p49  V
Fort Shelby and Fort McKay

After the return to St. Louis of Lieutenant Hamilton and his command from Fort Madison the propriety of rebuilding the post was earnestly discussed. It was decided that the fort should be reëstablished. Indeed the files of the War Department contain a communication, dated St. Louis, October 31, 1813, and written by Captain John Cleve Symmes of the First Infantry, in which he announces that Fort Madison is to be rebuilt and that he has been ordered to its command. Before this movement could take place, however, the First Infantry was ordered east to take part in the northern campaign, and the plan to rebuild Fort Madison was abandoned.141

Meantime Robert Dickson had become the most active and able British agent in the Upper Mississippi Valley.​142 He had already in the early events of the War of 1812 contributed helpful service to the British by enlisting the aid of the Indians of the Upper Northwest. His band had taken part in the reduction of the fort at Mackinac. He had sent other contingents to Detroit and Chicago. Black Hawk and his band of Sauk had enlisted under Dickson's banner, but Black Hawk, dissatisfied with the white man's method of fighting, had returned home. In November, 1812, Dickson went to Montreal to lay before the British authorities an ambitious plan for the recruiting of western tribes for the war. The board appointed to consider his project gave full approval to the plan with the result that in January, 1813, Dickson was appointed  p50 superintendent for the Indians west of Lake Michigan at an annual salary of 200 pounds sterling, and in addition he was reimbursed 1875 pounds for goods he had distributed among the Indians the previous winter to bind them to the British cause.143

The newly appointed superintendent entered at once upon his task with vigor and enthusiasm. He visited personally many Indian tribes between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi and sent emissaries to others to enlist their aid in the war. At Prairie du Chien he assured the inhabitants, who were apprehensive lest the Americans come up the Mississippi, that he would do everything in his power to protect the settlement. In June, 1813, Dickson turned up at Mackinac en route to Detroit with more than six hundred warriors and reported that eight hundred more had been dispatched by land to that place. The British officers on the Detroit frontier were anxious for the appearance of the western warriors, but when the Indians arrived they demonstrated anew the unreliability of savages in regular warfare. In both the siege of Fort Meigs and Fort Stephenson the red allies proved to be more of a weakness than a strength.​144 Although Dickson's Indians were of little fighting value to the British there was some advantage in having them as allies rather than as foes, and every effort was put forth to keep their friendship.145

Dickson returned to Mackinac from the disastrous operations about Detroit late in October, 1813. From here he set out for the west with an excellent assortment of goods to supply the wants of the Indians during the coming winter — ear bobs, vermillion, combs, looking glasses, and silk handkerchiefs for adornment; blankets, calico, cotton shirts, thread, and needles for practical  p51 needs; and tobacco, gunpowder, guns, and spirits as necessary articles to hold the friendship of the natives.​146 With Dickson, too, went a detachment of twenty-eight soldiers as a garrison at Green Bay where John Lawe and Louis Grignon with commissions as lieutenants were serving the British.​147 From Mackinac Dickson proceeded to Lake Winnebago and established winter quarters on Garlic Island. Dickson remained at his winter camp until the following April, struggling to keep the inconstant savages friendly to the British cause.​148 During this time rumors were frequent in St. Louis that Dickson planned to swoop down upon this center of American operations in the Mississippi Valley; but the fact is, he was fully occupied in keeping the Indians of the Upper Mississippi region in line.149

In April, 1814, Dickson made a flying visit to Prairie du Chien where he recruited some three hundred warriors — Menominee, Winnebago, and Sioux. Rumors that the Americans were planning to ascend the Mississippi and occupy Prairie du Chien were as frequent and caused as much alarm among the inhabitants as did rumors at St. Louis that Dickson with his Indians might descend the Mississippi at any moment to attack the settlement. Indeed, what was to prevent him now that Fort Madison had been abandoned? But Dickson had other plans. With his Indian allies he hastened away to Green Bay and Mackinac leaving a company of local militia under the command of Captain Francis Michael Dease to reassure the frightened inhabitants of Prairie du Chien.150

Nor was the rumor that the Americans were coming merely an idle boast. Several times during the previous two years positive suggestions had been made that this  p52 ancient center of the fur trade, which lay half way between Mackinac and St. Louis, should be occupied by the Americans. Even before the War of 1812 began Nicolas Boilvin, the Indian agent at Prairie du Chien, in a letter to William Eustis, Secretary of War, asserted that the United States had it in their power "to turn the current of Indian trade on the Upper Mississippi, and to put an end to the subsisting intercourse between the Canadian traders and the Indians" by the establishment of a garrison and factory at Prairie du Chien.​151 He estimated that a garrison of at least two companies would be needed for the task.

On March 27, 1813, Governor Ninian Edwards of Illinois Territory wrote John Armstrong, Secretary of War, as follows: "If the British erect a fort at the mouth of the Wisconsin, and should be able to retain it two years, this and Missouri Territory will be totally deserted — in other words, conquered."​152 Likewise General Benjamin Howard in a letter dated April 4, 1813, declared to Colonel Daniel Bissell that "our difficulties with the Indians will not terminate without an imposing campaign carried as far at least, as the Oisconcen, and the erection of a garrison commanding the entrance of that river into the Mississippi."153

Finally the authorities at St. Louis reached the conclusion that the time had come to strike a blow at British control of the Upper Mississippi by putting into execution a plan which had been urged repeatedly. Accordingly, Governor William Clark fitted out an expedition to ascend the Mississippi to Prairie du Chien. Niles' Register announced the event as follows: "A military expedition, of about 200 men in five barges, under the command of gov. Clark, left St. Louis on the 1st of May, for Prairie du  p53 Chien, supposed with a view of building a fort there and making a station to keep in check the Sioux, Winnebago and Felsavoine indians, lately stirred up to hostility by the infamous British agent, Dickson."154

Nothing unusual happened from the time the flotilla left St. Louis until it reached the mouth of Rock River. There some hostile Sauk who opposed the progress of the barges were fired upon, some canoes were taken and the affrighted savages sued for peace. When news of the approach of the Americans reached Prairie du Chien the local militia as well as the inhabitants, deserted by their Indian allies, fled into the country. The Americans landed and took possession of the place without firing a shot. As soon as the troops had gone ashore word was sent to the inhabitants to return to the village, and when the latter learned that they would not be molested most of them came back to their homes.155

Leaving Lieutenant Joseph Perkins in command of the sixty regulars on shore and Captains John Sullivan and Yeizer in command of some one hundred and twenty-five volunteers on two of the largest armed boats of the flotilla, Clark returned to his necessary duties at St. Louis, well satisfied with the fortunate outcome of his expedition.​156 The regulars assisted by the volunteers at once began the erection of a stockade post which they christened Fort Shelby in honor of Isaac Shelby, the Governor of Kentucky. Late in June Captain Sullivan with his company of militia and thirty‑two men from the gunboat Governor Clark — their term of service of sixty days having expired — returned to St. Louis. He reported that Lieutenant Perkins with the regulars occupied Fort Shelby which had been finished and armed with six cannon, and that Captain Yeizer, who commanded the Governor  p54 Clark in the river off Prairie du Chien, reported his vessel fully manned and ready for service.157

As soon as the British at Mackinac learned of the presence of the Americans at Prairie du Chien immediate steps were taken to recapture the place. Dickson was already at Mackinac with the three hundred natives he had previously recruited at Prairie du Chien. Half of these were left at Mackinac to assist in its defense against an impending attack of the Americans; the rest were assigned to the expedition outfitting to dislodge the intruders at Prairie du Chien. Two companies of volunteers were enrolled for this service from the Canadian voyageurs at Mackinac, dressed in British uniforms, and equipped with arms from the garrison storehouse. They were given the formidable name of "Michigan Fencibles", and placed under the command of an able officer, Lieutenant Colonel William McKay. On the insistent demand of the Indians for a piece of artillery to take on the expedition Lieutenant Colonel Robert McDouall, commandant at Mackinac, assigned Sergeant James Keating of the Royal Artillery to accompany the motley army with a single three-pound gun.158

This force, consisting of about seventy-five Michigan Fencibles in barges and one hundred and thirty‑six Indians in canoes left Mackinac on June 28, 1814. Six days later the expedition reached Green Bay where another company under the official title of "Mississippi Volunteers" was enrolled bringing the white command up to some one hundred and twenty men. Other Indians joined the little force both at Green Bay and at the Portage until the redskin part of the army numbered somewhat over five hundred warriors.​159 Although at the start of the expedition the Indian allies had been eager to drive out  p55 the invaders they proved to be of little use, and the commanding officer had a more serious problem in restraining them than he had in effecting the capture of the American post.160

The little army followed the Fox‑Wisconsin waterway and arrived at Prairie du Chien at noon on July 17th. Colonel McKay found Fort Shelby, consisting of barracks fenced in by strong oak pickets with two substantial blockhouses on opposite corners, defended by six guns, and supported by the gunboat well supplied with artillery.​161 Notwithstanding the fact that he had only a single three-pounder, Colonel McKay immediately sent a summons to Lieutenant Perkins demanding that he surrender unconditionally within an hour after the receipt of the note or defend himself "to the last man." Perkins's reply was short and to the point. He chose the latter alternative, and the attack began.162

Boldly placing the single gun battery where it commanded the gunboat Sergeant Keating, the artilleryman, opened fire. In the course of three hours eighty‑six rounds had been fired many of which took effect on the boat. It is surprising that the Americans were unable to silence this single gun as a brisk fire both from the fort and the gunboat replied to the British attack. At length Captain Yeizer, after a number of the enemy had moved over to an island in midstream where, hidden by timber, they kept up a fire on the boat, cut his cable and moving down stream found temporary shelter behind another island. Thence he escaped down the Mississippi, leaving the fort to its fate.

On the next morning the attack on the fort continued — the bombardment lasting all that day and the next. On July 19th, finding that only six rounds of shot remained,  p56 McKay spent the day in casting lead balls for the gun and in throwing up breastworks within four hundred and fifty yards of the fort. In the evening the gun was rolled up to a point where red hot shot could be thrown into the stockade. Just as the first ball was being placed in the gun a white flag appeared above the fort and a messenger came out with an offer to surrender providing the British commander would protect the officers and men from the Indians.163

McKay assented to this offer but he found it difficult to restrain the Indian warriors. Throughout the attack some of the Indians had kept up a perfectly useless fire upon the fort from a distance too great for any shots to take effect. Others, particularly the Winnebago, ran off to the farms thereabouts, killed cattle, and pillaged the houses, even stealing the covering off the beds. In the village, too, they committed outrages, breaking to pieces articles that could not be carried off. The local militia was of no assistance whatever to McKay in the attack on the fort as they were busy trying to keep guard over their own houses. McKay wrote that a man "having to do with Indians in my present situation is more tormented than if in the infernal regions."164

At eight o'clock on the morning of July 20th the American garrison marched out of Fort Shelby, surrendered their arms to Colonel McKay, and placed themselves under his protection. Material of war surrendered consisted of one six‑pounder, one three-pounder, three swivels, sixty‑one stands of arms, four swords, a quantity of ammunition, twenty-eight barrels of pork, and forty‑six barrels of flour. The American forces comprised three officers, six non‑commissioned officers, two musicians, fifty-three privates, one commissary, one interpreter,  p57 two women, and one child. Three Americans had been wounded in the fort, two severely but not dangerously, and one slightly.​165 The British took possession of the post and in honor of the commander renamed it Fort McKay.

What he should do with the prisoners was a perplexing question to the commanding officer. He knew that the Americans would probably try to retake the place, and his first thought was to retain the prisoners as hostages to sacrifice to the Indians if the Americans tried to attack him. Lack of supplies, however, rendered this plan impossible. Nor could he send them to Mackinac as he could ill spare any of his little force. Therefore he determined to parole them and send them by boat to St. Louis, letting them risk the danger of rejoining their countrymen. It was possible for the Americans to withdraw in comparative safety as many of McKay's Indian warriors had departed for their homes. McKay sent a small guard to accompany the prisoners as far as Rock Island, whence they made their way alone down the river.166

Meantime even before news of the disaster at Prairie du Chien had reached St. Louis General Howard had decided to send a force of regulars to replace the volunteers at Fort Shelby and to strengthen the garrison at that point. The expedition consisting of forty‑two regulars and sixty-five rangers under the command of Lieutenant John Campbell left St. Louis on July 4th in three fortified keel-boats with the contractor's and sutler's boats in company. Including boatmen, sutlers, women, and children the party numbered some one hundred and thirty-three persons.167

The expedition reached Rock Island without mishap,  p58 and while the boats lay at anchor on the evening of July 18th the Americans were visited by many Sauk from their nearby village. The Indians professed their friendship but were even then secretly plotting how to wreak vengeance upon the "Long Knives". Early the next morning the boats set sail up stream. The wind blowing briskly at the start soon became a gale making navigation difficult. The contractor's and sutler's boats were driven far ahead. The two boats with the rangers commanded by Lieutenant Rector and Lieutenant Riggs were next, and •some two miles astern came Lieutenant Campbell with the regulars. As the gale increased Campbell's boat was forced into shallow water alongside an island with a high grass covered bank and a fringe of willows along the shore.168

In this position Campbell decided to remain until the wind abated, sentries were placed, and the men were engaged in cooking breakfast when the sudden report of fire arms announced an attack. At the first fire the sentries were killed, and before those on shore could reach the boat several were killed or wounded. Savages were now observed on both shores in quick motion — some crossing the river in canoes to the scene of conflict, others running from above and below until the island and mainland swarmed with a horde of howling red men. The survivors on the boat returned the fire from a swivel and small arms, but the willows on shore afforded the Indians almost perfect shelter.

At this critical juncture the commanders of the two boats ahead although they could not hear the reports of the guns concluded that an engagement was in progress from smoke which they saw. Turning about they hastened down stream to the beleagured barge, but the wind was  p59 so strong that their boats were almost unmanageable. The boat commanded by Riggs stranded about one hundred yards below Campbell's, and Rector, to avoid a like misfortune, anchored some distance above. Both barges opened fire upon the redskins but as the latter were firing from cover it was thought that little damage was inflicted. Campbell's boat was set on fire by the Indians, and the commander himself lay at the bottom of the barge severely wounded. By heroic efforts Rector's men rescued the living soldiers and took off the wounded from Campbell's boat, including the commander. Finding that he could not assist Riggs, and realizing the folly of facing the murderous fire of the Indians longer especially in the danger of being blown ashore, Rector dropped down stream and headed for St. Louis. The American losses in this engagement were severe amounting to sixteen killed and more than twenty wounded. From the tragic happenings of this engagement the place has to this day been known as Campbell's Island.169

When Rector with his boatload of wounded and tired troops reached St. Louis great apprehension was felt for the safety of Riggs and his command as well as for those on the sutler's and contractor's boats. Fortunately Captain Yeizer, returning in the gunboat Governor Clark after his defeat at Prairie du Chien, met the two boats some miles above the site of the engagement. Within an hour, doubtless, those on board, ignorant of the fate of the boats below, would have been in the power of the savages. When Yeizer approached the Rapids he sent a detachment ahead in a skiff to reconnoiter. This party discovered Riggs hotly engaged with the savages, and Campbell's  p60 abandoned boat on fire, and so reported to Yeizer who moved down to assist the beleagured Americans. When the wind died down in the evening Riggs succeeded in extricating his stranded boat without the loss of many men. The return of Riggs to St. Louis, and the safe arrival of the Governor Clark together with the sutler's and contractor's boats caused great rejoicing in St. Louis despite the disquieting news of the fall of Fort Shelby.170

With the return of the survivors of the ill‑fated Campbell's expedition the authorities at St. Louis determined to send a formidable force up stream to chastise the Indians at Rock Island. Early in August Major Zachary Taylor was dispatched for this purpose with a force of three hundred and thirty-four officers and men in several fortified boats.​171 This expedition reached the mouth of Rock River without any hostile demonstration on the part of Indians. Runners, however, had already brought news of the coming of the expedition, and other runners had hastened to Prairie du Chien for help.​172 Captain Thomas G. Anderson, who had succeeded to the command of the fort on August 10th, when Colonel McKay left for Mackinac, sent Lieutenant Duncan Graham with thirty soldiers and three small guns to assist the Sauk.​173 Winnebago and Sioux warriors also were asked to help repulse the coming invasion and over a hundred joined their friends at Rock Island.174

Consequently when Taylor arrived at this place a force of from 1000 to 1500 warriors supported by Graham's soldiers was ready and eager to engage the Americans. The subsequent engagement took place on the Iowa side of the Mississippi at Credit Island, now a park in the city of Davenport.175

It was about four o'clock in the afternoon of September  p61 5th when the fleet was forced by a heavy wind to cast anchor alongside a small island just above Credit Island. Although Indians were seen on both sides of the river and others were noted crossing back and forth, not a gun was fired that night. All night long the wind continued to blow with violence, accompanied by some rain. Near daylight Captain Samuel Whiteside's boat was fired upon and a corporal outside the boat was mortally wounded. As soon as it grew light Taylor formed his troops for action to clear the small island of savages. Noting that the Indians who had attacked Whiteside's boat had retreated to Credit Island just below, Taylor sent one of his boats to rake the island with artillery. At this juncture the British opened fire from Credit Island with their three-pounder and two swivels. Taylor says that these guns were hidden behind a knoll, Graham states that they were on the open beach entirely exposed to the fire of the Americans. Wherever they were both commanders agree on the effectiveness of their fire. Taylor was obliged to drop down stream followed by the artillery on shore as far as the rough ground would permit the British to drag their guns. Taylor had eleven men badly wounded in the engagement, and in a conference with his officers it was decided that their force was inadequate to cope with the enemy. The departure of the Americans down stream left the British in undisputed possession of the Upper Mississippi.176

The same Sergeant Keating who with a single three-pounder had been an important factor in the capture of Fort Shelby received warm praise from his commander for his part in this engagement. This one gun, manned by a lone artilleryman, had been largely responsible for two American defeats.​177 Keating was promoted to a  p62 lieutenancy for his services and Lieutenant Graham became a captain.178

The expedition of Major Taylor was the last thrust of the Americans toward Prairie du Chien during the war. Captain Anderson continued to command Fort McKay until the late autumn of 1814 when he was replaced by Captain A. H. Bulger whom Colonel McDouall had placed in charge of "all operations on the Mississippi".​179 When Bulger arrived at Prairie du Chien on November 30, 1814, he found that food was scarce, necessary supplies of all kinds were "inadequate or lacking altogether", the Indians were clamoring for goods, and the soldiers were "sullen and mutinous".​180 It happened that there were no further military operations, but Bulger found his task of commanding the garrison a most difficult one and spent a dreary winter at Prairie du Chien.​181 "Only by the exercise of stern discipline did he retain the mastery of the situation".​182 Nor did the presence of Dickson who had arrived at Prairie du Chien late in the year with supplies for the natives aid the situation for he and Bulger soon fell out over their relations with the Indians.183

On the last day of the year several of the Canadian voyageurs who had enlisted at Mackinac mutinied, but their rebellion was promptly crushed when Bulger treated the principal offenders to one hundred and fifty lashes each.​184 When a quarrel between Robert Dickson and Joseph Rolette, a prominent trader at Prairie du Chien, ended in Dickson's preferring charges of treason against the trader, Bulger presided over the court of inquiry, and, as the evidence adduced was trivial, ordered a verdict of acquittal.​185 This widened the breach between Bulger and Dickson.

 p63  Some weeks before the trial of Rolette for treason his brother-in‑law and another Frenchman had been murdered on the Iowa side of the Mississippi by a Sioux Indian who belonged to a band living a few miles west of the fort. Bulger seized the chief of the band and incarcerated him as a hostage until the murderer should be delivered. Before long the culprit was brought to the fort by members of the band. A court-martial sentenced him to be shot and he was executed in the presence of the garrison, the villagers, and many Indians. The promptness and thoroughness with which Bulger handled the situation brought a letter of appreciation from the principal inhabitants of the Prairie.186

The dispute between Dickson and Bulger became so acute during the spring that Colonel McDouall was drawn into the controversy. As this quarrel was in part due to the old question of supremacy between officers of the army and agents of the Indian Department, naturally McDouall upheld Bulger, and sent the latter a summary order for Dickson to depart for Mackinac whenever Bulger felt that the agent's services were causing more harm than good.​187 During the last of April Bulger delivered the order to Dickson who departed for Mackinac on April 29th. Before leaving, however, he made a speech to the Indians which aroused Bulger's wrath anew. A final bitter reprimand from him before Dickson departed brought from the latter's subordinates in the Indian Department reflections upon the commander. Duncan Graham, who had led the forces in the repulse of Taylor at Rock Island, was arrested for the remarks he made in the support of his friend Dickson.188

"Meanwhile, unknown to the angry disputants at Prairie du Chien, at Ghent in distant Belgium the ambassadors  p64 of Great Britain and the United States had long since concluded a treaty of peace."​189 About the middle of April, 1815, Bulger received a letter from Governor Clark at St. Louis stating that peace had been restored between the United States and Great Britain.​190 Bulger had been planning to carry the war to St. Louis and had actually assembled at Prairie du Chien a large force of Indians for the descent upon the settlement.

The news of peace alarmed the commander for he fully expected the savages to vent their wrath upon the garrison when they heard that the British had deserted them. It was not until May 20th that Captain Bulger received official word of the restoration of peace, then calling the Indians together in a general council two days later he informed them of the treaty. In the presence of many chiefs he spread out a belt of wampum such as had been used in calling out the Indians in 1812. Then it had been red signifying war, now it was blue indicating peace. The message from the king was read and terms of peace explained. Fearing that he and his immediate officers might be sacrificed by disappointed and wrathful Indians Bulger had informed the garrison to remain under arms at the fort and in case of any hostile movements during the council to begin firing upon the red men. The chiefs, however, accepted the news stoically, and at the conclusion of the council smoked the pipe of peace. The firing of a royal salute at the fort concluded the ceremony. Two days later Captain Bulger and his command evacuated Fort McKay taking with them the artillery and other public stores. British rule in the Upper Mississippi Valley was ended.191

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The Authors' Notes:

141 Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, pp109, 110.

142 A useful sketch of Dickson's career written by E. A. Cruikshank is found in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XI, pp133‑153. Another interesting account of his career is an unpublished M. A. thesis, "The Career of Robert Dickson", by Helen Delight Weaver, the State University of Iowa, 1924.

143 Cruikshank's Robert Dickson, the Indian Trader, in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XII, pp140‑142.

144 Cruikshank's Robert Dickson, the Indian Trader, in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XII, pp145‑147.

145 Quaife's Wisconsin Its History and Its People, Vol. I, p349.

146 Papers from the Canadian Archives, 1767‑1814, in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XII, pp108‑111. For the assortment of goods considered by Dickson as essential in winning the support of Indians see Copies of papers on file in the Dominion archives of Ottawa, Canada pertaining to the relations of the British government with the United States during the period of the war of 1812 in the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, Vol. XV, p224.

147 Campaign of 1813 in the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, Vol. XV, p422. See the Lawe and Grignon Papers, 1794‑1821, in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. X, pp90‑141, and the Dickson and Grignon Papers, 1812‑1815, in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XI, pp271‑315, for correspondence between Dickson, Lawe, and Grignon.

148 Quaife's Wisconsin Its History and Its People, Vol. I, p349; Cruikshank's Robert Dickson, the Indian Trader, in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XII, p150. Dickson's worries over the possible defection of certain tribes, and his dealings with the savages during the winter of 1813‑1814 are clearly set forth in the Dickson and Grignon Papers, 1812‑1815, in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XI, pp277‑303. See also in the Lawe and Grignon Papers, 1794‑1821, in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. X, pp112, 116.

149 Quaife's Wisconsin Its History and Its People, Vol. I, p349.

150 Cruikshank's Robert Dickson, the Indian Trader, in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XII, p150; Meese's Credit Island, 1814‑1914, in the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Vol. VII, p352. See also Stevens' Illinois in the War of 1812‑1814 in Publication No. 9 of the Illinois Historical Library, pp160, 161.

151 Boilvin's letter to Eustis, dated February 2, 1811, appears in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XI, pp247‑253.

152 Letter of Ninian Edwards to Secretary Armstrong, dated March 27, 1814, in Edward's History of Illinois from 1778‑1833 and Life and Times of Ninian Edwards, pp346, 347.

153 Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p106.

154 Niles' Weekly Register, Vol. VI, p242.

155 Stevens's The Black Hawk War, p47; Niles' Weekly Register, Vol. VI, p242.

156 Niles' Weekly Register, Vol. VI, pp355, 356.

157 Niles' Weekly Register, Vol. VI, p390.

158 The documentary material on the expedition from Mackinac to Prairie du Chien and the capture of Fort Shelby is rather extensive. In Volume III of the Wisconsin Historical Collections Augustin Grignon tells the story of the invasion in his Recollections of Wisconsin. Thomas G. Anderson, a captain in the English garrison at Prairie du Chien, gives a boastful narrative of the occupation in Volume IX of the Wisconsin Historical Collections. Capt. T. G. Anderson's Journal, 1814, in the same volume presents some interesting contemporary documents. In Volume XI of the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Douglas Brymner presents a reliable military account of the affair based upon official documents in the Canadian archives. In Volumes X, XI, XII, of the same publication the Lawe and Grignon Papers, 1794‑1821, the Dickson and Grignon Papers, 1812‑1815, and Papers from the Canadian Archives, all contemporary documents, give certain aspects of the story; while the Bulger Papers in Volume XIII of the Wisconsin Historical Collections tell of Captain A. H. Bulger's troubles while he commanded the captured post. Copies of papers from the Canadian archives in Volume XV of the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections contain source material on this episode.

The name of the British officer commanding at Mackinac is variously spelled McDouall, McDonall, and McDowell. The spelling McDouall has been used in this volume.

159 Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XI, p262. Apparently no two accounts as to the number of whites and Indians agree. The figures used in this account are taken from the official report of the commanding officer in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XI, pp262, 263. See also Grignon's Recollections of Wisconsin in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. III, pp271, 272.

160 Colonel McKay reported that the Indians were "perfectly useless" to him. — Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XI, pp263, 264.

161 Personal Narrative of Capt. Thomas G. Anderson in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. IX, p195, footnote.

162 The following account of the attack is based on McKay's report to McDouall as printed in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XI, pp263‑270. For the demand to surrender and Perkins's reply, see p256. See also Grignon's Recollections of Wisconsin in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. III, pp274‑278.

163 Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XI, p265. The offer by Perkins to surrender and McKay's reply appear in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XI, p257.

164 Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XI, p266.

165 Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XI, pp266, 268.

166 Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. IX, p284, Vol. XI, p268.

167 From the Missouri Gazette, July 30, 1814, reprinted in Stevens's The Black Hawk War, Including a Review of Black Hawk's Life, pp48, 49.

168 This account of the Battle of Campbell's Island is based upon a report of this engagement which appeared in the Missouri Gazette, July 30, 1814; it was reprinted in Spooner's Vermont Journal, September 12, 1814, a typewritten copy of which (File 493) is found in the library of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin at Madison. The same report also appears in Stevens's The Black Hawk War, pp48‑50. See also Stevens's Illinois in the War of 1812‑1814 in the Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society, 1904 (No. 9), pp162, 163.

169 Stevens's The Black Hawk War, p49; Meese's Credit Island, 1814‑1914, in the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Vol. VII, p353.

170 Stevens's The Black Hawk War, p50. Flagler's A History of the Rock Island Arsenal, p9.

171 See Taylor's report to Howard dated Fort Madison September 6, 1814, reprinted in Downer's History of Davenport and Scott County, Iowa, pp79‑81, and Stevens's The Black Hawk War, pp53, 54. The British report appears in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. IX, pp226‑228.

Zachary Taylor entered the army as a first lieutenant of the Seventh Infantry on May 3, 1808. He was promoted to the rank of captain in 1810. For gallant conduct in the defense of Fort Harrison, Indiana, he was brevetted major on September 5, 1812, and received the full rank of major in May, 1814. At the close of the War of 1812 Taylor was retained as captain of the Seventh Infantry, but he declined this appointment, and was honorably discharged on June 15, 1815. He was reinstated as major of the Third Infantry on May 17, 1816. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1819, and colonel in April, 1832. During his long assignment in the Upper Mississippi Valley, Taylor was twice commandant at the Fort Snelling in 1828 and in 1831, but most of this period — 1829‑1830, 1832‑1837 — was spent as the commanding officer of Fort Crawford. — Heitman's Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army, Vol. I, p949; Post Returns, Fort Crawford, 1816‑1830, 1831‑1856, in the office of the Adjutant General, War Department, Washington, D. C.

172 See Capt. T. G. Anderson's Journal, 1814, in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. IX, pp213‑217.

173 Anderson to Graham, and Anderson to McDouall in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. IX, pp206, 219, 220, 221.

174 Graham to Anderson in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. IX, pp224, 225.

175 Meese's Credit Island, 1814‑1914, in the Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Vol. VII, p371; Downer's History of Davenport and Scott County, Iowa, pp81, 82.

176 See Taylor's report in Stevens's The Black Hawk War, pp53, 54; and Graham's account in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. IX, pp226‑228.

177 Quaife's Wisconsin Its History and Its People, Vol. I, p356.

178 The Bulger Papers in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XIII, pp19, 20.

179 The Bulger Papers in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XIII, pp14, 25.

180 Quaife's Wisconsin Its History and Its People, Vol. I, p356; The Bulger Papers in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XIII, pp25‑35.

181 For the development of the quarrel see The Bulger Papers in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XIII, p25‑162.

182 Quaife's Wisconsin Its History and Its People, Vol. I, p356.

183 Treaty of Peace and Subsequent Relations in the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, Vol. XVI, pp41‑44.

184 Quaife's Wisconsin Its History and Its People, Vol. I, p356; The Bulger Papers in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XIII, p38. See also Lawe and Grignon Papers, 1794‑1821, in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. X, pp122, 123.

185 The Bulger Papers in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XIII, pp43‑51.

186 The Bulger Papers in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XIII, pp36, 37, 51‑54.

187 The Bulger Papers in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XIII, pp60‑89.

188 The Bulger Papers in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XIII, pp135‑142.

189 Quaife's Wisconsin Its History and Its People, Vol. I, p357.

190 Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XIII, pp156‑157.

191 Bulger's Last Days of the British at Prairie du Chien in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, Vol. XIII, pp154‑162.

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