Fort Southwest Point

Fort Southwest Point, a frontier garrison in eastern Tennessee during the late 1790s and early 1800s, played an important role in the planning for and recruitment of frontier soldiers for the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Located near the junction of the Clinch and Tennessee Rivers and about thirty-five miles southwest of Knoxville, construction of the fort began in March, 1797. The fort expanded the military presence in the area that first began in 1792 with the construction of a blockhouse located about one-half mile upstream. The blockhouse was constructed on the boundary of the Cherokee Indian Nation and United States territory, and near the North Carolina Road or Avery Trace that continued west to the Nashville area. The blockhouse played an important role in military affairs until 1795 when hostilities between the Cherokee Indians and Anglo-American settlers declined.^[2]Samuel D. Smith, et. al., Fort Southwest Point Archaeological Site, Kingston, Tennessee: A Multidisciplinary Interpretation, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Division of … Continue reading

An interesting footnote that provides verification of the establishment of the fort in 1797 comes from the diary of a future king of France, Louis Philippe, who visited the fort on 4–5 May of that year. Louis was a refugee from the French Revolution. With financial help from the American Minister in Paris, Gouverneur Morris, he decided to visit and explore the mysteries of the New World. Of his visit to Southwest Point he noted the fort was being built and had been manned for only two months. With his small party, the future king purchased what little food was available and proceeded west “through the Wilderness, also called the Desert.”^[3]Louis Philippe, Diary of My Travel in America, Louis Philippe, King of France, 1830–1848 (Delacort Press, New York, 1977), 102. Louis completed his American tour and eventually returned to England in 1800. Living in Sicily in 1830, Louis Philippe was called to the French throne in the same year and reigned quietly until 1848.^[4]Philippe, Diary, 8–9.

Two events in 1796 contributed to an increase in the number of troops at Fort Southwest Point. On 1 June Tennessee was admitted to the Union as the sixteenth state. A federal law was passed in the same year to regulate trade with Indian tribes and keep peace on the frontier. The number of troops at Southwest Point continued to increase over the next three years. The federal law regulating Indian trade also led to a change in the mission of the troops in eastern Tennessee to that of a protector of Indian land rights from the encroachment of white settlers. Previous to this the army’s role had been to protect settlers as they moved west through the Cherokee Nation. From 1797 to 1799 the number of troops stationed at Southwest Point increased to more than four hundred. A decline began the next year and continued for the next seven years, reaching a low of about fifteen by late 1806.^[5]Smith, et. al., Fort Southwest Point, 19, 20, 43, 71, 103.

In 1803 the troop strength at Southwest Point was about 124. This was the year officials in Washington, D.C., began to look to the fort for possible assistance in a military operation that was being planned. In the spring of that year the commander of Fort Southwest Point received a letter from Meriwether Lewis. The letter’s message opened up a grand opportunity for selected soldiers at the frontier fort.^[6]Donald Jackson, ed., Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Related Documents: 1783–1854, 2 volumes (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1978), 2:37–41.

In 1803, as President Jefferson and Meriwether Lewis were finalizing plans for the launch of the expedition, Fort Southwest Point figured prominently in their plans. In late April, writing to the president from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Lewis stated that “Fort Southwest Point must form my first recourse for the selection for my party.” He further shared that he had written Major William MacRae, the fort’s commander, and asked his help in securing volunteers who would meet the qualifications as stated by Lewis. The president was also informed that Lewis had written Dr. William Dickson in Nashville, Tennessee, asking that on Lewis’s behalf the doctor contract for a boat to be constructed, and that he also purchase a large wooden canoe.^[7]Jackson, ed., Letters, 38. Dr. William Dickson was a physician in Nashville, Tennessee, who was active in local and national politics. He served as U.S. Representative for Tennessee from 1801–1807.

In the letter to Major MacRae, Lewis stated he had also written to the commanding officers at Forts Massac, Kaskaskia, and Illinois asking for their help in recruiting men for the expedition. Fort Massac was located on the Illinois bank of the Ohio River near the confluence with the Mississippi, and Fort Kaskaskia’s location was on the Mississippi River north of the mouth of the Ohio. The Illinois Fort Lewis mentioned was not operational. He may have been referring to a fort he thought was located across the Mississippi from St. Louis at Cahokia, Illinois.^[8]Jackson, ed., Letters, 38.

Clearly, at this point in the planning, Lewis envisioned traveling to Fort Southwest Point to select and recruit the initial core group of soldiers needed for the expedition. From the fort he would march the selected volunteers west on the Avery Trace to the Nashville area where he would take possession of the previously ordered boats. He would then float down the Cumberland River to the Ohio River, proceed downstream to the junction with the Mississippi, and travel north and past St. Louis to the mouth of the Missouri River. These early plans called for Lewis and his fully manned Corps of Discovery to be in St. Louis by August and to make significant progress up the Missouri River by late 1803 at which point they would make winter camp.^[9]Stephen E. Ambrose, Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996), 84.

Lewis’s Revised Plan

As often happens in complicated endeavors, early plans soon required changes. By the last week in May 1803, Lewis had received discouraging news from Tennessee. In a 29 May 1803 letter to the President written from Philadelphia, Lewis noted he had not heard from Dr. Dickson concerning the boats and the reply from the Southwest Point commander, Major MacRae, indicated that out of twenty volunteers only three or four would be suitable recruits for the expedition.^[10]Jackson, ed., Letters, 1:53. By mid-June, in his famous invitation to William Clark to join the expedition, Lewis indicated he planned to leave by boat from Pittsburgh, traveling down the Ohio River, and meet Clark at his Clarksville home on the north bank of the Ohio. He also asked Clark to begin to spread the word to potential recruits in the Louisville and Clarksville areas. More soldiers would be recruited in army posts as the expedition traveled on to St. Louis.^[11]Jackson, ed., Letters, 1:58.

Lewis’s revised plan required that any recruits from Fort Southwest Point would have to travel overland from the Fort in order to join the expedition. With this change in plans, Lewis received the help of Secretary of War Henry Dearborn. In early July Dearborn wrote Major MacRae directing him to send any recruits “without loss of time” to Fort Massac where they should remain until placed under Lewis’s command.^[12]Jackson, ed., Letters, 1:102. Assuming Dearborn’s letter reached Southwest Point by early August, there was more than enough time for the recruits to reach Fort Massac before Lewis’s arrival.

After much delay the military barge (called the ‘boat’ or ‘barge’ but never the ‘keelboat’) was completed on 31 August 1803, and Lewis was soon on his way down a slow-flowing Ohio River. Lewis was certain that the Fort Southwest Point soldiers would meet the expedition at Fort Massac. In a 28 September 1803 letter to Clark, written from Cincinnati, he stated “there are a party of soldiers, 6 or 8 in number, now at Massac waiting my arrival, they were scelected (sic) from the troops in the state of Tennessee by Majr(sic) MacRae.”^[13]Jackson, ed., Letters, 1:125.

The barge reached the Falls of the Ohio and Clark’s home at Clarksville, Indiana, on 15 October 1803. Clark had earlier enthusiastically replied to Lewis’s invitation by stating “My friend I join you with hand and Heart.”^[14]Jackson, ed., Letters, 1:112. This meeting of the captains in Clarksville is considered by many to be the start of the expedition.

Collecting the Missing Recruits

Over the next eleven days the captains began enlisting the first members of the expedition.^[15]Ambrose, Undaunted Courage, 117–18. Leaving Clarksville on 26 October 1803, Lewis and Clark and their recruits proceeded down the Ohio reaching Fort Massac sixteen days later on 11 November 1803.^[16]Gary E. Moulton, ed., The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 13 volumes (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983–2001), 2:85. At the fort bad news awaited—the Southwest Point recruits were not present. Lewis soon took steps to locate the recruits and have them join the expedition. For this job a local hunter, George Drouillard, was employed to travel to Southwest Point and accompany the missing soldiers to the winter quarters in the St. Louis area.^[17]Ambrose, Undaunted Courage, 118.

George Drouillard was obviously highly recommended to the captains as a woodsman and potential interpreter. He later agreed to join the expedition and became a valuable member of the Corps of Discovery. Drouillard’s first job for the expedition was completed successfully over a month later when he arrived at Cahokia, Illinois, with eight recruits on 16 December 1803. The next day Lewis sent word to Clark that Drouillard had arrived with eight men from Tennessee. He also expressed disappointment that the men were not as qualified as he had expected them to be but did share that two of the men had some valuable skills—one a blacksmith and the other a house-joiner.^[18]Jackson, ed., Letters, 1:144.

Four Selected for the Permanent Party

The potential recruits moved on to the nearby winter camp, Camp Dubois at Wood River, where on 22 December 1803 Clark in his journal also expressed disappointment with the men stating “these men are not such as I was told was in readiness in Tennessee for this comd (sic).”^[19]Moulton, ed., Journals, 2:139.

During the remainder of the winter and into the spring at Camp Dubois, four of the eight soldiers from Tennessee were found wanting and were not selected for the expedition. The four who were approved by the captains were Corporal Richard Warfington and Privates Hugh Hall, Thomas Howard, and John Potts.^[20]Moulton, ed., Journals, 2:187–88.

The records of the expedition show clearly that the men from Fort Southwest Point served ably and made important contributions to the success of the expedition. The three privates were recognized during the expedition by having creeks and lakes named after them: Hall’s Strand Lake and Creek in North Dakota, and Potts’ Valley Creek and Howard’s Creek in Montana.^[21]Moulton, ed., Journals, 6:462–65. Sadly, neither of the three names have been retained. Potts’ Valley Creek is now Towhead Gulch or Spokane Creek. Howard’s Creek is now Sixteenmile … Continue reading

In his post-expedition letter to Henry Dearborn, Lewis included a roster of the men who had accompanied him to the Pacific,^[22]See also The Permanent Party along with a request that each receive rewards above their regular pay, or as Lewis put it “a just reward in an ample remuneration (sic).” In the letter accompanying the roster, Lewis asked that Richard Warfington also be rewarded and described in glowing terms his outstanding service to the expedition.^[23]Jackson, ed., Letters, 1:364–69. The request for the men’s rewards was honored. All four Southwest Point men were rewarded. The three privates received double pay and land warrants each of 320 acres. Corporal Warfington also received a land warrant of 320 acres.^[24]Jackson, ed., Letters, 2:377–78.