FORT ATKINSON, Iowa — This is the 49th year for the Rendezvous held at the site of Iowa’s frontier fort, Fort Atkinson.

“The government determined that the Winnebago Indians needed to be removed from the Wisconsin area that they lived in, so the military brought them here,” said Kay Schmitt, of the Friends of Ft. Atkinson group. “Officers stayed in this camp and their job for the Dragoons, was to go out and patrol the area to make sure that everybody was getting along and then they’d also provide supplies for them.”

The Winnebago Indians were eventually moved to Minnesota.

Each year some 75 groups or individuals set up camp for the weekend. Visitors come to the town of Fort Atkinson for the festivities.

“We have some of the military folks here and and the campers you know cook on their stove,” said Schmitt. “They have campfires and and we have a lot of craftsman. We have a blacksmith, a basket weaver, fabric weavers, a surveyor so they all do their skills as they would’ve been back in the 1840’s.”

One group does a canon drill, firing off two small canons. There is another unusual demonstration which makes a loud noise. Shooting an anvil 70 feet into the air would make a loud blast sound.

“They were the blacksmiths to do that to alert the whole community, 6 to 8 miles out with the concussion then come back in if there was a fire in town or an Indian attack or something like that,” said Scott Sindelar, of Ft. Atkinson. “All the blacksmith would be able to do that.”

“We were the first troops to the man post, we were here from 1840 to 1846,” said
Jason Gordon, a re-enactor from Ackley IA. “We were in peace time so there’s never a shot fired in anger at Fort Atkinson.”

Next year, the Fort Atkinson Rendezvous will celebrate 50 years of living history here in northeast Iowa.