Black Hawk ( Sauk leader ) Black Hawk ( 1767 – October 3 , 1838 ) was a leader and warrior of the Sauk American Indian tribe in what is now the United States . Although he had inherited an important historic medicine bundle , he was not one of the Sauk ' s hereditary civil chiefs . His status came from leading war parties as a young man , and from his leadership of a band of Sauks during the Black Hawk War of 1832 . During the War of 1812 , Black Hawk fought on the side of the British . Later he led a band of Sauk and Fox warriors , known as the British Band , against European - American settlers in Illinois and present - day Wisconsin in the 1832 Black Hawk War . After the war , he was captured and taken to the eastern U . S . , where he and other leaders toured several cities . Black Hawk died in 1838 in what is now southeastern Iowa . He left behind an enduring legacy through many eponyms and other tributes . Early life . Black Hawk , or Black Sparrow Hawk ( Sauk Makataimeshekiakiak [ " Mahkate : wi - meši - ke : hke : hkwa " ] , " be a large black hawk " ) was born in the village of Saukenuk on the Rock River , in present - day Rock Island , Illinois , in 1767 . Black Hawk ' s father Pyesa was the tribal medicine man of the Sauk people . The Sauk people used the village in the summer for raising corn and as a burial site , while moving across the Mississippi for winter hunts and fur trapping . Little is known about Black Hawk ' s youth . He was said to be a descendant of Nanamakee ( Thunder ) , a Sauk chief who , according to tradition , met an early French explorer , possibly Samuel de Champlain . At age 15 , Black Hawk accompanied his father Pyesa on a raid against the Osage s , and won the approval of his father by killing and scalping his first enemy . The young Black Hawk then tried to establish himself as a war captain by leading other raids , but met with limited success until , at age 19 , he led 200 men in a battle against the Osages , in which he personally killed five men and one woman . Soon after , he joined his father in a raid against Cherokees along the Meramec River in Missouri . After Pyesa died from wounds received in the battle , Black Hawk inherited the Sauk medicine bundle that had been carried by his father . After an extended period of mourning for his father , Black Hawk resumed leading raiding parties over the next years , usually targeting the Osages . Black Hawk did not belong to a clan that provided the Sauks with civil leaders , or " chiefs " . He instead achieved status through his exploits as a warrior , and by leading successful raiding parties . Men like Black Hawk are sometimes called " war chiefs " , although historian Patrick Jung writes that " It is more accurate to call them ' war leaders ' since the nature of their office and the power that it wielded was much different from that of a civil chief . " The term " war captain " is preferred by some historians . War of 1812 . Black Hawk served as a war leader of a band of Sauk at their village of Saukenuk . He had always been opposed to ceding Native American lands to white settlers and their governments . In particular , he denied the validity of Quashquame ' s 1804 treaty between the Sauk and Fox nations and then - Governor William Henry Harrison of the Indiana Territory . The treaty ceded territory , including Saukenuk , to the United States . This treaty was subsequently disputed by Black Hawk and other members of the tribes because the full tribal councils had not been consulted , nor did those representing the tribes have authorization from their councils to cede lands . Black Hawk participated in skirmishes against the newly constructed Fort Madison in the disputed land ; this was the first time he fought directly with U . S . forces . The War of 1812 involved forces of Great Britain and its North American colonies in present - day Canada against the United States . Preoccupied with Napoleon , the British depended upon Native American allies to help them wage war in remote areas . Colonel Robert Dickson , an English fur trader , amassed a sizable force of Native Americans at Green Bay to assist the British in operations around the Great Lakes . Most of the warriors he assembled were from the Potawatomi , Ho - Chunk , Kickapoo , and Ottawa tribes . Dickson appealed to Black Hawk and his band of about 200 Sauk warriors . When Black Hawk arrived , he was given command of all the Natives gathered at Green Bay , presented with a silk flag , a medal , and a written certificate of good behavior and alliance with the British . In addition , Dickson bestowed upon Black Hawk the rank of brevet Brigadier General . Twenty years later , after the Battle of Bad Axe , the certificate was found carefully preserved , along with a flag similar to the one Dickson gave to Black Hawk . During the war , Black Hawk and his warriors fought in several engagements with Major - General Henry Procter on the borders of Lake Erie . Black Hawk was at the battle of Fort Meigs , and the attack on Fort Stephenson . The British and the Indian Confederacy , led by Tecumseh , were repulsed with great losses to the British . Black Hawk despaired over the waste of lives caused by the use of European attack methods ; soon after , he quit the war to return home . Back in Saukenuk he found that his rival Keokuk had become the tribe ' s war chief . Black Hawk rejoined the British effort toward the end of the war and participated alongside British forces in campaigns along the Mississippi River near the Illinois Territory . At the Battle of Credit Island and by harassing U . S . troops at Fort Johnson Black Hawk helped to push the Americans out of the upper Mississippi River valley . Black Hawk fought in the Battle of the Sink Hole in May 1815 , leading an ambush on a group of Missouri Rangers . Conflicting accounts of the action were given by the Missouri leader John Shaw and by Black Hawk . After the War of 1812 ended , Black Hawk signed a peace treaty in May 1816 that re - affirmed the treaty of 1804 , a provision of which Black Hawk later protested ignorance . Black Hawk War . As a consequence of an 1804 treaty between the Governor of Indiana Territory and a group of Sauk and Fox leaders regarding land settlement , the Sauk and Fox tribes ceded their lands in Illinois and moved west of the Mississippi in 1828 . Black Hawk and other tribal members disputed the treaty , claiming that the full tribal councils had not been consulted , nor did those representing the tribes have authorization to cede lands . Angered by the loss of his birthplace , between 1830 and 1831 Black Hawk led a number of incursions across the Mississippi River . He was persuaded to return west each time without bloodshed . In April 1832 , encouraged by promises of alliance with other tribes and the British , he moved his so - called " British Band " of more than 1500 people , both warriors and non - combatants into Illinois . Finding no allies , he attempted to return to Iowa , but the undisciplined Illinois militia ' s actions led to the Battle of Stillman ' s Run . A number of other engagements followed , and the militias of Michigan Territory and Illinois were mobilized to hunt down Black Hawk ' s Band . The conflict became known as the Black Hawk War . Black Hawk ' s British Band was composed of about 500 warriors and 1 , 000 old men , women , and children when they crossed the Mississippi on April 5 . The group included members of the Sauk , Fox and Kickapoo Tribes . They crossed the river near the mouth of the Iowa River and followed the Rock River northeast . Along the way , they passed the ruins of Saukenuk and headed for the village of Ho - Chunk prophet White Cloud . As the war progressed , factions of other tribes joined , or attempted to join Black Hawk . Other Native Americans carried out acts of violence for personal reasons amidst the chaos of the war . In one example , a band of hostile Ho - Chunk intent on joining Black Hawk ' s Band attacked and killed the party of Felix St . Vrain after the outbreak of war in what Americans knew as the St . Vrain massacre . This act was , however , an exception as most Ho - Chunk sided with the United States during the Black Hawk War . The warriors who attacked St . Vrain ' s party acted independently of the Ho - Chunk nation . From April to August , Potawatomi warriors also joined with Black Hawk ' s Band . The war stretched from April to August 1832 , with a number of battles , skirmishes and massacres on both sides . When the Illinois Militia and Michigan Territory Militia caught up with Black Hawk ' s " British Band " following the Battle of Wisconsin Heights , they had a conclusive confrontation at Bad Axe . At the mouth of the Bad Axe River , pursuing soldiers , their Indian allies , and a U . S . gunboat killed hundreds of Sauk and Potawatomi men , women and children . On August 27 , 1832 , Black Hawk and Wabokieshiek surrendered at Prairie du Chien to Indian agent Joseph Street . Tour of the East . Following the Black Hawk War , with most of the British Band killed and the rest captured or disbanded , the defeated Black Hawk was held in captivity at Jefferson Barracks with Neapope , White Cloud , and eight other leaders . After eight months , in April 1833 , they were taken east , as ordered by U . S . President Andrew Jackson . The men traveled by steamboat , carriage , and railroad , and met with large crowds wherever they went . Once in Washington , D . C . , they met with Jackson and Secretary of War Lewis Cass . Afterward , they were delivered to their final destination , prison at Fortress Monroe in Virginia . They were held only a few weeks at the prison , during which they posed for portraits by different artists . On June 5 , 1833 , the men were sent west by steamboat on a circuitous route that took them through many large cities . Again , the men were a spectacle everywhere they went , and were greeted by huge crowds of people in cities such as New York , Baltimore and Philadelphia . In the west , closer to the battle sites and history of conflict , the reception was much different . For instance , in Detroit , a crowd burned and hanged effigies of the prisoners . Near the end of his captivity in 1833 , Black Hawk told his life story to Antoine LeClaire , a government interpreter . Edited by the local reporter J . B . Patterson , Black Hawk ' s account was the first Native American autobiography published in the United States . The " Autobiography of Ma - Ka - Tai - Me - She - Kia - Kiak , or Black Hawk , Embracing the Traditions of his Nation , Various Wars In Which He Has Been Engaged , and His Account of the Cause and General History of the Black Hawk War of 1832 , His Surrender , and Travels Through the United States . Also Life , Death and Burial of the Old Chief , Together with a History of the Black Hawk War " was published in 1833 in Cincinnati , Ohio . The book immediately became a best seller . As Sauk leader . Although not a hereditary chief , Black Hawk filled a leadership void within the Sauk community . When Quashquame ceded much of the Sauk homeland in 1804 to the United States , including the main village Saukenuk , he was viewed as ineffective . Black Hawk wrote in his autobiography : Because of his role in the disputed 1804 treaty , the tribe reduced their support of " Quashquame " and made him a minor chief . " Quasquawma , was chief of this tribe once , but being cheated out of the mineral country , as the Indians allege , he was denigrated from his rank and his son - in - law Taimah elected in his stead . " Although Quashquame and Black Hawk were at odds , Black Hawk did not directly challenge the civil chief . They apparently remained on good terms as Black Hawk rose in importance and Quashquame faded . Quashquame avoided confrontation with the U . S . , while Black Hawk did not . After Black Hawk led an aborted takeover of Fort Madison in the Spring of 1809 , Quashquame worked to restore relations with the United States Army the next day . Quashquame attempted to placate the U . S . , telling Gen . William Clark during a meeting in 1810 or 1811 : During the run up to the War of 1812 , the US viewed Quashquame as loyal , or at least neutral , while Black Hawk was considered the leader of the British - allied Sauk . Quashquame led all Sauk non - combatants during the war . Black Hawk thought this was an ideal arrangement : A rift appeared within the Sauk after the war . In 1815 Quashquame was part of a large delegation that signed a treaty confirming a split between the Sauk along the Missouri River and the Sauk who lived along the Rock River at Saukenuk . The Rock River group of Sauk was commonly known as the British Band ; they formed the core of warriors who participated in the Black Hawk War . About 1824 Quashquame sold a large Sauk village in Illinois to a trader Captain James White . White gave Quashquame " a little " sku - ti - apo " [ liquor ] and two thousand bushels of corn " for the land , which later became Nauvoo , Illinois . This sale likely aggravated Black Hawk and other Sauk who wanted to maintain their claim on Illinois . As Quashquame was eclipsed by his son - in - law " Taimah " as the Sauk chief favored by the U . S . , his voice of compromise could no longer compete with Black Hawk ' s resistance . When Caleb Atwater wrote about his visit to Quashquame in 1829 , he depicted the leader as feeble , more interested in art and leisure than politics , but still advocating diplomacy over conflict . In the summer of 1830 , Black Hawk began his incursions into the disputed territory of Illinois , eventually leading to the Black Hawk War . Black Hawk ' s frequent rival was Keokuk , a Sauk war chief held in high esteem by the U . S . government , which viewed him as a calm and reasonable Sauk leader willing to negotiate , unlike Black Hawk . Black Hawk despised Keokuk , and viewed him as cowardly and self - serving , at one point threatening to kill him for not defending Saukenuk . After the Black Hawk War Keokuk was designated the main Sauk leader by the U . S . Last days . After his tour of the east , Black Hawk lived with the Sauk along the Iowa River and later the Des Moines River near Iowaville in what is now southeast Iowa . At the end of his life he attempted reconciliation with both the whites he had fought and with his Sauk rivals , including Keokuk . Black Hawk died on October 3 , 1838 after two weeks of illness , and was buried on the farm of his friend James Jordan on the north bank of the Des Moines River in Davis County . In July 1839 , his remains were stolen by James Turner , who prepared his skeleton for exhibition . Black Hawk ' s sons Nashashuk and Gamesett went to Governor Robert Lucas of Iowa Territory , who used his influence to bring the bones to security in his offices in Burlington . With the permission of Black Hawk ' s sons , the remains were held by the Burlington Geological and Historical Society . When the Society ' s building burned down in 1855 , Black Hawk ' s remains were destroyed . An alternative story is that Lucas passed Black Hawk ' s bones to a Burlington physician , Enos Lowe , who left them to his partner , Dr . McLaurens . Eventually workers found the bones left by McLaurens after he moved to California . They buried the remains in a potter ' s grave in Aspen Grove Cemetery in Burlington . There is a marker for him in the Iowaville Cemetery on the hill over the river , although it is unknown if any of his remains are there . Legacy . Through interpreter Antoine LeClair , Black Hawk dictated an autobiography titled " Life of Ma - ka - tai - me - she - kia - kiak " ( or , " Life of Black Hawk " ) , originally published in 1833 . A sculpture by Lorado Taft overlooks the Rock River in Oregon , Illinois . Entitled " The Eternal Indian " , this statue is commonly known as the Black Hawk Statue . In modern times Black Hawk is considered a tragic hero and numerous commemorations exist . These are mostly in the form of eponym s ; many roads , sports teams and schools are named after Black Hawk . Among the numerous wars in United States history , however ; the Black Hawk War is one of few named for a person . According to a widespread myth , the Olympic gold medal - winning athlete Jim Thorpe was said to be descended from Black Hawk . The Wisconsin born African American spiritualist and trance medium Leafy Anderson claimed that Black Hawk was one of her major spirit guides . This spirit ' s guidance and protection are sought by the members of many churches within the loosely allied Spiritual Church Movement which she founded . Special " Black Hawk services " are held to invoke his assistance , and busts or statues representing him are kept on home and church altars by his devotees .