Possibly The Black Hawk War
In
Illinois there were many chiefs (probably referring
to chiefs of many villages), but there were two
strong chiefs. Chief White Feather talked about peace
and wanted to help white people. He talked to
territorial authorities about keeping white people
from using the tribal hunting grounds.
The
other great chief was called Black Bird (other
grandma said Black Bear) and he wanted to drive the
whites from Indian lands and kill them if they didn't
leave.
I
don't remember if grandma told me the end of that
story, but she frequently, and with tears in her
eyes, spoke of whole Indian tribes removed from
Illinois and transported to Iowa, later to Kansas and Oklahoma.
Grandma told
a great deal more about the battles, but many I have forgotten, but
remember In
a general way what happened. It seems that one side had the backing
of a large tribe, but that support was bought off by the government.
Without support, the Indian leaders surrendered.
In
the context of time and other collateral events, I
believe that though the names are wrong, great grandma was speaking of,
"The Black hawk War". It is not
too much of a stretch for me to realize that our
Chief Black Bird could be the same as War Chief Black
Hawk.
