Forts of Vincennes , Indiana During the 18th and 19th centuries , the French , British and American nations built and occupied a number of forts at Vincennes , Indiana . These outposts commanded a strategic position on the Wabash River . Original Trading Post . The first trading post on the Wabash River was established by the Sieur Juchereau , Lieutenant General of Montreal . He , with thirty - four Canadien s , founded the company post 28 October 1702 for the purpose of trading buffalo hides . The post was evidently a success ; in the first three years , they collected over 13 , 000 buffalo hides . When Juchereau died , the post was abandoned , and the settlers left what they considered hostile territory for Mobile , the capital of Louisiana . The exact location of Juchereau ' s trading post is not known , but because of the crossing of the Buffalo Trace across the Wabash at Vincennes , it is thought by some to have been at or near the modern city of Vincennes . Some other historians place the post 50 miles further south . Fort Vincennes . François - Marie Bissot , Sieur de Vincennes , acting under the authority of the French colony of Louisiana , constructed a fort in 1731 - 1732 . The outpost was designed to secure the lower Wabash Valley for France , mostly by strengthening ties with the Miami , Wea , and Piankashaw nations . It was named Fort Vincennes in honor of Vincennes , who was captured and burned at the stake during a war with the Chickasaw nation in 1735 . In 1736 , Louis Groston de Saint - Ange de Bellerive assumed command of the post . He rebuilt the fort , turned the post into a major trading center , and recruited Canadien traders to lure native peoples to settle there . By 1750 , the Piankashaw resettled their village near the post . On May 18 , 1764 , St . Ange left the post under British orders to assume command of Fort Chartres . He transferred command to Drouet de Richerville , a local citizen . Fort Sackville . British Lt . John Ramsey came to Vincennes in 1766 . He took a census of the settlement , built up the fort , and renamed it Fort Sackville in honor of Lord George Sackville , who had led British forces to victory over the French in the Battle of Minden . The population grew quickly in the years that followed , creating a unique culture of interdependent Native Americans with French and British farmers , craftsmen , and traders . The site of Ft . Sackville was near the present day intersection of First and Main Sts . Following the French and Indian War , the British and colonial governments could not afford the cost of maintaining frontier posts . They did not station troops in the Wabash Valley at all for a decade following the conflict . Thus Fort Vincennes fell into disrepair , and Vincennes was ordered evacuated due to ongoing lawlessness . The residents united and were able to prove to the British authorities that they were permanent residents , not illegal squatters . British neglect came to an end on June 2 , 1774 , the British Parliament passed the Quebec Act , which enlarged the boundaries of the Province of Quebec to include the Ohio Country and Illinois Country , from the Appalachian Mountains on the east , south to the Ohio River , west to the Mississippi River and north to the southern boundary of the Hudson ' s Bay Company owned region of Rupert ' s Land . Lieutenant Governor Edward Abbott was sent to Vincennes without troops . Making the best of it , he rebuilt Fort Sackville . Abbott soon resigned , citing lack of support from the crown . In July 1778 , Father Pierre Gibault arrived with news of the alliance between France and the new United States . The French residents took control of the unoccupied Fort Sackville , and George Rogers Clark sent Leonard Helm to command the post . In December , a British force consisting of The King ' s 8th Regiment and Detroit Volunteers under Lieutenant - Governor Henry Hamilton retook Fort Sackville , and Captain Helm . Fort Patrick Henry . Lieutenant Colonel George Rogers Clark marched 130 men through 180 miles of wilderness to Vincennes in February 1779 . As he entered town , the French settlers and native peoples joined his force to re - capture Ft . Sackville . Clark had Hamilton ' s native allies tomahawked to death as an example and sent Hamilton and his men to jail in Williamsburg , Virginia as prisoners . He renamed the post Fort Patrick Henry . Clark ' s aim in his wilderness campaigns was to remove the British as a threat to Virginia ' s settlements in Kentucky , which was then part of Virginia . After accomplishing that objective , he returned to Kentucky in an unsuccessful attempt to raise troops for an assault on Fort Detroit . In spring 1780 , the Virginia troops left the Vincennes fort in the hands of local militia . After the Revolution , several dozen Kentucky families settled in Vincennes . Friction between these Americans , the French local government and the native peoples moved Virginia Governor Patrick Henry to dispatch George Rogers Clark and send troops to the region . Clark arrived at Vincennes in 1786 . His attempts to negotiate with neighboring native peoples were unsuccessful . Instead , he created an incident by seizing the goods of Spanish traders , enraging the local population and risking war with Spain . Under orders from the new United States government , Clark and his men left Vincennes in the spring of 1787 . Fort Knox I . The new United States government built a new fort a few blocks north of the old one and named it Ft . Knox ( usually referred to by local historians as Ft . Knox I ) , after the U . S . Secretary of War . It was located at the present - day intersection of First and Buntin Sts . During the relative peace with both the British and the Indians from 1787 – 1803 , Ft . Knox was the western - most American military outpost . The garrison at Fort Knox and the population at Vincennes did not get along . In 1796 , the garrison was ordered not to venture beyond 100 yards of Fort Knox . Territorial Governor William Henry Harrison petitioned Secretary of War Henry Dearborn for money to build a new fort . Fort Knox II . In 1803 , the federal government approved $ 200 to build a new fort , and the War Department bought land for the new fort about three miles north of Vincennes , at a Wabash River landing called Petit Rocher , which offered a good view up the river . This fort was also called Ft . Knox , and referred to locally as Ft . Knox II . The sleepy little fort was famous mostly for duels ( Captain Thorton Posey shot his second - in - command in 1811 ) and desertion . But by 1811 disagreements between Gov . Harrison and Indian leader Tecumseh were reaching a head . A new captain , Zachary Taylor , was put in charge of the fort . Late in 1811 Ft . Knox II had its most important period when it was used as the muster point for Governor Harrison as he gathered his troops , both regular U . S . army and militia , prior to the march to Prophetstown and the Battle of Tippecanoe . After the battle the troops returned to Ft . Knox at Vincennes and several died there from their wounds . The Ft . Knox II site is now a state historic site , close to present - day Ouabache Trails Park on the outskirts of Vincennes , with the outline of the fort marked with short posts and interpretive signage in a park setting . In 1813 , as the War of 1812 increased the chances of attacks by Native Americans , it was determined that the site outside town was too far away to protect the town . Ft . Knox II was disassembled , floated down the Wabash , and reassembled just a few yards from where Ft . Knox I had been . Fort Knox Abandoned . After the war , the threat of attacks again decreased , and friction between residents and soldiers again became an issue . Since the Native American territories decreased and moved farther north , it was decided to move the garrison to Fort Harrison , near Terre Haute , where the troops had won a victory a few years before . On 10 February 1816 , the garrison was ordered to Fort Harrison , and Fort Knox was abandoned . Within weeks , Vincennes residents had stripped the fort of all usable materials . Commanders of Fort Knox ( I and II ) . The " Muster on the Wabash " is the annual Fall gathering of U . S Army , U . S . Militia , British Mercenaries , and Native American reenactors dedicated to reliving the period ' s history at Fort Knox II .