Great Lakes Steamers and the Black Hawk War
At first glance, Black Hawk, chief of the Sac and Fox Indians, Noah Brown master carpenter, and United States troops and cholera epidemics don't seem to be connected with each other. Then in the spring and summer of 1832, they combined into a deadly mixture that made troop transport on Great Lakes steamers a focal point of the Black Hawk War.
Black Hawk Takes A Stand and the United States Government Charters Four Steamers
Black Hawk was just one chief of the Sac and Fox Indians, but his courage of desperation propelled him to revolt against the white inroads on his lands in the early spring of 1832. He and his warriors invaded Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin. The Fox and The Sac Indians occupied country west of the Mississippi River in an area that was then known as Michigan Territory.
Black Hawk had assured the United States government that his people would remain on the west side of the Mississippi, but as he watched white settlers claiming Indian lands he changed his mind. Black Hawk and his warriors entered Illinois and murdered many settlers and burned their property. He vowed that he would do everything, including fighting a war, to recover the old lands on the east side of the river which the Indians had given up by treaty.
In response to Black Hawk's challenge, the United States government chartered four steamers -the Henry Clay, the Superior, the Sheldon Thompson, and the William Penn to transport troops and provisions to Chicago to fight in the Black Hawk War. The government had already sent a detachment of troops up the Mississippi River, but felt it was essential to transport troops and provisions across the lakes as well.
Asiatic Cholera, the Silent Stalking Enemy
The government wasn't aware of another enemy that ravaged the troops as effectively as Black Hawk and his warriors, an enemy called Asiatic cholera. This particular cholera epidemic was by no means the first to take a toll on emigrants and early settlers along the lakes. In 1815, an Asiatic cholera epidemic spread from Buffalo, New York to Erie and other lake ports. It was called the Black Rock Fever, because it had originated in the Black Rock-Buffalo area and was spread by soldiers from the War of 1812 as they traveled about.
How it got to Buffalo is a matter of speculation. Buffalo was an important lake port and possibly emigrants from New York City brought it up to Buffalo. Whatever its origin, the epidemic claimed many lives. Among its victims in Erie County Pennsylvania were Andrew and Martha Thompson, a middle aged couple, and the young wife of Joel Thompson.
The 1832 epidemic was eerily similar. It first appeared at Quebec on June 11, 1832, where thirty four people died. The victims were mainly emigrants who had just landed on died on the passage. From Quebec, the cholera spread to New York City, Albany, and Buffalo in the first part of July. It gradually worked westward. A Colonel Thompson, probably related to the earlier Thompson victims, played an important part in the cholera campaign of the Black Hawk War.
The Steamer Henry Clay Arrives at Detroit
The steamers that the government sent to Chicago filled with troops and supplies in 1832 were intertwined with the histories of lake ports. The steamer Henry Clay, 1,300 tons burden, began traveling between Buffalo and Detroit in 1826 as a traveling companion to the Superior. Their order of sailing was every fourth day from Buffalo and Detroit, leaving Buffalo at 9:00 o'clock a.m. and Detroit at 4 p.m. They called at Dunkirk, Portland, Erie, Grand River, Cleveland and Sandusky.
The arrival of lake steamer was an important event in port cities. The Henry Clay first arrived at Detroit from Buffalo at the opening of navigation on May 8, 1826. The local press described the event:
"The first arrival from Buffalo the present season is the new and elegant steamboat Henry Clay, Capt. Walter Norton. This vessel is worthy of the name of the great Western orator and statesman, and we have no doubt the enterprise and liberality of her owners will be amply remunerated. The Henry Clay has an engine of 60 horse power. Her model is highly approved, and her cabins are elegantly and expensively fitted up. The well-known politeness of Captain Norton, his experience and skill as a seaman together with a circumstance that considerable of her stock is owned in Detroit will insure to the Henry Clay a profitable business."
Thomas McKenny of the Indian Department Writes a Letter from Detroit
Six years before the Black Hawk War, a passenger on the Henry Clay had a mission that seemed touch on the battles of 1832. Thomas L. McKenney of the Indian Department was traveling to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin to negotiate a treaty with the Chippewa Indians. He wrote from Detroit on June 16, 1826:
"I arrived at this place this morning, after an agreeable passage from Buffalo of 37 hours, exclusive of the time lost in stopping at Grand River, Cleveland, Sandusky, etc. to put out and take in passengers - distance, about 330 miles.
It is due to the Henry Clay in which I made my first lake voyage, that I should speak of her as being one of the first class. She is schooner rigged, and has a depth and beams suited to the use of sails, when these are needed, and her timbers are stout and well put together, that she may sail the shores of this inland sea, and the stormy route, for which she was built...the steam boats Superior and Henry Clay are surpassed by few, if any, either in size of beauty of model, or in the style in which they are built and finished..."
The Sheldon Thompson, Troops for the Blackhawk War and Cholera Arrive in Chicago
The American government decided to charter four lake steamers to transport troops and supplies to Chicago to fight in the Black Hawk War. Henry Clay's companion steamer, the Superior, was built on the banks of Buffalo Creek by Noah Brown, a master carpenter, during the winter of 1821. She was the first sizeable ship built at Buffalo and she presented a navigational problem before she even set sail on the lakes. The sand bars at the mouth of Buffalo Creek had to be cut to let her out into Lake Erie. The Lake Erie Steamboat Company, the Superior's owner, were guaranteed that either human force of the forces of waters in the spring would clear the mouth of
the creek so that the Superior could enter the lake. Solid citizens of Buffalo pledged $100 for each day that the Superior might be delayed in the creek.
The Superior was launched on April 13, 1822, after some difficulty in getting through the sand bar. She finally splashed into the lake with the help of her engine. Her sailors wound a cable around the shaft of the engine and attached it to an anchor carried ahead. After a few miles run on the lake to try her machinery, the Superior returned triumphantly to Buffalo.
Captain Jedediah Rogers and the Superior
Captain Jedediah Rogers was the captain of the Superior when it was commissioned in May 1822. Until 1826, she was the only steamboat on Lake Erie and made voyages to Mackinac, which was then the pinnacle of lakes navigation. Henry Schoolcraft of Detroit was a passenger on the Superior in 1822 during a trip to Sault Ste. Marie. He said that she had "proved herself a staunch boat."
Indian Department employee Thomas McKenney also had something to say about the Superior during his stay in Detroit in 1826. He wrote, "I have just returned from the Governor's, where I have spent the evening, and most agreeably, notwithstanding a most furious gust of wind and rain, accompanied by vivid and frequent flashes of lightning and most appalling thunder.
“Great fears are entertained for the steamboat, the Superior, which was expected up about an hour before the gust arose, and has not yet arrived. I have this moment heard the signal gun, announcing the arrival of the Superior. She is several hours out of her usual time, no doubt in consequence of the gust."
The William Penn and the Sheldon Thompson
The William Penn was the first steamboat launched at Erie, Pennsylvania on May 18, 1826 and was the sixth American steamboat on the lakes. She was built by the Erie & Chautauqua Steamboat Company which was incorporated on April 10, 1826 and she was 200 tons burden, 95feet keel, 25 feet beam, and 8 feet hold.
Captain John F. Wright sailed her to Detroit, arriving on August 22, 1826. The William Pennwas described as a powerfully built boat and well calculated for lake navigation. She had a low pressure engine with a walking beam of cast iron. On her arrival at Detroit, she exchanged salutes with the steam brig Superior.
Captain Augustus Walker was one of the best known navigators and expander of steamboat interests on the Great Lakes. He built the Washington, the Great Western, and the Sheldon Thompson at Huron. She had 242 tons burden and carried three masts, the first of that rig on the lakes. On August 1, 1830, the Sheldon Thompson made her first trip to Mackinac and Green Bay.
The Buffalo News of July 7, 1830, printed a notice about the Sheldon Thompson.
"The steamer Sheldon Thompson, A. Walker, master, proposes to leave her dock, August 30th for Mackinac, Green Bay, and intermediate ports. This stanch and elegant steamship is lauded as being a specimen of Ohio architecture. She will remain at Green Bay two or three days and one or two days at Mackinac to give her passengers a chance to view the delightful scenery of the upper lakes."General Friend Palmer of Detroit saw the Sheldon Thompson leave Detroit on July 6, 1832 from her dock in Dorr & Jones at the foot of Shelby Street. He said that she had on board a "goodly number of passengers, besides a number of United States troops, with their officers and regimental band, destined for the seat of the Black Hawk War."
At the beginning, the Black Hawk War seemed to be shaping up into a serious Indian war, so the government thought that the steamer route up the lakes would be a good troop route to supplement the regular troops on the Mississippi River. Major General Winfield Scott came on the steamer Sheldon Thompson, along with 220 officers and men.
Captain Augustus Walker still commanded the Sheldon Thompson. The Sheldon Thompson came from Buffalo to Chicago, arriving there on July 10, 1832. At Chicago one officer and 51 men died of cholera. General Scott and several officers had a slight attack, but soon recovered.
The lake steamer Sheldon Thompson arrived in Chicago with troops for the Blackhawk War and cholera aboard. About eight days after the Sheldon Thompson arrived in Chicago, the William Penn appeared in Chicago harbor with troops and supplies. General Twiggs and his men had embarked on the steamers Henry Clay and William Penn and numbered about 370 strong, including officers. Cholera attacked this detachment before the Indians could and they had to land at Fort Gratiot.
Soldiers Take to the Woods to Escape Cholera
The Henry Clay and the Superior had to remain at Fort Gratiot. No discipline could be maintained on the Henry Clay. As soon as the steamer docked at Fort Gratiot, each man sprang on shore hoping to escape the disease. Some fled to the woods, some to the fields. Others lay down in the streets and under the cover of the river bank. Most of them died, unwept and alone.
Only 150 men remained alive. A large number died of cholera and were buried in the grave yard at the fort. The rest fled to the woods and along the road to Detroit. Few of them reached Detroit. Many died in the woods by the wayside and their bodies were devoured by wolves and other wild animals. Colonel Cummings landed at Detroit with another detachment of troops and camped there.
Cholera camped with the soldiers and several died. The survivors fled in terror from the enemy that didn't war whoop or brandish tomahawks. They embarked on the steamer William Penn, ready to travel to a safer place. Gradually their officers ordered them to return to the war, and they did. They didn't have many more cholera casualties. About July 12, 1832, Colonel Thompson with two companies of infantry from Fort Gratiot came to Detroit by steamer. The men landed and marched cross country to Chicago. They didn't suffer many cholera casualties either. The cholera casualties on the steamers totaled more than half of the total of the men in the six companies that left Fortress Monroe.
General Henry Atkinson and Colonel Zachary Taylor Travel the Mississippi to St. Louis
Cholera didn't vanquish all of the soldiers. There were many left to fight the Indians. A force of 1,800 soldiers from Illinois marched to the mouth of the Rock River on the Mississippi, where the Indians had their headquarters. General Atkinson commanded a company of regulars and under the immediate command of Colonel Zachary Taylor, the company went down the Mississippi to St. Louis, Missouri.
General Hugh Brady, commander of the Department of the Lakes, headquartered at Detroit traveled overland with Lieutenant Electus Backus and his staff and they joined General Atkinson in the field. Colonel Henry Dodge of the Michigan Territory raised a territorial volunteer force and moved to St. Louis. During the spring and summer of 1832, these troops fought several sharp skirmishes with the Indians. Some of the men from the lake steamers and the cholera companies fought in these campaigns.
The Indians found themselves closely pressed by advancing troops. They were pushed up Black River and soon they were more anxious to run away from the pursing troops than to make war on them. The white men continued to pursue the Indians up the Wisconsin River to the bluffs. Here they found Black Hawk and his band crossing the river with their women and children. At the battle of Wisconsin Heights, the Indians were driven into the bottoms of the Wisconsin. There they hid and darkness concealed them from the white troops.
The white men kept up the chase and on August 2, 1832, twelve days after the Battle of Wisconsin Heights, the army found the Indians near the mouth of the Bad Axe river, which flows into the Mississippi River about forty miles above Prairie du Chien.
The Steamer Warrior and the Battle of Bad Axe
The American government had also sent the Warrior, a steamer armed with a six pounder, up the Mississippi River to keep the Indians from escaping across the river. The Indians were surrounded and this encounter, the Battle of Bad Axe, soon ended. Most of Black Hawk's band was captured and dispersed. Official reports estimate the white man's loss as 25 killed and wounded. In fact, the army's entire casualties in the Black Hawk War except for the cholera deaths were estimated to be about 50. The Indians were reported to have had 230 men killed in battle. Many others died of wounds and others died of starvation, disease and drowning.
Black Hawk escaped and made his way to the dalles of the Wisconsin River, where he was captured by One-Eyed Decorra, a Winnebago Chief. One Eyed Decorra delivered Black Hawk to General Street, the Indian Agent at Prairie du Chien on August 27, 1832.
Lieutenant Jefferson Davis and His Troops Escort Black Hawk Away, but Cholera
Remains in Port
Lieutenant Jefferson Davis of the regular army and his troops escorted Black Hawk down the Mississippi River to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, where he was confined as a prisoner of war for several months. Finally Black Hawk was set free and lived quietly on the Mississippi River until his death on October 23, 1838.
The cholera survivors from the steamers Henry Clay, William Penn, Superior and SheldonThompson returned home from the Black Hawk War, victorious over both marauding Native Americans trying to preserve their homes and the marauding cholera. Black Hawk and his warriors would not make a comeback in the Department of the Lakes, but cholera did again and again.
References
Eby, Cecil D. “That Disgraceful Affair,” the Black Hawk War. Norton, 1973
Jackson, Donald. Black Hawk: An Autobiography (Prairie State Books). University of Illinois
Press, 1990.
Jung, Patrick J. The Black Hawk War of 1832: Campaigns and Commanders. University of
Oklahoma Press, 2008.
Mansfield, J.B. History of the Great Lakes. Chicago: J.B. Beers & Co., 1899
Percy, John W. The Erie Canal from Lockport to Buffalo. Partners Press, 2002
Black Hawk Takes A Stand and the United States Government Charters Four Steamers
Black Hawk was just one chief of the Sac and Fox Indians, but his courage of desperation propelled him to revolt against the white inroads on his lands in the early spring of 1832. He and his warriors invaded Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin. The Fox and The Sac Indians occupied country west of the Mississippi River in an area that was then known as Michigan Territory.
Black Hawk had assured the United States government that his people would remain on the west side of the Mississippi, but as he watched white settlers claiming Indian lands he changed his mind. Black Hawk and his warriors entered Illinois and murdered many settlers and burned their property. He vowed that he would do everything, including fighting a war, to recover the old lands on the east side of the river which the Indians had given up by treaty.
In response to Black Hawk's challenge, the United States government chartered four steamers -the Henry Clay, the Superior, the Sheldon Thompson, and the William Penn to transport troops and provisions to Chicago to fight in the Black Hawk War. The government had already sent a detachment of troops up the Mississippi River, but felt it was essential to transport troops and provisions across the lakes as well.
Asiatic Cholera, the Silent Stalking Enemy
The government wasn't aware of another enemy that ravaged the troops as effectively as Black Hawk and his warriors, an enemy called Asiatic cholera. This particular cholera epidemic was by no means the first to take a toll on emigrants and early settlers along the lakes. In 1815, an Asiatic cholera epidemic spread from Buffalo, New York to Erie and other lake ports. It was called the Black Rock Fever, because it had originated in the Black Rock-Buffalo area and was spread by soldiers from the War of 1812 as they traveled about.
How it got to Buffalo is a matter of speculation. Buffalo was an important lake port and possibly emigrants from New York City brought it up to Buffalo. Whatever its origin, the epidemic claimed many lives. Among its victims in Erie County Pennsylvania were Andrew and Martha Thompson, a middle aged couple, and the young wife of Joel Thompson.
The 1832 epidemic was eerily similar. It first appeared at Quebec on June 11, 1832, where thirty four people died. The victims were mainly emigrants who had just landed on died on the passage. From Quebec, the cholera spread to New York City, Albany, and Buffalo in the first part of July. It gradually worked westward. A Colonel Thompson, probably related to the earlier Thompson victims, played an important part in the cholera campaign of the Black Hawk War.
The Steamer Henry Clay Arrives at Detroit
The steamers that the government sent to Chicago filled with troops and supplies in 1832 were intertwined with the histories of lake ports. The steamer Henry Clay, 1,300 tons burden, began traveling between Buffalo and Detroit in 1826 as a traveling companion to the Superior. Their order of sailing was every fourth day from Buffalo and Detroit, leaving Buffalo at 9:00 o'clock a.m. and Detroit at 4 p.m. They called at Dunkirk, Portland, Erie, Grand River, Cleveland and Sandusky.
The arrival of lake steamer was an important event in port cities. The Henry Clay first arrived at Detroit from Buffalo at the opening of navigation on May 8, 1826. The local press described the event:
"The first arrival from Buffalo the present season is the new and elegant steamboat Henry Clay, Capt. Walter Norton. This vessel is worthy of the name of the great Western orator and statesman, and we have no doubt the enterprise and liberality of her owners will be amply remunerated. The Henry Clay has an engine of 60 horse power. Her model is highly approved, and her cabins are elegantly and expensively fitted up. The well-known politeness of Captain Norton, his experience and skill as a seaman together with a circumstance that considerable of her stock is owned in Detroit will insure to the Henry Clay a profitable business."
Thomas McKenny of the Indian Department Writes a Letter from Detroit
Six years before the Black Hawk War, a passenger on the Henry Clay had a mission that seemed touch on the battles of 1832. Thomas L. McKenney of the Indian Department was traveling to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin to negotiate a treaty with the Chippewa Indians. He wrote from Detroit on June 16, 1826:
"I arrived at this place this morning, after an agreeable passage from Buffalo of 37 hours, exclusive of the time lost in stopping at Grand River, Cleveland, Sandusky, etc. to put out and take in passengers - distance, about 330 miles.
It is due to the Henry Clay in which I made my first lake voyage, that I should speak of her as being one of the first class. She is schooner rigged, and has a depth and beams suited to the use of sails, when these are needed, and her timbers are stout and well put together, that she may sail the shores of this inland sea, and the stormy route, for which she was built...the steam boats Superior and Henry Clay are surpassed by few, if any, either in size of beauty of model, or in the style in which they are built and finished..."
The Sheldon Thompson, Troops for the Blackhawk War and Cholera Arrive in Chicago
The American government decided to charter four lake steamers to transport troops and supplies to Chicago to fight in the Black Hawk War. Henry Clay's companion steamer, the Superior, was built on the banks of Buffalo Creek by Noah Brown, a master carpenter, during the winter of 1821. She was the first sizeable ship built at Buffalo and she presented a navigational problem before she even set sail on the lakes. The sand bars at the mouth of Buffalo Creek had to be cut to let her out into Lake Erie. The Lake Erie Steamboat Company, the Superior's owner, were guaranteed that either human force of the forces of waters in the spring would clear the mouth of
the creek so that the Superior could enter the lake. Solid citizens of Buffalo pledged $100 for each day that the Superior might be delayed in the creek.
The Superior was launched on April 13, 1822, after some difficulty in getting through the sand bar. She finally splashed into the lake with the help of her engine. Her sailors wound a cable around the shaft of the engine and attached it to an anchor carried ahead. After a few miles run on the lake to try her machinery, the Superior returned triumphantly to Buffalo.
Captain Jedediah Rogers and the Superior
Captain Jedediah Rogers was the captain of the Superior when it was commissioned in May 1822. Until 1826, she was the only steamboat on Lake Erie and made voyages to Mackinac, which was then the pinnacle of lakes navigation. Henry Schoolcraft of Detroit was a passenger on the Superior in 1822 during a trip to Sault Ste. Marie. He said that she had "proved herself a staunch boat."
Indian Department employee Thomas McKenney also had something to say about the Superior during his stay in Detroit in 1826. He wrote, "I have just returned from the Governor's, where I have spent the evening, and most agreeably, notwithstanding a most furious gust of wind and rain, accompanied by vivid and frequent flashes of lightning and most appalling thunder.
“Great fears are entertained for the steamboat, the Superior, which was expected up about an hour before the gust arose, and has not yet arrived. I have this moment heard the signal gun, announcing the arrival of the Superior. She is several hours out of her usual time, no doubt in consequence of the gust."
The William Penn and the Sheldon Thompson
The William Penn was the first steamboat launched at Erie, Pennsylvania on May 18, 1826 and was the sixth American steamboat on the lakes. She was built by the Erie & Chautauqua Steamboat Company which was incorporated on April 10, 1826 and she was 200 tons burden, 95feet keel, 25 feet beam, and 8 feet hold.
Captain John F. Wright sailed her to Detroit, arriving on August 22, 1826. The William Pennwas described as a powerfully built boat and well calculated for lake navigation. She had a low pressure engine with a walking beam of cast iron. On her arrival at Detroit, she exchanged salutes with the steam brig Superior.
Captain Augustus Walker was one of the best known navigators and expander of steamboat interests on the Great Lakes. He built the Washington, the Great Western, and the Sheldon Thompson at Huron. She had 242 tons burden and carried three masts, the first of that rig on the lakes. On August 1, 1830, the Sheldon Thompson made her first trip to Mackinac and Green Bay.
The Buffalo News of July 7, 1830, printed a notice about the Sheldon Thompson.
"The steamer Sheldon Thompson, A. Walker, master, proposes to leave her dock, August 30th for Mackinac, Green Bay, and intermediate ports. This stanch and elegant steamship is lauded as being a specimen of Ohio architecture. She will remain at Green Bay two or three days and one or two days at Mackinac to give her passengers a chance to view the delightful scenery of the upper lakes."General Friend Palmer of Detroit saw the Sheldon Thompson leave Detroit on July 6, 1832 from her dock in Dorr & Jones at the foot of Shelby Street. He said that she had on board a "goodly number of passengers, besides a number of United States troops, with their officers and regimental band, destined for the seat of the Black Hawk War."
At the beginning, the Black Hawk War seemed to be shaping up into a serious Indian war, so the government thought that the steamer route up the lakes would be a good troop route to supplement the regular troops on the Mississippi River. Major General Winfield Scott came on the steamer Sheldon Thompson, along with 220 officers and men.
Captain Augustus Walker still commanded the Sheldon Thompson. The Sheldon Thompson came from Buffalo to Chicago, arriving there on July 10, 1832. At Chicago one officer and 51 men died of cholera. General Scott and several officers had a slight attack, but soon recovered.
The lake steamer Sheldon Thompson arrived in Chicago with troops for the Blackhawk War and cholera aboard. About eight days after the Sheldon Thompson arrived in Chicago, the William Penn appeared in Chicago harbor with troops and supplies. General Twiggs and his men had embarked on the steamers Henry Clay and William Penn and numbered about 370 strong, including officers. Cholera attacked this detachment before the Indians could and they had to land at Fort Gratiot.
Soldiers Take to the Woods to Escape Cholera
The Henry Clay and the Superior had to remain at Fort Gratiot. No discipline could be maintained on the Henry Clay. As soon as the steamer docked at Fort Gratiot, each man sprang on shore hoping to escape the disease. Some fled to the woods, some to the fields. Others lay down in the streets and under the cover of the river bank. Most of them died, unwept and alone.
Only 150 men remained alive. A large number died of cholera and were buried in the grave yard at the fort. The rest fled to the woods and along the road to Detroit. Few of them reached Detroit. Many died in the woods by the wayside and their bodies were devoured by wolves and other wild animals. Colonel Cummings landed at Detroit with another detachment of troops and camped there.
Cholera camped with the soldiers and several died. The survivors fled in terror from the enemy that didn't war whoop or brandish tomahawks. They embarked on the steamer William Penn, ready to travel to a safer place. Gradually their officers ordered them to return to the war, and they did. They didn't have many more cholera casualties. About July 12, 1832, Colonel Thompson with two companies of infantry from Fort Gratiot came to Detroit by steamer. The men landed and marched cross country to Chicago. They didn't suffer many cholera casualties either. The cholera casualties on the steamers totaled more than half of the total of the men in the six companies that left Fortress Monroe.
General Henry Atkinson and Colonel Zachary Taylor Travel the Mississippi to St. Louis
Cholera didn't vanquish all of the soldiers. There were many left to fight the Indians. A force of 1,800 soldiers from Illinois marched to the mouth of the Rock River on the Mississippi, where the Indians had their headquarters. General Atkinson commanded a company of regulars and under the immediate command of Colonel Zachary Taylor, the company went down the Mississippi to St. Louis, Missouri.
General Hugh Brady, commander of the Department of the Lakes, headquartered at Detroit traveled overland with Lieutenant Electus Backus and his staff and they joined General Atkinson in the field. Colonel Henry Dodge of the Michigan Territory raised a territorial volunteer force and moved to St. Louis. During the spring and summer of 1832, these troops fought several sharp skirmishes with the Indians. Some of the men from the lake steamers and the cholera companies fought in these campaigns.
The Indians found themselves closely pressed by advancing troops. They were pushed up Black River and soon they were more anxious to run away from the pursing troops than to make war on them. The white men continued to pursue the Indians up the Wisconsin River to the bluffs. Here they found Black Hawk and his band crossing the river with their women and children. At the battle of Wisconsin Heights, the Indians were driven into the bottoms of the Wisconsin. There they hid and darkness concealed them from the white troops.
The white men kept up the chase and on August 2, 1832, twelve days after the Battle of Wisconsin Heights, the army found the Indians near the mouth of the Bad Axe river, which flows into the Mississippi River about forty miles above Prairie du Chien.
The Steamer Warrior and the Battle of Bad Axe
The American government had also sent the Warrior, a steamer armed with a six pounder, up the Mississippi River to keep the Indians from escaping across the river. The Indians were surrounded and this encounter, the Battle of Bad Axe, soon ended. Most of Black Hawk's band was captured and dispersed. Official reports estimate the white man's loss as 25 killed and wounded. In fact, the army's entire casualties in the Black Hawk War except for the cholera deaths were estimated to be about 50. The Indians were reported to have had 230 men killed in battle. Many others died of wounds and others died of starvation, disease and drowning.
Black Hawk escaped and made his way to the dalles of the Wisconsin River, where he was captured by One-Eyed Decorra, a Winnebago Chief. One Eyed Decorra delivered Black Hawk to General Street, the Indian Agent at Prairie du Chien on August 27, 1832.
Lieutenant Jefferson Davis and His Troops Escort Black Hawk Away, but Cholera
Remains in Port
Lieutenant Jefferson Davis of the regular army and his troops escorted Black Hawk down the Mississippi River to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, where he was confined as a prisoner of war for several months. Finally Black Hawk was set free and lived quietly on the Mississippi River until his death on October 23, 1838.
The cholera survivors from the steamers Henry Clay, William Penn, Superior and SheldonThompson returned home from the Black Hawk War, victorious over both marauding Native Americans trying to preserve their homes and the marauding cholera. Black Hawk and his warriors would not make a comeback in the Department of the Lakes, but cholera did again and again.
References
Eby, Cecil D. “That Disgraceful Affair,” the Black Hawk War. Norton, 1973
Jackson, Donald. Black Hawk: An Autobiography (Prairie State Books). University of Illinois
Press, 1990.
Jung, Patrick J. The Black Hawk War of 1832: Campaigns and Commanders. University of
Oklahoma Press, 2008.
Mansfield, J.B. History of the Great Lakes. Chicago: J.B. Beers & Co., 1899
Percy, John W. The Erie Canal from Lockport to Buffalo. Partners Press, 2002