The History of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc., a biographical directory of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion history of the Northwest, history of Illinois Constitution of the United States, Part 26

Author: Kett, H.F., & co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Chicago : H.F. Kett & co.
Number of Pages: 878

USA > Illinois > Jo Daviess County > The History of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc., a biographical directory of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion history of the Northwest, history of Illinois Constitution of the United States > Part 26

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THE WINNEBAGO WAR.

The year 1827 is memorable in the history of Jo Daviess County as being the period of the first serious troubles with their Indian neighbors, experienced by the settlers, dignified now by the title of the " Winnebago War." All the territory north of the Ordinance line of 1787 was in the undisputed possession of the Indians, except the reservations at the north of the Wisconsin and on Fever River, and. the mining district in Jo Daviess County and Michigan Territory, outside these reservations, was occupied largely by the Winnebagoes. Early in 1827, miners, settlers and adven- turers flocked hither in great numbers, and inevitably extended their explor- ations for mineral beyond the "Ridge," recognized as the line of the " five leagues square," although it does not now appear that the limits of the res- ervation were ever accurately determined. Many rich leads were discovered on Indian lands, and miners persisted in digging there, in direct disobedi- ence of the orders of the superintendent of the United States Lead Mines to desist and withdraw from lands on which the United States were not authorized to even explore for mineral. In exceptional instances the right to mine was purchased of the Indians, but in most cases the restless search- ers for mineral wealth totally disregarded the orders of the superintendent and the rights of the Indians, who, according to the acts of the trespassers " had no right which a white man was bound to respect." Frequent dis- putes occurred in consequence between the miners and the Indians. Mr. . Shull, who had discovered a fine lead and had erected a shanty near it, was

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driven off, and his cabin destroyed by the Winnebagoes, who, owning the land, did no more, and perhaps not as much, as whites would have done under similar circumstances, to protect and preserve their rights and prop- erty. The dissatisfaction and ill feeling engendered by these encroachments upon their territory was, perhaps, a minor cause of the outbreak, but had no other cause operated to further exasperate the Indians, the difficulties might, and probably would, have been amicably adjusted without bloodshed.

About this time, and while these disputes between the miners and Indians were occurring, two keel-boats, belonging to the contractor to fur- nish supplies for the troops at Fort Snelling, while on their way up the river stopped at a point not far above Prairie du Chien, where were encamped a large number of Winnebago Indians. John Wakefield, Esq., in writing from memory an account of the war, if it can be called such (and it must be admitted now, writing in a spirit of bitter prejudice against the Indians, who had been peaceable and friendly with the settlers here, until provoked beyond endurance) says that these boats were run by "Capt. Allen Lindsey, a gentleman of the first respectability in our country," and that he was with his boats on this particular trip, but it is to be hoped that Wakefield was in error, for no "respectable gentleman " could have per- mitted men under his command to indulge in such fiendish excesses, not only endangering their own lives, but imperiling the safety of all the fron- tier settlements as well.

Reynolds says that after stopping at the Winnebago camp "the boatmen made tlie Indians drunk-and no doubt were so themselves-when they captured six or seven squaws, who were also drunk. These captured squaws were forced on the boats for corrupt and brutal purposes. But not satisfied with this outrage on female virtue the boatmen took the squaws with them in the boats to Fort Snelling." Another version given by Har- vey Mann, and others who were familiar with the events of that year, is that the boatmen and the Indians had a drunken frolic; that several squaws were kept on board the boats all night, and put ashore the next morning before any of the tribe had recovered from the effects of their " spree," and the boats continued on their voyage up the river. These accounts agree as to the inain fact that the boatmen committed a gross outrage upon the Indians, and provoked an attack.

When the duped and injured Winnebagoes had slept off the effects of their debauch and became sober enough to comprehend the outrage com- mitted upon their women, and the injury done them in " this delicate point," they were intensely exasperated, and resolved to wash ont the stain upon their honor in blood. What white people would not have done the same, under similar circumstances ? Runners were sent ont in all direc- tions summoning the warriors to the scene of action at once for an attack on the boats when they returned. A war party of the Winnebagoes went from Jo Daviess County, in the vicinity of Galena, to aid their northern brethren in avenging the insult they had received. Capt. D. S. Harris states that at this time a band of 15 or 20 of these Indians stopped at his father's house, on their way up the river and were very insolent. "Old Curley," a friendly Indian, had notified the family of the intended visit, and the younger mem- bers lad sought refuge in the neighboring cornfield, leaving only Smith and Scribe in the house with their mother. "The Indians," says Smith Harris, " were very insolent, as was not unusual for that tribe. They offered no . personal injury, for Stribe and I stood by our guns. They did attempt to

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take some articles of goods we had, but we told them if they didn't let things alone we should shoot, and they knew we meant it. They finally left without doing any harm, and we felt much relieved." This band went north, and, it is said, murdered a family near Prairie du Chien. Four Winnebago Chiefs called upon the Gratiots, at Gratiot's Grove, and informed them that on account of the action of the whites, they should be unable to restrain their young men from declaring war, and as they did not desire to harm the "Choteaus " (as the Indians always called the Gratiot family) they had come to tell them that they had better remove. But careful inquiry among those who were here during that year fails to develop any evidence that any outrages were committed by the Indians in the mining district at that time, either before or after the insult by those drunken keel-boatmen, and which the injured party intended to avenge upon the guilty parties themselves.

Wakefield says that some of the Indians "came aboard of Lindsey's boat on his way up and showed such signs of hostility that he was led to expect an attack on his return, and provided himself with a few fire arms so that in case of an attack by them he might be able to defend himself." Other accounts state that the boatmen anticipated an attack upon their return. Why, if they had done nothing to provoke an assault ? The Indians were peace- able, and even in the mines where they had reason to complain of the encroachments of the whites upon their territory they had done nothing more than to drive off the trespassers.

Of course the boatmen expected an attack on their return trip, for they knew they deserved it, and the dispassionate judgment of humanity, after the lapse of half a century concurs in that opinion. Knowing this, they attempted to 'run by the Winnebago Village on their return, in the night. The watchful, vengeful Winnebagoes, however, were not to be eluded. The boats were forced to approach near the shore in the narrow channel of the river at that point, and there, says Reynolds, " the infuriated savages assailed one boat and permitted the other to pass down" unmolested. The pre- sumption is that the boat assailed contained the offenders whom they wished to punish. Reynolds' account of the fight is as follows :-

The boatmen were not entirely prepared for the attack, although to some extent they were guarded against it. They had procured some arms, and were on the alert to some de- gree. The Indians laid down in their canoes and tried to paddle them to the boat; but the whites, seeing this, fired their muskets on them in the canoes. It was a desperate and furious fight, for a few minutes, between a good many Indians exposed in open canoes and only a few boatmen protected, to some extent, by their boat. One boatman, a sailor by pro- fession on the lakes and ocean, who had been in many battles with the British during the war of 1812, saved the boat and those of the crew who were not killed. This man was large and strong, and possessed the courage of an African lion. He seized a part of the setting pole of the boat, which was about four feet long and had on the end a piece of iron, which made the pole weighty and a powerful weapon in the hands of "Saucy Jack," as the cham- pion was called. It is stated that when the Indians attempted to board the boat, Jack would knock them back into the river as fast as they approached. The boat got fast on the ground, and the whites seemed doomed, but with great exertion, courage and hard fighting, the Indians were repelled. ("Jack," unmindful of the shower of bullets whistling about, seized a pole, pushed the boat into the current and it floated beyond the reach of the assail- ants.) The savages killed several white men and wounded many more, leaving barely cnough to navigate the boat. Thus commenced and thus ended the bloodshed of the Win- nebago War. No white man or Indian was killed before or after this naval engagement.

The arrival of these boats at Galena and the report of their narrow escape created great alarm, intensified by the arrival, the same day, of a party who had fled to Galena for safety, anticipating war, and by the warning given to the Gratiots. All mining operations ceased ;

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the miners and scattered settlers hurried to Galena for safety, built stock- ades aud blockhouses in their own neighborhoods, or left the country. A little fort was built at Elizabeth, another at Apple River, and still another in Michigan Territory. These forts, although not needed then, were after- wards found " very handy to have in the family."

Governor Edwards received information, on which he relied, that the Winnebago. Indians had attacked some keel-boats, that the settlers and miners on Fever River were in imminent danger of an attack from a band of the same and other Indians (although the facts, as reported to him and upon which he acted, have never been made public), and called out the Twentieth Regiment Illinois Militia, under Col. Thomas M. Neale, who were to rendezvous at Fort Clark (Peoria), "and march with all possible expedi- tion to the assistance of our fellow citizens at Galena." The brave citizens 'of Sangamon rallied to the rendezvous, and, with ten days' rations, marclied to Gratiot Grove, and-finding no hostile Indians there, disbanded and went home.

Gen. Lewis Cass, Governor of Michigan Territory, who had been appointed by the government to hold a treaty with the Lake Michigan Indians, at Green Bay, arrived there about this time, but, finding but few there and hearing that the Lake Indians had received war messages from the interior, hastened to communicate the startling intelligence to the military commander at St. Louis. He ascended Fox River from Green Bay, descended the Wisconsin and Mississippi, and in nine days arrived at St. Louis. It is said that "among the Winnebagoes he discovered warlike preparations, but his sudden and unexpected appearance among them in a birch canoe, of larger size than that used by ordinary traders, filled with armed men, with the U. S. flag flying, led the Indians to suspect that he was accompanied by a superior force. To this fact and the rapidity of his movements may be attributed his safety and the men under his command." A single birch bark canoe, with armed men enough in it to overcome thousands of hostile savages for hundreds of miles, must have been worth seeing.

On his way down, Gen. Cass stopped at Galena, where Gen. Henry Dodge and Gen. Whiteside had raised a company of volunteers, ready to march against the terrible foe. An eye witness of his arrival says that in the midst of the alarm then prevailing the excited people heard singing, and thought the Indians were coming, but soon their fears were allayed, for they saw, gliding gracefully up the river, around the point below the vil- lage, a large canoe flying the United States flag and containing an Ameri- can officer and six Canadians dressed in blue jackets and red sashes, with briglit feathers in their hats, who were singing the "Canadian Boat Song" as they bent over their oars, and with measured strokes sent it flying to the bank, when Gen. Cass stepped ashore amid the cheers of the assembled pop- ulation. " Armed men " were few and far between in that boat.

Immediately upon receipt of news from Governor Cass, General Atkinson marched with 600 men to the "seat of war," and formed a junction with the Galena Volunteers at Fort Winnebago. "Thus far they liad marched into the bowels of the land without impediment." During all this period of alarm, excitement and feverishi expectation of a descent of the hostile Indians upon the defenseless frontier settlements in the mining district, what were these Indians doing? They had had time enough to have swept the white settlers on Fever River out of the country,

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or out of existence, before the "imposing display of such a large number of troops in the heart of their country dampened their war spirit and induced them to surrender their chiefs," but it does not appear that they murdered a single settler or committed any serious depredations after they had punished the keel-boatmen who had so grossly insulted them.

Capt. D. S. Harris, who was a volunteer in the Galena company com- manded by Gen. Dodge, says: "We marched to Fort Winnebago, where Red Wing was brought in a prisoner, and that was the end of it." The Winnebagoes surrendered Red Wing and We-Kaw, the two chiefs who had led the attack upon the keel-boats, when Gen. Atkinson made the imposing military display in " the heart of their country." Red Wing was impris- oned at Prairie du Chien, where he was to be kept as a hostage for the good behavior of his nation, but his proud spirit was broken by confinement that he felt was unjust, and he soon died.

Thus ended the Winnebago War, which was really only an attack upon some keel-boatmen, provoked by the outrages upon the Indians by the boat- men themselves. There was no war elsewhere, but the prosperity of the mining region was temporarily checked by the alarm and consequent sus- pension of mining and business.

Whether, had the Indians succeeded in their attempt to murder the offending crew of the boat they attacked while they permitted the other to pass down the river unmolested, they would have entered upon the war path against all the white settlements in this region, must forever be a matter of conjecture, and while there were and are differences of opinion, the most of the survivors of that period of excitement coincide in the belief that had not the Indians been stung to fury by these drunken boatmen there would have been no trouble. The mineral lands could have been bought, as they were, subsequently, by treaty. If the government, when it demanded tlie surrender of Red Wing and kept him as a hostage, had arrested those boat- men and imprisoned them for life, both for the outrage they committed and for recklessly disturbing the peace, and destroying for a time the pros- perity of the frontier settlements, and causing so much damage to the inno- cent settlers, or had delivered them to the Indians to be kept as hostages for the good behavior of their class, it would have been only even-handed justice.

Soon after this disgraceful, and in some respects ludicrous, affair, a treaty was made with the Winnebagoes by which for twenty thousand dol- lars paid in goods and trinkets at fabulous prices, they were satisfied for the damages sustained by them in consequence of the trespasses on their lands, and relinquished a large tract of these lands to the miners.

THE BLACK HAWK WAR.

The great event of the year 1832 was the Black Hawk War. The reader is familiar with the general history of this war, but there are some incidents connected with it and some phases of it familiar to the survivors of the sturdy rank and file that participated in it, who had and still have their opinions relating to its causes and conduct, differing from most pub- lished accounts, that should be recorded. The war was commenced and most of the blood was spilt in what was then Jo Daviess County. Mostly confining this sketch to these events and to the causes of the war as received

Off Darausend

WARREN

THE LIDAANY OF TUE CHATOL ITY OF ILLINOIS

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from the lips of the survivors, it may appear that, like the Winnebago affair of 1827, the whites were not entirely guiltless.

In 1831, Black Hawk and his band had crossed to their old homes on . Rock River, but had negotiated a treaty and returned to the west side of the Mississippi, receiving liberal presents of goods and provisions from the Government, and promised never to return without the consent of the President of the United States or the Governor of Illinois. But on the 6th day of April, 1832, he again recrossed the Mississippi with his entire band and their woinen and children. The Galenian, edited by Dr. A. Philleo, of May 2, 1832, says that "Black Hawk was invited by the Prophet, and had taken possession of a tract about forty miles up Rock River, but that he did not remain there long, but commenced his march up Rock River." Capt. William B. Green, now of Chicago, but who served in Stephenson's Company of mounted rangers, says that " Black Hawk and his band crossed the river with no hostile intent, but to accept an invitation from Pittawak, a friendly chief, to come over and spend the Summer with his people on the head waters of the Illinois," and the movements of Black Hawk up Rock River before pursuit by the military, seems to confirm this statement. There seems to be no question of the fact that he came in consequence of an invi- tation from the Prophet or Pittawak, or both, as his people were in a starv- ing condition.

Others who agree with Green, that Black Hawk did not come to fight and had no idea of fighting, say that he had retired to the west side of the Mississippi the previous year under treaty, receiving a large quantity of corn and other provisions, but in the Spring his provisions were gone, his followers were starving, and he came back expecting to negotiate another treaty and get a new supply of provisions.

There is still another explanation that may enable the reader to har- monize the preceding statements and to understand why Black Hawk returned in 1832. It is well known that in nearly all the treaties ever made with the Indians, the Indian traders dictated the terms for their allies and customers, and, of course, received a large share of the annuities, etc., in payment for debts due to them. Each tribe had certain traders who supplied them. George Davenport had a trading post at Fort Armstrong. His customers were largely the Sacs and Foxes, and he was held in high esteem by them, in fact his word was their law. It is said that Black Hawk's band became indebted to him for a large amount and were unable to pay. They had not had good luck hunting during the Winter and he was likely to lose heavily. 'If Black Hawk, therefore, could be induced to come on this side of the river again and the people could be alarmed so that a military force could be sent in pursuit of him, another treaty could be made, lie might assist in making terms and get his pay out of the payments the government would make, and all would be well. Mr. Amos Farrar, who was Davenport's partner for some years, and who died in Galena during the war, is said to have declared, while on his death-bed, that the " Indians were not to be blamed, that if they had been let alone there would have been no trouble-that the band were owing Mr. Davenport and he wanted to get his pay and would, if another treaty had been made."

In a letter to Gen. Atkinson, dated April 13, 1832, Davenport says : " I have been informed that the British band of Sac Indians are determined to make war on the frontier settlements. * * From every informa- tion that I have received I am of the opinion that the intention of the

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British band of Sac Indians is to commit depredations on the inhabitants of the frontier."

Just such a letter as he or any other trader would have written to cause a pursuit, and consequent treaty. Black Hawk evidently understood the game. He was leisurely pursuing his way up Rock River, waiting for the first appearance of the military to display the white flag and negotiate as he had done the previous year.

Although Black Hawk's movement across the Mississippi, on the 6th of April, was at once construed into a hostile demonstration, and Daven- port skillfully cultivated the idea, he was accompanied by his old men, women and children. No Indian warriors ever went on the war path encum- bered in that way. More than this, it does not appear, from the sixth day of April until Stillman's drunken soldiers fired on his flag of truce, on the 12th of May, that a single settler was murdered, or suffered any material injury at the hands of Black Hawk or his band. In truth, Hon. H. S. Townsend, of Warren, states that in one instance, at least, where they took corn from a settler, they paid him for it. Capt. W. B. Green writes: "I never heard of Black Hawk's band, while passing up Rock River. commit- ting any depredation whatever, not even petty theft." Frederick Stahl, Esq., of Galena, states that he was informed by the veteran John Dixon, that " when Black Hawk's band passed his post, before the arrival of the troops, they were at his house. Ne-o-Pope had the young braves well in hand, and informed him that they intended to commit no depredations, and should not fight unless they were attacked."

Whatever his motive may have been, it is the unanimous testimony of the survivors, now residing on the old battle-fields of that day, that except the violation of treaty stipulations and an arrogance of manner natural to an Indian who wanted to make a new trade with the " Great Father," the Sacs under Black Hawk committed no serious acts of hostility, and intended none, until after the alternative of war or extermination was presented to them by Stillman's men.

· Certain it is that the people of Galena and of the mining district generally apprehended no serious trouble and made no preparations for war until Capt. Stephenson brought the news of Stillman's rout, on the 15th of May.

Some United States troops arrived at Galena from Prairie du Chien on the 1st of May, and about the same time Black Hawk commenced his march up Rock River, from the Prophet's Village, but there was no serious alarm among the inhabitants of the settled portions of Jo Daviess County, and the troops went to Rock Island (Fort Armstrong) on the 7th. About that time, J. W. Stephenson, John Foley and Mr. Atchison returned from a reconnoitering expedition, and reported that the Indians had "dispersed among the neighboring tribes." The Galenian of May 16th, printed before the tidings of Stillinan's fiasco had reached Galena, said: "It is already proved that they will not attempt to fight it out with us, as many have supposed. Will the temporary dispersion of Black Hawk's band among their neighbors cause our troops to be disbanded ?",

On Saturday, May 12, Gov. Reynolds was at Dixon Ferry, with about two thousand mounted riflemen, awaiting the arrival of Gen. Atkinson's forces from Fort Armstrong. A day or two previous, Major Isaiah Still- man, "with about four hundred well-mounted volunteers," says the Gale- nian, "commenced his march with a fixed determination to wage a war of

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extermination wherever he might find any part of the hostile band." Just before night, on the 12th of May, 1832, Stillman's forces encamped at White Rock Grove, in what is now Ogle County, about thirty-five miles from Dixon. He was in close proximity to Black Hawk's encampment but did not know it. Black Hawk was at that moment making arrangements to propose to treat for peace. Stillinan's men were well supplied with whisky. Some authorities state that they had with them a barrel of "fire water," and many of them were drunk. They were all eager to get sight of an Indian, and were determined not to be happy until each had the gory scalp of a Sac dangling at his belt. Extermination was their motto, although the game they hunted had committed no depredations.

Soon after, becoming aware of the immediate presence of an armed force, Black Hawk sent a small party of his braves to Stillman's camp with a flag of truce. On their approach, they were discovered by some of the men, who, without reporting to their commander, and without orders, hastily mounted and dashed down upon the approaching Indians. These, not understanding this sudden movement, and apparently suspicious, retreated towards the camp of their chief. The whites fired, killed two and captured two more, but the others escaped, still pursued by the reckless volunteers. When Black Hawk and his war chief, Ne-o-pope, saw them dashing down upon their camp, their flag of truce disregarded, and, believing that their overtures for peace had been rejected, they raised the terrible war-whoop and prepared for the fray.

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The History of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc., a biographical directory of its citizens, war record of its volunteers in the late rebellion history of the Northwest, history of Illinois Constitution of the United States, Part 26

Author: Kett, H.F., & co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Chicago : H.F. Kett & co. Number of Pages: 878

Author: Kett, H.F., & co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Chicago : H.F. Kett & co.
Number of Pages: 878