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The Black Hawk War of 1832 – Free Online Books and Articles

Books about the Black Hawk War

The Black Hawk War of 1832 in Illinois and Wisconsin was the last significant campaign by U.S. Government troops against Indians in the Old Northwest. Following the defeat of Black Hawk’s small force, the Wisconsin territorial government obtained Native American compliance with treaties that opened large parts of Wisconsin for survey and settlement.

The Links below open pages on the History of the Great Lakes States portion of this website, which contain these free online 19th century books and articles about the Black Hawk War, including Black Hawk’s autobiography. There are also three novels about the war from the early 20th century.

Black Hawk War – Wikipedia Article

Wisconsin History: War & Military page

“Causes of the Black Hawk War; Barbarous Treatment of Indian Women and Children” (1888)

“Army Life in Wisconsin Territory” (1898)
This collection of 4 papers includes one entitled “Abraham Lincoln in the Black Hawk War”

Fitch, Matthew G. (Lieut.), “The Battle of Peckatonica” (1888)

Smith, Henry (Capt.), “Indian Campaign of 1832″ (1888)

Wakefield, John A., History of the Black Hawk War (1834)

See our U.S. History Articles and Historical Map Collections

Illinois War & Military page

Armstrong, Perry A., The Sauks and the Black Hawk War, with Biographical Sketches, etc (1887)

Smith, Henry , The Expedition against the Sauk and Fox Indians 1832 (1833)

Stevens, Frank E., The Black Hawk War, including a review of Black Hawk’s life illustrated with upward of three hundred rare and interesting portraits and views (1903)

Wakefield, John A. , History of the War between the United States and the Sac and Fox Nations of Indians and parts of other disaffected tribes of Indians, in the years eighteen hundred and twenty-seven, thirty-one, and thirty-two (1834)

See our Directory of History Books on Century Past

Illinois Biographies & Memoirs page

Cole, Cyrenus, I am a Man: the Indian Black Hawk (1938)

Quaife, Milo Milton, ed. The Life of Black Hawk; Ma-Ka-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak (1834)

Salter, William, The Life of Henry Dodge from 1782 to 1833 with Portrait by George Catlin, and maps of the battles of the Pecatonica and Wisconsin Heights in the Black Hawk War (1890)

See our collection of Historical Novels

Illinois Fiction page

Barton, William E., The Prairie Schooner: A Story of the Black Hawk War (1900)

McNeil, Everett, The Totem of Black Hawk: A tale of pioneer days in northwestern Illinois & the Black Hawk war (1914)

Parrish, Randall, The Devil’s Own: A Romance of the Black Hawk War (1917)

Abraham Lincoln – Books & Articles by and about him

Jackson, Alfred A., Abraham Lincoln in the Black Hawk War (1898)

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