. Early next spring and his cousin Nathaniel Knapp with family settled there, joined by some other settlers the same year, In June 1835, General Knapp and Nathaniel Knapp, laid out the town of Fort Madison. Due to some land title issues, in 1840 the town was relocated on the same lot lines by the government.<ref name=Gen/>