CHAPTER XXXIV.
STAMBAUGH’S EXPEDITION.
On the 23d of June Col. George Boyd, Agent for the Menominees at
Green Bay, wrote Atkinson offering or suggesting the services of the
Indians of this agency, to which Atkinson replied on the 12th of
July, requesting him to raise a company of 200 Menominees to arrest
the progress of Black Hawk toward the Milwaukee River. This letter
was entrusted to Colonel Hamilton and safely delivered.
On the 12th July Colonel Boyd replied as follows:[239]
“Indian Agency
Office.
Green Bay, July
20, 1832.
“Sir:–I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter
of the 12th instant, in answer to one of mine of the 23d ult., by
the hands of Col. Hamilton, three days since, and to inform you
that arrangements are making, with all possible expedition, to
forward to your aid the services of two hundred Menominees, with a
view to arrest the progress of the enemy towards the Milwaukee
country. They will be placed under the immediate command of Col.
Stambaugh, the former agent of these people, who, on my first
arrival in this country, demanded as a favor that, in the event of
the Menominees being called into the field, that Col. Stambaugh
should be placed at their head. This request was formally granted
them by me in council, and it is to redeem this pledge, as well as
to enable me consistently to relinquish a command for which my
present state of health wholly unfits me, that this arrangement
has been made. It has been my earnest wish to employ the talents
and experience of Col. Hamilton, by associating him with the
expedition, with that rank which would bring him second in
command. This offer, I regret to say, Col. Hamilton has at once
declined. I trust, however, that the Menominees will effect what
you calculated from their presence in the field under the present
management, and that they will be ready to take the line of march
in order to aid you in your intended operations against the enemy
in about seven days from the present time. * * *
With great respect, etc.,
“G. BOYD, U.S. Ind.
Agent.
BRIG.-GEN. H. ATKINSON, U.S. Army, Commanding Camp Whitewater,
Rock River.”
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[Illustration: LIEUT. JAMES M. BOYD.]
[Illustration: LIEUT. ALEXANDER J. IRWIN.]
[Illustration: CAPT. AUGUSTIN GRIGNON.]
[Illustration: COL. HART. L. STEWART.]
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There were no arms for them when the communication arrived. They
were scattered about in a manner to require unusual trouble in
collecting them and upon putting the plan into practical operation
Colonel Boyd almost despaired enlisting the desired 200. He
attempted to engage recruits from the ranks of the New York Indians,
the Oneidas and Stockbridges under Alexander J. Irwin of Green Bay,
but they to a man refused and Irwin enlisted under Stambaugh.
There was no overt hostility to the command of Hamilton, but the
Menominees held Colonel Stambaugh in such veneration that they were
unwilling to trust another to command them.
After much discouraging work, the quota was finally secured and,
divided into two commands or companies, the battalion was ready to
march.
[240]S.C. Stambaugh, Commander; Augustin Grignon, Sr., Captain;
Chas. Grignon, Jr., First Lieutenant and Interpreter; Robert
Grignon, Second Lieutenant; George Johnston, Captain; James M. Boyd,
First Lieutenant; William Powell, Second Lieutenant and Interpreter,
and Alex J. Irwin, charged with the commissariat, with the rank of
First Lieutenant Infantry.
After which Colonel Stambaugh received the following instructions:
“Indian Agency, July 25, 1832.
[241]“Sir:–As you have been selected by the Menominees to lead
them in the coming conflict, and having yielded to their choice, I
consider it my duty to enclose to you a copy of the Commanding
General’s instructions to Col. Hamilton, as to their movements in
the field, and the position to be occupied by them in regard to
the main army, and to request your strict adherence to them, as
far as practicable.
“As much time, however, has elapsed since the above instructions
were given, and the general line of operations of our army perhaps
materially changed, it is determined, under all circumstances, to
direct you to proceed with all possible expedition to Fort
Winnebago, and, immediately on your arrival there, to report
yourself forthwith, by express, to the Commanding General in the
field, and to await his orders as to your further movements.
“Wishing you all the success which the Government has a right to
anticipate from the movements of the Menominees, and that the
honor and the interest of the nation may be your leading star, to
guide you in all your operations, I have the honor to be,
Yours, etc.,
“GEORGE BOYD, Indian Agent.
“Col. S.C. Stambaugh, Com. the Menominee Expedition, Green Bay,
M.T.”
On the 26th[242] the battalion moved, and for the only authentic
account extant of their movements from that hour I am indebted to
Augustin Grignon, one of the captains in the expedition, which is to
be found in Vol. 3 of the Wis. Hist. Soc. Colls., p. 293 _et seq._
“Col. Stambaugh had previously been the Menominee Indian Agent,
but had been superseded by Col. Boyd, who had been directed to
raise a party of the Menominees to serve against the hostile
Indians.
“Col. Boyd gave the command of the expedition to Col. Stambaugh.
The Menominees rendezvoused at Green Bay early in July, 1832.
There were over 300, all Indians except the officers, about nine
in number.
“Osh-kosh, Souligny, I-om-e-tah, Grizzly Bear, Old Po-e-go-nah,
Wau-nau-ko, Pe-wau-te-not, Osh-ka-he-nah-niew, or the Young Man,
La Mott, Carron, and, indeed, all the principal men of the
Menominees, were of the party. Alexander Irwin was Commissary and
Quartermaster. The Indians were arranged into two companies. I
commanded one, having my son, Charles A. Grignon, and my nephew,
Robert Grignon, for lieutenants. George Johnson of Green Bay was
chosen to the command of the other company, with William Powell
and James Boyd, a son of Col. Boyd, for lieutenants. George
Grignon served as a volunteer.
“With a few pack horses and each man a supply of provisions, we
started from the Bay and proceeded to the Great Butte des Morts,
and there crossed over to the present place of Robert Grignon.
Went to Portage, and the next day renewed our march, and the first
night camped on Sugar Creek, some half a dozen miles short of the
Blue Mounds, and the second night at Fort Dodge, then to English
Prairie, thence with one other camping we reached Prairie du
Chien;[243] before reaching which, Grizzly Bear, his son and two
or three others, descending the Wisconsin in a canoe, discovered a
Sauk girl on an island alone. The Grizzly Bear’s son went and took
her and found her half starved. She was about 10 years old, and on
the return of the party, Colonel Stambaugh took her to Green Bay
and placed her in the Indian mission school, and the next year,
when Black Hawk reached Green Bay on his way home, he took her
with him.
“From Col. William S. Hamilton we learned at Prairie du Chien that
a trail of Sauks had been discovered down the river. Fully
one-half of our party, with George Grignon and William Powell,
remained at Prairie du Chien while Osh-kosh, I-om-e-tah, Souligny,
Carron, Pe-wan-te-not, with their warriors, proceeded by land,
accompanied by Colonel Hamilton.
“We stopped at Barrett’s Ferry on the Wisconsin and started early
the next morning, and about noon struck the Sauk trail and pursued
it till the sun was about an hour and a half high, when we
discovered the smoke of Indians encamped in a low spot beside a
small stream in the prairie. There were only two men and a youth
about twelve years old; three or four women and as many children.
We at once surrounded them and rushed upon them, with orders to
take them prisoners; but the Menominees were fierce for a fight
and killed the two men and took the others prisoners. They fired a
volley at the two Sauks, and when they fell they were riddled with
bullets by those coming up, who wished to share in the honor of
having participated in the fight. In the melee one of the children
was wounded and died the next day.
“Lieutenant Robert Grignon was badly wounded in the side with a
buckshot, and, coursing round his back, lodged. He thought he was
shot by the Indian lad, but I think it was quite as likely to have
been done by some of our own party, firing as they were in every
direction.
“This little affair occurred not far back from the Mississippi and
some ten or fifteen miles north of Cassville. Colonel Hamilton
participated in it.
“We camped on the battleground that night, end next day went to
Cassville, carrying Robert Grignon on a litter, and thence to
Prairie du Chien; he was conveyed in a canoe, while we returned by
land. We delivered the prisoners at Prairie du Chien; we had to
leave Robert Grignon there; the shot could not be extracted, and
he was not able to return till in the autumn.
“We commenced our return home in three days, and nothing happened
on our march worthy of particular notice.”
While Stambaugh’s expedition accomplished little, it was an integral
part of the general scheme and has been given the consideration it
demanded.
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Footnote 239:
12 Wis. Hist. Colls., p. 270. Lack of knowledge of the country and
its geography caused Atkinson to call it the Milwaukee country. He
intended to cut off a possible retreat to Canada _via_ Green Bay.
4 Wis. Hist. Colls., p. 185.
Footnote 240:
12 Wis. Hist. Colls., p. 279.
Footnote 241:
12 Wis. Hist. Colls., p. 282.
Footnote 242:
12 Wis. Hist. Colls., p. 284.
Footnote 243:
On August 8, as stated by Wakefield, p. 83.
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