Reprint of 1914 book:IN "THE TOTEM OF BLACK HAWK" I have tried to do something more than just to write a story that will thrill and interest-I have endeavored to put real historical value into it, to give correct pictures of how the pioneers of the Middle West lived, how they built and furnished their homes and planted and tilled their fields. The plot becomes involved in the Black Hawk War and that famous Indian chief plays an important part in the tale. In writing of this war I have sought to tell the truth, so far as I could learn it, even when the truth was discreditable to my own race; for, in this war, as in many of our other Indian wars, the white man was far from blameless. - EVERETT MCNEIL
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The Totem of Black Hawk, A Tale of Pioneer Days in Northwestern Illinois by Everett McNeil. This book is a reproduction of the original book published in 1921 and may have some imperfections such as marks or hand-written notes.
Excerpt from The Totem of Black Hawk: A Tale of Pioneer Days in Northwestern Illinois and the Black Hawk War "Whoa!" and, with a downward thrust of the handle of his long ox whip, Big Tom Clay brought the tired oxen to a welcomed halt. "Martha," and he turned a pair of shining eyes to the woman, who, with a baby in her arms, was seated on the front seat of the huge covered wagon that the weary oxen had been drawing, "Martha - Home!" and his eyes, sweeping the surrounding scene, returned quickly and a bit questioningly to the face of the woman. "Here's the land, right from the hand of God, all waiting for us to make a home on it. I hope it looks as good to you as it does to me. It's the pick of the whole Rock River Valley. Plenty of wood and water, and the soil good enough for a king and ready right now for the plow, without no grubbing out of trees or burning of brush. I reckon 'twon't take us no time to make ourselves mighty comfortable here. It's all that I pictured it, ain't it? You ain't none disappointed, be you?" and a look of affectionate anxiety came into the eyes of the big man. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
This eBook has been formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. The Black Hawk War was a conflict between the United States and Native Americans led by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. The war erupted soon after Black Hawk and a group of Sauks, Meskwakis, and Kickapoos, known as the "British Band", crossed the Mississippi River, into the U.S. state of Illinois, from Iowa Indian Territory in April 1832. Black Hawk's motives were ambiguous, but he was apparently hoping to avoid bloodshed while resettling on tribal land that had been ceded to the United States in the disputed 1804 Treaty of St. Louis. Black Hawk, born Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak, (1767-1838) was a band leader and warrior of the Sauk American Indian tribe in what is now the Midwest of the United States. Although he had inherited an important historic medicine bundle from his father, he was not a hereditary civil chief. Black Hawk earned his status as a war chief or captain by his actions: leading raiding and war parties as a young man, and a band of Sauk warriors during the Black Hawk War of 1832.
