Wisconsin Heights Battlefield - History

History

Knowledge of the history of native tribes before the middle of the 18th century in the area of Wisconsin Heights Battlefield is limited. Samuel de Champlain is said to have heard of native tribes living "many leagues beyond Lake Huron" during the 17the century. The group Champlain heard about was known as the "Fire Nation" or the "Mascoutens." The Mascoutens, along with the Kickapoo and Miami were probably settled in the area around the Fox River and claimed much of the land to the south, including the battlefield, as their hunting grounds. Eventually, the Mascoutens, Kickapoo and Miami migrated further south along the shore of Lake Michigan.

The relocated Mascoutens were replaced by the influx of Sauk and Fox following the Fox Wars in the western Great Lakes and Detroit regions. After the conflicts, the remaining Sauk and Fox sought refuge together in lands further west, extending north from the Wisconsin River to the Illinois River in the south. Other settlements were established north of the Missouri River.

The area known as the Wisconsin Heights Battlefield was the site of the penultimate engagement of the 1832 Black Hawk War, fought between the United States state militia and allies, and the Sauk and Fox tribes, led by Black Hawk. The battle took place in what is now Dane County, near the present-day Sauk County–Dane County line. Despite being outnumbered and sustaining heavy casualties, Black Hawk's warriors managed to delay the combined forces long enough to allow the majority of the Sauk and Fox civilians in the group to escape across the Wisconsin River.

The battlefield has been described as as "beautiful and romantic". Through the early 1920s the area remained privately owned. On a cloudless Labor Day, September 3, 1923, 500 people gathered at the battlefield for the dedication of a marker at the site. A four-foot Bedford limestone marker was installed by a group consisting of the Madison Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), the Wisconsin Historical Society, and the State Archaeological Society. The monument carried the following inscription:

WISCONSIN HEIGHTS BATTLEFIELD
Near this site the Sauk chieftain Black Hawk
and his band were overtaken by Wisconsin
and Illinois troops on July 21, 1832

For 30 years the DAR marker stood as the sole monument to the battle. The Wisconsin Historical Society installed a metal interpretive marker at the site in 1957. In 1989 Wisconsin Act 31 established the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway, a 92.3-mile (148.5 km) stretch of the Wisconsin River that includes 79,275 acres (320.81 km2) from Prairie du Sac to the river's confluence with the Mississippi River. The Riverway includes the Wisconsin Heights Battlefield, which is protected from future development because of its status as part of the Riverway. Historians continued to shed light on the Battle of Wisconsin Heights and in 1992 a new interpretive marker was installed. The site was dedicated by then-Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson in 1998 during Wisconsin's sesquicentennial celebration.