Black Hawk

Black Hawk (1767?–1838), Illinois Sauk war leader.Born in the village of Saukenuk at the confluence of the Rock and Mississippi Rivers in western Illinois, Black Hawk was respected within Sauk society for his bravery and his conservative views. Though not a chief, he offered leadership for a sizable part of the tribe. Bitterly anti‐American, Black Hawk during the War of 1812 led many Sauks in fighting for the British in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. In Black Hawk's absence, the defense of Saukenuk fell to young Keokuk, who became the recognized war chief, setting off a bitter rivalry between the two men. With the return of peace, white settlers poured into the Sauks' fertile homeland. After repeated minor clashes, the government in 1831 forcibly moved the Sauks beyond the Mississippi into Iowa.

Determined to return to Illinois, Black Hawk in April 1832 led dissident Sauks, Mesquakies, and Kickapoos back across the Mississippi, setting off the short‐lived Black Hawk War. He soon recognized that his cause was hopeless, but when his peace emissary was murdered, he renewed the attack and moved into present‐day Wisconsin. The conflict ended in the virtual annihilation of Black Hawk's four hundred warriors and their families as they tried to recross the Mississippi. After touring in the East and dictating his autobiography, Black Hawk died in Iowa in 1838. His career illustrates the difficulties eastern and midwestern tribes confronted as the United States expanded. Whether they tried diplomacy or warfare, the results were the same: They lost their homelands and were forced to move west.
See also Expansionism; Indian History and Culture: From 1800 to 1900.

Bibliography

Donald Jackson, ed., Black Hawk: An Autobiography, 1955.
Roger L. Nichols , Black Hawk and the Warrior's Path, 1992.

Roger L. Nichols