Attack! On Apple River Fort

Attack! On Apple River Fort. . On a rainy Sunday morning, June 24, 1832, some 45 men, women, and children from the Apple River Settlement were in the fort. They had heard that Black Hawk was in the vicinity and had gathered in the stockade for protection. , Shortly before noon, four messengers – Fred Dixon, George Herclerode, Edmund Welsch, and Mr. Kirkpatrick – stopped at the fort on their way from Galena to Dixon's Ferry. After a brief visit, they continued on their way, only to encounter Black Hawk's band on the ridge some 300 yards from the fort. The Sauk opened fire, wounding Welsch in the thigh and knocking him from his horse. The other men managed to pick him up and hurried back to the fort. , Moments later, some 200 warriors swooped down on the fort. The men scrambled for their guns, leaped to the firing benches, and took their places at the blockhouse portholes. The women and children huddled near the back cabins. Then Elizabeth Armstrong rallied the women. They loaded guns and molded musket balls so that the men could keep up a steady stream of fire. The battle raged for about 45 minutes. Then Black Hawk, thinking that the fort was heavily armed, abandoned the battle, raiding nearby cabins for supplies as he and his warriors departed. , Considering the ferocity of the fighting, the casualties were light. The messenger Welsch and another man were wounded and George Herclerode was killed. The number of Sauk casualties was undetermined. , The Apple River Fort, hastily erected in May, had survived its first and only attack that June Sunday. It was torn down some 15 years later in 1847, its lumber used to build a dam.