Attacks at Fort Blue Mounds

The attacks at Fort Blue Mounds were two separate incidents which occurred on June 6 and 20, 1832, as part of the Black Hawk War. In the first incident, area residents attributed the killing of a miner to a band of Ho-Chunk warriors, and concluded that more Ho-Chunk planned to join Black Hawk in his war against white settlers. The second incident occurred east of the fort as a Sauk raiding party, estimated by eyewitnesses to be as large as 100 warriors, attacked two militia men who were investigating noises heard the night before. Two members of the militia stationed at Blue Mounds were killed in the attack, and both their bodies were badly mutilated.

The attacks followed an increase in tension after the Hall sisters were released at Fort Blue Mounds on June 1. The sisters had been kidnapped during the Indian Creek massacre in May and were brought to Blue Mounds by a party of Ho-Chunk. Militia leader Henry Dodge became suspicious of the Ho-Chunk and took them prisoner, though they were later released as tension between the Ho-Chunk and white settlers increased. The attacks also lent credence to the belief that more Ho-Chunk were set to join Black Hawk's war against white settlers in Illinois and Michigan Territory. Though other attacks on the fort were expected they never happened and Fort Blue Mounds served as a supply center for the remaining days of the war.