On May 19, 1832 a small unit was detailed to carry dispatches from Colonel James M. Strode in Galena to General Henry Atkinson at Dixon's Ferry (present-day Dixon, Illinois). The group of men, which included soldiers Fred Stahl, William Durley, Vincent Smith, Redding Bennett, James Smith, and mail contractor John D. Winters, left Dixon around 3 p.m. on May 19.
When the Black Hawk War began in the spring of 1832, the settlers at Buffalo Grove were notified of Black Hawk's victory at Stillman's Run and ordered to leave the grove. Most of the settlers went to Peoria where they remained for the duration of the war.