Battle of Bad Axe

Battle of Bad Axe
Part of the Black Hawk War
Monument near the site of the Bad Axe massacre
Date 1–2 August 1832 Location Near present-day Victory, Wisconsin Result Decisive United States victory
Belligerents
Sauk and Fox affiliated with the British Band	United States Dakota Sioux
Commanders and leaders
Black Hawk. Not present on second day.	Henry Atkinson Henry Dodge James D. Henry Alexander Posey Milton Alexander Wapasha II
Strength
appx. 500 (including non-combatants)	appx. 1,300
Casualties and losses
at least 150 KIA (including non-combatants) 75 captured	5 KIA, 19 WIA

 United States

The Battle of Bad Axe, also known as the Bad Axe Massacre, occurred 1–2 August 1832, between Sauk (Sac) and Fox Indians and United States Army regulars and militia. This final battle of the Black Hawk War took place near present-day Victory, Wisconsin in the United States. It marked the end of the war between white settlers and militia in Illinois and Michigan Territory, and the Sauk and Fox tribes under warrior Black Hawk.

The battle occurred in the aftermath of the Battle of Wisconsin Heights, as Black Hawk's band fled the pursuing militia. The militia caught up with them on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, a few miles downstream from the mouth of the Bad Axe River. The battle that followed was very one-sided: historians have called it a since the 1850s. The fighting took place over two days, with the steamboat Warrior present on both days. By the second day, Black Hawk and most of the Native American leaders had fled, though many of the band stayed behind. The victory for the United States was decisive and the end of the war allowed much of Illinois and present-day Wisconsin to be opened for further settlement.

In an 1804 treaty between the governor of Indiana Territory and a council of leaders from the Sauk and Fox, Native American tribes ceded 50 million acres (200,000 km²) of their land to the United States for $2,234.50 and an annual annuity of $1,000. The treaty also allowed the Sauk and Fox to remain on their land until it was sold. The treaty was controversial; Sauk war leader Black Hawk, and others disputed its validity because they said that the full tribal councils were not consulted and the council that negotiated the treaty did not have the authority to cede land. After the discovery of lead in and around Galena, Illinois, during the 1820s, miners began moving into the area ceded in the 1804 treaty. When the Sauk and Fox returned from the winter hunt in 1829, they found their land occupied by white settlers and were forced to return west of the Mississippi River.

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