Seeing Saukenuk as the last bastion of traditional Suak land, Black Hawk refused to abandon his capital...when it was taken from him he resisted...
As other tribes signed treaties ceeding land to the whites, Black Hawk remained adamant in his belief that the land cannot be sold. In this latest article, I examined the events leading up to the Sauk Rebellion (otherwise referred to the Black Hawk War). I have chosen this nomenclature for the conflct because the historical title tends to generate a misconception among some that the Black Hawk were an existing nation as opposed to an individual leader. Although it is more commonly referred to as "the" Black Hawk War, it was hardly a singular event. In fact, there were several conflicts that led up to the major war in 1832 and there would be other conflicts that would tsem from the root cause in the future.
