“What Happened to Black Hawk's Remains?” at the Davenport Public Library Fairmount Branch -- June 8.
Wednesday, June 8, 6:30 p.m.
Davenport Public Library Fairmount Branch, 3000 North Fairmount Street, Davenport IA
A real-life mystery concerning one of history's most well-known Native Americans will be explored in a fascinating June 8 presentation hosted by the Davenport Public Library's Fairmount Branch, when a potentially disgraceful story about 19th-century Iowans is told via What Happened to Black Hawk's Remains?
Born Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak in 1767, Black Hawk was a Sauk leader and warrior, but although he had inherited an important, historic, sacred bundle from his father, he was not a civil chief by heredity. Rather, Black Hawk earned his status as a war chief or captain by his actions: leading raiding and war parties as a young man and then a band of Sauk warriors during the Black Hawk War of 1832. During the War of 1812, Black Hawk fought on the side of the British against the U.S. in the hope of pushing white American settlers away from Sauk territory, and later, he led a band of Sauk and Fox warriors, known as the British Band, against white settlers in Illinois and present-day Wisconsin during the 1832 Black Hawk War. After the war, he was captured by U.S. forces and brought to the east, where he and other war leaders were taken on a tour of several cities.
Shortly before being released from custody, Black Hawk told his story to an interpreter. Aided by a newspaper reporter, he published Autobiography of Ma-Ka-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak, or Black Hawk, Embracing the Traditions of his Nation in 1833 in Cincinnati, Ohio. The first Native American autobiography to be published in the U.S., his book became an immediate bestseller and has gone through several editions. Black Hawk died on October 3, 1838, after two weeks of illness, and was buried on the farm of his friend James Jordan on the north bank of the Des Moines River in Davis County.
But in July of 1839, his remains were stolen by James Turner, who prepared his skeleton for exhibition. Black Hawk's sons Nashashuk and Gamesett went to Governor Robert Lucas of Iowa Territory, who used his influence to bring the bones to security in his offices in Burlington. Consequently, and with the permission of Black Hawk's sons, Black Hawk's remains were held by the Burlington Geological and Historical Society. The Board of Trustees of the State University of Iowa (now the University of Iowa) met on January 19, 1853, and as a member of the Board, former governor Lucas was in attendance. He offered to give Black Hawk’s bones to the university. They accepted. But did the University of Iowa ever receive the remains? Do they have them now? Are they long forgotten in a box in some dark basement corner? In the Davenport Library's June 8 presentation, patrons are invited to hear the story of Black Hawk’s remains from his 1838 death in Davis County, Iowa to their final resting place.
What Happened to Black Hawk's Remains? will be presented at the Davenport Library's Fairmount Branch on June 8, participation in the 6:30 p.m. lecture is free, and options for both in-person and virtual attendance are available. For more information and to register, call (563)326-7832 and visit DavenportLibrary.com.
