gvanvekoven
New member
Finally located Chief Blackhawk's Pulpit rock after searching old books and historical docs. The old photo was my best clue. Only problem is it's located in a blocked in trench that is too steep to climb down into or get up into from the lower side (blocked off by a major roadway). So - if anyone ever would like to search the site - I can provide directions / map. Old books state Chief Blackhawk held tribal councils from this very large granite rock. It is not marked as a historical site, and is on city property. Permission to search the site would be necessary. One old book states several hundred Indians met here just prior to the Blackhawk war. A sad story for sure.
Chief Blackhawks skeleton was stolen from his Indian grave by a person that sold them to a doctor in Illinois. Took him two trips. The first trip he only got the head. Second one - he got the rest, including the full dress blue union uniform he was buried in, lots of artifacts, and a fancy cane he got from a close white friend he held very close. An American flag was also placed behind his seated body - one hand firmly placed on his cane. Chief Blackhawks wife actually was the one who discovered the grave robbery. Can you imagine? The doctor boiled the bones and wired them together, then varnished them. He took the skeleton with him as a conversation piece on his travels in and around the Iowa / Illinois area near Davenport. Later, the bones were located only after his wife complained of what she had heard was being done. They were finally returned to the city of Burlington, where they were placed in a museum. Nothing done to the people who did this to his grave of course. The museum burned down in the 1850s, and the bones were said to have been lost in the fire. However, one story says the bones were not actually in the museum at the time of the fire - and were planted in a unmarked grave in a potters field in the old city cemetery that overlooks the pulpit rock. The rock is grown over with vines. The natural amphitheater that surrounds the rock is a trash pit, full of old oil cans, trash window A/C units, and misc. junk of a various sort. What a sad story for a very proud Indian chief. I can feel the hair on the back of my neck stand on end when I look down on this rock from the top of the hill.
The other picture is of some civil war soldiers graves near the hill that overlooks the ravine the rock sets in. Probably lots of good stuff in that ravine. Proud people of a proud past. Would take a good mine-lab detector to get around all the junk. From what I understand - the Indians of that time used lots of silver ornaments as part of their traditional dress.
I wish the city would clean up this site and build some stairs down to it so all could enjoy it.
Chief Blackhawks skeleton was stolen from his Indian grave by a person that sold them to a doctor in Illinois. Took him two trips. The first trip he only got the head. Second one - he got the rest, including the full dress blue union uniform he was buried in, lots of artifacts, and a fancy cane he got from a close white friend he held very close. An American flag was also placed behind his seated body - one hand firmly placed on his cane. Chief Blackhawks wife actually was the one who discovered the grave robbery. Can you imagine? The doctor boiled the bones and wired them together, then varnished them. He took the skeleton with him as a conversation piece on his travels in and around the Iowa / Illinois area near Davenport. Later, the bones were located only after his wife complained of what she had heard was being done. They were finally returned to the city of Burlington, where they were placed in a museum. Nothing done to the people who did this to his grave of course. The museum burned down in the 1850s, and the bones were said to have been lost in the fire. However, one story says the bones were not actually in the museum at the time of the fire - and were planted in a unmarked grave in a potters field in the old city cemetery that overlooks the pulpit rock. The rock is grown over with vines. The natural amphitheater that surrounds the rock is a trash pit, full of old oil cans, trash window A/C units, and misc. junk of a various sort. What a sad story for a very proud Indian chief. I can feel the hair on the back of my neck stand on end when I look down on this rock from the top of the hill.
The other picture is of some civil war soldiers graves near the hill that overlooks the ravine the rock sets in. Probably lots of good stuff in that ravine. Proud people of a proud past. Would take a good mine-lab detector to get around all the junk. From what I understand - the Indians of that time used lots of silver ornaments as part of their traditional dress.
I wish the city would clean up this site and build some stairs down to it so all could enjoy it.