v 
 
 s i/ou converse 
 lords and 
 
 ^s, 
 
 I haoe their betters 
 here my books, 
 
 Fixed in an elbow- 
 chair at ease, 
 
 I choose compan 
 ions as I please. 
 
 THOMAS SHERIDAN 
 TO DEAN SWIFT 
 
 Vmtk 
 
INDIAN CREEK MASSACRE 
 
 and 
 
 CAPTIVITY OF HALL GIRLS 
 
 COMPLETE HISTORY 
 
 of the 
 
 MASSACRE OF SIXTEEN WHITES 
 
 on 
 
 INDIAN CREEK, NEAR OTTAWA, ILL. 
 and 
 
 SYLVIA HALL AND RACHEL HALL 
 
 A Captives in Illinois and Wisconsin 
 during 
 
 THE BLACK HAWK WAR, 1832 " " 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES M. SCANLAN 
 
 Author of 
 
 Scanlan s Rules of Order," "The Law of Church and Grave," 
 "Law of Hotels" Etc. 
 
 SECOND EDITION 
 
 REIC PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
 421 Matthews Building 
 Milwaukee, Wis. 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1915. 
 
 BY 
 CHARLES M. SCANLAN 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 No one is satisfied with an incomplete story. 
 The very meagre and inconsistent accounts of 
 the adventures of Sylvia and Rachel Hall 
 (familiarly known as the "Hall girls") hereto 
 fore published, merely excited one s curiosity to 
 know the whole story. The ladies statements 
 that have been published, gave only an outline 
 of the facts as far as they knew them person 
 ally. To obtain all the facts, required much in 
 vestigation of books and a great deal of corre 
 spondence with historical societies, editors of 
 newspapers and the War and the Interior De 
 partment of the United States. Also, the writer 
 has had personal interviews with relatives of 
 the Misses Hall, and has traveled over the 
 ground and examined all the evidence that now 
 appears from the location of the little cottage 
 on Indian Creek to Galena where the girls took 
 a boat for St. Louis. 
 
 Mrs. A. Miranda Dunavan, a daughter of 
 Mrs. Rachel Hall Munson (the younger cap 
 tive), gave me the family history of her mother; 
 and Miss Sylvia E. Horn of Lincoln, Nebraska, 
 and Mr. C. L. Horn of Mackinaw, Illinois, 
 
 [3] 
 
 M130124 
 
4 PREFACE. 
 
 grand-children of Mrs. Sylvia Hall Horn (the 
 elder captive), contributed the history of the 
 Horn family. Thus every fact in the following 
 pages is stated upon the best evidence. 
 
 To gather all the traditions that still linger 
 along the course over which the Indians trav 
 eled with their captives, the writer enlisted the 
 services of his nieces, Miss Gertrude Scanlan 
 of Fennimore, Wisconsin, and Miss Marian 
 Scanlan of Prairie du Chien, whose grand 
 fathers were pioneers in the lead regions. How 
 ever, no fact has been stated on tradition with 
 out the clues being verified by land records or 
 government documents. 
 
 Of course every lady wants to know how the 
 girls looked. Unfortunately, there is no picture 
 of either of them prior to middle life. Mrs. 
 Dunavan lent to me a very rare daguerreotype 
 picture of her mother, Mrs. Munson, taken at 
 the age of about forty-two years, and a photo 
 graph of her aunt, Mrs. Sylvia Hall Horn, taken 
 when she was over sixty years of age. Also, 
 I borrowed from Mrs. Dunavan a tintype pic 
 ture of herself when she was sixteen, which is 
 said to be a very good likeness of her aunt 
 Sylvia at the time that she was taken captive. 
 These pictures are reproduced herein. The 
 
PREFACE. 5 
 
 tradition of the neighborhood is that the girls 
 were unusually handsome in both figure and 
 face and of captivating kind dispositions. They 
 were born in Kentucky and carried with them 
 to Illinois the southern culture which has won 
 for the ladies of the South considerable fame in 
 story and song. 
 
 "She was bred in old Kentucky, 
 Where the meadow grass grows blue, 
 There s the sunshine of the country, 
 In her face and manner too." Braisted. 
 
 Milwaukee, Wis. 
 July 15, 1915. 
 
 CHARLES M. SCANLAN. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Preface, 3 
 
 I. Description of the Country, - - - 9 
 
 II. Indian Davis Troubles, - 13 
 
 III. The Davis Settlement, 23 
 
 IV. The Massacre, 31 
 V. The Captivity, 38 
 
 VI. To the Rescue, - 48 
 
 VII. Military Movements, - 51 
 
 VIII. Reward Offered, 54 
 
 IX. The Captive Girls, 59 
 
 X. Ransomed, - - 66 
 
 XL Royally Welcomed, - - 81 
 
 XII. Homeward Bound, - - 90 
 
 XIII. Romance and History, - - 95 
 
 XIV. Shabona, - - 106 
 XV. Comee and Toquamee, .... m 
 
 t7] 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY. 
 
 In its natural condition, perhaps no more at 
 tractive country ever laid before the eyes of 
 man than that in which occurred the incidents 
 of the following narrative. On the south it is 
 bordered by the Illinois river, with its historical 
 events beginning with the old Kaskaskia Mis 
 sion established by Father Marquette in 1673 
 amidst the most beautiful scenery in tne whole 
 state of Illinois, which is now included in 
 Starved Rock State Park. 
 
 What memories cluster around old Kaskas 
 kia ! As the first capital of Illinois, it was vis 
 ited by Gen. La Fayette and Presidents Jack 
 son, Lincoln, Taylor and Harrison ; by Jefferson 
 Davis, Gen. Albert Sidney Johnson, and by 
 nearly every other man who was prominent in 
 United States history prior to 1837, when 
 Springfield became the state capital. 
 
 On the east for more than one hundred miles 
 the Fox river, with its source in a beautiful 
 lake near Waukesha, Wisconsin, flows south 
 into the Illinois at Ottawa. Westward the great 
 prairie stretches off to and beyond the Rock 
 river which has eroded a narrow valley through 
 
 [9] 
 
10 DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY. 
 
 that otherwise flat plain. Besides Rock river 
 the only important streams that lay in the 
 course of travel of the Hall girls as prisoners, 
 were the Sycamore (South Kishwaukee) and 
 the Kishwaukee in Illinois, and Turtle Creek, 
 the Bark River and the Oconomowoc in Wis 
 consin. 
 
 We are told by geologists that during the 
 quaternary age of the world, a great ice-berg, 
 moving down from the north, crushed all the 
 trees and vegetation in its path, leveled most 
 of the hills and filled most of the valleys as far 
 south as the Ohio River. When that body of ice 
 melted it formed lakes in the depressions which 
 were not filled with till. Drumlins, eskers and 
 kames, here and there, remain to indicate either 
 the resistance of the prior formation or that 
 quantities of earth filled the uneven under sur 
 face of the ice at the time of its dissolution. 
 
 By the action of the atmosphere, rains and 
 dew, as centuries rolled on, vegetation sprang 
 up all over that great plain, and springs to sup 
 ply the greatest necessity of living things, broke 
 forth and flowed in streams that united into 
 rivers as they rolled on to the sea. Along the 
 streams were forests of trees including many 
 species of the oak, ash, sycamore, elm, sugar 
 
12 DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY. 
 
 maple, locust, hickory, walnut, butternut, lin 
 den, cherry, buckeye, blackberry and many 
 other familiar varieties. Also, here and there 
 stood groves that escaped the terrible prairie 
 fires that almost every year swept over that 
 vast plain. 
 
 Game of many kinds, from the monstrous buf 
 falo and timid deer down to the rabbit, the tur 
 key, the prairie chicken, and the quail, was 
 abundant. 
 
 Last, and by no means least, was the beautiful 
 flora of that country which was known as 
 "The Paradise of the West." 1 A traveler who 
 saw it in its natural condition, describes it as 
 follows: "Above all countries, this is the land 
 of flowers. In the season, every prairie is an 
 immense flower garden. In the early stages of 
 spring flowers, the prevalent tint is peach blu 
 ish; the next is a deeper red; then succeeds the 
 yellow ; and to the latest period of autumn the 
 prairies exhibit a brilliant golden, scarlet and 
 blue carpet, mingled with the green and brown 
 ripened grass." 2 
 
 "Sweet waves the sea of summer flowers 
 Around our wayside cot so coy, 
 Where Eileen sings away the hours 
 That light my task in Illinois." McGee. 
 
 1 6 Wis. Hist. Col., 421; 10 Wis. Hist. Col., 24G-7. 
 "Western Portraiture," Colton, 221. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 INDIAN TROUBLES. 
 
 When the first white man settled in Illinois, 
 the Mascoutin Indians occupied the lands be 
 tween the Illinois River and the waterway 
 formed by the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers from 
 Green Bay to Prairie dn Chien. Later the Sacs, 
 the Foxes, and the Pottawatamies, occupied the 
 territory and had many villages. There were 
 no national boundary lines. A prominent route 
 of travel was the Kishwaukee Trail from Wat- 
 seca in Eastern Illinois up the Kankakee to 
 where it flows into the Illinois, and thence in 
 a northwesterly direction to the mouth of the 
 Kishwaukee on Rock River, about six miles be 
 low Rockford. Dixon was the great center of 
 trails. The principal one was from Kaskaskia 
 by way of Dixon to Galena, Illinois. Numerous 
 other trails connected prominent points and 
 various Indian villages. 
 
 In 1804 a treaty was made with the Sacs and 
 Foxes at St. Louis, of which the principal pro 
 vision were as follows : 
 
 " Article 1. The United States receive the 
 united Sac and Fox tribes into their friendship 
 and protection and the said tribes agree to con- 
 
 [13] 
 
14 INDIAN TROUBLES. 
 
 sider themselves under the protection of the 
 United States, and no other power whatsoever. 
 "Article 2. The General boundary line be 
 tween the land of the United States and the said 
 Indian tribes shall be as follows, to-wit: Be 
 ginning at a point on the Missouri River oppo 
 site to the mouth of the Gasconde River ; thence, 
 in a direct course so as to strike the River Jef- 
 freon to the Mississippi; thence, up the Missis 
 sippi to the mouth of the Ouisconsing [Wiscon 
 sin] River, and up the same to a point which 
 shall be 36 miles in a direct line from the mouth 
 of the said river, thence, by a direct line to the 
 point where the Fox River (a branch of the 
 Illinois) leaves the small lake called Sakaegan; 
 thence, down the Fox River to the Illinois 
 River, and down the same to the Mississippi. 
 And the said tribes, for and in consideration of 
 the friendship and protection of the United 
 States, which is now extended to them, of the 
 goods (to the value of two thousand two hun 
 dred and thirty-four dollars and fifty cents) 
 which are now delivered, and of the annuity 
 hereinafter stipulated to be paid, do hereby 
 cede and relinquish forever, to the United 
 States, all the lands included within the above 
 described boundary. 
 
INDIAN TROUBLES. 15 
 
 Article 3. In consideration of the cession 
 and relinquishment of land made in the preced 
 ing article, the United States will deliver to the 
 said tribes, at the town of St. Louis, or some 
 other convenient place on the Mississippi, yearly 
 and every year, goods suited to the circum 
 stances of the Indians of the value of one thou 
 sand dollars (six hundred of which are intended 
 for the Sacs and four hundred for the Foxes), 
 reckoning that value at the first cost of the 
 goods in the City or place in the United States, 
 where they shall be procured. And if the said 
 tribes shall hereafter at an annual delivery of 
 the goods aforesaid, desire that a part of their 
 annuity should be furnished in domestic ani 
 mals, implements of husbandry, and other uten 
 sils, convenient for them, or in compensation to 
 useful artificers, who may reside with or near 
 them, and be employed for their benefit, the 
 same shall, at the subsequent annual delivery, 
 be furnished accordingly. 
 
 "Article 4. The United States will never in 
 terrupt the said tribes in the possession of the 
 lands, which they rightfully claim, but will, on 
 the contrary, protect them in the quiet enjoy 
 ment of the same against their own citizens and 
 against all other white persons, who may in- 
 
16 INDIAN TROUBLES. 
 
 trude upon them. And the said tribes do here 
 by engage that they will never sell their lands, 
 or any part thereof, to any sovereign power but 
 the United States, nor to the citizens or subjects 
 of any other sovereign power, nor to the cit 
 izens of the United States. 
 
 ********* 
 
 " Article 7. As long as the lands which are 
 now ceded to the United States remain their 
 [U. S. l property, the Indians belonging to the 
 said tribes shall enjoy the privileges of living 
 and hunting upon them." 3 
 
 The Chippew T as, the Winnebagos, and the 
 Pottawatamies, made claim to the same terri 
 tory. Even the Foxes and Sacs claimed that 
 the young chiefs who signed the treaty, were 
 made drunk, and while in that condition agreed 
 to the treaty. 4 Also, the Indians maintained 
 that the United States would not allow them to 
 hunt upon the "wild" lands, notwithstanding 
 Art. 7 of the treaty and that the title thereto 
 was still in the government. Therefore, the In 
 dians refused to ratify the treaty, and the idea 
 that they were grievously wronged became a 
 fixed notion in the minds of the old chiefs, 
 
 2 "Indian Affairs, Laws and Treaties", 174. 
 4 Black Hawk s Autobiography, Le Claire, Ch. 3. 
 12 "The Republic", Irelan, 68. 
 
INDIAN TROUBLES. 
 
 17 
 
 15LACK HAWK AS A WABRIOR. 
 
 which led to the Red Bird War of 1827, and the 
 still greater Black Hawk War in 1832. 5 
 
 S 3 Smith s "History of Wisconsin" (1854), 115 et 
 seq.; "Waubun," Kinzie, 381. 
 
18 INDIAN TROUBLES. 
 
 Black Hawk had fought with the English in 
 the War of 1812, and by reason of the defeat of 
 the English, including his own, he retained his 
 natural desire for revenge against the Amer 
 icans. He was born at Rock Island, and had as 
 strong love for his native place as was ever re 
 tained by any white man. When Illinois be 
 came a state in 1818, Black Hawk with all his 
 people was ordered to move across the Missis 
 sippi into Iowa, which he reluctantly obeyed. 
 However, he was never satisfied with his new 
 location, and in 1832 he again crossed the Mis 
 sissippi with four hundred warriors and all 
 their squaws and children and squatted on his 
 former possessions at Rock Island. He was 
 ordered back to Iowa, but refused to go until 
 he learned that troops were being sent against 
 him. With all his people he retired north along 
 Rock River, followed by the Illinois militia, 
 and when he reached a point about twenty-five 
 miles south of Rockford, he halted and held a 
 council of war with chiefs of the Pottawatomies 
 and Winnebagoes. where he delivered the fol 
 lowing speech: 
 
 "I was born at the Sac Village, and here I 
 spent my childhood, youth and manhood. I 
 liked to look on this place with its surroundings 
 
INDIAN TROUBLES. 19 
 
 of big rivers, shady groves and green prairies. 
 Here are the graves of my father and some of 
 my children. Here I expected to live and die 
 and lay my bones beside those near and dear 
 to me; but now in my old age I have been 
 driven from my home, and dare not look again 
 upon this loved spot." 
 
 The old chief choked with grief and tears 
 flowed down his cheeks. Covering his face in 
 his blanket, he remained silent for a few mo 
 ments. Then wiping away his tears, he con 
 tinued : 
 
 "Before many moons you, too, will be com 
 pelled to leave your homes. The haunts of your 
 youth, your villages, your corn fields, and your 
 hunting grounds, will be in the possession of 
 the whites, and by them the graves of your 
 fathers will be plowed up, while your people 
 will be retreating towards the setting sun to 
 find new homes beyond the Father of Waters. 
 We have been as brothers; we fought side by 
 side in the British war ; we hunted together and 
 slept under the same blanket; we have met at 
 councils and at religious feasts ; our people are 
 alike and our interests are the same." 6 
 
 On the 14th day of May, 1832, the militia 
 
 Memories af Sbaubena, 98. 
 
20 INDIAN TROUBLES. 
 
 under Major Stillman arrived within eight miles 
 of the camp of Black Hawk who sent three 
 Indians under a flag of truce to negotiate a 
 treaty with the whites. The wily chief also 
 sent five other Indians to a point where they 
 could watch the unarmed braves carrying the 
 white flag. Stillman s men refusing to recog 
 nize the white flag set upon the Indians, killed 
 one and captured the others, and then set off 
 after the other five who held their guns cross 
 wise over their heads as a sign of friendship. 
 ./ The whites killed two of the five and chased 
 the others into Black Hawk s camp. Then the 
 Indians set upon Stillman s army, cut it to 
 pieces, and chased the scattered remnants for 
 many miles. The place of that battle is known 
 as " Stillman s Run." 7 The disgrace of the en 
 tire affair has been a dark blot upon the white 
 man s bravery and his manner of dealing with 
 j/ihe Indians. Up to this time the Indians had 
 ^/committed no crime nor act of war against the 
 whites. 8 
 
 Immediately after the engagement Black 
 Hawk called another council of his braves, at 
 
 7 "Life of Albert Sidney Johnston," Johnston, 35. 
 8 12 Wis. Hist. Col., 230; "History of Indiana/ 
 Esarey, 323; "The Black Hawk War," 129-144. 
 
INDIAN TROUBLES. 
 
 21 
 
 BLACK HAWK AS A CIVILIAN. 
 
 which it was determined to fight to the last and 
 to send out small bands of Indians to the var 
 ious white settlements to destroy them. Among 
 the great warriors present at that council was 
 
22 INDIAN TROUBLES. 
 
 the celebrated Chief Shabona (Shab-eh-ney) 9 
 who fought beside Tecumseh at his down-fall at 
 the battle of the Thames. Shabona pleaded 
 with the Indian chiefs to give up the war and 
 to return to Iowa, and when they refused to do 
 so, he, his son Pypagee, and his nephew Pyps, 
 mounted ponies and rode to the various white 
 settlements and notified the people of the dan 
 ger of the Indians. The first horse with which 
 Shabona started, dropped dead under him; 
 but he obtained another horse from a farmer 
 and rode day and night until he had warned 
 the whites at all the settlements. 
 
 "L-o, the poor Indian! whose untutored mind 
 Sees God in the clouds, or hears Him in the wind." 
 
 Pope. 
 
 7 Wis. Hist. Col., 323, 415; "The Black Hawk War," 
 Stevens, 160. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE DAVIS SETTLEMENT. 
 
 The father of our heroines, William Hall, 
 who was born in Georgia, migrated to Ken 
 tucky where he married Mary J. Wilburs, and 
 in 1825 emigrated to Mackinaw, about fifteen 
 miles south of Peoria, Illinois, where he opened 
 a farm. Shortly afterwards he moved to the 
 lead mines near Galena where he staid three 
 years, and then returned to Lamoille, Bureau 
 County, Illinois. In the spring of 1832 he sold 
 out his mining claim and settled upon a home 
 stead about two miles east of the farm of Wil 
 liam Davis. Prior to that time his oldest 
 daughter. Temperance, had been married to 
 Peter Cartwright, but the other members of his 
 family, consisting of his wife, three daughters 
 Sylvia, aged 19, Rachel, aged 17, and Eliza 
 beth, aged 8 years, and two boys, were liv 
 ing with him. Some time prior to the massacre, 
 two Indians named Co-mee and To-qua-mee, 
 who had been frequent visitors at the Hall 
 home and treated kindly by Mr. Hall s daught 
 ers, endeavored, after the custom of the Indians, 
 to purchase Sylvia and Rachel from their 
 father. 10 
 
 10 "The Black Hawk War," Stevens, 149. 
 
 [23] 
 
24 
 
 THE DAVIS SETTLEMENT. 
 
 MRS. DUNAVAN, AGED 16, LIKENESS OF 
 SYLVIA HALL. 
 
 The Halls were noted for their hospitality. 
 Judge Edwin Jerome of Detroit relates that he 
 was the guest of the family one night in April 
 1832. 11 
 
 William Petigrew, also from Kentucky, who 
 had just migrated to the Davis Settlement and 
 had not yet established a home for himself, with 
 his wife and two children, was temporarily 
 stopping at the home of Mr. Davis at the time 
 of the massacre. 
 
 "1 "Michigan Pioneers", Jerome, 49. 
 
THE DAVIS SETTLEMENT. 25 
 
 In 1830, John H. Henderson emigrated from 
 Tennessee to Indian Creek and settled on a 
 homestead adjoining the land of Davis on the 
 south. Subsequently the Hendersons became 
 prominent politicians, both in Illinois and Iowa. 
 
 In the spring of 1830, William Davis, a Ken- 
 tuckian, and a blacksmith by trade, settled on 
 a land claim on Big Indian Creek, twelve miles 
 north of Ottawa, in the northern part of La 
 Salle County, Illinois. He was the first white 
 settler at that place. 
 
 Agriculture and marriage have always been 
 the great necessities to found permanent civil 
 ization. To establish a settlement in the great 
 west, at that time, a blacksmith shop and a mill 
 were the next two great necessities, and around 
 those the early settlers broke up the wild prairie 
 and on the upturned sod sowed buckwheat, tur 
 nips and sod-corn, which within three months 
 produced their first food from the soil for them 
 selves and their stock. To "break" the tough 
 prairie sod required a sharp plowshare and col 
 ter, which had to be resharpened frequently. 
 Without the blacksmith the prairie could hardly 
 be cultivated. The big ox-teams of the neigh 
 bors, with which they had moved into the coun 
 try, pulled the plow. Next, with the crop pro- 
 
26 THE DAVIS SETTLEMENT. 
 
 duced, the grist mill to grind the grain was a 
 great necessity. The Indians and some of the 
 early settlers with hammers and stones pulver 
 ized corn and wheat enough to supply their ab 
 solute wants from day to day, but the whites, 
 who had been accustomed to corn-meal and 
 wheat-flour bread, were not satisfied with the 
 mashed product. Therefore, Davis, who sup 
 plied both of those great necessities, was a 
 prominent man in the Davis Settlement. 
 
 The mill-site was where the Sauk trail from 
 Black Hawk s Village at the mouth of the Rock 
 River crossed Big Indian Creek and continued 
 thence east to Canada, where the whole tribe 
 of Sacs went every year to get their annuities 
 from the English Government. 12 Just above the 
 ford the creek meandered through a flat-bot 
 tomed gulch that was about two hundred feet 
 wide with precipitous banks about fifteen feet 
 high. At this point the stream flowed south 
 easterly and was fringed along its course with 
 woods that grew dense, and here and there ex 
 panded into groves, but at other places there 
 were openings where the prairie fires annually 
 destroyed the undergrowth and left standing 
 
 "Blanchard s History of Illinois, 122, and Historical 
 Map. 
 
28 THE DAVIS SETTLEMENT. 
 
 only the monarchs of the forest. The north 
 bank of the gulch had an incline of about forty- 
 five degrees to the level of the prairie. On that 
 bank in a sparsely timbered opening from which 
 the prairie stretched off to the cardinal points 
 of the compass, William Davis located his home 
 and erected his cabin. About that cabin there 
 were trees that produced fruit, fuel and lum 
 ber, among whose branches were singing birds 
 of great variety, including the Cardinal, the 
 Dickcissel, the Carolina Wren, the Thrush and 
 the Robin. By May the bank was covered with 
 a carpet of thick, waving grass, diversified with 
 ever-changing colored flowers, until the cruel 
 frost of Fall destroyed them. It was an 
 idyllic spot. No doubt Davis hoped that some 
 day the Davis Settlement would become Davis 
 City, and that his generations would revel in 
 mansions that would replace the cottage on the 
 bank of that new Jordan, where he, like King 
 David, in his old age might kneel among his 
 people to pray. 
 
 However, the hopes and aspirations of the 
 Davis family were soon to be blasted. Davis 
 was a powerful man and his Kentucky blood 
 fairly boiled with resentment at any offense, 
 particularly one given by an Indian, upon whom 
 
THE DAVIS SETTLEMENT. 29 
 
 he looked as an inferior. With his gun and 
 howie knife Davis would fight a dozen Indians 
 aye, a score. It seemed as though he could 
 play with them in the air as an athlete plays 
 with Indian clubs. 
 
 About one hundred and fifty feet south of 
 his cottage, Davis erected a blacksmith shop 
 and a mill. To obtain water power for his mill 
 it became necessary for Davis to put a dam 
 across the stream. Six miles farther up Indian 
 Creek there was an Indian village, and as the 
 fish naturally went up the stream every spring, 
 there was good fishing at the village for the 
 Indians. The dam prevented the fish from go 
 ing up, and the Indians protested against this 
 invasion of their rights. Davis, however, in 
 sisted on his rights to build and maintain the 
 dam, and bad feelings were engendered. 
 
 One day in April, 1832. Davis discovered an 
 Indian tearing an outlet in the dam, and with 
 a hickory stick he beat the Indian unmerci 
 fully. 13 Had he killed the Indian it might have 
 ended the affair; but to whip an Indian with a 
 stick as you would whip a dog, was an insult 
 that incurred the resentment of the whole In 
 dian village, and instilled in the Indian a rank- 
 13 Black Hawk s Autobiography, Le Claire, Ch. XII. 
 
30 
 
 THE DAVIS SETTLEMENT. 
 
 CHIEF SHABONA. 
 
 ling desire for revenge. The incident, however, 
 was settled by Chief Shabona with the assist 
 ance of another Indian chief named Waubansee, 
 who advised the Indians not to resort to force 
 ful reparation and to do their fishing below the 
 dam. The Indians followed Shabona s advice 
 for some time, but after a while Davis noticed 
 that they ceased to go below the dam to fish, 
 and being quite familiar with the Indian char 
 acter, he took it as an intimation of their anger, 
 and he prepared for hostilities. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 TJIE MASSACRE. 
 
 The year 1831 was known to early settlers in 
 Illinois as "The Dry Year." There was little 
 rain and there were long spells of great heat, so 
 that vegetation was parched and the crop a 
 failure. The season of 1832 was just the oppo 
 site. 14 During the first half of the month of 
 May there were numerous heavy thunder storms 
 with intervals of hot weather that made the 
 grass and flowers grow very rapidly, but de 
 layed the farmers in their planting. Also, the 
 several Indian scares interrupted the settlers in 
 their regular work in the fields. 
 
 As already stated, immediately after the 
 breaking up of the Indian council after the de 
 feat of Stillman, Shabona rode in post haste to 
 the Davis Settlement and warned the people of 
 the danger of an Indian massacre. The whites 
 loaded on their wagons such articles as could 
 be readily handled, and drove to Ottawa, the 
 nearest fort, where there was a garrison of sol 
 diers. 
 
 The Indians did not make the expected raid, 
 and slowly the settlers returned to their home- 
 
 ""Historic Illinois," Parish, 258. 
 [31] 
 
32 THE MASSACRE. 
 
 steads. During this retreat some of the people 
 tantalized Davis for running away from the 
 Indians, and his reply was that he would never 
 do so again. 
 
 On Monday morning, May 21st, Shabona 
 again rode to the Davis Settlement and warned 
 the whites that there was immediate danger of 
 a massacre. At this time it happened that Davis 
 was at Ottawa on some business when Shabona 
 called. However, his family and the neighbors 
 hastily loaded their furniture and other mov 
 able articles on wagons, and hurriedly drove off 
 to Ottawa. They had almost reached the fort 
 when they met Davis, who ordered his own fam 
 ily to return, and urged the return of his im 
 mediate neighbors, inviting them all to go to his 
 place where they would be perfectly safe. The 
 Halls, Hendersons and Pettigrews, with two 
 farm hands named Henry George and Robert 
 Norris, reluctantly returned with Davis, and 
 arrived at his cottage about noon. 
 
 After dinner John W. Henderson, Alexander 
 Davis and a younger son of William Davis, Ed 
 ward and Greenbury Hall, and Allen Howard, 
 went to a field about one hundred rods south of 
 the Davis cottage, to plant corn. In the middle 
 of the afternoon William Hall, John W. Hall, 
 
THE MASSACRE. 33 
 
 Robert Norris, Henry George and William 
 Davis, Jr., who were working on the mill-dam, 
 gathered into the blacksmith shop where Davis 
 was repairing his gun, to get a drink from a 
 pail of water which had been brought from a 
 nearby spring. All the loaded guns and the 
 ammunition were in the dwelling house, where 
 Pettigrew, with his baby in his arms, was chat 
 ting with the ladies who were sewing by the 
 open door. The afternoon was very hot and 
 was not inspiring to great exertion. The furni 
 ture which had been loaded to drive to Ottawa, 
 was still on the wagons that stood in the yard. 
 The perfume of the blooming flowers filled the < 
 air which was rich in its freshness after the 
 many days of rain and lightning. All nature 
 seemed to instil in the little Davis Settlement a 
 feeling of safety or at least to relieve them from 
 alarm during the daytime. With the coming 
 darkness, no doubt, they would have all gath 
 ered into the little cottage and some of the men 
 would have stood guard with their guns to 
 watch for Indians. 
 
 About four o clock a party of sixty to seventy 
 Indians suddenly leaped over the garden fence, 
 filled the yard, and part of them rushed towards 
 the house. Mr. Pettigrew leaped forward to 
 
34 THE MASSACRE. 
 
 close the door, but was instantly shot dead. 
 Through the open door the Indians rushed with 
 spears, and hatchets, and guns, filling the little 
 cottage. There was no place to hide and no 
 chance for the whites to escape. In her despair 
 Mrs. Pettigrew threw her arms around Rachel 
 Hall and was killed by a shot so close to Rachel 
 as to blacken her face with the powder. Rachel 
 jumped upon the bed, which only placed her in 
 view of more Indians and increased the danger 
 of being shot. 
 
 iX The piteous screams of the women and chil 
 dren were terrifying. The Indians stuck them 
 with spears and hacked them with tomahawks 
 without feeling or mercy, and as they fell each 
 victim s scalp was cut off with a big knife. 
 
 An Indian grabbed Pettigrew s baby by the 
 legs, rushed out doors, swung the child over 
 his head, and dashed its brains out against a 
 stump in the yard. There, also, an Indian on 
 each side held the youngest Davis boy by his 
 hands, the little lad standing pale and silent, 
 and a third Indian shot him dead. As his limp 
 body fell, an Indian scalped him. 
 
 In a few moments all the whites in the house 
 excepting Sylvia and Rachel Hall, namely : Mrs, 
 
THE MASSACRE. 35 
 
 Wm. Hall, aged forty-five years, her daughter 
 Elizabeth, aged eight years, Wm. Pettigrew, 
 his wife and two children, and Mrs. Wm. Davis 
 and her five children, were killed. 
 
 The sudden appearance of the Indians bewil 
 dered the men who were in the blacksmith shop, 
 as they were cut off from their guns and am 
 munition. Young Davis slipped behind the shop 
 and thence escaped down the creek. The others 
 rushed towards the house and were met by a 
 volley of shots. William Hall, whose breast was 
 pierced by two bullets, with a prayer on his lips, 
 fell dead at his son John s feet. Davis called 
 out to John Hall to "Take care!" and then 
 tried to escape to the woods. Notwithstanding 
 his prowess and that he made a desperate fight 
 for his life by using his unloaded gun as a club, 
 he was in a short time so overcome by Indian 
 warriors with their spears and tomahawks that 
 with innumerable wounds he sank dead in his 
 yard. John Hall was so paralyzed by the awful 
 carnage, that for a moment he did not move 
 from where his father lay. He watched the In 
 dians reloading their guns, then as a man awak 
 ening from a night-mare he jumped down the 
 high bank and a volley of bullets passed over 
 
36 THE MASSACRE.. 
 
 his head. By hugging closely to the bank next 
 the Indians, he scrambled hastily down the 
 stream and then ran as he never ran before, 
 thus escaping. Norris and George slid down 
 the bank and attempted to cross the creek, but 
 a volley of bullets from the Indians killed one 
 of them as he was climbing the bank, his body 
 falling back into the creek, and the other fell 
 on the green sward above. 
 
 John W. Henderson, two sons of Wm. Davis 
 and two sons of Wm. Hall, who were at work 
 in the cornfield when the Indians made the at 
 tack upon the Davis cottage, comprehending the 
 situation, hastily fled to Ottawa. They had sped 
 only about two miles when John W. Hall over 
 took them. By reason of his scudding from 
 death in the great heat and his excited condi 
 tion, John s account of the massacre was inco 
 herently told with uncontrolled emotions of 
 grief and rage. Believing that the Indians 
 were pursuing, he did not check his speed, but 
 urged the others to extra efforts until they 
 reached the fort. 
 
 Sylvia and Rachel Hall were each seized by 
 two Indians who dragged them out of the cot 
 tage to the yard where the final acts of the mas 
 sacre were taking place. 
 
THE MASSACRE. 37 
 
 In their fiendish desire for revenge for 
 man s treachery and to terrify the whites, the 
 Indians cut out the hearts of some of the slain 
 and otherwise mutilated their bodies. Of all 
 the whites none but Kachel and Sylvia Hall re 
 mained alive to witness the closing act of the 
 horrible tragedy. As they saw scattered in the 
 yard the bodies of their murdered parents, their 
 sister, and their neighbors sixteen in all, the 
 girls were stupefied with horror. The wonder 
 is that the shock did not kill both of them. 
 
 The massacre has been described so often, and 
 is so sickening in its particulars, that we drop 
 the curtain on the tragic scene. 15 
 
 15 3 Smith s "History of Wisconsin", 187; "History 
 of La Salle County," Baldwin, 95; fi The Black Hawk 
 War," Stevens, 150; "Memories of Shabona," Mat- 
 son, 145-155; Ottawa Journal, Aug. 30, 1906; 12 Trans 
 actions 111. State Hist. Soc., 332; Ford s History of 
 Illinois, 122. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE CAPTIVITY. 
 
 A person never knows what he would do 
 under conditions and circumstances never be 
 fore experienced : a mother who would flee from 
 a cow, would, to protect her child, fight a tiger 
 without thought of her own safety; a timid 
 deer that would flee from a baby, when its 
 nature is changed by a serious wound will fight 
 a hunter to death ; a soldier s nature becomes so 
 changed in battle that he obeys orders like an 
 automaton!, and in his efforts to kill men exerts 
 himself until the sweat rolls down his face as it 
 would down the face of a harvest hand mowing 
 grass. 
 
 Sylvia and Rachel Hall, who in the peace of 
 their home would faint at the sight of blood, 
 had their nature so changed during the slaugh 
 ter and mutilation of their dear relatives and 
 friends that they viewed the scene with horror 
 that almost paralyzed them and put them in a 
 psychological condition of mental aberration. 
 
 The spell of lethargy was rudely broken when 
 the girls were dragged off as captives, first to 
 the creek, and, after Rachel had been pulled 
 half way across the stream, then back again to 
 
 [38] 
 
THE CAPTIVITY. 39 
 
 the yard. There two Indians, each seizing one 
 of Sylvia s hands, and two others taking Rachel 
 in a similar manner, hustled the girls north 
 ward along the easterly side of the creek. The 
 girls were soon in unknown lands through 
 which they were tugged on, and on, not know 
 ing whither nor to what fate. Did they cry? 
 Of course they did; strong men would have 
 wept under similar circumstances. Did they 
 pray? Yes; but their prayers were not like the 
 Pharisee s : they prayed with an intense feeling 
 from the bottom of their hearts and with all 
 the power of their souls. Were their prayers 
 answered? Were they? Read on, read on! 
 
 After being hustled and half dragged about 
 a mile and a half, they came to where a number 
 of horses were tied in the edge of a grove. Here 
 they met friends: horses belonging to their 
 father and their neighbors. The horses pricked 
 up their ears, looked at the girls and whinnied 
 returning the girls recognition. If the girls 
 could have mounted two of these friendly ani 
 mals that were bred in Kentucky they might 
 have ridden to freedom; but it was not so to be. 
 
 The Indians put each girl on a pony furnished 
 with an Indian saddle and led by a warrior. 
 Thus they traveled on, keeping due north. 
 
40 THE CAPTIVITY. 
 
 After the sun had set the additional terror of 
 darkness was enveloping them. Occasionally a 
 night-hawk would break the awful silence by 
 swooping down from his great height with his 
 accustomed "Boo-oo-oo," and a whippoor-will 
 would add his monotonous whistle from a de 
 cayed log in the adjacent woods. Otherwise, it 
 was as solemn a procession as ever moved to the 
 grave, and only for the crack of his whip and 
 an occasional "ugh" from an Indian there was 
 little to attract attention until they passed a 
 large grove on their left. The girls had heard 
 of Shabona s Grove. Was this that historical 
 sylvan place? Would Shabona come to their 
 relief? He had saved them and their friends 
 before, and if it had not been for the obstinacy 
 of Davis they would not have been in their 
 awful predicament. But the chief, worn out 
 and tired from his long wild ride of the night 
 before and asleep in his tent, was unconscious 
 of the passing of that strange and unusual pro 
 cession. 
 
 Hour after hour passed as the girls rode along 
 weary and heart-sick on that dark night, with 
 nothing but the stars to light their way, and not 
 a ray of hope in their hearts. The head waters 
 of Indian creek and of the Somonauk had been 
 
THE CAPTIVITY. 41 
 
 passed and the source of the Sycamore was 
 reached just as the moon was rising, 51 min 
 utes after twelve o clock. 16 Here the first stop 
 was made and the girls were allowed to rest on 
 some blankets on which they sat together, not 
 daring to lie down to sleep. The Indians 
 holding their ponies by the bridles, danced a 
 little, but nothing was said that would indicate 
 their intent, either as to the place of destina 
 tion or what they intended to do with their cap 
 tives. As the girls could not speak the Indian 
 language or understand it, there was little me 
 dium of communication between them and the 
 Indians. Their feelings of sorrow for their mur 
 dered relatives mixed with the uncertainty of 
 their own fate, and their disheveled hair and 
 soiled cheeks through which their tears washed 
 courses, made them objects of woeful misery. 
 Oh ! if the girls could only wash their faces, 
 which were stained with powder and the blood 
 of their dear friends, or even in their sorrow 
 comb each other s hair as they had often done 
 at their father s cottage, it would have re 
 freshed them, and, to some extent, relieved their 
 distress. 
 
 "Washington Observatory Record; "Old Farmer s 
 Almanac," 1832. 
 
42 THE CAPTIVITY. 
 
 About half -past three o clock in the morning 
 of May 22nd, the girls were replaced on the 
 ponies, the Indians remounted, and once more 
 the train proceeded in its former order, with 
 Indians before, on the sides, and in the rear of 
 the girls. They passed groves, here and there, 
 and hour after hour, with tiresome monotony, 
 they moved along. 
 
 After the sun had lapped the dew, it grew 
 very warm and Rachel became w r eary almost to 
 collapse. She thought that if she could walk 
 for a little while it would give her relief, not- 
 Avithstanding her weak condition from fasting 
 and worry. She did not know the language of 
 the Indians, but necessity finds a way : she made 
 signs of distress and indicated that she wanted 
 to walk. The Indians understood her and as 
 sisted her from her pony. This little act of 
 gallantry gave her the first indication of their 
 l / xftuman sympathy and inspired her with some 
 confidence in their honor. 
 
 Limp and staggering, she managed to keep 
 pace with the procession. When they reached 
 the Kishwaukee there was no hesitation and all 
 plunged into the stream. Rachel, who had not 
 been replaced on her pony, was forced to wade 
 across through water three feet deep. 
 
THE CAPTIVITY. 43 
 
 It was now about two o clock in the afternoon 
 and a stop was made about twenty-five miles 
 easterly from Stillman s Run, on the west of 
 a large grove, to allow the ponies to graze on 
 the bank of the river. Here they remained for 
 about two hours. The Indians scalded some 
 beans and roasted some acorns, of which they 
 ate heartily and offered portions to the girls, 
 who tried to eat so as not to offend the Indians. 
 
 After the Indians had finished their lunch 
 they busied themselves in stretching on little 
 hoops the scalps that they had taken in the 
 massacre at Indian Creek. The girls immedi 
 ately recognized the scalps of some of their 
 friends, particularly the scalp of their mother. 
 The sight caused Sylvia to faint. Limp and un 
 conscious she lay beside her sister, who by the 
 incident was again put into her former psychic 
 condition, being oblivious to everything about 
 her excepting her sister s care. The subcon 
 scious thought that she had to protect Sylvia 
 inspired her with superhuman strength as well 
 as the fighting spirit of a lioness. If Sylvia 
 should die ! what then ? If she should be unable 
 to travel, would the Indians kill her? What tor 
 ture of mind Rachel must have suffered ! 
 
 About four o clock Sylvia regained her con- 
 
44 THE CAPTIVITY. 
 
 sciousness, to the great relief of Rachel who re 
 covered her normal condition of mind. By this 
 time the Indians had gathered their horses, and 
 replacing the girls on the ponies that they had 
 been riding, all moved forward leisurely. 
 
 Shortly after starting a detachment of the 
 Indians was sent out to scout to the westward, 
 arid after being gone some time they returned 
 apparently excited, and immediately the proces 
 sion assumed a double-quick, during which the 
 Indian guards in the rear held their spears 
 poised, as though they expected an attack. 
 After traveling in that manner for about five 
 miles, the Indians resumed their composure and 
 slackened their speed to a walking pace. 
 
 Had the Indians seen some of Gen. Whiteside s 
 scouts? Had they learned that a detachment 
 of Illinois Militia, of which Abraham Lincoln 
 was a member, was moving towards them up 
 the Kishwaukee? 17 Or, were the Indians pur 
 sued by the friends of the girls ? 
 
 If the whites should attack the Indians, Sylvia 
 and Rachel feared that they would share the 
 fate of their relatives and friends at the Davis 
 Settlement. Therefore, when the excitement of 
 
 17 XII Wis. Hist. Col., 241, 242; "The Black Hawk 
 War." 146. 
 
THE CAPTIVITY. 45 
 
 the Indians subsided, a feeling of relief from 
 danger of immediate death calmed the girls. 
 
 The extra exertion during the scare caused 
 the pony that Sylvia was riding to give out, and 
 it was abandoned. Sylvia was then placed be 
 hind an Indian on a fine horse belonging to Mr. 
 Henderson, which, like the girls, had been taken 
 captive at Indian Creek. Thus they traveled, 
 en and on, until about nine o clock in the even 
 ing when they arrived at Black Hawk s Grove 
 on the east side of the present city of Janesville, 
 Wisconsin, where the whole of Black Hawk s 
 tribe was encamped. 18 During twenty-eight 
 hours the girls had traveled about eighty miles 
 from the place of their capture, and were worn 
 out almost beyond description. No one can 
 fully comprehend their condition without re 
 flecting upon that extremely long ride on horse 
 back, without food or drink, mourning their 
 dead, and tortured with the worry over their 
 future fate. 
 
 On their arrival at Black Hawk s Grove there 
 was great rejoicing at the Indian camp. Sev 
 eral squaws hurried to the girls, assisted them 
 off their horses, and conducted them to the cen- 
 
 18 Hist. of Rock Co., by Gurnsey & Willard, 19; 14 
 Wis. Hist. Col., 129; 6 Wis. Hist. Col., 422. 
 
46 THE CAPTIVITY. 
 
 ter of the camp where they had prepared a 
 comfortable place in the form of beds of animal 
 skins and blankets. Also, the squaws brought 
 in wooden bowls, parched corn, meal and maple- 
 sugar mixed, which they invited the girls to 
 eat. More through fear than appetite, the girls 
 partook of the food, although it was disgusting 
 to them. 
 
 The squaws requested the girls to throw on 
 the fire particles of food and some tobacco 
 which they handed them. The girls complied 
 with the request of their dusky hosts, although 
 they did not know for what purpose it was re 
 quired. As a matter of fact, it was a common 
 practice among the Indian tribes to make the 
 offering of food and tobacco to their gods in 
 case of escape from death or as thanks for some 
 extraordinary good fortune. 19 
 
 The squaws requested Sylvia and Rachel to 
 lie down on separate beds, and then a squaw lay 
 on each side of each of the girls, so that there 
 was no chance for escape. Thus abed, they had 
 a night of confused, disordered sleep, in which 
 visions of their friends and the scenes of the 
 massacre haunted them almost continually. The 
 
 19 2 "Indian Tribes of U. S.", Drake, 68, 72 ; 6 School- 
 craft s, "History of Indian Tribes of the U. S.", 83, 88. 
 
THE CAPTIVITY. 47 
 
 squaws endeavored to soothe the girls, but they 
 could not take the place of that mother who in 
 their childish nightmares would say to them: 
 "My dears, say a prayer and try to sleep." 
 
 "But God is sweet. 
 
 My mother told me so, 
 When I knelt at her feet 
 
 Long so long ago; 
 She clasped my hands in hers. 
 Ah! me, that memory stirs 
 My soul s profoundest deep 
 No wonder that I weep. 
 She clasped my hands and smiled, 
 Ah! then I was a child 
 I knew no harm 
 My mother s arm 
 Was flung around me; and I felt 
 That when I knelt 
 
 To listen to my mother s prayer, 
 God was with mother there. 
 Yea! "God is sweet!" 
 She told me so; 
 She never told me wrong; 
 And through my years of woe 
 Her whispers soft, and sad, and low, 
 
 And sweet as Angel s song, 
 Have floated like a dream." Fr. Ryan. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 When John W. Hall arrived at Ottawa he did 
 not know that his sisters had been taken prison 
 ers, but he supposed that they had been massa 
 cred with the rest of the people at the Davis 
 cottage. His first impulse was revenge, and he 
 rushed wildly about, urging men to arm and go 
 with him to the scene of the massacre. The 
 spirit of adventure was rampant among the 
 people at the time, and John soon found him 
 self at the head of a considerable number of 
 mounted men armed with all kinds of guns, who 
 followed him like a moib, from Ottawa to the 
 Davis Settlement. 
 
 On their way out they met some of the men 
 who were defeated at Stillman s Run, returning 
 to Ottawa. John endeavored to have these men 
 accompany him to the Davis Settlement, but 
 they had enough of Indian adventure, and in 
 stead of assisting John, discouraged the men 
 with him from engaging in a fight with the 
 Indians. 
 
 When John s squadron arrived at the Davis 
 cottage there was presented an awful sight 
 thirteen murdered and mutilated bodies in and 
 
 [48] 
 
TO THE RESCUE. 49 
 
 about the cottage, some hung on shambles like 
 butchered pigs, just as they were left by the 
 Indians. .On the creek below the cottage were 
 found the bodies of Norris and George where 
 they fell from the bullets of the Indians. The 
 absence of his sisters Rachel and Sylvia from 
 among the dead, presented to John a new quan 
 dary. A careful search was made about the 
 premises but no traces of the girls could be 
 found. 
 
 After having seen the awful deaths of their 
 fellow-whites, the men who accompanied John 
 had their desire for adventure changed to a 
 feeling of fear, which they tried to hide under 
 the excuse that it would be impossible to pro 
 ceed after the Indians without rations and tents. 
 
 The situation was a trying one for John. In 
 vain did he appeal to the men to help him rescue 
 his sisters. Not one would volunteer to go with 
 him, and after burying all the dead in one grave 
 in front of the little cottage, John and his 
 squadron hastily returned to Ottawa. 
 
 In hopes of rescuing his sisters, John again 
 recruited a force and obtained the necessaries to 
 follow up the Indians. Early on the second day 
 after the massacre, with about forty men and 
 two days rations, without any commissary, 
 
50 TO THE RESCUE. 
 
 John led his little army to the Davis Settlement 
 and along the Indian trail until he lost it on 
 the great prairie. He concluded that the In 
 dians had taken the "Kishwaukee Trail" to 
 where the Kishwaukee flows into the Rock 
 River, and he followed that route until he ar 
 rived at his objective point without attaining 
 his chief aim. Disappointed in not even getting 
 any information of his sisters and in not find 
 ing further track of the Indians, and his rations 
 having run out, John was again obliged to re 
 turn with his troops to Ottawa for a fresh sup 
 ply, when once more he started on a fruitless 
 search for his sisters. 
 
 COL. HENRY GKATIOT. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 MILITARY MOVEMENTS. 
 
 When a remnant of Stillman s men returned 
 to Dixon after an exciting ride of twenty-four 
 miles from Stillman s Run, they reported that 
 they had been attacked by thousands of Indians 
 and that all the rest of the army had been mas 
 sacred. The exaggerated report set a few of the 
 men who had not been with Stillman, keen to 
 fight ; but it instilled into most of them a sense 
 of home-sickness, and many of them requested 
 to be excused from duty. Gen. Taylor imme 
 diately reported the situation to Gen. Atkinson, 
 at Ottawa, and the latter ordered Generals 
 Whiteside and Barney, who were in command 
 of some United States regulars, to pursue the 
 Indians. 
 
 When the troops arrived at Stillman s Run 
 they found the bodies of thirteen soldiers and 
 most of the deserted commissary which had in 
 cluded a barrel of whiskey that Black Hawk 
 emptied on the ground. Black Hawk destroyed 
 the wagons and everything else that could not 
 be carried away, excepting a few boats that be 
 longed to the Indians which were left on the 
 river bank, 
 
 [51] 
 
52 MILITARY MOVEMENTS. 
 
 As a matter of fact Black Hawk had only 
 forty warriors with him at the time of the at 
 tack on him by Stillman s men, while Stillman 
 had about three hundred men. At the time of 
 the attack many of Stillman s men were under 
 the influence of liquor and most of them in such 
 a state of insubordination that they paid no 
 attention to the orders of their officers. Thus 
 they rushed into the camp of Black Hawk, and, 
 as each was acting independently, it was but a 
 short time until the Indians by their shots and 
 yells had the militia scared crazy and on the 
 run. 20 
 
 On May 22nd, in accordance with Gen. An 
 derson s order, Gen. Whiteside took up and fol 
 lowed the Indian trail for thirty-six miles along 
 the Kishwaukee and the Sycamore; but when 
 the high prairie was reached, the Indians scat 
 tered so in all directions that the troops were 
 unable to track them further, and the army 
 proceeded to the Fox River and down that 
 stream to Ottawa, where it arrived on May 27th. 
 
 On the day that the girls passed a few miles 
 to the east, the United States troops found on 
 the Sycamore, articles belonging to the Indians 
 
 *The Black Hawk War, Stevens, 133, 137. 
 
MILITARY MOVEMENTS. 53 
 
 who committed the massacre at Davis Settle 
 ment, among which were three scalps. Perhaps 
 it was fortunate for the girls that Gen. White- 
 side had not discovered and attacked the In 
 dians, because under such circumstances the 
 Indians might have murdered them. 
 
 Among the troops under Gen. Whiteside was 
 the company in which Captain Abraham Lin 
 coln, subsequently the great president of the 
 United States, served. Probably the girls had 
 not yet heard of him, who, if he had known of 
 their predicament, might have ended their cap 
 tivity on that day. 
 
 During the march up the Sycamore, an old 
 Pottawatomie Indian came into camp, tired and 
 hungry, with a letter of safe conduct, signed 
 by Gen. Lewis Cass. Some of the men declared 
 the letter was a forgery, and that the Indian 
 was a spy and should be put to death. When 
 the soldiers threatened the poor fellow, Capt. 
 Lincoln stepped forward and said that he would 
 shoot any man who would assault the Indian. 21 
 It can be readily seen how a man of Lincoln s 
 bravery and superior mental resources, might 
 have freed the girls without injury to them. 
 
 21 The Black Hawk War, 285. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 REWARD OFFERED. 
 
 The day after the massacre messengers car 
 ried the news in all directions to the various 
 settlements in Illinois, southern Wisconsin, 
 northern Indiana and western Michigan. At 
 every settlement block-houses or stockades were 
 built and the whites prepared to defend them 
 selves against attacks of the Indians. At Ga 
 lena the people assembled on May 28th and 
 passed resolutions (among other things) deplor 
 ing the captivity of the Hall girls and declaring 
 their obligations to obtain the release ol the 
 captives. In Michigan along the lake shore, 
 there was great excitement, intensified by fre 
 quent rumors that the Indians were coming. 22 
 
 Gen. Atkinson who was then at Ottawa offered 
 the Indians a reward of $2,000 in horses, goods 
 or money, for the safe delivery of the girls, as it 
 was feared that if force were used the Indians 
 would murder the girls. In "Wisconsin, Col. 
 Dodge who had command at Blue Mounds Fort 
 (25 miles west of Madison, Wisconsin), immedi 
 ately recruited an army and made plans to get 
 
 ^Michigan newspapers, 1832, 
 [54} 
 
REWARD OFFERED. 55 
 
 the girls. Lieutenant Edward Beouchard at 
 Blue Mounds and Henry Gratiot of Gratiot s 
 Grove (15 miles northeast of Galena), who were 
 friends of the Indians with whom they had 
 great influence, engaged in the search for the 
 girls. 
 
 Gratiot went to Turtle Village (now Beloit, 
 Wisconsin), where there was a tribe of Winne- 
 bagoes with whom he had been on friendly 
 terms and who were supposed to be friends of 
 the whites. However, the Indians took him 
 prisoner and he almost sacrificed his life in his 
 endeavor to obtain the release of the Hall girls. 
 He succeeded, however, in making his message 
 known to the Indians, and arousing among them 
 a strong incentive to obtain the reward. While 
 he was held as a prisoner, an Indian chief to 
 whom Gratiot had often given presents and 
 shown kindness, came to him and offered his 
 services to aid in Gratiot s escape. Also Col. 
 Gratiot was the government agent who paid the 
 Winnebagoes their annual allowance from the 
 United States government, which, no doubt, had 
 some influence. The Indian took the Colonel to 
 his tent, and late in the night silently conducted 
 him to the river and gave him a canoe in which 
 he paddled to safety. On his return home, 
 
56 REWARD OFFERED. 
 
 Gratiot reported that the captive girls were 
 somewhere near the head of Rock River in 
 southern Wisconsin. He had gleaned that much 
 information from conversations among the In 
 dians whose language he understood. 
 
 Not knowing that Col. Gratiot had visited 
 Turtle Village, Gen. Anderson sent by messen 
 ger to Blue Mounds, the following letter: 
 
 "Headquarters Right Wing West. Dept., 
 Dixon s Ferry, 27th May, 1832. 
 "Sir: 
 
 In the attack of the Sac Indians on the set 
 tlements on a branch of Fox River the 22nd 
 inst., fifteen men, women, and children, were 
 killed, and two young women were taken pris 
 oners. This heart-rending occurrence should 
 not only call forth our sympathies, but urge us 
 to relieve the survivors. 
 
 "You will therefore proceed to the Turtle 
 Village or send someone of confidence and pre 
 vail on the head chiefs and braves of the Win- 
 nebagoes there to go over to the hostile Sacs 
 and endeavor to ransom the prisoners. Offer 
 the Winnebagoes a large reward to effect the 
 object: $500 or $1000 for each. 
 
REWARD OFFERED. 57 
 
 I expected to have heard from you before 
 this. 
 
 Very respectfully your obt. sevt., 
 H. ATKINSON, 
 Brig. Gen., U.S. Army." 
 "Henry Gratiot, Esq., 
 
 Indian Agent. 
 
 When the dispatch reached the Mounds on 
 May 28, Col. Gratiot who had already visited 
 Turtle Village had not returned, and Lieutenant 
 Beouchard who was then in command of the 
 Fort, opened the dispatch and forwarded it to 
 the Colonel. Also, Beouchard sent the sub 
 stance of the dispatch to Col. Dodge, who was 
 then at Port Union, Col. Dodge s residence, 
 near Dodgeville. Then Lieutenant Beouchard 
 mounted his horse and rode to a Winnebago 
 encampment which was situated northeast of 
 Blue Mounds where Chief Wau-kon-kah was the 
 head Indian. Beouchard requested the chief to 
 go to White Crow, Whirling Thunder and 
 Spotted Arm and inform them of the captivity 
 of the Hall girls, and the reward that had been 
 offered for their release, instructing the Indians 
 to get the girls at any risk : by purchase, if pos 
 sible; but by force, if necessary. He assured 
 
58 REWARD OFFERED. 
 
 the Indians that they would receive the reward 
 in case of success. The Indians promised to 
 make the attempt. 
 
 May 28th, Col. Gratiot wrote a letter to Gov 
 ernor Porter, of Michigan, telling of the In 
 dian Creek Massacre and the captivity of the 
 Hall girls, and, among other things, said : "Com 
 pelled by our feelings and relying on the jus 
 tice of our country, we did not hesitate to prom 
 ise a few of my trusty "Winnebagoes a reward 
 if they would bring us those ladies unhurt. We 
 promised them the highest reward that could 
 be offered." Therefore, it is evident that Gra 
 tiot had offered a reward for the release of the 
 girls before he received Gen. Anderson s dis 
 patch. 
 
 On the day that Col. Gratiot returned from 
 Turtle Village, he received Gen. Anderson s 
 letter. On the same day he received further 
 information that the Winnebagoes had success 
 in their endeavors to ransom the unfortunate 
 girls, and he immediately started for Blue 
 Mounds, where he arrived on June 2nd, 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE CAPTIVE GIRLS. 
 
 In Chapter V we left the girls as prisoners at 
 Black Hawk s Grove, Janesville, Wisconsin. 
 Notwithstanding their night of disturbed sleep 
 and great need for rest, the girls were awak 
 ened at daylight by the noise of the Indians 
 around the tent. 
 
 Soon after the girls arose the squaws brought 
 them their breakfast which consisted of dried 
 sliced meat, coffee and porridge made of corn 
 pounded and water, that was served in wooden 
 bowls with wooden spoons. The little rest that 
 the girls got through the night, revived them 
 and gave them some appetite, so that they were 
 able to eat part of the food, although they did 
 not relish it. 
 
 Breakfast being finished, the Indians cleared 
 off a piece of ground about ninety feet in cir 
 cumference and erected in the center a pole 
 about twenty-five feet high, around which they 
 set up fifteen spears, on the points of which 
 were placed the scalps of the murdered friends 
 of the girls. To the horror of the girls, they 
 recognized the scalps of their father, mother 
 and Mrs. Pettigrew. Upon three separate spears 
 
 [59] 
 
60 THE CAPTIVE GI&LS. 
 
 the Indians placed three human hearts, which 
 added greatly to the horror of the girls. Was 
 one of the hearts their mother s? 
 
 The Indians jabbered among themselves for 
 awhile and then the squaws painted one side of 
 the face of each of the girls red and the other 
 side black. Then the girls were laid with their 
 faces downward on blankets near the center, 
 just leaving room for the Indians to pass be 
 tween them and the pole. When these prelimi 
 naries were completed, the warriors, grasping 
 in their hands their spears, which they occasion 
 ally struck into the ground, and yelling all the 
 while as Indians only can, danced around the 
 girls. Every moment while this was going on, 
 the girls expected to be thrust through with 
 the spears ; but they had become so harrassed 
 with dread of torture, that they almost wished 
 to have death end their troubles. However, not 
 one of the spears touched the girls, and out 
 side of keeping them in terror, they were in 
 nowise injured. 
 
 After the warriors had continued their dance 
 for about half an hour, two old squaws (one of 
 whom was the wife of Black Hawk) led the 
 girls away to a wigwam where they washed off 
 the paint as well as they could by scrubbing 
 
THE CAPTIVE GIRLS. 61 
 
 them unmercifully. The squaws had adopted 
 the girls, and, as the children of chiefs, they 
 were not required to work. 
 
 The Indians having finished their dance, 
 struck their tents, and, after a good deal of 
 bustle and confusion, the whole camp started 
 in a northerly direction. When they reached 
 v point beyond the grove, it seemed to the girls 
 that the whole earth was alive with Indians. 
 Probably not less than 4,000 warriors, squaws, 
 and children constituted that army. 
 
 Tired and sore from their former long ride 
 and greatly exhausted by their constant fears, 
 it was an extraordinary ordeal for the girls to 
 plunge still farther into the wilderness. During 
 traveling hours the girls were separated and 
 each was placed in charge of two squaws. 
 Whenever the army halted the girls were 
 brought together, but always kept under the 
 surveilance of the four squaws. 
 
 Their march from Black Hawk s Grove was 
 very slow and over a broad prairie. Shortly 
 before sundown the Indians pitched their tents 
 at Cold Spring, about three miles southeast of 
 Ft. Atkinson, near "Burnt Village," the camp 
 of Little Priest. 23 
 
 - 3 Hist. of Jefferson Co., 327. 
 
62 THE CAPTIVE GIRLS. 
 
 As soon as the tents were erected everybody 
 partook of some food, most of the Indians with 
 out any utensils, but the girls were supplied 
 with the usual dishes : wooden plates, bowls and 
 spoons. At this place maple-sugar seemed to be 
 abundant and the girls were furnished all of it 
 that they could eat. Also, the squaws seemed 
 to appreciate the fact that the girls were suf 
 fering from exposure, and took great pains to 
 make their quarters as comfortable as possible. 
 
 During their long tramp through the brush, 
 the light working dresses that the girls had on 
 at the time that they were captured had become 
 badly torn, and the squaws brought Rachel a 
 red and white calico dress with ruffles around 
 the bottom, and Sylvia, a blue calico. The In 
 dians requested the girls to throw away their 
 shoes and put on moccasins, against which the 
 latter strongly protested and refused to take off 
 their shoes. No violence to take away their 
 shoes was used, and the girls continued to wear 
 them. An Indian threw away Rachel s comb 
 and she immediately went after it and kept it 
 so that it could not be snatched away again 
 without using force, to which the Indians did 
 not resort. 
 
 As night set in the Indians retired and each 
 
THE CAPTIVE GIRLS. 63 
 
 of the girls had to sleep between two squaws, 
 which they were compelled to do thereafter up 
 to the time that they were turned over to the 
 Winnebagoes. 
 
 Day after day the Indians changed the loca 
 tion of their camp, probably to evade the whites 
 if they should pursue them. From Cold Spring 
 by circuitous routes, through the beautiful lake 
 country around Oconomowoc, they moved 
 northward until they reached the rolling hills 
 near Horicon Lake where they pitched their 
 camp not far from the rapids, and southeast of 
 the Indian village of Big Fox. 24 
 
 The girls had now traveled about 150 miles 
 north from their home. It was the eighth day 
 of their captivity, and to them the time was so 
 long that every minute seemed almost a day; 
 and since they last sat at dinner in the little 
 cottage of William Davis at Indian Creek, al 
 though very vivid in their minds, seemed an 
 age. Also, the unknown places at which they 
 had camped being in such various directions 
 from each other, the girls had no idea how far 
 they had gone from Black Hawk s Grove 
 
 24 V. Wis. Hist. Col., 260; Black Hawk s Autobiogra 
 phy, 106, 110, 160; "Waubun," 320; Hist, of Dodge 
 Co., by Hubbell, 67. 
 
64 THE CAPTIVE GIRLS. 
 
 (Janesville). Everywhere they traveled Indian 
 camps were numerous, because as soon as spring 
 had opened the Indians divided into small 
 camps to make maple sugar. Were the girls to 
 jut an estimate upon the number of Indians in 
 that unknown region, it certainly would have 
 reached high up into the thousands. 
 
 At every camp the dance around the pole 
 with all its hideous surroundings, accompanied 
 by the Indian yells and war-whoops, the rattling 
 of gourds, and waving of weapons, was re 
 peated. 
 
 Among the tribes east of the Mississippi River 
 it was an honor principle that their female cap 
 tives should not be tortured nor their chastity 
 violated; but if white men were taken captives 
 they were reduced to slavery and obliged to 
 wait upon the white women after they had been 
 adopted by the Indians. 25 Notwithstanding this 
 unwritten law, these dances with the scalps on 
 the spears harrassed the girls and caused them 
 to sob and weep bitterly. 
 
 One morning after many repetitions of the 
 dance around the pole, the program was varied 
 by a party of warriors coming to the lodge 
 where the girls were in the custody of the 
 
 5 1, "HandfoopK of American Indians," 203, 
 
THE CAPTIVE GIRLS. 65 
 
 squaws, placing in their hands small red flags, 
 and then the Indians with their captives 
 marched around the encampment, stopping at 
 each wigwam and waving their flags at the 
 doors, accompanied by some recitation of a 
 chief and the rattling of gourds, all of which 
 was not understood by the girls and they were 
 unable to comprehend the significance of what 
 they were doing. As a matter of fact the per 
 formance was a religious ceremony in which 
 the gourds took the place of bells used by sev 
 eral Christian denominations during their re 
 ligious ceremonies. 
 
 ^. HENRY PODGE, 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 RANSOMED. 
 
 On the morning of the ninth day of their cap 
 tivity, some warriors took Sylvia off about forty 
 rods to where a number of chiefs seemed to be 
 holding a council. One of the Indians told 
 Sylvia that she must go with an old chief who 
 was pointed out to her, namely, White Crow, 
 a chief of the Winnebagoes, who was about 
 fifty years of age, tall, slim, with a hawk nose, 
 and as much of sinister look as a man who had 
 only one eye could have, for one of his eyes 
 had been put out in a brawl. He was addicted 
 to drink, gambling, fighting, and other disrep 
 utable practices. 26 Under any circumstances 
 Sylvia might have protested against going with 
 him; but when he informed her that Rachel 
 must stay behind, Sylvia declared that she 
 would not go without her sister. White Crow, 
 who was a fine and fluent orator, and spokesman 
 of his band on all occasions, made a long, loud 
 speech in which he exhibited considerable ex 
 citement, but was listened to with great interest 
 by the other warriors. After he had finished, 
 Chief Whirling Thunder arose, walked over to 
 
 28 X. Wis. Hist. Col., 253. 
 [66] 
 
RANSOMED. 67 
 
 where Rachel was and brought her to where the 
 council was being held. The situation was pain 
 fully interesting to the girls, because they had 
 some intimation that it was all about their fate. 
 After some conversation among the chiefs 
 they shook hands and the captives were sur 
 rendered to White Crow, who must now get the 
 girls to Blue Mounds Fort to obtain the $2,000 
 reward. The Port was about eighty miles to 
 the southwest in a bee line. By the nearest trail 
 through the Madison lake region, it was about 
 ninety-three miles ; and by way of Portage and 
 thence on the Military Road to the Blue Mounds 
 Fort, it was about one hundred and seven miles. 
 The Sacs and Foxes were along the former 
 route, which meant great danger, and the Mili 
 tary Road was the best in that country. There 
 fore, White Crow chose the latter route. The 
 horses were brought, riding switches were cut 
 and White Crow and Whirling Thunder with 
 their captives seemed ready to go. The squaws 
 with whom the girls had been staying were very 
 much grieved at parting with them, tears roll 
 ing down their cheeks, and the girls who now 
 reciprocated the affection of the squaws, pre 
 ferred to stay with them rather than to go with 
 
68 RANSOMED. 
 
 the warriors; but the chief s stern orders had to 
 be obeyed. 
 
 At this trying moment of the girls, a young 
 warrior suddenly stepped up to Rachel and with 
 a large knife cut a lock of hair from over her 
 right ear and another from the back of her 
 head. At the same time he muttered to White 
 Crow, in the Indian language, something which 
 the girls afterwards learned, was that he would 
 have Rachel back in three or four days. His 
 example was followed by another Indian who 
 stepped up to Sylvia and without leave or a 
 word of explanation, cut a lock of hair from 
 the front of her head and placed it in his hunt 
 ing-pouch. Sometime afterward a number of 
 Indians made an attack on Kellogg s Grove 
 colony (near Dodgeville, Wis.) and one of them 
 who was shot by a miner named Casey had 
 around his neck a lock of braided hair which 
 was subsequently identified as that taken from 
 the head of Rachel Hall. 
 
 It might not be amiss, here, to state that 
 among some of the Indian tribes the cutting of 
 the hair had a mystical meaning closely allied 
 to the life of a person, and was usually attended 
 with religious rites. The first clipping of a 
 child s hair was retained for religious purposes. 
 
70 RANSOMED. 
 
 A scalp had a double meaning: it indicated an 
 act of supernatural power that had decreed the 
 death of the man, and it served as tangible 
 proof of the warrior s prowess over his 
 enemies. 27 
 
 While the Indians were taking locks of hair 
 from the girls, White Crow, Whirling Thunder, 
 and a few more Indians, had mounted their 
 horses, and with their captives on ponies, all 
 rode off at a gallop, keeping up a rapid speed 
 during the rest of the day and far into the 
 night, the Indians looking back frequently. 
 
 No doubt White Crow feared that the Sacs 
 might regret that they let the girls go, and 
 would try to recapture them. It was about 
 forty-seven miles to Portage, and until that 
 place was reached the danger was great. The 
 girls appreciated the danger; otherwise, they 
 would have dropped off their ponies from sheer 
 exhaustion. A ride of forty-seven miles on 
 wabbly ponies ! 
 
 Finally, they arrived on the bank of the Wis 
 consin River near the mouth of Duck Creek 
 (just below Portage, Wis.) where was located 
 a village of Chief Dekorah. 28 
 
 M l, "Handbook of Am. Indians," 524. 
 M XIII. Wis. Hist. Co., 448; III. ib. 286; Waubun, 
 Kinzie, 103. 
 
71 
 
 At this place the Indians prepared a bed 
 upon a low scaffold, which was furnished with 
 abundant blankets and furs, where the girls lay 
 until daylight. The sun had not yet arisen 
 when a party of Sac warriors, some of whom 
 were dressed in the clothing of white men, came 
 into camp. They wanted to talk to the girls, 
 but Whirling Thunder told the girls not to 
 listen to them and to keep away from them. 
 Then a long conversation of loud angry words 
 was kept up between the Indians for some time, 
 when the Sacs mounted their horses and rode 
 away. 
 
 It was ascertained later that one of the In 
 dians who helped to capture the girls at Indian 
 Creek was on a hunting trip when the captives 
 were turned over to the Winnebagoes and on his 
 return finding the prisoners gone and not hav 
 ing received his portion of the ransom, he 
 started off with a number of warriors with the 
 determination to recapture the girls or kill 
 them. No doubt that if the Sacs had overtaken 
 the Winnebagoes with their captives before they 
 had reached the Winnebago camp, they would 
 have fought for the girls, which would either 
 have ended in the death of the girls or their 
 being again carried off into captivity. Such 
 
72 RANSOMED. 
 
 was the Indian custom. 29 What an almost 
 miraculous escape the girls had ! 
 
 Immediately after the Sacs left, a hastened 
 breakfast was prepared. No doubt White Crow 
 feared an attack if he should keep the girls at 
 that place or if he should continue his journey 
 along the Military Road. Whatever caused him 
 to change his course, he arranged to take the 
 girls down the Wisconsin River 50 and to send 
 the horses around over the hills, on the west 
 side of the river, to the next camping place. 
 
 Breakfast was eaten as hastily as it had been 
 prepared and then the girls were placed in 
 canoes and with a convoy of about one hun 
 dred Indians, were paddled off. At first the girls 
 feared that their little barks would tip, but 
 soon they found their canoes were in expert 
 and safe hands and that the new manner of 
 travel was far superior to horse-back riding. 
 It was restful and gave them a fine opportunity 
 for observation, which under favorable circum 
 stances would drive an artist into ecstacy. The 
 majestic bluffs with wooded slopes and craggy 
 crests, lined the river for many miles, stretch 
 ing off to the west around Devil s Lake. It was 
 
 "2, Handbook of American Indians, 203. 
 30 Memories of Shaubena, 160. 
 
RANSOMED. 73 
 
 ideal scenery and connected with many a 
 romantic Indian tale. 
 
 The spring freshets from the melting snows 
 and heavy rains, had swollen the river so that 
 it spread considerably over its banks, reaching 
 in places from the foot of one bluff to the foot 
 of another. Down this murky water the In 
 dians paddled their canoes, hour after hour, 
 over a distance of about thirty miles, and 
 landed on the west bank, where they camped 
 for the night. 
 
 In speaking of this canoe ride the girls say: 
 "The name of the river we never knew, neither 
 can we tell whether we traveled up or down 
 the stream." The name of the river was learned 
 from Shabona. It is not strange that the girls 
 could not tell which way the river flowed. The 
 writer has often been on that river during 
 freshets, and the way the water flows back and 
 forth, dotted with eddies, would easily confuse 
 a stranger. 
 
 Early the next morning White Crow went 
 around to the wigwams with a gourd in each 
 hand, and stopping at the door of each wigwam 
 he would shake the gourds violently and talk as 
 if he were lecturing. 
 
 Having finished this religious service, he left 
 
74 RANSOMED. 
 
 the camp and did not return again until sun 
 down. Probably, he crossed the river and went 
 to his own village at the west end of Mendota 
 Lake to get information concerning the ransom 
 offered for the captives. He was a sly chief, 
 and if he did not have considerable confidence 
 in the success of his undertaking, instead of 
 taking the girls across to Blue Mounds he might 
 have them run further down the river and there 
 hold them longer in captivity. 
 
 The thirty-first day of May had arrived and 
 for the second night the Indians camped on the 
 west side of the Wisconsin River. Before retir 
 ing, White Crow for the first time spoke to the 
 girls in the English language. He inquired 
 whether their father, mother, or any sister or 
 brother, was alive, to which the girls replied 
 that all had been killed on the day of their cap 
 tivity. White Crow appeared sad, shook his 
 head, and after hesitating a moment, said he 
 would take the girls home in the morning. He 
 asked the girls if they thought the whites would 
 hang him if he took them to the fort, to which 
 they replied that on the contrary the people at 
 the fort would give him money and presents for 
 his trouble. 
 
 The conversation with White Crow roused the 
 
II 
 
 S3 
 
76 RANSOMED. 
 
 hopes of the girls considerably, but a lingering 
 doubt as to the truth of his words kept revolv 
 ing in their minds throughout the night. 
 
 The next morning the chiefs accompanied 
 by about forty warriors put the girls in canoes 
 and swam their horses across the river alongside 
 of the canoes, landing above the mouth of Black 
 Earth Creek. The horses were mounted in 
 haste, but as most of the warriors had to travel 
 on foot and were impeded by marshes and 
 underbrush on the flat bottom, the progress was 
 slow. The girls watched the sun with eagerness 
 in their endeavor to tell which way they were 
 traveling and were assured thereby that they 
 were again going southward, although only in 
 a circuitous course. Hour after hour passed 
 away, the girls all the while expecting to catch 
 sight of the fort. Finally, as the sun was sink 
 ing off over the Wisconsin River, the Indians 
 once more camped for the night on the bank of 
 a creek. 
 
 There were two or three Indian families 
 camped at this place, and on seeing the girls 
 they expressed great joy. In a short time the 
 squaws had prepared a supper consisting of 
 pickled pork, potatoes, coffee and bread for the 
 girls. White Crow and Whirling Thunder, the 
 
RANSOMED. 77 
 
 rest of the Indians dining apart from them. 
 The meal was the best cooked and the spread 
 the cleanest that had been placed before the 
 girls, and it tempted their appetite so that they 
 made a very fair meal, after which they felt 
 sleepy and were glad when they could lie down 
 to rest. In a short time most of the Indians had 
 retired, excepting White Crow, who seated him 
 self close to the girls, where he smoked a pipe 
 all night. This was the first time that a war 
 rior had kept guard over them, and the infer 
 ence of the girls was that the old chief feared 
 an attack of the Sacs who had visited their 
 camp at Portage. The girls thought that per 
 haps the Indian chief who had been rebuffed at 
 that place might have gone after recruits, and 
 that at any moment the Indians might swoop 
 down upon them. Now, when they were almost 
 within grasp of their freedom, it racked the 
 minds of the girls to think that there was a 
 possibility of being slaughtered or again carried 
 into captivity. In this condition of mind the 
 girls passed the night. 
 
 The camp was astir at sunrise and for the 
 last time White Crow went around performing 
 his religious service by rattling his gourds and 
 addressing the Indians, After breakfast the 
 
78 RANSOMED. 
 
 girls were again mounted on their ponies and 
 all moved forward over higher ground, and be 
 fore ten o clock they had reached the Military 
 Road from Fort Winnebago, by way of Blue 
 Mounds, to Prairie du Chien. The sight of the 
 wagon tracks was the first sign of civilization 
 that the girls had observed since their captivity 
 and increased their confidence in the probability 
 of their early release. Also, the road was much 
 better than any they had traveled since their 
 capture. It led through groves and oak open 
 ings, along the high ridge that is unbroken to 
 the Mississippi River. Inspirations of hope were 
 necessary to revive the girls spirits and enable 
 them to complete the remainder of their long 
 journey, as they were exhausted to the verge of 
 collapse. Hope is a great stimulant, and it was 
 on this that the girls were now subsisting. 
 
 "Auspicious Hope! in thy sweet garden grow 
 Wreaths for each toil, a charm for every woe." 
 
 About two o clock in the afternoon the In 
 dians halted for lunch and to let their horses 
 feed. The principal food was duck eggs, nearly 
 hatched, that the Indians ate with relish, but 
 which the girls rejected with disgust. After 
 lunch they had not traveled far until they 
 
RANSOMED. 79 
 
 caught sight of Blue Mounds Fort in the dis 
 tance. White Crow took a white handkerchief 
 that Rachel had tied on her head, which he 
 fastened on a pole for a flag of truce, and rode 
 in advance of the Indians and their captives. In 
 a short time Lieutenant Edward Beouchard, 
 who was commander at the fort, met them and 
 addressed the Indians in their own language. 
 The warriors now formed a circle into which 
 Beouchard rode and he and the Indians talked 
 at considerable length. According to Beouch 
 ard s subsequent statement the Indians were 
 unwilling to give up the girls until they were 
 assured by Col. Gratiot that the $2,000 reward 
 would be paid. Beouchard having assured the 
 girls that they would be well treated by the 
 Indians until his return, went back to the fort 
 and soon returned with Col. Henry Gratiot, the 
 Indian agent, and a company of soldiers in 
 which Edward and Reason Hall, uncles of the 
 captives, were serving as privates. 
 
 Col. Gratiot assured the Indians that the re 
 ward for the rescue of the girls would be paid. 
 Also, he invited the Indians to be his guests at 
 the fort, and that he would prepare a big feast 
 for them. The Indians being very hungry the 
 feast appealed very strongly to them. Finally, 
 
80 RANSOMED. 
 
 the chiefs agreed to place the girls in the cus 
 tody of Col. Gratiot until the reward would be 
 paid, the Indians retaining the right to the re 
 turn of the captives if the government failed to 
 pay. 
 
 The calico dresses which the girls had re 
 ceived from the Indians, had become torn by 
 riding through brake, briars and brush, and 
 with their soiled faces and disheveled hair, made 
 them objects of pity. 31 In a sense, the girls 
 bearing their crosses, had followed their Master 
 up Calvary to its summit, where He granted 
 their prayer by setting them free. 
 
 31 3, Smith s Hist, of Wis., 214, 225. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 ROYALLY WELCOMED. 
 
 Following close behind the soldiers that went 
 out with Col. Gratiot to meet the Indians with 
 the girls, were the ladies of the Fort, including 
 the wives of the commanding officers, and al 
 though the Indians had delivered the girls into 
 the custody of Col. Gratiot, the ladies imme 
 diately took charge of them, and after kissing 
 and hugging them affectionately, conducted 
 them to the Fort, where the girls were fur 
 nished with new clothes and the best meal that 
 the place could produce. After dining the girls 
 became sleepy and retired to rest, feeling per 
 fectly secure. 
 
 "Sleep! to the homeless thou are home; 
 The friendless find in thee a friend; 
 And well is, wheresoe er he roam, 
 Who meets thee at his journey s end." 
 
 A messenger who had been dispatched for 
 Col. Dodge, met him on his way to the Mounds 
 in company with Capt. Bion Gratiot, a brother 
 of Col. Henry Gratiot. On his arrival Col. 
 Dodge immediately assumed general command 
 of the place. He invited the Indian chiefs, 
 White Crow, Whirling Thunder and Spotted 
 
 [81] 
 
82 ROYALLY WELCOMED. 
 
 Arm, into the Fort, and fed them sumptuously. 
 Ebenezer Brigham who lived at the east end of 
 the Mounds contributed a big fat steer for the 
 feast. After the feast, lodgings for the Indians 
 were prepared, beds for the chiefs having been 
 provided in one of the cottages. Having every 
 thing comfortably arranged, the Colonel retired 
 and was soon fast asleep. 
 
 About an hour after Col. Dodge had gone to 
 bed, Capt. Gratiot came rushing to his cabin in 
 an excited manner, calling to him to rouse up 
 and prepare for action immediately. He in 
 formed the Colonel that the Indian chiefs whom 
 the Colonel had placed in the cottage, had gone 
 out to some brush near by and apparently were 
 inciting the Indians to make an attack upon the 
 Fort. White Crow had come to the Captain and 
 after telling him that the whites were a soft- 
 shelled breed and no good to fight (referring to 
 Stillman s defeat), he closed by advising the 
 Captain to tell his brother, Col. Gratiot, the In 
 dians friend, to go home and not stay at the 
 fort. Also, Capt. Gratiot had observed the men 
 whetting their knives, tomahawks and spears, 
 and it was learned that two of the warriors had 
 been sent to the Winnebago camp early in the 
 
ROYALLY WELCOMED. 83 
 
 evening, probably to obtain more Indians to 
 attack the Fort. 
 
 Col. Dodge, after listening attentively to the 
 story of Capt. Gratiot, replied: "Do not be 
 alarmed, sir; I will see that no harm befalls 
 you. 
 
 Col. Dodge then called the officer of the 
 
 guard and an interpreter and with six other 
 
 men went out to where the Indians were and 
 
 took into custody White Crow and five of the 
 
 other principal chiefs, and marched them into 
 
 a cabin inside the palisade to secure obedience 
 
 to his command. Then after directing the 
 
 proper officer to place a strong guard around 
 
 the cabin and double the guard around the 
 
 whole encampment, the Colonel lay down with 
 
 the Indians. To carry out the Colonel s orders 
 
 took all the men at the Port, so that virtually 
 
 the whole force was under arms during the 
 
 night. 32 Once more the girls lives were in 
 
 jeopardy. 
 
 The night passed without another incident 
 
 and when the sun arose over the great plains to 
 
 the east, the girls were up and relished a good 
 
 breakfast with their friends that awaited them. 
 
 3t X. Wis. Hist. Col., 186. 
 
84 ROYALLY WELCOMED. 
 
 Col. Dodge was out before the girls and he told 
 the Indians that they must all go to Morrison s 
 Grove, a place where the road to Galena 
 branches off the Military Road to Prairie du 
 Chien, about fifteen miles west of Blue Mounds. 
 The Indians AVhite Crow particularly pro 
 tested against going, stating that their feet 
 were sore from their long march in bringing the 
 Hall girls to the Mounds, and that they had 
 shown such great magnanimity in risking their 
 lives to ransom the prisoners that they should 
 receive their reward and be allowed to return 
 home. Col. Dodge frankly told them that he 
 believed that they were in sympathy with Black 
 Hawk and that he should be obliged to treat 
 them as suspects. In vain did White Crow use 
 his eloquence in protesting his friendship for 
 the whites, and after all was in readiness the 
 Indians and soldiers accompanied by the Hall 
 girls started on their march to Morrison s 
 Grove, where they arrived before noon. Here 
 George Medary kept a hotel in a large house 
 built by the Morrison brothers of hewn logs, ad 
 joining a cultivated field, one of the first in the 
 state. 33 
 
 The ladies looked after the comfort of the 
 83 XIII. Wis. Hist. Col, 341; "WaubuD," 111. 
 
ROYALLY WELCOMED. 85 
 
 girls, whom they welcomed with much exhibi 
 tion of joy and affection, and Col. Dodge, after 
 having the Indians well fed, ordered the chiefs 
 to line them up until he could talk to them. 
 
 First Col. Dodge explained the alarming sit 
 uation surrounding the white settlers, and the 
 information that he had that the Winnebagoes 
 were hesitating to join Black Hawk, and warned 
 them of their destruction if they should take 
 part in the war against the whites. Next Col. 
 Gratiot spoke to the Indians in their own 
 tongue, in a kindly manner, and after he had 
 finished White Crow made the following speech : 
 " Fathers, when you sent a request to me to go 
 and to ransom those two white women, we 
 called on all of our people who were around us 
 and they gave all of their wampum, trinkets 
 and corn, and we the chiefs gave ten horses. 
 The Little Priest, I, and two others, went to the 
 Sauks to buy the prisoners. We soon succeeded 
 in buying one, but for a time could not succeed 
 in buying the other. After we had bought one, 
 we demanded the other. They said, No, we 
 will not give her up. We have lost too much 
 blood. We will keep her. 
 
 "We told them: If you don t give her up, 
 we will raise the tomahawk and take her. I 
 
86 ROYALLY WELCOMED. 
 
 had a horse which you, father (Gratiot), gave 
 me. It was the last horse that I had. I told 
 them that I would give them that horse to ob 
 tain the prisoner. At sundown they gave me 
 the girls and I gave them the horse. The Little 
 Priest took one of the girls and I took the other 
 and put them on horses. A Sauk came, as we 
 were about to start, and attempted to cut off the 
 hair of one of the girls. I caught his hand and 
 prevented him, but allowed him afterwards to 
 cut a small lock. These white sisters were very 
 much affected and my young daughter cried to 
 see these white sisters so distressed. Our women 
 bought clothes from the Sauks and gave them. 
 These sisters will tell you that we made them 
 sleep together, and the daughter of the Little 
 Priest slept on one side of them and my daugh 
 ter on the other side. We were mortified that 
 we could not use them better. Our blankets 
 are worn out and we could do no better. I 
 tried to please and comfort them, but they were 
 not accustomed to our mode of living and could 
 not eat. 
 
 "Here are our two sisters, we bring them here 
 to take their hands and give them into your 
 hands. We have saved their lives, for the 
 Sauks intended to kill them. 
 
ROYALLY WELCOMED. 87 
 
 "And now, fathers, all that we have to ask 
 of you is that you will not put us or our chil 
 dren in the same situation that these white 
 sisters were. We have brought them to you to 
 prove to you that we are the friends of the 
 Americans." 34 
 
 After listening to White Crow, Col. Dodge 
 informed him that he would hold as hostages 
 for the good conduct of the Winnebago Indians, 
 their chiefs Spotted Arm, Whirling Thunder 
 and Little Priest, to which the wiley chief made 
 little objection, as he was trying to obtain as 
 much goods as possible in final settlement of the 
 reward, which was paid mostly in trinkets, 
 blankets and horses. 
 
 Having been well fed and supplied with 
 shawls and blankets of brilliant colors, child 
 like, the Indians were now anxious to go home. 
 
 White Crow, with a showing of much regret, 
 bade good-bye to Sylvia and Rachel Hall. He 
 went over the incidents of their rescue, and, to 
 prove his friendship for the girls, offered to 
 give each of them a Sac squaw as a servant for 
 life. The girls thanked him, but said that they 
 did not want any human being to be taken away 
 from her people as they had been from theirs. 
 
 "Report of Col. Gratiot in U. S. files. 
 
88 ROYALLY WELCOMED. 
 
 The girls then bade adieu to all the Indians, 
 towards whom their hearts had changed, and 
 for whom they now felt considerable friendship. 
 The eloquence of White Crow made an impres 
 sion on the young women, as he spoke in a sym 
 pathetic tone unexpected kind words that 
 touched their hearts. 
 
 After resting at Morrison s during the after 
 noon and night, early the next morning the sol 
 diers with their Indian hostages and the girls, 
 proceeded along the Galena road to Fort De 
 fiance, which was located five miles southeast 
 of Mineral Point. Here again the girls were 
 well cared for by the wives of the officers, and 
 the most sumptuous meal that could be pre 
 pared was set before them, and their short stay 
 made as pleasant as possible. 35 
 
 After dinner, with the convoy of soldiers and 
 the Indian hostages, the girls again moved on 
 to Gratiot s Grove, about a mile south of Shulls- 
 burg, and fourteen miles northeast of Galena. 
 At this place there was a village of twenty fam 
 ilies, with a hotel and a garrison of United 
 States soldiers. 36 The leading lady of the place 
 was Capt. Gratiot s wife, a French woman of 
 excellent education, whose mother had been 
 
 8S X. Wis. Higt., Col., 340. 
 
ROYALLY WELCOMED. 89 
 
 lady-in-waiting to Queen Marie Antoinette. 
 Mrs. Gratiot, who was noted for her hospitality, 
 took charge of the girls and entertained them 
 lavishly at her home." 
 
 Gratiot s Grove, which became renowned as 
 the most beautiful spot in the northwest, is 
 described by Mrs. Gratiot as follows: "Never 
 in my wanderings had I beheld a prettier place ; 
 the beautiful rolling hills extending to Blue 
 Mounds, a distance of thirty miles, the magnifi 
 cent grove, as yet untouched by the falling axe, 
 formed the graceful frame for the lovely land 
 scape." 38 Theodore Rudolph, a Swiss traveler 
 who was at Gratiot s Grove in the spring of 
 1832, describing the place says: "The vast 
 prairie, as far as the eye could reach, was 
 clothed with a carpet of richest green, inter 
 spersed with gorgeous wild flowers, of brilliant 
 hues of red, blue, and yellow, in fact every color 
 of the rainbow reminding one of the garden 
 of Eden, as our youthful fancies never failed to 
 paint it for us." 39 
 
 30 X. Wis. Hist, Col., 256. 
 8r X. Wis. Hist. Col., 186, 246. 
 38 X. Wis. Hist. Col., 286. 
 89 XV. Wis. Hist. Col., 345. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 HOMEWARD BOUND. 
 
 "Oh! sweet is the longed-for haven of rest! 
 And dear are the loved ones we oft have caressed! 
 And fair are the home scenes that gladden the 
 
 view 
 
 The far-wooded hills stretching up to the blue, 
 The lake s limpid splendor, the circling shore, 
 The fell and the forest, the mead and the moor, 
 Are clustered with mem ries and, though we may 
 
 roam, 
 
 Their charm ever guides us and whispers of home! 
 
 Anna C. Scanlan. 
 
 The thought of returning to their home filled 
 the girls hearts with such joy as was possible 
 under their circumstances. When they arose on 
 the morning of their departure from Gratiot s 
 Grove, everything was inspiring. Never before 
 had the birds sung more sweetly nor had the 
 flowers looked more beautiful. The whole vil 
 lage was astir early, and probably there was 
 not one of the inhabitants who failed to appear 
 to bid the girls good-bye. 
 
 Capt. Gratiot s wife made the girls some nice 
 presents and had so endeared herself to them 
 that although they had known her but a very 
 short time, they left her with tears, and in tears. 
 Finally, all being ready, with a convoy of sol 
 diers the girls continued their journey to White 
 
 [901 
 
HOMEWARD BOUND. 91 
 
 Oak Springs (10 miles northeast of Galena), 
 near which they formerly lived and where they 
 had many friends. It was then a mining village 
 of considerable size, but not so charming as 
 Gratiot s Grove. There was a fort with sol 
 diers at the place, and all was in readiness to 
 receive the girls. As some of their relatives 
 lived near the place, going there seemed to them 
 like going home. 
 
 One of the first surprises that the girls had, 
 was to meet their brother John who they 
 thought had been murdered at Indian Creek. 
 He had been mustered into the militia and was 
 stationed at Galena, but was granted indefinite 
 absence to go to meet his sisters and accompany 
 them home. 
 
 At White Oak Springs they received a, letter 
 from their former pastor, Rev. R. Horn, who 
 had a mission on the Illinois River where Robert 
 Scott, an uncle of the girls, lived. The letter 
 was full of kindness and invited the girls to 
 come to the Horn residence and make it their 
 home. From that time on, all arrangements 
 were made to that end. 
 
 On the night of June sixteenth, great excite 
 ment was caused by a messenger riding into 
 the town and announcing that the battle of the 
 
92 HOMEWARD BOUND. 
 
 Peckatonica (18 miles northeast) had been 
 fought, that all the Indians that participated 
 in it had been killed, and that many of the 
 whites had fallen. The shocking particulars, 
 which were loathing to the girls, were told and 
 retold. They had seen human blood spilled and 
 they knew what such a sight meant, so it simply 
 renewed their horror. 
 
 The girls remained at White Oak Springs two 
 weeks, during which their lady friends made 
 considerable clothing for them so that they had 
 a well-supplied wardrobe, considering the time 
 and the border country. The men were not 
 backward in the good work and presents of 
 goods were given by the store-keepers and a 
 small purse raised to help to smooth their way. 
 
 Also, old acquaintances were renewed and 
 new friendships were formed from which it 
 was hard to break away when it came time to 
 leave. From gruff old miners up to the army 
 officer in his shoulder-straps, the village folk 
 gathered around the young ladies to wish them 
 God-speed. 
 
 The girls shook hands with everybody and 
 thanked them, individually and collectively, for 
 their great kindness. In the last written state 
 ment signed by Rachel Hall Munson and Sylvia 
 
HOMEWARD BOUND. 93 
 
 Hall Horn, they say: "We are very sorry we 
 cannot recollect the names of those kind friends, 
 that they might appear upon record as a tes 
 timony of their kindness to us in our destitute 
 condition. May the blessings of our Father in 
 heaven, rest upon them all!" 
 
 From White Oak Springs the girls went on 
 to Galena, where they stopped with an old ac 
 quaintance named Bell and were supplied with 
 rations by the United States army officers who 
 considered the girls their guests. 
 
 They had not been there many days before 
 the steamboat "Winnebago" called for a load 
 of lead to take to St. Louis. The girls with 
 their brother John and their uncle Edward 
 Hall took passage down the Mississippi to St. 
 Louis where they arrived June 30, and were re 
 ceived by Gov. Clark who took them to his 
 home and entertained them as his guests. 40 
 
 Unfortunately, at that time the cholera was 
 in the city and meetings of people, public dem 
 onstrations, and entertainments, were restrict 
 ed. While the girls did not feel like attending 
 entertainments or going in society, the people 
 of St. Louis were anxious to entertain them. 
 
 40 Letter of Governor Clark to Secretary of War, 
 June 30, 1832; "Life of A. S. Johnston," Johnston, 23. 
 
94 HOMEWARD BOUND. 
 
 A purse of $470.00 was collected, and, at the 
 request of the girls, was put into the hands of 
 Mr. Horn for investment. Other small sums of 
 money were given to the girls to pay their in 
 cidental expenses, and articles for their com 
 fort were presented to them. 
 
 The girls were anxious to go home, and in 
 company with their brother John and Uncle 
 Edward they boarded the steamer Carolina" 
 for Beardstown, 111., from where they were 
 taken to the home of their uncle Robert Scott, 
 close to Mr. Horn s. Here they remained until 
 Fall, when they went to the home of their 
 brother John who had recently married and 
 settled on a homestead in Bureau County, about 
 twenty miles west of the Davis Settlement. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 ROMANCE AND HISTORY. 
 
 At a little country store down in Indiana 
 where the settlers usually gathered to read the 
 weekly newspaper, William Munson, a young 
 man who was born in New York, first heard of 
 the Hall girls and their wonderful adventure. 
 He was in the west seeking his fortune, and, 
 being an admirer of the brave and full of youth 
 ful fire, he remarked to the people that he 
 would some day marry one of those girls. His 
 nearest friends did not take him seriously, and 
 the matter as a passing joke was soon forgot 
 ten. However, with him it became a fixed idea, 
 and in the spring of 1833 he went to Illinois and 
 took up a land claim in the neighborhood where 
 John W. Hall lived. 
 
 Every good woman is not satisfied until she 
 has a home of her own. This natural longing 
 was particularly strong in the minds of the 
 Hall girls, whose home had been destroyed. 
 
 There is no record of how William Munson 
 first met Rachel Hall, but our information shows 
 that their courtship was short; for in March, 
 1833, they were united in marriage, and shortly 
 afterwards they settled down on the land claim 
 entered by her father, about a mile and a half 
 
 [95] 
 
96 ROMANCE AND HISTORY. 
 
 WILLIAM MUNSON. 
 
 east of the scene of the massacre. They were 
 thrifty and got along splendidly, becoming one 
 of the foremost families of La Salle County. 
 Besides the rich abundance of worldly goods, 
 they were blessed with a large family of whom 
 four died in their infancy. As there was no 
 cemetery, the little ones w r ere buried in the 
 garden. Of the other children who grew up to 
 manhood and womanhood, several became very 
 prominent and their generations became numer 
 ous. Their four daughters were married as 
 
ROMANCE AND HISTORY. 
 
 97 
 
 MRS. RACHEL HALL MUNSON, AGED 42, AND YOUNGEST 
 SON ELLIOT. 
 
 i f ollows: Irena, to Dr. George Vance, who moved 
 to California; A. Miranda, to Samuel Dunavan, 
 who settled on a farm just north of the Munson 
 homestead, where she still lives; Fidelia, to 
 George Shaver, and Phoebe H. ? to John F, Reed, 
 
98 ROMANCE AND HISTORY. 
 
 of Ottawa, Mr. Keed s daughter Fannie was 
 married to James H. Eckles who was Comp 
 troller of the Currency under Cleveland; and 
 Mr. Reed s daughter Winnie is married to Judge 
 Kenesaw Mountain Landis, of Chicago. Mrs. 
 Munson left three sons: William, Louis and 
 Elliot, and through them several grand-children. 
 
 Edward Vance, a grand-son of Mrs. Munson, 
 is a well-known lawyer in South Dakota, and 
 Douglas Dunavan is a prominent lawyer at Ot 
 tawa, Illinois. We shall not attempt to give 
 sketches of the various descendants of Mrs. 
 Munson, as it would expand too much the limits 
 of this volume. 
 
 The shock of the massacre and subsequent 
 captivity impaired the splendid constitution of 
 Mrs. Munson, who thereafter suffered from ner 
 vousness; but through the earlier part of her 
 life, she manifested unusual vigor. As Mrs. 
 Munson passed middle life she failed rapidly, 
 and on May 1, 1870, she closed her earthly 
 career and was laid to rest in the garden beside 
 her infant children who had gone before her, 
 and when Mr. Munson died he was interred be 
 side his faithful wife. Their graves are about 
 one and one-half miles east of Shabona Park, 
 on the original Hall homestead. 
 
ROMANCE AND HISTORY. 
 
 BURIAL PLACE OF RACHEL AND HUSBAND. 
 
 Incidentally, we noted the fact that for a 
 short spell the Hall girls made their home at 
 the residence of Rev. Robert Horn. He had a 
 young son, William S., who was studying for 
 the ministry, and as both belonged to the same 
 church (Methodist) and were born in Ken 
 tucky, we cannot say that the unexpected 
 happened. He was one year younger than Syl 
 via. The love story of these young people 
 would gratify any novel writer. When Sylvia 
 
100 ROMANCE AND HISTORY. 
 
 left with her sister to make her home with her 
 brother John, she and Mr. Horn looked upon 
 each other with great affection. The marriage 
 of Rachel emphasized the yearnings of Sylvia 
 for her own home, and May 5, 1833, she was 
 married to Mr. Horn and settled in Cass County, 
 Illinois. There were born to Mr. and Mrs. Horn. 
 eleven children. Mr. Horn s vocation called 
 him from one place to another. Having served 
 in the ministry in Illinois, he first went to Mis 
 souri, thence to Peru, Nebraska, next to a par 
 ish near Lincoln, and finally settled down at 
 Auburn, Nemaha County, Nebraska, where he 
 died May 8, 1888, leaving him surviving, his 
 widow, Mrs. Sylvia Hall Horn, and several 
 children and grand-children. 
 
 Mr. Horn became an elder of the M. E. Epis 
 copal church, and held several high church of 
 fices. Elder Horn was noted for his intense 
 religious zeal, and, figuratively speaking, he 
 died in the harness of exhaustion and old age. 
 He was buried in Mt. Vernon Cemetery, Peru, 
 Nebraska. 
 
 After the death of Elder Horn, Mrs. Sylvia 
 Hall Horn made her home with her son, Thomas 
 S. Horn, in Auburn, Nebraska, where she died 
 January 11, 1899, aged 85 years, 10 months and 
 
MRS SYLVIA HALL HORN AND ELDER HORN. 
 
ip ROMANCE AND HISTORY. 
 
 16 days. Mrs. Horn was buried beside her hus 
 band with whom she had happily lived for 55 
 years. She left surviving her a host of de 
 scendants. 
 
 In the fall of 1867, John W. Hall, Mrs. Mun- 
 son, and her husband, made a visit to Elder 
 Horn s, Auburn, Nebraska, during which Mr. 
 Hall and his sisters narrated the incidents of 
 the massacre and captivity, which were reduced 
 to writing by the Elder and published. The 
 manuscripts are now in the custody of Mrs. 
 Eckels of Chicago. In his statement Mr. Hall 
 says: "After thirty- five years of toil have 
 passed over my head since the memorable occa 
 sion, my memory is in some things rather dim." 
 Mrs. Munson and Mrs. Horn close their recital 
 as follows: "Thus we have given the circum 
 stances of our captivity and the rescue as nearly 
 as we can recollect at this date, September 7, 
 1867." The former published statements of 
 the ladies substantially agree with this last 
 one. All their statements and public interviews 
 have been freely used and completely worked 
 into this narrative. 41 
 
 In 1833 the state of Illinois donated to Mrs. 
 
 41 3 Smith s "History of Wisconsin" (1854), 187; 
 "The Black Hawk War" (Stevens), 150. 
 
-e 
 
 30 f 
 
 d -/; K ^ 
 
 S3 2 
 
 W 05 
 
104 ROMANCE AND HISTORY. 
 
 Munson and Mrs. Horn, 160 acres of land that 
 the United States had given to the state to 
 wards the construction of the canal between 
 Chicago and Ottawa. At that time the land 
 was not valuable, and netted but a small sum 
 to the ladies. Now that land is within the city 
 of Joliet and is worth considerable money. 
 
 It has been asserted and published in books, 
 that Congress voted gifts of money to the girls ; 
 but in answer to an inquiry made at the United 
 States Treasury, the author was informed that 
 no such appropriation has ever been made, and 
 Mrs. Dunavan says that she never knew of her 
 mother s receiving any money from the govern 
 ment. 
 
 In 1877 Mr. Munson erected a very handsome 
 monument on the spot where his wife s parents 
 and the others who died with them were buried. 
 It is a graceful shaft. 
 
 In 1905, through the efforts of friends of the 
 persons who were massacred at Indian Creek 
 on May 21st, 1832, the Illinois legislature ap 
 propriated the sum of five thousand dollars to 
 place a monument at the grave where the vic 
 tims were buried. 42 On August 29, 1906, the 
 
 42 Laws of Illinois, 1905, p. 42. 
 
ROMANCE AND HISTORY. 105 
 
 new monument was dedicated with much cere 
 mony, music and orations. Among the speakers 
 were the venerable Hon. John W. Henderson 
 and his brother, Gen. T. J. Henderson, who 
 were boys at the time that the massacre oc 
 curred, the former being- one of the persons 
 who were planting corn south of the Davis cot 
 tage on that day, and who with John W. Hall 
 escaped to Ottawa. 
 
 A full account of the dedication will be found 
 in the newspapers and in the records of the 
 Illinois Historical Society. 43 
 
 ""Ottawa Journal," August 30, 190G; "Bureau 
 County Republican," August 30, 190G; XII., "Trans 
 actions of the Illinois State Historical Society " p 
 339. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 SIIABONA.* 
 
 The story of the Hall girls adventures would 
 not be properly finished without some further 
 mention of Chief Shabona. ProDaOly no other 
 Indian in the West knew more white people, 
 individually, than he knew ; also, he was known 
 at sight to more white people than was any 
 other chief of his time. His name was so famil 
 iar among the whites, that its mere mention was 
 a safe passport to any home of the settlers. 
 
 *This chief s name is spelled in many different 
 ways, to-wit: "Sha-bom-ri," in Smith s History of 
 Wisconsin;. "Shah-bee-nay," by Mrs. Kinzie in Wau- 
 Bun; "Shaubena," by Matson; "Shau-be-nee," by 
 Kingston; "Chab-on-eh," " Shab-eh-ney," "Shabonee," 
 and "Shaubena," in the Appleton s Encyclopedia of 
 American Biographies, and on his tombstone his 
 name is spelled "Shabona". In Illinois, places named 
 after him are spelled S.habbona and Shabonier, the 
 latter being the French spelling. As Mr. Smith, Mrs. 
 Kinzie, Mr. Matson, and Mr. Kingston, knew Sha 
 bona well, the weight of evidence .seems to be 111 
 favor of spelling his name Shaubena, which is in 
 accordance with the spelling of Indian words. The 
 second b is not heard in the usual pronounciation of 
 "Shabbona" (Shab -eh-ney), and it causes strangers 
 to mispronounce the name. Even the word "Sac", 
 is usually pronounced Sauk, and is generally spelled 
 Sauk. Very many Indian names have the diphthong 
 au as shown by names of rivers and places. Conse 
 quently, it would seem that the first syllable should 
 be spelled S-h-a-u-b. 
 
 [1061 
 
SHABONA. 107 
 
 Shabona was well aware of that fact and he 
 always introduced himself as "Mr. Shabona." 
 
 Baldwin says that Shabona was born in 
 Canada ; but Matson asserts that he was born on 
 the Kankakee in Will County, Illinois ; and the 
 "Handbook of American Indians" gives Mau- 
 mee River, Illinois, as his birthplace. This con 
 tention of many countries as the place of Sha 
 bona s birth, proves the greatness of the man. 
 Argos, Rhodes, Smyrna, Chios, Colophon, and 
 several other cities, claim to be the birthplace 
 of Homer; and Scotland, England, Wales, and 
 Britany, of St. Patrick. Authors agree that 
 Shabona was born in 1775 and dwelt at Sha 
 bona s Grove for fifty years. He was a grand- 
 nephew of Pontiac and his father who was an 
 Ottawa chief, fought under Pontiac. Shabona 
 was six feet tall, erect, and weighed over two 
 hundred pounds. 
 
 During the wars of 1812, 1827 and 1832, 
 Shabona rendered great services to the white 
 people by saving the lives of many of them who 
 were taken captives by the Indians, and by pro 
 tecting the home of John Kinzie and his friends 
 during the Chicago massacre. However, with 
 his tribe he joined in the border war against 
 the whites and fought beside Tecumseh when 
 
108 SHABONA. 
 
 he fell at the battle of the Thames. That was 
 the last time that Shabona raised a hand against 
 the white people. 
 
 When Col. Richard M. Johnson, who com 
 manded the American army at the Thames be 
 came vice-president of the United States, Sha 
 bona made a visit to him at Washington. The 
 vice-president gave Shabona a heavy gold ring, 
 which he wore until his death and at his request 
 it was buried with him. 
 
 On account of Shabona s great services to the 
 white people, the state of Illinois gave him two 
 and one-half sections of land at the site of his 
 Paw-Paw Village. In 1837 the last of Sha 
 bona s tribe having been moved to a Kansas 
 reservation, he followed them with his family 
 consisting of twenty-seven persons, including 
 his son Pypagee and nephew Pyps who were 
 soon thereafter slain by the Sacs for the parts 
 that they played in notifying the whites to flee 
 to Ottawa, before the massacre at Indian Creek. 
 Shabona was warned that the Sacs were schem 
 ing to assassinate him, because of his efforts to 
 save the whites, and in 1855 he returned to 
 Illinois. 
 
 Before Shabona left Illinois for Kansas, he 
 placed his lands in the hands of an agent named 
 
SHABONA. 109 
 
 Norton to collect the rents, pay the taxes and 
 to look after them generally. Unconscionable 
 settlers squatted on Shabona s lands and filed 
 in the government land office, affidavits that 
 Shabona had abandoned the lands, and on that 
 proof and some technicalities the lands were 
 again sold as public lands, and on Shabona s 
 return he found his domain in the possession 
 of the squatters who claimed to be the owners. 
 Shabona could not help feeling that he had been 
 cheated by the whites, after all he had done for 
 them, and the old man sat on a log near where 
 his village had formerly stood and wept 
 bitterly. 
 
 "And man, whose heaven-erected face 
 The smiles of love adorn, 
 Man s inhumanity to man 
 Makes countless thousands mourn!" 
 
 Shortly after his return, as Shabona was cut 
 ting a few poles to erect a tent on the margin 
 of the grove that bore his name, a settler at 
 tacked him and forcibly drove him off the land, 
 and shamefully abused the old man. Then for 
 some time homeless, he wandered about from 
 place to place, the few remaining whites whom 
 he had befriended, always giving him a warm 
 welcome. The old warrior s plight aroused the 
 
110 SHABONA. 
 
 dormant gratitude of a few whites who raised 
 a fund with which they bought for him at Sen 
 eca, on Mazon Creek, near the Illinois River, 
 twenty acres of land which they cultivated and 
 erected a dwelling-house thereon. Because of 
 his natural desire to live out-doors, Shabona 
 lived in a tent nearby and used the cottage for 
 storage purposes. Through the efforts of his 
 friends, the government granted him a pension 
 of two hundred dollars a year, on which he sub 
 sisted until he died in 1859, at the age of eighty- 
 four years, and was buried in Evergreen Ceme 
 tery, at Morris, Illinois. 44 
 
 When Shabona was dying, he said: "I want 
 no monument erected to my memory; my life 
 has been mark enough for me." However, his 
 friends erected at his grave a granite boulder 
 five feet long by three feet high, which bears 
 only this simple inscription: " Shabona, 1775- 
 1859. " 45 
 
 The state of Illinois purchased a part of the 
 Davis homestead, including the place of the 
 massacre and mill-dam, and named it Shab- 
 bona Park." 
 
 "7, Wis. Hist. Col., 415-421; History of La Salle 
 County, Balwin, 110. 
 * 5 "Evergreen Cemetery" (printed pamphlet), p. 4. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 CO-MEE AND TOQUA-MEE. 
 
 Some of our readers may ask, Was anyone 
 prosecuted for the massacre at Indian Creek? 
 Oh, yes ! Co-mee and To-qua-mee who had tried 
 to buy Rachel and Sylvia Hall from their father, 
 as related in Chapter III., were, in the spring 
 of 1833, at Ottawa, Illinois, indicted by a grand 
 jury, and a warrant issued and placed in the 
 hands of Sheriff George E. Walker who had 
 been an Indian trader and spoke the Pottawat- 
 omie language, to make the arrests. The In 
 dians had gone to Iowa with Black Hawk and 
 had become members of his tribe. 
 
 Alone, Sheriff Walker went to the Sac reser 
 vation and placed the Indians under arrest. 
 The two Indians made no resistance, but un 
 shackled accompanied the sheriff to Ottawa. 
 They were allowed to go on a bond signed by 
 themselves, Shabona, and several other In 
 dians, upon their promises upon their honor to 
 return for trial. 
 
 When the time for the trial arrived the In 
 dians were on hand, although they had told 
 their friends that they expected to be executed. 
 Many of the friends of the people who had been 
 tni] 
 
]12 CO-MEE AND TO-QUA-MEE. 
 
 massacred, armed and threatening to shoot the 
 prisoners, if they should be liberated, attended 
 the trial. There was no jail in Ottawa at the 
 time, so the trial was held under a great tree 
 on the bank of the Illinois. All through the 
 trial the sheriff with a posse of armed men, 
 guarded the Indians. 
 
 Mrs. Munson and Mrs. Horn, the principal 
 witnesses, could not positively identify either 
 of the Indians, and as the Indians had volun 
 tarily stood their trial when they might have 
 escaped, the jury acquitted them. When the 
 trial was over the Indians friends gave them a 
 banquet at Buffalo Rock (six miles down the 
 Illinois), to which the sheriff and several other 
 prominent men of the time were invited. A 
 fat deer and choice game were parts of the 
 menu, and a great red-white pow-wow was a 
 part of the celebration. 
 
 It is said that subsequently when To-qua-mee 
 and Co-mee were drinking with their friends, 
 they admitted that they were present at the 
 massacre, and that they took part in it only 
 because they were angered at Davis for build 
 ing the dam across Indian Creek. Also, they 
 stated that it was through their influence that 
 the lives of the Hall girls were spared, which 
 
CO-MEE AND TO-QUA-MEE. 113 
 
 was an express condition upon which they in 
 sisted before they would take part in the mas 
 sacre. However, Black Hawk in his autobiog 
 raphy states that it was the Sac Indians who 
 saved the lives of the girls ; and White Crow in 
 his speech at Morrison s, said that the Sacs in 
 tended to kill the girls and that the Winneba- 
 goes saved their lives. 46 
 
 4G XI. Transactions of Illinois Historical Society, 
 190G, p. 313; Memories of Shabona, 165-168; Black 
 Hawk s Autobiography, 111; Ante, p. 83. 
 
INDEX 
 
 A. PAGE 
 
 Adoption of Captives by 
 
 chiefs 01 
 
 Agriculture and civili/a- 
 
 " tiou 25 
 
 Atkinson, Gen. at Ottawa 5 
 
 letter to Col. Gratiot.. 5(5 
 
 offers reward 54 
 
 Auburn, w h e r e Eider 
 
 Horn died 100 
 
 B. 
 
 Battle <>f "Stillmaii s 
 
 Kun" -- 
 
 The Pecatonica 92 
 
 Beloit, Turtle village... 55 
 Beouchard, Lieut. Ed- 
 
 ward 55 
 
 meeting captives 79 
 
 Big Fox, camp near 03 
 
 Black Earth Creek, camp 
 
 on TO 
 
 Black Hawk War 17 
 
 Black Hawk, born at 
 
 Rock Island 18 
 
 council of 18 
 
 fought with English, 
 
 1812 18 
 
 grief of 10 
 
 love of country 18 
 
 ordered to move TO 
 
 Iowa 18 
 
 return t" Illinois 18 
 
 speech of 18 
 
 second council of 20 
 
 Black Hawk s Grove, ar 
 rival at 45 
 
 Black Hawk "Lookout", 
 
 camn near 75 
 
 Black Hawk, picture of 
 
 as a warrior 17 
 
 picture of as civilian.. 21 
 
 Black Hawk s village... 20 
 Blacks m i t h, important 
 
 settler 25 
 
 [114] 
 
 Blockhouses, building of 54 
 Brigham, Ebenezer, In 
 dian feast 82 
 
 Buckwheat as first crop. 25 
 
 Buffalo, herds of 12 
 
 "Burnt City", near Ft. 
 
 Atkinson, Wis 01 
 
 C. 
 
 Camp on Wisconsin 
 
 river 
 
 Black Hawk s Grove 45, 
 Black Hawk s "Look 
 out", camp near. . . . 
 
 Cold Spring 
 
 Horicon Lake 
 
 Portage, camp near... 
 Canada, Indian voyages 
 
 to 
 
 Canoes, where girls en 
 tered 
 
 Captives, Indians kill 
 
 when attacked 
 
 Captivity of Hall girls.. 
 "Carolina", St. Louis to 
 
 Beardstown 
 
 Chickens, prairie 
 
 Hiippewas, Indians 
 
 Cholera at St. Louis 
 
 Civilization, m a r r i age 
 
 and agriculture 
 
 Clark, Gov., of Missouri. 
 Clothes. Indians furnish 
 
 Hall girls 
 
 Cold Spring, camping at 
 Comb, Rachel s thrown 
 
 away 
 
 Co-mee, tried to buy 
 
 wife 
 
 arrest- of for murder.. 
 
 acquittal 
 
 alleged confession of 
 
 murder 
 
 Country, description of. 
 
 26 
 
 02 
 01 
 
 02 
 
 23 
 111 
 112 
 
 113 
 
INDEX 
 
 115 
 
 I>. PAGE 
 
 Dam across Indian Creek 2!) 
 
 Indians object to 2!) 
 
 Indian tears o n tl e t 
 
 through 21) 
 
 Dancing of Indians 41, 50, (54 
 
 Davis City, dream of. ... 28 
 
 Davis, Jefferson 1) 
 
 Davis Settlement 23 
 
 Davis, Alex., escape of.. 32 
 
 Davis, William, sketch of 25 
 
 children of murdered. 35 
 
 murdered by Indians.. : ,." 
 
 powerful and brave... 28 
 whipped Indian with 
 
 stick .. . . 20 
 
 Davis, Wm., Jr., escape 
 
 of 35 
 
 Dedication of State Mon 
 ument 105 
 
 Deer, herds of 12 
 
 Description of country.. 1) 
 
 Dixon, center of trail s.. 13 
 
 Dodge, Col., raises troops 54 
 
 address to Indians 85 
 
 c o m m a n d at Blue 
 
 Mounds 81 
 
 takes hostages 87 
 
 Drunkenness in Militia.. 52 
 
 "Dry Year", the 31 
 
 Dnnavan, Mrs. A. Mi 
 randa fi. 07, 103 
 
 information given by.. 
 Dunavan, Samuel, mar 
 ried Miss Munson... 07 
 picture of 103 
 
 E. 
 
 Kckles, Hon. James II 
 
 U. S. Treasurer 08 
 
 Eckles, Winnie, married 
 
 to Judge Landis 08 
 
 P:nglish government pen 
 sioned Sacs 26 
 
 Evidence, best fi 
 
 F. 
 
 Family history, Munson 6, 95 
 Family .history, Horn. 6,100 
 
 Fire, a prairie 11 
 
 Flag of Truce 20, 70 
 
 Flowers, many beauti- 
 Lm 12, 27 
 
 PAGE 
 
 great growth of 31 
 
 Forests, trees of 10 
 
 Fort Defiance, rest at... 78 
 For! Winnebago, Port 
 age 78 
 
 Fox Indians 13 
 
 Fox river, description of S) 
 
 G. 
 
 Galena, meeting of peo 
 ple 54 
 
 Game, abundance of 12 
 
 Geology of country 10 
 
 George, Henry, at work 
 
 on dam 32 
 
 shot by Indians 30 
 
 Gratiot, Capt. Bion, and 
 
 Indians 81 
 
 wife of, cultured 80,00 
 
 Gratiot, Col. Henry, In 
 dians friend 55 
 
 address to Indians 84 
 
 Gratiot s Grove, descrip 
 tion of 80 
 
 H. 
 
 Hair, ceremony of clip 
 ping 68, 70 
 
 cutting locks from 
 
 captives 68 
 
 scalp, double, meaning 
 
 of 70 
 
 Hall girls, as captives.. 
 
 41-47, 50-65 
 
 adopted by chiefs 61 
 
 and neighbors 1 horses. 3!) 
 at Black Farth Creek 76, 77 
 at Black Hawk s Grove 45 
 
 at Blue Mounds 70-83 
 
 at Cold Spring 61 
 
 at Fort Defiance 88 
 
 at Galena 03 
 
 at Gratiot s Grove... 88-00 
 
 at Horicon, Lake 66-67 
 
 at Kishwaukee river. 42-44 
 
 at Morrison s 84-88 
 
 at Portage 70 
 
 at St. Louis 03 
 
 at White Oak Springs 00-02 
 
 description of 7,8 
 
 dresses given by 
 squaws 62 
 
116 
 
 INDEX 
 
 PAGE 
 
 food of captives 
 
 43, 46, 62, 72, 76, 78 
 guests of Gov. Clark.. *.):.! 
 I n <1 i a n s wanted as 
 
 wives 23 
 
 kept apart in traveling 61 
 letter from Rev. Horn. 01 
 painted by squaws.... 60 
 popular appellation of. 6 
 
 prayers of 39 
 
 presents to 92,102,104 
 
 purse collected for.... 94 
 Rachel exhausted. .. 42, 98 
 
 religious offerings 46 
 
 sleeping between 
 
 squaws 46 
 
 tiresome traveling. 42, 70, 78 
 
 weeping of 39, 00 
 
 wept parting squaws.. 79 
 Hall, Edward, in militia 79 
 Hall. Elizabeth, killed 
 
 by Indians 23,35 
 
 Hall, Greenbury, escape 
 
 of 32,36 
 
 Hall, John W., escape 
 
 of 35,36 
 
 buries massacred 
 
 whites 49 
 
 meets sisters 91 
 
 recruits squadron 48 
 
 searches for sisters . . 49, 50 
 
 statement of 102 
 
 visits sisters in Ne 
 braska 1(V2 
 
 Hall, Reason, in Militia. 79 
 Hall. Rachel, one of the 
 "Hall girls", ages of 23, 98 
 
 death of 98 
 
 exhausted 42,98 
 
 family of 96, 98 
 
 marriage of 95 
 
 picture of 97 
 
 state land gift 102 
 
 tomb of 99 
 
 wading Kishwaukee. . . 42 
 Hall, Sylvia, one of the 
 
 "Hall girls", ages 
 
 of 23, 100 
 
 death of 100 
 
 fainted at sight of 
 
 scalp 43 
 
 family of 100 
 
 marriage of 100 
 
 PAGE 
 
 pictures of 24, 101 
 
 state land gift to 102 
 
 Hall, William, sketch of 23 
 
 family of 23 
 
 hospitality, noted 24 
 
 shot by Indians 35 
 
 Hall, Mrs. Win., massa 
 cred 34-35 
 
 Harney, Gen., U. S. offi 
 cer 51 
 
 Harrison, president 9 
 
 Hearts, human on spears 60 
 Henderson, Hon. John 
 
 W., escape of 32, 35 
 
 memorial oration of... 105 
 Henderson, John H., set 
 tler 25 
 
 Henderson, Gen. T. J., 
 
 oration 105 
 
 Home, longing for... 99,101 
 
 Horicon Lake 63 
 
 Horn, Mr. C. L., grand 
 son of Elder 6 
 
 Horn, Miss Sylvia E., 
 
 grandchild of Elder. 6 
 Horn. Thomas S., son of 
 
 Elder 100 
 
 Horn. Elder W. S., 
 
 sketch of 99, 101 
 
 marries Sylvia Hall.. 100 
 
 picture of 101 
 
 Horses stolen from set 
 tlers 39 
 
 Howard, Allen, escape of 
 
 32, 35 
 I. 
 
 Illinois river 4,13 
 
 Indian troubles 13 
 
 bands attack settlers.. 21 
 
 land claims 13 
 
 marriage custom 2> 
 
 scare 31 
 
 whipped by Davis 29 
 
 Indians: Foxes, Sacs, etc. 13 
 
 attack Davis cottage.. 33 
 
 attempt to get girls. 69 
 
 carry away Hall girls 39 
 
 conspiracy suspected.. 81 
 
 parting from Hall girls 88 
 
 refusal to ratify treaty 16 
 
 taken to Morrison s... 84 
 
 trial of for murder... 112 
 
 wrongs of 16 
 
INDEX 
 
 117 
 
 J. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Jackson, President An 
 drew 9 
 
 Jerome, Judge Edwin, 
 guest of Halls 24 
 
 Johnson, Gen. Albert 
 
 Sydney 9 
 
 Johnson, Col. R. M., and 
 Sbabona 108 
 
 K. 
 
 Kaskaskia, mission and 
 
 capital 9 
 
 Kishwaukee riA er 10 
 
 Kishwaukee Trail 13 
 
 La Fayette, Gen., at Kas 
 
 kaskia .............. 
 
 Land, Indian claims to.. 13 
 
 donated to Hall girls. 104 
 Landis, Judge K. M., 
 married Winnie Eek- 
 
 les ................. 98 
 
 Lands, treaty as to ...... 13 
 
 Lincoln, Capt. Abraham. 44 
 
 anecdote of ........... 53 
 
 President, at Kaskas 
 
 kia ................. 9 
 
 Little Priest, Indian 
 
 chief ............... 61 
 
 as hostage ........... 87 
 
 M. 
 
 Maple sugar, abundance. 
 
 02, 04 
 
 Marquette, Father ....... 9 
 
 25 
 23 
 
 Marriage and civilization 
 
 Indian wife purchase.. 
 
 Massacre, the Indian 
 
 Creek ............... 31 
 
 Medary, George, Hotel of 84 
 Michigan, excitement in. 54 
 Mill, necessity in settle 
 
 ment ............... 25 
 
 Miller, important settler. 25 
 Military movements ..... 51 
 
 Military Road, course of 
 
 67,78 
 Militia, drunk .......... 52 
 
 Monument erected by 
 
 Munson ...... 4,103,104 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Monument erected by 
 state 104 
 
 Monuments on site of 
 massacre 4, 103 
 
 Munson, Rachel, three 
 
 generations of 103 
 
 burial place of 98 
 
 given land 103 
 
 Munson, William, sketch 
 
 of 95 
 
 family of Ml, 97, 98 
 
 picture of 96 
 
 N. 
 
 Neighbors, helping each 
 
 other 25 
 
 Norris, Robert, at work 
 
 on dam 33 
 
 shot by Indians 36 
 
 O. 
 
 Oconomowoc river 10 
 
 lakes around 63 
 
 Ox-teams for breaking 
 
 prairie 25 
 
 P. 
 
 Paw Paw, Shabona s vil 
 lage 108 
 
 Pecatonica, battle of 92 
 
 Pensions from England. 26 
 Peru, home of Elder 
 
 Horn 100 
 
 Pettlgrew, Win., sketch 
 
 of 24 
 
 baby killed by Indian. 34 
 
 killed by Indians 34 
 
 Mrs., shot In cottage.. 34 
 
 Picture of a prairie fire. 11 
 
 Black Hawk as civilian 21 
 
 Back Hawk as warrior 17 
 
 Chief Shabona 30 
 
 Monuments ... 4, 27, 99, 103 
 Mrs. Dunavan, Mrs. 
 Hum, Mrs. AVatts, 
 Howard Hum, Gla 
 dys Hum, Samuel 
 
 Dunavan 103 
 
 Mrs. Rachel Hall Mun 
 son and son Elliott. 97 
 
118 
 
 INDEX 
 
 PAOE 
 
 Mrs. W. S. Horn and 
 
 the Flder 101 
 
 none of Misses Hall... 7 
 
 Shabona Park 37 
 
 where twirls entered 
 
 canoes 00 
 
 William Mnnson, after 
 
 middle life 00 
 
 Wisconsin river 75 
 
 tombs of Rachel and 
 
 her husband 01) 
 
 Portage, where girls 
 
 took canoes 00 
 
 Pottawatomie Indians. . 
 
 13, 10, 53 
 
 Prairie breaking 25 
 
 Pnrse for IlaJl girls 04 
 
 Pursuit of Indians 44 
 
 Pypagee, Shabona s son, 
 
 friend of settlers. 22, 108 
 Pyps, Shabona s nephew, 
 friend of settlers. 22,108 
 
 Q. 
 
 Quails, plentiful 12 
 
 B. 
 
 Rabbits, abundant 12 
 
 Rachel s comb, taken by 
 
 Indian 02 
 
 Rachel ransomed 07 
 
 Ransom from Sacs GO 
 
 Ratification, refusal of 
 
 Indians 10 
 
 Red Bird war 17 
 
 Red Flag promenade... 05 
 Reed, John, m a r r i e s 
 
 Phoebe Munson 08 
 
 Reed. Fannie, married to 
 
 Mr. Eckles 08 
 
 Religion, Indian offering 40 
 Religious ceremony... 05,73 
 
 Reward offered 54 
 
 payment in goods 89 
 
 Rivers, formation of 10 
 
 Road, safest to Blue 
 
 Mounds 08 
 
 Rock river 9 
 
 rapids passed by cap 
 tives 03 
 
 Romance and history... 95 
 
 Royally welcomed 79 
 
 s. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Sacs claim land 10 
 
 follow girls to Portage 71 
 
 danger expected 77 
 
 Sank Trail 20 
 
 Scalp, double meaning of 70 
 
 Scalping victims 34 
 
 Scan Ian, Miss Marian, 
 
 contributor 7 
 
 Sea n Ian, Miss Gertrude, 
 
 contributor 7 
 
 Scott, uncle of Hall girls 91 
 
 Settlement, Davis 23 
 
 Settlers attacked by In 
 dians 21 
 
 rush to Ottawa 31 
 
 return to Davis settle 
 ment 32 
 
 Shabona, sketch of 100 
 
 abuse of by squatters. 105) 
 cheated out of his 
 
 lands 100 
 
 Col. Johnson s gift 
 
 ring to 108 
 
 grave of 40 
 
 home on Mazon creek. 110 
 
 notifies whites 22, 31 
 
 Park 27, 110 
 
 Paw Paw Village of.. 108 
 
 picture of 30 
 
 removal to Kansas 108 
 
 second notice to set 
 tlers 32 
 
 tomb of 110 
 
 Shaver, Delia, married to 
 
 William Munson, Jr. 08 
 Shaver, George, married 
 
 Fidelia Munson 07 
 
 Sod corn, first crop 25 
 
 Somonauk, passing head 
 waters 40 
 
 Spotted Arm, chief 57 
 
 as hostage 87 
 
 Springfield, state capital, 
 
 1837 9 
 
 Starved Rock State Park 
 Stillman, Major, defeat 
 
 of, "Stillman s Run" 20 
 "Stillman s Run", rout 
 
 at 20,48,51,52 
 
 militia undisciplined 20, 51 
 pursuing Indians... 20,51 
 
 truce flag abused 20 
 
 Stockades, building of.. 84 
 
INDEX 
 
 119 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Storms rains 31 
 
 V. PAGE 
 
 Vance, Ed., lawyer in 
 Dakota . 98 
 
 St. Louis, girls ship for. 93 
 Sycamore river 10 
 
 Vance, Dr. G., marries 
 Irma Munson 
 
 97 
 
 111 
 
 13 
 
 ID:; 
 
 30 
 
 57 
 57 
 
 66 
 
 ST 
 ~)7 
 
 71 
 
 . 92 
 51 
 50 
 16 
 
 93 
 73 
 
 j t; 
 
 Sycamore at rising of 
 moon . 41 
 
 W. 
 
 Walker, Sheriff, fearless 
 Waterway, Green Bay to 
 Prairie du Chien 
 Watts, Mrs., picture of. 
 Waubansee, friend of the 
 whites 
 
 Sylvia Hall, one of the 
 "Hall girls" 
 
 first ransomed 66 
 
 T. 
 
 Taylor Gen., report to 
 Atkinson HI 
 
 Whirling Thunder, prom 
 ises assistance 
 White Crow, promises 
 assistance 
 
 Tecumseh, Chief. 22 
 To-qua-mee, arrest for 
 murder Ill 
 acquitted of murder.. 112 
 alleged confession of 
 murder 113 
 
 character and appear 
 ance 
 makes speech to girls, 
 speech at Morrison s., 
 speaks English to cap 
 tives 
 
 Indian marriage 23 
 Torture, not women cap 
 tives (54 
 
 White Oak Springs, de 
 scription of 91 
 
 Treaty of 1804 13 
 Articles 13-16 
 Turkeys on prairies 12 
 Turnips, first crop 25 
 Turtle Creek 10 
 Turtle Village . . . 55 
 
 Whiteside with Harney. 
 finds white scalps.... 
 Winnebago Indians 
 "Winnebago , steamboat 
 for St Louis 
 
 Wisconsin river scenery. 
 Woods, description . 
 
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