The battle was named for the panicked retreat by Major Isaiah Stillman and his detachment of 275 Illinois militia after being attacked by an unknown number of Sauk warriors of Black Hawk's British Band.

The militia had pursued a small group of Sauk scouts to the main British Band camp following a failed attempt by Black Hawk's emissaries to negotiate a truce.

The band consisted of Sauk, Fox, some Potawatomi, and some Kickapoo; in addition some members of the Ho-Chunk nation were sympathetic to Black Hawk.

It has long been believed that he wanted to reclaim lost territory and, perhaps, create a confederacy of Native Americans to stand against white settlement.

Illinois Governor John Reynolds perceived the return of Black Hawk as an invasion, and he immediately called up the militia.

[8][9] Atkinson was not told about Governor Reynolds' decision to order Major Isaiah Stillman's militia to march on Old Man's Creek, despite being in overall command.

[12] When diplomacy failed to persuade Black Hawk to take his band back west to Iowa, Stillman and Bailey's battalions of Illinois Militia were marched up the Rock River.

[13] Prior to the battle at Stillman's Run, Black Hawk's grand vision of British support and a Native American confederacy had collapsed.

[14] On May 14, 1832, a detachment of 275 militia under the command of Majors Isaiah Stillman and David Bailey, under orders from Illinois Governor Reynolds, were encamped near Old Man's Creek, not far from its confluence with the Rock River.

[11] In conference with the local Potawatomi, Black Hawk learned of Stillman's presence and sent three emissaries to the militia camp under a flag of parley in order to negotiate a peace with the soldiers.

[7] The militia soldiers, intent on pursuing the scouts, chased them back toward the main force of Black Hawk's warriors and their skirmish line.

[2] Believing that thousands of Sauk and Fox were attacking them, the militia panicked and fled back to the main force camped at Dixon's Ferry.

[17] A band of volunteers under the leadership of Captain John Giles Adams made a stand on a hill south of the main militia camp.

[19][21][22] In a 2006 article, author Scott Dyer asserted that Whiteside's men, including Captain Lincoln, "paraded" the area the morning after, and buried the dead from Stillman's Run.

[11] During an 1848 speech before the U.S. Congress in which he referred to his Black Hawk War service, Lincoln noted Stillman's Run by name: By the way Mr. Speaker, did you know that I am a military hero?

"[20] Other sources assert that General Whiteside originally buried the dead in a common grave on a ridge south of the battlefield, marked with a rudimentary wooden memorial.

[24][25] Following the first confrontation with Black Hawk at Stillman Valley, the press reported that 2,000 "bloodthirsty warriors were sweeping all Northern Illinois with the bosom of destruction," sending shock waves of terror through the region.

[13] Past midnight on May 15, soldiers from Stillman's ill-fated detachment began streaming back into Dixon's Ferry, wide-eyed and panic-stricken, telling tales of a horrible slaughter that had ensued during the battle.

[13] Several small skirmishes and massacres ensued over the next month in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin before the militia regained public confidence in battles at Bloody Lake and Waddams Grove.

It ended at the Battle of Bad Axe, where the militia and its allies massacred a weakened foe, by then made up of mostly women and children.