Iowa
Old Press
Register and Leader
Des Moines, Polk Co. Iowa
March 10, 1907
AN INTIMATE VIEW OF BLACK HAWK
Pioneer Iowan Gives Personal Recollections of the Notable Indian
Chief.
Elder W.C. Reed of Marion county, who has been a resident of Iowa
for seventy-two years, and of Marion county for sixty-one years,
has the unique distinction to have been a close friend and
neighbor of Black Hawk, when that great warrior chief of the Sac
and Fox Indians lived on the banks of Devil's creek, in Lee
county. Mr. Reed often visited in Black Hawk's cabin, knew his
wife, daughter and one of his two sons; was personally acquainted
with Keokuk, Wapello and Hardfish, and saw Black Hawk's remains
in their grave three months after interment and before vandals
had stolen them for exibition purposes.
So far as can be ascertained, Mr. Reed is the only man now living
who knew Black Hawk personally, entertained him in his home, was
entertained by him and is personally cognizant of the historic
and picturesque closing acts of this most famous chieftain of the
once great tribe which dominated the upper Mississippi valley
three-quarters of a century ago.
Mr. Reed recently celebrated his ninety-first birthday, and
notwithstanding his extreme age and the fact that the wife of
sixty-six years' companship (sic) died three years ago, he is
still in good health, with a remarkably active brain. In most of
the vital particulars Mr. Reed's reminiscences agree with the
standard works on the Indians of Wisconsin and Iowa territory --
such, for instance, as Fulton's "Red Men of Iowa." Mr.
Reed's story, however, has the added merit of adding little
details of conversation, personal appearance and customs of the
early settlers which are entirely missing in the works of
history. Mr. Reed's story, as taken down in the home which he now
occupies within a half mile of the site of his first Marion
county home of sixty-one years ago, is as follows:
I was born in Polk county, Ill., three miles from Golconda, on
Jan. 3, 1816, and came to Iowa on May 25, 1835, at the age of 19.
I have lived in this state continuously ever since. Before coming
to Iowa I had traveled up and down the Ohio and lower Mississippi
rivers considerable, going back and forth to and from New Orleans
several times. In 1835 the western fever seized me and I made the
journey to the Mississippi river overland, driving three yoke of
oxen. We were twenty days on the road.
Crossing the Mississippi river, but three years after the end of
the Black Hawk war, and when but few white men were to be found
in what is today the state of Iowa, I settled at Fort Madison,
about midway between Keokuk and Burlington. There was not much of
a settlement there when I arrived. John and Nathaniel Knapp were
there when I came, Nathaniel having already brought his family,
although John Knapp did not move his family across the river
until two or three years later. Nathaniel Knapp and his family
occupied the trading cabin which had been erected a few years
before that. Then there was John Box, who had moved over from
Illinois, andhad erected a shanty; my future father-in-law,
Daniel Thompson, who had moved over, in 1834, from what was then
known as Commerce, but which later became Nauvoo, the town made
famous by the Mormons. Aside from these few families there were
some young men and that was all.
There was a larger settlement up at Burlington. I was never down
to Keokuk in those days, but I knew that a trading station had
been established there and there was quite a little colony. The
garrison was then occupied at Montrose, three companies of
dragoons being located there when I arrived. These were
practically all the white folks in the southeastern part of what
is today the state of Iowa. But we had plenty of Indians; Indians
all around us, most of them of the Sac and Fox tribe.
I first met Black Hawk in the fall of 1837, five years after the
battle of Bad Ax had ended the rebellion and after he had been
taken on a tour of the eastern cities, to be impressed by the
greatness of the country, after which he told his people that the
white folks were as numerous as the leaves of the trees.
I remember very well the second time I ever saw Black Hawk. He
was going to Fort Madison from his wick-a-up on Devil creek,
about a mile from where my log cabin was. He was going for
whiskey.
Later in the day I saw him returning home, and although I knew he
had been drinking practically all the day, he was walking as
straight as a bee flies. He could drink an awful lot of whisky
and never show any effects of it. When he came up opposite my
cabin he crossed over and came in, saying he wanted to warm his
moccasins. He was dressed peculiarly but rather customarily for
him, wearing a fine broadcloth suit and a high silk hat. but he
always wore moccasins; he has frequently told me that he could
never stand the touch of hard leather on his feet, so he went
everwhere in moccasins. It was to warm his moccasins that he
stopped to see me that day. After he had been made comfortable my
wife gave hiim a half of a mince pie and some coffee and he ate
this with relish. When he was through he got ready to go on,
after having thanked her for the food and complimenting it by
saying "heap good." He said that his squaw would be
waiting and watching for him and so he set off. Black Hawk was
always a good man to his family.
After that we saw Black Hawk and his family very much. We were
neighbors, only a mile distance between my cabin and his
wick-a-up. I must say, too, that Black Hawk and his family were
good neighbors. We didn't think anything of associating with
Indians in those days; there were so many of them, they were as
common as white folks today. We were not a bit afraid of them,
either; we accepted them as a matter of course and got along
fine. The fact that Black Hawk had been a great warrior and had
gone on the warpath never bothered us. I don't recollect now that
we ever thought much about it. Black Hawk was meek and peaceable
in those days when I knew him.
When the government deposed him from being chief, after the war,
and put Keokuk in his stead, Black Hawk's spirit was broken.
There was no danger from him any more. He became meek and mild,
living out his remaining days as quietly as possible.
I can recall very well how the chief looked in those days. He was
rather small in stature and very slight when I knew him, not
weighing much over 125 pounds. He was bald and kind of dried up
or shriveled, as though the sorrows and troubles he had had
withered him like an old leaf. Around his own wick-a-up he always
wore a blanket and moccasins, but when he went out he usually
wore either a uniform or broadcloth suit and silk hat. He always
wore moccasins.
While the chief himself was a slight, frail, old man, his son,
Nes-se-as-kuk, was as fine a specimen of manhood as I ever saw,
with splendid physique, and broad chested, standing five feet,
eleven inches high, and weighing fully 190 pounds.
Madam Black Hawk was a very fine looking woman, much lighter in
color than most Indians. I always had the idea that she was part
French, to judge from her appearance.
Black Hawk had another son, the settlers called him Tom Black
Hawk. He was a bad Indian and hated the whites bitterly.
Aside from the old chief, interest in those days in the family
centered in the daughter, Nauasia, the prettiest Indian girl I
ever saw in my life, a girl of such striking beauty that she
would attract attention anywhere. Nauasia was the belle of the
settlements those days. The white folks said her name was an
Indian corruption of Nancy.
After a year or two of living in Fort Madision a couple of hotels
were built, and it was our custom to have frequent balls. Nauasia
was the belle every time. Not a young white fellow but would give
almost anything he had for the honor of a dance with Nauasia. And
what a dancer! She was as spry and agile as a fawn. I never saw a
girl lighter on her feet than Nauasia. The young fellows would
stand around and look eagerly until they mustered up courage to
ask her for a dance, and then everybody envied them. Nauasia was
a mighty graceful dancer. She would leap high in the air and
whirl around and cut fancy capers until she had beaten every
other dancer in the settlement. There was quite a romance in
Nauasia's life. Some young fellow came out from New York and fell
desperately in love with her. Nauasia loved him, too, and they
were to be married. But the young man's folks back east heard of
it and ordered him home at once. I suppose they thought she was
just a common Indian squaw. But she was not, by any means. And
the desertion of her lover pretty near broke Nauasia's heart.
--
It might be added here that Mr. Reed's story of Black Hawk's
daughter differs slightly from the historical accounts, which say
the lover was a young man named Walsh, from Baltimore. Walsh and
Nauasia were engaged to be married, when Walsh's cousin arrived
in Fort Madison, and even after seeing the beautiful girl, told
Walsh the folks back east would look at the couple and say,
"There goes Walsh and his squaw." The ridicule was too
much, and Walsh fled the country.
Continuing, Mr. Reed said:
I have several times been a guest in the Black Hawk wick-a-up. It
was quite a large wick-a-up, with space for the entire family and
one room which was given over entirely to Black Hawk's relics and
possessions. I have counted no less than twelve large leather
trunks which Black Hawk had after his trip through the east. I
never saw into these trunks, but there was good reason for me to
believe that they were filled with mementoes of his trip.
The Black Hawks usually spent the winter in Lee county, and just
as soon as sugar making was over in the spring they would pull up
and go somewhere else. I remember being in the Black Hawk home
one time when Madame Black Hawk was making sugar and she gave me
a large mould of sugar to take home with me.
As I said before, there was not much thought in those days of the
war Black Hawk had headed. He had been defeated and deposed and
his spirit had been so broken that he was looked on as a harmless
old man.
As to the war itself, the prime cause was the plowing up of the
Indian's corn fields and graveyards in their big village up at
Rock Island. An Indians' burial ground is sacred to them, and
when the whites came in and plowed up their bones and planted
corn in their graves they were furious. Then the whites plainly
violated the terms of the treaties and took land that wasn't
theirs. The war was really forced on the Indians. I never thought
they were very much to blame. The war had a disastrous
termination. At the battle of Bad Ax, men and women and little
children were fired on and brutally murdered. The spirit of the
Indians was forever crushed after that.
--
While Mr. Reed was best acquainted with Black Hawk by reason of
having been a near neighbor, he was also familiar with the other
noted Indians of the time, notably Keokuk and Wapello. In regard
to these chiefs he said:
Keokuk, Wapello and Hardfish were made chiefs of the tribe by the
government after Black Hawk had been deposed. I saw them all,
Keokuk several times. Keokuk was the only blue-eyed Indian I ever
saw. He was a much larger man than Black Hawk, rather fat and
pompous. He was nothing much but a gambler and a horse racer.
Those were the only things he cared for. He was a hard drinker,
but I want to say right here that neither Keokuk or Black Hawk
were drunkards.
Keokuk had four wives and Black Hawk only one. When Black Hawk
was in Washington he said he had four wives, but he had but the
one that I ever heard of. Keokuk was very friendly to the whites,
Dr. Isaac Galland, one of the earliest settlers at Montrose, was
one of Keokuk's friends. Wapello and General Street, the Indian
agent were such great friends that we used to call them David and
Jonathan. When Keokuk died he requested that his body be buried
right alongside General Street's and this was done.
When Keokkuk became chief in place of Black Hawk the majority of
the tribe followed him. But until the day of his death Black Hawk
had a large following which was faithful to him and still
regarded him as the chief.
Black Hawk was not living at his wick-a-up in Lee county when he
died, but higher up, near Iowayville. I had not seen him for
several months before his death, but three months after he died I
saw his body where it had been placed in a shack or grave at the
upper end of the prairie near Iowayville, in Davis county. The
body had been placed in the shack or pen which was about 18X15
feet in size. At his side was placed the cane which Henry Clay
had given him. A number of his relics were also placed near him.
Outside the pen was a post, about fifteen feet high, on which was
painted in red paint the pictures of the animals Black Hawk had
killed in his lifetime.
Three months after the burial I went to the pen and lifting up a
board at the corner looked in, saw the chief, the cane and the
things that were buried with him. A few months later somebody in
Cincinnati stole the body, to exhibit it, I guess, and the
Indians raised an awful fuss. The government took the matter in
charge and finally brought a skeleton and put it in the pen where
Black Hawk had been buried. The Indians were pacified, but I have
always felt sure that the body reburied was not the body of Black
Hawk at all.
--
Fulton, in "The Red Men of Iowa," gives more
particulars of the burial of Black Hawk than does Mr. Read.
Fulton's account is extremely interesting:
The body was placed on the surface of the ground in a sitting
posture, with the face toward the southeast, and the body
supported in that position by a wooden slab or puncheon. On his
left side was placed a cane given him by Henry Clay, with his
right hand resting upon it. He was dressed in a full military
suit, which had been presented to him by President Jackson. Three
silver medals hung upon his breast, all of which had been
presented to him by distinguished persons during his visits to
Washington. There were also placed in the grave two swords, an
extra pair of moccasins, and some other articles of Indian
costume, with a sufficient supply of provisions to last him three
days on the journey to the spirit land. Around the body and the
articles buried with it were two large blankets closely wrapped.
Two wooden forks were then firmly driven in the ground, and a
pole placed upon them extending over the body. The whole was then
covered with sod to the depth of about one foot. At his feet, a
flagstaff was placed, floating a beautiful silk American flag,
which had been presented to him. The flag remained over his grave
until the winds tore it to pieces and long after the body had
disappeared. A post was planted by the grave, on which was
inscribed, or painted, some figures commemorative of his deeds.
Subsequently his relatives and friends enclosed the grave with a
rude picket fence, and fondly hoped that the remains of the great
was chief were at rest.
Fulton continues by giving the details of the theft and
replacement of the Black Hawk body:
One morning about July 1, 1839, Black Hawk's bereaved widow
returned from her accustomed visit to his grave bitterly weeping.
Calling on Mr. Jordan, she informed him that some one had opened
the grave and taken away the head of her husband. Mr. Jordan
promised to do all that he could to find out who had taken it.
The next winter the rest of the skeleton disappeared. It
afterward transpired that one Dr. Turner, who lived at Lexinton,
a little village at that time situated just above the present
town of Bonaparte, in Van Buren county, was the man who had
committed the deed. He came in the night and attempted to seize
the body, but being frightened only succeeded in getting the
head, which he carried away in his saddlebags. The next winter he
came again and carried off the rest of the skeleton. They were
conveyed to Quncy, Ill., where the different parts were united
with wire. Black Hawk's relatives complained bitterly at the
outrage. Finally the man in Quincy to whom Dr. Turner had
delivered the remains, informed Governor Lucas of Iowa that he
would hold them subject to his order. The governor directed that
they be forwarded to his office in Burlington and on the receipt
of them informed Black Hawk's relatives of the fact. His two sons
immediately proceeded to Burlington, where they saw the skeleton
in the executive office. They were afraid, however, that if they
brought it home with them, it might again be stolen and
concluding that the governor's office was the safest and best
place for it they left it there. At the expiration of his
official term, Governor Lucas delivered the skeleton over to his
successor, Governor Chambers. It was finally placed in a museum
which was established in Burlington and some years after, with
many other valuable and curious relics which had been collected,
was consumed by fire.
----
Mr. Reed -- his full name is William Carroll Reed, the second
name being in honor of General Carroll, who was chief of staff of
General Jackson at the battle of New Orleans -- removed from Lee
county to Van Buren county in 1840 and then to Marion county in
1846. He now resides within sight of the place where he first
located in that county, sixty-one years ago. He was married to
Susan Thompson in 1837, his wife dying on Dec. 29, 1903. The
couple had twelve children, ten sons and two daughters. It is a
popular joke of the old man to bewilder visitors by saying that
he had "ten sons and each son had two sister," thus
giving many the impression that he had no less than thirty
children. Five of his sons died in infancy, two were wounded in
the civil war. Elder Reed now lives with his son John, who served
five years in the regular army, and his daughter Jessy Reed, who
was named in honor of Jessy Fremont. Another daughter, Mrs. Mary
Cowan, resides in New Mexico.
[transcribed by S.F., Sept. 2004]