LRB-4663/1
LRJ:klm
2015 - 2016 LEGISLATURE
February 11, 2016 - Introduced by Representatives Nerison, Berceau, Danou,
Genrich, Horlacher, Jorgensen, Murphy, Ohnstad, Pope and Sinicki,
cosponsored by Senators Shilling, Cowles, Lassa, Ringhand, Vinehout and
L. Taylor. Referred to Committee on Rules.
AJR111,1,1 1Relating to: honoring the 200th anniversary of Fort Crawford in Prairie du Chien.
AJR111,1,42 Whereas, Fort Crawford was constructed in 1816 within the Main Village of
3Prairie du Chien on an island north of the confluence of the Mississippi and
4Wisconsin Rivers; and
AJR111,1,65 Whereas, prior to the construction of Fort Crawford, Governor William Clark
6directed the construction of Fort Shelby in the spring of 1814; and
AJR111,1,97 Whereas, British forces, including residents of Green Bay and Prairie du Chien,
8and their American Indian allies attacked and captured Fort Shelby, renaming it
9Fort McKay; and
AJR111,1,1110 Whereas, this was the only battle fought in the War of 1812 in the territory that
11would make up Wisconsin; and
AJR111,1,1512 Whereas, in 1816, American troops returned to Prairie du Chien and built Fort
13Crawford on the site, and during that time enforced fur trade regulations and tried
14to keep peace between the American Indians and the miners and settlers coming onto
15tribal lands; and
AJR111,2,3
1Whereas, the Treaty of Prairie du Chien was negotiated on the fort grounds in
2August 1825, establishing boundaries between the various tribes in the upper
3Mississippi region; and
AJR111,2,54 Whereas, after several seasons of flooding, the fort was beyond repair, and the
5troops were removed in 1826; and
AJR111,2,86 Whereas, in 1827, it became necessary to maintain a fort at Prairie du Chien,
7so troops returned, and in 1829 construction began on a new Fort Crawford, located
8on the mainland to avoid flooding; and
AJR111,2,109 Whereas, the commanding officer who oversaw the building of the fort was
10Colonel Zachary Taylor, future President of the United States; and
AJR111,2,1511 Whereas, in 1828, Dr. William Beaumont was assigned to Fort Crawford to care
12for ill troops and while at the fort continued his experiments to study the way food
13is digested in the stomach, and the results of his experiments were published in 1833
14as Experiments and Observations on the Gastric Juice and the Physiology of
15Digestion
; and
AJR111,2,1716 Whereas, the 56 experiments he performed at Fort Crawford were a founding
17component of modern knowledge of the digestive system; and
AJR111,2,1918 Whereas, Fort Crawford was the site of negotiations and the signing of treaties
19with various American Indian tribes in 1829 and 1830; and
AJR111,2,2120 Whereas, soldiers from Fort Crawford took part in the Black Hawk War, and
21Chief Black Hawk was surrendered to the United States at the fort in 1832; and
AJR111,2,2422 Whereas, after the Black Hawk War, soldiers from the fort worked to construct
23the western section of the Military Road that connected Fort Crawford with Fort
24Winnebago in Portage and Fort Howard in Green Bay; and
AJR111,3,2
1Whereas, Fort Crawford was abandoned in 1856 because there was no longer
2a need for a garrison; and
AJR111,3,63 Whereas, the fort became a training ground for Union forces soon after the Civil
4War began, and because of the determination of Cordelia Harvey, the Swift United
5States Army Hospital opened at Prairie du Chien in 1864, one of three hospitals in
6the state that cared for sick and wounded Wisconsin soldiers; and
AJR111,3,97 Whereas, the hospital was closed in September 1865, and in 1867 the War
8Department sold the structures and land that had comprised the Fort Crawford
9Military Reserve; and
AJR111,3,1310 Whereas, in 1921, the Fort Crawford Chapter of the Daughters of the American
11Revolution began raising moneys for the purchase of the Fort Crawford Hospital,
12acquiring the remains of the hospital and beginning a restoration project in 1933;
13and
AJR111,3,1614 Whereas, when the Wisconsin Medical Society became the owner of the restored
15Fort Crawford Hospital, it opened and operated the Museum of Medical Progress;
16and
AJR111,3,2017 Whereas, in 1996, the Wisconsin Medical Society transferred the Fort Crawford
18Hospital and its collections to the Prairie du Chien Historical Society, Inc., which
19updated the exhibits to interpret the rich history of Fort Crawford and Prairie du
20Chien; and
AJR111,3,2221 Whereas, the Fort Crawford Hospital, all that remains of Fort Crawford, is a
22Registered National Historic Landmark; now, therefore, be it
AJR111,4,2 23Resolved by the assembly, the senate concurring, That the Wisconsin
24legislature recognizes the 200th anniversary of the building of Fort Crawford and

1also recognizes the museum at Fort Crawford Hospital, as well as the many people
2who have worked to preserve its place in Wisconsin's history; and, be it further
AJR111,4,4 3Resolved, That the assembly chief clerk shall provide copies of this joint
4resolution to the Prairie du Chien Historical Society, Inc.
AJR111,4,55 (End)
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