Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 May 1892 — A Survivor of the Black Hawk War. [ARTICLE]

A Survivor of the Black Hawk War.

A survivor of the Black Hawk war is still living in Freeport, 111., in the person of Mrs. William Lawhom. She is the widow of one of the band of settlers who helped to build the fort on Apple River, which was afterwards attacked by the Indians. It was constructed of split logs set on end and making a stockade twelve feet high. The wagons and goods of the settlers’ families were taken inside, and there gathered the men, women, and children when the news reached them of the advance of Black Hawk and.his bloodthirsty warriors. The whites did not have long to wfiit. Three hundred and fifty braves in full war-paint suddenly appeared on the crest of the prairie. After three hours of hard fighting the Indians were repulsed by the sharp and unerring fire from the settlers’ rifles, taking their dead with them. One of the whites, Haskel Rhodes, was killed, and two were wounded. During the seige Mrs. Lawhorp and other women molded bullets and helped the men to load their rifles. As the Indians drew oil the settlers sallied forth, only to fall into an ambuscade and lose several of their little force. Mrs. Lawhorn attends the reunions of the few Black Hawk veterans who survive. She is now nearly 90 years old, and was about 30 years of age at the time of the fight on Apple River.