The Black Hawk War

From "The Making of Illinois"
Author: I. F. Mather, copyright 1900
Publisher A. Flanagan Co., Publishers, Chicago

Excerpt from Textbook.

Please note that the sentiments expressed by Mr. Mather are
representative of the times in which he lived.  They may be offensive to
many in present times.  I feel a responsibility to be true to the
original text and not edit out the offensive remarks.

Loretta Krumwiede Barlow

  The Black Hawk War was the last united effort of the Indian tribes to
drive the whites from the soil of Illinois.
  At the opening of the Nineteenth century the Sacs and Foxes occupied
the entire territory included between the Rock River and the
Mississippi.
  On November 3d, 1804, by a treaty made at St. Louis between General
Harrison and five chiefs representing the Sacs and Foxes and the
Winnebago tribes, these lands were ceded to the United States, with the
understanding that the Indians would leave the territory when the lands
were required by the whites for "actual settlement."
  During the war of 1812 some Indians who were opposed to the conditions
of this treaty, under the leadership of Black Hawk, sided with the
Brittish and were known as "The British Band." The remaining Sacs and
Foxes, with Keokuk, the prindipal chief of the tribe, opposed the policy
of aggression against the United States.
  At the close of the war of 1812 Black Hawk established his village at
the confluence of the Rock and the Mississippi Rivers. All went well
with the Indians until 1830, when Keokuk, without the knowledge of the
rival chief, mad a final cession of all lands held by his tribe east of
the Mississippi River. The treaty further provided that Black Hawk and
his band were to give up their villages, corn fields and hunting grounds
during the following year. When the veteran warrior heard the news he
was thoroughly aroused and declared both treaties to have been obtained
through fraud. Without delay he strove to unite all Indians in the
common cause of resisting the whites. In the meantimeKeokuk and his band
quitely crossed to the west bank of the Mississippi River.
  When Black Hawk and his Indians returned from their winter hunting
trip in the spring of 1831 they discovered that the very ground on which
their village stood had been purchased by a fur-trader who was preparing
to plant a corn field of seven hundred acres which the Indians had
cultivated for years. The indignant chief was for immediate war, but
temperate counsels prevailed and the field was finally divided between
the white man and the chief with the understanding that each was tu
cultivate his respective half. But constant disputes arose and in May
eight white men united in a memorial of grievance to Governor Reynolds.
A call for volunteers, to protect settlers, was made without delay.
Early in June General Gaines, commander of the military district,
arrived at Fort Armstrong, on Rock Island, prepared to execute the
orders of the Governor.
Black Hawk and his band were persuaded to cross the Mississippi and
the soldiers took possession of the Indian village. Finding that the
Indians were not inclined to be hostile, rations were issued to them and
the volunteer soldeirs were dismissed.
  Early in the spring of 1832 Black Hawk and his men re-crossed the
Mississippi and marched up the Rock River, declaring that they were
going to their friends, the Winnebagoes, who lived in Wisconsin, for the
purpose of planting corn. General Atkinson, in command at Fort
Armstrong, warned him to return, but undeterred, Black Hawk pressed on
to Dixon's ford, where he pitched his camp. (Related by a daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Dixon.)
  Mrs. Dixon invited the chief and his friends to dine with her and
treated him with much courtesy. Black Hawk never forgot the respectful
attentions shown him by this woman.
  The news of Black Hawk's return to Illinois quickly reached Governor
Reynolds, who immediately sent General Whiteside with eighteen hundred
volunteers to expel the intruder from the State. When General Whiteside
reached Dixon he learned that Black Hawk was encamped upon the banks of
Sycamore Creek, thirty miles distant. A force of nearly three hundred
men, in command of an ambitious officer, named Stillman, was sent
forward to reconnoiter. Black Hawk was feasting his Winnebago friends at
the time and sent six of his warriors, under the protection of a white
flag, to meet the approaching party. The undiciplined volunteers fired
upon the Indians, killing two of their number. Justly aroused, Black
Hawk commanded his men to give battle and the volunteer force was driven
back in confusion, leaving eleven of their number dead upon the field.
These were the first white men killed in the Black Hawk war.
  The alarm of an Indian war rapidly spread among the exposed
settlements and farms. Chiefly through the aid of the noble old
Pottawattomie chief, Shebana, the settlers in the region of Bureau Creek
were warned and fled for safety to Ottawa. Those near Plainfield and
Naperville found shelter at Fort Dearborn. A few families upon Indian
Creek, who refused to heed the warning, were murdered, and two little
girls, Sylvia and Rachel Hall, were carried into captivity.
General Whiteside immediately marched to the scene of Stillman's
defeat, but Black Hawk had moved northward. The soldiers who had
volunteered for Indian service had seen enough of fighting and as their
terms of enlistment had expired refused to pursue the chief and his
band.
  Two thousand more men were speedily enlisted, but in the interim Black
Hawk and his warriors were preying upon the setlements near Galena. The
most notable attack in this region was upon the Apple River fort, where
Elizabeth now stands. The Indians besieged the place for an entire day,
but the brave garrison defended the fort so gallantly that Black Hawk
withdrew and turned his attention to an attacking force approaching
under Colonel Dement. These troops came very near falling into an
ambuscade, but escaped in safelty to the shelter of buildings at
Kellogg's grove. From this position the Indians were unable to dislodge
them.
  A more formidable army was now sent against the Indians, and Black
Hawk retreated northward intending to save himself by crossing the
mississippi River. At Blue Mounds, upon the banks of the Wisconsin
River, he was overtaken by General Henry and a battle ensued on July
21st, in which the Indians lost about fifty warriors. The Indians
continued their retreat until August 2d, when they were again overtaken
near the mouth of Bad Ax River. Here a fierce battle was fought and
almost all in Black Hawk's band were killed or drowned.
  Broke hearted the veteran warrior fled to a Winnebago village and gave
himself up to two chiefs, who delivered him to the Indian agent, General
Street, at Prairie du Chein. 
  General Scott, with nine companies of troops, hhad arrived at Fort
Dearborn, but his men were stricken with cholera and he took little or
no part in the campaign. When his men recovered they were marched to a
deserted Indian village between the present site of Beloit and Tuttle
Creek, and soon after proceeded to Fort Armstrong.
  Early in September Black Hawk and his captured wariors were sent to
Jefferson Barracks, near St. Louis. The following spring the famous
warrior was carried to Washington City and thence sent to Fortress
Monroe. After a trial he was returned to his own pople as nothing but
"honorable warfare" could be charged against him.
  In the cities of the East he attracted much attention and son
comopliments from every side. He told the legislators that the day would
come when the courts of justice and prisons of the white men would be
powerless to protect society from criminals that the white man's
civilization fostered and developed. "Serious predictions," remarked
Wendell Phillips, "and it is a warning worht heeding."
  Black Hawk was restored to his tribe as a chief subordinate to Kokuk,
and established his home on the banks of the beautiful Des Moines River.
Here he lived in peace and contentment until his death, which occurred
on October 3d, 1835. His friends buried him in a sitting posture and
erected above the grave a large mound of earth.
  Black Hawk has been called "the last native defender of the soils of
Illinois."
  The character of Black Hawk is beyond reproach as a man of honor, full
of noble and generous aspirations. Victor Hugo, basing his opinion of
him on the reports of his enemies alone, in his Jersey speech, declared
him the peeor af "any patriot, and as much above Alexander, Scipio,
Napoleon and such barbarians, as the moon in its zenith is above the
earth."

---end of transcripton----

I will be happy to search the index of this textbook for mention of
specific surnames, but warn you that in general only persons of
prominence are mentioned by name.


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