We now take up the general history of the campaign. While the new levies were
being raised, a volunteer force was made up for temporary service, and placed
under the command of Colonel Fry.
The different companies of this
regiment were so disposed as to guard all the frontiers. Captain Adam W. Snider
was sent to range through the country between Rock River and Galena; and while
he was encamped not far distant from Burr Oak Grove, on the night of the 17th of
June, his company was fired upon by the Indians; the next morning he pursued
them, four in number, and drove them into a sink-hole in the ground, where his
company charged on them and killed the whole of the Indians, with the loss of
one man mortally wounded. As he returned to his camp, bearing the wounded
soldier, the men suffered much from thirst, and scattered in search of water,
when they were sharply attacked by about seventy Indians, who had been secretly
watching their motions and awaiting a good opportunity. His men, as usual in
such cases, were taken by surprise, and some of them commenced a hasty retreat.
Captain Snyder called upon General Whiteside, then a private in his company, to
assist him in forming his men. The General proclaimed in a loud voice that he
would shoot the first man who attempted to run. The men were soon formed into
rank. Both parties took positions behind trees. Here General Whiteside, an old
Indian fighter and a capital marksman with a rifle, shot the commander of the
Indians, and they from that moment began to retreat. As they were not pursued,
the Indian loss was never ascertained; but the other side lost two men killed
and one wounded. Captain Snyder, General Whiteside and Colonel ( now General)
Semple are particularly mentioned as having behaved in the most honorable and
courageous manner in both these little actions.
On the 15th of June, the
new levies had arrived at the places of rendezvous, and were formed into three
brigades; General Alexander Posey commanded the First, General Milton K.
Alexander the Second, and General James D. Henry commanded the Third. On the
march, each brigade was preceded by a battalion of spies, commanded by a major.
The whole volunteer force at this time amounted to three thousand two
hundred men, besides three companies of rangers, under command of Major Bogart,
left behind to guard the frontier settlements. The object in calling out so
large a force was to overawe the Pottawatomie and Winnebago Indians, who were
hostile in their feelings to the whites, and much disposed to join Black Hawk's
party.
But before the new army could be brought into the field, the
Indians had committed several murders. One man was killed on Bureau Creek, some
seven or eight miles above Princeton; another in Buffalo Grove; another between
Fox River and the Illinois; and two more on the east side of Fox River, on the
Chicago road, about six miles north-east of Ottawa.
On the 22d of May,
General Atkinson had dispatched Mr. St. Vrain, the Indian agent for the Sacs and
Foxes at Rock Island, with a few men, as an express to Fort Armstrong. On their
way thither, they fell in with a party of Indians led by a chief well known to
the agent. This chief was called "The Little Bear." He had been a particular
friend of the agent, and had adopted him as a brother. Mr. St. Vrain felt no
fear of one who was his friend, one who had been an inmate of his house, and had
adopted him as a brother, and approached the Indians with the greatest
confidence of security. But the treacherous Indian, untrue in war to the claims
of friendship and brotherhood, no sooner got him in his power than he murdered
and scalped him and all his party, with as little compassion as if he had never
known him or professed to be his friend.
Not long after the new forces
were organized on the Illinois River, Black Hawk, with a hundred and fifty
warriors, made an attack on Apple River Fort, situate about three-quarters of a
mile north of the present village of Elizabeth, within twelve miles of Galena,
and defended by twenty-five men, under the command of Captain Stone. This fort
was a stockade of logs stuck in the ground, with block houses at the corners of
the square, by way of towers and bastions. It was made for the protection of a
scattering village of miners, who lived in their houses in the vicinity during
the day, and retired into the fort for protection at night. The women and
children, as usual in the daytime, were abroad in the village, when three men on
an express from Galena to Dixon, were fired on by the Indians lurking in ambush
within a half mile of the village, and retreated into the fort. One of them was
wounded; his companions stood by him nobly, retreating behind him, and keeping
the Indians at bay by pointing their guns first at one and then at another of
those who were readiest to advance. The alarm was heard at the fort in time to
rally the scattered inhabitants; the Indians soon came up within filing
distance; and now commenced a fearful struggle between the small party of
twenty-five men in the fort, against six times their number of the enemy. The
Indians took possession of the log houses, knocked holes in the walls, through
which to fire at the fort with greater security to themselves, and while some
were firing at the fort, others broke the furniture, destroyed the provisions,
and cut open the beds and scattered the feathers found in the houses. The men in
the fort were excited to the highest pitch of desperation; they believed that
they were contending with an enemy who never made prisoners, and that the result
of the contest must be victory or death, and a horrid death, too, to them and
their families; the women and children molded the bullets and loaded the guns
for their husbands, fathers, and brothers, and the men fired and fought with a
fury inspired by desperation itself. In this manner the battle was kept up about
fifteen hours, when the Indians retreated. The number of their killed and
wounded, supposed to be considerable, was never ascertained, as they were
carried away in the retreat. The loss in the fort was one man killed and one
wounded. One of the men who first retreated to the fort immediately passed on to
Galena, and there gave the alarm. Colonel Strode, of the militia, who commanded
in Galena, lost no time in marching to the assistance of the fort, but before
his arrival the Indians had raised the siege and departed. Galena itself had
been in imminent danger of attack; at that time it was a village of four hundred
inhabitants, surrounded on all sides by the enemy. Colonel Strode, like a brave
and prudent commander, took every possible measure for its defense.
Even
here, in this extremity of danger, a number of the inhabitants yielded their
assistance unwillingly and grudgingly. There were a number of aspirants for
office and command, and quite a number refused obedience to the militia
commander of the regiment; but Colonel Strode took the most effectual mode of
putting down these discontents. He immediately declared martial law; the town
was converted into a camp; men were forced into the ranks at the point of the
bayonet; and a press warrant from the Colonel, in the hands of armed men,
procured all necessary supplies; .preparations for defense were kept up night
and day; and the Indian spies seeing no favorable opportunity for attack, no
considerable body of Indians ever came nearer the town than Apple River Fort.
About this time a band of Indians visited Fort Hamilton, near what is
now Wiota, where they killed three men. Fortunately General Dodge arrived at
this place a few hours later, and hastily gathering what forces he could
twenty-one men in all, pursued the savages, who hastily retreated. What follows
is best told by Chas. Bracken, one of the actors, and if he still lives, a
resident of Mineral Point, Wis.
"The Indians re-crossed the branch at a
point where it turned abruptly to the north, and ascended the hill; the General
and those with him crossed after them, and bore to the right, toward some
timber, as if to cut them off from it. Seeing this movement, I halted, and was
at the same time joined by Fitch, Higgenbotham, and Deva. I said to them, 'That
movement of the General will turn the Indians to the left; if you will follow
me, we will get the first scalps.' They agreed to do so; turning up a hollow to
the left, we ascended it to the ridge overlooking the East Pecatonica; turning
then to the right, and looking down a hollow parallel to that which we had
ascended, my surmise proved to be correct. There were the Indians approaching
us; they were moving at what might be called common time. Their chief, a
gray-headed warrior, was walking backward, and appeared to be earnestly
addressing his young men. After observing them for a few moments, we fired, but
I think without effect. My comrades, after discharging their guns, retreated
down the hollow which we had ascended, and I turned westwardly up the ridge
overlooking the East Pecatonica, keeping out of gun-shot, but watching the enemy
closely. They descended the hill to the creek, turned up it a short distance,
and commenced crossing at some willows, a short distance below where the bridge
now stands.
"At this movement I advanced within gun-shot; with the
report of my gun, I sent forth a shout that told the General and my comrades yet
in the rear that I had secured the first scalp; at the same time I received the
fire of the Indians without injury.
"The General and the principal part
of our men having come up by the time the Indians had fairly crossed the creek,
a running fight took place, the enemy being on one side of the creek and we on
the other, until they reached the thicket in the bend of the creek. Having
effected a crossing at the old Indian ford, which is near Williams' Mill, and
marching thence up the stream, we formed on the open ground to the north-east of
the thicket, so as to have the enemy in the bend of the creek. Parties were
then, by order of the General, thrown out on the hills to give the alarm if the
Indians should attempt to escape from the thicket when we entered it.
We
were then ordered to renew our flints, re-prime our guns, unbutton our
shirt-collars, and tighten our belts. All being ready, the General addressed us:
he said, "Within that thicket are the foe, whose hands are yet reeking with the
blood of our murdered friends! That it was his intention to enter it, and in
doing so, some of us must fall; that it might be his fate, but that his mind was
made up to whip the enemy or die in the attempt! If any feared to follow him, he
wanted them to fall back then, and not when they encountered the Indians." The
word was then given to advance and in that little band no one was found who did
not fear dishonor; more than death! No one faltered or wavered, as with a
coolness becoming veterans they followed the footsteps of their gallant leader,
resolved with him to conquer or die.
After advancing some distance into
the thicket, the trail of the enemy was found; here the detachment was joined by
Daniel M. Parkinson, who was on horseback. The center was ordered to keep the
trail; we then continued our advance slowly but firmly toward our hidden foe.
The Indians had selected a most advantageous position for defense, had we fought
them at long shot. It was the bank of a pond, once the bed of a creek; on the
edge of the bank was a natural breastwork nearly three feet high, formed by one
of those tumuli so numerous in our prairies; under this they awaited our
approach.
When they fired on us, our positions represented two sides of
a triangle, they forming the base, and we the hypothenuse; although we were
close upon them, so dense was the thicket that we could not see the smoke of
their guns. The General, who was on the right of the centre, and in front of
their line, exclaimed, "Where are the Indians?" He was answered from the left,
"This way." The order was then promptly given, "Charge 'em boys, damn them,
charge 'em!" My position was on the extreme right; in the charge we obliqued
considerably to the left; when I got to the pond I found no enemy before me, and
at the same moment I heard the General, who was a little to my left, say,
"There's an Indian, kill him!" I turned toward him and heard a shot; as I came
up, the General said, "There, by God, I've killed him myself!" This was the
Indian commander.
"Passing on to the left, I mounted the natural
embankment, and found myself in the midst of the Indians; after discharging my
gun, I turned the breech and struck at a warrior I saw lying under the bank
before me, but seeing another very industriously snapping his piece at me, I
fell back to reload. As soon as my gun was charged I advanced, with the brave
but unfortunate Wells on my left, and William Cams, of Dodgeville, on my right.
On coming hand to hand with the Indians, Wells fell mortally wounded; Cams first
shot and then bayoneted the warrior that killed Wells, and I put another in a
condition to take his scalp. At the same time the only surviving Indian
attempted to save himself by flight; he plunged into the pond, and was shot as
he got out of the water on the opposite side.
"Thus ended the battle.
The enemy were completely exterminated; not one was left to tell Black Hawk, his
chief, and warriors, how "Old Hairyface" (the Indian name for General Dodge) and
his warriors fought. Our trophies were seventeen scalps; our loss three men,
Black, Wells and Morris mortally, and Thomas Jenkins severely wounded.
"The annals of border warfare furnish no parallel to this battle; never before
was an entire war party exterminated with so small a loss on the part of the
whites, when the numbers engaged were so nearly equal. Although on our advance
into the thicket we outnumbered the Indians some five men, yet the advantage of
their position, and our having to receive their fire, equalized our numbers.
"None of us, from the General down, had ever heard a hostile gun, or burned
powder at a foe; the men had been promiscuously assembled, and were untrained
soldiers; they proved, however, by their gallant conduct, that American
volunteers, when individually brave, will collectively follow to their death a
brave and determined leader in whom they have confidence.
"There were
individual acts of devotion and desperate bravery performed, which ought to have
immortalized the actors. Our surgeon, Dr. Allen Hill, fell into the line, and
did duty as a private soldier. When the sections were told off, his lot fell
number four, a horse-holder; number five in the same section was a
sickly-looking youth named Townsend, about seventeen years of age. The doctor
exchanged places with him, remarking that he thought he was better able to
perform a soldier's duty in the coming fight than he was.
"In the
charge, Levin Leach encountered a warrior armed with a spear. Parrying the
thrust of the Indian with his bayonet, he dropped his gun, sprang on him,
wrenched his spear from him, and with it, ran him through the body."
About the beginning of the fight each man took a tree Indian style. Thos.
Jenkins, who was rather portly, got behind a small one, and when he saw an
Indian aiming in his direction, drew himself up sideways as straight as
possible. But the tree was too small to protect all parts of his body, and the
Indian's bullet hit him in that portion of his anatomy where honor is supposed
to abide. The slightest reference to being shot in the rear was always after
sure to provoke his ire.
One of those who afterward died was struck in
the head, inflicting a severe scalp wound, but by no means dangerous. There was
no surgeon in the fort, and a long-legged, tow-headed young man, who had been
studying medicine, took the case in hand, prescribing a strong poultice of white
oak bark. He did not improve under 'the treatment, and Dr. Philleo was sent for
from Galena, but when he came the man was past surgery. The Doctor said that any
old woman could have cured him with a poultice of bread and milk, but the bark
had completely tanned the patient's head. The new doctor afterward became a
noted physician, but it is not probable he again prescribed white oak bark for a
scalp wound.
Extracted 30 Aug 2018 by Norma Hass from Records of the Olden Time, 1880, by Spencer Ellsworth, pages 128-135.
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