From there Dodge’s battalion scattered to the various forts for supplies and equipment, to meet later and take up the line of march at Helena on the 29th.
On the 25th the army marched for the “Ouisconsin,” to overtake Black Hawk and finish the war, before he could reach and cross the Mississippi. In this Henry’s men, though subordinated in their position in the line of march, cheerfully submitted. In this march the regulars went first, Posey and Alexander following, while Henry was given the rear in charge of the baggage. Such men as Fry resented this treatment, but Henry commanded obedience to orders and trudged along behind, doing the drudgery of the army.
By evening the army reached a point within three miles of the Wisconsin, where it camped for the night.
On the 26th the Wisconsin was reached, where preparations had been made the day previous by Col. Enoch C. March for the passage of the army, and here at Helena the army, joined by Dodge, whose forces reassembled here,[[226]] crossed on the 27th and part of the 28th. Colonel March, whose record as a Quartermaster[[227]] has never been equaled in Illinois history, was given the heartiest credit from all sides for never failing in the greatest emergencies to be upon the spot when needed and with the supplies desired. In his duties he was ably assisted by John Dixon of Dixon’s Ferry, who accompanied the army to the end of the campaign.
The last of the troops having passed the river on the 28th[[228]] and moved up the Wisconsin River three or four miles, the trail of the enemy was discovered bearing down stream and followed by turning the columns to the left; then pursuing it twelve or fifteen miles over a flat and sandy prairie, which terminated at a deep creek, where the army camped for the night.
From this point the trail was pursued with vigor all day over a rough, almost mountainous country, passing several of the enemy’s encampments, which clearly indicated how hard he was pressed for provisions, horseflesh alone being left to him. The bodies of Indians who had died from the lack of proper dressing of their wounds were here seen in greater numbers than before. Reaching the summit of a very high hill, the horses, for lack of grass to eat amongst the timber, were tied up without food.
All day the 30th the march was continued over a similar country. On the 31st about fifteen miles were made over an unusually hilly country thickly timbered. At evening the first stream flowing west was reached and crossed, the army camping within six miles of the Kickapoo River.[[229]] August 1st the Kickapoo was crossed at ten o’clock at a shallow ford where commenced another rough prairie covered with growths of oak timber. It was a long day’s march for the troops because they were forced to go further than usual for water. The trail indicated the immediate presence of the enemy and if darkness had not prevented he could have been reached very soon. The camp was made that night near a small spring. Here Atkinson gave orders to be prepared at two o’clock the following morning to move for the bank of the Mississippi.
As Captain Throckmorton, commanding the Warrior, was ascending the river, he noticed a band of Indians near a camp on the bottoms at the mouth of the Bad Axe hoisting a white flag. Suspecting treachery, he ordered them to send a boat on board for a conference, which they declined. Without comment, except to allow fifteen minutes to remove their squaws and children, he shot a six-pounder into their midst, following it for an hour with a heavy fire of musketry which cost the Indians many lives. Needing fuel to continue the contest, the boat fell down the river to Prairie du Chien to wood up preparatory to returning the following day and finishing the action, but by the hour of its return the battle of the Bad Axe had been finished and Black Hawk’s race was run.
Promptly at 2 the morning of the 2d the troops rose, hastily ate breakfast and by sunrise resumed their march.
Black Hawk was aware of the presence of Atkinson’s forces, and to give time for a retreat across the river deployed a party of about twenty to meet him, commence the attack and by gradual retreats turn him three or four miles above the camp.