August 2, 1832 – The Black Hawk War comes to a bitter end for the Sauk tribe under Chief Black Hawk at The Battle of Bad Axe Creek on the Mississippi River in Wisconsin.
In 1831, the Sauk tribal leaders were finding it nearly impossible to grow enough food for their people in the less-than-tillable land they had been assigned to in Iowa. So, in the spring of 1832 – facing starvation – Chief Black Hawk brought about 1,000 of his people back into Illinois, looking to plant crops near their old homestead near Ft. Armstrong. This move resulted in numerous skirmishes with both the Illinois militia and the U.S. Army, so Black Hawk’s people – on the verge of starvation – finally had to flee into Wisconsin. There, they were trapped at Bad Axe Creek, and as the tribe was attempting to escape across the Mississippi, the end came. Black Hawk and his son – Whirling Thunder – were captured, while the militia killed hundreds of old men, women and children, as well as 150 Sauk warriors. Any survivors were removed to “Indian Territory” to the west, and from the perspective of the U.S. government, the Black Hawk War was “officially” over.
A Day-by-Day Calendar of Historical Events In Iowa, William J. Petersen, State Historical Society of Iowa, 1946, p 75
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