Pauline, Glad somebody else is trying to make sense of this little bit of history. It feels like I've been doing a "crash course" trying to make sense out of it. The book I found that helped me the most was ""That Disgraceful Affair," the Black Hawk War" by Cecil Eby. I got it in our public library here in Vancouver, BC. His viewpoint is very much in favour of the regular army, and sees the volunteer militia as a real disaster, but it still gives some sense of what was happening. Basically, Black Hawk's people wanted to live on their land, and incoming settlers, the Illinois government, and the US government all wanted them gone. Black Hawk tried to resist by staying in Illinois instead of moving across the river to Iowa. In 1831, which was basically a non-war, he moved back across the Mississippi to Iowa when the troops were raised, so they burned his village. In 1832 he came back to Illinois, there were a couple of murders further north (not related to Black Hawk), public hysteria roared into a frenzy, and lots of people volunteered to fight. (There were quite a few companies from Madison County, both in 1831 and 1832). During the 1832 "war", Black Hawk spent most of his time running and hiding. At one point, he decided to surrender, sent three men with a white flag to met with a volunteer militia. The militia (not one from Madison County) panicked at the sight of Indians, shot the person carrying the white flag, dashed around in complete disarray, and then "retreated" in a similar fashion. At that point, the "war" was real. Black Hawk and his people were pursued into Wisconsin [Michigan Territory], and eventually slaughtered as they tried to cross the Mississippi. Another series of books which gives a lot of "data" is "The Black Hawk War 1831-1832", Illinois Historical Collections Volume XXXV. I got this out of a university library. It has all the original documents related to both the 1831 and 1832 "wars". I've read a few of the letters, and they remind me of when we used to play cowboys and indians as a kid, with lots of rushing around and not a lot of sense. Definitely a different way of seeing history. Black Hawk has also told his version of the war in an autobiography, but I don't have the exact title. Hope this helps anyone interested in this bit of history. It apparently fascinates historians, at least in part because several people who later became famous took part -- including Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, and Zachary Taylor. Also, about a third of the regular US Army, under General Winfield Scott, got called in, but they got struck down by a cholera epidemic and never really took part. Gayel >Hi, Gayel: Sorry, I'm no help to you on your question about James Jones, >but wanted to respond since my great-great-grandfather, Francis Berry, also >fought in the Black Hawk War. [snip] >But since learning this about my ancestor, I've become very interested in >the Black Hawk War and have been looking for information about it.[snip] >I would be interested in any information about the Black Hawk War. Thanks. > >Pauline Hale > >______________________________ Gayel Knott gknott@istar