User:IvoShandor/Black Hawk War/Main article work page

This is the work space page for the main article associated with the user collaboration concerning the Black Hawk War, that article is, of course, Black Hawk War. Take a look at the ideas below, this work will be implemented incrementally so there should be some time to comment on stuff listed here. You can jump around the project pages and related articles using the navigational templates to the right.

Current tasks

 * Reorganization: See notes after the idea below.
 * Format
 * ==Background==
 * Text go here.


 * ==Chronology==
 * Text go here.


 * ==Fear===
 * Text go here.


 * ==Aftermath==
 * ===Military results===
 * Text go here.


 * ===Political results===
 * Text go here.


 * Appendices, See also, Notes, References, External links

Comments: The article needs a more concise flow, while the preliminary referencing is basically complete the article doesn't have a good flow to it like I was able to produce with Rock Springs massacre.

Basically, a new chronology section (merging the current disarray that is the "engagements" section and the Combatants section) will give the article a coherent, logical, and easy to follow flow and structure as it meshes from the Background into the description of the war's events. The Fear section, a needed addition, is an important aspect of this conflict and is discussed at length in numerous sources. If the new Chronology section gets too long it can be split up in a fashion similar to the "Aftermath" section.

The appendices will stay basically the same except the Notes section will be trimmed and the references section expanded according to the model at the Rock Springs massacre article. This is my idea. Any thoughts? IvoShandor 22:43, 13 August 2007 (UTC)

Composing "Fear"
Work section for composition of the fear section.
 * Sources

Troop movements between battles
Work section for figuring out the movements of troops between and to and from battles. To be integrated into the new Chronology section, which will vastly improve the flow of the combined battles' sub sections.


 * Sources

=New articles= Work section for composing new articles related to the conflict.

Keokuk's Reserve was a parcel of land in the present-day U.S. state of Iowa that was given to the Sauk and Fox tribes in 1832 following the aftermath of the Black Hawk War. The tribes stayed on the reservation until 1836 when it was ceded to the United States and the Native Americans were moved to a new reservation.

Treaty terms
The terms of the treaty that ended the Black Hawk War resulted in the United States gaining a large section of present-day Iowa known as the Black Hawk Purchase. Out of this cession Keokuk's Reserve was carved. The treaty stipulated that the reservation include Keokuk's Village, about 12 miles from the Mississippi River, as well as equal portions of land on either side of the Iowa River.

The reserve was a 400 square mile area along either side of the Iowa River. The boundary crossed the Iowa River and extended to the southeast where it included Keokuk's Village and then terminated. Most of the land surrounding the reservation was ceded to the United States as part of the Black Hawk Purchase.

Life on the reservation
After the attrition of the Black Hawk War the Sauk and Fox were forced onto Keokuk's Reservation per the treaty they signed following the war. The reservation was game-depleted and resource-poor from the beginning and Keokuk's leadership declined as he increasingly imbibed alcohol. Between 1833 and 1845 the Sauk and Fox saw a population decrease of more than 50 percent, from more than 6,000 to about 1,200 from each tribe. The community continued to decline as alcohol gained a stronger hold and political discord tore the groups apart.

Cession to the United States
On September 28, 1836 a new treaty was signed which ceded all of the land within Keokuk's Reserve to the United States government. The treaty was signed near Davenport, Iowa and attended by Henry Dodge, and more than 1,000 chiefs and braves, including the aged Black Hawk, from the Sauk and Fox nations. The treaty text states that the reasoning behind the Sauk and Foxes decision to cede the land was to "(obtain) additional means of support, and to pay their just creditors".

The result for the Sauk and Fox living within Keokuk's Reserve was that they were removed to another reservation along the Des Moines River. An Indian Agency was established on that reservation at the present-day location of Agency, Iowa. In addition, the treaty stipulated payment to Sauk and Fox of US$30,000 in June 1837 and $10,000 per year for 10 years after that. The treaty also made other stipulations including a $1,000 payment to the widow of Felix St. Vrain and about $48,000 for the Sauk and Fox to settle their debts.

After their removal to the new reservation along the Des Moines, Joseph M. Street, agent to the Winnebago, was appointed agent to the Sauk and Fox. A farmhouse was erected as well as two mills; one of the mills was destroyed by flood but the other remained for several years. Keokuk and two other chiefs, Wapello and Appanoose, tended farm fields on the reservation. According to the 1882 History of Western Iowa, Its Settlement and Growth, much of the community began to suffer from "dissipation" (drunkenness), including Keokuk.

1830
The 1830 Treaty of Prairie du Chien stipulated that the warring Fox and Sauk cede a 40 mile wide "Neutral Ground" in Iowa from the Mississippi River to the Des Moines River. The land cession was split between both the Fox and Sauk, with the Sauk ceding the north half and the Fox the south. The established buffer zone was a U.S. government effort to control the warring indigenous populations.

1832
On September 15, 1832 the Ho-Chunk entered into a treaty with the United States in which they agreed to cede all of their land east of the Mississippi River to the U.S. In exchange the United States granted the Ho-Chunk the Neutral Ground.