CHAPTER XXV.
CAPTAIN SNYDER’S BATTLE–MURDERS IN THE LEAD MINES COUNTRY–BATTLE OF THE
PECATONICA–CAPTAIN STEPHENSON’S BATTLE.
Kellogg’s Grove, by reason of the many fights with the Indians at and
around the place, was the most conspicuous locality during the campaign,
with the possible exception of Dixon’s Ferry, which was headquarters of
the army during the different campaigns. To Mr. J.B. Timms, present
owner of the grove, and Mrs. E.B. Baker, daughter of O.W. Kellogg, who
built there the first building in 1827, I am indebted for a description
of the same as it appeared in 1832.
O.W. Kellogg (brother-in-law to John Dixon), after running “Kellogg’s
Trail” from Peoria to Galena in 1827, selected that large and beautiful
grove of burr oak timber for his home, erected substantial buildings,
and brought much live stock to it, with his family. There he lived until
the spring of 1831, when, in order to be near the Dixons, he removed
south to Buffalo Grove, another fine grove about one mile due west of
the present site of the city of Polo, twelve miles north of Dixon. There
again he built and removed his family, where he was living at the
breaking out of hostilities in 1832.
In that year Kellogg’s Grove was known as “Kellogg’s Old Place,” and
generally designated as such in the public and private journals of that
day. Previously to 1827, however, by reason of the character of the
timber, it had been designated “The Burr Oak Grove,” and thus it is we
find the battle fought there by Capt. A.W. Snyder sometimes denominated
“The Battle of Burr Oak Grove,” naturally confusing one as to its exact
location. As a matter of fact, it was fought about two and a half miles
from Kellogg’s buildings, but still Kellogg’s Grove, as it covered a
vast area, including the battlefield. The Timms family bought it and
moved thence in 1835, since which time the present owner has continually
resided there, conferring upon it the name of “Timms’ Grove,” which it
still enjoys.
In 1832 the buildings comprised log cabins, a barn, large for those
days, and outbuildings to the number of seven, strung along a distance
of 120 feet, each approximating seven feet in height, sixteen in length,
and all covered with basswood bark.
The site of the monument erected on the site of that grove is in Kent
township, Stephenson county, about thirty-five miles to the southeast of
Galena, thirty-seven miles north of Dixon and seven or eight miles from
Lena.
After Stillman’s battle its strategic advantages quickly impressed the
mind of General Atkinson, and as marauding Indians from Black Hawk’s
band began their incursions into that territory, his first thought in
disposing his new twenty-day troops was to send a company of strong men
and there establish a base for operations between Dixon’s Ferry and
Galena. The company of Capt. Adam W. Snyder of sixty-nine men was
selected for that perilous duty, and almost concurrently with Captain
Iles’ company marched from the mouth of Fox River for Dixon’s Ferry. In
Captain Snyder’s company, as privates, were the late Joseph Gillespie,
Pierre Menard, Richard Roman, James Semple, Gen. Samuel Whiteside and
John Thomas, just elected Major, whose headquarters were properly
opposite the mouth of Fox River with the other regimental officers; but
preferring the dangers and privations of the field, he resumed his
position of private under Captain Snyder and marched in the ranks.
At Dixon’s Ferry Captain Iles’ company had been detached for separate
duty, but Brevet-Major Bennet Riley, with two companies of regulars,
accompanied the Snyder expedition to Kellogg’s Grove, and without event
on the road thither, other than the death of private Loren Cleveland on
June 12th, it quickly reached its destination. Remaining there for a
brief rest, Captain Snyder, leaving Riley and the regulars behind,
pushed on to Galena to familiarize himself with the country, arriving
there June 13th about noon. The following day he returned to Kellogg’s
Grove.[159]
On the night of June 15th the troops were snugly ensconced in the
various buildings, after sentinels had been picketed about eighty yards
out, at different points of the compass around the camp. The night was
cloudy and dark, though intermittently illuminated with flashes of
lightning, rendering possible a sight of the surroundings during those
periods. Near midnight the presence of the enemy was detected by a
sentinel, who in the instantaneous period allowed him, attempted to run
the Indian he discovered through with his bayonet, so close had he
crawled; but the flash of light was so brief that the sentinel missed
his mark and only rubbed the Indian’s arm. Dropping his gun, the
sentinel clinched with his adversary and by reason of superior strength
was rapidly mastering him and would soon have had him a prisoner, but
for another flash which discovered two other Indians within twenty feet,
making for the rescue as rapidly as the inpenetrable darkness would
permit. Quickly releasing his antagonist, the sentinel ran to camp,
shouting: “Indians, Indians,” while the Indians pursued him as far as
they dared. With a shot into the darkness they turned and fled, leaving
the men in camp to lie upon their arms after that until morning.
From the fact that one horse was stolen during the night, color was
given to the theory that plunder was the sole aim of the enemy’s
presence, but events of the following day exploded it.
Early in the morning Captain Snyder took a detachment of his men and
pursued the enemy’s trail in a southwesterly direction, hoping to
overtake and punish him before escape was possible. For twenty miles it
was followed in vain, but Captain Snyder would not permit it to be
abandoned, and wise indeed was his decision, for after a few rods more
of travel the detachment came upon four of the Indians preparing a meal
in a deep ravine just ahead. Flight by them in a circuitous, back-track
manner was instantly taken, which nearly baffled the troops, but after
another weary but exciting chase the Indians were again discovered half
a mile ahead climbing a high hill within three miles of camp at
Kellogg’s Grove. The troops were delayed in their pursuit by a deep and
muddy creek, but on finally crossing it discovered the Indians firmly
intrenched in a deep gulch, where, in a sharp hand to hand encounter,
all four were killed, with loss to the whites of one man, private
William B. Mecomson (or Mekemson), who received two balls in the
abdomen, inflicting a mortal wound. While the engagement lasted it was
as fierce and wicked a frontier fight as has ever been recorded, and in
the many shots exchanged by the Indians the marvel is that the loss to
the whites was no greater; but poor Mecomson received the only effective
ones.
A litter was constructed of poles and blankets, upon which the wounded
man was placed and, carried by his comrades, he was conveyed toward
camp. In ministering to his needs his bearers were compelled to deliver
their guns and horses to the keeping of others, the exchange and relief
causing some delay and a little temporary confusion; men were
necessarily scattered along with no regard for order; the troops were
flushed with the first victory of the campaign, and while danger was to
be at all times apprehended, having disposed of one enemy, the presence
of other Indians was not a very strong probability. Thus the men marched
along for three-quarters of a mile, when the dying man asked for a brief
rest and a cup of water. As no fresh water was carried, two squads were
detailed by Captain Snyder to search for some. General Whiteside, First
Sergeant Nathan Johnston and Third Sergeant James Taylor went to one
side, while Dr. Richard Roman, Benjamin Scott, Second Corporal Benjamin
McDaniel, Dr. Francis Jarrott and Dr. I.M. McTy Cornelius searched the
other side for water with which to quench the wounded man’s thirst.
While the last named squad was moving slowly down a ridge to a point
having a bushy ravine on each side it was fired on by a large party of
Indians, instantly killing Benjamin Scott and Benjamin McDaniel and
slightly wounding Dr. Cornelius. The three survivors retreated while the
Indians, estimated from fifty to ninety in number, hideously yelling,
rushed upon poor Mecomson and chopped off his head with a tomahawk; then
wheeling, they directed their fire upon the main body of the whites, who
were somewhat scattered, as stated. Closing in as well as possible, the
detachment fell back in good order, formed again and returned a brisk
fire, which checked the enemy’s advance. Quickly following up the
advantage gained, Captain Snyder moved rapidly forward, bringing his men
at close range with the enemy and making the engagement general. Trees
were many times used for protection. During the thickest of the fight
the apparent leader of the Indians, mounted on a white horse, rode
backward and forward, urging his men on with shouts and gestures; but
the intrepid volunteers were pouring lead into the ranks of the Indians
with such deadly effect that they were gradually forced back. After a
little the white horse was seen leaving the field without a rider; at
the same time the Indians temporarily wavered and the whites pushed
their lines closer. The Indians, having evidently lost their leader,
sullenly retired out of range and Captain Snyder held his advanced
position.
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[Illustration: CAPT. ADAM W. SNYDER.]
[Illustration: MAJ. JOHN DEMENT.]
[Illustration: CAPT. JAMES W. STEPHENSON.]
[Illustration: PAYMASTER ZADOCK CASEY.]
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Major Thomas had in the meantime volunteered to go alone to Kellogg’s
Grove, less than three miles distant, for reinforcements from Major
Riley, and though the trip was perilous in the extreme he made it
safely, returning in an incredibly short time with the reinforcements.
When they arrived Captain Snyder had driven the Indians to the timber
and was anxious to press his advantage, but the lateness of the hour
prevented. He then insisted on camping on the spot for the night, that
he might pursue his advantage early in the morning, but Major Riley
persuaded him to return to camp at Kellogg’s, which he reluctantly did,
after gathering up the dead for burial the following day.
Early the following morning Captain Snyder, with his full company,
returned to the scene of the previous day’s engagements in search of the
enemy, but he was nowhere to be found, and, burying the dead, the
company at once returned to camp, where it remained a few days longer,
by which time the new levies having been rapidly massed at Dixon’s Ferry
for the final struggle, Captain Snyder marched to that point, and his
company was mustered out by Colonel Taylor on June 21.[160]
That same band of Sac Indians had been lurking about that locality for
some time, and was, in fact, engaged in all the fights with the whites
until Black Hawk’s forces withdrew to the swamps of the Rock River
country, more than a month later.
On June 3d the Hall girls were brought to the fort at Blue Mounds from
the camp of the Sacs where the Winnebagoes had found them. Here they
were delivered to Col. Henry Gratiot, who was momentarily stopping on
his return trip from his “talk” with the Winnebagoes, at the head of the
Four Lakes.
Colonel Dodge had barely returned to his headquarters when he received
word that an attack on Mound Fort was threatened and that reinforcements
were promptly needed. Without delay Dodge summoned the companies of
Capt. J.R.B. Gratiot and Captain Clark, which had been formed during his
absence, and detachments of two other companies, and started for the
fort. When within three miles of it an express met him with information
of the return at that fort of the Hall girls. Arrived there, he found
the report of the contemplated attack had been exaggerated, though some
of the Winnebago party were that night suspected and taken into custody.
Arrangements were promptly made for the payment of the $2,000 promised
by Atkinson, which the Indians agreed to accept in money, ponies and
other useful and valuable chattels.
That night[161] signs of hostilities were made to Capt. J.R.B. Gratiot,
which he quickly communicated to Dodge. Awakening him, the two walked
over to the brush, to which the particular Indians had retired, and took
White Crow and five others into custody, marched them to a cabin and
ordered them to lie down and remain there until morning. Dodge himself
laid down beside them, having first placed a strong guard around the
cabin and a double guard around the whole encampment. The next day the
whole band, despite the complaint that their feet were sore, were taken
with the Hall girls to Morrison’s Grove, fifteen miles to the west,
where Dodge held a talk with them June 5th. Candidly speaking his fears,
he demanded that Whirling Thunder, Spotted Arm and Little Priest be held
as hostages until the end of the month, to which the Indians assented,
and thus doubtless was prevented the formation of a cabal which might
have brought disaster to the whites.
By way of Fort Defiance the girls were, on June 8th, taken to Gratiot’s
Grove, where a junction was formed with the command of Capt. J.W.
Stephenson, then departing to find the bodies of the St. Vrain party,
and there the girls were left with Col. Henry Gratiot. There, too, the
murder of Aubrey was reported.
On the 6th of June[162] one William Aubrey, first captain[163] of Mound
Fort, was killed by the Sacs while after water at a spring near the
dwelling of Ebenezer Brigham, a mile and a half distant to the north of
the fort, to which place the Sacs had been led by Winnebago renegades.
Being then south bound, Dodge sent an express with instructions to Fort
Defiance and Mineral Point to proceed with men to the scene and bury the
murdered man, which was done.
By noon of the 8th the troops reached Kirker’s farm, where they halted
to consider the numerous murders constantly committed in their midst.
Here Dodge delivered a short address to the troops, which fired them
with an enthusiasm that none but Dodge could inspire. In fact, it may be
said for the troops from the mining districts that they fought and
dragooned their country night and day, with never a thought of flinching
or flagging. In the afternoon the men marched south and found and buried
the bodies of St. Vrain, Hale and Fowler, after which Stephenson
returned to Galena, while Dodge moved on to Hickory Point to camp for
the night. The next morning he marched to Dixon’s Ferry and camped that
night with General Brady. There it was learned that Atkinson had gone
over to the mouth of Fox River, below which the new levies were massing.
With twenty-five men Dodge escorted Brady thence,[164] and on the 11th
the two had a conference with Atkinson, at which plans for the future
campaign were fully mapped out. By midnight Dodge had returned to
Dixon’s. His faculty for quick marches has seldom been equaled. In fact,
to keep track of him, Colonel Hamilton and Captain Stephenson during
their rides over the frontier was impossible to any save members of
their commands. Night and day they rode tirelessly. From Ottawa and Fort
Wilbourn to the south to Mineral Point and the Four Lakes to the north,
they were incessantly moving and charging bands of thieves and
murderers, and to their work this pen cannot do justice.
With little or no rest, Dodge started back for the mining country,
reaching Gratiot’s Grove June 13th. There, worn and exhausted, he
dispersed his command to their respective forts to recuperate the
strength of the horses and await further orders.
No sooner had the men reached Fort Defiance at sundown of the 14th, than
one David, as an express, arrived with news of the murder that day of
Spafford, Searles, Spencer, McIlwaine and an Englishman nicknamed John
Bull, at Spafford’s farm on the Pecatonica, six miles southeast of Fort
Hamilton. Captain Hoard at once dispatched an express to Dodge at
Dodgeville, and ordered Lieut. Charles Bracken with a detachment to Fort
Hamilton, which was reached late that night. The following morning,
under guidance of Bennett Million, a survivor of the party which had
been attacked, Bracken took a detachment over to Spafford’s farm and
buried the dead men, who as usual had been shockingly mutilated.
Early in the morning of the 16th Dodge sighted the fort about one mile
away, where he met a German named Henry Appel going to his cabin for
blankets. In a few minutes shots were heard, and just as Dodge was
entering the fort, Appel’s horse, bedabbled with the blood of its owner,
came galloping back to the fort.
A detachment of twenty-nine men immediately started in pursuit of the
murderers, with another small detail to bury poor Appel, whose mutilated
body was expected to be found as a matter of course. High creeks, muddy
roads and other difficulties gave the Indians many advantages in their
escape[165] to the Pecatonica, which they reached and crossed a
considerable time before the whites reached it.
“After crossing the Pecatonica, in the open ground, I dismounted my
command, linked my horses, left four men in charge of them, and sent
four men in different directions to watch the movements of the Indians
if they should attempt to swim the Pecatonica; the men were placed on
high points that would give a view of the enemy should they attempt to
retreat. I formed my men on foot at open order and at trailed arms,
and we proceeded through the swamps to some timber and undergrowth,
where I expected to find the enemy. When I found their trail, I knew
they were close at hand. They had got close to the edge of a lake,
where the bank was about six feet high, which was a complete
breastwork for them. They commenced the fire, when three of my men
fell, two dangerously wounded, one severely, but not dangerously. I
instantly ordered a charge on them made by eighteen men, which was
promptly obeyed. The Indians being under the bank, our guns were
brought within ten or fifteen feet of them before we could fire on
them. Their party consisted of thirteen men. Eleven were killed on the
spot, and the remaining two were killed in crossing the lake, so that
they were left without one to carry the news to their friends.”[166]
As a matter of fact, there were seventeen in the party of Indians;
eleven were found dead, two were killed in crossing the river or swampy
widening of it and were scalped by the Winnebagoes, Colonel Hamilton,
when he came up, found the body of another, and late the succeeding
winter a French trapper found three more in the swamp close by, beneath
brushwood, under which they had crawled when wounded.[167]
Thus with the loss of the three whites in the first fire, but eighteen
whites remained to charge the seventeen Indians behind formidable
breastworks.
Dodge marched to that battlefield to settle many a bloody murder or
leave his own bones to bleach upon the banks of the Pecatonica. That
battle meant death to the Indians or death to the family of every man in
the mining regions, and in this connection it may be well to recall the
words of Mrs. Dodge when urged to retire to Galena for safety: “My
husband and sons are between me and the Indians. I am safe so long as
they live.” Those heroic words must have echoed in the husband’s heart
while grappling those brawny murderers, and hand to hand, body to body,
and inch by inch, in the death struggle, with gun, bayonet and knife,
over the breastworks, into the enemy’s intrenchment, into the jaws of
death, the little band charged and fought until every last Indian was
dead and the many murders were avenged.
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[Illustration: BATTLE OF HORSE SHOE BEND. JUNE 16, 1832]
[Illustration: COL. WILLIAM S. HAMILTON.]
[Illustration: SITE OF THE BATTLE OF THE PECATONICA.]
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The names of Dodge’s men, so far as can be learned, were Lieut. Charles
Bracken, Lieut. Bequette, Lieut. D.M. Parkinson,[168] Peter Parkinson,
Jr., – – Porter, R.H. Kirkpatrick, Dr. Allen Hill, Thomas Jenkins, W.W.
Woodbridge, John Messersmith, Jr., Asa Duncan, Benjamin Lawhead, Samuel
Patrick, William Carnes, John Hood, Levin Leech, Alexander Higginbotham,
who was of the St. Vrain party, Samuel Black, Dominick McGraw, Samuel
Bunts, Van Waggoner, Wells, Morris, Rankin, Thomas H. Price, H.S.
Townsend, – – Devies, M.G. Fitch and J.H. Gentry, but the horse of the
last-named became mired and his gun became useless, both of which
accidents prevented his participation in the fight. Samuel Black was
almost instantly killed and Samuel Wells and F.M. Morris, wounded, were
left at Fort Hamilton, where both died soon after. Thomas Jenkins was
wounded, but not severely, and Levin Leech, while wresting a spear from
a brave, got his hand badly lacerated. The troops at once dispersed for
their respective forts to prepare for further developments. On the 18th
a fifth company was organized with D.M. Parkinson captain.
On the 20th Lieut. George Force and Emerson Green were murdered and
mutilated near the fort at Blue Mounds; one of the bodies, that of
Force, was recovered by the daring of Edward D. Bouchard, and on the
24th Dodge, with a detachment of men from the companies of Captains D.M.
Parkinson and J.H. Gentry, recovered and buried the body of Green. Here
Dodge, piloted by Bouchard, pursued the trail of the Indians as far as
the headwaters of Sugar River, and finding that they had scattered there
for various points, he returned to Mound Fort.
Horsestealing became a recognized feature of Black Hawk’s campaign very
soon after Stillman’s defeat, which he pushed with unusual vigor. He
would snatch a band of horses, and if the luckless owner attempted a
pursuit for their recovery he was invariably ambushed. On the night of
June 8th[169] the Indians stole fourteen horses just outside the
stockade of Apple River fort (now Elizabeth, Illinois), and on the
afternoon and night of the 17th ten more were stolen.[170] The number
was so large and the loss so great that unusual measures were adopted to
attempt their recovery. As nothing but a military escort was considered
equal to the search, Capt. J.W. Stephenson, with twelve of his men from
Galena and nine from the Apple River fort, started on the trail early on
the morning of the 18th, and overtook the thieves about twelve miles
east of Kellogg’s Grove, on Yellow River, southeast of Waddam’s Grove,
in Stephenson County. A hot pursuit followed for several miles. The
Indians, seven in number, finally reaching a dense thicket, plunged into
it for protection. The thicket, a short distance northeast of Waddam’s
Grove, was so dense that it was impossible to discover their location
from the open country surrounding it, and thus secreted the Indians
remained, awaiting the attack of the whites. Stephenson was impatient to
dislodge them by assault. Dismounting his men, he at first attempted to
sweep the thicket and draw the enemy’s fire, but the wily Indians
refused to shoot or otherwise indicate their position. Discarding
strategy as an evidence of cowardice, Captain Stephenson detailed a
guard for the horses, and with his remaining men made an impetuous
charge upon the hidden reds, drawing their fire and returning it, but
with the loss of one to the whites as they were retiring to the prairie
to reload. Rather than accept the loss and carefully continue the
assault by safer and surer methods, Captain Stephenson twice more
charged the fatal thicket, losing one man with each effort, while the
Indians lost but one man, who was stabbed in the neck by Thomas Sublet.
Both sides had exhausted their loads in the charge and the fight became
general and at close range; so close, indeed, that one could scarcely
distinguish friend from foe, and rather than continue against odds
entirely conjectural, the whites withdrew again to the prairie to
consult–a precaution they should have exercised in the first instance.
Captain Stephenson himself was wounded so seriously that he was no
longer able to continue in command. Of the whites, Stephen P. Howard,
Charles Eames[171] and Michael Lovell had been killed, while the Indians
had lost but the one man, and he had not been killed by the guns.
Further assaults were considered useless, and, if continued, would have
been wilful; therefore, leaving the dead where they fell, the men
returned to Galena for assistance to return and bury the three dead
soldiers and the Indian, reaching that point on the 19th.
The charges were brave and dashing, and naturally evoked the cheers of
those at Galena, but, as with too many of the same character, they were
not only ineffectual, but resulted in the loss of valuable lives.
Governor Ford, in his history of Illinois, has justly said, “It equaled
anything in modern warfare in daring and desperate courage.”
On the 20th Colonel Strode, with the companies of Capt. James Craig and
Captain Stephenson, marched to the scene and buried the dead.[172]
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Footnote 159:
Correspondence Capt. Snyder, Mo. Republican of June 26, 1832.
Correspondence Judge Joseph Gillespie in Brink’s Hist. Madison County.
Reynold’s “My Own Times,” p. 377, etc.
Ford’s Illinois, 124.
Footnote 160:
Captain Adam Wilson Snyder was born in Connellsville, Fayette Co.,
Pa., Oct. 6, 1799. Came to Cahokia, Ill., on foot, June, 1817. Elected
Dist. Attorney by the Illinois Legislature January, 1823. Elected
State Senator, 1830 and in 1832. Elected to Congress 1836. Elected
State Senator and Presidential Elector 1840. Nominated for Governor by
Democratic convention, Dec. 11, 1841. Died in Belleville of
consumption May 14, 1842, before election. He would have been elected.
Gov. Ford, the candidate selected in his place, was elected.
Footnote 161:
Life of Henry Dodge, by William Salter, p. 31.
Footnote 162:
Smith’s Hist. Wis., Vol. 1, page 272.
Footnote 163:
Bouchard’s Narrative, Vol. 2. Wis. Hist. Collections.
Footnote 164:
Fort Johnston, opposite Ottawa.
Footnote 165:
Dodge said thirty minutes.
Footnote 166:
Dodge’s Report.
Footnote 167:
Bouchard’s Narrative.
Footnote 168:
Later captain.
Footnote 169:
Hist. Jo Daviess Co., 288, and the Galenian.
Footnote 170:
Charles Eames and Stephen P. Howard, who declined to “fort up,” were
plowing on Apple River. Indians appeared, and they escaped over the
river bank, but the horses were boldly taken. The loss, among others,
was reported to the fort.
Footnote 171:
The prints of the day have the name George Eames, but correspondence
with Hiram B. Hunt and N.B. Craig, relatives, indicates that Charles
is correct.
Footnote 172:
Galenian.
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