Born c. 1767

Saukenuk, Virginia Colony

(present-day Rock Island, Illinois)

Died October 3, 1838

Iowaville, Iowa

Native American resistance leader and warrior

Black Hawk. (The Granger Collection. Reproduced by permission.)

"I fought hard, but your guns were well aimed. The bullets flew.... My warriors fell around me; it began to look dismal. I saw my evil day at hand."

Black Hawk was a powerful leader of the Sauk (also called Sac) and Fox American Indians located in northwestern Illinois and southern Wisconsin in the early nineteenth century. Black Hawk was one of the few Sauk who urged his people to fight the settlement of whites in the region. Despite his fierce resistance, Black Hawk was forced to surrender after the Massacre at Bad Axe River in 1832. His autobiography is one of the best records of the Native American experience.

Becoming a Warrior

Black Hawk was born around 1767 in Saukenuk...