Black Hawk was born in Sac Village in 1767 and is 67 when he dictates his story. The Sauk people originally lived around Montreal. His great-grandfather Na-nà-ma-kee had a dream he would meet with a white man who would be his father. Na-nà-ma-kee fasted for years until one day he and his people discovered the white man arrived. The white man told him he was the son of the King of France and that he also had dreamed of coming to meet a nation that would be his children. He gave a medal and other gifts to Na-nà-ma-kee. He then was placed above all civil chiefs in the tribe as the Great Spirit made him a “great and brave general” (10). He received the “medicine bag” that established him as a principal leader of the nation. Na-nà-ma-kee asked the two chiefs to maintain peace.

After the British dominated the French in Quebec, the Sauk and the Fox decided to form a treaty of alliance and friendship with them. After that, the Fox united with the Sauk tribe, and both were driven by “their enemies” first to Wisconsin and then to Rock River, Illinois.

As a young man, Black Hawk proved himself as a brave warrior, leading a war party against the Osage.