Soon after the acquisition of Louisiana the United States government adopted measures for the exploration of the new territory, having in view the conciliation of the numerous tribes of Indians by whom it was possessed, and also the selection of proper sites for the establishment of military posts and trading stations. The Army of the West, General Wilkinson commanding, had its headquarters at St. Louis. From this post Captains Lewis and Clarke, with a sufficient force, were detailed to explore the unknown sources of the Missouri, and Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike to ascend to the headwaters of the Mississippi. Lieutenant Pike, with one sergeant, two corporals and seventeen privates, left the military camp near St. Louis, in a keel boat, with four months' rations, August 9, 1805. On the 20th of the same month the expedition arrived within the present limits of the state of Iowa, at the foot of the Des Moines rapids, where Pike met William Ewing, who had just been appointed Indian agent at this point; a French interpreter, four chiefs, fifteen Sac and Fox warriors. At the head of the rapids, where Montrose is now situated, Pike held a council with the Indians, in which he addressed them substantially as follows:

"Your great father, the president of the United States, wishes to be more acquainted with the situation and wants of the different nations of red people in our newly acquired territory of Louisiana and has ordered the General to send a number of his warriors in different directions to take them by the hand and make such inquiries as might afford the satisfaction required."

At the close of the council he presented the red men with some knives, tobacco and whiskey. On the 23d of August he arrived at what is supposed from his description, to be the site of the present city of Burlington, which he selected as the location for a military post. He describes the place as "being on a hill, forty miles above the River de Moyne rapids, on the west side of the river, in latitude about forty degrees twenty-one minutes north. The channel of the river runs on that shore. The hill in front is about sixty feet perpendicular, and nearly level at the top. About four hundred yards in the rear is a small prairie, fit for gardening, and immediately under the hill is a limestone spring, sufficient for the consumption of a whole regiment." In addition to this description, which corresponds to Burlington, the spot is laid down on his map at a bend in the river a short distance below the mouth of the Henderson, which pours its waters into the Mississippi from Illinois. The fort was built at Fort Madison but from the distance, latitude, description and map furnished by Pike, it could not have been the place selected by him, while all the circumstances corroborate the opinion that the spot he selected was the place where Burlington is now located, called by the early voyagers on the Mississippi “Flint Hills.” In company with one of his men Pike went on shore on a hunting expedition and following a stream which they supposed to be a part of the Mississippi they were led away from their course. Owing to the intense heat and tall grass, his two favorite dogs, which he had taken with him, became exhausted, and he left them on the prairie, supposing they would follow him as soon as they should get rested, and went on to overtake his boat. After reaching the river he waited for some time for his canine friends but they did not come, and as he deemed it inexpedient to detain the boat longer, two of his men volunteered to go in pursuit of them. He then continued on his way up the river,

Soon after the acquisition of Louisiana the United States government adopted measures for the exploration of the new territory, having in view the conciliation of the numerous tribes of Indians by whom it was possessed, and also the selection of proper sites for the establishment of military posts and trading stations. The Army of the West, General Wilkinson commanding, had its headquarters at St. Louis. From this post Captains Lewis and Clarke, with a sufficient force, were detailed to explore the unknown sources of the Missouri, and Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike to ascend to the headwaters of the Mississippi. Lieutenant Pike, with one sergeant, two corporals and seventeen privates, left the military camp near St. Louis, in a keel boat, with four months' rations, August 9, 1805. On the 20th of the same month the expedition arrived within the present limits of the state of Iowa, at the foot of the Des Moines rapids, where Pike met William Ewing, who had just been appointed Indian agent at this point; a French interpreter, four chiefs, fifteen Sac and Fox warriors. At the head of the rapids, where Montrose is now situated, Pike held a council with the Indians, in which he addressed them substantially as follows:

"Your great father, the president of the United States, wishes to be more acquainted with the situation and wants of the different nations of red people in our newly acquired territory of Louisiana and has ordered the General to send a number of his warriors in different directions to take them by the hand and make such inquiries as might afford the satisfaction required.”

At the close of the council he presented the red men with some knives, tobacco and whiskey. On the 23d of August he arrived at what is supposed from his description, to be the site of the present city of Burlington, which he selected as the location for a military post. He describes the place as "being on a hill, forty miles above the River de Moyne rapids, on the west side of the river, in latitude about forty degrees twenty-one minutes north. The channel of the river runs on that shore. The hill in front is about sixty feet perpendicular, and nearly level at the top. About four hundred yards in the rear is a small prairie, fit for gardening, and immediately under the hill is a limestone spring, sufficient for the consumption of a whole regiment." In addition to this description, which corresponds to Burlington, the spot is laid down on his map at a bend in the river a short distance below the mouth of the Henderson, which pours its waters into the Mississippi from Illinois. The fort was built at Fort Madison but from the distance, latitude, description and map furnished by Pike, it could not have been the place selected by him, while all the circumstances corroborate the opinion that the spot he selected was the place where Burlington is now located, called by the early voyagers on the Mississippi "Flint Hills." In company with one of his men Pike went on shore on a hunting expedition and following a stream which they supposed to be a part of the Mississippi they were led away from their course. Owing to the intense heat and tall grass, his two favorite dogs, which he had taken with him, became exhausted, and he left them on the prairie, supposing they would follow him as soon as they should get rested, and went on to overtake his boat. After reaching the river he waited for some time for his canine friends but they did not come, and as he deemed it inexpedient to detain the boat longer, two of his men volunteered to go in pursuit of them. He then continued on his way up the river,

expecting the men would soon overtake him. They lost their way, however, and for six days were without food, except a few morsels gathered from the stream. They might have perished had they not accidentally met a trader from St. Louis, who induced two Indians to take them up the river, overtaking the boat at Dubuque. At the latter place Pike was cordially received by Julien Dubuque, a Frenchman, who held a mining claim under a grant from Spain. He had an old field piece and fired a salute in honor of the advent of the first American who had visited that part of the territory. He was not, however, disposed to publish the wealth of his mines and the young, and evidently inquisitive, officer obtained but little information in that regard.

Upon leaving this place Pike pursued his way up the river but as he passed beyond the limits of the present state of Iowa, a detailed history of his explorations does not properly belong to this volume. It is sufficient to say that on the site of Fort Snelling, Minnesota, he held a council with the Sioux, September 23d, and obtained from them a grant of one hundred thousand acres of land.

Before the territory of Iowa could be opened to settlement by the whites it was first necessary that the Indian title should be extinguished and the aborigines removed. The territory had been purchased by the United States but was still occupied by the Indians, who claimed title to the soil by right of possession. In order to accomplish this purpose, large sums of money were expended, warring tribes had to be appeased by treaty stipulations and oppression by the whites discouraged.

BLACK HAWK WAR.

When the United States assumed control of the country, by reason of its purchase from France, nearly the whole state was in possession of the Sacs and Foxes, a powerful and warlike nation, who were not disposed to submit without a struggle to what they regarded the encroachment on their rights of the pale faces. Among the most noted chiefs and one whose restlessness and hatred of the whites occasioned more trouble to the government than any other of his tribe, was Black Hawk, who was born at the Sac village, on Rock river, in 1767. He was simply the chief of his own band of Sac warriors; but by his energy and ambition he became the leading spirit of the united nation of the Sacs and Foxes, and one of the prominent figures in the history of the country from 1804 until his death. In early manhood he attained distinction as a fighting chief, having led campaigns against the Osages and other neighboring tribes. About the beginning of the nineteenth century he began to appear prominent in affairs on the Mississippi. His life was a marvel. He is said by some to have been the victim of a narrow prejudice and bitter ill feeling against the Americans.

November 3, 1804, a treaty was concluded between William Henry Harrison, then governor of the Indian Territory, on behalf of the United States, and five chiefs of the Sac and Fox nation, by which the latter, in consideration of $2,234 in goods then delivered, and a yearly annuity of $1,000 to be paid in goods at just cost, ceded to the United States all that land on the west side of the Mississippi extending from a point opposite the Jefferson, in Missouri, to

the Wisconsin river, embracing an area of 51,000,000 acres.

To this treaty

Black Hawk always objected and always refused to consider it binding upon his people. He asserted that the chiefs and braves who made it had no authority to relinquish the title of the nation to any of the lands they held or occupied and, moreover, that they had been sent to St. Louis on quite a different errand, namely, to get one of their people released, who had been imprisoned at St. Louis for killing a white man.

In 1805 Lieutenant Pike came up the river for the purpose of holding friendly council with the Indians and selecting sites for forts within the territory recently acquired from France by the United States. Lieutenant Pike seems to have been the first American whom Black Hawk had met or had a personal interview with and was very much impressed in his favor. Pike gave a very interesting account of his visit to the noted chief.

Fort Edward was erected soon after Pike's expedition, at what is now Warsaw, Illinois, also Fort Madison, on the site of the present town of that name, the latter being the first fort erected in Iowa. These movements occasioned great uneasiness among the Indians. When work was commenced on Fort Edwards, a delegation from the nation, headed by their chiefs, went down to see what the Americans were doing and had an interview with the commander, after which they returned home and were apparently satisfied. In like manner, when Fort Madison was being erected, they sent down another delegation from a council of the nation held at Rock river. According to Black Hawk's account, the American chief told them he was building a house for a trader, who was coming to sell them goods cheap, and that the soldiers were coming to keep him company-a statement which Black Hawk says they distrusted at the time, believing that the fort was an encroachment upon their rights, and designed to aid in getting their lands away from them. It is claimed, by good authority, that the building of Fort Madison was a violation of the treaty of 1804. By the eleventh article of that treaty, the United States had the right to build a fort near the mouth of the Wisconsin river, and by article. six they bound themselves "that if any citizen of the United States or any other white person should form a settlement upon their lands such intruder should forthwith be removed." Probably the authorities of the United States did not regard the establishment of military posts as coming properly within the meaning of the term "settlement," as used in the treaty. At all events, they erected Fort Madison within the territory reserved to the Indians, who became very indignant. Very soon after the fort was built, a party led by Black Hawk attempted its destruction. They sent spies to watch the movements of the garrison, who ascertained that the soldiers were in the habit of marching out of the fort every morning and evening for parade, and the plan of the party was to conceal themselves near the fort and attack and surprise them when they were outside. On the morning of the proposed day of the attack five soldiers came out and were fired upon by the Indians, two of them being killed. The Indians were too hasty in their movements, for the parade had not commenced. However, they kept up the siege several days, attempting the old Fox strategy of setting fire to the fort with blazing arrows, but finding their efforts unavailing, they desisted and returned to their wigwams on Rock river. In 1812, when