Fort Crawford

The small fur trading post of Prairie du Chien was founded long before the British or Americans came to the old Northwest. But rather, the post was founded by the French in 1685 and soon became a small post along the Mississippi trade route. Even after the British gained the territory at the end of the French-Indian War (Seven Years’ War) in 1763, the population remained French. Loyalties shifted to the British and remained so even after the Treaty of Paris ceded the territory to the newly formed United States of America. The first effort to fortify the town took place in 1814 when anRead More →