After we had finished his autobiography the interpreter read it over to
him carefully, and explained it thoroughly, so that he might make any
needed corrections, by adding to, or taking from the narrations; but
he did not desire to change it in any material matter. He said, "It
contained nothing but the truth, and that it was his desire that the
white people in the big villages he had visited should know how badly he
had been treated, and the reason that had impelled him to act as he had
done." Arrangements having been completed for moving to his new home,
he left Rock Island on the 10th of October with his family and a small
portion of his band, for his old hunting grounds on Skunk river, on
the west side of the Mississippi river below Shokokon. Here he had a
comfortable dwelling erected, and settled down with the expectation of
making it his permanent home, thus spending the evening of his days in
peace and quietude.
Our next meeting with the Chief was in the Autumn Of 1834 while on our
way to the trading house of Captain William Phelps (now of Lewistown,
Ills.), at Sweet Home, located on the bank of the Des Moines river. This
was soon after the payment of the annuities at Rock Island, where
the chiefs and head men had been assembled and received the money and
divided it among their people by such rule as they saw fit to adopt;
but this mode of distribution had proved very unsatisfactory to a large
number of Indians who felt that they had been sorely wronged. The Sacs
held a convocation at Phelps' trading house soon after our arrival, and
petitioned their Great Father to change the mode of payment of their
annuities. Black Hawk was a leading spirit in this movement, but thought
best not to be present at the meeting. The writer of this drew up a
petition in advance of the assembling of the meeting, in accordance with
the views of the Messrs. Phelps, and after a short council, in which the
Indians generally participated, the interpreter read and explained to
them the petition, which was a simple prayer to their Great Father, to
charge the mode of payment so that each head of a family should receive
and receipt for his proportion of the annuity. They were all satisfied
and the entire party "touched the goose quill," and their names were
thus duly attached to this important document.
The Secretary of War had long favored this mode of payment of the
annuities to the Indians, and at a meeting of the Cabinet to consider
this petition the prayer of the Indians was granted, and in due time
the Indian department received instructions, so that upon the payment of
1835 this rule was adopted. On his return from Rock Island, Black
Hawk, with a number of his band, called on his old friend Wahwashenequa
(Hawkeye), Mr. Stephen S. Phelps, to buy their necessary supplies for
making a fall hunt, and to learn at what points trading houses would be
established for the winter trade. During their stay the old chief had
frequent interviews with the writer (his former amanuensis). He said he
had a very comfortable home, a good corn field, and plenty of game,
and had been well treated by the few whites who had settled in his
neighborhood. He spent several days with us and then left for home with
a good winter outfit.
The change in the manner of payment of annuities would have been opposed
by Keokuk and his head men, had they been let into the secret, as the
annuity money when paid over was principally controlled by him, and
always to the detriment of the Sacs' traders who were in opposition to
the American Fur Company, the former having to rely almost entirely upon
the fall and winter trade in furs and peltries to pay the credits given
the Indians before leaving for their hunts.