Part 3 (1/2)

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 circ.u.mstances, 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 Lieutenant Drakeford having withdrawn his forces, Black Hawk and his party left their intrenchment and returned by land, to their village.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, partic.i.p.ated 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.

CHAPTER IV.

Building of Fort Armstrong--The good Spirit of Rock Island--Death of Black Hawk's children--Young Sac offers to die in place of his brother--Black Hawk's visit to Malden--Whipped by some whites--Whites settle at his village--Black Hawk's talk with Governor Coles and Judge Hall--Sale of the lands on Rock river--Indians ordered to remove--Agreement to remove for six thousand dollars--Memorial of the white settlers to Governor Reynolds--The Governor's letters to General Clark and General Gaines--The latter leaves Jefferson Barracks with six companies of the United States troops for Rock Island--His interview with Black Hawk--Calls upon the Governor of Illinois for militia--The Indians abandon their village--treaty of peace made with them--Official letters to the war department--Summary of the causes which brought on this disturbance--Black Hawk's attempt to form an alliance with other tribes.

From the treaty of peace, between the United States and the Sac Indians of Rock river, in 1816, to the commencement of hostilities between these parties in 1832, the life of Black Hawk seems to have been quiet and monotonous, occasionally relieved by a warlike excursion, but generally spent in hunting, throughout the winter, and in loitering about his village, during the summer. Such, indeed, is the life of most Indians.

Having no intellectual pursuits and little desire for the acquisition of property, beyond the supply of their immediate wants, they have in reality but two sources of excitement--war and the chase. They take no interest in the domestic affairs of their families, have little taste for the pursuits of agriculture, and, if not engaged in hostile excursions, in following the deer, or in trapping the beaver, they sink into listless inactivity. It is highly probable that many of their wars are undertaken, more for the gratification of that love of excitement, which is an indestructible element of the human mind, than from any const.i.tutional p.r.o.neness to cruelty and bloodshed. They need both physical and intellectual excitation, and having none of the resources which mental and moral culture throws open to civilized man, they seek it in making war upon each other or upon the wild animals which share with them the woods and the prairies.

Subsequently to the treaty of 1816, and perhaps in that year, the government of the United States built Fort Armstrong, upon Rock Island, in the Mississippi river, and but a few miles from the village where Black Hawk and his band resided. This measure, though not actually opposed, was by no means acceptable to them. They probably did not relish the gradual advances upon them, of the white population; but they entertained, moreover, a special regard for this beautiful island, which is justly considered one of the finest in the whole extent of the Mississippi. It is fertile, and produces many varieties of nuts and fruits, and being in the rapids of the stream, the waters which lave its sh.o.r.es, yield an abundance of excellent fish. In addition to all this, they have a traditionary belief, that the island was the favorite residence of a good spirit which dwelt in a cave in the rocks on which Fort Armstrong now stands. This spirit had often been seen by the Indians, but after the erection of the Fort, alarmed by the noise and intrusion of the white man, it spread its beautiful, swan-like wings, and disappeared. During the year 1817, the Sacs sent out some warriors against the Sioux, and succeeded in killing several of them, but Black Hawk was not of the party. About this time, his eldest son sickened and died, and within a short period afterwards, he lost his youngest daughter. This affliction seems to have made a deep impression upon him; and according to a custom common among the Indians, he blacked his face, and for the ensuing two years lived at home, in seclusion, drinking water at mid-day, and eating boiled corn but sparingly, in the evening.

In the winter of 1819-20, there was a disturbance between the Sacs and Ioways, one of the latter having killed a young man belonging to the former. Under the agreement of a late council between these two tribes, the old custom of appeasing the friends of one who had been killed, by presents, had been abolished, and each party had promised, that in future, the murderer should be surrendered up, that he might be punished with death. A party of Sacs, of which Black Hawk was one, agreed to visit the Ioway village on this occasion, and when about to depart, called at the lodge of the young man who had committed the outrage, to take him along. He was sick, but still ready to accompany them. His brother interfered, and insisted that he was too unwell to travel; that he would himself go and die in his place, and finally set off with the party. On the seventh day, they reached the Ioway village. They dismounted a short distance from it, and bid farewell to their young brave, who went calmly forwards, alone, singing his death-song, and seated himself in the middle of the lodges. One of the Ioway chiefs went out to Black Hawk, who told him the brother had come in the place of the young man that had committed the murder, he being sick. Black Hawk and his party, now mounted their horses and set off on their return; and casting their eyes towards the village, saw the Ioways, armed with spears and clubs, gathering around the young prisoner. At night the returning party, having stopped and kindled a fire, were suddenly alarmed by the tramping of horses. They immediately stood to their arms, but were soon relieved, by finding, instead of a foe, their young brave, unhurt and in the possession of two horses. They ascertained that the Ioways, at first threatened him with instant death, but finally, changing their purpose, had given him something to eat, smoked the pipe with him, and presenting him with two horses, bid him return home in safety. The generous conduct of the Ioways is deserving of praise, but the genuine affection of this young brave, in n.o.bly volunteering to die in place of his sick brother, presents one of those rare cases of self-devotion, which should be held in remembrance.

In the following autumn, Black Hawk and some of his band went on a visit to their British father at Malden and received presents from him. A medal was given to Black Hawk for his fidelity to the British in the late war, and he was requested to come up annually, to that place, with his band, and receive such presents, as had been promised them by Colonel Dixon, when they joined the English forces. These visits were regularly made, it is believed, from that time down to the year 1832. It is owing to this circ.u.mstance that Black Hawk's party has long been known by the appellation of the ”British Band.”

In the winter of 1822, Black Hawk and his party, encamped on the Two-rivers, for the purpose of hunting, and while there was so badly treated by some white men, that his prejudices against the Americans were greatly strengthened. He was accused of having killed the hogs of some settlers, who, meeting him one day in the woods, wrested his gun from his hands, and discharging it in the air, beat him so severely with sticks that for several nights he was unable to sleep. They then returned him his gun and ordered him to leave the neighborhood. Of the perpetration of this outrage, there is little doubt, while the fact of Black Hawk's having committed the offence charged upon him, rests, at best, upon suspicion. Supposing him to have been guilty, and the supposition is at variance with the whole tenor of his intercourse with the whites, it was on their part, one of those brutal appeals to _club_ law, which are but too often practised towards the Indians; and which, when avenged by them, not unfrequently brings upon their nation, the power and the arms of the United States.

The ensuing summer, the expediency of a removal of the whole of the Sacs and Foxes, to the west side of the Mississippi, was urged upon them by the agent at Fort Armstrong. The princ.i.p.al Fox chief, as well as Keokuk, a.s.sented to the removal. The latter sent a messenger through the village informing the Indians that it was the wish of their great Father, the President, that they should remove, and he pointed out the Ioway river as presenting a fine situation for their new village. There was a party, however, among the Sacs, made up princ.i.p.ally of the ”British Band,” who were decidedly opposed to a removal; and they called upon their old leader, Black Hawk, for his opinion on the question. He took the ground that the land on which their village stood had never been sold; that the Americans had, therefore, no right to insist upon the measure, and that as a matter of policy he was opposed to it. The old man was probably swayed in his decision by another cause. He felt that his power in the tribe was waning before the rising popularity of Keokuk. Here was a question on which their people differed in opinion.

By placing himself at the head of one of the parties, he might recover his influence, or at least sustain himself against the overshadowing ascendancy of his rival. He had an interview with Keokuk to see if the matter could not be adjusted with the President, by giving him other lands in exchange for those on which their village stood; and the latter promised to see the great chief at St. Louis, on the subject. During the following winter, while Black Hawk and his party were absent on a hunting expedition, several white families arrived at their village, destroyed some of their lodges and commenced making fences over their corn-fields. Black Hawk upon hearing of this movement, promptly returned to Rock river, and found his own lodge occupied by the whites.

He went to Fort Armstrong and complained to the interpreter, the agent being absent. He crossed the Mississippi and travelled several days to converse with the Winnebago sub-agent, who concurred with the interpreter in advising the Sacs to remove to Keokuk's settlement on the Ioway. He then visited the prophet, Wabokies.h.i.+ek, or White-Cloud, whose opinions were held in much respect by the Sacs and Winnebagoes. He urged Black Hawk not to remove, but to persuade Keokuk and his party to return to Rock river, a.s.suring them that if they remained quietly at their village, the whites would not venture to disturb them. He then rejoined his hunting party, and in the spring when they returned to their village, they found the white settlers still there, and that the greater part of their corn-fields had been enclosed by fences. About that time Keokuk visited Rock river and endeavored to persuade the remainder of the Sacs to follow him to the Ioway. He had accomplished nothing with the great chief at St. Louis, in regard to their remaining at their village, and as a matter of policy, that peace might be preserved, he was warmly in favor of the proposed removal. Black Hawk considered it an act of cowardice to yield up their village and the graves of their fathers, to strangers, who had no right to the soil, and the breach between Keokuk and himself was widened.

The white immigrants continued to increase, and the Sac village was the great point of attraction to them. It was situated on the neck of land formed by the junction of Rock river with the Mississippi, and had been the chief village of the tribe for sixty or seventy years. ”Their women had broken the surface of the surrounding prairie with their hoes, and enclosed with a kind of flimsy pole fence, many fields, which were annually cultivated by them, in the raising of corn, beans, potatoes and squashes. They had also erected several hundred houses of various dimensions, some probably an hundred feet in length by forty or fifty broad; which were constructed of poles and forks, arranged so as to form a kind of frame, which was then enclosed with the bark of trees, which, being peeled off and dried under a weight for the purpose of keeping it expanded, was afterwards confined to the walls and roof by means of cords, composed of the bark of other trees. This indeed is a delightful spot:--on the north-west rolls the majestic Mississippi, while the dark forests which clothe the numerous islands of Rock river, with its several rippling streams on the south-east, form a delightful contrast, which is rendered still more pleasing from the general declivity of the surrounding country, as it sinks gradually away to the sh.o.r.es of these rivers. This ancient village had literally become the grave-yard of the nation. Scarcely an individual could be found in the whole nation, who had not deposited the remains of some relative, in or near to this place. Thither the mother, with mournful and melancholy step, annually repaired to pay a tribute of respect to her departed offspring; while the weeping sisters and loud lamenting widows, joined the procession of grief; sometimes, in accordance with their own feelings, no doubt, but always in pursuance of an established custom of their nation, from time immemorial. On these occasions they carefully clear away every spear of gra.s.s or other vegetable, which they find growing near the grave, and make such repairs as may be thought necessary. They also carry to the grave some kind of food, which they leave there for the spirit of the deceased: and before they conclude these ceremonies, they often, in a very melancholy and lamenting mood, address the dead, enquiring how they fare, and who, or whether any one performs for them the kind offices of mother, sister or wife; together with many other enquiries which a frantic imagination may happen to suggest. This being one of the most important religious duties, is scrupulously observed by all the better cla.s.s of this people.”[4]

The whites who established themselves at this place, in violation of the laws of congress, and the provisions of the treaty of 1804, committed various aggressions upon the Indians, such as destroying their corn, killing their domestic animals, and whipping the women and children.

They carried with them, as articles of traffic, whiskey and other intoxicating liquors, and by distributing them in the tribe, made drunkenness and scenes of debauchery common. Black Hawk and the other chiefs of the band, remonstrated against these encroachments, and especially in regard to the introduction of spirituous liquors among their people: and, upon one occasion, when a white man continued, openly, to sell whiskey to them, the old chief, taking with him one or two companions, went to his house, rolled out the barrel of whiskey, broke in the head, and emptied its contents upon the ground, in presence of the owner. This was done, as he alleges, from the fear that some of the white persons would be killed by his people when in a state of intoxication. Thus things wore on until 1827. During that winter, while the Indians were making their periodical hunt, some of the whites, in the hope of expediting their removal to the west side of the Mississippi, set on fire, in one day, about forty of their lodges, a number of which were entirely consumed. When the Indians returned in the spring and demanded satisfaction for the destruction of their property, they were met by new insults and outrages.

In the summer of 1829, Black Hawk happened to meet, at Rock island, with the late governor Coles, of whom he had heard as a great chief of Illinois, in company with ”another chief” as he calls him--Judge Hall.

Having failed in his appeals to the Indian agents, for redress of the grievances of his people, he determined to apply to these two chiefs, on the subject, and accordingly waited upon them for that purpose.

He spoke of the indignity perpetrated upon himself, (his having been beaten with sticks by the whites,) with the feeling that a respectable person among us would have shown under such circ.u.mstances; and pointing to a black mark on his face, said that he wore it as a symbol of disgrace. The customs of his nation required, that he should avenge the wrong that he had received, but he chose rather to submit to it for the present than involve them in a war. And this was the only alternative, for if an Indian should kill, or even strike a white man, the aggression would be eagerly seized upon and exaggerated; the whole frontier population would rush to war, and the Indians would be hunted from their houses like wild beasts. He spoke of the intrusion upon their fields, the destruction of their growing corn, the ploughing up of the graves of their fathers, and the beating of their women; and added, ”we dare not resent any of these things. If we did, it would be said that the Indians were disturbing the white people, and troops would be sent out to destroy us.” We enquired, ”why do you not represent these things to our government?--the President is a wise and a good ruler, who would protect you.” ”Our great father is too far off, he cannot hear our voice.” ”But you could have letters written and sent to him.” ”So we could,” was his reply, ”but the white men would write letters, and say that we told lies. Our great father would not believe an Indian, in preference to his own children.”[5] Black Hawk in reference to this interview, says, ”Neither of them could do any thing for us; but both evidently appeared very sorry. It would give me great pleasure at all times, to take these two chiefs by the hand.”

Under the seventh article of the treaty made at St. Louis in 1804, it is provided that, ”as long as the lands which are now ceded to the United States remain their property, the Indians, belonging to the said tribes, shall enjoy the privilege of living and hunting upon them.” It was not until the year, 1829, that any part of the lands upon Rock river, were brought into market by the United States. It follows as a matter of course, that all the white settlers upon them prior to this period, were trespa.s.sers, being there in violation of the laws of Congress, and the provisions of the treaty. Although the frontier settlements of Illinois, had not approached within fifty or sixty miles of Rock river, and the lands for a still greater distance around it, had not been offered for sale, yet in this year, government was induced to make sale of a few quarter sections, at the mouth of Rock river, including the Sac village.

The reason for this uncalled for measure, is obvious--to evade the provisions of the foregoing treaty of cession, and create a pretext for the immediate removal of the Indians to the west side of the Mississippi.

In the spring of 1830, when Black Hawk and his band returned from their annual hunt, to occupy their lodges, and prepare as usual for raising their crop of vegetables, they found, that the land in and around their village, had been brought into market, and that their old friend, the trader at Rock Island had purchased a considerable part of it. Black Hawk, greatly disturbed at this new condition of things, appealed to the agent at that place, who informed him, that the lands having been sold by government to individuals, he and his party had no longer any _right_ to remain upon them. Black Hawk was still unwilling to a.s.sent to a removal, and in the course of the summer, he visited Malden to consult his British father on the subject, and returned by Detroit to see the great American chief, Governor Ca.s.s, residing there. Both of these persons told him that if the Indians had not sold their lands and would remain quietly upon them, they would not be disturbed. Black Hawk, acting upon the a.s.sumption that the land on which their village stood, never had been legally sold to the United States, returned home determined to keep possession of it. It was late in the fall when he arrived: his people had gone to their hunting grounds for the winter and he followed them. They made an unsuccessful hunt and the season pa.s.sed off in gloom. Keokuk again exerted his influence to induce them to desert Black Hawk and remove to the Ioway. Such, however, was their attachment to their favorite village, that the whole band returned to it in the spring of 1831. The agent at Rock island forthwith notified them that if they did not remove from the land, troops would be sent by the United States to drive them off. Black Hawk says, he had a conference, about this time, with the trader at Rock Island, who enquired of him, if some terms could not be made, upon which he and his party would agree to remove to the west side of the Mississippi. To this he replied, that if his great father would do justice to them and make the proposition, they would remove. He was asked by the trader, ”if the great chief at St. Louis would give six thousand dollars, to purchase provisions and other articles,” if he would give up peaceably and remove. To this he agreed. The trader accordingly sent a message to the agent at St. Louis, that Black Hawk, and his whole band, could be removed for the sum of six thousand dollars, but the answer was, that nothing would be given, and that if they did not remove immediately, an armed force would be sent to compel them.

The squaws had now planted their corn, and it was beginning to grow, when the whites again commenced ploughing it up. Black Hawk at last determined to put a stop to these aggressions upon his people, and accordingly gave notice to those who were perpetrating them, that they must remove, forthwith, from his village. In the mean time, after the return of the Indians, which took place in April, eight of the white settlers united in a memorial to the Executive of the state of Illinois, in which they set forth that the Sac Indians of Rock river had ”threatened to kill them; that they had acted in a most outrageous manner; threw down their fences, turned horses into their corn-fields, stole their potatoes, saying _the land was theirs and that they had not sold it_,--although said deponents had purchased the land of the United States' government: levelled deadly weapons at the citizens, and on some occasions hurt said citizens for attempting to prevent the destruction of their property,” &c. &c. The memorial concludes with the still more startling outrage, that the said Indians went ”to a house, rolled out a barrel of whiskey and destroyed it.” One of these eight afflicted memorialists, swore the other seven to the truth of their statements, and with an earnest prayer for immediate relief, it was placed before his Excellency, on the 19th of May.

This long catalogue of outrages, backed by other memorials, and divers rumors of border depredations, committed by ”General Black Hawk” and his ”British Band,” called into immediate action the patriotism and official power of the Governor. Under date of Bellville, May 26, 1831, he writes to the superintendent of Indian affairs, General William Clark, at St.