Makataimeshekiakiak, from Sauk makatawi-mishi-kaka, “Big Black
Chest,” a reference to the black sparrow hawk, was a Sauk chief who was
born in 1767 near present-day Rock Island, in northwest Illinois. His father
was Pyesa (or Paisa), a Sauk leader. Famed as a warrior from the age of
15, when he took his first scalp, Black Hawk led early expeditions against the
Cherokee and Osage tribes.
In 1804 the
Sauk and Fox chiefs ceded all of their lands east of the Mississippi River (about
50,000,000 acres) to the United States for a guaranteed permanent annuity of
$1,000 per year. Black Hawk and others repudiated this agreement, saying
that the chiefs did not have proper tribal authority; he also charged that William
Henry Harrison, the chief negotiator, had seen to it that the chiefs became so
intoxicated that they did not realize what they were signing.
In the War
of 1812, Black Hawk quickly joined the British side, hoping for Canadian support;
while his tribal rival Keokuk remained neutral. Briefly discouraged by
his defeats in the War of 1812, Black Hawk then signed the Treaty of 1816 which
ratified the sale of Sauk lands, and White settlers began to move in promptly. Keokuk,
recognizing the inevitable, moved his own band west of the Mississippi River,
but Black Hawk and his followers refused to join them.
As did Tecumseh,
Pontiac, and others before him, Black Hawk envisioned a vast confederation of
Indian tribes that would be strong enough to withstand the Whites. In an
effort to unite the tribes he sent emissaries to all neighboring tribes of the
region, and particularly sought the alliance of the Winnebago, Kickapoo, and
Potawatomi people; he also tried to involve the British in Canada.
In 1831, when
American settlers began to plow up the Sauk lands, Black Hawk urged defiance. Accordingly,
the governor of Illinois promptly called out the militia, and the Indians were
forced to retreat west of the Mississippi River. In 1832, Black Hawk returned
with an estimated 2,000 followers, including at least 500 warriors. He
sent envoys under a flag of truce to confer with General Henry Atkinson who led
the federal troops which had been summoned. Fearful of treachery, the Illinois
regulars shot most of the envoys—and thus brought on the Black Hawk War.
The Indians
were initially successful in defeating the federal troops and devastating the
frontier settlements. They suffered heavy losses, however, and when help
from other tribes was not forthcoming, Black Hawk retreated north through the
Rock River Valley, where he sustained a major defeat on July 21. With the
survivors, he attempted to cross the Mississippi River at the mouth of the Bad
Axe River in Wisconsin, on August 2. Cut off by the steamer Warrior and
pursued by Atkinson’s men on land, most of the Indians were slaughtered,
drowned, or captured. Black Hawk himself escaped, but subsequently was
captured and turned over to the Whites by two Winnebago. He was imprisoned
in St. Louis, Missouri and as punishment the Indians were forced to cede their
lands in Iowa under the euphemism of “The Black Hawk Purchase” of
September 21, 1832.
In 1833, he
was freed from prison, and accompanied by Keokuk, was taken east to meet President
Andrew Jackson in Washington, after which he toured a number of cities where
he was an object of much curiosity; his bearing aroused considerable admiration
and sympathy. In that same year he dictated The Autobiography of Black
Hawk, which remains a classic statement of Indian life and White confrontation. He
died near Iowaville, on the Des Moines River in Iowa on October 3, 1838 at the
age of 71. He married once, to Asshewequa (Singing Bird), and had three
children: a daughter Nauasia (or Namequa) known to Whites as Nancy; and
two sons, Nasheakusk and Nasomsee, known as Tom Black Hawk.
Source: Great North American Indians by Frederick J. Duckstander
NATIVE
AMERICAN RHYMES 
