More discoveries

I learned about the Blackhawk Wars for the first time. Hard to believe I grew up in the Midwest and had not heard of them before.

Blackhawk was a leader in the Sauk nation. Blackhawk was born in 1767 in Saukenuk Illinois, the territory, not the state at that time – Saukenuk was essentially the site of the present day Rock Island Illinois. Blackhawk demonstrated his prowess as a warrior early on in his life, and continuously fought against the white aggression in taking the native lands that the Sauk had lived on for centuries.

When the British fought the US in 1812, Blackhawk sided with the Brits, only because he opposed the aggression of the US government in wantonly taking native land. The only battle of the War of 1812 that was fought west of the Mississippi River was fought at Fort Madison, the site of the current town of Fort Madison Wisconsin. We visited the recreated Fort Madison near the site of the original fort. We were lucky that day in that the docent on site was the gentleman responsible for the historical research on the fort, a PHD who earned his doctorate studying the history of this area.

We learned that Blackhawk had attacked Fort Madison several times in 1812 at the encouragement of the British, all to no avail. The PHD showed us records he had discovered in his research where many tribal leaders had sided with the US forces in attempting to curtail Blackhawk’s activities. While Blackhawk was unsuccessful in raids in 1812 on the fort, on July 16 (the day we visited by the way) he led a raid on the fort, and found that in one of the blockhouses, the 3 stationed soldiers had left the door open for circulation, as the heat was sweltering. Bad call – Blackhawk’s men easily entered the blockhouse and dispatched all four soldiers.

Again, in 1832, Blackhawk was on the rampage. He believed (correctly so as I can tell) that the US Government had violated the treaty that they had entered into, and were expelling all Sauk from their native lands.  On June 24, 1832, Blackhawk and his braves attacked the Apple River Fort in Wisconsin

. The attack was fierce and it appeared at times that Blackhawk might get the better of the fort. At a dire point, Elizabeth Armstrong started grabbing muskets as the men fired them and began reloading them. The other women in the fort followed her lead, and soon all the women in the fort were reloading the muskets as soon as they had been fired. The heavy volley of lead into Blackhawk’s braves was more than they could handle. Blackhawk soon called off the siege, and the Apple River Fort was saved. The current town at the site of the original Apple River Fort of Elizabeth was named for her heroic effort.

Blackhawk made his last stand at Bad Axe in the SW corner of Wisconsin on August 1, 1832. The US forces simply overpowered Blackhawk with both technology and numbers. By the end of the massacre, most of Blackhawk’s forces either surrendered or had fled. In an effort to document his overall struggle, he asked to dictate an autobiography to a translator, and it was su

bsequently published. Since it is now part of the public domain, I grabbed a free copy off Amazon for my Kindle and am in the process of immersing myself into the times.

We also had the opportunity to learn more about the Mormon religion. I thought I had delved into the tenets quite a bit since moving to Las Vegas, but I learned there was much more to the story than I knew.

Joseph Smith, the Prophet who founded the Mormon religion, was born in Sharon Vermont on December 23, 1805. He had his visions and was lead to the golden plates after having relocated to New York in 1817. During this time, he and his followers were hostilely treated and often banished, and so they continued to move west whenever they needed to. By the late 1830’s, they had moved as far west as Nauvoo Illinois, and established a significant settlement there. Joseph Smith was both the spiritual and factual leader of the group at the time.

In the early 1840’s, the local government became concerned about the unrest that this Mormon group was causing among the general population. In 1844, the Governor of Illinois issued a warrant for Joseph Smith’s arrest on the grounds of treason. The territorial jail was in nearby Carthage Illinois, so Smith rode to Carthage and turned himself in. Having been jailed on similar types of charges before, he did not think much of this process.

The local non-Mormons were agitated. On the evening of June 27, 1844, an armed group of locals approached the Carthage jailhouse and opened fire. Smith’s brother Hyrum was immediately killed by the first volley. The actual bullet hole that resulted in Hyrum's death is still in the door to the cell. Smith trying to survey the situation out the jailhouse window as hit next – either the bullets or the fall from the window would be his undoing. It turns out that Joseph Smith was murdered for believing in something different than the typical American at the time – I guess that has never happened before!

We toured the actual jailhouse where Smith was martyred in 1844. Most of the furnishings are said to be original and I have no reason to doubt. The site is now owned by the Mormon Church, and it appeared that many Mormons were there to visit to strengthen their faith. It is a very moving experience overall, and one that will help to better define Mormonism for anyone who visits.

While in Nauvoo, we visited the home of Joseph Smith, as well as his grave site. Apparently the faithful feared for his body after he was martyred, so they buried an empty coffin in Carthage and his actual body in his home in Nauvoo. Good call – the grave site with the empty coffin was burglarized. After all the turmoil calmed down, his actual body was buried in what is now the Smith family cemetery near his original home site in Nauvoo. We visited it and took in the aura of the whole experience.

After Smith’s martyrdom, Brigham Young, one of his key missionaries, convened the leaders of Mormonism in his home in Nauvoo. We toured his home, including the actual room addition in which the Mormon leaders met after Smith’s martyrdom. It was here that Young envisioned the march to the West – not that he knew the word Utah at the time, but he understood the need to move the Mormon faithful west where they could practice their beliefs in an environment where they would not be daily persecuted. As a result of these important meetings, Brigham Young soon became the most prominent leader of the population of the western US – and he is recognized as such in Washington DC with his statue in the Capital building.

 

Talk to you soon!