Black Hawk War

The Black Hawk War began when Black Hawk led several hundred Sauk, Meskwaki and Kickapoo people across the Mississippi in 1832, seeking to return to Saukenuk and surrounding lands in Illinois. United States officials treated the movement of families as a hostile invasion and mobilised federal troops and Illinois militia.

After the clash at Stillman’s Run, the British Band moved north through Illinois and Wisconsin while facing hunger, disease and repeated attacks. The campaign ended with the killing of many men, women and children at Bad Axe and Black Hawk’s later surrender. The conflict accelerated Indigenous removal from the western Great Lakes and upper Mississippi region.

Robert Shea’s Shaman follows fictional Sauk families through the dispossession of Saukenuk, the flight of the British Band and the war’s military and political aftermath. It incorporates Black Hawk, Wabokieshiek, Andrew Jackson and several officers who later became major figures in United States history.