Arrow Rock Fort

Arrow Rock Fort (1813-1814) - A War of 1812 Fort and trading post established in 1813 near Arrow Rock, Saline County, Missouri. Named Arrow Rock Fort after the Arrow Rock, a place where flint outcroppings furnished Indian arrow points. Abandoned in 1814. Also known as Sibley's Fort after George C. Sibley who operated the post. History In 1813 Indian attacks forced the closure of Fort Osage. The trading post factor, George C. Sibley, was ordered by William Clark the Superintendent of Indian Affairs to build a new trading post and blockhouse in the vicinity of the Arrow Rock. The Arrow Rock location offered access to the "Osage Trace" a historic Indian trail as well as access to the Boonslick settler forts, Fort Cooper and eight other home forts. Sibley employed local settlers to constructed a two-story, 30-by-20-foot blockhouse using cotton-wood logs. Cottonwood is a soft wood tree and Sibley must have considered the fort to be a temporary post. The Fort was armed with a swivel gun and three blunderbusses but operated without a military detachment. Sibley traveled to meet with the Osage Indians and attempted to persuade them to resume trading. In 1814 the Indian raids intensified and Sibley was forced to close the fort and withdraw from the area. Current Status The exact location of the Sibley Fort/trading post has not been conclusively identified or if it has been it has not been publicly reported. It was once thought that the post was within the present-day town of Arrow Rock but recent archeological excavations have turned up artifacts at a location on the bluff about a mile north of town. A footprint of the fort does not appear to have been found, possibly because of the soft cotttonwood construction. There is a marker in Arrow Rock that tells of the fort and the coordinates cited here are for that marker. {"selectable":false,"height":"-500","width":"-500"} Location: Arrow Rock, Saline County, Missouri. Maps & Images Lat: 39.07018 Long: -92.94473 Multi Maps from ACME Maps from Bing Maps from Google Elevation: yyyyy' GPS Locations: 39.07018, -92.94473 See Also: Fort Osage Sources: Roberts, Robert B., Encyclopedia of Historic Forts: The Military, Pioneer, and Trading Posts of the United States, Macmillan, New York, 1988, 10th printing, ISBN 0-02-926880-X, page 453. USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) Database Entry: 713404 Lucas, Michael T., Schablitsky, Julie M. editors, Archaeology of the War of 1812, Routledge, 16 Jun 2016, 338 pages Links: North American Forts - Arrow Rock Fort Rock Fort Wikipedia - Arrow Rock Fort Missourian - Seeking Sibley's Visited: 20 Aug 2020