Col. Zachary Taylor Writes the Army Adjutant General in Washington About Affairs in the West, and His Dissatisfaction With the Quality of the Troops Being Sent to Him: Speaking out against unfairness to the recruits, “You will observe by referring to the descriptive Roll out of 17 recruits who were put under march for this place from the General Depot there were only 10 of the number 5 feet 9 inches high… I cannot d

An interesting letter, showing the inside operations and difficulties involved in getting quality troops to the Western frontier

Fort Crawford stood guard over Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, from 1816 until 1856. In the spring of 1829, troops began to build a new Fort Crawford on an elevated plain located on the mainland, safe from the floods that had plagued the first fort. The new structure was built primarily with quarried limestone, and work progressed slowly. Colonel (and future president of the United States) Zachary Taylor took command of the construction in the summer of 1829, and commanded the fort from then until 1837. Jefferson Davis (later president of the Confederate States of America) was a lieutenant at Fort Crawford, and supervised work at a sawmill on the Yellow River that provided lumber for construction. Troops moved into the new barracks in December 1830. While at the fort, Davis met and fell in love with Taylor’s daughter, Sarah. They would marry in June 1835, making Zachary Taylor Jefferson Davis’s father-in-law. But tragedy awaited, as Sarah died three months into the marriage of yellow fever, devastating Davis and causing ill will with Taylor, who blamed Davis for taking his daughter into an unhealthy climate.

Soldiers at Fort Crawford served in many capacities after moving into the second fort. Most notably, troops took an active military role in forcing Native Americans west of the Mississippi River in accordance with the policies of President Andrew Jackson. Troops commanded by Col. Zachary Taylor fought in the Black Hawk War in 1832. On August 27 of that year, Black Hawk surrendered at Prairie du Chien and was jailed at the fort. In 1833, Lt. Jefferson Davis escorted Black Hawk to another prison at St. Louis, which journey also ended Davis’s time at Fort Crawford. The troops at Fort Crawford also worked to build a military road across Wisconsin to connect Fort Crawford with Fort Winnebago in Portage and Fort Howard in Green Bay. Additionally, soldiers from Fort Crawford enforced the relocation of the Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) Indians from Wisconsin to a reservation in Iowa in the 1830s. ""Indian Removal,"" as the government called it, disrupted lives across the region and was successful in transforming Prairie du Chien from the front lines of enforcing Indian policy to one well behind the lines, leaving Fort Crawford without much of its earlier significance. Soldiers only occupied the fort intermittently after 1849, and the last active troops withdrew from Fort Crawford on June 9, 1856.

Fort Snelling was on the bluffs overlooking the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. Finished in 1825, the fort established US sovereignty in the area, drove British traders away, gaining control of the lucrative fur trade, and established trade relationships with the Native Americans in the area. The fort continued to be a dominating presence for both the native population, settlers, and the US government for another 125 years. Dred Scott was taken to the Fort Snelling area as an enslaved man despite the laws that prohibit slavery in the Upper Mississippi Valley.

In March 1849 Zachary Taylor became President of the United States. March 1825 Roger Jones became Adjutant General of the U.S. Army. He served in that post until 1852. His son Catesby ap Roger Jones was the commander of the ironclad CSS Virginia at Hampton Roads on the second day of battle with the USS Monitor.

Letter signed, Head Quarters 1st Infantry, Fort Crawford, Nov 24, 1833, to Col. Robert Jones, Adjutant General, in Washington. “On the 11th inst. the recruits for this place & 50 for Fort Snelling arrived here under the command of Capt. O. Ransom of the 2nd Infant & were all turned over to me. The former have been inspected agreeably to the provisions of general order No 21 of 1829. 8 rejected & the balance 52 in number attached to companies ""A"" ""B"" ""C"" ""D"" & “I”. The only objection from present appearances which can be made to those who have been attached to companies is a want of bone and muscle, some being rather slender & feeble & too large a portion for the number being barely above the height required by regulations for. You will observe by referring to the descriptive Roll out of 17 recruits who were put under march for this place from the General Depot there were only 10 of the number 5 feet 9 inches high & above it (the prescribed height for grenadiers out of which numbers one has been rejected & one deserted before they arrived leaving only 8. Consequently as the grenadiers company belonging to the regiment which is stationed here wanted 20 men to fill it & 16 to equalize it with the other companies. I had to attach 8 men to it who were under the required size which was the case when the last detachment which was No 2 by Capt. Hawkins in May last was distributed. I would therefore suggest that propriety of breaking up the Grenadier company as it appears to me that an attempt to keep it up is but a mere mockery under present circumstances or at any rate while the present superintendent & commanding officer of the principal Depot in the Eastern Department are continued on the recruiting service as I cannot divest myself of the opinion that so far as regards size, injustice has been done this command by the selection of an undue proportion of small men for it.

“I make these remarks from a sense of duty alone & if upon examination of the description Rolls of detachments of recruits which have been sent to other regiments from the same depot within the last 12 months it shall appear that there was not furnished recruits of the prescribed height for Grenadiers sufficient to keep up one Company or to any post composed of 5 companies, a number adequate to this purpose then I am ready to acknowledge that I have done injustice to the officers referred to otherwise my opinion of them must remain unchanged. At the time Capt. Ransom arrived with the detachment of recruits the weather was unusually cold for the season & had been so for some time previously & to such a degree that it was not then deemed advisable to send the detachment for Fort Snelling to that post until next spring or until the ice made sufficiently strong in the Mississippi for them to proceed on it; but the weather a few days after became mild and then being a probability of its continuing so far some time I determined on putting 44 of the 50 (the others being on the sick Report) immediately under way by water in two Mackinaw Boats under the command of Lieut. Storer for this place of destination. The detachment left here on the 22 Inst. & will in all probability be able to proceed by water as far as Lake Pepin which is about two thirds of the distance when they will, should this progress be interrupted by ice secure their boats and continue on by land. Lt Storer has been furnished with a guide who in addition to his knowledge of the river is well acquainted with the route by land between and Fort Snelling & as the detachment before setting out was sufficiently clothed to protect them against the cold I make no doubt of their reaching this place of destination in safety.

“Accompanying this you will receive all the papers appertaining to the recruits which have been attached to companies together with those relating to the men rejected the latter will be retained here until the General in chief shall decide upon their cases. The following is an extract of a communication addressed to you on the 4th of August last to which no answer has been received as a matter of course it is taken for granted that it miscarried. Upon referring to the orders from your office upon the subject of rejected recruits it appears that I am not authorized to discharge recruits of my command who may have been rejected by a board of Inspectors I have therefore retained Ravenaugh Forester & Williams (recruits of that description) at this post until the decision of the General in chief in regard to them be made known. One of the this numbers (Forrester) has since deserted.""

On the verso, Jones and another War Department official have written long endorsements. ""Reports the arrival of a detachment of 110 recruits for his command and Fort Snelling under Capt. Ransom. These for the former. 8 have been rejected & 52 assigned.” He refers to their want of height and encloses reports to their papers. He has sent on detachment for Fort Snelling. Refers to a grenadier’s company and also to his letter 4 August as to 3 rejected recruits. Jones adds in a lengthy signed endorsement about the poor quality of recruits sent to him.

An interesting letter, showing the inside operations and difficulties involved in getting quality troops to the Western frontier.