The forces at the Prophet's Town were estimated at about six hundred. At a council of the officers it was decided to send for a reinforcement of four companies, but without waiting for their return, to at once take up the march, as all forage for the horses would soon disappear. On the twenty-ninth of October the army moved forward. It consisted of about six hundred and forty foot and two hundred and seventy mounted men. Two hundred and fifty of these were regulars, about sixty were Kentuckians, and the remainder were Indiana militia, raised at Corydon, Vincennes, and points along the Wabash and Ohio rivers. "The militia," says Harrison, "are the best I ever saw, and Colonel Boyd's regiment is a fine body of men." Along with the army rolled nineteen wagons and one cart to transport the supplies, as the winding course of the river and the nature of the ground near it, rendered their further transportation by boats impracticable. The Governor at the last moment sent forward a message to the Prophet's Town requiring the immediate disbandment of the Winnebago, Potawatomi and Kickapoo followers of the Shawnee, the surrender of all murderers, and the delivery up of all stolen horses. "I am determined," wrote Harrison to Governor Scott of Kentucky, "to disperse the Prophet's banditti before I return, or give him the chance of acquiring as much fame as a warrior, as he now has as a saint." On Thursday, the thirty-first, the army crossed the northern line of the New Purchase at Raccoon Creek, and a few hours later forded the Wabash at Montezuma. The water was very deep and the troops and wagons were three hours in making the passage. The east bank of the river had been reconnoitered for several miles up and a feint made as though to cut a wagon road, but the country on the left bank afforded too many opportunities for an ambuscade, and Harrison now resolved to strike the open prairies toward the state line. On the first of November the army encamped on the west side of the Wabash about two or three miles below the mouth of the Big Vermilion, and as it had been determined to take forward the provisions from this point in wagons, a small blockhouse, twenty-five feet square was here erected, with a breastwork at each corner next to the river, to receive supplies from the boats. Remnants of the old landing were still to be seen in 1914. Logs and brush were now employed to level down the great horse weeds that filled the lowlands, and corduroy roads made for the passage of the wagons to the uplands at the west. Major General Samuel Wells, Colonel Abraham Owen and Captain Frederick Geiger had now arrived with some of the Kentucky volunteers, and the army, after leaving a guard of eight men at the blockhouse, at once crossed the Big Vermilion at the site of the old Kickapoo village and entered upon Sand Prairie at the north.