About this book

The Black Hawk War Including a Review of Black Hawk's Life

Frank Everett Stevens

before. It is the wine which the white men make, who know how to make anything. I will take another glass, as I have much to say. We feel proud that we can drink such wine. To-day we shook hands with our brothers, who you brought to us. We were glad to see them. We have often thought of our brothers. Many of our nation said they would never return. Their wives and children often came to our wigwams, which made us feel sad. What Pashepaho has said is true. I talked to our young men, who had the hearts of men. I told them that the Great Spirit was in our councils. They promised to live in peace. Those who listened to bad counsels, and followed our brothers, have said their ears are closed. They will live in peace. I sent their words to our great father, whose ears were open, whose heart was made sad by the conduct of our brothers. He has sent them to their wigwams. We thank him. Say to him, Keokuk thanks him. Our brothers have seen the great villages of the white men. They traveled a long road and found the Americans like grass. I will tell our young men to listen to what they shall tell them. Many years ago I went through the villages of our great father. He had many. They were like the great prairies; but he has gone. Another is our father. He is a great war chief. I want to see him. I shall be proud to take him by the hand. I have heard much of him. His head is gray. I must see him. Tell him as soon as the snow is off the prairie, I shall come. What I have said I wish spoken to him, before it is put upon paper, so that he shall hear it as I have said it. Tell him that Keokuk spoke it. What our brother said in council to-day, let us forget. He told me to speak. I spoke his words. I have spoken.” Early next morning Black Hawk went to his family and the Sacs hailed his return with great joy. Though shorn of power, no allusions were made to his new conditions; everywhere his old friends, who never before sympathized with him, now exercised every effort to make his declining years pleasant. He settled quietly down and for some time made his home near Keokuk’s village, on Iowa River.[275] ----- Footnote 274: Drake, 223. Footnote 275: Fulton’s “Red Men of Iowa,” 212 _et seq._ ----- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER XXXIX. SECOND TRIP EAST–A QUIET LIFE–JULY FOURTH TOAST AT FORT MADISON–INTERVIEW WITH IOWAS–DEATH–BURIAL–HIS GRAVE ROBBED–BONES RECOVERED–CONSUMED BY FIRE–DEATH OF MADAM BLACK HAWK. In 1837 it became necessary for a delegation of Sacs and Foxes to go to Washington. Keokuk, who was at its head, prudently took Black Hawk along, fearing perhaps that during his absence he might create some new disturbance.[276] Knowing that he was neither a delegate nor chief, he remained indifferent to the attention given him while traveling through the various cities of the East, and little can be said of his trip. After his return, in the autumn of 1837, Black Hawk and his family spent the winter in Lee County, Iowa, residing on a small stream known as Devil’s Creek. His family then consisted of his wife, As-shaw-e-qua (Singing Bird[277]), two sons, Nes-se-as-kuk and Na-som-see, and his daughter, Nam-equa. It is related that a young man from Baltimore, who met Namequa, became charmed with her comely appearance, and, with continued acquaintance, became desperately in love with her. The young lady received his advances with favor and a wedding was among the immediate possibilities at Fort Madison. All arguments by friends failed to dissuade the young gentleman from marrying the maid. He was coaxed, bantered and threatened, but nothing would affect him in the least until one more resourceful than his other friends asked how he would enjoy such comments from his Baltimore friends as, “There goes –– and his squaw.” That possibility settled the affair against the young lady, who became thereby another victim of the white man’s fickleness, but contrary to the usual trend in matters of that character, Nam-e-qua indifferently dropped the subject and later married a young Indian of her tribe, living happily thereafter, probably more happily than she ever could have lived with the impulsive young white. In the spring of 1838 Black Hawk and his family removed to the vicinity of the chiefs of the Sacs and Foxes, on the Des Moines River, near Iowaville, the site of the famous battle where the Sacs annihilated the tribe of Iowas many years before. Here he had a comfortable cabin, furnished in humble imitation of the white settler’s on the frontier. As the whites moved into the country he formed their acquaintance and mingled very largely in their pleasures and pastimes with hearty good-will. He occasionally imbibed too freely of liquor and made himself as merry or ridiculous as the white man under the same condition, but it must be said in his favor that when found indulging in spirits it was at the invitation of his white brother.[278] His usually morose disposition gradually underwent a radical change, for he was frequently found receiving the chaff of the whites in a spirit of the utmost jollity and to the very best of his ability giving it back again, which, considering the few English words he could master, was said to have been remarkable. This feature of “mixing,” which he cultivated, had much to do with bringing to him during the last years of his life the general verdict that he was a martyr and a person of ability far above his actual worth. His travels and the universal interest taken in him during them led others to seek his acquaintance and to place him in all sorts of conspicuous attitudes, comical and otherwise. The following, kindly furnished me by Prof. B.F. Shambaugh of the University of Iowa, is a fine illustration of that phase of Black Hawk’s amusement. “TO GENERAL ‘BLACK HAWK.’”[279] “Sir:–As there is at present a vacant seat in the council chamber, which certainly ought to be filled by some talented and influential person, and as you seem to be the theme of men, women and children in this place, and your political character well known and established, I would, in common with many others of my fellow-citizens, beg, with great deference, to bring you upon the carpet, by nominating you as a suitable person, worthy of our elective franchise, to fill the vacancy in question, conscious as I am that, once elected and seated beyond the threshold of the Council chamber, there to be installed as one of the councilors, in all the privileges and honors connected with that station, that your voice and vote shall not be found wanting when any question or cause is in agitation involving the rights of the people. Your inherent spirit of independence is well known to this community; also that your political views and principles are honorable, and that you have no earthly connection with that obnoxious and diabolical phalanx who would fain exclude (as they have recently attempted to do) the people from a voice in the management of the territorial affairs. Methinks your system would be more liberal. I doubt not but the grand and noble feature of your legislative acts will be recognized in the unerring vigilance to protect the liberties and rights of the citizens of this young and mighty republic, and that you will guard against speculative innovation, which, unfortunately, in this our day, sways men’s best judgments. “As you are fully alive to the present depressed and truly deplorable state of our commercial affairs, which, if some relief more than the stay of action upon executions for twelve months is not immediately devised, will most assuredly prostrate and render our young and enterprising merchants of this territory bankrupts, and thus, alas! pave the way to ruin, and bring into active operation the machinery of the debtor laws, with their ruinous and demolishing consequences. “It need hardly be observed that, upon installation in office, your actions will be public, so that they need not blush at daylight; besides, as you know, privacy is generally hateful, and is indeed more worthy and characteristic of nocturnal clubs than that of legislative assemblies, and thereby give every facility of watching and judging the whole course of your official career for your own exoneration and the satisfaction of your constituents. You will, in all cases, particularly in the passage of bills, laying off county lines and seats of justice, faithfully obey the people’s instructions and correspond with them timorously; in short, be entirely, as far as consistent, guided by petitions from the people, and by so doing you will, in a great measure, get rid of responsibility which otherwise you might not, and if your acts do not turn out so favorable as have been anticipated, they (your constituents) cannot, and will not, justly charge you with dereliction of duty. Let it not be heard said of you, as of some others, that you legislate for your own and that of your friends’ private interests, but for the general good of the country. “In conclusion, I beg you to be very guarded how and in what manner you vote, not voting for the cause one day, and the next day jump about from ‘post to pillar,’ like jumping ‘Jim Crow,’ and vote differently. These hints may be of some service to you. Indeed, were it not that I have special interest in your welfare, I should be the last individual in this community to advise you in any shape or form. I have the honor to be, with due respect, “ONE OF THE PEOPLE. “Burlington, Dec. 9, 1837.” Black Hawk’s constant mingling with the whites taught him another familiar characteristic; one more likely than any other to get him into difficulty–that of borrowing money. From Louisiana, Mo., I was furnished with the copy of one of his financial engagements, presented herewith, and for which I am under obligations to Mrs. Fannie Anderson of Louisiana, Mo. Thus in a tranquil, careless way Black Hawk was passing the remainder of his days, without responsibilities and with the hearty good will and esteem of every person who knew him. An old “plug” hat was his passion; he so dearly loved it that some contend it was placed upon his head when he was buried. In this and similar eccentric adornments he one day rode into Fort Madison, by special invitation, to attend a Fourth of July banquet, and it must be said that it was a sorry day in his declining years in which he allowed the whites to inveigle him into a speech. While his animosity toward Keokuk was as bitter as ever, he had latterly learned to curb it with discretion. Among the toasts for that occasion was one to which he was asked to respond: “Our Illustrious Guest, Black Hawk–May his declining years be as calm and serene as his previous life has been boisterous and full of warlike incidents. His attachment and present friendship to his white brethren fully entitle him to a seat at our festive board.” After the sentiment was explained to him by an interpreter, he responded as follows, his words being taken down by two interpreters: “It has pleased the Great Spirit that I am here to-day. I have eaten with my white friends. The earth is our mother; we are now on it, with the Great Spirit above us. It is good. I hope we are all friends here. A few summers ago I was fighting against you. I did wrong, perhaps, but that is past. It is buried; let it be forgotten. Rock River was a beautiful country. I loved my towns,