USA > Wisconsin > Monroe County > History of Monroe County, Wisconsin, past and present : including an account of the cities, towns and villages of the county [microform] > Part 6
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY
bago informed the troops that Black Hawk was but two miles ahead and they pushed on with empty stomachs and wet clothes. By sunset July 20th, the second day. they reached the lakes, going into camp near the northeast extremity of Third lake. That same night Black Hawk was camped, strongly ambushed, seven or eight miles beyond, near the present village of Pheasant Branch.
At daybreak of the 21st the troops were up and after fording the Catfish river swept across the isthmus between Third and Fourth lakes in regular line of battle. Ewing scouts in front : the line of march was along Third lake shore to where Fauerbach's brewery now stands, thence due west to Fourth lake. the shores of which were skirted through the present site of the University. across the swamps and hills to the Pheasant branch, and then due northwest to the Wisconsin river: the advance was rapid. forty horses gave out during the day. When a horse dropped the trooper trudged on afoot, throwing away camp kettle and incumbrances. It was 3:00 o'clock in the afternoon before the enemy's rear guard, twenty braves under Neapope, was overtaken. Several skirmishes ensued but the weakness of Neapope's force being dis- covered they were easily dispersed by the white advance guard. At about 4:30 at a point about twenty-five miles northwest of the site of Madison, Neapope's band, reinforced by a score of braves under Black Hawk, made a bold stand to cover the flight of the main body down the bluffs and across the stream. The troops dis- mounted and advanced on foot. The savages made a heavy charge. velling like madmen, endeavoring to flank the whites, but were repulsed. The Saes now dropped in the grass, which was nearly six feet high, and after an hour of hot firing with few casualties on either side. Dodge, Ewing and Jones charged the enemy with bayonets, driving them up a rising piece of ground at the top of which the second rank of savages were Found. It was raining softly and it was found difficult to keep the muskets dry, but a brisk fire was kept up until dusk, and the pursuit was abandoned for the night. This battle on the part of the Saes was conducted by Black Hawk himself, who sat on a white pony on a neighboring knoll. giving his braves orders with stentorian voice.
After dusk a large party of fugitives, composed mainly of women, children and old men. were placed on a large raft and in canoes begged from the Winnebago and sent down the river with the hope that the soldiers at Fort Crawford, guarding the mouth of the Wisconsin. would allow these noncombatants to cross the Mississippi river in peace. But this confidence was misplaced. Lieutenant Ritner with a small detachment of regulars was sent
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THE BLACK HAWK WAR
out by Indian Agent Joseph M. Street to intercept these forlorn and nearly starved wretches, and a short distance above the fort Ritner fired on them, killing fifteen men and capturing thirty-two women and children and four men. Nearly as many were drowned during the onslaught, while of the rest, who escaped to the woods, all but a half score perished with hunger or were massacred by a party of Menomonies from Green Bay, allies under Colonel Stambaugh.
About an hour and a half before dawn of the 22nd, the day of the battle of Wisconsin Heights, a lond, shrill voice was heard speaking in an unknown tongue, which caused great consternation in the white camp as the troops feared it was the savage leader giving orders for an attack. It was Neapope, who, believing that Paquette and the Winnebago were still with the whites, although they had returned, spoke in the Winnebago tongue, a speech of conciliation to the victors, saying in effect that if they were allowed to eross the Mississippi in peace they would never more do harm. but the plea fell on unwitting ears for no one in the white camp understood it and thus failed a second attempt of Black Hawk's band to close the war. As for Neapope, finding that his mission had failed. he fled to the Winnebago. leaving his half dozen com- panions to return to Black Hawk with the discouraging news. now encamped in a ravine north of the Wisconsin.
On the morning of the 22nd it was found that the enemy had escaped and being poorly supplied with provisions for a long chase in an unknown country beyond the Wisconsin river, prepar- ations were made to march to Blue Mound for provisions. Arriv- ing there on the 23rd they were joined by Atkinson and Alexander. Atkinson assumed command, distributed rations and ordered the pursuit resumed. On the 27th and 28th the Wisconsin was crossed on rafts at Helena. Posey now joined and all the brigades were together again. At noon the 28th the advance began with 450 regulars under General Brady in front. Dodge. Posey and Alex- ander following in the order named. Henry bringing up the rear. It appears that much jealousy was apparent on Atkinson's part from the fact that the volunteers had won the glory so far in the campaign. After a march of a few miles the trail of the fugitives toward the Mississippi was discovered. The country between the Wisconsin and the great river was rugged and hard to get over. the Winnebago guides were unfamiliar with it, and progress was słow. However the fact that they were noticeably gaining on the redskins spurred the troops. The pathway was strewn with dead Sacs who had perished of wounds and starvation, and there were
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY
frequent evidences that the fleeing wretches were eating the bark of trees and the sparse horse flesh of their fagged-out ponies. to sustain life.
On August 1st Black Hawk and his sadly depleted band reached the Mississippi at a point two miles below the mouth of the Bad Axe, in Vernon county, about forty miles north of the month of the Wisconsin. Here he tried to cross. There were. however, but two or three canoes to be had and the work was slow. One large raft laden with women and children was sent down the cast side of the river towards Prairie du Chien. but on the way it capsized and nearly all its occupants were drowned.
In the middle of the afternoon the steamer "Warrior" of Prairie du Chien appeared having on board Lieutenants Kings- bury and Holmes with fifteen regulars, who had been up the river to warn the Sioux chiefs at Wabasha that the Saes were headed in that direction. As the steamer neared the shore Black Hawk appeared on the bank with a white flag and called out to the Cap- tain in the Winnebago tongue to send a boat ashore as the Saes wished to give themselves up. A Winnebago stationed in the bow interpreted the request but the Captain, affecting to believe that it was an ambush, ordered Black Hawk to come aboard in his own craft. This he could not do as he had no boat or canoe, and his reply to that effect was met in a few moments with three quick rounds of canister shot which went plowing through the little group of Indians on shore with deadly effect. A fierce fire of musketry ensued in which twenty-three Indians were killed and but one white man wounded. The "Warrior" now being out of wood returned to Prairie du Chien for the night. the soldiers being highly elated at their share in the campaign.
During the night a few more Indians crossed the river but Black Hawk, seeing that all was lost to him. gathered a party of ten warriors, among whom was the prophet. and with about thirty- five squaws and children headed east for a rocky hiding place in the Dells of Wisconsin. The next day the heart of the old man smote him for having deserted his people and he returned in time to witness from a neighboring bluff the conclusion of the battle of Bad Axe that struck the death blow to the British band. With a howl of rage he turned and disappeared in the forest.
The aged chief had left excellent instructions to his people in the event of the arrival of the white army. Twenty pieked Sacs were on the high bluffs east of the river as rear guard. Atkinson's men on the afternoon of August 2nd encountered these Saes. The
MONROE COUNTY COURT HOUSE
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THE BLACK HAWK WAR
density of the timber obstructing the view it was supposed that Black Hawk's main force was overtaken. The army spread itself for the attack, Alexander and Posey forming the right, Henry the left, and Dodge and the regulars the center. The savage decoys retreated up the river away from the main position of the savage force and drew the troops after them as the white center and right wing followed quickly, leaving the left wing-with the exception of one of its regiments detailed to cover the rear-without orders. Some of Ewing's scouts accidentally discovered that the main trail of the enemy was farther down the river than where the decoys were leading the army; thereupon Henry with his entire force descended the bluff and after a gallant charge on foot found him- self in the midst of the main body of 300 warriors. A desperate conflict ensued, the bucks being driven from tree to tree at the point of the bayonet, while women and children plunged madly into the river, many to drown. The conflict raged fiercely. Fully a half hour after Henry made the descent Atkinson, hearing the din of battle in his rear, came hastening to the scene with the center and right wing driving in the decoys and stragglers, thus completing the corral. The carnage now proceeded more fiercely than ever. The "Warrior" reappeared and aided the attack with canister. A wild dash was made for the river; some of the fugi- tives succeeded in swimming to the west bank, but most of them were picked off by sharp-shooters as if they were rats instead of human beings, showing absolutely no mercy toward women and children. This massacre lasted for about three hours. The Indians lost 150 killed outright, while as many more of both sexes and all ages were drowned-some fifty being taken prisoners, mostly women. About 300 of the band crossed the river successfully before and during the struggle. The whites lost seventeen killed and twelve wounded.
Those who had crossed the river were cruelly set upon by a band of Sioux under Chief Wabasha, and one-half of these help- less, half-starved noncombatants were cruelly slaughtered. while many of the others died of exhaustion and wounds before they reached their friends of Keokuk's band.
The rest is soon told. The army returned to Prairie du Chien, General Scott assumed command and mustered out the volunteers the following day. Cholera among his troops had detained him first at Detroit and then at Chicago, nearly one-fourth of his 1,000 regulars having died of the pestilence. Independent of this the American loss in the war, including volunteers and settlers killed
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY
in the irregular skirmishes and in massacres, was not over 250. The financial cost to the nation and to the state of Illinois aggre- gated nearly $2,000.000.
On August 22nd. Chaetar and One-Eyed Decorah, two Winne- bago braves, delivered Black Hawk and the Prophet into the hands of Agent Street at Prairie du Chien. They had found them at the Wisconsin river dells above Kilbourn City. On the 21st of Sep- tember a treaty of peace was signed and Black Hawk. the Prophet and Neapope, who had been captured later, were kept as hostages for the good behavior of the rest of the British band.
They were kept through the winter at Jefferson Barracks, and in April, 1833, were taken to Washington. They remained pris- oners in Fortress Monroe until discharged. June 4th. After visiting the principal cities of the east, where Black Hawk was much lionized. the party returned to Fort Armstrong much im- pressed with the power and resources of the white man. Here Black Hawk's pride was completely erushed, he being placed under the guardianship of his hated rival. Keokuk. This was considered an irreparable insult to the fallen chief, which he nursed with much bitterness to the end of his days.
Black Hawk at the age of seventy-one years finally passed away on the 3d of October, 1838, at his home on a small reservation set apart for him in Davis county, Iowa, on the Des Moines river.
In July of the following year his body was stolen by an Illi- nois physician. Complaint being made by Black Hawk's family Governor Lucas, of lowa, caused the skeleton to be delivered to him at Burlington in the spring of 1840. The seat of government being moved to lowa City later in the year, the box containing the remains was deposited in a law office in the latter town, where it remained until the night of January 16. 1853, when the building was destroyed by fire.
Forbearance and honorable dealing on the part of the whites could easily have prevented the Black Hawk war. Squatters were not prevented from encroaching upon the possessions of his people, and at Sycamore creek he would have consented to remove his band peaceably across the river had the ordinary rules of war in respecting a flag of truce been observed by the white men. In fact, the course of the Americans during this struggle was marked by cruelty and disregard for the rules of warfare which was more than savage: women, children and old men were ruth- lessly murdered, and they caused the remnant of the band which had crossed the river to be nearly all massacred by the Sioux. A black record but one which must be written.
CHAPTER V.
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
With the lapse of time, the passing away of so many of the pioneers and the lack of records in the various communities renders it difficult to attempt to detail the different points in the county at which the early settlements were made, in anything like chronological order. It is certain, however, that the first settlement in the county was near what is now known as Oil City in the town of Sheldon, and Esau Johnson, who located on the Kickapoo in that town on the 1st day of October, 1842, was the first white man who made his home in the county of Monroe.
He built a little cabin about two miles above Oil City and moved into it with his family. His own words probably best describe the manner and reason for his stopping at that place and in an interview given many years ago he said : " In the year 1842 I came with my family down the Wisconsin river on a log raft to the mouth of the Kickapoo, and went to what was then known as Haney's in Richland county. We stayed there and worked on his land until the fall of the same year, when I took an ax and some provisions and started on a prospecting trip up the Kickapoo river until I came to the mouth of Moore's creek. which is in Monroe county. Impressed with the locality I deter- mined to return and bring my family up. Not wishing to walk back to the farm I hollowed ont a tree, made myself a couple of paddles and sailed down in my improvised boat. I reached the farm the next day and soon had the boat in good condition for moving my family and what few household goods I had up to our new home. ! finally left the 'Haney' farm September 10. 1842, and hired two brothers named Clark to help me move. They agreed for a consideration to stay with me until I had my house built. On the 13th day of October we reached the location I had fixed up and we arranged a timbered shelter for my family until we could cut logs for a house. Three of us got to work and we soon had the work under way. On the 6th of October. just five days after landing, myself and my family moved in.
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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY
This I positively assert was the first house and I and my family the first white people to make a permanent settlement in Monroe county. The two Clarks stayed with me until the next day, when they took a boat and returned to Haney's."
Mr. Johnson also states that on the 10th day of October he started for the mouth of the Kickapoo river to get four head of oxen which he had left there, and from there he went to Prairie du Chien, where he got a load of provisions and hired two men to return and work for him. In this trip Mr. Johnson claims to have been the first to travel the present road between Oil City and Prairie du Chien. There were no other settlers except Mr. JJohn- son and his family up until 1847. and in the spring of that year Sylvester Bacon and William Clark joined him and worked for him until the spring of 1849. Soon after this in that same year Thomas Lewis and Thompson Hazen arrived and located at a point about a half mile from the Johnson home and went into the lumbering business. This they continued to handle until May, 1847, when the business was sold to A. J. Martin: Lewis leaving the county and going down to Grant county and Hazen moved to a point about five miles south of Cashton. where he opened a tavern and located on a farm.
The first white child born in Monroe county was a son of Esau Johnson, who first saw the light in September, 1846, and the photo of this child now hangs in the office of the county clerk of Monroe county, at the court house in the city of Sparta.
With the opening of the state road between Hudson and Prairie du Chien, which passed through the place where Sparta now is, and the laying out of the road between Portage and LaCrosse, came the opportunity for new settlers, which was taken advantage of during the years 1849-50-51. Probably the next point at which any settlement was made prior to 1850 was that of Frank Petit, who came to this county in 1849, which is authenticated by several records, and settled at a place near Sparta, which is now known as "Castle Rock," and he after- wards came to the place where Sparta now stands and was its first settler. In 1850 Charles Chute came with his family and went to work for Esau Johnson at the sawmill of the latter on the Kickapoo river. Clute afterwards took up land in the north- ern part of the county. In 1851 E. E. Shaw. William Petit. Nelson Turrier and a man by the name of Metzler, settled in the county, and in July of the same year R. S. Kingman and his two brothers, twins named Rosalbo and Alvarbo. came to the county
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EARLY SETTLEMENT
from Ashtabula, Ohio, and settled with E. E. Shaw and Turrier in the Leon valley.
From that time until the organization of the county settle- ments at different points were quite frequent, notably that at Leon in 1851 by E. E. Shaw and companions; in the town of Jefferson in 1854 by Thompson Hazen who, as has been before mentioned, opened a hotel known as "Hazen's Corner;" the settlement of the towns which followed the organization of the county in 1854 are treated in separate articles subsequently in this work.
The pioneers who settled in the early day have given many lessons of industry and frugality, coupled with trials, hardships and endurance which so strikingly demonstrates to us the cour- age and determination of the men of that early time. The first important thing that the settler did was to build himself a house and perhaps until that was finished to live in his immigrant wagon or some rudely improvised shelter. Of course, the house was of logs and very primitive in design, but after it was built, erected by his own hands, it became a home, and in most cases he was content with it. The ingenuity with which the occupants of these log cabins constructed what they called furniture is . sometimes quite interesting and, of course. any such manufac- tured articles, if any existed during the early 50's, were imported from a distance: tables and chairs were made of split logs, the bedstead very often of poles placed over forked sticks driven in the ground ; and many devices were invented in the way of fire- places for heating and cooking purposes.
As soon as the clearing of land was under way the first crop was raised, which usually consisted of a few vegetables, sufficient for the needs of the family ; meat was supplied by the rifle of the pioneer : it was plentiful and helped to swell the limited supply of provisions. Mills for the grinding of corn were usually at a long distance, and sometimes the expedient of grinding corn in a coffee mill had to be resorted to, and many other methods devised to make cornmeal flour. But with the advent of more settlers neighborhoods became established. then a school would spring up and here and there a church. The old Indian trails hecame well-traveled highways and the wilderness was hewn into a semblance of civilization, creating the foundation of what is today one of the great counties of the great state of Wisconsin.
CHAPTER VI.
MAKING A COUNTY.
In the year 1849 a state road was opened between Prairie du Chien and Hudson, which were at that time trading points, pass- ing through the place where Sparta now is and going around by the way of Black River Falls and Clear Water, which afterwards became Eau Claire. A little later on a road was opened between Portage and LaCrosse. following an old Indian trail, affording a way of travel to the settlements of western Wisconsin, which before that time were only reached by way of the rivers. At that time there was no post office nearer than Prairie du Chien, but with the opening of the highways post offices were established at Black River Falls, LaCrosse and several other points. About that time the division of western Wisconsin into counties began to take place : Crawford county. which comprised the whole of western Wisconsin, was set off with Prairie du Chien as the county seat, and out of this territory were carved at different times, other counties. by the various acts of the legislature.
Originally. in 1849 LaCrosse county comprised all the terri- tory included in its present limits and that of Monroe. Jackson. Trempelean and Buffalo counties : settlements being rapid in the next few years and the inhabitants somewhat "crowded " as they thought. in 1853. upon application to the legislature. Jackson county was set off. and in 1854 Trempelean. Buffalo and Monroe counties were established and detached from LaCrosse county. Like all movements looking towards progress there was opposi- tion to the organization of Monroe county right here at home. but nevertheless in March. 1854. a bill creating the county of Monroe passed the legislature. was approved by the Governor March 21st, published March 24th, thereby becoming a law, and Monroe county was placed upon the map. Why it was named " Monroe " is not known, but that its subsequent history justified its bearing the name of that sturdy patriot. James Monroe. the fifth presi- dent of the United States, no one can doubt.
While this bill was pending in the legislature there was a lively struggle between the residents of Leon and Sparta as to
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MAKING A COUNTY
which place should be named as the county seat. The arguments of the Spartans prevailed, however, and the bill creating the county named Sparta as the county seat. This act prescribed that all that portion of the county of LaCrosse situated and being in range one east, and ranges one, two, three and four west of township fifteen, sixteen, seventeen and eighteen be set off and organized into a separate county, to be known and designated by the name of the county of Monroe.
It further provided that an election should be held in the county of Monroe on the first Tuesday of the following April, and the polls should be opened in all precincts established on or before the first Tuesday of April: that the vote should be can- vassed and returns made thereof to the clerk of the board of supervisors of the town of Leon, who should canvass the same as prescribed by law for the canvass of votes for county officers. and should issue certificates to such persons as received the greatest number of votes for the offices respectively for the town and county officers. That there should be elected at such election a county judge, who should hold his office until the first day of January in the year one thousand eight hundred fifty-eight, and until his successor was elected and qualified. There should also be elected three town supervisors, one to be designated as chair- man of the board, who should also be the board of county super- visors. That at such election should also be elected a sheriff, a clerk of the court, clerk of the board of county supervisors, a register of deeds, surveyor and coroner and all other county officers required for the due organization of the county for county and judicial purposes. It also provided that the county of Monroe should consist of one town and the board of super- visors should be the board of county supervisors, and that the said board of county supervisors should have to divide the county into three or more towns at any regular meeting of the board, and also provided that the county seat should be located at the village of Sparta, in the town of Leon. All writs, processes, ap- peals, suits, indictments, recognizances and other proceedings whatsoever then pending or thereafter commenced, or pending before the Monday next after the first Tuesday of April next, in the county or circuit court of the county of LaCrosse, should be proseeuted to the final judgment, order or deeree, might be car- ried into effect and enforced in like manner as if the counties of LaCrosse and Monroe were constituted one county; and all executions, writs, processes or other proceedings may be directed
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