The Black Hawk War Including a Review of Black Hawk's Life
of the little garrison and plunder of the many substantial homes of the
neighborhood than Dixon, for they quickly abandoned him altogether, but
he, on reaching the house of Mr. John McDonald, where he expected
certain relief and safety, found it filled with Indians and himself
surrounded. Abandoning his horse, he fled to the rear, followed the
margin of Apple River, under cover of its high bank, and, after
traveling all night, reached Galena in the morning, painfully bruised
and exhausted, but not so tired as to prevent his wish and determination
to return to the rescue of his friends.
The shots by the Indians warned all of approaching danger and gave them
time to leave the berries and the river and gain the fort, but no sooner
were they all safely “forted” than the Indians, who had been massing
from all points of the compass to the number of at least 200, surrounded
it and hurled against the fort a terrific fire.
Providentially, a wagonload of meat and lead from Galena had been
unloaded that very forenoon, which put the garrison in a tolerable state
to sustain a siege.
For two hours a heavy fire was maintained by both sides. Under its first
fire, the garrison showed fear of the result against such tremendous
odds, but instantly Mrs. Elizabeth Armstrong, in a commanding address,
inspired man and woman alike with such resolution that nothing could
have driven them from their posts. She divided the women into two
squads, one to mold bullets, the other to reload the muskets as they
were discharged. Unfortunately, no time had been allowed to bring in a
supply of water with which to quench thirst during the weary hours of
that engagement. The day was hot. Confinement in close quarters of the
fort, amidst the fumes of gunpowder and heat of the firing, brought on a
state of suffering bordering upon exhaustion, but the almost fainting
women, by their heroic disregard for danger and suffering, and by their
words of cheer, propped the failing energies of the fighting men. Every
advance by the enemy was met with a galling fire from within and the
assailants were repulsed, only to resume the assault more fiercely than
before and again retire with heavy loss.
Finding it useless to attempt a capitulation by assault, the Indians
retired to the surrounding log houses, where, knocking the chinks from
between the logs, they opened a deadly fire, which could not be returned
with loss to themselves; but this failed to dislodge the whites, and,
enraged at their failure, the Indians sought partial revenge by
plundering the houses. They destroyed the furniture and crockery,
emptied flour barrels and feather beds, stole the bed clothing and
wardrobe and then killed the cattle and hogs, finishing their day of
destruction by stealing all the horses in sight.
As night approached, Kirkpatrick, who was but a boy, resolved upon going
to Galena to seek the aid which he was fearful his companion would never
live to obtain. Remonstrances were of no avail, and he set out on his
perilous journey in the blackness of the night. With a courage and skill
known only on the frontier, he pushed bravely through, reaching Galena
in time to meet Colonel Strode as he was starting out with Dixon and his
relief party for the fort.
Strode moved rapidly down and left such reinforcements as were needed,
but the Indians troubled Apple River fort no more. The heroic little
garrison had driven them away for all time.
This band, under Black Hawk’s leadership, was supposed, with good
reason, to be the same that attacked Major Dement at Kellogg’s Grove on
the 25th. George W. Herclerode, who exposed his head too much in taking
aim, and was shot through the neck and instantly killed, and James
Nutting, wounded, were the only casualties to the whites.
Following the long list of the “Lead Mines” murders, the reader is
brought to the murder of two men at Sinsinawa Mound, the home of George
W. Jones. On June 29th three men were at work in a cornfield at
Sinsinawa Mound, about ten miles from Galena, when they were attacked by
a small party of Indians and two of them killed. Captain Stephenson, who
had just arrived at Galena, immediately summoned thirty men of his
command and started in pursuit of the Indians. Arrived at the scene, he
found the bodies of James Boxley and John Thompson, mutilated as usual,
and, after burial, the detachment attempted to run down the Indians.
They were pursued as far as the Mississippi, which they had evidently
crossed in leaving the country. As the trail could not be further
followed. Captain Stephenson returned to Galena, only to be summoned to
the final struggle in the pursuit from Rock River to the Mississippi.
-----
Footnote 173:
A very spirited account of this battle, signed “Flack,” appears in
Wakefield’s History, minutely detailing the actions of the Indians.
-----
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CHAPTER XXVII.
ORGANIZATION OF FORCES AT FORT WILBOURN AND DISPOSITION OF SAME–MURDER
OF PHILLIPS–MARCH TO DIXON’S FERRY.
Returning to the movements of the troops along the Illinois River, we
find in the Missouri Republican that Colonel Davenport and two companies
of United States Infantry arrived in St. Louis on June 11th, in the
steamer Otto from the Cantonment of Leavenworth, and that they
immediately took the boats Caroline and Winnebago for Fort Deposit, or
Fort Wilbourn, as it subsequently was called.
On June 5th, by Order 27, Atkinson thanked the men under Colonel Fry for
their services and exhorted them to re-enlist in the new campaign, which
they did, almost to a man.
On the 8th Atkinson fell down the river to the foot of the rapids,
fifteen miles below Ottawa, and on the 9th mustered out the company of
Captain Wilbourn of Morgan, which took the steamer Caroline to
Beardstown, and thence the men either re-enlisted or marched home. From
the same point Quartermaster March was ordered to St. Louis to forward
to Fort Wilbourn, as early as possible, the pack horses he had been
directed to purchase, also fifteen to twenty two-horse wagons, and be in
readiness to move to Dixon’s Ferry with them on the 17th.
Back again at Ottawa on the 10th, by Order 31, Atkinson directed Capt.
Cyrus Mathews’ company to remain and guard supplies at Fort Wilbourn. On
the 12th Capt. Morgan L. Payne, then stationed at AuxPlaines, was
ordered to remove with his command to the DuPage settlement on DuPage
River, remain near Captain Naper and range his company from DuPage to
Hickory Creek settlements, after which, on the same day, Atkinson again
moved down the Illinois River to Fort Deposit, or, as we have seen, Fort
Wilbourn.
This name Deposit was given by Maj. Reddick Horn, who established it, to
the point at the foot of the Illinois rapids, where the supplies were
deposited when brought from St. Louis by Colonel March, Q.M., and is
described in the press and documents of that day as being on the left
bank of the Illinois River, one and a half miles below the mouth of the
Little Vermilion River–about 300 miles from St. Louis and the head of
steamboat navigation. Fort Johnston,[174] named from Albert Sidney
Johnston, opposite the mouth of Fox River, and Atkinson’s headquarters
for some time, was about twenty miles up from Wilbourn and was placed at
a distance of ninety miles from Chicago, while Wilbourn was said to be
fifty miles from Dixon and Dixon 100 miles from the Four Lakes country
and the neighborhood of the camp of the Sacs, which, in turn, was about
sixty miles from Fort Winnebago and Chicago.
With Atkinson came his staff, Lieut. A.S. Johnston and Lieut. M.L.
Clark, Aids; Lieut. Robert Anderson, Assistant Inspector-General; Lieut.
G.W. Wheelwright, Ordnance Officer; Lieut. R. Holmes, Commissary of
Subsistence, and Dr. Baylor, Surgeon, and Gen. Hugh Brady and his aid,
Lieut. Electus Backus, who had left at Dixon’s Ferry the two companies
of infantry brought from Fort Winnebago. As this point was as accessible
to Dixon’s Ferry, the objective point of the army, as Ottawa, it was
decided to remain there and notify the militia to come on from Hennepin
and Beardstown, which they did.
On the 14th General Atkinson ordered Colonel Moore’s regiment, with the
exception of Captain Payne’s company, to return to Danville to be
mustered out, while Colonel Moore turned over to the quartermaster at
Ottawa his surplus ammunition and supplies, Captain Payne being ordered
to remain at his position till further ordered.
On the night of the 15th, Billy Caldwell, Shabbona and Wau-ban-see came
into camp and offered Atkinson 100 men, to be commanded by Shabbona, who
then communicated the location of Black Hawk at his last camp at the
head of Rock River, with a following of warriors estimated to be from
1,000 to 2,000, and firmly intrenched against attack.
Governor Reynolds, who had rejoined the men about this time, appointed
Lieut. R. Holmes on his staff, and, in turn, Atkinson appointed Thomas
C. Brown, of the Gallatin County volunteers, one of his aids;
accordingly, on the 19th Brown was discharged as a private, to report as
aid.
On consultation with all the captains, Governor Reynolds determined that
every officer above a captain should be elected by the men
themselves,[175] a move which pleased everybody and which gave the army
a strength unknown during the first campaign.
It was further decided that the brigade staff officers should be one
brigadier-general, who should appoint one aid-de-camp, one brigade
inspector, one brigade quartermaster, one paymaster and two assistant
quartermasters.
On the 15th Major (Rev.) Horn, who had erected the stockade called Fort
Deposit, was relieved as assistant quartermaster and Hugh McGill was
appointed by Order 34 from Atkinson. On the same day Posey’s Brigade was
organized and turned over to Atkinson, as follows:
Brigadier General, Alexander Posey.
Aids, Alexander P. Hall and B.A. Clark.
Brigade Inspector, John Raum.
Brigade Paymaster, William M. Wallace.
Assistant Quartermasters, John A. McClernand and Marshall Rawlings,
all of
Gallatin County except Raum, who was from Pope County.
The brigade was composed of three regiments and a spy battalion.
The officers of the First Regiment, so far as known, were: Colonel,
Willis Hargrave; Lieutenant-Colonel, Jeff. Gatewood; Major, James
Huston.
It was composed of five companies, all from Gallatin County, and
commanded by Captains John Bays, David B. Russell, Harrison Wilson,[176]
Joel Holliday and Achilles Coffey.
The officers of the Second Regiment, so far as known, were: Colonel,
John Ewing; Lieutenant-Colonel, – – Storm; Major, Johnson Wren;
Quartermaster, James F. Johnson, and Quartermaster’s Sergeant, Moses
Neal.
It was composed of six companies, commanded by Captains George P.
Bowyer, William J. Stephenson and Obediah West from Franklin County, and
Charles Dunn, Jonathan Durman and Armstead Holman from Pope County.
The officers of the Third Regiment, so far as known, were: Colonel,
Samuel Leech; Lieutenant-Colonel, – – Campbell, for a short period, when
he was succeeded by William Adair; Major, Joseph Shelton, and
Quartermaster’s Sergeant, Levin Lane.
It was composed of five companies, commanded by Captains Ardin
Biggerstaff and James Hall of Hamilton County; John Onstott of Clay
County, and James N. Clark and Berryman G. Wells of Wayne County.
The officers of the Spy Battalion, so far as known, were: Major, John
Dement; Adjutant, Stinson B. Anderson;[177] Paymaster, Zadock
Casey;[178] Quartermaster, B. Hicks.
It was composed of the two companies commanded by Captains William N.
Dobbins of Marion County, and James Bowman of Jefferson County, and