Fort Atkinson, Nebraska

A Fort Atkinson Chronology

October, 1819 Camp Missouri established by Col. Henry Atkinson and troops of the 6th Infantry and the Rifle Regiment. Later moved to the Council Bluff, the post was renamed Ft. Atkinson.
June, 1820 David Meriwether, assistant to sutler John O'Fallon, a negro youth and 17, Pawnees set out for New Mexico. Meriwether was seeking a wagon route to Santa Fe. Captured and imprisoned by the Mexicans, Meriwether returned to the Council Bluff in March 1821.
Spring-Summer, 1822 The first Ashley-Henry party of fur traders ascended the Missouri in keelboats, bound for the mouth of the Yellowstone.
Spring, 1823 The second Ashley-Henry party passed Ft. Atkinson enroute to the upper Missouri. On June 2, this party was attacked by Arikara Indians and forced to retreat.
July-August, 1823 Col. Henry Leavenworth led a punitive expedition from Ft. Atkinson to the Arikara villages in present north-central South Dakota. Included were some of Ashley's men and a party of Missouri Fur Co. trappers led by Joshua Pitcher.
September, 1823 Some Iroquois deserters from a Hudson's Bay Co. brigade on the Snake River arrive at Ft. Atkinson.
September, 1823 Prince Paul of Wuerttemberg visited Ft. Atkinson and the nearby Cahanne's post.
December, 1823 Three men from Maj. Henry's party of Yellowstone trappers, including Moses "Black" Harris and John Fitzgerald, arrive at Ft. Atkinson.
Summer, 1824 Hugh Glass arrives at Ft. Atkinson, seeking revenge on John Fitzgerald who had abandoned the grizzly-mauled Glass in the fall of 1823.
June, 1824 The Mandan from St. Louis is the first commercial steamboat to travel to the Council Bluff.
Fall, 1824 James Clyman, and later Thomas Fitzpatrick, arrive at Ft. Atkinson having come through South Pass via the Platte. Fitzpatrick's report of rich beaver country beyond the Continental Divide galvanizes Ashley to organize his fall overland trapping expedition.
September, 1824 A delegation of Mexicans from Santa Fe travels to the Council Bluff to negotiate a peace treaty with the Pawnee.
September, 1824 Manuel Alvarez and Francois Robidoux with a party of 12 leave the Council Bluff for New Mexico.
November, 1824 Gen. William H. Ashley and 25 mountain men leave Ft. Atkinson for the Rocky Mountains via the Platte Valley.
Summer, 1825 The Atkinson-O'Fallon expedition proceeds up the Missouri to negotiate treaties of peace and friendship with Indian tribes.
July, 1825 A large New Mexico expedition was outfitted at the Pratte and Co. post below Ft. Atkinson.
September, 1825 Antoine Robidoux and party left the Council Bluff for New Mexico.
September, 1825 Gen. Ashley and mountain men reach Ft. Atkinson in keel boats on Sept. 19 in company with the Atkinson-O'Fallon expedition. The returns of the 1824-25 trapping season enabled Ashley to recoup his lossesof the previous years.
June, 1827 Ft. Atkinson abandoned.