Battle of Horseshoe Bend (1832)
The Battle of Horseshoe Bend, also referred to as the Battle of Pecatonica and the Battle of Bloody Lake, was fought on June 16, 1832 in present-day Wisconsin at an oxbow lake known as "Horseshoe Bend", which was formed by a change in course of the Pecatonica River. The battle was a major turning point in the Black Hawk War, despite being of only minor military significance. The small victory won by the U.S. militia at Horseshoe Bend helped restore public confidence in the volunteer force following an embarrassing defeat at Stillman's Run. The Battle of Horseshoe Bend ended with three militia men killed in action and a party of eleven Kickapoo warriors dead.
An 1857 painting of the battlefield at Horseshoe Bend.
A historic marker was erected in 1922, in part, by residents of nearby Woodford, Wisconsin.
The Black Hawk War was a conflict between the United States and Native Americans led by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. The war erupted after Black Hawk and a group of Sauks, Meskwakis (Fox), and Kickapoos, known as the "British Band", crossed the Mississippi River, to the U.S. state of Illinois, from Iowa Indian Territory in April 1832. Black Hawk's motives were ambiguous, but he was apparently hoping to reclaim land that was taken over by the United States in the disputed 1804 Treaty of St. Louis.
Black Hawk, the Sauk war chief and namesake of the Black Hawk War in 1832
Keokuk by George Catlin, c. 1830s
Newspaper account of the alarm caused by Sauk returning to Saukenuk, Washington National Intelligencer, June 13, 1831
Fort Armstrong was located on Rock Island, which is now known as Arsenal Island. The view is from the Illinois side, with Iowa in the background.