Sauk people
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The Sauk or Sac are Native Americans and Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their historical territory was near Green Bay, Wisconsin. Today they have three tribes based in Iowa, Kansas,
Massika, a Sauk Indian, left, with Wakusasse (Meskwaki) at right. Aquatint of painting by Karl Bodmer, made at St. Louis in Spring 1833 when Massika pleaded for the release of war chief Black Hawk following the Black Hawk War
Sauk Indian family photographed by Frank Rinehart in 1899
Black Hawk War
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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, and Kickapoos, know
Sauk people
…of lands (in western Illinois, this time.) Their warfare with United States forces resulted in defeat at the hands of General Edmund P. Gaines in the Black Hawk War. From 1832 to 1837, debt and poverty were tools used to coerce the Sauk and Meskwaki to relocate three times following successive cessions of territory…
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.