to surrender himself and his whole band, to the whites.  Again his flag was looked upon as a decoy, and in fifteen minutes, a round of canister shot, from the boat, was fired, with deadly fatality into the midst of his men, women and children.  The following morning, the main army, under General Atkinson, reached the scene of action.  His force must have been six or eight times greater than that of the Indians, and by a judicious movement, the latter was promptly surrounded on three sides by the pursuing army, while on the other, the steam boat Warrior, the waters of the Mississippi, and a band of hostile Sioux on its west bank, precluded all chance of escape in that quarter.  A demand upon the Indians, at this time, to surrender, unconditionally, would undoubtedly have been most cheerfully acceded to.  But it appears not to have been made.  It is probable that General Atkinson whose character for humanity, has always stood high, could not restrain the impetuosity of his troops long enough to propose a capitulation.  They had been deeply excited by the murders perpetrated by the Black Hawk band—­had been harassed by a long and fatiguing march—­and perhaps felt, that the results of the campaign, thus far, had been rather inglorious to their arms.  These causes may have conspired to precipitate them into a battle, which had been better spared than fought, inasmuch as it resulted, necessarily, in the death of a great many miserable women and children, who were already on the brink of the grave, from hunger and exhaustion.

A brief recapitulation of a few of the events of this disastrous campaign, has thus been made, for the purpose of showing, that however hostile Black Hawk and his band may have been, originally, towards the whites, he did not make the first attack upon them; and that the war might in all probability have been prevented, or arrested in any stage of its progress, by the exercise of that forbearance, good faith and sound policy, which should ever be cherished by the United States.

The official report of General Atkinson to General Macomb, after the battle of the Bad-axe has been quoted in full.  On the 25th of November 1832, the Secretary at War, Mr. Cass, in his annual report to the President, says, in speaking of this campaign,

“General Atkinson, with the regular troops and militia under his command, pursued the Indians through a country very difficult to be penetrated, of which little was known, and where much exertion was required to procure regular supplies.  These circumstances necessarily delayed the operations, and were productive of great responsibility to the commanding officer, and of great sufferings and privations to all employed in this harassing warfare.  The Indians, however, were driven from their fastnesses, and fled towards the Mississippi, with the intention of seeking refuge in the country west of that river.  They were immediately followed by General Atkinson, with a mounted force, overtaken, and completely vanquished.