Four days later they signed an
agreement never to return to the eastern banks without express
permission from the United States Government.
On the Indian side this compact was not meant to be kept. Against
the urgent advice of Keokuk and other leaders, Black Hawk
immediately began preparations for a campaign of vengeance.
British intrigue lent stimulus, and a crafty "prophet," who was
chief of a village some thirty-five miles up the Rock, made it
appear that aid would be given by the Potawatomi, Winnebagoes,
and perhaps other powerful peoples. In the first week of April,
1832, the disgruntled leader and about five hundred braves, with
their wives and children, crossed the Mississippi at Yellow Banks
and ascended the Rock River to the prophet's town, with a view to
raising a crop of corn during the summer and taking the war-path
in the fall.
The invasion created much alarm throughout the frontier country.
The settlers drew together about the larger villages, which were
put as rapidly as possible in a state of defense. Again the
Governor called for volunteers, and again the response more than
met the expectation.
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