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Reviews

The Black Hawk War of 1832, by Patrick J. Jung. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007. 288 pages. $29.95, hardcover.

The University of Oklahoma Press's Campaigns and Commanders series provides multi-dimensional histories of major conflicts and military leaders. In the spirit of that series, Patrick J. Jung's work provides a clear, systematic overview of the Black Hawk War of 1832, one of the last major military campaigns against American Indians east of the Mississippi. In this conflict, the Sauk leader Black Hawk resisted white attempts to enforce what he saw as the unjustifiable claim that the Sauks had forfeited their homeland in northeastern Illinois in an 1804 treaty.

While the majority of the Sauks and the closely allied Fox tribe removed peacefully to the western side of the Mississippi, Black Hawk and a minority of the Sauks and Foxes moved back to the east bank of the Mississippi, in supposed violation of the treaty. When Black Hawk and his followers crossed the Mississippi in the spring of 1832, they were pursued by a group of Illinois militiamen and a few regular troops. Later that summer, the war ended at the Battle of the Bad Axe in which Illinois volunteers murdered many unarmed women and children.

Jung's work fulfills the goals of this series admirably. The opening chapters both provide the cultural background to Black Hawk's leadership and explain why a rift occurred between him and his political rival, Keokuk, whose followers stayed out of the fray in Iowa. He explains the Sauk political and military leadership structure in a way that should be accessible to most general readers. Furthermore, he places the conflict in the longer history of United States encroachment on Indian lands in the aftermath of the American Revolution, describing other major resistance movements by Native Americans against the United States.

Because the Black Hawk War contained several elements common to all Indian wars, Jung suggests that the war might be a useful example for teaching purposes. Like many leaders, Black Hawk developed an anti-United States ideology that fueled his resistance. Despite his animosity toward Americans, Black Hawk allied himself to other non-Indians, in this case the British. On the other side of the conflict, the United States allied itself with the enemies of the Sauks, the Menominees and Santee Sioux. Indeed, Jung's explanation of how intertribal conflicts contributed to the start of the war and its outcome might be the most important contribution of the book. Like most recent writers on Indian policy, Jung is highly critical of United States treaty negotiators' willingness to have tribal leaders sign documents they could not read or fully understand. Differences in interpretations of treaties helped cause many of the conflicts between Indians and whites in the nineteenth century. Amidst the general political, economic, and territorial demands that drove whites to acquire Indian lands, Jung points out that these conflicts often brought out "morally repugnant behavior" that went beyond the taking of land (p. 7). His description of the needless deaths of the women and children in the upper Mississippi Valley is evidence enough of such behaviors on the part of whites.

While the book does examine the social, cultural, and political sides of the conflict, Jung seems most comfortable with military matters. His explanations behind specific battles, troop and warrior movements, and his understanding of military leadership provide clarity to readers interested in the course of the war and not just its outcome. The specific information provided about movements on the battlefield might make the book too detailed for a high school audience, but the book will be useful for teachers who cover the topic in their classes. It also has potential in college classrooms, especially if an instructor wished to compare several major military conflicts with Native Americans. Except for the oddly formatted maps on page 126, the visual aids are useful. The maps provide clear overviews of the region under discussion and precise detail of major battles. Portraits of military leaders and images of Native American culture, technology, and dress all enhance Jung's book.

There are some minor problems. On page forty-two, Jung notes that an 1827 Winnebago attack on a Métis (or mixed Indian-European origin) family was "unusual." Yet, on the preceding pages, he discusses a similar attack on a group of Métis the year before. Abraham Lincoln, a minor figure in the Illinois militia in 1832, makes several cameo appearances in lengthy passages, distracting the reader from the issues at hand. Since the book is for a broad audience, sub-headings identifying the battles would have improved the work. As it stands, the reader usually completes a thorough description of an engagement before knowing which battle he/she is learning about. Overall, the book provides a balanced look at both white and Indian leaders and the pressures upon them.


Nazareth College, Rochester, NY	Thomas J. Lappas

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