As Black Hawk was taken down the Mississippi by Lieutenant Davis, the two were in frequent conversation, and naturally each studied the other more or less, and while Mr. Davis, in after years, always spoke of his prisoner in the very highest terms, it may be interesting to know what Black Hawk had to say about his captor when he came to write his autobiography the following year: “We remained here a short time, and then started for Jefferson Barracks in a steamboat, under charge of a young war chief (Jefferson Davis), who treated us with much kindness. He is a good and brave young chief, with whose conduct I was much pleased. On our way down we called at Galena and remained a short time. The people crowded to the boat to see us, but the war chief would not permit them to enter the apartment where we were, knowing from what his feelings would have been if he had been placed in a similar position, that we did not wish to have a gaping crowd around us.”
Little can be said for the negative of this question and less can be proven, and with such a unanimity of testimony in favor of his presence, from those who saw him and there formed his acquaintance and friendship, it cannot be perceived how an assumption, an “interpretation” can be allowed to rob him of that honor.
MAJ. GEN. ALEXANDER MACOMB,
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, U.S.A.
WA-PEL-LO, CHIEF OF THE FOXES.
FORT WINNEBAGO; ERECTED LARGELY BY LIEUT. JEFFERSON DAVIS.