THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 3, 1994 TAG: 9406300519
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: GEORGE TUCKER
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
NORFOLK HAS HAD many unusual visitors during its 314-year history. But none sparked as much popular excitement as Black Hawk, the celebrated Sauk Indian chieftain who stayed here briefly in June 1833.
But first, a little background information:
Black Hawk was born in 1767 at Kaskaskia, his ancestral tribal village on the Rock River in Illinois. His outstanding courage had gained him a place ``in the ranks of the braves.''
By age 21, he was the acknowledged leader of his people, the Sauk and Fox tribes who lived peacefully on a vast stretch of territory that embraced the present states of Illinois and Wisconsin. Once the American Revolution and the War of 1812 were over, however, the ruthless thrust of western-bound settlers began to deprive Black Hawk's people of their traditional hunting grounds.
In 1831, after several attempts by the U.S. government to force the Native Americans westward, the breaking point came. Desperate, Black Hawk persuaded his people in April 1831 to make one last stand against the mounting paleface invasion. The ensuing struggle, known as the Black Hawk War, ended in the defeat of the Native Americans at the Battle of Big Axe in August 1832. Black Hawk was forced to surrender to the U.S. forces. A year later, the government sent the proud 66-year-old warrior and his principal chieftains to newly constructed Fort Monroe on Hampton Roads for safekeeping.
After visiting President Andrew Jackson in Washington, who insisted that Black Hawk exchange his tribal clothing for more conventional American male attire, the Native American party proceeded by way of Richmond to Old Point. Black Hawk and his braves were treated kindly at Fort Monroe. They were there for some time, becoming such an attraction that people flocked to see them. From there they were sent on an extended tour of the Eastern United States.
Black Hawk's arrival with his braves in Norfolk on the evening of June 4, 1833, created great excitement. Everyone who could walk or hobble was on hand at Newton's Wharf to greet them when they stepped off the steamboat Hampton. A contemporary newspaper reported that it was some time before a passage could be cleared so that the Native Americans might be escorted to the Exchange Hotel on Main Street, then Norfolk's best hostelry.
The next morning, Black Hawk and his party toured Portsmouth and the Gosport Navy Yard, now Norfolk Naval Shipyard. They saw the Navy's new drydock, scheduled to open in less than two weeks. They were not impressed, and it was not until they were taken aboard the USS Delaware that they expressed any wonder. A reporter from the Norfolk Herald described their reaction:
``They did not appear to be particularly struck with anything they saw, until they were carried on board the DELAWARE 74, where they expressed their astonishment and delight by their gestures and exclamations, and Black Hawk himself, even more affected at the wonders of this noble ship than his more youthful companions, asked to be shown the man who had made this great canoe that he might take him by the hand.''
Returning to Norfolk, the Native Americans were glad-handed by such a mob that Black Hawk was forced to cancel any further personal contacts. He bid farewell to his Norfolk-area admirers from the hotel balcony. From Norfolk, the Native Americans went to Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York. In New York, Black Hawk was treated to a fireworks display. It was ``less magnificent than one of our large prairies would be when on fire,'' he remarked dryly.
After a trip up the Hudson River, the ``Lions of the West,'' as they were popularly known, returned to their severely curtailed reservations by way of the recently opened Erie Canal. Five years later, the embittered old chieftain died at age 71. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Charles Bird King drew this portrait of Black Hawk, the Sauk Indian
chieftain whose visit to Hampton Roads in June 1833 caused great
excitement.
by CNB