Mahkatêwe-meshi-kêhkêhkwa, known in English as Black Hawk ( – October 3, 1838), was a Sauk leader and warrior who lived in what is now the Midwestern United States. Although he had inherited an important historic sacred bundle from his father, he was not a hereditary civil chief. Black Hawk earned his status as a war chief or captain by his actions: leading raiding and war parties as a young man and then a band of Sauk warriors during the Black Hawk War of 1832.
During the War of 1812, Black Hawk fought on the side of the British against the US in the hope of pushing white American settlers away from Sauk territory. Later, he led a band of Sauk and Meskwaki warriors, known as the British Band, against white settlers in Illinois and present-day Wisconsin during the 1832 Black Hawk War. After the war, he was captured by US forces and taken to the Eastern US, where he and other war leaders were taken on a tour of several cities.
Shortly before being released from custody, Black Hawk told his story to an interpreter. Aided also by a newspaper reporter, he published Autobiography of Ma-Ka-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak, or Black Hawk, Embracing the Traditions of his Nation... in 1833. The first Native American autobiography to be published in the US, his book became an immediate bestseller and has gone through several editions. Black Hawk died in 1838, at age 70 or 71, in what became southeastern Iowa. He has been honored by an enduring legacy: his book, many eponyms, and other tributes.
Early life Black Hawk, or Black Sparrow Hawk (Sauk: Mahkatêwe-meshi-kêhkêhkwa, "be a large black hawk"),Bright, William (2004). Native American Place Names of the United States, Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, p. 66. was born in about 1767 in the village of Saukenuk on the Rock River (present-day Rock Island, Illinois). Black Hawk's father Pyesa was the tribal medicine man of the Sauk people.
Little is known about Black Hawk's youth. He was said to be a descendant of Nanamakee (Thunder), a Sauk chief who, according to tradition, met an early French explorer, possibly Samuel de Champlain.Roger L. Nichols, Black Hawk and the Warrior's Path (Arlington Heights, Illinois: Harlan Davidson, 1992; ). At about age 15, Black Hawk distinguished himself by wounding an enemy and was placed in the ranks of the braves. Shortly after this Black Hawk accompanied his father Pyesa on a raid against the Osage. He won approval by killing and scalping his first enemy. The young Black Hawk tried to establish himself as a war captain by leading other raids. He had limited success until, at about age 19, he led 200 men in a battle against the Osage, in which he personally killed five men and one woman. Soon after, he joined his father in a raid against Cherokee along the Meramec River in Missouri. After Pyesa died from wounds received in the battle, Black Hawk inherited the Sauk sacred bundle which his father had carried, giving him an important role in the tribe.
War leader After an extended period of mourning for his father, Black Hawk resumed leading raiding parties over the next years, usually targeting the traditional enemy, the Osage. Black Hawk did not belong to a clan that provided the Sauk with hereditary civil leaders, or "chiefs". He achieved status through his exploits as a warrior and by leading successful raiding parties. Men like Black Hawk are sometimes called "war chiefs", but historian Patrick Jung writes, "It is more accurate to call them 'war leaders' since the nature of their office and the power that it wielded was much different from that of a civil chief."Jung, 55. Twenty-first-century historians such as John W. Hall have suggested the term "war captain" for this role.See for example John W. Hall, Uncommon Defense: Indian Allies in the Black Hawk War (Harvard University Press, 2009), p. 2.
War of 1812
During the War of 1812, Black Hawk, then 45, served as a war leader of a Sauk band at their village of Saukenuk, which fielded about 200 warriors. He supported the invalidity of Quashquame's Treaty of St. Louis (1804) between the Sauk and Meskwaki nations and then-governor William Henry Harrison of the Indiana Territory that ceded territory, including Saukenuk, to the United States. The Sauk and Meskwaki are consensus-based decision makers and those representatives sent to the meeting with the US government did not have the power to cede tribal territory, although Quashquame did. The lack of the consensus aspect by each of the Sauk and Meskwaki councils meant that the treaty could never be considered valid by Black Hawk and other traditionalists. Black Hawk took part in skirmishes against US forces at the newly constructed Fort Madison in the disputed land; this was the first time he fought directly against the U.S. Army.
During the War of 1812, the forces of Great Britain and its colonies in present-day Canada were engaged against those of the U.S., with major battles on the Great Lakes and surrounding remote lands. The British depended upon alliances with the Native American population to wage war in this area since the British were occupied with Napoleon in Europe. Robert Dickson, a Scottish fur trader, amassed a sizable force of Native Americans at Green Bay to assist the British in operations around the Great Lakes. Most were from the Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk, Kickapoo, and Ottawa tribes. Black Hawk and his band of about 200 Sauk warriors were included in this group of allies.
Dickson commissioned Black Hawk at the rank of brevet brigadier general,Smith, William Rudolph. The History of Wisconsin: In Three Parts, Historical, Documentary, and Descriptive, ( Internet Archive), B. Brown: 1854, pp. 221–406. Retrieved September 20, 2007. with command over all native allies at Green Bay, and presented him with a silk flag, a medal, and a written certificate of good behavior and alliance with the British. The war leader preserved the certificate for 20 years; it was found by U.S. forces after the Battle of Bad Axe, along with a flag similar in description to that which Dickson gave to Black Hawk.
During the war, Black Hawk and Native warriors fought in several engagements alongside Major-General Henry Procter on the borders of Lake Erie. Black Hawk was at the Battle of Frenchtown, Fort Meigs, and the attack on Fort Stephenson.Trask, Kerry A. Black Hawk: The Battle for the Heart of America, (Google Books), Henry Holt: 2006, p. 109, 308, (), pp. 220-221. Retrieved October 26, 2007.Lewis, James. "The Black Hawk War of 1832: FAQ ". Abraham Lincoln Digitization Project, Northern Illinois University. Retrieved October 26, 2007. The United States Army was able to inflict a significant defeat on Tecumseh's Confederacy by killing Tecumseh during the war.
Black Hawk despaired over the many killed in the fighting; soon after, he quit the war to return home. Back in Saukenuk, he found that his rival, Keokuk, had become the tribe's war chief. Black Hawk rejoined the British effort toward the end of the war, fighting alongside British forces in campaigns along the Mississippi River near the Illinois Territory. At the Battle of Credit Island, and by harassing U.S. troops at Fort Johnson, Black Hawk helped the British to push the Americans out of the upper Mississippi River valley.
Black Hawk fought in the Battle of the Sink Hole (May 1815), leading an ambush on a group of Missouri Rangers. Conflicting accounts of the action were given by the Missouri leader John Shaw and by Black Hawk.
After the end of the War of 1812, Black Hawk signed a peace treaty in May 1816 that re-affirmed the treaty of 1804. Later he said he was not aware of this stipulation.Lewis, James. ""Background: The Black Hawk War of 1832" . Abraham Lincoln Digitization Project, Northern Illinois University. Retrieved September 20, 2007.
Black Hawk War
As a consequence of the 1804 treaty, the American government believed that the Sauk and Meskwaki tribes had ceded their lands in Illinois and in 1828 were moved west of the Mississippi River. Black Hawk and other tribal members disputed the treaty, as noted above, and said leaders had signed it without full tribal authorization. Angered by the loss of his birthplace, between 1830 and 1831 Black Hawk led a number of incursions across the Mississippi to Illinois. He was persuaded to return west each time without bloodshed.
In April 1832, encouraged by promises of alliance with other tribes and with Britain, he moved his so-called "British Band" of more than 1500 people, both warriors and non-combatants, into Illinois.Lewis, James. "The Black Hawk War of 1832 ," Abraham Lincoln Digitization Project, Northern Illinois University. Retrieved August 1, 2007. Finding no allies, he tried to return to Iowa, but the undisciplined Illinois militia provoked open attack at the Battle of Stillman's Run."May 14: Black Hawk's Victory at the Battle of Stillman's Run ," Historic Diaries: The Black Hawk War, Wisconsin State Historical Society. Retrieved August 6, 2007. A number of other violent engagements followed. The governors of Michigan Territory and Illinois mobilized their militias to hunt down Black Hawk's Band. These actions led to the last Native American War fought on the east side of the Mississippi River."’I Am a Sauk... I Am a Warrior’ ." Black Hawk State Historic Site. Black Hawk Park & Foundation. Web. September 26, 2014. The conflict became known as the Black Hawk War.
When Black Hawk entered Illinois in April, his British Band was composed of about 500 warriors and 1,000 old men, women, and children.Harmet, "Apple River Fort," p. 13.Lewis, James. "Introduction ," The Black Hawk War of 1832, Abraham Lincoln Digitization Project, Northern Illinois University. Retrieved September 20, 2007. The group included members of the Sauk, Meskwaki and Kickapoo tribes. They crossed the river near the mouth of the Iowa River and followed the Rock River northeast. Along the way, they passed the ruins of Saukenuk and headed for the village of Ho-Chunk prophet White Cloud.Lewis, "Introduction."
As the war progressed, factions of other tribes joined, or tried to join Black Hawk. Other Native Americans and settlers carried out acts of violence for personal reasons amidst the chaos of the war.""May 21, Indian Creek, Ill.: Abduction of the Hall Sisters" , Historic Diaries: The Black Hawk War, Wisconsin State Historical Society. Retrieved 20 September 2007.Matile, Roger. "The Black Hawk War: Massacre at Indian Creek ," Ledger-Sentinel (Oswego, Illinois), May 31, 2007, Retrieved September 20, 2007 In one example, a band of hostile Ho-Chunk intent on joining Black Hawk's Band attacked and killed the party of Felix St. Vrain in what Americans knew as the St. Vrain massacre. This act was an exception as most Ho-Chunk sided with the U.S. during the Black Hawk War; the warriors who attacked St. Vrain's party had acted independently of the Ho-Chunk nation.""The Killing of Felix St. Vrain" , Historic Diaries: Black Hawk War, Wisconsin Historical Society, Retrieved September 20, 2007 From April to August, Potawatomi warriors also joined with Black Hawk's Band.