re left there joined in the stampede. In
their desperate fear, every soldier thought every other an Indian and
fired hither and yon. Eleven were killed, probably only one by the
redskins. The survivors for the most part continued their flight,
spreading the most exaggerated stories of the numbers and ferocity of
the Indians, until they reached their several homes. As it proved, the
three Indian flag bearers were not harmed till the stampede began, when
one of them was shot by a soldier just mounting his horse to run. One of
the surviving Indians immediately killed him with his tomahawk.

This easy triumph changed Black Hawk's purpose. He regarded it as an
omen of victory and determined to go on. But his strenuous efforts to
enlist the Pottawatomi in the cause were unavailing. Old Chief Shaubenee
had absolute control over them and steadily said "no." Even Chief Big
Foot at the head of Lake Geneva refused. He was a drunken, sullen,
brutal savage, but had given his word to keep the peace and did so,
though he bitterly hated the whites and would have been glad to see the
war go on. About one hundred reckless, lawless individuals of the
Winnebago and Pottawatomi tribes joined Black Hawk, but gradually
deserted him as his fortunes waned.

Black Hawk was now anxious to take his women, children and old men to a
place of safety, and, following the guidance of two Winnebagoes, they
made their way up the Rock to Hustisford Rapids and there went into
camp. Fish, game, clams, roots and the bark of trees constituted their
food while there, but Black Hawk in his biography says they found it
difficult to keep from starving. And, adding to their present misery,
the thrifty, provident squaws saw another harvestless summer passing and
a winter of famine before them. With his warriors he then returned to
continue the contest. A few skirmishes and collisions took place along
the line that now separates Wisconsin and Illinois, and predatory
parties of Winnebagoes and Pottawatomi worked out their grudges and
revenges on whites who had incurred their enmity. These outrages were
numerous and were attributed to the Sauks, as their perpetrators
expected would be the case. It is now believed that not a single case of
the murder of an unarmed man or of a woman or child was justly
chargeable to the Sauks.

Governor Reynolds had called for a second levy of two thousand
volunteers, and General Atkinson, with a considerable force of regulars,
was in