Black Hawk, or Black Sparrow Hawk (Sauk Ma-kat-tai-me-she-kia-kiak [Mahkate:wi-meši-ke:hke:hkwa], "be a large black hawk") was born in about 1767 in the village of See more

As a consequence of the 1804 treaty, the American government believed that the Sauk and Fox tribes had ceded their lands in Illinois and in 1828 were moved west of the Mississippi River. Black Hawk and other tribal members disputed the treaty, as noted above, … See more

Although not a hereditary chief, Black Hawk filled a leadership void within the Sauk community. When Quashquame ceded much of the Sauk homeland in 1804 to the United States, … See more

After an extended period of mourning for his father, Black Hawk resumed leading raiding parties over the next years, usually targeting the traditional enemy, the Osage. Black Hawk did not … See more

During the War of 1812, Black Hawk, then 45, served as a war leader of a Sauk band at their village of Saukenuk, which fielded about 200 warriors. He supported the invalidity of Quashquame's Treaty of St. Louis (1804) between the Sauk and Fox nations and then … See more

Near the end of his captivity in 1833, Black Hawk told his life story to Antoine LeClaire, a government interpreter. Edited by the local reporter J.B. Patterson, Black Hawk's account was one of the first Native American autobiographies published in the U.S. The book … See more

After his tour of the east, Black Hawk lived with the Sauk along the Iowa River and later the Des Moines River near Iowaville in what is now … See more