Fort Crawford - The Second Fort Crawford

The Second Fort Crawford

The construction of the second Fort Crawford began in 1829 under the direction of the new commander, Col. Zachary Taylor, later President of the United States. The new fort's location on the mainland in Prairie du Chien was much more floodproof. In addition, to make the fort more weather-proof, it was decided to construct the structure using quarried limestone rather than wood. This in addition to delays in federal funding meant that the construction of the second Fort Crawford would take much longer than that of the first, lasting from 1829 until 1835. Troops in Prairie du Chien were unable to fully occupy the new fort's barracks until 1832, and in the meantime remained at the first Fort Crawford, where army surgeon Dr. William Beaumont did his best to keep the troops healthy. Beaumont would later achieve fame for a series of experiments on human digestion which he conducted at locations across the United States. Fifty-six of these experiments were conducted at Fort Crawford hospital, and allowed Beaumont to draw conclusions on the effects of temperature and emotion on the digestive process.

As the second fort's barracks were being completed in 1832, the Black Hawk War broke out in Illinois, and the troops at Fort Crawford were called to participate in the war. After the Battle of Bad Axe near present day Victory, Wisconsin, Chief Black Hawk surrendered to Col. Zachary Taylor at Fort Crawford. Black Hawk was imprisoned at the fort until he was escorted by Lt. Jefferson Davis to St. Louis, Missouri. Davis, who had been assigned to Fort Crawford in 1831, would later become President of the Confederate States of America. It was while assigned to Fort Crawford that Davis met and fell in love with the daughter of Zachary Taylor, Sarah Knox Taylor. Colonel Taylor disapproved of the relationship between Davis and his daughter, and in 1834 Davis was reassigned to Fort Gibson in Oklahoma. Shortly afterwards, Davis resigned his commission in order to pursue his relationship with Sarah in Prairie du Chien. Upon discovering that Zachary Taylor would not consent to their marriage, the couple eloped to Kentucky, where Davis married Sarah Taylor in 1835.

During the 1840s the garrison at Fort Crawford was assigned to build a road between Fort Crawford and Fort Winnebago in Portage. The route they chose for the road is now followed by U.S. Highway 18 eastward from Prairie du Chien towards Madison, Wisconsin over Military Ridge, which is so named because of the military road which followed its crest. After the road was completed and the Winnebago Tribe was relocated from Wisconsin to Minnesota, the fort had little use. It was abandoned in 1849. In 1855 Fort Crawford was reoccupied when rumors circulated of an impending uprising among the remaining Native Americans, but no such event occurred, perhaps because of the fort's reoccupation, and troops left the fort for the last time on June 9, 1856.