“In possession of the above facts and information, I have hesitated not as to the course I should pursue. No citizen ought to remain inactive when his country is invaded and the helpless part of the community are in danger. I have called out a strong detachment of militia to rendezvous at Beardstown on the 22d inst. “Provisions for the men and food for the horses will be furnished in abundance. “I hope my countrymen will realize my expectations and offer their services as heretofore, with promptitude and cheerfulness in defense of their country.” Meantime, to protect the frontier, he on the same day called for a battalion of 200 militia under Major Isaiah Stillman of Fulton County, to patrol the country to the north and westward. On the 20th Judge Richard M. Young, Col. James M. Strode and Benjamin Mills wrote from Dixon’s Ferry to the Governor, urging haste in protecting the settlements along that part of Kellogg’s trail between Peoria and Dixon’s Ferry, and at once another battalion of 200 men, under Major David Bailey of Tazewell County, was called out for the purpose, and both battalions quickly responded. On the 19th, General Atkinson met the friendly Sacs and Foxes, who in the meantime had brought in three young men engaged in the Menominee murders. Wapello, who delivered them up, said: “There are the young men who have taken pity on the women and children. There are three of them. These are my chiefs. These are the men who went into the braves’ lodge to give themselves up. Father, I have received these young men. I now deliver them to you.” Keokuk spoke in the same strain, and received assurances that the young men should receive generous treatment.[96] Until the 24th, General Atkinson had sent embassies to Black Hawk to dissuade him from his enterprise, but hearing nothing from them, he dispatched two young Sacs with a _mild talk_. On the 26th they returned, bringing Black Hawk’s answer that “his heart was bad and that he was determined not to turn back.”