Wisconsin Historical Collections, Volume VIII (1879)

              early times at fort wimebago and black hawk war reminiscences by hon satterlee clakk the subject which i have selected for this paper is the early history of fort winnebago and its surroundings to give a prbp er understanding of the history not only of the fort but of the persons connected with it it will be necessary to detail my early recollections from my arrival in what is now the state of wis consin on the 14th day of april 1828 i landed at green bay then considered a small french settlement fort howard was then situated near where the passenger depot of the c & n w rail-road now stands on the opposite side of the river where the city of green bay is located there was a wilderness three miles above on the river was a small group of houses that could hardly be termed a village but which was nevertheless called u shanty town residing there were several american families among whom were daniel whitney henry s baird robt irwin alex irwin samuel irwin and quite a number of french and half breeds the fort contained three companies of it s infantry and was commanded by then major afterwards general twiggs the companies were severally commanded by captain and his brother major buell captain spence and captain since general william harney the same season 1828 the 1st infantry was ordered to the portage to build a fort to be called fort winnebago they were relieved at fort howard by four companies of the 5th u s in fantry under command of col william lawrence previous to 1827 the year of the winnebago war under red bird a winne bago chief the indians had bean in the habit of levying tolls on the goods of the american fur company and others who were