Stop 4: Indian Lake Passage
(Indian Lake County Park Parking Lot, Hwy. 19, 1 mi E of Marxville)
Take Pheasant Branch Road north to County
K and turn left. Travel west on K. K will end at Hwy 19. Turn
right on Hwy 19 and travel one mile to Indian Lake. Marker is
on the right in the lake’s parking lot. Historical Marker
#400.
July 21, 1832
Surgeon Mate John A. Wakefield writes:
The trail was now literally, in many places, strewed with Indian trinkets, such as mats, kettles, &c.; which plainly told us that they knew we were in pursuit. We too, saw from the face of the country that we were drawing close to the Wisconsin River, and our object was to overtake them before they reached it; so we now went as fast as our horses were able to carry us; - but this was too severe for our poor horses...I think the number of horses left this day, was about forty.6
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In the morning of the 21st, Black Hawk and
his band pushed on to the Wisconsin River. They passed Indian
Lake near present-day Marxville en route to present-day Sauk
City, which, at the time, was an old abandoned Sauk village,
in hopes of crossing the Wisconsin. The troops of Dodge and Henry
are in quick pursuit, so much so they killed some of their horses
due to fatigue and some troops were forced to run to keep up.
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