CHAPTER VI.

BLACK HAWK ENLISTS WITH THE BRITISH IN THE WAR OF 1812–DESERTS–FOSTER SON STORY–KEOKUK MADE CHIEF. It was not enough that British intrigue had maintained a reign of terror upon the frontier where the sturdy pioneer was slowly and painfully conquering a few roods of timberland to provide a home for his family. It was not enough that his life, the only protection of that family, should be daily menaced with ambush. British arrogance now menaced the nascent Republic by extending its infamous tactics to the high seas, bullying our infant commerce by exacting the right of search from feebly manned vessels and cruelly impressing into British service American seamen to fight their friends and relatives in case of war. On June 18, 1812, the declaration of war followed; then the fall of Mackinaw, July 17; the Fort Dearborn massacre, August 15, and, finally, the mortifying and distressing surrender of Hull on August 16th. These disasters opened wide the gates for British influence to promote war upon the feeble frontiersmen, with such allies as Black Hawk, and to him they were buds of mighty promise. The first act of the English trader, Robert Dickson, who had headquarters at Prairie du Chien, was to send La Gouthrie, the trader, by boat to Black Hawk’s village on Rock River with presents, money and ammunition for this Indian and his band of mercenaries who did his bidding. The Fort Madison affair followed, after which Black Hawk and 200 of his followers immediately went to Green Bay, Wisconsin, and joined the British expedition fitted out there, and where the commander made him a speech, dubbed him “General Black Hawk” and assigned him the responsible and distinguished position of Aid to the great Tecumseh.[20] In spite of these calamities, the pioneer hardened his heart, consigned his family to the nearest fort, then, molding his bullets, he shouldered his trusty rifle and marched with his brother settler to defend his country, as he had defended his fireside so often before. To have been assigned to the staff of Tecumseh should have exalted Black Hawk to deeds worthy his renowned superior, but his peevish nature and lack of capacity prevented a comprehension of his just duties. Colonel Dickson admonished him to honest warfare, which was so distasteful to Black Hawk that he wrote: “I told him (Col. Dickson) that I was very much disappointed, as I wanted to descend the Mississippi and make war upon the settlements.” This sentiment was, according to his own statement, promptly rebuked by Dickson, as Black Hawk himself recited: “He said he had been ordered to lay the country waste around St. Louis; that he had been a trader on the Mississippi many years; had always been kindly treated and could not consent to send brave men to murder women and children. That there were no soldiers there to fight, but where he was going to send us there were a number of soldiers, and if we defeated them the Mississippi country should be ours!” Here Black Hawk displays his besetting weakness–incapacity to comprehend the ethics of a cause or situation. Leaving Green Bay immediately, the troops marched past Chicago and without event joined the British forces at Detroit. His first experience in an open fight with the Americans caused surprise, as he stated: “The Americans fought well and drove us with considerable loss. I was surprised at this, as I had been told that the Americans could not fight.” He followed the British army until the conclusion of the Battle of the Thames, October 5th, 1813, with its disastrous consequences, when, in the face of defeat to his friends, he, with twenty of his braves, deserted in the night time for home, assigning for his reason: “I was now tired of being with them, our success being bad and having got no plunder.”[21] Not a patriotic declaration, to be sure! He arrived home in the spring of 1814, and instead of settling down to peaceful pursuits, endeavoring to make slight amends for his unjustifiable warfare against the Americans, whose country he then occupied, he began a long and bloody series of diabolical raids, inciting others to do the same, until the remotest settlement mourned its dead. In after years, when conquered, instead of expressing any contrition for his acts, he invented for his autobiography a sympathetic sort of story, but neither fact nor tradition comes to the rescue when it is analyzed. Black Hawk claimed that he had one friend bound closer to him than was usual, and in consideration of this unusual affinity he adopted the friend’s only son. When departing to join the British, Black Hawk urged the father to send the son to the war. To this proposition the father protested his declining years, the favor with which the whites had always treated him, the need of the boy’s assistance at home, and refused to allow him to leave. Returning from the war, Black Hawk said, as he was approaching his village he saw a column of smoke curling over a hilltop near by, which so excited his curiosity that he visited the spot alone (fortunate intuition). There he found his old friend sitting in sorrow upon the ground. Being revived by some water, the old man related to Black Hawk the story of the murder of his son near Fort Madison, whither they had gone to pass the winter and hunt under permission of the commandant. The story continues that the young man started one day, as usual, for a day’s hunting. At nightfall he had not returned and the father passed a sleepless night. The following morning the boy had not come back and the father sent the mother to rouse the neighborhood. (Why was she not then present to minister to him?) Footsteps upon the snow soon brought the party to the spot where the boy was found to have shot and skinned a deer and hung it upon a branch. Here tracks indicated the presence of white men who had come upon and taken him prisoner. Following their trail, the body of the boy was soon found, the face shot, the body pierced with dagger thrusts and the scalp removed, while his arms had been pinioned at his sides. As the old man related this story, a great storm rose which lasted for a long time, as though the heavens were angered at the offense and threatening revenge. The old man died, and as the storm subsided Black Hawk wrapped his blanket around the body, and, kindling a fire, sat by it during the night. Were this story true, the act were too dastard to find any explanation, but, as already stated, neither contemporaneous history nor tradition from the many who love to tell such tales confirms this weird invention. On the contrary, Fort Madison had been finally besieged by Indians during the preceding year (1813), the garrison starved to shadows, and only by stratagem were the officers and men enabled to escape, which was accomplished by digging a trench to the river, when, after firing the buildings, they descended the river in boats.[22] Therefore, if the winter just passed, which is the only inference deducible from Black Hawk’s account, was the winter referred to, the father and son got no permission from the commandant, because there was no fort remaining and no commandant, and, in view of the hostility of the Indians, no settlers remained about the locality, unprotected as they would have been. If by any juggling of dates the winter referred to had been the one of ’12-’13, the peaceful Indians had by their own request been removed far to the southwest, the garrison had just gone through the first long siege before mentioned and only escaped butchery by the plot which the Indian maiden had exposed. None but hostile Indians were about the fort, and if the young man was unknown and killed as related, he was certainly considered an enemy. If known as the adopted son of Black Hawk, then openly fighting the Americans, it was a fair presumption that he got no permission to hunt and was considered as taken red-handed. The community inside Fort Madison was in a serious mood those days and in no condition to receive Indians with rifles on advantageous terms. Black Hawk arrived at his village filled with indignation, as he has said. He was met by the chiefs and braves and conducted to the lodge prepared for him. After eating, he gave an account of himself and his travels, crediting the Americans with some valor and marksmanship. In turn, the village chief replied that with the absence of Black Hawk and his following, they would have been unable to defend themselves had the Americans attacked them. Not only had they been unmolested, but when Quash-qua-me, the Lance and other chiefs, with their old men, women and children, descended the Mississippi to St. Louis for protection, the Americans received them with every evidence of friendship, sent them up the Missouri River and there abundantly provided for them. Black Hawk found on his return that Keokuk, during his absence, had been made principal war chief of the Sac nation, which so enraged him that I am forced to believe his attack upon that chief, which followed, was unwarranted, though he magnanimously concluded his philippic with the statement that he was satisfied. Keokuk, chief of the Sacs, who was above Black Hawk in civil affairs, had, from reasons of polity or preference, maintained close and constant relations of friendship with the Americans and had prospered in the estimation of the latter. His rising fortune created friction from the first, then envy and finally implacable hatred on the part of Black Hawk, who found himself unable to combat the influence of Keokuk, either overtly or covertly, by reason of his incapacity. Instead of meeting Keokuk on terms as nearly equal as his intellect would permit, he invariably grew angry, allowed his baser nature to master him, and left the scene vowing vengeance on the victor. Had he been able to throw off his anger after a brief season, as many impulsive men can do, he might yet have accomplished much, but a yellow streak in his nature forbade it, and, I honestly believe, impelled the man onward to ruinous decisions in spite of himself. His melancholy made him churlish and revengeful, and consequently dissatisfied, unless punishing some real or imaginary wrong. British agents could not influence Keokuk, whose temper was naturally amiable and gentle, and, if one wishes to adopt Black Hawk’s sarcasm, politic, too. He favored peace always. In a sense he was luxurious for an Indian, fond of pomp, and those attributes might in a measure have superinduced his love of peace; but peaceful he was after the fire of youth had somewhat succumbed to the influence of the whites, and so he continued unto his dying day. His oratory was so perfect, his logic so convincing, his person so magnetic and his pleas so engaging, that poor Black Hawk made a sorry figure against him, and, after a few attempts, dared never again appeal to the reason of his people against the invincible Keokuk.[23] As an orator, Keokuk had no equal among the red men, and the influence it acquired for him so rankled in the heart of Black Hawk that the latter could never overcome his hatred of Keokuk. Even down to the very last speech he ever made, at Fort Madison, he could not repress an unfortunate fling at his rival; and too bad it was that he allowed his passion to sway him from a plain and simple talk upon past or present events. The words and sentiments of that little talk were truly beautiful and had reflected much credit had he resisted the temptation to speak ill of Keokuk. His life was then ebbing away, and had that offensive portion of his talk been omitted, very many of his evil acts could have been pardoned and forgotten. His melancholy and his temper were his undoing. ----- Footnote 1: Occasionally rendered in early life “Black Sparrow Hawk.” Footnote 2: His weight is commonly placed at 140 pounds. Footnote 3: This statement, written at the time, would seem to warrant the assertion by friends that Black Hawk’s old and disfigured “plug” hat was buried with him, instead of a military cap, as contended by a few claiming knowledge. Footnote 4: Much has been written of the perfection of Black Hawk’s head; so much that it may not be inappropriate to refer to an article to be found in the American Phrenological Journal for November, 1838, Vol. I, No. 2, page 51 et seq. On page 60: “We are much pleased with the following extract from the pen of the editor of the U.S. Literary Gazette, Philadelphia: ‘We found time yesterday to visit Black Hawk and the Indian chiefs at the Congress Hall Hotel. We went into their chamber, and found most of them sitting or lying on their beds. Black Hawk was sitting on a chair and apparently depressed in spirits. He is about sixty-five, of middling size, with a head that would excite the envy of a phrenologist–one of the finest that Heaven ever let fall on the shoulders of an Indian.’