[782] Ibid., II, 161; V, 199.
In the same month of June, 1827, Governor Cass and Colonel Thomas L. McKenney were sent to negotiate on behalf of the United States a treaty with the Winnebagoes and other tribes of Wisconsin respecting the boundaries which had been provided for in the Treaty of Prairie du Chien of 1825.[783] On reaching Butte des Morts on Fox River, the place designated for the council, the commissioners found but a single band of Winnebagoes represented, and learned at the same time of the hostile disposition of the tribe and of the outrages committed on the Mississippi.
[783] Smith, Life and Times of Lewis Cass, 185; Young, Life of General Cass, 93; Schoolcraft, Personal Memoirs, 265-67.
In this emergency Cass decided on a bold and energetic course. Leaving the camp at Butte des Morts in charge of Colonel McKenney, he himself set out in a large canoe manned by a dozen boatmen for the seat of trouble.[784] The route to Prairie du Chien led through the midst of the disaffected tribe. In his descent of the Wisconsin River Cass came upon the Winnebago encampment. Undaunted by the manifest signs of hostility which were displayed on his approach he landed and harangued the savages and persuaded them to smoke the calumet. As he turned to leave, a young brave sought to assassinate him, but the attempt was frustrated by an older man striking his gun aside.
[784] Cass's trip see Schoolcraft, Personal Memoirs, 266; Smith, Cass, 185-90; Young, Cass, 93-96; Hubbard, Life, 150-51; Wisconsin Historical Collections, II, 166, 330; V, 156-57.
On reaching Prairie du Chien on the morning of July 4 Cass did what he could to encourage the terrified settlers, who were gathered in the abandoned Fort Crawford in momentary expectation of an attack, and took into the service of the United States the impromptu military company which had been organized.[785] He then passed quickly down to Galena, the center of the lead-mining district. The news from Prairie du Chien of the Indian hostilities had spread terror and dismay among the miners, who with one accord fled in wildest panic to Galena.[786] The roads were lined with men, women, and children in momentary fear of the dread tomahawk or scalping-knife, and the encampment of the fugitives on Apple River on the first night of the alarm was said to have extended four miles and numbered three thousand persons. Such was the state of confusion and panic when Cass arrived at Galena on July 6. Quickly enrolling a company of riflemen, it was dispatched on a keelboat for Prairie du Chien, while Cass's canoemen sped onward in the opposite direction to carry the news to St. Louis and set the regulars under General Atkinson's command at Jefferson Barracks in motion. The destination was reached in record time,[787] and soon Atkinson at the head of seven hundred troops was proceeding up the Mississippi River by steamer to the scene of hostilities.
[785] For the occurrences at Prairie du Chien see James H. Lockwood's narrative, Wisconsin Historical Collections, II, 157 ff.
[786] Ibid., II, 329.
[787] On the rapidity of Cass's descent of the Mississippi see Young, Cass, 96; Smith, Cass, 189-90: Schoolcraft says (Personal Memoirs, 267) that the entire circuit from Butte des Morts to Saint Louis, and back again by way of the Illinois River and Chicago, was made "in an incredible short space of time."
Instead of returning with the regulars, Cass and his party ascended the Illinois River to Chicago. Fortunately for them heavy rains had raised the Des Plaines to such a height that it was possible to pass up it and across the portage to Chicago without disembarking from the canoe. In the course of this passage nightfall overtook the party in Mud Lake. Fearful of staving a hole in their birch-bark canoe, the boatmen anchored it by thrusting their paddles into the mud on either side. In this dreary spot, tormented by mosquitoes and with the rain descending in torrents to the accompaniment of intense thunder and lightning, the future senator, cabinet officer, and presidential candidate passed the hot July night.