BATTLE OF BAD-AXE.
Two brigades of the mounted volunteers, under General Dodge, pursued the Indians from this place towards Fort Winnebago. They were overtaken on the 21st of July, about sun down, on the banks of the Wisconsin. An attack was immediately made, and about forty of the Indians are supposed to have been killed. General Dodge lost one man and had eight wounded. The exact loss of the Indians in this engagement cannot be ascertained. One account places the number at sixteen.[10] Black Hawk says he had but fifty warriors with him in the engagement, the rest being engaged in assisting the women and children in crossing the Wisconsin to an island, to protect them from the fury of the whites: That he was compelled to fall back into a deep ravine where he continued to maintain his ground until dark, and until his people had had time to reach the island, and that he lost but six of his men. This is undoubtedly a mistake, owing in all probability to the interpreter in taking down his statement; for some of his men, subsequently, placed the number at sixty. The condition of the Indians at this time was most deplorable. Before breaking up their encampment, upon the Four Lakes, they were almost destitute of provisions. In pursuing their trail from this point to the Wisconsin, many were found literally starved to death. They were compelled to live upon roots, the bark of trees and horse flesh. A party of Black Hawk's band, including many women and children, now attempted to descend the Wisconsin upon rafts and in canoes, that they might escape, by recrossing the Mississippi. They were attacked however, in their descent, by troops stationed on the bank of the river, and some were killed, others drowned, a few taken prisoners, and the remainder, escaping to the woods, perished from hunger. Black Hawk, and such of his party as had not the means of descending the Wisconsin, having abandoned all idea of any farther resistance, and unwilling to trust themselves to a capitulation, now determined to strike across the country, and reach the Mississippi, some distance above the mouth of the former stream, and thus effect their escape. They struck it at a point opposite the Ioway, and about forty miles above the Wisconsin, losing on their route, many of their people from starvation. So soon as they reached the Mississippi, a part of the women and children, in such canoes as they could procure, undertook to descend it, to Prairie des Chiens, but many of them were drowned before they reached that place, and those who did arrive at it, were found to be in a starving condition. On the first of August, while in the act of crossing the Mississippi, an attack was made upon Black Hawk and his party by the steam boat Warrior, with an armed force on board. The commander of the boat, under date of Prairie des Chiens, 3d August 1832, gives the following account of it.
"I arrived at this place on monday last, (July 30th) and was despatched with the Warrior alone, to Wapeshaws village, one hundred and twenty miles above, to inform them of the approach of the Sacs, and to order down all the friendly Indians to this place. On our way down we met one of the Sioux band, who informed us that the Indians, our enemies, were on Bad-axe river, to the number of four hundred. We stopped and cut some wood and prepared for action. About four o'clock on wednesday afternoon (August 1st) we found the gentlemen [Indians] where he stated he left them. As we neared them, they raised a white flag, and endeavored to decoy us; but we were a little too old for them; for instead of landing, we ordered them to send a boat on board, which they declined. After about fifteen minutes delay, giving them time to remove a few of their women and children, we let slip a six-pounder, loaded with canister, followed by a severe fire of musketry; and if ever you saw straight blankets, you would have seen them there. I fought them at anchor most of the time and we were all very much exposed. I have a ball which came in close by where I was standing, and passed through the bulkhead of the wheel room. We fought them for about an hour or more until our wood began to fail, and night coming on, we left and went on to the prairie. This little fight cost them twenty-three killed, and of course a great many wounded. We never lost a man, and had but one man wounded, (shot through the leg.) The next morning before we could get back again, on account of a heavy fog, they had the whole [of General Atkinson's] army upon them. We found them at it, walked in, and took a hand ourselves. The first shot from the Warrior laid out three. I can hardly tell you any thing about it, for I am in great haste, as I am now on my way to the field again. The army lost eight or nine killed, and seventeen wounded, whom we brought down. One died on deck last night. We brought down thirty-six prisoners, women and children. I tell you what, Sam, there is no fun in fighting Indians, particularly at this season, when the grass is so very bright. Every man, and even my cabin-boy, fought well. We had sixteen regulars, five rifle men, and twenty of ourselves. Mr. How, of Platt, Mr. James G. Soulard, and one of the Rolettes, were with us and fought well."
The flippant and vaunting style of this letter is in good keeping with the spirit which prompted the firing upon a flag of truce. By what circumstance the commander of the Warrior ascertained that this white flag was intended as a decoy, is left wholly unexplained. As he and his men, were beyond the reach of the Indians, humanity and the rules of war, required that he should have allowed himself more than fifteen minutes, to ascertain the true object of the Indians, in raising the symbol of a capitulation. Black Hawk himself, asserts that he directed his braves not to fire upon the Warrior, as he intended going on board in order to save the women and children; that he raised a white flag and called to the captain of the boat, desiring him to send his canoe on shore, that he might go on board, as he wanted to give himself up. The deplorable condition to which Black Hawk was at this time reduced, flying for safety to the west side of the Mississippi, encumbered by his women and children, and his whole party exhausted by fatigue and hunger, renders it extremely difficult to believe that any decoy was intended by him. Indeed, nothing can be more certain, than that he was most heartily desirous of ending the disastrous and fatal contest in which he had become involved, without the slaughter of any more of his people. If the thirst for blood had been less rapacious on the part of the Americans, or their respect for a flag of truce something greater, the further destruction of life would have been spared; and the nation preserved from the charge of having fired upon a flag, held sacred throughout the world.
CHAPTER VII.
General Atkinson overtakes Black Hawk—Battle of the Bad Axe—Atkinson's official report—Incidents of the Battle—Capture of Black Hawk and the prophet—Naopope's statement to General Scott—General Scott and Governor Reynolds conclude a treaty with the Sacs, Foxes and Winnebagoes—Causes which led to the war—Motives for getting up Indian wars—First attack made by the Illinois militia—Report of the Secretary at War in regard to this campaign—General Macomb's letter to General Atkinson—Secretary Cass' statement of the causes which led to this war—Comments upon this statement, and its omissions pointed out.
After the battle upon the Wisconsin, the whole army, under the command of General Atkinson, crossed to the north side of that river, at Helena, and on the twenty-ninth of July, commenced the pursuit of the Indians, by forced marches, over a rugged and mountainous country. On the morning of the second of August, while ten miles from the Mississippi, it was ascertained that the enemy were upon the bank of that stream, near the Bad-axe, and in the act of crossing to the west side. Arrangements were immediately made for an attack. Gen. Dodge's squadron was placed in front, followed by the infantry, and these by the brigades of Henry, Alexander, and Posey. The army had proceeded in this order about five miles, when some Indians were discovered and fired upon. They immediately retreated to the main body, on the bank of the river. To prevent the possibility of the escape of the enemy, Generals Alexander and Posey, were directed to form the right wing of the army, and march to the river, above the Indian encampment, and then to move down along the bank. General Henry formed the left wing, and the United States' infantry and General Dodge's squadron, occupied the centre. In this order, the army descended a bluff bank into a river bottom, heavily timbered, and covered with weeds and brush-wood. General Henry first came upon a portion of the enemy, and commenced a heavy fire upon them, which was returned. General Dodge's squadron and the United States' troops, soon came into the action, and with General Henry's men, rushed upon the Indians, killing all in the way, except a few who succeeded in swimming a slough of the Mississippi, about a hundred and fifty yards wide. During this time the brigades of Alexander and Posey, in marching down the bank of the river, fell in with another party of Indians, and killed or routed the whole of them. When the Indians were driven to the brink of the river, a large number of men, women and children, plunged into the water to save themselves by swimming; but only a few escaped "our sharpshooters." The battle lasted about three hours. In the afternoon, of the same day, Generals Atkinson, Dodge and Posey, descended the Mississippi, to Prairie des Chiens, in the Warrior, and there awaited the arrival of the mounted volunteers, who reached that place on the fourth. Among the Indians who escaped the slaughter was Black Hawk. Twelve of those who effected their escape, were captured on the fourth, by a party of whites, from Cassville, under the command of Captain Price, and most of those who succeeded in reaching the west side of the Mississippi, were subsequently attacked by a party of hostile Sioux, and either killed or taken prisoners. The brief, but official account of this battle is given by the commanding general, in these words.
Head Quarters, First Artillery Corps, North-western Army
Prairie des Chiens, Augt. 25, 1832.
Sir: I have the honor to report to you that I crossed the Ouisconsin on the 27th and 28th ultimo, with a select body of troops, consisting of the regulars under Col. Taylor, four hundred in number, part of Henry's, Posey's and Alexander's brigades, amounting in all to 1300 men, and immediately fell upon the trail of the enemy, and pursued it by a forced march, through a mountainous and difficult country, till the morning of the 2d inst., when we came up with his main body on the left bank of the Mississippi, nearly opposite the mouth of the Ioway, which we attacked, defeated and dispersed, with a loss on his part of about a hundred and fifty men killed, thirty-nine women and children taken prisoners—the precise number could not be ascertained, as the greater portion was slain after being forced into the river. Our loss in killed and wounded, which is stated below, is very small in comparison with the enemy, which may be attributed to the enemy's being forced from his positions by a rapid charge at the commencement, and throughout the engagement—the remnant of the enemy, cut up and disheartened, crossed to the opposite side of the river, and has fled into the interior, with a view, it is supposed, of joining Keokuk and Wapello's bands of Sacs and Foxes.
The horses of the volunteer troops being exhausted by long marches, and the regular troops without shoes, it was not thought advisable to continue the pursuit; indeed a stop to the further effusion of blood seemed to be called for, till it might be ascertained if the enemy would surrender.