This week in 1832, the US military massacred hundreds of starving Native Americans attempting to surrender near Bad Axe creek, Wisconsin. US military opened fire, killing over 300 (mostly women & children) & many more drowned attempting to escape across the Mississippi River. 
The US military committed the massacre after the group of Native Americans, led by the warrior Black Hawk, had attempted to to surrender to the US military 3 separate times. But every time the US military opened fire on Black Hawk’s men.
The US military was interested in destroying Black Hawk’s people to make the area safe for white settlers & wasn't interested in the attempts of surrender.
The US military soldiers fired on the group from the bluffs above & US warship fired on the group with its heavy canon as women & children attempted tried to hide among the willows.
Women attempted to swim across the Mississippi, with their children on their backs, many drowned or were shot before they could reach the other side. Only seventy of four hundred Native Americans made it across the river.
The US soldiers then scalped many of those they had massacred and cut long strips of flesh from others for use as razor strops. Those who made it across were captured or killed by Sioux working with the US military.
On 3 August 1832, the day after the battle, Indian Agent Joseph M. Street describing the scene: “It was a horrid sight to witness little children, wounded and suffering the most excruciating pain, although they were of the savage enemy, and the common enemy of the country."
