Black Hawk

“ The ring of fire spouting from their guns had beaten off the men of Black Hawk—for the time being. But Major Stillman knew well enough that the attack would eventually come again. The second time it would be more difficult to beat back, as the wily Sacs could now creep up on the defenders from the rear, through the tents and trees of the grove.
Their skirmishers, slipping along the ground like red snakes, would press closer and closer, ever more dangerous. Hawk-eyed sharpshooters would pick off the helpless whites one by one. ”

“ Birth of Black Hawk—Early adventures—Battles with the Osages and Cherokees—Death of his father—Interview with Lieutenant Pike—Attack upon Fort Madison—Joins the British in the late war—Marches to lake Erie—Returns home after the attack upon Fort Stephenson—Murder of his adopted son—Battle of the Sink-hole near Cap au Gris—Treaty of peace at Portage des Sioux in 1816.
Black Hawk is a remarkable instance of an individual, in no wise gifted with any uncommon physical, moral or intellectual endowments, obtaining, by the force of circumstances, the most extraordinary celebrity. ”

“ While there they witnessed a military display of such impressive interest as to evoke a speech from Black Hawk:
“My heart grew bitter against the whites, and my hands strong. I dug up the tomahawk, and led on my warriors to fight. I fought hard. I was no coward. Much blood was shed. But the white men were mighty. They were as many as the leaves of the forest. I and my people failed. I am sorry the tomahawk was raised. I have been a prisoner. I see the strength of the white men. They are many; very many. The Indians are but few. They are not cowards. They are brave, but they are few. ”

“ These sentiments are truly poetical and worthy a place in any literature, but they did not represent the life of Black Hawk. He had all his life long been a warrior, fonder of warfare than of life, but no doubt a change was coming over his heart with the scenes of peace and progress around him. The futility of further war upon the Americans had doubtless finally impressed him, and he realized that they were a people no longer to be trifled with. Therefore, he had resolved to submit for all time to the inexorable fate of civilization’s western march. ”

“ Black Hawk arose, gathered his blanket around him, and stalked out of the council room. On the following morning he was again in his seat, and when the council was opened, he arose and said, "My father, you inquired yesterday, "who is Black Hawk? why does he sit among the chiefs?" I will tell you who I am. I am a Sac, my father was a Sac—I am a warrior and so was my father. Ask those young men, who have followed me to battle, and they will tell you who Black Hawk is—provoke our people to war, and you will learn who Black Hawk is." ”

“ In about two months, Black Hawk, having lost many of his men, in the different skirmishes with the American troops, and not a few of his women and children by actual starvation, found himself upon the bank of the Mississippi, endeavoring to escape the pursuing enemy, by crossing to the west side of that stream. While engaged in this act, the steam boat Warrior, having an armed force on board, ascended the river for the purpose of cutting off his retreat. Once more Black Hawk raised the white flag, and sought to surrender himself and his whole band, to the whites. ”

“ The pale moon still creeps from her daily rest, Throwing her rays o'er the river's dark breast, The katy-did and cricket, I trow, In days gone by, chirruped, even as now. Indian! thy camp-fires no longer are smoldering, They bones 'neath the forest moss long have been mouldering, The "Great Spirit" claims thee. He leadeth they tribe, To new hunting-grounds not won with a bribe. On thy Watch Tow'r the pale face his home now makes, His dwelling, the site of the forest tree takes, Gone are thy wigwams, the wild deer now fled, Black Hawk, with his tribe, lie silent and dead. ”

“ It is questionable whether Black Hawk possesses any marked military talents, although during his contest with the United States, it was common to represent him as an able warrior, who by the elo [Pg 232] quence and fluency of his harangues, commanded the unlimited confidence of his band. He has, most probably, been overrated both for his eloquence and his skill in the battle field. He is no doubt a man of courage, and seems, from early life, to have had a strong predisposition for war. ”

“ When, therefore, Black Hawk lent a willing ear to the British agent, accepted his presents and performed his murderous behests, which he did, he should have expected the awful consequences of defeat and annihilation which followed his years of hypocrisy, and accepted the Government’s final requital with gratitude, or at least Indian stolidity, instead of snarling at his fate and constantly bewailing the elevation of others over him who had loyally stood by the Americans and their Government in perilous times. ”

“ This remark was construed by Black Hawk to mean that he must conform to the counsels of Keokuk, and at once his bad blood arose; all his old animosities mastered him, and in his impulsive way he cried:
“I am a man, an old man. I will not conform to the counsels of anyone. I will act for myself; no one shall govern me. I am old; my hair is gray. I once gave counsel to my young men. Am I to conform to others? I shall soon go to the Great Spirit, where I shall be at rest. What I said to our great father at Washington, I say again. I will always listen to him. ”

“ Black Hawk possessed, to a great degree, one fine trait which it is not usual for us to concede to the Indian—kindness and affection for his wife. He never had but one, and with her he lived for upwards of forty years; they had several children, three of whom still survive, two sons and a daughter. The eldest son is now one of the most promising young braves of the nation, and bids fair to be one of its most noble men. ”

“ It was now mid-afternoon, and the harassed Black Hawk called a hasty council of his sub-chiefs.
“Our cause is lost,” spoke up Ne-a-pope bluntly.
“We could not fight the Big Knives alone,” snarled the surly Prairie Wolf. “The accursed Foxes—”
“Cease!” commanded the haggard Black Hawk, his face full of travail. “Put those things behind us. The Big Knives press us closely. What is best to be done?”
“Let us take a stand on the bluff by the river, with the strongest of our warriors,” proposed the fertile-minded Ne-a-pope. ”

“ To this Black Hawk replied:
“Our aged brother of the Senecas has spoken the words of a good and wise man. We are strangers to each other, though we have the same color, and the same Great Spirit made us all and gave us this country together. Brothers, we have seen how great a people the whites are. They are very rich and very strong. It is folly for us to fight against them. We shall go home with much knowledge. For myself, I shall advise my people to be quiet and live like good men. ”

“ The character of Black Hawk for honesty in his dealings, and for general integrity, stands fair. In his domestic relations he appears to be kind and affectionate, and in one particular, is an exception to the chiefs and warriors of his tribe. He has never had but one wife. After his return from the campaign on the lakes, during the war with England, his first act was to visit his family. ”

“ The most dreadful anticipations of savage cruelty were indulged—the force of Black Hawk was greatly magnified—his thirst for vengeance upon the whites was only to be appeased by blood—the state was actually invaded by a powerful and remorseless enemy—and memorials and petitions, for an armed force to repulse the invaders and protect the frontiers, flowed in upon the Governor, from all quarters. ”

“ Black Hawk, wild with hate and anger, sent out small bands of his red horsemen far and wide across the Illinois frontier.
On the twenty-second of May, at the Davis farm, on Indian Creek, twelve miles north of Ottawa, fifteen settlers, men and women, were massacred by the marauding warriors. Taken captive were two girls, Sylvia and Rachel Hall, who were carried back to Black Hawk’s stronghold. Here they were sold for two thousand dollars to the White Crow, a Winnebago chief, who had been sent out by the whites to conduct negotiations for their return. ”

“ Black Hawk, the new world in which we had come to live, was a clean, well-planted little prairie town, with white fences and good green yards about the dwellings, wide, dusty streets, and shapely little trees growing along the wooden sidewalks. ”

“ The frightful plight of the settlers can never be realized by the present generation; neither can the actions of the British be justly comprehended in the face of present amity. Plotting destruction, Black Hawk was invariably found to the front, and while successful, he found no fault with the defense of the Americans. That remained for the time when he felt the heel of the conqueror, resenting his years of blood-shedding. Where one man is invariably the offender, it is safe to pronounce him an incorrigible quarreler. ”

“ The thought uppermost in the mind of each boy, however, was of Black Hawk and his band of marauding warriors.
It is hard for us to understand in these days what a peril and a menace to frontier life these hostile Indians were. Every little while word would come of some family wiped out by the uprising of a nearby tribe and no one could tell at just what moment these onslaughts might come.
Everyone went armed, not only for the sake of the game which provided much of the food on which the pioneers lived, but also as a guard against any surprise attack of warlike redmen. ”

“ Wabasha's Sioux fell upon the last fleeing remnant, so that few of Black Hawk's band were left to tell the tale.
"Farewell, my nation!" the old chief cried. "Black Hawk tried to save you and avenge your wrongs. He drank the blood of some of the whites. He has been taken prisoner and his plans are stopped. He can do no more. He is near his end. His sun is setting and he will rise no more. Farewell to Black Hawk."
In chains Black Hawk and his prophet, Wabokeskiek, were brought by Jefferson Davis to St. Louis. As his steamboat passed Rock Island, his old home, Black Hawk wept like a child. ”

“ The victorious Sacs fell upon the women, children, invalids and cripples and murdered all save a pitiful handful, which Black Hawk piously offered afterward to adopt into his tribe.
No one can estimate the number of dead. Pashepaho and Black Hawk have attempted the task, but when it is known that the ordinary wild Indian cannot comprehend numbers, we must leave all calculation open to conjecture. ”

“ As the savages dashed headlong into the advance column, or rather squad, of the whites, with the spirit and suddenness of an electric shock, the reckless pursuers realized their awful temerity, and the futility of fighting, even under careful protection and with the full strength of the battalions, what might be the 800 warriors known to belong to Black Hawk’s command. ”

“ They are a soft-shelled breed. When the spear is put to them, they will quack like ducks.”
“I will soon show Black Hawk,” responded Dodge testily, “that my rangers are not of the soft-shelled breed.”
“Your words are good to my ears. The Black Hawk is an evil one. I spurn him.”
“Will you help us?” invited the officer.
“Your party of horsemen is small,” said the Crow, evading the question by looking out the lodge door at the six waiting rangers.
“No, no, chief. I have three hundred others at Ke-gon-sa.”
“Ho, ho!” exclaimed the Winnebago, simulating surprise ”

“ They found Black Hawk’s pathway strewn with the bodies of dead Sacs, who had died of wounds and starvation, and there were constant evidences that the fleeing savages were eating the bark of trees and the sparse flesh of their fagged-out ponies to sustain life. ”

“ In the summer of 1838 a party of Iowas returned on a friendly visit to their old home and Black Hawk held a friendly council with them at a place about half a mile from his cabin. On that spot he directed that his body should be buried. At this time he regarded the usual indifferences of the Indians as personal slights, and while it may be true that many of his whilom companions neglected to show him many of the little civilities which white men might observe, the whites supplied them with unusual attentions, and he should not have fretted as he did fret. ”

“ Thus, out of nearly one thousand Sacs whom the Hawk had led into the Illinois country in April, barely two hundred survived to return to the Ioway Territory that they had left on their ill-fated foray.
As for Black Hawk, after being imprisoned for some months at Fortress Monroe in far-off Virginia, he was taken to Washington, where he saw the Great White Father. Following this, he was conducted on a tour of218 the principal cities of the eastern seaboard, so that he would be impressed with the might of the whites and take the story of that might back to his own people. ”

“ None but hostile Indians were about the fort, and if the young man was unknown and killed as related, he was certainly considered an enemy. If known as the adopted son of Black Hawk, then openly fighting the Americans, it was a fair presumption that he got no permission to hunt and was considered as taken red-handed. The community inside Fort Madison was in a serious mood those days and in no condition to receive Indians with rifles on advantageous terms. Black Hawk arrived at his village filled with indignation, as he has said. ”