Fort Simple

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Fort Simple was an American fort built in Topeka, Kansas, as a result of Maj. Gen. Sterling Price's Missouri Raid in the late summer and fall of 1864 (see Price's Raid). Topeka had become the permanent capital of the State of Kansas in 1861, but no fortifications had been built to protect the city from guerrilla bands, which roamed eastern Kansas. Even the raid and massacre in August 1863 in Lawrence, Kansas (see Lawrence Massacre), did not result in a fort being built to protect the capital, although plans had been made to build one by July 1864. [1]

History

On October 8, 1864, Gov. Thomas Carney called the state militia to defend Kansas against Price's Confederates. The 2nd Regiment, based in Shawnee County (where Topeka was located), was sent to western Missouri to meet Price's force. A group of 292 men were also organized into a home regiment to guard Topeka. The men possessed one cannon, probably a mountain howitzer (see Mountain gun). [2]

The home regiment, led by Maj. Andrew Stark, built a stockade in the middle of the intersection of 6th and Kansas Avenues and two sets of trenches on the east side of town. The stockade, which until after the Civil War had no name, was in the Topeka business district. Someone after the War called the structure Fort Simple and the name stuck. Both 6th and Kansas Avenues were wide streets and Kansas Avenue was at the top of a ridge that ran from 5th to 11th Streets. Therefore, the view from the fort commanded the surrounding countryside. The temporary State Capitol was on Kansas Avenue just north of 5th Street. [3]

Simple was a circular stockade. The walls consisted of cottonwood logs sixteen feet long and split in half. The bark side faced the fort's outside. The logs were driven into the ground until only the top ten feet of them stood above ground. Fort Simple was forty to fifty feet in diameter. A flagpole in the center of the fort was erected.

The mountain howitzer was kept inside the fort and a port was cut in the east, west, south and north sides to allow it to be moved and fired. Notches for rifles were located completely around the fort. George A. Root claimed two notches were cut between each erect log, so one man could fire standing while another could fire kneeling. A wooden gate on the fort's west side was the only entrance to Fort Simple. No part of this fort had a roof, so it was completely open to the weather. [4]

The home battalion guarded Topeka while the rest of the 2nd Regiment was east engaging Price's men. On October 23, in the evening, news reached Topeka that the Union forces had been crushed in the Battle of Westport, waged in what is now part of Kansas City. The entire city was in a state of panic and 350 armed men manned the trenches and Fort Simple through the night, expected an attack. In the morning a lone horseman raced into Topeka with the news that Price, not the Union forces, had been defeated.

The fort was used to defend Topeka until almost the end of the Civil War. In April and July 1865 the Topeka city council took actions to make the fort appear more attractive, since it was no longer used. In April 1867 it was decided Fort Simple had become an unsightly relic and it was torn down. In 1929 a bronze tablet was laid on the southwest corner of the intersection to honor Fort Simple's memory. In 1995 this tablet was removed during construction and not replaced. [5]

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In 1862 the citizens of Burlingame, Kansas, constructed a stone fort around the town well, in an intersection in the business district. This was done to prevent the burning of Burlingame by Confederate guerrilla William Anderson, later known as Bloody Bill Anderson. He and his family had lived in a neighboring county up to 1862, but Anderson got into considerable trouble and was forced to leave. Upon leaving, Anderson threatened to burn Burlingame.

During the Civil War, Coldwater Grove existed 13½ miles east of Paola, Kansas, in Miami County. It straddled the Kansas-Missouri border, being partly in both states. About June 1863 a Union military post was established on the Kansas side of the community and the post was put under the command of Lt. Col. Charles S. Clark. Clark also commanded four nearby posts.

In spring and possibly through summer 1864, three blockhouses were constructed to help defend the town and post of Fort Scott. These were Fort Blair, Fort Henning and Fort Insley. Fort Blair was enclosed by a rectangular wall of log palisades covered on the outside by earthworks, which in turn were surrounded by a wide, deep ditch. These were to be used by armed men and cannon in case the town and post were attacked by Confederate guerrillas or regular forces. A drawing of Fort Blair and its stockade showed the stockade as about waist high.

In spring and probably into summer 1864 Fort Henning was constructed. It, along with Fort Blair and Fort Insley, was built to help protect the city and post of Fort Scott. Fort Henning, located at the intersection of Second and National Streets, was almost in the center of town. Fort Henning was an octagonal structure and measured fourteen feet across. It was the smallest of the three blockhouse forts.

In spring and summer 1864 Fort Blair, Fort Henning and Fort Insley were constructed to help protect the town and post of Fort Scott from Confederate forces. Fort Insley was named for Capt. Martain H. Insley. It was located just northeast of town, about 1½ blocks northeast of the main part of the post of Fort Scott. It overlooked Buck Run Creek.

Sometime in 1864 a large log blockhouse was removed from Fort Lincoln, Kansas, and was relocated to the town of Fort Scott, Kansas. This blockhouse was placed at the intersection of Lowman and First streets. Probably a stockade, possibly also removed from Fort Lincoln, was erected around the blockhouse.

In early 1864 settlers in Ottawa County, Kansas, began building Fort Solomon and completed it by the spring or summer. This structure replaced the much smaller dugout owned by the Chapman family and used as a refuge in times of trouble. The Chapman dugout was about a mile south of Fort Solomon. The new white settlers and the Indians in the area quickly developed a hostile relationship and many Indian raids followed.

Fort Sully (Fort Leavenworth)

Fort Sully was an earthwork artillery battery built on the plateau of Hancock Hill, the highest hill west of Fort Leavenworth, in September and October 1864. Its purpose was to boost the defenses of Fort Leavenworth in case Confederate forces under Maj. Gen. Sterling Price attempted to overrun the area. Price spent all of September and most of October in Missouri on an expedition to occupy that state.

The Lawrence blockhouses were a series of blockhouses built in the spring of 1864 in Lawrence, Kansas, to provide defensive structures in case of attack by Confederate guerrillas. On August 21, 1863, Lawrence had been attacked by 400 guerrillas and Confederate Army recruits under the command of William C. Quantrill. Lawrence was caught virtually defenseless and much of the town was destroyed and about 180 men and boys were killed, most of them defenseless. A militia became active by spring 1864 to prevent another attack.

Potosi's post, in eastern Linn County, Kansas, was established at the small town of Potosi, Kansas, founded in 1857 by those loyal to the southern cause in Kansas. The other side, the free-staters, soon gained control of the town and it was loyal to the Union when the Civil War broke out in 1861. Potosi was located along the north bank of Mine Creek and it was along the military road running from Fort Leavenworth to Fort Gibson. At its height the town had thirty residents, a store and a post office.

Paola's post, sometimes called Post Paola, in Miami County, Kansas, was located on the west side of Bull Creek, just west of Paola, Kansas. It was probably established in December 1861, as that was the first time it was mentioned. This post became one of the more important posts along the Kansas-Missouri border during the Civil War. It became a district headquarters in 1863. Later, in September 1864, it was designated a subdistrict headquarters, when the district headquarters was moved to Lawrence, Kansas. The military road from Fort Leavenworth to Fort Gibson ran through Paola, thus ensuring the post always had some importance.

Rockville's post, in southern Miami County, Kansas, was established at the small town of Rockville, Kansas, founded in 1859 by those loyal to the southern cause in Kansas. The other side, the free-staters, soon gained control of the town and it was loyal to the Union when the Civil War broke out in 1861. Rockville was located on the top of a hill surrounded by rolling plains. During the American Civil War, the area was almost bare of trees, allowing troops holding the town to see anyone coming from some distance away. Rockville's post was one of the many posts established in the War to help guard the Kansas-Missouri border area.

The Salina Stockade was built in Salina, Kansas, to provide the residents with protection from the American Indians in the area, many of whom were hostile toward white settlement. Salina had been raided in 1862 by Native Americans and then Confederate guerrillas, but it was not until May 1864 when residents decided they needed to build a stockade for protection. On May 17, 1864, a makeshift stockade, consisting of wagons placed in a circle around the town's flagpole, was erected. The local militia then drilled and guarded Salina. On the northeast corner of 7th Street and Iron Avenue stood a small building. Around this a permanent stockade was erected in May and June 1864.

In 1842 a large log fort was built at Trading Post by the United States Army, upon the order of Gen. Winfield Scott. This fort was on the Fort Leavenworth-Fort Gibson Military Road. The completed fort was fairly elaborate. It included space to house a company of dragoons and their horses. Also, it contained a hospital and store houses. Gaps along the outside walls of buildings were filled in with stockade walls. The buildings were built around a large interior open area.

Samuel Walker was an American soldier, lawman and politician who settled in Lawrence, Kansas and served as an officer during Bleeding Kansas and the American Civil War.

Newell W. Spicer was a Union Army lieutenant colonel of volunteers during the American Civil War and a commander of the 1st Regiment Kansas Volunteer Infantry. He was also a leader of pro-abolitionist forces during Bleeding Kansas, a violent period in the history of Kansas when factions fought over proposals to abolish slavery in that state.

References

  1. ↑ Maj. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis, report, The War of the Rebellion (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1883), Series I, Vol. XLI, Part II, p. 102.
  2. ↑ Fry Giles, Thirty Years in Topeka: a Historical Sketch (Topeka: Capper Special Services, 1960), 1960 ed., p. 129.
  3. ↑ Giles, pp. 129-30; George A. Root, "Fort Folly--Fort Simple Topeka," interview with Freeman Sardou, December 4, 1917, Topeka, p. 1 (from the Manuscript Div. of the Kansas State Historical Society, Topeka); "Echoes of Price's Raid," The Topeka State Journal, November 2, 1934, p. 7; William C. Pollard, Jr., "Forts and Military Posts in Kansas: 1854-1865" (Ph.D. dissertation, Faith Baptist College and Seminary, 1997), p. 67 (a copy can be found in the Manuscript Div. of the KSHS, Topeka).
  4. ↑ Root, p. 1; "Once Stockade Now Busy Spot in Topeka," Topeka Daily Capital, August 18, 1940, p. 17B.
  5. ↑ Giles, pp. 129-30; Root, p. 87; untitled story, Topeka Weekly Leader, April 18, 1867, p. 3; "Marker on Stockade Site," Topeka Journal, August 5, 1929, p. 6.

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