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The Black Hawk War
The Black Hawk War was fought in 1832 in the Midwestern United States. The war was named for Black Hawk,
the leader of a band of Sauk, Fox, and Kickapoo Native Americans, whose British Band fought against the United
States Army and militia from Illinois and the Michigan Territory (present-day Wisconsin) for possession of lands in
the area.
Following the Fox Wars in the western Great Lakes and Detroit regions the remaining Sauk and Fox sought refuge
together in lands further west, extending north from the Wisconsin River to the Illinois River in the south. Other
settlements were established north of the Missouri River. These lands were the area that Black Hawk and his band
viewed as their homeland in 1832. The Sauk's main village, Saukenuk, was established in the mid-18th century.
Black Hawk was born there in 1767 and lived much of his life in the village. In 1804, William Henry Harrison,
Governor of Indiana Territory (which then included what would become Illinois), negotiated a treaty in St. Louis,
Missouri with a group of Sauk and Fox leaders, in which they ceded lands east of the Mississippi in exchange for
$1,000 per year and the condition that the tribes could continue to reside there until the land was surveyed and sold
by the U.S. government. It was Article 2 which ceded the land to the United States "forever," and raised the ire of
the Sauk and Fox tribes. Compensation for the land cession was stipulated at US $2,234.50. In addition article 3 of
the treaty provided for the annual compensation. Thus, the ultimate source of the conflict was in a land dispute and
centered around the 1804 treaty. The 1804 Treaty with the Sauk and Fox included articles aimed at promoting
friendship and peace, such as trade provisions and protection guarantees as well. This treaty was subsequently
disputed by Black Hawk and other members of the tribes, since the full tribal councils had not been consulted, nor
did those representing the tribes have authorization to cede lands. After the War of 1812, in which Black Hawk had
fought against the U.S., he signed a peace treaty in May 1816 that re-affirmed the treaty of 1804, a provision of
which Black Hawk later protested ignorance. While Black Hawk was away during the War of 1812, Keokuk had
risen in prominence, and the two men became rivals.
The white population of Illinois exploded after the War of 1812, exceeding 50,000 in 1820 and 150,000 in 1830. In
1825, thirteen Sauk and six Fox signed another agreement re-affirming the 1804 treaty. In 1828, the U.S.
government liaison, Thomas Forsyth, informed the tribes that they should begin vacating their settlements east of the
Mississippi.
On July 15, 1830, U.S. Indian Commissioner William Clark signed another treaty with Sauk and Fox leaders, among
other tribes, at Fort Crawford in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. The treaty ceded about 26,500,000 acres (107,000
km²) of Sauk land east of the Mississippi to the government of the United States. It also created a "Neutral Ground"
boundary between the Sauk and Foxes and their traditional enemies, the Sioux, for the purpose of preventing future
hostilities between the tribes. The treaty was signed by Keokuk, and in November 1830 was approved by the Dakota
Sioux.
The land ceded in the treaty included the village of Saukenuk, but Black Hawk did not sanction the sale of this land
and was determined to remain in the village. Despite opposition by Keokuk and the US authorities, Black Hawk's
band returned to Saukenok in 1830 following their winter hunting.[1] After a year of tension, they returned again in
1831, and Illinois Governor John Reynolds proclaimed it an "invasion of the state."
Responding to Illinois Governor John Reynolds' call, General Edmund Pendleton Gaines brought his federal troops
from St. Louis, Missouri to Saukenuk to insist upon Black Hawk's immediate departure. Black Hawk departed but
soon returned, without bloodshed, west across the Mississippi, threatened by Gaines' troops and an additional 1,400
militia called up by Reynolds on June 25, 1831. On June 30, Black Hawk and the chiefs of the "British Band" were
forced to sign a surrender agreement in which they promised to remain west of the Mississippi.
On 5 April 1832, chafing under the rule of Keokuk, Black Hawk and his group of 1,000, called the "British band,"
returned to Illinois. Ho-Chunk prophet White Cloud contributed to the outbreak of war by promising Black Hawk
the support of the Ho-Chunk Nation, when in fact he could only speak for his tribe. Black Hawk was also misled by
another ally, Neapope, who promised British aid. Reynolds issued a proclamation on 16 April, mustering five
brigades of volunteers to form at Beardstown and to head north to force Black Hawk out of Illinois. Although ⅓ of
all federal troops from the United States Army were eventually involved in the conflict, the 9,000 soldiers from the
Illinois Militia provided the majority of U.S. combatants.
Black Hawk's British Band was composed of about 500 warriors and 1,000 old men, women and children when they
crossed the Mississippi on April 5. The group comprised members of the Sauk, Fox and Kickapoo Nations. They
crossed the Mississippi near the mouth of the Iowa River and then followed the Rock River northeast. Along the
way they passed the ruins of Saukenuk and headed for the village of Ho-Chunk prophet White Cloud.
Brevet Brigadier General Henry Atkinson was given charge for prosecuting the war. Federal authorities, along with
Sauk and Fox tribal councils, ordered Black Hawk and his band to retreat west of the Mississippi, but they refused to
leave. Soon after, Black Hawk conferred with the Ho-Chunk and Potawatomi tribes and learned that none of the
Illinois or Michigan tribes, or the British, would aid his band. On 9 May, a small Illinois militia battalion began the
pursuit of Black Hawk from the army's point of rendezvous on the Rock River at Dixon. On May 10, 1832 the state
militia burned the Prophet's Village, upon hearing of this Black Hawk decided to return, with his band, to Iowa.
Ensuing events at Stillman's Run prevented this; the Black Hawk War had begun.
The first named confrontation of the Black Hawk War occurred on May 14, 1832 and resulted in an unexpected
victory for Black Hawk's band of Sauk and Fox warriors over the disorganized militia under the command of Isaiah
Stillman. After a long march (the militia was mounted and followed by several supply wagons) the white militia
finally came into contact with Black Hawk and his warriors north of the Kishwaukee River near present day
Stillman Valley. When the militia killed a member of a three-man parley that had been sent by Black Hawk, the
Sauk chief rallied 40 mounted warriors and attacked the militia camp at dusk. Although the militia numbered
around 275 men, cohesion rapidly collapsed, and they fled to Dixon's Ferry, some 35 miles (56 km) away. During
the melee 11 militia men under the command of John Giles Adams were killed.
Soon after the Battle of Stillman's Run, at present-day Stillman Valley, the exaggerated claim that 2,000
"bloodthirsty warriors . . . sweeping all Northern Illinois with the bosom of destruction" sent shock waves of terror
through the region. After this initial skirmish, Black Hawk led many of the civilians in his band to the Michigan
Territory. On 19 May, the militia traveled up the Rock River trailing and searching for Black Hawk and his band.
Several small skirmishes and massacres ensued over the next month in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin
before the milita was able to regain public confidence in battles at Horseshoe Bend and Waddams Grove.
After the first engagement of the war several small skirmishes and "massacres" ensued. On May 19, 1832 a six-man
detail carrying dispatches from Colonel James M. Strode was ambushed by a party of Kickapoo near the settlement
of Buffalo Grove, Illinois in Ogle County. The ambush had one victim, William Durley, who was later buried in the
spot he fell by Felix St. Vrain and his party as it was en route to Galena. Two others present at the attack had bullet
holes through articles of clothing by neither was injured. In 1910 a memorial to the Buffalo Grove ambush and
William Durely was erected by the Polo, Illinois Historical Society. At that time Durley's remains were reinterred
beneath the memorial.
One of the Black Hawk War's most famous and well publicized events is also considered a peripheral event that was
not directly connected to the war or Black Hawk and his "British Band." The Indian Creek massacre occurred two
days after the incident in Buffalo, following a dispute between a local settler and a Potawatomi warrior over the
damming of nearby Indian Creek. The young Potawatomi warrior, Keewasee, recruited a band of warriors and
attacked the William Davis settlement along the bank of the creek. The attack resulted in the brutal murders of 15
men, women and children, most of whom were unarmed, though it is possible Davis may have killed one assailant
before being felled himself. In addition two teenage girls were kidnapped and held until they were ransomed almost
two weeks later, and released at Fort Blue Mounds. Events surrounding the release of the girls would lead to two
attacks at the fort in June. The incident at Indian Creek triggered panic in the white population and many settlers
fled to the safety of local forts while the Illinois Militia used the massacre to help lift recruiting in Illinois and
Kentucky. The same day as the massacre at the Indian Creek settlement, a settlement on the Plum River was raided
by a party of Sauk or Fox warriors. Though the battle was bloodless, it was one of many incidents that contributed to
the atmosphere of fear.
The St. Vrain massacre, another of the small skirmishes after Stillman's Run, occurred near present-day Pearl City,
Illinois in Kellogg's Grove on May 24, 1832. The massacre was most likely perpetrated by Ho-Chunk warriors who
were unaffiliated with Black Hawk's band of warriors. It is also unlikely that the group of Ho-Chunk had the
sanction of their nation. The massacre left United States Indian Agent Felix St. Vrain and three of his companions
dead. Some accounts indicated that St. Vrain's body was subjected to mutilation, and at least one asserted it
happened while he was still alive.
The massacre led to unwarranted fear of all Native Americans in the area, even those friendly to the settlers'
cause.[18] One example of this appeared in an article published in the New Galenian on May 30, 1832. While the
article described the events of the massacre it also went on to associate the murders of St. Vrain and his companions
with the Sauk and Fox of Keokuk's band. Following these skirmishes and massacres, the governor recruited
additional militia forces, raising the number to 4,000.
On May 27 and May 28, their one month enlistment being expired, Reynolds mustered the first of the militia out of
service. The federal government then ordered General Winfield Scott's 1,000 regulars and 300 mounted volunteers
into action. For the moment it looked as though Atkinson's role in the war would end soon, but a cholera epidemic
struck much of the United States. Winfield Scott's troops would bring it over from the east into Illinois.
General Scott assembled a force of about 1,000 federal troops. They embarked on boats from Buffalo, New York,
making their way towards Chicago. To wide-spread horror, cholera was reported among the troops. The expedition
was doomed. Troops became ill, and many of them died. At each place the vessels landed, the sick were deposited
and soldiers deserted.
Efforts to prevent the immediate spread of the illness into the population of the towns the expedition passed were
largely successful as only 3 civilians died in the initial outbreak. However, later, in 1833 a larger-scale cholera
epidemic affected large regions of the United States, its roots can be traced to the Scott expedition. By the time the
expedition landed in Chicago, there were less than two hundred effective troops left. Scott felt the need to cancel
his plans for an immediate march into the war zone. Instead he waited for reinforcements, supplies, and tended to his
stricken men. Winfield Scott arrived too late for military action, but he played an important part in drafting the terms
of peace.
Public confidence in the militia, eroded since the outbreak of hostilities at Stillman's Run, was still low when the
month of June began. Small attacks and skirmishes continued to plague the frontier of southern Wisconsin and
northern Illinois. Though Fort Blue Mounds, in present-day Dane County, Wisconsin near the village of Blue
Mounds, was never the site of a full-fledged battle or skirmish there were war-related events near the fort between
June 6 and June 20. The first event killed a civilian miner, and area residents suspected Ho-Chunk warriors were
responsible. This belief exacerbated the fear that more from the Ho-Chunk Nation were set to join Chief Black
Hawk's band against the white settlers in Michigan Territory and Illinois. The second incident was a full-fledged
attack near Blue Mounds Fort by a raiding part estimated by eyewitnesses to be as large as 100 warriors. Two
members of the militia were killed in that attack, one of whom was badly mutilated and missing a "part" when his
body was found.
Another event, the Spafford Farm massacre, also known as the Wayne massacre, occurred on June 14, 1832 near
present-day South Wayne, Wisconsin. A band of Native Americans attacked a group of 7 men working on the farm
of Omri Spafford, 5 men, including Spafford, were killed. Two men escaped, one of them killing an attacker before
individually making their way to Fort Hamilton. One of the men spent several days hiding in the forest because he
was under the erroneous impression that the fort was being overtaken by friendly Menominee who had arrived
around the same time.
The second half of June 1832 brought more battle, this time the militia would be dominant. After Colonel Henry
Dodge was informed of the massacre at Spafford Farm he set out for Fort Hamilton Arriving at Fort Hamilton on
June 16, Dodge gathered a force of 29 mounted volunteers and set out in pursuit of the band of Kickapoo warriors
responsible for the massacre. They caught up with them at a bend in the Pecatonica River known as "Horseshoe
Bend." The Battle of Horseshoe Bend was the first real victory for the militia and a major turning point in the
conflict. The clash helped restore public confidence in the volunteer militia force.
The Black Hawk War also included two clashes at Kellogg's Grove, in present-day Stephenson County, Illinois. The
first battle took place the same day as Dodge's clash with the Kickapoo, on June 16, 1832, and was really nothing
more than a minor skirmish. Forces commanded by Adam W. Snyder fought with a band of about 80 Kickapoo
warriors. During the fighting three militia members were killed and six Kickapoo warriors died.
The Battle of Waddams Grove, also called the Battle of Yellow Creek occurred on June 18, 1832 near Yellow Creek
in present-day Stephenson County, Illinois. The fight became a bloody battle with bayonets and knives. Up to six
Sauk, and three militia men under the command of James W. Stephenson were killed in action, while Stephenson
was severely wounded during the battle by a musketball to the chest. The battle served to restore confidence in the
militia within the population of the area, who were still afraid following the defeat at Stillman's Run. The dead
militia men were eventually buried in a memorial cemetery in Kellogg's Grove, Illinois.
The Battle of Apple River Fort commenced on June 24, 1832 at the hastily constructed Apple River Fort, near
present-day Elizabeth, Illinois. Approximately 150-200 Sauk and Fox warriors under the command of Black Hawk
attacked the fort which was defended by about 25 militia. The militia, under the command of Captain Clack Stone,
was shorthanded during the battle as most of the fort's detachment were not present. Fierce fighting ensued for at
least 45 minutes with both sides exchanging heavy gunfire.
The second, and larger, Battle of Kellogg's Grove commenced on June 25, 1832 when forces commanded by Major
John Dement met and fought with a large band of Native Americans at the grove. The Native forces, under the
command of Black Hawk mounted an unrelenting attack during which 25 horses and five militia men were killed
and at least of nine of Black Hawk's band died.
On July 21, 1832 Illinois and Wisconsin militia men under the command of Generals Henry Dodge and James D.
Henry caught up with Black Hawk's British Band near present-day Sauk City, Wisconsin. The clash became known
as the Battle of Wisconsin Heights. Militarily, the battle was devastating for Black Hawk's band of warriors;
including those who drowned during the melee, casualty estimates climbed as high as 70. Despite the relatively
high casualties the battle did serve to allow much of the band, including many women and children, to escape across
the Wisconsin River. The reprieve was temporary for the group of Sauk and Fox, the militia would eventually catch
up with them at the mouth of the Bad Axe River resulting in the decisive battle of the war.
The Black Hawk War of 1832 resulted in the deaths of 70 settlers and soldiers, and hundreds of Black Hawk's band.
As well as the combat casualties of the war, a relief force under General Winfield Scott suffered hundreds dead and
deserted. The war also resulted in the settlement of Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin. It ended the threat of Native
American attacks in northwest Illinois and allowed the region to be further settled.
Abraham Lincoln, the future US president, served in Reynolds' militia during the time of the Black Hawk War, but
never saw action. Zachary Taylor, another future US president, commanded the troops under General Atkinson
during the war. Jefferson Davis, future president of the Confederacy, was on leave during most of the war but
returned in time to escort the surrendered Black Hawk, son Whirling Thunder, Neapope, White Cloud and others to
Jefferson Barracks, Missouri in September 1832. Davis gave an interview in 1887 in which he indicated he was at
the Battle of Wisconsin Heights, but this assertion today has been largely discredited.
The Black Hawk War was similar to other frontier wars fought in the United States in that in provided a boost to
several political careers. Besides the notable involvement of Lincoln and Davis, four Illinois governors served
during the war: Thomas Ford, John Wood, Joseph Duncan and Thomas Carlin. The conflict also helped in the
political careers of a future governor in both Michigan and Nebraska as well as boosting at least 7 U.S. Senators. In
1836, Henry Dodge was appointed governor of the Wisconsin Territory.
Henry Atkinson, however, did not fare as well following the war and spent the last decade of his life at Jefferson
Barracks in St. Louis. Most of those affiliated with the conflict, subordinates and superiors believed that Atkinson
had handled the prosecution of the war badly. U.S. President Andrew Jackson was looking for someone to blame
for the conflict even as it was ongoing. After the war Congressional reports glossed over Atkinson's failings but
privately others still criticized him. Zachary Taylor stated he believed that had Atkinson's regulars met with Black
Hawk in the war's first battle instead of the militia under Isaiah Stillman the war could have ended without a single
shot being fired.