ARKANSAS POST - 1686 AND LATER
Continued

Meanwhile, back at Fort San Estevan, this maneuvering was only vaguely realized. The Spanish still were in charge. Captain Charles Villemont transferred command on July 22, 1802, to Francisco Caso y Luengo. He was ordered in January, 1804, to transfer the fort to a representation of the French Empire who immediately turned it over to the United States represented by Colonel James B. Many. An inventory of the fort was made dated March 23, 1804, listing a barracks 50 feet by 10 feet with a prison at one end, a storehouse 45 feet by 20 feet, an earthen oven, three dilapidated sentry boxes and a flag staff. Thus, command at Fort San Estevan was conveyed to the United States.

Within the next few months command was turned over to Major George B. Armistead. Fort San Estevan was renamed Fort Madison in honor of then Secretary of State, James Madison and garrisoned with 16 American troops. They remained on post until the start of the War of 1812 in June, 1812, when they were needed elsewhere and Fort Madison was allowed to deteriorate. Remnants of the fort were still visible in 1819.

A footnote may be inserted at this point. The last commandant of Fort Madison, Major Armistead, resurfaces again in American history as the commandant of Fort McHenry in Baltimore in September, 1814, when the Star-Spangled Banner was written. His grandson, Captain Lewis Armistead, was famed as the commander of the company that led Pickett’s Charge on Cemetery Ridge on July 3, 1864, during the Battle of Gettysburg. Unfortunately, Captain Armistead died at the High-Water Mark in the battle.

To recapitulate, the De la Houssaye fort of 1751, the second Fort Carlos III, Fort San Estevan and Fort Madison were all at Ecores Rouges which today is the site of Arkansas Post National Memorial. However, do not attempt to locate them today. The Arkansas River flowed strongly against the bank where they were located. All traces of them were erased in the 19th century, a hundred years ago.

How about the habitant village, located behind the forts? With the arrival of the Americans, it became a fur-trading center. A government fur-trading factory, with John B. Treat as factor, was set up in 1805 to prevent cheating of the Indians. Private traders forced it to close in 1810. At that time, the village of Arkansas Post had a population of 874.

In late 1811 and early 1812, a series of earth tremors known as the New Madrid Earthquake in what is now northeastern Arkansas, disrupted communications between St. Louis, the capitol of the Missouri Territory and Arkansas County. In the summer of 1812, Arkansas Post became the county seat of Arkansas County that included then most of present-day Arkansas. In 1817, a post office was set up with Eli J. Lewis as postmaster.

In 1819, Missouri became a state and Arkansas Territory was established on March 2 consisting of all of Arkansas and part of eastern Oklahoma. Arkansas Post reached the apogee of its importance when on July 4th the Arkansas Territory officially came into existence and Arkansas Post became the Territorial Capitol. James Miller was appointed governor and began his journey to Arkansas Post. Robert Crittenden was appointed secretary and was already here. The Territorial Legislature met on July 28 with Crittenden as Acting Governor and the government began to function. The Circuit Court convened on November 1st. Governor Miller finally arrived, a bit reluctantly, and on December 26 took over. In January, 1820, the Territorial Supreme Court was set up and on February 7th the first regular session of the general assembly elected by the people met at Montgomery’s Tavern. A land office was set up on March 31st.