Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1914-09-07

First, that l might have an opportun
ity of viewing the situation of The
ground to enable me to select such {
landing as would bring our artiller!
to bear on the villages with the great
est advantage. l was likewise in hopes
a party would approach us with flag
| from which l expected to learn the
situation of affairs, at the prairie, and
! ascertain in some measure their num-
bers and perhaps bring them to
| council when | should have been able
to have retaliated on them for their
repeated acts of treachery; or, if they
were determined to attack us, l was in
/ hopes to draw them some distance
I from their towns towards the rapids,
run down in the night and destroy
them before they could return to their
defense. But in this l was disappoint-
ed The wind, which had been in our
favor, began TO shift about at the
time we passed the mouth of Rock
river, and by the time We reached the
head of the island, which is about a
mile and half long, it blew perfect
hurricane, quarterly down the river,
and it was with great difficulty we
made land on a small island, contain
ing six or eight acres, covered with
willows. near the middle of the river,
and about sixty yards from the upper
end of the island. In this situation |
determined to remain during the night
if the storm continued, as l knew the
anchors of several of the boats in that
event would not hold them, and there
was a great probability of their being
drifted on sandbars, of which the river
is full in this place, which would have
exposed the men very much in getting
them off, even if they could have pre-
vented their filling with water.
Driven to Land.
1T was about 4 o'clock in the even
ing when we were compelled to land,
and large parties of Indians were on
each side of the river, as well as cross
ing IN different directions in canoes;
but not a gun was fired from either
side The wind continued to blow the
whole night with violence, accompan-
led with some rain, which induced me
TO order the sentinels to be brought
in and placed in the bow of each boat.
About daylight Captain Whiteside's
boat was fired on at the distance of
about fifteen PAGES, and a corporal.
who was on the outside of the boat,
was mortally wounded. My orders
were. il 4 boat was fired on to return
il. but not a man to leave the boat
without positive orders from myself
So soon as il got perfectly light, as the
enemy continued about the boat, | de-
termined TO drive them from the is
land, let their numbers be what they
l then assigned each boat a propes
guard. formed the troops for action
and pushed through the willows TO
the opposite shore; but those fellows
who had the holiness to fire on the
boats cleared themselves as soon as
the troops were formed by wading
from the island We were encamped on
to the one Just below us. Captain
Whitoside, who was on the left, was
able TO give them a warm fire as they
reached the island they had retreated
to. They returned the fire for a few
when they retreated. In this
affair We had two men badly wounded !
When Captain Whiteside commenced
the fire, | ordered Captain Rector to ,
drop down with his boat To ground and !
to rake the island below with artillery. |
and To fire on every canoe he should !
discover passing from one shore TO the |
other which should come within reach. |
In this situation he remained about |
enc hour, and no Indians making their !