Passion In Prairie du Chien
From WisPolitics.com:
"I’ll be damned if another daughter of mine will marry into the army."
The concerned father who only wanted the best for his daughter, as quoted above, served as commander of Fort Crawford in Prairie du Chien. Colonel Zachary Taylor would later become the nation’s 12th president at a time when secession was heating up, but in 1833 his primary concern was for his daughter. On the other hand, Sarah Taylor only wanted to be with the love of her life, the young Lt. Jefferson Davis, destined to serve as the president of the Confederate States of America.
Small world, eh? And this poignant story, which began in Prairie du Chien, takes more twists and turns than a melodramatic made-for-TV movie.
Taylor, a career military man, served as fort commander from 1832-37. Davis was no slouch either, having graduated from West Point in 1828. Problem was, as daughters of a career military man living in a God forsaken wilderness outpost, the Taylor girls had two available options -- date a soldier, or don’t date at all. But their father had made one thing clear, according to official White House history, “Knowing the hardships of a military wife, Taylor opposed his daughters' marrying career soldiers.”
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