Black Hawk: An Autobiography

by Black Hawk, Black Hawk and Antoine LeClaire and J B Patterson, Antoine Leclair, et al.

Book Overview

A classic of Native American literature and US history, the autobiography of the Sauk warrior Black Hawk (Ma-Ka-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak in the Sauk language) offers an eyewitness account of the conflict between Indigenous peoples and white colonists on the Illinois frontier. But it also provides one of the most vivid Native descriptions of Indigenous life and beliefs before and during colonization of the Mississippi Valley. The University of Illinois...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0252723252
• ISBN13: 9780252723254
• Release Date: January 1990
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.4" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A Victim and Courageous Adversary.

I live in the Black Hawk area also, and everytime I read of this man, I get more respect for his cause. His tribe was cheated out of vast lands for a pittance. When he protested this cheating, he was told to move his ancestral village and go across the river. When he protested this, the government moved troops against him. When he wanted to surrender, they shot his braves who waved a white flag. Who cheated who here. It seems that the Indians were cheated of their inheritance and could not even protest this to the government. He was brave in battle and surrendered when he had to due to the murder of his women and children. He was taken captive and shown to gawking Easterners. He put a brave face on everything and accepted his lot. No wonder the military named its impressive helicopter after him. This is a nice read on a brave and courageous man. Even though he was defeated, he never lost his pride in his ancestry. A true warrior and hero for everyone.

Black Hawk in his own words

This is an easy to read, valuable piece of near-primary source material - which fills in the gaps that I find in most collections of the last 400 years of American history. Like adding Howard Zinn material to your study of US history, the words of Black Hawk balance the traditional textbook summary of native Indian history and culture. Black Hawk speaks in a narrative storyline that deserves our attention and understanding. He was without the benefit of support, and thus was unable to confirm the more than substantial memory at his grasp. The editorial notations added within the text that at times confirm or counter Black Hawk's telling, though intended to clarify the historical record, will thus serve to mildly frustrate the reading. And although this is an "autobiography" of his life, there are significant questions as to the caliber of translation of Black Hawk's words. Just enough so that I imagined him actually telling of his life in his native tongue to one truly fluent in the language and how much richer the story would be. I found myself marveling most the sections where Black Hawk speaks of the power of nature and it's interwoven influence on the lives of the native tribes, as well as their deep respect and understanding for the impact living things have on one another. By contrasting his culture with the encroaching white settler culture, he is prescient of what is to come. Through the eyes and words of this sincere man, we hear of the habit of deception and the power of greed of a dominating culture which will eventually strip away most all valuable material things from these people, while at the same moment speaking faithlessly of highest ideals and principles. The book is a top read for anyone curious to hear a more authentic, first-hand narrative of the realities of life in the 1800's for a wise but slowly disappearing culture.

A view of the Indian Wars from the Native-American side

During the War of 1812, Black Hawk (1767-1838), a chief among the Sauk and Fox Indians, fought on the side of the British. In 1823, after signing a treaty with the United States, the Sauk and Fox were compelled to leave their lands in present-day Illinois, and move west of the Mississippi River. In April 1832, after Black Hawk had received what he considered to be too many affronts, he led a large following back to the disputed land, beginning what was later known as the Black Hawk War (April-August 1832). After his surrender, Black Hawk was given a tour of the expanding United States, and he decided that he wished to have recorded his life's story, so that the people of the United States could understand him and his reasons for going to war. This is the Black Hawk's life story.This book was originally published in 1833, and was supposedly dictated by Black Hawk to his translator, Antoine Leclair. There is some speculation as to how much of this work is actually Black Hawk's own words, and how much is Leclair's ghost writing. But, I must admit that I did not bother much with this controversy. I found the book to be a fascinating look into Black Hawk's mind and how he saw the European-American settlement of the United States.First of all, the hero of this story is no sugar-coated Disney character. His story is filled with battle and plunder and the taking of scalps. A true warrior, steeped in his culture's ideals, he lived and fought in what he considered an honorable and logical manner, and could not understand the way that the white people lived and fought. This is no politically correct paean to the Native-Americans, but a clear-eyed explanation of who Black Hawk was, and why he did what he did.So, if you are interested in American history, and want a view of the Indian Wars from the Native-American side, then I highly recommend this book to you.

The Autobiography of Black Hawk

The last "Indian War" in Illinois occurred in 1832 when a small band of Sauk refused under the leadership of the warrior Black Hawk to abandon their village (located under a subdivision of the present Rock Island, Illinois). They wandered up the Rock River, fighting contingents of regular army and state militia (a young Abraham Lincoln served several stints as a volunteer but saw no fighting; a young Jefferson Davis played a role in the last phases of the conflict), slipped into Wisconsin, and were finally defeated in a brutal massacre of men, women, and children on the banks of the Mississippi. Black Hawk surrendered and was taken East to meet President Jackson. After a short term in confinement, he and his companions were taken on a tour of the East Coast, an effort by the United States government to impress him with the young nation's overwhelming superiority in numbers and technology. The plan worked, by Black Hawk's own testimony, and when he returned to the Midwest he lived out the rest of his life in obscurity in a village in Iowa. He never saw his home again.The origins of the autobiography published under Black Hawk's name has generated controversy. It was dictated to a half Native American interpreter, Antoine Le Claire, who rendered it into English, then edited by an Illinois newspaperman named John B. Patterson, who put it into publishable form. Both men swore that the result was faithful to Black Hawk's words, but the skeptical reader may be permitted some doubt; the language is clearly that of the period (surely Patterson's work), and Black Hawk himself complains on at least one occasion that his interpreter's grasp of the Sauk language did not suffice to translate a flowery speech. So what we have here, while no doubt in general faithful to Black Hawk's intentions and life story, cannot be his ipsissima verba. (It is a pity, given these doubts, that the editor of the volume, who has otherwise done an admirable job of annotation and commentary, did not compare the language of the preface, which records Black Hawk's own Sauk, with that of the text as a whole.)Despite these doubts, there can be no question that the Autobiography affords us an extraordinary opportunity to see the impact of midwestern expansion on the native population from their own point of view, and to obtain direct access -- even if it has been mediated somewhat for non-native consumption -- into the social world of a people soon to vanish. The war itself is somewhat of an anti-climax, and deeply sad, doomed as resistance clearly was from the beginning. It is rather the self-presentation of a proud, successful Sauk warrior, endowed with considerable facilities of self-reflection and honesty, that make this book a treasure that every American should read.

A Book for Anyone

As a college student from the blackhawk area, I found this book captivating. Really written for any age or education level, I think anyone and everyone should read it. A heroic story of a real man, the book is a beautiful journey through history. The story some details of Black Hawk's life before the war and describes the events behind the wars and his interpretation of them well. I would recomend this to anyone from junior high up and definatly anyone from Rock Island or the surrounding areas.