The Battle for Prairie du Chien

[Katie Schumacher, Wisconsin Historical Museum]

Today we are pleased to introduce Mary Antione as part of the Wisconsin Historical Museums History Sandwiched In lecture series. The opinions expressed today are those of the presenters and are not necessarily those of the Wisconsin Historical Society or the museum’s employees.

Mary Antoine was born and raised in Prairie du Chien and has worked for 40 years in the history museum field. She is the president of the Prairie du Chien Historical Society and former curator at Villa Louis Historic Site. Mary has written numerous articles and books on Prairie du Chien, including two volumes with Arcadia Publishing. Her book, The War of 1812 in Wisconsin: The Battle for Prairie du Chien, was recently released by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press, and she is co-editor of an upcoming Society Press book titled Frenchtown Chronicles of Prairie du Chien: History and Folklore from Wisconsin’s Frontier, debuting in fall of 2016. She also lives in a French-Canadian home that dates from the early 19th century, which she helped to restore.

Here today to discuss the battle for Prairie du Chien, please join me in welcoming Mary Antoine.

[applause]

[slide featuring the cover of Mary Elise Antoines book The War of 1812 in Wisconsin: The Battle of Prairie Du Chien which has a contemporary painting of British redcoats and Indians fighting in a battle on prairie land]

[Mary Elise Antoine, Author, The War of 1812 in Wisconsin: The Battle of Prairie Du Chien]

Thank you all very much. It’s a bit intimidating. I don’t know.

As was stated in the introduction, I was born and raised in Prairie du Chien. And from a young child I always heard, Oh, Prairie du Chien is Wisconsin’s second oldest community, and it was settled by the French. Great, but you looked around and you didn’t see anything very French at all. And our main history in Prairie du Chien then was the Villa Louis, where I started working.

Well, then I went to work in upstate New York, and I was introduced to a completely new world out there. A world of 18th century history. And it was an area in the Mohawk Valley where there was this contact of cultures. You had the French and the Huron, the Dutch and the English, the English and the Iroquois, Palatine Germans, New Englanders, and they all mixed together, sometimes not well, sometimes well, and some adapted to each other’s culture. And so, I became totally fascinated with the early history prior to 1840 when our country was still very much in flux.

Well, then I end up returning to Prairie du Chien where I’m curator of the Villa Louis and doing a lot of research on Victoriana and the Dousman family. But I started searching for that early French history of Prairie du Chien. And I did a lot of research on the French-Canadian material culture, their architecture, their – their furnishings. And then, while at the Villa, we started researching for a new program which was going to be on the Battle of Prairie du Chien in the War of 1812. So, I put together a – a small monograph on – on that. And then the bicentennial of the War of 1812 came up a couple of years ago, and I thought, We ought to do something with that monograph that I wrote. So, I hauled it out and did a lot more research and, in the process of doing that, found out what a rich area Prairie du Chien was for cultural contact, not only in the War of 1812 but prior to that. And so, the end result –

[return to the slide featuring the cover of Mary Antoines book, described above]

– was the – the book.

[slide featuring a painting from the 1800s of the land that became Prairie Du Chien featuring the conjunction of the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers]

I had a question here today: Why was Prairie du Chien so important, if it was the second community in what’s now Wisconsin, the first being La Baye, or as it’s called Green Bay now? And the reason Prairie du Chien was so important was because it’s at the confluence of the Wisconsin and the Mississippi Rivers.

[Mary Elise Antoine, on-camera]

And it was a traditional area of contact among many different tribes of the upper Mississippi. Just above this confluence is the Prairie, which we now call Prairie du Chien. And that was always a gathering place for the various Indian nations of the upper Mississippi.

[return to the slide of the painting, described above]

And it was neutral for them. It was a place where they could come, come in contact with one another, and trade amongst themselves.

Well, the French, at this time, were looking for that river to the west. And, of course, Marquette and Joliet, hearing stories, decided to go looking for that river to the west and followed the –

[Mary Elise Antoine, on-camera]

– Fox/Wisconsin waterway into the Mississippi. They ended up turning south instead of north, and so therefore missed the Prairie, but that was the beginning of French contact with the tribes of the upper Mississippi.

And soon after that, Nicolas Perrot came and followed Marquette and Joliet’s route, and when he came to the Mississippi, he ended up turning north and came to –

[slide featuring an early French map of the Midwest including Lakes Michigan and Superior and several of the rivers in the area as well as the locations of several of the Indian tribes]

– the Prairie. And Perot was an explorer, but he was also a fur trader. The French had been engaged in the fur trade for a long time in Canada, in upstate New York, and in the Ohio, and the rich sources of furs were here in the Midwest along the western Great Lakes and the upper Mississippi.

So, when Perrot came to the Mississippi, he started establishing –

[Mary Elise Antoine, on-camera]

– forts, one of which was Fort St. Nicholas at Prairie du Chien. And the French that followed him also established other forts on the upper Mississippi. And the French came to realize that whoever controlled the Prairie controlled the whole upper Mississippi. So, it was a place of great importance.

Well, some of the Indian tribes – the – Ill – I’ll explain, I am going to use, sometimes I will use traditional names for the tribes and not the ones in use today. But some of the most powerful Indian nations in the confluence area, on the Prairie were the Fox or Meskwaki. And they wanted to continue to be the middlemen between the source of the furs were – that were on the upper Mississippi trapped by the Dakota Sioux, and so they tried to keep the French out of the Mississippi. And so, the Fox Wars are the first conflict that occurs over control of the Prairie and the lower Wisconsin and the Mississippi River. We all know the result. The French made sure that they maintained access to the upper Mississippi through the Fox Wars.

And so, this was very much an area now of French contact with the Native peoples. But again, the Prairie was constantly used as a – a place of trade and interaction. And so, you have –

[slide featuring a painting of Native Americans meeting on the shores near the confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers with some in canoes paddling on the Mississippi, some canoes parked on the shore with several Native Americans sitting around the canoes standing and sitting in conversation]

– gatherings in the spring and the fall, rendezvous between the French and the tribes of the upper Mississippi.

Well, there is competition between France and Britain for the fur and, again, control of so much of the land south of the St. Lawrence River.

[Mary Elise Antoine, on-camera]

And, of course, the French and Indian War occurs. France loses almost all of its territory in North America, and the fur trade now comes under British control. So, the British now control the Prairie, and by controlling the Prairie, the whole upper Mississippi and starting to progress even farther westward into the – the Missouri. And after Pontiac’s uprising, the British learned that if you’re going to control the fur trade and trade with the – with the tribes, you have to do it as the French did because what the French ended up doing, if you’ve ever read Richard White’s book, The Middle Ground, it – the French and the Indians came together and they formed a middle ground where they could work together as trading partners, each taking a bit of the other’s culture into their lives. And that is exactly what the British do in the fur trade of the western Great Lakes and the upper Mississippi. They form a middle ground with the tribes, and the fur trade occurs as a partnership between the British and the tribes of the area.

And the British find this so important that they do the proclamation of 1763, which says that there’s to be no settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains. And you’re already setting the groundwork for conflict because you have 13 colonies who helped Britain during the French and Indian War to get this land from the French in hopes that they could then settle and – on the land west of the Appalachians, and now the British say, No you can’t. And so, this battle for Prairie du Chien begins at an early time in the 1700s.

Well, right after the end of the – the French and Indian War, permanent settlement begins in what’s now Wisconsin. Some of the French who had come seasonally to the prairie, whether from Canada or from the Illinois country, begin settling on the Prairie, not just as seasonal but as full-time residents engaging in the fur trade during the trading season and farming during the summers.

The –

[slide featuring a painting of Green Bay in the early 18th century with the bay itself in the center of the painting and the vestiges of the settlement that would become Green Bay on the horizon in the distance]

– the French also settle at La Baye. The French people who speak – the French people who settled there are French-speaking people, but they’re basically from Canada and Mackinac Island. And so, you have the two oldest communities in what’s now Wisconsin that originate as French-speaking settlements, as originate as part of the fur trade, and many of the people who live in these settlements have established marital relations with the Native America women –

[Mary Elise Antoine, on-camera]

– of – of the area. So, again, a middle ground between the residents of La Baye and Prairie du Chien and the residents, the indigenous residents, of Wisconsin.

So, this battle for Prairie du Chien begins soon after the – the settlements at Green Bay and on the Prairie. There’s a close connection between Michilimackinac, La Baye, and Prairie du Chien. All of the Indian inhabitants and the upper Missouri, upper Mississippi, all the way to Lake Superior, and they’re all interacting because of the fur trade.

Well, the American Revolution begins in 1775, and one of the causes is taxation without representation. And the British had levied taxes on the colonies to help pay for the expenses of the French and Indian War. And the colonies don’t want to pay these taxes. They say, Why should we pay the taxes? We can’t settle west of the Appalachians. They’re totally disgruntled. There’s more taxation that comes in, the Intolerable Acts. And then, on top of it, the British decide that the French should be allowed to practice their Catholic religion.

So, indirectly, what’s going on in what is now Wisconsin in the fur trade is one of the causes of the American Revolution. Well, after the Revolution, the land all the way west to the Mississippi, it becomes –

[slide titled – A New Map of the United States of America – and features a map of the U.S. from the early 1800s showing all the U.S. possessions from the East Coast to the Mississippi River including the area that will become the states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin which on the map is labelled Western Territories]

– part of American territory. The United States disbands its army because they believe that if you have an army, that’s how you can get dictatorships. And they just got rid of that, so the disband the army. So, the United States is not able to control all of this massive land that it has acquired, and Britain, who’s right up there in Canada, steps into this void.

They want to continue the – the fur trade in the upper Mississippi, the western Great Lakes, and so the British declare that what’s now Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin as Indian country.

[Mary Elise Antoine, on-camera]

And they want to trade into the area. And the United States, to maintain good relationships with their British neighbors to the north, allows this trade to occur. Although, they try to license the British traders which doesn’t work very well or make them pay import taxes. But they do allow the British to come in and trade.

And, again, there’s still only three Euro-American settlements in this area: Michilimackinac, La Baye, and Prairie du Chien.

Well, at Prairie du Chien you really have a mix. You have Americans, French-Canadians, British-Canadians, Scots British-Canadians, and also the indigenous people.

[slide featuring a photo of Nicolas Boilvins commission papers presented by Nathaniel Pope, Secretary and Commander in Chief of the Militia of Illinois Territory]

Some of them are made officers in the Illinois territory. This is the commission for Nicolas Boilvin. And they get commissions in the Illinois militia. Commissions is justices of the peace. So, America is bringing its territory into Prairie du Chien –

[Mary Elise Antoine, on-camera]

– and, in time, a commission is given to Rion up in La Baye as a justice of the peace. So, you have American authority attempting to come in there.

But in the face of that, you have a tremendous amount of traders coming in from –

[slide featuring a painting of Native Americans and American traders travelling on a river in canoes on a foggy, misty morning]

– Canada. And almost all of them have relations with the major trading houses in Montreal and Quebec. Many of them have married into Native American communities, and so, there’s this good relationship.

And, of course, –

[new slide featuring a map of the Great Lakes Region with all the Native American tribes and their locations. In Wisconsin, in the northwest (and into the upper half of Minnesota) is labelled Ojibwe; the northeast corner of the state is labelled Menominee; around Lake Michigan (and into Illinois) is labelled Potawatomie; the central and southcentral part of Wisconsin is labelled Winnebago; and the driftless region of Wisconsin (and half of Iowa) is labelled Sauk and Mesquakie]

– the vast area is inhabited by the indigenous people of the western Great Lakes and the – the upper Mississippi.

[new slide featuring a painted head and shoulders portrait of Zebulon Pike in his military uniform]

Well, the United States tries to exert its authority in this area. Zebulon Pike is sent up the Mississippi River from St. Louis to try to establish the source of the Mississippi River but also to meet with the people at Prairie du Chien to try to acquire land for a fort at Prairie du Chien, to acquire land for a fort at the Falls of St. Anthony –

[Mary Elise Antoine, on-camera]

– and to try to make peace between some of the tribes. And he is horrified to find British flags flying at all of the trading areas at Prairie du Chien and so many of the Native American chiefs wearing British medals with the image of King George III on them.

One of the traditions of – of trading is gift-giving. Before any trade negotiations would begin between either the French or the British and the Indians with whom they were trading, gifts were given out. And gifts were given to the chiefs, the head men of the – the – the nation, the clan, whatever. And these were gifts that were then shared with the rest of the people. So, you weren’t giving to an individual; you were giving to an entire tribe. And gift-giving is very much part of the Native American culture. The French learned that; the British learned that; and so, they would give gifts. And part of the gifts they gave were British flags and medals with King George III on them. So, Pike is horrified, and he says, Give up your medals and flags and we’ll give you American –

[return the slide with the painter portrait of Zebulon Pike, described above]

– medals and flags, but I don’t have any right now, by the way.

[laughter]

But we’ll make sure that we send them up to you.

[Mary Elise Antoine, on-camera]

And this does not sit very well.

Well, problems are still continuing before – between Great Britain and the United States over impressment, over the fur trade, over a lot issues. And in June of 1812 the United States declares war –

[slide featuring a photo of the War of 1812 reenactors firing a cannon]

– on Great Britain, and the conflict lasts for about two-and-a-half years. Only one battle is fought in what becomes Wisconsin. Most of the battles are fought in the Great Lakes, at sea, along the eastern Great Lakes especially, and the east coast. And it’s pretty cut and dried. If you live in Canada, you’re for the British. If you live in those – what are we? – 15 states by now, you’re for the Americans cause you’re living in American territory.

[Mary Elise Antoine, on-camera]

But that’s not the way it is in the western Great Lakes and the upper Mississippi at Michilimackinac, at La Baye, or at Prairie du Chien.

So, the book as I wrote it looks at the War of 1812 from the point of view of those who resided in this territory. Why the residents made the choices that they did. The position of the United States government and its representatives in this area – men like William Clark who is superintendent of Indian affairs for the upper Mississippi, Ninian Edwards who’s governor of Illinois territory, the War Department, the Indian agents. And you find that there’s a lot of flag-waving, a lot of concern about which flag flies where. But the question I pose is: were their positions for political reasons or were their base – decisions based on economic considerations, familial contacts? And the answer here in what’s now Wisconsin is very, very complicated. Politics, the economy, personal animosity, and familial connections all had a lot to do with it.

You have Americans who are Indian agents. Think – people like John Campbell, Julien Dubuque, Nicolas Boilvin. You have Michelle Bresbois, Henry Fisher, who are in the Illinois militia. But, at the same time, Henry Fisher engages in the British fur trade. And Michelle Bresbois engages in the British fur trade. And his son is part of the British Indian department. Robert Dickson engages in the fur trade, yet, at the same time, holds an American political position. And you have the Dakota, the Fox, the Sauk, the Winnebago, the Potawatomi, the Ojibwe, the Ottawa, the Kickapoo, the Ioway, and the Menominee. All of these people living in this area. And Americans, like John Campbell and Julien Dubuque, have Native American wives. And the British, James Aird, Robert Dickson, and others, have Indians wives. So, it’s a very, very complicated decision.

So, when war is declared, all of these people have to make a choice. And you have Robert Dickson who’s appointed British Indian agent for the western Great Lakes, and you have Nicolas Boilvin who is the American Indian agent for the upper Mississippi, and they live next door to each other in Prairie du Chien. And they are constantly meeting with the Indians. And – and Boilvin complains to his superiors, I’ve met with the tribes, and then they met with Robert Dickson. So, the Indians are also judging who has the better position for them also.

So, the headquarters for the war in the west, if we want to call that, is –

[slide featuring a contemporary painting of Mackinac Island as viewed from the mainland and featuring a party of Native Americans in a canoe getting ready to depart for the island and several schooners on the lake heading for the settlement in the distance]

– Michilimackinac. The – in the first week or so that war is declared, the residents of Green Bay, Prairie du Chien, the Natives, all help the British retake Mackinac Island and Michilimackinac, Fort Mackinac. And so, this becomes the headquarters and all supplies for Le Bay and Prairie du Chien come from here, as do all of the needs for the allies, the Indians.

[Mary Elise Antoine, on-camera]

Because almost to a man, the tribes of the western Great Lakes and the upper Mississippi side with the British.

[slide featuring a photograph from the early 1900s of a Native American Elder holding up a British flag in his two hands]

And, again, it’s economics. It’s not politics. As one Indian chief explained to the American Indian agent, he said, We are going to Michilimackinac to meet with the British so that we can retain our land. And this is in 1812. So, already the – the Native tribes know what is going on.

[Mary Elise Antoine, on-camera]

And, as I said, medals and flags are distributed amongst the tribes. These still exist, theyre in the University – or in the Minnesota Historical Society collection. And these are the medals and flag that were given to the Ojibwe during the War of 1812. A flag was also given to the Ho-Chunk. That still exists and is part of their war bundle. And so, the medals and the flags come from Britain.

Well, William Clark is sitting down in St. Louis, he’s governor of Missouri territory; he’s military commander for the area; he’s Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the area; and he said, Prairie du Chien has to be taken! It’s the source of all the problems. That Robert Dickson is up there. Calls him a hair buyer. And he said, “We have to take Prairie du Chien! He convinces his superiors, sort of, that he should do this. And he does it as Superintendent of Indian Affairs because he says, Gaining the Indian loyalty, gaining the fur trade is what’s important for the United States.

So, in May of 1814, William Clark puts together an expedition. They leave St. Louis with three-gun boats, the largest of which is called the Governor Clark. They are manned by volunteers, by one company of regular U.S. soldiers. And they make their way up the Mississippi River. They, on the way there, at Rock Island, they are attacked by the Sauk and Fox. Clark returns the fire, and the Sauk and Fox ask for peace. And Clark’s response is, Fine. We’ll not fire upon you if you fight our enemies, especially the Winnebago. Because the Winnebago have become the most loyal allies of the British throughout this war.

So, William Clark proceeds up the Mississippi.

[slide featuring a painted portrait of William Clark in the Governors Office standing and leaning on Bible with his right hand]

He arrives in Prairie du Chien in June of 1814. Rumor is that he is coming, and there is a Prairie du Chien militia. The commandant of the militia, Francis Michael Dease, tries to get the militia to make a stand, and they say, Nope, not at all and sort of disappear into the bluffs, as do many of the Indians who were on the – the Prairie. And so, Clark and his troops land unopposed. They select a high point of ground behind the village. That high point of ground today is where the Villa Louis mansion stands. And –

[Mary Elise Antoine, on-camera]

– so, it’s behind the village because the homes of the village of Prairie du Chien are arranged along the waterfront. And so, interestingly enough, this high place of ground stands right behind Robert Dickson, the British Indian agent’s house. And in fact, Clark and his men do go through Dickson’s house, and they confiscate all of his papers.

So, they select the mound. They build a fort, which they call Fort Shelby in –

[slide featuring a pen and ink drawing of the outside of Fort Shelby]

– honor of Isaac Shelby, the governor of Kentucky, because the regular soldiers are from Kentucky. And word of this gets up to –

[new slide featuring a portrait painting of the British Commander McDowell in uniform]

– the British commander, McDowell, at Michilimackinac, along with stories of atrocities against the Winnebago, committed by the American troops. And the residents want something done. The Indians who have been gathered there to celebrate King George’s birthday want something done. And so, McDowell realizes hes in – all the Indians are going to go back to Prairie du Chien anyway –

[Mary Elise Antoine, on-camera]

– because this is where their family is. In the – in the process of the atrocities, one chief’s wife was killed, another chief’s brother was killed, and so they want to go back to the Prairie to protect their families. So, McDowell, a wise person, says, All right, we will put together an expedition. We will work with you Indians. If you join us, we’ll put together an expedition. And Caramani –

[slide featuring a hand-drawn portrait of the Ho-Chunk Chief Caramai]

– a Winnebago Ho-Chunk chief, says, We will fight with you, but we request two things. One, a cannon and, two, that the leader is someone who is our father. And so, McDowell gives the wishes to Caramani, gives them a three-pound cannon, and –

[new slide featuring a black and white image of a painted head and shoulders portrait of William McKay]

– makes William McKay the commander. Again, one of the fur traders that is well known.

McDowell then appoints three companies, and, interestingly enough, the three companies are headed by men engaged in the fur trade –

[Mary Elise Antoine, on-camera]

– all of whom have wives who are Native American. One is Thomas Anderson.

[slide featuring a painted head and shoulders portrait of Thomas Anderson in non-military dress]

And he puts together one company, and most of his people in this company are people who are engaged in the fur trade. Joseph Rolette of Prairie du Chien also does the same thing, puts together a company of people mainly engaged in the fur trade.

[new slide featuring an early daguerreotype portrait of Pierre Grignon]

And Pierre Grignon from La Baye puts together a third company, again of people engaged in the fur trade.

[new slide featuring a hand drawn color illustration of a man in the outfit of the Michigan Fencibles]

And along with that, you have some Michigan Fencibles and officers from the British Indian Department. And –

[new slide featuring a painting of Native Americans in war regalia sitting on and near a log planning]

– they are joined by over 500 Indian warriors representing the Dakota Sioux, the Winnebago, the Menominee, and the – the Ojibwe.

[Mary Elise Antoine, on-camera]

And they arrive in Prairie du Chien in July of 1814.

[slide featuring a painting of the Battle of Prairie Du Chien with British soldiers forming a line and firing their weapons in the foreground with Fort Shelby and the bluffs in the background. This image is also the image from the cover of Ms. Antoines book]

The battle commences. If you want to know the details of the battle, you need to read the book, I’m not going to –

[laughter]

But after some time, the British do gain the fort –

[new slide featuring a painting of the British and Native American troops inside Fort Shelby with one of the Natives holding a British flag. Additionally, British soldiers are on the parapets of the fort in the background of the painting]

– and they hold the fort until May of 1815. The fort is renamed Fort McKay in honor of the – the American leader of the expedition.

[Mary Elise Antoine, on-camera]

And you can see that the majority of the allies that they had were the – the Native peoples of the area. The winter of 1814 was very difficult there because of lack of supplies and animosity between some of the people stationed at the fort and a little treachery on part of some of the tribes. But basically, the – the land is held for Great Britain. And the Americans do try to retake Fort Shelby. That is totally defeated by Black Hawk, the Sauk warrior, and his band. Again, Black Hawk and his people are so loyal to the British cause that they get the name the British Band from their loyalty during the War of 1812. And it’s the British band that’s involved in the Black Hawk War, what? 20 years later.

But peace is signed between the United States –

[slide featuring an image of the Peace Treaty that ended the War of 1812]

– and Great Britain. It’s not a particularly good peace treaty. By agreements of the treaty, everything is to go back to the way it was prior to the beginnings of hostilities. So, sort of status quo, antebellum. And what is totally ignored in the treaty are all of the Indians.

When treaty negotiations first began, Great Britain would not sign anything unless the Indians were given their own sovereignty –

[Mary Elise Antoine, on-camera]

– guaranteed that they would maintain their lands. By the time the war drags on, Great Britain is now back involved in a war over in Europe against Napoleon, and so they just come to the treaty table and the Treaty of Ghent is signed. And the treaty really does not talk much about the people that had allied themselves with Great Britain who now become part of the – the United States.

So, while the book looks at the events leading up to the Battle of Prairie du Chien, the battle for Prairie du Chien continues after the end of the War of 1812. And it’ll go on for about 20-25 more years. And so, after all of my research, I got my answer as to why Prairie du Chien was Wisconsin’s second oldest community and why it was so important. You had indigenous people, French, British, and Americans who all wanted to control the Prairie. And the battle in 1814 is probably the most visible manifestation of this, but it’s a – a battle that went on, beginning in the 18th century, and did not conclude until the end of the first third of the 19th century.

Thank you very much.

[applause]