CHAPTER VI.
BLACK HAWK ENLISTS WITH THE BRITISH IN THE WAR OF 1812–DESERTS–FOSTER
SON STORY–KEOKUK MADE CHIEF.
It was not enough that British intrigue had maintained a reign of terror
upon the frontier where the sturdy pioneer was slowly and painfully
conquering a few roods of timberland to provide a home for his family.
It was not enough that his life, the only protection of that family,
should be daily menaced with ambush. British arrogance now menaced the
nascent Republic by extending its infamous tactics to the high seas,
bullying our infant commerce by exacting the right of search from feebly
manned vessels and cruelly impressing into British service American
seamen to fight their friends and relatives in case of war. On June 18,
1812, the declaration of war followed; then the fall of Mackinaw, July
17; the Fort Dearborn massacre, August 15, and, finally, the mortifying
and distressing surrender of Hull on August 16th.
These disasters opened wide the gates for British influence to promote
war upon the feeble frontiersmen, with such allies as Black Hawk, and to
him they were buds of mighty promise. The first act of the English
trader, Robert Dickson, who had headquarters at Prairie du Chien, was to
send La Gouthrie, the trader, by boat to Black Hawk’s village on Rock
River with presents, money and ammunition for this Indian and his band
of mercenaries who did his bidding. The Fort Madison affair followed,
after which Black Hawk and 200 of his followers immediately went to
Green Bay, Wisconsin, and joined the British expedition fitted out
there, and where the commander made him a speech, dubbed him “General
Black Hawk” and assigned him the responsible and distinguished position
of Aid to the great Tecumseh.[20]
In spite of these calamities, the pioneer hardened his heart, consigned
his family to the nearest fort, then, molding his bullets, he shouldered
his trusty rifle and marched with his brother settler to defend his
country, as he had defended his fireside so often before.
To have been assigned to the staff of Tecumseh should have exalted Black
Hawk to deeds worthy his renowned superior, but his peevish nature and
lack of capacity prevented a comprehension of his just duties. Colonel
Dickson admonished him to honest warfare, which was so distasteful to
Black Hawk that he wrote: “I told him (Col. Dickson) that I was very
much disappointed, as I wanted to descend the Mississippi and make war
upon the settlements.” This sentiment was, according to his own
statement, promptly rebuked by Dickson, as Black Hawk himself recited:
“He said he had been ordered to lay the country waste around St. Louis;
that he had been a trader on the Mississippi many years; had always been
kindly treated and could not consent to send brave men to murder women
and children. That there were no soldiers there to fight, but where he
was going to send us there were a number of soldiers, and if we defeated
them the Mississippi country should be ours!” Here Black Hawk displays
his besetting weakness–incapacity to comprehend the ethics of a cause or
situation.
Leaving Green Bay immediately, the troops marched past Chicago and
without event joined the British forces at Detroit. His first experience
in an open fight with the Americans caused surprise, as he stated: “The
Americans fought well and drove us with considerable loss. I was
surprised at this, as I had been told that the Americans could not
fight.” He followed the British army until the conclusion of the Battle
of the Thames, October 5th, 1813, with its disastrous consequences,
when, in the face of defeat to his friends, he, with twenty of his
braves, deserted in the night time for home, assigning for his reason:
“I was now tired of being with them, our success being bad and having
got no plunder.”[21] Not a patriotic declaration, to be sure! He arrived
home in the spring of 1814, and instead of settling down to peaceful
pursuits, endeavoring to make slight amends for his unjustifiable
warfare against the Americans, whose country he then occupied, he began
a long and bloody series of diabolical raids, inciting others to do the
same, until the remotest settlement mourned its dead.
In after years, when conquered, instead of expressing any contrition for
his acts, he invented for his autobiography a sympathetic sort of story,
but neither fact nor tradition comes to the rescue when it is analyzed.
Black Hawk claimed that he had one friend bound closer to him than was
usual, and in consideration of this unusual affinity he adopted the
friend’s only son. When departing to join the British, Black Hawk urged
the father to send the son to the war. To this proposition the father
protested his declining years, the favor with which the whites had
always treated him, the need of the boy’s assistance at home, and
refused to allow him to leave.
Returning from the war, Black Hawk said, as he was approaching his
village he saw a column of smoke curling over a hilltop near by, which
so excited his curiosity that he visited the spot alone (fortunate
intuition). There he found his old friend sitting in sorrow upon the
ground. Being revived by some water, the old man related to Black Hawk
the story of the murder of his son near Fort Madison, whither they had
gone to pass the winter and hunt under permission of the commandant. The
story continues that the young man started one day, as usual, for a
day’s hunting. At nightfall he had not returned and the father passed a
sleepless night. The following morning the boy had not come back and the
father sent the mother to rouse the neighborhood. (Why was she not then
present to minister to him?) Footsteps upon the snow soon brought the
party to the spot where the boy was found to have shot and skinned a
deer and hung it upon a branch. Here tracks indicated the presence of
white men who had come upon and taken him prisoner. Following their
trail, the body of the boy was soon found, the face shot, the body
pierced with dagger thrusts and the scalp removed, while his arms had
been pinioned at his sides. As the old man related this story, a great
storm rose which lasted for a long time, as though the heavens were
angered at the offense and threatening revenge. The old man died, and as
the storm subsided Black Hawk wrapped his blanket around the body, and,
kindling a fire, sat by it during the night. Were this story true, the
act were too dastard to find any explanation, but, as already stated,
neither contemporaneous history nor tradition from the many who love to
tell such tales confirms this weird invention. On the contrary, Fort
Madison had been finally besieged by Indians during the preceding year
(1813), the garrison starved to shadows, and only by stratagem were the
officers and men enabled to escape, which was accomplished by digging a
trench to the river, when, after firing the buildings, they descended
the river in boats.[22] Therefore, if the winter just passed, which is
the only inference deducible from Black Hawk’s account, was the winter
referred to, the father and son got no permission from the commandant,
because there was no fort remaining and no commandant, and, in view of
the hostility of the Indians, no settlers remained about the locality,
unprotected as they would have been. If by any juggling of dates the
winter referred to had been the one of ’12-’13, the peaceful Indians had
by their own request been removed far to the southwest, the garrison had
just gone through the first long siege before mentioned and only escaped
butchery by the plot which the Indian maiden had exposed.
None but hostile Indians were about the fort, and if the young man was
unknown and killed as related, he was certainly considered an enemy. If
known as the adopted son of Black Hawk, then openly fighting the
Americans, it was a fair presumption that he got no permission to hunt
and was considered as taken red-handed. The community inside Fort
Madison was in a serious mood those days and in no condition to receive
Indians with rifles on advantageous terms. Black Hawk arrived at his
village filled with indignation, as he has said. He was met by the
chiefs and braves and conducted to the lodge prepared for him. After
eating, he gave an account of himself and his travels, crediting the
Americans with some valor and marksmanship. In turn, the village chief
replied that with the absence of Black Hawk and his following, they
would have been unable to defend themselves had the Americans attacked
them. Not only had they been unmolested, but when Quash-qua-me, the
Lance and other chiefs, with their old men, women and children,
descended the Mississippi to St. Louis for protection, the Americans
received them with every evidence of friendship, sent them up the
Missouri River and there abundantly provided for them.
Black Hawk found on his return that Keokuk, during his absence, had been
made principal war chief of the Sac nation, which so enraged him that I
am forced to believe his attack upon that chief, which followed, was
unwarranted, though he magnanimously concluded his philippic with the
statement that he was satisfied.
Keokuk, chief of the Sacs, who was above Black Hawk in civil affairs,
had, from reasons of polity or preference, maintained close and constant
relations of friendship with the Americans and had prospered in the
estimation of the latter. His rising fortune created friction from the
first, then envy and finally implacable hatred on the part of Black
Hawk, who found himself unable to combat the influence of Keokuk, either
overtly or covertly, by reason of his incapacity. Instead of meeting
Keokuk on terms as nearly equal as his intellect would permit, he
invariably grew angry, allowed his baser nature to master him, and left
the scene vowing vengeance on the victor. Had he been able to throw off
his anger after a brief season, as many impulsive men can do, he might
yet have accomplished much, but a yellow streak in his nature forbade
it, and, I honestly believe, impelled the man onward to ruinous
decisions in spite of himself. His melancholy made him churlish and
revengeful, and consequently dissatisfied, unless punishing some real or
imaginary wrong.
British agents could not influence Keokuk, whose temper was naturally
amiable and gentle, and, if one wishes to adopt Black Hawk’s sarcasm,
politic, too. He favored peace always. In a sense he was luxurious for
an Indian, fond of pomp, and those attributes might in a measure have
superinduced his love of peace; but peaceful he was after the fire of
youth had somewhat succumbed to the influence of the whites, and so he
continued unto his dying day. His oratory was so perfect, his logic so
convincing, his person so magnetic and his pleas so engaging, that poor
Black Hawk made a sorry figure against him, and, after a few attempts,
dared never again appeal to the reason of his people against the
invincible Keokuk.[23] As an orator, Keokuk had no equal among the red
men, and the influence it acquired for him so rankled in the heart of
Black Hawk that the latter could never overcome his hatred of Keokuk.
Even down to the very last speech he ever made, at Fort Madison, he
could not repress an unfortunate fling at his rival; and too bad it was
that he allowed his passion to sway him from a plain and simple talk
upon past or present events. The words and sentiments of that little
talk were truly beautiful and had reflected much credit had he resisted
the temptation to speak ill of Keokuk. His life was then ebbing away,
and had that offensive portion of his talk been omitted, very many of
his evil acts could have been pardoned and forgotten. His melancholy and
his temper were his undoing.
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Footnote 1:
Occasionally rendered in early life “Black Sparrow Hawk.”
Footnote 2:
His weight is commonly placed at 140 pounds.
Footnote 3:
This statement, written at the time, would seem to warrant the
assertion by friends that Black Hawk’s old and disfigured “plug” hat
was buried with him, instead of a military cap, as contended by a few
claiming knowledge.
Footnote 4:
Much has been written of the perfection of Black Hawk’s head; so much
that it may not be inappropriate to refer to an article to be found in
the American Phrenological Journal for November, 1838, Vol. I, No. 2,
page 51 et seq. On page 60: “We are much pleased with the following
extract from the pen of the editor of the U.S. Literary Gazette,
Philadelphia: ‘We found time yesterday to visit Black Hawk and the
Indian chiefs at the Congress Hall Hotel. We went into their chamber,
and found most of them sitting or lying on their beds. Black Hawk was
sitting on a chair and apparently depressed in spirits. He is about
sixty-five, of middling size, with a head that would excite the envy
of a phrenologist–one of the finest that Heaven ever let fall on the
shoulders of an Indian.’
1. Amativeness, large. 20. Constructiveness, small.
2. Philoprogenitiveness, large. 21. Ideality, moderate.
3. Adhesiveness, large. 22. Imitation, small.
4. Inhabitiveness, large. 23. Mirthfulness, full.
5. Concentrativeness, large. 24. Individuality, very large.
6. Combativeness, very large. 25. Form, very large.
7. Destructiveness, very large. 26. Size, very large.
8. Alimentativeness, average. 27. Weight, large.
9. Acquisitiveness, large. 28. Color, large.
10. Secretiveness, very large. 29. Order, large.
11. Cautiousness, full. 30. Calculation, large.
12. Approbativeness, very large. 31. Locality, very large.
13. Self-esteem, very large. 32. Eventuality, very large.
14. Firmness, very large. 33. Time, uncertain.
15. Conscientiousness, moderate. 34. Tune, uncertain.
16. Hope, small. 35. Language, large.
17. Marvelousness, large. 36. Comparison, large.
18. Veneration, very large. 37. Causality, average.
19. Benevolence, moderate.
Measurements from his bust:
Circumference of the head, around 23 inches
philoprogenitiveness, secretiveness and
eventuality
From ear to ear, over firmness 14 6·8 ”
” ” veneration 14 6·8 ”
From the meatus auditoris to firmness 6½ ”
” ” veneration 6⅓ ”
” ” benevolence 6⅛ ”
” ” comparison 6⅛ ”
” ” individuality 5½ ”
” ” 5⅛ ”
philoprogenitiveness
” ” self-esteem 6⅝ ”
From destructiveness to destructiveness 6⅝ ”
From secretiveness to secretiveness 6⅝ ”
From combativeness to combativeness 5⅝ ”
From cautiousness to cautiousness 5⅞ ”
From ideality to ideality 5 ”
“These measurements are taken with callipers, from the bust of Black
Hawk, which was taken in plaster of Paris from the living head and
face, by the Messrs. Fowler, in 1837, at New York. As his head was
mostly shaved, they are probably as perfect and accurate, by making
allowance of about half an inch for integuments, as though measured
directly on the skull itself.”
Footnote 5:
That book was dictated by Black Hawk in 1833, interpreted by Antoine
Le Claire to J.B. Patterson, who wrote it down in English and assisted
materially in securing its publication the following year. Mr.
Patterson was a private in Captain Maughs’ company of Jo Daviess
County volunteers.
Footnote 6:
Reynolds, “My Own Times,” p. 320; Perkins and Peck, Annals of the
West; Hist. Des Moines Co., Iowa. Brown’s Hist. of Illinois, p. 377:
“Black Hawk compared with Philip of Pokanoket, Pontiac, Little Turtle
or Tecumseh, was but an ordinary man–inferior vastly to either. That
he was brave is probable. Mere bravery is but a common virtue in the
savage. That he was politic beyond others can scarcely be pretended.
He evinced no particular talents in any of his plans, nor did he
exhibit extraordinary skill in their accomplishment.”
Footnote 7:
Hist. of Des Moines County, p. 345.
Footnote 8:
Reynolds, “My Own Times;” Hist. of Des Moines County, p. 339.
Footnote 9:
Perkins and Peck, “Annals of the West,” p. 795, Ed. of 1850; Thwaite’s
“Story of Black Hawk;” Hist. of Des Moines County, Iowa; Fulton’s “Red
Men of Iowa,” and letters from Agents Forsythe and St. Vrain.
Footnote 10:
Drake.
Footnote 11:
Treaty concluded April 30, 1803.
Footnote 12:
The Illinois country, to which the two tribes finally emigrated, was
transferred by the French to the English crown in 1765. Thus Black
Hawk was born under British rule.
Footnote 13:
Brown’s Hist. of Illinois, p. 381, is emphatic on this point.
Footnote 14:
When the French discovered and took possession of Illinois, neither
the Sacs nor Foxes had any claim or existence on the tract of country
mentioned in this treaty. Am. State Papers, V, 689, 690, 663. Dawson’s
Life of Harrison, 59. Perkins and Peck, Annals of the West, 546.
Footnote 15:
“Public Statutes at Large,” ed. 1848, p. 31.
Footnote 16:
Dawson’s “Life of Harrison.” (William Henry.)
Footnote 17:
The exact number employed on this construction was one first
lieutenant. Alpha Kingsley; one second lieutenant, Nathaniel Pryor;
one surgeon’s mate, three sergeants, three corporals, two musicians
and sixty privates of Captain Pinckney’s company of the First
Infantry.–Annals of Iowa, Vol. 3, No. 2. p. 103.
Footnote 18:
Reynolds, “My Own Times.”
Footnote 19:
Maj. John Beach, agent of Sacs and Foxes, substantiated the story.
Fulton and in Hist. Lee Co., Iowa, p. 358.
Footnote 20:
In 1811, there being a strong probability of war, a deputation of Sacs
and Foxes, said to have included Quash-qua-me, visited Washington to
tender the services of their tribes to the President; but the members
of it were thanked and requested to remain neutral and they returned.
Again in 1812, after war had been declared, the same tribes sent
deputations to the American agent at St. Louis, renewing their offer
of services to fight the British, but again they were urged to remain
neutral, which most of them did.
Footnote 21:
Black Hawk fought at the Battle of Frenchtown, January 22, 1813, and
participated in the massacre of the 23d which followed. He was also at
Ft. Meigs, April 28, 1813; Ft. Stephenson, July 31, and finally the
Battle of the Thames. October 5, 1813.
Footnote 22:
Fulton, p. 76. The Annals of Iowa.
Footnote 23:
Their final contest was in April, 1832.
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