ur notion."

In the spring of 1831, Black Hawk, a Sac chief, dissatisfied with the
treaty by which his tribe had been removed across the Mississippi,
recrossed the river at the head of three or four hundred warriors, and
drove away the white settlers from his old lands near the mouth of the
Rock River. This was considered an invasion of the State, and Governor
Reynolds called for volunteers. Fifteen hundred men answered the
summons, and the Indians were driven out. The next spring, however,
Black Hawk returned with a larger force, and commenced hostilities by
killing some settlers on Indian Creek, not far from Ottawa. A large
force of volunteers was again called out, but in the first encounter the
whites were beaten, which success encouraged the Sacs and Foxes so much
that they spread themselves over the whole of the country between the
Mississippi and the Lake, and kept up a desultory warfare for three or
four months against the volunteer troops. About the middle of July, a
body of volunteers under General Henry of Illinois pursued the Indians
into Wisconsin, and by forced marches brought them to action near the
Mississippi, before the United States troops, under General Atkinson,
could come up. The Indians fought desperately, but were unable to stand
long before the courage and superior numbers of the whites. They escaped
across the river with the loss of nearly three hundred, killed in the
action, or drowned in the retreat. The loss of the Illinois volunteers
was about thirty, killed and wounded.

This defeat entirely broke the power of the Sacs and Foxes, and they
sued for peace. Black Hawk, and some of his head men, were taken
prisoners, and kept in confinement for several months, when, after a
tour through the country, to show them the numbers and power of the
whites, they were set at liberty on the west side of the Mississippi. In
1840 Black Hawk died, at the age of eighty years, on the banks of the
great river which he loved so well.

After the Black-Hawk War, the Indian title being extinguished, and the
country open to settlers, Northern Illinois attracted great attention,
and increased wonderfully in wealth and population.

In 1830, the population of the State amounted to 157,445; in 1840, to
476,183; in 1850, to 851,470; in 1860, to 1,719,496.

* * * * *

Situated in the centre of the United States, the State of Illinois
extends from 37 deg. to 42 deg. 30' N. latitude, and