Dodge marched to that battlefield to settle many a bloody murder or leave his own bones to bleach upon the banks of the Pecatonica. That battle meant death to the Indians or death to the family of every man in the mining regions, and in this connection it may be well to recall the words of Mrs. Dodge when urged to retire to Galena for safety: “My husband and sons are between me and the Indians. I am safe so long as they live.” Those heroic words must have echoed in the husband’s heart while grappling those brawny murderers, and hand to hand, body to body, and inch by inch, in the death struggle, with gun, bayonet and knife, over the breastworks, into the enemy’s intrenchment, into the jaws of death, the little band charged and fought until every last Indian was dead and the many murders were avenged. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: BATTLE OF HORSE SHOE BEND. JUNE 16, 1832] [Illustration: COL. WILLIAM S. HAMILTON.] [Illustration: SITE OF THE BATTLE OF THE PECATONICA.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The names of Dodge’s men, so far as can be learned, were Lieut. Charles Bracken, Lieut. Bequette, Lieut. D.M. Parkinson,[168] Peter Parkinson, Jr., – – Porter, R.H. Kirkpatrick, Dr. Allen Hill, Thomas Jenkins, W.W. Woodbridge, John Messersmith, Jr., Asa Duncan, Benjamin Lawhead, Samuel Patrick, William Carnes, John Hood, Levin Leech, Alexander Higginbotham, who was of the St. Vrain party, Samuel Black, Dominick McGraw, Samuel Bunts, Van Waggoner, Wells, Morris, Rankin, Thomas H. Price, H.S. Townsend, – – Devies, M.G. Fitch and J.H. Gentry, but the horse of the last-named became mired and his gun became useless, both of which accidents prevented his participation in the fight. Samuel Black was almost instantly killed and Samuel Wells and F.M. Morris, wounded, were left at Fort Hamilton, where both died soon after. Thomas Jenkins was wounded, but not severely, and Levin Leech, while wresting a spear from a brave, got his hand badly lacerated. The troops at once dispersed for their respective forts to prepare for further developments. On the 18th a fifth company was organized with D.M. Parkinson captain. On the 20th Lieut. George Force and Emerson Green were murdered and mutilated near the fort at Blue Mounds; one of the bodies, that of Force, was recovered by the daring of Edward D. Bouchard, and on the 24th Dodge, with a detachment of men from the companies of Captains D.M. Parkinson and J.H. Gentry, recovered and buried the body of Green. Here Dodge, piloted by Bouchard, pursued the trail of the Indians as far as the headwaters of Sugar River, and finding that they had scattered there for various points, he returned to Mound Fort.