HISTORY OF GREEN COUNTY. 
 
part of the journey between Dodgeville and 
Helena he made during the darkest night that 
he ever saw. He thinks that the only time he 
ever really suffered from fear during the whole 
war, was that night, when he probably had least 
to fear, except the possibility perhaps of going 
astray. When a day's journey beyond Helena, 
he was obliged to camp alone, though so near 
the command that he heard the drums beat next 
morning. 
"The .night before the battle of Bad     Ax, 
when about four miles from     the Mississippi, 
I)eviese with another man named Marsh, went 
on an express to Prairie du Chien. In the morn- 
ing they were somewhat alarmed by fresh trails 
in the dew, made probably by deer, -but reached 
Prairie du Chien late that night. Capt. Loomis 
sent the steamboat Warrior up the river. De- 
viese left his horse and went up on the boat, 
reaching the battle-ground early next morning. 
Dodge had sixteen wounded, and none killed, 
though Capt. Bowman, one of the wounded, died 
on the trip down. The boat also carried down 
the wounded Indians. 
" From   Prairie du Chien, Deviese, though 
worn down and nearly sick, went on an express 
to Capt. Low, at Fort Atkinson, having for a 
companion young Dougherty, son of the trader. 
They went by the* wayof Dodgeville, and their 
own settlement at Exeter. They found every- 
thing burned, building, goods and tools. De- 
viese thinks it was not done by the Indians, 
but by a Frenchman named Edward Beouchard, 
to spite Dougherty, with whom he was at disa- 
greement. This Beouchard was a boastful, re- 
vengeful and worthless fellow who had been 
for some time at Blue Mounds. At last ac- 
counts he was still living at Mineral Point.* 
* It is due to truth and charity to say, that such men as 
Beouchard, who have seen much of frontier life and border 
adventure, are apt to be thouo-ht as boastful, when, in point 
of fact, their narratives, oftentimes strange and romantic, 
are nevertheless within the bounds of truth and probability. 
Beouchard was a native of Canada, and early engaged in the 
fur trade, and went over to the Pacific ocean. He returned 
by way of the Red river settlement, at a time when Lord Sel- 
kirk was on the way there in a half-starved 3ondi(ion ; and 
Beouchard took a supply of dried meat, went, met and suc- 
cored him, and conducted him to the settlement. He was, 
in 1822. employed by Col. James Johnson in effecting the 
 
."Capt. Low sent messengers to Gen. Scott at 
Rock Island, while he himself went back to his 
old post at Fort Winnebago. Jefferson Davis 
was at this time a lieutenant under Capt. Low, 
both at Fort Atkinson at Fort Winnebago- 
"and as gentlemanly a man as Iever saw," adds 
Major Deviese. The men went on their errand 
and met Gen. Scott where Beloit now is, on his 
way from Chicago to the Lead Mines. Scott 
turned down Rock river to Rock Island. De- 
viese went ahead to Fort Dixon where he was 
sick, and Scott sent him home. He was mus- 
tered out at Wiota, eventually receiving a dol- 
lar a day for the services of himself and horse 
during the war." 
In speaking of the Black Hawk War, Miss 
Bingham, in her History of Green County, very 
truthfully says: 
"Although this war lasted only three months, 
it must not, on that account, be passed by as un- 
important. It cost about 300 lives, whites 
and  Indians, and   even  the  great rebellion 
was not a greater source of anxiety, in its time, 
than was the Black Hawk War to the early set- 
tlers. Prior to the war, in October, 1829, the 
southern part of Crawford county, including, of 
course, the gkeater part of the future county of 
Green, was organized as Iowa county, of which 
Mineral Point was the county seat. Most of 
the depredations of the Indians during the war 
were committed in the mining districts of Iowa 
county. Hundreds of miners left the country 
and never returned. The movements of the 
Indians were so stealthy and so rapid that the 
settlers, separated by long distances from each 
other, were in the wildest alarm. Their thoughts 
when awake, their dreams when asleep, were all 
of the Indians. Finally they sought refuge in 
the forts, of which the more important were 
Fort Union, near Dodgeville; Fort Jackson, at 
purchase of the lead diggings of Old Buck, the Winnebago 
miner. During the Black Hawk War he was a trusted scout 
of Gen. Dodge. Judge M. M. Cothren, Hon. Moses M. 
Strong, and Major Charles F. Legate, for many years neigh- 
bors of Mr. Beouchard at Mineral Point. unite in testifying 
to his patriotism and kindness of heart, and regard him as 
reliable in his historical statements, as the uncertain memo- 
ries of such aged men usually are.-ED. 
 
190