He was
dressed in a military uniform, said to have been presented to him by a
member of General Jackson's cabinet, with a cap on his head ornamented
with feathers. On his left side was a sword presented him by General
Jackson; on his right side a cane presented to him by Henry Clay, and
one given to him by a British officer, and other trophies. Three medals
hung about his neck from President Jackson, ex-President John Quincy
Adams and the city of Boston, respectively. The body was covered with
boards on each side, the length of the body, which formed a ridge, with
an open space below; the gables being closed by boards, and the whole
was covered with sod. At the head was a flag-staff thirty-five feet high
which bore an American flag worn out by exposure, and near by was
the usual hewn post inscribed with Indian characters representing his
war-like exploits, etc. Enclosing all was a strong circular picket fence
twelve feet high. His body remained here until July, 1839, when it was
carried off by a certain Dr. Turner, then living at Lexington, Van Buren
county, Iowa. Captain Horn says the bones were carried to Alton, Ills.,
to be mounted with wire. Mr. Barrows says they were taken to Warsaw,
Ills. Black Hawk's sons, when they heard of this desecration of their
father's grave, were very indignant, and complained of it to Governor
Lucas of Iowa Territory, and his excellency caused the bones to be
brought back to Burlington in the fall of 1839, or the spring of 1840.
When the sons came to take possession of them, finding them safely
stored "in a good dry place" they left them there. The bones were
subsequently placed in the collection of the Burlington Geological and
Historical Society, and it is certain that they perished in the fire
which destroyed the building and all the society's collections in 1855;
though the editor of the Annals, (April, 1865, p. 478) says there is
good reason to believe that the bones were not destroyed by the fire,
and he is "creditably informed that they are now at the residence of a
former officer of said society and thus escaped that catastrophe."

Another account, however, and probably a more reliable one, states that
the last remains of Black Hawk were consumed as stated, in the burning
building containing the collections and properties of the Burlington
Geological and Historical Society.

In closing this narrative of the life of this noble old chief it may be
but just to speak briefly of his