Omaha daily bee., 1897-11-29
FORT MADISON AND EARLY IOWA
4 Pioneer Who Can Tell Much of the
Unwritten History.

Unwritten History.
If a visitor of Fort Madison is fortunate
| epouob =. bo,,o ,s r,,,i1o r,,,.,i, ", c..
| , =, " - " lamp
pe'l nluch may pe learned ABOUT the oid
| fort. He will show where the line OF
| gawn oak pickets that formed the twelve
| foct s+ocl,.de bogor oni o,d,1 ,,,i,, ,oo,,o
~, - e"" S'' WIN avs '.'
sno olu pa aue % sroulu anu tne spoS ll.tl9
.el tnsi up tle peilu oi tne river "here tno
u1ucn @ nouse @ WIS plaeeu as ptotect!oh asaihst
covert atIachs from the luG'ahs AT TINS par
'iou,aily eAPoseu point ne VIII mana you
Z urlilk from the nrst Wen ever aug on
oo ,oma sui 'he one nlaue ny tne soialers IN
iSoo, Wh,ch mas peen careluIly preserVed
tHiousH MS ehorts. 80 'hoIouShly ana eN-
haustVeIy mas captain campbell studied the
site ana construction OF the OLD Tort that
ne mas recently drawn, IN collaboration with
Mr.. W. l. morrison, .Conceptlonal Birds
| eye view OF OId Fort Madison. This viii
be turther elaborated and probably painted
IN OILS by his gifted wife, says the Des
MONIES Capltai, thus preserving an eN1ct and
accurate reproduction OF the ground plan
OF the hrst loFt pullt on Iowa SOIL. captain
Campbell has himself had an interesting
history, and although the facts have been
recorded by his own facile pen in the His
tory of Lee County" and in many news
paper articles, it is interesting to sit with
him before bright wood fire the hand
some brass andirons, by the way, once be-
longed to the Mormon prophet Joseph
Smith, on chilly November afternoon and
hoar the story from his own lips.
His grandfather, Captain James White,
once owned the land where now stands the
town of Nauvoo, H., having bought 1t of
French trader Julien, in 1925. He built, in
ISIS, the old stone mansion which is still
preserved standing high up on the bluff at
Nauvoo. The visitor in these parts may stop
at Montrose, take the ferry boat that pliee
across t1e river and spend pleasant half
hcur exploring this historic building for him
self. Captain While was a genial, joy!al
man, keeping open house" the year round,
his decanters on the sideboard always filled
with the best of whisky, with a barrel in
reserve against need
once stranger evidently well-to-do,
dressed in the finest broadcoth and carrying
an iyory-hedded cane, after nights en-
tertainment, made the gres. mistake Of ask
ing for his bill The captains wrath rose
at once. by the eternal Cod he said, 81
want you to know we make no charges"
During the Black Hawk war this building
was refuge for the people for fifty miles
around. 1t has, at one time and another,
sheltered many famous people, the Indian
chiefs Wapello ani Black Hawk, General
Sect, General Henry Dodge, Zachary Tay-
lor Abraham Lincoln, Robert E. Lee Jeffer-
con Davis, Daniel f. Miller and Will Carle-
ton the poet. Joseph Smith also had many
revelation within its walls" The first
court held in Hancock county, Illinois, was
held in this same house October, 1929. Cap
tain White eventually sold it to Isaac Gal
land and he in turn to Sidney Rigdon, chief
apostle of the Latter Day Saints. who moved
into 1t in 1889 fine oil painting of the
old house executed by his wife, now hangs
in Captain Campbelrs home
Captain Campbell's father, I. r. Campbell
established trading house in what Is now
Keokuk as early as 1881. He was a very
handsome man. A large picture frame in
his sons house contains his photograph, to-
gether with eight of his associates ard
friends-Captain william PhelLe, Captain d.
S. Harris. Captain James May, II. L. Dous-
nan, Antoine lie Claire, Brisboe Black
Hawk and Keokuk. Most of the white men
canned were. like himself. rivermen and
Indian traders. Isaac Campbell was a close
friend OF Black Hawk and the last tim,
that brave old indian was at Fort Madison
July T. 1885, he went with him to view tho
place where, with his braves in 1872 he trle(
to fire the old fort. Soon after that Blael
Hawk was taken ILL., Mr. Campbell ysite
him a few days before he died and was
presented as a dying gift from the old chief
with handsome buckskin puree.