Fort Jefferson was a town on the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

, about one mile south of

Wickliffe, Kentucky Wickliffe is a home rule-class city in Ballard County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 688 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Ballard County. Wickliffe is part of the Paducah, KY- IL Micropolitan Statistical Area. His ...

in southwestern Ballard County. In 1779, George Rogers Clark built a stronghold of the same name at the intersection of the

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

and Ohio Rivers in order to consolidate his forces and to control access to the Ohio. The original fort was burned down by

Chickasaw The Chickasaw ( ) are an indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands. Their traditional territory was in the Southeastern United States of Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee as well in southwestern Kentucky. Their language is classif ...

forces in 1781. The settlement was reestablished in 1858. The town itself no longer exists. The site is now home of the Phoenix Paper mill.

Planning of Fort Jefferson

The initial proposal for a fortification on the mouth of the Ohio was made by Virginia governor

Patrick Henry Patrick Henry (May 29, 1736June 6, 1799) was an American attorney, planter, politician and orator known for declaring to the Second Virginia Convention (1775): " Give me liberty, or give me death!" A Founding Father, he served as the first a ...

in 1777, in a letter to the Spanish governor of

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, Bernardo de Galvez. He proposed a fortification to protect trade and supplies between

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

and Spanish Louisiana from British interference. Henry would also propose this idea to George Rogers Clark, who saw it as a fortification for frontier protection and conquest of British Indian allies. Clark would later press Henry's successor,

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the natio ...

, on the importance of a fort along both rivers, to control commerce and stop British supplies. In January of 1780, Jefferson formally approved the fort with the formal stipulation that the land must be purchased from the Chickasaws, whom he erroneously identified as

Cherokees The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...

. Jefferson would also write to Joseph Martin that "the ground at the mouth of the Ohio on the south side belonging to the Cherokee, we would not meddle in without their leave". George Rogers Clark would go on to ignore this provision, as he would not buy the land from the Chickasaws or gain their consent to build the fortifications. Many historians point to Clark's disregard of the Chickasaw as the point at which the fortification and settlement project was doomed to failure.

Aftermath

In 1782, four Chickasaw chiefs sent a letter to American military post commanders in the west to open peace negotiations, stating "What damage was done by reason you settled a fort in our hunting ground without our leave and at that place you suffered most from us". The Chickasaw would eventually sign a peace treaty with the Spanish (representing the American alliance) that respected Chickasaw territorial integrity, but kept them at war with the Kickapoo.

References

Jefferson {{Kentucky-stub