Turning Points
in Wisconsin History
The Black Hawk War
At St. Louis in 1804, future president William Henry Harrison negotiated a treaty with two representatives of the Sauk nation who had come to the city on other business. When it was over, the government believed it had secured the right to open all Sauk lands east of the Mississippi to settlement, for a mere $2,500. Sauk chiefs back home in Illinois and Wisconsin, however, believed that the two negotiators had never possessed the authority to speak for the whole nation and that the treaty was therefore invalid. The Indians continued to inhabit their village of Saukenuk near the mouth... more...
Original Documents and Other Primary Sources
 | A trader relates his family history and personal adventures, 1745-1857. |
| Ho-Chunk chief Spoon Decorah looks back over a long life. |
| Walking Cloud recounts episodes of the Black Hawk War. |
| John Shaw recalls Tomah, Black Hawk, Keokuk, and other Indian leaders. |
| The founding of Fort Winnebago and the career of trader Pierre Paquette |
| Recollections of a young mother in the Lead Region, 1826-1841 |
| Gen. Joseph Street, Indian agent to the Ho-Chunk, Sauk and Fox. |
| Eastern newspapers report on Black Hawk's 1833 tour |
| Black Hawk, remembered by those who knew him |
| A Wisconsin soldier describes the massacre at Bad Axe, 1832 |
| The Sauk and Fox shortly before the Black Hawk War |
| Indian Versions of Some Early Wisconsin Events |
 | A powder horn carried during the Black Hawk War |
 | A description of the Battle of Bad Axe, 1832 |
| Black Hawk's Route through Wisconsin in 1832 |
| A local historian chats about Prairie du Chien (vol. 1) |
| A local historian chats about Prairie du Chien (vol. 2) |
 | View of the Pecatonica battlefield (1857) |
| View of the Bad Axe battleground (1856) |
| View of the Wisconsin Heights battlefield (1856) |
| Portrait of Black Hawk in 1833 |
| Menominee Chief Oshkosh in 1858 |
| Wisconsin's first Territorial Governor, Henry Dodge |
| Pictures of the Sauk Indians during the 1830's |
| Prairie du Chien merchant and judge James H. Lockwood, 1856. |
 | A woman describes her fears during the Black Hawk War, 1832 |
| A Wisconsin soldier looks back on his role in the hostilities of 1832. |
| One-Eyed Decorah relates how he helped Black Hawk surrender. |
| Journal, summer 1834, of Rev. Cutting Marsh, during a visit to the Sauk and Fox Indians |
| The new Indian agent describes tensions in the Lead Region in 1827. |
| Wisconsin soldiers who served in the Winnebago War (1827) |
| Wisconsin soldiers who served in the Black Hawk War (1832) |
| A missionary's handwritten dictionary of terms in the Sauk language, 1834 |
.