Black Hawk, 26 April - 30 September 1832. A faction of Sauk & Fox Indians, living in eastern Iowa & led by Black Hawk, threatened to go on the warpath in 1832 when squatters began to preempt Illinois lands formerly occupied by the two tribes. The faction held that cession of these lands to the Federal Government in 1804 had been illegal. Black Hawk asserted he would remove the squatters forcibly & attempted without success to organize a confederacy & make an alliance with the British. Finally, when Black Hawk's followers, including some 500 warriors, crossed the Mississippi into Illinois in early 1832 & refused to return, the 1st & 6th Infantry under Brig. Gen. Henry Atkinson, together with Illinois militia, set out in pursuit up the Rock River. A volunteer detachment suffered heavy losses in a skirmish on 14 May 1832 near present-day Dixon, Illinois, & Atkinson had to pause to recruit new militia. On 21 July a volunteer force severely chastised Black Hawk's band at Madison, Wisconsin, & Atkinson completely defeated what remained of it at the confluence of the Mississippi & Bad Axe on 2 August 1832, capturing Black Hawk & killing 150 of his braves.
