The Black Hawk State Historic Site, in Rock Island, Illinois, occupies much of the historic site of the village of Saukenuk, the home of a band of Native Americans of the Sauk nation. The state park is located on a 150-foot (45m) bluff overlooking the Rock River in western Illinois. It is most famous for being the birth place of the Sauk warrior Black Hawk. The disputed cession of this area to the U.S. Government was the catalyst for the Black Hawk War. Rock Island is a city located in Rock Island County, Illinois. ... For the abbreviation or acronym SAC, please see SAC. The Sauks or Sacs (Asakiwaki in their own language) are a group of Native Americans whose original territory may have been along the St. ... The Rock River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately 285 miles (459 km) long, in the U.S. states of Wisconsin and Illinois. ... Black Hawk Black Hawk (Makataimeshekiakiak) (1767–October 3, 1838) was a leader and warrior of the Sauk Native American tribe in what is now the United States. ... Combatants United States Sauk Nation Strength 8,000 Miltia 1,500 Regulars volunteers? Indian allies ? 1,000 The majority were women and children Casualties 33 killed in action 39 non-combatants killed 450-600 The Black Hawk War was fought in 1832 in the Midwestern United States. ...

Under the Sauk

The Sauk nation occupied this as their principle village, a well-drained area suitable for growing corn, about 1750. The tribe's villagers were successful not only in agriculture but also in catching fur-bearing animals, spending the winters in winter camps down and across the Mississippi collecting furs. The Sauk hunters skinned their catches and sold the peltry to fur traders from the Great Lakes. From 1763 on, these traders were mostly British, and from the 1780s on, most of them were employees or contractors of the Canada-based North West Company. In the spring, the Sauks gathered in sugar camps for maple sugaring before returning to the village (left empty since the fall) to plant crops and bury their dead. Look up corn in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A dogs fur usually consists of longer, stiffer, guard hairs—which can be straight, wiry, or wavy, and of various lengths, hiding a soft, short-haired undercoat. ... The Great Lakes from space The Great Lakes are a group of five large lakes on or near the United States-Canadian border. ... Today, the North West Company is a grocery vendor in remote communities across northern Canada, Alaska and Greenland. ... Maple syrup is a sweetener made from the sap of maple trees. ...

The Saukenuk people's social and economic ties with British Canada not only led to success for its people but kept the hope of British military assistance alive among the Sauk. Some of the Indians would travel each year to British forts on far-away Lake Superior and near Detroit for trading and gift-giving.

By 1826, an estimated 4,800 Sauk lived in and around Saukenuk. It was the largest single settlement in the new U.S. state of Illinois. A state of the United States (a U.S. state) is any one of the fifty states (four of which officially favor the term commonwealth) which, along with the District of Columbia, form the United States of America. ... Official language(s) English Capital Springfield Largest city Chicago Area  Ranked 25th  - Total 57,918 sq mi (149,998 km²)  - Width 210 miles (340 km)  - Length 390 miles (629 km)  - % water 4. ...

The Black Hawk War

The defeat of the British Canadians in the War of 1812 and the spread of settlers into Illinois and up the Mississippi River doomed the village. In multiple treaties, the Sauk had signed a land cessions that sold the land under Saukenuk to the new American nation. Part of the tribe established new villages in Iowa and in Missouri nearer their winter hunting grounds. Black Hawk's band of Sauk refused to accept the vaildity of the treaty of cession, and approximately 1,500 men, women, and children, called the "British band" recrossed the Mississippi River eastward from Iowa Territory in 1832 possibly to re-occupy the village site (although they may have been headed for a Potawatomi village further north). During the winter, while the village was empty, several American families and itenerant lead miners had occupied the village and begun planting. The Illinoisans considered Black Hawk's movements an aggressive act of war and called out the local militia, thus starting the Black Hawk War. Combatants United States United Kingdom Strength United States Regular army : 99,000 Volunteers: 10,000* Rangers: 3,000 Militia: 458,000** Naval and marine: 20,000 Indigenous peoples New York Iroquois: 600 Northwestern allies: ? Southern allies: ? United Kingdom Regular army: 10,000+ Naval and marine: ? Canadian militia: 86,000+** Indigenous... The Mississippi River, derived from the old Ojibwe word misi-ziibi meaning great river (gichi-ziibi big river at its headwaters), is the second-longest river in the United States; the longest is the Missouri River, which flows into the Mississippi. ... Rain dance, Kansas, c. ... General Name, Symbol, Number lead, Pb, 82 Chemical series poor metals Group, Period, Block 14, 6, p Appearance bluish white Atomic mass 207. ... The United States detonated an atomic bomb over Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Combatants United States Sauk Nation Strength 8,000 Miltia 1,500 Regulars volunteers? Indian allies ? 1,000 The majority were women and children Casualties 33 killed in action 39 non-combatants killed 450-600 The Black Hawk War was fought in 1832 in the Midwestern United States. ...

The campaign of 1832 led to a complete victory for the U.S. Army and the state of Illinois. Many of Black Hawk's followers were killed and the Quad Cities region was completely opened to settlement. However, many white Americans admired Black Hawk's courage in defense of his band's ancestral lands, and the native leader was elevated to the rank of a folk hero. The Army is the branch of the United States armed forces which has primary responsibility for land-based military operations. ... A folk hero is a person that is idolized by the common person, but loathed by the rich and powerful, because generally the folk hero must take away something from those of the upper class to make life better for the peasants. ...

In the late 1800s, the central portion of the site of Saukenuk was set aside as a park and historic site. A statue of Black Hawk was raised on the site in 1892, and the Civilian Conservation Corps redeveloped and improved the park in 1934-1942. Civilian Conservation Corps workers restoring the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. ...

The village site today

The center of the Sauk village of Saukenuk is now the Black Hawk State Historical Site and John Hauberg Museum of Native American Life. However, the village spread out over a much larger area than the boundaries of the current state park. The Rock Island side of the village's site is now partly a large quarry. Many villagers lived south of the Rock River, in what is now Milan, Illinois. Milan is a village located in Rock Island County, Illinois. ...

The historic site is served by Illinois Route 5, which intersects with Interstate 74 in nearby Moline, Illinois at exit #4. See also U.S. 6 Illinois Route 5 is a four-lane road that runs from U.S. Route 67 in Rock Island, IL to the interchange of Interstate 80 and the toll-free portion of Interstate 88, a distance of about twenty miles (32 km). ... Interstate 74 (abbreviated I-74) is an interstate highway in the Midwestern and southeastern United States. ... The John Deere Pavilion in Moline, Illinois. ...

External links

• Illinois Historic Preservation Agency