st with the United States, it was
common to represent him as an able warrior, who by the eloquence and
fluency of his harangues, commanded the unlimited confidence of his
band. He has, most probably, been overrated both for his eloquence and
his skill in the battle field. He is no doubt a man of courage, and
seems, from early life, to have had a strong predisposition for war.
Many of his measures as a leader, have been more influenced by a sense
of what was right in the abstract, than expedient in practice. This
circumstance has often placed him in situations, inimical to the
permanent prosperity of his people.

Black Hawk never made any claims to the office of a peace chief. Even as
a war chief, he was not recognized by all the tribe to which he
belonged. A fragment of the Sacs and Foxes, however, followed his banner
for more than twenty years, and acknowledged him in that capacity: and,
over them, he certainly exercised, from their confidence in his
judgment, his warlike talent, or some other cause, no small amount of
influence. His age and kindness of disposition, probably, strengthened
their attachment to him. In the campaign of 1832, although terminating
in the defeat of Black Hawk, and the almost entire annihilation of his
band, his military reputation did not suffer much, if the circumstances
under which he was placed, be recollected. During the operations of that
period, General Atkinson estimated the warriors of Black Hawk at seven
or eight hundred, but the better opinion is that it did not, at any
time, exceed five hundred; and several persons, who had favorable
opportunities for judging, place the estimate still lower. The
commander of the United States troops, had with him, in the pursuit of
Black Hawk, twenty seven hundred men, all of them well armed and most of
them well mounted. This was independent of the militia in the different
military posts and fortified stations. The entire number of the American
forces, engaged in the campaign, is supposed to have approached to three
thousand, five hundred. Black Hawk was encumbered with the wives and
children, the household property and travelling equipage of his whole
band; and from the time of his recrossing the Mississippi to the battle
of the Bad-axe, was constantly in want of provisions. Indeed, in the
month of July, many of his party actually starved to death. Under such
circumstances, the wonder is not, that he was finally defeated and
captured, but that it