Fort Defiance State Park

Fort Defiance State Park is a state park of Iowa, USA, in Emmet County. The park is 191 acres and sits at an elevation of 1,453 feet . The park, which was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression, was opened to the public in 1930. Fort Defiance State Park is open for year-round recreation including picnicking, hiking, and camping.
Fort Defiance State Park is named for the former Fort Defiance which stood where an accounting office is now located at 103 S. Sixth St. in Estherville, Iowa. The fort was built to protect a gristmill and sawmill during the Dakota War of 1862. In Iowa alarm over the attacks in Minnesota and the Dakotas led to the construction of a series of forts from Sioux City to Iowa Lake. The region had previously been militarized in the aftermath of the Spirit Lake Massacre in 1857. After the 1862 conflict began, the Iowa Legislature authorized “not less than 500 mounted men from the frontier counties at the earliest possible moment, and to be stationed where most needed”, this number was soon reduced. No fighting took place in Iowa, the Dakota uprising led to the rapid expulsion of the few unassimilated Native Americans left there. Fort Defiance was built in 1862 at a time when 40% of the male population of Emmet County was away and fighting for the Union Army during the American Civil War.

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