Wisconsin Historical Collections, Volume XII (1892)

              234 wisconsin historical collections vol.xli horsemen except three hundred who had been enlisted as infantry by mistake — was placed under the charge of brigadier-general samuel whiteside who had previous to this been in the command of frontier rangers and enjoyed the reputation of being a good indian fighter accompanied by governor reynolds the brigade proceeded to fort arm strong which was reached on the seventh of may and the volunteers were at once sworn into the united states service by general atkinson the governor who remained with his troops was recognized and paid as a major-general while lieutenant robert anderson later of fort sumter fame was detailed from the regulars to be inspector-general of the illinois militia on the ninth the start was made black hawk's trail up the east bank of the rock being pursued by whiteside and the mounted volunteers atkinson followed in boats with cannon provisions and the bulk of the baggage with him were the three hundred volunteer footmen and four hundred regular infantry the latter gathered from forts crawford prairie du chien and leavenworth and under the com mand of colonel zachary taylor afterwards president of the united states 1 the rest of the baggage was taken by whiteside's land force in wagons the traveling was bad for both divisions the heavy rains had made the stream battalion jefferson davis later president of the confederacy was a lieu tenant of co b first united states infantry which was stationed at fort crawford prairie du chien during january and february 1832 but davis himself is on the rolls as absent on detached service at the dubuque mines by order of colonel morgan he was absent from his company on furlough from march 26 to august 18 1832 hence it would appear from the records that he took no part in the black hawk war further than to escort the chief to jefferson barracks nevertheless an anonymous cam paign biography of davis published at jackson miss 1851 in the interest of his candidacy for the governorship and presumably inspired by the candidate himself says that he earned his full share of the glories by partaking of the dangers and hardships of the campaign here he re mained in the active discharge of his duties and participating in most of the skirmishes and battles until shortly after the battle of bad axe 1 major william s harney the hero of cerro gordo also served with the regulars in this campaign