SERGT. FRED STAHL.
CAPT. MILTON M. MAUGHS.
CHAPTER XX.
Call for Additional Troops–Burial of the Dead–Arrival of Atkinson–Lead Mines Militia–Erection of Forts–Dodge’s March to the Four Lakes Country.
The straggling arrival of the panic-stricken troops into camp at Dixon’s Ferry, from three o’clock to daylight of the morning of May 15th, threw Whiteside’s camp into confusion. The force of Dodge’s warning had now a depressing, yea, disastrous effect on the army, and the conduct of the men was most humiliating to Governor Reynolds. With one accord the officers flocked to his tent to hear the exaggerations of the runaways and plan a possible maneuver to counteract the fleeting fortune of their volunteer arms.
The catastrophe, instead of inspiring the troops with resolution to revenge their fallen comrades, spread disaffection, and demands arose from all sides to be discharged from a campaign which promised nothing but trouble and a long absence from home. The Governor, foreseeing the plight likely to visit him, at once, by the light of a solitary candle, wrote out the following call for 2,000 more volunteers to rendezvous at Hennepin on the 10th of June:
“Dixon’s Ferry, on Rock River, May 15, 1832.
“It becomes my duty to again call on you for your services in defense of your country. The state is not only invaded by the hostile Indians, but many of our citizens have been slain in battle. A detachment of mounted volunteers, about 275 in number, commanded by Maj. Stillman, were overpowered by hostile Indians on Sycamore Creek, distant from this place about thirty miles, and a considerable number killed. This is an act of hostility which cannot be misconstrued. I am of the opinion that the Pottawatomies and Winnebagoes have joined the Sacs, and all may be considered as waging war against the United States. To subdue these Indians and drive them out of the state, it will require a force of at least 2,000 mounted volunteers, in addition to troops already in the field. I have made the necessary requisition of proper officers for the above number, and have no doubt that the citizen soldiers of the state will obey the call of their country. They will meet at Hennepin, on the Illinois River, in companies of 50 men each, on the 10th of June next, to be organized into brigades.