Black Hawk

"I am a Sauk...I am a Warrior"So proclaimed Black Hawk in the spring of 1831, only a few days before he and his followers were forced to leave their home along Rock River forever. Though not a chief by birth, Black Hawk was the recognized leader of a political faction within the Sauk nation that believed in the old ways, the way of life that existed before Europeans came to America. He fought hard to preserve his ancestral home, but, in the end, failed to stem the tide of cultural change brought about by the invading European-Americans.