Jackson and Black Hawk, the latter is represented to have said, “I am a man and you are another.”  In the course of their interview, the President informed him that he and his companions must proceed on the following day to Fortress Monroe, there to remain, until the conduct of their people at home was such as to justify their being set at liberty.  In reply to this, the Prophet said, “We expected to return immediately to our people.  The war in which we have been involved was occasioned by our attempting to raise provisions on our own lands, or where we thought we had a right so to do.  We have lost many of our people, as well as the whites.  Our tribes and families are now exposed to the attacks of our enemies, the Sioux, and the Menominies.  We hope, therefore, to be permitted to return home to take care of them.”  Black Hawk concluded his address to the President, which embraced a history of the late war, by saying, “We did not expect to conquer the whites, no.  They had too many houses, too many men.  I took up the hatchet, for my part, to revenge injuries which my people could no longer endure.  Had I borne them longer without striking, my people would have said, Black Hawk is a woman.  He is too old to be a chief—­he is no Sac.  These reflections caused me to raise the war-whoop.  I say no more of it; it is known to you.  Keokuk once was here; you took him by the hand, and when he wished to return to his home, you were willing.  Black Hawk expects, that, like Keokuk, we shall be permitted to return too.”  The President gave them assurances that their women and children should be protected from the Sioux and the Menominies, and that so soon as he was satisfied that peace was restored on the frontiers, they should be permitted to return home.

On the 26th of April, they set off for Fortress Monroe, at Old Point Comfort, where they remained until the fourth of June, when, an order was received, from the President, by the commanding officer, for the liberation of the Indian captives.  The kind treatment of the prisoners by Colonel Eustis, then in command at Fortress Monroe, had won greatly upon their regard.  When about to depart, Black Hawk waited upon the Colonel, and said;—­

“Brother, I have come on my own part, and in behalf of my companions, to bid you farewell.  Our great father has at length been pleased to permit us to return to our hunting grounds.  We have buried the tomahawk, and the sound of the rifle will hereafter only bring death to the deer and the buffalo.  Brother, you have treated the red men very kindly.  Your squaws have made them presents, and you have given them plenty to eat and drink.  The memory of your friendship will remain till the Great Spirit says it is time for Black Hawk to sing his death-song.  Brother, your houses are as numerous as the leaves upon the trees, and your young warriors, like the sands upon the shore of the big lake that rolls before us.  The red man has but few houses, and few warriors,