The Black Hawk War Including a Review of Black Hawk's Life
where it arrived the following day. There the party remained until
the 25th, when it resumed its western journey, reaching Buffalo on
the 28th. In that city the members remained three days, where, among
other people who came to call on Black Hawk, was Kar-lun-da-wa-na, a
chief of the Senecas, who made an address, counseling Black Hawk and
his companions to return home and remain in peace. To this Black
Hawk replied:
“Our aged brother of the Senecas has spoken the words of a good
and wise man. We are strangers to each other, though we have the
same color, and the same Great Spirit made us all and gave us this
country together. Brothers, we have seen how great a people the
whites are. They are very rich and very strong. It is folly for us
to fight against them. We shall go home with much knowledge. For
myself, I shall advise my people to be quiet and live like good
men. The advice which you gave us, brother, is very good, and we
tell you how we mean to walk the straight path in future, to
content ourselves with what we have, and with cultivating our
lands.”
From Buffalo the party embarked by water for Detroit, after which it
proceeded to Green Bay, thence up the Fox and down the Wisconsin
River to the Mississippi, on to Fort Armstrong, which was reached
about the 1st of August, and which had been chosen as the spot for
the final liberation of Black Hawk. Upon landing, messengers were
sent to notify the Sacs and Foxes to assemble and meet the returned
captives. In response came Keokuk, Pash-e-pa-ho, Wapello and others,
Keokuk leading a convoy of canoes floating the American flag and
landing opposite Black Hawk’s quarters. After several hours spent in
arranging their dress and other preliminaries, they all returned to
their canoes, and, with shouts and songs and drums, crossed over to
the island. There, with Keokuk at the head, each Indian cordially
greeted Black Hawk and his companions. After smoking the pipe of
peace, they then returned to the west bank of the river to await the
grand council set for the following day, when Black Hawk was to be
taken home.
About 10 o’clock of the following morning Keokuk, with about 100 of
his followers, crossed over to Fort Armstrong, where a room had been
especially prepared to receive him, and here Black Hawk was escorted
to a seat opposite Keokuk. The occasion was one of deep humiliation
to Black Hawk, and his appearance indicated as much. Major Garland
opened the council with a speech, referring to the good feeling
manifested by all toward Black Hawk. This was followed by reading
the speech made by the President to Black Hawk in Baltimore, to
which Keokuk, as the future custodian of Black Hawk’s conduct, rose
and replied:
“I have listened to the talk of our great father. It is true we
pledged our honor for the liberties of our friends. We thought
much of it; our councils were long. Their wives and children were
in our thoughts. When we talked of them our hearts were full.
Their wives and children came to see us, which made us feel like
women; but we were men. The words which we sent to the great
father were good. He spoke like the father of children. The Great
Spirit made his heart big in council. We receive our brothers in
friendship. Our hearts are good towards them. They once listened
to bad counsel; now their ears are closed. I give my hand to them.
When they shake it, they shake the hands of all. I will shake
hands with them, and then I am done.”
Major Garland then stated that he wished it distinctly understood
that their great father would hereafter acknowledge Keokuk as the
principal chief of the Sac and Fox nation, and that he wished Black
Hawk to listen and conform to his counsels. This remark was
construed by Black Hawk to mean that he _must_ conform to the
counsels of Keokuk, and at once his bad blood arose; all his old
animosities mastered him, and in his impulsive way he cried:
“I am a man, an old man. I will not conform to the counsels of
anyone. I will act for myself; no one shall govern me. I am old;
my hair is gray. I once gave counsel to my young men. Am I to
conform to others? I shall soon go to the Great Spirit, where I
shall be at rest. What I said to our great father at Washington, I
say again. I will always listen to him. I am done.”
His resentful, passionate nature stubbornly refused, as it always
had refused before, to acknowledge any standard of conduct except
such as emanated from his own limited capacities. He flew into a
rage, no doubt expecting to combat this inexorable decree as he had
opposed every former American institution, by quibbling or fighting,
but at that supreme moment of helplessness, more than at any
previous time in his life, his incapacity to comprehend and act was
manifested, and had it not been for the soothing gentleness of
Keokuk, who realized his old enemy’s helplessness and his
weaknesses, the question of liberty might have been deferred for an
indefinite period. After the excitement of Black Hawk’s speech had
subsided, Keokuk stepped to the side of his gloomy old foe, and in a
low voice said to him: “Why do you speak so before the white men? I
will speak for you. You trembled; you did not mean what you said.”
Without changing his sullen looks, though recognizing his deplorable
mistake, he nodded assent, and Keokuk again addressed the council,
as follows:
“Our brother who has again come to us has spoken, but he spoke in
wrath. His tongue was forked; he spoke not like a man or a Sac. He
knew his words were bad. He trembled like the oak whose roots have
been wasted away by many rains. He is old. What he said let us
forget. He says he did not mean it. He wishes it forgotten. I have
spoken for him. What I have said are his own words, not mine. Let
us say he spoke in council to-day–that his words were good. I have
spoken.”
Keokuk’s kind apology, followed by speeches from Col. William
Davenport, then in command of Fort Armstrong, Wapello and
Pash-e-pa-ho, lulled him back into a full realization of his
helplessness, and again rising, he deliberately said:
“I feel that I am an old man. Once I could speak; now I have but
little to say. To-day we met many of our brothers. We were glad to
see them. I have listened to what my brothers have said; their
hearts are good; they have been like Sacs since I left them; they
have taken care of my wife and children, who had no wigwam. I
thank them for it; the Great Spirit knows that I thank them.
“Before the sun gets behind the hills to-morrow I shall see them.
When I left them, I expected soon to return. I told our great
father in Washington that I would listen to the counsel of Keokuk.
I shall soon be far away; I shall have no village, no band. I
shall live alone. What I said in council to-day I wish forgotten.
If it has been put upon paper, I wish a mark to be drawn over it.
I did not mean it. Now, we are alone, let us say we will forget
it. Say to our great father and Governor Cass that I will listen
to them. Many years ago I met Governor Cass in council, far across
the prairies, to the rising sun. His counsels were good, but my
ears were closed. I listened to the great father across the
waters. My father listened to him, whose band was very large. My
band, too, was once large. Now I have no band. I and my son, and
all the party, thank our great father for what he has done. He is
old and I am old. We shall soon go to the Great Spirit, where we
shall rest. He sent us through his great villages. We saw many of
the white men, who treated us with kindness, and we thank them. We
thank you and Mr. Sprague for coming with us. Your road was long
and crooked. We never saw so many white men before. When you were
with us we felt as though we had some friends among them. We felt
safe, for you knew them all. When you come upon the Mississippi
again you shall come to my wigwam. I have none now. On your road
home you will pass where my village was. No one lives there now.
All are gone. I give you my hand. We may never meet again, but I
shall long remember you. The Great Spirit will be with you, and
your wives and children. Before the sun rises I shall go to my
family. My son will be here to see you before we go. I will shake
hands with my brothers here, and then I am done.”
After Keokuk’s apology and Black Hawk’s same, Wapello arose (chief
of the Foxes) and said:
“I am not in the habit of talking. I think–I have been thinking
all day. Keokuk has spoken. Am glad to see my brothers. I will
shake hands with them. I am done.”[274]
The chiefs all arose, a general shaking of hands, followed by an
interchange of civilities, ensued, and the council adjourned. In the
evening Major Garland invited the principal chiefs, together with
Black Hawk, to his quarters, as it would afford a good opportunity
to ascertain explicitly the feeling which existed among them toward
their fallen foe. About 7 o’clock they arrived. They took their
seats in silence, passed the pipe of peace and then drank a round of
champagne. Pashepaho first shook hands with all present and said:
“We met this morning. I am glad to meet again. That wine is very
good. I never drank any before. I have thought much of our meeting
to-day. It was one that told us we were brothers–that we were
Sacs. We had just returned from a buffalo hunt. We thought it was
time for our brothers to be here, as our father at St. Louis told
us this was the moon. We started before the rising sun to meet
you. We have met and taken our brothers by the hand in friendship.
They always mistrusted our counsels, and went from the trail of
the red men, where there were no hunting grounds nor friends. They
returned and found the dogs howling around their wigwams, and
wives looking for their husbands and children. They said we
counseled like women; but they have found our counsels were good.
They have been through the country of our great father. They have
been to the wigwams of the white men. They received them in
kindness and made glad their hearts. We thank them. Say to them
that Keokuk and Pashepaho thank them. Our brother has promised to
listen to the counsels of Keokuk. What he said in council to-day
was like the Mississippi fog. The sun has shone and the day is
clear. Let us forget it. He did not mean it. His heart is good,
but his ears have been open to bad counsels. He has taken our
great father by the hand, whose words are good. He listened to
them, and has closed his ears to the voice that comes across the
great waters. He now knows that he ought to listen to Keokuk. He
counseled with us and our young braves, who listened to his talk.
We told our great father that all would be peace. He opened his
dark prison, and let him see the sun once more and gave him to his
wife and children, who were without a lodge. Our great father made
straight his path to his home. I once took the great chief of the
Osages prisoner. I heard the cries of his women and children. I
took him out by the rising sun and put him upon the trail to his
village. ‘There,’ said I, ‘is the trail to your village. Go and
tell your people that I, Pashepaho, the chief of the Sacs, sent
you.’ We thank our great father. Our hearts are good towards him.
I will see him before I lay down in peace. May the Great Spirit be
in his councils. What our brother said to-day let us forget. I am
done.”
Keokuk, after going through the usual ceremonies, followed, saying:
“We feel proud that you have invited us here this evening to drink
a glass with you. The wine which we have drank, we never tasted