began the erection of Fort Howard.[53]

But the government was not content with these movements. In a report
dated December 22, 1817, the Secretary of War, J. C. Calhoun, wrote to
the House of Representatives that "a board of the most skilful officers
in our service has been constituted to examine the whole line of our
frontier, and to determine on the position and extent of works that may
be necessary to the defence of the country."[54] Plans had already been
made. During the summer of 1817 Major Stephen H. Long, a topographical
engineer in the United States Army, had made a journey to the Falls of
St. Anthony in a six-oared skiff and had approved the position at the
mouth of the Minnesota River as a location for a fort.[55] Other plans
were soon announced. In the spring of 1818 _The Washington City Gazette_
stated that a fort would be built on the Missouri River at the mouth of
the Yellowstone River;[56] and a second report of the Secretary of War
on December 11, 1818, indicated that the site at the mouth of the
Minnesota would soon be occupied.[57]

On the tenth of February, 1819, the War Department ordered the Fifth
Infantry to concentrate at Detroit, after which it would be transported
across Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, up the Fox River, and down
the Wisconsin River to Prairie du Chien, where a part would garrison
Fort Crawford, a part would proceed to Fort Armstrong, and the remainder
would ascend the Mississippi and near the Falls of St. Anthony erect a
post which would be the headquarters of the regiment.[58] This movement
was closely associated with that on the Missouri River called the
Yellowstone Expedition. Both movements were part of one system--a
comprehensive attempt to possess the northwestern frontier. The
thoroughness of the plan is shown by the program outlined for the troops
for the year 1820: three forts were to be built on the Missouri River;
the navigation of that river was to be improved; roads were to be opened
between the two diverging lines of posts (those on the Missouri and
those on the Mississippi); and the Fox and Wisconsin rivers were to be
connected by a canal. Thus the transportation of supplies would be
facilitated, and in case of hostilities the forts could cooeperate in the
military operations.[59]

The western part of this general movement was a failure. Indeed, the
only result was the construction of a post at the point then known as
Council Bluff (now Fort Calhoun, Nebraska),