NEWS

How a forgotten Indiana battle opened way to the West

Tim Evans
tim.evans@indystar.com

The small Battle of Fort Sackville is mostly lost in the broader lore of the American Revolution, but the 1779 skirmish on the banks of the Wabash River helped set the stage for something much larger: the western expansion of the then-new nation.

The little-known battle, which helped cement frontiersman George Rogers Clark’s reputation as the “conqueror of the Old Northwest Territory,” is commemorated year-round at the George Rogers Clark National Historical Park. And every Memorial Day weekend, hundreds of re-enactors descend on the battle site and an adjacent park for the annual Spirit of Vincennes Rendezvous.

“The rendezvous is an outgrowth of the bicentennial in 1976 and officially began in 1977,” said Frank Doughman, superintendent of the national historical park, located on 26 acres near downtown Vincennes.

“It has grown substantially over the years and is now one of the biggest Revolutionary War events in the country.”

The weekend gathering will include Revolutionary War-era battle “enactments,” Doughman said, but isn’t intended to be a historical re-enactment of the actual Battle of Sackville, which took place in February.

Mark Hill, spokesman for the Spirit of Vincennes Inc., the nonprofit which puts on the rendezvous, said re-enactors depict life and warfare tactics from the period of 1730 to 1812, when Vincennes was a key frontier outpost and later capital of the Indiana Territory. They include American and British military groups, French settlers, and merchants and craftspeople from the period.

“We take a lot of pride in the quality,” explained Hill, a Vincennes native and re-enactor. “This is the second largest festival of its type in Indiana behind the Feast of the Hunters’ Moon (in Tippecanoe County) and it is the largest with a battle re-enactment.”

Hill said organizers mix a bit of 21st century pop culture in with the historic events. Before the weekend “battles,” Hill dresses as a French gentleman and warms up the crowd with a history contest that offers a twist on the TV program “Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader.”

In the Vincennes version, though, the knowledge bar is dropped to fourth grade — the year Hoosier schoolchildren delve into Indiana history.

Unknown history

Outside those who grew up in or around Knox County, most Hoosiers would likely be hard-pressed to correctly answer questions related to the Battle of Fort Sackville or the Revolutionary War’s reach into what is now Indiana.

Even Doughman, the superintendent of the National Park Service’s historical site, admits the story is a mostly forgotten part of Indiana and American history. But he said that doesn’t diminish its historic role.

“It is a Revolutionary War site, which is unusual in the Midwest, just being that,” Doughman said of the federal park marking the battle site. “On top of that, it’s kind of a site that’s forgotten in history, but is immensely important.”

To back that up, Doughman notes, the largest monument ever placed on a battlefield in the United States — “And there’s some pretty hefty names,” he says, “you know, Gettysburg and Antietam and Yorktown and such” — is at the park in Vincennes.

“And that really makes you ponder, ‘why here?’ ” he continued. “What is significant here?

“We have an interesting battle story with Clark and the cold water march and all that, but it is what that set in motion that makes this site important. After the American Revolution what really tied the new nation together was expansion. ... The whole idea of Western expansion is tied to this story and this site.”

The grandiose Clark Memorial at the National Park Service site is designed in a style reminiscent of the Lincoln and Jefferson memorials in Washington, D.C. The domed rotunda soars 85 feet into the air, surrounded by 16 Doric columns topped by the inscription: “The Conquest of the West — George Rogers Clark and The Frontiersmen of the American Revolution.”

Built in the 1930s on a rise overlooking the Wabash River, it marks the site of the 1779 battle in which a group of frontiersmen and French settlers led by Clark captured the British fort that served as a gateway to the west. Clark’s victory over a small contingent of Redcoats holding the fort followed earlier victories over British troops at the frontier outposts of Kaskaskia and Cahokia along the Mississippi River, near what is now St. Louis.

Clark’s band of frontiersmen and French settlers slogged for 17 days though woods and frozen swamps to reach Fort Sackville. When they arrived, they surrounded the fort and fooled the British into believing they were a much-larger contingent. The British surrendered the fort on Feb. 25, 1779.

Today, 236 years later, Clark is considered the “conqueror of the Old Northwest Territory,” according to the park’s website.

And just in case you were wondering, George Rogers Clark is not the Clark from Lewis and Clark, the duo who led the first expedition across what would become the western United States. That was his younger brother, William Clark.

Call Tim Evans at (317) 444-6204 and follow him on Twitter: @starwatchtim

If you go

Frank Doughman, park superintendent, said the weekend is the park’s busiest time, with an estimated 20,000 visitors checking it out during the rendezvous. To serve guests, he said park hours have been extended and additional programming is offered.

Hours: The rendezvous — which runs from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday — takes place at the French Commons area adjacent to the George Rogers Clark National Historical Park.

Cost: Adult admission is $12 for both days and $10 for one day. Admission to the national park is free.

Transportation: A rendezvous ticket also is good for access to a shuttle bus that takes visitors to other historic sites in the area around Vincennes, the oldest continually inhabited city in Indiana. Other historic sites on the bus route including Grouseland, the home of president William Henry Harrison; the former Territorial capitol building; and the old Old French House and Indiana Museum.

Contact: For more information on the rendezvous, visit the Spirit of Vincennes website. More about the park also is available online.