Apple River Fort
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Apple River Fort Site
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Reconstruction of the fort
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| Nearest city | Elizabeth, Illinois |
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| Coordinates | 42°19′5″N 90°12′51″W / 42.31806°N 90.21417°WCoordinates: 42°19′5″N 90°12′51″W / 42.31806°N 90.21417°W |
| Area | 0.5 acres (0.20 ha) |
| Built | 1832 |
| NRHP Reference # | 97001332 |
| Added to NRHP | November 7, 1997 |
Apple River Fort, today known as the Apple River Fort State Historic Site, was one of many frontier forts hastily completed by settlers in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin following the onset of the 1832 Black Hawk War. Located in present-day Elizabeth, Illinois, United States, the fort at the Apple River settlement was built in less than a week. It was one of the few forts attacked during the war and the only one attacked by a band led by Black Hawk himself. At the Battle of Apple River Fort, a firefight of about an hour ensued, with Black Hawk's forces eventually withdrawing. The fort suffered one militia man killed in action, and another wounded. After the war, the fort stood until 1847, being occupied by squatters before being sold to a private property owner who dismantled the building.
Today, a replica of the fort stands next to the site of the original Apple River Fort. Constructed between 1996 and 1997 by a non-profit organization, the replica was based on earlier archaeological investigations of the site which revealed information about the layout and settlement at the fort. In 1997 the Apple River Fort Site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and in 2001 the state of Illinois took over operations of the site and designated it the Apple River Fort State Historic Site. Apple River Fort was one of numerous Illinois historic sites slated to close October 1, 2008 due to cuts in the Illinois budget by Governor Rod Blagojevich. After Blagojevich was impeached and removed from office, new Illinois Governor Pat Quinn reopened the site in May 2009.
The earliest settlers in the vicinity of Apple River Fort, probably miners, likely arrived more than a decade before the fort's construction. The miners settled the site and built log cabins around and near the Kellogg's Trail, a route from Galena to Dixon's Ferry; they obtained fresh water from a nearby spring.
The fort's construction was motivated by the Black Hawk War, which was a consequence of an 1804 treaty between the Governor of the Indiana Territory and a council of leaders from the Sauk and Fox Native American tribes. The treaty, regarding land settlement, ceded 50 million acres (200,000 km2) of Sauk and Fox land to the United States for $2,234.50 and an annual annuity of $1,000. The treaty was controversial, Sauk Chief Black Hawk, and others disputed its validity because they said that the full tribal councils were not consulted and the council that negotiated the treaty did not have the authority to cede land. The treaty also allowed the Sauk and Fox to remain on their land until it was sold.
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