Black Hawk War

Black Hawk War (1832).This conflict was the last armed resistance in the Midwest to cause federal removal of the eastern Indians beyond the Mississippi River. It resulted from a disputed 1804 treaty signed by a few Sauks unauthorized to take such action. Though the tribe disavowed the treaty, federal officials acted upon it, opening lands in Illinois for settlement.

The conflict began in April 1832, encouraged by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader, when nearly 2,000 Sauks and Mesquakies crossed the Mississippi River, moving into Illinois. That brought about the mobilization of the state militia and the movement of the U.S. Sixth Infantry, commanded by Col. Henry Atkinson, from Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, north into Illinois. There the troops pursued the migrating Indians up the Rock River Valley. On 14 May 1832, militiamen under Col. Isaiah Stillman attacked Indians trying to parley, triggering the actual combat. For much of the summer the troops hunted for the fleeing Indians as they moved north into Wisconsin and west toward the Mississippi. On 2 August, Atkinson's force overtook their exhausted quarry at the mouth of the Bad Axe River, killing or capturing most of the Indians.

Fighting that summer consisted of frequent small‐scale raids by groups of warriors and pursuit by the militiamen. The campaign demonstrated the need for mounted troops in similar campaigns, and led to the establishment of the dragoons a few years later. The war persuaded other tribes that they must move west or face destruction.
[See also Native American Wars: Wars Between Native Americans and Europeans and Euro‐Americans.]

Bibliography

Roger L. Nichols , General Henry Atkinson: A Western Military Career, 1965.
Roger L. Nichols , Black Hawk and the Warrior's Path, 1992.

Roger L. Nichols