Siege of Prairie du Chien The Siege of Prairie du Chien was a British victory in the far western theater of the War of 1812 . During the war , Prairie du Chien was a small frontier settlement with residents loyal to both American and British causes . By 1814 , both nations were anxious to control the site because of its importance to the fur trade and its strategic location at the intersection of the Mississippi River and the Fox - Wisconsin Waterway , a transportation route linking the Mississippi with the Great Lakes . Background . Although Prairie du Chien became a part of the United States following the Treaty of Paris in 1783 , the Americans made little effort to maintain a presence in the far western settlement . Thus , it remained largely under British influence into the 19th Century . In the spring of 1814 , American forces decided to secure the location , realizing that if it fell to the British , there would be no obstacle to a British attack on St . Louis . William Clark , the governor of Missouri Territory , organized a force in St . Louis that included 61 regulars from the Seventh Infantry under Brevet Major Zachary Taylor , as well as 140 volunteers who agreed to join the force for sixty days under the command of Frederick Yeizer and John Sullivan . Shortly after the force was assembled , Taylor left for personal reasons . In his place , Lieutenant Joseph Perkins of the 24th Infantry took command of the regulars . On May 1 , Governor Clark and the combined forces under Perkins , Yeizer , and Sullivan , began up the Mississippi River en route to Prairie du Chien . Word of the American advance reached the British force at Fort Mackinac on Mackinac Island , Michigan . British commander Robert McDouall did not want the Americans to gain a foothold in the northwest , fearing that it would disrupt the British fur trade as well as Britain ' s numerous alliances with the region ' s American Indian tribes . To respond to the American threat , the British at Mackinac organized a militia captained by Joseph Rolette , Thomas G . Anderson , and Pierre Grignon . The militia was sent along with one British regular , a detachment of the Michigan Fencibles , and several hundred Winnebago , and Fox warriors to meet the Americans at Prairie du Chien . Lieutenant Colonel William McKay was put in command of the force , which was estimated at 650 . In the meantime , the American force led by Governor Clark and Joseph Perkins had arrived in Prairie du Chien . They reached the village on June 2 , and a few days later , on June 6 , they began building a fort on a large mound north of the main village . The fort was named Fort Shelby in honor of Governor Isaac Shelby of Kentucky . Seeing that construction of the small wooden fort was underway , Governor Clark left to return to St . Louis on June 7 . The Americans made steady progress on the fort , and although the defenses were unfinished , the barracks were occupied by June 19 . Around the time that the fort was being occupied , the sixty day terms of service for the volunteers led by Yeizer and Sullivan expired . Most of these men went home with Sullivan , although Yeizer and some men in his company agreed to stay aboard the American river gunboat " Governor Clark " , a thirty - two oar , fourteen gun wooden vessel anchored in the Mississippi River beside Fort Shelby . Siege . On July 17 , the British force arrived at Prairie du Chien . Late in the morning , Thomas Anderson approached Fort Shelby to deliver Perkins a note demanding the Americans ' unconditional surrender . Perkins refused and prepared to defend the fort . The battle began early in the afternoon when the British opened fire on the Americans using their brass field cannon . Keeping their initial fire focused on the " Governor Clark " , the British force was able to damage the gunboat and compel it to retreat downriver . The boat carried the Americans ' cannon and a substantial supply of goods and ammunition , as well as the volunteers still under the command of Frederick Yeizer . With the gunboat gone , the British concentrated their fire on Fort Shelby , but the British cannon proved less effective . The Americans and the British maintained a steady exchange of gunfire throughout the next day , but to no avail for either side . However , by the third day of battle the Americans inside Fort Shelby were beginning to run short of ammunition and other supplies . More pressing , the well inside the fort had run dry , and an attempt to deepen it led to its total collapse . Meanwhile , upset at the lack of progress , Colonel McKay began making plans to break the stalemate by sending red hot cannonballs into the fort to set it ablaze . Lieutenant Perkins offered to surrender if the British would guarantee his men ' s safety . McKay agreed but asked that Perkins delay formal surrender until the next day so that he could ensure that the Indian forces accompanying the British would not threaten the Americans . On July 20 , the Americans officially surrendered and vacated the fort . Under the terms of the surrender , the British were given control of the fort and the American ' s arms , ammunition , and provisions , while the American troops were allowed to return to St . Louis . 60 Americans of the 7th U . S . Regiment of Infantry were captured , 7 of them wounded , whilst the British force had 3 Native Americans wounded . Aftermath . Following the American surrender , the British force took possession of Fort Shelby , which was renamed Fort McKay after the British commander . Meanwhile , the Americans had returned to St . Louis by August 6 . In September , the United States sent a second force upriver towards Prairie du Chien with the intent of recapturing the fort , but it was turned back at the Battle of Credit Island . The British maintained a presence at Fort McKay until word of the Treaty of Ghent reached Prairie du Chien in the spring of 1815 . The treaty returned Prairie du Chien to the United States , so the British force abandoned the fort on May 25 , burning it in their retreat . In the following year , the United States constructed Fort Crawford over the site of the battle in order to gain tighter control over the region . Two active infantry battalions of the Regular Army ( 1 - 1 Inf and 2 - 1 Inf ) perpetuate the lineages of detachments of the old 7th Infantry that were at the Siege of Prairie du Chien .