Sauk/Fox Indians (1)

This is another Conquest Miniatures pack, "Sauk & Fox Indians A".  The Sauk (or Sac) and Fox people were distinct tribes that (I believe) came together in the 1730s to provide mutual shelter and support as a result of conflict with the French and other indigenous tribes.  The Sauk settled around the Michigan area and then were forced to move south to northern Illinois and Wisconsin, where they met Fox refugees who had also been forced away from their original homelands around the Saint Lawrence River.  The Fox had suffered from hard fighting with the French (apparently one of Louis XIV or XV signed a decree ordering the complete extermination of the tribe).  Eventually the tribe became known as the Sauk and Fox Nation. One of the best known Sauk was Black Hawk, who went to war with the US government in 1832.  In 1804 the US government had "bought" tribal lands east of the Mississippi and by the late 1820s that land was being prepared for white settlement.  The Sauk were told to move, in accordance with the treaty of 1804, which most did; despite there being disagreement over the terms of the treaty and precisely how much land and purportedly been sold, many member of the tribe did not want to provoke more fighting.  A small group under Black Hawk decided to stand their ground.  This group became known as the "British Band" because they sometimes flew a British flag to defy claims of US sovereignty, and because they hoped to gain the support of the British across the border in Canada.  Other nearby Indian tribes that had grievances against encroaching white settlement joined Black Hawk and fighting between the band and local militia broke out.  After initial successes, the British Band were eventually overwhelmed by numbers.  General Winfield Scott led a column of militia and regular army, together with allied Indians, that won the decisive Battle of Bad Axe.  Black Hawk was captured shortly thereafter.  He was released from captivity a few months later and died in 1838 at the age of 71.

There is a bit of information about the Sauk and Fox people in the various Osprey MAA books on the Indian tribes, but I confess that the colour scheme used on these figures are largely my own invention.  As with other recent figures, I've tried to use muted colours for leggings and shirts, while adding some colour on sashes, wampum bead decorations and satchels.  These figures are probably not that authentic - as I've explained before, I just don't know enough about the dress habits of the various Indian nations to know how to differentiate the figures in these Conquest packs.  I also don't know whether these figures are dressed for the 1770s or the 1830s - given that Conquest make a Black Hawk figure, I suspect the latter; but I'm sure these will do for the AWI.  One of the figures is wearing a buffalo headdress - an Osprey MAA states that this headgear would have been looted from another tribe.  As always with Conquest, these are attractive figures, nicely posed and with interesting little details.  I've just finished another pack of Iroquois and then that's it with Indians for a while, although I'm sure I'll paint the second Conquest Sauk/Fax pack in due course, maybe Black Hawk too.      

6 figures. Painted November 2016.