Term: Fort Blue Mounds
Definition: a temporary fortification built near the town of the same name during the Black Hawk War of 1832.
From Increase Lapham's 1844 Geographical and Topographical Description of Wisconsin:
"Near the Mounds are the remains of a Fort, built during the Black Hawk war, in which several families were protected from the savage foes. The stranger is here shown the grave of Lieutenant Force, who was killed by an Indian hid in the tall grass, in a small ravine, near the place where the grave is now seen. This Indian was afterwards killed, near the Four lakes, in a skirmish with General Dodge's volunteers, and a gold watch belonging to Lieutenant Force, was taken from the pouch of the Indian, and restored to his family."
The site of Fort Blue Mounds was excavated by Society archaeologists and volunteers in the 1990s. View more information elsewhere at wisconsinhistory.org
View a related article at Wisconsin Magazine of History Archives.
[Source: Cultural Resource Management in Wisconsin (Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1986); read about its recent discovery and excavation by archaeologists at www.wisconsinhistory.org/wmh/pdf/summer03_birmingham.pdf]
