In the summer of 1832, war came to the northern Illinois frontier as the Black Hawk War became a brief and tragic conflict between two peoples defending their families and fighting for their homes. Black Hawk recalled Rock River as a beautiful country and said he liked his town, his cornfields, and the home of his people and fought for them. John Flack remembered that Apple River Fort had once been an extensive smelting establishment and had become a considerable village, with the fort itself small, families living in the houses by day and all going into the fort at night for safety. On June 24, the recent inhabitants of Apple River settlement fought a desperate, hour-long battle against the Sac and Fox, who had called this region home for over a hundred years. These voices from both sides reflect shared hopes and fears for families, homes, and ways of life across cultures and across time.