Wisconsin Heights Battlefield
Wisconsin Heights Battlefield | |
 A 19th-century painting of the battlefield | |
   | |
| Location | Dane County, Wisconsin |
|---|---|
| Nearest city | Sauk City (in Sauk County) |
| Coordinates | 43°14′41″N 89°43′5″W / 43.24472°N 89.71806°W |
| Area | 70 acres (28 ha) |
| Built | 1832 (battle date) |
| NRHP reference No. | 01001553[1] |
| Added to NRHP | January 31, 2002 |
The Wisconsin Heights Battlefield is an area in
History
Knowledge of the history of native tribes before the middle of the 18th century in the area of Wisconsin Heights Battlefield is limited.
The relocated Mascoutens were replaced by the influx of Sauk and Fox following the
The area known as the Wisconsin Heights Battlefield was the site of the penultimate engagement of the 1832
The battlefield has been described as "beautiful and romantic". Through the early 1920s the area remained privately owned.[5] 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.[6] 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[6]
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.
Battlefield
At the time of the Black Hawk War the Wisconsin Heights Battlefield was a marshy area located in the hills along the Wisconsin River.[9] The battlefield is located within the Black Hawk Unit of the state managed and owned Lower Wisconsin State Riverway, along Highway 78, about a mile south of County Road Y, south of Sauk City. There are trails, a historic marker and a parking area at the site.[4] Though the area around the battle site does not include modern amenities, such as plumbing and toilets, the trails within the Black Hawk Unit of the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway stretch three miles (5 km) over rugged terrain. One of the trails, the Wisconsin Heights Battlefield Trail, branches from the main loop and travels through the battle site.[10]
The battlefield has three key areas affiliated with the clash that can be viewed at the modern-day site: "Militia Ridge," where companies of Illinois and Michigan Territory militia formed up for battle; "Sharpshooter Lookout," an overlook where Sauk and Fox warriors opened fire on the militia; and "Spy's Ravine," the area between the ridge and lookout. The whole of the battlefield is best viewed from Sharpshooter Lookout.[7]
Significance
The Wisconsin Heights Battlefield is the only intact battle site from the
It is not entirely certain that this is the site of the Battle of Wisconsin Heights, but historical sources identify this town and section, and the terrain matches ridges and swamps in descriptions of the battle. Archaeologists working with the Wisconsin DNR have looked for evidence of the battle by visual inspection, by metal detector, and by ground-penetrating radar. Along with modern shotgun shell casings and pop-tops, they found several lead balls from the era of the Black Hawk War, two cartridge case buckles, and a fastener for a leather bag. These don't seem like much evidence, but no archaeological evidence at all has been turned up at other Black Hawk War battlefields.[13]
Notes
- ^ a b c "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ a b c Cole, Harry Ellsworth, ed. A Standard History of Sauk County, Wisconsin: Volume I, Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1918, pp. 166–184. Retrieved September 16, 2007.
- ^ James Lewis, "Background," The Black Hawk War of 1832, Abraham Lincoln Digitization Project, Northern Illinois University. Retrieved September 16, 2007.
- ^ a b c Dennis McCann, "Black Hawk's name, country's shame lives on", Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, April 28, 2007. Retrieved September 16, 2007.
- ^ O. D. Brandenburg, "Historic Site of the Black Hawk Battlefield at Wisconsin Heights, and pretty is the dale to which the Indians fled," Madison Democrat, September 26, 1920. Retrieved September 16, 2007.
- ^ a b "The Society and the State," The Wisconsin Magazine of History, December 1923, vol. 7, no. 2, p. 250. Retrieved 16 September 2007.
- ^ a b c d The Battle of Wisconsin Heights, July 21, 1832: A Virtual Tour!, Old Lead Regional Historical Society. Retrieved September 16, 2007.
- ^ a b Lower Wisconsin State Riverway Board. Retrieved September 16, 2007.
- William Rudolph Smith, The History of Wisconsin: In Three Parts, Historical, Documentary, and Descriptive, B. Brown: 1854, pp. 228–230. Retrieved September 16, 2007.
- ^ Martin Hintz, Hiking Wisconsin, Human Kinetics: 1997, p. 103. Retrieved September 16, 2007.
- ^ David Gjestson, "In the shadow of Wisconsin Heights," Wisconsin Natural Resources Magazine, June 1998. Retrieved September 16, 2007.
- ^ "Prairie du Sac and Sauk City, Highways 12, 60 & 78," Lower Wisconsin State Riverway Board. Retrieved September 16, 2007.
- ^ Laura Abing; Kevin Abing; Jeanne Ward (February 1998). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Wisconsin Heights Battlefield". National Park Service. Retrieved May 9, 2019. With four photos.