Major Dement's Spy Battalion Ambushed at Kellogg's Grove (25 JUN 1832)
The conflict officially began in April 1832 when Sauk warrior Black Hawk led a multitribal confederation of about 500 warriors and hundreds of elderly men, women, and children across the Mississippi River from Iowa into Illinois. The group sought to reclaim land lost under the 1804 Treaty of St. Louis and the continued westward expansion of American settlers. The party was colloquially known as the “British Band” due to Black Hawk’s alliance with the British during the War of 1812.
Black Hawk hoped his re-entry into Illinois would garner support from other tribes across the state and Michigan Territory (present day Michigan, Wisconsin, and northeastern Minnesota) and force the U.S. to renegotiate the terms of prior land cessions. However, many of these tribes rejected the British Band, hoping to stay on good terms with the American government. Though Black Hawk did not seem to want an armed conflict, his presence raised the alarm of Brig. Gen. Henry Atkinson at nearby Fort Armstrong and Governor John Reynolds, who immediately began organizing volunteers for the state militia.
Over the next month, tensions between various tribal bands, state militia, and settlers increased across the region. Black Hawk was losing hope of gathering allies to reclaim the land. His attempts at peace were dashed on May 14, 1832, when a detachment of the Illinois militia under Maj. Isaiah Stillman opened fire on 40–50 warriors they suspected were planning an ambush. The undisciplined militia was forced into a disorganized retreat, and the event became known as the Battle of Stillman’s Run.
With the Black Hawk War now commenced, settlers began erecting small blockhouses for defense across northern Illinois that became primary targets for raiding indigenous tribes, some affiliated with the British Band and some merely taking advantage of the chaos. Poor performance and low morale led to the disbandment of most of the state volunteers in late May, forcing General Atkinson to hastily assemble a new volunteer force he called the Army of the Frontier. By the end of June, this force numbered approximately 450 regulars and 2,100 volunteers organized into three brigades, an untold number of volunteers organized into odd and independent units (whose ranks included a young private named Abraham Lincoln), and Native American allies.
After a month of scattered action, on June 23, 1832, Col. Zachary Taylor at the theater command post at Dixon’s Ferry ordered Major Dement’s Spy Battalion to occupy the settler fort at Kellogg’s Grove and reconnoiter the area for signs of the British Band. Two days later, Dement received word of a nearby trail and set out at daybreak with about thirty scouts to gather intelligence on the band’s size, strength, and traveling direction. Shortly after, advance scouts ahead of Dement’s company happened upon a party of the British Band who had assailed the Army a day earlier and, rather than report back to Dement, pursued the group into a waiting ambush.
Dement attempted to organize his scouts to join the fight, but many fled back to the encampment at Kellogg’s Grove. Black Hawk later said of Dement: “This young chief deserves great praise for his courage and bravery, but fortunately for us, his army was not all composed of such brave men.” Dement retreated to Kellogg’s Grove with the remainder of his force and, although he attempted to organize a defensive line, the entire battalion was soon forced into the small blockhouse and were saved only by Black Hawk’s unwillingness to waste gunpowder to set the cabin alight.
Dement counted five volunteers and dozens of horses killed, while Black Hawk reported two chiefs and seven warriors killed. Having claimed the victory, the Sauk warrior collected his people and fled into present-day Wisconsin. The Army of the Frontier and Michigan Territory militia gave chase, and the Black Hawk War came to a bloody end with the defeat of the British Band at the mouth of the Bad Axe River on Aug. 2, 1832.
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Article by Erin E. Thompson, USAICoE Staff Historian. New issues of This Week in MI History are published each week. To report story errors, ask questions, request previous articles, or be added to our distribution list, please contact: TR-ICoE-Command-Historian@army.mil.
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