To put the finishing strokes to Black Hawk’s power, Dodge, Fry and Ewing, with the regulars under Taylor, Bliss, Harney and Smith, plunged breast deep into the water to the willow island, where most of the remaining Indians had taken a last stand and where in the face of a heavy fire the whites either killed, captured or drove them into the river. It was there in that little side contest that the greatest loss was supposed to have occurred to the whites, whose casualties in the engagement were twenty-four killed and wounded, while that of the enemy were upward of one hundred and fifty, forty captured, mostly women and children, and about forty or fifty horses taken. The loss to the regulars was five killed and four wounded; to Dodge six wounded;[231] Posey one wounded; Alexander one wounded;[232] and Henry seven killed and wounded.[233] Black Hawk, with his sons and the Prophet, escaped to the Dalles of the Wisconsin. On the 3d one hundred and fifty men under Colonels Blackburn and Archer crossed the river, searching the islands and bottoms for fugitives, but found none. Their trail indicated that they had gone along the Iowa River. A party of Sioux called upon General Atkinson to receive permission to follow the fugitives, which was given, and in that pursuit Ne-a-pope was captured and many more Sacs perished. At that battle again, contrary to plans, Henry won the deciding and final fight of the war, but there he received from every officer of the regular service a hearty congratulation,[234] and in his journal no stronger praise could be accorded a brother than that given by Albert Sidney Johnston. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: MAJ. W.L.D. EWING.] [Illustration: FREDERICK REMANN.] [Illustration: BAD AXE BATTLEFIELD.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: COL. JAMES M. BLACKBURN.] [Illustration: COL. W.B. ARCHER, FOR WHOM ARCHER AVENUE, CHICAGO, WAS NAMED. ] [Illustration: LIEUT. ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON, U.S.A] [Illustration: CAPT. R.B. MASON, U.S.A] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Covered with glory and the hearty good wishes of every officer and man in the army, Henry returned home, only to be cut off in the zenith of his career, as before stated. At the close of the fight Atkinson, Dodge, Posey, R.B. Mason and other officers and U.S. Infantry boarded the Warrior and dropped down the river to Prairie du Chien, arriving in the evening of the 4th. On August 17th the regular troops which left Jefferson Barracks in April had returned to the same point.[235] ----- Footnote 224: Johnston’s Journal. Footnote 225: Wakefield, p. 72 and 75. Lt. Col. Sharp was left at Ft. Koshkonong in charge of the men who had lost their horses. Footnote 226: Smith’s Wis., Vol. 3, p. 223. Footnote 227: Lt. Robert Anderson, X Wis. Hist. Colls., 170. Footnote 228: