LIEUT. EDWARD D. BAKER.
OTTAWA AT THE TIME OF THE WAR.
The prairies were covered with water, there were no roads, the day was dark and threatening, and, to frustrate their mission completely, a large party of Black Hawk’s band overtook them. The enemy undertook by every art known to savage tactics to lure the men into an ambush. To refute Black Hawk’s constant protestations of peace, this scouting party of his was discovered to be actively recruiting among the Pottowatomies and Winnebagoes. The attempts to decoy the messengers into the Indian camp were diplomatically avoided, and so was a pitched battle, which could only have resulted in annihilation of the whites. After forty-eight hours of ceaseless endeavor, without food, the party finally succeeded in reaching headquarters. By this time the forces of Stillman and Bailey were marching up the river on their ill-fated expedition.
There were at Dixon’s Ferry, when Reynolds arrived, several prominent men from the mining country, including Colonel James M. Strode, commander of the militia of Jo Daviess County, James W. Stephenson, William S. Hamilton, son of Alexander Hamilton, Col. Henry Gratiot and Louis Ouilmette, the trader. Colonel Henry Dodge of Michigan territory had organized a company to protect the frontier until he could communicate with Reynolds and systematically organize the mining district forces in a manner materially to assist the latter. James H. Gentry was captain of this company; Henry L. Dodge, son of Colonel Dodge, was elected first lieutenant; Paschal Bequette, a son-in-law, was elected second lieutenant, while Charles Bracken was aid to the colonel. The file consisted of some fifty men. This company of rangers, leaving Mineral Point May 8th, covered the northwestern frontier until Whiteside’s Brigade reached Dixon’s Ferry, and was camped on the north side of Rock River, not far from Black Hawk’s camp, when Whiteside and his troops reached that point. Here Colonel Dodge was keeping a watchful eye on Black Hawk’s every movement and warily awaiting the moment he could pounce down upon the old Indian if he saw fit to offer war,[[118]] an emergency which the intrepid little band was fully equal to.
Dodge saw the frightful consequences of an ill-advised expedition up Rock River and urged against it. Failure meant active co-operation with Black Hawk by the neutral and undecided Winnebagoes and Pottowatomies, and this in turn meant that the entire northwest frontier would be overrun with marauding bands and murderers.
But the impatient troops of Stillman and Bailey were ambitious to fight and would listen to no restraint. They had enlisted to kill “Injuns.” Nothing but a valorous conquest would receive their attention, and General Whiteside and Governor Reynolds were constrained to allow the following order to be issued:
“Headquarters Camp No. 10, Dixon’s Ferry,
“12th May, 1832.