| Black Hawk was inhabited from 1730 to 1830 by the Sauk and Mesquakie (Fox) Indian Nations. Saukenak was one of the largest Indian centers in North America and home of the famous Sauk warrior-leader, Black Hawk. In the late 1820's, white settlers began to move into the area, and by 1831 all Indians were forced to cross the Mississippi River. Black Hawk returned in 1832 with fifteen hundred followers in an unsuccessful attempt to regain their homeland. The Hauberg Indian Museum depicts the daily life and seasonal activities of the Sauk and Mesquakie tribes through life-size dioramas, traditional bark-covered summer and winter houses, and material culture artifacts. The Black Hawk site was first occupied by Indians as long as 12,000 years ago, and it was continuously inhabited through the Hopewell period, ca. 100 B.C. to A.D. 250. Villagers lived within the bounds of the present historic site, and they built burial mounds along the bluffs above the river. Unfortunately, the mounds have been destroyed. For nearly a century beginning about 1730 the Sauk and Mesquakie Indians made their home here. Saukenak, the capital of the Sauk nation and one of the largest Indian centers in North America, stood adjacent to the site. The Sauk and the Mesquakie farmed the land along the river and relied upon the fur trade for their livelihood. At the height of their power they controlled parts of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Missouri and all of Iowa. Saukenak was the site of the westernmost battle of the Revolutionary War. Americans destroyed the village in 1780 because some of the Sauk had given military support to the British. In 1804 several chiefs of the tribe ceded the village land to the United States government. The Sauk warrior Black Hawk (he was not a chief) headed the pro-British faction that refused to recognize the cession as legal. During the War of 1812, the pro-British Indians remained at Saukenak, defeating the Americans in two Mississippi River battles- Campbell's Island and Credit Island. Reference |  |