Attacks at Fort Blue Mounds
| Attacks at Fort Blue Mounds | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Black Hawk War | |||||
 Marker near the site of Fort Blue Mounds. |
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| Belligerents | |||||
 United States
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Ho-Chunk | ||||
| Strength | |||||
| 50-100 | |||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||
| 3 KIA | |||||
The attacks at Fort Blue Mounds were two separate incidents which occurred on June 6 and 20, 1832, as part of the Black Hawk War. In the first incident, area residents attributed the killing of a miner to a band of Ho-Chunk warriors, and concluded that more Ho-Chunk planned to join Black Hawk in his war against white settlers. The second incident occurred east of the fort as a Sauk raiding party, estimated by eyewitnesses to be as large as 100 warriors, attacked two militiamen who were investigating noises heard the night before. Two members of the militia stationed at Blue Mounds were killed in the attack, and both their bodies were badly mutilated.
The attacks followed an increase in tension after the Hall sisters were released at Fort Blue Mounds on June 1. The sisters had been kidnapped during the Indian Creek massacre in May and were brought to Blue Mounds by a party of Ho-Chunk. Militia leader Henry Dodge became suspicious of the Ho-Chunk and took them prisoner, though they were later released as tension between the Ho-Chunk and white settlers increased. The attacks also lent credence to the belief that more Ho-Chunk were set to join Black Hawk's war against white settlers in Illinois and Michigan Territory. Though other attacks on the fort were expected they never happened and Fort Blue Mounds served as a supply center for the remaining days of the war.
As a consequence of an 1804 treaty between the Governor of Indiana Territory and a group of Sauk and Fox leaders regarding land settlement the Sauk and Fox tribes vacated their lands in Illinois in 1828 and moved west of the Mississippi River. However, Sauk Chief Black Hawk and others disputed the treaty, claiming that the full tribal councils had not been consulted, nor did those representing the tribes have authorization to cede lands. Angered by the loss of his birthplace, Black Hawk led a number of incursions across the Mississippi River beginning in 1830, but each time was persuaded, without bloodshed, to return west. In April 1832, encouraged by promises of alliance with other tribes and the British, he again moved his so-called "British Band" of around 1,000 warriors and civilians into Illinois. A number of other engagements followed, and the state militias of Wisconsin and Illinois were mobilized to hunt down Black Hawk's band, the conflict that ensued became known as the Black Hawk War.
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