History Channel on the Black Hawk War

[Matthew S. Schweitzer]

I had just recently seen the History Channel series Frontier: The Decisive Battles episode on the Black Hawk War and was wondering if anyone had seen it or if there were any thoughts or opinions on its portrayal of the war.

I was also curious to hear any opinions on the Allan W. Eckert novel "Twilight of Empire" which deals with the BHW in detail. I had been wholely unaware of the War until I read Eckert's book and have been eager to dig more deeply into the history of this fascinating subject.

Hello, Zohoe, and welcome to the Black Hawk War Discussion Board! Your comments and questions are welcome!

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Bob Braun, Moderator.

[Robert Braun]

In 2000, I wrote a review of this program. Here are a few of my comments:

The Good News.
The narration and professional commentary gave a reasonably balanced overview of Black Hawk and his relationship among the Sauk and Fox people, as well as the relationship with his British allies and American antagonists. Further, the reenactor portrayals of Black Hawk, his band, and the American militia were more historically accurate and believable than other documentary portrayals. The actor/reenactor portrayal of Black Hawk in the episode was particularly good, albeit a trifle too young.

The History Channel based its program format on several stock inclusions: commentary by professional historians, reenactment footage, and map/action overlays. Among the historians offering commentary and opinion were Paul Hutton, Professor of History at University of New Mexico; Helen Tanner, author/historian at the Newberry Library, Chicago; R. David Edmunds, Professor of American History at University of Texas-Dallas; Theodore Karmanski, Professor of History at Loyola University, Chicago; and David Burnett, military historian.

The Bad News.
“Black Hawk’s War” suffered from one major and several minor drawbacks. The primary detractor was the fact that, of all the programs in the “Frontier: The Decisive Battles” series, only this episode covered a 16 week campaign. (The other episodes primarily focused on the events surrounding one major battle.) Simply put, the “Black Hawk’s War” program tried to cover too much material in the time allowed. As such, important points were either glossed over or omitted/edited for reasons of time.

Questionable assertions and errors of fact made up the minor drawbacks. Among these:

• Ms. Tanner’s statement that the Sauk home base “had always been Saukenuk” contradicts assertions that another large Sauk village originally located near present-day Sauk City, Wisconsin, predated the establishment of Saukenuk;
  
  
• Dr. Sutton’s assertion that Illinois Governor John Reynolds raised a “political army for purely political purposes” denied five years of contentious relations with the Indians in the Illinois country and in the lead region. Governor Reynolds’ call for militia volunteers in 1832—the third such call in 5 years--could hardly be categorized as solely “political”;
  
  
• The narration described Neapope as “an aggressive Sauk warrior” when he in fact Neapope was the Number One Civil Chief of the “British Band.”
  
  
• Jefferson Davis, a lieutenant in the Regular Army, was described as being “in the ranks,” when in fact he took no active part in the campaign beyond escorting the captured Black Hawk to Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, Missouri, in September, 1832— long after the fighting had ended.
  
  
• General John D. Henry, leading the militia pursuit of Black Hawk to the Wisconsin River, was described as “Colonel Henry.”
  
  
• The description of the Battle of Wisconsin Heights included commentary like “time after time they are flanked by heavy Indian fire” and “it takes more than an hour to gain the top of the bluff.” Both comments are patently false.
  
  
• There is no mention that, after failing to persuade his followers to follow him north along the Mississippi, Black Hawk abandoned his people to their fate on the banks of the Mississippi on August 2, 1832.
  

The knowledge and professional competence displayed by commentators like Dr. Karmasnki was eclipsed by questionable assertions by Ms. Tanner and Dr. Edmunds. Tanner and the program narration advanced the notion that the cycle of vendetta and murder between the Sauk and their native antagonists (the Osage and the Sioux) was somehow as placid as the spring planting and the winter harvest.

Even more fantastic was Dr. Edmunds’ emotional rail against the monument on the battlefield of “Stillman’s Run.” Edmunds stated that there is “a great monument at Stillman’s Run to the nine or ten men who died there.” In the next breath, he pronounced the monument “a farce.” Dr. Edmund’s pronouncement contrasts starkly with the original commemorative purpose of the monument.