“The weather was both hot and wet, and it is supposed, that, on this journey, he imbibed the seeds of the disease which soon after terminated his existence.  This journey was in September.  Early in October, the commissioner for adjusting claims with the Sac and Fox tribes, was to meet them at Rock Island, and most of the Indians were there on the first of that month.  Black Hawk was taken sick and was unable to accompany them.  A violent bilious fever had seized upon him, and on the 3d of October, after an illness of seven days, he died.  His only medical attendant was one of the tribe, who knew something of vegetable antidotes, and was called doctor.  His wife, who was devotedly attached to him, mourned deeply during his illness.  She seemed to have had a presentiment of his approaching death, and said, some days before it occurred, ‘he is getting old—­he must die—­Monotah calls him home.’

“After his death, he was dressed in the uniform presented to him at Washington, by the President or Secretary at War, and placed upon a rude bier, consisting of two poles with bark laid across, on which he was carried by four of his braves to the place of interment, followed by his family and about fifty of the tribe, (the chiefs being all absent.) They seemed deeply affected, and mourned in their usual way, shaking hands, and muttering in guttural tones, prayers to Monotah (their deity) for his safe passage to the land prepared for the reception of all Indians.  The grave was six feet deep and of the usual length, situated upon a little eminence about fifty yards from his wigwam.  The body was placed in the middle of the grave, in a sitting posture, upon a seat, constructed for the purpose.  On his left side the cane given him, as I am informed, by Mr. Henry Clay, was placed upright, with his right hand resting upon it.  Many of the old warrior’s trophies were placed in the grave, and some Indian garments, together with his favorite weapons.  The grave was then covered with plank, and a mound of earth, several feet in height, was thrown up over it, and the whole enclosed with pickets twelve feet in height.  At the head of the grave a flag staff was placed, bearing our national banner; and at the foot there stands a post, on which is inscribed, in Indian characters, his age.

“I do not know the exact age of Black Hawk, but understood from him, that he was seventy-two.  His virtues commanded the respect of all the whites who knew him.  He possessed much magnanimity of soul, and under all the mortifications to which he has been subjected, and the insults that have been heaped upon him by his tribe, and especially by the haughty Keokuk, he maintained, until the last years of his life, a uniform cheerfulness and resignation of mind, which bespoke a conscious superiority.”

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