On the 23d of June scouts came into Galena, and reported at headquarters
that a large body of Indians had been seen about thirty miles distant,
but not being on the march, they were not able to conjecture to what
point they were going. Col. Strode immediately made all necessary
preparations to receive them, should Galena be the point of attack, and
dispatched an express early next morning for Dixon's Ferry. On their
arrival at Apple River Fort they halted for a short time, and then
proceeded on their journey, and while yet in sight, at the crack of a
gun the foremost man was seen to fall from his horse and two or three
Indians rushed upon him with hatchets raised ready to strike, while his
comrades galloped up, and with guns pointed towards the Indians kept
them at bay until the wounded man reached the Fort. But had the Indians
known these guns were _not loaded,_ (as afterwards reported) they could
have dispatched all three of them with their tomahawks.
In a very short time after hearing the crack of the gun a large body
of Indians surrounded the fort, yelling and shooting, when the inmates,
under command of Capt. Stone, prepared for defence, every port hole
being manned by sharp-shooters. One man, Mr. George Herclurode, was shot
through a port hole and instantly killed, and Mr. James Nutting wounded
in the same way, but not seriously; which was the only loss sustained
during the engagement of more than one hour's duration. A number of
Indians were wounded and carried off the field. Capt. Stone had only
twenty-five men, with a large number of women and children in the fort,
but had providentially received a quantity of lead and provisions from
Galena only an hour before the attack, and as he was short of bullets,
the ladies of the fort busied themselves in melting lead and running
balls as long as the battle lasted. Black Hawk, finding the fort
impregnable from assault without firing it--an act that he well knew
would, in a very short time, have brought a large body of troops on his
path--concluded that it would be better to return and carry with them
all the flour they could, killed a number of cattle and took choice
pieces of beef, and all the homes that were in the stable. One of the
expressmen, not deeming the fort a place of safety, hurried back to
Galena, but getting lost on the way did not get in until early next
morning. On hearing the news, Col. Strode took one hundred picked men,
well mounted, and went to the relief of the fort, and was much gratified
to find that its noble defenders had put to flight about one hundred and
fifty Indians who had been under the command of Black Hawk himself.