Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. II.djvu/166

128 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS the east side of the river was hostile, and, from the defenceless condition of the settlers and the horror of savage atrocity, great excitement was created, due rather to his fame as a warrior than to the number of his followers. If, as he subsequently declared, his design was to go and live peaceably with his nephew, the Prophet, rather than with the Foxes, of whom Keokuk was the chief, that design may have been frustrated by the lamentable mis take of some mounted volunteers in hastening for ward in pursuit of Black Hawk, who with his band men, women, and children was going up on the south side of the Rock river. The pursuers fell into an ambuscade, and were routed with some loss and in great confusion. The event will be remembered by the men of that day as "Stillman s run." The vanity of the young Indians was inflated by their success, as was shown by some exultant messages; and the sagacious old chief, whatever he may have previously calculated upon, now saw that war was inevitable and immediate. With his band, recruited by warriors from the Prophet s band, he crossed to the north side of Rock river, and, pass ing through the swamp Koshkenong, fled over the prairies west of the Four Lakes, toward Wiscon sin river. Gen. Henry Dodge, with a battalion of mounted miners, overtook the Indians while they were crossing the Wisconsin and attacked their rear-guard, which, when the main body had crossed,