Grant County, Wisconsin - Chapter 1: Old Wars, 1900

Chapter 1: Old Wars

As the region which is now Grant County had no settlers during this war, there is little to be said about it in a history of the county. One episode of some importance occurred almost on the border of the county at Prairie du Chien. At the beginning of the war the United States had a small force of regulars at Prairie du Chien, and to this was added 135 Missouri volunteers sent up in the spring of 1814. A fortification called Fort Shelby was erected. Most of the volunteers remained on two armed boats. The British commander in the West sent from Mackinaw a large force composed principally of French and half-breed traders and trappers, and four hundred Sioux and Winne¬ bago Indians, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel William McKay. This force had a brass six-pounder. Arriving at Prairie du Chien, the fire of the six-pounder drove off the boats with the volunteers, and the greatly superior force of the British laid siege to Fort Shelby. After a resistance of four days, the garrison surrendered, on being allowed to retire unmolested down the river. The surrender occurred on the morning of July 21.

The British held the post, which they called Fort McKay, during the rest of the war. Some months after the treaty of peace, they evac¬ uated the fort, delivering it to their Indian allies, instead of to the United States forces, as they ought to have done.

Of course, no American then an inhabitant of our county took part in the war; but quite a number who afterward became citizens of the county were soldiers in the war. Among them we may note John H. Baker and William Grant, of Beetown. One of them was a drummer and the other a fifer, and together they furnished martial music for many a Fourth of July celebration in Beetown. Also, there were Seth Maker, of Beetown ; Robert Lumpkin, of Bloomington; Jo¬ seph G. Rogers and David Smith, of Fennimore ; Caleb Smith, of Har¬ rison; Edward P. Coombs, of Hurricane ; Benjamin Finn, of Patch Grove; and John Whitcher, of Lima, who served in the Eleventh Ver¬ mont, on the Canadian border.

The Winnebago War

In March, 1827, a settler named Methode and his wife, living about twelve miles above Prairie du Chien, were murdered, it was be¬ lieved by Winnebago Indians. The garrison at Fort Crawford had been removed in the fall of 1826, and the Winnebagoes showed an ugly disposition during the winter. It was falsely reported that the mili¬ tary authorities at Fort Snelling had turned over two Winnebago pris¬ oners to the Chippewas for torture and killing, and in revenge the prin¬ cipal chief, Red Bird, before esteemed friendly to the whites, with two companions, on the 26th of June, went to Prairie du Chien and shot and killed Solomon Lightcap and Rijiste Gagnier. On the same day a party of Winnebagoes fired upon two keel-boats descending the Mis¬ sissippi, near the mouth of Bad Ax River, killing and wounding sev¬ eral men .

These events caused intense excitement in the surrounding region. There were then small settlements at Platteville and Hardscrabble, and a few miners at Beetown. They all quickly sought fortified places- Soldiers were brought down from Fort Snelling and up from St. Louis to Prairie du Chien. Meanwhile the miners in the lead mines organized a company of one hundred men, well mounted and armed, and chose Col. Henry Dodge as their commander. A part of this force went to Prairie du Chien and the rest to English Prairie (Muscoda) and from these points proceeded up the Wisconsin River, scouring the country on both sides of the river, driving every Indian before them. A force of regulars from Green Bay, accompanied by sixtv-two friendly Oneida and Stockbridge Indians, moved westward to near the portage of the Wisconsin, to cut off the retreat of Red Bird and his band. Regular troops also came up the Wisconsin to the aid of Dodge's company of volunteers. Red Bird and his band were now hemmed in; no course was open to them except surrender or extermination. They preferred surrender to the force of Major Whistler from Green Bay. One day a force of thirty Indians was observed approaching, bearing three flags - two were the stars and stripes and the one in the middle was a white one borne by Red Bird. He came on, singing his death song, and with

Red Bird fully expected death and expressed his willingness to meet it. He soon afterward died in prison, and his two accomplices, Wekau and Chichonsic, were tried and convicted of murder by the United States Court and sentenced by Judge Doty to be hung, but were par¬ doned by President Adams.

The prompt action of the volunteer miners and the regular forces prevented a general outbreak of the Winnebagoes, aided by thePottawatomies, who were allied with them, and the war was almost with¬ out bloodshed after the murder at Prairie du Chien.

There were very few white men in Grant County during this war, and the only inhabitants of the county taking part in it whose names can now be learned were Page Blake, of Patch Grove, John Dempsey, of Fennimore, Willis St. John, of Potosi, and John B. Turley, of Beetown.

The Black Hawk War

As has been stated on page 11, Black Hawk and his band of Sauks never consented to the treaties of 1804, 1815, and 1816, by which the Sauks and Foxes ceded the region of the lead mines. He and his band of about three hundred warriors made a raid from the western side of the Mississippi in 1831 and drove out the settlers about Rock Island from lands upon which he claimed they were encroaching; but upon the approach of a large force of regulars from St. Louis, the Sauks retreated across the river. Black Hawk and his warriors entered into a treaty to remain forever west of the Mississippi.

In violation of this treaty, Black Hawk and his warriors .again crossed the Mississippi, in the spring of 1832, near Rock Island. This was at a considerable distance from the lead mines, but an alliance be¬ tween the Sauks and the Winnebagoes was feared, and in May Col. Henry Dodge assembled a company of fifty volunteers, commanded by Captains James H. Gentry, and John H. Rountree, who proceeded to the Four Lakes (the present site of Madison) and held a council with the Winnebagoes, whom the Indian Agent Gratiot had induced to as¬ semble there. Colonel Dodge made a speech to the Indians and they promised to be faithful to their treaties, but their intentions, or at least, inclinations, were still suspected.

command of General Whiteside. Major Stillman with a considerable force marched up Rock River, and meeting the Indians on the 14th of May, suffered a disgraceful defeat with a loss of eleven killed and three wounded.

On the 8th of May Colonel Dodge, with a force of twenty-seven men, started on an expedition toward Rock River to reconnoiter the movements of Black Hawk. Near the field of Stillman's defeat he was met by a messenger from Governor Reynolds, informing him of the de¬ feat, and Dodge and his force immediately returned home.

The inhabitants of the lead mines were now thoroughly aroused and alarmed. Scattered parties of Sauks were known to be scouting through the regiou, ready to waylay and massacre any defenseless set¬ ters. Forts, block-houses, and stockades were erected by the people at many points in what is now Iowa and Lafayette Counties, and at Cassville, Pl^tteville, Wingville, and on Blockhouse Branch, a few miles froni Platteville. Into these defenses the settlers and their fam¬ ilies removed.

Many persons throughout the Lead Region were killed by Black Hawk's scouting parties. On the 21st of May a party of about sev¬ enty Indians attacked a party of fifteen whites at the house of Mr. Da¬ vis on Indian Creek, near Ottawa, Illinois, and killed and scalped them all except two young women named Hall, who were taken prisoners and afterward surrendered at the Blue Mounds, through the agency of the Winnebagoes, instigated by a reward of $2,000 offered by General Atkinson for their restoration.

On the 7th of June, Colonel Dodge with his force of Michigan Ter¬ ritory volunteers (the Wisconsin lead mines were then in Michigan), and Captain Stephenson's company of Galena volunteers, marched from Fort Union (Dodgeville) to the head of Apple River, Illinois, bury¬ ing on their way the bodies of St. Vrain, Fowler, Hale, and Hawley, who had been killed by the Sauks near Buffalo Grove (now Polo Sta¬ tion, Illinois). From this point Stephenson's company returned to Galena and Dodge and his volunteers went south to Dixon. From there Dodge, with an escort of twenty-five men, went to the rapids of the Illinois (now Ottawa) to see General Atkinson and get a plan of the campaign. His whole command then returned to Gratiot's Grove, in what is now Lafayette County, and from there they were distrib¬ uted to several fortified posts.

working in a corn-field near the Pecatonica River, in the present town of Wayne, Lafayette County, and on the morning of the 16th endeav¬ ored to surprise Fort Hamilton, where Captain Gentry's company was stationed. Colonel Dodge was just then coming up with a force of| mounted men, and the Indians retreated. Colonel Dodge and his lit¬ tle party hotly pursued the Indians and overtook them on the bottom of the Pecatonica River. A desperate fight ensued in which the whole party of thirteen Indians were killed, the whites losing three killed - Black, Morris, and Wells - and one, Thomas Jenkins, was wounded. The attacking numbered thirty-one.

Several other fights with scattered bands occurred during the month of June, but by the first of July all these little bands had been driven in upon the main body on Rock River and the final campaign opened. General Posey, with a brigade of Illinois militia, marched from Dixon to Fort Hamilton (now in Lafayette County), where he was joined by Colonel Dodge with his whole command. This force, forming the left wing of the army, marched to the first of the Four Lakes. Here General Alexander's brigade took the place of General Posey's brigade in the left wing. After some marching and countermarching, the whole left wing and General Henry's brigade went to Fort Winnebago for supplies. At this point they learned through the Winnebago interpre¬ ter Pauquette that Black Hawk and his force were encamped at the rapids of Rock River (now Hutisford, Illinois), and General Henry and Colonel Dodge determined to go there, while General. Alexander with the supplies rejoined General Atkinson.

Henry's and Dodge's forces reached Black Hawk's camp only to learn that it had been abandoned several days before. However, a fresh trail was found a few miles down the river, bearing toward the Wisconsin River, and the pursuers set out on this trail and followed it rapidly. On the second night the pursuing force encamped near the mouth of Catfish Creek, on Third Lake. The scouts scared up many Sauk stragglers, and it was discovered that the main body were en¬ camped near the present site of Madison.

In the morning pursuit was renewed and a straggling Sauk was killed. By five o'clock in the evening the bluffs of the Wisconsin were reached, and Black Hawk and his band, with their women and chil¬ dren, were discovered preparing to cross the river.

The advance dismounted and moved upon the Indians, and a sharp fight ensued. General Henry's brigade came up and deployed on the right and left of Dodge's force, and the Sauks were driven back until darkness came on and they escaped in the tall grass. The whites, who overwhelmingly outnumbered the Indians, lost one killed and eight wounded, while the enemy left sixty-eight dead on the field and had many wounded, a large part of them mortally.

After this battle Colonel Dodge's force returned to their respective posts for fresh horses and supplies, and reassembled in a few days at Helena, where they were joined by a force of regulars under General Atkinson, who had marched from Prairie du Chien. The combined forces crossed the Wisconsin River and recommenced the pursuit. On the second of August they came up with the Sauks near the mouth of Bad Ax River, forty miles above Prairie du Chien. A steamboat, the Warrior , armed with a six-pounder, had been sent up the river to pre¬ vent the escape of the Indians by crossing the river. The Sauks were thus hemmed in by overwhelming numbers, and their forces, fearfully thinned by the battle of the Wisconsin Hights, fell an easy prey. There was an indiscriminate massacre of braves, squaws, and children. Some surrendered and a few escaped among the tall grass and brush, among them Black Hawk, who took refuge among his former friends, the Winnebagoes, who, however, were little inclined to befriend him in his sore need, but brought him to Prairie du Chien and on the 27th of August delivered him a prisoner to General Street, the Indian Agent.

Thus ended this short war in which a small force of Indians created a great deal of panic and killed a good many whites before a sufficient force could be brought to bear against them. The enormous force which finally operated against the little band of two or three hundred Sauks, seems hardly credible at this day. Besides several companies of regulars and bands of Sioux and Menominee Indians, there were at least two thousand Illinois militia and four or five companies of volunteers from the lead mines of Michigan Ter¬ ritory; and these few companies did most of the fighting and killed most the Indians. Alone they would have had a force about equal to Black Hawk's.

The roster ot the volunteers in this war who were at the time, or since became, inhabitants of what is now Grant County, cannot be obtained with any completeness. No rolls were ever furnished to the Adjutant General of Michigan Territory, and none are now in that office or the office of the Adjutant General of Wisconsin. The War Department has informed the editor that the rolls of Captain Price's company at Cassville and Captain Dickson's Spy Company are not in that department, nor does it appear that they are in existence. The rolls of the Illinois militia are complete, and though they contain the names of many men who afterward became citizens of Grant County, it is impossible to say who all of them were. Major Rountree preserved the toll of his company and it is as follows :

Andrew Eastman, still living in Lancaster, was at the outbreak of the war living at the East Mound near Platteville. He was then four¬ teen years old. He says in an article in the Teller:

44 In our family my father and three sons enlisted, and one of my brothers, John Eastman, participated in the fighting, while the rest of us went to Fort Descelles on Fever River about nine miles from where we lived, to act as guards. At this fort there were altogether about sixty people. Our captain was Cornelius DeLong, a former Illinois man who then lived about three miles south of my father's farm.

44 During my three months' service in the army I did not see In¬ dians except on one occasion, and those were friendly Indians. My father, my brother Solomon Eastman, and I obtained leave of absence from the fort to go home to work the corn on our farm. We were at work in the field one day when we saw a party of five Indians advanc¬ ing towards us. At first we feared we might be in for a fight but as they came towards us they raised a white flag to show us their inten¬ tions were not unfriendly. They then sat down and we walked across the field to where they were sitting. Of course, we could not under¬ stand their language nor could they talk English, so that we could not make each other understood; but they did not show any un¬ friendliness."

While working at Potosi the Black Hawk War broke out. There were then about fifty or sixty men in Potosi. They heard of Still¬ man's defeat near Dixon, and they all got together one night to con¬ sult. Some were for going to Galena, some to one place, some to another. He decided to go to Cass ville. Only two men staid in Potosi. Major (then Captain) Price was at Cassville with a company of sol¬ diers. He told Price he wanted to join the company. Said Price: 44 Will you fight? " Mr. Druen said he told the Captain to pull off his coat and come out and try him. So he joined the company and was in it three months. He never was out much in that time. They were a ranging company to patrol the country between the Mississippi and Grant Rivers. Finally part of the company went out and fell in with some Indians and killed five and brought in seven or eight prisoners, who were sent to Prairie du Chien. The next time a scouting party went out Mr. Druen went along. The party that had gone out the previous time had left at a certain place a brass kettle which he wanted to get. He got another man to go with him for the kettle. They did not find it, but they found an Indian trail - found where they had camped. This was four or five miles northeast of the "old Blake place." He persuaded the officers to go on the trail. They soon came upon very fresh signs, and held a council to see if they should attack the savages. There were eighteen horses in their party, but they did not make so large a trail as the Indians, so they concluded they would send for help. In three or four days two or three hundred Menominee Indians came to their assistance, but when they got to Blake's place the enemy had gone on. The scouting party followed them. After while they heard the report of a gun. This was between Blake's and Cassville. They hurried up, and came upon a body of Indians, who were soon all killed, taken prisoners, or put to flight. The Menominee allies mutilated the dead bodies of the enemy and scalped them. Then they had a grand jollification and a war-dance, which lasted a long time.

The Mexican War

It is strange how small a figure this war cut in the historj' of Wis¬ consin. Of course, our citizens were interested in it, but little more than they are now interested in the Boers' war with England. In 1847 the Governor of the Territory called for volunteers. A few men enlisted at Platteville, headed by Wiram Knowlton, and joined a company which had its rendezvous at Prairie du Chien. Strangely enough, the Prairie du Chien paper of that time, so far from publish¬ ing a roster of the company, makes no mention of the rendezvous of the company at that place, nor even of the fact that such a company existed. None of the papers of the county gave the names of the Grant County men who enlisted, and the Adjutant General of the Territory did not take the trouble to have the names recorded in his office. As nearly all of these men are now dead, it is impossible to obtain their names. From Platteville went (probably with Knowlton) G. W. Limbocker, William Britton, John Conner, A. L. Burke, James H. Cross, Albert T. Henderson ; from Hazel Green Amon Miller, Orville Cottle, James Kilgore, Thomas Sheridan, Thomas Hitchcock, John Zenssler.

went into a company raised at Galena for an Illinois regiment. Among them was Samuel Woodhouse, of Beetown. It is impossible to tell from the rosters of the Illinois regiments where the men were from or who of them were Grant County men. The company did not take part in any campaign in Mexico.

W. W. Robe, of Lancaster, and Samuel Merrick of Fairplay served in this war, in what companies the editor cannot learn. A. L. Brown, now of Platteville, served in Co. F, First Illinois.