A New History of the Black Hawk War: Ho-Chunk Peacekeeping in 1832

media release: On Sunday, September 15 at 2:00 p.m., the Driftless Historium (100 S 2nd St, downtown Mount Horeb) will host “A New History of the Black Hawk War: Ho-Chunk Peacekeeping in 1832,” presented by Dr. Libby Tronnes.

In Spring 1832, a Ho-Chunk delegation attempted to resolve a refugee crisis that threatened to bring war with the Americans into their lands. The return migration into Northern Illinois of a removed multiethnic band made up primarily of Sauk, Mesquakie, and Kickapoo families precipitated the conflict known as the Black Hawk War. When direct diplomacy failed, Rock River Ho-Chunks attempted to spare the lives of their refugee kin while also protecting their cornfields from American invaders. The federal government used the crisis to force a land cession and removal treaty.

Nineteenth-century American observers and historians ever since have generally overlooked the imaginative peacekeeping strategies deployed by the Ho-Chunk people. These intercessions were dually designed to prevent troops from finding the refugees and from destroying the raised field agriculture that sustained their communities. The Ho-Chunk almost succeeded.

Dr. Tronnes will illustrate how (1) prioritizing and emphasizing Native voices and actions in the historical record and (2) questioning accounts published by the White conflict veterans on which historians traditionally rely brings forward a new history of this tragic crisis—one that privileges Indigenous autonomy, ingenuity, and survivance.

Libby is a historian, assistant professor, and Director of the Virginius H. Chase Special Collections Center and University Archive at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. She earned her history Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2017. Her dissertation is an expansion of this presentation: “Corn Moon Migrations: Ho-Chunk Belonging, Removal, and Return in the Early Nineteenth-Century Western Great Lakes.” Dr. Tronnes grew up in Edgerton, Wisconsin, on ancestral homelands of the Ho-Chunk Nation.

The 1832 Black Hawk War, that crisscrossed Wisconsin and Illinois, illustrates both the desperate courage of indigenous communities protecting their way of life and the ruthless aggression of Americans who considered their invasion of the West righteous and justified.

Cave of the Mounds and the Mount Horeb Area Historical Society are partnering on a 3-part Sunday Speaker Series that invites tribal and academic experts to explore the implications and impact of this horrifically violent and profoundly tragic four-month conflict. “The Black Hawk War, Its Aftermath and Legacy” includes a once-monthly presentation, August through October. All installments of this Sunday Speaker Series are free and family-friendly. Reservations are not required.

Next up: “Black Hawk War Guide” Author Ben Strand and special guest Sac and Fox Nation Cultural Ambassador Juaquin Hamilton present, “Black Hawk and the Sac and Fox Nation Legacy” on Sunday, October 20 at 2:00 at the Cave of the Mounds National Natural Landmark (2975 Cave of the Mounds Road, Blue Mounds).

For more information, call 608-437-6486 or email mthorebahs@gmail.com.