Siege of Prairie du Chien

Part of the War of 1812

Date	July 17–20, 1814
Location	Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin
Result	British victory

Belligerents

United Kingdom
Native Americans

United States

Commanders and leaders

William McKay

Joseph Perkins

Strength

about 650

about 100

Casualties and losses

3 wounded

7 wounded prisoners
53 captured

The Siege of Prairie du Chien was a British victory in the far western theater of the War of 1812. During the war, Prairie du Chien was a small frontier settlement with residents loyal to both American and British causes. By 1814, both nations were anxious to control the site because of its importance to the fur trade and its strategic location at the intersection of the Mississippi River and the Fox-Wisconsin Waterway, a transportation route linking the Mississippi with the Great Lakes.

Although Prairie du Chien became a part of the United States following the Treaty of Paris in 1783, the Americans made little effort to maintain a presence in the far western settlement. Thus, it remained largely under British influence into the 19th Century. In the spring of 1814, American forces decided to secure the location, realizing that if it fell to the British, there would be no obstacle to a British attack on St. Louis. William Clark, the governor of Missouri Territory, organized a force in St. Louis that included 61 regulars from the 7th Infantry under Brevet Major Zachary Taylor and 140 volunteers who agreed to join the force for sixty days under the command of Frederick Yeizer and John Sullivan. Shortly after the force was assembled, Taylor left for personal reasons. In his place, Lieutenant Joseph Perkins of the 24th Infantry took command of the regulars. On May 1, Governor Clark and the combined forces under Perkins, Yeizer and Sullivan began moving up the Mississippi River en route to Prairie du Chien. On May 17, they scattered some Sauk warriors who attempted to bar their passage at the Rock Island rapids.

The American force arrived in Prairie du Chien on June 2. A few days later, on June 6, they began building a fort on a large mound north of the main village. The fort was named Fort Shelby in honor of Governor Isaac Shelby of Kentucky. Seeing that construction of the small wooden fort was underway, Governor Clark left to return to St. Louis on June 7. The Americans made steady progress on the fort, and although the defenses were unfinished, the barracks were occupied by June 19. Around the time that the fort was being occupied, the sixty-day terms of service for the volunteers led by Yeizer and Sullivan expired. Most of these men went home with Sullivan, although Yeizer and some men in his company agreed to stay aboard the American river gunboat Governor Clark, a thirty-two oar, fourteen gun wooden vessel anchored in the Mississippi River beside Fort Shelby.

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