Can You Hear the Beat of the Drums?

I have been delving into local American Indian history lately. The Upper Mississippi Valley speaks volumes regarding the saga of tribes such as the Meskwaki, Potawatomi, Sauk, Santee Sioux, Ojibwe, and many others who most likely were pushed west or south by the burgeoning pioneer movement. When I say this land speaks volumes I don't mean just written testimony but more of a spiritual telling; cruise or hike to any of the many wooded locales of the area and just "be". If you are very quiet and open you may perceive on some level the existence and practices of the people who were blessed with this land milliniums ago by the Creator.
Most accounts of yesteryear regarding Indians were written by white people; therefore a bit one sided, to put it mildly. Indians, for the most part, relied on oral testimony or on white people who not always transcribed the exact words spoken by the narrator, unfairly and unethically putting their own spin on the course of events. Some transcribers were "fair and balanced" (as Bill O'Reilly claims to be) and translated and recorded the sagas as truthfully and accurately as possible. So if one takes the time to search thru the annals of history one will indeed get a picture of what conditions were really like for the tribes once the Europeans assaulted their land and their lives.

I like to daydream; sometimes this endeavor can be quite a wonderful escape from the mundaneness of reality. The other day I spent a good amount of time imagining that the Indians prevailed over the white colonist and sent them packing; after a few centuries or so of battles. I imagined visiting Galena, a small (big tourist) town across the river in Illinois. It certainly wouldn't be called Galena and draw rich Chicagoens who stroll down Main Street in hordes, buying overpriced merchandise and dining at Chicago-priced restuarants. Rather it would most likely be a rich ndn town, maybe not rich so much in monetary terms but rather in land and traditions. Modern times most likely would have crossed the pond and Indians, being human beings, would have succumbed to the wonders of technology. We white folks could visit and perhaps apply for a visa to stay awhile and perhaps citizenship if we proved ourselves worthy. I think how now when I stroll up among the residential hills of the town I see signs every now and then proclaiming the place a "lookout" area during the Black Hawk War, where white men could gaze along the hills and valleys for miles for any trace of "injuns". Maybe those signs would be replaced with stones or trees, commemorating positions where Black Hawk and his warriors surveyed sight of the European invader.

Chief Black Hawk

Apple River Fort, a few miles east of Galena, would not exist. This fort was hastily erected in fear of Black Hawk who did attack on June 24, 1832. Black Hawk wanted his tribe's land back, angered that what was ceded to whites in 1828, done hastily and without the full approval of the rightful tribal leaders. He sorely stated as an elder looking over the events of his life: "whites were in the habit of saying one thing to the Indians and putting another thing down on paper." Black Hawk and his braves did retreat when they realized the fort was too heavily armed and manned (and womanned). Of course the white folks prevailed and now the fort is immortalized. Presently the whole area between Elizabeth and Galena resonates with the sounds of the rich and sometimes famous (I know someone who visits the dump on a regular basis, finds "treasures" that these wealthy folk throw out and sells it on Ebay; I tell him, "I'll see you at the dump one of these days, we'll fight over the spoils"). http://www.lakelubbers.com/apple-canyon-lake-1217/
Food for thought: Joseph Podlasek, executive director of the American Indian Center of Chicago ponders, "How come every time native people win it's a massacre, and when we lose it's just a war?"