[224]On the 20th Alexander received an express from Scott giving particulars of the inefficiency of his army. On the 21st Atkinson and Alexander marched from Ft. Koshkonong[225] in the direction of the Blue Mounds in the midst of a heavy rain, which continued all day and all night. The convoy of wagons met was turned back. On the 22d the troops crossed the ford below Lake Koshkonong. On the 23d the forces marched from the encampment of the morning, eight miles south of “the river of the Four Lakes,” towards the Blue Mounds, to two miles west of Davitt’s. On the 24th they marched to the Blue Mounds, after suffering much for water, having marched twenty miles without any. The express sent from Henry, which informed Atkinson of the “Battle of the Wisconsin,” was met, and on inspection the entire force of militia was now found to be reduced to the strength of one original brigade. A certain coolness was found to be in store for the volunteers when they reached the Blue Mounds, by reason of their winning a victory which should have gone to others, according to program, and this, too, in the face of disobedience of orders. Victories then were crimes, pretty much the same as they were before Santiago in 1898, unless won by rule and by those selected for the purpose by those above, and very soon Henry was made to feel the displeasure his victory had brought. From there Dodge’s battalion scattered to the various forts for supplies and equipment, to meet later and take up the line of march at Helena on the 29th. On the 25th the army marched for the “Ouisconsin,” to overtake Black Hawk and finish the war, before he could reach and cross the Mississippi. In this Henry’s men, though subordinated in their position in the line of march, cheerfully submitted. In this march the regulars went first, Posey and Alexander following, while Henry was given the rear in charge of the baggage. Such men as Fry resented this treatment, but Henry commanded obedience to orders and trudged along behind, doing the drudgery of the army. By evening the army reached a point within three miles of the Wisconsin, where it camped for the night. On the 26th the Wisconsin was reached, where preparations had been made the day previous by Col. Enoch C. March for the passage of the army, and here at Helena the army, joined by Dodge, whose forces reassembled here,[226] crossed on the 27th and part of the 28th. Colonel March, whose record as a Quartermaster[227] has never been equaled in Illinois history, was given the heartiest credit from all sides for never failing in the greatest emergencies to be upon the spot when needed and with the supplies desired. In his duties he was ably assisted by John Dixon of Dixon’s Ferry, who accompanied the army to the end of the campaign.