Black Bird First Nations Further Reading Black Bird sums up his feelings about the war

Black Bird was a chief of the Potawatomi who led the attack on the refugees from Fort Dearborn in August of 1812. Defending native warriors' tactics in the face of vicious attacks by white volunteers in the Illinois territory, Black Bird stated, "The way they treat our killed and the remains of those that are in their graves to the west make our people mad when they meet the Big Knives. Whenever they get any of our people into their hands, they cut them like meat into small pieces."