Black Hawk (1767 - 1838)
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| Black Hawk's Watch Tower - Saukenuk |
High on a bluff overlooking the Sinnissippi River, in the village of Saukenuk, stands a lone sentinel. It is early spring, and a light mist is gently falling. Held aloft by a light wind swirling on the bluff, it can just be heard as it passes through trees. The air is filled with noisy warbling and calls, as male songbirds sound forth, establishing territory and trying to find a mate. Just like the man, the creatures of the wild have returned to this spot, as they do every spring, to build a home and enjoy the bounty of the surrounding forest. The man is wrapped in a sturdy woolen blanket, a gift from his long-time allies in the British army; his thick, warm leggings wrapped to the knees over his hide trousers. He has seen sixty-five winters. Each now feels just a little colder than the last.
He wears no hat. His head, plucked bald in the front, is covered by a tuft of hair onto which a dyed deer hair roach is affixed. His face is a mask of stoic melancholy, his stony gaze fixed on the horizon, seeing only a bleak future. He stares, unmoving and unblinking. On this bluff, which would later bear his name, the Sauk Warrior Black Sparrow Hawk stands for the last time. It is a vista from which he has gazed many, many times – a favorite spot from the days of his early youth. Casting his eyes to the West he sees most of what was once his village, a land filled with his people and the memories of his youth. For nearly one hundred years, his people have been born, lived, and died within sight of this very spot. Like the birds in springtime, they have returned every year from their winter hunting grounds, to establish their territory, to find mates, and to enjoy the bounty of the surrounding forests and waterways. It had been his wish to live out the rest of his days and be buried here in the land of his people. It was a wish he would not be granted.
He wears no hat. His head, plucked bald in the front, is covered by a tuft of hair onto which a dyed deer hair roach is affixed. His face is a mask of stoic melancholy, his stony gaze fixed on the horizon, seeing only a bleak future. He stares, unmoving and unblinking. On this bluff, which would later bear his name, the Sauk Warrior Black Sparrow Hawk stands for the last time. It is a vista from which he has gazed many, many times – a favorite spot from the days of his early youth. Casting his eyes to the West he sees most of what was once his village, a land filled with his people and the memories of his youth. For nearly one hundred years, his people have been born, lived, and died within sight of this very spot. Like the birds in springtime, they have returned every year from their winter hunting grounds, to establish their territory, to find mates, and to enjoy the bounty of the surrounding forests and waterways. It had been his wish to live out the rest of his days and be buried here in the land of his people. It was a wish he would not be granted.
It is said that time is eternal. For every time that can be named, there was a time before that, and a time before that.
Every story, therefore, is but a tiny, insignificant drop within a vast and infinite ocean of time, for which there is no true beginning or end.
And so, all stories are part of The Great Story. But, insofar as each narrative must have a beginning, let us say that this story begins in the year 1767.
Amidst the daily bustle and hard work of a thriving, peaceful community a child was born who would bear the name Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak, translated in English as Black Sparrow Hawk, and generally shortened to simply ‘Black Hawk’. It was a strong name, foretelling of a life lived with the graceful ease of a swift and shrewd warrior.
History does not record the exact reason Black Hawk received this particular name, but history will never forget the name, nor the man who bore it.
(Key Terms: Ma-Ka-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak, Black Sparrow Hawk, Black Hawk, 1767, Saukenuk, Pyesa, Rock Island, Black Hawk’s Watch Tower, Black Hawk State Historic Site, Hauberg Museum, Sauk, Sac, Meskwaki, Fox, Rock River, Sinnissippi River, Mississippi River, War of 1812, British Band, Great Britain, Treaty of 1804, Treaties, Ceded Land, William Henry Harrison, Quashquame, Keokuk, Fort Armstrong, Samuel Whiteside, Black Hawk War of 1832, Black Hawk Conflict, Scalp, Great Sauk Trail, Black Hawk Trail, Prophetstown, Wabokieshiek, White Cloud, The Winnebago Prophet, Ne-o-po-pe, Dixon’s Ferry, Isaiah Stillman, The Battle of Stillman’s Run, Old Man’s Creek, Sycamore Creek, Abraham Lincoln, Chief Shabbona, Felix St. Vrain, Lake Koshkonong, Fort Koshkonong, Fort Atkinson, Henry Atkinson, Andrew Jackson, Lewis Cass, Winfield Scott, Chief Black Wolf, Henry Dodge, James Henry, White Crow, Rock River Rapids, The Four Lakes, Battle of Wisconsin Heights, Benjamin Franklin Smith, Wisconsin River, Kickapoo River, Soldier’s Grove, Steamboat Warrior, Steamship Warrior, Fort Crawford, Battle of Bad Axe, Bad Axe Massacre, Joseph M. Street, Antoine LeClaire, Native American, Indian, Michigan Territory, Indiana Territory, Louisiana Territory, Osage, Souix, Potawatomi, Ojibwe, Ottawa, Ho-Chunk)
History does not record the exact reason Black Hawk received this particular name, but history will never forget the name, nor the man who bore it.
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| Tribute to Ma-Ka-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak - overlooking Black Hawk's Watch Tower Black Hawk State Historic Site, Rock Island, IL |
(Key Terms: Ma-Ka-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak, Black Sparrow Hawk, Black Hawk, 1767, Saukenuk, Pyesa, Rock Island, Black Hawk’s Watch Tower, Black Hawk State Historic Site, Hauberg Museum, Sauk, Sac, Meskwaki, Fox, Rock River, Sinnissippi River, Mississippi River, War of 1812, British Band, Great Britain, Treaty of 1804, Treaties, Ceded Land, William Henry Harrison, Quashquame, Keokuk, Fort Armstrong, Samuel Whiteside, Black Hawk War of 1832, Black Hawk Conflict, Scalp, Great Sauk Trail, Black Hawk Trail, Prophetstown, Wabokieshiek, White Cloud, The Winnebago Prophet, Ne-o-po-pe, Dixon’s Ferry, Isaiah Stillman, The Battle of Stillman’s Run, Old Man’s Creek, Sycamore Creek, Abraham Lincoln, Chief Shabbona, Felix St. Vrain, Lake Koshkonong, Fort Koshkonong, Fort Atkinson, Henry Atkinson, Andrew Jackson, Lewis Cass, Winfield Scott, Chief Black Wolf, Henry Dodge, James Henry, White Crow, Rock River Rapids, The Four Lakes, Battle of Wisconsin Heights, Benjamin Franklin Smith, Wisconsin River, Kickapoo River, Soldier’s Grove, Steamboat Warrior, Steamship Warrior, Fort Crawford, Battle of Bad Axe, Bad Axe Massacre, Joseph M. Street, Antoine LeClaire, Native American, Indian, Michigan Territory, Indiana Territory, Louisiana Territory, Osage, Souix, Potawatomi, Ojibwe, Ottawa, Ho-Chunk)
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