After the battle of Kellog's Grove, the forces of Gen. Posey and Col. Dement returned to Dixon, where the regulars and most of the volunteers were concentrated under the command of Gen. Atkinson. To prevent the escape of the Indians if they attempted to recross the Mississippi, Gen. Alexander was ordered to the country south of Galena, and Gen. Posey to Fort Hamilton on the Pekatonica. While the army was at Dixon, 3 Potawattomie chiefs, Wapello, Billy Caldwell and Waubansee, came to Gen. Atkinson asking some protection against Black Hawk. The ire of the old Sac warrior was aroused because the tribe of these chiefs proposed an alliance with the Americans, who deemed it better to secure their co-operation than have them fight on the opposite side. Col. Fry and his regiment were accordingly sent in advance of the main army to Sycamore creek to afford protection, and to receive into the service 100 Potawattomie warriors, who had signified their willingness to unite with the whites. Much was expected from this accession to the army, but they soon returned home and little was realized, although commanded by Wabansee, a veteran chief of the tribe. Gen. Atkinson having heard that Black Hawk had fortified a position on the four lakes in southern Wisconsin, started thither for the purpose of bringing on a general engagement and thus terminating the war. Passing Sycamore creek he was joined by the Winnebago warriors, and on the 30th of June, encamped near Turtle village, a considerable town of the Winnebagoes, then deserted by its inhabitants. The night following was one of continual alarms, the whole command was frequently paraded in order of battle, but no enemy was seen except a few prowling Indians. The next morning the march was resumed, and on the 4th of July the army reached Lake Kush-ka-nong an expansion of Rock river, where they formed a junction with the forces of Col. Fry and Gen. Alexander. These having scoured the whole of the adjacent country and not finding the enemy, the march of the mounted men was continued up the east side of the Rock river to Burnt village, another town of the Winnebagoes situated on Whitewater, a tributary of the first mentioned stream. Here they were joined by Gen. Posey and a battalion of 100 men under Major Dodge of Wisconsin. evening of their arrival at that place, a company of scouts came in and reported the main trail of the Indians 3 miles higher up the stream. Preparations were immediately made to follow it, and at an early hour next day a detachment proceeded up the river a distance of 15 miles, but no trace of the enemy being detected the detachment fell back to Burnt village.*

The

Eight weeks had now been spent in marching and countermarching to find the enemy, and the attainment of the object did not seem any nearer at hand than when the campaign was com

[NOTE - "In this expedition the force came upon the trembling lands, which are immense flats of turf from 6 to 12 inches thick, extending for miles in every direc tion and resting on beds of water and quicksand A troop or even a single horseman riding over them produced an undulating motion of the land from which it gets its name. Although the surface is quite dry yet there is no difficulty in procuring plenty of water by cutting an opening through the stratum of turf. The horses would sometimes force a foot through or fall to the shoulders, yet so great was the tenacity of the surface in no instance was there any trouble in getting them out. In some places the weight of the earth forced a stream of water upward, which carrying with it and depositing large quantities of sand formed mounds. The mounds as they enlarged increased the pressure on the water below, presenting the novel sight of a fountain on the prairie, throwing its stream down the sides of the hillock then to be absorbed by the sand and returned to the waters beneath."]-Ford's Hist. Ill.

menced. The progress of the army was necessarily slow, the country was comparatively an unexplored wilderness of prairie and forest, none of the command had been through it, and it was therefore impossible to obtain reliable guides. A number of Winnebagoes followed who from necessity were frequently consulted, but their fidelity was of a doubtful character, aud the information they communicated generally delusive. The result was short marches, frequent delays, fruitless explorations, giving the enemy every opportunity to ascertain the intentions and movements of the pursuing force and thus elude it. The efforts of the commanding general were further retarded by the distance from the base of supplies, and the great difficulty of transportation, in consequence of which the troops were frequently without provisions and rarely had sufficient for protracted operations. Owing to this difficulty, it now became necessary to disperse the army to obtain food. Accordingly Major Dodge and Generals Henry and Alexander were sent to Fort Winnebago, situate on the portage between the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, for this purpose, while Gen. Posey marched to Fort Hamilton for the protection of the adjacent frontier, the governor returned to his home at Belleville and Gen. Atkinson fell back to lake Kush-kanong. Here he erected a fort, which was called after the name of the lake, in which he expected to remain till the volunteer generals returned with supplies.

Fort Winnebago, a distance of 80 miles from the encampment on the Stillwater, was reached in three days, but the march thither over the intervening* swampy country so crippled some of the horses as to render them useless in the succeeding part of the campaign. Another calamity also befell the horses shortly afterward, which was worse than an ordinary battle. About 1,000 were peaceably grazing on the prairie when a stampede occurred, caused, as was supposed, by Indians attempting to steal some of them. The soldiers at the time were sound asleep in their tents, which were closely pitched together and the frightened animals in their mad flight rushed directly over the encampment, knocking the tents down on the faces of the men and trampling their weapons and camp equipage into the ground. Then coursing northward with great rapidity, the sound of their feet produced an appalling noise resembling the roll of distant thunder. The

[*"A view of the country from camp at Fort Winnebago presented the most striking contrariety of features. Looking toward the fort which was a neat structure among the green hills, two streams are seen, the Fox and Wisconsin, with sources several hundred miles apart, the former in the east and the latter in the north, gliding as if to mingle their waters, until within three miles of each other, when they sweep the one to the northeast, and the other to the southwest, as if they had met to bid each other a gallant adieu before parting, the Fox to mingle its sweet and limped waters in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and the Wisconsin to contribute its stained and bitter floods to the Gulf of Mexico. The course of the Fox is short, crooked, narrow and deep, and abounds in the finest variety of fish, whilst the Wisconsin is large, wide and comparatively straight, and is said to have no fish, owing perhaps to its passage through cypress swamps which renders it unwholesome for the finny tribes, and also causes the discoloration of its waters Besides the rivers the face of the country is no less remarkable. The strip of land between the two rivers is low and marshy, with no other growth except a coarse variety of rush, and at high waters so completely inundated as to convert all that part of the United States east of the Mississippi'into a vast island. A wisp of straw being thrown into the flood where the two currents meet will separate and one portion float into the northern and the other into the southern sea. East of the Fox river the land is generally undulating, presenting an equal distribution of prairie of the richest mould and timber of the finest growth. West of the Wisconsin Commences these frowning steppes of rugged barren rocks covered with black and bristling pine and hemlock which toward the Mississippi terminates in a region mountainous, dreary, terrific and truly Alpine in all its features."-Ford's History.]

picket guards and sentinels fled to the camp, supposing an attack had been made by the Indians, the bugles sounded to arms, but many of the soldiers were temporarily injured and in the confusion which prevailed could not find their broken and scattered weapons. The Wisconsin river changed the direction of the stampede but did not stop its fury, for the frightened animals turned about and again ran into the midst of the camp,and the soldiers now aware of the situation, endeavored to arrest their headlong course but without success. It was supposed that most of them ran a distance of 30 miles before the alarm subsided. Some were followed a distance of 50 miles before they were found, and about 100 were permanently disablied in the surrounding swamps.

Two days were spent at the fort in regaining the horses, recruiting the men and procuring necessary supplies, during which some Winnebago chiefs said that Black Hawk and his force were encamped on Rock river, 35 miles above lake Kush-ka-nong, the headquarters of Gen. Atkinson. It was now evident that if the army attempted to return to Gen. Atkinson the Indians would perhaps escape to the west of the Mississippi, and the only opportunity of closing the war with profit to the country and honor to the service would be lost. A council of war was convened and it was the unanimous opinion of all the officers present that the exigency of the case demanded that they should disregard the orders of Gen. Atkinson, by marching directly upon the enemy with the intention of taking him by surprise or preventing his retreat further northward. The 15th of July was accordingly appointed as the time of starting, and Gen. Henry at once commenced reorganizing his brigade, and disencumbering it of the sick and dismounted men, who would retard the celerity of his march. Before, however, the day of departure came around, Gen. Alexander announced that his men becoming dissatisfied had determined not to accompany the expedition, and Major Dodge reported that so many of his horses were disabled that he could not mount a force sufficiently large to render any valuable assistance. At this juncture Capt. Craig arrived with a fine com. pany of mounted men from Galena and vicinity, which uniting with the battalion of Major Dodge increased it to 120 effective men. Gen. Henry's brigade was reduced to 600 men, and even these associating with Alexander's malcontents, became so demor alized as to be at the point of open mutiny. A protest was handed to the former, signed by all his subordinate officers except the colonel who presented it, remonstrating against the enterprise as a violation of Gen. Atkinson's orders.

This was the turning point on which hinged the fate of the campaign, and but for the prudence and determination of Gen. Henry all would have been lost. He was perhaps the only man in the army who possessed the rare faculty of successfully commanding the militia by inspiring them with order and the honorable impulses of his own noble nature. He could command with sternness and not give offence, and while he excited the fear he always won the love of the most obdurate soldier. In this emergency he knew he was right and promptly ordered all the officers signing the protest to be arrested and marched to Gen. Atkinson, who he knew would approve his course when he became acquainted with the circumstances. This decided command from a general whom

they knew had the courage to execute it, caused the officers to relent. The colonel who presented the shameful paper denied knowing its contents, and all promised with the greatest contrition that they would never again be guilty of insubordination. Gen. Henry, who understood human nature and knew how to profit by it, spoke to them with dignity and kindness, wisely forgiving the offence and thus securing their faithful co-operation during the remainder of the campaign.

At the appointed time Gen. Henry and Major Dodge, with two Winnebagoes for guides, started in pursuit of the Indians, and Gen. Alexander with provisions returned to Gen. Atkinson. The former while on their way to the infested region, were frequently thrown from a direct course by intervening swamps of several miles in extent, yet after three days hard marching they again encamped on Rock river. Here information was received that Black Hawk was entrenched on Cranberry lake, higher up the river, and relying on this information Henry determined to make a forced march to that place the following day. Adjutants E. H. Merryman and W. W. Woodbridge, accompanied by Little Thunder, a Winnebago chief, as guide, were sent to Gen. Atkinson to apprise him that they had discovered the situation of the enemy and were making preparations to move against him. The messengers started about dark and after proceeding about 8 miles southwest they struck the fresh trail of Black Hawk, who was making toward the Wisconsin river, evidently to elude his pursuers by crossing it. Little Thunder, panic stricken at the sight of the trail, without permission returned to the camp and revealed the discovery to the two Indian guides, who attempted to make their escape, but before their object was fully accomplished they were arrested and brought to the tent of Gen. Henry. Confessing that their motives for acting as guides was to give false information and thus favor the escape of Black Hawk, they now disclosed all they knew of his movements, with the hope of escaping the punishment which their perfidy deserved. General Henry humanely spared their lives, and to prevent his men who would have wreaked summary vengeance on them for their treachery, prudently kept it a secret. The messengers, when they found themselves deserted by Little Thunder, also returned to the camp, but just before reaching it one of them came near being killed by the fire of a sentinel. Early the next morning the same messengers and guide were again dispatched to Gen. Atkinson, and the army started in pursuit of the enemy, leaving all the heavy baggage behind in the wilderness. Those who had previously lost their horses, abandoned their blankets and all their clothing except what they wore, and carrying their guns, ammunition and provisions on their backs through thickets, swamps and prairie, kept pace with their comrades on horseback. The riders on reaching a slough through which their horses were unable to carry them, dismounted and waded across, driving their animals before them. The large fresh trail being strewn with various articles, belonging to the Indians, gave animation to the pursuing force; there were no more complaints among the men, and even the horses seemed to partake of the enthusiasm which prevailed. Towards evening there arose one of those terrific thunder storms common to the prairies, frightfully dark and accompanied by torrents of rain and

peals of thunder. The men, however, dashed on regardless of the raging elements, through floods, marshes, and almost impenetrable clumps of timber, the horsemen frequently dismounting and marching afoot that the footmen might be relieved by riding their horses. The storm continued most of the night, and the exhausted men threw themselves on the muddy earth to obtain a little rest. having partaken of no supper except a little raw meat and some dough, the result of the drenching rain on the flour they carried in their sacks. A similar repast serving them for breakfast, by early daylight they were again in motion and after a march as hard as that of the previous day, they encamped on one of the four lakes, near where Black Hawk had rested the previous night. The men now eagerly embraced the opportunity which was offered to build fires and cook their suppers, having marched 100 miles without eating anything except raw food. As soon as their hunger was appeased, they again lay down to rest with nothing under them but the naked earth, and nothing over them but the starry canopy, and slept sweetly till aroused and called to arms. A sentinel who during the night discovered an Indian stealthily gliding toward the shore in a canoe, fired his gun which caused an alarm, but nothing further occurred to indicate the presence of an enemy. Early the following day the march was resumed with great vigor, all being elated with the hope of soon overtaking the Indians and terminating the war in a general battle. Crossing the river between two of the lakes, the army ascended an eminence, whence could be seen a panorama of wonderous beauty. Three of these lovely sheets of water environed by wooded hills and rolling prairies were in full view. The hand of civilization had not marred their primeval beauty and everything was wild and still, save the distant roar of the surging waters lashed by almost constant winds.

The Indians, however, were only a few miles distant endeavoring to escape, and the hurried march to overtake them gave but little time to contemplate the surrounding scenery. The path of the fugitives was strewn with all kinds of baggage highly valued by the owners, which they were compelled to throw away to accelerate their flight. Some of the horses were found dead, the result of exhaustion, and others were occasionally killed to afford their hungry riders the means of sustenance. About 12 o'clock on the 21st of July, 3 Indian spies were overtaken and killed, and shortly afterward the rear guard began to make faint stands as if desirous of bringing on a battle. It was, however, soon apparent that their object was to gain time, for after firing a few rounds they would dash ahead while the pursuing force was forming for battle. In this manner by 4 o'clock they gained the bluffs of the Wisconsin, and as the vanguard of the Americans, consisting of two battalions commanded by Majors Dodge and Ewing, came up they were fired upon by the Indians concealed in the timber which skirts the bluff of the stream. Gen. Henry soon arrived, and the entire force was formed in order of battle. Major Dodge's battalion constituted the extreme right of the line; Col. Jones' regiment the center, and Col. Collins' the left, while Major Ewing's battalion was placed in front, and Col. Fry's regiment in the rear as a reserve. A charge being ordered, Ewing's battalion and the regiments of Cols. Jones and Collins made a gallant onset up