2-22 Camp of Six Horses

May 17, 2014
Willow Creek Flowage
Richland County, WI

“When I bestride him, I soar, I am a hawk.  He trots the air, the earth sings when he touches it.”  -  William Shakespeare

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“When we think of those companions who traveled by our side down life's road, let us not say with sadness that they left us behind, but rather say with gentle gratitude that they once were with us.”  -  Author Unknown

It is May 17th, and I have resumed my journey, following the path of the diminishing band of Sauk, Meskwaki, Potawatomi, and Ho-Chunk Indians as they mustered strength from depleted wells and fled westward from the threat of a renewed attack.  As I had promised the spirits, I returned to the encampment at Honey Creek to resume my quest.  I called to the horse spirits, asking for their help in gathering all those who had suffered in this place – to follow me – to continue and complete this journey with me.

The People rested here for a few days, hoping against hope that the Army and the militia had abandoned their pursuit and would now allow them to escape.  When their enemies resumed the chase, they picked up everything and ran west, hoping to reach and cross the Mississippi River before death could find them.

From Honey Creek, I traveled first southwest, along Hwy C, until it reached Hwy 60. The Indians fled in this general direction, for two main reasons.  First, as noted before, water meant life.  With daily temperatures in the 80s and 90s and their devastated physical condition, they would quickly perish without ready access to water.  Second, the river was their guide, leading them west.  Another possible consideration is that this is the direction that had been taken by the 200 or so members of their band too weak to travel overland, and they may have hoped for news of their escape.

On Hwy 60, in the lower flood plain near the river, there is a Historical Marker describing the ‘Western Escape’ of the Indians as they fled.   The sign is somewhat misleading. Certainly the band used the waterway as an escape, but only a limited number left on the 22nd.  The 700 or so members of the band still surviving and able to travel by land left the area days later, only a matter of a few miles ahead of the advancing troops.

Traveling due west along the flat, grassy floodplain of the Wisconsin River, Hwy 60 provides an excellent view of what Black Hawk’s people would have encountered.  The hills in this area are quite beautiful, and if one pauses to listen, the birdsong is simply jubilant.  It was peaceful and quiet.  Not so for the starving fugitives as they struggled westward.  Little did they know what lay between them and the Mississippi River.

As Hwy 60 approaches the town of Gotham, it turns sharply north, before cutting west again along the Wisconsin River.  This occurs at a place known as the Pine River Valley, and it was here that Black Hawk and his people left the Wisconsin River behind and followed this new river northward.  Unable or unwilling to cross the Pine River, they went north and made camp a mile or so up the valley, probably on the night of July 26th, after a hard day’s march with the temperature in the high 80s.  It was the previous day, July 25th that Brigadier General Alexander Posey had begun construction of rafts at the abandoned settlement of Helena, using logs from abandoned cabins for the task.  No doubt this was the action that spurred Black Hawk’s people to flight again, after resting only a few short days near Honey Creek.

General Atkinson’s troops arrived at Helena, on the Wisconsin River, late in the day on August 26th.  The total force numbered roughly 1300 men (400 regular army and 900 volunteers), plus wagons, pack horses, beeves (cattle), and provisions.  Unable to start crossing the river immediately, they made camp while the construction of rafts continued. The first of the troops crossed the river on the 27th.  On the night of the 27th, while fishing, two soldiers discovered the bloated corpse of a Sauk Indian, presumed to have been killed upriver during the battle at Wisconsin Heights.

When the soldiers finished crossing the Wisconsin River on July 28th, they started riding east along the north shore of the river, intending to return to the shore opposite the battle site from a week earlier, with plans to relocate the trail and resume their pursuit.  The soldiers were in poor spirits, believing that Black Hawk had a week’s head start on them, and that they had little or no chance of finding him again.  That mood changed instantly when, after riding along the river for only three or four miles, they discovered the trail and saw it was fresh, heading west in the direction of the Ocooch Mountains.

Even in the band's ragged and diminished condition, the trail showed how carefully the Indians were traveling in their attempt to elude their enemy.

“Their trail gave evidence that their numbers must be considerable. Their order of march was in three parallel columns. Over the dry prairie, the route of each column was worn two to six inches in the earth; where the ground was marshy, their trail appeared like ordinary traveled roads, wanting only the tracks of the wheels.” - Diary of Henry Smith, soldier

The whole of the pursuing army struck a course west along the trail, and traveled at a fast march until they reached the Pine River Valley, where they, too, turned north.  They camped that night, on the 28th, at Rohn Hollow Creek just north of present-day Gotham.

Dawn broke the next day at 4:45 am, with reveille and fast rations from the supply wagons. The soldiers took up the march early, but within a couple of miles they were forced to construct a small bridge over a large creek, now known as Willow Creek.  Shortly thereafter they came upon the first of several camps left by Black Hawk’s band.  There they found, not for the first time, evidence of just how desperate the Indians had become for food.

"July 29th.  We started this morning very early, and had proceeded but a short distance, before we came upon one of their [Black Hawk's] encampments.  We found that they were still killing their horses to eat.  They here had killed the willing animals, that had carried them, no doubt for miles, and through many dangers.  We now discovered that the enemy was about four days ahead of us, and were still flying from us with all speed." - John Allen Wakefield, Esq.

I am not a vegetarian.  I understand that the meat I find in grocery stores under clear plastic wrap on styrofoam trays and blotter pads has its origin in the living creatures of the earth.  I was raised around livestock, and I have raised my own animals for food.  Still – I find this act of desperation numbing.  The ominous importance of this discovery cannot be ignored.  When the peril of moving slowly will result in certain death, at the hands of a relentless foe, it is hard to imagine the severity of hunger that would force you to eat the horse that has carried you for 1000 miles and know that you will now be faced with having to evade your enemy on foot.

As I drove past the Willow Creek Flowage, I said a silent prayer.

Makataimeshekiakiak  –  I offer a prayer for the spirits of your brothers, the horses, who gave their lives in the time of your desperate need.

Mighty Nêkatôshkashâhaki  –  Quiet now are the winds of the prairie that bore your spirits to the next world.  Your power and your freedom are now a part of The People.  Your strength is now their strength.  May your spirits forever run free amidst endless waving fields of grasses.  Mighty Nêkatôshkashâhaki – come with me now.  Follow the spirits of your fallen brothers and sisters until they make their way home in celebration.  Ah-ho.

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(Key Terms: Ma-Ka-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak, Black Sparrow Hawk, Black Hawk, 1767, Saukenuk, Pyesa, Rock Island, Black Hawk’s Watch Tower, Black Hawk State Historic Site, Hauberg Museum, Sauk, Sac, Meskwaki, Fox, Rock River, Sinnissippi River, Mississippi River, War of 1812, British Band, Great Britain, Treaty of 1804, Treaties, Ceded Land, William Henry Harrison, Quashquame, Keokuk, Fort Armstrong, Samuel Whiteside, Black Hawk War of 1832, Black Hawk Conflict, Scalp, Great Sauk Trail, Black Hawk Trail, Prophetstown, Wabokieshiek, White Cloud, The Winnebago Prophet, Ne-o-po-pe, Dixon’s Ferry, Isaiah Stillman, The Battle of Stillman’s Run, Old Man’s Creek, Sycamore Creek, Abraham Lincoln, Chief Shabbona, Felix St. Vrain, Lake Koshkonong, Fort Koshkonong, Fort Atkinson, Henry Atkinson, Andrew Jackson, Lewis Cass, Winfield Scott, Chief Black Wolf, Henry Dodge, James Henry, White Crow, Rock River Rapids, The Four Lakes, Battle of Wisconsin Heights, Benjamin Franklin Smith, Wisconsin River, Kickapoo River, Soldier’s Grove, Steamboat Warrior, Steamship Warrior, Fort Crawford, Battle of Bad Axe, Bad Axe Massacre, Joseph M. Street, Antoine LeClaire, Native American, Indian, Michigan Territory, Indiana Territory, Louisiana Territory, Osage, Souix, Potawatomi, Ojibwe, Ottawa, Ho-Chunk)