The well at the farmstead at the left was in the center of Fort Winnebago when completed in 1830. The portage was made a military post in 1828, Major David E. Twiggs erecting the fortification. During the Black Hawk War the outpost was useful in checking the hostile tribesmen, it remained a garrison until 1845, and was sold in 1853, the nineteen and fifteen-hundredths acres bringing $23.94. The old deed is in the Portage Library.
Colonel Zachary Taylor, afterward president of the United States, visited the fort with Captain Hugh Brady, Indian fighter, in 1836, and Lieutenant Jefferson Davis, later president of the confederacy, came with the military force to construct and garrison the place. Judge D. Doty, afterward territorial governor, often was there, while General Lewis Cass, and Captain Frederick Marryat, celebrated English novelist, were among the many noted visitors. Miss Marcy, later the wife of General George B. McClellan, was a child here, the daughter of a lieutenant.
The Old Cemetery
Continuing on the central of the three roads about a quarter of a mile, the Fort Winnebago cemetery will be found in a grove to the right. Near the west fence is the grave of Cooper Pixley, a soldier of the Revolution, who died in 1855, aged 86.
A little to the east is the grave of William Sylvester, a soldier of the War of 1812, and the first mayor of Portage. He was born October 28, 1792, and died November 20, 1875. His two wives sleep beside him.
Near the center of the cemetery is the grave of Henry Carpenter, a soldier in the Black Hawk War, and hard by are the graves of Civil War veterans, while the body of Archie White Eagle, a Winnebago Indian veteran of the World War, also sleeps in the enclosure.
Those who died in the fort are buried along the south fence. The boards marking their graves burned years ago and their locations are now lost.
Some of the graves in the cemetery are those who came to the lead region in early times and later to the portage.
Returning toward Portage, cross the canal at the eastern extremity of the city, turn sharply to the right and follow the road on the bank of the artificial waterway to the Agency or Waubun House, now owned by Attorney E. S. Baker. John H. Kinzie came with his bride to the portage in 1830 and this house was soon after erected for them. Mrs. Kinzie brought her piano up the Fox River in a boat, mention of which is made in her delightful Wau-Bun.
Near the Agency House Four Legs, chief of the Winnebago, was buried.