rom Fort Snelling were attacked, with some loss
of life. The settlers hastily repaired the old fort and also dispatched
messengers to give the alarm. Galena sent a hundred militiamen; a
battalion came down from Fort Snelling; Governor Cass arrived on the
spot by way of Green Bay; General Atkinson brought up a full regiment
from Jefferson Barracks, near St. Louis; and finally Major Whistler
proceeded up the Fox with a portion of the troops stationed at Fort
Howard, on Green Bay.

When all was in readiness, the Winnebagoes were notified that, unless
Red Bird and his principal accomplice, Wekau, were promptly surrendered,
the tribe would be exterminated. The threat had its intended effect,
and the two culprits duly presented themselves at Whistler's camp on
the Fox-Wisconsin portage, in full savage regalia, and singing their war
dirges. Red Bird, who was an Indian of magnificent physique and lofty
bearing, had but one request to make--that he be not committed to
irons--and this request was granted. At Prairie du Chien, whither the
two were sent for trial, he had opportunities to escape, but he refused
to violate his word by taking advantage of them. Following their trial,
the redskins were condemned to be hanged. Unused to captivity, however,
Red Bird languished and soon died, while his accomplice was pardoned by
President Adams. In 1828 Fort Winnebago was erected on the site of Red
Bird's surrender.

The Winnebagoes now agreed to renounce forever their claims to the lead
mines. Furthermore, in the same year, the site of the principal Sauk
village and burying-ground, on Rock River, three miles south of the
present city of Rock Island, was sold by the Government, and the Sauk
and Foxes resident in the vicinity were given notice to leave. Under
the Sauk chieftain Keokuk most of the dispossessed warriors withdrew
peacefully beyond the Mississippi, and two years later the tribal
representatives formally yielded all claims to lands east of that
stream. Some members of the tribe, however, established themselves on
the high bluff which has since been known as Black Hawk's Watch Tower
and defied the Government to remove them.

The leading spirit in this protest was Black Hawk, who though neither
born a chief nor elected to that dignity, had long been influential in
the village and among his people at large. During the War of 1812 he
became an implacable enemy of the Americans, and, after fighting with
the British at the battles