Litters were constructed for the wounded, the march was taken up and in two days (24th) the Blue Mounds were reached and there the army met Posey, Atkinson and Alexander, the two latter having pushed on from Ft. Koshkonong after learning of the discovery of Black Hawk’s westward trail.
CHAPTER XXXII.
Pursuit Resumed–Battle of the Bad Axe.
[[224]]On the 20th Alexander received an express from Scott giving particulars of the inefficiency of his army.
On the 21st Atkinson and Alexander marched from Ft. Koshkonong[[225]] in the direction of the Blue Mounds in the midst of a heavy rain, which continued all day and all night. The convoy of wagons met was turned back.
On the 22d the troops crossed the ford below Lake Koshkonong.
On the 23d the forces marched from the encampment of the morning, eight miles south of “the river of the Four Lakes,” towards the Blue Mounds, to two miles west of Davitt’s.
On the 24th they marched to the Blue Mounds, after suffering much for water, having marched twenty miles without any. The express sent from Henry, which informed Atkinson of the “Battle of the Wisconsin,” was met, and on inspection the entire force of militia was now found to be reduced to the strength of one original brigade.
A certain coolness was found to be in store for the volunteers when they reached the Blue Mounds, by reason of their winning a victory which should have gone to others, according to program, and this, too, in the face of disobedience of orders. Victories then were crimes, pretty much the same as they were before Santiago in 1898, unless won by rule and by those selected for the purpose by those above, and very soon Henry was made to feel the displeasure his victory had brought.