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. Since the year 1831, his name has been
familiarly known to the people of the United States; and the terror,
which for a brief period, it excited upon the frontiers of Illinois,
Missouri and Indiana, was only surpassed by the curiosity which pervaded
every part of the union, to behold this notable chief of the woods,
after he had been conquered, and was carried a prisoner of state, from
the wilds of the West to the Atlantic sea-board. His tour through the
United States, partook largely of the triumphal march of a successful
hero. In the number of persons who flocked around him, the honors which
he received were scarcely less flattering than those awarded to the
illustrious Lafayette, while the "nation's guest." In the one case there
was curiosity alone, in the other, curiosity and gratitude blended. To
the casual observer, the distinction between the two cases is not very
apparent.
The causes which created a desire so universal, to behold this
aboriginal chief, have awakened a corresponding interest in the public
mind, to learn more of his history, than was revealed in the events of
the campaign of 1832. To gratify this curiosity, is the object of the
present volume. The author has carefully consulted all the sources of
information, touching the life and character of Black Hawk, that were
within his reach; and has studiously avoided the presentation of any
fact which did not seem to be well authenticated. Should the incidents
here narrated, in the life of this celebrated Indian, not prove as rich
and amusing as might be anticipated, from the wide spread notoriety
which he has obtained, the work will still be found of some value. It
presents in a connected form, and as the author trusts, with historic
accuracy, one link in the great chain of political relations between the
United States and the Indian tribes of North America. Every day is
increasing the interest and magnitude of these relations, and any effort
to preserve the facts with which they are associated, would seem to be
worthy of public consideration. Black Hawk may die, his name be
forgotten, and the smoke of his wigwam be seen no more, but the "Black
Hawk war" will long form a page of deep interest, in the history of
this country.
The subject of this memoir is by birth a Sac, having been born at the
principal Sac village, on Rock River, in the year, as he himself states,
1767. His father's name was Py-e-sa, his grandfather's Na-na-ma-kee or
Thunder. Black Hawk was not by birth a chief, but at the early age of
fifteen, having distinguished himself by wounding an enemy, he was
permitted to paint and wear feathers; and was placed in the rank of the
Braves. About the year 1783, he united in an expedition against the
Osages, and had the good fortune to kill and scalp one of the enemy: for
this act of youthful valor, he was, for the first time, permitted to
mingle in the scalp-dance. This triumph was followed shortly afterwards
by two more excursions against the same tribe. In the first, Black Hawk
was the leader of seven men, who suddenly attacked a party of one
hundred Osages, killed one of them, and as suddenly retreated without
loss. This exploit, so far increased the number of his followers, that
he soon afterwards started with a party of one hundred and eighty
braves, and marched to an Osage village, on the Missouri; but found it
deserted. Most of the party being disappointed, left their leader and
returned home. Black Hawk, however, with but five followers, pursued the
trail of the enemy, and after some days succeeded in killing one man and
a boy; and, securing their scalps, returned home. In the year 1786,
having recovered from the effect of his late unsuccessful excursion,
Black Hawk found himself once more at the head of two hundred braves,
and again set off to avenge the repeated outrages of the Osages upon the
Sac nation. Soon after he reached the enemy's country, he met a party
about equal in number to his own. A battle ensued. The Osages lost near
one hundred men, and Black Hawk nineteen. He claims, in the attack, to
have killed five of the enemy, with his own hand. This severe engagement
had the effect, for some time, of keeping the Osages upon their own
lands and arresting their depredations upon the Sacs. This cessation of
hostilities gave the latter an opportunity of redressing the wrongs
which the Cherokees had committed upon them, by murdering some of their
women and children. A party was raised for this purpose, and met the
Cherokees upon the Merrimack river, below St. Louis, the latter being
most numerous. In this battle Py-e-sa, the father of Black Hawk was
killed. The Cherokees were compelled to retreat with the loss of
twenty-eight men, the Sacs having but seven killed. Upon the fall of
Py-e-sa, Black Hawk assumed the command and also took possession of the
"medicine bag," then in the keeping of his father. Owing to the
disasters of this expedition, and especially the death of his father,
Black Hawk, for the ensuing five years, refrained from all warlike
operations, and spent his time in fishing and hunting. At the end of
this period, being about the year 1800, he made another excursion,
against the Osages, at the head of about five hundred Sacs and Foxes and
a hundred Ioways, who had joined him as allies. After a long march they
reached and destroyed about forty lodges of the enemy, killing many of
their bravest warriors, five of whom were slain by the leader of the
invading army. In the year 1802, he terminated a severe and protracted
campaign against the Chippewas, Kaskaskias and Osages, during which six
or seven battles were fought and more than one hundred of the enemy
killed. The following summer Black Hawk made one of his periodical
visits to St. Louis to see his Spanish father, by whom he was well
received. Upon his next visit to this Spanish dignitary, he found many
sad and gloomy faces, because the United States were about to take
possession of the town and country around it. "Soon after the Americans
arrived," says Black Hawk, "I took my band and went to take leave, for
the last time, of our father. The Americans came to see him also. Seeing
them approach, we passed out at one door, as they entered at
another--and immediately started, in our canoes, for our village on Rock
river--not liking the change any more than our friends appeared to at
St. Louis. On arriving at our village, we gave the news that strange
people had taken St. Louis, and that we should never see our Spanish
father again. This information made all our people sorry. Sometime
afterwards (1805) a boat came up the river with a young American chief
(Lieutenant, afterwards General Pike,) and a small party of soldiers. We
heard of them, soon after he had passed Salt river. Some of our young
braves watched him every day, to see what sort of people he had on
board. The boat at length arrived at Rock river, and the young chief
came on shore with his interpreter--made a speech, and gave us some
presents. We, in return, presented him with meat and such provisions as
we could spare. We were well pleased with the speech of the young chief.
He gave us good advice; said our American father would treat us well. He
presented us an American flag, which was hoisted. He then requested us
to pull down our British flags, and give him our British
medals--promising to send us others on his return to St. Louis. This we
declined as we wished to have _two fathers_."
Subsequently to this period, the building of Fort Edwards, near the head
of the Des Moyens rapids, gave much uneasiness to the Sacs. Some of the
chiefs and a party of their followers went down to this point, and had
an interview with the war chief who had command of the troops engaged in
constructing the fort. The Indians became satisfied and returned home.
Not long afterwards a party, of which Black Hawk was one, determined to
attack and take Fort Madison, standing upon the west side of the
Mississippi, above the mouth of the Des Moyens, which was then
garrisoned with about fifty men. Their spies having ascertained that the
troops marched out of the fort every morning to exercise, they concealed
themselves near it, with an agreement to fire upon them when they came
out. About sun rise, on the morning of the proposed attack, the gate
opened, and a young man made his appearance, but was suffered to return
without being molested. The gate was again opened and four soldiers came
out. They were followed by a fifth, who was instantly killed. The others
then ran for the fort, but two of them were shot down before they
reached it. The Indians continued for two days, shooting into the fort,
and endeavoring to set fire to it. Finding their efforts unavailing,
they gave up the attack and returned home.
The period had now arrived when the difficulties between this country
and Great Britain, were to be settled by an appeal to arms. Some
discontent had prevailed among the Sacs, in regard to the encroachments
of the Americans upon their hunting grounds. They, however, offered
their services to the United States, to fight against the British, but
their offer was declined. They had not been as liberally supplied with
presents and goods at Fort Madison, as they had anticipated, and in the
mean time, the British agents had artfully fomented their discontent,
and labored to win their confidence by the most liberal distribution
among them of goods and ardent spirits. Shortly after the declaration of
war, Girty, a British trader, arrived at Rock island with two boats
loaded with goods, and the British flag was hoisted. He informed the
Indians that he had been sent to them by Colonel Dixon, with presents, a
large silk flag and a keg of rum. The day after his arrival, the goods
were divided among the Indians, they promising to pay for them, in furs,
in the following spring. Girty informed Black Hawk that Colonel Dixon
was then at Green Bay, with a large quantity of goods, arms and
ammunition, and was desirous that he should raise a party of warriors
and join him. Black Hawk succeeded in collecting about two hundred
braves, and soon reached Green Bay, where he found Dixon encamped, with
a large body of Indians, assembled from other tribes, who had been
already furnished with clothing and with arms. Black Hawk had an
interview with Dixon, two other war chiefs and the interpreter. "He
received me," says Black Hawk, "with a hearty shake of the hand, and
presented me to the other chiefs, who shook my hand cordially, and
seemed much pleased to see me. After I was seated, Colonel Dixon said,
"General Black Hawk, I sent for you, to explain to you, what we are
going to do, and the reasons that have brought us here. Our friend
Girty, informs us in the letter you brought from him, what has taken
place. You will now have to hold us fast by the hand. Your English
father has found out that the Americans want to take your country from
you, and has sent me and his braves to drive them back to their own
country. He has likewise sent a large quantity of arms and ammunition,
and we want all your warriors to join us." He then placed a medal round
my neck, and gave me a paper, (which I lost in the late war,) and a silk
flag, saying, "You are to command all the braves that will leave here
the day after to-morrow, to join our braves near Detroit."
On the following day, arms, clothing, knives and tomahawks, were
distributed to Black Hawk's band, and upon the succeeding morning, they
started, in all near five hundred braves, to join the British army.
This was in August, 1812, shortly after the surrender and massacre of
the American troops at Chicago, which place they passed a few days after
it had been evacuated. Of the movements of Black Hawk during his
connection with the British upon our north west, no satisfactory
information has been obtained. It appears that he was in two
engagements, but seems not to have distinguished himself. The last of
these was the attack, in August 1813, upon Fort Stephenson, then under
the command of Major Croghan. The gallant defence of this post, and the
fatal repulse given to the combined British and Indian forces, seem to
have disheartened Black Hawk; for soon afterwards, tired of successive
defeats, and disappointed in not obtaining the "spoils of victory," he
left the army, with about twenty of his followers, and returned to his
village on Rock river. It is probable that he would have remained
neutral during the remainder of the war, had it not been for one of
those border outrages, which lawless and unprincipled white men but too
often commit upon the Indians, under pretence of self defence or
retaliation, often a mere pretext for wanton bloodshed and murder.
Previous to joining Colonel Dixon, Black Hawk had visited the lodge of
an old friend, whose son he had adopted and taught to hunt. He was
anxious that this youth should go with him and his band and join the
British standard, but the father objected on the ground that he was
dependent upon his son for game; and, moreover, that he did not wish him
to fight against the Americans who had always treated him kindly. He
had agreed to spend the following winter near a white settler, upon Salt
river, one of the tributaries of the Mississippi which enters that
stream below the Des Moyens, and intended to take his son with him. As
Black Hawk was approaching his village on Rock river, after his campaign
on the lakes with Dixon, he observed a smoke rising from a hollow in the
bluff of the stream. He went to see who was there. Upon drawing near to
the fire, he discovered a mat stretched, and an old man of sorrowful
aspect sitting under it, alone, and evidently humbling himself before
the Great Spirit, by fasting and prayer. It proved to be his old friend,
the father of his adopted son. Black Hawk seated himself beside him and
inquired what had happened, but received no answer, for indeed he seemed
scarcely alive. Being revived by some water, he looked up, recognized
the friend of his youth, and in reply to Black Hawk's second inquiry,
said, in a feeble voice,
"Soon after your departure to join the British, I descended the river
with a small party, to winter at the place I told you the white man had
requested me to come to. When we arrived, I found a fort built, and the
white family that had invited me to come and hunt near them, had removed
to it. I then paid a visit to the fort, to tell the white people that
myself and little band were friendly, and that we wished to hunt in the
vicinity of their fort. The war chief, who commanded it, told me that we
might hunt on the Illinois side of the Mississippi, and no person would
trouble us. That the horsemen only ranged on the Missouri side, and he
had directed them not to cross the river. I was pleased with this
assurance of safety, and immediately crossed over and made my winter's
camp. Game was plenty: We lived happy and often talked of you. My boy
regretted your absence, and the hardships you would have to undergo. We
had been here about two moons, when my boy went out as usual to hunt.
Night came on and he did not return. I was alarmed for his safety and
passed a sleepless night. In the morning my old woman went to the other
lodges and gave the alarm, and all turned out in pursuit. There being
snow on the ground, they soon came upon his track, and after pursuing it
some distance, found that he was on the trail of a deer, that led to the
river. They soon came to the place where he had stood and fired, and
found a deer hanging upon the branch of a tree, which had been skinned.
But here also were found the tracks of white men. They had taken my boy
prisoner. Their tracks led across the river, and then down towards the
fort. My friends followed them, and soon found my boy lying dead. He had
been most cruelly murdered. His face was shot to pieces, his body
stabbed in several places, and his head scalped. His arms were tied
behind him."
The old man ceased his narrative, relapsed into the stupor from which he
had been aroused and in a few minutes, expired. Black Hawk remained by
his body during the night, and next day buried it upon the peak of the
bluff. Shocked at the cruel fate of his adopted son, and deeply touched
by the mournful death of his old comrade, he was roused to vengeance
against the Americans, and after remaining a few days at the village,
and raising a band of braves, prepared for offensive operations upon the
frontiers.
Having narrated to his band the murder of his adopted son, they began to
thirst for blood, and agreed to follow Black Hawk wheresoever he might
lead. The party consisted of about thirty. They descended the
Mississippi in canoes to the place where Fort Madison had stood, but
found it abandoned by the American troops and burnt. They continued
their course down the river and landed near Cap au Gris, on the 10th of
May, where they killed one of the United States Rangers, named Bernard,
but were driven off by Lieutenant Massey, with a detachment from Fort
Howard. The Indians, however, rallied in the woods, and on the 24th of
May, a severe battle and of a character somewhat novel, was fought
between the troops at Fort Howard, under Lieutenant Drakeford of the U.
S. Rangers, and Black Hawk and his party. The former, in his official
report of this engagement, says,
"Yesterday, about twelve o'clock, five of our men went out to some
cabins on the bluff, about one quarter of a mile below the fort, to
bring a grind-stone. The backwater of the Mississippi, rendered it so
they went in a canoe. On their return they were attacked by a party of
Indians, supposed to be about fifty in number; they killed and
tomahawked three and wounded one mortally. While about this mischief, we
gave them as good a fire from a little below the fort, as the breadth of
the backwater would permit. Captain Craig and myself with about forty
men, waded across the water and pursued them: in going about half a
mile, we came on them and commenced a fire which continued about one
hour, part of which time at a distance of forty steps, and no part of
the time further than a hundred and fifty steps: shortly after the
commencement of the battle, we were reinforced by Captain Musick and
twenty of his men; the enemy now ran; some made their escape, and others
made to a sink-hole that is in the battle ground, and from there they
returned a most rapid fire; it being very dangerous, to approach nearer
than fifty steps of the sink, we at length erected a breast-work, on
the two wheels of a wagon, and resolved upon moving it up to the edge of
the sink, to fire from behind, down into the sink and preserve us from
theirs. We got the moving battery finished about sunset, and moved it up
with a sufficient number of men behind it, whilst all other posts round
were sufficiently guarded, in case they should be put to the route.
[Illustration: BATTLE OF SINK HOLE.]
"We had not moved to within less than ten steps of the sink, before they
commenced a fire, which we returned at every opportunity. Night came on
and we were obliged to leave the ground, and decline the expectation of
taking them out without risking man for man, which we thought not a
good exchange on our side. During the time of the battle another
party of Indians commenced a brisk fire on the fort. Captain Craig was
killed in the commencement of the battle, Lieut. Edward Spears at the
moving of the breast work to the sink. The morning of the 25th we
returned to the ground and found five Indians killed and the sign of a
great many wounded, that had been taken off in the night. The aggregate
number of killed on our part is one captain, one third lieutenant, and
five privates; three wounded, one missing, one citizen killed and two
wounded mortally."
Black Hawk states that but eighteen of his men were in the sink with
him, and that they dug holes in the sides of the bank, with their
knives, to protect them from the fire of the Americans: Some of his
warriors commenced singing their death songs; but he, several times
called out to the enemy, if brave men, to come down and fight them. He
describes the wagon-battery, and its inefficiency in dislodging them
from their depressed but safe situation. His retreat to the sink-hole
under the circumstances, was a sound military movement. Lieutenant
Drakeford having withdrawn his forces, Black Hawk and his party left
their intrenchment and returned by land, to their village.
The tribes of Indians on the Mississippi, were notified in the early
part of this year, 1815, that peace had been concluded between the
United States and England. Most of those who had been engaged in the
war, ceased hostilities. Black Hawk, however, and his band, and some of
the Pottawatamies, were not inclined to bury the tomahawk. Even as late
as the spring of 1816, they committed depredations. Some palliation for
these outrages may be found in the fact, that the British, on the
north-west frontier, long after they were officially notified of the
peace, continued to excite the Indians to acts of violence against the
United States; and, indeed, participated in them likewise. It was in the
spring of this year that they captured the garrison at Prairie du Chien,
and instigated Black Hawk and his party to attack some boats, which were
ascending the Mississippi to that point, with troops and provisions. In
this attack, Black Hawk was the leader. One of the boats was captured
and several of the crew killed. They were compelled to return, and
dropped down to the fort at the mouth of the Des Moyens river. As a
reward for their attack upon these boats, the British agents distributed
rum among the Indians engaged in the affair, and joined with them in
dancing and feasting.
In May, Black Hawk and his party, having been again summoned by the
Americans, to make peace, concluded to descend the Mississippi to
Portage des Sioux, to meet the American commissioners who were there for
that purpose. On the 13th of May, 1816, a treaty of peace was signed by
Clark, Edwards, and Choteau on behalf of the United States, and the
chiefs and warriors of the Sacs of Rock river and the adjacent country.
To this treaty Black Hawk was a party. It recognizes the validity of the
treaty of St. Louis, of November 1804.