CHAPTER XI
REGULARS AND MILITIA
FORT CLARKE ESTABLISHED COMING OF THE SOLDIERS THE FIRST ENCAMPMENT —
WILLIAM WILLIAMS APPOINTED POSTMASTER "GOOD ROADS" IN THE EARLY
FIFTIES — NAME FORT CLARKE CHANGED TO FORT DODGE — THE MILITARY POST IS
ABANDONED — MAJOR WILLIAMS BUYS THE TOWN SITE — MILITIA COMPANIES.
The establishment of a military post at this point was the result of a petition
of the citizens of Boone county, Iowa, to the Unite'd States senate and house of
representatives, praying that a post be established somewhere on the Des Moines
river at or about the Lizard Forks, for their better security against the Indians,
and for the encouragement of settlers. By general orders No. 19, war depart-
ment adjutant general's office, May 31, 1850, it was ordered:
"For the protection of the frontier settlements of Iowa, a new post will be
established under the direction of the commander of the Sixth department, on
the east bank of the Des Moines, opposite the mouth of Lizard Fork; or pre-
ferably, if an equally eligible site can be found, at some point twenty-five or
thirty miles higher up the Des Moines. The post will be established by a company
of the Sixth Infantry, to be drawn from Fort Snelling, which will for the present
constitute its garrison." This order was supplemented by Orders No. 22, head-
quarters Sixth military department, St. Louis, AIo., July 14, 1850, which directed
that,
In pursuance of General Orders No. 19, current series, from the war
department. Brevet Major Woods, Sixth Infantry, will select a suitable site in
the state of Iowa, near the mouth of the Lizard Fork of the Des Moines river,
for the establishment of a military post; which with his Company E, Sixth
Infantry, he will proceed to construct and garrison, without, however, with-
drawing his personal attention from the duty of removing Indians, on which he is
now specially engaged. A military reserve eight miles in length (four miles
above the post, and four miles below), along the river, and two miles in depth on
either side, will be marked off and appropriated exclusively to the present use
of the government. The proper staff departments will forthwith provide the
stores and the supplies necessary in the construction of the post on the Des
Moines, and for the subsistence and temporary shelter of the garrison."
Immediately on receipt of this order at Fort Snelling, Capt. Samuel Woods,
with his Company E, of the Sixth Infantry, two officers and sixty-six men who
were then in the field, broke camp and proceeded to the point designated, where
they arrived August 2, 1850, and established a post, which they named Fort
Clarke, in honor of Brev. Brig. Gen. Newman S. Clarke, colonel of the Sixth
151
152 HISTORY OF WEBSTER COUNTY
Infantry, then commanding the Sixth military department. According to Pro-
fessor Tuttle (History Iowa, 1876), the first encampment was on the ground now
lying between the Public Square and Walnut street, between Fourth and Fifth
streets in the present town of Fort Dodge. Materials for building the necessary
quarters for the troops were at once prepared, and their construction so rapidly
pushed that by the first of December they were in condition for occupancy. Early
in the spring of 185 1, we find Major Woods urging upon the war department the
necessity of establishing a postoffice at the fort, around which settlers were
commencing to congregate, and recommending Mr. William Williams, the post-
trader, as a suitable person to assume its charge. During the session of congress
of 1850-51 we find the merchants of Dubuque petitioning for the building of a
road from their town to Fort Clarke, but beyond an estimate of the topographical
engineers of the approximate cost of such a road, no action seems to have been
had in the matter during the lifetime of the post.
Correspondence between the fort and the authorities at St. Louis and Wash-
ington appears to have been limited to mere requisitions for supplies, the rendition
of statistical returns, and such formal reports as afiford little information regard-
ing the events of the occupation, none of which seem to have been at all removed
from the ordinary events of an extreme frontier post. It was regarded at no
time at more than a temporary post, although as was customary in all such estab-
lishments, as set forth in the order already cited, a reservation was laid off with
the flag staff of the fort as an initial point, with lines runnmg four miles to the
north and south, along the Des Moines river, and two miles to the east and
west on either bank; but before this could be surveyed and properly laid
out and declared, the courts had decided that the so-called "Des Moines grant"
extended above Raccoon fork to the source of the Des Moines; which decision
gave every alternate section to the state of Iowa for internal improvements; thus
throwing the post and its buildings beyond the limits of the public domain. There
is evidence, however, that Major -^Woods and his command, found few idle
moments, in the routine of camp duty; in restraining the Indians from their
inclination to commit depredations on the settlements, and in controlling their
district, which embraced all the frontier of Iowa from the Des Moines to the
Missouri.
June 25, 1 85 1, by General Orders No. 34, from the headquarters of the army,
the name of the post was changed to Fort Dodge, in compliment of the Dodges,
father and son, who at that time were United States senators from the states of
Wisconsin and Iowa, and who were among the pioneers of the northwest. At
the same time there were several other forts, occupied by troops, named Clark
or Clarke, the effect of which was to cause no little confusion in the forwarding
of mail and supplies.
Several causes operated toward the breaking up of the post, which was con-
templated at intervals during the whole period of its existence. It was urged
that the necessity for the presence of troops in that vicinity was of less impor-
tance than at a point further north, and that for all practical purposes the troops
at Crawford (Prairie du Chien), were amply sufficient to protect that vicinity.
The country was being rapidly settled up, and Indian incursions were becom-
ing less frequent in this section, and more troublesome on the north line of the
new purchase from the Sioux in the Minnesota country, where it had been
HISTORY OF WEBSTER COUNTY 153
determined to locate one or more strong posts. It was not, however, until the
spring of 1853 that plans were finally adopted by the war department for the
building of the fort, — which was afterwards known as Fort Ridgeley, — on the
Minnesota. Under date of -March 16, 1853, General Clarke was charged with the
construction of the new fort, which was directed to be simultaneous with the
breaking up of Forts Scott and Dodge. General Clarke's Order (No. 9), is dated
Headquarters Sixth Military Department, Jefferson Barracks, Mo., March 30,
1863, and directs that:
"In pursuance of instructions from general headquarters. Forts Scott and
Dodge will be broken up; the garrison of the former will be marched to Fort
Leavenworth, and that of the latter by the most practicable route at the earliest
moment the season will permit, to the new post on the Minnesota. The com-
manding officer \\ill take immediate measures for carrying this into effect, and
for sending to the neighboring posts such of the public property as may be needed
at them, and for selling the remainder."
Accordingly on April 18, 1853, Major Woods left the post with the larger part
of the command for the new site on the Minnesota, leaving Second Lieutenant
Corley with twenty men to dispose of the property. On June 2, 1853, Lietttenant
Corley with the remainder of the troops, marched out of the camp, pulling down
the flag from its staff, and before noon that day Fort Dodge as a military post,
had been wholly abandoned. Such of the buildings as remained, including a
steam sawmill, were disposed of at public sale, the principal purchaser being
Mr. Wjn. Williams, the late post trader and postmaster, who remained at the
site with a view of becoming its owner as soon as the lands could be surveyed and
placed on sale. "On the 27th of March, 1854," says Prof. Tuttle "the first town
plat was surveyed on the premises known as the fort site, the land having become
the property of Major Williams, who had made the purchase in January, 1.854."
There had been no change in the garrison of the post, from its first occupa-
tion until its final abandonment, Company E of the Sixth Infantry performing
that duty during the whole period. Of the officers Brev. Maj. Samuel Woods, its
first commandant, was also its last. A few years later that officer was transferred
to the pay department, in which he subsequently reached the rank of colonel and
assistant paymaster general, and was retired from active service January 24, 1881,.
at his own request, having been over forty years in active service. Colonel
Woods died September 22, 1887, at Oakland, California.
First Lieut, and Brev. Maj. Lewis A. Armistead, second in command, and
acting assistant quartermaster and commissary of subsistence during the whole
period of occupation, reached his captaincy March 3, 1855, but, together with
Second Lieut. James L. Corley, who joined the command upon the resignation
of Second Lieutenant Tubbs, resigned the service in May, 1861, to cast his lot
with the south.
Major Armistead became a brigadier general in the Confederate army and
was killed at the battle of Gettysburg, July 3, 1863.
Lieutenant Corley became a colonel and quartermaster in the Confederate
service and died March 28, 1883.
Lieutenant Tubbs was captain of Griffin's battalion, Texas \^olimteers in the
Confederate army.
154 HISTORY OF WEBSTER COUNTY
MILITIA ORGANIZATIONS
The first militia company organized in Fort Dodge was Company "G," Fourth
regiment, Iowa National Guard. Its organization was largely due to the efforts
of Cyril Wade King, who became the first captain. At that time the armory was
on the second floor of the Parsons building, at the corner of Central avenue and
Fourth street.
At the breaking out of the Spanish war the company was mustered into the
volunteer service, as Company "G," Fifty-second Iowa Volunteer Infantry, thus
continuing the enumeration of Iowa regiments from those serving in the Civil
war.
For a short time after the Spanish-American war, Fort Dodge was without a
militia company. Interest, however, was soon aroused and the company was
reorganized and mustered in April 4, 1899. The company still retained the same
company and regimental designation which it had during the war. In order to
avoid conflict because of this use of the same company letter and regimental
number, it was thought best to keep the militia regiments separate from the war
regiments. Accordingly, the local company became Company "G," Fifty-sixth
regiment, I. N. G. Besides their war service, Company "G "was twice called upon
to perform guard duty, on the occasion of the Pomeroy cyclone, and during the
railroad strike at Sioux City. The present officers of the company are: Captain,
Fred R. Frost; first lieutenant, Hans Frederickson; second lieutenant, James
Barton. The enlisted men number fifty-nine.
Company "F" was organized in Fort Dodge, when the company of the same
letter was mustered out at Algona. It was mustered in January 20, 1910. At
the present time it has fifty-eight enlisted men; and its officers are: Captain,
H. R. Heath; first lieutenant, R. P. Wakeman; second lieutenant, T. A. Strand.
The armory in Fort Dodge was built in 1904, and is equipped with a gym-
nasium, swimming pool and bowling alley.
In 1903, Fort Dodge secured the regimental band of the Fifty-sixth Regiment,
Iowa National Guards. This organization was composed of members from a
number of local musical organizations. Under the leadership of Carl Quist, the
band reached a high stage of efficiency, and soon became known among the
musical organizations of the state. For five years they played at the Iowa State
Fair. Three times they were the official band at the head camp of the Modern
Woodmen of America, attending the encampments at Indianapolis, St. Louis and
Milwaukee. They were the official band of the Iowa delegation to the national
convention of the B. P. O. E. held at Detroit in 19 10. They were also the official
band for American Day at the Dominion Fair in Calgary, Alberta, during 1908;
and were also the official band for Iowa Day at the World's Fair at St. Louis.
During the year 1910 the band was mustered out of the service of the militia,
and since that time has maintained its organization under the name of the Iowa
Military Band.
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