Great Indian Chief of the West; Or, Life and Adventures of Black HawkDrake, Benjamin
History
Great Indian Chief of the West; Or, Life and Adventures of Black Hawk
Drake, Benjamin
Black Hawk War, 1832; Black Hawk, Sauk chief, 1767-1838; Fox Indians -- History; Keokuk, Sauk chief, 1780?-1848; Sauk Indians -- History
At this period, 1805, according to Lieutenant Pike, the total number of
souls in the Sauk nation was 2850, of whom 1400 were children, seven
hundred and fifty women, and seven hundred warriors. They resided in
their villages and had about seven hundred stand of arms. Their trade
was principally in deer skins, with some bear and a few otter, beaver
and raccoon skins. The total number of the Foxes was 1750, of whom eight
hundred and fifty were children, five hundred women and four hundred
warriors, with about four hundred stand of arms. Their number of
villages and their trade being the same with the Sauks.
Some further items of information about these tribes may be gleaned from
the statistical view of the Indian nations furnished by Lewis and
Clark's Expedition. It is there stated that the Saukee, or O-sau-kee,
speak a primitive language, dwell principally in two villages, have
about five hundred warriors and 2000 souls in the tribe, were at war
with the Osage, Chippeway and Sioux. The Foxes or Ot-tar-gar-me, in the
Saukee language, number not more than 1200 souls, and about three
hundred warriors. These nations, the Sauks and Foxes, says Mr. Lewis,
are so perfectly consolidated that they may in fact be considered as one
nation only: "they are extremely friendly to the whites and seldom
injure their traders; but they are the most implacable enemies to the
Indian nations with whom they are at war; to them is justly attributed
the almost entire destruction of the Missouries, the Illinois, the
Cahokias, Kaskaskias, and Peorias."
In 1825, the Secretary at War, estimated the entire number of Sacs and
Foxes at 4,600 souls, and in 1826, the warriors were supposed to amount
to between twelve and fourteen hundred. Supposing these estimates to
approximate the truth, it appears that during the twenty years between
1805 and 1825, these tribes had increased very considerably in numbers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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