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Fort Shelby, 1823

British evacuation of the fort at Prairie du Chien after the War of 1812. Fort Shelby was built in 1814 by American troops commanded by William Clark and named in honor of the governor of Kentucky. The Americans later surrendered to a force of British soldiers and Native Americans who renamed it Fort McKay. View the original source document: WHI 42292

At the close of the Revolutionary War, the young United States took legal possession of Wisconsin. But the new government had more important priorities than the remote Wisconsin frontier. The state's few white residents spoke little English and looked more to Montreal and Paris for leadership than Philadelphia and Boston. The majority of Wisconsin residents were Native Americans who needed good relations with both English and American fur companies to survive.

The War of 1812

When politicians on the east coast began to complain about "freedom of the seas" in 1812, few Wisconsin residents paid attention. But when hostilities actually broke out and the British captured Mackinac, Indians and settlers were forced to pick a side. Wisconsin's French residents and Indians tended to side with the British rather than the Americans. Support for the U.S. tended to come from the few American traders living in the state.

Attack and Retreat

In 1814 these American loyalists living in Wisconsin built Fort Shelby on St. Feriole Island at Prairie du Chien. They were led by William Clark, U.S. superintendant of Indian affairs at St. Louis and co-commander of the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804-1806. The American loyalists wanted to keep the upper Mississippi fur trade out of British hands. The British attacked Fort Shelby on July 17. There were only 60 American soldiers inside. The British force consisted of 150 regulars and 400 Indians. For several days the two sides half-heartedly tried to keep out of range of each other's guns. Finally, the British managed to take the only American gunboat out of action and lay siege to Fort Shelby. The Americans surrendered on August 9, ending Wisconsin's only involvement in the war of 1812. The British moved in on August 20 and renamed their captured prize Fort McKay. The fort only remained in British hands until December 1814, when both sides agreed to the restoration of captured territory. The retreating British forces burned the fort prior to withdrawing from the Northwest in 1815.

Forts

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Fort Crawford Ruins, ca. 1875

By the 1880's almost nothing was left of the actual fort compound buildings. View the original source document: WHI 42276

After the war of 1812, the government realized that Wisconsin's northwestern frontier needed protection. As a result, a series of military outposts was established in the following decades that stretched from Canada to the Gulf Coast. Three forts were constructed in Wisconsin: Fort Howard (1816-1853) at Green Bay, Fort Winnebago (1828-1853) at Portage, and Fort Crawford (1816-1856) at Prairie du Chien.

Soldiers and officials stationed at these forts administered government and protected commerce, negotiated treaties with Indian nations and constructed Wisconsin's military roads. They included troops and officers, a "factor" in charge of fur trade activities and Indian agents and sub-agents charged with administering treaty provisions. Fort personnel also provided social, legal, medical and educational services to settlers.

The forts represented commercial opportunities and military oppression to Native Americans. To Wisconsin's French residents, the posts were intrusions that brought military commanders and settlers hostile to French land claims and customs. To Yankees and Southerners relocating westward, the forts were centers of civilization in an unfamiliar wilderness.

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[Sources: Wyman, Mark. The Wisconsin Frontier (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, c1998). Kellogg, Louise Phelps. The British Regime in Wisconsin and the Northwest (Madison : State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1935). The History of Wisconsin: volume 1, From Exploration to Statehood by Alice E. Smith. (Madison, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1973)]