1-12 In Loving Memory of: Makataimeshekiakiak

Ma-Ka-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak, Black Sparrow Hawk, died on October 3, 1838 after two weeks of illness, from pneumonia. He was buried on the farm of his friend James Jordan on the north bank of the Des Moines River in Davis County.

If it can be said that the worth of a man can be measured by how often he is remembered, and how he is remembered, then Black Hawk is indeed a great man in the history of this country. 

There is a Black Hawk County in Iowa.  The bridge between Iowa and Wisconsin is called the Black Hawk Bridge.  Four US Navy Vessels were named USS Black Hawk.  He was the inspiration for the Black Hawk helicopter.  In World War I, there was a ‘Black Hawk’ division, whose name later inspired the name for the NHL Team, the Chicago Black Hawks.  The Atlanta Hawks get their name from Black Hawk.  There are Islands, rivers, streams, cities, schools, and parks named after Black Hawk.  In Madison, Wisconsin, young girls eagerly join the Black Hawk Council of Girl Scouts.  Ill-fitted though the word ‘War’ is when applied to the Black Hawk Conflict of 1832, it is one of the few ‘wars’ named after a person in American history, or anywhere in the world.  There are banks, libraries, architects, businesses of all shape and size named after Black Hawk.  At the Wisconsin River near the site of the Battle of Wisconsin Heights, it is possible to rent canoes from an outfitter named Black Hawk River Run.  So many things are named after Black Hawk the warrior, it is hard to comprehend exactly how this reviled and defeated Indian became so loved and admired by the white race who so relentlessly tormented and pursued him.  His name has been immortalized forever in the very self-image of our communities and society.

History, it seems, 

will never forget the man, or the name, 

even if it tries hard to forget the story.

Return to Table of Contents

(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)

1-11 Black Hawk's Capture

After the Bad Axe Massacre, Black Hawk himself once again eluded capture or death.  The Americans offered a reward of $100 and 40 horses for his capture.  Three weeks later, a Ho-Chunk passing by a campsite near what is now Tomah, WI saw Black Hawk and reported the finding to his Chief.  A delegation was sent to the camp, and Black Hawk was told that even now the Americans were seeking to kill him, and would never allow him to escape.  Black Hawk was convinced to surrender, and assured of safety by the Ho-Chunk, on August 27, 1832, Black Hawk and Wabokieshiek (White Cloud) surrendered at Prairie du Chien to Indian agent Joseph M. Street.

Jefferson Barracks
St. Louis, MO

Following the war, the defeated Black Hawk was held in captivity at Jefferson Barracks near Saint Louis, Missouri together with Neopope, White Cloud, and eight other leaders.  After eight months, in April 1833, they were taken east, as ordered by U.S. President Andrew Jackson. The men were taken by steamboat, carriage, and railroad, and met with large crowds wherever they went. Jackson wanted them to be impressed with the power of the United States. Once in Washington, D.C., they met with Jackson and Secretary of War Lewis Cass.  Afterward, they were delivered to their final destination, prison 

at Fortress Monroe in Norfolk, Virginia.  They were held only a few weeks at the prison, during which time they posed for portraits by different artists.

On June 5, 1833, the men were sent west by steamboat on a circuitous route that took them through many large cities. Again, the men were a spectacle everywhere they went, and were greeted by huge crowds of people in cities such as Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York.  In the west, closer to the battle sites and history of conflict, the reception was much different.  For instance, in Detroit, a crowd burned and hanged effigies of the prisoners.

Near the end of his captivity in 1833, Black Hawk told his life story to Antoine LeClaire, a government interpreter. Edited by the local reporter J.B. Patterson, Black Hawk's account was the first Native American autobiography published in the United States. The Autobiography of Ma-Ka-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak, or Black Hawk, Embracing the Traditions of his Nation, Various Wars In Which He Has Been Engaged, and His Account of the Cause and General History of the Black Hawk War of 1832, His Surrender, and Travels Through the United States. Also Life, Death and Burial of the Old Chief, Together with a History of the Black Hawk War was published in 1833 in Cincinnati, Ohio.  The book immediately became a best seller and has gone through numerous editions.



In an 1838 address at Fort Madison, in the year of his death, Black Hawk said the following:

"It has pleased the Great Spirit that I am here today— I have eaten with my white friends.  The earth is our mother— we are now on it, with the Great Spirit above us; it is good.  I hope we are all friends here.  A few winters ago I was fighting against you.  I did wrong, perhaps, but that is past—it is buried—let it be forgotten.

Rock River was a beautiful country. I liked my towns, my cornfields, and the home of my people.  I fought for it.  It is now yours.  Keep it as we did— it will produce you good crops.

I thank the Great Spirit that I am now friendly with my white brethren.  We are here together, we have eaten together; we are friends; it is his wish and mine.  I thank you for your friendship.  I was once a great warrior; I am now poor.  Keokuk has been the cause of my present situation; but I do not attach blame to him.  I am now old.  I have looked upon the Mississippi since I have been a child.  I love the great river.  I have dwelt upon its banks from the time I was an infant.  I look upon it now.  I shake hands with you, and as it is my wish, I hope you are my friends."

—Address by Black Hawk, July 4, 1838, at Fort Madison.

Return to Table of Contents

(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)

1-10 The Mississippi Runs Red - Bad Axe Massacre

Kickapoo River

Kickapoo River Valley

Black Hawk himself escaped the Battle of Wisconsin Heights and rejoined his party, fleeing west towards the Mississippi River.  On July 26th, Atkinson and his force of Army Regulars joined the militia and the combined group of 1300 troops followed the doomed band westward, following a trail littered with dead bodies, discarded personal items, and the carcasses of horses that had to be eaten to fend off starvation.  Black Hawk and his band forded the Kickapoo River, intending to make for the Mississippi River somewhat to the north.  When they reached the Mississippi on August 1, 1832, there was no chance of escape.

"Battle of Bad Axe," engraved by Ernest Heinemann (1848-1912), from original by William de la Montagne Cary (1840-1922)

What has been labeled ‘The Battle of Bad Axe’ was the most tragic and one-sided event in the entire conflict, and historically the most shameful.  Many accounts exist, retold from the points of view of both the soldiers and the Indians.  History, as they say, is written by the survivors.  The events which truly took place on that piece of shoreline, beginning at 9:00 a.m. on that hot August morning, is probably a mix or compilation of all the stories.  Truth, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

Original by William de la Montagne Cary (1840-1922)

Meanwhile, General Atkinson had sent scouts ahead to arrange use of a steamship called the Warrior and to have it fitted with a single six-pound cannon.  They steamed north from Fort Crawford, while a contingency of American-allied Dakotas, Menominees and Ho-Chunks watched the shores of the Mississippi.  With an army behind, an ambush ahead, and overwhelming firepower in favor of the whites, Black Hawk’s fleeing and starving band was truly without options.  On August 1, members of Black Hawk’s band, now reduced to about 600 in number, raised a white flag to the approaching steamship in yet another attempt to surrender.  Some accounts describe an Indian ploy, some describe a heinous act of firing on a surrendering adversary.  Shots were fired.  Twenty-six Indians were killed in the exchange of rifle-fire and cannon-fire.  One militiaman on the steamship was injured.  Black Hawk and his people faded back into the woods in retreat.

Bad Axe Watershed - Battle Site

Black Hawk, once again, decided to flee to the north, this intending to seek help from the Ojibwa in Minnesota and Canada.  Only about 50 people went with him, including The Prophet, Wabokieshiek.  The rest remained behind, intent on crossing the Mississippi and heading south to rejoin their people back in Iowa.  

Bad Axe Battle Site

The next morning, August 2, 1832, Black Hawk went north, while the rest of his band went a few miles south, trying to cross the river near an island now named for the battle.  When the band was spotted trying to cross the river, the steamship returned, and the ensuing bloodbath resulted in the death of hundreds of Indians.  Many were hunted and killed while on the island; over 100 drown in an attempt to swim across the river.  Heart-chilling tales recounted by soldiers tell of shooting Indians, warriors and non-combatants alike, as they swam, their boat pulling alongside the helpless victims so as not to waste ammunition. 

Black Hawk learned of the fighting as he went north, and turned back to rejoin his people, but arrived too late.  In the most wretched anguish of his life, Black Hawk turned north again seeking refuge. 

There were a small number of survivors at Bad Axe.  Some were captured, but some escaped, only to be pursued and killed by their long-time enemies, the Souix, who were seeking revenge for past hostilities and status by participating in a sanctioned ‘war’ which would not be halted or condemned by the Americans.

Return to Table of Contents

(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)

1-9 The Battle of Wisconsin Heights

Lake Sinnissippi - near Rock River Rapids
Hustisford, WI

In early July, General Atkinson learned of the impending change of command, and he took action to see that the matter was cleared up before Scott’s arrival.  Enlisting the help of the Ho-Chunk and Potawatomi Indians, who themselves were eager to remain neutral, or at minimum avoid retaliation from the Americans at the end of the conflict, Atkinson once again pursued Black Hawk and his allies. Following information offered by Ho-Chunks who were sympathetic to Black Hawk and White Cloud, Atkinson’s men trudged through the Marshes near Lake Koshkonong in futile pursuit while the band had actually move 25 miles further up the river to the Rock River Rapids area, on the south end of Lake Sinnissippi.

Henry Dodge

On July 15th, after learning from a French trader that the band had moved further north, Colonel Henry Dodge and James Henry departed Fort Winnebago with a force of militia, finally in hot pursuit of Black Hawk’s band.  By this time, the band had been reduced to about 600 Indians, having lost many to exposure, starvation and desertion.  The Indians were forced to eat whatever they could find, including the edible inner bark of the pines, yellow birches, slippery elms, spruces, firs and tamaracks.  It was this trail of denuded trees that enabled Dodge and Henry’s troops to finally track the fleeing Sauk.  

At The Four Lakes, on the isthmus between Lake Monona and Lake Mendota, in what is now the heart of Madison, WI, the first sick and elderly stragglers were killed and scalped.  The conflict, never a war, had now degraded to malice, mayhem and murder.

Dodge pursued the Indians, now running for their lives, with no time to sleep or eat.  On July 21st, 1832, Black Hawk, Neopope and a group of approximately 100 Sauk and Kickapoo warriors once again set up a skirmish line, planning on fighting to the death if necessary, to enable to rest of the non-combatant band to escape across the Wisconsin River.  In a small group of hills, Black Hawk formed his strategy against an overwhelming force of 750 or more militiamen.  Black Hawk was desperately outnumbered, and the battle was a heavily lopsided victory for the Americans, losing only one soldier compared to as many as 68 of the Indian warriors.  One soldier’s description of the events included the words, “Here we were fired on by Indians, and one man was killed and several wounded.  We returned their fire with effect, and then charged them, killing a good many, all of whom were scalped by the wild Sucker Volunteers.”  Despite the high casualties, Black Hawk held off a vastly superior force, enabling most of his people to escape, a feat which served to impress the military leaders who pursued him.

During the battle, which became known as the Battle of Wisconsin Heights, Ne-o-po-pe tried once again to surrender, but was unable to communicate in English.  He shouted that the hungry band was going back across the Mississippi, and would fight no more.  With no Ho-Chunk interpreters available to the Americans, the attempt at communication failed.

Return to Table of Contents

(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)

1-8 Flight to Wisconsin - Lake Koshkonong

As the Black Hawk Conflict progressed, factions of other tribes joined or tried to join Black Hawk. Amidst the chaos of war, other Native Americans and settlers carried out acts of violence for personal reasons.  In one example, a band of Ho-Chunk intent on joining Black Hawk's Band attacked and killed the party of Felix St. Vrain in what Americans knew as the St. Vrain massacre.  This act was an exception as most Ho-Chunk sided with the United States during the Black Hawk Conflict.  The warriors who attacked St. Vrain's party had acted independently of the Ho-Chunk nation.  From April to August, Potawatomi warriors also joined with Black Hawk's Band.

No full account of the actual path followed by Black Hawk and his band exists, and certainly they did not travel as a single, undivided mass up the Sinnissippi.  Running for their lives, they nonetheless had to forage for food and evade the trailing troops for their very survival.  Many accounts describe feints by the warriors intended to draw the troops away from the main body of the band.  Black Hawk sent many small scouting parties in many directions seeking aid from other Indian tribes, and looking for a place where safety could be found, a new home established, and preparations made for the upcoming winter.  More than once, soldiers would track and follow signs left behind by the Sauk, only to find nothing at the end of the trail.  “Like tracking a shadow” wrote one soldier, in describing their attempts to even find Black Hawk and his people, let alone engage them in battle.

Many conflicts erupted in what is now northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin, while an inept and ill-informed military scoured the wilderness looking for a fight, and while fleeing Sauk and Potawatomi staged raids to steal supplies.  Not all the skirmishes involved the Sauk Indians, but all were attributed to Black Hawk and his ‘British Band’ of warriors.  Finally, on June 16th, soldiers confronted a group of Kickapoo warriors near a small oxbow bend in the Pecatonica River near present-day Woodford Wisconsin.  This battle became known as the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.  Though nowhere near Black Hawk and his band, it was nonetheless a victory for the militia as eleven Indians were killed compared to only three soldiers.  Two days later, a small group of Black Hawk's Sauk warriors were engaged and defeated at Yellow Creek, near what is now Waddam’s Grove Illinois.  Spurred on by word of the victories, the militia surged on with renewed fervor, bent on destroying Black Hawk and all his band.

Black Hawk himself, and a vastly reduced number of the people who initially crossed the Mississippi with him, continued northeast along the Sinnissippi, eventually stopping and camping in a marshy area on the north end of Lake Koshkonong.  This became a base of operations for the band, and a safe haven for the women, children and elderly.  No longer restricted by a restraint of violence, Black Hawk and his warriors, along with Ho-Chunk and Potawatomi warriors began leading raids against the white settlers to capture provisions.  Not all Native Americans in the region supported this turn of events; most notably, Potawatomi chief Shabonna rode throughout the settlements, warning whites of the impending attacks.

The campsite was located within four miles of Fort Koshkonong, later renamed Fort Atkinson, after General Henry Atkinson, the very person leading the military force charged with finding and subduing Black Hawk.  It is unknown if Atkinson was unaware of the large band of Indians camped so near his base, or if their character was so dissimilar to the “2000 bloodthirsty warriors … sweeping all Northern Illinois with the bosom of destruction" described by Stillman after his humiliating defeat that he simply couldn’t recognize them as his long-sought enemy, but Black Hawk and his band were able to remain for a period of weeks hiding in plain sight.

Blackhawk Island - aerial view
Lake Koshkonong

Even with the raided provisions, there was never enough to sustain such a large group who could not openly hunt and gather needed food and supplies.  Many left to seek help, attempt to return to Iowa, or to simply go their own way.  Many were sick or dying.  All were weak with hunger.  By now it was clear that there would be no help from the British, no stores of weapons, no offer of food and winter accommodations from the Ho-Chunk or the Potawatomi.

Henry Atkinson

Andrew Jackson

               Lewis Cass

In June of 1832, Brigadier General Atkinson had amassed a new “Army of the Frontier”, consisting of 629 regular Army troops and 3,196 mounted militiamen.  He also began to recruit local Native American allies.  After Stillman's defeat, American leaders like President Jackson and Secretary of War Lewis Cass would not consider a diplomatic solution; they wanted a resounding victory over Black Hawk to serve as an example to other Native Americans who might consider similar uprisings.

At first, when Black Hawk learned of the new and massive force being raised against him, he sent out raiding parties far to the west, in an effort to draw troops away from his Lake Koshkonong base.  He himself took part in a raid all the way down near present-day Elizabeth, Illinois on June 24th, and the following day led a successful battle against Major John Dement and his troops back in Kellogg’s grove.  It would be his last victory in the conflict, though not yet his last or greatest achievement.

From Koshkonong, Black Hawk led his band north, up the Sinnissippi to what is now Watertown, then pushed on nearly all the way to the great rapids located on the south end of Lake Sinnissippi, near present day Hustisford.  About a half-dozen miles short of the rapids, Black Hawk discovered confrontation with the militia was imminent, and in fact, it was here that two or three days later, Little Thunder, a Winnebago guide assisting the militia, found fresh trail left by the refugees.

After consulting with his Winnebago guide, Black Hawk formulated a new plan to escape to the west, across Michigan Territory (Lower Wisconsin) to the Mississippi River.  With help from Chief Black Wolf, who acted as his guide through the marshes and wetlands of the territory, Black Hawk fled to the west.

Earlier that month, on June 15th, President Andrew Jackson appointed General Winfield Scott as the new commander of the American Forces in the conflict, having grown displeased at Atkinson’s inept handling of the war effort.  Scott gathered a force of approximately 950 soldiers and departed from Buffalo, New York by steamship, just as a Cholera epidemic was sweeping the East Coast.  Many of his men sickened and died, and many more were released or deserted at each stop along the way to Chicago.  At the end of July, Scott raced west ahead of his 350 remaining troops intent on taking command of the existing forces and waging a final, decisive campaign against Black Hawk’s warriors.  Neither he nor his 350 men would ever see battle.

Return to Table of Contents

(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)

1-7 The Battle of Stillman's Run

Sycamore Creek
Byron, IL

In early May, 1832, Black Hawk was camped with his band about seven miles north of where Sycamore Creek runs into the Sinnissippi.  Through conference with the local Potawatomi tribe, he learned of the presence of a military camp a few miles away, with a large number of men intent on war.  Black Hawk recognized the danger to his people, and on May 14th, 1832, he sent a group of three emissaries to the camp with instructions to wave a white flag at the soldiers and surrender.  In addition, a small group of scouts was dispatched to hide in the surrounding hills and observe the events of the surrender.  The emissaries were instructed to tell the militia that Black Hawk no longer wished to make war with the Whites, and that he and his people wanted to return peacefully to Iowa.  The three were taken prisoner immediately, for fear that the white flag was a trick.  When the band of scout observers were discovered by watchmen, an enraged guard shot one of the three prisoners at point blank range, killing him instantly.  The other two fled and survived.  All the scouts fled, but were pursued by the militia and two were killed.

Those who survived made their way back to Black Hawk’s camp where a skirmish line was set up by Black Hawk and a small number 

of warriors intent on engaging the militia, thus giving time for the rest of his band of people to escape.  Black Hawk himself stated that he expected to die in the fight, outnumbered ten-to-one against nearly 300 advancing militia.  Hiding in ambush, and fighting in the way that had kept him 

Isaiah Stillman

alive for so many years, Black Hawk and his small group of warriors fought so fiercely against the oncoming militia that Major Isaiah Stillman hastened a retreat, being among the first to run, and later reported that he had been under attack by “thousands of Indian warriors”.  In the end, twelve militia soldiers were killed, and about as many Indians lost their lives.

Originally known as the Battle of Sycamore Creek, or the Battle of Old Man’s Creek, the conflict soon became known as the Battle of Stillman’s Run, a dubious honor for the man who had ordered the retreat.  It was the first battle in what was eventually named, by white historians of the day, ‘The Black Hawk War’. 

Black Hawk was now forced into a position where he could no longer peacefully retreat, and though he was not seeking a fight, one was following closely at his heels.  The soldiers who fled the fight at Sycamore Creek regrouped at Dixon’s Ferry, bringing with them a wide-eyed tale of the massacre inflicted upon the militia by Black Hawk and his warriors.  This ignited wide-spread terror, and the effort to confront The Warrior and end the threat was redoubled.

Lost in the many retellings of this story is the reason why it was necessary to drum up a second militia force.  Many stories claim that the men were so disheartened by the debacle at Sycamore Creek that they left and went home.  However, some volunteer soldiers who had been brought out to fight the “Bloodthirsty Band of Indians”, had opportunity to witness firsthand the nature of their foe.  One soldier, after walking away from the militia, wrote in his diary he would rather spend his earthly life in restraint than to bear an eternity of damnation for killing the women, children, and elderly making up what was obviously a migration of peaceful Indians.  Many such accounts exist, which have been carefully preserved and collected together for research.  The men of the Illinois militia, having been deceived into thinking an Indian War was at hand, with unfettered application of fear, ignorance, treachery and foolishness proceeded forth, and a conflict was finally incited.  Not by the Indians, but by the Illinois militia and American army who had been called upon to stop them.  Even so, desertion from the militia was a continuous problem throughout the conflict as men learned the truth and walked away.

In one such reference, “The Sauks and the Black Hawk War” by Perry Armstrong, the scene between Saukenuk and Prophetstown was described in this way:

“Being entirely out of provisions, and half famished for food, his (Black Hawk’s) march, as a matter of necessity, was slow indeed.  Fearful that the discharge of firearms by his braves would be the cause of attracting the attention and increasing the already widespread excitement among the pioneer white people, on account of his return across the Mississippi, he strictly forbid the firing of a gun under any circumstance; hence, they were compelled to depend upon the hook and line, spear, roots, bow and arrow for their means of subsistence on their march up the Rock River.  Along their route were many deserted as well as tenanted log cabins of the white settlers, and although greatly in want of provisions, not a cow, steer, hog, or even a chicken was killed or molested by these Indians.”

Judge James Hall

In another account called “History of The Indian Tribes of North America”, author Judge James Hall described the same events as follows:

“The Sauks, after resting a few days at their village (Saukenuk), pursued their march toward the country of the Pottawattamies, without concealment or violence.  Notwithstanding their merciless rule of warfare, which spares no foe which may fall into their hands, however helpless, they passed by isolated cabins in the wilderness without offering the slightest outrage to the defenseless inhabitants.  The property of the settlers residing on the lands of these very Indians remained untouched.  Travelers between St Louis and Galena proceeding singly or in small parties through a wild region, now the reported seat of war, without molestation, while an army was on its march to the frontier, and the newspapers were filled with the reports of an Indian war with all its pomp and circumstance.”

Clearly, the band was peaceful, was not hiding, and was acting in deference to the white settlers by suffering hunger rather than use the weapons at their disposal.  Many who had been called to fight them saw the farce of the action, and the extent of the deceit, and deserted the campaign.  Until the events at Stillman’s Run, which Black Hawk viewed as the treacherous killing of warriors under a flag of truce, there was no conflict, and certainly no ‘War’.  Now, with hostilities breached, there was no way to avoid it.

Unable to retreat to Iowa due to the military force in their path, Black Hawk and his band fled north toward the Michigan territory, in the hopes that Neopope’s promise of assistance from the Ho-Chunk and other tribes in the area of Milwaukee, as well as assistance from his long-time allies the British would come true.  Their path led them briefly up Mill Creek, led by a Potawatomi guide, but eventually east again to the Sinnissippi.  By May 19th, a reconstituted militia headed north along the Sinnissippi in pursuit.

Return to Table of Contents

(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)

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.

Return to Table of Contents

(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)

1-5 Return to Saukenuk - April 1832

In the fall of 1831, Neopope returned along a familiar route from Canada, after visiting with long-time British allies, and with several allied tribes along the way.  Neopope was Black Hawk’s chief advisor and leading warrior, and held a position of great respect in the eyes of the old warrior.  Neopope reported to Black Hawk that Wabokieshiek, The Prophet, had told him that if they returned to Saukenuk in the spring and made a strong stand, the British, Potawatomi, Ojibwe, Ottawa, and Ho-Chunk would all support them.  Black Hawk’s rival Keokuk convinced most of the Sauk and Fox living in the winter grounds in Iowa that this was a lie, or a misunderstanding, but many of the band supported Neopope and Black Hawk, and swore to follow them in the spring.

Sac and Fox

Mesquakie (Fox)

On or around April 5th, 1832, Black Hawk crossed the Mississippi river near the mouth of the Des Moines river, bringing with him approximately 1500 Sauk, Fox, and Kickapoo Indians.  The band was a cross-section of the tribe – warriors, but also their wives, children, and the elderly.  Whole families were engaged in an effort to return to their homeland through peaceful occupation.  Black Hawk had fought many battles with the Whites, and he believed that if they acted peacefully, there would be no conflict.  They moved up the Illinois side of the river, intent on relocating once again to Saukenuk and taking a stand.  When he arrived, on April 13th, he found that white settlers and traders had moved into their homes the previous summer and were firmly established.  Nevertheless, the band of Indians ignored the whites and set up their homes, planning to occupy the space they believed was theirs to claim.

The United States officials and leadership were concerned about the possibility of another armed conflict with Black Hawk and his warriors, and justifiably so.  During the war of 1812, Black Hawk earned the fear and respect of all who were his enemies.  But they were equally worried about the possibility of war among the Native American tribes in the region, between which conflicts had been smoldering for decades.  With the British defeated and forced from the region, it fell to the United States to play the role of peacekeeper among the Indian tribes.  This was not particularly popular among the Indian Tribes, as war and raiding parties was often the only way that young men could distinguish themselves in the tribe and gain status.  Nor was this strictly for humanitarian reasons: intertribal warfare made it more difficult for the United States to acquire Indian land and move the tribes to the West.  Contrary to logic, without peace, there could be no conquest.

Henry Atkinson

Perhaps fate or bad luck can be said to have led to the downfall of Black Hawk’s migration back into Illinois.  Traveling with him in his band of over a thousand Indians was a group of Meskwakis involved in a skirmish with the Dakotas and Menominees.  In retaliation for the death of fifteen Meskwakis killed in May of 1830 during a peace treaty, a group of Meskwaki and Sauk Indians killed twenty-six Menominee men, women and children in July of 1831.  American officials tried to persuade the Menominees not to retaliate, but without affect.  Hoping to prevent the outbreak of a wider war, American officials ordered the U.S. Army to arrest the Meskwakis who had massacred the Menominees.  Brigadier General Henry Atkinson received the assignment, and on April 8th, 1832, he set out from Jefferson Barracks in Missouri with about 220 soldiers.  By chance, Black Hawk and his band had just crossed into Illinois, unaware that a contingency of the U.S. Army was already en route to intercept him.  Without knowing it, Atkinson and his troops actually passed by the very Indians they were pursuing as both headed north on or along the Mississippi. 

Fort Armstrong
Rock Island  IL

When Atkinson arrived at Fort Armstrong on Rock Island on April 12, he learned that the so-called British Band was in Illinois, and that most of the Meskwakis he wanted to arrest were now with the band.  Like other American officials, Atkinson was convinced that the British Band intended to start a war. Because he had few troops at his disposal, Atkinson hoped to get support from the Illinois state militia. He wrote to Governor Reynolds on April 13, describing—and perhaps purposely exaggerating—the threat that the British Band posed.  Reynolds, who was eager for a war to drive the Indians out of the state, responded as Atkinson had hoped: he called for militia volunteers to assemble at Beardstown by April 22 to begin a thirty-day enlistment. The 2,100 men who volunteered were organized into a brigade of five regiments under Brigadier General Samuel Whiteside. 

Two days later, on April 24th, U.S. officers sent emissaries to talk to Black Hawk with a stern warning and a threat.  Black Hawk was told to move his people back west of the Mississippi, or they would once again be forced to leave, at bayonet point if necessary.

Return to Table of Contents

(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)