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The Blackhawk War BY HENRY LITTLE, 1875
But the war must be continued in some form; if we could not induce the unaccommodating Saukies to come here and fight us, we could play war among ourselves and in that way keep the excitement alive. If the war was to be continued we must have men; because to attempt to carry on a war without men would be an unheard-of anomaly. And if men would not volunteer to fight and die for their bleeding country, then we must resort to force, and compel them to come and offer up their corporeal superstructure as a target for somebody to shoot at.
Accordingly, soon matters and things began to take on a serious aspect and to appear as if somebody was in earnest and really intended to "Take the bull by the horns. "
The wicked and disobedient boys of Gull Prairie, not having the fear of the Saukies before their eyes, nor regarding the powers that were, had taken it into their foolish heads that they would not drop the spade and hoe, and buckle on the war armor every time a man came galloping his horse on to the prairie, and screaming with all his strength.
But that rebellious state of things could not be tolerated in the time of war. And so it began to be rumored about that Carlos Barnes, son of Isaac Barnes of Gull Prairie, had received a captain's commission. As we had three different territorial governors within as many months in that spring, I am unable to state from which of the three governors the commission came.
Michigan
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