It had been the intention to visit Boston, but, greatly to the disappointment of its citizens, the route was changed, and on the 22d the party left New York in a steamboat up the Hudson for Albany, where it arrived the following day. There the party remained until the 25th, when it resumed its western journey, reaching Buffalo on the 28th. In that city the members remained three days, where, among other people who came to call on Black Hawk, was Kar-lun-da-wa-na, a chief of the Senecas, who made an address, counseling Black Hawk and his companions to return home and remain in peace. To this Black Hawk replied:
“Our aged brother of the Senecas has spoken the words of a good and wise man. We are strangers to each other, though we have the same color, and the same Great Spirit made us all and gave us this country together. Brothers, we have seen how great a people the whites are. They are very rich and very strong. It is folly for us to fight against them. We shall go home with much knowledge. For myself, I shall advise my people to be quiet and live like good men. The advice which you gave us, brother, is very good, and we tell you how we mean to walk the straight path in future, to content ourselves with what we have, and with cultivating our lands.”
From Buffalo the party embarked by water for Detroit, after which it proceeded to Green Bay, thence up the Fox and down the Wisconsin River to the Mississippi, on to Fort Armstrong, which was reached about the 1st of August, and which had been chosen as the spot for the final liberation of Black Hawk. Upon landing, messengers were sent to notify the Sacs and Foxes to assemble and meet the returned captives. In response came Keokuk, Pash-e-pa-ho, Wapello and others, Keokuk leading a convoy of canoes floating the American flag and landing opposite Black Hawk’s quarters. After several hours spent in arranging their dress and other preliminaries, they all returned to their canoes, and, with shouts and songs and drums, crossed over to the island. There, with Keokuk at the head, each Indian cordially greeted Black Hawk and his companions. After smoking the pipe of peace, they then returned to the west bank of the river to await the grand council set for the following day, when Black Hawk was to be taken home.
About 10 o’clock of the following morning Keokuk, with about 100 of his followers, crossed over to Fort Armstrong, where a room had been especially prepared to receive him, and here Black Hawk was escorted to a seat opposite Keokuk. The occasion was one of deep humiliation to Black Hawk, and his appearance indicated as much. Major Garland opened the council with a speech, referring to the good feeling manifested by all toward Black Hawk. This was followed by reading the speech made by the President to Black Hawk in Baltimore, to which Keokuk, as the future custodian of Black Hawk’s conduct, rose and replied:
“I have listened to the talk of our great father. It is true we pledged our honor for the liberties of our friends. We thought much of it; our councils were long. Their wives and children were in our thoughts. When we talked of them our hearts were full. Their wives and children came to see us, which made us feel like women; but we were men. The words which we sent to the great father were good. He spoke like the father of children. The Great Spirit made his heart big in council. We receive our brothers in friendship. Our hearts are good towards them. They once listened to bad counsel; now their ears are closed. I give my hand to them. When they shake it, they shake the hands of all. I will shake hands with them, and then I am done.”
Major Garland then stated that he wished it distinctly understood that their great father would hereafter acknowledge Keokuk as the principal chief of the Sac and Fox nation, and that he wished Black Hawk to listen and conform to his counsels. This remark was construed by Black Hawk to mean that he must conform to the counsels of Keokuk, and at once his bad blood arose; all his old animosities mastered him, and in his impulsive way he cried:
“I am a man, an old man. I will not conform to the counsels of anyone. I will act for myself; no one shall govern me. I am old; my hair is gray. I once gave counsel to my young men. Am I to conform to others? I shall soon go to the Great Spirit, where I shall be at rest. What I said to our great father at Washington, I say again. I will always listen to him. I am done.”
His resentful, passionate nature stubbornly refused, as it always had refused before, to acknowledge any standard of conduct except such as emanated from his own limited capacities. He flew into a rage, no doubt expecting to combat this inexorable decree as he had opposed every former American institution, by quibbling or fighting, but at that supreme moment of helplessness, more than at any previous time in his life, his incapacity to comprehend and act was manifested, and had it not been for the soothing gentleness of Keokuk, who realized his old enemy’s helplessness and his weaknesses, the question of liberty might have been deferred for an indefinite period. After the excitement of Black Hawk’s speech had subsided, Keokuk stepped to the side of his gloomy old foe, and in a low voice said to him: “Why do you speak so before the white men? I will speak for you. You trembled; you did not mean what you said.”
Without changing his sullen looks, though recognizing his deplorable mistake, he nodded assent, and Keokuk again addressed the council, as follows:
“Our brother who has again come to us has spoken, but he spoke in wrath. His tongue was forked; he spoke not like a man or a Sac. He knew his words were bad. He trembled like the oak whose roots have been wasted away by many rains. He is old. What he said let us forget. He says he did not mean it. He wishes it forgotten. I have spoken for him. What I have said are his own words, not mine. Let us say he spoke in council to-day–that his words were good. I have spoken.”