Peoria County, Illinois - Chapter 9: Black Hawk and the Black Hawk War, 1880 (part 1 of 2)

Chapter 9: Black Hawk and the Black Hawk War

Personal and Tribal Sketch - Black Hawk's Version of the Treaty of 1S04 - Bad Faith - Removal Across the Mississippi - Hunger and Want - Return to Illinois. First Campaign : Where the History of the War Belongs - General Gaines - Back to Iowa - Black Hawk's Movements in Iowa - Second Return to Illinois - Black Hawk's Purpose - Bearing of His Braves - -Colonel Davenport. Second Campaign; Governor Reynolds - Call for Troops - Stillman's Rout - ^ Back to Dixon - Council of War - "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground " - General Scott - A New Enemy - Indian Creek Massacre - Hunting the Indians. Third Campaign': Skirmishing - Striking the Trail - The Fir-t Battle - Wisconsin Heights - Strength of the Indians - The Tomahawk Buried - Prayer for Peace - Battle of Bad Axe. After the Battle : Scenes and Incidents - Flight of Black Hawk - His Surrender - Remarkable Speech - Captivity and Release - His Death and Burial - Desecration of His Burial Place - Cremation of His Bones - Last of the Sacs and Foxes.

For the following sketch of Black Hawk, whose name and history is so intimately associated with the early history of Illinois, and of the Sac and Fox Indians, the writer is indebted to Colonel Patterson, of the Oquawka (Illinois) Spectator. Colonel Patterson was among the early settlers on what is known in history as the Black Hawk's purchase or " Forty Mile Strij}." on the eastern slope of Iowa, and after the close of the Black Hawk War, and Black Hawk's release from captivity, of which full mention will be made in the course of these pages, he published a book entitled the " Life of Black Hawk." In collecting the material for that volume. Colonel Patterson necessarily became familiar with the great war chief of the Sacs and Foxes and their traditions, so that this sketch is entitled to be received as reliably authentic.

Black Hawk, whose Indian name was Muck-a-tan- wish-e-ki -ack-ke -ak -ack (meaning a black hawk), was born at the Sac village, on Rock river, near the present site of Milan, at the crossing of tlie Peoria and Rock Island Railroad, in the year 1767. His father's name was Py-e-sa. His great-grandfatlier, Na-na-ma-kee (Thunder), was born near Montreal, Canada, and was placed at the head of the Sac Nation by a Frenchman, who claimed to be a son of the then reigning King of France. He gave them many presents, such as guns, powder, lead, spears and lances, and showed them how to use them in peace and in war ; also cooking utensils, and many other jaresents of different kinds. He-afterwards embarked for France, promising to return at the close of the twelfth moon. The Sacs continued to trade with the French for a long time, and until the latter were overpowered by the British. After that event, several tribes united and drove the Sacs from Montreal to Mackinac, and thence to Green Baj^ where they formed an alliance with the Fcx nation and then retreated to Wisconsin, and finally to Rock Island, from which they drove the Kaskaskias and commenced the erection of a village at the place already mentioned.

Py-e-sa succeeded Na-na-ma-kee as war chief, and was killed in an engagement with the Cherokees, who largely outnumbered the Sacs and Foxes. On seeing liim fall, Black Hawk assumed command and fouglit desperately until the enemy retreated. In this battle, he killed tliree men and wounded several others with his own hand, the enemy's loss being twenty-eiglit and Black Hawk's only seven. After this engagement he fell heir to the great medicine bag of the trilje, and after a season of five years' mourning with blackened faces, ihe}' determined to avenge the death of Py-e-sa, by the annihilation, if possible, of tlio whole Cherokee tribe, and took out a strong army for that purpose. Black Hawk succeeded in killing many of.tliem, and in finally driving them to their own country in the Carolinas.

lies south of Kansas and west of Arkansas. Thej- are naturally an intellectual people, and many of them are highly educated. They have their schools, churches, coUegos, courtiS and court-house, legislature, capitol building, etc. Their capital is Tal-e-qua, where they have a newspaper wliicli is conducted by a member of the Boudiuot family, one of the oldest families in the tribe or Nation, which latter they prefer to be called. A curious feature of their newspaper is, that while three of its pages are printed in our tongue, the fourth page is printed in the Cherokee dialect. The lettei-s (or alphabet) used to print this page were invented by an old man of the Nation, or tribe, who, it is said, could not read. The charactei-s of this alphabet look something like Greek letters. The Cherokees have many excellent and liighly-cultivated farms, maintain an agricultural society, and the more advanced of them live in a style equal to the best farmers i;i Peoria county. They are accounted the wealthiest tribe of Indians on the American continent.

Black Hawk's next movement was against the Chippewas, Kaskaskias and Osages, with whom he had seven regular engagements, with a loss of several hundred of his braves. The enemy retired, and Black Hawk and liis warriors returned to their village.

During the occurrence of the events here narrated, St. Louis a';d all the country South and West, was under the dominion of Spain.* In 1801 the Spanish government ceded the country back to France, and on the 30th day of April, 1803, the first Consul of the Fr(;nch Republic ceded the country to the United States. This transaction is known in American history as the Louisiana purchase. After this purchase the foreign authorities withdrew from St. Louis, and tlie Americans took possession. Soon afterwards. Lieutenant (subsequently General) Zebulon M. Pike, witli an escort of soldiers, went up the Mississippi river, visiting the chiefs of the various tribes that lived along the banks of the Father of Waters, and making them presents in the name of their Great Father, the President of the L'nited States, who, he told them, would always treat them well if tiiey would listen to his advice. A few moons later, a Sac Indian killed an American, for which offense he was arrested and confined in prison at St. Louis. As soon as intiUigence of the murder and arrest readied Black Hawk, he called a council of the head men of his tribe at the Sac village to talk tlie matter over, and consider what was best to be done. They resolved to send four of tiieir braves to St. Louis to compromise witli the authorities by paying the relatives of the man killed, the only way known to them for saving one jierson who had killed another. Quasli-(iua- me and three otiier men of the tribe were chosen to go on this mission, the result of which was thus related by Black Hawk :

Quash - qua - me and his party remained a long while absent. They finally returned, dressed in fine ciats and wearing medals, and encamped near the village. Early next morning the council was convened, and Quashqua - me and his associates came in and reported the result of their mission. On their arrival at St. Louis they reported to the American chief, and urged the reUase of Iheir J'tiend. The .\merican chief said his government wanted more lan<l. and if the Sacs and Koxcs would give him some in Illinois, opixjsile Jefferson (barracks), they would release the imprisoned Sac. Qua.sh qua - me and his party assented to this, and signed a paper by making their marks. When they were ready to leave, iheir friend was released, but as he was let out of the prison, he was shot dead.

" This," continues Colonel Patterson, " was the treaty of 1804, lus rendered by Black Hawk, by which all tlieir country in Illinoi; was ceded to tlie Ignited States for one thousand duliars a year, and tiie great first cause of the Black Hawk war, as lie claimed that no one but the chiefs and head men had authority to make a treaty of the kind."

From the fact that this treaty was considered in at least two subsequent treaty conferences, or negotiations, it would seem that the Government was not fully reconciled as to its manner of validity. The first of the subsequent treaties at which it was so considered, was held at Portage des Sioux, on the 13th of September. IM."), and ratified Dciember 16, 1«1."), at which the (iovernment was represented by William Clark, Ninian Kdwards

-Krom 1673 to 1763 France claimed juris<liction over the country discovered by Marquette and Joliet. In the latter year that Government ceded all the country West of the Missiuippi Kiver to Spam.

Black Hawk. The Sac Chief

and Au^uste Clioteau, as Commissioners. At that conference, the treaty of 1804 was reaffirmed, and tlie chiefs and head men of tlie Sacs present, for themselves and the bands they represented, promised to kee]> entirely separate from the Sacs of Rock River, who, under Black Hawk, had joined the British in the war then lately closed. A separate treaty of peace was made with the Foxes at the same place on the 14th of September, 1815, wherein the treaty of Quash-qua-me (made at St. Louis on the 3d day of November, 1804), was re-affirmed by that tribe, and in which they stipulated to deliver up all their prisoners to the officer in command at Fort Clark.

The second treaty with the Sacs (of Rock River ) was made at St. Louis by the same Commissioners on the 13th day of May, 181G. At this time the treaty of 1804 was again re-established and confirmed by twenty-two chiefs and head men of the tribe, including Black Hawk, who, as he expressed it, " touched the goose-quill." This treaty was ratified on the oOth day of December, 1816.

Tliese subsequent treaties to the contrary notwithstanding. Black Hawk always adhered to his first decision, that the treaty of 1804, was null and void, for the reason already stated, and that even if it had been valid, the killing of the jjrisoner for whom Quash-qua-me bartered away their lands broke the contract and rendered it void. To say the least, the killing of that prisoner, under the circumstances related by Black, was an instance of remarkably bad faith on the part of the authorities in command at St. Louis.

Under the terms of the Quash-qua-me treaty of 1804, according to Black Hawk, the Indians were granted to remain in possession of the land until notified by the Government that the country was wanted for white occupancy. He this as it may, the Indians were not disturbed of their possession until 1830. when they were notified to tjuit and move across the Mississippi river. Tliey complied with the notice, crossed over the Father of Waters and took up their abode on the_eastern slope of Iowa.

Return To Illinois

Hunger and want came to his people, and still rankling under what he regarded as bad faith on the part of the Government authorities at St. Louis and a wrongful dispossession of their lands. Black Hawk and his band determined to recross the Mississii)pi River and to repossess their old homes and corn-fields. This determination was carried into execution in the Spring of 1831. The movement excited great alarm among the few white people who had settled on different parts of the land in disi)ute, and complaint against their presence was made to the authorities of the United States. These complaints represented that the Indians were insolent, and tliat they had conunitted and were committing, many acts of violence. If these complaints were founded in fact, the acts of violence were, in all likeliiiood, not unprovoked.

The history of the Blaek Hawk War has generally been conceded to belong to the history of Illinois. It is true that the great first cause of the war was in, what Black Hawk ami most of his baud believed, to be a fraudulent and wrongful dispossession of their lands in Illinois, but before the commencenieut of active hostilities, the Sacs and Foxes were occupants of the lower part of the eastern slope of Iowa. They started on the war path from I'uck-c-she-tuck, (foot of the falls,) now the city of Keokuk, reudez- vouzed at Fort Madison, crossed the Mississippi river to the present site of Pontoosuc, traveled up through Illinois, and fought the only two battles of the war in what is now the State of Wisconsin, after which the survivors returned to the Iowa side of the Mississippi, many of them to what is now Lee county, where Black Hawk, after his release from captivity in 1833, became well known to the settlers to the time of his death, in October, 1838. Not one of the battles of the Black Hawk war was fouglit on Illinois soil. The Stillman's Run affair was not a battle; it was only a "big scare," brought upon Major Stillman's command by recklessness. These facts are clearly established and completely refute the generally received opinion that the history of this war belongs to Illinois. Its history is about equally divided between Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin.

Whatever the truth or falsity of the complaints made against the Indians after their return in the Spring of 1831, General Gaines of the United States army was sent to Fort Armstrong in the Fall of that year, with instructions to remove them back beyond the Mississippi. While the troops under command of General Gaines were at the fort, Nathaniel Smith, now living at St. Francisville, Clark county, Missouri, who was an interpreter and spy for General Gaines, was sent to see and talk with Black Hawk at the Indian village, and to persuade him to go and see General Gaines with a view to an amicable and peaceful solution of the difficulty. Black Hawk complied with the request, and was told by General Gaines that he was not a peace officer, and that he had his orders from the authorities at Washington to drive them across the river, and that he had no discretion ; that he did not want any trouble or to be forced to the emploA'ment of harsh measures in carrying out the instructions with which he was charged ; that he had understood he had agreed to live peacefully, etc., and finally that if he and his people did not leave in ten days he would move against their village with all the force at his command. Black Hawk listened with the stolid nature peculiar to Indian character, and, although feeling, as he expressed himself to Colonel Patterson, that he was asked to abandon the homes that were rightfully theirs, he saw that it would be useless to offer a resistance that would only end in the slaughter of many of his men, women and children, that better than incur such fatality, it was the part of wisdom to yield to the demand of the white chief. At the expiration of the ten days named by General Gaines, he moved against the village to see if the Indians had gone, and prepared, if they had not, to execute his purpose of firing upon the Indians, and burning their village. But Black Hawk had kei^t his promise. The Indians were gone, and re-crossed to the Iowa side of the Mississippi.

For an account of Black Hawk's movements after the return of his people to Iowa in the Fall of 1831, until they re-crossed to Illinois in the Spring of 1832, we are indebted to Mr. Isaac R. Campbell, now living at St. Francisville, Clark county, Missouri', but then living in a double log-hou^e, one of the first built on the site of Keokuk. About the year 1821, Mr. Campbell settled in Northeast Missouri (then a Territory), at the mouth of the Wyacouda river. In 1825 he removed to Quash- qua -me's village (Nauvoo), and commenced to make a farm, and there formed the acquaintance of Black Hawk, who paid him eight dollars for building a stone wall ai-ound the grave of one of his daughters, who was buried near Mr. Campbell's house. In 1830 Mr. Campbell moved to the west side of tlie Mississippi and settled at Ah - wi- pe- tuk, meaning commencement of the falls or cascade, now known as Nashville. In March, 1821, he removed to Puck - e- she -tuk, or foot of the falls, at the site of Keokuk, where he remained for a number of years. He was well acquainted, not only with Black Hawk, but with all the head men of the Sacs and Foxes, before and after the war of 1832. He has been a man of wonderful physique and intellect, and although he is now eiglity-one years of age, his memory is clear and distinct, and his statements entitled to the fullest credit. Mr. Campbell says :

*- After the Sacs and Foxes returned to Iowa in the Fall of 1831, they established themselves on the north Ijank of the Iowa river, about two and a half miles above its mouth, at the site of a small villag;e tliat now bears the name of tlie old chief, and almost directly opposite the town of New Boston, in Mercer county, this State. They did not remain there long, however, until they went to the hunting grounds on Salt Creek, Missouri. The Winter's hunt was not successful, and the people suffered a great deal with hunger. Tliis circumstance, added to wliat Black Hawk still harl)ored as a wrongful dispossession of their lands, determined him to re-cross the Mississippi, a determination from which I tried to dissuade him, but without avail.

" When they returned from their Salt Creek hunt in the Spring of 1832, they stopped at what the Indians always called Puck -e -she -tuk, now Keokuk, where they had a war-dance, and then went on up the Mississippi. The}- camped a night or two in the timber along Devil creek, about six miles west from Fort Madison. Their women and children, cooking utensils, etc., were transported in canoes, while the men followed along the west bank of the Mississippi with their horses and ponies. Their real starting point was from Fort Madison, and on the 6th day of April they crossed the Mississippi from a point opposite the present vil'age or landing of Pontoosuc. It has been said by some writers that they crossed their ponies and horses by swimming them, but the statement is at fault. They were crossed on what were known as ' floats." These floats were made l)y lashing tliree canoes of equal heiglit together, and covering them witli poles, which in turn were covered with leaves to a thickness sufficient to make a platform strong enough to carry as many ponies as could be made to stand upon them.

" While the Indians were in front of my house on their return from Salt creek, I learned that they were going to cross back into Illinois, and fearing it would lead to trouble, I tried to persuade Black Hawk, with whom I had been on the most friendly terms for a good many years, not to do so, but my words of counsel were not heeded. He assured me that they were not going to Illinois to light, but to care for the graves of their fathers - for tlie Indians have a decoration day as well as the whites have had since the war. I knew nothing of their movements after they crossed the river, except what I heard and read. After the war, and Black Hawk's release from captivity in 1^33, and his return to Iowa, lie often told me before liis death, that he was sorry that he had not taken my advice and remained away from Illinois in 1832, as it was the most disastrous movement he ever made. He said that his sun seemed to set in darkness, and his strength to depart.

"As a token of his friendship for me, he gave me liis favorite luinting gun, which is now in the possession of my son. Captain James W. Campbell at Ft)rl Madison."

We have Mr. Campbell's statement, as above, that Black Hawk assured him they were not going on the war path. Tiie statements of other parties of credibility will be prescMited as showing light on the bearing and seeming intentions of Black Hawk, after whicii the reader will be left to draw his own conclusions as to whether the war against tlie Sacs and Foxes in 1832 was justifiable or not.

Hearing Of His Braves

After they cro8.sed into Illinois at Pontoosuc, Black Hawk and his band, including women and children, turned in the direction of Rock river. The Galfiilan, of 1832, Dr. A. Phileo, editor, under date of ,\Iay 2d, .said: "Black Hawk, whose people were reduced to the verge of starvation in Iowa, had been invited to Illinois by the Prophet, and taken possession of a tract of land about forty miles up Rock river, but that he did not remain there long, until he commenced his march up Rock river." Capt. William B. Green, now of Chicago, who served in Stephenson's compan}^ of mounted rangers, says that " Black Hawk a7id his band crossed the river with no hostile intent, but to accept an invitation from Pit - ta - wak, a friendly chief, to come over and spend the Summer with his people on the head waters of the Illinois," and tlie movements of Black Hawk up Rock river befoi-e pursuit by the military, seems to confirm this statement.

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

The veteran, John Dixon, at one time Clerk of the County Commissioners' Court of Peoria County, but then living at Dixon's ferry, now the city of Dixon, was authority for the statement that the Indians stopped at his house as they were going up Rock river, and that Ne-o-pope, Black Hawk's head man, assured him they intended to commit no depredations, and that they would not fight unless attacked. Mr. Dixon also said that Ne-o-pope had the j'oung braves well in hand and under perfect control, and that they were orderly, and gave no signs of hostile intentions.

Whatever Black Hawk's purposes may have been, his crossing the Mississippi river was considered an invasion, and the war followed. However, it is the unanimous testimony of survivors of that period, now living on the line of Black Hawk's march and on the old battle-fields, whom the writer has sought out for information, that, except the violation of treaty stipulations and an arrogance of manner natural to an Indian who wanted to make a new trade with the "- Great Father," the Sacs under Black Hawk committed no serious acts of hostility, and intended none until the alternative of war or extermination was presented to them. It is certain, too, that the peojile of Galena and the mining districts generally, apprehended no serious trouble and made no preparations for war until Captain Stephenson carried them the news of Stillman's rout on the 15th of May.

Although Black Hawk's movement in crossing back to the Rock River country was construed into a hostile demonstration, it is a well known fact that no Indian warriors ever went on the war-path encumbered with their women and children. More than this, it does not appear, from the sixth da}' of April until Stillman's soldiers disregarded his flag of truce on the 12th of May, that a single settler was murdered, or suffered any material injury at the hands of Black Hawk or his band. In truth, Hon. H. S. Townsend, of Warren, Jo Daviess county, states that in one instance, at least, where they took corn from a settler, they paid him for it. Capt. W. B. Green writes: "I never heard of Black Hawk's band, while passing up Rock river, commiting any depredation whatever, not even petty theft."

Colonel Davenport

Some writers have sought to implicate Colonel George Davenport as scheming to secure the return of the Indians in 1832. One of these writers has said :

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

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

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

Tlie intimation here conveyed that Davenport played a conspicuous part in prevailing upon Black Hawk to cross back to Illinois, and that his letter to General Atkinson was only a cunning device of a wilj- creditor to secure a bad debt, is not sustained by subsequent events. On the contrary, it would seem that he was fully advised of Indian intentions when he wrote that letter. The British band did invade Illinois and kill Agent Saver. About the same time, some Wiunebagoes also killed one of three or four men who were engaged at work in a field or meadow near Oijuawka. The other men, among whom was Nathan Smith, already mentioned as living at St. Francisville, Mo., took to flight and managed to escape, although they were closely pursued for some distance. Notwithstanding this affair was the work of members of the British band, it increased the excitement against Black Hawk's baud, and hastened the conflict with them.

Second Campaign

Whether Black Hawk returned with peaceable intentions or determined to wage a war upon tlie whites, overcome them and thus reclaim and repossess their old homes, or for the purpose of securing a new trade with the " Great Father," it matters not - the result was the same. The Indians had scarcely crossed the Mississippi and st^irted on their marcli up through Illinois, before a report of the invasion was carried to Governor Reynolds, who, knowing the belligerent character of tiie Indians and of tlie settlers, and that the least indiscretion by eitlier party would precijutiite the entire Northwest in a bloody war, determined to call out a large force of volunteers as the best means of averting such a calamity. On the Ifith of April he issued a call to that end and at the same time addressed the following letter to the people :

Kki.i.ow CirUESs; - Your country require* your Mrvice*. The lii.liaiis htve .l^iun^cd a lioslilr .-ittiiudc .inM invaded the Sta'e in violation of the treaty of l\>t Summer. The llriiish liand of Sac* and other hostile Indians are in po«w»»i<>n of the country on Koclc river to the qreat terror of the frontier inliatiit.int*. ami I coniidcr the tcttlers in imminent danger. Under the«e circum4iance» I have not hesitate I what course I should |iur>uc. No ciliten ouchi to remain inactive when his country is invaded and tlie helpless |>art of the community is in dancer, t have called out a siron); detachment of militia to rendeivout at Beardstown on the aid initant. rrovisions lor the men and food for the hories mtiII he furnislieJ in a'lundance. I hope mv countrymen will realitc my expectation and offer their lervices as hereluforc with promptitude and cheerfulness in defense of their country."

General History Op Illinois

There was a prompt response to Governor Reynolds' call for volunteers and to this appeal, and in a few days eighteen hundred men reported for duty at the Beardstown camp. In the meantime, General Atkinson, tlien in command of the regular forces near the scene of threatened hostilities, made a requisition for additional troops, stating that the frontier was in danger, and that the forces under his command were insufficient for its defense. Daily accounts of the movements of the Indians were conveyed by carrier to Governor Reynolds. Judge Young, Colonel Strode and Benjamin Mills wrote letters to him appealing for protection for tlie frontier, stating that the Pottawatomies and Winnebagoes had joined Black Hawk and that the inhabitants were in imminent danger. On the receipt of these letters two hundred men inider command of Major Stillmau were ordered to guard the frontier near the Mississippi ; and two hundred more under command of Major Bailey were ordered to the protection of the country between the Mississippi and the Illinois rivers. The aspect of affairs was deemed to be so threatening that the call for troops was extended to every part of the State for the purpose of raising a reserve force of five thousand men to be ready in case of emergency.

On the 22d of April, the eighteen hundred men at Beardstown were mustered in four regiments, an odd and spy battalion. Colonel DeWitt was chosen to be commander of the first regiment ; Colonel Fry. of the second ; Colonel Thomas, of the third ; Colonel Thompson, of the fourth ; and Major James of the odd battalion. Governor Reynolds, who accomjjanied the army in person, placed Gen. Whiteside in command of the brigade and Colonel James D. Heniy in command of the spy battalion. . Enoch C. March and Samuel C. Christy, merchants, were appointed to procure supplies ; William Thomas was appointed brigade quarter-master ; James Turney, paymaster ; James B. Stapp and Joseph M. Chadwick, staff-officers ; Vital Jarrot, adjutant-general, and Cyrus Edwards, ordnance officer.

Colonel March, of the supply department, was dispatched to St. Louis for supplies, and on the 27th of April, the army broke camp a few miles north of Rusfiville, and, with only a few days' rations, took up its line of march for Oquawka, where it was intended to meet Col. Christy and a supply boat. In consequence of high waters and muddy roads the march was slow, but not so slow but that the army reached Oquawka in advance of the expected and needed supplies. On the evening of the day of their arrival at Oquawka they were joined by Captain Warren and two companies from Warren county. On the fiftli day the boat had not arrived, the provisions were exhausted, the men began to murmur, and Governor Reynolds dispatched three men to General Atkinson, at Fort Armstrong, Rock Island, fifty miles distant, asking for relief. Although the streams were swollen from recent rains, the messenger for succor accomplished the trip in one day, and the next day a boat-load of provisions came to their relief, and on the day following the William Wallace arrived from St. Louis with the supplies provided by Colonel March. After rations were issued and the hunger of the men appeased, the baggage wagons were loaded, and the army prepared to move towards Dixon's ferry, where, according to latest rumors, the Indians were posted. When the command was read}' to move, a letter came from Gen. Atkinson with the intelligence that Black Hawk and his people had turned down Rock river, and requesting Governor Rej'nolds to march immediately to Fort Armstrong. Instead of going to Fort Armstrong, however, the army " was marched to the mouth of Rock river, where it was consolidated with the United States regulars and the command assumed by General Atkinson.

Tlie rumor that Black Hawk and his Indians had turned to descend Rock river in the direction of re-crossing the Mississippi, proved to be incorrect, and the commanding general steamed up the river with an armament of cannon and four hundred regulars, while the Illinois troops rode up through the swamps and low lands skirting Rock river. Frequently signs of Indians were found, and where they had immolated dogs to appease tlie Great Spirit. In these instances of superstition, common among the Indians, the body of the dog was relieved of its intestines, after which it was fastened to a tree over a small fire with the head pointing in the direction the Indians had gone.

On the 10th day of May the spies captured an Indian near Prophetstown, Whiteside county, from whom it was learned that Black Hawk and his people were on Rock river, above Dixon's Ferrj-. On receipt of this information, the land forces moved up to Prophetstown, where it was further reported to them that the Indians had dispersed, and it was determined to abandon the pursuit and await the arrival of General Atkinson with the steamboat and provisions. It was believed that Black Hawk and his band had it in mind to locate on the lands of the Pottawatomies, and, as a means of preventing such a settlement, a commission of five men was sent to confer with the chiefs of that nation upon the subject. Because of cloudy weather and want of acquaintance with the face of the country, the party became lost, and the conference was not held. Governor Reynolds and his army of aiiout two thousand men, returned to Dixon greatly exhausted, having been without food or rest for two days, and there awaited the arrival of General Atkinson and the provision boat.

Majors Stillman and Bailey, previously mentioned as being sent out in advance of Governor Reynolds' forces to protect the frontier settlements, were at Dixon when the army arrived there, and having accomplished but little service, they asked to be sent out on a scouting expedition and to report the situation of the enemy, as it had been rumored that a part of Black Hawk's force was encami)ed on Old Man's creek, about twelve miles aljove Dixon. In answer to this request Governor Reynolds issued the following order :

Major Stillman : - You will cause the tioops under your immediate command, and the battalion under Major Bailey, to proceed without delay to the head of Old Man's creek, where it is supposed there are some hostile Indians, and coerce them into submission.

This order was issued on Friday, the 11 th day of May, and on Saturday morning, the 12th, Major Stillman set out on his expedition with about three hundred mounted men, all of whom, including men and officers, were hopeful of being able to give a good account of themselves, and many f>f them were boastful of what their conduct would be in an encounter with the red foe. They reached Old Man's creek, but found no enemy. Beyond this j)oint they had no authority to proceed, but eager for a bout with the Indians, and ignorant of their lodgment, the)' pushed on seventeen miles farther to Sycamore creek, about twelve miles above what was then known as Sinnissippi, a shallow crossing of Rock river, at the present site of Oregon City, in Ogle county, which they crossed and prepared to go into camp. At this time the main body of Black Hawk's braves were lodged across the high point of land between Sycamore creek and Rock river, where, it has been said, the chief and head-men were making arrangemeuts to sue for terms. How true the statement may be is not for the writer to determine, and the reader is left to compare the statement with the declarations made by Black Hawk to Isaac R. Oaiiiiibcll before he started to Illinois from Keokuk, and by Ne-o-pope to Mr. Dixon, when the Indians arrived at Dixon's Ferry. Whether true or false, it was of no benefit to the Indians.

While Stillman's men were engaged in camp duties, three unarmed Indians, bearing a flag of truce, made their appearance coming across (he liigli point of land before mentioned, and were taken into custody. Pretty soon after this occurrence, five other Indians on horse-l>ack were seen on the high ground about one nnle distant. At sight of tliest! Indians, an old soldier nameil Harrison exclaimed, "Get ready, boys; you'll have all the lighting now that you want." Without further orders from any source, the men mounted in hot haste, and it was not long until three-fourths of the command was darting away iu the direction of the Indians as fast as their horses could carry them. While the larger part of the men were flying away after the five mounted Indians, one of the flag of truce party was cowardly killed. The other two Indians of the flag of truce party managed to escape. Stillman's men being best mounted, soon overtook and killed two of the other party of five Indians, and pursued the other three to the edge of the timber where Black Hawk was lodged. At this juncture Black Hawk and a party of about fift}- of his braves suddenl}- confronted Stillman's Illinoisans with a terrible war whoop, and rushed forward to meet them. It was now the turn of the volunteers to retreat. Without waiting for the onslaught, they wheeled and fled as if they were pursued by a thousand savage warriors, instead of fifty or less. They dashed through the camp, spreading terror and consternation among their comrades, but late so eager to meet the foe. The wildest panic ensued ; there was " mounting in hot haste," and without waiting to see whether there was any thing to run from, every man fled, never stopping until they had reached Dixon's Ferry or some other place of safety, unless stopped by the tomahawk or bullet. The first man to reach Dixon was a Kentucky lawyer, who, as he strode into Dixon, reported that everj' man of Stillman's command had been killed except himself. Another man, named Comstock, never stopped until he reached Galena, where he reported that "the men were all drunk, as he was, got scared and made the best time they could out of danger, but that he didn't see a single Indian." Wagons, ammunition, and almost every thing else, except the horses on which the men were mounted, or on M'hich others could mount, were left to the Indians.

The now venerable and honorable John Stringer, of Kickapoo township, Peoria county, was a corporal in Captain Abner Ead's Peoria company, says there was not an oflicer to be found anywhere, when the stampede commenced ; that the men dashed away regardless of discipline or consequences, that they threw their guns over their shoulders, and for some distance after there was a continuous discharge of rifles to the rear. Mr. Stringer was in the rear when the flight l)egan, and to avoid danger to himself and others from the discharge of the rifles, he turned to one side, rode along the line, and cautioned the men against the danger of killing their comrades. " And," said he, " suppose you should run into an Indian ambuscade, what would 3'ou do with empty guns ? " "We never thought of that," was the reply, and the firing ceased ; but the flight was kept up. At Old Man's creek, since called Stillman's run, some delay was occasioned in crossing, because of its muddy banks. After passing the stream. Major Perkins and Captain Adams succeeded in rallying fifteen or twenty of the fleeing men, and made a short stand, checking the approach of the Indians, and no doubt saved the lives of many men who would otherwise have been killed. In this short engagement Captain Adams killed two Indians with his own hands, and in turn was killed himself, his body being recovered the second day. None of the men lived to tell the story of the engagement, but from broken guns, ghastly wounds, inflicted with rifles, tomahawks, scalping-knives, and other instruments of Indian warfare, the engagement must have been a terrific one. A j'oung man named Hackelton had a hand-to-hand conflict with an Indian, in which the Indian threw down his gun and attempted to use his knife. Hackelton closed with him, caught the blade of the knife in his hand, cutting it severely, but succeeded in wrenching it from the Indian's grasp and plunging it into his heart, the Indian fell lifeless at his feet. Hackelton escaped and found his way to Dixon.

Back To Dixon

" The night of the scare," continues Mr. Stringer, " was one of those when white, fleecy clouds float in the air, and the atmosphere was genial and balmy. It was what one might call a pleasant May evening, and a nice one for a night ride. The fugitives commenced to arrive at Dixon's about twelve o'clock at night, and continued to come in in small squads until the whole force, except what had been killed by the Indians, and a few by our own men in firing backward, were there. And what stories of hair-breadth escapes some of thorn had to tell I Accordinfj to some of their statements, they had to figlit tlieir way from Syciunore creek to Dixon, when only the fewest number of them saw an Indian after they turned tail to Black Hawk and his handful of warriors as they rushed out of the timber with their war whoop, the evening before."

All accounts of this inglorious affair concur in the statement that the officers and a great many of the men were drunk, and that the flag of truce displayed by Black Hawk was disregarded, and one of its Ijearers cowardly killed while on a flag of truce mission. The whites had commenced the work of murder, and the Indians, losing all hope of negotiation, determined that extermination was a game that both parties could play.

The disaster to Stillman's command created wild excitement in the camp at Dixon. Governor Reynolds at once issued a call for two thousand additional volunteers to be in readiness for future operations. Colonel March was ordered to forward provisions for the men, and Major Adams was directed to procure and forward provender for the horses. Atkinson and Dodge were advised of the situation, and the former, who had not yet arrived at Dixon, that the army there were destitute of provision, and that the frontiers of Wisconsin (then Michigan), were exposed and in danger.

On Sunday, the 13th, a "council of war" was held at the tent of Gen. Whiteside* then in command, at which it was decided to march to the scene of the disaster the next morning to find and punish the Indians. Some oxen were obtained from Mr. Dixon and killed as a temporary supply for the expedition. The beef was distributed among the men, who cooked and ate it without suit or bread, and started l)aek for the field of conflict. Wherever the mangled remains of their late comrades were found, they were gathered together and buried in a common grave, and a rough slab, hewn from the trunk of a tree, erected to mark the place. Monday night, the 14th, the men cami>ed (Ui the ground from which Stillman's detachment fled so precipitately on Saturday evening. During the night the firing of heavy guns was heard, which was believed to be signals for collecting Black Hawk's scattered braves, and an attack wiis momentarily expected. It came not, however, and the morning dawned without an enemy being seen. On Tuesday morning Major Henry was ordered to scour the country with his battalion, but no trace of the enemy being discovered, the entire command fell back to Dixon.

Intelligence of Stillmiin's defeat scattered terror and consternation throughout the State aiul nation. The number of warriors was greatly over-estimated, and Black Hawk was credited with great military skill and sagacity. General Scott, with nine companies of artillery, stationed at Old Point Comfort, Virginia, wius ordered to the Rock river country to superintend future ojierations against the Indians. The Asiatic cholera, which had just reached the country, overtook his command at Detroit. Hfiny Howe's "Great NVi'st," pulilislied in iH.'i^, says that the "two hundred and eight men. under command of Colonel Twiggs, landed at Fort Gratiot, and that the disea^se made such ravage among them, that but very few escaped. Some of tliem died in hospital, some in the woods, and .some deserted to avoid the pestilence, and being scattered about the country, shunned by the terrified inhabitants, and repelled from their doors, lay down in the fiehls and died, without a friend to close their eyes or console the last moments of their existence. The rest of tlit; nine companies continueil their course and arrived at Mackinaw, comparatively untouched by the disease. There it broke out afresh, and on the passage from Mackinaw to Chicago, thirty were thrown overboard. On the 18th of July General Scott reached Chicago, and old Fort Dearborn was ccuiverted into a hos- pltal for his cholera-stricken men. In the first thirty days after his arrival there, ninety of his men answered the last earthl}- roll call and were ' whelmed in pits' without coffins, ' without notice and without remembrance.' "

General Scott reported his arrival at Chicago to Governor Reynolds iu a letter under date of Jul}^ 15, in whicli he gave an account of the cholera affliction among his troops. The letter was published in the Louisville (Kentucky) Advertiser, July 27, 1832, and is here appended:

Sir : - To prevent or correct the exaggerations of rumor in respect to the existence of cholera at this place, I address myself to your Excellency. Four steamers were engaged at Buffalo to transport United States troops and supplies to Chicago. In the headmost of these boats, the Sheldon Thomas, I, with my staff and four companies, a part of Col. Eusti.s' command, arrived here on the night of the roih inst. On the Sth all on board were in high health and spirits, but the next morning six cases of undoubted cholera presented themselves. The disease rapidly spread for the next three days. About one hundred and twenty persons have been affected. Under a late Acftf Congress, six companies of rangers are to be raised, and marched to this place. Gen. (Henry) Dodge, of Michigan,* is appointed major of the battalion, and I have seen the names of the captains, but I do not know where to address them. I am afraid the report from this place in respect to cholera may seriously retard the raising of this force. I wish, therefore, that your Excellency would give publicity to the measures I have adopted to prevent the spread of this disease, and of my determination not to allow any junction or communication between uninfected and infected troops. The war is not at an end, and may not be brought to a close for some time. The rangers may reach the theater of operations in time for the final blow. As they approach this place I shall take care of their health and general wants.

I write in great haste, and may not have time to cause my letter to be copied. It will be put in some post-office to be forthwith forwarded.

The account given by Mr. Howe was probably based upon unofficial reports, and consequently exaggerated to some extent. At that time the cholera was a new disease in America, and extravagant accounts of its ravages were likely to prevail. In either report, Howe's or Scott's, the account is sorrowful enough in all conscience.

When General Scott left Chicago, he marched across the country in the direction of Fort Armstrong, but, in consequence of the dela}' occasioned by the disease which preyed so heavily among his troops, he did not reach the theater of Indian conflict in time to direct the movement of the camjjaign. Besides, the cholera still lingered among the men of his command, and his course from Chicago was marked by uncoffined graves. After the countr}^ began to settle up and the land to be cultivated, the bones of many a poor fellow were uncovered by the plow. Some of them were reburied and some of them were cremated.

Under Governor Reynolds' call for a new levy of two thousand men, Beardstown and Heniiej)in were designated as points of rendezvous. Volunteers from the southern part of tlie State were to report at Beardstown on the 3d, and from the central part at Hennepin on the 10th of June. The time was short, but messengers were sent into all the settled portions of the State to convey intelligence of the requisition and hasten the filling of the call. Under the first call the term of enlistment was not defined, and the men maintained they had a right to return home at any time, and they began to clamor for a discharge. They urged that they had enlisted on short notice, that they had not liad time to provide food or clothes for their families, and that thej^ must suffer if the campaign was protracted. The governor appealed to their patriotism, and they consented to remain twelve or fifteen days longer. Pending these conditions General Atkinson arrived at Dixon with provisions, encamped on the right hand bank of the river, and threw up breastworks for the protection of the stores. The companies of Bailey and Stillman

then included Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota. Wisconsin Territory was organized under an Act of Congress approved April 20, 1S36, and President Jackson appointed Henry Dodge, then living in Missouri, Governor of the new dependency. After Wisconsin became a State, he was chosen one of the United States Senators. He was born at Vincennes, Indiana, and emigrated to Missouri when quite young. He was the father of Hon. A. C. Dodge, of Burlington, Iowa.

were organized as a brigade and placed under command of Col. Johnson, and received into the service of the United States. A iiart of this brigade was sent to the defense of Ottawa, and the other part remained at Dixon to guard the stores.

Indian Creek Massacre

The fatal act of Stillman's men precipitated all the horrors of Indian border warfare upon the white settlements in Jo Daviess county, as it then existed (including Ogle, Stephenson, Carroll, Whiteside, Winnebago, Lee and other nortiiern counties as now organized), and in tlie adjoining portions of Michigan Territory. Nor is it certain tliat all tlie outrages were perpetrated l)j' tlie " British Band." Young Pottawatomies and Winneba,'oes joined Black Hawk, and after tlie war suddenly closed at Bad Axe, it was ascertained that many of the murders had been committed by these Indians. Among the first results of ** Stillman's defeat "" was the descent of about seventy Indians upon an unprotected settlement at Indian creek (LaSalle county) where tliey ma.«sacreed fifteen men, women and children of tlie families of Hall, Davis and Pettigrew, and captured two young women, Sylvia and Raciiel Hall. These girls, seventeen and fifteen years old, respectively, were afterwards brought in l)y Wiiniebagoes to Gratiot Grove, and were ransomed b}' Major Henry Giatiot, for two tiiousand dollars in horses, wampum and trinkets, and taken to Galena.

May 15, 1832, Capt. James W. Stephenson arrived at Galena with the startling intelligence of Stillman's disastrous defeat and the commencement of bloody hostilities by the Indians, creating intense excitement among the people. The ringing notes of the bugle called the settlers and miners together on the old race course on the bottom near the river, near the foot of Washington street. Galena, and a company of mounted rangers was organized, with James W. Stephenson for captain. At o o'clock on the morning of Saturdaj-, May 19. Sergeant Fred Stalil (now a respected citizen of Galena) and privates William Durley, Vincent Smith, Redding Bennett, and James Smith, started to bear dispatches to Gen. Atkinson at Dixon's Ferry, with John D. Winters, the mail contractor, for guide, but on Sunday, -20th, Sergeant Stahl returned and added to tiie alarm of the people i)y reporting that his party had been anibu.><caded by tlie Indians just on the edge of Buffalo Grove, now in Ogle county, fifty miles from (ialeiia, about 5 o'clock p. M. Saturday afternoon, and that Durley was instantly killed and left on the spot. Stahl received a bullet through his coat collar, and James Smith afterwards found a bullet hole in his hat and became intensely frightened. After the war, the leader of the Indians told Dixon that he could have killed the young fellow (Stahl) as well as not, but he had a fine horse, and in trying to shoot him without injuring the animal, he shot too high, as .Stahl suddenly stooped at the same time.

Hunting The Indians

May 19, the entire army, including volunteers and regulars, under command of General Atkinson, started up the river in pursuit of the enemy. In the afternoon news was brought of the Indian Creek massacre in LaSalle county, when (ieneral .\tkinson ordered (ieneral Whiteside and Colonel Zachary Taylor to continue the pursuit with the volunteers, while he fell back to Dixon. After several days' march the trail of Black Hawk was struck, which led the army to a village of the Pottawatomies on Sycamore creek, where several relics of the Stillman disaster and of the Indian Cret'k massacre were found, l»ut the Imlians iiad lied. Trails led o'.it from the village in different directions, intended, no doubt, to uonfusethe pursuing forcesand throw them off the right trail. The army remained here a short time, during which the volunteers became so dissatisfied with the commanding general and from other causes, that it was determined to abandon the cha.se. The principal trail of the Indians, when found, led north and the route of the volunteers homeward led south. Colonel Taylor anil Major Harney, of the regular army, urged the volunteers to remain until the Indians could be overtaken and chastised, but they were averse to remaining longer awaj^ from their homes and their business. General Whiteside was opposed to continuing the pursuit, but agreed to be governed by a majority of the officers, and the question being submitted to a vote, onehalf voted to continue the pursuit, and the other half in favor of returning home. Governor Reynolds, seeing the demoralized condition of the volunteers, caused a part of them to be marched to Ottawa, where they were discharged on the 27th and 28th of May. Captain Eads' Peoria company was mustered out at Peoria.

Anecdote Of Old Rough And Keady

It has been related that pending these troubles with the militia, many of them believed Rock river was the northwestern boundary of Illinois, and declared they would not go beyond that river under any circumstances. They were militia, they said, had been called out for the defense of the State, and it was unconstitutional to order them to march beyond its frontier and into the Indian Territory. Taylor, as soon as he was informed of the condition of affairs, halted tlie command and went into camp within the acknowledged boundaries of Illinois. He could not, he declared, budge another inch without further orders. Black Hawk and his forces had been driven out of the State, but the question of crossing Rock river seemed to trouble him, as to obedience to the constitution on the one side and military expediency on the other. During the night, however, orders were received from General Atkinson to follow Black Hawk to tlie last. The quiet demeanor of Colonel Taylor meanwhile had rather encouraged the mutinous spirits to carry out tlieir purposes. A meeting was called, and Colonel Taylor was invited to attend. He listened some time with quiet attention to the proceedings, but at last concluded tluit it was about time for him to be heard, and he addressed the meeting something after this manner: He had, he said, listened witli mucli interest and pleasure to the views expressed by some of the speakers as to the independence and dignity of each individual American citizen. He felt that all the gentlemen present were his equals, and was persuaded that it would not be many years until they would be his superiors ; that perhaps some of them would be members of Congress and arbiters of the fortunes and reputations of humble servants to tlie Republic, like himself. He expected then to obey tiiem as interpreters of the will of the people, and that the best proof lie could give that he would obey them, was now to observe the orders of those whom the people had already put in places of authority, to which many gentlemen around him justly aspired. In plain English, gentlemen and fellow citizens, tlie word has been passed to me from Washington to follow Black Hawk, and to take you with me as soldiers. I intend to do both. There are the Hat boats drawn up on the shore, and here are Uncle Sam's men drawn up behind you on the prairie. It is needless to add that the militia crossed Rock river, and followed Black Hawk until they were honorably discharged.

Third Campaign Skirmishing

When the first levy of State troops was mustered out at Ottawa and Peoria, General Atkinson called on Governor Reynolds for one thousand additional men to co-operate with the previous requisition of two thousand, and one thousand more to guard the frontier. In consequence of danger to the exposed settlements an appeal was made to the disbanded volunteers, and a regiment was raised among them to serve until the new levies could be made available. Jacob Fry was chosen Colonel and James D. Henry Lieutenant-Colonel, after which the different companies composing the regiment were dispatched to the most exposed localities. After doing duty until the new levy of troops arrived, this regiment was mustered out at Dixon on the 19th of June by Colonel Taylor. During their term of service, one of the companies under command of Captain Snyder had some severe skirmishing with a party of seventy Indians in the vicinity of Kellogg's Grove, in which four of the Indians and two or three of the whites were killed. Before the new levies could be organized and made available, a number of murders were committed in different parts of the country.

The Galenian of May 23, 1832, said : " The tomahawk and scalping-knife have again been drawn on our frontier. Blood of our best citizens has been spilt in great profusion within the borders of Illinois. * * The Indians must be exterminated or sent off."

The miners and settlers flocked to central points, organized themselves into companies, and built stockades and block-houses, so that within a week after they received the news of the Stillmans run affair, they were able to resist any ordinary attacking force.

Depredations by straggling Indians were of almost daily occurrence. On tiie '21st a Mr. Goss was fired on near the mouth of Plum river, and sundry other affairs of tlie same kind were reported from other parts of the country. The most of these assaults occurred in Jo Daviess county and east of the Rock river, although some of them were confined to the couiitr}' along the Mississippi.

May 23, Felix St. Vrain, agent for the Sacs and Foxes, bearer of dispatches, left General Atkinson's headquarters, on Rock river, accompanied by John Fowler, Thomas Kenney, William Hale, Aquilla Floyd, Aaron llawley. and Alexander Higginbotham. At Buffalo Grove they found tlie body of tiie lamented Durley, and buried it a rod from the spot where they found it. The next day (24th) they were attacked by a large part}- of thirty Indians near Kellogg's old place. St. Vrain, Fowler, Hale and llawley were killed. The otlier tliree escaped, and arrived at Galena on the morning of tiie 26th.

The Indians were watchful of every movement of the wiiite troops, and took every possible advantage offered. Between tiie time tiie first volunteei"s were mustered out, on the 2Tlh and 28tli of May, and the mustering in and organization of tlie new levies on the lotli of June, they grew bolder and more daring. Numerous murders were committed, and the only protection tiie people had was tlieir own brave hearts and strong arms. The atrocities perpetrated liy the Indians upon the bodies of their victims, aroused tlie vengeiice of the settlers and miners, many of wliom had previously felt tiiat the Indians were not so niucli in fault, and had been nee<ilessly provoked to bloodshed.

June 8, Captain Stephenson's company of mounted rangers found the bodies of St. Vrain, Hale, Fowler and llawley, four miles south of Kellogg's Grove, and liurieil tlicin.

Colonel William S. IlamiUon arrived in Galena with two hundred and thirty Indians, mostly Sioux, with some Meiioniinees and Winnebagoes, on the 8tli. Tliese Indians left Galeiiaon tlie lOtli. to join fJuneral Atkinson at Dixon's Ferry, all anxious to obtain Sac scalps. Black Hawk's band was reported moving slowly northward.

On the night of June Stli, the Indians stole fourteen liorses just outside tiie stockade on Apple river (Elizabetii), and on tlie niglit of the 17th, ten more were stolen. The next morning Capt. J. W. Stei)heiisoii, with twelve of his men and nine from Apple River Fort, started on the trail of tlie red thieves, and overtook them about twelve miles east of Kelhjgg's Grove, southeast of Waildam's (irove, and pursued tlieni several miles, until a little northeast of Waddarn's (in Stephenson county), the Indians (seven in number, says Captain (iieen), took refuge in a dense tliicket, and awaitetl the attack. Stephenson dismounted his men, and, detailing a guard for the horses, led liis men in a gallant cliarge upon the concealed foe, received their fire and returned it, returning to the open prairie to load. Three times the brave boys charged upon this fatal thicket, losing a man each time. Only one Indian wa.'> known to be killed. He was bayonettcd by Private

Hood, and stabbed in the neck bj- Thomas Sublett. This Indian was scalped several times, and a piece of his scalp lock in 1878 was in the possession of Wm. H. Snyder, Esq., of Galena. The three men killed were Stephen P. Howard, George Eames and Michael Lovell. Stephenson himself was wounded. After the third charge, Stephenson retreated, leaving his dead where they fell, and returned to Galena, arriving on the 19th. Of this desperate battle. Gov. Ford says : " This attack of Capt. Stephenson was unsuccessful, and may have been imprudent ; but it equalled any thing in modei'n warfare in daring and desperate courage."

On the evening of June 14, five men, at work in a corn-field at Spafford's farm, five miles below Fort Hamilton, on Spafford's creek, and on the morning of the 16th, Henry Apple, a German, were killed within a half a mile of the fort. Gen. Dodge, with twentynine men, at once pursued the Indians about three miles, when they were discovered, eleven in number, in open ground, but were not overtaken until they crossed the East Pick - e - ton - e - ka, and entered an almost impenetrable swamp, at Horse Shoe Bend. At the edge of the swamp, Dodge ordered his men to dismount, and link horses. Four men were left in charge of the horses, four were posted around the swamp to prevent the escape of the savages, and the remainder, twenty-one in number, advanced into the swamp about half a mile, where they received the fire of the Indians, and three men fell severely wounded. Gen. Dodge instantly ordered a charge. The Indians were found lying under the bank of a slough, and were not seen until the soldiers were within six or eight feet of them, when they fired. The whole hostile party were killed and scalped in one or two minutes, except one who swam the slough in an attempt to escaj)e, and was shot down on the opposite bank. In this battle F. M. Morris and Samuel Wells were mortally, and Samuel Black and Thomas Jenkins severely, wounded. This was the first victory achieved over the murderous Sacs, and occasioned great rejoicing in the settlements.

June 17th, Captain Adam W. Snyder, of Colonel Fry's regiment, sent to scout the country between Rock river and Galena, while encamped near Burr Oak Grove, in what is now the township of Erin, Stephenson county, was fired upon by four Indians. He pursued and killed them, losing one man mortally wounded. Returning, he was attacked by seventy Indians, both parties taking positions behind trees. General Whiteside, then a private, shot the leader of the band and they retreated, but were not pursued. Snyder lost two men killed and one wounded.

On the 20th, Stephenson's and Craig's companies, under command of Col. Strode, went to Waddam's Grove to bury the remains of Howard, Eames and Lovell, which they did, but left the dead Indian above ground. On their return they heard some suspicious sounds, but pushed on in the night to Imus's (in Rush township) and returned to Galena in safety. Afterwards, says Capt. Green, who was with Stephenson's company, we learned that " a large party of Sacs were within a half-hour's march of us, when we left the graves of our dead comrades."

This party, which numbered about 150, had left the main body of Sacs on Rock river, and, after following Strode's command, were, undoubtedly, the same who made a furious attack on the stockade at Apple river, on the night of the 24th, under the following circumstances: F. Dixon, Edmund Welsh, G. W. Herclerode and Jas. L. Kirkpatriek started to carry dispatches to Gen. Atkinson. They had passed Apple River Fort when they were fired upon by Indians, and Welsli was badly wounded. His companions told him to retreat to the fort, and to give him time, turned upon the foe and raised a yell. This temporarily checked them ; Welsh reached the fort and gave the alarm. Their strategem succeeded ; Dixon dashed through the savages, and escaped to Galena. Kirkpatriek and Herclerode gained the fort ; the gates were shut, and for three-quarters of an hour the battle raged with fury. The women and girls molded Inillets, made cartridges and loaded the guns. Herclerode was killed while taking deliberate aim at an Indian over the tup of the pickets. The number of Indians killed was never known, but they were supposed to have lost several. They finally withdrew, after stealing a large number of cattle, and destroying considerable property.

June 2oth, a detacliment of General Posey's brigade, commanded bj' Major John Dement, and encamped at Kellogg's Grove, or Burr Oak Grove, as it was then called, was attacked by a large party of Indians, and a sharp skirmish ensued. Major Dement lost five men and about twenty horses killed. The Indians left nine of their number stretched upon the field. General Posey, then encamped at Buffalo Grove, hastened to the relief of Dement, but the Indians had retreated two hours before he arrived. He returned to Kellogg's Grove to await the arrival of his baggage wagons, and then marched to Fort Hamilton, Michigan Territory.

On the 30th of June, three men at work in a corn-field at Sinsinawa Mound, more generally known as Jones' Mound, ten miles from Galena, were attacked by a small part}' of Indians, and two of them, James Boxley and John Thompson, were killed. Major Ste[ henson, with thirty men, started immediately on receipt of the news to bury the murdered men and pursue the murderers. The bodies were shockinglj' mangled and both scalped, and Thompson's heart cut out. The Indians were followed to the residence of Mr. Jordon, on the Mississippi, where they had stolen a canoe and crossed the river. These Indians could hardly have been auy of Black Hawk's band, unless they had deserted and were making their way back to the west side of the Mississippi.

It has always been admitted Ijy those who were familiar with the facts, that the Stillman's run affair precipitated the war and led to the several murders and outrages herein quoted. But it never was believed that all these atrocities were committed by Black Hawk's band, or with his knowledge or approval, it is certain that a large number of young VVinnebagoes, Pottawatomies, and straggling representatives of other tribes took advantage of the condition of affairs and hung on the outskirts of his forces, just as the bummers hovered in the shadow of Sherman's army, when he was marching " To the Sea." When the war closed at Bad Axe, it was learned beyond question, that nearly all the murders had been committed by these stragglers.

The alarm continued and the excitement increased, and on the 30th of June, all the inhal)itants along the Mississippi river, from tiie present site of Savannah and north of Galena to Cassville, Wisconsin, either went to Galena or some of the other stockades for safety, and it was not considered safe to go the shortest distance outside of the forts.

Captain George W. Harrison, in command of Fort Hamilton on the Pick-a-ton-e-ka, thirty miles from Galena, after vainlj' endeavoring to get a cannon, went to Colonel Hamilton's furnace and cast several lead pieces, intended for two-pounders, which were properly mounted at the stockade, <and answered every purpose.

The new levy of troops arrived at Dixon on the l;Jth of June, and were organized in three brigades. General Alexander Posey was assigned to the command of the first ; General Milton R. Alexander to the second, and General James D. Henry to the third. General Whiteside having enlisted as a private under tlie call for the new levy.

While the whirligig of time was recc)rding the events here narrated. Black Hawk's forces kept on their march up Rock river, with the intention, it was believed, of returning to the west side of the Mississippi, as the forces of General Atkinson below i>reventcd their return i)y the way the}- came, and, as they doubtless believed after the affray with Stillman, no flag of truce or projiosals for peace, would be received by the whites. But while Black Hawk W!is proceeding northward, various signs of straggling Indians were discovered along the Mississippi river. Julj' 0, LieutenaTit Orrin Smith was sent, with twenty men. to Jordon's farm, opposite Dubuque mines, to scour the country there. On the ittli, Indians were in the vicinity of Rountree's Fort (^Platt^ville), where they held a war dance around the scalp of a woman. On the 10th, the Galenian said : " To-day

July 14, after the final march against the Indians was- commenced, Governor Reynolds, Colonel Fields (Secretary of State), Judges Smith and Brownf Colonels Hickman, Grant, Bresse and Gate wood, Captain Jeffreys and. others, arrived at Galena from the army. These geiitlemen reported that the Indians were entirely destitute of provisions, and were endeavoring to reach and re-cross the Mississippi.

July 15, an express arrived at Galena, stating that Captain Harney, of the U. S. A., had found and pursued the trail of the Indians for thirty miles, passing four of their encampments in that distance, and that lie found many signs of their want of pi'ovisions, "such as where they had butchered horses, dug for roots, and scraped the trees for bark," and it became evident that the military had concluded that Black Hawk was doing his best to escape to the west side of the Mississippi. Orders were sent to troops stationed on the banks of that river " to prevent or delay the Indians from crossing until the brigade sent by General Atkinson could come up witli them." Indian outrages had now nearly ceased in Jo Daviess county, and a brief sketch of the movements of the troops from Dixon's Ferry to Bad Axe will close this part of the history.

About the 25th of June every thing being in readiness, General Atkinson commenced his slow and cautious marcla up Rock river, an4 finally reached Lake Koshkonong, where he was joined by General Alexander, wlien the march was continued to White river, or Whitewater, where they were joined by Posey's brigade and the Galena battalion under Major Dodge. From there General Alexander, Gen. Henr}' and Major Dodge were sent to Fort Winnebago for supplies. Here they heard that Bhxck Hawk was making his waj^ toward the Wisconsin river, and, disobeying orders, Henry and Dodge started in pursuit (Gen. Alexander and his brigade returning to Gen. Atkinson), struck the broad, fresh trail of the Indians and followed them with tireless enei<gy. Ever and anon they would find old men, women and children, who could not keep up and had been abandoned t6 their fate by the 'fleeing Indians. Some of them were killed. One old man who had been left to die was found sitting against the trunk of a tree and was cowardly shot and scalped b}' a siwgeon, who afterwards exhibited the scalp as a trophy of his valor.

On the afternoon of the 31st day of July, 1832, the, pursuing forces arrived at the hills that skirt the left bank of the Wisconsin river, about fifty miles above its mouth, near the present village of Muscoda, and nearly opposite Sauk Prairie, where they came in plain sight of Black Hawk's entire party, including women and children. The Indians were in the bottom lands, hastening to remove their people'to an island in the river, to avoid a conflict in which they could not reasonably expect any thing but extermination, but to cover the retreat, it was necessary for Black Hawk to make as bold a stand as possible until this purpose was accomplished.

The scouts, who were some distance in advance of- the column of pursuers, came suddenly upon some Indians as they were descending the high grounds, by whom tliey were instantl}' attacked, and forced to fall backon the main body of t^ army \Wiich had already been formed for action. Colonel Dodge occupied the front and received the' first fire of the enemy. The main body, under General Henry, soon joined Dodge's battalion, and their united action soon obtained a comj^lete victory over the enemy. The loss of the whites in this engagement was one man killed and eight wounded. The Indian toss was estimated at about sixty killed and a great number wounded. The first Indian killed was one who was discovered with a pack of meat on his back. A soldier fired at him, l)Ut missed liis aim, wlien the Imliaii threw down his gun and wa^ liayonetted by Samples Journey after he surrendered. This is known as the battle of Wisconsin Heights.

The Indians were supposed to number from six to eight hundred, but Colonel Pattei-son, of Oquawka, already quoted, is authority for the statement that Black Hawk told him tliat iiis forces at no time exceeded five hundred braves. A few of these were Winnebagoes. When lie started up Rock river, he expected that his army would be reinforced and perhaps doubled by WinneViagoes and Pottawatomies, but he was disappointed in the latter, as not one of them joined him.

"At this battle," says Mr. H. S. Townsend, one of the participants, now living in Warren township, Jo Daviess county, " the Indians were badly whipped by our troops and worse whipped by starvation. Irregular firing continued until about ten o'clock at night, when it ceased, and the men bivouacked for rest and slept on their arms."

"About daylight, the next morning after the battle," says Captain D. S. Harris, of Galena, then lieutenant in Stephenson's compan}', " the camji was startled by the clarion voice of tlie Prophet from a hill nearly a mile away. At fii-st we thought it was an alarm, but soon found tliat the Prophet wanted peace. Although lie was so far distant I could hear distinctly every word, anil I understood enough to know that he did not want to tight. The interpreter reported that he said thej' had their squaws and families with them and were starving - that they did not want to tight any more, but wanted peace and would do no more harm if they could lie permitted to cross the Mississippi in peace.' " Mr. P. J. Pilcher, now of Elizabeth, Jo Daviess county, wlio was also there, says they were awakened by the shrill voice of the chief, and that he plainly understood : ^'Xecom, P f - el - 0 0-0 ;" " Friknds, WE FIGHT NO MORE." Mr. Pilcher says he told Henry what the Indian said, but General Henry replied "juiy no attention to any thing they say or do, but form in line of battle." The Winnebagoes in camp also informed the officers of the meaning of the Prophet's message, and " early in the morning," continued Mr. Pilclier, -' they went with us to the spot where tlie Indian had stood, when he proclaimed peace, and tliere we found a Tomahawk hurled,'^ an emphatic declaration that so far iis Black Hawk and his band were concerned, hontilitifn were ended. No attention was paid to this second attempt to negotiate peace. It has been said that the oflSceis had no interpreter and did not know what the Prophet said until after the war closed. 'J'his excuse is exploded by the direct and emphatic testimony of Captain Harris an<l Mr. Pilcher, that it was declared the starved and dying Indians must be exterminated.

The night after the battle of Wisconsin Heights, Black Hawk made his escape dnwn the river in tlie direction of Iowa with his forces and peoi)le, and not an Indian remained on the south side of the Wisconsin. General Atkinson came up with his command. General Henry was ordered l)ack fur sup|)lies, and a courier was disjiatclieil to Fort Crawford ( Praiiie du Cliien. ) witli instructions to the commandant tiiere to intercept the Indians in their passage down tiie Wisconsin river. In carrying out these instructions, that officer captuied several canoes with women and diildren, but the warriors evadeil interception by nnirching on foot along the bank of the river and under tlie bluffs.

Tiie line of pui-suii was taken up on the morning of the first day of August, by General Atkinson and ('olonel Dodge, who crossed their respective divisions to tlie north Bi<le of liie Wisconsin, where they struck the trail tif the retreating Indians, and followed it until night fall, wiieii tiiey went into cami>. The great number of dead bodies and newly made Indian graves which they found, told too plainly the losses and sufferings Hiistained by Black Hawk's people.

A steamboat had been dispatched from Fort Crawford by Colonel Loomis as far as Black river, where a number of canoes were seized which had been provided, as was believed, b}' the Winnebagoes to aid Black Hawk in his contemplated retreat across the Mississippi. The boat returned to the fort on the evening of the first day of August, and on the morning of the second, a more serviceable one was sent up, and arrived at the mouth of the Bad Axe before the battle commenced, and in time to participate in the last armed conflict of the Black Hawk war.

Battle At Bad Axe

About two o'clock on the morning of the second day of August, 1832, the forces under command of Atkinson and Dodge, broke camp and renewed the pursuit. Colonel Dodge's command, supported by the regular troops under Colonel Zachary Taylor, forming the advance. About sunrise, Captain Dickson, who commanded the scouts, reported that he was up with the Indians, and asked for orders. Colonel Dodge directed him to attack them at once, and at the same time moved rapidly forward with his own command, supported by the regulars. The Indians were attacked in front by fire from the steamboat, on all sides and in the rear, by a determined foe. The battle lasted about two hours, and was a complete rout and slaughter of the Indians, and ended the career of Black Hawk as a warrior chieftain.

It is stated as a fact, by men who were present, and whose statements, from their high standing for truth and honor are of unquestioned veracity, that when the Indians were swimming the river, the steamboat was run among them, drowning the starved, fleeing creatures by scores. If this statement is true, and there can be no doubt, it does not reflect any credit upon the civilization and Christianity of that day.

Indian men and women plunged into the Mississippi and sought to reach the Iowa shore by swimming, some of them mounted on their ponies, but mostly without. Many of them were drowned in the attempt, while many of those who succeeded in reaching the western shore were pursued and killed by a body of Sioux Indians who were on that side of the river. It is related that a Sac woman named Ne-wa-se, the sister of a distinguished chief, succeeded in escaping from the battle field in the thickest of the fight and in reaching the bank of the Mississipi^i with her babe. As she reached the water's edge, an Indian man mounted on a pony, was about to plunge in to swim across. Quick as thought Ne-wa-se wrapped her child in her blanket, grasped its folds in her teeth, and then, catching the pony's tail with her hands, was carried safel}' across. Other mothers, with their children fastened ujion their backs, plunged in and swam safely across, but more of them who attempted this means of escape went down beneath the waves.

The battle of Bad Axe terminated the war, and now after nearly half a century has passed since the occurrence of the stirring events narrated, and the Indians have disappeared before the westward advance of civilization, it is but just that the truth should be recorded. Passion and prejudice have passed awa3% and it must be admitted that when the tomahawk and scalping knife were drawn in 1832, it was only after the whites had commenced the carnival of blood by disregarding the flag of truce and murdering one of its bearers at Stillman's Run. The vindictive pursuit and murder of women and children after the Prophet had, in person, informed his ruthless pursuers that " his people were starving and wanted peace," can not be justified. It was as savage an act as the savages themselves had committed. It must be added, also, that after Stillman's defeat. Black Hawk, then an old man, lost all control of his 3'oung braves, who were led by Ne-o-pope. But for the recklessness of Stillman's soldiers, in all human probability the subsequent acts of savage barbarity by both Indians and whites had remained undone.

After the battle of Bad Axe, Black Hawk fled to the Winnebacfo village at Prairie La Crosse for refuge. At the instance of the authorities two Winnebago Indians, Deeorah (^the one-eyed), and Chwter, went to him with the message that if he would come in and surrender to General Street, the Indian agent at Prairie du Chien, he would be released immediately after. It was reported that the fallen chief told them he knew they lied, but that, for the sake of his wife and children, whom he knew to be starving, he would go. On the 2Tth of August the messengere returned with Black Hawk, two of his sons, and the Prophet, and delivered them to General Street. During the ceremonies attending the surrender. Black Hawk, in referring to the late battle, made the following

Eemabkable Speech

" My warriors fell aroilnd me. It began to look dismal. I saw my evil day at hand. The sun rose clear in the morning ; at night it sank in a dark cloud, and looked like a ball of fire. This was the last sun that shone on Black Hawk. He is now a prisoner to the white man. But he can stand the torture. He is not afraid of death. He is no coward. Black Hawk is an Indian. Ho lias done nothing of which any Indian need be ashamed. He has fought the l)attles of his country against tlie white man, who came year after year to cheat the Indians and take away their lands. You know the cause of our making war. It is known to all wiiite men. They ought to be ashamed of it. The white men despise the Indians, and drive them from their homes. But the Indians are not deceitful. Indians dQ not steal.

"The white men do not scalp the head, but they do worse - they poison the heart. It is not pure with them. The Indians will not be scalped, but in a few years they will become like the white man, so that you can not hurt them ; and there must be, as in the white settlements, as many officers as men, to take care of them and keep them in order. Farewell to my nationj Farewell to Black Hawk I"

Black Hawk and his two sons were held as prisonei*s of war. By the terms of the treaty made at Davenport, Iowa, in September, 18:V2, lietweeii General Winfield Scott and Governor John Reynolds, of Illinois, on tiie part of the United States, and Keokuk and other chiefs and head men on the part of the Sac and Fox Indians, by which the latter agreed to relinquish their right to the lands on the eastern slope of Iowa, commonly known as tiie Bhick Hawk purchase, it wa,s agreed that the captives should be held at the will of the President. At that time Colonel Zacllary Taylor, afterwards elected President of the United States, was in command at Fort Crawford, and the captives were placed in charge of the late rebel Jefl' Davis, then a \ieutenant in the regular army, to be taken to Jefferson barracks at St. Louis. They were afterwards lield at Fortress Monroe until June 4, 18<?3, when President Jackson directed their release ^"roni cRptivity and gave them in charge of Major Garland to lie taken on a grand tour tlirougii tlie country to exhibit to them the folly of ever renewing hostilities against the United States. Tliey were told the people of the United States were as numerous as ilie leaves of the forest, and wherever- they went tliey attracted much attention and large crowds of the curious. At this time Black Hawk; according to his own statement, was al)out sixty-six years of age, altliough he looked, say those who knew him, much younger. He was aliout five feet eight inches in height, sinewy, with bvonil chest, the high. cheek buncs of his race, high forehead and great penetrating black eyes, with the

Generai, Iiistoky Of Illinois

The starving condition of his wife and children, more than any other cause, induced Black Hawk to surrender himself at Prairie du Chien. After his surrender his wife and little son went south and stopped near St. Francisville, Clark county, Missouri, where she was a frequent visitor at the house of Jerre Wa3'land, one of the " old settlers " of that neighborhood. Wayland, always one of nature's noblemen, fully sympathised with her in her misfortunes. She brooded sorrowfully over the forcible absence of her lord, and often declared she never expected him to return, but Wayland sought to keep ujj her courage with the assurance that he would come in good time. When at last he did return, she was filled with joy, and his arrival home was made an occasion for a great feast, at which Black Hawk, Keokuk and their families were all present.

His Death And Burial

After his return from captivity. Black Hawk lived among his people on the Iowa river until that reservation was sold in 1836, when, with the rest of the Sacs and Foxes, he removed to the Des Moines river, where he remained until his death on the 3d day of October, 1838. His burial place was near a large spring, not far from the residence of James Jordon, an old Indian trader, near the village of Eldon (once called Ashton), at the Des Moines river crossing of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific railroad. His burial place and costume were thus described to the writer by Captain James W. Campbell, of Fort Madison :

" He was buried in a pen or crib, constructed after the Indian fashion. It was made of round poles, and was about ten feet long and three feet wide, and about as high as a man's shoulders when sitting on the ground. The body of the once proud old chief was dressed in a swallow-tailed coat made from blue cloth, which was elaborately decorated with brass buttons, epaulets, etc. When robed lor burial,' he was carried to the place selected for his sepulture, and placed in a sitting position in the west end of the pen, with his face towards the rising sun. His gun, tomahawk and blanket were placed by his side, and the pen covered over, leaving his head and neck above the covering and exposed to the weather. A plug hat, adorned with a broad, bright colored ribbon, was fixed upon his head, and his face was painted red and striped with black, just as a young Indian dandy painted when he went a courting, thus conveying the idea to the surviving Indians that their once great chief and warrior had gone a courting to another world, where, if he received the favors of the Great Spirit, he would be united to some squaw who had passed the bounds of mortality, and that they would remain through an endless eternity in the green and happy hunting grounds, where deer and elk abounded, and where no white man would ever come to molest them."

Desecration Op His Burial Place

In July, 1839, Black Hawk's burial place was invaded and his remains carried away. In January, 1840, his tribe made complaint of the vandalism to Governor Lucas, who had been appointed governor of that territory by President Van Buren, and who assumed the duties of the position on the 3d day of July, 1838. The bones were traced to St. Louis, where they had been cleaned, and then in the possession of a dentist at Quincy, Illinois to whom the}^ had been sent to be wired and set up, previous to being sent East. The dentist was notified not to deliver them to any one until a requisition was made by Governor Lucas. In December of that year (1840) the governor issued the necessary order, and in a few days after it was served, the mayor of Quincy, to whom the bones had been turned over, forwarded them to Burlington, where they were placed in the governor's care.

A message was sent to Black Hawk's family, living on the Des Moines river, about ninety miles distant, and an Indian cavalcade, including the widow of the departed warrior, and a retinue of her friends, was soon in motion towards Burlington. On the evening of their arrival, the governor was notified of their readiness to wait upon him, and he fixed an audience hour at 10 o'clock the next morning. The hour came and with it the Indians and a number of white visitors and spectators. The box in which the skeleton remains were packed opened with a lid, and when the parties were assembled and ready for the ceremony of delivering them up to the friends of the deceased chieftain, the lid was raised hy Governor Lucas, fully exposing all that was earthly of Black Hawk to the gaze of his mourning relatives and the very respectable audience of white people who attended to witness the impressive scene.

The governor addressed the widow through John Goodell, inteqjreter for the Hardfish band, giving all the details of the removal of the bones from the grave at Ashton (now Eldon) to St. Louis, from St. Louis to Quincy, and from Quincy to Burlington, and assured her that they were the veritable bones of her deceased husband, that he had sincerely sympathised witii her in her great attiiction, and that he now hoped she would be consoled and comforted by the return of the precious relics to her care, and in full confidence that they would not again be removed from where she might be disposed to re-entomb them.

" The widow then advanced to the box, and," says one who witnessed the scene, " without any seeming emotion, picked up the Ijones one after another, and examined each one witli the apparent curiosity of a child. Replacing each separate bone in its proper jilace, she turned to the interpreter, and, in reply to the remarks of Governor Lucas, said she fully believed they were the bones of Black Hawk, and that she knew the governor was a good old man, or he never would have taken the trouble he had manifested to oblige her, and for his great benevolence and disinterested friendship, she would leave the bones under his care and protection." She was told the authorities were willing to surrender the bones, but she seemed indifferent and careless to the matter, and no hing was done by her or the tribe towards a re-interment of the remains, and they were left to the care of Governor Lucas.

Ceemation Of The Bones

In 1840, General Harrison was elected to the Presidenc}-, and in the change of officers wliirli followed by appointment. Governor Lucas was succeeded by .John Chambers, of Kt-nlucky. Before vacating the executive chair, Governor Lucas caused the box containing the illustrious warrior's bones to be removed to the office of a Dr. Lowe, who occupied rooms adjoining a building, in the third story of which the Historical and Geological Institute wiis located, and to which institute the skeleton remains had been presented. On the night of the ItUh of January, 18">3, before the remains were deposited in the institute, the institute and Dr. Lowe's office, with their contents, were destroyed by fire.