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Show Story of a White Man, a Red Man And "Father of Waters," a River One Hundred Years Ago Died Gen. William Clark, Explorer, Indian Agent and Governor, And Black Hawk, lll-Fated Chieftain of the Sacs and Foxes; Closely Associated with the Careers of Both Was the Stream Which Both Loved The Mighty Mississippi. P Western Newspaper Union. By ELMO SCOTT WATSON ON SEPTEMBER 1,1838, Gen. William Clark lay dying in his St. Louis home whose wide verandas looked out over the sparkling waters of a mighty river. "My children, I want to sleep in sight and sound of the Mississippi," he whispered whis-pered to his sons, gathered at his bedside. Perhaps in those last moments mo-ments there spread out before be-fore him the memory of a long and eventful life a rich tapestry through which ran the shining thread of the "Father of Waters." It had first been woven into the pattern of his career when he was living in retirement on his estate in Kentucky after having served against the Indians in the army of "Mad Anthony" Wayne. In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson Jeffer-son directed his secretary, Capt. Meriwether Lewis, to organize an expedition to explore the vast territory ter-ritory of Louisiana which he had bought from Napoleon Bonaparte of France. Given his choice of an associate in the enterprise, Lewis immediately named his boyhood friend, William Clark. When the two men met in Louisville, Clark was placed in charge of the expedition's supplies sup-plies which were to be taken in boats down the Ohio and then up thp Misiscrinni tn St T.nnis while Lewis went overland to that capital cap-ital of Upper Louisiana. That winter the two young officers offi-cers established their camp on the eastern shore of the Mississippi, Missis-sippi, opposite the mouth of the Missouri, there to await the formal for-mal transfer of the Louisiana territory ter-ritory before setting out for the West. That ceremony took place on March 9, 1804. In the presence of Don Carlos de Hault de Las-sus, Las-sus, Spanish commandant of Upper Up-per Louisiana, Maj. Amos Stoddard, Stod-dard, commander of the American Ameri-can troops at Kaskaskia, and Capt. Meriwether Lewis the banner ban-ner of Spain was lowered from the flagstaff and replaced by the lilies of France for 12 hours. The next morning the Fleur-de-Lys came down and the Stars and Stripes were run up never to be lowered there. Two months later on May 14, 1804 Lewis and Clark with their force of 25 men crossed the Mississippi, Mis-sissippi, entered the mouth of the "Big Muddy" and started on their "magnificent adventure." The story of that epic journey of more than 8,000 miles is too fa-fniliar fa-fniliar a story to need repeating ' - i. " ' CHIEF BLACK HAWK OF THE SACS AND FOXES (From the painting by George Catlin.) here. After nearly two and a half years the daring explorers returned and the "Father of Waters" Wa-ters" brought them back to St. Louis and to the acclaim of their fellow-Americans. Capt. William Clark immediately immedi-ately forwarded his resignation to the President, but Jefferson's reply was to bestow upon him the commission of brigadier-general of the standing army of the Territory of Louisiana and superintendent super-intendent of Indian affairs During Dur-ing the next two years General Clark and his friend, Gov. Meri-w'ether Meri-w'ether Lewis of the Territory of t ' v ! i ! . '." I i t - ' I j - , - vV: , i. t ? - , ' i GEN. WILLIAM CLARK (From the painting by Charles Willson Peale.) Louisiana, were busy administering administer-ing the affairs of that vast region. Then Clark made a journey to his old home in Virginia and when he came back down the Ohio, he was accompanied by Julia Ju-lia Hancock, his boyhood sweetheart, sweet-heart, now his bride. Thus he established his home in St. Louis on the banks of the Mississippi. Missis-sippi. To it came many a distinguished dis-tinguished visitor the Marquis de Lafayette, revisiting the country coun-try for whose freedom he had fought; Daniel Boone, still seeking seek-ing "elbow room farther west"; John Colter, telling tales of that "Colter's Hell" which future generations gen-erations would know as "Geyser-land" "Geyser-land" in Yellowstone National park; and Prince Maxmilian of Wied and the Swiss artist, Charles Bodmer. After Thomas Jefferson left the White House, Clark's commission as brigadier-general was renewed re-newed by President Madison who also appointed him governor of the new territory of Missouri, an office which he held until 1821, when Missouri became a state. Nominated against his will as a candidate for governor of the new state, he was defeated and retired re-tired to private life. But the next year President Monroe again made him superintendent of Indian In-dian affairs, a position which he held until his death. On the May day in 1804 when the two American army officers crossed the Mississippi to witness wit-ness the transfer of Louisiana, a young chief of the Sac and Fox Indians named Black Hawk was in St. Louis to visit his "Spanish Father," Commandant de Las-sus. Las-sus. "Here comes your American fathers," said De Lassus to the Indian. "I do not want two fathers!" declared Black Hawk and as the Americans entered one door he and his retinue of chiefs and warriors war-riors glided out of another. An hour later the Indians were paddling pad-dling up the Mississippi headed for their village near the present site of Rock Island, 111. Nor did Black Hawk ever become be-come reconciled to the rule of this new "white father." Always more friendly to the British than to the Americans, he joined with Tecumseh, the great Shawnee leader, in fighting against the Americans during the War of 1812. When the inrush of settlers set-tlers into Illinois showed him the futility of trying to resist these land-hungry people, he reluctantly reluc-tantly signed a treaty in 1831 by which he agreed to give up his lands on the Rock river and join his people who had already moved to Iowa. One of the provisions of the treaty was that the Indians were to be given a supply of corn to replace the grain they had left in their fields along the Rock river. However, the amount was so meager that they began to suffer suf-fer and in this emergency Black Hawk led a party back across the Mississippi, as he phrased it, "to steal corn from our own fields." Immediately there was an outcry out-cry among the settlers that "Black Hawk has gone on the warpath!" There was a concentration concen-tration of troops regulars and Illinois militia and the "Black Hawk war" was on. After several sev-eral small skirmishes, it reached its tragic climax on August 2, 1832, at the "battle" of Bad Axe river. There Black Hawk's people, peo-ple, who were trying to escape across the Mississippi, were attacked at-tacked by the regulars under General Atkinson, and the blood of nearly 200 Sacs and Foxes men, women and children dyed red the "Father of Waters." Three weeks later Black Hawk surrendered to General Street at Prairie du Chien, Wis. He was sent as a prisoner of war down the Mississippi to Jefferson Barracks Bar-racks near St. Louis and the officer offi-cer who had charge of him and won his lasting friendship by his kindness to the fallen leader was a young lieutenant named Jefferson Jeffer-son Davis. For a time Black Hawk was confined in Fortress Monroe, then after a visit to Washington and other Eastern cities he was sent to his new home in Iowa. On the Fourth of July, 1838, he was invited to attend a big Independence Inde-pendence Day celebration at Fort Madison, Iowa. There in response re-sponse to a toast honoring "our illustrious guest, Black Hawk," he made a speech in the course of which he said, "I have looked upon the Mississippi river since I was a child. I love the great river. I have dwelt near its banks from the time I was an infant. I look upon it now." He little realized that this was the last time he would look upon it. For on October 3, 1838 just a month after the passing of another an-other man whose last words reflected re-flected his love for that river death claimed Black Hawk, chieftain chief-tain of the Sacs and Foxes. i V r V" N V v I ' i "Black Hawk Statue" on Rock River, 111. . According to a letter written to the Burlington (Iowa) Hawkeye by Capt. James H. Jordan, a trader among the Sacs and Foxes, who was present at the chief's funeral: "Black Hawk was buried near the northeast corner of Davis county, Iowa, on the Des Moines river bottom, about 90 rods from where he had lived on the north side of the river. He was buried right where he sat the year before, when in council with the Iov?a Indians, and wore a suit of military mili-tary clothes, made to order and given to him when in Washington Washing-ton by President Jackson, with hat, sword, gold epaulets, etc. "The Annals of Iowa of 1863-64 state that the old chief was buried bur-ied by laying his body on a board, his feet 15 inches below the surface sur-face of the ground. On his left side was a sword presented him by General Jackson; on his right side a cane presented him by Henry Clay, and one given him by a British officer, and other trophies. Three medals hung about his neck, from President Jackson, ex-President John Quin-cy Quin-cy Adams and the city of Boston, respectively. "The body was covered with boards on each side, six feet long, which formed a ridge; the gables being closed by boards, the whole was covered with blue-grass blue-grass sod. Near the flagstaff, some 20 feet high on which was a silk American flag, was the usual hewn post inscribed with Indian characters representing his warlike war-like exploits, etc. Enclosing all was a strong circular picket fence 12 feet high. "His body remained there until July, 1839, when it was carried- off by a certain Dr. Turner, then living at Lexington, Van Buren county, Iowa. Captain Horn says the bones were carried to Alton, 111., to be mounted on wire. Mr. Barrows says they were taken to Warsaw, 111. "Black Hawk's sons, when they heard of this desecration of their father's grave, were very indignant, indig-nant, and complained of it to Governor Lucas of Iowa, and his excellency caused the bones to til::; Wm0:Mm ,' -jf C? J ! I W I tVvK-y-V. . . : I my----' ::::':.-':''' IpSiii . s ; I r; JEFFERSON DAVIS be brought back to Burlington in the fall of 1839, or spring of 1840. "When the sons came to take possession of them, finding them safely stored in 'a good dry place' they left them there. The bones were subsequently placed in the collections of the Burlington Geological Geo-logical and Historical society, and it is thought that they perished per-ished in the fire, which destroyed the building and all the society's collections in 1855; though the editor of the Annals says there is good reason to believe that the bones were not destroyed by the fire, and he is credibly informed that they are now at the resi-dence resi-dence of a former officer of said ' society, and thus escaped that catastrophe." Although the last resting place of Black Hawk is unknown, his fame is perpetuated in the huge figure of an Indian on the banks of the Rock river near Oregon, 111. Even though its sculptor, the late Lorado Taft, repeatedly stated stat-ed that this figure was meant to symbolize the race that once ruled over this region, popular opinion regards it as the "Black Hawk statue" and will probably'- '''" continue to do so as long as it endures. |
