Fayette County, Illinois - Chapter 8, 1878

Chapter 8

EFORE entering much into detail of that war, its causes and results, we give to our readers a brief sketch of Black- Hawk, the celebrated warrior, who figured so conspicuously in those campaigns. Macuta Mabicatan is the Indian name for Black-Hawk. He was bom in the Sauk village in the year 1767, and was an Indian of considerable talent and sagacity, shrewd : and eloquent in council; he, however, deported himself in that demure, ! grave, and formal manner incident to almost all Indians. It is said he | m its operations. In comparison he could not be classed with the great | Indian characters, such as Philip, Brant, Logan, Tecumseh, and such illustrious men. By the portraits of him now extant, the reader of character will readily observe in nis large, high forehead and the lines worn by care in his face, massive iaws and compressed lips, a character indicative of more than ordinary ability. His ambition was to distinguish himself as a great warrior; yet he was merciful to the weak, the women and children. The only road for an Indian to distinguish himself and become a great man, is in war. So soon as he kills an enemy he may paint on his blanket a J warm," against tho whites. A party of Sacs, by invitation, went to see the prophet at Tippecanoe. They returned more angry against the Americans.

In 1812 emissaries from the British arrived at Rock Island with poods, and secured Black-Hawk with five hundred warriors to go with- Col. Dixon to Canada. When they reached Green Bay there were assembled there bands of the Attowas, Pottawatomies, Winnebagoes, and Kickapoos, under the command of Col. Dixon. Black-Hawk ana band participated in the battles of River Rasin, the Lower Sandusky, and other places, but getting dissatisfied with the hard fighting and small amount of spoils, he, and twenty comrades, left for the Sauk village at Rock Island, where he remained for many years at peace, with the exception of a small battle on the Quiver River settlement in Missouri, in the preseut limits of St. Charles County, where one white man and an Indian were killed.

The principal cause of the Indian troubles in '31-32, better known as the Black-Hawk war, was the determination of Black-Hawk and his band to remain in their ancient village, located on Rock River, not far from its junction with the Mississippi. The government having some time previously, by various treaties, purchased the village and the whole country from the Sac and Fox tribe .of Indians, had some of these lands surveyed, and in 1828 some of the lands in and around the ancient village were sold; the collision between the two races for the possession of the property produced the first disturbance between the Indians and the government. Seeing that war was inevitable the Governor of Illinois made a call on the militia of the State for seven hundred men on the 26th of May, 1831, and appointed Beardatown, on the Illinois River, as the place of rendezvous. The call was responded to with that promptness characteristic of the early pioneers of this State. Their habits of life were such that all were familiar with the rifle. After marching eight days, the mounted militia reached a point a few miles below the Sac village on the Mississippi, where they joined the United States forces under Gen. Gaines, and encamped in the evening. The next morning the forces marched up to the Indian town prepared to give the enemy battle; but in the night the Indians had escaped ana crossed the Mississippi. This ended Black-Hawk's bravado and his determination to die in his undent village. The number of warriors under his command was estimated at from four to six hundred men. Black-Hawk and his band landed on the west side of the Mississippi, a few miles below Rock Island, and there camped. " Gen. Gaines sent a peremptory order to him and his warriors that if he and his head men did not come to Rock Island and make a treaty of peace, he would march his troops and give him battle at ouce. * * * * In a few days Black-Hawk and the chiefs and head men to the number of twenty-eight, appeared in Fort Armstrong, and on the 30th of Juue, 1831, in full council with Gen. Gaines and Governor John Reynolds, signed a treaty of peace."

The Black-Hawk War In 1832

During the winter of '31-32 rumors were rife that Black-Hawk and his band were dissatisfied, restless, and preparing for mischief. A chief of the Wiunebago Indians who had a village ou Rock River, some thirty miles above its confluence with the Mississippi, joined Black-Hawk, who was located on the west bank of the Father of Waters. The chief had great influence with Black-Hawk and his band. He made them believe that all the tiibes on Rock River would join them, and that together they could bid defiance to the whites. By this unwise counsel Black-Hawk resolved to recross the river, which he did in the winter of 1832. That move proved to be their destruction. Through bis influence and zeal Black-Hawk encour¬ aged many of the Sacs and Foxes to join him at the head of his determined warriors. He first assembled them at old Fort Madison on the Mississippi; subsequently, marched them up the river to the Yellow Banks, where he pitched his tent April 6th, 1832. This armed array of savages soon alarmed the settlers, and a general panic spread through the whole frontier, from the Mississippi to Lake Michigan. Many settlers in terror abandoned their homes and alarms, and the Governor decided, on the 16th of April, to call out a large number of volunteers to operate in conjunction with Gen. Atkinson, who was in command of the regular forces at Rock Island. The Governor ordered the troops to rendezvous at Beardstown on the 22d of April. We give Governor Reynolds' circular which he addressed to the citizen-soldiers in the crisis then pending:

" Your country requires your services. The Indians have assumed a hos¬ tile attitude, and have invaded the State in violation of the treaty of last summer. The British band of Sacs and other hostile Indians, headed by Black-Hawk, are in possession of the Rock River country, to the great terror of the frontier inhabitants. I consider the settlers on the frontiers to be in imminent danger. I am in possession of the above information from gentlemen of respectable standing, and also from Gen. Atkinson, whose character stands high with "11 classes. In possession of the above facts I have hesitated not as to t - course I should pursue. No citizen ought to remain inactive when his country is invaded, and the helpless part of the community are in danger. I have called out a large detachment of militia to rendezvous at Beardstown on the 22d. Provisions for the men and food for the horses will be furnished in abundauce. I hope my countrymen will realize my expectations, and offer their services, as heretofore, with prompti¬ tude and cheerfulness in defence of their country. John Reynolds."

To the stilting appeal of the Governor the patriotic citizens of the State and Fayette County nobly responded in both campaigns of '31-32. Many of the best and most prominent men of the county enlisted to protect the fron¬ tier and preserve the honor of the State, and did signal service in the memo¬ rable events of the. Black-Hawk war. Among the citizens of Fayette County who figured prominently in this war were Col. Frederick Reaman, Col. Robert Blackwell, William H. Lee, Lieut. John Watwood, Capt Samuel Houstin, Lieut Benjamin Moore, Lieut. William Bradford, Col. Wm. L. D. Ewing, Col. Stapp, William Terry, Henry Lorton, Abraham Stearns, Mitchell Rayburn, Hexekiah Thompson, Mordada and John Fleming, Richard Austin, William Losson Austin, Washington Hickerson, Andrew Hickerson, John H. Welch, John Shirley, Augustus Snyder. Pey¬ ton R. Bankson, Seymour Powell, Benjamin Sellers, Harvey Doyle, Joseph Carter, Henry Miller, Amos Eagle, Col. E. C. Berrey, James Alley, Bryant Whitfield, Major Allen Wakefield, William Jackson, Thomas Pickens, and Bolen Neeley. The force marched to the mouth of Rock River, where Gen. Atkinson received the volunteers into the United States service and assumed command. Black-Hawk and his warriors were still up on the Rock River.

The army under Atkiuson commenced its march up the river on the 9th of May. Gov. Reynolds, the gallant " Old Ranger," remained with the army, and the President recognized him as a Major-General, and he was paid accordingly. His presence in the army did much toward harmonizing and conciliating those jealousies which generally exist between volunteers and regular troops. Major John A. Wakefield and Col. Ewing acted as spies for a time in the campaigo of '32, to discover the location of the enemy, ir possible. A Mr. Kinney acted as guide for them; he understood the Sac dialect. On the 14th of May, 1832, Major Stillman's command had a sort of running battle with the Indians at or near what is now known as Stillman's Run, a small, sluggish stream; in the engagement eleven white men and eight Indians were killed. Black-Hawk and warriors fought with the spirit born of desperation. Black-Hawk says in his book that he tried at Stillman's Run to oall back his warriors, as he thought the whites were making a sham retreat in order to draw him into an ambuscade of the whole army under Gen. Whiteside. The hasty retreat and rout of Stillman and his army was in a measure demoralizing to the entire forces; undoubtedly the cause of the defeat was a lack of discipline. When Gov. Reynolds learned of the disaster of Major Stillman, he at once ordered out two thoos&nd additional volunteera. With that promptitude characteristic of the old "War Governor," he wrote out by candle-lignt on the evening of Stillman's defeat, the order for the additional troops, and by daylight dis¬ patched John Ewing, Robert Blackwell, and John A. Wakefield to distri¬ bute the order to the various counties. The volunteers again promptly responded; however, the soldiers from this County did but Tittle fighting. On the 10th of July the army disbanded for want ofprovisions. Gen. Scott arrived soon after with a large force at the post of Chicago, to effect if possible a treaty with the Indians. Small detachments of Black-Hawk's warriors would persistently hang on the outskirts of the main body of the army, thieve and plunder, and pounce upon and kill the lonely sentinel or straggling soldier. On the 15th of July the soldiers were reviewed, and those incapable of duty were discharged and returned home. Poquette, a half-breed, and a Winnebago chief, the " White Pawnee," were selected for guides to the camp of Black-Hawk and band. Several battles and skir¬ mishes occurred with the enemy, the principal of which was on the banks of the Mississippi, where the warriors fought with great desperation; over one hundred ana fifty were killed in the engagement and large numbers drowned in attempting to swim the riv+r. After thp battle the volunteers were marched to Dixon, where they were discharged. This ended the cam¬ paign and the Black-Hawk war. At the battle of the Bad Axe, Black- Hawk and Borne of his warriors escaped the Americans, and had gone up on the Wisconsin River, but subsequently surrendered himself Fort Arm¬ strong, on Rock Island, was the place appointed where a treaty would b* made with the Indians, but before it was effected that dreadful scourge, the cholera of '32, visited not only the regular army, depleting its ranks far more rapidly than the balls of the Indians had done, but it also sought out its many victims in the dusky bands of the Black-Hawk tribe.

On the 15th September, 1832, a treaty was made with the Winnebago In¬ dians. They sola out all their lands in Illinois and all south of the Wis¬ consin River and west of Green Bay, and the government gave them a large district of country west of the Mississippi and ten thousand dollars a year for seven years, besides providing free schools for their children for twenty years, oxen, agricultural implements, etc., etc.

September 21st, 1832, a treaty was made with all the Sac and Fox tribes, on which they ceded to the United States the tract of country on which a few years afterwards the State of Iowa was formed. In consideration of the above cession of lands, the government gave them an annuity of twenty thousand dollars for thirty years, forty kegs of tobacco and forty barrels of salt, more gun-smiths, blacksmith shop, etc., etc., six thousand bushels of corn for immediate support, mostly intended for the Black-Hawk band.

The treaties above mentioned terminated favorably, and the security resulting therefrom gave a new and rapid impetus to the development of the state, and now enterprising towns ana villages, and beautiful farms adorn the rich and alluvial prairies that before were only desecrated by the wild bands who inhabited them. Agricultural pursuits, commerce and manu¬ factures, churches and schools are lending their influence to advance an intelligent and prosperous people.

Any correspondence emanating from the pen of such a prominent man as John Reynolds, Governor of this State, we feel assured will have some inter¬ est in the eyes of our readout* Thefollowingletter is in relation to a claim made upon the Government by Col. A. P. Fields for services rendered as Aid de-Camp ; also, pertaining to mattera in which he himself was interested ; he feared the machinations of some of the cut-throat politicians as he felici¬ tously termed them, would be detrimental to some of the old office-holders, himself particularly.

I called on the Secretary of War and had a communication with him on your case. He did not conclude anything; but seemed to doubt the power, as I was not in the servioe when you were my aid-de-camp.

I thought you claimed for servioe done as aid to Genl. Atkinson. Please write me the facts as I have forgotten them to some extent i If it is not in direct opposition to facts in law, your claim will be allowed.

| I have, no doubt, many midnight arrangements were made last winter I at Springfield amongst the small cut-throat politicians, and are tending

P. S. Please write me all the news, as the General Assembly have ad¬ journed. You can write me the results of much intrigue performed last winter. It is strange, that the election for Congress was not brought in during my absence.

We publish the subjoined letter without comments, permitting our readers to form their own conclusions of the Governor's friendly suggestions. We find however by later correspondence between these gentlemen that the claim was not allowed by the government upon the original claim for the very ostensible reason that John Reynolds was not in the service at the time his Aid-de- Camp claimed remuneration. Another name was substituted subsequently for that of Reynolds, and the claim allowed.

I saw Mr. Dever yesterday and he was making & fuss, so that I deem it my duty as your friend to write you. I would advise you as a brother to au¬ thorize me to sign your name to some accounts so you oould draw your pay, $742, for your services with Genl. Henry, and when you battle it out with the government for the balance give it to him. If you authorize me, I have and will sign your name.

I saw Judge Smith, who is in for Johnson for President Get his nomination, but do not be yourself committed, as things may work at Washington so as to make it improper for a course which we may adopt at this time. Leave a little dodging room so that we may do right hereafter.