Pioneer Iowan Gives
Personal Recollections of the Notable Indian Chief.
Elder W.C. Reed of Marion county, who has been a
resident of Iowa for seventy-two years, and of Marion
county for sixty-one years, has the unique distinction
to have been a close friend and neighbor of Black
Hawk, when that great warrior chief of the Sac and Fox
Indians lived on the banks of Devil's creek, in Lee
county. Mr. Reed often visited in Black Hawk's cabin,
knew his wife, daughter and one of his two sons; was
personally acquainted with Keokuk, Wapello and
Hardfish, and saw Black Hawk's remains in their grave
three months after interment and before vandals had
stolen them for exibition purposes.
So far as can be ascertained, Mr. Reed is the only man
now living who knew Black Hawk personally, entertained
him in his home, was entertained by him and is
personally cognizant of the historic and picturesque
closing acts of this most famous chieftain of the once
great tribe which dominated the upper Mississippi
valley three-quarters of a century ago.
Mr. Reed recently celebrated his ninety-first
birthday, and notwithstanding his extreme age and the
fact that the wife of sixty-six years' companship
(sic) died three years ago, he is still in good
health, with a remarkably active brain. In most of the
vital particulars Mr. Reed's reminiscences agree with
the standard works on the Indians of Wisconsin and
Iowa territory -- such, for instance, as Fulton's "Red
Men of Iowa." Mr. Reed's story, however, has the added
merit of adding little details of conversation,
personal appearance and customs of the early settlers
which are entirely missing in the works of history.
Mr. Reed's story, as taken down in the home which he
now occupies within a half mile of the site of his
first Marion county home of sixty-one years ago, is as
follows: I was born in Polk county, Ill., three miles
from Golconda, on Jan. 3, 1816, and came to Iowa on
May 25, 1835, at the age of 19. I have lived in this
state continuously ever since. Before coming to Iowa I
had traveled up and down the Ohio and lower
Mississippi rivers considerable, going back and forth
to and from New Orleans several times. In 1835 the
western fever seized me and I made the journey to the
Mississippi river overland, driving three yoke of
oxen. We were twenty days on the road.
Crossing the Mississippi river, but three years after
the end of the Black Hawk war, and when but few white
men were to be found in what is today the state of
Iowa, I settled at Fort Madison, about midway between
Keokuk and Burlington. There was not much of a
settlement there when I arrived. John and Nathaniel
Knapp were there when I came, Nathaniel having already
brought his family, although John Knapp did not move
his family across the river until two or three years
later. Nathaniel Knapp and his family occupied the
trading cabin which had been erected a few years
before that. Then there was John Box, who had moved
over from Illinois, andhad erected a shanty; my future
father-in-law, Daniel Thompson, who had moved over, in
1834, from what was then known as Commerce, but which
later became Nauvoo, the town made famous by the
Mormons. Aside from these few families there were some
young men and that was all.
There was a larger settlement up at Burlington. I was
never down to Keokuk in those days, but I knew that a
trading station had been established there and there
was quite a little colony. The garrison was then
occupied at Montrose, three companies of dragoons
being located there when I arrived. These were
practically all the white folks in the southeastern
part of what is today the state of Iowa. But we had
plenty of Indians; Indians all around us, most of them
of the Sac and Fox tribe.
I first met Black Hawk in the fall of 1837, five years
after the battle of Bad Ax had ended the rebellion and
after he had been taken on a tour of the eastern
cities, to be impressed by the greatness of the
country, after which he told his people that the white
folks were as numerous as the leaves of the trees.
I remember very well the second time I ever saw Black
Hawk. He was going to Fort Madison from his wick-a-up
on Devil creek, about a mile from where my log cabin
was. He was going for whiskey.
Later in the day I saw him returning home, and
although I knew he had been drinking practically all
the day, he was walking as straight as a bee flies. He
could drink an awful lot of whisky and never show any
effects of it. When he came up opposite my cabin he
crossed over and came in, saying he wanted to warm his
moccasins. He was dressed peculiarly but rather
customarily for him, wearing a fine broadcloth suit
and a high silk hat. but he always wore moccasins; he
has frequently told me that he could never stand the
touch of hard leather on his feet, so he went
everwhere in moccasins. It was to warm his moccasins
that he stopped to see me that day. After he had been
made comfortable my wife gave hiim a half of a mince
pie and some coffee and he ate this with relish. When
he was through he got ready to go on, after having
thanked her for the food and complimenting it by
saying "heap good." He said that his squaw would be
waiting and watching for him and so he set off. Black
Hawk was always a good man to his family.
After that we saw Black Hawk and his family very much.
We were neighbors, only a mile distance between my
cabin and his wick-a-up. I must say, too, that Black
Hawk and his family were good neighbors. We didn't
think anything of associating with Indians in those
days; there were so many of them, they were as common
as white folks today. We were not a bit afraid of
them, either; we accepted them as a matter of course
and got along fine. The fact that Black Hawk had been
a great warrior and had gone on the warpath never
bothered us. I don't recollect now that we ever
thought much about it. Black Hawk was meek and
peaceable in those days when I knew him.
When the government deposed him from being chief,
after the war, and put Keokuk in his stead, Black
Hawk's spirit was broken. There was no danger from him
any more. He became meek and mild, living out his
remaining days as quietly as possible.
I can recall very well how the chief looked in those
days. He was rather small in stature and very slight
when I knew him, not weighing much over 125 pounds. He
was bald and kind of dried up or shriveled, as though
the sorrows and troubles he had had withered him like
an old leaf. Around his own wick-a-up he always wore a
blanket and moccasins, but when he went out he usually
wore either a uniform or broadcloth suit and silk hat.
He always wore moccasins.
While the chief himself was a slight, frail, old man,
his son, Nes-se-as-kuk, was as fine a specimen of
manhood as I ever saw, with splendid physique, and
broad chested, standing five feet, eleven inches high,
and weighing fully 190 pounds.
Madam Black Hawk was a very fine looking woman, much
lighter in color than most Indians. I always had the
idea that she was part French, to judge from her
appearance.
Black Hawk had another son, the settlers called him
Tom Black Hawk. He was a bad Indian and hated the
whites bitterly.
Aside from the old chief, interest in those days in
the family centered in the daughter, Nauasia, the
prettiest Indian girl I ever saw in my life, a girl of
such striking beauty that she would attract attention
anywhere. Nauasia was the belle of the settlements
those days. The white folks said her name was an
Indian corruption of Nancy.
After a year or two of living in Fort Madision a
couple of hotels were built, and it was our custom to
have frequent balls. Nauasia was the belle every time.
Not a young white fellow but would give almost
anything he had for the honor of a dance with Nauasia.
And what a dancer! She was as spry and agile as a
fawn. I never saw a girl lighter on her feet than
Nauasia. The young fellows would stand around and look
eagerly until they mustered up courage to ask her for
a dance, and then everybody envied them. Nauasia was a
mighty graceful dancer. She would leap high in the air
and whirl around and cut fancy capers until she had
beaten every other dancer in the settlement. There was
quite a romance in Nauasia's life. Some young fellow
came out from New York and fell desperately in love
with her. Nauasia loved him, too, and they were to be
married. But the young man's folks back east heard of
it and ordered him home at once. I suppose they
thought she was just a common Indian squaw. But she
was not, by any means. And the desertion of her lover
pretty near broke Nauasia's heart.
It might be added here that Mr. Reed's story of Black
Hawk's daughter differs slightly from the historical
accounts, which say the lover was a young man named
Walsh, from Baltimore. Walsh and Nauasia were engaged
to be married, when Walsh's cousin arrived in Fort
Madison, and even after seeing the beautiful girl,
told Walsh the folks back east would look at the
couple and say, "There goes Walsh and his squaw." The
ridicule was too much, and Walsh fled the country.
Continuing, Mr. Reed said: I have several times been a
guest in the Black Hawk wick-a-up. It was quite a
large wick-a-up, with space for the entire family and
one room which was given over entirely to Black Hawk's
relics and possessions. I have counted no less than
twelve large leather trunks which Black Hawk had after
his trip through the east. I never saw into these
trunks, but there was good reason for me to believe
that they were filled with mementoes of his trip.
The Black Hawks usually spent the winter in Lee
county, and just as soon as sugar making was over in
the spring they would pull up and go somewhere else. I
remember being in the Black Hawk home one time when
Madame Black Hawk was making sugar and she gave me a
large mould of sugar to take home with me.
As I said before, there was not much thought in those
days of the war Black Hawk had headed. He had been
defeated and deposed and his spirit had been so broken
that he was looked on as a harmless old man.
As to the war itself, the prime cause was the plowing
up of the Indian's corn fields and graveyards in their
big village up at Rock Island. An Indians' burial
ground is sacred to them, and when the whites came in
and plowed up their bones and planted corn in their
graves they were furious. Then the whites plainly
violated the terms of the treaties and took land that
wasn't theirs. The war was really forced on the
Indians. I never thought they were very much to blame.
The war had a disastrous termination. At the battle of
Bad Ax, men and women and little children were fired
on and brutally murdered. The spirit of the Indians
was forever crushed after that.
While Mr. Reed was best acquainted with Black Hawk by
reason of having been a near neighbor, he was also
familiar with the other noted Indians of the time,
notably Keokuk and Wapello. In regard to these chiefs
he said:
Keokuk, Wapello and Hardfish were made chiefs of the
tribe by the government after Black Hawk had been
deposed. I saw them all, Keokuk several times. Keokuk
was the only blue-eyed Indian I ever saw. He was a
much larger man than Black Hawk, rather fat and
pompous. He was nothing much but a gambler and a horse
racer. Those were the only things he cared for. He was
a hard drinker, but I want to say right here that
neither Keokuk or Black Hawk were drunkards.
Keokuk had four wives and Black Hawk only one. When
Black Hawk was in Washington he said he had four
wives, but he had but the one that I ever heard of.
Keokuk was very friendly to the whites, Dr. Isaac
Galland, one of the earliest settlers at Montrose, was
one of Keokuk's friends. Wapello and General Street,
the Indian agent were such great friends that we used
to call them David and Jonathan. When Keokuk died he
requested that his body be buried right alongside
General Street's and this was done.
When Keokkuk became chief in place of Black Hawk the
majority of the tribe followed him. But until the day
of his death Black Hawk had a large following which
was faithful to him and still regarded him as the
chief.
Black Hawk was not living at his wick-a-up in Lee
county when he died, but higher up, near Iowayville. I
had not seen him for several months before his death,
but three months after he died I saw his body where it
had been placed in a shack or grave at the upper end
of the prairie near Iowayville, in Davis county. The
body had been placed in the shack or pen which was
about 18X15 feet in size. At his side was placed the
cane which Henry Clay had given him. A number of his
relics were also placed near him. Outside the pen was
a post, about fifteen feet high, on which was painted
in red paint the pictures of the animals Black Hawk
had killed in his lifetime.
Three months after the burial I went to the pen and
lifting up a board at the corner looked in, saw the
chief, the cane and the things that were buried with
him. A few months later somebody in Cincinnati stole
the body, to exhibit it, I guess, and the Indians
raised an awful fuss. The government took the matter
in charge and finally brought a skeleton and put it in
the pen where Black Hawk had been buried. The Indians
were pacified, but I have always felt sure that the
body reburied was not the body of Black Hawk at all.
Fulton, in "The Red Men of Iowa," gives more
particulars of the burial of Black Hawk than does Mr.
Read. Fulton's account is extremely interesting: The
body was placed on the surface of the ground in a
sitting posture, with the face toward the southeast,
and the body supported in that position by a wooden
slab or puncheon. On his left side was placed a cane
given him by Henry Clay, with his right hand resting
upon it. He was dressed in a full military suit, which
had been presented to him by President Jackson. Three
silver medals hung upon his breast, all of which had
been presented to him by distinguished persons during
his visits to Washington. There were also placed in
the grave two swords, an extra pair of moccasins, and
some other articles of Indian costume, with a
sufficient supply of provisions to last him three days
on the journey to the spirit land. Around the body and
the articles buried with it were two large blankets
closely wrapped. Two wooden forks were then firmly
driven in the ground, and a pole placed upon them
extending over the body. The whole was then covered
with sod to the depth of about one foot. At his feet,
a flagstaff was placed, floating a beautiful silk
American flag, which had been presented to him. The
flag remained over his grave until the winds tore it
to pieces and long after the body had disappeared. A
post was planted by the grave, on which was inscribed,
or painted, some figures commemorative of his deeds.
Subsequently his relatives and friends enclosed the
grave with a rude picket fence, and fondly hoped that
the remains of the great was chief were at rest.
Fulton continues by giving the details of the theft
and replacement of the Black Hawk body: One morning
about July 1, 1839, Black Hawk's bereaved widow
returned from her accustomed visit to his grave
bitterly weeping. Calling on Mr. Jordan, she informed
him that some one had opened the grave and taken away
the head of her husband. Mr. Jordan promised to do all
that he could to find out who had taken it. The next
winter the rest of the skeleton disappeared. It
afterward transpired that one Dr. Turner, who lived at
Lexinton, a little village at that time situated just
above the present town of Bonaparte, in Van Buren
county, was the man who had committed the deed. He
came in the night and attempted to seize the body, but
being frightened only succeeded in getting the head,
which he carried away in his saddlebags. The next
winter he came again and carried off the rest of the
skeleton. They were conveyed to Quncy, Ill., where the
different parts were united with wire. Black Hawk's
relatives complained bitterly at the outrage. Finally
the man in Quincy to whom Dr. Turner had delivered the
remains, informed Governor Lucas of Iowa that he would
hold them subject to his order. The governor directed
that they be forwarded to his office in Burlington and
on the receipt of them informed Black Hawk's relatives
of the fact. His two sons immediately proceeded to
Burlington, where they saw the skeleton in the
executive office. They were afraid, however, that if
they brought it home with them, it might again be
stolen and concluding that the governor's office was
the safest and best place for it they left it there.
At the expiration of his official term, Governor Lucas
delivered the skeleton over to his successor, Governor
Chambers. It was finally placed in a museum which was
established in Burlington and some years after, with
many other valuable and curious relics which had been
collected, was consumed by fire.
Mr. Reed -- his full name is William Carroll Reed, the
second name being in honor of General Carroll, who was
chief of staff of General Jackson at the battle of New
Orleans -- removed from Lee county to Van Buren county
in 1840 and then to Marion county in 1846. He now
resides within sight of the place where he first
located in that county, sixty-one years ago. He was
married to Susan Thompson in 1837, his wife dying on
Dec. 29, 1903. The couple had twelve children, ten
sons and two daughters. It is a popular joke of the
old man to bewilder visitors by saying that he had
"ten sons and each son had two sister," thus giving
many the impression that he had no less than thirty
children. Five of his sons died in infancy, two were
wounded in the civil war. Elder Reed now lives with
his son John, who served five years in the regular
army, and his daughter Jessy Reed, who was named in
honor of Jessy Fremont. Another daughter, Mrs. Mary
Cowan, resides in New Mexico.
Permission of Iowa Old Press, an IAGenWeb Project
Transcribed by S.F.
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