Chief Keokuk

Keokuk (George Catlin, 1834-1836)

Keokuk was born into chaos.

Everything around him was collapsing — the land, the treaties, the tribes themselves. The frontier was spilling over its banks, and white cabins were rising like weeds along every river bend. The whiskey flowed cheaply and steadily. Guns changed hands faster than words. The Americans were coming, whether or not anyone liked it.

He was born somewhere near Rock River, back when the Sac and Fox still owned the world between the Mississippi and the Des Moines. He grew into a tall, broad man with a deep voice and steady eyes. He fought young, killed early, and learned fast. In his first battle, he killed a Sioux warrior with a spear while on horseback. The elders feasted him that night and named him a brave.

That was how it started — his first taste of power, his first applause. He liked both.

By the time the War of 1812 came, Keokuk understood glory was good, but survival was better. Black Hawk didn’t. The old warrior and his “British Band” went off to fight for the King, leaving the tribe’s villages empty and exposed. When they came back, they found Keokuk sitting in the council lodge as a chief.

Abraham Lincoln Frontier Ranger Black Hawk War

Abraham  Lincoln. Lincoln laughed it off when he described his experiences during the Black Hawk War and compared it to  swatting flies. 

"Did you know I am a war hero?” asked Lincoln. “Yes,  sir. In the days of the Black Hawk War, I fought, bled, and  came away... I had a good many bloody struggles with  mosquitos, and although I never fainted from loss of blood,  I can truly I say was often very hungry.”

Even though he never fought a battle in his short stint  as a warrior, Lincoln saw the aftermath. He helped bury five  men killed and scalped in the battle of Kellogg’s Grove.