[Illustration: A SOLDIER'S DISCHARGE FROM THE BLACK HAWK WAR, SIGNED
BY A. LINCOLN, CAPTAIN. IN THE POSSESSION OF O. H. OLDROTD,
SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS.]

The supposition was certainly well founded. They rode merrily away,
came to Old Man's Creek, thereafter to be called Stillman's Run, and
encamped for the night. By the failing light a small party of Indians
was discovered on the summit of a hill a mile away, and a few
courageous gentlemen hurriedly saddled their horses, and, without
orders, rode after them. The Indians retreated, but were soon
overtaken, and two or three of them killed. The volunteers were now
strung along a half mile of hill and valley, with no more order or
care than if they had been chasing rabbits. Black Hawk, who had been
at supper when the running fight began, hastily gathered a handful of
warriors and attacked the scattered whites. The onset of the savages
acted like an icy bath on the red-hot valor of the volunteers; they
turned and ran for their lives, stampeding the camp as they fled.
There was very little resistance--so little that Black Hawk, fearing a
ruse, tried to recall his warriors from the pursuit, but in the
darkness and confusion could not enforce his orders. The Indians
killed all they caught up with; but the volunteers had the fleeter
horses, and only eleven were overtaken. The rest reached Dixon by twos
and threes, rested all night, and took courage. General Whitesides
marched out to the scene of the disaster the next morning, but the
Indians were gone. They had broken up into small parties, and for
several days they reaped the bloody fruit of their victory in the
massacre of peaceful settlements in the adjacent districts.

The time of enlistment of the volunteers had now come to an end, and
the men, seeing no prospect of glory or profit, and weary of the work