In 1829 President Jackson issued a proclamation selling the land above the mouth of the Rock River (the ancient seat of the Sauk nation) to white families. In 1850 another treaty was signed removing the Sac and Fox tribes from Illinois country.

The Sac Chief Keokuk moved across the Mississippi. Black Hawk rejected the treaty and refused to move. He gathered warriors around him.

Black Hawk told whites in the village that they had to leave the land or they would be forced to leave. Illinois Governor Reynolds issued a call for volunteers to fight the Indians and push them back across the Mississippi. Over 1,600 volunteer men responded.

Black Hawk learned of the number of soldiers ready to attack them and he moved his people back across the river at night. The next day the soldiers found the village deserted. The soldiers burned the village that had been home for 6,000 to 7,000 Indians over generations; many Indians had been born, had died and were buried there.

Black Hawk and about 30 other chiefs signed an agreement that they would not be permitted to cross back over the river without permission.

In April of 1832 Black Hawk crossed back over the Mississippi with about 500 warriors on horseback while women and children went up the river in canoes. Their return to northern Illinois caused panic among settlers and Governor Reynolds again called up the militia. Abraham Lincoln was a member of the militia.