CHAPTER XXXIV.

Stambaugh’s Expedition.

On the 23d of June Col. George Boyd, Agent for the Menominees at Green Bay, wrote Atkinson offering or suggesting the services of the Indians of this agency, to which Atkinson replied on the 12th of July, requesting him to raise a company of 200 Menominees to arrest the progress of Black Hawk toward the Milwaukee River. This letter was entrusted to Colonel Hamilton and safely delivered.

On the 12th July Colonel Boyd replied as follows:[[239]]

“Indian Agency Office.

Green Bay, July 20, 1832.

“Sir:–I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 12th instant, in answer to one of mine of the 23d ult., by the hands of Col. Hamilton, three days since, and to inform you that arrangements are making, with all possible expedition, to forward to your aid the services of two hundred Menominees, with a view to arrest the progress of the enemy towards the Milwaukee country. They will be placed under the immediate command of Col. Stambaugh, the former agent of these people, who, on my first arrival in this country, demanded as a favor that, in the event of the Menominees being called into the field, that Col. Stambaugh should be placed at their head. This request was formally granted them by me in council, and it is to redeem this pledge, as well as to enable me consistently to relinquish a command for which my present state of health wholly unfits me, that this arrangement has been made. It has been my earnest wish to employ the talents and experience of Col. Hamilton, by associating him with the expedition, with that rank which would bring him second in command. This offer, I regret to say, Col. Hamilton has at once declined. I trust, however, that the Menominees will effect what you calculated from their presence in the field under the present management, and that they will be ready to take the line of march in order to aid you in your intended operations against the enemy in about seven days from the present time. * * *

With great respect, etc.,

“G. Boyd, U.S. Ind. Agent.

Brig.-Gen. H. Atkinson, U.S. Army, Commanding Camp Whitewater, Rock River.”

LIEUT. JAMES M. BOYD.

LIEUT. ALEXANDER J. IRWIN.

CAPT. AUGUSTIN GRIGNON.

COL. HART. L. STEWART.

There were no arms for them when the communication arrived. They were scattered about in a manner to require unusual trouble in collecting them and upon putting the plan into practical operation Colonel Boyd almost despaired enlisting the desired 200. He attempted to engage recruits from the ranks of the New York Indians, the Oneidas and Stockbridges under Alexander J. Irwin of Green Bay, but they to a man refused and Irwin enlisted under Stambaugh.

There was no overt hostility to the command of Hamilton, but the Menominees held Colonel Stambaugh in such veneration that they were unwilling to trust another to command them.

After much discouraging work, the quota was finally secured and, divided into two commands or companies, the battalion was ready to march.

[[240]]S.C. Stambaugh, Commander; Augustin Grignon, Sr., Captain; Chas. Grignon, Jr., First Lieutenant and Interpreter; Robert Grignon, Second Lieutenant; George Johnston, Captain; James M. Boyd, First Lieutenant; William Powell, Second Lieutenant and Interpreter, and Alex J. Irwin, charged with the commissariat, with the rank of First Lieutenant Infantry.

After which Colonel Stambaugh received the following instructions:

“Indian Agency, July 25, 1832.

[[241]]“Sir:–As you have been selected by the Menominees to lead them in the coming conflict, and having yielded to their choice, I consider it my duty to enclose to you a copy of the Commanding General’s instructions to Col. Hamilton, as to their movements in the field, and the position to be occupied by them in regard to the main army, and to request your strict adherence to them, as far as practicable.

“As much time, however, has elapsed since the above instructions were given, and the general line of operations of our army perhaps materially changed, it is determined, under all circumstances, to direct you to proceed with all possible expedition to Fort Winnebago, and, immediately on your arrival there, to report yourself forthwith, by express, to the Commanding General in the field, and to await his orders as to your further movements.

“Wishing you all the success which the Government has a right to anticipate from the movements of the Menominees, and that the honor and the interest of the nation may be your leading star, to guide you in all your operations, I have the honor to be,

Yours, etc.,

“George Boyd, Indian Agent.

“Col. S.C. Stambaugh, Com. the Menominee Expedition, Green Bay, M.T.”

On the 26th[[242]] the battalion moved, and for the only authentic account extant of their movements from that hour I am indebted to Augustin Grignon, one of the captains in the expedition, which is to be found in Vol. 3 of the Wis. Hist. Soc. Colls., p. 293 et seq.

“Col. Stambaugh had previously been the Menominee Indian Agent, but had been superseded by Col. Boyd, who had been directed to raise a party of the Menominees to serve against the hostile Indians.

“Col. Boyd gave the command of the expedition to Col. Stambaugh. The Menominees rendezvoused at Green Bay early in July, 1832. There were over 300, all Indians except the officers, about nine in number.

“Osh-kosh, Souligny, I-om-e-tah, Grizzly Bear, Old Po-e-go-nah, Wau-nau-ko, Pe-wau-te-not, Osh-ka-he-nah-niew, or the Young Man, La Mott, Carron, and, indeed, all the principal men of the Menominees, were of the party. Alexander Irwin was Commissary and Quartermaster. The Indians were arranged into two companies. I commanded one, having my son, Charles A. Grignon, and my nephew, Robert Grignon, for lieutenants. George Johnson of Green Bay was chosen to the command of the other company, with William Powell and James Boyd, a son of Col. Boyd, for lieutenants. George Grignon served as a volunteer.

“With a few pack horses and each man a supply of provisions, we started from the Bay and proceeded to the Great Butte des Morts, and there crossed over to the present place of Robert Grignon. Went to Portage, and the next day renewed our march, and the first night camped on Sugar Creek, some half a dozen miles short of the Blue Mounds, and the second night at Fort Dodge, then to English Prairie, thence with one other camping we reached Prairie du Chien;[[243]] before reaching which, Grizzly Bear, his son and two or three others, descending the Wisconsin in a canoe, discovered a Sauk girl on an island alone. The Grizzly Bear’s son went and took her and found her half starved. She was about 10 years old, and on the return of the party, Colonel Stambaugh took her to Green Bay and placed her in the Indian mission school, and the next year, when Black Hawk reached Green Bay on his way home, he took her with him.

“From Col. William S. Hamilton we learned at Prairie du Chien that a trail of Sauks had been discovered down the river. Fully one-half of our party, with George Grignon and William Powell, remained at Prairie du Chien while Osh-kosh, I-om-e-tah, Souligny, Carron, Pe-wan-te-not, with their warriors, proceeded by land, accompanied by Colonel Hamilton.

“We stopped at Barrett’s Ferry on the Wisconsin and started early the next morning, and about noon struck the Sauk trail and pursued it till the sun was about an hour and a half high, when we discovered the smoke of Indians encamped in a low spot beside a small stream in the prairie. There were only two men and a youth about twelve years old; three or four women and as many children. We at once surrounded them and rushed upon them, with orders to take them prisoners; but the Menominees were fierce for a fight and killed the two men and took the others prisoners. They fired a volley at the two Sauks, and when they fell they were riddled with bullets by those coming up, who wished to share in the honor of having participated in the fight. In the melee one of the children was wounded and died the next day.

“Lieutenant Robert Grignon was badly wounded in the side with a buckshot, and, coursing round his back, lodged. He thought he was shot by the Indian lad, but I think it was quite as likely to have been done by some of our own party, firing as they were in every direction.

“This little affair occurred not far back from the Mississippi and some ten or fifteen miles north of Cassville. Colonel Hamilton participated in it.

“We camped on the battleground that night, end next day went to Cassville, carrying Robert Grignon on a litter, and thence to Prairie du Chien; he was conveyed in a canoe, while we returned by land. We delivered the prisoners at Prairie du Chien; we had to leave Robert Grignon there; the shot could not be extracted, and he was not able to return till in the autumn.

“We commenced our return home in three days, and nothing happened on our march worthy of particular notice.”

While Stambaugh’s expedition accomplished little, it was an integral part of the general scheme and has been given the consideration it demanded.