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WHO'S NEXT?
June, 2012
Month/Year

The board of the Mississippi River Sculpture Park would like to thank you for taking the trouble
to vote for your favorite statue by sending you an early announcement of the next person we've
chosen to honor, along with the sculptor's notes about the statue.
At this point, Aunt Mary Anne LaBuche is just a small clay maquette, but with your help she'll be
transformed, first into a miniature bronze, then into a life-sized statue who will join the five others
already in the Sculpture Park.

EARLY LOCAL HEALER
Aunt Mary Anne LaBuche
I first heard of Aunt Mary Ann LaBuche from a friend who suggested that she was significant
in the history of Prairie du Chien and this region. Her story is unique and different. As the first
physician, before medical doctors arrived in the community, she contributed to many people's
lives with her herbal and folk remedy healing. The most dramatic was the rescue and healing of
her granddaughter who, as a baby, was scalped and left for dead during the "Red Bird
Massacre".
In 1827, the Gagnier family was attacked by the native Red Bird and his cohorts who were
seeking revenge for tribal deaths. This happened just south of Prairie du Chien where Walmart
now has a parking lot. Mrs. Gagnier and her son escaped after her husband and a friend were
killed and her baby, Mary Louisa Gagnier, was scalped and left for dead. Aunt Mary Ann took
the baby, who was still alive, and applied a silver plate to the wound (silver is an antibiotic) and
nursed her tenderly with herbs and loving care. The baby lived to be 67 years old and always
wore a ribbon in her hair to cover her scar.
Aunt Mary Ann LaBuche, like many settlers in this area, was of mixed heritage, part French,
part Sioux, and part African American. While I was modeling the first image of her, which is
shown on our website, I emphasized her African heritage by the features on her face. Recently, I
met some of her descendents who have researched her life and showed me a photograph of Mary
Louisa Charrier (the baby in the story), taken when she was an adult. I am re-modeling the
features of the Aunt Mary Ann LaBuche to reflect a more accurate family portrait. It makes me
feel like I am participating in this amazing family history.

Florence Bird


Mississippi River Sculpture Park
608-326-0862
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Mississippi River Sculpture Park | 1702 E. Parrish St. | Prairie du Chien | WI | 53821