First Siege Of Fort Madison Begins

5 September 1812  Fort Madison 

Source

Letter Of The 27th

Cannon At Campbell's Island, Illinois

"The battle of Campbell's Island", July 19, 1814

Black Hawk's memory is at fault, he does not state exactly what these Indian messengers told him. Colonel McKay, whose army of British and Indians had attacked Prairie du Chien, in a letter to his superior officer, under date of July 27, 1814, says that on the seventeenth of July about three o'clock in the afternoon, after the gun boat "Governor Clark" had been driven from its position by the British cannon and had started down the river, that he immediately sent off a canoe with three men, an Iowan, who had come from Mackinac with him, and two of the six Sauks, who had joined him on the Fox river, that he gave them four kegs of gun powder and ordered them to pass the "Governor Clark" and get as soon as possible to the Rapids at the Rock river, where he believed the gun boat would run aground; that they should collect all the Sauks and annoy the "Governor Clark" and prevent their landing to get fire wood, etc.

Black Hawk collected his warriors and determined to attack the boats which had now started up the river, as Black Hawk says : "I collected my warriors and determined to pursue the boats, I immediately started with my party by land, in pursuit, thinking that some of their boats might get aground, or that the GREAT SPIRIT would put them in our power, if he wished them taken."

A Fissure In The Sauk Nation

Chief Keokuk

The Sauks and the Black Hawk War...:

...when an Indian Nation contains more than about 2,000 people its increase of population decreases its cohesive power.  But in the division of the Sauks, which occurred with the late war between Great Britain and the United States, this custom or weakness was not a factor. That division grew out and was a part of the war of 1812- 14.

 For more than forty years Mucketee-Meshe-Kiah-Kiah, (literally meaning in our language Black Sparrow Hawk but always called Black Hawk), prior to that war had been the universally acknowledged first or head War Chief of the Sauk Nation.

Living at Saukenuk, near Rock Island, and "out of a job," as he [Black Hawk] had no immediate fight on his hands, but eager to have, on learning that war had been declared, hastened to offer his services with two hundred picked braves, to our Government to fight against the British.   On being refused, he at once tendered his services to the British, and was accepted, and went to Green Bay, where he was assigned to duty with the rank of Colonel.

During his [Black Hawk's] absence a rumor reached Saukenuk that a large force of United States troops had left Peoria, Illinois, for an attack upon Saukenuk, which created great alarm among the Sauks, who, as a mass, sympathized with the people of the United States in this war.  [Keokuk]...organized a small army sent out spies and went in person at the head of a little band of trailers towards Peoria and satisfied himself that the whole story was a canard.

When Black Hawk and his 200 braves returned from the war, he found Keokuk fully installed in his place as the War Chief of the Nation, and a division of the tribe ensued.  ...[one group was] known as the British or Black Hawk's band; the latter as the Peace or Keokuk's band.

Capt. Anderson's Journal And His Orders For The Rock River Expedition

Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online's entry for Thomas Gummersall Anderson "Indian agent; b. at Sorel, Province of Quebec, 12 Nov. 1779, sixth son of Captain Samuel Anderson, loyalist, and Deliverance Butts; d. at Port Hope, Ont., 10 Feb. 1875."

Source

[Excerpt from above letter]
Fort McKay, Aug. 26, 1814

 To Lieut. [Duncan] Graham--

Sir--The expedition for the Rock River under your command, being now in readiness,... . On your arrival there you will assemble the Indians and explain to them that the intention of the expedition is to support them in defending their lands and women and children according to promises made to them by their father Robert Dickson and Lieut Col. McKay.... .

That they must not amuse themselves during the action in taking scalps. They must destroy the enemy as much as possible except prisoners.

Thos G Anderson, Capt Comd'g

Note:  Lieutenant Graham's forces met the American forces under Zachary Taylor at Credit Island.  The War of 1812 Archaeology blog described it as "The Forgotten Battle."

Pre-War Hostilities In The Illinois Territory

On June 28, 1809, Nicholas Jarrot, of Cahokia, made affidavit that Messrs Portier and Bleakly, of Prairie du Chien, were inciting Indians to hostility and furnishing them arms and ammunition, with the result that the Indians along the Mississippi became audacious and warlike. In fact it may be said that by reason of such conduct in conjunction with the influence of the agents stationed at the mouth of Rock River, Ft. Madison was threatened during the winter of 1808-9 and on April 19, 1809, Lieut. Alpha Kingsley, commandant, reported rumors of a contemplated attack upon him and wrote: "The sooner the British traders are shut out of the river the better for our country."

See the above excerpt (and more) from Transactions of the Illinois State.....