When the early settlers arrived, the Northwest Territory was sparsely settled. In 1810 there were no more than 300 persons in all of what is now Daviess County (per Goodspeed's page 620). Five forts were built in 1812. Comer's Fort was built on Daniel Comer's farm not far from the cabin occupied by Hezekiah and Nancy Ragsdale, in the forks of White River in Hawkins Twp., Knox County, Indiana.

Goodspeed's History of Knox and Daviess Counties, Indiana, 1886:
Occupants of the Forts:
Comer's Fort - Friend Spears, James and Thomas Aikman, Ebenezer Jones, Alexander Stevens, Chris. Gregory, John Stringer, William White, John Wallace, the widow Wallace and two sons, the widow Ellis, Vance Jones, Ephraim Thompson, E. Ragsdale, Thrice Stafford, and Alexander Stephenson. There were a large number of young men in this fort, among them Wiley R. Jones, Jesse Hallem, William Phillips, John and James Stafford, Samuel Aikman, John and Josiah Wallace; John, David, and William Ellis; Colman Morgan and Wesley Wallace; John Ragsdale and John Thompson.