The United States' Indian Allies in the Black
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
FRIENDS LIKE THESE: THE UNITED STATES’ INDIAN ALLIES IN THE BLACK HAWK WAR, 1832 by John William Hall A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History. Chapel Hill 2007 Advisor: R. Don Higginbotham Reader: Joseph T. Glatthaar Reader: Michael D. Green Reader: Richard H. Kohn Reader: Theda Perdue © 2007 John William Hall ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT JOHN W. HALL: Friends Like These: The United States’ Indian Allies in the Black Hawk War, 1832 (Under the direction of R. Don Higginbotham.) “Friends Like These” examines the decision by elements of the Menominee, Dakota, Potawatomi, and Ho Chunk tribes to ally with the United States government during the Black Hawk War of 1832. Because this conflict is usually depicted as a land- grab by ravenous settlers and the war occurred within two years of the passage of the Indian Removal Act, the military participation of these tribes seems incongruous. This work seeks to determine why various bands of these tribes cooperated with the U.S. Army when such alliance seemed inimical to the interests of their respective tribes. Moreover, it explores the extent to which the Americans conceived of themselves as allies to the Indians while assessing the consequences of this alliance for each of the tribes involved. This study finds that the Indians participated in the Black Hawk War to fulfill their own wartime objectives, and that in so doing they sought to apply familiar forms to the new situation that unfolded in the years after the War of 1812. Seeking to strike traditional tribal enemies, extract political advantage and material gain from the Americans, and fulfill important male gender expectations, the Indians generally achieved their objectives—but they also helped create conditions that wrought permanent change on the world in which they lived. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Assigning credit for contributions to this work is no easy task. Over the past six years, dozens of individuals have rendered invaluable assistance, and I am indebted to them all. Even as I consider only the principal contributors, I am humbled that so many people whom I admire greatly have had a hand in this work. I must begin with Don Higginbotham, Richard Kohn, and Michael Green, each of whom has sacrificed countless hours developing me as an historian and critiquing my work. The following pages represent the culmination of their labors as much as my own. While I cannot individually recognize every scholar deserving my gratitude, I must also thank Theda Perdue, William Barney, and Joseph Glatthaar for their patience, time, and encouragement. I am eternally indebted to my instructors and colleagues at the college of Bay Mills Indian Community, Michigan. Although my never-strong grasp of Anishinaabemwin has grown weaker, I am still able to proffer a much-deserved gchimiigwech. It is no exaggeration to say that I could not have done this topic justice without your collective influence. Finally, I must thank my loving wife and proofreader, Heidi. She has endured the absence of her husband long enough, and my relief at finally completing this journey is no doubt exceeded by her own. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS............................................................................................. vi INTRODUCTION. ............................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 1. ROOTS OF CONFLICT....................................................................................... 9 2. A NEW ONONTIO. ........................................................................................... 37 3. A MOUNTING STORM. ................................................................................... 75 4. CRISIS ON THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI.......................................................... 110 5. EVERYTHING TO LOSE. .............................................................................. 137 6. WARPATH....................................................................................................... 165 7. FINAL BLOWS................................................................................................ 200 8. LOSING THE PEACE. .................................................................................... 232 9. AN INDIAN WAR. .......................................................................................... 269 EPILOGUE..................................................................................................................... 291 WORKS CITED ............................................................................................................. 297 v LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Map 1. Great Lakes Region ............................................................................................. 14 Map 2. Distribution of Indian and White Settlements, circa 1830 .................................. 78 Map 3. Indian Villages of Illinois and southern Wisconsin, circa 1830 ....................... 109 vi INTRODUCTION. Some men looked away while others fixed their eyes with morbid curiosity on the spectacle of Dr. Addison Philleo amputating the arm of a child.1 Having just concluded the Black Hawk War by raining fire on the forlorn survivors of Black Hawk’s band as they attempted to swim across the Mississippi River, Illinois volunteers now took account of the damage they had wrought. A single ball had nearly separated the limb from the gaunt, little body before killing the boy’s mother. Indeed, most of the Sauk casualties at the “Battle of Bad Axe” were women and children—all of them were near starvation. “It is to be hoped, that the women and children fell by random shots,” U.S. Army officer Philip St. George Cooke mused, but he knew full well “that a frontiersman is not particular, when his blood is up, and a redskin in his power.”2 Illinois volunteer John Wakefield acknowledged that “It was a horrid sight to witness little children, wounded and suffering through the most excruciating pain,” but consoled himself that “they were of the savage enemy, and the common enemy of the country.”3 Another frontiersman displayed no remorse whatsoever, 1 John Dean, Wisconsin-Early History, Wis Mss AX, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, 5&6/12; Perry A. Armstrong, The Sauks and the Black Hawk War, with Biographical Sketches, etc (Springfield, Ill.: H.W. Rokker printer, 1887), 473; Cecil Eby, "That Disgraceful Affair," the Black Hawk War (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1973), 253; E. Duis, The Good Old Times in McLean County, Illinois, Containing Two Hundred and Sixty-one Sketches of Old Settlers. A Complete Historical Sketch of the Black Hawk War, And Descriptions of All Matters of Interest Relating to McLean County (Bloomington: Leader Publishing and Printing House, 1874), 117-18. 2 Philip St. George Cooke, Scenes and Adventures in the Army: Or Romance of Military Life (Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston, 1857), 188. 3 John A. Wakefield, Wakefield's History of the Black Hawk War (1834; reprint, Chicago: Caxton Club, 1904), 133. observing after he killed an infant, “Kill the nits and you’ll have no lice.”4 Meanwhile, a short distance away, another Indian—a Menominee warrior—lay dead. While Sauk corpses, scalped and stripped of their teeth, were left to float down the Mississippi, this warrior received a military burial with full honors, and U.S. Army soldiers interred him beside their own dead.5 ***** In April 1832, the Sauk war chief Black Hawk crossed the Mississippi River into Illinois in defiance of the United States to reoccupy ceded lands. This act sparked a panic among Anglo-American frontier settlers as local newspapers conjured an Indian invasion and Illinois Governor John Reynolds requested federal troops and called up the militia. Over the ensuing four months, federal and state forces pursued Black Hawk’s band through the Old Northwest, finally obliterating its emaciated remnants as they attempted to recross the Mississippi. Standard historical accounts view the war as a disgraceful land-grab by Indian- hating frontiersmen, but this partial rendition fails to explain the behavior of several hundred Menominees, Sauks, Ho Chunks, and Potawatomis who made common cause with the United States during the Black Hawk War. This unlikely alliance has escaped serious historical attention both because it proved insignificant to the outcome of the war and, more importantly, because it is difficult to comprehend. On a historical stage populated by racist frontiersmen, capricious army 4 William H. Perrin, ed., History of Crawford and Clark Counties, Illinois (Chicago: O.L. Baskin & Co., 1883), 232. 5 Council between Henry Atkinson and the Winnebago and Menominee Indians, 6 August 1832, The Black Hawk War, 1831-1832, vol. 37, Collections of the Illinois States Historical Library (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1975), 950. Philip St. George Cooke observed an Eastern dentist harvesting the teeth from the Sauk dead and later commented, “doubtless some very fine Eastern personages now rejoice in savage ivories.” Cooke, Scenes and Adventures in the Army, 188. 2 commanders, venal federal Indian agents, and a Native hero in the mold of Tecumseh, the United States’ Indian allies appear to be fools who fought on the wrong side of the contest. Indeed, some of their descendents are at a loss to explain the alliance, not wishing to believe that their forefathers