of
Muscatine County Iowa
1911
| History of Muscatine County Iowa 1911 | |
Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Volume I, 1911, pages 10-15
BLACK HAWK WAR. When the United States assumed control of the country, by reason of its purchase from France, nearly the whole state was in possession of the Sacs and Foxes, a powerful and warlike nation, who were not disposed to submit without a struggle to what they regarded the encroachment on their rights of the pale faces. Among the most noted chiefs and one whose restlessness and hatred of the whites occasioned more trouble to the government than any other of his tribe, was Black Hawk, who was born at the Sac village, on Rock river, in 1767. He was simply the chief of his own band of Sac warriors; but by his energy and ambition he became the leading spirit of the united nation of the Sacs and Foxes, and one of the prominent figures in the history of the country from 1804 until his death. In early manhood he attained distinction as a fighting chief, having led campaigns against the Osages and other neighboring tribes. About the beginning of the nineteenth century he began to appear prominent in affairs on the Mississippi. His life was a marvel. He is said by some to have been the victim of a narrow prejudice and bitter ill feeling against the Americans.
November 3, 1804, a treaty was concluded between William Henry Harrison, then governor of the Indian Territory, on behalf of the United States, and five chiefs of the Sac and Fox nation, by which the latter, in consideration of $2,234 in goods then delivered, and a yearly annuity of $1,000 to be paid in goods at just cost, ceded to the United States all that land on the west side of the Mississippi extending from a point opposite the Jefferson, in Missouri, to the Wisconsin river, embracing an area of 51,000,000 acreS. To this treaty Black Hawk always objected and always refused to consider it binding upon his people. He asserted that the chiefs and braves who made it had no authority to relinquish the title of the nation to any of the lands they held or occupied and, moreover, that they had been sent to St. Louis on quite a different errand, namely, to get one of their people released, Who had been imprisoned at St. Louis for killing a white man.
In 1805 Lieutenant Pike came up the river for the purpose of holding friendly council with the Indians and selecting sites for forts within the territory recently acquired from France by the United States. Lieutenant Pike seems to have been the first American whom Black Hawk had met or had a personal interview with and was very much impressed in hiS favor. Pike gave a very interesting account of his visit to the noted chief.
Fort Edward was erected soon after Pike's expedition, at what is now Warsaw, Illinois, also Fort Madison, on the site of the present town of that name, the latter being the first fort erected in Iowa. These movements occasioned great uneasiness among the Indians. When work was commenced on Fort Edwards, a delegation from the nation, headed by their chiefs, went down to see what the Americans were doing and had an interview with the commander, after which they returned home and were apparently satisfied. In like manner, when Fort Madison was being erected, they sent down another delegation from a council of the nation held at Rock river. According to Black Hawk's account, the American chief told them he was building a house for a trader, who was coming to sell them goods cheap, and that the soldiers were coming to keep him company--a statement which Black Hawk says they distrusted at the time, believing that the fort was an encroachment upon their rights, and designed to aid in getting their lands away from them. It is claimed, by good authority, that the building of Fort Madison was a violation of the treaty of 1804. By the eleventh article of that treaty, the United States had the right to build a fort near the mouth of the Wisconsin river, and by article six they bound themselves "that if any citizen of the United States or any other white person should form a settlement upon their lands such intruder should forthwith be removed." Probably the authorities of the United States did not regard the establishment of military posts as coming properly within the meaning of the term "settlement," as used in the treaty. At all events, they erected Fort Madison within the territory reserved to the Indians, Who became very indignant. Very soon after the fort was built, a party led by Black Hawk attempted its destruction. They sent spies to watch the movements of the garrison, who ascertained that the soldiers were in the habit of marching out of fort every morning and evening for parade, and the plan of the party was to conceal themselves near the fort and attack and surprise them when they were outside. On the morning of the proposed day of the attack five soldiers came out and were fired upon by the Indians, two of them being killed. The Indians were too hasty in their movements, for the parade had not commenced. However, they kept up the siege several days, attempting the old Fox strategy of setting fire to the fort with blazing arrows, but finding their efforts unavailing, they desisted and returned to their wigwams on Rock river. In 1812, when the war was declared between this country and Great Britain, Black Hawk and his band allied themselves with the British, partly because he was dazzled by their specious promises, but more probably because they were deceived by the Americans. Black Hawk himself declared they were forced into the war by having been deceived. He narrates the circumstances as follows: "Several of the head men and chiefs of the Sacs and Foxes were called upon to go to Washington to see their great father. On their return they related what had been said and done. They said the great father wished them, in the event of war taking place with England, not to interfere on either side but to remain neutral. He did not want our help but wished us to hunt and support our families and live in peace. He said that British traders would not be permitted to come on the Mississippi to furnish us with goods but that we should be supplied by an American trader. Our chiefs then told him that the British traders always gave them credit in the fall for guns, powder and goods, to enable us to hunt and clothe our families. He repeated that the traders at Fort Madison would have plenty of goods; that we should go there in the fall and he would supply us on credit, as the British traders had done." Black Hawk seems to have accepted the proposition and he and his people were very much pleased. Acting in good faith, they fitted out for their winter's hunt and went to Fort Madison in high spirits to receive from the trader their outfit of supplies; but after waiting some time they were told by the trader that he would not trust them. In vain they pleaded the promise of their great father at Washington; the trader was inexorable. Disappointed and crestfallen, the Indians turned sadly to their own village. Says Black Hawk: "Few of us slept that night. All was gloom and discontent. In the morning a canoe was seen ascending the river; it soon arrived bearing an express who brought intelligence that a British trader had landed at Rock Island with two boats filled with goods, and requested us to come up immediately, because he had good news for us and a variety of presents. The express presented us with pipes, tobacco and wampum. The news ran through our camp like fire on the prairie. Our lodges were soon taken down and all started for Rock Island. Here ended all our hopes of remaining at peace, having been forced into the war by being deceived." He joined the British, who flattered him and styled him "General Black Hawk," decked him with medals, excited his jealousy against the Americans and armed his band, but he met with defeat and disappointment and soon abandoned the service and returned home.
There was a portion of the Sacs and Foxes whom Black Hawk, with all his skill and cunning, could not lead into hostilities against the United States. With Keokuk, "the Watchful Fox," at their head, they were disposed to abide by the treaty of 1804 and to cultivate friendly relations with the American people. So when Black Hawk and his band joined the fortunes of Great Britain, the rest of the nation remained neutral and for protection organized with Keokuk for their chief. Thus the nation was divided into the "war party" and "peace party." Keokuk became one of the nation's great chiefs. In person he was tall and of portly bearing. He has been described as an orator, entitled to rank with the most gifted of his race, and through the eloquence of his tongue he prevailed upon a large body of his people to remain friendly to the Americans. As has been said, the treaty of 1804, between the United States and the Sac and Fox nations was never acknowledged by Black Hawk and in 1831 he established himself with a chosen band of warriors upon the disputed territory, ordering the whites to leave the country at once. The settlers complaining, Governor Reynolds, of Illinois, dispatched General Gaines with a company of regulars and one thousand five hundred volunteers to the scene of action. Taking the Indians by surprise, the troops burnt their village and forced them to conclude a treaty, by which they ceded all their lands east of the Mississippi and agreed to remain on the west side of the river.
Necessity forced the proud spirit of Black Hawk into submission, which made him more than ever determined to be avenged upon his enemies. Having rallied around him the warlike braves of the Sac and Fox nations, he recrossed the Mississippi in the spring of 1832. Upon hearing of the invasion, Governor Reynolds hastily gathered a body of one thousand eight hundred volunteers, placing them under Brigadier-General Samuel Whiteside. The army marched to the Mississippi and, having reduced to ashes the village known as "Prophet's Town," proceeded several miles up Rock river to Dixon to join the regular forces under General Atkinson. They formed at Dixon two companies of volunteers, who, sighing for glory, were dispatched to reconnoitre the enemy. They advanced under command of General Stillman to a creek, afterward called "Stillman's Run," and while encamping there saw a party of mounted Indians at a distance of a mile. Several of Stillman's men mounted their horses and charged the Indians, killing three of them, but attacked by the main body under Black Hawk, they were routed and by their precipitate flight spread such a panic through the camp that the whole company ran off to Dixon as fast as their legs could carry them. On their arrival it was found eleven had been killed. For a long time afterward Major Stillman and his men were subjects of ridicule and merriment, which was as undeserving as their expedition was disastrous. Stillman's defeat spread consternation throughout the state and nation. The number of Indians was greatly exaggerated and the name of Black Hawk carried with it associations of great military talent, cunning and cruelty. He was very active and restless and was continually causing trouble.
After Black Hawk and his warriors had committed several depredations and added more scalp locks to their belts, that restless chief and his savage partisans were located on Rock river, where he was in camp. On July 19th, General Henry being in command, ordered his troops to march. After having gone fifty miles, they were overtaken by a terrible thunderstorm which lasted all night. Nothing cooled in their ardor and zeal, they marched fifty miles the next day, encamping near the place where the Indians encamped the night before. Hurrying along as fast as they could, the infantry keeping up an equal pace with the mounted men, the troops on the morning of the 21st crossed the river connecting two of the four lakes, by which the Indians had been endeavoring to escape. They found on their way the ground strewn with kettles and articles of baggage, which in the haste of retreat the Indians were obliged to abandon. The troops, imbued with new ardor, advanced so rapidly that at noon they fell in with the rear guards of the enemy. Those who closely pursued them were saluted by a sudden fire of musketry from a body of Indians who had concealed themselves in the high grass of the prairie. A most desperate charge was made on the four who, unable to resist, retreated obliquely in order to outflank the volunteers on the right but the latter charged the Indians in their ambush and expelled them from the thickets at the point of the bayonet and dispersed them. Night set in and the battle ended, having cost the Indians sixty-eight of their bravest men, while the loss of the Illinoisans was but one killed and eight wounded. Soon after this battle Generals Atkinson and Henry joined forces and pursued the Indians. General Henry struck the main trail, left his horses behind, formed an advance guard of eight men and marched forward upon the trail. When these eight men came in sight of the river they were suddenly fired upon and five of them killed, the remaining three maintaining their ground until General Henry came up. Then the Indians, charged upon with the bayonet, fell back upon their main force. The battle now became gen- eral. The Indians fought with desperate valor but were furiously assailed by the volunteers with their bayonets, cutting many of the Indians to pieces and driving the rest of them into the river. Those who escaped from being drowned found refuge on an island. On hearing the frequent discharge of musketry. General Atkinson abandoned the pursuit of the twenty Indians under Black Hawk himself and hurried to the scene of action, where he arrived too late to take part in tbe battle. He immediately forded the river with his troops, the water reaching up to their necks, and landed on the island where the Indians had secreted themselves. The soldiers rushed upon the Indians, killed several of them, toOk other prisoners and chased the rest into the river, where they were either drowned or shot before reaching the opposite shore. Thus ended the battle, the Indians losing three hundred, besides fifty prisoners; the whites but seventeen killed and twelve wounded.
Black Hawk with his twenty braves retreated up the Wisconsin river. The Winnebagoes, desirous of securing the friendship of the whites, went in pursuit and captured and delivered them to General Street, the United States Indian agent. Among the prisoners were the son of Black Hawk and the prophet of the tribe. These, with Black Hawk, were taken to Washington, D. C., and soon consigned as prisoners to Fortress Monroe. At the interview Black Hawk had with the president he closed his speech delivered on the occasion in the following words: "We did not expect to conquer the whites. They have too many houses, too many men. I took up the hatchet, for my part, to revenge injuries which my people would no longer endure. Had I borne them longer without striking, my people would have said: 'Black Hawk is a woman; he is too old to he a chief; he is no Sac.' These reflections caused me to raise the war whoop. I say no more. It is known to you. Keokuk once was here; you took him by the hand, and when he wished to return to his home you were willing. Black Hawk expects like Keokuk, he shall be permitted to return, too."
By order of the president, Black Hawk and his companions who were in confinement at Fortress Monroe, were set free on the 4th day of June, 1833. After their release from prison they were conducted in charge of Major Garland through some of the principal cities that they might witness the power of the United States and learn their own inability to cope with them in war. Great multitudes flocked to see them wherever they were taken and the attention paid them rendered their progress through the country a triumphal procession instead of prisoners transported by an officer. At Rock Island the prisoners were given their liberty amid great and impressive ceremony. In 1838 Black Hawk built him a dwelling near Des Moines, this state, and furnished it after the manner of the whites and engaged in agricultural pursuits, together with hunting and fishing. Here, with his wife, to whom he was greatly attached, he passed the few remaining days of his life. To his credit it may be said that Black Hawk remained true to his wife and served her with devotion uncommon among Indians, living with her upwards of forty years.
At all times when Black Hawk visited the whites he was received with marked attention. He was an honored guest of the Old Settlers' reunion in Lee county, Illinois, and received marked tokens of esteem. In September, 1838, while on his way to Rock Island to receive his annuity from the government, he contracted a severe cold, which resulted in an intense attack of bilious fever, and terminated his life October 3d. After his death he was dressed in the uniform presented him by the president while in Washington. He was buried in a grave six feet in depth, situated upon a beautiful eminence. The body was placed in the middle of the grave, in a sitting position upon a seat constructed for the occasion. On his left side the cane given him by Henry Clay was placed upright, with his right hand resting upon it. His remains were afterward stolen and carried away but they were recovered by the governor of Iowa and placed in the museum at Burlington, of the Historical Society, where they were finally destroyed by fire.
Back to Historical Index Page