The Old Northwest: A Chronicle of the Ohio Valley and BeyondOgg, Frederic Austin
History
The Old Northwest: A Chronicle of the Ohio Valley and Beyond
Ogg, Frederic Austin
Northwest, Old -- History; Ohio River Valley -- History
Thus ended the war--a contest originating in no general uprising or
far-reaching plan, such as marked the rebellions instigated by Pontiac
and Tecumseh, but which none the less taxed the strength of the border
populations and opened a new chapter in the history of the remoter
northwestern territories. Black Hawk himself took refuge with the
Winnebagoes in the Dells of the Wisconsin, only to be treacherously
delivered over to General Street at Prairie du Chien. Under the terms of
a treaty of peace signed at Fort Armstrong (Rock Island) in September,
the fallen leader and some of his accomplices were held as hostages, and
during the ensuing winter they were kept at Jefferson Barracks (St.
Louis) under the surveillance of Jefferson Davis. In the spring of 1833
they were taken to Washington, where they had an interview with
President Jackson. "We did not expect to conquer the whites," Black Hawk
told the President; "they had too many houses, too many men. I took up
the hatchet, for my part, to revenge injuries which my people could no
longer endure. Had I borne them longer without striking, my people would
have said, 'Black Hawk is a woman--he is too old to be a chief--he is no
Sauk.'" After a brief imprisonment at Fortress Monroe, where Jefferson
Davis was himself confined at the close of the Civil War, the captives
were set free, and were taken to Philadelphia, New York, up the Hudson,
and finally back to the Rock River country.
For some years Black Hawk lived quietly on a small reservation near Des
Moines. In 1837 the peace-loving Keokuk took him with a party of Sauk
and Fox chiefs again to Washington, and on this trip he made a visit to
Boston. The officials of the city received the august warrior and his
companions in Faneuil Hall, and the Governor of the commonwealth paid
them similar honor at the State House. Some war-dances were performed on
the Common for the amusement of the populace, and afterwards the party
was taken to see a performance by Edwin Forrest at the Tremont Theatre.
Here all went well, except that at an exciting point in the play where
one of the characters fell dying the Indians burst out into a war-whoop,
to the considerable consternation of the women and children present.
A few months after returning to his Iowa home, Black Hawk, now
seventy-one years of age, was gathered to his fathers. He was buried
about half a mile from his cabin, in a sitting posture, his left hand
grasping a cane presented to him by Henry Clay, and at his side a supply
of food and tobacco sufficient to last him to the spirit land, supposed
to be three days' travel. "Rock River," he said in a speech at a Fourth
of July celebration shortly before his death, "was a beautiful country.
I liked my town, my cornfields, and the home of my people. I fought for
it. It is now yours. Keep it, as we did. It will produce you good
crops."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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