Keokuk, a Sauk chief, was born on Rock river, Ill., about 1780. It is said his mother was a French half-breed. He was therefore not a chief by heredity, but arose to that position through sheer ability. When a young man he became a member of the Sauk council, and later was made the tribal guest keeper. He was ambitious, and, while always involved in intrigue, never exposed himself to his enemies, but cunningly played one faction against the other for his personal advantage. At the time of the Black Hawk war he "broke the feeble bond of political union" between the Sauks and Foxes, which left the chief Black Hawk with a force entirely too small to hope for success. At the close of the war Keokuk came to the front in the negotiations with the representatives of the United States, and by playing into their hands was recognized by the government as the head chief of the Sauk tribe. His chieftainship was treated with ridicule by the Indians, because he was not of the ruling clan, but in the negotiations at Washington, D. C., he won the regard of both the Sauks and Foxes, when in a debate he vanquished the Sioux and other northern tribes and established the claim of the Sauks and Foxes to the territory now comprising the State of Iowa. He was fond of debate, cool, deliberate and logical, and though he disliked the Foxes he managed to retain his power until his death in Kansas in 1848. His remains were afterward taken to Keokuk, Iowa, where a monument has been erected to his memory by the citizens, and a bronze bust of Keokuk stands in the national capital at Washington. After his death his son, Moses Keokuk, became chief. He died at Horton, Kan., in Aug., 1903.