Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 June 1892 — BLACK HAWK HEROES. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

BLACK HAWK HEROES.

SOME OF THEM ARE YET WELL AND HAPPY. The Monument Erected In Commemoration o* the Bloody but DecUlvo Conflict Fought Over Sixty Years Ago—Cause of the IV ar. Some of the Survivors.

HERE stands a few miles from ’ TfcFreeport, 111., the only Black Hawk rlVw war inonumentel niarks the spot JR where the decidVi ing battle of the ' ■ great war was HBljy .1 fought, and was / Jf erected by the citm v izens of Stephen- \ vson County in . 'commemoration of that bloody conflict. Near its base

have been gathered the bones o{ the soldier dead. The monument is located In Kent Township, writes a Freeport correspondent, and marks the spot where the battle of Kellogg’s Grove was fought. It was Xhere that a handful of whites, under the brave Colonel Dement, pitted themselves against the Indian warriors and won a signal victory, the first of the war. The monument was dedicated Nov. 30, 188(5, and has attracted many tourists to view the historical spot. Nearly every one has heard of Bennie Scott, the brave little drummer boy who fell in that war. He was

but 16 years of age, and was a prime favorite among the soldiers. In one of the battles in the western part of the county he was killed,' his head being severed from the body by the blood-thirsty foe. A soldier’s, burial was given the

remains, and a grave Apple itivor, 111 was dug between two young oak trees. When this last kind service had been performed a thoughtful soldier companion took his jack-knife and with it cut deep on one of the trees beside tho grave the initials “B. S.” Fifty-nine years have passed away, and that soldier has long gone to his reward. Little did he imagino the lasting monument he was engraving. One who saunters through that quiet grove to-day will see those two letters standing out In bold relief. The part cut has grown much faster than the tree, and now the outline of the Initials extends several inches. The letters are plainly visible a long distance off, and have created additional interest in the brave boy who cheered his comrades on to victory with martial melody.

• Roue to High Place*. Many who engaged in that conflict have risen to high distinction. Threo becape Presidents, Zachariah Taylor

and Abraham Lincoln, Presidents of the United States, and Jefferson Davies, President of the_ Southern Confederacy. General Henry Dodge rose to the distinction of Governor of Wisconsin, Delegate to Congress, and Senator for twelve

years. A. C. Dodge, of lowa, was a Delegate to Congress, United States Senator and Minister to Spain. Col. G. W. Jones, of lowa, was a Delegate to Congress, United States Senator, and Minister to the South American republics. Judge Sydney Breese, of Illinois, long a United States Senator and Judge of the Supreme Court of Illinois, and many others might be named. Early Trouble* with Black Hawk. The causes of that war were somewhat remote. The great ordinance of 1787 gave to the territory northwest of the Ohio River a civil government and provided that good faith should be observed toward the Indians; that their lands and property should never be taken without their consent, but that they should be treated with iustice and with hu-

inanity. Accordingly a nunlber of treaties were made whereby the Indiads sold and ceded portions of their territory. At last, on Nov. 3, 1804, at St. Louis, a treaty was made by William Henry Harrison, then Governor of Indiana Territory, with the Sac and Pox Indians, whereby they sold to the United States all that country lying south of the Wisconsin River and ca9t of the Mississippi, which included the Rock River and all its tributaries. At this time Black Hawk was a chief of the Sac and Fox, and dwelt at Rock Island, where were the graves of the Indians, and, according to their legend, the gnardian spirit of the Sac and Fox dwelt In a cave. Soon after Black Hawk, who possessed much cunning and ferocity, denied the validity of the treaty, as he had not 6lgned it, and said that the chiefs who did sign it had no authority to do so. He assisted the British in the war of 1812, and in 1816 himself signed a new treaty confirming the treaty of 1804. Then, again, Black Sparrow Hawk, as he was pleased to call himself, denied the treaty, and another

was made in 1825. Nevertheless; the Indians under Black Hawk, in 1831, in defiance of five treaties on the subject, recrossed the Mississippi from the west, drove away the white settlers from Bock Island and vicinity, and established themselves again in their former abodes. Gqv. Beynolds, with a body of militia, compelled the Indians to retreat across the river, and the treaty of 1831 was signed, Black Hawk and his followers agreeing to remain forever west of the great river. War Wa* Inevitable, x In April, 1832, Black Hawk, with all the force he could rouse, recrossed the Mississippi from the west, proceeded up Rock ltiver, and thus burst forth the storm of a dreadful war. Rev. Barton Cartwright, a nephew of the famous pioneer preacher, Petei Cartwright, and who was a circuit rider through the territory made his toric by the war, and who has probably had the best source of information on the subject of any living man, resents tho assertion that tho war was an unnecessary ono growing out of an unprovoked attack on Black Hawk by Major Stillman’s forces. He says that Black Hawk’s braves attempted to massacre the forces at Stillman’s Run whilo they slept. The alarm was given, and the soldiers began the attack which resulted in the bloody war.

CYRUS LICHTENBEIIGER,

W. O. NEVITT, ALBANY, ILL.

THE BLACK HAWK MONUMENT.