ernment applied pressure on the Indians to
migrate. When the old chief refused, Gover-
nor John Reynolds called out the militia in
June 1831 to evict them by force. Bloodshed
was averted, however, when the Sac and Fox
tribe slipped quietly across the Mississippi
River into Iowa, enduring an uncomfortable
winter on the other side. Black Hawk had
come under the influence of White Cloud, a
Winnebago prophet who urged action against
the whites, and Black Hawk decided to re-
claim his ancestral home. On April 5, 1832, the
tribe, numbering 1,400 men, women, and chil-
dren, crossed back into Illinois for the stated
purpose of occupying Saukenuk. It was hoped
hostilities could be avoided.
Predictably, the Americans reacted by sum-
moning the troops of Gen. Henry Atkinson and
Col. Henry Dodge, who immediately marched
against them. The Indians, having received no
pledge of assistance from the neighboring Win-
nebago and Potawatomi tribes, decided the
odds were too steep and tried to surrender.
When two of their peace envoys were killed by
Illinois militia, the Battle of Stillman’s Run
erupted on May 12, 1832, and Black Hawk was
again victorious. The Indians then reached the
Mississippi River and prepared to cross. They
were in the act of building rafts when they
were attacked by the steamboat Warrior on
August 1, 1832. Again the Indians tried to signal
their surrender, but to no avail. After inflicting
considerable losses, the Warriorwithdrew be-
cause of a lack of fuel just as Atkinson’s col-
umn arrived. An intense battle ensued in which
150 Native Americans were slain and a like
number captured. Several survivors made their
way across to the western bank of the Missis-
sippi, where they were immediately attacked
by Sioux war parties. Black Hawk was eventu-
ally captured and taken east by Lt. Jefferson
Davisto meet with President Andrew Jackson.
After several months of confinement at Fort
Monroe, Virginia, he was released into the cus-
tody of his rival, Chief Keokuk.
Back in Iowa, Black Hawk dictated his
memoirs, a stinging indictment against white
injustice, to Indian agent Antonine LeClaire.
When published in 1833, they became a na-
tional best-seller. Black Hawk continued liv-
ing quietly for another five years and died in
Keokuk’s village on October 3, 1838. His de-
feat signaled the collapse of Native Ameri-
can resistance to white expansion east of the
Mississippi.Bibliography
Eckert, Allan W. Twilight of Empire: A Narrative.
Boston: Little, Brown, 1988; Hagen, William T. The
Sac-Fox Indians.Norman: University of Oklahoma
Press, 1958; Jackson, Donald, ed. Black Hawk (Ma-
ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak), an Autobiography. Ur-
bana: University of Illinois Press,1955; Nicholas,
Roger L. Black Hawk and the Warrior’s Path.Arling-
ton Heights, IL: H. Davidson, 1992; Stark, William F.
Along the Black Hawk Trail.Sheboygan, WI: Zim-
merman Press, 1984; Thayer, Crawford B., ed. Hunt-
ing a Shadow: The Search for Black Hawk.N.p.,
1981; Treadway, Sandra G. “Triumph in Defeat: Black
Hawk’s 1833 Visit to Virginia.”Virginia Cavalcade
35, no. 1 (1985): 4–17; Waters, Frank. Brave Are My
People: Indian Heroes Not Forgotten.Santa Fe:
Clear Light, 1993.BLACKHAWK