IN the spring of 1832, Mr. Offutt's business had gone to ruin: the store
was sold out, the mill was handed over to its owners, Mr. Offutt himself
departed for parts unknown, and his "head clerk" was again out of work.
Just about that time a governor's proclamation arrived, calling for
volunteers to meet the famous chief Black Hawk and his warriors, who
were preparing for a grand, and, in all likelihood, a bloody foray, into
their old hunting-grounds in the Rock-river country.
[Illustration: Black Hawk, Indian Chief 128]
Black Hawk was a large Indian, of powerful frame and commanding
presence. He was a soldier and a statesman. The history of his diplomacy
with the tribes he sought to confederate shows that he expected to
realize on a smaller scale the splendid plans of Pontiac and Tecumseh.
In his own tongue he was eloquent, and dreamed dreams which, amongst the
Indians, passed for prophecy. The prophet is an indispensable personage
in any comprehensive scheme of Indian politics, and no chief has ever
effected a combination of formidable strength without his aid. In the
person of Black Hawk, the chief and the prophet were one. His power in
both capacities was bent toward a single end,--the great purpose of his
life,--the recovery of his birthplace and the ancient home of his people
from the possession of the stranger.
Black Hawk was born on the Rock River in Wisconsin, in the year 1767.
His grandfather lived near Montreal, whence his father Pyesa had
emigrated, but not until he had become thoroughly British in his views
and feelings. All his life long he made annual journeys to the councils
of the tribes at Malden, where the gifts and persuasions of British
agents confirmed him in his inclination to the British interests. When
Pyesa was gathered to his fathers, his son took his place as the chief
of the Sacs, hated the Americans, loved the friendly English, and went
yearly to Malden, precisely as he thought Pyesa would have had him do.
But Black Hawk's mind was infinitely superior to Pyesa's: his sentiments
were loftier, his heart more susceptible; he had the gift of the seer,
the power of the orator, with the high courage and the profound policy
of a born warrior and a natural ruler. He "had brooded over the early
history of his tribe; and to his views, as he looked down the vista of
years, the former times seemed so much better than the present, that the
vision wrought upon his susceptible imagination, which pictured it to be
the Indian golden age. He had some remembrance of a treaty made by Gen.
Harrison in 1804, to which his people had given their assent; and his
feelings were with difficulty controlled, when he was required to leave
the Rock-river Valley, in compliance with a treaty made with Gen. Scott.
That valley, however, he peacefully abandoned with his tribe, on being
notified, and went to the west of the Mississippi; but he had spent
his youth in that locality, and the more he thought of it, the more
determined he was to return thither. He readily enlisted the sympathies
of the Indians, who are ever prone to ponder on their real or imaginary
wrongs; and it may be readily conjectured that what Indian counsel could
not accomplish, Indian prophecy would."1 He had moved when summoned to
move, because he was then unprepared to fight; but he utterly denied
that the chiefs who seemed to have ceded the lands long years before had
any right to cede them, or that the tribe had ever willingly given up
the country to the stranger and the aggressor. It was a fraud upon the
simple Indians: the old treaty was a great lie, and the signatures
it purported to have, made with marks and primitive devices, were not
attached in good faith, and were not the names of honest Sacs. No: he
would go over the river, he would have his own; the voice of the Great
Spirit was in the air wherever he went; it was in his lodge through all
the night-time, and it said "Go;" and Black Hawk must needs rise up and
tell the people what the voice said.
1 Schoolcraft's History of the Indian Tribes.
It was by such arguments as these that Black Hawk easily persuaded the
Sacs. But hostilities by the Sacs alone would be a hopeless adventure.
He must find allies. He looked first to their kindred, the Foxes, who
had precisely the same cause of war with the Sacs, and after them to the
Winnebagoes, Sioux, Kickapoos, and many others. That Black Hawk was
a wise and valiant leader, all the Indians conceded; and his proposals
were heard by some of the tribes with eagerness, and by all of them with
respect. At one time his confederacy embraced nine tribes,--the most
formidable in the North-west, if we exclude the Sioux and the Chippewas,
who were themselves inclined to accede. Early in 1831, the first chief
of the Chippewas exhibited a miniature tomahawk, red with vermilion,
which, having been accepted from Black Hawk, signified an alliance
between them; and away up at Leech. Lake, an obscure but numerous band
showed some whites a few British medals painted in imitation of blood,
which meant that they were to follow the war-paths of Black Hawk.
In 1831 Black Hawk had crossed the river in small force, but had retired
before the advance of Gen. Gaines, commanding the United States post at
Rock Island. He then promised to remain on the other side, and to keep
quiet for the future. But early in the spring of 1832 he re-appeared
with greater numbers, pushed straight into the Rock-river Valley, and
said he had "come to plant corn." He was now sixty-seven years of age:
he thought his great plots were all ripe, and his allies fast and true.
They would fight a few bloody battles, and then he would sit down in his
old age and see the corn grow where he had seen it in his youth. But the
old chief reckoned too much upon Indian fidelity: he committed the fatal
error of trusting to their patriotism instead of their interests. Gen.
Atkinson, now in command at Rock Island, set the troops in motion: the
governor issued his call for volunteers; and, as the Indians by this
time had committed some frightful barbarities, the blood of the settlers
was boiling, and the regiments were almost instantly filled with the
best possible material. So soon as these facts became known, the allies
of Black Hawk, both the secret and the open, fell away from him, and
left him, with the Sacs and the Foxes, to meet his fate.
In the mean time Lincoln had enlisted in a company from Sangamon. He had
not been out in the campaign of the previous year, but told his friend
Row Herndon, that, if he had not been down the river with Offutt,
he would certainly have been with the boys in the field. But,
notwithstanding his want of military experience, his popularity was
so great, that he had been elected captain of a militia company on the
occasion of a muster at Clary's Grove the fall before. He was absent at
the time, but thankfully accepted and served. Very much to his surprise,
his friends put him up for the captaincy of this company about to enter
active service. They did not organize at home, however, but marched
first to Beardstown, and then to Rushville in Schuyler County, where the
election took place. Bill Kirkpatrick was a candidate against Lincoln,
but made a very sorry showing. It has been said that Lincoln once worked
for Kirkpatrick as a common laborer, and suffered some indignities
at his hands; but the story as a whole is supported by no credible
testimony. It is certain, however, that the planks for the boat built by
Abe and his friends at the mouth of Spring Creek were sawed at the mill
of a Mr. Kirkpatrick. It was then, likely enough, that Abe fell in the
way of this man, and learned to dislike him. At all events, when he had
distanced Kirkpatrick, and was chosen his captain by the suffrages of
men who had been intimate with Kirkpatrick long before they had ever
heard of Abe, he spoke of him spitefully, and referred in no gentle
terms to some old dispute. "Damn him," said he to Green, "I've beat him:
he used me badly in our settlement for my toil."
Capt. Lincoln now made a very modest speech to his comrades, reciting
the exceeding gratification their partiality afforded him, how
undeserved he thought it, and how wholly unexpected it was. In
conclusion, "he promised very plainly that he would do the best he could
to prove himself worthy of that confidence."
The troops rendezvoused at Beardstown and Rushville were formed into
four regiments and a spy battalion. Capt. Lincoln's company was attached
to the regiment of Col. Samuel Thompson. The whole force was placed
under the command of Gen. Whiteside, who was accompanied throughout the
campaign by the governor in person.
On the 27th of April, the army marched toward the mouth of Rock River,
by way of Oquaka on the Mississippi. The route was one of difficulty and
danger, a great part of it lying through a country largely occupied
by the enemy. The men were raw, and restive under discipline. In the
beginning they had no more respect for the "rules and regulations" than
for Solomon's Proverbs, or the Westminster Confession. Capt. Lincoln's
company is said to have been a particularly "hard set of men," who
recognized no power but his. They were fighting men, and but for his
personal authority would have kept the camp in a perpetual uproar.
At the crossing of Henderson River,--a stream about fifty yards wide,
and eight or ten feet deep, with very precipitous banks,--they were
compelled to make a bridge or causeway with timbers cut by the troops,
and a filling-in of bushes, earth, or any other available material. This
was the work of a day and night. Upon its completion, the horses and
oxen were taken from the wagons, and the latter taken over by hand. But,
when the horses came to cross, many of them were killed in sliding down
the steep banks. "While in camp here," says a private in Capt. Lincoln's
company, "a general order was issued prohibiting the discharge of
fire-arms within fifty steps of the camp. Capt. Lincoln disobeyed the
order by firing his pistol within ten steps of the camp, and for this
violation of orders was put under arrest for that day, and his sword
taken from him; but the next day his sword was restored, and nothing
more was done in the matter."
From Henderson River the troops marched to Yellow Banks, on the
Mississippi. "While at this place," Mr. Ben F. Irwin says, "a
considerable body of Indians of the Cherokee tribe came across the river
from the Iowa side, with the white flag hoisted. These were the
first Indians we saw. They were very friendly, and gave us a general
war-dance. We, in return, gave them a Sucker ho-down. All enjoyed the
sport, and it is safe to say no man enjoyed it more than Capt. Lincoln."
From Yellow Banks, a rapid and exhaustive march of a few days brought
the volunteers to the mouth of Rock River, where "it was agreed between
Gen. Whiteside and Gen. Atkinson of the regulars, that the volunteers
should march up Rock River, about fifty miles, to the Prophet's Town,
and there encamp, to feed and rest their horses, and await the arrival
of the regular troops, in keel-boats, with provisions. Judge William
Thomas, who again acted as quartermaster to the volunteers, made an
estimate of the amount of provisions required until the boats could
arrive, which was supplied; and then Gen. Whiteside took up his line
of march." 1 But Capt. Lincoln's company did not march on the present
occasion with the alacrity which distinguished their comrades of other
corps. The orderly sergeant attempted to "form company," but the company
declined to be formed; the men, oblivious of wars and rumors of wars,
mocked at the word of command, and remained between their blankets in
a state of serene repose. For an explanation of these signs of passive
mutiny, we must resort again to the manuscript of the private who gave
the story of Capt. Lincoln's first arrest. "About the--of April, we
reached the mouth of Rock River. About three or four nights afterwards,
a man named Rial P. Green, commonly called 'Pot Green,' belonging to
a Green-county company, came to oar company, and waked up the men, and
proposed to them, that, if they would furnish him with a tomahawk and
four buckets, he would get into the officers' liquors, and supply the
men with wines and brandies. The desired articles were furnished him;
and, with the assistance of one of our company, he procured the liquors.
All this was entirely unknown to Capt. Lincoln. In the morning. Capt.
Lincoln ordered his orderly to form company for parade; but when the
orderly called the men to 'parade,' they called 'parade,' too, but
couldn't fall into line. The most of the men were unmistakably drunk.
The rest of the forces marched off, and left Capt. Lincoln's company
behind. The company didn't make a start until about ten o'clock, and
then, after marching about two miles, the drunken ones lay down and
slept their drunk off. They overtook the forces that night. Capt.
Lincoln was again put under arrest, and was obliged to carry a wooden
sword for two days, and this although Capt. Lincoln was entirely
blameless in the matter."
1 Ford's History of Illinois, chap. iv.
When Gen. Whiteside reached Prophetstown, where he was to rest until
the arrival of the regulars and the supplies, he disregarded the plan of
operations concerted between him and Atkinson, and, burning the village
to the ground, pushed on towards Dixon's Ferry, forty miles farther up
the river. Nearing that place, he left his baggage-wagons behind: the
men threw away their allotments of provisions, or left them with the
wagons; and in that condition a forced march was made to Dixon. There
Whiteside found two battalions of mounted men under Majors Stillman and
Bailey, who clamored to be thrown forward, where they might get up an
independent but glorious "brush" with the enemy on comparatively private
account. The general had it not in his heart to deny these adventurous
spirits, and they were promptly advanced to feel and disclose the Indian
force supposed to be near at hand. Stillman accordingly moved up the
bank of "Old Man's Creek" (since called "Stillman's Run"), to a point
about twenty miles from Dixon, where, just before nightfall, he went
into camp, or was about to do so, when several Indians were seen
hovering along some raised ground nearly a mile distant. Straightway
Stillman's gallant fellows remounted, one by one, or two and two, and,
without officers or orders, galloped away in pursuit. The Indians first
shook a red flag, and then dashed off at the top of their speed. Three
of them were overtaken and killed: but the rest performed with perfect
skill the errand upon which they were sent; they led Stillman's command
into an ambuscade, where lay Black Hawk himself with seven hundred of
his warriors. The pursuers recoiled, and rode for their lives: Black
Hawk bore down upon Stillman's camp; the fugitives, streaming back with
fearful cries respecting the numbers and ferocity of the enemy, spread
consternation through the entire force. Stillman gave a hasty order
to fall back; and the men fell back much faster and farther than he
intended, for they never faced about, or so much as stopped, until they
reached Whiteside's camp at Dixon. The first of them reached Dixon about
twelve o'clock; and others came straggling in all night long and part of
the next day, each party announcing themselves as the sole survivors
of that stricken field, escaped solely by the exercise of miraculous
valor.1
1 "It is said that a big, tall Kentuckian, with a very loud
voice, who was a colonel of the militia, but a private with
Stillman, upon his arrival in camp, gave to Gen. Whiteside
and the wondering multitude the following glowing and
bombastic account of the battle. 'Sirs,' said he, 'our
detachment was encamped amongst some scattering timber on
the north side of Old Man's Creek, with the prairie from the
north gently sloping down to our encampment. It was just
after twilight, in the gloaming of the evening, when we
discovered Black Hawk's army coming down upon us in solid
column: they displayed in the form of a crescent upon the
brow of the prairie, and such accuracy and precision of
military movements were never witnessed by man; they were
equal to the best troops of Wellington in Spain. I have said
that the Indians came down in solid column, and displayed in
the form of a crescent; and, what was most wonderful, there
were large squares of cavalry resting upon the points of the
curve, which squares were supported again by other columns
fifteen deep, extending back through the woods, and over a
swamp three-quarters of a mile, which again rested upon the
main body of Black Hawk's army bivouacked upon the banks of
the Kishwakee. It was a terrible and a glorious sight to see
the tawny warriors as they rode along our flanks attempting
to outflank us with the glittering moonbeams glistening from
their polished blades and burnished spears. It was a sight
well calculated to strike consternation into the stoutest
and boldest heart; and accordingly our men soon began to
break in small squads for tall timber. In a very little time
the rout became general. The Indians were on our flanks, and
threatened the destruction of the entire detachment. About
this time Major Stillman, Col. Stephenson, Major Perkins,
Capt. Adams, Mr. Hackelton, and myself, with some others,
threw ourselves into the rear to rally the fugitives and
protect the retreat. But in A short time all my companions
fell, bravely fighting hand to hand with the savage enemy,
and I alone was left upon the field of battle. About this
time I discovered not far to the left, a corps of horsemen
which seemed to be in tolerable order. I immediately
deployed to the left, when, leaning down and placing my body
in a recumbent posture upon the mane of my horse, so as to
bring the heads of the horsemen between my eye and the
horizon, I discovered by the light of the moon that they
were gentlemen who did not wear hats, by which token I knew
they were no friends of mine. I therefore made a retrograde
movement, and recovered my former position, where I remained
some time, meditating what further I could do in the service
of my country, when a random ball came whistling by my ear,
and plainly whispered to me, "Stranger, you have no further
business here." Upon hearing this, I followed the example of
my companions in arms, and broke for tall timber, and the
way I run was not a little, and quit.'
"This colonel was a lawyer just returning from the circuit,
with a slight wardrobe and 'Chitty's Pleadings' packed in
his saddle-bags, all of which were captured by the Indians.
He afterwards related, with much vexation, that Black Hawk
had decked himself out in his finery, appearing in the woods
amongst his savage companions dressed in one of the
colonel's ruffled shirts drawn over his deer-skin leggings,
with a volume of 'Chitty's Pleadings' under each arm."--
Ford's History of Illinois.
The affair is known to history as "Stillman's Defeat." "Old John Hanks"
was in it, and speaks of it with shame and indignation, attributing the
disaster to "drunken men, cowardice, and folly," though in this case
we should be slow to adopt his opinion. Of folly, there was, no doubt,
enough, both on the part of Whiteside and Stillman; but of drunkenness
no public account makes any mention, and individual cowardice is never
to be imputed to American troops. These men were as brave as any that
ever wore a uniform, and some of them performed good service afterwards;
but when they went into this action, they were "raw militia,"--a mere
mob; and no mob can stand against discipline, even though it be but the
discipline of the savage.
The next day Whiteside moved with all possible celerity to the field
of Stillman's disaster, and, finding no enemy, was forced to content
himself with the melancholy duty of burying the mutilated and unsightly
remains of the dead. All of them were scalped; some had their heads cut
off, others had their throats cut, and others still were mangled and
dishonored in ways too shocking to be told.
The army was now suffering for want of provisions. The folly of the
commander in casting off his baggage-train for the forced march on
Dixon, the extravagance and improvidence of the men with their scanty
rations, had exhausted the resources of the quartermasters, and, "except
in the messes of the most careful and experienced," the camp was nearly
destitute of food. "The majority had been living on parched corn and
coffee for two or three days;" but, on the morning of the last march
from Dixon, Quartermaster Thomas had succeeded in getting a little fresh
beef from the only white inhabitant of that country, and this the men
were glad to eat without bread. "I can truly say I was often hungry,"
said Capt. Lincoln, reviewing the events of this campaign. He was,
doubtless, as destitute and wretched as the rest, but he was patient,
quiet, and resolute. Hunger brought with it a discontented and mutinous
spirit. The men complained bitterly of all they had been made to endure,
and clamored loudly for a general discharge. But Capt. Lincoln kept
the "even tenor of his way;" and, when his regiment was disbanded,
immediately enlisted as a private soldier in another company.
From the battle-field Whiteside returned to his old camp at Dixon, but
determined, before doing so, to make one more attempt to retrieve his
ill-fortune. Black Hawk's pirogues were supposed to be lying a few miles
distant, in a bend of the Rock River; and the capture of these would
serve as some relief to the dreary series of errors and miscarriages
which had hitherto marked the campaign. But Black Hawk had just been
teaching him strategy in the most effective mode, and the present
movement was undertaken with an excess of caution almost as ludicrous as
Stillman's bravado. "To provide as well as might be against danger, one
man was started at a time in the direction of the point. When he would
get a certain distance, keeping in sight, a second would start, and so
on, until a string of men extending five miles from the main army was
made, each to look out for Indians, and give the sign to right, left, or
front, by hanging a hat on a bayonet,--erect for the front, and right or
left, as the case might be. To raise men to go ahead was with difficulty
done, and some tried hard to drop back; but we got through safe, and
found the place deserted, leaving plenty of Indian signs,--a dead dog
and several scalps taken in Stillman's defeat, as we supposed them
to have been taken." After this, the last of Gen. Whiteside's futile
attempts, he returned to the battle-field, and thence to Dixon, where
he was joined by Atkinson with the regulars and the long-coveted and
much-needed supplies.
One day, during these many marches and countermarches, an old Indian
found his way into the camp, weary, hungry, and helpless. He professed
to be a friend of the whites; and, although it was an exceedingly
perilous experiment for one of his color, he ventured to throw himself
upon the mercy of the soldiers. But the men first murmured, and then
broke out into fierce cries for his blood. "We have come out to fight
the Indians," said they, "and by God we intend to do it!" The poor
Indian, now, in the extremity of his distress and peril, did what he
ought to have done before: he threw down before his assailants a soiled
and crumpled paper, which he implored them to read before his life was
taken. It was a letter of character and safe-conduct from Gen. Cass,
pronouncing him a faithful man, who had done good service in the cause
for which this army was enlisted. But it was too late: the men refused
to read it, or thought it a forgery, and were rushing with fury upon
the defenceless old savage, when Capt. Lincoln bounded between them
and their appointed victim. "Men," said he, and his voice for a moment
stilled the agitation around him, "_this must not be done: he must not
be shot and killed by us._"--"But," said some of them, "the Indian is a
damned spy." Lincoln knew that his own life was now in only less danger
than that of the poor creature that crouched behind him. During the
whole of this scene Capt. Lincoln seemed to "rise to an unusual height"
of stature. The towering form, the passion and resolution in his face,
the physical power and terrible will exhibited in every motion of his
body, every gesture of his arm, produced an effect upon the furious mob
as unexpected perhaps to him as to any one else. They paused, listened,
fell back, and then sullenly obeyed what seemed to be the voice of
reason, as well as authority. But there were still some murmurs of
disappointed rage, and half-suppressed exclamations, which looked
towards vengeance of some kind. At length one of the men, a little
bolder than the rest, but evidently feeling that he spoke for the whole,
cried out, "This is cowardly on your part, Lincoln!" Whereupon the tall
captain's figure stretched a few inches higher again. He looked down
upon these varlets who would have murdered a defenceless old Indian, and
now quailed before his single hand, with lofty contempt. The oldest of
his acquaintances, even Bill Green, who saw him grapple Jack Armstrong
and defy the bullies at his back, never saw him so much "aroused"
before. "If any man thinks I am a coward, let him test it," said he.
"Lincoln," responded a new voice, "you are larger and heavier than we
are."--"This you can guard against: choose your weapons," returned the
rigid captain. Whatever may be said of Mr. Lincoln's choice of means for
the preservation of military discipline, it was certainly very effectual
in this case. There was no more disaffection in his camp, and the word
"coward" was never coupled with his name again. Mr. Lincoln understood
his men better than those who would be disposed to criticise his
conduct. He has often declared himself, that his life and character were
both at stake, and would probably have been lost, had he not at that
supremely critical moment forgotten the officer and asserted the man. To
have ordered the offenders under arrest would have created a formidable
mutiny; to have tried and punished them would have been impossible. They
could scarcely be called soldiers: they were merely armed citizens, with
a nominal military organization. They were but recently enlisted, and
their term of service was just about to expire. Had he preferred charges
against them, and offered to submit their differences to a court of any
sort, it would have been regarded as an act of personal pusillanimity,
and his efficiency would have been gone forever.
Lincoln was believed to be the strongest man in his regiment, and no
doubt was. He was certainly the best wrestler in it, and after they left
Beardstown nobody ever disputed the fact. He is said to have "done the
wrestling for the company;" and one man insists that he _always_ had a
handkerchief tied around his person, in readiness for the sport. For a
while it was firmly believed that no man in the _army_ could throw him
down. His company confidently pitted him "against the field," and were
willing to bet all they had on the result. At length, one Mr. Thompson
came forward and accepted the challenge. He was, in fact, the most
famous wrestler in the Western country. It is not certain that the
report of his achievements had ever reached the ears of Mr. Lincoln or
his friends; but at any rate they eagerly made a match with him as a
champion not unworthy of their own. Thompson's power and skill, however,
were as well known to certain persons in the army as Mr. Lincoln's were
to others. Each side was absolutely certain of the victory, and bet
according to their faith. Lincoln's company and their sympathizers
put up all their portable property, and some perhaps not their own,
including "knives, blankets, tomahawks," and all the most necessary
articles of a soldier's outfit.
When the men first met, Lincoln was convinced that he could throw
Thompson; but, after tussling with him a brief space in presence of the
anxious assemblage, he turned to his friends and said, "This is the most
powerful man I ever had hold of. He will throw me, and you will lose
your all, unless I act on the defensive." He managed, nevertheless, "to
hold him off for some time;" but at last Thompson got the "crotch hoist"
on him, and, although Lincoln attempted with all his wonderful strength
to break the hold by "sliding" away, a few moments decided his fate: he
was fairly thrown. As it required two out of three falls to decide the
bets, Thompson and he immediately came together again, and with very
nearly the same result. Lincoln fell under, but the other man fell too.
There was just enough of uncertainty about it to furnish a pretext for
a hot dispute and a general fight. Accordingly, Lincoln's men instantly
began the proper preliminaries to a fracas. "We were taken by surprise,"
says Mr. Green, "and, being unwilling to give up our property and lose
our bets, got up an excuse as to the result. We declared the fall a kind
of dog-fall; did so apparently angrily." The fight was coming on apace,
and bade fair to be a big and bloody one, when Lincoln rose up and said,
"Boys, the man actually threw me once fair, broadly so; and the second
time, this very fall, he threw me fairly, though not so apparently so."
He would countenance no disturbance, and his unexpected and somewhat
astonishing magnanimity ended all attempts to raise one.
Mr. Lincoln's good friend, Mr. Green, the principal, though not the
sole authority for the present account of his adventure in behalf of the
Indian and his wrestle with Thompson, mentions one important incident
which is found in no other manuscript, and which gives us a glimpse of
Mr. Lincoln in a scene of another sort. "One other word in reference to
Mr. Lincoln's care for the health, welfare, and justice to his men. Some
officers of the United States had claimed that the regular army had a
preference in the rations and pay. Mr. Lincoln was ordered to do some
act which he deemed unauthorized. He, however, obeyed, but went to the
officer and said to him, 'Sir, you forget that we are not under the
rules and regulations of the War Department at Washington; are only
volunteers under the orders and regulations of Illinois. Keep in
your own sphere, and there will be no difficulty; but resistance will
hereafter be made to your unjust orders: and, further, my men must be
equal in all particulars, in rations, arms, camps, &c., to the regular
army. The man saw that Mr. Lincoln was right, and determined to have
justice done. Always after this we were treated equally well, and just
as the regular army was, in every particular. This brave, just, and
humane act in behalf of the volunteers at once attached officers and
rank to him, as with hooks of steel."
When the army reached Dixon, the almost universal discontent of the men
had grown so manifest and so ominous, that it could no longer be safely
disregarded. They longed "for the flesh-pots of Egypt," and fiercely
demanded their discharge. Although their time had not expired, it was
determined to march them by way of Paw-Paw Grove to Ottawa, and there
concede what the governor feared he had no power to withhold.
"While on our march from Dixon to Fox River," says Mr. Irwin, "one night
while in camp, which was formed in a square enclosing about forty acres,
our horses, outside grazing, got scared about nine o'clock; and a grand
stampede took place. They ran right through our lines in spite of us,
and ran over many of us. No man knows what noise a thousand horses
make running, unless he had been there: it beats a young earthquake,
especially among scared men, and certain they were scared then. We
expected the Indians to be on us that night. Fire was thrown, drums
beat, fifes played, which added additional fright to the horses. We saw
no real enemy that night, but a line of battle was formed. There were
no eyes for sleep that night: we stood to our posts in line; and what
frightened the horses is yet unknown."
"During this short Indian campaign," continues the same gentleman, "we
had some hard times,--often hungry; but we had a great deal of sport,
especially of nights,---foot-racing, some horse-racing, jumping, telling
anecdotes, in which Lincoln beat all, keeping up a constant laughter
and good-humor all the time; among the soldiers some card-playing, and
wrestling, in which Lincoln took a prominent part. I think it safe
to say he was never thrown in a wrestle. [Mr. Irwin, it seems, still
regards the Thompson affair as "a dog-fall."] While in the army, he kept
a handkerchief tied around him near all the time for wrestling purposes,
and loved the sport as well as any one could. He was seldom ever beat
jumping. During the campaign, Lincoln himself was always ready for
an emergency. He endured hardships like a good soldier: he never
complained, nor did he fear danger. When fighting was expected, or
danger apprehended, Lincoln was the first to say, 'Let's go.' He had
the confidence of every man of his company, and they strictly obeyed his
orders at a word. His company was all young men, and full of sport.
"One night in Warren County, a white hog--a young sow--came into our
lines, which showed more good sense, to my mind, than any hog I ever
saw. This hog swam creeks and rivers, and went with us clear through
to, I think, the mouth of Fox River; and there the boys killed it, or it
would doubtless have come home with us. If it got behind in daylight as
we were marching, which it did sometimes, it would follow on the
track, and come to us at night. It was naturally the cleverest,
friendly-disposed hog any man ever saw, and its untimely death was by
many of us greatly deplored, for we all liked the hog for its friendly
disposition and good manners; for it never molested any thing, and kept
in its proper place."
On the 28th of May the volunteers were discharged. The governor had
already called for two thousand more men to take their places; but, in
the mean time, he made the most strenuous efforts to organize a small
force out of the recently discharged, to protect the frontiers until the
new levies were ready for service. He succeeded in raising one regiment
and a spy company. Many officers of distinction, among them Gen.
Whiteside himself, enlisted as private soldiers, and served in that
capacity to the end of the war. Capt. Lincoln became Private Lincoln of
the "Independent Spy Company," Capt. Early commanding; and, although
he was never in an engagement, he saw some hard service in scouting and
trailing, as well as in carrying messages and reports.
About the middle of June the new troops were ready for the field, and
soon after moved up to Rock River. Meanwhile the Indians had overrun the
country. "They had scattered their war-parties all over the North from
Chicago to Galena, and from the Illinois River into the Territory of
Wisconsin; they occupied every grove, waylaid every road, hung around
every settlement, and attacked every party of white men that attempted
to penetrate the country." There had been some desultory fighting at
various points. Capt. Snyder, in whose company Gen. Whiteside was
a private, had met the Indians at Burr Oak. Grove, and had a sharp
engagement; Mr. St. Vrain, an Indian agent, with a small party of
assistants, had been treacherously murdered near Fort Armstrong; several
men had been killed at the lead mines, and the Wisconsin volunteers
under Dodge had signally punished the Indians that killed them; Galena
had been threatened and Fort Apple, twelve miles from Galena, had
sustained a bloody siege of fifteen hours; Capt. Stephenson of Galena
had performed an act which "equalled any thing in modern warfare in
daring and desperate courage," by driving a party of Indians larger
than his own detachment into a dense thicket, and there charging them
repeatedly until he was compelled to retire, wounded himself, and
leaving three of his men dead on the ground.
Thenceforward the tide was fairly turned against Black Hawk. Twenty-four
hundred men, under experienced officers, were now in the field against
him; and, although he succeeded in eluding his pursuers for a brief
time, every retreat was equivalent to a reverse in battle, and all his
manoeuvres were retreats. In the latter part of July he was finally
overtaken by the volunteers under Henry, along the bluffs of the
Wisconsin River, and defeated in a decisive battle. His ruin was
complete: he abandoned all hope of conquest, and pressed in disorderly
and disastrous retreat toward the Mississippi, in vain expectation of
placing that barrier between him and his enemy.
On the fourth day, after crossing the Wisconsin, Gen. Atkinson's advance
reached the high grounds near the Mississippi. Henry and his brigade,
having won the previous victory, were placed at the rear in the order
of march, with the ungenerous purpose of preventing them from winning
another. But Black Hawk here resorted to a stratagem which very nearly
saved the remnant of his people, and in the end completely foiled the
intentions of Atkinson regarding Henry and his men. The old chief,
with the high heart which even such a succession of reverses could not
subdue, took twenty warriors and deliberately posted himself, determined
to hold the army in check or lead it away on a false trail, while his
main body was being transferred to the other bank of the river. He
accordingly made his attack in a place where he was favored by trees,
logs, and tall grass, which prevented the discovery of his numbers.
Finding his advance engaged, Atkinson formed a line of battle, and
ordered a charge; but Black Hawk conducted his retreat with such
consummate skill that Atkinson believed he was just at the heels of the
whole Indian army, and under this impression continued the pursuit far
up the river.
When Henry came up to the spot where the fight had taken place, he
readily detected the trick by various evidences about the ground.
Finding the main trail in the immediate vicinity, he boldly fell upon it
without orders, and followed it until he came up with the Indians in
a swamp on the margin of the river, where he easily surprised and
scattered them. Atkinson, hearing the firing in the swamp, turned back,
and arrived just in time to assist in the completion of the massacre. A
few of the Indians had already crossed the river: a few had taken refuge
on a little willow island in the middle of the stream. The island was
charged,--the men wading to it in water up to their arm-pits,--the
Indians were dislodged and killed on the spot, or shot in the water
while attempting to swim to the western shore. Fifty prisoners only were
taken, and the greater part of these were squaws and children. This
was the battle of the Bad Axe,--a terrific slaughter, considering the
numbers engaged, and the final ruin of Black Hawk's fortunes.
Black Hawk and his twenty warriors, among whom was his own son, made
the best of their way to the Dalles on the Wisconsin, where they seem to
have awaited passively whatever fate their enemies should contrive for
them. There were some Sioux and Winnebagoes in Atkinson's camp,--men who
secretly pretended to sympathize with Black Hawk, and, while acting
as guides to the army, had really led it astray on many painful and
perilous marches. It is certain that Black Hawk had counted on the
assistance of those tribes; but after the fight on the Wisconsin, even
those who had consented to act as his emissaries about the person of
the hostile commander not only deserted him, but volunteered to hunt him
down. They now offered to find him, take him, and bring him in, provided
that base and cowardly service should be suitably acknowledged. They
were duly employed. Black Hawk became their prisoner, and was presented
by them to the Indian agent with two or three shameless and disgusting
speeches from his captors. He and his son were carried to Washington
City, and then through the principal cities of the country, after which
President Jackson released him from captivity, and sent him back to his
own people. He lived to be eighty years old, honored and beloved by his
tribe, and after his death was buried on an eminence overlooking
the Mississippi, with such rites as are accorded only to the most
distinguished of native captains,--sitting upright in war dress and
paint, covered by a conspicuous mound of earth.
We have given a rapid and perhaps an unsatisfactory sketch of the
comparatively great events which brought the Black Hawk War to a close.
So much at least was necessary, that the reader might understand the
several situations in which Mr. Lincoln found himself during the short
term of his second enlistment. We fortunately possess a narrative of his
individual experience, covering the whole of that period, from the pen
of George W. Harrison, his friend, companion, and messmate. It is given
in full; for there is no part of it that would not be injured by the
touch of another hand. It is an extremely interesting story, founded
upon accurate personal knowledge, and told in a perspicuous and graphic
style, admirably suited to the subject.
"The new company thus formed was called the 'Independent Spy Company;'
not being under the control of any regiment or brigade, but receiving
orders directly from the commander-in-chief, and always, when with the
army, camping within the lines, and having many other privileges, such
as never having camp-duties to perform, drawing rations as much and as
often as we pleased, &c, Dr. Early (deceased) of Springfield was elected
captain. Five members constituted a tent, or 'messed' together. Qur mess
consisted of Mr. Lincoln, Johnston (a half-brother of his), Fanchier,
Wyatt, and myself. The 'Independent Spy Company' was used chiefly to
carry messages, to send an express, to spy the enemy, and to ascertain
facts. I suppose the nearest we were to doing battle was at Gratiot's
Grove, near Galena. The spy company of Posey's brigade was many miles
in advance of the brigade, when it stopped in the grove at noon for
refreshments. Some of the men had turned loose their horses, and others
still had theirs in hand, when five or six Sac and Fox Indians came near
them. Many of the white men broke after them, some on horseback, some on
foot, in great disorder and confusion, thinking to have much sport with
their prisoners immediately. The Indians thus decoyed them about two
miles from the little cabins in the grove, keeping just out of danger,
when suddenly up sprang from the tall prairie grass two hundred and
fifty painted warriors, with long spears in hand, and tomahawks and
butcher-knives in their belts of deer-skin and buffalo, and raised such
a yell that our friends supposed them to be more numerous than Black
Hawk's whole clan, and, instantly filled with consternation, commenced
to retreat. But the savages soon began to spear them, making it
necessary to halt in the flight, and give them a fire, at which
time they killed two Indians, one of them being a young chief gayly
apparelled. Again, in the utmost horror, such as savage yells alone can
produce, they fled for the little fort in the grove. Having arrived,
they found the balance of their company, terrified by the screams of
the whites and the yells of the savages, closely shut up in the double
cabin, into which _they_ quickly plunged, and found the much-needed
respite. The Indians then prowled around the grove, shooting nearly
all the company's horses, and stealing the balance of them. There, from
cracks between the logs of the cabin, three Indians were shot and
killed in the act of reaching for the reins of bridles on horses.
They endeavored to conceal their bodies by trees in an old field which
surrounded the fort; but, reaching with sticks for bridles, they exposed
their heads and necks, and all of them were shot with two balls each
through the neck. These three, and the two killed where our men wheeled
and fired, make five Indians known to be killed; and on their retreat
from the prairie to the grove, five white men were cut into small
pieces. The field of this action is the greatest battle-ground we saw.
The dead still lay unburied until after we arrived at sunrise the next
day. The forted men, fifty strong, had not ventured to go out until they
saw us, when they rejoiced greatly that friends and not dreaded enemies
had come. They looked like men just out of cholera,--having passed
through the cramping stage. The only part we could then act was to seek
the lost men, and with hatchets and hands to bury them. We buried the
white men, and trailed the dead young chief where he had been drawn on
the grass a half-mile, and concealed in the thicket. Those who trailed
this once noble warrior, and found him, were Lincoln, I think, Wyatt,
and myself. By order of Gen. Atkinson, our company started on this
expedition one evening, travelled all night, and reached Gratiot's at
sunrise. A few hours after, Gen. Posey came up to the fort with his
brigade of nearly a thousand men, when he positively refused to pursue
the Indians,--being strongly solicited by Capt. Early, Lincoln, and
others,--squads of Indians still showing themselves in a menacing manner
one and a half miles distant.
"Our company was disbanded at Whitewater, Wis., a short time before the
massacre at Bad Axe by Gen. Henry; and most of our men started for home
on the following morning; but it so happened that the night previous
to starting on this long trip, Lincoln's horse and mine were stolen,
probably by soldiers of our own army, and we were thus compelled to
start outside the cavalcade; but I laughed at our fate, and he joked at
it, and we all started off merrily. But the generous men of our company
walked and rode by turns with us; and we fared about equal with the
rest. But for this generosity, our legs would have had to do the better
work; for in that day, this then dreary route furnished no horses to buy
or to steal; and, whether on horse or afoot, we always had company, for
many of the horses' backs were too sore for riding.
"Thus we came to Peoria: here we bought a canoe, in which we two paddled
our way to Pekin. The other members of our company, separating in
various directions, stimulated by the proximity of home, could never
have consented to travel at our usual tardy mode. At Pekin, Lincoln made
an oar with which to row our little boat, while I went through the town
in order to buy provisions for the trip. One of us pulled away at the
one oar, while the other sat astern to steer, or prevent circling. The
river being very low was without current, so that we had to pull hard
to make half the speed of legs on land,--in fact, we let her float all
night, and on the next morning always found the objects still visible
that were beside us the previous evening. The water was remarkably
clear, for this river of plants, and the fish appeared to be sporting
with us as we moved over or near them.
"On the next day after we left Pekin, we overhauled a raft of saw-logs,
with two men afloat on it to urge it on with poles and to guide it in
the channel. We immediately pulled up to them and went on the raft,
where we were made welcome by various demonstrations, especially by
that of an invitation to a feast on fish, corn-bread, eggs, butter,
and coffee, just prepared for our benefit. Of these good things we
ate almost immoderately, for it was the only warm meal we had made for
several days. While preparing it, and after dinner, Lincoln entertained
them, and they entertained us for a couple of hours very amusingly.
"This slow mode of travel was, at the time, a new mode, and the novelty
made it for a short time agreeable. We descended the Illinois to
Havana, where we sold our boat, and again set out the old way, over the
sand-ridges for Petersburg. As we drew near home, the impulse became
stronger, and urged us on amazingly. The long strides of Lincoln, often
slipping back in the loose sand six inches every step, were just right
for me; and he was greatly diverted when he noticed me behind him
stepping along in his tracks to keep from slipping.
"About three days after leaving the army at Whitewater, we saw a battle
in full operation about two miles in advance of us. Lincoln was riding
a young horse, the property of L. D. Matheny. I was riding a sprightly
animal belonging to John T. Stuart. At the time we came in sight of the
scene, our two voluntary footmen were about three-fourths of a mile in
advance of us, and we about half a mile behind most of our company, and
three or four on foot still behind us, leading some sore-backed horses.
But the owners of our horses came running back, and, meeting us all in
full speed, rightfully ordered us to dismount. We obeyed: they mounted,
and all pressed on toward the conflict,--they on horseback, we on foot.
In a few moments of hard walking and terribly close observation, Lincoln
said to me, 'George, this can't be a very dangerous battle.' Reply:
'Much shooting, nothing falls.' It was at once decided to be a sham for
the purpose of training cavalry, instead of Indians having attacked a
few white soldiers, and a few of our own men, on their way home, for the
purpose of killing them."