The Black Hawk War Including a Review of Black Hawk's Life
the Black Hawk village,[85] and this fact may have caused the impression
by some of the Indians, designedly or otherwise, that the treaty of 1804
contained the same stipulation.
By Article 10 “all the tribes aforesaid acknowledge the general
controlling power of the United States, and disclaim all dependence upon
and connection with any other power.”
Evidently the pact relating to peace between the Sioux and Sacs and
Foxes had been avoided or disputed by one or both the subscribing
parties, for on July 15th, 1830, at Prairie du Chien, it became
necessary to call another council and make another treaty whereby the
Sacs and Foxes ceded to the United States a strip of country twenty
miles in width, lying south of the line established by the treaty of
August 19, 1825, and extending along on the south side of said line from
the Mississippi to the Des Moines. In the same treaty the Sioux ceded to
the United States a like strip twenty miles wide, extending along the
north side of said line from the Mississippi to the Des Moines. This
forty-mile strip was known as the “Neutral Ground,” into which the
tribes on either side of the line were allowed to enter and hunt and
fish unmolested.
Unmindful of these treaties, however, we find a war party of Sacs and
Foxes, in 1831, near the headwaters of Blue Earth River, pouncing upon
some unoffending Sioux and murdering two of them in cold blood,[86] as
will be seen by the following:
“Indian Agency, St. Peters,
“August 8, 1831.
“General:–What I have always feared and what has been predicted by me,
in the most decided form, has recently taken place. The Sac or Fox
Indians, about forty, invaded the Sioux territory on or about the 25th
of last month (July). These were _mounted men_, who penetrated the
country as far as Cintajah, or the Grey Tail, near the headwaters of
the Terre Blue River, which is a tributary of the St. Peter’s, and
contiguous to this post. _There is no mistake; the Sac Indians have
killed_ two of the most respectable men of the Wahpakoota Sioux, at
the time and place above stated, and this, too, at least _sixty miles
from the ceded territory_, as concluded upon at the treaty of July,
1830, at Prairie du Chien. The Wahpakootas ask for immediate redress,
and I beg leave to assure you that the sooner their _just_
expectations in this important matter be met, the better for _me_ and
for this country. I mean after what was promised by the Government,
through the commissioners, at the treaty of 1830, in presence of the
assembled tribes. The Sacs lost one man in their attack upon the
Sioux, who were in sight of their encampment at the time.
“I have written to Col. Morgan, or officer commanding the troops at
Prairie du Chien, a copy of which letter is herewith enclosed. I have
not gone much into detail, as the matter in question does not admit of
delay. The _traders_ must lose $20,000 worth of credits already given
for the country in possession of the Wahpakootas, if the present
difficulty be not very speedily adjusted. I have the honor to be, with
the highest respect, sir, your obedient servant,
“LAW. TALIAFERRO,
“Indian Agent, St. Peters.
“GENERAL WILLIAM CLARK,
“Superintendent of Indian Affairs.”
“Indian Agency, St. Peters, August 12, 1831.
“General:–I declined sending off my express on the 8th inst.,
understanding that one of the Wahpakoota chiefs would be here in a day
or two. Tah-sau-gah-now, the principal chief, reached this place last
night, and confirms the statement made to you on the 8th as to the
attack of the Sac Indians upon his people. He desires me to say to
you, that in a few days you may expect to hear of a number more of his
people losing their scalps, as there was considerable firing heard in
the direction of the camp of the second chief, from whom he had
separated but the day previous. The Sacs scalped the two Sioux, after
which their bodies, together with the Sac killed in the conflict, were
buried by the Wahpakootas. The chief wishes me to state further to
you, that it is his intention, at my earnest request, to remain quiet
until the first of October, when, if the Government settles the
difficulty as declared at the treaty of Prairie du Chien, his people
will be satisfied; otherwise, they will, with all their force, carry
the war into the Sac country to protect themselves. He also states
that he has a heart, and it is hard for him to see his people shot
down like the buffalo on the lands acknowledged by all nations to
belong to them. I have the honor to be, with high respect, sir, your
obedient servant,
“LAW. TALIAFERRO,
“Indian Agent, St. Peters.
“GENERAL WILLIAM CLARK,
“Superintendent of Indian Affairs at St. Louis.”
Notwithstanding the promise to wait, this unprovoked attack aroused
other bands of the Sioux, who lost no time avenging the act in the
following manner: A band of the Foxes living near the Dubuque mines had
made an engagement to meet the agent at Prairie du Chien. Learning of
this contemplated visit, one John Marsh informed the Sioux of the time
and place thereof. Between midnight and the morning of the day fixed for
the approach of the Foxes, a band of Sioux, which had been joined by a
few young Menominees, passed down the river some twelve or fifteen miles
below Prairie du Chien, where a thick growth of bushes afforded ample
opportunity for an ambush. The channel there was narrow, with less
current than a broader, and was the one always selected by Indians for
voyaging upon the river. Kettle, the Fox chief, was leading his party up
the channel in person, when, passing the point of bushes there, the
Sioux and Menominees opened fire, killing Kettle and several of his
followers. The frightened Foxes fled to their Dubuque village, while the
Sioux and Menominees returned home to dance over the event.
No action was taken against them by the authorities, for the reason,
perhaps, that the act was retaliatory, _lex talionis_ being the law of
the Indian, treaty or no treaty.[87]
Black Hawk, after his fiasco of 1831, had retired to the west side of
the Mississippi. He had agreed to remain tranquil; his people had been
provided with enough to maintain a provident band through the ensuing
winter, but no sooner had the soldiers dispersed than he began fomenting
trouble, and trying, as he had tried in 1831, to form a confederacy to
fight the whites. War parties of various sizes were soon on foot to stir
up trouble with those Indians then known to be on good terms with the
whites, as will be set forth in the correspondence which I have seen fit
to copy in full rather than make extracts.
“Cantonment Leavenworth, July 29, 1831.
“Sir:–Last night two young men of the Ioway tribe arrived at this post
on express for the purpose of informing me that about 120 Sacs from
the Mississippi, in three different war parties, were on the way up
the Mississippi in search of the Ottoes, Omahas or Sioux. I
immediately sent off a runner to apprise all the Indians above this,
and put them on their guard. One of these parties passed the Ioway
village, proceeded on, and crossed the Missouri at the Black Snake
Hills, and are now on this side somewhere above this place. Four men
of this last party turned back from the Ioway village and bore off
with them two horses belonging to one of our citizens in Clay county.
I understand the whites have pursued them.
“On the 21st instant, 32 Sacs from Rock River passed this point on
their way to the Osage towns. They were accompanied by two Osages, one
of whom called himself the son of Clament. I think it highly probable
that these Rock River Sacs will give us much trouble in this quarter.
I have the honor, etc.,
“JOHN DOUGHERTY,
“Indian Agent.
“To GEN. WM. CLARK,
Supt. Indian Affairs.”
On July 30th, 1831, a band of Menominees, having business with the agent
at Prairie du Chien, was assembled on an island almost under the guns of
the fort. Menominees loved whisky, and these Indians drank themselves
socially full, carrying their revels far into the night, when further
drinking put them entirely _hors de combat_. About two hours before
daylight of the 31st a war party of Sacs and Foxes, which had been
watching the debauch, fell upon the helpless Menominees, killed
twenty-five of them outright and wounded others. A few, less confused by
liquor, roused themselves and pursued the Sacs and Foxes a short
distance without doing more damage than wounding a few. The women,
fearing possible harm to each other, had hidden all the firearms to be
found, thus leaving the Menominees doubly insecure.
The Sacs and Foxes fled direct to Black Hawk’s camp, and about that
individual secreted themselves beyond discovery.
Those Menominees, while lovers of whisky, were pronounced by Hon. James
H. Lockwood, who was present at Prairie du Chien at the time, and who
was intimately acquainted with Menominee character, to be, with
surprisingly few exceptions, a quiet, peaceable race, Tomah, the then
acting chief, occupying in Menominee annals a high character for ability
and exemplary enterprises.
“United States Indian Agency,
At Prairie du Chien, August 1, 1831.
“Sir:–One year had scarcely elapsed after the sealing of the treaty of
1830 at this place, before one of the parties has broken its solemn
engagements, and dyed the scene of the ratification in the blood of
those Indians whom they took by the hand in the presence of their
great father’s commissioners.
“Two or three hours before day, on the morning of the 31st July, a
party consisting of 80 or 100 Sacs and Foxes surprised a Menominee
camp, three or four hundred paces above old Fort Crawford, on the east
side of the Mississippi, and killed twenty-five of the latter, and
wounded many who may probably recover. There were about thirty or
forty Menominees, men, women and children, in the camp, most of whom
were drunk, and the women had hidden their guns and knives, to prevent
their hurting each other. The Sacs and Foxes, though so greatly
superior in numbers, and attacking by surprise a drunken and unarmed
encampment, lost several men who were seen to fall in the onset, and
retreated in less than ten minutes, with only a few scalps, pursued by
four or five Menominees, who fired on them until they were half a mile
below the village. I received information, and was on the ground in an
hour and a half after the murders were committed. The butchery was
horrid, and the view can only be imagined by those acquainted with
savage warfare.
“At seven o’clock a.m., I addressed the letter marked ‘A’ to the
officer commanding at Fort Crawford, giving him the first intimation
of the massacre, and received in answer his letter of this date,
marked ‘B’. Lieut. Lamotte, stationed on the west bank of the
Mississippi, two miles below Prairie du Chien, saw the Indians pass up
about 9 o’clock p.m. the night the murders were committed and again
saw them descend with great rapidity at daylight the next morning.
An express was dispatched by the commanding officer here to Rock
Island at two o’clock on the day of the murders; but no other steps to