Black Hawk War

Conflict of April to August 1832 between the United States and Native Americans led by Sauk leader Black Hawk, after his 'British Band' of Sauks, Meskwakis and Kickapoos crossed the Mississippi into Illinois to reclaim land lost in the disputed 1804 Treaty of St. Louis. US forces under General Henry Atkinson pursued the band, defeating them at Wisconsin Heights on 21 July and at Bad Axe on 2 August, where most of the survivors were killed or captured. The war, in which Abraham Lincoln served briefly without combat, was used to justify the US policy of Indian removal.