Farewell to Black Hawk - The Grief of a Defiant Leader — Transcript

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1. 0:00farewell to blackhawk the grief of a
2. 0:02defiant leader
3. 0:06on august 27 1832 the sock leader
4. 0:09blackhawk
5. 0:10surrendered to the u.s sixth infantry at
6. 0:12prairie du chien
7. 0:14ending several months of fighting in
8. 0:15what is now called the black hawk war
9. 0:18the war was a consequence of the u.s
10. 0:20government's indian removal policies
11. 0:22that continually forced native peoples
12. 0:24from their homes to places further west
13. 0:28in 1832 blackock of the sauk people
14. 0:31and a number of other native tribes who
15. 0:33joined forces with black hawk
16. 0:35and came to be known as the british band
17. 0:37returned to their homes in present-day
18. 0:39illinois
19. 0:41the sauk and mesquake tribes had ceded
20. 0:43the land in the 1804 treaty of saint
21. 0:45louis
22. 0:46and then were forced to remove from the
23. 0:48land after the corn treaty of 1831
24. 0:51but many native leaders disputed the
25. 0:53treaty of st louis
26. 0:54because it had never been authorized by
27. 0:56their tribal councils
28. 0:58this dispute and years of mistreatment
29. 1:00led blackhawk and his followers to cross
30. 1:02the mississippi
31. 1:03into illinois in 1832 to reclaim their
32. 1:07lands
33. 1:09blackhawk and his followers who included
34. 1:11women and children
35. 1:12were eventually met by u.s militia
36. 1:14forces
37. 1:15without provocation the u.s forces
38. 1:18attacked blackhawks group of
39. 1:19non-combative natives on may 14
40. 1:221832 in what has become known as the
41. 1:25battle of stillman's run
42. 1:27blackhawk responded by going on the
43. 1:29offensive and enjoyed many early
44. 1:31victories while forcing the white
45. 1:33settlers in the area to flee to chicago
46. 1:36these offensive assaults included some
47. 1:38raids that were not
48. 1:40directly related to blackhawks
49. 1:41objectives
50. 1:43one such raid was the indian creek
51. 1:45massacre that resulted in the death of
52. 1:4715 civilians by a large war party of
53. 1:50padawatami
54. 1:52but after u.s forces reorganized and
55. 1:54gained the support of some native tribes
56. 1:56that were enemies to the sock and
57. 1:58mesquaki
58. 1:59blackhawk and his followers were forced
59. 2:01to retreat
60. 2:03after us forces caught up with blackhawk
61. 2:05they attacked him and his non-combatants
62. 2:08after they attempted to surrender
63. 2:10most of blackhawks followers were then
64. 2:12attacked while attempting to flee across
65. 2:14the badax river
66. 2:16called the battle of bad acts it is also
67. 2:19known as the bad axe massacre
68. 2:21because it was a lopsided affair an
69. 2:24estimated 260 natives were killed
70. 2:26while u.s losses were reported as five
71. 2:29killed and 19 wounded
72. 2:32upon his surrender to indian agent
73. 2:33joseph m street
74. 2:35blackhawk gave one of the most widely
75. 2:37known statements of native defiance
76. 2:40the speech which follows was published
77. 2:42in 1882 in a book by historian
78. 2:45a.r fulton while it's impossible to know
79. 2:48if these words were reported correctly
80. 2:50they do reflect the sentiment of
81. 2:52defiance anger and grief
82. 2:54expressed by blackhawk in his
83. 2:55autobiography and other statements
84. 2:58farewell to blackhawk you have taken me
85. 3:01prisoner with all my warriors i am much
86. 3:04grieved
87. 3:05for i expected if i did not defeat you
88. 3:07to hold out much longer
89. 3:09and give you more trouble before i
90. 3:11surrendered i tried to bring you into
91. 3:13ambush
92. 3:14but your last general understood indian
93. 3:16fighting
94. 3:17the first one was not so wise when i saw
95. 3:20that i could not beat you by
96. 3:21indian fighting i determined to rush on
97. 3:23you and fight you face to face
98. 3:26i fought hard but your guns were well
99. 3:28aimed
100. 3:29the bullets flew like birds in the air
101. 3:31and whizzed by our ears like the wind
102. 3:33through the trees in the winter
103. 3:36my warriors fell around me it began to
104. 3:38look dismal
105. 3:39i saw my evil day at hand the sun rose
106. 3:42dim on us in the morning
107. 3:44and at night it sunk in a dark cloud and
108. 3:47looked like a ball of fire
109. 3:49that was the last sun that's shown on
110. 3:51black hawk
111. 3:52his heart is dead and no longer beats
112. 3:55quick in his bosom
113. 3:56he is now a prisoner to the white man
114. 3:59they will do with him as they wish
115. 4:01but he can stand torture and is not
116. 4:03afraid of death
117. 4:04he is no coward blackhawk is an indian
118. 4:08he has done nothing for which an indian
119. 4:10ought to be ashamed
120. 4:12he has fought for his countrymen the
121. 4:14women and babies
122. 4:15against white men who came year after
123. 4:18year
124. 4:18to cheat them and take away their lands
125. 4:22you know the cause of our making war it
126. 4:24is known to all white men
127. 4:26they ought to be ashamed of it the white
128. 4:29men despise the indians
129. 4:30and drive them from their homes but the
130. 4:33indians are not deceitful
131. 4:34the white men speak bad of the indian
132. 4:37and took at him spitefully
133. 4:39but the indian does not tell lies
134. 4:41indians do not steal
135. 4:43an indian who is as bad as a white men
136. 4:45could not live in our nation
137. 4:47he would be put to death and eaten up by
138. 4:50the wolves
139. 4:51the white men are bad school masters
140. 4:54they carry false looks
141. 4:55and deal in false actions they smile in
142. 4:58the face of the poor indian to cheat him
143. 5:00they shake them by the hand to gain
144. 5:02their confidence to make them drunk
145. 5:04to deceive them and ruin our wives we
146. 5:07told them to let us alone
147. 5:08but they followed on our besets and
148. 5:10paths and they coiled themselves among
149. 5:13us like the snake
150. 5:14they poison us by their touch we were
151. 5:16not safe
152. 5:17we lived in danger we were becoming like
153. 5:20them hypocrites and liars adulterers
154. 5:22lazy drones
155. 5:23all talkers and no workers
156. 5:26we looked up to the great spirit we went
157. 5:28to our great father
158. 5:30we were encouraged his great counsel
159. 5:33gave us fair words and big promises
160. 5:35but we got no satisfaction things were
161. 5:38growing worse
162. 5:39there were no deer in the forest the
163. 5:41opossum and beaver were fled
164. 5:43the springs were drying up and are women
165. 5:46and babies without victuals to keep them
166. 5:48from starving
167. 5:49we called a great council and built a
168. 5:51large fire the spirit of our fathers
169. 5:53arose and spoke to us to avenge our
170. 5:55wrongs or die
171. 5:57we set up the war whoop and dug up the
172. 5:59tomahawk
173. 6:00our knives were ready and the heart of
174. 6:02blackhawks swelled high in his bosom
175. 6:05when he led his warriors to battle he is
176. 6:07satisfied
177. 6:08he will go to the world of spirits
178. 6:10contented he has done his duty
179. 6:13his father will meet him there and
180. 6:15commend him
181. 6:16blackhawk is a true indian and disdains
182. 6:19to cry
183. 6:20he feels for his wife his children and
184. 6:22friends
185. 6:23but does not care for himself he cares
186. 6:26for his nation
187. 6:27and the indians they will suffer he
188. 6:29laments their fate
189. 6:31the white men do not scalp the head but
190. 6:33they do worse
191. 6:34they poison the heart it is not pure
192. 6:37with them
193. 6:38his countrymen will not be scalped but
194. 6:40they will in a few years become like the
195. 6:42white men
196. 6:43so that you can't trust them and there
197. 6:45must be as in the white settlements
198. 6:48nearly as many officers as men to take
199. 6:50care of them
200. 6:51and keep them in order farewell my
201. 6:54nation
202. 6:55blackhawk tried to save you and avenge
203. 6:57your wrongs
204. 6:58he drank the blood of some of the whites
205. 7:01he has been taken
206. 7:02prisoner and his plans are stopped he
207. 7:04can do no
208. 7:05more he is near his end his son
209. 7:09is setting and he will rise no more
210. 7:12farewell to blackhawk
211. 7:25you