Ben Strand - A Black Hawk War Guide

FOREWORD

The Forceful Displacement of the Sauk and Fox Tribes from the Great Lakes to Indian Territory

My Sauk name is Sekito, which translates as The Thunder that Scares You. My English name is Kealan Hamilton-Youngbird. I am a registered member of the Sac and Fox Nation of Oklahoma. The U.S. government used multiple treaties that were forced, unjust compromises and created conflicts to ensure the spread of European settlers into the West, forcing my people onto unsettled lands west of the Mississippi.

At the time of European contact, my people lived near Saginaw Bay of Lake Huron and Green Bay of Lake Michigan. The Sauk tribe built the large village of Saukenuk in Rock Island, Illinois. The Fox tribe built smaller villages along the western shore of the Mississippi River. The Sauk and Fox tribes were originally two separate tribes during the 1700s. A French attack on the Fox tribe caused the two tribes to band together. The U.S. government merged the Sauk and Fox tribes as one beginning with the Treaty of St. Louis in 1804. This treaty was the first of many that would push my people from their homelands in Rock Island. There was no compromise. My people were tricked and manipulated into ceding away all of our land east of the Mississippi. This treaty was protested by my people due to the fact that the signatories did not have authority to make any agreements on our behalf. The Treaty of 1804 stated that the Sauk and Fox could remain on the land as long as they kept peace with the settlers. This, too, was a promise that was not kept and amended in other treaties that followed.

Between the years 1828 and 1831, the Sauk and Fox were forced to share land with the settlers, who continued to move into our villages. The settlers demanded that my people should be removed from our village. Can you imagine that? Your people have lived on these lands and in their lodges for more than a century and people from a foreign country who have invaded your home demand that you leave everything you have ever knowneverything you worked for. Our ancestors were buried on these lands. It is sacred to us. It is a part of our culture to take care of the graves and keep a connection to our history. This didnt sit well with our war leader, Black Hawk. He refused to leave. Our people and the settlers lived side by side for some time.