History: 'Indian Kate' survived the Blackhawk War of 1832

Friday, May 20, 2011  

"As you enter East Dubuque cemetery, quite near the entrance you will find the gravesite of "Indian Kate" Eberle. That had often been the name that she was known by locally, but she had begun life as Sop-oh-kab, a young Indian child of the Sac tribe. By the age of 6, she had already faced a disaster no child should have to endure.

She had huddled down trying to find some warmth on the shore of the sandbar. Cold and wet from the driving rain, she was so alone and frightened. A tiny child trying hard to understand what had befallen her. Where was her mother, the sustaining force in her life? She yearned for the warmth and the safety of her wigwam, the furs to keep her warm and the venison to fill her empty stomach. Worst of all was the hunger and the aloneness. She felt utterly abandoned.

Too young to understand that she had arrived at her sorry state due to the Blackhawk War of 1832 and the Battle of Bad Axes, her main concern was survival. Alone on the sandbar, she was driven to look for food and water. As she went about this, she saw a man of her tribe approaching her. He spoke to her in her own native tongue and took off his shirt and draped it around her shoulders for warmth. He would remain with her as they sought both food and shelter to sustain themselves."

Get the Story:
The story of East Dubuque's 'Indian Kate' Eberle (The East Dubuque Register 5/20)