Standing Watch #1

by Bruce Bley

Title

Standing Watch #1

Artist

Bruce Bley

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

This statue of Chief Blackhawk was dedicate to his leading war parties as a young man, and from his leadership of a band of Sauks during the Black Hawk War of 1832. The statue overlooks the Rock River in Lowden State Park near Oregon Illinois.

Chief Black Hawk in Sauk language Makataimeshekiakiak, born sometime around 1767 in Illinois, was the appointed War Chief of the Sauk and Fox Indians. Black Hawk was the medicine man of the tribe before his appointed position. He was born and raised on the Rock River in a villiage called Saukenuk where the Sauk Indians harvested corn and used as a burial site. In the winter the tribe would cross the Mississippi River to hunt for food and fur. Black Hawk earned his position of War Chief due to the numerous war parties that he led. At the young age of 15, he killed his first man.

Black Hawk opposed the English Settlers and denied the 1804 treaty between the Sauk and Fox Nations and the Indiana Govenor William Henry Harrison. During the War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom, Colonel Robert Dickson asked Black Hawk as well as other tribes for help in fighting the United States. Black Hawk and the Sauk Warriors fought on the banks of Lake Erie. Black Hawk pulled out of the war when he disagreed with the fight tactics of the British and due to the loss of many Sauk men.

In 1832, still angry over the 1804 treaty, Black Hawk gained the promise of alliance from other tribes and the British to fight control of his birth land. He quickly found he had no allies but could not return due to the Illinois malitia. This led to the battle of Stillman's Run. Numerous battles occured there after which became known as the Black Hawk War. Many men, women, and children were killed in these battles leading to the capture of Black Hawk. He remained in captivity until 1833 when he was sent back to his nation along the Iowa River.

Uploaded

November 2nd, 2013

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