Post by Cliff Krainik on Aug 8, 2003 20:17:07 GMT -5
LOCKWOOD – Z. TAYLOR HOUSE at FORT CRAWFORD
Things are not always as they seem …
![]()
images.andale.com/f2/116/104/7566189/1062114366450_CDVpdcTAYLOR.jpg [/img]
Contained in the WISCONSIN TERRITORIAL – Krainik Collection is an original circa early 1860s carte de visite photograph with a printed caption that reads - “RESIDENCE OF GEN. ZACHARY TAYLOR, / While Superintending the Building of Fort Crawford, Prairie du Chien, / Wis. And from which Jeff Davis ran off with the General’s Daughter. / Photo by J. Carbutt, Chicago.”
The image is a wet-plate albumen photograph measuring approximately 2 1/2 by 4 inches. The imprint on the verso indicates that the photograph was issued by J. Carbutt [John Carbutt 1832-1905] located at 131 Lake Street, Chicago. According to Chicago City directories, Carbutt operated at the 131 Lake Street address from 1861 to 1866. In my opinion, the image is a contemporary photograph (1860s) “taken from nature” - not a copy of an earlier photographic image, ie. a daguerreotype.
In 1856 James Henry Lockwood, recounted his career as a fur trader, saw mill owner and land developer in Prairie du Chien in an article entitled, “Early Times and Events in Wisconsin” published in Volume II, Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, pp. 98-232.
In the narrative Lockwood tells of his building the first frame house in Prairie du Chien –
“During the summer of 1826, I built the first framed house that was erected in Prairie du Chien. I sent men to the Black River, and got the timber for the frame and the shingles, and had the plank and boards sawed by hand, and brought them down to the Prairie. But then I had no carpenter or joiner, there being none at Prairie du Chien. I went on board of a keel boat that had landed, and enquired if there was a carpenter and joiner on board, on which a ragged, dirty looking man said that he professed to be such, and having before seen quite as unprepossessing fellows turn out much better than appearances indicated, I agreed with him at $1.50 per day and board.
I built on the site near Fort Crawford, now occupied by what is called the commanding officer’s house.
My house was of the following description: a cellar-kitchen, 30 by 26 feet, with a frame on it of the same size, two stories high, with a wing 16 by 20, on the south side, one story, which I used for a retail store. There was a hall through the south end of the two story part, the whole length of the house, with stairs from the cellar-kitchen up into the hall, and stairs from the hall to the upper story. The north end of the house was divided—the front part about 14 by 16 feet, into a parlor or sitting room; a chimney in the center of the north end, and a bed-room in the back part about 14 feet square; a door leading from the hall to the bed-room, and one to the sitting-room, and a door by the side of the chimney from the bed-room to the sitting-room, and a door from the hall into the wing or store.
This house I afterwards sold to the Government, with the land on which the fort now stands. It was good enough for General Taylor and family while he commanded here; but as soon as General Brooke was in command, he got an appropriation from Congress to repair the house, and had it all torn down except a part of the cellar wall, and built the one which is there at present, at a cost of about $7,000.”
WHC Vol. II, pp. 156-157
Colonel Zachary Taylor was in command of Fort Crawford from July 18, 1829 to July 4, 1830 and again from August 5, 1832 to July 18, 1837.
Brev. Brig. General George M. Brooke, Fifth Infantry commanded Fort Crawford from July 18, 1837 to July [ ], 1837 and from July 1, 1838 to September 1, 1841. – Peter Scanlan, Prairie du Chien, 1937 pp. 246-247
So, according to James Lockwood “as soon as General Brooke was in command, he got an appropriation from Congress to repair the house, and had it all torn down except a part of the cellar wall, and built the one which is there at present, at a cost of about $7,000.”
As General Brooke commanded Fort Crawford from 1837 to 1841 and had a new commandant’s house constructed during his tour, it is almost certain that the photograph represent the new government-built commandant’s house and not the Lockwood / Zachary Taylor house. Photography was not introduced in America until 1839 - in all probability, too late to document the Lockwood / Zachary Taylor residence.
Does anyone know the fate of the “General Brooke” house?
Cliff Krainik
Things are not always as they seem …
Contained in the WISCONSIN TERRITORIAL – Krainik Collection is an original circa early 1860s carte de visite photograph with a printed caption that reads - “RESIDENCE OF GEN. ZACHARY TAYLOR, / While Superintending the Building of Fort Crawford, Prairie du Chien, / Wis. And from which Jeff Davis ran off with the General’s Daughter. / Photo by J. Carbutt, Chicago.”
The image is a wet-plate albumen photograph measuring approximately 2 1/2 by 4 inches. The imprint on the verso indicates that the photograph was issued by J. Carbutt [John Carbutt 1832-1905] located at 131 Lake Street, Chicago. According to Chicago City directories, Carbutt operated at the 131 Lake Street address from 1861 to 1866. In my opinion, the image is a contemporary photograph (1860s) “taken from nature” - not a copy of an earlier photographic image, ie. a daguerreotype.
In 1856 James Henry Lockwood, recounted his career as a fur trader, saw mill owner and land developer in Prairie du Chien in an article entitled, “Early Times and Events in Wisconsin” published in Volume II, Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, pp. 98-232.
In the narrative Lockwood tells of his building the first frame house in Prairie du Chien –
“During the summer of 1826, I built the first framed house that was erected in Prairie du Chien. I sent men to the Black River, and got the timber for the frame and the shingles, and had the plank and boards sawed by hand, and brought them down to the Prairie. But then I had no carpenter or joiner, there being none at Prairie du Chien. I went on board of a keel boat that had landed, and enquired if there was a carpenter and joiner on board, on which a ragged, dirty looking man said that he professed to be such, and having before seen quite as unprepossessing fellows turn out much better than appearances indicated, I agreed with him at $1.50 per day and board.
I built on the site near Fort Crawford, now occupied by what is called the commanding officer’s house.
My house was of the following description: a cellar-kitchen, 30 by 26 feet, with a frame on it of the same size, two stories high, with a wing 16 by 20, on the south side, one story, which I used for a retail store. There was a hall through the south end of the two story part, the whole length of the house, with stairs from the cellar-kitchen up into the hall, and stairs from the hall to the upper story. The north end of the house was divided—the front part about 14 by 16 feet, into a parlor or sitting room; a chimney in the center of the north end, and a bed-room in the back part about 14 feet square; a door leading from the hall to the bed-room, and one to the sitting-room, and a door by the side of the chimney from the bed-room to the sitting-room, and a door from the hall into the wing or store.
This house I afterwards sold to the Government, with the land on which the fort now stands. It was good enough for General Taylor and family while he commanded here; but as soon as General Brooke was in command, he got an appropriation from Congress to repair the house, and had it all torn down except a part of the cellar wall, and built the one which is there at present, at a cost of about $7,000.”
WHC Vol. II, pp. 156-157
Colonel Zachary Taylor was in command of Fort Crawford from July 18, 1829 to July 4, 1830 and again from August 5, 1832 to July 18, 1837.
Brev. Brig. General George M. Brooke, Fifth Infantry commanded Fort Crawford from July 18, 1837 to July [ ], 1837 and from July 1, 1838 to September 1, 1841. – Peter Scanlan, Prairie du Chien, 1937 pp. 246-247
So, according to James Lockwood “as soon as General Brooke was in command, he got an appropriation from Congress to repair the house, and had it all torn down except a part of the cellar wall, and built the one which is there at present, at a cost of about $7,000.”
As General Brooke commanded Fort Crawford from 1837 to 1841 and had a new commandant’s house constructed during his tour, it is almost certain that the photograph represent the new government-built commandant’s house and not the Lockwood / Zachary Taylor house. Photography was not introduced in America until 1839 - in all probability, too late to document the Lockwood / Zachary Taylor residence.
Does anyone know the fate of the “General Brooke” house?
Cliff Krainik
