Black Hawk War 1832-1833
This war was fought in 1832 between the United States and the Native Americans. It was headed by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. The war started when Black Hawk and fellow Sauks, Meskwakis, and Kickapoos, who called themselves the British band, crossed the Mississippi River into Illinois in April of 1832. At that time Black Hawk was looking to avoid blood shed while trying to resettle on the land which had been taken by the United States in a 1804 treaty. But the American officials thought they were hostile, so they Sent a frontier army with part-time poorly trained militiamen. The hostilities began May 14, 1832 when the United States army took action and fired on the delegation of Native Americans. Black Hawk responded by attacking back and thrashing U.S. militia at Stillman's Run. He led his band to a secure location in southern Wisconsin. As the U.S. pursued the band, Native Americans conducted raids against forts and settlements. Colonel Henry Dodge chased and caught up with the band and started a war, but defeated them on July 21 because Black Hawk's band was weak and starving. They fled toward the Mississippi River. Black hawk and other leaders were imprisoned for a year. People remember the Black Hawk War as a brief conflict experience for Abraham Lincoln. After that war, Black Hawk did not give up. Neapope had lied to get Black Hawk to defend them by telling him they had more support then what they really had. Black Hawk spent the winter trying to recruit people from other tribes to help. After he was done recruiting, he had about 500 warriors and 600 non combatants. At the end of the war the body count for white settlers and soldiers was 77. The body count for the British band was estimated to about 450 to 600.