The Black Hawk War was the final conflict east of the Mississippi River between American Indian communities and the United States regular troops and militia. Exploring the museums, wayside markers and parks relating to that struggle is not just a journey of historic signifigance through beautiful natural scenery. It is also an amazing covergence of legendary personalities, from Abraham Lincoln to Jefferson Davis. Follow the fallout of the war from the Quad Cities on the Illinois/Iowa border, through the Trembling Lands along the Kettle Morraine and into the Driftless Area of southern Wisconsin. Pairing local insight with big-picture perspective, Ben Strand charts an overlooked quadrant of America's frontier heritage. --Back cover

Foreword / Kealan Hamilton-Youngbird -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- First Nations of the Old Northwest Territory -- President Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Act of 1830 -- Lead Rush : Gray Gold in the Midwest -- Frontier Forts, Indian Agents and Agencies -- Northwest Territory Wilderness -- Effigy and Conical Mounds -- Rivers and Waterways -- Geographic Mounds and High Points -- Bike Paths, the Old Military Road and Roadside Markers -- Saukenuk and Rock Island -- A White Flag and the Conflict Begins -- Abraham Lincoln's Service in the Black Hawk War -- Trembling Lands to the Four Lakes: From Fort Atkinson to Madison -- Lead Region Raids -- Chicaog and Cholera: Winfield Scot Takes Command -- Batle of Wisconsin Heights -- Massacre at the Bad Axe: from Sauk Prairie to De Soto, Wisconsin -- Black Hawk's Capture and Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin -- Black Hawkiana and Black Hawk's Tour of America -- Jefferson Finis Davis and Fort Monroe, Virginia