Southern Illinois Highlights

Fort Massac, Metropolis, IL

Fort Massac is a colonial fort on the Ohio River in Massac County, Illinois, USA near the town of Metropolis, IL. It is thought that Hernando de Soto might have built the first fort here around 1540! Spanish involvement documentation is limited to mentions on early 1700 maps of an "old fort". The first Fort Massac was constructed by the French in 1757. It was an outpost during the French and Indian War. Originally called Fort De L’Ascension, the name was changed in 1759 to honor of Claud Louis d'Espinchal, Marquis de Massiac, the head of the French Naval Ministry.

In 1763 after the French and Indian War was over, the French abandoned the fort and the Chickasaws burned it to the ground. During the Revolutionary War the famous regiment of “Long Knives” lead by Col George Rodgers, entered Illinois near the fort. Clark eventually captured most of the Illinois Territory without firing for the State of Virginia.

During the Northwest Indian War, President George Washington commanded that the fort be rebuilt, Since it was on the Ohio river, it became an important outpost from which to protect the young United States interests in the Ohio Valley. During the Revolutionary war, Fort Massac was the largest US Military outpost. Fort Massac also witnessed other expansion history as the Lewis and Clark Expedition stopped at Fort Massac in 1803 on its way west. Lewis and Clark re-supplied and recruited several members for the Corp of Discovery. George Drouillard, John Newman, and some say, Joseph Whitehouse joined the westbound expedition at Fort Massac. Another connection is that William Clark was the younger brother of Col. Clark, the leader of the "Long Knives" expedition that had visited the area 40 years earlier!

Other historic moments included the 1805 meeting of former U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr and Gen. James Wilkinson who allegedly met at Fort Massac to draw up plans to personally conquer Mexico and the American southwest.

The fort has been damaged and rebuilt several times. The New Madrid Earthquake in 1811-12 destroyed the fort, but it rebuilt in time to play a minor role in the War of 1812. I was abandoned again in 1814. Citizens dismantled the fort for timber, and by 1828 little remained of the original construction. The city of Metropolis was platted about a mile west of the fort in 1839. It is unknown if Superman ever visited the fort when he was a resident of Metropolis. The fort site was the first Illinois State Park, established on November 5, 1908. The current fort is a replica and every fall, re-enactors gather at the Fort Massac Encampment to showcase what life was like in the 1700s.