'Black Hawk' entry from Hodge's Handbook

Abstract: The 'Black Hawk' entry from Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, edited by Frederick Webb Hodge (Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 30. GPO: 1910.)

Author: John R. Swanton of the Bureau of American Ethnology

Black Hawk (Ma'katawimesheka'kä a [a = long a], from ma'katäwi 'it is Black, mishi 'big,' ka'käwi 'chert,' the name referring to the description of a bird, or sparrow hawk. -- W.J.).  A subordinate chief of the Sauk and Fox Indians and leader in the Black Hawk war of 1832.  He was born at the Sauk village at the mouth of Rock r. Ill., in 1767, and belonged to the Thunder gens of the Sauk tribe.  When only 15 years of age he distinguished himself in war; and before he was 17, at the head of a war party of young men, he attacked an Osage camp of 100 persons and came away safely with the scalp of a warrior.  The next party that he led out, however, he brought to a deserted village, on account of which all except 5 of his party left him; but with these he kept on and brought away 2 scalps with which to efface his disgrace.  At the age of 19 he led 200 Sauk and Foxes in a desperate engagement with an equal number of Osage, destroying half of his opponents, killing 5 men and a woman with 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 tribal medicine, hence Black Hawk refrained from war during the 5 years following and endeavored to acquire greater supernatural 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 depredations on the border settlements.  Afterward, in opposition to the head chief, Keokuk, who cultivated American friendship, he was leader of the British sympathizers who traded at Malden in preference 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 undisturbed 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 Hawk declined to leave, maintaining that when he had signed the treaty of St Louis he had been deceived regarding its terms.  At the same time he entered into negotiations with the Winnebago, 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 upon Black Hawk's village.  Finding that 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 predecessor, Tecumseh, sent emissaries in all directions to win various tribes to his interest, and is said to have endeavored, though unsuccessfully, to destroy the authority 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 Menominee the year before. Arriving at the rapids of Des Moines r. on the 10th, he found that Black Hawk had recrossed the Mississippi 4 days previously at the head of a band estimated at 2,000, of whom more than 500 were warriors. Again the militia 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 Potawatomi, but only a few small bands responded. Regiments of militia were by this time pushing up in pursuit of him, but they were poorly disciplined and unused 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 confusion one of the bearers of the flag was shot down. A general but disorderly pursuit of the remainder ensued, when the pursuers were suddenly fallen upon by Black Hawk at the head of 40 warriors and driven from the field (May 14, 1832) in a disgraceful rout. Black Hawk now let loose his followers against the frontier settlements, many of which were burned and their occupants slain, but although able to cut off small band of Indians the militia and regulars were for some time able to do little in retaliation. On June 24 Black Hawk made an attack on Apple River fort, but was repulsed, and on the day following defeated Maj. Dement's battalion, thought with heavy loss to his own side. On July 21, however, while trying to cross to the W. side of Wisconsin r. he was overtaken by volunteers under Gen. James D. Henry and crushingly defeated with a loss of 68 killed and many more wounded. With the remainder of his force he retreated to the Mississippi, which he reached at the mouth of Bad Axe r., and was about to cross when intercepted by the steamer Warrior , which shelled his camp. The following day, Aug. 3, the pursuing troops under Atkinson came up with his band and after a desperate struggle killed or drove into the river more than 150, while 40 were captured. Most of those who reached the other side were subsequently cut off by the Sioux. Black Hawk and his principal warrior, Neapope, escaped, however, to the norward, wither they were followed and captured by some Winnebago.  Black Hawk was then sent E. and confined for more than a month at Fortress Monroe, Va., when he was taken on tour through the principal E. cities, everywhere proving an object of the greatest interest. In 1837 he accompanied Keokuk on a second trip to the E., after which he settled on Des Moines r. near Iowaville, dying there Oct. 3, 1838. His remains, which had been placed upon the surface of the ground dressed in a military uniform presented by Gen. Jackson, accompanied by a sword also presented by Jackson, a cane given by Henry Clay, and medals from Jackson, John Quincy Adams, and the city of Boston, were stolen in July, 1839, and carried away to St Louis, where the body was cleaned and the bones sent to Quincy, Ill., for articulation. On protest being made by Gov. Lucas of the territory of Iowa, the bones were restored, but the sons of Black Hawk, being satisfied to let them stay in the governor's office, they remained there for some time and were later removed to the collections of the Burlington Geological and Historical Society, where they were destroyed in 1855 when the building containing them was burned. See Autobiography of Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak, edited by J.B. Patterson, 1882, a life by Snelling, and The Black Hawk War, by Frank E. Stevens.
(J. R. S.)


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