Friday, November 27, 2015

Defending the Boones Lick Country Part II





In yesterday's post I mentioned how the settlers of the Boone's Lick region refused to flee despite the constant pressure of raids by several frontier Indian tribes. Now here is an example of how they situated and set up their mutual defenses in and around the main settlement of Arrow Rock.

In 1812 they built five forts. Cooper's Fort, Kencaid's Fort, Fort Hempstead, Fort Head and Fort Cole. These forts ringed around the settlement with Cole's Fort actually being located on the opposite side of the Missouri River from the other four. Each fort would contain the household of the principal occupant and family while some contained multiple families. Usually the house doubled as the block house and formed one or more corners of the fort.

Inside the ring of forts the settlement's farm land would be located and cultivated in common, with each fort defending from one or more vantage points and entrance ways. Sentinels would be placed in the outlying areas armed and hidden with horns. They would keep watch while the families went about their business and tended the fields. When a raid or incursion was detected the alarm would be sounded and the people of the settlement would enter the forts and prepare to defend them.

This is not some cluster of closely huddled houses. This is an example of how a farming community although small by today's standards, could be spread out enough for production farming and still be able to defend itself against forces 20 or more times it's own size. The defenders were no better armed than the attackers but had the advantage of defending a somewhat prepared position. Which made all of the difference.

There is a lesson to be learned from these early settlers. Many lessons to be frank. The one that sticks out most to me however is how much easier it is to defend than attack and how much an individual or family can increase their chances of survival in hostile territory by working with their neighbors. Another important factor in this example is that even if a fort were to fall to raiders the victors would be in no position to enjoy their spoils for long as it would be in easy harassment range of one of the other forts. There would be no time for the raiders to rest, regroup or pick through their loot before suffering a counter attack of some kind.

Just a little food for thought about homestead and community defense.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!




11 comments:

  1. These two posts have given me some thingscto think about.

    Exile1981

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    1. Exile - Thanks for letting me know. That's what I try and do here is give peple something to think about :)

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  2. Very good posts, it is amazing how much it reminds me of what happened in the valley of Va with similar results. In this area the people were mostly Scotish, German and English but they were all brought together by the milita system. The government didn't send troops to the middle of nowhere unless the French were present. It is essential to have an organized milita or the farmers would get over run as soft targets do throughout history.

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    1. Appal Eng. - The two were not separated by that many years truth be told and the technology of the day hadn't improved that much between them so it makes sense. I think some of the more Eastern tribes were a bit stronger than the MIdWest ones were so many of the earlier skirmished were more bloody.

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  3. Excellent posts when considering homestead property. Thanks!

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  4. Fascinating read, and good info for survival if dark days come.

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  5. Wasn't this the Indians home?

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    1. Anon - By home do you mean were they born in N. America and lived here wandering around in small nomadic groups making temporary camps? If so then yes it was their home. All 1200 Ioway Indians in 1760 claimed they "owned" all of Iowa, part of Wisconsin and Illinois and the Northern half of Missouri. That's a pretty BIG yard for 1200 people don't ya think?

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