Battalions under Maj. Stillman and Maj. David Bailey march out, with four days' rations, for Old Man's Creek, where portion of Black Hawk's band is believed encamped. Gov. Reynolds, finding Stillman's and Bailey's troops too impatient to await arrival of Gen. Atkinson and regulars, gives them orders to move against Indians, "for the purpose of taking all cautious measures to coerce [them] into submission."Stevens, Black Hawk War, 131-32; Whiteside to Atkinson, 18 May 1832, Black Hawk War Collection, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, Springfield, IL.

Lincoln writes and signs a note certifying that Royal Potter "is dismissed on furlough" to care for a sick man. Certificate of Discharge for Royal Potter, 13 May 1832, RG 15, Entry 26: Records of the Bureau of Pensions and the Pension Service, Bureau of Pensions Correspondence and Pension Bounty Land Case Files Relating to Military Service Performed Between 1775 and 1861, Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files, Case Files of Bounty Land Warrant Applications Based On Service Between 1812 and 1855 and Disapproved Applications Based on Revolutionary War Service, 1800-1900, National Archives Building, Washington, DC.