Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume 2, Part 26

Author: Dyson, Howard F., 1870- History of Schuyler County. 4n
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1126

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were mustered out on May 28, by Lieut. Robt. Anderson. afterwards General Anderson of Fort Sumter fame. Meanwhile Governor Reynolds had issued his call (with that of 1831 the third,) for 2,000 men to serve during the war. Gen. Winfield Scott was also ordered from the East with 1,000 regulars although, owing to cholera breaking out among the troops, they did not arrive in time to take part in the campaign. The rank and file of volunteers responding under the new call was 3,148, with recruits and regulars then in Illinois making an army of 4,000. Pend- ing the arrival of the troops under the new call, and to meet an immediate emergency, 300 men were enlisted from the disbanded rangers for a period of twenty days, and organized into a regiment under command of Col. Jacob Fry, with James D. Henry as Lieutenant Colonel and John Thomas as Major. Among those who en- listed as privates in this regiment were Brig .- Gen. Whiteside and Capt. Abraham Lincoln. A regiment of five companies, numbering 195 men, from Putnam County under command of Col. John Strawn, and another of eight companies from Vermilion County under Col. Isaac R. Moore, were organized and assigned to guard duty for a period of twenty days.

The new volunteers were rendezvoused at Fort Wilbourn, nearly opposite Peru, June 15, and organized into three brigades, each consisting of three regiments and a spy battalion. The First Brigade (915 strong) was placed under command of Brig .- Gen. Alexander Posey. the Second under Gen. Milton K. Alexander, and the third under Gen. James D. Henry. Others who served as officers in some of these several organizations, and afterwards became prominent in State his- tory, were Lieut .- Col. Gurdon S. Hubbard of the Vermilion County regiment ; Jolin A. McClern- and, on the staff of General Posey; Maj. John Dement ; then State Treasurer : Stinson II. Ander- son, afterwards Lieutenant-Governor: Lient .- Gov. Zadoc Casey; Maj., William MelIenry; Sidney Breese (afterwards Judge of the State Supreme Court and United States Senator): W. L. D. Ewing (as Major of a spy battalion. after- wards United States Senator and State Auditor) ; Alexander W. Jenkins (afterwards Lieutenant- Governor): James W. Semple (afterwards United States Senator) ; and William Weatherford (after- wards a Colonel in the Mexican War), and many more. Of the Ilinois troops, Posey's brigade was assigned to the duty of dispersing the Indians between Galena and Rock River, Alexander's sent to intercept Black Hawk up the Rock River,

while Ileury's remained with Gen. Atkinson at Dixon. During the next two weeks engage- ments of a more or less serious character were had on the Pecatonica on the southern border of the present State of Wisconsin; at Apple River Fort fourteen miles east of Galena, which was successfully defended against a force under Black Ilawk himself. and at Kellogg's Grove the next day (June 25), when the same band ambuslied Maj. Dement's spy battalion, and cams near in- flicting a defeat, which was prevented by Dement's coolness and the timely arrival of re- inforcements. In the latter engagement the whites lost five killed besides 47 horses which had been tethered outside their lines, the loss of the Indians being sixteen killed. Skirmishes also occurred with varying results, at Plum River Fort, Burr Oak Grove, Sinsiniwa and Blue Mounds -- the last two within the present State of Wisconsin.

Believing the bulk of the Indians to be camped in the vicinity of Lake Koshkonong. General Atkinson left Dixon June 27 with a combined force of regulars and volunteers numbering 2,600 men-the volunteers being under the command of General Henry. They reached the outlet of the Lake July 2, but found no Indians, being joined two days later by General Alexander's brigade, and on the 6th by Gen. Posey's. From here the com- mands of Generals Henry and Alexander were sent for supplies to Fort Winnebago, at the Port- age of the Wisconsin; Colonel Ewing, with the Second Regiment of Posey's brigade descending Rock River to Dixon, Posey with the remainder, going to Fort Hamilton for the protection of settlers in the lead-mining region, while Atkin- son, advancing with the regulars up Lake Koshko- nong, began the erection of temporary fortifica- tions on Bark River near the site of the present village of Fort Atkinson. At Fort Winnebago Alexander and Henry obtained evidence of the actual location of Black Hawk's camp through Pierre Poquette, a half-breed scout and trader in the employ of the American Fur Company, whom they employed with a number of Winne. bagos to act as guides. From this point Alex- ander's command returned to General Atkinson's headquarters, carrying with them twelve day's provisions for the main army, while General Henry's(600strong), with Major Dodge's battalion numbering 150, with an equal quantity of supplies for themselves, started under the guidance of Poquette and his Winnebago aids to find Black Hawk's camp. Arriving on the 18th at the Winnebago village on Rock River where Black

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Hawk and his band had been located, their camp was found deserted, the Winnebagos insisting that they had gone to Cranberry ( now Horicon) Lake, a half-day's march up the river. Messen- gers were immediately dispatched to Atkinson's headquarters, thirty-five miles distant, to ap- prise him of this fact. When they had proceeded about half the distance, they struck a broad, fresh trail, which proved to be that of Black Hawk's band headed westward toward the Mis- sissippi. The guide having deserted them in order to warn his tribesmen that further dis- sombling to deceive. the whites as to the whereabouts of the Sacs was use- less, the messengers were compelled to follow him to General Henry's camp. The discovery pro- duced the wildest enthusiasm among the volun- teers, and from this time-events followed in rapid succession. Leaving as far as possible all incum- brances behind, the pursuit of the fu nives was begun without delay, the troops wading through swamps sometimes in water to their armpits. Soon evidence of the character of the flight the Indians were making, in the shape of exhausted horses, blankets, and camp equipage cast aside along the trail, began to appear, and straggling bands of Winnebagos, who had now begun to desert Black Hawk, gave information that the Indians were only a few miles in advance. On the evening of the 20th of July Henry's forces encamped at "The Four Lakes," the present site of the city of Madison, Wis., Black Hawk's force lying in ambush the same night seven or eight miles distant. During the next afternoon the rear-guard of the Indians under Neapope was overtaken and skirmishing continued until the bluff's of the Wisconsin were reached. Black Hawk's avowed object was to protect the passage of the main body of his people across the stream. The loss of the Indians in these skirmishes has been estimated at 40 to 68, while Black Hawk claimed that it was only six killed, the loss of the whites being one killed and eight wounded. During the night Black Hawk succeeded in placing a considerable number of the women and children and old men on a raft and in canoes obtained from the Winnebagos, and sent them . down the river, believing that, as non-combat- ants, they would be permitted by the regulars to pass Fort Crawford, at the mouth of the Wis- consin, undisturbed. In this he was mistaken. A force sent from the fort under Colonel Ritner to intercept them, fired mercilessly upon the help- less fugitives, killing fifteen of their number, while about fifty were drowned and thirty-two

women and children made prisoners. The re- mainder, escaping into the woods, with few ex- ceptions died from starvation and exposure, or were massacred by their enemies, the Menomi- nees, acting under white officers. During the night after the battle of Wisconsin Heights, a loud, shirill voice of some one speaking in an un- known tongue was heard in the direction where Black Hawk's band was supposed to be. This . caused something of a panic in Henry's camp, as it was supposed to come from some one giving orders for an attack. It was afterwards learned that the speaker was Neapope speaking in the Winnebago language in the hope that he might be heard by Poquette and the Winnebago guides. He was describing the helpless condition of his people, claiming that the war had been forced upon them, that their women and children were starving, and that, if permitted peacefully to re- cross the Mississippi, they would give no further trouble. Unfortunately Poquette and the other guides had left for Fort Winnebago, so that no one was there to translate Neapope's appeal and it failed of its object.

General Henry'sforce having discovered that the Indians had escaped-Black Hawk heading with the bulk of his warriors towards the Mississippi- spent the next and day night on the field, but on the following day (July 23) started to meet General Atkinson, who had, in the meantime, been noti- fied of the pursuit. The head of their columns met at Blue Mounds, the same evening, a com- plete junction between the regulars and the volunteers being effected at Helena, a de-erted village on the Wisconsin. Here by using the logs of the deserted cabins for rafts, the army crossed the river on the 27th and the 28th and the pursuit of black Hawk's fugitive band was re- newed. Evidence of their finishing condition was found in the trees stripped of bark for food. the carcasses of dead ponies, with here and there the dead body of an Indian.

On August 1, Black Hawk's depleted and famish- ing band reached the Mississippi two miles below the mouth of the Bad Ax, an insignificant stream, and immediately began trying to cross the river: but having only two or three canoes. the work was slow. About the middle of the afternoon the steam transport, " Warrior, " ap- peared on the scene, having on board a score of regulars and volunteers, returning from a visit to the village of the Sioux Chief, Wabasha. to notify him that his offl enemies, the Sacs, were headed in that direction, Black Hawk raised the white flag in token of surrender but the officer

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in command claiming that he feared treachery or an ambush, demanded that Black Hawk should come on board. This he was unable to do, as he had no canoe. After waiting a few minutes a murderous fire of canister and musketry was opened from the steamer on the few Indians on shore, who made such feeble resistance as they were able. The result was the killing of one white man and twenty-three Indians. After this exploit the "Warrior " proceeded to Prairie du Chien, twelve or fifteen miles listant, for fuel. During the night a few more of the Indians crossed the river, but Black Hawk, seeing the hopelessness of further resistance, accompanied by the Prophet, and taking with him a party of ten warriors and thirty-five squaws and children, fled in the direction of "the dells" of the Wis- consin. On the morning of the 2d General Atkinson arrived within four or five miles of the Sac position. Disposing his forces with the regulars and Colonel Dodge's rangers in the center. the brig- ades of Posey and Alexander on the right and Henry's on the left, he began the pursuit, but was drawn by the Indian decoys up the river from the place where the main body of the Indians were trying to cross the stream. This had the effect of leaving General Henry in the rear practically without orders, but it became the means of making his command the prime factors in the climax which followed. Some of the spies attached to Henry's command having accidental- ly discovered the trail of the main body of the fu- gitives. he began the pursuit without waiting for orders and soon found himself engaged with some 300 satages, a force nearly equal to his own. It was here that the only thing like a regular battle occurred. The savages fought with the fury of despair, while Henry's force was no doubt nerved to greater deeds of courage by the insult which they conceived had been put upon them by Gen- eral Atkinson. Atkinson, hearing the battle in progress and discovering that he was being led off on a false scent, soon joined Henry's force with his main army, and the steamer " Warrior," arriving from Prairie du Chien, opened a fire of canister upon the pent-up Indians. The battle soon degenerated into a massacre. In the course of the three hours through which it lasted. it ises- timated that 150 Indians were killed by fire from the troops, an equal number of both sexes and all ages drowned while attempting to eross the river or by being driven into it, while about 50 (chiefly women and children) were made prison- ers. The loss of the whites was 20 killed and 13 wounded When the " battle" was nearing its

close it is said that Black Hawk, having repented the abandonment of his people, returved within sight of the battle-ground, but seeing the slaugh- ter in progress which he was powerless to avert, he turned and, with a howl of rage and horror, fled into the forest. About '300 Indians (mostly non- combatants) succeeded in crossing the river in a condition of exhaustion from hunger and fatigue. but these were set upon by the Sioux under Chief Wabasha, through the suggestion and agency of General Atkinson, and nearly one-half their min- ber exterminated. Of the remainder many died from wounds and exhaustion, while still others perished while attempting to reach Keokuk's band who had refused to join in Black Hawk's desper- ate venture. Of one thousand who crossed to the east side of the river with Black Hawk in April, it is estimated that not more than 150 survived the tragic events of the next four months.

General Scott, having arrived at Prairie du Chien early in August, assumed command and, on August 15, mustered out the volunteers at Dixon. Ill. After witnessing the bloody climax at the Bad Axe of his ill-starred invasion, Black Hawk fled to the dells of the Wisconsin, where he and the Prophet surrendered themselves to the Win. nebagos, by whom they were delivered to the Indian Agent at Prairie du Chien. Having been taken to Fort Armstrong on September 21. he there signed a treaty of peace. Later he was taken to Jefferson Barracks (near St. Louis) in the custody of Jefferson Davis. then a Lieutenant in the regular army, where he was held a captive during the following winter. The connection of Davis with the Black Hawk War, mentioned by many historians. seems to have been confined to this act. In April, 1833, with the Prophet and Neapope, he was taken to Washington and then to Fortress Monroe, where they were detained as prisoners of war until June 4. when they were released. Black Hawk, after being taken to many principal cities in order to impress him with the strength of the American nation. was brought to Fort Armstrong, and there committed to the guardianship of his rival, Keokuk, but survived this humiliation only a few years, dying on a small reservation set apart for him in Davis County, lowa, October 3, 1$38.

Such is the story of the Black Hawk War. the most notable struggle with the aborigines in Illi- nois history. At its beginning both the State and national authorities were grossly misled by an exaggerated estimate of the strength of Black Hawk's force as to numbers and his plans for recovering the site of his old village, while

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Black Hawk had conceived a low estimate of the numbers and courage of his white enemies, es- pecially after the Stillman defeat. The cost of the war to the State and nation in money has been estimated at $2.000,000. and in sacrifice of life on both sides at not less than 1.200. The loss of life by the troops in irregular skirmishes, and in massacres of settlers by the Indians, aggregated about 250, while an equal number of regulars perished from a visitation of cholera at the various stations within the district affected by the war, especially at Detroit, Chicago. Fort Armstrong and Galena. Yet it is the judgment of later historians that nearly all this sacrifice of life and treasure might have been avoided, but for a series of blunders due to the blind or un- scrupulous policy of officials or interloping squat- ters upon lands which the Indians had occupied under the treaty of 1804. A conspicious blunder- to call it by no harsher name -- was the violation by Stillman's command of the rules of civilized warfare in the attack made upon Black Hawk's messengers, sent under flag of truce to request a conference to settle terms under which he might return to the west side of the Mississippi-an act which resulted in a humiliating and disgraceful defeat for its authors and proved the first step in actual war. Another misfortune was the failure to understand Neapope's appeal for peace and permission for his people to pass beyond the Mississippi the night after the battle of Wisconsin Heights; and the third and most inexcusable blunder of all, was the refusal of the officer in command of the " Warrior " to respect Black Hawk's flag of truce and request for a conference just before the bloody massacre which has gone into history under the name of the " battle of the Bad Axe." Either of these events, properly availed of, would have prevented much of the butchery of that bloody episode which has left a stain upon the page of history, although this statement implies no disposition to detract from the patriotism and courage of some of the leading actors upon whom the responsibility was placed of protecting the frontier settler from outrage and massacre. One of the features of the war was the bitter jealousy engendered by the unwise policy pursued by General Atkinson towards some of the volun- teers-especially the treatment of General James D. Henry, who, although subjected to repeated slights and insults, is regarded by Governor Ford and others as the real hero of the war. Too brave a soldier to shirk any responsibility and too modest to exploit his own deeds, he felt

deeply the studied purpose of his superior to ignore him in the conduct of the campaign-a purpose which, as in the affair at the Bad Axe. was defeated by accident or by General Henry's soklierly sagacity and attention to duty, although he gave out to the public no utterance of com- plaint. Broken in health by the hardships and exposures of the campaign, he went South soon after the war and died of consumption, unknown and almost alone, in the city of New Orleans, less two years later.

Aside from contemporaneous newspaper ae- counts, monographs, and manuscripts on file in public libraries relating to this epoch in State history, the most comprehensive records of the Black Hawk War are to be found in the " Life of Black Hawk," dictated by himself (1834) ; Wake- field's " History of the War between the United States and the Sac and Fox Nations" (1834): Drake's " Life of Black Hawk " (1854); Ford's "History of Illinois " (1854); Reynolds' " Pio- neer History of Illinois; and " My Own Times": Davidson & Stuve's and Moses' Histories of Illi- nois; Blanchard's " The Northwest and Chicago": Armstrong's " The Sauks and the Black Hawk War," and Reuben G. Thwaite's "Story of the Black Hawk War " (1992. )

CHICAGO HEIGHTS, a village in the southern part of Cook County, twenty-eight miles south of the central part of Chicago, on the Chicago & Eastern Illinois, the Elgin. Joliet & Eastern and the Michigan Central Railroads; is located in an agricultural region, but has some manufactures as well as good schools-also has one newspaper. Population (1900), 5,100.

GRANITE, a city of Madison County, located five miles north of St. Louis on the lines of the Burlington; the Chicago & Alton: Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis; Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis (Illinois), and the Wabash Railways. It is adjacent to the Merchants' Terminal Bridge across the Mississippi and has considerable manu- facturing and grain-storage business; has two newspapers. Population (1900), 3, 122.

HARLEM, a village of Provi-o Township, Cook County, and suburb of Chicago, on the line of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, nine miles west of the terminal station at Chicago. Harlem originally embraced the village of Oak Park, now a part of the city of Chicago, but, in 1884, was set off and incorporatel as a village. Consideraole manufacturing is done here. Population (1900). 4,085.

HARVEY, a city of Cook County, and an im- portant manufacturing suburb of the city of Chi-

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cago, three miles southwest of the southern city limits. It is on the line of the Illinois Central and the Chicago & Grand Trunk Railways, and has extensive manufactures of harvesting. street and steam railway machinery, gasoline stoves, enameled ware, etc. ; also has one newspaper and ample school facilities. Population (1900), 5,395.

IOWA CENTRAL RAILWAY, a railway line having its principal termini at Peoria, Ill., and Manly Junction, nine miles north of Mason City, Iowa, with several lateral branches making con- nections with Centerville, Newton, State Center, Story City. Algona and Northwood in the latter State. The total length of line owned, leased and operated by the Company, officially reported in 1899, was 508.98 miles, of which 89.76 miles- including 3.5 miles trackage facilities on the Peoria & Pekin Union between lowa Junction and Peoria-were in Illinois. The Illinois divi- sion extends from Keithsburg-where it enters the State at the crossing of the Mississippi-to Peoria .-- (HISTORY.) The Iowa Central Railway Company was originally chartered as the Central Railroad Company of Iowa and the road com- pleted in October, 1971. In 1873 it passed into the hands of a receiver and, on June 4, 1879. was reorganized under the name of the Central Iowa Railway Company. In May, 1883, this company purchased the Peoria & Farmington Railroad, which was incorporated into the main line, but defaulted and passed into the hands of a receiver December 1, 186; the line was sold under fore- closure in 1987 and 1888, to the lowa Central Railway Company, which had effected a new organization on the basis of $11.000,000 common stock, $6,000,000 preferred stock and $1,379,625 temporary debt certificates convertible into pre- ferred stock, and $1,500.000 first mortgage bonds. The transaction was completed, the receiver dis- charged and the road turned over to the new company, May 15. 1859 .- ( FINANCIAL). The total capitalization of the road in 1899 was $21.337.558. of which $14, 159.150 was in stock, 86.650,095 in bonds and $528, 253 in other forms of indebtedness. The total earnings and income of the line in Illi- nois for the same year were $532,568, and the ex- penditures $566.333.

SPARTA. a city of Randolph County, situated on the Centralia & Chester and the Mobile & Ohio Railroads, twenty miles northwest of Ches- ter and fifty miles southeast of St. Louis. It has

a number of manufacturing establishments, in- cluding plow factories, a woolen mill, a cannery and creameries: also has natural gas. The first settler was James McClurken, from South Caro- lina, who settled here in 1818. He was joined by James Armour a few years later, who bought land of McClurken, and together they laid out a village, which first received the name of Co- lumbus. About the same time Robert G. Shan- non, who had been conducting a mercantile busi- ness in the vicinity, located in the town and became the first Postmaster. In 1839 the name of the town was changed to Sparta. Mr. McCluir- ken, its earliest settler, appears to have been a man of considerable enterprise, as he is credited with having built the first cotton gin in this vi- cinity, besides still later, erecting saw and flour mills and a woolen mill. Sparta was incorporated as a village in 1837 and in 1859 as a city. A col- ony of members of the Reformed Presbyterian Church (Covenanters or "Seceders") established at Eden, a beautiful site about a mile from Sparta, about 1922. cut an important figure in the history of the latter place, as it became the means of attracting here an industrious and thriving population. At a later period it became one of the most important stations of the "Under- ground Railroad" (so called) in Illinois (which see). The population of Sparta (1890) was 1,929: (1900), 2,011.

TOLUCA. a city of Marshall County situated on the line of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, 18 miles sonthwest of Streator. It is in the center of a rich agricultural district: has the usual church and educational facilities of cities of its rank. and two newspapers. Population (1900). 2.629.

WEST HAMMOND. a village situated in the northeast corner of Thornton Township. Cook County, adjacent to Hammond, Ind .. from which it is separated by the Indiana State line. It is on the Michigan Central Railroad, one mile south of the Chicago City limits, and has convenient ac- cess to several other lines, including the Chicago & Erie; New York, Chicago & St. Louis, and Western Indiana Railroads. Like its Indiana neighbor, it is a manufacturing center of much importance, was incorporated as a village in 1×92, and has grown rapidly within the last few years, having a population, according to the cen- sus of 1900, of 2,935.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume 2, Part 26

Author: Dyson, Howard F., 1870- History of Schuyler County. 4n Publication date: 1908 Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1126

Author: Dyson, Howard F., 1870- History of Schuyler County. 4n
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1126