Black Hawk Crosses Mississippi: War Erupts Over Stolen Lands
Black Hawk, a Sauk war leader, crossed the Mississippi River into Illinois on April 5, 1832, with roughly 1,500 people including women, children, and elderly. He believed he would receive support from other tribes and the British in Canada. Neither materialized. The US Army and Illinois militia pursued his band northward through Wisconsin for four months. The war ended at the Battle of Bad Axe on August 1-2, where soldiers and an armed steamboat fired on men, women, and children attempting to swim across the Mississippi. An estimated 150 to 300 Sauk were killed. Black Hawk was captured, imprisoned, and exhibited as a curiosity in eastern cities. A young Abraham Lincoln served as a militia captain during the campaign but saw no combat.
April 6, 1832
194 years ago
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