British Band - Background

Background

Sauk warrior Black Hawk, the leader of a band of Sauks near Rock Island at Saukenuk, had always been opposed to ceding Native American lands to white settlers and their governments. Black Hawk, in particular, denied the validity of an important 1804 treaty between the Sauk and Fox nations and then Indiana Territory Governor William Henry Harrison. The treaty ceded territory, including Saukenuk, to the United States. This treaty was subsequently disputed by Black Hawk and other members of the tribes, since the full tribal councils had not been consulted, nor did those representing the tribes have authorization to cede lands.

When the War of 1812 began between the United Kingdom and the United States, Colonel Robert Dickson, an English fur trader, amassed a sizable force of Native Americans at Green Bay to assist the British in operations around the Great Lakes. Most of the warriors Dickson assembled were from the Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk, Kickapoo and Ottawa tribes. Dickson then summoned Black Hawk's Band of about 200 Sauk warriors. Black Hawk was given command of all Native Americans gathered at Green Bay. He was presented with a silk flag, a medal, and a written certificate of good behavior and alliance with the British. In addition, Dickson bestowed the rank of brevet Brigadier General on Black Hawk. The certificate would be found 20 years later, after the Battle of Bad Axe, carefully preserved along with a flag similar to the one Dickson gave to Black Hawk.

During the 1812 war, Black Hawk and his warriors fought in several engagements with Henry Procter on the borders of Lake Erie. He returned home to Saukenuk to find his rival Keokuk had become the tribe's war chief. After the war ended, Black Hawk signed a peace treaty in May 1816 that re-affirmed the treaty of 1804, a provision Black Hawk later protested ignorance of.