Returning from their hunt in the spring of 1830, Black Hawk and
his warriors found the site of their town preempted by white
settlers and their ancestral burying-ground ploughed over. In
deep rage, they set off for Malden, where they were liberally
entertained and encouraged to rebel. Coming again to the site of
their village a year later, they were peremptorily ordered away.
This time they resolved to stand their ground, and Black Hawk
ordered the squatters themselves to withdraw and gave them until
the middle of the next day to do so. Black Hawk subsequently
maintained that he did not mean to threaten bloodshed. But the
settlers so construed his command and deluged Governor Reynolds
with petitions for help. With all possible speed, sixteen hundred
volunteers and ten companies of United States regulars were
dispatched to the scene, and on the 25th of June, they made an
impressive demonstration within view of the village. In the face
of such odds discretion seemed the better part of valor, and
during the succeeding night Black Hawk and his followers quietly
paddled across the Mississippi.
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