Highlights Archives
See the War of 1812 in Wisconsin at Villa Louis
Imagine a time when British flags flew over Wisconsin. That's precisely what happened in July 1814 when the only battle of the War of 1812 fought in Wisconsin took place — the Battle of Prairie du Chien. Even though the Treaty of Paris of 1783 had ceded lands that would become Wisconsin to the new United States, the British had other ideas and wished to maintain their very lucrative fur trade with Indians in the region. American forces had recently built a fort in Prairie du Chien, establishing a tenuous hold on the strategic Mississippi River outpost, but it was not to last. On July 17, 1814, a hastily assembled expeditionary force under British command arrived, demanding that the Americans surrender. The Americans refused, and the British-Canadian force laid seige to the fort and its gunboat for the next two days.
On July 15-16, 2006, booming cannons and muskets will signal the beginning of an annual reenactment of the War of 1812 in Wisconsin at the Villa Louis in Prairie du Chien. The true-to-life event takes place on the very ground where the actual battle was fought 192 years earlier. The encounter pitted some 650 British-Canadian fur traders, voyageurs and Native Americans against only 60 American troops. The British-Canadian forces defeated the Americans and occupied Prairie du Chien until the spring of 1815 — five months after the war ended.
More than 125 War of 1812 living history reenactors will set up American and British-Canadian encampments. Between battles they will demonstrate infantry and artillery drills, rum rations, musket shooting, gun cleaning, camp cookery and other details of early 19th-century camp life. Visitors are encouraged to explore the camps and learn how the War of 1812 pitted fur traders, Indians and voyageurs against British and American political interests in the only international war ever fought in the Midwest.
At 2:30 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday, major events of the two-and-a-half-day battle will be condensed into a narrated battle reenactment highlighted by cannon fire and pyrotechnic special effects. Exhibits and presentations take place throughout the two days, with drill tactics demonstrated at 10:30 Saturday morning and a musket reliability contest at 10:30 Sunday morning.
After taking in the encampments and battle reenactments, treat yourself to a guided tour of the meticulously restored rooms of the Villa Louis mansion — and discover how an 1814 battlefield had flowered into an elegant Victorian country estate less than a century later.
To read an account of the Battle of Prairie du Chien by a British fur trader who took part in the battle, see a manuscript written by Thomas Gummersal Anderson in Turning Points in Wisconsin History.
:: Posted July 10, 2006
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