The Indian Agent Reports
“Rock Island, May 15, 1831. “Respected Sir: I have again to mention to you that the Black Hawk (a Sac chief) and his party are now at their old village on Rock River. They have commenced planting corn and say they will keep possession. I have been informed that they have pulled down a house and some fences which they have burned. They have also turned their horses in wheat fields and say they will destroy the wheat so that the white people shall not re-main among them. “This is what I expected from their manner of acting last fall, and which I mentioned to you in my letter of the 8th October last. I would not be at a loss were it not for the seventh article of the treaty with the Sacs and Foxes of 3d November, 1804. “I respectfully ask, would it not be better to hold a treaty with those Indians and get them to remove peaceably, than to call on the military to force them off? None of this band has as yet called on me for information. A few have been at my agency to have work done at the smith’s shops. I have the honor to be, “Your obedient servant, “FELIX ST. VRAIN, Indian Agent. “Gen. William Clark, Supt. Ind. of St. Louis.”
Early Settlements of Rock County
Source: Historic Rock Island County, pub. Kramer & Company, Rock Island, Illinois, 1908