Defending the Booneslick Country, Part III The Attackers

The Missouri settlements were mostly attacked by five tribes that lived along the frontier. The Sac and Fox tribes who principally lived in Northern Illinois and Wisconsin. The Ioway who resided mostly in present day Iowa and Northern Missouri, this group also contained a few remnants of the  Missouria Indians and the Otoe tribes. The Winnebego Indians from Wisconsin. The Potawtomi from Illinois and a group of Miami who had been moved into the Booneslick area after the battle of Tippecanoe in 1811.

The Osage tribes which resided South of the Missouri river were generally considered allies although the official stance of the US government during the war of 1812 was that all Indians were to be kept as neutral whenever possible. In several cases the Osage and other tribes were convinced by one US agent or settler to attack one or another of the warring tribes only to have the action blocked by the Territorial government.

Generally speaking these Eastern Plains tribes were armed pretty much as their Eastern woodland cousins were during the American Revolution. There were of course some later models of smoothbore muskets and rifles available but mostly little had changed in the 30 years since the Revolution period. Horses were utilized more by Indian raiding parties and were prime looting targets but I am not aware of any of these tribes fighting from horseback during this period.

The Ioway were the major attackers along the Booneslick road and settlements, with the other tribes usually striking further to the East towards the St. Louis area.

Estimates of the time period show that all told the entire loose federation of tribes could barely field a total of 3000 warriors of all ages and had a combined population of maybe 6 to 7000 people spread over most of the Midwest and the Eastern part of the Central Plains states. An area that covers about six and a half states by today's division. For those who want to comment about this area being the Indian's home like someone did on the last post, all I can say is it would take one hell of an amount of arrogance to claim a backyard of that size to house 7000 people but believe what you want.

So as you can see the Settlers were not in such dire straights as it first appears. The Indians had the advantage in that they could mass their attacks outnumbering the defenders by 20 to 1 in some cases BUT if they did not catch the defenders in the open and unprepared their chances of success were much reduced. Once the settlers made it into the makeshift forts the odds of  survival increased greatly.

In one skirmish the defenders of the Fort near present day Jefferson City, mostly Women as it turned out, ran out of water to quench the fires the attackers set and were forced to use what was in their chamber pots. When one block house burned and a stash of powder exploded killing 18 of the attackers the Indians were forced to retire.

In another case were the Sac, Fox and Ioway warriors attacked the principal Booneslick settlement and actually overran two of the forts, one warrior dug a hole through the wall of Cooper's fort and managed to shoot Col.Cooper and killing him.

While mass and numbers favored the attackers, time and logistics did not. The attackers were forced to consume what they brought with them or could hunt or loot on the raid which severely lessened their numbers to do so. The defenders once "Forted" up had whatever supplies they had on hand which was usually far more than the attackers had. The settlers on the other hand were constantly hampered by losing able bodied people to sentinel duty though it must be said.

After the cessation of hostilities between the US and England the supply of war materials to these tribes dried up and they sued for peace. Thus ending the frontier skirmishes. The tactics of defense used is a good study in how to defend an open community against armed raids as long as large weapons are not used anyway. It takes very few defenders v. attackers to hold a hardened structure but is also important to note that all the settlers defended themselves. Something today's ultimate doomers like to discount.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!!

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!!!!!

Defending the Boone's Lick Country 1812 - 1815

During the last decade of the 1700's and the years just before the War of 1812 the furthest Westward settlements of the United States were in an area known then as the Boone's Lick country. Daniel Boone had pushed West along the Missouri River and discovered a salt spring near present day New Franklin, Missouri and established a salt mining operation. By about 1810 some 200-odd families had settled in the area mostly coming up out of Kentucky. One must remember the "settlement" spanned several present day counties in Mid Missouri along what was known then as the Boone's Lick trail which wound it's way North of the Missouri river where the Northern Plains meet the Ozark Highland geological features.

Why is this important enough for me to mention it on a homesteading/sustaining blog you might ask? Well because of the circumstances that those early settlers had to face especially during the War of 1812 situated on the furthest Western frontier as they were. The situation was grim and desperate to say the least. The governor of the territory at the time suggested the settlers of the area abandon their homesteads and retreat to the relative safety of St. Louis. To which the earliest military commander of the area at the time, Col. Cooper replied.

“We have made our homes here and all we have is here and it would ruin us to leave now. We be all good Americans, not a Tory or one of his Pups among us, and we have 2 hundred Man and Boys that will fight to the last and have 100 Women and Girls that will take their places with. Makes a good force So we can defend the settlement. With God’s Help we will do.”

What were these early settlers facing? Well the British were stirring up as many of the Indian tribes as possible to attack the frontier. Also Tecumseh and his brother Tenskawatawa were uniting the various tribes from the Great Lakes down into the Texas area into a confederation to attack all along the frontier area and it was a good bet the Boone's Lick settlements would be top on their target list.

Basically these early settlers were spaced few and far between, likely to be attacked by raiders and no hope of any official military help. In fact several hundred of their own had already been taken into Federal service and formed into a couple of Ranger companies and were being used in the North in present day Wisconsin.

How did these early settlers adapt and defend their homes? Well they built small forts literally everywhere. From single family strongholds to multiple family forts. There are many old maps that show the locations of these small family frontier forts dotting the countryside. If you go there today in most cases nothing remains but some few will still show tooled stones strewn around.

Samuel McMahan from Arrow Rock reminisced about the family forts of the era.

“The forts were simply strong log houses, with a projecting upper story, and with loop holes for musketry.” Some of these family forts had stockades while others did not. The larger forts, such as Coopers Fort and Fort Hempstead probably fit the vision we normally have of forts stockade pickets and a blockhouse at one or more corners of the fort. 

As it turned out the massed Indian raids did in fact come to the area only a bit later than feared which gave the US government and the local settlers a bit of a false feeling of security. Yet when the attacks did come these small forts proved invaluable to defending the area.

I have the honor of being a direct descendant of one of these early families which originally settled on a piece of land not but about five miles from the Small-Hold today. All that remains of the old settlement, which still bears my surname, is a one room school house that was restored as it is now on national park land and a small creek that empties out into Cedar creek which was later to become the Western boundary between the Boone's Lick and St. Charles counties. The settlement was excavated at some point and the foundations of the old family fort and houses within were marked but that's about it.

Still these simple fortifications did their job. Many families around here today can attest to that as the names are still here. The provision rolls of that time period mentioned "Bear Bacon and Coon sausage" as staples after the period of the great raids because all the stock had been killed and the fields burned but a few simple fortifications and the will to defend your own won out.

Something to keep in mind as Thanksgiving day comes to a close.

Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!!!