with the British upon our north west, no satisfactory information has been obtained.  It appears that he was in two engagements, but seems not to have distinguished himself.  The last of these was the attack, in August 1813, upon Fort Stephenson, then under the command of Major Croghan.  The gallant defence of this post, and the fatal repulse given to the combined British and Indian forces, seem to have disheartened Black Hawk; for soon afterwards, tired of successive defeats, and disappointed in not obtaining the “spoils of victory,” he left the army, with about twenty of his followers, and returned to his village on Rock river.  It is probable that he would have remained neutral during the remainder of the war, had it not been for one of those border outrages, which lawless and unprincipled white men but too often commit upon the Indians, under pretence of self defence or retaliation, often a mere pretext for wanton bloodshed and murder.  Previous to joining Colonel Dixon, Black Hawk had visited the lodge of an old friend, whose son he had adopted and taught to hunt.  He was anxious that this youth should go with him and his band and join the British standard, but the father objected on the ground that he was dependent upon his son for game; and, moreover, that he did not wish him to fight against the Americans who had always treated him kindly.  He had agreed to spend the following winter near a white settler, upon Salt river, one of the tributaries of the Mississippi which enters that stream below the Des Moyens, and intended to take his son with him.  As Black Hawk was approaching his village on Rock river, after his campaign on the lakes with Dixon, he observed a smoke rising from a hollow in the bluff of the stream.  He went to see who was there.  Upon drawing near to the fire, he discovered a mat stretched, and an old man of sorrowful aspect sitting under it, alone, and evidently humbling himself before the Great Spirit, by fasting and prayer.  It proved to be his old friend, the father of his adopted son.  Black Hawk seated himself beside him and inquired what had happened, but received no answer, for indeed he seemed scarcely alive.  Being revived by some water, he looked up, recognized the friend of his youth, and in reply to Black Hawk’s second inquiry, said, in a feeble voice,

“Soon after your departure to join the British, I descended the river with a small party, to winter at the place I told you the white man had requested me to come to.  When we arrived, I found a fort built, and the white family that had invited me to come and hunt near them, had removed to it.  I then paid a visit to the fort, to tell the white people that myself and little band were friendly, and that we wished to hunt in the vicinity of their fort.  The war chief, who commanded it, told me that we might hunt on the Illinois side of the Mississippi, and no person would trouble us.  That the horsemen only ranged on the Missouri side, and he had directed them