“Near the mound mentioned, the Iowas had their racecourse, where they were frequently wont to resort to engage in the amusement of horse-racing. Unfortunately for them, this day they had selected for their sports. Unconscious of the proximity of a lurking foe, they repaired to the racing ground, leaving most of their arms in the village with the old men, women and children, unprotected. The Sacs and Foxes, under the leadership of their wily old chief, Pash-e-pa-ho, perceived their advantage. He directed his subordinate in command, Black Hawk, with a band of young warriors to file off through the tall grass and avail themselves of the cover of the timber along the river bank, to reach the village with the utmost speed and there commence the battle. This movement was successfully executed, while Pash-e-pa-ho with his division made a simultaneous assault from their ambush upon the unarmed Iowas, who were engaged in their amusements at the racecourse. Black Hawk, with his warriors at the village, poured a furious volley upon the defenseless inhabitants, completing the slaughter with tomahawk and scalping knife. The unarmed Iowas at the racecourse attempted to reach the village, two miles distant, but most of them were slain in their flight by Pash-e-pa-ho’s warriors. The survivors reached their village only to find it in flames and to behold their slaughtered friends in the midst of the devouring element. So great was the advantage of their assailants that the Iowas could make but a feeble resistance. Their enemies, however, accorded to them the credit of making a brave but hopeless resistance and of yielding only because of the advantage their enemies had taken. The Iowas asked a parley and submitted their fate to the will of their conquerors. For a time they lived in the country as an integral part of the Sac and Fox nation. This condition of a conquered people they felt to be a galling one, and they complained of the tyranny of the Sacs and Foxes.” ----- Footnote 46: Flagler’s Rock Island Arsenal, p. 15. Footnote 47: Auto., p. 70. Footnote 48: Journal of Maj. Thomas Forsythe, the Indian agent, who called June 24, 1819, at Black Hawk’s village to pay the installment due, as all previous ones had been paid. Vol. 6, Wis. Hist. So. Colls., p. 191. Footnote 49: Morse’s Report to Secretary War, pp. 139, 377, etc. Footnote 50: Morse’s Report, p. 59. Footnote 51: Beltrami’s Pilgrimage, Vol. 2, p. 165. Footnote 52: A circumstance demanding notice. Footnote 53: If he had behaved himself as advised, there had been no Black Hawk campaigns in 1831-2 and no occasion for this history. The admonition contains more food for thought than four volumes of comment could supply. ----- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER XI.