Fort Russell

Travel along Route 159 in Edwardsville, IL to get as close to the historical Fort Russell as possible; this stop is unique in that the exact historical location of this site is unknown, and the historic marker is currently missing. Fort Russell was one of at least 94 blockhouse-forts spread across the southern part of the Illinois Territory (Illinois, Wisconsin, and parts of Minnesota and Michigan). Of these 94 blockhouses, an estimated 22 buildings lie between Old Kaskaskia and Alton. 

 Constructed shortly after the commencement of the War of 1812 and located 1.5 miles northwest of present-day Edwardsville, Fort Russell was the most substantial fortification within the region. Ninian Edwards helped establish a series of two-story, windowless blockhouse-forts built at 20-mile intervals to protect settlers from potential attacks by Native Americans allied with the British.

After the American Revolution, England attempted to stop the United States from trading with France by seizing American ships and sailors. Unable to stem England’s chokehold on American trade, President James Madison and the U.S. Congress declared war on England in June of 1812. Once the war was declared, England quickly supplied Indian Nations throughout the Great Lakes Region and the Mississippi River Valley with arms to harass American settlements and divert U.S. military attention from British Canada. The killing of white settlers near Pocahontas, Illinois, and near present-day Alton, spurred territorial governor Ninian Edwards (1818 founder of Edwardsville) to direct the construction of blockhouses between the Mississippi and Kaskaskia Rivers. Edwards ordered the construction of a fort at Camp Edwards and named it in honor of the fort’s architect, Colonel William Russell of Kentucky. Fort Russell became the seat of military operations and Edwards’s personal headquarters where he held court. Situated on one-half acre and 150 feet square, it was the best armed and largest fort in Illinois, serving as the primary supply depot for the regional militia of 10 companies of Rangers. Five canons taken from Fort de Chartes, an abandoned  French fort along the Mississippi River, safeguarded Fort Russell. There is no indication that Fort Russell was the site of any battles, but it was used to launch raids against the Indian Nations farther north in Illinois.

The war of 1812 caused difficulties for Illinois tribes who had not yet decided whether to join Shawnee chief Tecumseh’s intertribal confederacy, a union made up of tribes from the Great Lakes region. There was great concern that the Illini and other Native nations would join Tecumseh’s confederacy and attack white settlers. Edwards, though lacking military experience and knowledge of Native culture, assumed command of an army of more than 350 mounted troops. From Fort Russell he initiated two expeditions. The first began on October 18, 1812, and moved north to burn two Kickapoo villages on the Saline Fork of the Sangamon River. Upon reaching Peoria during the 13-day campaign, Edwards initiated an attack on all tribal villages, including the Kickapoo, Miami, and Pottawatomie. They captured several French settlers suspected of supplying weapons and other materials to Native Americans. The French were taken to a location just south of Alton and left without food or shelter. The Peoria, who had been on peaceful terms with the American settlers, remained neutral in the war. Regardless, in 1813, an army of nearly 1,400 Illinois militia repeated the journey in order to disperse the Native settlements. There were no battles during this campaign, but it kept the Kickapoo, Miami, and Pottawatomie from gathering to mount an attack against American settlements. Edwards’s campaigns eventually pushed all Native people from central Illinois and drove a greater wedge between Native American tribes and the American settlements.

Edwards Trace

Recent research using LIDAR imaging data has shown that Ninian Edwards followed an ancient 146-mile trail from Edwardsville northward through the prairie to Lake Peoria, a route long used by Native Americans. This trail, known as the Edwards Trace, followed established Native hunting and trading trails. By the 1850s, the trail was largely abandoned, and portions lost due to agricultural development. It is possible to drive along portions of the Trace, starting at Edwardsville on Route 159 north to Bunker Hill. Sections of Interstates 55 and 155 mostly parallel sections of the trail. Click on the link below to see Figure 8 with the trail superimposed on a Google Earth image: https://www.academia.edu/43434610/Documenting_the_Edwards_Trace_2019.

Search for Site of Fort Russell

Although the exact location of Fort Russell has not been determined, historians and archeologists continue to try and identify its specific site. In 2012, a Bicentennial commission that included archaeologists from the Illinois State Archaeological Survey and members of the Edwardsville Historical Preservation Commission met to continue investigating the location of the fort. A Government Land Office survey provided the approximate location, northwest of Edwardsville along Springfield Road. The commission explored a location where musket balls were found along Route 159 north of Edwardsville. Researchers considered another possible location in an area along Springfield Road, formally called Edwards Trace, that was a route researchers believe Native Americans used in the past. Although Fort Russell was the most substantial blockhouse in the region with supply buildings, headquarters, barracks, and surrounding stockade at the war’s end in 1815, the fort was abandoned and destroyed by fire in 1837.

The historical marker placed by the State of Illinois in 1934 near the suspected location of Fort Russell has been reported missing, but the inscription once read: “One quarter-mile to the west stood Fort Russell, a wooden stockade which served as a base of supplies and operations for the Illinois Militia during the War of 1812. From here, for months at a time, Governor Ninian Edwards administered the affairs of Illinois Territory.”

Written by Reed Richardson, Edited by Jessica Guldner

Carney, Lucille. “Students Record History of Bunker Hill.” (Carlinville, Illinois), Aug. 10, 1970.

Gale, Neil. “The History of Fort Russell in Edwardsville, Illinois (1812-1815).” Digital Research Library of Illinois History Journal, <https://drloihjournal.blogspot.com/2018/10/historyof-fort-russell-in-edwardsville-illinois.html>, accessed 29 March 2022.

Gibson, Arrell. The Kickapoos: Lords of the Middle Border, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1963.

“Fort Russell Historical Marker” The Historical Marker Database, <https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=54759>, accessed 29 March 2022.

“Fort Russell (2).” FortWiki Historic U.S. and Canadian Forts,<http://www.fortwiki.com/Fort_Russell_(2).>, accessed 29 March 2022.

Moore, Luke, David Brady and Tracy Garrison. “Documenting the Edwards Trace”, <https://www.academia.edu/43434610/Documenting_the_Edwards_Trace_2019>, accessed 1 April 2022. (Fig. 8 shows 146 mile long path “Edwards Trace” from Edwardsville to Peoria)

“War of 1812 Fort Russell.” Alton Museum of History and Art, Inc. Fall 2010, <https://www.altonmuseum.com/newsletterFall2010c.pdf>, accessed 3 April 2022.

Wiest, Oliver. “Archaeologists dig into Fort Russell's history.” The Intelligencer, April 3, 2012, <https://www.theintelligencer.com/local/article/Archaeologists-dig-into-Fort-Russell-shistory-10432165.php>, accessed 3 April 2022.