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The Blackhawk War BY HENRY LITTLE, 1875
When Black Hawk, principal chief of the Saukies, received information concerning that treaty, he then and always after most emphatically and persistently denied having any knowledge of the transaction at the time it took place or afterwards, nor did Black Hawk or his people ever acknowledge its validity or binding force.
It does not appear that any proposition had ever been made to Black Hawk or his people (except as above) for their land, until after the war in 1832.
That treaty, such as it was, whether it was or was not valid, purported to give the title of that land to the United States, and the same instrument stipulated that the Indians should be permitted to occupy the said land, and hunt upon it so long as the same was owned by the United States.
If there was any virtue in one part of that pretended treaty, then certainly there was in every part, and if that treaty gave the Indians the right to occupy that land, then certainly by implication, if not otherwise, they would have the right to a quiet, peaceable, and unmolested occupancy of the same. The U. S. Government took good care to see to it, that that part of the treaty, which was for its own interest, was faithfully and rigidly observed. I have dwelt somewhat lengthy on this part of the subject, because here we find the starting point, the place where we begin our reckoning, the. time and place where that great question originated, to wit: about the ownership of that land, which both parties claimed and which was the sole and only cause of the war.
Michigan
Page 47
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