After the close of the War of 1812, the United States government once again began looking towards the west where so many Native American tribes had fallen under British influence. In 1816 proposals were made to establish a military post near the mouth of the Platte River. However, not until the late summer of 1818 was any action taken. An advance detachment of troops did enter the Missouri that summer but, for unknown reasons, failed to get any further than Cow Island, in the near-by area where Fort Leavenworth was established nine years later. There, they wintered over. Then, in 1819, what was called the Yellowstone Expedition got underway by steamboat. They ascended the Missouri River but got little farther than the mouth of the Platte. Here, they settled in and established Fort Atkinson that became the most advanced military base on the Missouri.
In 1824, Fort Atkinson was the rendezvous point for noted Mountain Men William H. Ashley, Jim Clyman, Tom Fitzpatrick, and a greenhorn to the fur business mulatto Jim Beckwith. From the fort they struck out westward to a new beaver country that Jedediah Smith had discovered.
FORT BELLEFONTAINE, est. 1805
One of the earliest forts mentioned in America's history of the West and Great Plains is Fort Bellefontaine, It was established in 1805, by General Wilkinson, in present-day Missouri near the town of St. Charles and just a few miles, by water, from St. Louis. It was the first U. S. Army fort west of the Mississippi. In September of 1806 it was one of the stopping places for Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's Corps of Discovery as they neared the last leg of their return to the states.
CEDAR FORT/FORT RECOVERY, est. 1821
In 1821, Manuel Lisa's Missouri Fur Company reorganized. Lisa had died one year earlier. The company was now led by Joshua Pilcher who established Cedar Fort, also known as Fort Recovery, on the Missouri River above the mouth of the White River.
FORT CLARK, est. late 1820s
Fort Clark, established in the late 1820s, was an American Fur Company post named for William Clark. It stood across the river from where the old Fort Mandan had been located on the north bank of the Missouri River. The location was some seven miles below the mouth of the Knife River in present-day North Dakota.
FORT OSAGE, 1808
Fort Osage was established in 1808, by William Clark. It was located where present-day Sibley, Missouri stands below present-day Kansas City, Missouri, and about 150 miles below Nodowa. In 1812, Eli B. Clemson was commandant of the fort.
