St. Paul daily globe., 1895-11-18
FORTS sTHATFORMEDB DBULWARFxS
OF SAFETY AGAINST IN
DIANS.
WILD LIFE IN SToCKADEs.
"REMINISCENCES OF EARLY DAYS
AT HOWARD, CRAWFORD
AND WINNEBAGO.
REDOLENT WITH MEMORIES
Where Capt. Harvey Fought
Crawford Full of Romance of
the TayIOrs.

The project to have Uncle Sam
assist the suffering manufacturers
of the Lower Fox by taking water
from the Wisconsin at Portage City
reViveS memories of old Fort Win
! nebago, which for so many years
| guarded the portage, says the New
York Times. This portage between
the Fox and the Wisconsin rivers
was midway between Green Bay and
Prairie du Chen, on the great water
way, which, till the advent of rail
roads, was the highway from the
great lakes to the Mississippi After
the war of 1872, when all the North
west territory fell into the hands
| of the United States, Uncle Sam
erected three forts on Wisconsin ter
rltory in order to make good his
rights to his new dominion, and hold
in awe the savage tribes which had
been closely affiliated with British
interests, and still had something
more than a strong leaning in that
direction.
Only two forts were originally in
tended, Fort Howard at Green Bay
and Fort Crawford at Prairie du
Chen. These were constructed just
! as soon as the general government
had time to draw a full breath after
the three years struggle. Fort Win
nebago came later. John Jacob AS
! tor was the man who had it built.
The Winnebago tribe of Indians had
an annoying habit of happening
about the portage between the Fox
| and Wisconsin about the time the
Astor's fur traders were passing and
levying tribute on the voyagers.
Astor had no intention of dividing
profits with these marauding aborig-
ines, and he brought such influence
as he had at command to bear on
| the government to secure the erec-
ton of a fort at the portage, with a
strong garrison to overawe the saw
| ages. His pull" as modern poll
tician would call it, proved strong
enough, and Fort Winnebago was
erected
FIGURED IN HISTORY.
All three forts are redolent with
memories of old-time army men, who,
in after years, came to worldwide
fame. Zachary Taylor, Jefferson Da-
Wis, Gen. Harvey, Gen. Twiggs, Gen.
! -Abercombe, Randolph Marcy and
many others well known by the old
pioneers, and many a story of them
is left behind to be told and retold.
| Many of the commanders were trans
/ ferred from one post in the territory
/ to another, serving for a time at all.
But it is usually with some one fort
/ that their names are most intimately
associated, as Taylor with Crawford,
/ Twiggs, Harvey and Davis with Win
nebago, Neil and Marcy with How
ard. Fort Howard has as command
ers in it's early history several heroes
of Chippewa and Niagara, as Col.
Miller and Col. Neil, the latter espe-
! cially being held in kindly memory
by the old settlers. Taylor was in
! command here for a time, and some
! of his household goods, which were
! disposed Of by the Taylors rather
than move them to posts further
! West, are still preserved in old fam
i lilies. Among the Junior officers at
! the fort was Randolph Marcy. While
there his wife bore little daughter,
who long afterward became Mrs.
| George B. Mcclellan.
It is, however, about Winnebago
and Crawford that the cloud of ro-
! nance hangs heaviest. When, in 1928,
Maj Twiggs was ordered to the port
age with three companies of the First
| infantry to build the fort, he had as
officers of his little battalion Capt.
| Harvey, Lieut.. Jefferson Davis and
( Lieut.. Abercrombie. The future pres
! ident of the Confederate states left
! his impress on the fort in the shape
| was heartily appreciated by the army
| housewives and received it's name,
which it retained until years after,
/ while it's inventor was busy making
! history on a larger scale.
WHERE HARVEY FOUGHT.
The name most connected with
Fort Winnebago is that of Capt. Har-
ney, bluff and dashing, whose stern
sense of justice and rough good ma
ture made him the idol of the old
| frontiersmen. Of him many story
| is told. Of these, two, illustrative of
| his character, are worth telling. An
Indian had been brought before him
! for some offense, and was condemned
! ITO be whipped. The prisoner made an
appeal to Hamey for a reprieve.
Harvey was rather proud of his
prowess as a runner, and, feeling in
a mood for a race, took the Indian
down to the river bank, where there
was an unobstructed course, and
| told him if he passed a certain point
named before Harvey could catch
/ him he was to go free. Mr.. Lo was
| to have 100 yards start. At the word
both bounded away. They had hard
! iy gone the distance given to the In
| dian as a handicap before it was ap-
parent that Harvey had not mistak-
! en- his prowess. He was was gaining
! ON his victim at every stride. AS
| he was about to seize the Indian the
latter turned and ran across a frozen
pond. Harvey sprang after. 1t hap
pened that the ice was thin. The In
dian was light and the captain heavy.
He had taken barely dozen steps
before the ice cracked and down he
went, while the redskin went off at
top speed. Dripping with his unex-
pected bath, as soon as he could
catch his breath Harvey roared to
the sentinel to shoot the Indian. The
order was promptly obeyed so far as
the firing went, but the soldiers aim
was so disturbed by suppressed
laughter that the ball went wide Of
its mark, and before he could reload
the tricky savage was out of sight.
| TROUNCED AN INSUBORDIN-
NATE.
| Another time Harvey had occasion
| IN n11piSb a cO1diar of bic comma NV