1-6 The Winnebago Prophet

Black Hawk walked alone to the top of the watch tower bluff, to look upon the valley he had come to love, and to spend time thinking, as he had done so many times in his youth. Black Hawk spoke to the spirits of his ancestors, and sought help from his spirit guides. He ultimately left for a nearby village, to seek help from other Sauk, Ho-Chunk and Potawatomi in the area. He would never return.

Chief Wabokieshiek - White Cloud
The Winnebago Prophet

The village was called Prophetstown by the Whites, after the Sauk Indian Chief Wabokieshiek, also known as ‘The Winnebago Prophet’. There is historical ambiguity as to the tribal affiliation of this band. The village of roughly 200 Indians was comprised mainly of Ho-Chunk, Sauk, Meskwaki, Kickapoo, and Potawatomi who were dissatisfied with how their tribal leaders had handled the White invasion. Their leader, Chief Wabokieshiek, inherited his leadership role from his Sauk Father, but his mother was Ho-Chunk, Winnebago in the White translation, so he inherited his Winnebago Prophet alias from them. The band itself may not have aligned itself exclusively with one tribe or another, which could explain why they were left alone when the other Sauk bands were forced to move west.

It was there, in Prophetstown, Black Hawk learned that most of the members of the village would not come to his aid in Saukenuk, and that most of the Ho-Chunk, too, would not support him.  It was there that Black Hawk made a fateful decision.  Rather than return to Iowa, a land where living was difficult and which held the bitter taste of defeat for him, Black Hawk decided to travel on, seeking shelter and aid from the Potawatomi, and possibly join with a group of British soldiers rumored to be traveling south from the Milwaukee area.  He sent out messages, and the following day, his people broke camp and started migrating northeast, following the Sinnissippi (Rock River), along the Great Sauk Trail.  Their path would later be called Black Hawk Trail.

Most Potawatomis wanted to remain neutral in the conflict, but found it difficult to do so.  Many white settlers, recalling the Fort Dearborn massacre of 1812, distrusted the Potawatomis and assumed that they would join Black Hawk's uprising.  Potawatomi leaders worried that the tribe, as a whole, would be punished if any Potawatomis supported Black Hawk.  At a council outside of Chicago, on May 1, 1832, tribal leaders, including Billy Caldwell, "passed a resolution

Chief Shabbona

declaring, any Potawatomi who supported Black Hawk a traitor to his tribe".  In mid May, Potawatomi chiefs Shabbona and Waubonsie told Black Hawk that neither they nor the British would come to his aid. 

Black Hawk was greatly saddened by his plight, and that of his people.  Now a 65-year-old veteran of many battles, with his wife As-she-we-qua and his three surviving children at his side, he was not looking to make war.  He wanted only to make a new home for his family and his people.  Without British supplies, adequate provisions, or Native allies, Black Hawk realized that his band was in serious trouble.  He was ready to negotiate with Atkinson to end the crisis, but an ill-fated encounter with Illinois militiamen would end all possibility of a peaceful resolution.

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(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)