ak a ada lop H haw 9 i his gwi war M Z 7 k 3 AM 4 t 4 chief keokuk 4 statue of abrah abdal abraham am lam lincoln y a t Dixon A 4 V row par 0 og 4 A riu chief fe lac by ELMO SCOTT WATSON T WAS just sears ears ago that was being fought in illinois and wisconsin BT what has been called the most inglorious war from the standpoint of AES its military DUMMY and naval operations la in which the united states was ever engaged this was the conflict which has a place in our history schoolbooks as the black hawk war but which scarcely de deserves seres the dignity of that title except that it was a war var between two irreconcilable points of view that abat of the american frontiersman and that of the american indian from the indian point of view chief black hawk was a patriot fighting bravely in defense of his ancestral home from the frontiers mans point of view lie he was only another savage and bloodthirsty redskin who had to be gotten rid of to make way for the advance of civilization the leading figure in this now dimly kemem bared war ivar was ma ila ka tal me she kia klak or black hawk a chief of tile the sauk and fox indians of whom keokuk or watchful fox was the head chief by the treaty of november 3 1804 made at st louis the sauk sank and fox fos agreed to surrender all of their lands east cast of the mississippi but it was not until the close of the war of when a wave of migration brgan to pour into illinois that tile the united states was ready to claim the land which it had bad acquired from the indians Ini lians keokuk and tile the majority of his tribe bowed to the inevitable and aved across the mississippi to a new home in ili iowa but clack black hawk who had bad been a disciple of tecumseh the great shawnee and an ally of the british in the war of 1812 let it be known that would not move to iowa ile he maintained that lie he had been deceived as to the terms of the st louis treaty and did not consider them binding upon him by 1831 so much friction between black hawks tribesmen and the illinois settlers had developed that governor It Itcy eynolds considered it advisable to call out the militia to protect the lives and proper property tr of the pioneers but general gal gaines nes military commandant in the west hap ln ing to avoid the expense of a demonstration with force summoned black hawk and his bis sub chiefs to a conference at fort armstrong on the mississippi the council was a stormy one and ana resulted in no satisfactory settlement of the difficulties whereupon the militia on june 15 left their camp at ill and marched upon black hawks village they found it deserted and burned all the lodges then gaines sent word to clack black hawk that the hostiles ho stiles should come in tor for a peace talk and on june ZO SO black hawk and 27 of ills his followers signed a treaty with governor reynolds Key by which they agreed to refrain from hostile acts and to retire to iowa there was no trouble with them thein until early in 1832 when clack black hawk crossed over into illinois with some gome 2000 indians of whom it was estimated more than were warriors immediately the ivil wildest dest rumors spread along the illinois frontier black hawk aud and 1000 bloodthirsty savages were descending upon the settlements tle ments to kill scalp and turn the indian side bide of the story Is rather different under the terms of the treaty which black hawk had bad signed with general gaines tho the indians were to be supplied with corn in place of that which they had bad left in their fields when they went to iowa what had happened Is a familiar incident in the history of our relations with the indians the government failed to seep keep its promise the amount of corn turned over to thern was so menger that they began to suffer buffer from hunger in that emergency a party ct cf the sauk in the words of black hawk chosed 95 A lk 4 A indian memorial on the river to steal some corn from their own holds fields sieving with his band up the rock rier black hawk was overtaken by a messenger from general atkinson ordering him to return and the mississippi black hawk replied that he had not taken the warpath karpath but was going on a friendly visit to the village of white cloud the winnebago prophet and continued his journey atkinson then sent imperative orders for him to return at once or he would pursue with its ills army and drive him back to this the indian loader leader protested that the general had no right to utter such a threat so long as his mission to the Winnebago es was a peaceable one and that lie he intended to continue on his way continue lie he did until lie he bat met by some winnebago and pottawatomie rottau atomic chiefs in a counell council they made it plain that they lad had no intention of joining with ailta black hawk in any war upon the americans reeling that he had bad been betrayed by his indian friends the sauk lea leader der resolved to send a flag of truce to atkinson At kluson asking permission to descend the rock river the mississippi and return to his reservation in iowa in the meantime governor reynolds had called out the militia and one of the captains of the hastily organized companies elected by his own men was a lanky young storekeeper from new ew named abraham lincoln at about the time black hawk was holding his council with the other tribes a large force of the militia had mobilized under general whitesides near dixons ferry at the request of maj isaiah stillman sent bent a scouting party of about men under stillman to try to locate the indians this party ascended the rock river to the mouth of sycamore creek and camped there ignorant of the tact fact that they were only a short distance from black hawks camp then occurred a tragic error the first in a war filled with tragic blunders black hawk sent three of ills his warriors under a lag flag of truce to ask for a confere conference nm Still stillmans mans undisciplined volunteers fired on them killing one then followed the opera gouffe battle which has come down in history as Still stillmans mans run in which 10 40 indians sent white men into headed hea headlong dOD fight inflicting a loss of 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 the news that gen winfield scott had been ordered to the scene of 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 ivas greater than the total number killed and disabled by the in ia jefferson davis deans during the entire war the war dragged on throughout the summer of 1832 without any very decisive results result except that the superior forces of the whites gradually began to wear down tho the In indians diang finally the indian leader suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of nn an army commanded by gen james D henry in a battle on the wisconsin ln river losing GS CS warriors killed and many more wounded and disabled black hawk now realized that the game was up with the remnants of his band he be headed for the mississippi hoping to escape from the soldiers and find peace among his people already settled in iowa lie ile reached the mississippi at the mouth of the bad axe river on august I 1 with his starving warriors and his pitiful little band of women and children then occurred an incident which Is often spoken 0 of as a naval engagement in an inland war while clack black hawk and his tribesmen were trying to cross the river in canoes and on rafts a steamer the warrior hove bore into sight on board was a detachment of soldiers and one small cannon black hawk raised a white flag to ask for a parley and again the nag flag of truce was dishon dishonored ered by the white man the captain of the warrior asserted that he believed the flag was only a decoy used by the wily indians to lure him into an ambush so he be ordered tile the cannon to be un limbered anil and it began shelling the indian camp As a result 23 indians were killed outright and many others were wounded the alie following day the pursuing troops under general atkinson Af kinson which were joined by a detachment tach ment of regulars under col zachary taylor and an army of wisconsin volunteers came up and attacked clack black hawks camp the end Is not pleasant reading for it was an indian massacre but contrary to the popular idea of that it was a massacre of indians by white men the weakened indians were no match for the whites finding that their attempts to surrender were useless they resolved to sell their lives as dearly as possible so they put up a desperate resistance but were driven at the point of the bayonet into the river indian women with children clinging to them plunged into the river only to be drowned or shot down by sharpshooters on the banks the warrior returning from prairie du chien added to the carnage by raking the shore with canister more than indians were killed or drowned and only about FO 10 were taken prisoners clack black hawk and ills his chief warrior Nea pope escaped to the north and sought refuge among the Winnebago es A short time later he surrendered to general street at prairie du chien and was sent bent flown don the river hier to jefferson barracks mo is as a prisoner of war aar the man placed in charge of him was a young lieutenant the son in law of colonel tailor ills his name was jerrerson on pais pails and of this man who later became president of the confederacy clack hawk said ile he was a good and brave young chief with whose conduct I 1 was much pleased and he treated me with great kindness after being imprisoned in fortress monroe va for a short time clack black hawk was allowed to return to the sauk and fox reservation in iowa there lie he died on october 3 1838 and there he was burled buried in accordance with the customs of ills his people so clack black hawk slept in pence peace at last but not in the soil which he be loved so well that of the beautiful rock mier country in northern illinois but his spirit broods over over that land in the form of a giant concrete statue of an indian the work of lorado taft which stands on a high bluff near oregon ill overlooking the rock river although it Is commonly referred to as the clack black hawk statue the sculptor has repeatedly said bald that it Is intended to symbolize the indian a spirit unco unconquered n while still the conquered race even so it may appropriately be a memorial to clack black fialk hawk of the sauk and foxes for his was such a spirit Q by western News newspaper union