Omaha daily bee., 1896-12-13

| ldgCS, IL appears that the tribes occupying
the land In what is now Illinois, Iowa and
| Wisconsin had been constantly at war with
| each other.
| EXCEEDINGLY ATTRACTIVE.
The island OF Rock Island was favorte
! resort for the young people OF the tribes.
! II was there they had their games and
| dances, They felt that they had found tho
most beautiful and desirable spot they had
| ever seen, and determined never to leave II.
| After their harvest had been secured and
the hunters had returned laden with tho
| spoils OF the chase they gave themselves up
| TO their tavoritc amuscmCnts. They raised
! corn, beans, squashcs aud other vegetables
| aud cached for winter use. deep hole
| was dug in the ground. the vegetables were
! placed therein and covered with earth and
! bark. Frequently the contents OF the cache
were stolen by their enemies by piercing tho
| ground with their spears
Black Hawk was 80 years old when the
| first American appeared. The Americans
had taken possession Of the country about
! St Louis The news OF this filled the
| tribes with apprehension, for, as Black
! Hawk natvely says: I'VE had always bad
accounts OF the Americans who lived near
! the Indians"
Tho tribes frequently visited st. Louis to
! see a person in authority whom he calls
"our Spanish father" who always treated
them well and gave them provisions.
As this account is taken from Black
]
the Spanish father" referred to. Suisse
! quently he refers to Our American father
at St Louis.
The possessions OF the Sacs and Foxes
! extended as far as Peoria, and thence to
| strike the OuiSconSin river eighty miles
! from its mouth down the river to the Mis-
| ssslppi. They owned also the whole OF
| Iowa. Colonel Davenport, who was an Eng
lish trader with the Indians, says: AS
| nearly as l could ascertain these tribes came
10 Afs,V,s Il
| They were governed by two sets of chiefs
| civil and war chiefs. The civil chiefs set
| tied troubles between tribes. Black Hawk
| and Keokuk were prominent war chiefs.
Black Hawk was determined to stay In
| his village notwithstanding all the land had
| been ceded to the government of the United
| States by the treaty OF 1904. But as the
| whites were coming in great numbers. see
| ing the beauty and desirahlencss OF this
| land so fair and so fertile, they were con-
| tinually encroaching upon the domain or
| the Indians. 1t will be remembered that
| there was a clause in the treaty which al
| lowed the tribes to remain In their homes
as long as the land was in the possession
OF the government; but as the white people
came they settled where they pleased, plow-
| ing up the fields which the Indians had
! planted and appropriatinG the land to their
| own uses
II was determined to remove the Indians.
hut BLACK Hawk. profoundly impressed with
| the lnJuSllCG OF Tue WHITES, utltlullHtl W
await the arrival of the soldiers. which had
| been threatened with their great war
chief" Accordingly. when this parsonage ar
| rived, a great council was held Black Hawk
and his chiefs listened to the speech made
| by General Gaines. "the war chief warning
| them that they had been repeatedly told to
| leave the country and go west of the Missis-
| sippl Black Hawk replied:
| I'VE have never sold our country; we have
never received any annuities from our
American father and determined to
hold on to our village" The war chief
angrly exclaimed:
"Who is Black Hawk Who is Black
| IIawk?" He replied:
II am a Sac My forefather was a Sac!
All the nations call me Sac!" This savage
nobleman of the forest thought this was
enough, but was told that the general neither
came to beg nor hire them to leave their
village.
81 will remove you peaceaby II | can:
forcibly II must! will give you two days
In which to remove" said the general. The
council broke up in confusion.
The daughter OF an old chief was sent to
the fort to ask that her people could remain
long enough to gather their crops in the
fields and another deputation was sent with
the same request, but 1t was denied.
Then a steamboat was anchored near them
full of soldiers The Indians crossed tho
river in the night. To compensate them for
their crops corn was promised them, which,
however, was entirely inadequate to their
being deprived OF the vegetables and in the
night n party OF braves went across the
river to secure vegetables from the fields
which they had planted. The whites had no
regard for flag of truce, frequently shoot
ing down the bearer.
The war which terminated with the battle
of Bad AK in 1882 was then at an end after
great reduction of the warriors of Black
Hawks band. The American forces were In
command of General Scott.
1t has been said that Black Hawks mar
rative is somewhat apocryphal, but | think
1t is in the main true. II is a very sad
story Antoine lie Claire, TO whom II was
dictated, was a respectable citizen of Daven-
port, held in equal esteem by whites and
Indians. In his affidavit appended to tho
narrative he says:
I'm accordance with Black Hawks request
| acted as his interpreter. / was particu-
larly cautious to understand the narrative
throughout, and have no hesitation in pro-
nouncing 1t true in every particular"
Black Hawks dedication OF the work to
his captor, Captain Atkinson is pathetic and
a translation is here given. He was a prls-
oner at Jefferson Barracks, and at the time
was 81 years old He says to General Atlin-
son:
"Sir! The changes of fortune have made
you my cOnqueror. The story OF my life is
intimately connected with a part OF the
history of your own. ! have, therefore, ded-
icated 1t to you. Before / set out on my
journey to the land of my fathers l have
determined to give my motives and reasons
for my former hostilities to the whites, and
to vindicate my character from misrepre-
sentation. ! am now an obscure member OF
a nation that formerly honored and respected
my opinions May you never experience tho
humility that the power of the American
government has reduced me to, is the wish
OF him who in his native forests was once
as proud and bold as yourself. Black Hawk.
tenth moon, 1888"
This sketch is not a history Of the war,
but more of a character sketch That innate
nobility and religious feeling OF the Sac as
a nation is eXemplifed by an incident which
occurred in 1S41. 1t is told In the souvenirs
of the Prince de Joinville, when he made the
descent of the Mississippi. The territory OF
Iowa, which belonged to the Sacs and Foxes,
was in dispute between the whites and the
Indians The work says:
"a party OF Indians came on board at st.
Louis. They were on their way TO Washing
ton to lay their grievances before the presI-
dent They had the most rosolute and i'm
pressIye countenances, and behaved with the
greatest dignity, never showing any excite
ment except when we passed the confluence
of the Mississippi with the Missouri river.
There was a splendid sunset The Indians
assembled in the stern OF the boat and re-
peated a kind OF invocation prayer, 1t was
a perfect picture"
rbo bietnrv NJ tho WronPs inflicted on