Sac and Fox Nation

“ Governor Everett then addressed the audience, giving a brief history of the Sac and Fox tribe, whose principal chiefs (including the great war chief) were then present, and then turning to them hi said: "Chiefs and warriors of the united Sacs and Foxes, you are welcome to our hall of council. Brothers, you have come a long way from your home to visit your white brethren; we rejoice to take you by the hand. Brothers, we have heard the names of your chiefs and warriors. Our brethren who have traveled in the West have told us a great deal about the Sacs and Foxes. ”

“ He was born in 1767, and by the time he was fifteen had so distinguished himself in war and in hunting that he became a recognised brave of his tribe—the Sac and Fox. Up till the year 1804 the new republic could afford to ignore the deeds and misdeeds of this renowned patriot, for he confined most of his energies to warfare with the Cherokees and Osages—sub-tribes of the Iroquois; but, as white civilisation continued to push westward, it became necessary either to conciliate or to subdue those who stood in the way of its progress. ”

“ The Jesuit Relation of 1666-7 speaks of them in these words: "As for the Ousaki, they may be called savage above all others; there are great numbers of them, but wandering in the forests without any permanent dwelling places."
The Outagomies, Renards or Foxes, driven by the Iroquois westward, and settled southwest of Green Bay, and were the allies of the Sakis. They gave the name to Fox River in Wisconsin, and for years were hostile to the French. By a treaty in 1804, the Sacs and Foxes ceded to the United States lands on both sides of the Mississippi. ”

“ The Foxes now formed a close alliance with the Sacs, in the nature of a confederacy; each tribe, however, reserved the right to make war or peace without the consent of the other. The headquarters of the Foxes was at Prairie du Chien and the Sacs at Prairie du Sac, in Wisconsin. The Foxes had villages on the west side of the Mississippi, while the Sacs remained on the east side. The Sacs could muster about three hundred warriors, and the Foxes about three hundred and twenty. ”

“ That our situation may be understood, I would remark farther, that between the latter and the confederated tribes of the Sac and Fox Indians, there has been for the last forty years, and still exists, the most inveterate hostility; the two parties never meeting without bloodshed. ”

“ If any citizen of the United States or other white person should form a settlement upon lands which are the property of the Sac and Fox tribes, upon complaint being made thereof to the superintendent or other person having charge of the affairs of the Indians, such intruder shall forthwith be removed. ”

“ He is impelled onward in his desperate career, by passions which are fostered and encouraged by the whole frame of society; and he is, very probably, stimulated by the predictions of some fanatical leader, who promises him glory, victory and scalps.
"In this state of feeling, and with these incitements to war, the Sacs and Foxes claimed the right of occupying a part of the country on Rock river, even after it had been sold to citizens of the United States, and settled by them. ”

“ The Sacs and Foxes made a treaty with the United States in 1830, by which they ceded all their lands in Illinois to the government. When the time arrived for them to leave, they refused, and the governor called out a military force to compel them to remove beyond the Mississippi. Black Hawk, a famous chieftain of the Sacs, left, but returned at the head of a thousand warriors, gathered from the tribes named, and began a savage attack upon the settlements. The peril was so grave that the government sent troops under Generals Scott and Atkinson to Rock Island. ”

“ Our Great Father would rather believe a white man, than an Indian."
The two judges said that they were sorry for the Sacs, but could do nothing.
Now in 1829 the settlers were so anxious to keep the Sac lands at the mouth of the Rock River, that the Government put these on the market. This would dispose of Black-hawk's people, for they would have no village. Whether the other lands were sold, did not matter. ”

“ The Secretary says the Sacs and Foxes [Pg 195] "have always been discontented, keeping the frontier in alarm, and continually committing some outrage on the persons or property of the inhabitants." Between the treaty of peace at Portage des Sioux, in 1816, and the attack of Major Stillman, in 1832, it is supposed that the Sacs and Foxes never killed one American ”

“ The United States receive the united Sac and Fox tribes into their friendship and protection; and the said tribes agree to consider themselves under the protection of the United States, and of no other power whatsoever. ”

“ The Sacs were originally British Indians, domiciled near Montreal. By constant quarrels and wars with their neighbors their tribes, once numerous and powerful, were reduced to a remnant and finally driven from the country altogether. They settled in Wisconsin, where they met the Foxes, similarly driven from Canada, and the two tribes immediately combined, ever after being considered as a confederated nation. They again grew powerful and arrogant and became involved in wars with their neighbors. ”

“ With the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, the U.S. took charge of the Sauk and Fox homeland. In 1804 white settlers attacked a party of Sauk men, women and children, and three whites were killed. As territorial Governor William Henry Harrison demanded, a delegation of five Sauk and Fox chiefs brought one of the accused killers [519] to St. Louis. Harrison used the occasion to negotiate a treaty in which the Sauk and Fox ceded to the U.S. all their land east of the Mississippi, including what is today northwestern Illinois and southwestern Wisconsin, as well as a portion of Missouri. ”

“ I was born at the Sac village, on Rock river, in the year 1767, and am now in my 67th year. My great grandfather, Nanamakee, or Thunder, according to the tradition given me by my father, Pyesa, was born in the vicinity of Montreal, Canada, where the Great Spirit first placed the Sac nation, and inspired him with a belief that, at the end of four years he should see a white man, who would be to him a father. ”

“ Does he understand his place, either as a soldier or a justice of the peace? For he tells you here that I went aside with him, and told him what a design I had in hand, and how serviceable he might be for my design: that I could raise forty [252] thousand men in an hour's time, bring in King Charles, and involve the nation in blood. He saith, moreover, that he would have aided me out of the country, but I would not go; and therefore he committed me to prison for want of sureties for the good behaviour, as the mittimus declares. ”

“ For months there had been talk of old Black Hawk and his Sacs going on the warpath over the occupation of their lands in Northern Illinois by the swift-advancing, ruthless whites. The old Sac, or Sauk, chieftain had long threatened to resist by force of arms this violation of the treaty. He had been so long, however, in even making a start to carry out his threat that the more enlightened pioneers had ceased to take any stock in his spoutings.
The Free Press, Lafayette's only newspaper, had from time to time printed news seeping out of the Northwest by means of carrier or voyageur ”

“ The drouth was the main reason given; but, as Kile had very truly said, the settlers were getting pretty tired of the Indian exiles, whose habits were filthy and who were extremely prodigal in their use of timber. The Sac and Fox Agency was headquarters for the Sacs and Foxes of Mississippi, for the Ottawas, and for the confederated Chippewas and Munsees. C.C. Hutchinson was the agent there and there Perry Fuller, Robert S. Stevens, and other sharpers had their base of operations.
The removal northward was undertaken in October and consummated in a little less than two months ”

“ He was seconded by Lord George Sackville, who affected to say he spoke only for form; yet talked forcibly on his now seeing a prospect of carrying on the war with success, as great part of the money was to be given to the King of Prussia—a better [314] method than subsidiary treaties. Fox acted moderation; said, he should never provoke altercations, nor yet would ever decline them: it was sufficient to him that his part had been a consistent one. ”

“ Opposition mean to attend actively this session. Grey has renounced the errors of secession, and tho’ Fox still hangs back, I think a few strong divisions will be irresistible and make him return to the career in which he has outstripped every competitor. Ld. Darnley has attached himself with warmth to Opposition, and intends to bring on a motion upon the State of the Nation. To-day has brought another convert, Ld. Fitzwilliam, [156] who has expressed a wish of moving the amendment, one very hostile to Ministers and, strange to say, full of pacific wishes. ”

“ Among a people whose means of verbal information is speedy, and whose natural sense of right and wrong is acute, the more than usual friendship and apparent alliance which have taken place between the Menomonies and Sioux, in the contest between the Sacs and Foxes, and the murder by them jointly of the Fox chief White Skin and his companions at a smoking council, in 1830, have operated to increase the feeling of distrust ”

“ Fox opposed the motion, declaring that a dissolution at this moment would produce infinite damage to [304] the service of the nation, and that, should it take place in order to suit the convenience of an ambitious young man (meaning Pitt) , he would, immediately on the meeting of the new House, move for an inquiry into the authors and advisers of it, in order to bring them to punishment. ”

“ The great coalition which was to stand so strong and to work such wonders was destined to vanish like a breath after accomplishing nothing, and to condemn Fox with all his hopes and dreams to a career of almost unbroken opposition for the rest of his life. If anything in Fox's checkered career could be more tragic than the degradation of his union with the politician whom he declared to be void of every principle of honor and honesty, it was the abiding consequences of the retribution that followed it. Fox had fought hard and with success to live down the follies of his youth. ”

“ Their politics, some way or other, must end seriously, either in despotism, a civil war, or assassination. Methinks, it is playing deep for the power of tyranny. Charles Fox is more moderate: he only games for an hundred thousand pounds that he has not. ”

“ George Fox himself, in 1672, visited his “Friends” there, and committed to them “the firm support of the good of the people.” The creative power of good in the colony he declared to be the instruction of all the people in their rights; “you are the unworthiest men upon earth,” added he, “if you do lose the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free in life and glory,”—for he and his early Friends regarded Christianity, taken in its own broad and catholic spirit, as the great emancipator of the human race.
The joy of the colonists, on receiving their noble charter, was extreme. ”

“ The Sauk and Fox nations are allowed, according to that treaty, 'to live and hunt on the lands so ceded, as long as the aforesaid lands belong to the United States.' In the spring of the year 1827, about twelve or fifteen families of squatters arrived and took possession of the Sauk village, near the mouth of the Rocky River. ”

“ Realizing from the two lamentable fiascos just recounted that little could be accomplished by private initiative, the upholders of the law turned their attention to Sacramento. Here they had every reason to hope for success. No matter how well organized the Vigilantes might be, or how thoroughly they carried the sympathies of the local public, there could be no doubt that they were acting in defiance of the law, were, in fact, no better than rebels. It was not only within the power, it was the duty of the governor of the State to declare the city in a condition of insurrection. ”

“ The country, too, is fast settling up by farmers, and as the Sacs have made a settlement on the frontier farther west, on our old hunting grounds, he said he would have to move farther back so as to be near his people; and on bidding us farewell, said it might be the last time, as he was growing old, and the distance would be too great from the point at which he intended to build a house and open a little farm to make a visit on horseback, and as the Des Moines river is always low in the fall of the year he could not come in his canoe. ”

“ Once it happened that George Fox was stopped by the constables from going into Devonshire-house meeting; and after having stood awhile in the yard, till he was weary, one gave him a stool to sit on; after awhile he stood up and preached, and in his declaration said, ‘Ye need not come against us with swords and staves, for we are a peaceable people, and have nothing in our hearts but good-will to the king and magistrates, and to all people upon the earth. And we do not meet under pretence of religion, to plot against the government, or to raise insurrections ”

“ We also find George Fox, a man of exemplary piety, who was the principal instrument in gathering the religious society of people called Quakers, expressing his concern and fellow-feeling for the bondage of the Negroes: In a discourse taken from his mouth, in Barbadoes, in the Year 1671, says, ‘Consider with yourselves, if you were in the same condition as the Blacks are,—who came strangers to you, and were sold to you as slaves. I say, if this should be the condition of you or yours, you would think it hard measure: Yea, and very great bondage and cruelty. ”