Indian Creek Massacre and Captivity of Hall Girls: Complete history of the massacre of sixteen whites on Indian creek, near Ottawa, Ill., and Sylvia Hall and Rachel Hall as captives in Illinois and Wisconsin during the Black Hawk war, 1832 — John Shaqi
Indian Creek Massacre and Captivity of Hall Girls: Complete history of the massacre of sixteen whites on Indian creek, near Ottawa, Ill., and Sylvia Hall and Rachel Hall as captives in Illinois and Wisconsin during the Black Hawk war, 1832Scanlan, Charles Martin
History
Indian Creek Massacre and Captivity of Hall Girls: Complete history of the massacre of sixteen whites on Indian creek, near Ottawa, Ill., and Sylvia Hall and Rachel Hall as captives in Illinois and Wisconsin during the Black Hawk war, 1832
Scanlan, Charles Martin
Black Hawk War, 1832; Horn, Sylvia Hall, 1813-1899; Indian captivities -- Middle West; Munson, Rachel Hall, -1870
As soon as the tents were erected everybody partook of some food,
most of the Indians without any utensils, but the girls were supplied
with the usual dishes: wooden plates, bowls and spoons. At this place
maple-sugar seemed to be abundant and the girls were furnished all of
it that they could eat. Also, the squaws seemed to appreciate the fact
that the girls were suffering from exposure, and took great pains to
make their quarters as comfortable as possible.
During their long tramp through the brush, the light working dresses
that the girls had on at the time that they were captured had become
badly torn, and the squaws brought Rachel a red and white calico dress
with ruffles around the bottom, and Sylvia, a blue calico. The Indians
requested the girls to throw away their shoes and put on moccasins,
against which the latter strongly protested and refused to take off
their shoes. No violence to take away their shoes was used, and the
girls continued to wear them. An Indian threw away Rachel’s comb and
she immediately went after it and kept it so that it could not be
snatched away again without using force, to which the Indians did not
resort.
As night set in the Indians retired and each of the girls had to sleep
between two squaws, which they were compelled to do thereafter up to
the time that they were turned over to the Winnebagoes.
Day after day the Indians changed the location of their camp, probably
to evade the whites if they should pursue them. From Cold Spring
by circuitous routes, through the beautiful lake country around
Oconomowoc, they moved northward until they reached the rolling hills
near Horicon Lake where they pitched their camp not far from the
rapids, and southeast of the Indian village of Big Fox.[24]
[24] V. Wis. Hist. Col., 260; Black Hawk’s Autobiography, 106, 110,
160; “Waubun,” 320; Hist. of Dodge Co., by Hubbell, 67.
The girls had now traveled about 150 miles north from their home. It
was the eighth day of their captivity, and to them the time was so
long that every minute seemed almost a day; and since they last sat at
dinner in the little cottage of William Davis at Indian Creek, although
very vivid in their minds, seemed an age. Also, the unknown places at
which they had camped being in such various directions from each other,
the girls had no idea how far they had gone from Black Hawk’s Grove
(Janesville). Everywhere they traveled Indian camps were numerous,
because as soon as spring had opened the Indians divided into small
camps to make maple sugar. Were the girls to put an estimate upon the
number of Indians in that unknown region, it certainly would have
reached high up into the thousands.
At every camp the dance around the pole with all its hideous
surroundings, accompanied by the Indian yells and war-whoops, the
rattling of gourds, and waving of weapons, was repeated.
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