The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1932-04-15

~ O. WHICH the United states was ever en-
kk 4 gagged" This the conflict which
Eoh has place in our history schoolbooks
R as the Black Hawk war" but which
scarcely deserves the dignity of that
~ title except that it was a between
two irreconcilable points of view-that of the
American frontiersman and that of the Ameri-
can Indian. From the Indian point Of view,
Chief Black Hawk was patriot, fighting bravely
in defense of his ancestral home; from the
frontiersman's point of view, he was only an
other savage and bloOdthirsty redskin" who
had TO be gotten rid Of to make way for the
advance of civilization"
Comparatively insignificant in terms of num-
bers engaged, battles fought and duration, the
Black Hawk war Of 1882 survives in the memory
of most Americans principally because of the
later prominence of some of the men who
fought in it Two Of them became Presidents
of the United States one was a Presidential
candidate one was President of the Confed-
crate States Of America, and the others
varying distinction senator's governors and
military leaders in the Mexican and Civil wars.
The Black Hawk war also had historic sig
nifcance as the last stand of the red man
against the white east of the Mississippi When
Black Hawk failed, it meant that all Of the
lands in the old Northwest Territory
open TO what settlement and development with
out the ever-present threat of Indian hostility to
halt them
The leading figure in this now dimly-remem-
bered war was Ma-ka-tai me-she-k -kiak. or
Black Hawk, a chief of the Sank and Fox In
dams, of whom Keokuk, Watchful Fox. was
the head chief. By the Treaty Of November 3,
1904, made at St. Louis the Sank and Fox
agreed to surrender all of their lands east of the
Mississippi. But it not until the close of
the War of 1872, when wave of migration be-
gan to pour into illinois, that the United States
DIV olo fha Iop1 whit = had
qured from the Indians. Keokuk and the ma
jority of his tribe bowed to the inevitable and
moved across the Mississippi TO new home in
Iowa. But Black Hawk, who had been dis
ciple Of Tecumseh, the great Shawnee and
ally of the British In the War of 1872, let il be
known that would not move to Iowa. He MAIN
tanned that he had been deceived TO the terms
OF the st. Louis treaty and did not consider
them binding upon him.
BY 1881 so much friction between Black
Hawks tribesmen and the Illinois settlers had
developed that Governor Reynolds considered it
advisable TO call out the militia to protect the
lives and property Of the pioneers. But General
Gaines, military commandant in the West hap
ing TO avoid the expense Of a demonstration
with force, summoned Black Hawk and his SUBJ
chiefs TO a conference ar Fort Armstrong on the
Mississippi. The council was a stormy one and
resulted in satisfactory settlement of the
left their camp at Rushville, Ill, and marched
upon Black Hawks village. They found ii de-
serted and burned all the lodges Then Gaines
sent word 10 Black Hawk that the "hostiles"
should come in for peace talk and June
so Black Hawk and % of his followers signed
a treaty with Governor Reynolds by which they
agreed TO refrain from hostile acts and to retire
beyond the Mississippi.
During the following winter Black Hawk be-
gan dreaming the old dreams of Pontiac the OF
tawa, and Tecumseh, the Shawnee-that Of an
Indian confederation to resist the whites. His
emissaries went among the Winnebagoes, the
PottawatOpies and the Kickapoos, gaining con-
verts TO the idea everywhere-and also many
empty promises. But he made no overt act
until the spring OF 1882 when General Atkinson,
military commander in the West, received
ders TO demand from the Sank and Fox that
they hand over certain members Of the band
who were accused of having killed some Menom-
inees the previous year.
When Atkinson arrived at the rapids Of the
Des Moines river April TO- he found that
four days previously Black Hawk had crossed