Show a ff chaff en IV 1 g r lia ia H I 1 A 1 wai 9 amba J A TT aly ms IS WAI ar W va j M A 1 g li ii r ff IN A t BE chief keokuk latue of lamline D ill t I 1 1 AM Z 1 I 1 my A F A i ty u C chief V a by ELMO SCOTT WATSON ys T WAS just years ago that there was being fought in illinois ond and wisconsin what has been called the most inglorious war from the standpoint of its military and naval operations in which the united states was ever engaged this was the conflict which has a place in our history lil story schoolbooks as the black hawk war but which scarcely deserves the dignity 0 of that title except that it was a war between two irreconcilable points of view that of the american frontiersman and that of the american indian from the indian point of view chief black was a patriot fighting brav bravely ely in defense of his ancestral home from tho the frontiers mans point of view lie he was only another savage and an bloodthirsty redskin who had to be gotten rid of to make mahe way for the advance of civilization tho the leading figgie figuie in tills this now danily heinem bared war was ma ka tal me she ida kink kiak or black hawk a chief of the sauk and fox fos indians deans of whom keokuk or watchful fox was waa the head chief by the treaty of november 3 1804 made at st louis the saute sauk and fos F OX agreed to surrender all of their lands east of the mississippi but it was not until the close of the war of 1812 when a wave of mi migration ration began to pour into illinois that the alie united state 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 proved across the mississippi to a new home in iowa but black hawk who hid had been a disciple of tecumseh Tecum seli 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 had been deceived as to tile the terms of tile 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 govern or reynolds considered it advisable to call out the militia to protect the lives and property of the pioneers but general gaines military commandant in the west hoping to avoid the expense of it a demonstration with force summoned black hawk and hta his sub chiefs to a conference at fort armstrong on tile 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 bi and marched mar clied upon black hawks village they found it deserted and burned nil the lodges then gaines sent word to black hawk that the hostiles host ho stiles lles should come coma in for a peace talk and on june SO 20 black hawk and 27 of his followers signed a treaty with governor reynolds by which they agreed to retrain from hostile acts and to retire to iowa there was no trouble with them until early in 1832 when black hawk crossed over into illinois with some soine 2000 indians of whom it was estimated more than BOO were warriors immediately the wildest rumors spread along the illinois frontier clack black hawk and 1000 bloodthirsty savages were descending upon the settlements tle ments to kill scalp and burn the indian side of 0 f the story Is rather different under tile the terms of the treaty which black hawk had signed with general gaines tho indians were jo 10 be supplied with corn cora in place of that which they had left in their fields when they went to iowa what hod had happened Is a familiar incident in the lil history story of our relations with the indians tho the government failed to keep its promise the amount of corn turned over to them was so menger meager that they began to buffer from hunger in that emergency oncy a party rf f tho the sauk sank in tile the words of black ili abic hawk crossed na fk A 3 aa 4 Z on rock river the river to steal some corn from aiom their own fields moving with ills his band up the rock river black hawk was overtaken ner taken by b a messenger from general atkinson ordering him to return and the mississippi clack black hawk replied that he had not taken the warpath karpath but was going on a friendly visit lilt to the village of white cloud the winnebago prophet and continued his journey atkinson then sent imperative Impe rathe orders for him to return at once or lie he would pursue with ills his army and drive him back to this tile the indian leader protested that the general had no right to utter such a threat so long as his mis slon to the Winnebago es was ij a peaceable one and that he intended to continue on ills his way ft ay continue he did until he was ft as met by some soma winnebago and pottawatomie chiefs in a coun ell cil they made it plain that they had no intention of joining with black hawk in any war upon the americans feeling that he had been betrayed by his indian friends the sauk leader resolved to send a 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 called out the militia and one of the captains of the hastily organized 01 companies elected by his own men was EL a lanky young storekeeper from new salem named abraham lincoln at about the time black hawk was holding ills his council with the other tribes a large force of the militia had mobilized under general whitesides near dixons ferry at the request of mal maj isaiah stillman whitesides sent a scouting party of about men under stillman to try to locate the indians tills 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 hawks s camp then occurred a tragic error the first in a war filled with tragic blunders black hawk sent three of ills his warriors under a flag of truce to ask for a conference Still stillmans mans s undisciplined volunteers fired on them killing one then fol lowed ill the a opera gouffe battle which has come down donn in history as StIll stillmans mans a run in which 40 indians sent white men into headlong fight inflicting a loss of about a dozen on the militia the news of tills this defeat spread even greater terror through the state governor reynolds called ailed out more troops rind and from washington came tile the news nes tint that gen winfield scott had been ordered to the scene of the war wai with a thousand regulars while en route to illinois tills this army was attacked by the cholera and the mortH mortality lIty from that disease was greater than the total number killed and disabled by the in jefferson e dav davis during tile the entire war the war dragged on throughout the summer lummer of 1832 without any very decisive result except that the superior forces of the whites gradually began to wear down the indians finally the indian leader suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of an army commanded by gen james D henry henr in a battle on the wisconsin river losing 08 warriors killed and many more wounded and disabled black hanec now realized that the game was up with the remnants of his band lie he headed for the mississippi hoping to escape from the soldiers and find peace among his people already settled in iowa ile he reached the mississippi nt at the mouth of the bad axe river on august 1 with its his starving warriors and ills pitiful little band of women and children then occurred an incident which Is often spoken ot of lis as a naval engagement in tin nn inland war while black hawk and his tribesmen were try ing to cross the river in canoes and on rafts a steamer Bt oamer the warrior wan lor bove into sight on oil boardl was a detachment of soldiers and one small cannon black hawk raised a white lag flag to ask for a parley and again tho the flag of truce was by the chite runn ruin the captain of tile the warrior asber asserted ted that lie he believed the flag was only a decoy used by the wily indians to lure him into an ambush so lie ordered the cannon to be un limbered and it be begin an shelling the indian camp As a result 23 indians were killed outright and man 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 tailor and an army of wisconsin volunteers came up and attacked black hawks camp the end Is not pleasant reading tor for it was an indian ans sacre 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 tho the river only to be drowned or shot down by 8 sharpshooters on the banks the warrior wan lor ret 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 60 50 were taken prisoners black hawk and hla his chief warrior Noa Nea pope escaped to the north and sought refuge among the Winnebago es A short time later he surrendered to general street at du chien and was sent down the river to jefferson barracks mo as a prisoner of war the man placed in charge of him was a young lieutenant the son in law of colonel taylor tai lor ills his name was jefferson davis and of this man who later became president of the confederacy black hawk said ile he was a good and brave young chief with whose conduct I 1 was much pleased and lie he treated me with great kindness after being imprisoned in fortress monroe va for a short time black hawk was allowed allow cd to return to the sauk sank and fox reservation in iowa there lie he died on october 3 and there he was burled buried in accordance with tile the cus toms of ills his people so black hawk slept in peace at last but not in the snit which lie he loved so w well ell that of the beautiful rock riv river er countr country y in northern illinois but his spirit broods over ove r that land in the form of a giant concrete statue of an indian the work of lorado taft which stands on a high blurt bluff near oregon ill overlooking the rock river although it Is commonly referred refe ired to as the black hawk statue the tha sculptor has repeatedly said that it Is intended Intend Pd to symbolize sym bollie the indian a spirit unconquered while still the conquered race even so it may appropriately be a memorial to black hawk of the sauk and foxes for his was such i spirit 0 by western newspaper union |