Fort Crawford was an outpost of the United States Army located in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, during the 19th century. The army's occupation of Prairie du Chien spanned the existence of two fortifications, both of them named Fort Crawford. The first of was occupied from 1816 to 1832, the second from 1832 to 1856. Both of the forts formed part of a string of fortifications along the upper Mississippi River that also included Fort Snelling near Saint Anthony Falls in Minnesota, and Fort Armstrong in Rock Island, Illinois. Fort Crawford was also associated with a string of forts built along the Fox-Wisconsin Waterway, which included Fort Winnebago in Portage, Wisconsin and Fort Howard in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The site of the second fort has been preserved and holds the Fort Crawford Museum, located in the Second Fort Crawford Military Hospital. This is a 1930s reconstruction of the hospital serving the second fort. This building contains the only surviving building fragments of either fort, and it was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1960. First Fort Crawford The U.S. Army established a presence in Prairie du Chien during the War of 1812, when it built Fort Shelby on St. Feriole Island in the Mississippi River, which was part of the town separated by a marshy bayou. On July 19, 1814, Fort Shelby was captured by British forces and renamed Fort McKay. The British would continue to occupy Prairie du Chien until 1815, after the Treaty of Ghent restored the pre-war border between the United States and British Canada. When the British retreated from the city, they burned Fort McKay rather than give it back to the Americans. To protect Prairie du Chien against future invasion, U.S. forces returned in June 1816, with orders to construct a new fort on the site of Fort McKay. This fort was named Fort Crawford in honor of William H. Crawford, the Secretary of War under James Madison. Built entirely of wood except for the magazine, the fort measured 343 ft on each side and included Blockhouses at its northwest and southeast corners. Construction of the fort lasted through the summer of 1816. Following the completion of Fort Crawford, the garrison was engaged primarily in peacekeeping between the new white settlers arriving in the region and the region's historic Native American tribes. Lieutenant Colonel Henry Leavenworth, a former U.S. Indian Agent, was among the early