USA > Wisconsin > Grant County > History of Grant County Wisconsin, including its civil, political, geological, mineralogical archaeological and military history > Part 24
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The clay of which the circular mound was constructed was some- what different from that in the effigy mound. About eighteen inches of the upper part of the circular mound was a sandy clay, which was easily removed with the shovel. All below this consisted of a very compact clay, containing only a little sand, so hard that it was with difficulty removed with a pick. There was not the slightest indica- tion that this was a burial made after the mound was constructed.
Southeast quarter of Section 19, west half of Section 20, southwest quarter of Section 17, southeast quarter of Section 18, all in Town 6, Range 6 (Wyalusing). All these localities appear to be links of one grand chain of mounds. This chain may be said to begin near the residence of the late Robert Glenn, not far from the line between Sec- tions 19 and 30. The first seen are the four round ones in the orchard near the house. They are apart from the rest, there being quite a dis- tance between them and the first long one, and they are the only cir- cular ones. Proceeding along the crest of the ridge for about half a mile, a mound is found, following which is a row of twenty round mounds, each about twenty-five feet in diameter, five or six feet high, and about twenty-five feet apart. They are in straight lines, conform- ing to the crest of the ridge. The north-and-south row of eleven mounds, when viewed from the south end, presents a peculiarly strik- ing appearance. At the northern end of this row of mounds the ridge turns abruptly to the west, and a change in the mounds also takes place. No more round mounds are to be found, but more animal structures, of which may be observed the following peculiar arrange- ment : As all the effigies south of the circular mounds are headed away from them, so also those at the north end are headed away from them in a western direction.
Proceeding westward along the ridge a mound is seen. The ani-
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mal represented by it appears to have a short tail and horns, and is probably some species of deer. It is one of the few effigy mounds in which we can trace the resemblance to some particular kind of animal. Its feet are turned toward the south, a direction opposite to all the others. Two hundred feet west of this is the only long mound in the whole procession. At a long distance from this, at the extreme end of the ridge, are two more mounds.
On the Derby farm, Section 30, Town 6, Range 6, there is a mound, and a group of mounds on the southeast quarter of Section 31, of the same town, and two groups on N. W. Kendall's place in Section 32, same town. Also a group of long and effigy mounds on the bluff in Section 23, of the same town.
A group or groups of mounds are situated on the northeast quar- ter of Section 17, Town 5, Range 5, on the bottom of the Mississippi River. They are from tweuty to fifty feet in diameter and from fiveto fifteen feet high. They are on a low, sandy ridge a few feet higher than the adjacent land. They are built in straight lines of three or four mounds each, the lines making angles with each other, to con- form to the higher parts of the ground. The mounds appear to be built of a sandy loam, but this is not certain, as no excavations have been made in most of them.
In two or three mounds near the southern end of the group, exca- vations, apparently of a recent date, were found. These were shallow holes about eighteen inches deep in the tops of the mounds. In each one a large quantity of human bones and teeth had been exhumed. They were still lying about the summits of the mounds and some of them were collected by the explorers. The bones were firm and solid and the teeth sound, having the crowns much worn. This good state of preservation, in contrast to that of the bones of the other mounds, together with the circumstance of their being found so near the sur- face, indicates that they were not the bones of the original Mound- builders, but rather those of intrusive burials of a more recent age, Unfortunately no skulls, except some small fragments, were found, which might have assisted in determining the race of the buried persons.
About a quarter of a mile southeast of the locality just mentioned, and on the southeast quarter of Section 17, Town 5, Range 6, are numerous mounds, arranged in rows parallel to the river and to each other. They are in cultivated fields and are nearly obliterated.
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Continuing down the valley to the southeast quarter of Section 21, in the same town, we find a group in which the three kinds of mounds are well represented. They are near a slough not more than eight feet above high water, the southern ones not more than three feet. The long and the round mounds are separate from each other. There are two quite singular effigies. The central one of the group represents a bird with the wings spread, in the act of flying, the head toward the south. The wings measure ninety-four feet each way, from the middle of the body to their ends, and the tail is sixty-five feet long. It is quite a well-formed effigy, and is different from the other bird mounds in having an angle in the wings.
At the northern end of this group is a very interesting effigy mound, which was described by Jared Warner in the Smithsonian Report for 1872, page 416. It is called the "Elephant Mound," and the resemblance to an elephant or mastodon is much more perfect than in the case of most effigy mounds. Mr. Warner says :
"There are on each side of the mound, some fifteen or twenty rods distant, sandy, grassy ridges some fifteen feet higher than the land about the mound. The mound is therefore in a shallow valley, sloping gently to the Mississippi River, and only about eight feet above high water. Its total length is 135 feet ; from fore feet to back, sixty-six feet ; width across fore legs, twenty-one feet ; across hind legs, twenty-four feet; from end of proboscis to neck or throat, thirty-one feet; space between fore and hind legs, fifty-one feet; from end of proboscis to forelegs, thirty-nine feet; across the body, thirty-six feet ; general hight of the body above the surrounding ground, five feet. The head is large and the proportions so symmetrical that the mound well deserves the name of Big Elephant Mound."
This mound, in common with all the rest of the group, has been under cultivation, and on account of its size, special efforts have been made with plows and scrapers to bring it to the level of the adjacent fields. Its size alone has prevented this. These efforts have resulted in diminishing its hight, increasing its width and general circumference, and rendering its outline somewhat indistinct, so that it was difficult to make exact measurements.
A line of earthworks is found three miles north of Cassville village and several mounds on the Dewey farm.
There are three animal mounds a short distance below Cassville in Section 17, near the river bank. There are several effigy mounds
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in the vicinity. One of them seems intended to represent a lizard, another a bird with extended wings, and the third is uncertain, but, like the first, has a round head, a peculiarity not found in any other figure. The mounds are very well defined and are some of the best preserved effigies seen.
South half of Section 30, northwest quarter of Section 31, and northwest quarter of Section 32, Town 3, Range 4 (Waterloo). , This is a long, high ridge having its general direction a little south of east. Upon it is the most extensive representation and fullest develop- ment of the mound system anywhere observed. Circular, straight, and effigy mounds, extend along the crest of the ridge for a distance of nearly two miles in uninterrupted succession. The mounds were so extensive and numerous that Mr. Strong's time did not permit him to make even the most general survey of any of the effigies. One of them is a perfectly symmetrical cross, the opposite parts correspond- ing exactly in length. It is difficult to conceive what its object could have been, or of what it is symbolical. Another, from its long tail, slender body, and small head, may have been designed to represent one of some feline species. A third and fourth exhibit quite a remarkable formation in the extremities of the limbs. Civilization has not yet encroached on this locality, except to a slight extent at the eastern end, which is beginning to be cultivated. Most of the earthworks are doubtless in the condition in which they were left at the time of their desertion by their builders, except erosion by weather.
CONCLUSIONS.
From observations of the mounds at all the foregoing localities, the following conclusions in regard to their distribution are arrived at:
1. The circular mounds are often found in one locality, and the long mounds in another; or, if both kinds are found in the same group, they are usually separated.
2. When the number of mounds does not exceed five or six, they are usually all of one kind.
3. The effigy mounds are never found without either the long or the circular mounds, and usually with both.
4. All the mounds appear to have been made by scraping up the surface soil, either from the ground immediately adjacent, or from a neighboring hill. In no place was any appearance of excavation seen.
During the Champlain Period [see page 205] the valley of the
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Mississippi underwent a depression of at least fifty feet, during which period it was filled with a stratified drift, of which occasional patches still remain along the sides of the bluffs. To this there succeeded a period of elevation in which most of the valley drift was removed. The situation of some of the mounds so near the present high-water marks shows that they were not built until after the completion of the last elevatory movement, which probably took place within a recent period.
The mounds themselves record that order and law must have prevailed to some extent among the race that built them, but afford no clew to the time in which they lived.
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PART IV.
MILITARY HISTORY.
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CHAPTER I.
OLD WARS.
War of 1812-The Winnebago War-The Black Hawk War-The Mexican War.
THE WAR OF 1812.
As the region which is now Grant County had no settlers during this war, there is little to be said about it in a history of the county. One episode of some importance occurred almost on the border of the county at Prairie du Chien. At the beginning of the war the United States had a small force of regulars at Prairie du Chien, and to this was added 135 Missouri volunteers sent up in the spring of 1814. A fortification called Fort Shelby was erected. Most of the volunteers remained on two armed boats. The British commander in the West sent from Mackinaw a large force composed principally of French and half-breed traders and trappers, and four hundred Sioux and Winne- bago Indians, under the command of Lieut .- Colonel William McKay. This force had a brass six-pounder. Arriving at Prairie du Chien, the fire of the six-pounder drove off the boats with the volunteers, and the greatly superior force of the British laid siege to Fort Shelby. After a resistance of four days, the garrison surrendered, on being allowed to retire unmolested down the river. The surrender occurred on the morning of July 21.
The British held the post, which they called Fort McKay, during the rest of the war. Some months after the treaty of peace, they evac- uated the fort, delivering it to their Indian allies, instead of to the United States forces, as they ought to have done.
Of course, no American then an inhabitant of our county took part in the war; but quite a number who afterward became citizens of the county were soldiers in the war. Among them we may note John H. Baker and William Grant, of Beetown. One of them was a drummer and the other a fifer, and together they furnished martial music for many a Fourth of July celebration in Beetown. Also, there
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were Seth Maker, of Beetown; Robert Lumpkin, of Bloomington; Jo- seph G. Rogers and David Smith, of Fennimore; Caleb Smith, of Har- rison; Edward P. Coombs, of Hurricane; Benjamin Finn, of Patch Grove; and John Whitcher, of Lima, who served in the Eleventh Ver- mont, on the Canadian border.
THE WINNEBAGO WAR.
In March, 1827, a settler named Methode and his wife, living about twelve miles above Prairie du Chien, were murdered, it was be- lieved by Winnebago Indians. The garrison at Fort Crawford had been removed in the fall of 1826, and the Winnebagoes showed an ugly disposition during the winter. It was falsely reported that the mili- tary authorities at Fort Snelling had turned over two Winnebago pris- oners to the Chippewas for torture and killing, and in revenge the prin- cipal chief, Red Bird, before esteemed friendly to the whites, with two companions, on the 26th of June, went to Prairie du Chien and shot and killed Solomon Lightcap and Rijiste Gagnier. On the same day a party of Winnebagoes fired upon two keel-boats descending the Mis- sissippi, near the mouth of Bad Ax River, killing and wounding sev- eral men.
These events caused intense excitement in the surrounding region. There were then small settlements at Platteville and Hardscrabble, and a few miners at Beetown. They all quickly sought fortified places- Soldiers were brought down from Fort Snelling and up from St. Louis to Prairie du Chien. Meanwhile the miners in the lead mines organized a company of one hundred men, well mounted and armed, and chose Col. Henry Dodge as their commander. A part of this force went to Prairie du Chien and the rest to English Prairie (Muscoda) and from these points proceeded up the Wisconsin River, scouring the country on both sides of the river, driving every Indian before them. A force of regulars from Green Bay, accompanied by sixty-two friendly Oneida and Stockbridge Indians, moved westward to near the portage of the Wisconsin, to cut off the retreat of Red Bird and his band. Regular troops also came up the Wisconsin to the aid of Dodge's company of volunteers. Red Bird and his band were now hemmed in; no course was open to them except surrender or extermination. They preferred surrender to the force of Major Whistler from Green Bay. One day a force of thirty Indians was observed approaching, bearing three flags -two were the stars and stripes and the one in the middle was a white one borne by Red Bird. He came on, singing his death song, and with
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his two companions in the murder at Prairie du Chien, was formally delivered up to Major Whistler by the distinguished chief Carimaunee.
Red Bird fully expected death and expressed his willingness to meet it. He soon afterward died in prison, and his two accomplices, Wekau and Chichonsic, were tried and convicted of murder by the United States Court and sentenced by Judge Doty to be hung, but were par- doned by President Adams.
The prompt action of the volunteer miners and the regular forces prevented a general outbreak of the Winnebagoes, aided by the Potta- watomies, who were allied with them, and the war was almost with- out bloodshed after the murder at Prairie du Chien.
There were very few white men in Grant County during this war, and the only inhabitants of the county taking part in it whose names can now be learned were Page Blake, of Patch Grove, John Dempsey, of Fennimore, Willis St. John, of Potosi, and John B. Turley, of Beetown.
THE BLACK HAWK WAR.
As has been stated on page 11, Black Hawk and his band of Sauks never consented to the treaties of 1804, 1815, and 1816, by which the Sauks and Foxes ceded the region of the lead mines. He and his band of about three hundred warriors made a raid from the western side of the Mississippi in 1831 and drove out the settlers about Rock Island from lands upon which he claimed they were encroaching; but upon the approach of a large force of regulars from St. Louis, the Sauks retreated across the river. Black Hawk and his warriors entered into a treaty to remain forever west of the Mississippi.
In violation of this treaty, Black Hawk and his warriors again crossed the Mississippi, in the spring of 1832, near Rock Island. This was at a considerable distance from the lead mines, but an alliance be- tween the Sauks and the Winnebagoes was feared, and in May Col. Henry Dodge assembled a company of fifty volunteers, commanded by Captains James H. Gentry, and John H. Rountree, who proceeded to the Four Lakes (the present site of Madison) and held a council with the Winnebagoes, whom the Indian Agent Gratiot had induced to as- semble there. Colonel Dodge made a speech to the Indians and they promised to be faithful to their treaties, but their intentions, or at least, inclinations, were still suspected.
Governor Reynolds ordered out the militia of Illinois, and 1,800 men were organized into four regiments and a spy battalion, all under the
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command of General Whiteside. Major Stillman with a considerable force marched up Rock River, and meeting the Indians on the 14th of May, suffered a disgraceful defeat with a loss of eleven killed and three wounded.
On the 8th of May Colonel Dodge, with a force of twenty-seven men, started on an expedition toward Rock River to reconnoiter the movements of Black Hawk. Near the field of Stillman's defeat he was met by a messenger from Governor Reynolds, informing him of the de- feat, and Dodge and his force immediately returned home.
The inhabitants of the lead mines were now thoroughly aroused and alarmed. Scattered parties of Sauks were known to be scouting through the regiou, ready to waylay and massacre any defenseless set- lers. Forts, block-houses, and stockades were erected by the people at many points in what is now Iowa and Lafayette Counties, and at Cassville, Platteville, Wingville, and on Blockhouse Branch, a few miles from Platteville. Into these defenses the settlers and their fam- ilies removed.
Many persons throughout the Lead Region were killed by Black Hawk's scouting parties. On the 21st of May a party of about sev- enty Indians attacked a party of fifteen whites at the house of Mr. Da- vis on Indian Creek, near Ottawa, Illinois, and killed and scalped them all except two young women named Hall, who were taken prisoners and afterward surrendered at the Blue Mounds, through the agency of the Winnebagoes, instigated by a reward of $2,000 offered by General Atkinson for their restoration.
On the 7th of June, Colonel Dodge with his force of Michigan Ter- ritory volunteers (the Wisconsin lead mines were then in Michigan), and Captain Stephenson's company of Galena volunteers, marched from Fort Union (Dodgeville) to the head of Apple River, Illinois, bury- ing on their way the bodies of St. Vrain, Fowler, Hale, and Hawley, who had been killed by the Sauks near Buffalo Grove (now Polo Sta- tion, Illinois). From this point Stephenson's company returned to Galena and Dodge and his volunteers went south to Dixon. From there Dodge, with an escort of twenty-five men, went to the rapids of the Illinois (now Ottawa) to see General Atkinson and get a plan of the campaign. His whole command then returned to Gratiot's Grove, in what is now Lafayette County, and from there they were distrib- uted to several fortified posts.
On the 14th of June the Sauks killed four out of five men who were
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working in a corn-field near the Pecatonica River, in the present town of Wayne, Lafayette County, and on the morning of the 16th endeav- ored to surprise Fort Hamilton, where Captain Gentry'scompany was stationed. Colonel Dodge was just then coming up with a force off mounted men, and the Indians retreated. Colonel Dodge and his lit- tle party hotly pursued the Indians and overtook them on the bottom of the Pecatonica River. A desperate fight ensued in which the whole party of thirteen Indians were killed, the whites losing three killed- Black, Morris, and Wells-and one, Thomas Jenkins, was wounded. The attacking numbered thirty-one.
Several other fights with scattered bands occurred during the month of June, but by the first of July all these little bands had been driven in upon the main body on Rock River and the final campaign opened. General Posey, with a brigade of Illinois militia, marched from Dixon to Fort Hamilton (now in Lafayette County), where he was joined by Colonel Dodge with his whole command. This force, forming the left wing of the army, marched to the first of the Four Lakes. Here General Alexander's brigade took the place of General Posey's brigade in the left wing. After some marching and countermarching, the whole left wing and General Henry's brigade went to Fort Winnebago for supplies. At this point they learned through the Winnebago interpre- ter Pauquette that Black Hawk and his force were encamped at the rapids of Rock River (now Hutisford, Illinois), and General Henry and Colonel Dodge determined to go there, while General. Alexander with the supplies rejoined General Atkinson.
Henry's and Dodge's forces reached Black Hawk's camp only to learn that it had been abandoned several days before. However, a fresh trail was found a few miles down the river, bearing toward the Wisconsin River, and the pursuers set out on this trail and followed it rapidly. On the second night the pursuing force encamped near the mouth of Catfish Creek, on Third Lake. The scouts scared up many Sauk stragglers, and it was discovered that the main body were en- camped near the present site of Madison.
In the morning pursuit was renewed and a straggling Sauk was killed. By five o'clock in the evening the bluffs of the Wisconsin were reached, and Black Hawk and his band, with their women and chil- dren, were discovered preparing to cross the river.
The advance of the army was in command of Colonels Dodge and Ewing, with Captain Joseph Dickson's spy company in front as scouts.
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The advance dismounted and moved upon the Indians, and a sharp fight ensued. General Henry's brigade came up and deployed on the right and left of Dodge's force, and the Sauks were driven back until darkness came on and they escaped in the tall grass. The whites, who overwhelmingly outnumbered the Indians, lost one killed and eight wounded, while the enemy left sixty-eight dead on the field and had many wounded, a large part of them mortally.
After this battle Colonel Dodge's force returned to their respective posts for fresh horses and supplies, and reassembled in a few days at Helena, where they were joined by a force of regulars under General Atkinson, who had marched from Prairie du Chien. The combined forces crossed the Wisconsin River and recommenced the pursuit. On the second of August they came up with the Sauks near the mouth of Bad Ax River, forty miles above Prairie du Chien. A steamboat, the Warrior, armed with a six-pounder, had been sent up the river to pre- vent the escapc of the Indians by crossing the river. The Sauks were thus hemmed in by overwhelming numbers, and their forces, fearfully thinned by the battle of the Wisconsin Hights, fell aneasy prey. There was an indiscriminate massacre of braves, squaws, and children. Some surrendered and a few escaped among the tall grass and brush, among them Black Hawk, who took refuge among his former friends, the Winnebagoes, who, however, were little inclined to befriend him in his sore need, but brought him to Prairie du Chien and on the 27th of August delivered him a prisoner to General Street, the Indian Agent.
Thus ended this short war in which a small force of Indians created a great deal of panic and killed a good many whites before a sufficient force could be brought to bear against them. The enormous force which finally operated against the little band of two or three hundred Sauks, seems hardly credible at this day. Besides several companies of regulars and bands of Sioux and Menominee Indians, there were at least two thousand Illinois militia and four or five companies of volunteers from the lead mines of Michigan Ter- ritory ; and these few companies did most of the fighting and killed most the Indians. Alone they would have had a force about equal to Black Hawk's.
The roster of the volunteers in this war who were at the time, or since became, inhabitants of what is now Grant County, cannot be obtained with any completeness. No rolls were ever furnished to the Adjutant General of Michigan Territory, and none are now in
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that office or the office of the Adjutant General of Wisconsin. The War Department has informed the editor that the rolls of Captain Price's company at Cassville and Captain Dickson's Spy Company are not in that department, nor does it appear that they are in existence. The rolls of the Illinois militia are complete, and though they contain the names of many men who afterward became citizens of Grant County, it is impossible to say who all of them were. Major Rountree preserved the roll of his company and it is as follows :
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