Editing Fort Madison, Iowa (section)

====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>