Tragic Black Hawk War
Black Hawk, Indian name Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak (born 1767, Sauk Sautenuk, Virginia [U.S.]—died October 3, 1838, village on the Des Moines River, Iowa) leader of a faction of Sauk, Fox, Kickapoo and Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) peoples. Black Hawk and his followers contested the disposition of 50 million acres (20 million hectares) of territory that had supposedly been granted to the United States by tribal spokesmen in the Treaty of St. Louis in 1804. His decision to defy the government and attempt to reoccupy tribal lands along the Rock River in Illinois resulted in the brief but tragic Black Hawk War of 1832.
Antagonistic to whites settling in his people’s territory, Black Hawk joined the British in a number of engagements in the War Of 1812.