“I, John W. Hall, being requested by my sisters, Sylvia Horn and Rachael Munson, to state what I recollect in reference to the massacre of my father’s family, and the captivity of my two sisters, Rachael and Sylvia, would most gladly comply with their request, so far as I can; but after 35 years of toil have passed over my head since that memorable occasion, my memory is in some things rather dim; yet there are some things that I do remember most distinctly, and shall as long as I have a being (I think). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: MRS. RACHAEL HALL MUNSON.] [Illustration: MRS. SYLVIA HALL HORN.] [Illustration: INDIAN CREEK MONUMENT. Inscribed thereon is: “William Hall, aged 45; Mary J. Hall, aged 45; Elizabeth Hall, aged 8; William Pettigrew, wife and two children; –– Davis, wife and five children, and Emery George. Killed May 20, 1832.” ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ “It was in 1832, as near as I now recollect, on or about the 15th or 16th of May, Old Shabbona, chief of the Pottawatomies, notified my father and other neighbors that the Sac and Fox Indians were hostile, and would in all probability make a raid on the settlement where we lived and murder us and destroy our property, and advised him to leave that part of the country (LaSalle County, Illinois) and seek a place of safety; but Indian rumors were so common, and some of our neighbors did not sufficiently credit this old Indian, and we were advised by them, in connection with others, to collect together as many as possible and stand our ground and defend each other; so after spending the night and consulting together and hiding all heavy property that we could, my father loaded up his wagon and we started for Ottawa, and meeting Mr. Davis, who lived about two and a half miles west, who had been at Ottawa the day before, and had learned that a company had gone out in a northerly direction, to see what they could learn about the Indian movement, who were to report on their return, to Mr. Davis, in case of danger, he, my dear father, was prevailed on by Davis to abandon his retreat and stop at Davis’, where Mr. Pettigrew and family, Mr. Howard and son, Mr. John H. Henderson and two men that were hired by Mr. Davis, Robert Norris and Henry George, were all stopping. On or about the 20th day of May myself and dear father were working under a shed adjoining a blacksmith shop, and on the west side, next to the dwelling house, Mr. Davis and Norris were at work in the shop. Henry George and William Davis, Jr., were at work on a mill dam a little south of the shop. It being a very warm day in the afternoon, someone brought a bucket of cool water from the spring to the shop, and we all went into the shop to rest a few minutes and quench our thirst.