History of Grant County, Wisconsin, Part 65

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 1044

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The army continued the march on the trail which followed around the south side of the upper lake. They had camped on the southwest side of the lake, and their cold camp-fires showed they had several hours' move of the soldiers. Hitherto the march had been conducted at a walking pace, and now it was altered to a quick trot. After passing over a distance of four miles, a solitary Indian was discovered ahead on the trail. Col. Dodge ordered ten men from Capt. Clark's detachment to advance and kill him. With cocked rifles, the detail advanced. Learning of their presence and his prospective fate, the Indian stoically retreated to a tree, where he steadied his rifle, and, after taking deliberate aim, fired. Clark's men replied with a volley, which they followed up with a bayonet charge. The Indian seized the nearest bayonet in his naked hands and attempted to wrest it from the soldier, whe, by a pow- erful effort threw the Indian, face down, on the ground. With great agility he recovered his position, and again seizing the bayonet. He was forced to release his grasp, and the weapon descended with such force as to penetrate through the body and pin it to the ground. The hapless Indian struggled to release himself, but the brutal volunteer sprang on the body, and, with merciless ferocity, extracted the bayonet and inflicted seven additional thrusts through the body. A parcel enveloped in the folds of an antiquated blanket composed a portion of the Indian's equipment, but no man had the temerity to investigate the contents, fearing contagion or vermin. . In the next fall, a hunter named Rowan visited the scene, and, prompted by curi osity, opened the package, which displayed to his astonished gaze the gold watch owned by Lieut. Force at the time of his death at Blue Mounds. The Indian's rifle had been charged with six rifle-balls, the entire number lodging in the thigh of a soldier named Isam Hardin. Two hours subsequently a view was had of thirty mounted Indians, about eighty rods to the left. One of Henry's regiments was detached to follow them, while the main body continued on the trail. This troep of mounted Indians were making in a southerly direction, while the others were continuing due west. Fearing a decoy, Henry's regiment was re-called, and the whole army descended into a valley opening toward the Wisconsin River. The march was con- tinued cautiously, the scouts maintaining a lead of thirty rods. As the army defiled down the valley, the width increased and the bank on the right dwindled in proportions until equalized with the surrounding surface. At this natural outlet, the alarm was communicated from the scouts, who shouted, "Here they come, thick as bees."

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HISTORY OF THE LEAD REGION.

Col. Dodge, in a cool tone, ordered his forces to "dismount and form line." The order was executed in a trice. The next command was, " Advance to the top of that eminence." From the elevated range a good view could be obtained. Here the scouts were retreating down the valley, vigorously applying whip and spurs, to escape a score of Indians in pursuit. Capt. Clark opened column to admit the passage of the scouts, and then, forming line, presented a solid front to the foe, which had approached within six rods. A volley was fired, and one Indian bit the dust. The Galena company, with a well-directed fire, demoralized the enemy, who fled in dismay to a safe position behind a ridge forty rods distant. Col. Dodge ordered his men not to expose themselves or to expend a single shot without a sure target. The only wounded was Capt. Parkinson, Second Lieutenant, who received a bullet in the thigh. An in- spection of arms followed, when the rifles were cleaned and priming renewed. Col. Dodge then ordered the charge, and the force advanced with eager rapidity, without encountering any obsta- cles. On arriving at the brow of the bluff, they were saluted by a volley, which passed over their heads. On the return fire six Indians fell, and the remainder retreated at the top of their speed. In the meantime, another party of Indians had outflanked Capt. Clark, who, by a well- directed charge, coupled with the skillful maneuvering of his company, averted a disaster and routed his opponents. They fled for a swamp of tall grass cane, which afforded them suitable shelter and covered their retreat to the opposite bank, where they emerged and disappeared in the woods. Owing to the late hour, it was deemed advisable to postpone the chase and recuper- ate for the night in camp. When another day was heralded in, the enemy had disappeared, having, during the night, beat a hasty retreat across the Wisconsin River, without removing their lodges. A short journey brought into sight Black Hawk's camp on the west side of the Wisconsin River, about half a mile off. His camp was much larger than the camp of the mili- tary, and in the struggle of the preceding day the whites must have been greatly outnumbered. It was then decided to return to Blue Mounds. To facilitate the transportation of the three wounded soldiers-Isam Hardin, Robert McGee and Enoch Nevill-litters were prepared from the materials of a tent presented by Maj. W. L. D. Ewing to Capt. Clark's company. The loss was one killed and eight wounded. The return journey to Blue Mounds was tedious, owing to general ignorance of the topography of the country. To gain a rest rendered necessary by a month of incessant toil, day and night, the miners removed to White Oak Springs. Here the first information of the battle of Bad Axe, which occurred Angust 22, was received. This pleasant news was rapidly succeeded by an invitation for an Indian treaty at Rock Island, where a general peace was concluded. The war being terminated, the different military divisions were discharged, with the exception of Capt. Clark's and Capt. Gentry's companies, which were held in reserve. When the treaty of Rock Island was concluded, the miners were notified of their dis- charge from the Federal service, the Government having no further need for their services. By an infamous arrangement of the commanding officer of the forces, Col. Dodge, the two mining compa- nies known respectively as Capt. Clark's and Capt. Gentry's men, were forced to assume the expenses of their own corps during the campaign. The sum of over $4,000 was accordingly deducted from the pay of the men by the Paymaster, acting under orders from Col. Dodge. Having been involved in war for five months, ending in the Fall of 1832, Lieut. (Magoon re- turned to commercial life, as, during his absence, his financial affairs had suffered. To add to his misfortunes, Robert Graham, his heaviest creditor, succumbed to the cholera, and the estate reverted to an administrator, who was inflexible in his demands. The years 1833, 1834 and 1835 were highly profitahle, and successful to such a degree that he speedily regained his inde- pendent rank in finance.

In 1836, Lieut. Magoon opened a large store of dry goods and groceries in the village of White Oak Springs. One mile east of the village, he long operated an ash furnace for smelting slag as well as mineral. His store in Monticello and his furnaces there he also operated at a remunerative profit. He sold out his store in White Oak Springs in 1837, closed his ash fur- nace, near by, in 1840, and closed his store and furnaces in Monticello in 1842. Continued to reside on his large farm in Monticello, which he adorned with extensive improvements till

(DECEASED) BOSCOBEL.

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HISTORY OF THE LEAD REGION.

1853, when he removed to Scales' Mound Township, Jo Daviess County, Ill., where he resided till his death, July 28, 1875, aged seventy-six.

Lieut. Richard H. Magoon, we here state, was a man of greatest energy and integrity in business ; repeatedly, from 1829 to 1836, rode on horseback from his furnaces in Wisconsin, four hundred miles, to St. Louis, through storm and cold, swimming rivers, the saddle at night his pillow, and often the sky his only covering. His grave is in the cemetery at Darlington. He had his faults, but, looking back upon his forty-seven years all crowded with business in the mines, he could have made the honest boast, that, although cast amid the license of a new coun- try, he never visited a gaming-table, never deserted a needy friend, never liked a negro, intensely despised the lazy, invincibly kept his word of honor bright, and his contracts to others always at par with gold.

STILLMAN'S DEFEAT-KINGSTON'S NARRATIVE.

Soon after the appearance of Gov. Reynolds' order calling for troops, a force of nearly two thousand men had been assembled near the mouth of Rock River. Included in this force was a regiment of about four hundred men under Col. Stillman. Between Stillman's force and the band of Black Hawk was fought the first battle of the Sauk war, which affair resulted most dis- astrously to the whites. Three or four days after the battle, Stillman and his men came into Ottawa, Ill., and a more sorry looking set could not have been found. From the various, and, in some instances, conflicting accounts, gathered from the men, it appears the following are about the facts with regard to the battle of the " Sycamores."

About the middle of the afternoon, on the day of the battle, the regiment had halted for the purpose of encamping for the night. Nearly all the horses had been picketed out, turned loose or otherwise disposed of. The men were lazily engaged about camp, some gathering wood, pitching tents, etc., and others drinking whisky, of which they had an abundance in camp, and to save time they knocked in the heads of the barrels containing it. But, suddenly, a great commotion arose ! Three Indians had made their appearance on the open prairie a short dis- tance in advance. The cry was now raised, "Every man draw his rations of Sauks." Then the rush commenced ; the first man to mount his horse and give chase was the best fellow ; pell- mell was the order of march. This order, or rather disorder, continued for some distance, prob- ably two or three miles. Two of the Indians were overtaken on the prairie and killed. At length, the rear of the army reached the Sycamore, a small stream on the outskirts of a grove of timber. Here they met the van in the same disgraceful order, in full retreat, and the whole body of Indians in hot pursuit. The whole direction of things had suddenly changed ; these men, who a few moments before were so anxious to pursue an enemy, were now more anxious to escape. Amid this confusion, Capt. Adams, with a company from Peoria, succeeded in crossing the creek, and took a position between the fugitives and the Indians. This position they held for some time against the whole force of the enemy, and no doubt saved the lives of many. This, however, was not accomplished without severe loss. Capt. Adams and about one-fourth of his men were left dead on the field.

There was no longer any uncertainty. The Indians separated their force into small bands, and numerous reports of sudden attacks and massacres, some true and others false, came in from various surrounding points.

The evening of the day previous to the arrival of Stillman and his men at Ottawa, the In- dian massacre occurred on Indian Creek, about fourteen miles distant from that place. It has been stated that all the whites present at the time of the massacre, except the two Misses Hall, taken prisoners, were killed. This statement is not correct. The first intelligence received at Ottawa of that event was brought in by a young man, a brother of the Misses Hall, who was present at the commencement of the attack, and who arrived at Ottawa about midnight ; but his mind was so much confused by the fright that he was unable to give any connected statement of the facts until the next day. From his statement, it appears that the wagons containing the furniture and effects of the families were not yet unladen when the Indians made the attack. In

436

HISTORY OF THE LEAD REGION.

the morning of the same day on which the occurrence transpired, the three families of Hall, Pettigrew and Davis, had, upon warning received from Shabbona, a Pottawotamie chief, that " The Sauks were coming," fled to Ottawa, the nearest settlement. Davis was not at home at the time ; but when he reached there a short time after the families had left, he followed them to Ottawa, where he arrived about the same time they reached that place. He at once declared his determination to take his family back home ; and most unfortunately, and against the unan- imous admonition of all the inhabitants, prevailed upon Hall and Pettigrew to accompany him with their families ; and they had only just arrived at Davis' house late in the afternoon, when the Indians came upon them. At the moment of the attack, Davis and young Hall were in the blacksmith-shop. Davis was fixing his gun, and, at the same time, had the barrel of the gun separate from the stock. When the alarm was given, he rushed out of the shop with the gun- barrel in his hands, and was immediately surrounded by the Indians. Young Hall ran to the creek, a few yards distant, jumped down the bank, and, taking the downward course of the stream, reached Ottawa the same night. The Misses Hall afterward said that Davis killed six Indians before he was finally overcome.

In the afternoon of the day following this massacre, a company of men from Ottawa, accom- panied by some of Stillman's command, went to the scene of the murder, and the accounts they gave, on their return, of the appearance in and around the house was horrible in the extreme. Even little infants were literally cut to pieces ; and this, too, was done in the immediate presence, and, doubtless, with the sanction of Black Hawk himself.

HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.

CHAPTER I.

LOCATION AND BOUNDARIES-THE NATURAL DRAINAGE-THE MOUND-BUILDERS-MOSES STRONG'S OBSERVATIONS ON THE PRE-HISTORIC MOUNDS OF GRANT COUNTY.

LOCATION AND BOUNDARIES.

This county is situated in the extreme southwest corner of the State, its boundaries being thus described : "Beginning at the southwest corner of this State (Wisconsin), running thence east on the boundary line of the State to the Fourth Principal Meridian ; thence north on said Meridian to the middle of the main channel of said Wisconsin River, to the mouth thereof; thence southerly on the boundary line of the State, in the middle of the main channel of the Mississippi River, to the place of beginning." The county is, therefore, bounded on the south by the State of Illinois, on the east by the counties of La Fayette and Iowa, on the north by the county of Crawford and a portion of Richland County, and on the west by the State of Iowa.

Grant County is, next to Dane, the largest of the older-settled counties of the State, and, in population, stands seventh on the list of counties. Its length in the longest part is some- what over forty-eight miles, while its width in the widest part is about thirty-six miles. This extreme length and width, however, is reached only in certain portions, as, upon its southern boundary line, the county is between eleven and twelve miles in width, while the western por- tion is but a trifle over seventeen miles in length, diminishing upon the extreme northwest por- tion, in the town of Wyalusing, to between six and seven miles. In fact, the configuration of Grant County conforms somewhat to the figure of an isosceles triangle, of which its eastern boundary line would form the base.

THE NATURAL DRAINAGE.

Grant County is divided, by an elongated elevation known as Military Ridge, into two drainage systems, those streams to the north flowing into the Wisconsin, while the southern streams empty into the Mississippi. This ridge, which divides the county, so to speak, into two unequal portions, starts from the Blue Mounds in Iowa County, and extends westward in an almost direct east and west line nearly to Prairie du Chien, a distance of about sixty miles. Along this water-shed was built the military road running from Fond du Lac to Prairie du Chien, and from which it takes the warlike appellation which it retains to this day. The dis- tance from the water-shed to the Wisconsin on the north is but from twelve to fifteen miles, and, as a consequence, the streams on this side are small and have a rapid descent. Another pecu- liarity of these streams is noticeable, namely, that the bluffs which skirt their shores are higher and more precipitous than those streams of a similar size on the southern side of the water-shed, owing, it would seem, to their rapid fall. Thus, the Blue River, near Wingville, on its very head-waters, has its valleys hemmed in by lofty walls of almost perpendicular rock, more than 100 feet in height. With the exception of this last-named river, all the streams in this section have their sources in the county. In none of these is the volume of water so great as formerly.

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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.

This diminution has, in rare instances, been so great as to necessitate the abandonment of mill sites, where, in early times, plenty of water was to be had. This is undoubtedly chargeable in part, if not wholly, to the gradual settlement of the country, by which means the ground has been transformed, in course of time, to a hard and compact mass, where formerly it was loose and spongy, forming numerous subterranean reservoirs for the constant replenishing of the brawling streamlets.

The Wisconsin .- This stream, into which empties all those streams that drain the north- ern portion of the county, and which itself is the most important of those that drain the elevated lands of the State, has a length, from its source to its mouth, of about 450 miles. It forms, with its valley, the main topographical feature of Central Wisconsin. Rising in Lac Vieux Desert, on the summit of the Archaan water-shed, at an elevation of 951 feet above Lake Michigan, it pursues a general course for 300 miles, over the crystalline rocks, and then, passing on to the sandstones which form its bed for the remainder of its course, continues to the southward some eighty miles more. Turning then westward, it reaches the Mississippi within forty miles of the south line of the State, at an elevation of only thirty feet above Lake Michi- gan, so that its fall from Lac Vieux Desert is 921 feet, an average of a fraction over two feet to the mile. Like all other streams which run to the south, southeast and southwest, from the crystalline rocks, it has its quite distinct upper or crystalline rock portion, and its lower or sandstone portion. This river, however, may be regarded as having three distinct sections, the first including all that part from the source to the last appearance of crystalline rocks in the bed of the stream, in the southern part of Wood County ; the second, that part from this point to the Dells, on the south line of Adams and Juneau Counties, and the third, that portion from the Dells to the mouth of the stream. The first of these divisions is broken constantly by rapids and falls, caused by the descent south of the Archan area, and by the obstructions produced by the combined ledges of rock which cross the stream. The second and third sections are alike in being almost entirely without rapids or falls, and in the nature of the red rock, but are sep- arated by the contracted gorge known as the Dells, which, acting in some sort as a dam, pre- vents any considerable rise in the river below, the water above not unfrequently rising as much as fifty feet in flood seasons, whilst below the extreme fluctuation does not exceed ten feet. The total length of the Archæan upper sandstone and lower sandstone sections of the river are respectively 250, 62 and 130 miles, the distance through the Dells being about seven and one- half miles.

The width of the river, where it enters Marathon County, is from 300 to 500 feet. In its course through Portage County, the Wisconsin flows through a densely-timbered country, and has, except where it makes rapids or passes through rock gorges on either side, a narrow bottom- land, which varies in width, is usually raised but a few feet above the water level, and is wider on one side than on the other. Above this bottom, terraces can be often made out, with sur- faces, in some cases, one or two miles in width. Above, again, the country surface rises steadily to the dividing ridges on either side, never showing the bluff edges, so characteristic of the lower reaches of the river. Heavy rapids and falls are made at Wausau (Big Bull Falls), at Mosinee (Little Bull Falls), at Stevens' Point and at Conant's Rapids ; all but the last named of these are increased in height by artificial dams. Two miles below the foot of Conant's Rapids, just after receiving the Plover River on the east, the Wisconsin turns a right angle to the west, and enters upon the sparsely-timbered sand plains, through which it flows for 100 miles. At the bend, the river is quiet, with high banks of sand and a few low outcrops of gneiss at the water's edge. From the bend, the course is westward about nine miles ; then, after curving south ward again, the long series of rapids soon begins, which, with intervening stretches of still water, ex- tend about fifteen miles along the river to the last rapid at Point Bass, in southern Wood County.

East of the river line, between Grand Rapids and Point Bass, the country rises gradually, reaching altitudes of 100 feet above the river, at points ten or fifteen miles distant. On the west, the surface is an almost level plain, descending gradually as the river is receded from. At

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HISTORY OF GRANT COUNTY.

Point Bass, gneissic rocks disappear beneath the sandstones, which, for some miles, have formed the upper portion of the river banks, and now become, in turn, the bed rock, and the first division of the river's course ends. The main tributaries which it has received, down to this point, are on the left bank-the Big Eau Claire, the Little Eau Claire and the Big Plover. On the right bank, the Placota or Big Rib, the She-she-ga-ma-isk or Big Eau Pleine, and the Little Eaa Pleine. All of these streams are of considerable size, and drain large areas. They all make much southing in their courses, so that their lengths are greater than the actual distances from the sources to the Wisconsin at the nearest point, and all of them have a very considerable descent, making many rapids and falls over the tilted edges of schistose and gneissic rocks, even down to within short distances of their junction with the main river. The streams on the west side head on the high country along the line of the Fourth Principal Meridian, about forty miles west of the Wisconsin, and at elevations of from 200 to 300 feet above their mouths. Those on the east head on the divide, between the Wisconsin and Wolf, about twenty miles east, at eleva- tions not very much less. Reaching back, as these streams do, into a country largely timbered with pine, and having so large a descent, they are of great value for logging and milling pur- poses.

The second section of the Wisconsin River begins at Point Bass, with a width of from seven hundred to nine hundred feet. The next sixty miles of its course, to the head of the Dells, is a southerly stretch with a wide bow to the westward, through sand plains here and there timbered with dwarf oaks, and interspersed with marshes. These plains stretch away to the east and west for twenty miles, from the river bottom gradually rising in both directions. Scattered over them at intervals of one to ten miles, are erosion peaks of sandstone, from fifty to three hundred feet in height, rising precipitously from the level ground. Some of these are near and on the bank of the river, which is also in some places bordered by low, mural expos- ures of the same sandstone. The river itself is constantly obstructed by shifting sand bars, resulting from the ancient disintegration of the sandstone, which, in the vicinity, everywhere forms the basement rock; but its course is not interrupted by rock-rapids. As it nears the northern line of Columbia County, the high ground that limits the sand plain on the west, curving southeastward, finally reaches the edge of the stream, which, by its southeastwardly course for the last twenty miles, has itself approached the high ground on the east. The two ridges thus closing in upon the river, have caused it to cut for itself the deep, narrow gorge known as the Dells.

In the second section of its course, the Wisconsin receives several important tributaries. Of those on the east, the principal ones are Duck Creek and Ten Mile Creek, in the southern part of Wood County ; and the little and big Roche-a-Cris Creeks, both in Adams County. The two former head in a large marsh twenty-five miles east of, and over one hundred feet above, the main stream. The two latter head on the high dividing ridge, on the west line of Waushara County, at elevations between one hundred and fifty and two hundred feet above their mouths. These streams do not pass through a timbered country, but have very valuable water-powers. Of those tributaries on the west, two are large and important, the Yellow and Lemonweir Rivers. Yellow River heads in the adjoining corners of Wood, Jackson and Clark Counties, and runs a general southerly course, nearly parallel to the Wisconsin for over seventy miles, the two gradually approaching and joining each other about the center of Juneau and Adams Counties. The upper portions of this river entend into the pine regions, and much logging is done in times of high-water. The water-powers are of great value. The Lemonweir is also a large stream. Heading in a timbered region, in the southeast corner of Jackson County, it flows southward for some distance through Monroe, and entering Juneau on the middle of its west side, crosses it in a southeastwardly direction, reaching the Wisconsin in the lower portion of the county.

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History of Grant County, Wisconsin, Part 65

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899 Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Co. Number of Pages: 1044

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 1044