2-21 Honey Creek

April 13, 2014

Honey Creek

Town of Blackhawk, WI

It is no coincidence that the escape across the Wisconsin River took place just south of what is now Sauk City, with its favorable banks giving access to the river, broad valleys and shallow waters. This was a place settled by the Sauk tribe in the early 1700s, before moving a bit further south to Saukenuk. The land may well have been known to Black Hawk, but even if it was not, the natural flow of the landscape which made it so favorable a location for the tribe to live also led Black Hawk to the very same spot.

On the morning of July 22nd, the day after the Battle of Wisconsin Heights took place, the militia formed ranks and marched to the edge of the river, finding the encampment from the previous afternoon abandoned. What few belongings the Sauk had left to them were left behind in their haste to cross the river. Trees were stripped bare of bark for the making of canoes, and across to the river to the west, about a mile off, the soldiers could see where Black Hawk now made his camp. However, having no boats or any means of crossing the river, and because the soldiers had forsaken all provision in their haste to overtake Black Hawk before the river crossing, the decision was made not to cross the river that day in pursuit. The race was over, and Black Hawk had won.

It must have been a bitter pill for Dodge and Henry to swallow, knowing that Black Hawk had eluded them again, sweetened only by the number of the enemy counted as dead.  In letters, and around campfires, commanders applauded the bravery of their troops, and they were in turn admired for their leadership.  Spirits were high, but there was an undercurrent of dissatisfaction, and even a mood of black comedy.  Wrote one man of the event, “After all their [the soldiers’] boasting the simple fact was, that Black Hawk, although encumbered with the women, children, and baggage of his whole band, covering himself by a small party, had accomplished one of the most difficult of military operations, - to wit, the passage of a river, - in the presence of three regiments of American volunteers!  And now they were gone – the victors could not tell us whither.” – Phillip St George Cooke, Scenes and Adventures in the Army: Or Romance of Military Life.

All the while, Black Hawk remained on the opposite side of the river expecting attack but getting none.  On the night following the battle, Black Hawk crossed the Wisconsin again, alone, in an attempt to surrender, or at least convince the solders that they intended no harm, and would return to the west of the Mississippi.  Approximately two hours before dawn, he rode to the top of the hill from which he had commanded his warriors, 36 hours earlier, and began shouting in the Ho-Chunk language to get the attention of the guides he believed were still camped among them.  Sadly, all the Ho-Chunk guides had left the soldiers’ camp only hours before, and none were in camp who could interpret what was being shouted.  One soldier at least, who spoke some Winnebago, remembers hearing the words, “Friends, we fight no more”, and told General Henry what he heard, but Henry rebuffed him, and told the men to form ranks.  Mistaking the shrill shouting as preparations for an Indian Raid, General Henry paced in front of his paraded troops and bolstered them with a motivational speech.  When dawn broke, the area was searched, but only a single fresh set of hoofprints were found, along with a buried hatchet.  It was learned only later, after capturing and interrogating a couple of Sauk prisoners, that the Sauk Leader had attempted for the second time to surrender.  Because the Ho-Chunk did not ride out to meet him and accept his surrender, Black Hawk assumed that his offer of surrender was unacceptable, and rode away just before dawn to re-cross the Wisconsin and rejoin his people.

When I left the banks of the Wisconsin River, I followed Hwy 60 to the west, then continued west on County Hwy. B, winding through the countryside in the steady rain until I passed a small sign saying “Black Hawk > 1”, at the intersection of Hwy B and Hwy C.  Black Hawk Wisconsin is a township, so small it doesn’t appear on Google Maps, yet it does exist.  A drive through town will bring you past many houses, a few businesses, and (oddly) the Town of Troy Town Hall.  

You will also pass the Black Hawk Elementary School, and well past the north end of town, the Black Hawk Methodist Church.  In between is a bridge crossing a small waterway known as Honey Creek.

When Black Hawk took his people west from the Wisconsin River on July 23rd, they set up camp in this exact area near the creek, resting for as long as their enemy would allow.  It was a time of fearful hope for the beleaguered and battle-weary Indians, for the soldiers had inexplicably given up the chase.  It was also a time of great hardship and mourning.  Of the estimated 1500 people who started this journey with Black Hawk, perhaps 500 remained with him at this time.  An estimated 68 warriors and braves were killed during the Battle at Wisconsin Heights.  Many more now lay dying, their putrefying battle wounds rapidly claiming their hunger-ravaged bodies.

After crossing the territory amidst torrential rainfalls and suffering through a miserable, cold night, crossing the Wisconsin River after a day of forced march with no food followed by a fight-to-the-death battle, the group of fugitives was now given a reprieve both from the pursuit and from the weather.  July 23rd saw a high of 84 degrees, with no rain.  The winds were warm and from the South, allowing them to dry and warm their bodies and clothes.  July 24th was again warm, with a high of 80 degrees and no rain, though the northwest wind was severe.  July 25th saw a high of 79, again with no rain and a gentler northwest wind.  July 26th was once again hot, with a high of 87 degrees and a south wind.

One aspect of the warmth and sunshine is that the displaced band suffered less from their lack of shelter.  On the other hand, it also virtually chained them to the rivers, since they had no means for transporting any significant quantity of water.  I have spent time hiking through the forests and prairies of Wisconsin when the temperatures are in the 80s and 90s.  There is little as humbling and debilitating as dehydration.  Even well-fed, lack of water can lead to heat stroke in a matter of hours.  A perfectly healthy adult can die from overexertion in less than a day.  With 500 bodies to feed and hydrate, the rivers were their only chance for survival.  As their horses died, they were as rapidly eaten, lean and tough though the meat must have been.  As people died from their wounds, fatigue, exposure or exhaustion, they were returned to mother earth.

As I stood on the bridge above Honey Creek, I looked around at the beautiful countryside, not quite ready to blossom into springtime.  Were it not for the power lines and the bridge itself, it would have been possible to stand in that spot, turn 360 degrees, and see what Black Hawk would have seen.  All around, the area is blanketed in forest-covered hills, and lush meadows, without a building in sight.  When settlers finally came to this area, they reported finding numerous artifacts from the brief stay of Black Hawk and his people.  I didn’t stay long in this place, though I will return when I begin the next leg of my journey.  I will return when the weather has turned hot, and I can feel the sun parching my body.  I am weary of the rain, and it is now raining with the cold fury of that long ago night in 1832.  Lightning has split the sky, and the pounding thunder that followed shook my body as I stood and listened for echoes of the past.

Black Hawk had spies watching the movements of the troops after the battle.  On July 26th, the enemy had made a march to the edge of the Wisconsin River and appeared ready to resume their pursuit.  The rest was over for Black Hawk’s band.  Gone was the hope that they would be allowed to regain their strength and return to their people in Iowa.  Gone was the hope that the military had understood Black Hawk’s message of peace.  On July 27th, the solders began crossing the Wisconsin.  Once again, the hunt for Black Hawk was on.

Makataimeshekiakiak – you have proven yourself to be a great warrior. You have fought in battle against a much larger foe, and come out the victor. Many times you have earned a counting coup and many times you have added another eagle feather to your headdress. Now you have proven yourself to be a great leader. You have buried the tomahawk with your enemy. You have offered yourself in surrender to protect your people. If only you could have understood better the ways of the whites.

How your weary people must have hoped that the whites would finally leave them in peace.  Even then, with that hope in their hearts, how they must have feared the coming winter, knowing that the season of gathering food had been lost to them.  How they must have prayed for the safe journey of those who fled south on the Wisconsin River.  How they must have grieved over the loss of their brave husbands and sons, fathers, and lovers, even as they lay dying.  How wretched must the news have been that the soldiers were once again on their way.

I give thanks to the waters that nourished you and cleaned your wounds while you stayed in this place.  I give thanks to the earth that gave your horses food, and gave you a place to lay your heads to rest.  I give thanks to the sun that warmed your bodies, and the stars that guided your way.  I honor the warriors who fought so bravely to give your families time to cross the river, and I honor the families who survived with equal bravery, struggling to find food enough to feed all the hungry mouths.  I honor the fallen, and touch this earth that is the earth from their bones.  I am strengthened by their bravery – the warriors, the women, the children, the fallen – I hold my head high as I look to the west where my journey will take me, as I follow in your footsteps to the banks of the Mississippi.  Ah-ho.

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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)