 On June 16, Alexander Posey and Milton Alexander were elected by the brigades they helped organize to command, respectively, the First and Second Illinois Militias.In the aftermath of the Second Battle of Kellogg's Grove, Alexander was ordered by Atkinson to search the banks below the Galena in order to prevent a possible retreat of Black Hawk's band across the Mississippi River.However, after a fruitless search, Alexander continued along the eastern side of Rock River with Colonel Jacob Fry until reaching a Winnebago village on Whitewater, a tributary of Rock River.