On the following day, arms, clothing, knives and tomahawks, were distributed to Black Hawk's band, and upon the succeeding morning, they started, in all near five hundred braves, to join the British army. This was in August, 1812, shortly after the surrender and massacre of the American troops at Chicago, which place they passed a few days after it had been evacuated. Of the movements of Black Hawk during his connection with the British upon our north west, no satisfactory information has been obtained. It appears that he was in two engagements, but seems not to have distinguished himself. The last of these was the attack, in August 1813, upon Fort Stephenson, then under the command of Major Croghan. The gallant defence of this post, and the fatal repulse given to the combined British and Indian forces, seem to have disheartened Black Hawk; for soon afterwards, tired of successive defeats, and disappointed in not obtaining the "spoils of victory," he left the army, with about twenty of his followers, and returned to his village on Rock river. It is probable that he would have remained neutral during the remainder of the war, had it not been for one of those border outrages, which lawless and unprincipled white men but too often commit upon the Indians, under pretence of self defence or retaliation, often a mere pretext for wanton bloodshed and murder. Previous to joining Colonel Dixon, Black Hawk had visited the lodge of an old friend, whose son he had adopted and taught to hunt. He was anxious that this youth should go with him and his band and join the British standard, but the father objected on the ground that he was dependent upon his son for game; and, moreover, that he did not wish him to fight against the Americans who had always treated him kindly. He had agreed to spend the following winter near a white settler, upon Salt river, one of the tributaries of the Mississippi which enters that stream below the Des Moyens, and intended to take his son with him. As Black Hawk was approaching his village on Rock river, after his campaign on the lakes with Dixon, he observed a smoke rising from a hollow in the bluff of the stream. He went to see who was there. Upon drawing near to the fire, he discovered a mat stretched, and an old man of sorrowful aspect sitting under it, alone, and evidently humbling himself before the Great Spirit, by fasting and prayer. It proved to be his old friend, the father of his adopted son. Black Hawk seated himself beside him and inquired what had happened, but received no answer, for indeed he seemed scarcely alive. Being revived by some water, he looked up, recognized the friend of his youth, and in reply to Black Hawk's second inquiry, said, in a feeble voice,