Autobiography of Black Hawk or Ma-Ka-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak

Embracing The Traditions Of His Nation, Various Wars In Which He Has Been Engaged, And His Account Of The Cause And General History Of The Black Hawk War Of 1832, His Surrender, and Travels Through the United States.

The changes of fortune and vicissitudes of war made you my conqueror. When my last resources were exhausted, my warriors worn down with long and toilsome marches, we yielded, and I became your prisoner.

The story of my life is told in the following pages: it is intimately connected, and in some measure, identified, with a part of the history of your own: I have, therefore, dedicated it to you.

The changes of many summers have brought old age upon me, and I can not expect to survive many moons. Before I set out on my journey to the land of my fathers, I have determined to give my motives and reasons for my former hostilities to the whites, and to vindicate my character from misrepresentation. The kindness I received from you whilst a prisoner of war assures me that you will vouch for the facts contained in my narrative, so far as they came under your observation.

I am now an obscure member of a nation that formerly honored and respected my opinions. The pathway to glory is rough, and many gloomy hours obscure it. May the Great Spirit shed light on yours, and that you may never experience the humility that the power of the American government has reduced me to, is the wish of him, who, in his native forests, was once as proud and bold as yourself. BLACK HAWK. 10th Moon, 1833.

Dictated by Himself.

• Birth of Black Hawk
• Black Hawk as a Young Brave
• Medicine Bag of my Forefathers
• Young American Chief
• War Party of Whites
• War between the British and Americans
• A Visit to Colonel Dixon
• Meetings with Chiefs and Braves
• Great Feast for the Pottawattomie
• Pursuit of the British
• Peace between the British and Americans
• Great Chief at St. Louis
• Black Hawk’s Tower
• The Crane Dance
• The Traders Arrive
• Difficulties with the Iowa
• Return to My Hunting Ground
• Visit to the Agent
• Keokuk Barters our Rights
• Council Convened
• General Gaines Enters Rock River
• Good News I had Heard
• The Story Continued
• Black Hawk Addresses His People
• Boarding the Steamboat “Warrior”
• Travel to Philadelphia
• My Old Friend Col. Wm. Davenport
• Starts for a New Home
• Black Hawk’s Last Visit
• Black Hawk’s Removal to the Des Moines River
• Black Hawk Tower Re-visited