The Cause of Indian Wars
Every so called Indian war in this country originated in a desire on
the part of the white man to possess the home and the hunting grounds of
the Native American. Discovery by the European nations was considered a
right to extinguish the Native American's title. England's policy then as
now was to claim that all title to land was vested in the crown, that her
subjects might occupy the soil, but could not alienate it except to her
own people. England treated the Indians as she did her own subjects. When
the United States at the close of the Revolutionary War succeeded to this
country from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, the same principles
regarding the title to the Indian lands were carried out, and while in
every instance our government had secured title and extinguished Indian
rights, by treaty or purchase, we must admit that the consideration was
the most trivial, and too often acceptance on the part of the red-man was
influenced by the force of arms.
"Did the red man foresee his impending doom, his forced retreat towards
the setting sun, the gradual breaking up of his power and the final
extinction of his race?" Careful study of Indian history leads us to
believe that among the Indians, as well as among the white men, there were
those who saw the coming storm, "who saw the threatening cloud coming from
the east, small at first, scarce a shadow, but gradually becoming more
distinct and greater as it traveled west-ward, and, when it reached the
summit of the Alleghenies, it assumed a darker hue; deep murmurs, as of
thunder, were heard; it was impelled westward by strong winds and shot
forth forked tongues of lightning." On the plains of Abraham, when French
supremacy west of the Alleghanies was forever lost, and Pontiac stood
before the British officer who was to proceed westward to secure the
fruits of victory and said, "I stand in thy path," he realized the
impending conflict, and his note of warning to the chiefs of his nation to
"Drive the dogs who wear red clothing into the sea" was his last appeal to
save his race. Fifty years later Tecumseh fell a martyr to the Indian
cause, and his efforts to stem the westward march of the white man failed.
For three years after that Tuscaloosa strove in vain to save his nation,
and in 1832 the Sacs and Foxes on Rock Island soil, under the leadership
of their great chief, Black Hawk, made the last determined Indian defense
of their homes and the resting place of their forefathers.
The Sac and Fox Indians of Illinois
Source: Historic Rock Island County, pub. Kramer & Company, Rock Island, Illinois, 1908