Page:History of Iowa From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century Volume 1.djvu/134



great warrior. Now I am old and poor. Keokuk has been the cause of my downfall. I have looked upon the Mississippi since I was a child. I love the great river. I have always dwelt upon its banks. I look upon it now and am sad. I shake hands with you. We are now friends. I may not see you again. Farewell.”

He died on the third day of October following, and was buried on a spot long before selected by himself on the banks of the Des Moines River near the northeast corner of Davis County. His age was about seventy-two.

Mrs. Maria Peck, of Davenport, who made a careful study of the famous Sac chieftain, writes in the “Annals of Iowa” as follows:

“In Black Hawk was incarnated the very spirit of justice. He was as inflexible as steel in all matters of right and wrong, as he understood them. Expediency formed no part of his creed, and his conduct in the trying emergency that ended in the fatal conflict was eminently consistent with his character. No thought of malice or revenge entered his great soul. The contest was waged with no other purpose in mind than to protect his people in what he believed was their inalienable right to the wide domain that was being wrested from them. It matters not whether his skin was copper-colored or white, the man who has the courage of his convictions always challenges the admiration of the world, and as such pre-eminently the noble old Sac war chief will ever stand as an admirable figure.”