In 1832, facing white
expansion, the Sauk warrior Black Hawk attempted to forge a pan-Indian
alliance that would preserve the homelands of the confederated Sauk and
Fox tribes on the eastern bank of the Mississippi. However, the ensuing
war with the United States decimated Black Hawk’s band. The
conflict has captured the imagination of historians for more than a
century, and Patrick J. Jung here re-examines its causes, course, and
consequences. Correcting mistakes that plagued previous histories, Jung
focuses on the complex nature of Indian resistance and the role of
intertribal conflict in the war.
In contrast to studies that assign blame for the war to one faction or
another, Jung shows that the outcome can be understood only by
discussing the complexity of intertribal rivalry, military ineptitude,
and racial dynamics. He draws on recent ethnohistorical interpretations
to gain new insight into the war, examining the ideology of racial
consciousness and Indian resistance to white expansion in the
trans-Appalachian West from the 1740s onward.
The
Black Hawk War of 1832
is a lively and sensitive account of a watershed episode in the
region’s history. It traces the course of Indian resistance
and
sets a new benchmark for understanding the last Indian war to be fought
in present-day Wisconsin and Illinois.
|
The Black Hawk War of
1832
Patrick
J. Jung
University
of Oklahoma Press, 2007.
Order
a copy
|
