Black Sparrow Hawk essays

Black Sparrow Hawk essays "Black Sparrow Hawk" was born in 1767 in the village of Saukenuk, in northwestern Illinois. At 15, he joined a raid against the Osage, one of his tribe's principal enemies. At this early age, he succeeded in becoming a Sauk warrior. Not long afterwards, "Black Sparrow Hawk", later to be called Black Hawk by whites, led an attack upon 100 Osages with only seven Sauk warriors. Black Hawk killed the enemy and escaped without losing a single one of his men. In this early period of his life, Black Hawk was already a prominent warrior. Sauk and Meskawki leaders signed a treaty in 1804 that forfeited all their lands adjacent to the Mississippi River in both Illinois and Iowa. With most of the Sauk and the Meskwaki people furious and White settlers beginning their move into the area, conflict seemed imminent. When the war of 1812 broke out, Black Hawk and the Sauk sided with the British in hopes of checking the growing population of white settlers. With the British defeat, these hopes were dashed. During the winter of 1831, the Choctaw Indians were the first tribe to walk the "Trail of Tears" westward. This removal policy of President Jackson's was aimed to encourage Indian tribes to sell their land in exchange for land in Oklahoma and Arkansas. However, this new land nothing like a "country of tall trees, many water courses, rich lands and high grass abounding in games of all kinds," as Jackson described it. Instead, the preserve was a barren desert and Pushmataha, a Choctaw chieftain, urged his people to reject Jackson's offer. However, President Jackson declared he would destroy their nation if the Choctaw would not move west. Many tribes organized resistance against the unjust removal, including the Sauk. Joined with the Fox Indians, they fought the Black Hawk War in order to recover their lands. The Indians had not understood the treaty that they had signed when they had transferred their land, and had not understood the impl...