“You have no doubt heard of the butchery of Robert Ramsey and his family by the savages.
“Mrs. Ramsey was attending the milking of her cow and their pretty little children were amusing themselves feeding the poultry and assisting their mother. Mr. Ramsey, who, you know, has but one leg, was near his wife at the moment the first shot was fired. He saw his wife fall and proceeded to lead her into the house; but as he reached the door he received a wound which prevented him going to the relief of his children, who were caught by the Indians and cut to pieces in the yard. Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey are dead; both were shot through the abdomen. Mrs. R. was far advanced in pregnancy.”[[39]]
Matters in the West had assumed such a tragic phase that heroic measures were projected at the seat of government, and Gen. Jackson was given command of the military district which embraced the seat of hostilities. He at once assigned Brig.-Gen. Smith to command the post at Prairie du Chien and Gen. Scott to the command of military districts 8 and 9, being Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois and Missouri, while Jackson himself was placed under orders to conduct a western campaign. Col. Miller with 500 men was encamped at Portage des Sioux and the regiment of riflemen under Lieut.-Col. Hamilton was directed by Jackson to immediately organize and march to Prairie du Chien. The fact that Jackson was to settle with Black Hawk and his braves at once stimulated the people with new hope, as will be seen by the following:
“It is determined to scourge the allies of our late enemy in the Missouri Territory, etc., into a respect for the lives and property of our frontier fellow citizens. Their depredations are constant and distressing. The commissioners to settle a peace with them have effected nothing. The deputations from most of the tribes were ‘insufficient,’ and from those most desirable to have met there were no representatives at all. The detail of proceedings is interesting and shall be preserved; but at present the flood of news from France bears down everything. It appears that General Jackson will open a new negotiation with them upon the ‘last resort of reason.’ We understand he will soon proceed from Nashville to St. Louis, where a handsome body of regulars will be collected, and that he will be accompanied by a militia force from Kentucky and Tennessee. In obedience to his request, Governor Clark of the Missouri Territory has, in general orders, directed the militia of that state to hold itself in readiness to march at a moment’s notice; and we have every prospect that British influence among the northern will receive the same reward that befell it among the southern Indians. It must be eradicated.”[[40]]
Doubtless British influence recollected a little adventure with Jackson the preceding 8th of January, for immediately the expedition by him was to become a reality, overtures for peace were made and commissioners to make a treaty were substituted for the person of Jackson, as will be seen by the following from the Missouri Gazette of June 17th, 1815.
The following letters were received by Governor Clark on Wednesday last:
“It appears that Messrs. Turcot and Lagoterie (who were employed by the commissioners to proceed to Rock River and announce to the Indians the object of the treaty to be held at Portage des Sioux) were fortunate in reaching Little Mascoutille, some distance below their place of destination, without any accident. At this place they met with a party of Fox Indians, bearing letters from the British commandant of Prairie du Chien to Governor Clark, who informed them of the departure of Captain Duncan Graham, deputy scalping master general, from Rock River, after bestowing on his worthy comrades, the Sacks, 10 barrels of gunpowder and 20 fuses as a reward for their services in butchering the helpless women and children on the frontiers.
“As usual, the Sacks received the news of peace with ‘unbounded joy,’ and even sent a British flag to protect our messengers on their return. They acknowledged they had 200 warriors on the frontiers, but could not tell the number of their killed and wounded. They said they would attend the treaty and bury the tomahawk.”[[41]]
A treaty of peace was finally in sight–the treaty of Portage des Sioux! And now up to this time, it must be owned by the impartial mind that rather than receiving any wrong from the Americans, Black Hawk, without any provocation and contrary to his promises, had waged a merciless war on the feeble settlements simply because he hated the Americans–the enemy of his friends, the British. Drake, to condone those atrocities, has stated on page 90 of his “Life of Black Hawk:” “Some palliation for these outrages may be found in the fact that the British on the northwest frontier, long after they were officially notified of the peace, continued to excite the Indians to acts of violence against the United States, and, indeed, participated in them likewise.” This statement, from a man snugly ensconced in an upholstered chair, must be regarded as magnanimous! We have found here Black Hawk the cold-blooded aggressor and murderer, and when he subsequently stated that the treaty signed by him in 1816 was not made known to him, can he be believed? Armstrong, another apologist for the “poor Indian,” stated that Black Hawk was a truthful Indian, though he “withheld facts that were material.”[[42]] The frightful plight of the settlers can never be realized by the present generation; neither can the actions of the British be justly comprehended in the face of present amity. Plotting destruction, Black Hawk was invariably found to the front, and while successful, he found no fault with the defense of the Americans. That remained for the time when he felt the heel of the conqueror, resenting his years of blood-shedding. Where one man is invariably the offender, it is safe to pronounce him an incorrigible quarreler. Black Hawk was this and more–he was a British mercenary.