.

Now in 1829 the settlers were so anxious to keep the Sac lands at the
mouth of the Rock River, that the Government put these on the market.
This would dispose of Black-hawk's people, for they would have no
village. Whether the other lands were sold, did not matter.

It was done while Black-hawk and his men and women were hunting. On
their return to plant their crops, they learned that their village and
grave-yard had been sold to the whites--the most of whom were already
there.

So the white people had won out. They in turn asked protection, of the
Government, from "General Black-hawk" and his band. The Government
listened, and ten companies of regular troops were sent to Rock Island
in a steamboat, to remove the Sacs, "dead or alive," to the west side
of the Mississippi.

A council was held with Black-hawk at Fort Armstrong, on Rock Island.
Black-hawk rose to speak. He said that the Sacs never had sold their
lands; it had been a mistake, and that they were bound to keep their
village.

"Who is this Black-hawk?" retorted General Edmund P. Gaines, the
commander of the troops. "Is he a chief? By what right does he appear
in council?"

Black-hawk wrapped his blanket around him and strode angrily out of the
council room. But the next morning he made answer.

"My father, you asked yesterday, who is Black-hawk? Why does he sit
among the chiefs? I will tell you who I am. I am a Sac, my father was
a Sac--I am a warrior and so was my father. Ask these young men, who
have followed me to battle, and they will tell you who Black-hawk is.
Provoke our people to war, and you will learn who Black-hawk is."

More troops were called, until there were twenty-five hundred. But
seeing so many soldiers marching, Black-hawk took all his people and
camped across the Mississippi, under a white flag.

After this Black-hawk was required to sign another treaty, which made
him say that he had tried to enlist the Potawatomis, Winnebagos and
Kickapoos in a war against the United States. It did not mention the
fact that for a dozen and more years the whites had been warring upon
him by seizing his lands and ploughing his fields and burning his
lodges.

The paper also set him down below the other chiefs, who had left their
lands. It set him below Keokuk, and the Fox chiefs--and this hurt him
deeply. All the Sacs and Foxes laughed at the idea of Keokuk, and his
lowly clan, being placed above Black-hawk and the Thunder cla