Post by Robert Braun on Oct 3, 2002 11:05:50 GMT -5
I did a review of the program mentioned by the student in your conversation. The comments made regarding Stillman's Run were uttered by Dr. R. David Edmunds, professor of American History at the University of Texas-Dallas at the time the HistoryChannel filmed the episode "Black Hawk's War" for its series entitled "Frontiers: The Decisive Battles."
Edmunds stated: “There is a great monument at Stillman’s Run to the nine or ten men who died there.” In the next breath, he said "It's a... a farce.” Dr. Edmunds does not explain or qualify his amazing statement on camera.
In The Black Hawk War; Including a Review of Black Hawk's Life, (Chicago: F. E. Stevens, 1903), p. 134, author and Black Hawk War investigator Frank E. Stevens covered the confusion at the action that became known as “Stillman’s Run.” As the Illinois militia broke in panic, Stevens discovered an incident of valor:
As the troops came headlong on, Captain [John] Adams, than whom no braver man ever lived, attempted to make a stand with a handful of companions upon the brow of a hill which lies about a half mile to the south of the creek, to cover the retreat of [Stillman's] fugitives. Darkness was upon them, yet they stood their ground to sell their lives as dearly as possible to save those who by the delay might reach points of safety. …The moonlight was only sufficient to confuse the panic-stricken troops still more, and in that heroic fight unto death which Captain Adams and his men made, he scarcely knew whether he was fighting friend or foe. In the gloaming the conflict went on, and in the darkness of the night. In the gloaming the conflict went on, and in the darkness of the night, while the scattered forces were safely fleeing on to Dixon's Ferry, Captain Adams and his little band fell one by one, until the last man bit the dust, and then a scene of malignant deviltry almost incredible was perpetrated.
"Captain Adams" was John G. Adams. He led a company of Mounted Volunteers belonging to the Fifth Regiment, commanded by Colonel James Johnson, of the Brigade of Mounted Volunteers of Illinois Militia commanded by Gen. Samuel Whitesides, per Ellen Witney, The Black Hawk War of 1831-1832, Vol. 1, p. 183.
Stillman's command essentially abandoned Captain Adams and his volunteers to their fate. However, these men were not shot down as "if on a buffalo hunt," as stated in the narrative of “Black Hawk’s War.” Rather, Stevens asserts that Adams led a hasty, but determined rear-guard action at dusk to delay the attack of Black Hawk's retaliatory war party.
Stevens recorded that “on June 14, 1902, the State of Illinois dedicated a monument costing $5,000 on the hill where Captain Adams made his stand" (p. 138n.)
It is the commemoration of the gallantry of Captain Adams and his companions that Dr. Edmunds proclaimed a "farce."
Accoding to a State University of Illionois press release: "A master’s degree recipient from Illinois State, Edmunds is one of America’s most prolific writers of Indian history. His 1983 book, “The Shawnee Prophet,” was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and awarded the Ohioana Prize for Biography. Edmunds is a consultant for governments, museums, Indian tribes and Hollywood on Indian history, and has served as a consultant for television programs and documentaries, including “Ishi, the Last Yahi,” “The Way West” and Kevin Costner’s “Five Hundred Nations” series. Edmunds is currently at the University of Texas in Dallas as the Watson Professor of American History Chair in Arts and Humanities."
How such a respected, lettered, and published scholar like Dr. Edmunds could make such a statement remains unexplained.
Edmunds stated: “There is a great monument at Stillman’s Run to the nine or ten men who died there.” In the next breath, he said "It's a... a farce.” Dr. Edmunds does not explain or qualify his amazing statement on camera.
In The Black Hawk War; Including a Review of Black Hawk's Life, (Chicago: F. E. Stevens, 1903), p. 134, author and Black Hawk War investigator Frank E. Stevens covered the confusion at the action that became known as “Stillman’s Run.” As the Illinois militia broke in panic, Stevens discovered an incident of valor:
As the troops came headlong on, Captain [John] Adams, than whom no braver man ever lived, attempted to make a stand with a handful of companions upon the brow of a hill which lies about a half mile to the south of the creek, to cover the retreat of [Stillman's] fugitives. Darkness was upon them, yet they stood their ground to sell their lives as dearly as possible to save those who by the delay might reach points of safety. …The moonlight was only sufficient to confuse the panic-stricken troops still more, and in that heroic fight unto death which Captain Adams and his men made, he scarcely knew whether he was fighting friend or foe. In the gloaming the conflict went on, and in the darkness of the night. In the gloaming the conflict went on, and in the darkness of the night, while the scattered forces were safely fleeing on to Dixon's Ferry, Captain Adams and his little band fell one by one, until the last man bit the dust, and then a scene of malignant deviltry almost incredible was perpetrated.
"Captain Adams" was John G. Adams. He led a company of Mounted Volunteers belonging to the Fifth Regiment, commanded by Colonel James Johnson, of the Brigade of Mounted Volunteers of Illinois Militia commanded by Gen. Samuel Whitesides, per Ellen Witney, The Black Hawk War of 1831-1832, Vol. 1, p. 183.
Stillman's command essentially abandoned Captain Adams and his volunteers to their fate. However, these men were not shot down as "if on a buffalo hunt," as stated in the narrative of “Black Hawk’s War.” Rather, Stevens asserts that Adams led a hasty, but determined rear-guard action at dusk to delay the attack of Black Hawk's retaliatory war party.
Stevens recorded that “on June 14, 1902, the State of Illinois dedicated a monument costing $5,000 on the hill where Captain Adams made his stand" (p. 138n.)
It is the commemoration of the gallantry of Captain Adams and his companions that Dr. Edmunds proclaimed a "farce."
Accoding to a State University of Illionois press release: "A master’s degree recipient from Illinois State, Edmunds is one of America’s most prolific writers of Indian history. His 1983 book, “The Shawnee Prophet,” was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and awarded the Ohioana Prize for Biography. Edmunds is a consultant for governments, museums, Indian tribes and Hollywood on Indian history, and has served as a consultant for television programs and documentaries, including “Ishi, the Last Yahi,” “The Way West” and Kevin Costner’s “Five Hundred Nations” series. Edmunds is currently at the University of Texas in Dallas as the Watson Professor of American History Chair in Arts and Humanities."
How such a respected, lettered, and published scholar like Dr. Edmunds could make such a statement remains unexplained.