cluel h BUeI ok H Haw ir JP I 1 IS 4 a ak t 14 t 1 N HI S A A g 0 0 4 jot ck chief keokuk a statue of AS I 1 Abr alLam lincoln 10 r k 1 19 t all al r X F Jeffeis ort davis 01 P during the entire war the war dragged on throughout the summer of 1832 without any very decisive result except that the superior forces of the whites gradually began to wear down the indians finally the by ELMO SCOTT WATSON indian leader suffered a crushing defeat at the T WAS just years ago that th there ere was being fought in illinois and wisconsin what has been called the most inglorious war from the standpoint of its military and naval operations lu in which the united states was ever engaged this was the conflict which has a place in our history schoolbooks as the lilack black hawk wail war but which fcc Lc arcely de deserves seres the dignity of that title except that it was a war aar between two irreconcilable points of view that of the american frontiersman end 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 was only another savage and bloodthirsty red redskin shin who bad to be gotten rid of to make way tor for the advance of civilization the leading figure in this now dimly kemem bared war was nas ma ka tal tai me she kia hia mak kiak or black a chief of 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 and fox agreed to surrender all of their lands east of the mississippi but tt it was not until the close of the war of 1812 when a wave of migration began aaa to pour into illinois that the united states was ready to claim the land which it had acquired from the indians keokuk and the majority of his tribe bowed to the inevitable and moved across the mississippi to a new home in iowa but black hawk who had been a disciple of tecumseh the great shawnee Sli awnee and an ally of the british in the war of 1812 let it be known that would not move to iowa lie ile maintained that he bad 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 reynolds considered it advisable to call out the militia to protect the lives end and property of the pioneers but general gaines military commandant in the west hap bap ing to avoid the expense of a demonstration with force summoned black hawk and his sub chiefs to a conference at fort armstrong on the mississippi the council was a stormy one and resulted in no satisfactory settlement of the difficulties whereupon the militia on june 15 left their camp at rushville ill and marched upon black bawks village they found it deserted and burned all the lodges then gaines sent rent word to black that the ho hostiles host stiles lles should come in for a peace talk and on june 80 black hawk and 27 of his followers signed a treaty with governor reynolds by which they agreed to refrain from hostile acts and to retire to iowa there was no trouble with them until early in S when black hawk crossed over into illinois with some 2000 indians of whom it was estimated more than wore were warriors immediately the wildest rumors spread along the illinois frontier black and 1000 2000 bloodthirsty were descending upon the settlements tle ments to kill scalp and burn the indian side of the story Is rather different under the terms ot df the tresty treaty which black had signed with general gaines tho indians were to be supplied with corn in place of that which they had left in their fields when they went to iowa what had happened la Is a familiar incident to ID the history of our relations with the indians the government failed to keep its promise the amount of corn turned over luver to ahelf was so meager that they be began an to buffer from hunger in that emergency a party of the sauk in the words of black crossed e at a za indian memorial on rock river the aher to steal some corn from their own fields moving with his hia band up the rock river black hawk was overtaken by a messenger from general atkinson ordering him to return and the mississippi black hawk replied that he be had bad not taken the warpath karpath but was going on a friendly visit to the ellla village e of white cloud the winnebago prophet and nd continued his journey AtI amunson lInson then sent imperative orders for him to return at once or lie he would pursue with his army and drive him back to this the indian 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 he intended to continue on his way continue lie he did until he was met by some winnebago and pottawatomie chiefs in a counell council they made it plain that they had bad no intention of joining with ith black hawk in any war upon the americans feeling that he be had been betrayed by his indian friends the sauk leader resolved to send a ling flag of truce to atkinson asking permission to descend the rock river the mississippi and return to his reservation in iowa in the meantime governor reynolds had bad 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 salem named abraham lincoln at about the time black hawk was wag holding his council with the other oilier tribes a large force of the militia had bad mobilized under general whitesides Whites ldes near dixons ferry at the request of maj isaiah stillman whitesides sent 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 fact that they were only a short distance from black bawks camp then occurred a tragic error the first la in a war filled with tragic blunders black hawk sent three of his warriors under a sag flag of truce to ask for a conference 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 ruwin which 40 indians sent ahlee men into headlong fight inflicting a loss of about a dozen on the ini litia 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 greater than the total number dumber killed and disabled by the in lands hands of an army commanded by gen james D henry in a battle on the wisconsin river losing OS warriors killed and many more wounded and disabled black hawk now realized that the game ame was up with the remnants of his band he 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 file mouth month of the dad cad axe river on august 1 afta his starving warriors and his pitiful little band of women and children then occurred an incident which Is often spoken of as a naval engagement in an inland war while black hawk and his tribesmen were trying to cross the river in canoes and on rafts a st steamer amer the Warr warrior lor hove have 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 flag of truce was dishon dishonored ered by the white man the captain of the warrior asserted that he be believed the flag was only a decoy used by the wily indians to lure him into an ambush so lie he ordered the cannon to be un limbered and it began shelling the indian camp As a result 23 indians were killed outright and many others were wounded the following day the pursuing troops under general atkinson 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 lint rending 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 droAN drowned ned 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 50 were taken prisoners black and his chief warrior Nea Nes pope escaped to the north and sought refuge among the Winnebago es A short time later be surrendered to general street at prairie du chien and was sent down tho the river to jefferson barracks mo as a prisoner of 0 war the man placed in charge of him was a young lieutenant the son in law of colonel taylor his name was jefferson davis and of this man who later became president of the confederacy blackhawk black 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 black hawk was wag allowed to return to the sauk and fox reservation in iowa there he be died on october 3 and there he was burled buried in accordance with the customs of his people so sn black hawk slept in peace at last but not in the soil salt which he loved so well that of the beautiful rock kock river country in northern illinois but his bis spirit broods 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 black hawk statue the sculptor has repeatedly said that it Is intended to symbolize the indian a spirit unconquered while still the conquered race even so it may appropriately be a memorial to black hank of the sauk and foxes for his was such a spirit 0 by western union 1