Turtle Village, a large and important Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) Indian village, once stood on the east side of the Rock River near its confluence with Turtle Creek. During the Black Hawk War of 1832, the Ho-Chunk sheltered Sac Indian leader Black Hawk and his followers during their northern escape from the military in Illinois after they entered the Michigan Territory, now Wisconsin, seeking refuge there. After Black Hawk left Turtle Village and continued his northern retreat up the Rock River, Chief Whirling Thunder ordered the village abandoned, fearing military retaliation, and the Ho-Chunk never returned. On July 1, 1832, more than five weeks after Black Hawk departed, General Henry Atkinson and his troops arrived to find an abandoned Indian settlement with extensive gardens and fields of grain.