Editor's Note:
Prairie du Chien: According to John W. Hunt's 1853 Wisconsin Gazetteer, the town was "situated on section 6, town 6 N., of range 6 W., upon an elevated prairie, averaging one mile in width, and is about 8 miles in length, extending from the mouth of the Wisconsin river, northward, along the bank of the Mississippi. It has one of the best landings on the river, is very healthy; and all who have visited the place concur in the opinion that its location gives it a commanding commercial importance." (map).
Judge Lockwood: James H. Lockwood (1793-1857), one of the first English-speaking residents of Prairie du Chien. A short biography of him is here in our online Dictionary of Wisconsin History, and his memoir of territorial Prairie du Chien is here.
Fort Crawford: Marsh was describing the second Fort Crawford (1829-1856), shown here. It was built of stone and placed on higher ground than the first, which had been on Feriole Island, where Villa Louis would be built, until floods prompted the Army to relocate it on the mainland. It was situated at the foot of the bluffs, along modern Beaumont Road, where its foundations were recently uncovered. Excavations by the Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center have helped reconstruct the lives of the soldiers once stationed there. View more information on our Archaeology pages.
Sioux Indians: Artist James O. Lewis painted these portraits of several Sioux chiefs about the time that Marsh met the ones described here.
