The Indian Creek Massacre occurred on May 21, 1832 with the attack by a party of Native Americans on a group of United States settlers in LaSalle County, Illinois following a dispute about a settler-constructed dam that prevented fish from reaching a nearby Potawatomi village.

The tension of the massacre and the war prompted settlers to seek protection at frontier forts under the control of the militia.

Three men were arrested for the killings, but the charges were dropped when their alleged role in the massacre could not be verified by the witnesses.

[4] Meanwhile, in February 1832, a Sauk leader named Black Hawk wanted to resettle on land ceded to the United States by the disputed Treaty of St. Louis (1804).

Black Hawk thought that the Potawatomi in Illinois would support the resettling since they had grievances about the United States expansion into Native American territory.

[8] Black Hawk led a group of Sauks, Meskwakis, and Kickapoos known as the "British Band", to cross the Mississippi River from Iowa into the U.S. state of Illinois.

[10] Many people fled to Ottawa for safety, but William Davis, a settler from Kentucky, who had built the controversial dam, convinced some of his neighbors they were not in danger.

[12] During the late afternoon of May 21, 1832, a party of about forty to eighty Potawatomis,[13] with three Sauks from Black Hawk's band accompanying them,[14] approached the Davis cabin, vaulted the fence and sprinted forward to attack.

[23] Modern scholarly accounts of the Black Hawk War and the Indian Creek massacre make no mention of Mike Girty.

[15] In his memoirs dictated after the war, Black Hawk insisted that the three Sauks with the Potawatomis had saved the Hall sisters' lives.

Black Hawk recounted: They were brought to our encampment, and a messenger sent to the Winnebagoes, as they were friendly on both sides, to come and get them, and carry them to the whites.

[31] U.S. Indian agent Henry Gratiot paid a ransom for the girls of ten horses, wampum, and corn.

[33] After the war, three men were charged with murders at Indian Creek and were issued warrants at the LaSalle County Courthouse for Keewasee, Toquame, and Comee.