USA > Illinois > Marshall County > Records of the olden time; or, Fifty years on the prairies. Embracing sketches of the discovery, exploration and settlement of the country, the organization of the counties of Putnam and Marshall, biographies of citizens, portraits and illustrations > Part 12
USA > Illinois > Putnam County > Records of the olden time; or, Fifty years on the prairies. Embracing sketches of the discovery, exploration and settlement of the country, the organization of the counties of Putnam and Marshall, biographies of citizens, portraits and illustrations > Part 12
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RECORDS OF THE OLDEN TIME.
marking that he thought he was better able to perform a soldier's duty in the coming fight than he was.
"In the charge, Levin Leach encountered a warrior armed with a spear. Parrying the thrust of the Indian with his bayonet, he dropped his gun, sprang on him, wrenched his spear from him, and with it, ran him through the body."
About the beginning of the fight each man took a tree-Indian style. Thos. Jenkins, who was rather portly, got behind a small one, and when he saw an Indian aiming in his direction, drew himself up sideways as straight as possible. But the tree was too small to protect all parts of his body, and the Indian's bullet hit him in that portion of his anatomy where honor is supposed to abide. The slightest reference to being shot in the rear was always after sure to provoke his ire.
One of those who afterward died was struck in the head, inflict- ing a severe scalp wound, but by no means dangerous. There was no surgeon in the fort, and a long-legged, tow-headed young man, who had been studying medicine, took the case in hand, prescribing a strong poul- tice of white oak bark. He did not improve under the treatment, and Dr. Philleo was sent for from Galena, but when he came the man was past surgery. The Doctor said that any old woman could have cured him with a poultice of bread and milk, but the bark had completely tanned the patient's head. The new doctor afterward became a noted physician, but it is not probable he again prescribed white oak bark for a scalp wound.
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137
CAPTAIN STEPHENSON'S DESPERATE SKIRMISH.
CHAPTER XX.
A VIGOROUS CAMPAIGN INAUGURATED.
BOUT this time Capt. James W. Stephenson, of Galena, with a part of his company, pursued a party of Indians into a small, dense thicket in the prairie. He commenced . a severe fire upon them at random, within firing distance of the thicket, but the Indians having every advantage, succeeded in killing a few of his men, and he ordered a retreat. Neither he nor the men were willing to give up the fight, and they came to the desperate resolution of re- turning and charging into the thicket upon the Indians. The command to charge was given; the men obeyed with ardor and alacrity; the Captain himself led the way, but before they had penetrated into the thicket twenty steps, the Indians fired from their covert; the fire was instantly returned. The charge was made a second and third time, each time giving and receiv- · ing the fire of the enemy, until three more of his men lay dead on the ground, and he himself was severely wounded. It now became necessary to retreat, as he had from the first but a small part of his company along with him. This attack of Captain Stephenson was unsuccessful, and may have been imprudent; but it equalled anything in modern warfare in dar- ing and desperate courage.
The Indians had now shown themselves to be a courageous, active and enterprising enemy. They had scattered their war parties all over the North, from Chicago to Galena, and from the Illinois River into the Ter- ritory of Wisconsin; they occupied every grove, waylaid every road, hung around every settlement, and attacked every party of white men that attempted to penetrate the country. But their supremacy in the field was of short duration; for, on the 20th, 21st and 22d of June the new forces assembled on the Illinois River were put in motion by General Atkinson, of the regular army, who now assumed the command over the whole.
Major John Dement, with a battalion of spies attached to the First brigade, was sent forward in advance, while the main army was to follow
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RECORDS OF THE OLDEN TIME.
and concentrate at Dixon. Major Dement pushed forward across Rock River, and took position at Kellogg's Grove, in the heart of the Indian country.
Major Dement, hearing by express, on the 25th of June, that the trail of about five hundred Indians leading to the south, had been seen within five miles the day before, ordered his command to saddle their horses and remain in readiness, while he himself, with twenty men, started at daylight next morning to gain intelligence of their movements. His party had advanced about three hundred yards when they discovered · seven Indian spies; some of his men immediately made pursuit, but their commander, fearing an ambuscade, endeavored to call them back. In this manner he had proceeded about a mile; and being followed soon after by a number of his men from the camp, he formed about twenty- five of them into line on the prairie, to protect the retreat of those yet in pursuit. He had scarcely done this before he discovered three hundred Indians issuing from the grove to attack him. The Indians came up firing, hallooing and yelling to make themselves more terrific, after the Indian fashion; and the Major, seeing himself in great danger of being . surrounded by a superior force, slowly retired to his camp, closely pur- sued by the Indians.
- Here his party took possession of some log houses, which answered for a fort, and were vigorously attacked by the Indians for nearly an hour. There were brave soldiers in this battalion, among whom were Major Dement himself and Lieutenant Governor Casey, a private in the ranks, who kept up such an active fire upon their assailants, and with such good aim, that the Indians retreated with the certain loss of nine men left dead on the field, and probably five others carried away. The loss on the side of the whites was five killed and three wounded. Major Dement had previously sent an express to General Posey, who marched with his whole brigade at once to his relief, but did not arrive until two hours after the retreat of the Indians. General Posey removed next day a little to the north in search of the Indians, then marched back to Kellogg's Grove to await the arrival of his baggage-wagons; and then to Fort Hamilton, on the Pecatonica.
When the news of the battle at Kellogg's Grove reached Dixon, where all the volunteers and the regular forces were then assembled un- der command of General Atkinson, Alexander's brigade was ordered in the direction of Plum River,-a short stream with numerous branches,
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BLACK HAWK PURSUED NORTHWARD.
falling into the Mississippi thirty-five miles below Galena,-to intercept the Indians if they attempted in that direction to escape by re-crossing the river. General Atkinson remained with the infantry at Dixon two days, and then marched, accompanied by the brigade of General Henry, toward the country of the Four Lakes, farther up Rock River. Colonel Jacob Fry, with his regiment, was dispatched in advance by General Henry, to meet some friendly Indians of the Pottawatomie tribe, com- manded by Caldwell, a half-breed, and Shaubena, the war-chief of the nation.
General Atkinson having heard that Black Hawk had concentrated his forces at the Four Lakes and fortified his position, with the intention of deciding the fate of the war by a general battle, marched with as much haste as prudence would warrant when invading a hostile and wilderness country with undisciplined forces, where there was no means of procuring intelligence of the number or whereabouts of the enemy.
On the 30th of June he passed through the Turtle village, a consider- able town of the Winnebagoes, then deserted by its inhabitants, and en- camped one mile above it, in the open prairie near Rock River. He believed that the hostile Indians were in that immediate neighborhood, and prepared to resist their attack, if one should be made. That night the Indians were prowling about the encampment till morning. Con- tinual alarms were given by the sentinels, and the whole command was frequently paraded in order of battle. The march was continued next day, and nothing occurred until the army arrived at Lake Kuskanong, except the discovery of trails and Indian signs, the occasional sight of an Indian spy, and the usual abundance of false alarms amongst men but little accustomed to war. Here the army was joined by General Alexan- der's brigade; and after Major Ewing and Colonel Fry, with a battalion of the one and the regiment of the other, had thoroughly examined the whole country round about, and had ascertained that no enemy was near, the whole force again marched up Rock River on the east side, to the Burnt Village, another considerable town of the Winnebagoes, on the White Water River, where it was joined by the brigade of General Posey and a battalion of a hundred men from Wisconsin, commanded by Major (now General) Dodge.
During the march to this place the scouts had captured an old blind Indian of the hostile band, nearly famished with hunger, who had been left behind by his friends (for want of ability to travel), to fall into the
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RECORDS OF THE OLDEN TIME.
hands of his enemies or to perish by famine. Being, as he said, old, blind and helpless, he was never consulted or advised with by the Indians, and could give no account of the movements of his party except that they had gone further up the river. One historian of the war says that the army magnanimously concluded not to kill him, but to give him plenty to eat, and leave him behind to end his life in a pleasant way by eating him- self to death. The old man, however, was denied this melancholy satis- faction; for falling in the way of Posey's men as they were marching to the canıp, he was quickly despatched, even before he had satisfied his natural hunger. This barbarous action is an indelible stain upon the men of that brigade. At this place, also, Captain Dunn, at present a Judge in Wisconsin, acting as officer of the day of one of the regiments, was shot by a sentinel, and dangerously wounded.
Up to the time of reaching the Burnt Village, the progress of the com- mand had been slow and uncertain. The country was comparatively an unexplored wilderness of forest and prairie. None in the command had ever been through it. A few, who professed to know something of it, volunteered to act as guides, and succeeded in electing themselves to be military advisers to the commanding General. The members of the hos- tile party were unknown; and a few Winnebagoes who followed the camp, and whose fidelity was of a very doubtful character, were from necessity much listened to, but the intelligence received from them was always delusive. Short marches, frequent stoppages, and explorations always unsatisfactory, were the result, giving the enemy time to elude the pursuing forces, and every opportunity of ascertaining their probable movements and intentions.
The evening the army arrived at the Burnt Village, Captain Early, with his company of spies, returned from a scout and reported the main trail of the Indians, not two hours old, to be three miles beyond. It was determined to pursue rapidly next morning. At an early hour next day, before the troops were ready to march, two regular soldiers, fishing in the river one hundred and fifty yards from camp, were fired upon by two Indians from the opposite shore, and one of them dangerously wounded. A part of the volunteers were immediately marched up the river in the direction indicated by Captain Early, and Colonel Fry's regiment, with the regulars, were left behind to construct bridges and cross to the point from which the Indians had shot the regular soldier. A march of fifteen miles up and across the river (fordable above), proved Captain Early's
141
THE BAD LANDS OF WISCONSIN.
report to be incorrect. No trail was discoverable. On crossing the river, the troops entered upon the trembling lands, which are immense flats of turf, extending for miles in every direction, from six inches to a foot in thickness, resting upon water and beds of quicksand. A troop, or even a single horseman passing over, produced an undulating and quivering mo- tion of the land, from which it gets its name. Although the surface is quite dry, yet there is no difficulty in procuring plenty of water by cut- ting an opening through the stratum of turf. The horses would some- times, on the thinner portions, force a foot through, and fall to the shoulder or ham; yet so great is the tenacity of the upper surface, that in no in- stance was there any trouble in getting them out. In some places the weight of the earth forces a stream of water upward, which carrying with it and depositing large quantities of sand, forms a mound. The mound, increasing in weight as it enlarges, increases the pressure upon the water below, presenting the novel sight of a fountain in the prairie pouring its stream down the side of a mound, then to be absorbed by the sand and returned to the waters beneath.
Discovering no sign of an enemy in this direction, the detachment fell back to the Burnt Village, and the bridges not being yet completed, it was determined to throw over a small force on rafts the next day. The Win- nebagoes had assured the General that the shore beyond was a large island, and that the whole of Black Hawk's forces were fortified on it. In consequence of this information, Captain Early's company were crossed on rafts, followed and supported by two companies of regulars, under Captain Noel of the army, which last were formed in order across the island, while Captain Early proceeded to scour it, reporting afterward at headquarters that he had found the trail of a large body of Indians ; but Col. William S. Hamilton, having crossed the main river three miles below with a party of Menominies, reported the trail of the whole tribe on the main west shore, about ten days old, proceeding northiward; and it was afterward ascertained that no sign had been seen upon the island but that of the two Indians who had fired upon the regular soldiers.
Eight weeks had now been wasted in fruitless search for the enemy, and the commanding General seemed further from the attainment of his object than when the second requisition of troops was organized. At that time Posey and Alexander commanded each a thousand men, Henry took the field with twelve hundred and sixty-two, and the regular force under Colonel Taylor, now Major General, amounted to four hundred and fifty
142
RECORDS OF THE OLDEN TIME.
more. By this time the volunteer force was reduced nearly one-half. Many had entered the service for mere pastime, and a desire to partici- pate in the excellent fun of an Indian campaign, looked upon as a frolic ; and certainly but few volunteered with well-defined notions of the fatigues, delays and hardships of an Indian war in an unsettled and un- known country. The tedious marches, exposure to the weather, loss of horses, sickness, foreed submission to command, and disgust at the unex- pected hardships and privations of a soldier's life, produced rapid reduc- tions in the numbers of every regiment. The great distance from the base of operations ; the difficulties of transportation, either by water or land, making it impossible at any time to have more than twelve days' provisions beforehand, still further curtailed the power of the command- ing General. Such was the wastefulness of the volunteers, that they were frequently one or two days short of provisions before new supplies could be furnished.
At this time there were not more than four days' rations in the hands of the commissary; the enemy might be weeks in advance; the volun- teers were fast melting away, but the regular infantry had not lost a man. To counteract these difficulties, General Atkinson found it necessary to disperse his command, for the purpose of procuring supplies.
143
A NEW DISPOSITION OF THE FORCES.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE CAMPAIGN RESUMED.
CCORDING to previous arrangements, the several brigades took up their lines of march on the 10th of July, for their respective destinations. Colonel Ewing's regiment was sent back to Dixon as an escort for Captain Dunn, who was supposed to be mortally wounded; General Posey marched to Fort Hamilton, on the Pecatonica, as a guard to the frontier country. Henry, Alexander and Dodge, with their commands, were sent to Fort Winnebago, situate at the Portage between the Fox and the Wisconsin Rivers; while General Atkin- son himself fell back with the regular forces near to Lake Koshkonong, and erected a fort, which he called by the name of the lake. There he was to remain until the volunteer Generals could return with supplies. Henry and Alexander made Fort Winnebago in three days, Major Dodge having preceded them a few hours by a forced march, which so fatigued and crippled his horses that many of them were unable to continue the , campaign. Their route had been in a direct line, a distance of eighty miles, through a country which was remarkably swampy and difficult. On the night of the 12th of July a stanipede occurred among the horses. This is a general wild alarm, the whole body of them breaking loose from their fastenings, and coursing over the prairie at full speed. By this means a hundred or more of them were lost or destroyed in the swamps, or on a log causeway three miles in length, near the fort.
Two days were occupied at the fort in getting provisions ; on the last of which the Winnebago chiefs there reported that Black Hawk and his forces were encamped at the Manitou village, thirty-five miles above Gen- eral Atkinson, on Rock River. In a council held between Alexander, Henry and Dodge, it was determined to violate orders by marching directly to the enemy, with the hope of taking him by surprise, or at least putting lim between them and General Atkinson, thus cutting off his further retreat to the north. Twelve o'clock on the 15th was ap- pointed as the hour to march. General Henry proceeded at once to reor-
144
RECORDS OF THE OLDEN TIME.
ganize his brigade, with a view to disencumber himself of his sick and dismounted men, that as little as possible might impede the celerity of his march. General Alexander soon announced that his men were un- willing, and had refused to follow ; and Major Dodge reported his horses so much disabled by their late march that" he could not muster a force worth taking along. General Henry was justly indignant at the insubor- dination and defection of his companions in arms, and announced his pur- pose to march in pursuit of the enemy alone, if he could prevail upon but fifty men to follow him. But directly after this a company of mounted volunteers, under the command of Captain Craig, from Apple River and Galena, in Illinois, with fresh horses, arrived at Fort Winnebago to join Major Dodge's battalion, which now made his force of men and horses fit for service one hundred and twenty in the whole. General Henry's brig- ade, exclusive of Dodge's battalion, amounted to between five and six hundred men, but not more than four hundred and fifty had horses fit for service.
From this place General Henry took up his line of march on the 15th of July, accompanied by Poquette, a half-breed, and the "White Pawnee," a Winnebago chief, as guides, in quest in the Indians. On the route to the head waters of Rock River he was frequently thrown from a direct line by intervening swamps extending for miles. Many of them were crossed, but never without difficulty and loss of horses. After three days' hard marching, his forces encamped upon the beautiful stream of Rock River. This river is not exceeded by any other in natural beauty. Its waters are clear; its bottom and banks rocky or pebbly. The country on each side is either rolling, rich prairie, or hills crowned with forests free from undergrowth, and its current sweeps to the Mississippi, deep and bold. Here three Winnebagoes gave intelligence that Black Hawk was encamped at Cranberry Lake, further up the river. Relying upon this information, it was settled by General Henry to make a forced march in that direction the next morning. Doctor Merryman, of Springfield, and W. W. Woodbridge, of Wisconsin, were despatched as expresses to Gen- eral Atkinson. They were accompanied by a chief called Little Thunder, as guide; and having started about dark, and proceeded on their perilous route about eight miles to the south-west, they came upon the fresh main trail of the enemy, endeavoring to escape by way of the Four Lakes across the Wisconsin River.
At the sight of the trail the Indian guide was struck with terror, and
145
TREACHEROUS GUIDES-A FORCED MARCH.
without permission retreated back to the camp. Merriman and Wood- bridge returned also, but not until Little Thunder had announced his dis- covery in the Indian tongue to his countrymen, who were in the very act of making their escape when they were stopped by Maj. Murray Mc Con- nell, and taken to the tent of General Henry, to whom they confessed that they had come into camp only to give false information, and favor the retreat of the Indians; and then, to make amends for their perfidy, and perhaps, as they were led to believe, to avoid immediate death,, they disclosed all they knew of Black Hawk's movements. General Henry prudently kept the treachery of these Indians a secret from his men, for it would have taken all his influence and that of all his officers to save their lives if their perfidious conduct had been known throughout the camp.
The next morning (July 19) by daylight, everything was ready for a forced march, but first another express was despatched to General Atkin- son. All cumbrous baggage was thrown away. The tents and most of the camp equipage were left in a pile in the wilderness. Many of the men left their blankets and all their clothes except the suit they wore, and this was the case in every instance with those who had been so un- fortunate as to lose their horses. Such as these took their guns, ammuni- tion and provisions upon their backs, and traveled over mountain and plain, through swamp and thicket, and kept up with the men on horse- back. All the men now marched with a better spirit than usual. The sight of the broad, fresh trail inspired every one with a lively hope of bringing the war to a speedy end; and even the horses seemed to share somewhat in the general ardor. There was no murmuring, there was no excuse or complaining, and none on the sick report. The first day, in the afternoon, they were overtaken by one of those storms common on the prairies, black and terrific, accompanied by torrents of rain and the most fearful lightning and thunder; but the men dashed on through thickets almost impenetrable and swamps almost impassable, and that day marched upwards of fifty miles. During this day's march, General Henry, Major Mc Connell and others of the General's staff often dismounted and marched on foot, giving their horses to the footmen.
That night the storm raged till two o'clock in the morning. The men, exhausted with fatigue, threw themselves supperless upon the muddy earth, covered with water, for a little rest. The rain made it impossible to kindle a fire or to cook, so that both officers and men contented them-
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RECORDS OF THE OLDEN TIME.
selves with eating some raw meat and some of the wet flour which they carried in their sacks, and which was converted into a soft dough by the drenching rains. A similar repast served them next morning for break- fast. The horses had fared but little better than the men. The Govern- ment furnished nothing for them to eat, and they were obliged to subsist that night upon a scanty grazing, confined within the limits of the camp.
Next morning (July 20) the storm had abated, and all were on the march by daylight, and after a march as hard as that on the day before, the army encamped at night upon the banks of one of the four lakes form- ing the source of the Catfish River in Wisconsin, and near the place where the Indians had encamped the previous night. At this place the men were able to make fires and cook their suppers, and this they did with a hearty good will, having traveled about one hundred miles without tast- ing anything but raw food, and without having seen a spark of fire. That night they again laid upon the ground, many of them with nothing but the sky for a covering, and slept soundly and sweetly, like men upon their beds at home. All were in fine spirits and high expectation of overtak- ing the Indians next day, and putting an end to the war by a general bat- tle. The night did not pass, however, without an alarm. One of the sentinels posted near the bank of the lake fired upon an Indian gliding in his canoe slyly and steathily to the shore. Every man was aroused and under arms in an instant, but nothing followed to continue the alarm. A small black speck could be seen by aid of the star-light on the surface of the lake, but no enemy was visible.
This day's march was still harder than any which preceded it. The men on foot were forced into a run to keep up with the advancing horse- men. The men on horseback carried their arms and baggage for them by turns. .
Major William Lee D. Ewing (since a Major General) commanded the spy battalion, and with him was joined the battalion of Major Dodge, of Wisconsin. These two officers, with their commands, were in the ad- vance; but with all their ardor they were never able to get out of sight of the main body. General Henry, who remained with the main body, dis- patched Major McConnell with the advance guard, so as to get the earliest intelligence of any unusual occurrence in front. About noon of this day the advance guard was close upon the rear guard of the retreating enemy.
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