George Catlin - Múk-a-tah-mish-o-káh-kaik, Black Hawk, Prominent Sac Chief - 1985

The Battle of the Sink Hole was fought on May 24, 1815, after the official end of the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

, between Missouri Rangers and Sauk Indians led by

Black Hawk Black Hawk and Blackhawk may refer to: Animals * Black Hawk (horse), a Morgan horse that lived from 1833 to 1856 * Common black hawk, ''Buteogallus anthracinus'' * Cuban black hawk, ''Buteogallus gundlachii'' * Great black hawk, ''Buteogallus ur ...

. According to

Robert McDouall Major-General Robert McDouall, CB (March 1774 – 15 November 1848) was a Scottish-born officer in the British Army, who saw much action during the Napoleonic Wars and the Anglo-American War of 1812. He is best known for serving as the command ...

, the British commander in the area, the Sauk had not received official word from the British that the

Treaty of Ghent The Treaty of Ghent () was the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom. It took effect in February 1815. Both sides signed it on December 24, 1814, in the city of Ghent, United Netherlands (now in ...

had ended the war with the U.S. The battle was fought in a low spot near the mouth of the

Cuivre River The Cuivre River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 13, 2011 river in the east central part of the state of Missouri, north of the Missouri River terminus. A good ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, site of the present-day city of Old Monroe in what is now Lincoln County near Fort Howard and

Fort Cap au Gris Fort Cap au Gris, also called Capo Gray, was a temporary fort built in September 1814 near Troy, Missouri during the War of 1812 by Missouri Rangers under the direction of Nathan Boone, son of Daniel Boone. After the defeat of Fort Johnson, U.S. ...

. An ambush by the Sauk of a

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

of rangers led to a prolonged siege: seven Rangers (including their commander, Captain Peter Craig) and one Sauk were killed. Conflicting accounts of the action were given by John Shaw and by Black Hawk. After the battle, in 1816 Black Hawk entered into negotiations with the US government, ultimately reaffirming the Treaty of St. Louis.

References

External links

Geology of the War of 1812: Terrain Influences on the Battle of the Sink Hole, Missouri TerritoryMichael Dickey, "The Forgotten War: Missouri from 1812-1815"
Friends of Arrow Rock website, September 2013
Battle of Sinkhole - Missouri Speleological Survey (Publication)

Sink Hole A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are locally also known as ''vrtače'' and shakeholes, and to openi ...

May 1815 events

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