Black-hawk was sore at the Americans. He listened to the words of
Tecumseh and the Prophet, accepted the presents of the British agents
who came to see him, and with two hundred warriors marched to help the
British in the War of 1812. The British traders had been more generous
with the Indians than the American traders. Now the British father at
the Lakes saluted him as "General Black-hawk."

Only Black-hawk's band went. All the other Sacs and Foxes paid
attention to the talk of Keokuk, the Watchful Fox, who was the Sac
peace chief.

Like the great Cornstalk, he said to the people that if they were bound
to go to war, they should first put all the women and children "into
the long sleep, for we enter upon a trail that has no turn."

He was called a coward by the Black-hawk band; but the other Sacs and
Foxes stayed where they were.

"General" Black-hawk fought beside General Tecumseh. He asserted that
he was in the big battle when Tecumseh was killed. When he found that
the Indians had nothing to gain in the war, he came home. He had done
wrong to go at all.

Then he learned that a young man whom he had adopted as a son had been
murdered, while hunting, by bad whites. They had seized him, tied him,
killed him and scalped him. The young man had not been to war, and
Black-hawk could see no reason for the killing. So he set forth in
revenge, and fought a battle with the United States Rangers.

He remained unfriendly. It all dated back to the year 1804, and the
treaty signed by Pashepaho, by which the Sacs had lost their country.

They loved this country. They especially loved Rock Island, in the
Mississippi--where today is located a Government arsenal.

It was indeed a beautiful island for them. It bore grapes and nuts,
and they called it their garden. In a cave there, a kind spirit dwelt,
who blessed the land of the Indians. The spirit had white wings, like
a swan. But in 1816 the United States built Fort Armstrong right on
top of the cave, and the good spirit flew away, never to come back.
The guns of the fort frightened it.

Black-hawk himself had another favorite spot, upon a bluff overlooking
the Mississippi River and his village of Saukenuk. Here he liked to
sit. It is still known as Black-hawk's Watch Tower.

After Fort Armstrong was built, and the United States was again at
peace with the other white nations, settlers commenced to edge into
this Sac country of western Illinois. Althoug