Post by Cliff Krainik on Jul 13, 2004 21:13:50 GMT -5
General Winfield Scott tells of an encounter with the Indians at Rock Island, Illinois at the conclusion of the Black Hawk War.
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Letter dated May 13, 1860, Washington City, written by John Arnold Rockwell [1] to his son, Joseph, telling of a meeting at a dinner party with General Winfield Scott and his anecdote about the Indians on the Mississippi River shortly after the conclusion of the Black Hawk War.
The following is an excerpt from the six-page letter penned by former Congressman Rockwell.
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Gen. Scott is now nearly seventy four years of age, in excellent health and spirits and in full possession of his mental powers in all their vigor. In conversation he observed that his life had been an eventful one. The recollections, he said, of the early periods of his life were full of pleasure and he often lived them over again with renewed zest and satisfaction.
I asked him what had been his own experience and whether he had become less confiding and more suspicious as he had advanced in years. He replied, quite otherwise and that the habit in the whole course of his life had been to trust and repose confidence in those with whom he had intercourse whether in important or mere trifling transactions and that in his whole life in relation to matters small or great his confidence had not in as many as eleven instances been abused or the trust...violated.
In relation to the Indians who were said to be treacherous he had never known them in a single instance violate their engagements. ... In 1832 during the Black Hawk War he was stationed at the fort at Rock Island in Illinois. There were two Indians in confinement at the fort who had been guilty of murdering some persons of another tribe and were to be tried for their lives. The cholera prevailed at the time and had proved very fatal. These Indians requested of him to be...at liberty while the cholera prevailed to go where they pleased and gather roots etc which they thought would offer a remedy and also to have the benefit of open air and exercise - But said he to them you will not return to receive your trial and execution. They promised that they would. He then arranged with them that he would raise a flag on a high chad [shade?] tree when the cholera had ceased as a signal for their return, gave them an abundant supply of provisions and set them free. At the end of some weeks, the epidemic had passed away and he raised the signal for the return of the Indians. Not many hours after they showed themselves on the shore of the main land gave a signal for a boat to take them to the fort where they arrived and delivered themselves up for trials and as they supposed for execution. They were not executed but subsequently set free.
6 pp. 7.25 x 10", handwritten, signed letter with transmittal envelope postmarked, Washington City - addressed to Joseph P. Rockwell, Norwich,, Connecticut.
______________________________________________
1. The author of this letter was John Arnold Rockwell, a United States representative from Connecticut. Born in Norwich, Conn. on August 27, 1803. He graduated from Yale College, studied law, and was a member of the Connecticut State Senate in 1839. He was elected as a Whig to the 29th and 30th Congresses of the United States and was unsuccessful for reelection in 1848. He engaged in the practice of law before the Court of Claims of the United States at Washington, D.C. until his death in that city on February 10, 1861. He rests in Yantic Cemetery, Norwich, Conn.
Original letter from the Black Hawk War Collection, Cliff and Michele Krainik, Warrenton, Virginia.
Letter dated May 13, 1860, Washington City, written by John Arnold Rockwell [1] to his son, Joseph, telling of a meeting at a dinner party with General Winfield Scott and his anecdote about the Indians on the Mississippi River shortly after the conclusion of the Black Hawk War.
The following is an excerpt from the six-page letter penned by former Congressman Rockwell.
Gen. Scott is now nearly seventy four years of age, in excellent health and spirits and in full possession of his mental powers in all their vigor. In conversation he observed that his life had been an eventful one. The recollections, he said, of the early periods of his life were full of pleasure and he often lived them over again with renewed zest and satisfaction.
I asked him what had been his own experience and whether he had become less confiding and more suspicious as he had advanced in years. He replied, quite otherwise and that the habit in the whole course of his life had been to trust and repose confidence in those with whom he had intercourse whether in important or mere trifling transactions and that in his whole life in relation to matters small or great his confidence had not in as many as eleven instances been abused or the trust...violated.
In relation to the Indians who were said to be treacherous he had never known them in a single instance violate their engagements. ... In 1832 during the Black Hawk War he was stationed at the fort at Rock Island in Illinois. There were two Indians in confinement at the fort who had been guilty of murdering some persons of another tribe and were to be tried for their lives. The cholera prevailed at the time and had proved very fatal. These Indians requested of him to be...at liberty while the cholera prevailed to go where they pleased and gather roots etc which they thought would offer a remedy and also to have the benefit of open air and exercise - But said he to them you will not return to receive your trial and execution. They promised that they would. He then arranged with them that he would raise a flag on a high chad [shade?] tree when the cholera had ceased as a signal for their return, gave them an abundant supply of provisions and set them free. At the end of some weeks, the epidemic had passed away and he raised the signal for the return of the Indians. Not many hours after they showed themselves on the shore of the main land gave a signal for a boat to take them to the fort where they arrived and delivered themselves up for trials and as they supposed for execution. They were not executed but subsequently set free.
6 pp. 7.25 x 10", handwritten, signed letter with transmittal envelope postmarked, Washington City - addressed to Joseph P. Rockwell, Norwich,, Connecticut.
______________________________________________
1. The author of this letter was John Arnold Rockwell, a United States representative from Connecticut. Born in Norwich, Conn. on August 27, 1803. He graduated from Yale College, studied law, and was a member of the Connecticut State Senate in 1839. He was elected as a Whig to the 29th and 30th Congresses of the United States and was unsuccessful for reelection in 1848. He engaged in the practice of law before the Court of Claims of the United States at Washington, D.C. until his death in that city on February 10, 1861. He rests in Yantic Cemetery, Norwich, Conn.
Original letter from the Black Hawk War Collection, Cliff and Michele Krainik, Warrenton, Virginia.
