Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/126



hostilities, demanded their removal. Collisions took place and, in 1830, when Black Hawk and his tribe returned from their annual hunting excursion, they found their lands had been surveyed and sold to white settlers. Their cabins had been seized and occupied and their own women and children were shelterless on the banks of the river. Black Hawk drove the white intruders out of the village and restored the wigwams to their owners. The whites called upon Governor Reynolds of Illinois for assistance and he called upon General Gaines to bring an army strong enough to expel the Indians.

On the 25th of June, 1831, General Gaines with sixteen hundred mounted soldiers took possession of the Sac village, driving the Indians from their homes to the west side of the Mississippi River. On the 30th Governor Reynolds and General Gaines, at the point of the bayonet, dictated terms with the Sac chiefs by which the Indians were prohibited from returning to the east side of the river without permission of the United States authorities. It was now too late to plant corn again and autumn found the Indians without food for winter.

In April, 1832, Black Hawk with his followers, including women and children, crossed to the east side of the Mississippi, near the mouth of Rock River. He declared the purpose of his journey was to join the Winnebagoes in raising a crop of corn. As they were proceeding toward the country occupied by their friends, the Winnebagoes, General Atkinson, in command at Fort Armstrong, on Rock Island, sent a messenger to Black Hawk, commanding him to return immediately to the west side of the river. Black Hawk refused to comply with the order, stating that his people were suffering greatly for food. He sent word to General Atkinson that they were on a peaceable journey to visit the Winnebagoes who had invited them to come and help raise a crop of corn. Governor Reynolds, upon hearing of the return of the Sacs, called out the militia to aid the regulars at Fort