BULL. 30] 



BLACK HAWK 



151 



engagement with an equal number of 

 Osage, destroying half of his opponents, 

 killing 5 men and a woman witli his own 

 hands. In a subsequent raid on the 

 Cherokee his party killed 28, with a loss 

 of but 7 ; but among the latter was his own 

 father, who was guardian of the triljal 

 medicine, hence Black Hawk refrained 

 from war during the 5 years following 

 and endeavored to acquire greater super- 

 natural power. At the end of that time 

 he went against the Osage, destroyed a 

 camp of 40 lodges, with the exception of 

 2 women, and himself slew 9 persons. 

 On a subsequent expedition against the 

 Cherokee in revenge for his father's 

 death he found only 5 enemies, 4 men 

 and a woman. The latter he carried off, 

 but the men he released, deeming it no 

 honor to kill so few. 



On the outbreak of the war of 1812 

 Black Hawk, with most of his people, 

 joined the British and fought for them 

 throughout, committing many depreda- 

 tions on the border settlements. After- 

 ward, in opposition to the head chief, 

 Keokuk, who cultivated American friend- 

 ship, he was leader of the British sympa- 

 thizers who traded at Maiden in prefer- 

 ence to St Louis. 



By treaty of Nov. 3, 1804, concluded at 

 St Louis, the Sauk and Foxes had agreed 

 to surrender all their lands on the e. side 

 of the Mississippi, but had been left un- 

 disturbed until the country should be 

 thrown open to settlement. After the 

 conclusion of the war of 1812, however, 

 the stream of settlers pushed westward 

 once more and began to pour into the 

 old Sauk and Fox territory. Keokuk 

 and the majority of his people, bowing 

 to the inevitable, soon moved across the 

 Mississippi into the present Iowa, but 

 Black Ilawk declined to leave, maintain- 

 ing that when he had signed the treaty 

 of St Louis he had been deceived re- 

 garding its terms. At the same time he 

 entered into negotiations with the Win- 

 nebago, Potawatomi, and Kickapoo to 

 enlist them in concerted opposition to the 

 aggressions of the whites. 



By the spring of 1831 so much friction 

 had taken place between the settlers and 

 Indians that Gov. Reynolds, of Illinois, 

 was induced to call out the militia. Gen. 

 Gaines, desiring to avoid the expense of 

 a demonstration, summoned Black Hawk 

 and his friends to a convention at Ft 

 Armstrong, but a violent scene followed 

 and the convention came to nothing. 

 On June 15 the militia left their camp at 

 Rushville and marched u])on Black 

 Hawk's village. Finding tliat Black 

 Hawk and his people had effected their 

 escape shortly before, they burned the 

 lodges. Immediately afterward Gaines 

 demanded that all the hostile warriors 



should present themselves for a peace 

 talk, and on June 30 Black Hawk and 27 

 of his followers signed a treaty with Gov. 

 Reynolds by which they agreed to abstain 

 from further hostilities and retire to the 

 farther side of the Mississippi. 



During the following winter Black 

 Hawk, like his great Shawnee predeces- 

 sor, Tecumseh, sent emissaries in all 

 directions to win various tribes to his 

 interest, and is said to have endeavored, 

 though unsuccessfully, to destroy the au- 

 thority of his own head chief, Keokuk, 

 or commit him to a war against the 

 whites. On Apr. 1, 1832, Gen. Atkinson 

 received orders to demand from the Sauk 

 and Foxes the chief members of a band 

 who had massacred some INIenominee the 



BLACK HAWK. (aFTER CATLIn) 



year before. Arriving at the rapids of 

 Des Moines r. on the 10th, he found that 

 Black Hawk had recrossed the Missis- 

 sippi 4 days previously at the head of a 

 band estimated at 2,000, of whom more 

 than 500 were warriors. Again the mili- 

 tia were called out, while Atkinson sent 

 word to warn the settlers, and collected 

 all the regular troops available. 



Meantime Black Hawk proceeded up 

 Rock r., expecting that he would be 

 joined by the Winnebago and Potawat- 

 omi, but only a few small bands re- 

 sponded. Regiments of militia were by 

 this time pushing up in pursuit of him, 

 but they were poorly disciplined and 

 unuse<l to Indian warfare, while jealousy 

 existed among the commanders. Two 

 brigades under Isaiah Stillman, which 

 had pushed on in close pursuit, were met 

 by 3 Indians bearing a flag of truce; but, 

 other Indians showing themselves near 

 by, treachery was feared, and in the con- 



