Black Hawk was a Sauk war chief in the Wisconsin/Illinois area in the early 1800s. After the Black Hawk War of 1832, he told his story to an interpreter. This was the first published Native American autobiography and was a bestseller. I chose to read this since I enjoyed my other venture into memoirs and wanted to go back in time a little farther.
I've been trying to think of a good way to describe what I read without digressing into a rant or a history lesson, so I think I'll just add a quote from Black Hawk and an excerpt of account from the other side. Regarding the settlers, Black Hawk stated, "Why did the Great Spirit ever send the whites to this island to drive us from our homes and introduce among us poisonous liquors, disease and death? They should have remained in the land the Great Spirit allotted them." After reading that, I wondered what his voice sounded like - was he bitter, resigned, angry, sad? Maybe all of the above. He was 67 at the time this was written, and he had a lot to reflect upon.
Toward the end of the book (after Black Hawk's story), there's an account of the encounter with the steamboat, Warrior, during the Black Hawk War. At this time, Black Hawk tried to present a flag of truce which was misinterpreted, and the fighting continued until Black Hawk surrendered a short time later. The account states, "Thus ended a bloody war which had been forced upon Black Hawk by Stillman's troops violating a flag of truce, which was contrary to the rules of war of all civilized nations, and one that had always been respected by the Indians. And thus, by the treachery or ignorance of the Winnebago interpreter on board the Warrior, it was b(r)ought to a close in the same ignoble way it commenced - disregarding a flag of truce - and by which Black Hawk lost more than half his army." For context, the fighting basically started when Black Hawk sent a few men with a flag of truce and one of them was killed. The whole thing just shouldn't have happened.
Black Hawk's story ended at about 60%. After that, entries were added from people that crossed paths with Black Hawk. Overall, they lined up with his story, and I was impressed with the level of respect these leaders showed each other. The very end of the book was an overview of the cities that now exist in the areas where Black Hawk used to live. I didn't enjoy this part and wish the focus had stayed on Black Hawk.
This story was incredibly sad and a perspective that needed to be told. After all the injustices Black Hawk endured, he came out the other side viewing the settlers as people he wanted to live in peace with. I'm not sure how he did that to be honest. Even after he died, his bones were stolen, and the land he loved would be unrecognizable to him today. A sad story of a truly brave warrior. Good Book!
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