Fort Lisa (North Dakota)

This article is about the fur trading post in North Dakota. For the fort in Kerala, India, see Fort Emmanuel. For the fort in Malta, see Fort Manoel.

The first Fort Lisa (1809-1812), also known as the Fort Manuel Lisa Trading Post and as Fort Manuel, was started by the notable fur trader Manuel Lisa of the Missouri Fur Company in 1809. It was located near the Gros Ventres village located between the mouth of the Little Missouri and that of the Big Knife rivers in what is now North Dakota. This fort was likely where Sacagawea died; she had been the guide for the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Fort Lisa superseded Fort Raymond, the first outpost built by Lisa in 1806-1807 at the mouth of the Bighorn River in Montana, as the uppermost post of the Missouri Fur Company on the Missouri River. In 1812 Lisa built a replacement fort downriver near present-day North Omaha, Nebraska, which he also named Fort Lisa.

History

Although dates vary according to account, at some point in 1806-07 the fur trader Manuel Lisa established Fort Raymond at the mouth of the Bighorn River, where it entered the Yellowstone River. This was the first permanent structure of its kind on the Upper Missouri. It was at first just "two rooms and a loft". Lisa named it after his son, but traders also called it Manuel's Fort or Fort Manuel. Lisa built it for the company which he and William Clark jointly owned; it was called the St. Louis Missouri Fur Company. At the time of its establishment, Fort Raymond/Manuel was the first permanent structure of its kind on the Upper Missouri. Lisa established the only trading post in the Great Plains region. This made the Fort instrumental in American relations with local tribes, as well as the early settlement of the Nebraska Territory.

Map of Montana rivers with the Bighorn (center) and Little Missouri (right).

In 1808 George Drouillard, a member of Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery, was tried for the murder of a deserter from Fort Lisa. He had mortally wounded the man while trying to capture him. (Given the date, this source is probably referring to Lisa's first fort, Fort Raymond/Manuel.)

In 1809 Lisa was one of the founders of the St. Louis Missouri Fur Company, later known as the Missouri Fur Company, which included members of the Chouteau family, founders of St. Louis. On his fur expedition in 1809 with 300 men, Lisa and his company built another fort further east, near the Gros Ventres village located between the mouth of the Little Missouri and that of the Big Knife rivers in what is now North Dakota. This was named Fort Lisa, or, as in the excerpt below, Fort Manuel Lisa Trading Post. He abandoned Fort Raymond/Manuel and shifted operations to the new post. The famous Astor Expedition would have stopped at Fort Lisa in 1811.

Henry Brackenridge, a fur dealer at Fort Manuel Lisa Trading Post on the Missouri River, wrote in his journal in 1811 that Sacagawea, the notable Native American guide for the Lewis and Clark Expedition, was living at Fort Lisa with her husband Charbonneau. He wrote that Sacagawea "...had become sickly and longed to revisit her native country." The following year, John Luttig, a clerk at Fort Manuel Lisa, recorded in his journal on December 20, 1812, that "...the wife of Charbonneau, a Snake Squaw, died of putrid fever." (Note: Often called childbed fever, this was a frequent complication of childbirth.) Luttig noted that she was "aged about 25 years. She left a fine infant girl."

Charbonneau had already entrusted his and Sacagawea's son Jean Baptiste into Clark's care for a boarding school education. Clark was fond of the boy and offered to support his education. Fort Lisa was abandoned soon after this period.

Because of difficulties with Indians and shipping at this location, in 1812 Lisa built a third fort downriver about 12 miles north of present-day Omaha. He named this Fort Lisa, too, and shifted his operations to this location. This became the main post of the Missouri Fur Company and its successors under various names.

See also

• Dakota Territory
• Louisiana Purchase