only wanted to
frighten us, and get our land without paying for it. I had a talk with
the great chief. He said if I would go, well. If I would not, he would
drive me. 'Who is Black Hawk?' said he. 'I am a Sac,' said I; 'my
forefather was a Sac; and all the nation call me a Sac.' But he said I
should go.

"I crossed the Mississippi with my people, during the night, and we
held a council. I touched the goose quill again, and they gave us some
corn, but it was soon gone. Then our women and children cried out for
the roasted ears, the beans, and squashes they had been used to, and
some of our braves went back in the night, to take some corn from our
own fields; the whites saw and fired upon them.

"I wished our great American father to do us justice. I wished to go
to him with others, but difficulties were thrown in the way. I
consulted the prophet, and recruited my bands to take my village
again; for I knew that it had been sold by a few, without the consent
of the many. It was a cheat. I said, 'I will not leave the place of my
fathers.'

"With my braves and warriors, on horseback, I moved up the river, and
took with us our women and children in canoes. Our prophet was among
us. The great war chief, White Beaver, sent twice to tell us to go
back; and that, if we did not, he would come and drive us. Black
Hawk's message was this: 'If you wish to fight us, come on.'

"We were soon at war; but I did not wish it: I tried to be at peace;
but when I sent parties with a white flag, some of my parties were
shot down. The whites behaved ill to me, they forced me into war, with
five hundred warriors, when they had against us three or four
thousand. I often beat them, driving back hundreds, with a few braves,
not half their number. We moved on to the Four Lakes.

"I made a dog feast before I left my camp. Before my braves feasted, I
took my great medicine bag, and made a speech to my people; this was
my speech:--

"'Braves and warriors! these are the medicine bags of our forefather,
Muk-a-ta-quet, who was the father of the Sac nation. They were handed
down to the great war chief of our nation, Na-na-ma-kee, who has been
at war with all the nations of the lakes, and all the nations of the
plains, and they have never yet been disgraced. I expect you all to
protect them.'

"We went to Mos-co-ho-co-y-nak, where the whites had built a fort. We
had several battles; but the whites so much outnumbered us, it was in
vain. We had no