Mahkatêwe-meshi-kêhkêhkwa, known in English as Black Hawk ( – October 3, 1838), was a Sauk leader and warrior who lived in the future Midwestern United States. Although he had inherited an important historic sacred bundle from his father, he was not a hereditary civil chief. Black Hawk earned his status as a war chief or captain by his actions: leading raiding and war parties as a young man and then a band of Sauk warriors during the Black Hawk War of 1832.

During the War of 1812, Black Hawk fought on the side of the British against the US in the hope of pushing white American settlers away from Sauk territory. Later, he led a band of Sauk and Meskwaki warriors, known as the British Band, against white settlers in Illinois and present-day Wisconsin during the 1832 Black Hawk War. After the war, he was captured by US forces and taken to the Eastern US, where he and other war leaders were taken on a tour of several cities.

Shortly before being released from custody, Black Hawk told his story to an interpreter. Aided also by a newspaper reporter, he published Autobiography of Ma-Ka-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak, or Black Hawk, Embracing the Traditions of his Nation... in 1833. The first Native American autobiography to be published in the US, his book became an immediate bestseller and has gone through several editions. Black Hawk died in 1838, at age 70 or 71, in what became southeastern Iowa. He has been honored by an enduring legacy: his book, many eponyms, and other tributes.

Early life

Black Hawk, or Black Sparrow Hawk (Sauk: Mahkatêwe-meshi-kêhkêhkwa, "be a large black hawk") was born in about 1767 in the village of Saukenuk on the Rock River (present-day Rock Island, Illinois).

Little is known about Black Hawk's youth. He was said to be a descendant of Nanamakee (Thunder), a Sauk chief who, according to tradition, met an early French explorer, possibly Samuel de Champlain. At about age 15, Black Hawk distinguished himself by wounding an enemy and was placed in the ranks of the braves. Shortly after this Black Hawk accompanied his father Pyesa on a raid against the Osage. He won approval by killing and scalping his first enemy. Twenty-first-century historians such as John W. Hall have suggested the term "war captain" for this role.

War of 1812

thumb|right|upright=1.15|Plans of the original [[Fort Madison, 1810. Black Hawk participated in the 1809 and 1812 sieges; the fort was captured by British-supported Indians in 1813.]]

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 Meskwaki nations and then-governor William Henry Harrison of the Indiana Territory that ceded territory, including Saukenuk, to the United States.

During the War of 1812, the forces of Great Britain and its colonies in present-day Canada were engaged against those of the U.S., with major battles on the Great Lakes and surrounding remote lands. The British depended upon alliances with the Native American population to wage war in this area since the British were occupied with Napoleon in Europe. Robert Dickson, a Scottish fur trader, amassed a sizable force of Native Americans at Green Bay to assist the British in operations around the Great Lakes. Most were from the Potawatomi, Ho-Chunk, Kickapoo, and Ottawa tribes. Black Hawk and his band of about 200 Sauk warriors were included in this group of allies.

Dickson commissioned Black Hawk at the rank of brevet brigadier general, with command over all native allies at Green Bay, and presented him with a silk flag, a medal, and a written certificate of good behavior and alliance with the British. The war leader preserved the certificate for 20 years; it was found by U.S. forces after the Battle of Bad Axe, along with a flag similar in description to that which Dickson gave to Black Hawk. The United States Army was able to inflict a significant defeat on Tecumseh's Confederacy by killing Tecumseh during the war.

Black Hawk despaired over the many killed in the fighting; soon after, he quit the war to return home. Back in Saukenuk, he found that his rival, Keokuk, had become the tribe's war chief.

Black Hawk fought in the Battle of the Sink Hole (May 1815), leading an ambush on a group of Missouri Rangers. Conflicting accounts of the action were given by the Missouri leader John Shaw and by Black Hawk.

After the end of the War of 1812, Black Hawk signed a peace treaty in May 1816 that re-affirmed the treaty of 1804. Later he said he was not aware of this stipulation.

Black Hawk War

thumb|left|upright=0.8|Plaster [[Lifecasting|life cast of Black Hawk, original ca. 1830, at Black Hawk State Historic Site ]]

As a consequence of the 1804 treaty, the American government believed that the Sauk and Meskwaki 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, and said leaders had signed it without full tribal authorization. Finding no allies, he tried to return to Iowa, but the undisciplined Illinois militia provoked open attack at the Battle of Stillman's Run. A number of other violent engagements followed. The governors of Michigan Territory and Illinois mobilized their militias to hunt down Black Hawk's Band. These actions led to the last Native American War fought on the east side of the Mississippi River. The conflict became known as the Black Hawk War.

When Black Hawk entered Illinois in April, his British Band was composed of about 500 warriors and 1,000 old men, women, and children. The group included members of the Sauk, Meskwaki and Kickapoo tribes. They crossed the river near the mouth of the Iowa River and followed the Rock River northeast. Along the way, they passed the ruins of Saukenuk and headed for the village of Ho-Chunk prophet White Cloud.

As the war progressed, factions of other tribes joined, or tried to join Black Hawk. Other Native Americans and settlers carried out acts of violence for personal reasons amidst the chaos of the war. In one example, a band of hostile Ho-Chunk intent on joining Black Hawk's Band attacked and killed the party of Felix St. Vrain in what Americans knew as the St. Vrain massacre. From April to August, Potawatomi warriors also joined with Black Hawk's Band. On August 27, 1832, Black Hawk and Wabokieshiek asked to surrender to the Indian agent Joseph Street but were instead taken to Zachary Taylor. They surrendered to Lieutenant Jefferson Davis, future president of the Confederacy, after hiding on an unnamed island in the Mississippi River.

Tour of the East

thumb|upright=0.8|[[Calumet (pipe)|Calumet (or "peace pipe") used by Black Hawk, on display at Black Hawk State Historic Site.]]

Following the war, with most of the British Band killed and the rest captured or disbanded, the defeated Black Hawk was held in captivity at Jefferson Barracks near Saint Louis, Missouri together with Neapope, White Cloud, and eight other leaders.

Early autobiography by Native American

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 doubt surrounding the work's authenticity is more than merited as the words were dictated by Black Hawk, translated into English by LeClaire, and written into manuscript form by Patterson. It is worth noting that both LeClaire and Patterson swore and signed a document verifying the authenticity of the work. Furthermore, Judge James Hall stated that Black Hawk had told him the autobiography was authentic.

In 1882, John B. Patterson released a new edition of the Black Hawk autobiography which included various changes to the wording and new material. This edition is often discredited due to the changes made indicating it was not what Black Hawk said word for word. A notable example of a difference in wording across editions is: "...by the utter annihilation, if possible, of all of their race (1833 edition)" vs "...by the utter annihilation, if possible, of the last remnant of their tribe (1882 edition)."

Assessment as Sauk leader

thumb|Statue of Black Hawk at [[Black Hawk State Historic Site]]

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, including the main village Saukenuk, he was viewed as ineffective. Black Hawk wrote in his autobiography: