The Black Hawk War Including a Review of Black Hawk's Life
suggested his _laches_ in this respect, for on December 7, 1829, he
received from Jo Daviess County, whose jurisdiction embraced all that
section of country, the statutory license to operate the same. But by
1830 the restraint of a ferryman’s life had become so exceedingly
irksome to one of his nomadic nature that Father Dixon was constrained
to take it off his hands and remove his family thence, which he did,
arriving there April 11, 1830.
When Ogee established his ferry he built a hut of logs, unfit for
habitation to any but a rover like himself. The needs of Father Dixon’s
family and increasing travel required something better, and this
improvement he at once supplied by making additions, so that he soon had
the comfortable house-store-hotel displayed in the illustration. He,
with his family of wife and five children, from that time forward
entertained travelers and traded with the Indians until the Indians were
no more and travel many years later had become diverted to bridges and
other thoroughfares made by the new and ever-multiplying settlements. He
was made postmaster, and thenceforth Dixon’s Ferry was of commanding
prominence in Illinois travel and Illinois geography. At this period,
however, Father Dixon’s was the only family on Rock River above the old
Black Hawk village.
On his march up the river Black Hawk camped one night near the Dixon
cabin, and with Ne-a-pope and the Prophet ate with the family, Mrs.
Dixon waiting upon them in a manner so courteous as completely to
captivate Black Hawk and command from him thereafter his highest
admiration. During this stop the family, after a careful observation,
estimated the number of able-bodied warriors with the expedition to be
800, and that number was reported to the troops, which arrived there May
12. Under the order of April 16th from Governor Reynolds, Majors
Stillman and Bailey recruited to their battalions the companies already
named.
Leaving Pekin May 8th,[116] Bailey’s battalion reached Boyd’s Grove the
first night out, where Stillman, with his three companies, joined them
and all camped for the night. The following day, at Bureau Creek,
another detachment under a Captain Bowman, which had been ranging
through the country toward Dixon’s Ferry, joined these forces, reporting
the theft of many of their horses by the Indians. At Dad Joe’s Grove the
combined forces camped the second night, marching the following day (the
10th), across the present county of Lee to Dixon’s Ferry, where Reynolds
and the militia joined them on the morning of the 12th.
The first act of the Governor was one of circumspection. Selecting from
his ablest and most discreet officers Captain John Dement, Colonel James
T.B. Stapp, Wyat B. Stapp, Major Joseph M. Chadwick and Benjamin Moore,
and Louis Ouilmette, a French trader, thoroughly familiar with those
parts and with Indian character, and who, with others, was waiting at
Dixon’s Ferry, they were directed to start for Paw Paw Grove,[117] some
forty miles to the southeast, in the present confines of Shabbona
township, DeKalb County, and there have a “talk” with the Pottowatomies,
whose village was at that place, and assure themselves of the positive
neutrality of that nation.
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The prairies were covered with water, there were no roads, the day was
dark and threatening, and, to frustrate their mission completely, a
large party of Black Hawk’s band overtook them. The enemy undertook by
every art known to savage tactics to lure the men into an ambush. To
refute Black Hawk’s constant protestations of peace, this scouting party
of his was discovered to be actively recruiting among the Pottowatomies
and Winnebagoes. The attempts to decoy the messengers into the Indian
camp were diplomatically avoided, and so was a pitched battle, which
could only have resulted in annihilation of the whites. After
forty-eight hours of ceaseless endeavor, without food, the party finally
succeeded in reaching headquarters. By this time the forces of Stillman
and Bailey were marching up the river on their ill-fated expedition.
There were at Dixon’s Ferry, when Reynolds arrived, several prominent
men from the mining country, including Colonel James M. Strode,
commander of the militia of Jo Daviess County, James W. Stephenson,
William S. Hamilton, son of Alexander Hamilton, Col. Henry Gratiot and
Louis Ouilmette, the trader. Colonel Henry Dodge of Michigan territory
had organized a company to protect the frontier until he could
communicate with Reynolds and systematically organize the mining
district forces in a manner materially to assist the latter. James H.
Gentry was captain of this company; Henry L. Dodge, son of Colonel
Dodge, was elected first lieutenant; Paschal Bequette, a son-in-law, was
elected second lieutenant, while Charles Bracken was aid to the colonel.
The file consisted of some fifty men. This company of rangers, leaving
Mineral Point May 8th, covered the northwestern frontier until
Whiteside’s Brigade reached Dixon’s Ferry, and was camped on the north
side of Rock River, not far from Black Hawk’s camp, when Whiteside and
his troops reached that point. Here Colonel Dodge was keeping a watchful
eye on Black Hawk’s every movement and warily awaiting the moment he
could pounce down upon the old Indian if he saw fit to offer war,[118]
an emergency which the intrepid little band was fully equal to.
Dodge saw the frightful consequences of an ill-advised expedition up
Rock River and urged against it. Failure meant active co-operation with
Black Hawk by the neutral and undecided Winnebagoes and Pottowatomies,
and this in turn meant that the entire northwest frontier would be
overrun with marauding bands and murderers.
But the impatient troops of Stillman and Bailey were ambitious to fight
and would listen to no restraint. They had enlisted to kill “Injuns.”
Nothing but a valorous conquest would receive their attention, and
General Whiteside and Governor Reynolds were constrained to allow the
following order to be issued:
“Headquarters Camp No. 10, Dixon’s Ferry,
“12th May, 1832.
“The troops under the command of Major Stillman, including the
battalions of said Major Stillman and Major Bailey, will forthwith
proceed with four days’ rations to the head of Old Man’s Creek, where
it is supposed the hostile Sac Indians are assembled, for the purpose
of taking all cautious measures to coerce said Indians into
submission, and report themselves to this department as soon
thereafter as practicable.
“By order of Brigadier Samuel Whiteside, commanding brigade of mounted
volunteers.
“N. BUCKMASTER,
“Brigade-Major.”
Writers upon this subject have so stated before, and others have told
the writer that such was the case here. Furthermore, a rankling jealousy
existed between Stillman and Bailey, each contending that he should be
the other’s superior and allowed the command of the combined troops.
Governor Reynolds did his very best to harmonize the men by recognizing
Stillman, but the rancorous hatred which existed among the troops for
their rivals destroyed, in a great measure, their effectiveness.
On the morning of Sunday, the 13th of May, the two brigades marched up
from Dixon’s Ferry for Old Man’s Creek. Many adventurous spirits from
the main army were permitted to accompany the troops, as were a few
others, like Colonel Strode, who wanted to see the “fun” which was
promised. A baggage train of six wagons, drawn by oxen, guarded by about
fifty men, under Mr. Hackelton of Fulton County, and bearing the four
days’ rations, followed in the rear. The day was black and threatening,
and before the battalions had proceeded ten miles a pelting rain
compelled them to halt and camp for the night.[119] All through the
night the rain continued, holding the troops there until the morning of
the 14th was well advanced, when the march was resumed. About dark of
the same day Old Man’s Creek was reached and crossed and the troops
dismounted to camp for the night. The creek, then much swollen by recent
rains, formed on the south side a disagreeable swamp. The object of
crossing to the north side was to avoid this morass and also avail
themselves of the natural advantages which the north side afforded for
protection, as well as the more solid ground for camping.
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The creek was lined on both sides with tall willows, while just a little
to the north the ground was covered with a growth of small black oak
trees, denominated generally scrub oak. These same “scrub oak,” grown to
thrice the thickness of a man’s body, stand to this day, and, judging
from a present-day standpoint, one can easily see how a handful of
resolute men could defend themselves there against overwhelming odds. To
the willows the horses were tied, fires were made, coffee pots put to
boiling and a general preparation for supper was going forward, when
three Indians appeared in camp bearing a white flag.[120] They were
taken in, but in the haste of supper preparations and the absence of an
interpreter, their mission, if for peace, was not discovered at once. As
a matter of fact, however, Black Hawk had in his lifetime disregarded so
many treaties and flags of truce, that it is no small wonder some of the
men were for dispatching them on the spot. An abiding sense of his many
misfeasances, no doubt, prompted him to station five other Indians on a
neighboring hill, some three-quarters of a mile to the north, where they
might watch and report the manner in which his flag was received. The
presence of these five Indians on the hill, unexplained, may rightfully
be styled a misprision, and sufficient to set the camp into a spasm of
turmoil. About twenty of Eads’ men mounted their horses to charge the
five Indians, who in turn wheeled to run away. This action was taken by
the excited and undisciplined troops to mean a retreat, and Eads’ men
immediately began firing upon their retiring foe. Other small squads
joined the haphazard pursuit, in the course of which two of the five
Indians were killed.
The camp became a bedlam, and while Stillman, Bailey, Adams, Eads and
other officers tried desperately to restrain the troops and restore
order, as well might they have commanded the rains to cease and the sun
to return for half an hour as to have expected obedience from those raw
and independent spirits. They were having the “fun” for which they had
enlisted.
Black Hawk the while was at the mouth of the creek with half a hundred
warriors, where he had been giving a dog feast to Shabbona, Waubansee
and other influential Pottowatomies in his frantic efforts to secure
reinforcements against the whites.
The interchange of shots ahead led those in camp to believe that a
general engagement was upon them, whereupon Thomas B. Reed of Eads’
company shot down in cold blood one of the three bearers of the flag of
truce, an offense so dastardly as to permit of no excuse. It may be