If a battle has ever been fonght within the present limits of Madison County, the fact is unknown to modern chroniclers; hence, its military history will not embrace a picture of armed hosts in deadly conflict upon its soil, but must tell of her sons who went forth at the call of their country when imperiled, first, by an Indian foe; second, by the arrogance of England; third, by the aggressions of the Spanish race in the land of the Aztecs; and lastly, by the attempt of a slave oligarchy to sever the union of the States. The events of these wars have passed into history. The youthful student in our schools is bewildered with the recital of their gigantic proportions, and the son listens with wonderment at the tale of bloody strife from the lips of the surviving father who served in the later struggles. The mother relates the anguish and long years of anxiety suffered in those dark days. All are familiar through written records and word of mouth with the causes which led to these wars, their fierce continuance, their glorious termination, and the fruits left for the enjoyment of coming generations.
In 1811, the inhabitants of Madison County began to fear an Indian outbreak. There were no Indians then living in the county, but the events leading to the battle of Tippecanoe and the killing of an Indian named Nicholas Monhem, by Tobias Bright, in 1810, incensed the roving bands of savages, and kept the settlements in a feverish state of anxiety. There was a constant dread that the Indians would begin hostilities, massacre the whites and burn their homes. Several families in the eastern portion of the county left their cabins and erected a stockade or fort on the land of Philip Sidener, on the east bank of the Little Darby, opposite the site of Jefferson. After the crushing defeat of the Indians at the battle of Tippecanoe, on the 7th of November, 1811, the fears of the people subsided to some extent, and those in the fort returned to their own cabins. The pioneers in other portions of the county followed the same plan, making some strongly built cabin a general rendezvous whenever an out break was expected. Thus, while peace nominally existed, these hardy pioneers were prepared for war whenever it should come with all its horrors.