Fort Kaskaskia State Historic Site is a 200-acre (0.8 km²) park near Chester, Illinois on a blufftop overlooking the Mississippi River. It commemorates the vanished frontier town of Old Kaskaskia and the support it gave to George Rogers Clark in the American Revolution. Chester is a town located on the bluffs of the Mississippi River Valley in Randolph County, Illinois. ... The Mississippi River, derived from the old Ojibwe word misi-ziibi meaning great river (gichi-ziibi big river at its headwaters), is the second-longest named river in North America, with a length of 2320 miles (3733 km) from Lake Itasca to the Gulf of Mexico. ... Clark as painted by Matthew Harris Jouett in 1825 George Rogers Clark (November 19, 1752 – February 13, 1818) was the preeminent American military leader on the northwestern frontier during the American Revolutionary War. ... John Trumbulls Declaration of Independence, showing the five-man committee in charge of drafting the Declaration in 1776 as it presents its work to the Second Continental Congress The American Revolution refers to the period during the last half of the 18th century in which the Thirteen Colonies that...

An earthen redoubt

The village of Kaskaskia, Illinois was founded at the mouth of the Kaskaskia River as a missionary post by the Jesuits in 1703. Soon afterwards, settlers from the Quebec and Louisiana regions began to trickle towards the rich, alluvial farmland of the central Mississippi Valley. They built a village and agricultural settlement around the location of the Jesuit mission, a half-circle of bottomland cradled by the Kaskaskia River and by an oxbow of the Mississippi. Kaskaskia is a village located in Randolph County, Illinois. ... The Kaskaskia River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately 320 mi (515 km) long, in central and southern Illinois in the United States. ... The Society of Jesus (Latin: Societas Iesu), commonly known as the Jesuits, is a Roman Catholic religious order. ... Motto: Je me souviens (French: I remember) Capital Quebec City Largest city Montreal Official languages French Government - Lieutenant-Governor Lise Thibault - Premier Jean Charest (PLQ) Federal representation in Canadian Parliament - House seats 75 - Senate seats 24 Confederation July 1, 1867 (1st) Area Ranked 2nd - Total 1,542,056 km² - Water... Official language(s) de jure: none de facto: English & French Capital Baton Rouge Largest city New Orleans [1] Area  Ranked 31st  - Total 51,885 sq mi (134,382 km²)  - Width 130 miles (210 km)  - Length 379 miles (610 km)  - % water 16  - Latitude 29°N to 33°N  - Longitude 89°W... Songhua River, northeast China. ...

French-speaking pioneers were noted throughout North America for their comparative fairness towards Native Americans. However, as the Kaskaskia settlement grew throughout the 1700s, the local Indians, members of the Illini Confederacy, may have realized that there might not be enough space for everybody. The French settlers raised Fort Kaskaskia around 1759; the fort stood atop the bluff that looked down upon the frontier village [1]. "Fort Kaskaskia" is not technically a "fort", but an earthen redoubt. Frontier settlers throughout Woodland North America often built such redoubts as defensive moves during times of threat from Native Americans. A Hupa man. ... You may be looking for Chief Illiniwek, a mascot of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. ... Fortifications (Latin fortis, strong, and facere, to make) are military constructions designed for defensive warfare. ... A redoubt is a fort or fort system usually consisting of an enclosed defensive emplacement outside a larger fort. ...

In 1763 the French ceded the Illinois country, including Kaskaskia and the redoubt, to Great Britain. The British did not use the redoubt and left Kaskaskia almost defenseless. Kaskaskia continued to exist as a French-speaking village on the Mississippi River frontier.

A key strategic location

In early 1778, George Rogers Clark, eager to defend what was western Virginia and the Kentucky country from attacks by Native Americans allied to the British, led a tiny force down the Ohio River. Clark hoped to achieve a strategic coup by linking his expeditionary column with the French-speaking settlements of the Mississippi Valley. Clark as painted by Matthew Harris Jouett in 1825 George Rogers Clark (November 19, 1752 – February 13, 1818) was the preeminent American military leader on the northwestern frontier during the American Revolutionary War. ... Official language(s) English Capital Richmond Largest city Virginia Beach Area  Ranked 35th  - Total 42,793 sq mi (110,862 km²)  - Width 200 miles (320 km)  - Length 430 miles (690 km)  - % water 7. ... Official language(s) English[1] Capital Frankfort Largest city Louisville Area  Ranked 37th  - Total 40,444 sq mi (104,749 km²)  - Width 140 miles (225 km)  - Length 379 miles (610 km)  - % water 1. ... Cincinnati, Ohio is a well known city along the Ohio River, historically known for its riverboats. ...

Clark and his men marched overland from Fort Massac, near the present-day Metropolis, Illinois, to Kaskaskia. They avoided being sighted by the British or their Native allies and arrived at Kaskaskia on July 4, 1778. Most of the Kaskaskia townspeople welcomed them. Fort Massac is a colonial era fort on the Ohio River in Massac County, Illinois. ... Statue of Superman in the town square The sign outside the Superman Museum Metropolis is a city located in Massac County, Illinois, along the Ohio River. ... For the United States holiday, the Fourth of July, see Independence Day (United States). ... 1778 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...

After facing a threat from a British force at Vincennes, Indiana, Clark and his men used Kaskaskia as their jumping-off place to capture Vincennes in early 1779. The Americans controlled Kaskaskia and its redoubt throughout the rest of the war, and won legal control of the territory in the 1783 Treaty of Paris. The city of Vincennes is the county seat of Knox County, Indiana. ... Painting by Benjamin West depicting (from left to right) John Jay, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Laurens, and William Temple Franklin. ...

Kaskaskia, Illinois

Following the war, Kaskaskia was part of the United States and became slowly Americanized. Lewis and Clark stopped here in 1803 and recruited many of the professional hunters and sharpshooters that accompanied them to the Pacific Ocean in their fateful 1804-06 expedition. The Lewis and Clark expedition (1804-1806) was the first American overland expedition to the Pacific coast and back. ... Hunting is, in its most general sense, the pursuit of a target. ... A marksman (also designated marksman) is a profession which is mostly to be found in military context. ...

The village served as the only capital of Illinois Territory in 1809-1818, and briefly (1818-1820) as the first capital of the new U.S. state of Illinois following Illinois's admission to the Union on December 3, 1818. Pierre Menard, a wealthy fur trader who lived across the Kaskaskia River from Kaskaskia at the bottom of the Fort Kaskaskia redoubt, was elected the new state's first Lieutenant Governor. Categories: Stub | Illinois history | U.S. historical regions and territories ... Federal courts Supreme Court Chief Justice Associate Justices Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Counties/Parishes/Boroughs, Cities, and Towns Other countries Politics Portal      A U.S. state is any one of the fifty subnational entities of... Official language(s) English[1] Capital Springfield Largest city Chicago Largest metro area Chicago Area  Ranked 25th  - Total 57,918 sq mi (149,998 km²)  - Width 210 miles (340 km)  - Length 390 miles (629 km)  - % water 4. ... December 3 is the 337th (in leap years the 338th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1818 (MDCCCXVIII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar. ... Alternate meaning: Pierre Menard (Illinois) Pierre Menard is a fictional 20th century writer, created by Jorge Luis Borges. ... The fur trade was a huge part in the early economic development of North America. ... A Lieutenant Governor is a government official who is the subordinate or deputy of a Governor or Governor-General. ...

Disaster and new life

During much of the 1800s and especially after the American Civil War, the Mississippi River cut through many of its former oxbows and shortened its channel considerably. This article is becoming very long. ...

In 1881, during a flood, the moving water of the Mississippi "discovered" a much smaller, parallel riverbed, the mouth of the Kaskaskia. Kaskaskia's bed was a few feet lower than the Mississippi's bed, so the whole river shifted to the new watercourse, cutting across the head of a former oxbow to do so.

For the village of Kaskaskia, the river's new course was disastrous. Their village had been by the waterfront of the much smaller river; now the mighty Mississippi was swallowing the town up. Even the village cemeteries were at risk. Graves at Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York A cemetery is a place (usually an enclosed area of land) in which dead bodies are buried. ...

In an emergency operation, 3,000 graves of the departed of Kaskaskia were exhumed and the remains reburied atop the bluff to the east, at the site of old Fort Kaskaskia. The state of Illinois agreed to maintain the site forever as a memorial to the vanished historic village. Graves (pronounced , meaning gravel land in French) is an important wine region of Bordeaux, producing over 20 million bottles each year. ... Exhumed is also a first-person shooter available for the PC, PlayStation and Sega Saturn; see Powerslave (game). ...

The fort today

Fort Kaskaskia is a campsite and picnic area overlooking the Mississippi River. The remains of the 18th-century redoubt can be vaguely traced in the earth. The prominent Kaskaskia cemetery recalls the 1881 flood. Campsites are often situated in or near forests. ... Friends and family gather for a picnic in a public park in Columbus, Ohio, c. ...

External links

• Fort Kaskaskia State Historic Site