The fact that Governor Reynolds did not immediately hear from General Gaines or the Indian agents led him into the mistaken belief that they were entirely inactive and unsympathetic as to the fate of the settlers. The contrary is the truth, as the following letters, mentioned in the foregoing, from Agent St. Vrain, a most courteous and conscientious man, will disclose. This same good man was subsequently butchered in a most shocking manner by the Indians:[[71]]
“Rock Island, May 15, 1831.
“Respected Sir:–I have again to mention to you that the Black Hawk (a Sac chief) and his party are now at their old village on Rock River. They have commenced planting corn and say they will keep possession. I have been informed that they have pulled down a house and some fences, which they have burned. They have also turned their horses in wheat fields and say they will destroy the wheat, so that the white people shall not remain among them.
“This is what I expected from their manner of acting last fall, and which I mentioned to you in my letter of the 8th October last. I would not be at a loss were it not for the 7th article of the treaty with the Sacs and Foxes of 3d November, 1804.
”I respectfully ask, would it not be better to hold a treaty with those Indians and get them to remove peaceably, than to call on the military to force them off? None of this band has as yet called on me for information. A few have been at my agency to have work done at the smith’s shops. I have the honor to be,
“Your obedient servant,
“Felix St. Vrain, Indian Agent.
“Gen. William Clark, Supt. Ind. of St. Louis.”
“St. Louis, May 28, 1831.
“Respected Sir:–Since my last of the 15th inst. on the subject of the band of Sac Indians, etc., the Indian village on Rock River near Rock Island, I have heard from the Indians and some of the whites, that a house had been unroofed instead of pulled down and burned and that the fence had caught fire by accident. As regards the destroying of the wheat, etc., the Indians say that a white man hauled some timber through a field and left the fence down, by which means their horses got into the field. This, however, has been contradicted by the white inhabitants of that place. They say that the Indians are constantly troubling them by letting their horses into their fields and killing their hogs, etc., etc. This, however, I am confident is occasioned in a great measure by whisky being given to the Indians in exchange for their guns, traps, etc.