FORT BELLEFONTAINE: THE HAUNTED STAIRCASE
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FORT BELLEFONTAINE
THE GHOST ON THE STAIRS
Former Site Near St. Louis, Missouri
The road that once led to Fort
Bellefontaine
Carved out of the Wilderness in 1805, Fort Bellefontaine became
the first American military outpost near St. Louis
In most of my writings, I always try to point out the
emptiest or focus point of many of the haunted locations that I have
researched. Some of those eerie beginnings tend to be certain events while
others center on a particular person or item. In several cases, everything
appears to start at a certain place. Enter Fort Belle Fontaine.
In delving into the haunted history of
Jefferson Barracks and the St. Louis Arsenal, I
found that their stories always started with Fort Belle Fontaine. This little
forts prominence as the first U.S. military fortification west of the
Mississippi and its overall role in the St. Louis region during a tumultuous
time in the nations history was the key to the later establishment of
Jefferson Barracks and the Arsenal. Oddly, it would not be until I was doing
research into other military posts across the country that I would come across
ghost stories attributed to Fort Belle Fontaine itself. The various paranormal
events that have taken place at the fort over the years have raised many
questions, but to find out the answers, you must first know the forts history.
After the signing of the Louisiana Purchase in 1804, the
Mississippi Valley literally became the Gateway to the West. In 1805, the
U.S. military established Fort Belle Fontaine at the mouth of Cold Water Creek
near the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers in an effort to
protect the City of St. Louis and the thriving river trade along the
Mississippi River. Located on the south, low-lying bank of the Missouri River,
just four miles down stream from the Spanish Fort Don Carlos which had been
abandoned in 1780, this remote military fort and its small garrison greeted
the first pioneers and settlers heading west into the new frontier.
The original site of the first fort, known as Cantonment
Belle Fontaine was selected by General James Wilkinson, the first governor of
the Louisiana Territory. A short time after a location for the fort had been
established, three companies of the First Infantry, under the command of
Lieutenant Colonel Jacob Kingsbury, arrived and set about the construction of
the fort.
From the start, Cantonment Belle Fontaine served as a
trading post or Indian Factory for the local Indian tribes but by 1808, the
factory was moved from the fort. Trade goods previous stored at the fort
were transferred to Fort Osage at the fart western edge of Missouri and Fort
Madison in Iowa.
Being the only established military presence in the new
Louisiana Territory, Fort Belle Fontaine served as an instrumental starting
and stopping point for several notable explorers and expeditions. The famous
pioneering military officer Zebulon Pike started two expeditions at Fort Belle
Fontaine. In 1805, Pike launched his expedition of the upper Mississippi River
from the fort and in 1806, Pike used the fort as a starting point for his
probe into the Spanish held lands of the Southwest. During both expeditions,
Pike left his family at Fort Belle Fontaine for their safety.
By far, the most famous explorers to visit Fort Belle
Fontaine were Lewis and Clark. Members of the famous Corps of Discovery
camped at Fort Belle Fontaine prior to starting their historic voyage on May
14, 1804. The Corps of Discovery later returned to the fort at the
conclusion of their historic journey and spent the night on September 22,
1806. The following is Excerpted from the Journals of Lewis and Clark
upon their arrival at Fort Belle Fontaine:
Monday 22nd of Septr. 1806
This morning being very wet and the rain still
continueing hard, and our party being all sheltered in house of those
hospitable people, we did not (think) proper to proceed on until after the
rain was over, and continued at the house of Mr. Proulz. I took this
opportunity of writing to my friends in Kentucky & c. At 10 a.m. it seased
raining and we collected our party and Set out and proceeded on down to the
Contonemt, at Coldwater Creek about 3 miles up the Missouri on its Southern
banks, at this place we found Colo. Hunt and a Lieut. Peters & one Company
of Artillerists we were kindly received by the Gentlemen of this place.
..
We were honored with a Salute of (blank space in MS.) and a harty welcome.
At this place there is a publick store kept in which I am informed the U.S.
have 60000$ worth of Indian Goods.
In 1809, Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Bissell Took command of
Fort Belle Fontaine. Upon his arrival, he found the Cantonment to be in a
terrible state of disrepair and the forts garrison plagued with illness. The
shifting Missouri River was threatening Fort Belle Fontaine which was poorly
situated on a flood plane. In addition, Bissell concluded that the fort was in
a strategically poor position as it was overlooked by a high bluff. In 1810,
Bissell ordered the fort moved to the top of the bluff. By 1811, work on the
new fort which consisted of 30 buildings, several block houses and a rectangle
palisade, was completed.
During the war of 1812, several military operations against
the British and Sauk- Fox Indians were conducted from Fort Belle Fontaine and
July 1815, soldiers from the fort provided security for the great Indian
council at Portage Des Souix. In attendance at the peace negotiations were
representative from 11 different Indian tribes. Governor William Clark and
Auguste Chouteau were among the most notable U.S. representatives at this
momentous event. In the following years, Fort Belle Fontaine was a prominent
command and supply point for several new military posts that had been
established farther to the west and the fort served as a starting point for
Colonel Henry Atkinsons Yellowstone Expedition in 1819.
By 1825, Fort Belle Fontaine and its small arsenal had
fallen into a sorry state of disrepair. At the time conditions at the fort
were considered to be unhealthy due to the side effects of frequent flooding.
When not fighting Indians or keeping the peace, soldiers drank and fought with
each other. On at least one occasion The monotonous duty contributed to the
death of at least one officer when a fellow officer killed a lieutenant during
a duel. In 1826, military commanders decided that a new military post and
separate arsenal facility was needed.
On July 8, 1826, troops from Fort Belle Fontaine helped
establish a new military base of operations south of St. Louis near the
village of Carondelet. This new military post was named Jefferson Barracks in
honor of President Thomas Jefferson who had died on July, 4, 1826. A small
contingent of troops remained at Fort Belle Fontaine to protect the arsenal
until a new one could be built on a 40 acre tract of land located three miles
south of St. Louis near modern day Second and Arsenal Streets in south St.
Louis.
In 1827, the first building on the new arsenal grounds was
completed but the small facility at Fort Belle Fontaine continued to provide
munitions and military supplies for troops operating in the Louisiana
Territory until June 1828. Over the next few years, Fort Belle Fontaine was
abandoned and officially replaced by the new St. Louis Arsenal and Jefferson
Barracks.
Between 1828 and 1904, Fort Belle Fontaine remained
unoccupied silently standing guard along the Missouri River, a scant 15 miles
north of St. Louis. In that time, most of the wooden buildings of the fort on
the bluff had rotted away leaving only their limestone foundations. In a
historical photograph taken in 1909, a single log cabin, believed to be the
remnants of a soldiers quarters, was the only evidence that a military post
had existed on the site. The site of the first cantonment at the rivers edge
had all but been obliterated by the currents of the Missouri River. Little or
no evidence of the first fort could be found along the shoreline of the river
by this time.
On April 5, 1904, the remains of those (33) officers,
soldiers and family members who had been buried at Fort Belle Fontaine between
1806 and 1826, were moved to the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in south
St. Louis County. These unknowns including the body of Zebulon Pikes, two
year old daughter were reburied on a high bluff overlooking the Mississippi
River in the Old Post Section #1 of the National Cemetery. The St. Louis
Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution erected a large memorial,
consisting of a granite boulder and commemorative plaque, at the site.
In 1913, the City of St. Louis acquired the property were
the second fort had once stood. The city built a detention home and training
school for boys on the site. Life at the Missouri Home for Boys was rigorous.
It consisted of school instruction in the morning and physical farm labor for
the remainder of the day.
In 1986, the County of St. Louis assumed control of most of
the property that made up the boys home. Just two years later, in 1986, the
City of St. Louis ended its affiliation with the home. Today, the Missouri
Hills Home estate is a residence for both boys and girls and is managed by the
Missouri Division of Youth Services.
The presence of the home on the bluff has been a mixed
blessing for the preservation of the old fort site. When the city of St. Louis
and later the State of Missouri acquired the land, it prevented the site from
being carved up by land developers but construction on the site doomed many of
the historical treasures located just beneath the top soil.
Another critical event in the forts
history occurred in the 1930s when President Franklin D. Roosevelt
established the Work Progress Administration (WPA) as a means to jumps
start the labor market during the Great Depression. Locally, members of
the WPA worked at the Missouri Hills Home to enhance the property and in
doing so, making the land along the Missouri River into a picturesque
landscape that would attract visitors from miles around. In 1936, the
WPAs crown jewel of the project, the Grand Staircase was completed.
This twisting expanse of limestone stairs set into approximately 5 tiers,
is still intact and usable even today. In addition to the staircase,
members from the WPA also constructed Comfort Stations and picnic
facilities along the riverbank below the bluff in and effort to increase
public usage of the area.
A small building that
is believed to have been built from the remains of the fort
Over the years, many different visitors to the site have
claimed to constantly see, hear, and feel things that they just could not
explain. Oddly enough, the most eerie ghost stories center around the Grand
Staircase. It is said that most of the pictures taken of the first or second
tier of the staircase reveal the presence of what appears to be dark red smoke
on the stairs. It has been said that people have experimented by taking
photographs of the stairs using different kinds of cameras and film and in
each instance, the anomalous red light always appears on the stairs.
I guess it is possible that the red mist is a naturally
occurring event. I have visited the site several times with my family and I
have yet to find a natural source that could account for the frequency of
the anomalous photographs taken at the site. On the other hand, light could
actually be a supernatural manifestation from beyond the grave. Perhaps the
spirit a young officer killed in a duel still walks the site searching for
peace or one of the previous unknown occupants of the old forts cemetery
decided that he or she did not want to be moved to the Jefferson Barracks
National Cemetery. No matter what or who is responsible for these mysterious
incidents, one thing remains unquestioned, they still continue even to this
day.
Today, the St. Louis County
Parks maintains a picturesque overlook with historical markers on the
bluff were the second fort once stood. In addition, visitors to the site
are enthralled by the Grand Staircase and they are encouraged to walk
along Missouri River to explore various different WPA construction
projects that still exist today. Unfortunately nothing remains of the old
fort except a small limestone building which is believed to have been
built in later years from the limestone foundations of the fort. A visit
to Fort Belle Fontaine is a short day trip that you will definitely not
forget.
Park Information:
Fort Belle Fontaine
13300 Bellefontaine Road
St. Louis, Missouri 63138
(C) Copyright 2003 by Dave Goodwin. All Rights Reserved.
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