Coopers Fort

As tensions between England and the United States worsened, war was declared in 1812. In response, settlers in the Boonslick region swiftly built forts for protection. The largest of these was Cooper’s Fort, a stockade with log houses, located near present-day Glasgow, Missouri, close to the Missouri River. A communal 250-acre field was farmed by the fort’s residents, which included 20 families and several young men.

The Cooper family had originally come from Culpepper County, Virginia, traveling through Madison County, Kentucky. In 1808, Colonel Benjamin Cooper attempted to establish a settlement near Arrow Rock, but due to unresolved Native American land claims, Governor Meriwether Lewis ordered him to return to Loutre Island.

In 1810, Benjamin, along with his brother Sarshall Cooper and others, returned to the area, resettling in Howard County. They fortified their settlement to protect against Native American attacks, as the Boonslick settlements, numbering around 150 people, were isolated from St. Louis and largely self-reliant for defense.

Although the Cooper family never settled in what is now Cooper County, the county was later named in honor of Sarshall Cooper, a prominent frontiersman and captain of a local militia.