Customer Reviews

Hunting a Shadow: The Search for Black Hawk (An Eye-Witness Account of the Black Hawk War of 1832)

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The late Crawford B. Thayer, Fort Atkinson native and Sauk War researcher and enthusiast, diligently assembled eyewitness accounts of Black Hawk and the movements of his "British Band" and his American pursuers through the wilds of then-western Michigan Territory. His narrative, if it can be called that, follows the words of the participants in a day by day... in some cases hour by hour... story that encompasses several weeks in Summer 1832.

Thayer's style includes both compilation of eyewitness accounts and dissection of the same accounts, with re-assembly in chronological order. The effect is to have numerous quotes that frequently cover the same item or subject. Thayer defended his technique by insisting that his cut-and paste methodology offered a "richer" accounting of events. Some readers, including myself, find the technique occasionally annoying.

The overall effect, however is a generally excellent compilation of accounts that trace the history of the campaign as the "British Band" and Gen. Atkinsons' army meander through present-day Wisconsin. I find Thayer's work second only to Ellen Whitney's compilations. His use of footnotes and citation is meticulous and exhaustive.

Thayer allowed the narrative to speak for itself... so persons looking for insight or analysis will need to look elsewhere. Also, Thayer assumes you have background history of the war, as he starts his essay in June, or the middle of the war.

"Hunting a Shadow" is the first book in Thayer's three-volume opus on the Sauk War, which he completed before he died. The other volumes cover the Battle of Wisconsin Heights and the Battle of the Bad Axe. Again... these works are eyewitness compilations, not analytical histories of the events.