The tribe in historic times seems to have been the war-making group.
Raiding parties tried to sneak undetected into enemy country and conceal
themselves. From their hiding place, they fell suddenly on small
unsuspecting enemy bodies, scalping men, killing women and children, and
slipping away again with a few prisoners if practicable. Back in the
village, captive warriors were bound to a frame of green wood, suspended
over a slow fire, and tortured until death released them. Warriors hung
the scalps taken upon their cabins as evidence of their prowess. The
Illini claimed not to have tortured or burned captives until their men
had been taken and so treated by Iroquois raiding parties. On the war
path warriors carried bundles containing objects sacred to their
guardian spirits and invoked them frequently to obtain victory.
Bows and arrows in quivers, hatchets or tomahawks, clubs, and
“arrowproof” shields consisting of several layers of buffalo hide were
carried on raids. The bow and arrow was considered superior to the gun
because it could “fire” more rapidly.