 When news of the raid reached Galena , Illinois , Captain James W. Stephenson set out with thirty soldiers to pursue the raiding party . Arriving at Sinsinawa Mound , they buried the two " most shockingly mutilated " settlers there ; both Thompson and Boxley had been scalped and Thompson 's heart had been removed . Stephenson then followed the Sauk trail to the Mississippi River where it went cold , the raiders having apparently crossed the river . Stephenson 's party returned to Galena empty handed . Henry Dodge ordered the various elements of the militia to rendezvous at Fort Hamilton to eventually join General Henry Atkinson near present @-@ day Madison , Wisconsin . When word of the attack at Sinsinawa Mound reached George W. Jones he left the volunteers under the command of Dodge and returned to the settlement at the mound . 
