Fort Gage/Kaskaskia

During the progress of the war with the Chickasaws and other hostile Indian tribes, a fort was built on the high hill opposite Kaskaskia for the defense of the town. The date of construction was 1736. Of its size and strength, tradition gives no information.

In 1756, during the old French and English war, it was repaired and strengthened, and occupied by a French garrison. From that time to the present, (1883) the bluff on which it stood has borne the name of Garrison Hill.

In 1766, the old fort was destroyed by fire and soon after, another was built on the same spot by the English. Its shape, as described by Capt. Philip PITMAN, as that of an oblong quadrangle, of which the exterior polygon measured 290 by 251 feet. It was constructed of very thick squared timber, dovetailed at the angles.
Within the walls were a stone magazine, the commandants house and other small buildings..

On the abandonment of Fort de Chartres in 1771, the British garrison occupied the fort to which the name of Gage had been applied in honor of the commander in chief of the British forces in America.*

On the night of July 4th, 1778, it was captured by Col. Clark.

The garrison then consisted of twenty soldiers under command of M. ROCHEBLAVE, the British commandant in Illinois.

Its approaches were guarded by four cannon.

The records of the English possession of the country are said to have been destroyed on the night of the surrender, by the wife of M. Rocheblave, so many of the valuable documents belonging to that period were lost.

While Colonel Clark remained in Illinois, he occupied the fort as his headquarters.

At the close of the war of the Revolution, the fort remained unoccupied until 1801, when it was garrisoned by a detachment of United States soldiers. Colonel PIKES regiment was stationed here for a short period.

It was soon abandoned, and the walls crumbled and feel to the ground, and the buildings decayed.

The lines of the fort are now marked by embankments of earth. The parade ground North of the fort is grown up with timber.
The site commands a beautiful view of the Kaskaskia and the Mississippi rivers and the adjacent bottom lands.
Pictures of the Garrison Cemetery
*...history being just that, there are records to show Fort Kaskaskia was never named Fort Gage.
ss: 1883 History of Rand. Perry & Monroe counties.

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