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Reflections
U.S Army, cholera mark end of Black Hawk War : Reflections : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisU.S Army, cholera mark end of Black Hawk War
| by Roger Matile
| 6/14/2007
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Violence broke out across northern Illinois after inept Illinois politicians and militia officers precipitated hostilities during the Black Hawk War in the spring of 1832.
The settlers living in and around Chicago were not alone when they began to fear for their lives after hearing of the evaporation of Whiteside's brigade of Illinois militia—after seeing the bloody remnants left after the Battle of Stillman’s Run, most of the citizen soldiers decided they’d had enough war.
On May 21 or 22, 1832, to get an idea of what was happening, residents of Chicago, including those who had fled there for safety, dispatched a mounted company to scout the area between Chicago and Ottawa along the Chicago to Ottawa Trail. The detachment was under the command of Jesse B. Brown, a former brigadier general of the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, of the Illinois Militia.
On May 22, shortly after the Indian raiders left, the party reached the Davis claim on Big Indian Creek, where the horrified—and terrified—men buried the mangled remains of 15 unlucky settlers who had been at and near the Davis cabin when Keewassee and his warriors perpetrated what has become known as the Indian Creek Massacre.
Upon reaching Ottawa, the rangers told the defenders there of the massacre, and requested an escort back to Chicago. Illinois Militia Col. James Johnson, whose four mounted companies had by then reached Ottawa, refused to order any of his men to go into the possibly dangerous area between Ottawa and Chicago. He did, however, ask for volunteers.
Major David Bailey, who had commanded a battalion under Whiteside, and 12 privates volunteered to escort the party back to Chicago. The small detachment set off up the Chicago to Ottawa Trail, and soon reached Walkers Grove (today’s Plainfield), where the 125 badly scared settlers huddled behind the makeshift breastworks at Stephen Beggs' cabin (called Fort Beggs by its inhabitants). As Beggs later wrote: "We had four guns, some useless for shooting purposes." Not surprisingly, the settlers readily decided to go to Chicago with the armed party as escort. They reached Chicago on May 24.
Upon arrival, it was decided to form a battalion to protect Chicago from attack by Black Hawk's warriors. David Bailey was elected to command the temporary unit, and Harry Boardman, John S. Hogan, Holder Sisson, and James Walker were elected captains of companies. A number of early Kendall County settlers served in the unit, including Edmond Weed, George Hollenback, Edward Ament, Stephen Sweet, William Harris, Thomas Hollenback, and Anson Ament. Jesse Walker and Stephen Beggs of the Walker's Grove settlement, both Methodist circuit riding preachers, also joined. The unit served for about 14 days before being discharged, though many of the men subsequently re-enlisted in early June when a more permanent unit was formed.
While many of the settlers in Kendall County were involved in serving in militia companies to fight Black Hawk, the Indians of the area, curiously enough, were also eager to become involved on the side of the whites.
On June 11, 1832, Gen. Atkinson sent Thomas J.V. Owen, the Indian agent at Chicago, a letter stating that he wished to "cause a hundred Potowatomies Warriors to act with us against the Sauke. "
Chiefs Waubonsee and Shabbona were both considered friends of the whites. Waubonsee had worked to obtain the release of the Hall sisters from captivity after the Indian Creek Massacre. He was ranking war chief in the Potawatomi force mustered into U.S. service on June 22. On July 22, most of the Indians were released from duty, with the exception of Waubonsee and a few other principal men who acted as guides and messengers. He must have done a pretty good job, because after the war was over, U.S. Army Gen. Winfield Scott ordered that Waubonsee should receive title to Fort Koshkonong in Wisconsin.
As soon as Gen. Atkinson was able to scrape up enough militia, he once again set off in pursuit of Black Hawk. Meanwhile, Gen. Scott was steaming west on the Great Lakes with an army, which unfortunately became infected with Asiatic cholera, a terrible disease that killed far more soldiers than did any Indians in this war. As soon as Scott arrived in Chicago with his plague infected army, many settlers fled back to their homes, feeling that while the Indians might kill them, the cholera certainly would. By the time Scott finally arrived in western Illinois, the war was over. Black Hawk had repeatedly tried to surrender, but the lack of interpreters with the American army meant the Indians’ pleas were not understood. When the Indians tried to flee back across the Mississippi to safety, many men, women, and children killed by cannon fire from the Americans’ steamboat. Sioux Indians, the Sauk tribe’s traditional enemies, killed many of the refugees at the urging of U.S. government officials after the hapless Indians had safely reached the west bank of the great river,.
The Black Hawk War was one of the most senseless and needless wars ever fought. A modicum of good judgment on the part of Gov. Reynolds, not to mention Black Hawk, could have saved many lives, Indian and white alike. The war displaced thousands, and killed hundreds through the spread of the cholera. Fortunately, it was Illinois' last Indian war. Unfortunately for those Indians who supported the government, though, it led to their forced removal within the next few years.
On the plus side of the ledger, the war opened up settlement in northern Illinois by giving thousands of troops their first look at the rich prairie lands. The very next year, settlement boomed in the Fox Valley, a trend that continued for several years to come.
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