Black Hawk (Makataimeshekiakiak) (1767–October 3, 1838) was a leader and warrior of the Sauk Native American tribe in what is now the United States. While he had inherited an important historic medicine bundle, he was not a chief of the Sauk.

Black Hawk was born in the village of Saukenuk on the Rock River, near present-day Rock Island, Illinois. The Sauk used the town in the summer, for raising corn and burials, while moving across the Mississippi for winter hunts and fur trapping. In the War of 1812 he fought on the side of the British.

Black Hawk was present at the battle of Fort Meigs, and the attack on Fort Stephenson. The British, led by Major-General Henry Procter, and Tecumseh leading the Indian Confederacy, were repulsed.The losses to the British were great. Black Hawk despaired over the waste of the lives caused by European attack methods. Soon afterward Black Hawk quit the war and returned home. By the end of the war Black Hawk rejoined the effort and participated alongside the British on campaigns on the Mississippi River along the Illinois Territory. With the conflict over in 1815, the British abandoned all promises of land recovery to Native Americans.

After the War of 1812, the non-native population of Illinois increased rapidly, a development that sharpened previous disputes about land ownership, especially in the lead-mining region north of the Rock River, an area claimed by the close allies of the Sauk, the Fox. These disputes culminated in the Black Hawk War in 1832. Black Hawk led a band of Sauk who attempted to hold their previous lands, refusing to migrate west of the Mississippi River. They were aided by some Fox, Winnebago and Kickapoo. Their struggle ended only months later, with Black Hawk in captivity and most of his followers dead.