Chief Chiel Black Hawk 6 His I r s y 5 1 II I i w 1 r 7 w r I L Chief Keokuk tue t 1 Abraham raHam Lincoln r k e Via v v 1 y r Jefferson Davis Chief a 7 L a By ELMO SCOTT WATSON T WAS Just years ago that there theca was being fought In Illinois and aull Wisconsin Wis I what has been called the most Inglorious war from the standpoint of ofUs Its Us military and naval operations In which the United States Slates was ever er en ln This was the conflict which has a o place In our history schoolbooks as ns the Black Hawk war but which scarcely deserves the tile dignity of that title except that It was a n war between two irreconcilable points of view that view of or the American frontiersman and that of the American American Ameri Ameri- can Indian From the Indian point of ot view Chief Black Hawk was a patriot fi lighting fighting bravely ely In defense of ot his ancestral home from the tho frontiersman's point of view he was only another another another an an- other savage age and bloodthirsty redskin who had bad to be gotten rid of to make way for tor the advance of ot civilization The leading figure In to this now dimly war was tai Ma-ka-tai Ma ka she kink or Black Hawk n R chief of the Sauk and Fox In- In of ot whom Keokuk or Watchful 1 Fox ox was the he head chief Ily Ity the Treaty of November 3 1804 made at St St. St Louis the Sank Sauk and Fox agreed greed to surrender all nil of their lands east last of ot the Mississippi Rut Hut It was not until the close of ot the War of 1812 when a wave of or migration brgan began br- br gan ran to pour Into Illinois that the United States was wai ready to claim the land which It had hall a acquired acquired ac ac- qui red from the Indians Keokuk and ami the majority ma ma- of ot his tribe bowed bowld to the Inevitable and andi i ved across the Mississippi to a new home in Iowa Hut But Black mack Hawk who had hall been a disciple disciple dis- dis ciple of ot Tecumseh the great Shawnee and an anally anally ally of ot the British In the War of ot 1812 l t If-t t be he known that would not move to Iowa He lie tamped that he had hall been deceived as to the t tt tc of ot the tho St. St Louis treaty and did not co cons con Of rr r them binding upon him Ily ny 1831 so 10 much friction between BlackHawk's mack Black Hawks Hawk's tribesmen and the Illinois settlers had developed that Governor considered it advisable to call out the militia to protect the lives UTIS and property of the pioneers Rut General Gaines military commandant In the West hap hap- Ing Inc to avoid old the expense of ot a demonstration with force summoned Black Hawk an am Is Ms sub sub- chiefs to a conference at Fort Armstro on the Mississippi The council was a stormy ra and nn resulted In no satisfactory settlement of the difficulties whereupon hereupon the militia on June 15 left their camp at nt III and marched upon Black Hawks Hawk's village They found It deserted deserted de and burned all the tho lodges Then Gaines sent lent word to Black Hawk that the hostiles s should come in for a peace talk folk and on June 80 SO Black Hawk and 27 of his followers signed a n treaty with Governor Reynolds by which they agreed to refrain from ho hostile acts and to retire to Iowa There was no trouble with them until early arly in 1832 when mack Hawk cross crossed orInto over r into Illinois with Ith some 2000 Indians of whom It was estimated more than WO lA were warriors Immediately the wildest rumors spread along the Illinois frontier mack Black Hawk and 1000 bloodthirsty bloodthirsty blood blood- thirsty sa a savages were descending upon the settlements set set- to kill scalp and burn The Indian side of the this lit story or Is rather dlf dif ferent terent Under the terms term of the treaty which Black lilack Hawk had hall signed with General Gaines the Indians were to be supplied with corn In place of ot that which they had left in their fields when they went to Iowa What had happened Is n a familiar incident in the history of ot our relations with I the Indians The government go failed tolled to kl keep p Its promise The amount of ot corn com turned o 0 over er tr to them was so meager that they began beltan to suffer furter from hunger In that emergency a party r. r Its the thi Sauk In the words of ot Black DIack Hawk crossed q Jt r. r I ao M MT s T Indian Memorial on Rock River Ill the river to steal some somo corn from their own fields Moving with his baud band up the Rock Hock river Black Blackhawk Hawk was overtaken by a messenger from General General Gen Gen- eral erol Atkinson ordering him to return and re- re cross the Mississippi Hawk replied that ho he hud had not taken the warpath but was going on ona ona ona a friendly visit to the village of ot White Cloud the prophet and continued his journey Atkinson then sent rent Imperative orders for him to return at once ollre or he would pursue with his army and drive him back To this the Indian leader protested that the general had no norl rl right ht to utter such n a threat so 80 long as his mission mission mis mis- sion lion to the was a peaceable one and that he Intended to continue on his way Continue he did until he was met by some somo Winnebago and chiefs In a council council coun coun- cil they made It plain that they had hall no Intention of ot Joining with Black Hawk In any war upon the Americans Feeling that he had bad been betrayed betrayed be be- by his Indian friends the Sauk leader lder resolved to send lend a flag of ot truce to Atkinson asking permission to descend the hock river the Mississippi and ret return urn to his reservation reservation reserva reserva- tion In Iowa In the meantime Governor Reynolds Js had called out the militia In and one of ot the captains c of the or organized hastily l companies elected b by his own men was n lanky young oung storekeeper from New ew Salem named Abraham Lincoln At about the time mark Black Hawk was holding hU council with the other tribes a I large Inre force torr of ot the militia had mobilized under General near I ons on's Ferr Ferry At the request of ot MaJ aj Isaiah Stillman sent a Il scouting party of ot about men under to try to locate loat the Indian n This party ascended the Rock Hock river to the mouth of Sycamore Samore creek and camped there Ignorant of ot the fact that they wern only a short distance from Black Hawks Hawk's camp Then occurred a tragic error the error-the the first In n a war filled with tragic blunders Hawk sent Bent three of his warriors under a flag of truce to ask for a conference Stillmans Stillman's undisciplined volunteers fired tired on them killing one Then followed followed fol tol lowed the opera oper battle which has come comedown comedown down In history as Stillmans nun in which 40 SO Italians Indians sent white men Into headlong Inflicting a loss of ot about a dozen on the militia The news of this defeat spread even greater terror through the state Governor Reynolds called out more troops and from Washington came cume the fhe news that Gen GIn Scott had hall been ordered to the scene of ot the war with a thousand regulars While en route to Illinois this army was attacked by the cholera and the mortality from that disease was greater than the total number killed anI and disabled by the In In- during the entire war The rhe war dragged on throughout the summer of ot 1832 without any very decisive result except that the superior forces of ot the fhe whites gradually began to wear down the Indians Finally the Indian lender leader suffered a cru crushing defeat defrat at the hands of ot an army commanded by Gen James I P D. Henry In a battle on the Wisconsin river losing CS warriors killed and many more wounded wound Id I'd and disabled Black Hawk now realized that the game was up With the remnants of his band he headed for tor the Mississippi hoping to escape from the Itle soldiers a and find peace among his people ab al ready settled In Iowa He lie reached 1 the Mississippi Mississippi 1 sippi nt at the mouth of ot the Had Axe ATC river on August 1 with his starving warriors and his pitiful little band of ot women and children Then occurred an nn Incident which Is la often spoken of ofas ofas as ns a n nil naval val engagement In an nn Inland war While Black HInck Hawk and his tribesmen n were tr tryIng trying try try- Ing to 10 cross the river In canoes and on rafts n a steamer the Warrior hove Into sl sight hf On ba hoard d was a detachment of ot coLliers and one small cannon Black mack Hawk raised a n white flag to ask for tor a n parley And again the flag of truce was by the white man Di The captain of or orthe the Warrior asserted that he believed 1 the flag was only a decoy used by hy the wll wily In Indians lInns to lure him Into an ambush So Ro I he p ordered the cannon to be and It hewn nn shelling the Indian camp ramp As a n result 21 23 Indians were killed outright anti many ninny others other were wounded The following fo day the pursuing troops troop under pr General Atkinson which were Joined 1 by hy a n detachment dEtachment de do of ot regulars under Col II Taylor Talor and an army of Wisconsin volunteers carne came up and attacked Black Hawks Hawk's camp The Cue end Is Iq not pleasant plasant reading rending for It was an Indian massacre mas mas- sacre but sacre-but but contrary to the popular Idea of that It was a massacre of Indians by white men The weakened Indians Indans were no match for the whites Finding that their attempts to surrender were useless they resolved to sell Ill their lives as dearly as possible So they put up a desperate resistance but were driven at the point of ot the bayonet Into the river rr Indian women with children clinging to them plunged Into the river only to be drowned or shot hot down by hy sharpshooters sharp shooters on the banks The Warrior returning from Prairie du Chien I added 1 to the carnage by raking the shore with canister More than Indians were killed or drowned and only about W roO were taken t prisoners mack Black Hawk and his chief warrior escaped to the north anti and sought refuge refuse among amoni the A short time later he be surrendered surrendered sur sur- rendered to General Street Strett at Prairie du Chien and was sent do down n n the river to Barracks Bar Bar- racks Mo Ma I as 11 a prisoner of ot war The man placed In charge chare of him was WIlS n a young lieutenant th the son law of Colonel Ta Taylor Ills name wa a was Jefferson Davis Pa and of this man who later b became became be be- came President of th the Confederacy Black lack Hawk Haw said lie Ill was a good goot an and 1 brave young oun chief f with whose cou conduct I was wat much pleased and h he treated me with great kindness After being Imprisoned In Fortress Monroe a Va for tor a short time Black IIa Hawk wk was allowed allowe to return to the Sauk auk and aull Foi 1017 reservation In to Iowa lown There he died on October 3 1833 1533 and as d there he was burled buried In accordance with the customs custom customs cus cus- toms tom of his people So Black I a I a hank Iak k slept 1 In n peace pence at nt last but not In fn the soil which he loved lo so well well that that of the beautiful Hoek river country y In northern Illinois But his l. l spirit broods over r that land in the form of ot a n giant concrete statue state e of ot an Indian the work of Lorado Taft Tart which h stands on a high bluff near Oregon m III over looking the Rock Hock river rl Although It Is commonly y referred 1 to as ns the Black Hawk statue th the e sculptor has repeatedly salt said that It Is Intend Intended ed to symbolize the Indian a a spirit unconquered ed while willIe still the conquered race I liven Ien en so it ma may appropriately be a memorial to Black Hawk o othe of t f the Sa Sauk uk and Foxes Fuses for tor his was such suh a spirit E y t by br y Western Union Colon