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Black Hawk was a warrior chief. In the early 1800s he became the leader of the Sauk and Fox nation who inhabited the area to the south west of the Great Lakes. Black Hawk was busy leading his fighting men on raids against the Osage and the Cherokee tribes when, in 1804, he got wind of a treaty between Spain and the United States that ceded much Indian land to the Americans. In the War of 1812 Black Hawk allied his forces with those of Tecumseh. Black Hawk fought valiantly at Frenchtown, Forts Meigs and Stephenson and the decisive Battle of the Thames.
In the 1820s and ‘30s Black Hawk again became incensed at the white encroachment on his lands. He protested to Indian agents about the theft of his people’s cornfields by white squatters. Things came to a head in 1831 when unscrupulous whites occupied Black Hawk’s village, took over his own home and even dug up the sacred Sauk and Fox burial ground to make more room for plowing. Black Hawk and his people were forced to flee to the West. But in 1832 Black Hawk came back. With him were about five hundred of his people. The Indians burnt a few squatter’s cabins in order to get the whites to pack up and leave.
The Governor of Illinois became alarmed at these actions. Ignoring the illegal actions of the white squatters he called on the Army to deal with the rebellious Indians. He brought in General Edmund Gaines to do the job. Gaines travelled by steamboat to negotiate with Black Hawk. Black Hawk only wanted justice for his people. That meant the removal of the white squatters. He warned General Gaines with the words “ Provoke our people to war and you will learn who Black Hawk is.”
Gaines didn’t want to fight Black Hawk and tried to draw some concessions from the white settlers. They, however, didn’t want a bar of it. Black Hawk’s people were reduced to stealing corn from their own corn fields. Black Hawk was now set on the path of war. He attempted to put together a confederacy of warrior tribes, as had Pontiac and Tecumseh before him. But the times had changed. He was only able to draw one hundred Fox warriors to support his five hundred Sauk braves.
The white settlers got wind of the gathering Indian attack. They greatly exaggerated the numbers massing against them. In came General Henry Atkinson. His second in command was Zachary Taylor who had 1800 volunteers and 400 regular infantry. 270 men under Major Isaiah Stillman intercepted Black Hawk in the forest. Black Hawk sent out a few men to negotiate. Stillman seized them. Two Indians were killed. Although he only had about forty men with him, Black Hawk organized an ambush into which Stillman marched. The soldiers turned in fear and ran.
Black Hawk now retreated into Southern Wisconsin. There his men went on a rampage of burning farming settlements and scalping settlers. On July 28th, 1832 the Indians were engaged by a force under General James D Henry. It was a resounding victory for the Army. Black Hawk lost 68 men. By August the Indians had been forced back to the Mississippi near the junction of Bad Axe River. Atkinson immediately put the Steamboat Warrior to the waters of the Mississippi. The boat was outfitted with cannon. Black Hawk approached the boat under a white flag to negotiate. The steamboat, however, opened fire. In the carnage 23 more warriors were killed. Atkinson now rushed another 1300 men overland to intercept the fleeing Indians. Despite the fact that Black Hawk was again trying to surrender, the soldiers, under General Atkinson, attacked. A shameful massacre followed in which over 200 Indian men, women and children were slaughtered. Those that did survive were caught and killed by the traditional enemies of the Sauk and Fox peoples – the Sioux.
Black Hawk himself escaped. He was soon, however, seized by the Winnebagos who handed him over to the whites for a reward of one hundred dollars and twenty horses. For a year Black Hawk was imprisoned. In his final years he was turned into something of a celebrity. Toured around the countryside he signed autographs and sold copies of his autobiography. When he travelled to the areas of old atrocities, however, people burned his effigy. Black Hawk died in 1838. Even in death, however, he was humiliated. White men vandalised his grave and cut off his head, exhibiting it in a final grotesque public showing.
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