CHAPTER VII

Steam boat Warrior has an engagement with the enemy the day before we overtook them — Steam boat commanded by Lieutenant Kingsbury — Arrival of the steam boat Warrior soon after our engagement— She returns and brings us provision — General Atkinson believing that the enemy were nearly all destroyed did not pursue them across the Mississippi — March down to Prairie du Chien — We find the friendly Indians rejoicing at the defeat of the enemy — General Atklnson has a talk with the Winnebagoes — We march to Dixon's and are discharged.

SOON after the battle was over, the steam boat Warrior arrived. When she came near to where we were, she commenced raking the Island with a six pounder. We in return fired a salute, thinking she was apprised of our battle, and that she was firing us a salute; but the truth was, she had the first fight with the enemy herself, and was then raking the Island with her six pounder, not knowing but the enemy were still there. When she came up, we then learnt that on the evening before, she had been there for the express purpose of preventing the Indians from crossing, until the main army might get up with them. Lieutenant Kingsbury, who commanded, stated that they hoisted a white flag, but would not send aboard the steam boat. He told them if they did not do it, he would fire upon them; but they still refused, and appeared to be making preparation for action ; so, accordingly, he fired his six pounder, and likewise opened a fire of musquetry upon them, when they commenced a heavy fire upon the boat. The battle now became general, and lasted for
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Wakefield 136 some time, as the boat was anchored. All were at their posts, and would have, it is stated, continued at this place until the main army got up, if they had not been out of wood. So she had to drop down, in order to lay in wood; but it is stated, she killed five in this action and, I suppose, wounded a number; but the number I do not think has been ascertained; but Lieutenant Kingsbury and all the other officers deserve great credit for the bravery and industry they made use of, in trying to prevent the Indians from crossing until the army could come up with them; they dropped down that night as low as Prairie du Chien, and took in wood, and returned to the scene of action the next day, by twelve o'clock, a distance of forty miles or upwards. But when they got back to their old play place, the boys that they had been sporting with the day before, were no more. We had killed and wounded a great many of these wretched wanderers, that have no home in the world, but are like the wild beasts more than man wandering from forest to forest, and not making any improvement in the natural mind. All their study is, how to proceed in the chase, or take scalps in time of war. But although they are a miserable race of people, and live a wretched life, they are much frightened when they see death stare them in the face; which was the case at this time. When we came upon the squaws and children, they raised a scream and cry loud enough to affect the stoutest man upon earth. If they had shown themselves, they would have come off much better, but fear prevented them; and in their retreat, trying to hide from us, many of them were killed; but contrary to the wish of every man, as neither officer nor private intended to have spilt the blood of those squaws and children. But such was their fate; some of them were killed, but not intentionally by any man; as all were men of too much sense of honor and feeling to

Wakefield 137 have killed any but those who were able to harm us. We all well knew the squaws and children could do us no harm; and could not help what the old Black Hawk and the other chiefs did. The prisoners we took seemed to lament their ever having raised arms against the United States, and appeared to blame the Black Hawk and the Prophet, for the miserable condition that their tribe was then in; but at the same time, appeared to rejoice that they were prisoners of war, which plainly showed that they had some faith in our humanity, and that they would exchange the life they then were living, for any other. They appeared to manifest every token of honesty in their examination. They stated that Black Hawk had stolen off up the river, at the commencement of the battle, with some few of his warriors, and a few squaws and children. I think the number of warriors was ten, and thirty-five women and children, or, in other words, four lodges, which is the Indian phrase as they do not know how to count by numbers. They were examined respecting the first battle we had with them on the Wisconsin, and they stated that we killed sixty-eight on the field of action; and that twentyfive had died since with their wounds; making in all ninety-three that we are certain we killed in that battle, besides a number more, that there is no doubt still lingered and died with their wounds. Putting together what were killed in the two battles, and all the little skirmishes, we must have destroyed upwards of four hundred of these unhappy and miserable beings, which was occasioned, no doubt, by the superstitious ideas which were instilled into their minds by the Prophet. Although I have already stated that those unhappy wanderers make no improvement in the natural mind, they still, by instinct, believe in an over-ruling Providence, and are the most credulous people upon earth. They pay much attention to their dreams, and if one

Wakefield 138 of their nation dreams much, he soon takes the name of prophet, as they believe it to be a visitation of the Great Spirit. One morning I chanced to rise very early; and taking a walk through the encampment, accidently wandered to where thelndians were encamped. It was just at the dawn of day, and they were just beginning their morning worship of the Great Spirit. I had often heard that these uninformed children of the forest, believed that there was a God, and tried to worship him, which made me call a halt to see if what I had heard respecting this unhappy people was true. They commenced by three of them standing up with their faces to the east; one of them commenced a kind of talk, as though he was talking to some person at a distance, at the same time shaking a gourd, which, from the rattling, I should have taken to be full of pebbles or beans. The other two stood very still, looking towards the east; the others were all sitting round in the most perfect silence, when the old priest, prophet, or whatever they called him, commenced a kind of song, which, I believe, is the common one sung by the Indians on all occasions. It was, as near as I could make out, in the following words. He-aw-aw-he-aw-how-he-aw-hum — with a great many elevations and falls in their tone, and beating time with the gourd of pebbles. When this song was sung they commenced a kind of prayer, which I thought the most solemn thing I had witnessed. It was a long, monotonous note, occasionally dropping by a number of tones at once, to a low and unearthly murmur. When he had done he handed the gourd of pebbles to one of the two that stood by him, who went, as near as I could ascertain, through the same ceremony, still shaking the gourd. When he had done, he handed it to the third, who went through the same motions, and making use of the same words that the first two had done,

Wakefield 139 which I suppose was a supplication or prayer to the Great Spirit to give them plenty to eat, and strength to conquer their enemies. It is stated, by those who are acquainted with this race of people, that they are very much afraid of offending the Great Spirit. If they have bad luck in hunting, they think it is caused by their having offended the Great Spirit, and they make an atonement, by offering up or making a sacrifice of something that they set much store by, such as burning their tobacco, or something else that they doat upon very much, but there is nothing in this world that they think more of than tobacco, as smoking they think is almost as indispensably necessary as eating. I must now return to the battle ground with my subject. After the battle was all over, and the wounded all attended to, the prisoners and the wounded of both parties, were put on board of the steamboat Warrior, and taken down to Prairie du Chien, where the wounded were taken to the hospital, and the prisoners put in confinement. The boat returned to us the next morning. We were still at the battle ground, or near it; whilst we lay there, our men were still picking up scattering Indians. They brought in an old chief who was wounded. He was very poor, was between six and seven feet high; what hair was on his head was gray, but that was not much, as the most of it was shaved off, just leaving enough for hand hold to scalp him by; as these superstitious beings think it would be a mark of cowardice to cut off this tuft of hair, which they call their scalp. These superstitious beings believe that if they are maimed or disfigured in this world, they will appear in the next in the same form, which is the reason they scarcely ever bury their dead. If he should chance to lose his scalp, they think that it would show in the next world that he had been conquered and scalped by an enemy, which would go to show that he was not a great warrior.

Wakefield 140 Gen. Atkinson now thought that he had taken just retribution for the blood these Indians had spilt on our frontiers, and saw that it would be useless to cross the river in pursuit of those wretched beings, for they were now scattered and hid in the swamps, so that it was an impossible thing to take many of them. He finally came to the conclusion, to drop down to Prairie du Chien, and have a talk with the Winnebagoes; for it was now manifest that they had been allies to the Sacs and Foxes; for the prisoners that we took in this action, put all doubts to rest on this score. We had a long time believed that they were acting treacherously, and General Atkinson now thought that it was time to bring them to an account for their conduct. He, accordingly, on the second day after the battle, which was the fourth of August, took up the line of march for Prairie du Chien; but before General Atkinson left the battle ground, he provisioned a number of Sioux and some Winnebagoes, and sent them in search of Black Hawk to see if they could not capture him, and bring him in as a prisoner, which the Sioux appeared to be anxious to do, as the Sacs and they had been at variance a long time; and they saw that there was no chance of taking revenge for the many injuries the Sacs had done them. General Atkinson and the infantry went down on the steam boat Warrior, and reached Prairie du Chien on the same day we started. The mounted men, baggage and all went down by land, and reached Prairie du Chien the next day, which was the fifth of August. On entering the settlement of Prairie du Chien, we witnessed a very novel scene. The Menominie Indians were rejoicing at the defeat of the Sacs and Foxes, and were expressing it by music and dancing. They had obtained several scalps, amongst which were some of the squaws, which they always give to their

Wakefield 141 squaws. They had given their squaws several of them, and were making music for them to dance around them. It was, as near as I could observe, in the following way: The men all stood in a row with gourds in their hands, shaking them in very regular order, while one old fellow was beating on the head of a kind of drum, which is generally a deer skin stretched over a hollow gum, sawed to the length of our drums. They never use but one stick, and that very slow. The squaws were all paraded in front of the men, facing them, and the squaws who were related to those whom the Sacs and Foxes killed in 1831, held the scalps of the Sacs and Fox squaws on long poles, and stood in the center between the two lines, shaking them, while the other squaws and the men danced around them, apparently trying to keep time with the rattling of the gourds, and sound of the drum, and all at the same time singing the song usually sung by all nations of Indians, consisting only of a few simple words that I have already repeated; but they rise and fall very singular, and always beat time to the song with their feet; when the song gets to the highest pitch, they jump up very high, and sometimes stamp with their feet. They generally bend forward toward each other, sometimes with their noses so close as to touch. The squaws appeared to exert all the power they were master of, in shaking the scalps, and using their feet at the same time, with the drummer and the gourd-shakers; and, from their countenances, they appeared to be perfectly happy.—General Atkinson, on the second day after we arrived at Prairie du Chien, had the principal Chiefs of the Winnebagoes, and a few of the Menominies, at Gen. Street's, the Indian Agent at Prairie du Chien, and had a talk with them. He told them that they had given him reason to think they were not true to him, as he had caught them in

Wakefield 142 many lies, which they tried to deny. He then accused Wisshick of aiding the Sacs, and inquired of him where his two sons were. The answer of Wisshick was, that he did not know where they were. General Atkinson then asked him if they were not with Black Hawk. His answer was, that one had been with him, but he did not know where he was then. General Atkinson then ordered him to be put in prison until his sons could be produced. He then had a talk with the Menominies, who had never been at war with the United States. They professed all the friendship in the world for our Government; and stated that they had never done us any harm, and did not tell lies, and that if they wanted to do any harm now, they would not know how. This was a little Menominie Chief whose name I do not recollect. Gen. Atkinson talked very friendly to him, and advised him to pursue the same friendly course towards the United States, and they would be well treated. When this Chief was done, he made a request of Gen. Atkinson, whom he termed father, to give each of his young men a pair of shoes, and stated that their feet were worn out with walking. He then went on to explain, that when he said shoes, he meant horses, and stated that his young men had been promised a horse apiece, and had not got them. General Atkinson promised that they should have them, or that he would see to it, I do not recollect which. On the next day about eleven o'clock, Wisshick's sons were brought in, both badly wounded, which went to confirm that he and his sons were allies to the Sacs and Foxes. They had been wounded in the battle on the Mississippi. They were put in confinement July 4th. General Scott and suite arrived this morning in the steam boat Warrior, and assumed the command of the whole army, to which station he had been appointed

Wakefield 143 some time previous, but was unable to come on sooner in consequence of the cholera breaking out in his army. He came past several posts, and discharged the men wherever he found them. General Scott concluded to discharge the army (or the Mounted Volunteers) that were then in the field, and demanded Black Hawk of Keokuck; as both men and horses were nearly worn out with fatigue. Accordingly, on the 8th day of August, we left the tented fields, and took up our line of march to Dixon's on Rock river, the place appointed for us to be discharged at (or mustered out of the service of the United States.) All now were eager to press forward. We had turned our faces toward our respective homes; and notwithstanding that we as well as our horses, were nearly worn out with the fatiguing marches through the swamps, and over the mountains, yet all were cheerful, and every heart seemed to leap for joy at the thought of being free from the toils and hardships of a soldier, to return again to the embraces of a wife and children, or a father and mother, brothers and sisters, and to mingle once more, in the walks and society of the fair sex—which appears to be a sovereign balm to man in all his afflictions. On this day just at night, we met about three hundred Menominie Indians, in company of an American Officer from Green Bay, coming to join in pursuit of the Sac and Fox Indians. We happened to meet them in a prairie. The officer advanced and met us, or we certainly would have fired upon them. When we came up to them, they appeared almost to lament, that they had not got in before we had the last battle, in order that they could have had an opportunity of assisting us in the work of death to our common enemy. For they are, as I have already stated, great enemies to the Menominie Indians.

Wakefield 144 When they left us, they seemed to press forward with more vigour, as it was their object to pursue the balance of the Sacs and Foxes, who had made their escape. On the next day, we began to reach the settlements in the mining country. This was again a solemn scene. The farms had mostly been sown in grain of some kind or other. Those that were in small grain, were full ripe for the sickle; but behold! the husbandman was not there, to enjoy the benefits of his former labor — by thrusting in the scythe and sickle, and gathering in his grain, which was fast going to destruction. All appeared to be solitary, and truly presented a state of mourning. But as we advanced a little further into the more thickly settled parts, we would occasionally see the smoke just beginning to make its appearance from the tops of the chimneys; as some of the inhabitants thought that it would be as well to risk dying by the tomahawk and scalping knife, as to lose their grain, and die by famine; and others had received information that we had slain in battle their troublesome enemy, who had driven them from their homes, and had slain many of their neighbors. Whenever we approached a house, there is no telling the joy it would give to the desolate man who had lately emerged from some fort, and had left his wife and children still in it, while he ventured to his home, to save something for them to subsist upon. I must confess, that it filled my heart with gratitude and joy, to think that I had been instrumental, with many others, in delivering my country of those merciless savages, and restoring those people again to their peaceful homes and firesides, there to enjoy in safety the sweets of a retired life; for a fort is to a husbandman, what a jail is to a prisoner. The inhabitants of this district of [the] country had been shut up in forts

Wakefield 145 for the last three months, through fear of becoming a prey to Indian barbarity. Nothing very interesting occurred on our march to Dixon's. Lieutenant Anderson, of the United States army, met us at this point, and by the 17th of August, mustered us all out of the service of the United States. We sheathed our swords, and buried our tomahawks, and each man again became his own commander, and shaped his own course towards his home, to enjoy the social society of his relatives and friends, in the pursuit of their different avocations in life.


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