When, on August 27th, Black Hawk was brought a prisoner before General Street, he is reported to have addressed the latter as follows:[247] “My warriors fell around me. It began to look dismal. I saw my evil day at hand. The sun rose clear on us in the morning; at night it sunk in a dark cloud, and looked like a ball of fire. This was the last sun that shone on Black Hawk. He is now a prisoner to the white man, but he can stand the torture. He is not afraid of death. He is no coward. Black Hawk is an Indian. He has done nothing of which an Indian need be ashamed. He has fought the battles of his country against the white man, who came year after year to cheat his people and take away their lands. You know the cause of our making war. It is known to all white men. They ought to be ashamed of it. The white men despise the Indians and drive them from their homes. But the Indians are not deceitful. Indians do not steal. Black Hawk is satisfied. He will go to the world of spirits contented. He has done his duty. His father will meet and reward him. The white men do not scalp the heads, but they do worse–they poison the heart. It is not pure with them. His countrymen will not be scalped, but they will in a few years become like the white man, so that you cannot hurt them; and there must be, as in the white settlements, as many officers as men to take care of them and keep them in order. Farewell to my nation! Farewell to Black Hawk!” Black Hawk and his fellow prisoners were placed aboard the steamboat to be delivered to General Scott at Fort Armstrong, where treaties were to have been negotiated at once with the Sacs and Foxes and Winnebagoes. Soured at his restraint he sought, in a speech at Galena, to shift his guilt to the shoulders of Keokuk, as has been reported in the Galenian of September 5th, 1832: “Black Hawk this morning desired to speak to General Street. The amount of what he said was: That he was not the originator of the war. He was now going where he would meet Keokuk and then he would tell the truth. He would tell all about this war which had caused so much trouble. There were chiefs and braves of his nation who were the cause of the continuance of the war. He did not wish to hold any council with him. He only wanted to tell him that when he got where Keokuk was, he would tell the whole of the origin of the differences and those who continued them. He wanted to surrender long ago; but others refused. He wanted to surrender to the steamboat Warrior, and tried to do so till the second fire. He then ran and went up the river and never returned to the battleground. His determination then was to escape if he could. He did not intend to surrender after that; but when the Winnebagoes came upon him, he gave up–and he would tell all about the disturbances when he got to Rock Island.”