UNIVERSITY OF
LLINO/S LIBRARY
LI E) R.A FlY
OF THE
U N IVLRSITY
Of ILLINOIS
H62S
IllINOIS mmmi SURYET
HISTORY
OP
TAZEWELL C01IST\'
J
ILLINOIS;
TOGETHER WITH SKETCHES OF ITS CITIES. VILLAGES AND TOWNSHIPS; EDUCA-
TIONAL, RELIGIOUS, CIVIL, MILITARY, AND POLITICAL HISTORY; POR-
TRAITS OF PROMINENT PERSONS AND BIOGRAPHIES OF
REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
EMBRACING ACCOUNTS OF THE PKE-IIISTORIC RACES, ABORIGINES, FRENCH,
ENGLISH AND AMERICAN CONQUESTS, AND A GENERAL REVIEW
OF ITS CIVIL, POLITICAL AND MILITARY HISTORY.
DIGEST OF STATE LAWS.
ILLUSTRATED.
CHICAGO:
CHAS. C. CHAPMAN & CO,
1879.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1879, by
CHAS. C. CHAPMAN & CO.,
In the Office of the Libnirian of Congress, at Wasliington, D. C.
J. W. FRANKS .t SONS,
PKINTKRS AND BINDERS,
I'EORIA, ILI/.
PREFACE
• The earlj' historj' of Tazewell county is peculiarly interesting, and we
are enabled to give it from the very earliest occupancy of Illinois by the
whites. In point of time of its soil being disturbed by Europeans, it is
more remote than any other section of our great Prairie State. The second
centennial of its first settlement is at hand. In the county are places of
unusual historic interest, and to those who have located here we judge it
will be a source of no little gratification to inform themselves on the ante-
pioneer history of the county, which we detail at considerable length. In
the compilation of this work we pass over a period of two hundred years.
We have taken much care in recording the pioneer history, that future
generations, those who will not have the early settler to relate to them
the history incident to the settlement and development of this county,
may familiarize themselves with it through this medium; and that the
reader may see the county in all its various stages of progression. We do
not profess to have fully delineated the trials, suflTerings, and hardships
that were experience*! in converting even this fertile land from its virgin
wildness into the luxuriant and densely populate;.isiness
man and farmer will find of great value. *-
Before laying aside our pen, we desire to express our warmest thanks
to the editors of the various newspapers pul)lished throughout the county;
to the county officials, and to the people in general for the assistance and
lil)eral patronage given us-
CHAS. C. CHAPMAN & CO.
Pekin, June, 1879.
CONTENTS.
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
MOUND-Bl'ILDERS 17
INDIANS 21
Illinois Confodcnicv 23
Starvfd Uock .". 2o
Sites iiiul Foxes 24
Miiiuiers and Cnslonis 27
Sinj.'le-lnin(kMl Conihat with Indians ... 2'.)
EAULY DISCOVEKIES ;!1
Nicholas I'errot :'.l
)liet anil Marquette :!1
LaSalle's Explorations ;!;5
(Jreat Hattle of the Illinois :il
Tonti safe at (irci'n liiiy ;. 11
LaSalle's Assa.ssination i:!
FKKNCH (Hcr I' ATION 44
First Settlements 44
Thi' .Mississii)i>i Coninanv 45
ENGLISH HILK ." 47
(!ei). (.'lark's Exploits 51
ILLINOIS 55
Coinitv of Illinois 55
NOKTHWESTEUN TEKIUTOHY 55
Onlinanee of 17s7 50
St. Clair <;overnorof N. \V. TeiTitor>' .. 59
ILLINOIS TEKIUTOKY 59
WAR OF 1M2-TIIE OL'TlUiEAK 59
Ma.ssiicre ()f Fort Dearborn till
Exi>editions up the Missis.sippi 71
ILLINOIS AS A STATE 74
Orpiniziition 74
Derivation of the name Illinois 77
State Hank 7.S
LaFayette's Visit
(iranimar luid Cook contrasted
HISTOKY OF
CHAPTER I.
Settlement and Orpinization 1,VJ
La.'^alle's Ex]>lorations 189
The War of 1.S12 u. 19(;
The I'ioneers 2()U
Oriranizalion of I ho County '2117
Fii-si Mill .". 2119
A leu First Things 210
The Di'e]) Snow '214
Suilileii Change 217
High Water 21.S
The lieantiful Prairies 2-20
CllAPTEK II.
Ini])ortant Labors of the County Comniis
sioner's Court ".
79
82
CHAPTER III.
Black Hiiwk War i'>('>
CHAPTER IV.
Geology 207
CHAPTER V.
Zoology and Rotjvny 272
CHAPTER VI.
Criminal Record 28S
CHAPTER VII.
Important Labors of the Board of Super-
vLsors :«)0
CHAPTER VIII.
Blooded Stock ;!0s
CHAPTER IX.
Under-ground Railroad 313
INDIAN TROUBLES
Winnebago War
BLACK HAWK WAR
Stillnian's Run
Battle of Bad Axe
Black Hawk Cajitured
Biographical Skelcii of Black Hawk
FROM l.s:;4 TO 1.S42
Internal lni]inivemeiits
Illinois and Michigan Canal
Martvr for Liberty.
PRAIRIE PIRATK?"
.MORMON WAR
MEXICAN WAR ■..'."
Battle (»f Ihiena Vista
THE WAR FOR THE UNION
States !<( 'ceiling
The Fall of Sumter '.
Call for Troops promptly answered
The War ended — The Union restored
Schedule of Regiment.s
DUELS
DKESS AND M.^NNERS
PHYSICAL FE.VTURES OF ILLINOIS
AGRICUKTUKE
GOVERNORS OF ILLINOIS
Lieiitenant (iovernors
Stale Odieials
U. S. Senators
Representatives in Congress
CHICAGO
The (Jri'at Fire
Commerce of (.'hicago
STATES OF THE UNION
TAZKWKI.L COUNTY.
CHAPTER X.
Pioneer Life
CHAPTER XL
The Rebellion
Tazewell County Volunteers
CHAPTER XII.
Tazewell (.'ounty B:ir
CHAPTER XIII.
T0WN.SI111' IIi.sTiiKii:s:—
Boy n ton
Cincinnati
Deer Creek
iH'lavan
Dillon
I-:im (irovc
Fond du Lac
Groveland
Hitlle
Hopedale
Little Mackinaw
Malone
Morton
Mackinaw
Pekin
Sand Prairie
Spring I^ake
Treniont
Washington
CHAPTER XIV.
80
«3
84
87
90
91
92
95
95
97
98
102
104
lis
119
1-25
120
1'27
128
137
i:w
141
149
l.M
l.V)
l.")7
100
101
102
105
170
172
173
177
321
351
38-1
M
308
414
427
4-2;!
451
40i,i« street Tunuei;;;;;.;;. ]^i
Lve and I-Jir Iidir.nurv ^. ,1? J.^^ ^nb - 1^2
louse ^^^
Tazeweucoiuity".'.'.";/;.;;";;;;;;;;;;;;j^2?
(
Evi a„u ijir iimr.nury .
Deaf and Dumb Institute
111
11.5
Allensworth, W P J'OKTRAIT.S,
Alfs. Ovrd. ^^
BiKon, E. H -l-l
Bemis, T. K. -^^
Iie«^^
*Si^
M
/
,c'ri*^' tr. :v.,,^
()i-^
3^7l';)yj';f.L €IIUNT¥
^Li.iNin'^
r
Scale ■/' Miles lo f/ir ineJi.
/Mm '/I /ari/,rI/isforxo/'7hznM'ff('oXl
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
FORMER OCCUPANTS.
MOUND-BUILDERS.
The numerous and well-authenticated accounts of antiquities
found in various parts of our country, clearlj' demonstrate that a
people civilized, and even highly cultivated, occupied the broad
surface of our continent before its possession by the present In-
dians; but the date of their rule of the Western World is so re-
mote that all traces of their history, their progress and decay, lie
buried in deepest obscurity. Nature, at the time the first Euro-
peans came, had asserted her original dominion over the earth; the
forests were all in their full luxuriance, the growth of many cen-
turies; and naught existed to point out who and what they were
who formerly lived, and loved, and labored, and died, on the conti-
nent of America. This pre-historic race is known as the Mound-
Builders, from the numerous large mounds of earth-works left by
them. The remains of the works of this people form the most in-
teresting class of antiquities discovered in the United States. Their
character can be but partially gleaned from the internal evidences
and the peculiarities of the only remains left, — the mounds. They
consist of remains of what were apparently villages, altars, temples,
idols, cemeteries, monuments, camps, fortifications, pleasure
grounds, etc., etc. Their habitations must have been tents, struc-
tures of wood, or other perishable material; otherwise their remains
would be numerous. If the Mound-Builders were not the ancestors
of the Indians, who were they'^ The oblivion which has closed over
them is so complete that only conjecture can be given in answer to
the question. Those who do not believe in the common parentage
of mankind contend that they were an indigenous race of the West-
ern hemisphere; others, with more plausibility, think they came
from the East, and imagine they can see coincidences in the religion
of the Hindoos and Southern Tartars and the supposed theology of
18 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
the Mound-Builders. They were, no doubt, idolators, and it has
been conjectured that the sun was the object of their adoration. The
mounds were generally built in a situation affording a view of the
rising Bun: when enclosed in walls their gateways were toward the
east; the caves in which their dead were occasionally buried always
opened in the same direction; whenever a mound was partially en-
closed by a semi-circular pavement, it was on the east side; when
bodies were buried in graves, as was frequently the case, they were
laid in a direction east and west; and, finally, medals have been
found representing the sun and his rays of light.
At what period they came to this countr}', is likewise a matter of
speculation. From the comparatively rude state of the arts among
them, it has been inferred that the time was very remote. Their
axes were of stone. Their raiment, judging from fragments which
have been discovered, consisted of the bark of trees, interwoven
with feathers; and their military works were such as a people
would erect who had just passed to che pastoral state of society
from that dependent alone upon hunting and fishing.
The mounds and other ancient earth-works constructed by this
people are far more abundant than generally supposed, from the fact
that while some are quite large, tlie greater part of them are small
and inconspicuous. Along nearly all our water courses that are
large enough to be navigated with a canoe, the mounds are almost
invariably found, covering the base points and headlands of the
bluffs which border the narrower valleys; so that when one finds him-
self in such positions as to command the grandest views for river
Bcenery, he may almost always discover that he is standing upon,
or in close proximity to, some one or more of these traces of the
labors of an ancient people.
GALENA MOUNDS.
On the top of the high bluffs that skirt the west bank of the Mis-
sissippi, about two and a half miles from Galena, are a number of
these silent monuments of a pre-historic age. The spot is one of
surpassing beauty. From that point may be obtained a view of a
portion of three States, — Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin. A hundred
feet below, at the foot of the perpendicular cliffs, the trains of the
Illinois Central Railroad thunder around the curve, the portage is
in full yiew^ and the " Father of Waters," with its numerous bayous
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 19
and islands, sketches a grand paraoraina for miles above and below.
Here, probably tlioiisands of years ago, a race of men now extinct,
and unknown even in the traditions of the Indians who inhabited
that section for centuries before the discovery of America by Colum-
bus, built these strangely wonderful and enigmatical mounds. At
this point these mounds are circular and conical in form. The larg-
est one is at least forty feet in diameter at the b&. 9, and not less
than fifteen feet high, even yet, after it has been bt, ten by the
storms of many centuries. On its top stands the large stump of an
oak tree that was cut down about fifty years ago, and its annual
rings indicate a growth of at least 200 years.
One of the most singular earth-works in the State was found on
the top of a ridge near the east bank of the Sinsinawa creek in the
lead region. It resembled some huge animal, the head, ears, nose,
legs and tail, and general outline of which being as perfect as
if made bv men versed in modern art. The ridore on which it was
situated stands on the prairie, 300 yards wide, 100 feet in height,
and rounded on the top by a deep deposit of clay. Centrally,
along the line of its summit, and thrown up in the form of an
embaiikment three feet high, extended the outline of a quadruped
measuring 250 feet from the tip of the nose to the end of the
tail, and having a width of IS feet at the center of the body. The
head was 35 feet in length, the ears 10 feet, legs 60 and tail 75. The
curvature in both the fore and hind legs was natural to an animal
lying on its side. The general outline of the figure most nearly
resembled the extinct animal known to geologists as the Megathe-
rium. The question naturally arises. By whom and for what pur-
pose was this earth figure raised? Some have conjectured that
numbers of this now extinct animal lived and roamed over the prai-
ries of Illinois when the Mound-Builders first made their appearance
on the upper part of the Mississippi Valley, and that their wonder
and admiration, excited by the colossal dimensions of these huge
creatures, found some expression in the erection of this figure.
The bones of some similar gigantic animals were exhumed on this
stream about three miles from the same place.
LARGE CITIES.
Mr. Breckenridge, who examined the antiquities of the Western
country in ISIT, speaking of the mounds in the American Bottom,
says: "The great number and extremely large size of some of
20 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
them may be regarded as furnishing, with other circumstances,
evidences of their antiquity. I have sometimes been induced to
think that at the period when they were constructed there was a
population here as numerous as that which once animated the
borders of the Nile or Euphrates, or of Mexico. The most num-
erous, as well as considerable, of these remains are found in pre-
cisely those parts of the country where the traces of a numerous
population might be looked for, namely, from the mouth of the
Ohio on the east side of the Mississippi, to the Illinois river, and
on the west from the St. Francis to the Missouri. I am perfectly
satisfied that cities similar to those of ancient Mexico, of several
hundred thousand souls, have existed in this country."
It must be admitted that whatever the uses of these mounds —
whether as dwellings or burial places — these silent monuments
were built, and the race who built them vanished from the face
of the earth, ages belbre the Indians occupied the land, but their
date must probably forever baffle human skill and ingenuity.
It is sometimes difficult to distinguish the places of sepulture
raised by the Mound-Builders from the more modern graves of the
Indians. The tombs of the former were in general larger than
those of the latter, and were used as receptacles for a greater number
of bodies, and contained relics of art, evincing a higher degree of civ-
ilization than that attained by the Indians. The ancient earth-
works of the Mound-Builders have occasionally been appropriated
as burial places by the Indians, but the skeletons of the latter may
be distinguished from the osteological remains of the former by
their greater stature.
What finally became of the Mound-Builders is another query
which has been extensively discussed. The fact that their works
extend into Mexico and Peru has induced the belief that it was
their posterity that dwelt in these countries when they were first
visited by the Spaniards. The Mexican and Peruvian works, with
the exception of their greater magnitude, are similar. Relics com-
mon to all of them have been occasionally found, and it is believed
that the religious uses whicii they subserved were the same. If,
indeed, the Mexicans and Peruvians were the progeny of the
more ancient Mound-Builders, Spanish rapacity for gold was the
cause of their overthrow and final extermination.
A thousand other queries naturally arise respecting these nations
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 21
which now repose under the ground, but the most searching investi-
gation can give us only vagae speculations for answers. No histo-
rian has preserved the names of their mighty chieftains, or given an
account of their exploits, and even tradition is silent respecting
them.
INDIANS.
Following the Mound-Builders as inhabitants of North America,
were, as it is supposed, the people who reared the magnificent
cities the rains of which are found in Central America. This peo-
ple was far more civilized and advanced in the arts than were the
Mound-Builders. The cities built by them, judging from the ruins
of broken columns, fallen arches and crumbling walls of temples,
palaces and pyramids, which in some places for miles bestrew the
ground, mast have been of great extent, magnificent and very pop-
ulous. When we consider the vast period of time necessary to erect
Buch colossal structures, and, again, the time required to reduce
them to their present ruined state, we can conceive something of
their antiquity. These cities must have been old when many of
the ancient cities of the Orient were beino: bailt.
The third race inhabiting North America, distinct from the
former two in every particular, is the present Indians. They
were, when visited by the early discoverers, without cultivation,
refinement or literature, and far behind the Mound-Builders in
the knowledge of the arts. The question of their origin has long
interested archieologists, and is the most difficult they have been
called upon to answer. Of their predecessors the Indian tribes
knew nothing; they even had no traditions respecting them. It is
quite certain that they were the successors of a race which had
entirely passed away ages before the discovery of the New "World.
One hypothesis is that the American Indians are an original race
indigenous to the Western hemisphere. Those who entertain this
view think their peculiarities of physical structure preclude the
possibility of a common parentage with the rest of mankind.
Prominent among those distinctive traits is the hair, which in the
red man is round, in the white man oval, and in the black man flat.
A more common supposition, however, is that they are a derivative
race, and sprang from one or more of the ancient peoples of Asia.
In the absence of all authentic history, and when even tradition is
32 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
wanting, any attempt to point out the particular location of their
origin must prove unsatisfactory. Though the exact place of origin
may never be known, yet the striking coincidence of physical
organization between the Oriental type of mankind and the Indians
point unmistakably to some part of Asia as the place whence they
emigrated, which was originally peopled to a great extent by the
children of Shem. In this connection it has been claimed that the
meeting of the Europeans, Indians and Africans on the continent
of America, is the fulfillment of a prophecy as recorded in Gen-
esis ix. 27: "God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the
tents of Shem ; and Canaan shall be his servant." Assuming the
theory to be true that the Indian tribes are of Shemitic origin,
they were met on this continent in the fifteenth century by the
Japhetic race, after the two stocks had passed around the globe by
directly different routes. A few years afterward the Hamitic
branch of the human family were brought from the coast of Africa.
During the occupancy of the continent by the three distinct races,
the children of Japheth have grown and prospered, while the called
and not voluntary sons of Ham have endured a servitude in the
wider stretching valleys of the tents of Shem.
When Christopher Columbus had finally succeeded in demon-
strating the truth of his theory that by sailing westward from Eu-
rope land would be discovered, landing on the Island of Bermuda
he supposed he had reached the East Indies. This was an error,
but it led to the adoption of the name of " Indians " for the inhab-
itants of the Island and the main land of America, by which name
the red men of America have ever since been known.
Of the several great branches of Korth American Indians the
only ones entitled to consideration in Illinois history are the Algon-
quins and Iroquois. At the time of the discovery of America the
former occupied the Atlantic seaboard, while the home of the
Iroquois was as an island in this vast area of Algonquin popula-
tion. The latter great nation spread over a vast territory, and various
tribes of Algonquin lineage sprung up over the country, adopting,
in time, distinct tribal customs and laws. An almost continuous
warfare was carried on between tribes; but later, on the entrance of
the white man into their beloved homes, every foot of territory
was fiercely disputed by the confederacy of many neighboring tribes.
The Algonquins formed the most extensive alliance to resist the
encroachment of the whites, especially the English. Such was the
HISTOKY OF ILLINIOS. 23
nature of King Philip's war. This King, with his Algonquin
braves, spread terror and desolation throughout New England.With
the Algonquins as the controlling spirit, a confederacy of conti-
nental proportions was the result, embracing in its alliance the tribes
of every name and lineage from the Northern lakes to the gulf.
Pontiac, having breathed into them his implacable hate of the
English intruders, ordered the conflict to commence, and all the
British colonies trembled before the desolating fury of Indian
vengeance.
ILLINOIS CONFEDERACY.
The Illinois confederacy, the various tribes of which comprised
most of the Indians of Illinois at one time, was composed of five
tribes: the Tamaroas, Michigans, Kaskaskias, Cahokas, and Peorias.
The Illinois, Miamis and Delawares were of the same stock. As
early as 1670 the priest Father Marquette mentions frequent visits
made by individuals of this confederacy to the missionary station at
St. Esprit, near the western extremity of Lake Superior. At that
time they lived west of the Mississippi, in eight villages, whither
they had been driven from the shores of Lake Michigan by the
Iroquois. Shortly afterward they began to return to their old
hunting ground, and most of them finally settled in Illinois.
Joliet and Marquette, in 1673, met with a band of them on their
famous voyage of discovery down the Mississippi. They were
treated with the greatest hospitality by the principal chief. On their
return voyage up the Illinois river they stopped at the principal
town of the confederacy, situated on the banks of the river seven
miles below the present town of Ottawa. It was then called Kas-
kaskia. Marquette returned to the village in 1675 and established
the mission of tlie Immaculate Conception, the oldest in Illinois.
When, in 1679, LaSalle visited the town, it had greatly increased,
numbering 460 lodges, and at the annual assembly of the difierent
tribes, from 6,000 to 8,000 souls. In common with other western
tribes, they became involved in the conspiracy of Pontiac, although
displaying no very great warlike spirit. Pontiac lost his life by
the hands of one of the braves of the Illinois tribe, which so enraged
the nations that had followed him as their leader that they fell upon
the Illinois to avenge his death, and almost annihilated them.
STARVED ROOK.
Tradition states that a band of this tribe, in order to escape the
general slaughter, took refuge upon the high rock on the Illinois
34 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.
river since known as Starved Rock. Nature has made this one of
the most formidable military fortresses in the world. From the
waters which wash its base it rises to an altitude of 125 feet. Three
of its sides it is impossible to scale, while the one next to the land
may be climbed with difficulty. From its summit, almost as inac-
cessible as an eagle's nest, the valley of the Illinois is seen as
a landscape of exquisite beauty. The river near by struggles
between a number of wooded islands, while further below it quietly
meanders through vast meadows till it disappears like a thread of
light in the dim distance. On the summit of this rock the Illinois
were besieged by a superior force of the Pottawatomies whom the
great strength of their natural fortress enabled them to keep at bay.
Hunger and thirst, however, soon accomplished what the enemy
was unable to effect. Surrounded by a relentless foe, without food
or water, they took a last look at their beautiful hunting grounds,
and with true Indian fortitude lay down and died from starvation.
Years afterward their bones were seen whitening in that place.
At the beginning of the present century the remnants of this
once powerful confederacy were forced into a small compass around
Kaskaskia. A few years later they emigrated to the Southwest,
and in 1850 they were in Indian Territory, and numbered but 84:
persons.
SACS AND FOXES.
The Sacs and Foxes, who figured most conspicuously in the later
history of Illinois, inhabited the northwestern portion of the State.
By long residence together and intermarriage they had substan-
tially become one people. Drake, in his "Life of Black Hawk,"
speaks of these tribes as follows : " The Sacs and Foxes fought their
way from the waters of the St. Lawrence to Green Bay, and after
reaching that place, not only sustained themselves against hostile
tribes, but were the most active and courageous in the subjugation,
or rather the extermination, of the numerous *and powerful Illinois
confederacy. They had many wars, ofiensive and defensive, with
the Sioux, the Pawnees, the Osages, and other tribes, some of which
are ranked among the most fierce and ferocious warriors of the
whole continent; and it does not appear that in these conflicts, run-
ning through a long period of years, they were found wanting in
this, the greatest of all savage virtues. In the late war with Great
Britain, a party of the Sacs and Foxes fought under the British
iLi.K';:liiiliiiiiiiJ!:;itlii^i'
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. ^7
Standard as a matter of choice; and in the recent contest between a
fragment of these tribes and the United States, although deteated
and literally cut to pieces by an overwhelming force, it is very
questionable whether their reputation as braves would sufler by a
comparison with that of their victors. It is believed that a caretul
review of their history, from the period when they lirst established
themselves on the waters of the Mississippi down to the present
time will lead the inquirer to the conclusion that the bacs and
Foxes were trulv a courageous people, shrewd, politic, and enter-
prising, with no" more ferocity and treachery of character than is
common among the tribes by whom they were surrounded." These
tribes at the time of the Black Hawk War were divided into twenty
families, twelve of which were Sacs and eight Foxes. The lollow-
ino- were other prominent tribes occupying Illinois: the Kickapoos,
Slilwuees, Eascoulins, Piaukishaws, Pottawatomies, Chippewas,
and Ottawas.
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
The art of hunting not only supplied the Indian with food, but,
like that of war, was a means of gratifying his love of distinction
The male children, as soon as they acquired sufficient age and
strength, were furnished with a bow and arrow and taught to shoot
birds°and other small game. Success in killing large quadrupeds
required years of careful study and practice, and the art was as
sedulously inculcated iu the minds of the rising generation as are
the elements of reading, writing and arithmetic in the common
schools of civilized communities. The mazes of the forest and the
dense, tall grass of the prairies were the best fields for the exercise
of the hunter's skill. No feet could be impressed in the yielding
soil but that the tracks were the objects of the most searching
scrutiny, and revealed at a glance the animal that made them, the
direction it was pursuing, and the time that had elapsed since it
had passed. In a forest country he selected the valleys, because
they were most frequently the resort of game. The most easily
taken, perhaps, of all the animals of the chase was the deer. It is
endowed with a curiosity which prompts it to stop in its flight and
look back at the approaching hunter, who always avails himself of
this opportunity to let fly the fatal arrow.
Their general councils were composed of the chiefs and old men.
When in'' council, they usually sat in concentric circles around the
28 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
speaker, and each individual, notwithstanding the fiery passions
that rankled within, preserved an exterior as immovable as if cast
in bronze. Before commencing business a person appeared with
the sacred pipe, and another with fire to kindle it. After being
lighted, it was first presented to heaven, secondly to the earth,
thirdly to the presiding spirit, and lastly the several councilors,
each of whom took a wliift'. These formalities were observed with
as close exactness as state etiquette in civilized courts.
The dwellings of the Indians were of the simplest and rudest
character. On some pleasant spot by the bank of a river, or near
an ever-running spring, they raised their groups of wigwams, con-
structed of the bark of trees, and easily taken down and removed
to another spot. The dwelling-places of the chiefs were sometimes
more spacious, and constructed with greater care, but of the same
materials. Skins taken in the chase served them for repose.
Though principally dependent upon hunting and fishing, the
uncertain supply from those sources led them to cultivate small
patches of corn. Every family did everything necessary within
itself, commerce, or an interchange of articles, being almost unknown
to them. In cases of dispute and dissension, each Indian relied
upon himself for retaliation. Blood for blood was the rule, and
the relatives of the slain man were bound to obtain bloody revenge
for his death. This principle gave rise, as a matter of course, to
innumerable and bitter feuds, and wars of extermination where such
were possible. War, indeed, rather than peace, was the Indian's
glory and delight, — war, not conducted as civilization, but war
where individual skill, endurance, gallantry and cruelty were prime
requisites. For such a purpose as revenge the Indian would make
great sacrifices, and display a patience and perseverance truly heroic;
but when the excitement was over, he sank back into a listless, un-
occupied, well-nigh useless savage. During the intervals of his
more exciting pursuits, the Indian employed his time in decorating
his person with all the refinement of paint and feathers, and in the
manufacture of his arms and of canoes. These were constructed of
bark, and so light that they could easily be carried on the shoulder
from stream to stream. His amusements were the war-dance, ath-
letic games, the narration of his exploits, and listening to the ora-
tory of the chiefs; but during long periods of such existence he
remained in a state of torpor, gazing listlessly upon the trees of
the forests and the clouds that sailed above them; and this vacancy
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
29
imprinted an habitual gravity, and even melancholy, upon his gen-
eral deportment.
The main labor and drudgery of Indian communities fell upon
the women. The planting, tending and gathering of the crops,^
making mats and baskets, carrying burdens,— in fact, all things of
the kind were performed by them, thus making their condition but
little better than that of slaves. Marriage was merely a matter of
bargain and sale, the husband giving presents to the father of the
bride. In general they had but few children. They were sub-
jected to many and severe attacks of sickness, and at times famine
and pestilence swept away whole tribes.
SINGLE-HANDED COMBAT WITH INDIANS.
The most desperate single-handed combat with Indians ever
fought on the soil of Illinois was that of Tom Higgins, August 21,
1814. Higgins was 25 years old, of a muscular and compact
build, not tin, but strong and active. In danger he possessed a
quick and discerning judgment, and was without fear. He was a
member of Journey's rangers, consisting of eleven men, stationed
at Hill's Fort, eight miles southwest of the present Greenville, Put-
nam county. Discovering Indian signs near the fort, the company,
early the following morning, started on the trail. They had not
gone far before they were in an ambuscade of a larger party. At
the first fire their commander, Journey, and three men fell, and
six reti-eated to the fort; but Higgins stopped to "have another
pull at the red-skins," and, taking deliberate aim at a stragglmg
savage, shot him down. Higgins' horse had been wounded at the
first fire, as he supposed, mortally. Coming to, he was about to
efi'ect his escape, when the tamiliar voice of Burgess hailed him
from the long grass, " Tom, don't leave me." Higgins told him to
come along, but Burgess replied that his leg was smashed. Hig-
gins attempted to raise him on his horse, but the animal took fright
and ran away. Higgins then directed Burgess to limp off" as well
as he could; and by crawling through the grass he reached the fort,
\^diile the former loaded his gun and remained behind to protect
him- against the pursuing enemy. When Burgess was well out of
the way, Higgins took another route, which l6d by a small thicket,
to throw any wandering enemy off the trail. Here he was con-
fronted by three savages approaching. He ran to a little ravine
near for shelter, but in the efi'ort discovered for the first time that
80 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
he was badly wounded in the leg. He was closely pressed by the
largest, a powerful Indian, who lodged a ball in his thigh. He fell,
but instantly rose again, only, however, to draw the fire of the other
two, and again fell wounded. The Indians now advanced upon him
with their tomahawks and scalping knives; but as he presented his
gun first at one, then at another, from his place in the ravine, each
wavered in his purpose. Neither party had time to load, and the
large Indian, supposing finally that Higgins' gun was empty, rushed
forward with uplifted tomahawk and a yell; but as he came near
enough, was shot down. At this the others raised the war-whoop,
and rushed upon the wounded Higgins, and now a hand-to-hand
conflict ensued. They darted at him with their knives time and
again, inflicting many ghastly flesh-wounds, which bled profusely.
One of the assailants threw his tomahawk at him with such pre-
cision as to sever his ear and lay bare his skull, knocking him down.
They now rushed in on him, but he kicked them ofi^, and grasping
one of their spears thrust at him, was raised up by it. He quickly
seized his gun, and by a powerful blow crushed in the skull of one,
but broke his rifle. His remaining antagonist still kept up the con-
test, making thrusts with his knife at the bleeding and exhausted
Higgins, which he parried with his broken gun as well as he could.
Most of this desperate engagement was in plain view of the fort;
but the rangers, having been in one ambuscade, saw in this fight
only a ruse to draw out the balance of the garrison. But a Mrs.
Pursely, residing at the fort, no longer able to see so brave a man
contend for his life unaided, seized a gun, mounted a liorse, and
started to his rescue. At this the men took courage and hastened
along. The Indian, seeing aid coming, fled. Higgins, being near-
ly hacked to pieces, fainted from loss of blood. He was carried to
the fort. There being no surgeon, his comrades cut two balls from
his flesh; others remained in. For days his life was despaired of;
but by tender nursing he ultimately regained his liealth, although
badly crippled. He resided in Fayette county for many years after,
and died in 1829.
HISTOET OF ILLINOIS. 31
EARLY DISCOVERIES
NICHOLAS PERROT.
The first white man who ever set foot on the soil embraced within
the boundary of the present populous State of Illinois was Nich-
olas Perrot, a Frenchman. He was sent to Chicago in the year 1671
by M. Talon, Intendant of Canada, for the purpose of inviting the
Western Indians to a great peace convention to be held at Green
Bay. This convention had for its chief object the promulgation of
a plan for the discovery of the Mississippi river. This great river
had been discovered by De Soto, the Spanish explorer, nearly one
hundred and fifty years previously, but his nation left the country
a wilderness, without further exploration or settlement within its
borders, in which condition it remained until the river was dis-
covered by Joliet and Marquette in 1673. It was deemed a wise
policy to secure, as far as possible, the friendship and co-operation
of the Indians, far and near, before venturing upon an enterprise
which their hostility might render disastrous. Thus the great con-
vention was called.
JOLIET AND MARQUETTE.
Although Perrot was the first European to visit Illinois, he was
not the first to make any important discoveries. This was left for
Joliet and Marquette, which they accomplished two years thereafter.
The former, Louis Joliet, was born at Quebec in 1615. He was
educated for the clerical profession, but he abandoned it to
engage in the fur trade. His companion, Father Jacques Mar-
quette, was a native of France, born in 1637. He was a Jesuit
priest by education, and a man of simple faith and great zeal and
devotion in extending the Roman Catholic religion among the In-
dians. He was sent to America in 1666 as a missionary. To con-
vert the Indians he penetrated the wilderness a thousand miles
in advance of civilization, and by his kind attention in their afilic-
tions he won their affections and made them his lasting friends.
There were others, however, who visited Illinois even prior to the
famous exploration of Joliet and Marquette. In 1672 the Jesuit
32 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
missionaries, Fathers Claude Allouez and Claude Dablon, bore the
standard of the Cross from their mission at Green Bay through
western Wisconsin and northern Illinois.
According to the pre-arranged plan referred to above, at the Jes-
uit mission on the Strait of Mackinaw, Joliet joined Marquette,
and with five other Frenchmen and a simple outfit the daring ex-
plorers on the 17th of Maj^, 1673, set out on their perilous voyage
to discover the Mississippi. Coasting along the northern shore of
Lake Michigan, they entered Green Bay, and passed thence up Fox
river and Lake "Winnebago to a village of the Muscatines and
Miamis, where great interest was taken in the expedition by the
natives. With guides thej^ proceeded down the river. Arriving
at the portage, they soon carried their light canoes and scanty bag-
gage to the Wisconsin, about three miles distant. Their guides
now refused to accompany them further, and endeavored, by re-
citing the dangers incident to the voyage, to induce them to return.
They stated that huge demons dwelt in the great river, whose voices
could be heard a long distance, and who engulfed in the raging
waters all who came within their reach. They also represented that
if any of them should escape the dangers of the river, fierce tribes of
Indians dwelt upon its banks ready to complete the work of de-
struction. They proceeded on their journey, however, and on the
17th of June pushed their frail barks on the bosom of the stately
Mississippi, down which they smoothly glided for nearly a hundred
miles. Here Joliet and Marquette, leaving their canoes in charge
of their men, went on the western shore, where they discovered an
Indian village, and were kindly treated. They journeyed on down
the unknown river, passing the mouth of the Illinois, then run-
ning into the current of the muddy Missouri, and afterwaid the
waters of the Ohio joined with them on their journey southward.
Near the mouth of the Arkansas they discovered Indians who
showed signs of hostility; but when Marquette's mission of peace
was made known to them, they were kindly received. After pro-
ceeding up the Arkansas a short distance, at the advice of the
natives they turned their faces northward to retrace their steps. Af-
ter several weeks of hard toil they reached the Illinois, up which
stream they proceeded to Lake Michigan. Following the western
shore of the lake, they entered Green Bay the latter part of Sep-
tember, having traveled a distance of 2,500 miles.
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 33
On his way np the Illinois, Marquette visited the Kaskaskias,
near what is now Utica, in LaSalle county. The following year
he returned and established among them the mission of the Im-
maculate Virgin Mary. This was the last act of his life. He died
in Michigan, May 18, 1675.
lasalle's explokations.
The first French occupation of Illinois was eifected by LaSalle,
in 16S0. Having constructed a vessel, the " Griffin," above the
falls of Niagara, he sailed to Green Bay, and passed thence in
canoe to the mouth of the St. Joseph river, by which and the Kan-
kakee he reached the Illinois in January, 1680; and on the 3d he
entered the expansion of the river now called Peoria lake. Here,
at the lower end of the lake, on its eastern bank, now in Tazewell
county, he erected Fort Crevecoeur. The place where this ancient
fort stood may still be seen just below the outlet of Peoria lake. It
had, however, but a temporary existence. From this point LaSalle
determined, at that time, to descend the Mississippi to its mouth.
This he did not do, however, until two years later. Returning to
Fort Frontenac for the purpose of getting material with which to
rig his vessel, he left the fort at Peoria in charge of his lieutenant,
Henri Tonti, an Italian, who had lost one of his hands by the
explosion of a grenade in the Sicilian wars. Tonti had with him
fifteen men, most of whom disliked LiiSalle, and were ripe for a
revolt the first opportunity. Two men who had, previous to LaSalle's
departure, been sent to look for the " Griffin " now returned and
reported that the vessel was lost and that Fort Frontenac was in
the hands of LaSalle's creditors. This disheartening intelligence
had the effect to enkindle a spirit of mutiny among the garrison.
Tonti had no sooner left the fort, with a few men, to fortify what
was afterward known as Starved Kock, than the garrison at the
fort refused longer to submit to authority. They destroyed the
fort, seized the ammunition, provisions, and other portables of value,
and fied. Only two of their number remained true. Tliese hast-
ened to apprise Tonti of what had occurred. He thereupon sent
four of the men with him to inform LaSalle. Tims was Tonti in
the midst of treacherous savages, with only five men, two of whom
were the friars Ribourde and Membre. With these he immediately
returned to the fort, collected what tools had not been destroyed,
and conveyed them to the great town of the Illinois Indians.
34 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.
By this voluntary display of confidence he hoped to remove the
jealousy created in the minds of the Illinois by the enemies of La-
Salle. Here he awaited, unmolested, the return of LaSalle.
GREAT BATTLE OF THE ILLINOIS.
Neither Tonti nor his wild associates suspected that hordes of Iro-
quois were gathering preparatory to rushing down upon their
country and reducing it to an uninhabited waste. Already these
hell-hounds of the wilderness had destroyed the Hurous, Eries, and
other natives on the lakes, and were now directing their attention
to the Illinois for new victims. Five hundred Iroquois warriors
set out for the home of the Illinois. All was fancied security and
idle repose in the great town of this tribe, as the enemy stealthily
approached. Suddenly as a clap of thunder from a cloudless sky
the listless inhabitants were awakened from their lethargy. A
Shawnee Indian, on his return home after a visit to the Illinois,
first discovered the invaders. To save his friends from the im-
pending danger, he hurriedly returned and apprised them of the
coming enemy. This intelligence spread with lightning rapidity
over the town, and each wigwam disgorged its boisterous and as-
tounded inmates. Women snatched their children, and in a delirium
of fright wandered aimlessly about, rending the air with their
screams. The men, more self-possessed, seized their arms ready
for the coming fray. Tonti, long an object of suspicion, was soon
surrounded by an angry crowd of warriors, who accused him of be-
ing an emissary of the enemy. His inability to defend himself
properly, in consequence of not fully understanding their language
left them still inclined to believe him guilty, and they seized his
effects from the fort and threw them into the river. The women
and children were sent down the river for safety, and the warriors,
not exceeding four hundred, as most of their young men were off
hunting, returned to the village. Along the shores of the river
they kindled huge bonfires, and spent the entire night in greasing
their bodies, painting their faces, and performing the war-dance,
to prepare for the approaching enemy. At early dawn the scouts
who had been sent out returned, closely followed by the Iroquois.
The scouts had seen a chief arrayed in French costume, and re-
ported their suspicions that LaSalle was in the camp of the enemy,
and Tonti again became an object of jealousy. A concourse of
wildly gesticulating savages immediately gathered about him, de-
HISTOKY OF ILLINOIS. 35
manding his life, and nothing s^ved him from their uplifted weap-
ons but a promise that he and his men would go with them to meet
the enemy. With their suspicions partly lulled, they hurriedly
crossed the river and met the foe, when both commenced firing.
Tonti, seeing that the Illinois were outnumbered and likely to
be defeated, determined, at the imminent risk of his life, to stay
the fight by an attempt at mediation. Presuming on the treaty of
peace then existing between the French and Iroquois, he exchanged
hia gun for a belt of wampum and advanced to meet the savage
multitude, attended by three companions, who, being unnecessarily
exposed to danger, were dismissed, and he proceeded alone. A
short walk brought him in the midst of a pack of yelping devils,
writhing and distorted with fiendish rage, and impatient to shed
his blood. As the result of his swarthy Italian complexion and
half-savage costume, he was at first taken for an Indian, and before
the mistake was discovered a young warrior approached and stabbed
at his heart. Fortunately the blade was turned aside by coming
in contact with a rib, yet a large flesh wound was inflicted, which
bled profusely. At this juncture a chief discovered his true char-
acter, and he was led to the rear and efforts were made to staunch
his wound. When sufiiciently recovered, he declared the Illinois
were under the protection of the French, and demanded, in consid-
eration of the treaty between the latter and the Iroquois, that they
should be suffered to remain without further molestation. During
this conference a young warrior snatched Tonti's hat, and, fleeing
with it to the front, held it aloft on the end of his gun in view of
the Illinois. The latter, judging that Tonti had been killed,
renewed the fight with great vigor. Simultaneously, intelligence
was brought to the Iroquois that Frenchmen were assisting their
enemies in the fight, when the contest over Tonti was renewed
with redoubled fury. Some declared that he should be immediately
put to death, while others, friendly to LaSalle, with equal earnest-
ness demanded that he should be set at liberty. During their
clamorous debate, his hair was several times lifted by a huge sav-
age who stood at his back with a scalping knife ready for execution.
Tonti at length turned the current of the angry controversy in his
favor, by stating that the Illinois were 1,200 strong, and that there
were 60 Frenchmen at the village ready to assist them. This state-
ment obtained at least a partial credence, and his tormentors now
36 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
determined to use him as an instrument to delude the Illinois with a
pretended truce. The old warriors, therefore, advanced to the front
and ordered the firing to cease, while Tonti, dizzy from the loss of
blood, was furnished with an emblem of peace and sent staggering
across the plain to rejoin the Illinois. The two friars who had just
returned from a distant hut, whither thej had repaired for prayer
and meditation, were the first to meet him and bless God for wliat
they regarded as a miraculous deliverance. With the assurance
brouo-ht by Tonti, the Illinois re-crossed the river to their lodges,
followed by the enemy as far as the opposite bank. Not long after,
large numbers of the latter, under the pretext of hunting, also crossed
the river and hung in threatening groups about the town. These
hostile indications, and the well-known disregard which the Iroquois
had always evinced for their pledges, soon convinced the Illinois
that their only safety was in flight. With this conviction they set
tire to their village, and while the vast volume of flames and smoke
diverted the attention of the enemy, they quietly dropped down the
river to join their women and children. As soon as the flames would
permit, the Iroquois entrenched themselves on the site of the vil-
lao-e. Tonti and his men were ordered by the suspicious savages
to leave their hut and take up their abode in the fort.
At first the Iroquois were much elated at the discomfiture of the
Illinois, but when two days afterward they discovered them recon-
noitering their intrenchments, their courage greatly subsided.
With fear they recalled the exaggerations of Tonti respecting their
numbers, and concluded to send him with a hostage to make over-
tures of peace. He and his hostage were received with delight by
the Illinois, who readily assented to the proposal which he brought,
and in turn sent back with him a hostage to the Iroquois. On his
return to the fort his life was again placed in jeopardy, and the
treaty was with great difficulty ratified. The young and inexpe-
rienced Illinois hostage betrayed to his crafty interviewers the nu-
merical weakness of his tribe, and the savages immediately rushed
upon Tonti, and charged him with having deprived them of the spoils
and honors of victory. It now required all the tact of which he was
master to escape. After much difficulty however, the treaty was con-
cluded, but the savages, to show their contempt for it, immediately
commenced constructing canoes in which to descend the river and
attack the Illinois.
;:^;as)^*
AN IROQUOIS CHIEF.
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 39
FRENCHMEN DRIVEN AWAY.
Tonti managed to apprise the latter of their designs, and he and
Membre were soon after summoned to attend a council of the Iro-
quois, who still labored under a wholesome fear of Count Frontenac,
and disliking to attack the Illinois in the presence of the French,
thej thought to try to induce them to leave the country. At the
assembling of the council, six packages of beaver skins were intro-
duced, and the savage orator, presenting them separately to Tonti,
explained the nature of each. "The first two," said he, " were to de-
clare that the children of Count Frontenac, that is, the Illinois,
should not be eaten; the next was a plaster to heal the wounds of
Tonti; the next was oil wherewith to anoint him and Membre,
that they might not be fatigued in traveling; the next proclaimed
that the sun was bright; and the sixth and last required them to
decamp and go home."
At the mention of going home, Tonti demanded of them when
they intended to set the example by leaving the Illinois in the
peaceable possession of their country, which they had so unjustly in-
vaded. The council grew boisterous and angry at the idea that
they should be demanded to do what they required of the French,
and some of its members, forgetting their previous pledge, declared
that they would "eat Illinois flesh before they departed." Tonti, in
imitation of the Indians' manner of expressing scorn, indignantly
kicked away the presents of fur, saying, since they intended to de-
vour the children of Frontenac with cannibal ferocity, he would not
accept their gifts. This stern rebuke resulted in the expulsion of
Tonti and his companion from the council, and the next day the
chiefs ordered them to leave the country.
Tonti had now, at the great peril of his life, tried every expedient
to prevent the slaughter of the Illinois. There was little to be ac-
complished by longer remaining in the^country, and as longer delay
might imperil the lives of his own men, he determined to depart, not
knowing where or when he would be able to rejoin LaSalle. With
this object in view, the party, consisting of six persons, embarked in
canoes, which soon proved leaky, and they were compelled to land
for the purpose of making repairs. "While thus employed, Father Ri-
bourde, attracted by the beauty of the surrounding landscape, wan-
dered forth among the groves for meditation and prayer. Not return-
ing in due time, Tonti became alarmed, and started with a compan-
40 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
ion to ascertain the cause of the long delay. They soon discovered
tracks of Indians, by whom it was supposed he had been seized, and
guns were fired to direct his return, in case he was alive. Seeing
nothing of him during the day, at night they built fires along the
bank of the river and retired to the opposite side, to see who might
approach them. Near midnight a number of Indians were seen
flitting about the light, by whom, no doubt, had been made the tracks
Been the previous day. It was afterward learned that they were a
band of Kickapoos, who had for several days been hovering about
the camp of the Iroquois in quest of scalps. They had fell in
with the inofiensive old friar and scalped him. Thus, in the 65th
year of his age, the only heir to a wealthy Burgundian house per-
ished under the war-club of the savages for whose salvation he had
renounced ease and affluence.
INHUMAN BUTCHERY.
During this tragedy a far more revolting one was being enacted
in the great town of Illinois. The Iroquois were tearing open the
graves of the dead, and wreaking their vengeance upon the bodies
made hideous by putrefaction. At this desecration, it is said, they
even ate portions of the dead bodies, while subjecting them to every
indignity that brutal hate could inflict. Still unsated by their hell-
ish brutalities, and now unrestrained by the presence of the French,
they started in pursuit of the retreating Illinois. Day after day
they and the opposing forces moved in compact array down the
river, neither being able to gain any advantage over the other. At
length the Iroquois obtained by falsehood that which number and
prowess denied them. They gave out that their object was to pos-
sess the country, not by destroying, but by driving out its present
inhabitants. Deceived by this false statement, the Illinois separa-
ted, some descending the Mississippi and others crossing to the
western shore. The Tamaroas, more credulous than the rest, re-
mained near the mouth of the Illinois, and were suddenly attacked
by an overwhelming force of the enemy. The men fled in dismay,
and the women and children, to the number of 700, fell into the
hands of the ferocious enemy. Then followed the tortures, butch-
eries and burnings which only the infuriated and imbruted Iroquois
could perpetrate. LaSalle on his return discovered the half-charred
bodies of women and children still bound to the stakes where they
had suffered all the tornjents hellish hate could devise. In addition
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 41
to those who had been burnt, the mangled bodies of women and
children thickly covered the ground, many of which bore marks of
brutality too horrid for record.
After the ravenous horde had sufficiently glutted their greed for
carnage, they retired from the country. The Illinois returned and
rebuilt their town.
TONTI SAFE AT GREEN BAT.
After the death of Ribourde, Tonti and his men again resumed
their journey. Soon again their craft became disabled, when they
abandoned it and started on foot for Lake Michigan, Their
supply of provisions soon became exhausted, and they were
compelled to subsist in a great measure on roots and herbs.
One of their companions wandered off in search of game, and lost
his way, and several days elapsed before he rejoined them. In his
absence he was without flints and bullets, yet contrived to shoot
some turkeys by using slugs cut from a pewter porringer and afire-
brand to discharge his gun. Tonti fell sick of a fever and greatly
retarded the progress of the march. Nearing Green Bay, the cold
increased and the means of subsistence decreased and the party would
have perished had they not found a few ears of corn and some froz-
en squashes in the fields of a deserted village. Near the close of
November they had reached the Pottawatomies, who warmly greet-
ed them. Their chief was an ardent admirer of the French, and
was accustomed to say: " There were but three great captains in the
world, — himself, Tonti and LaSalle." For the above account of
Tonti's encounter with the Iroquois, we are indebted to Davidson
and Stuve's History of Illinois.
lasalle's return.
LaSalle returned to Peoria only to meet the hideous picture of
devastation. Tonti had escaped, but LaSalle knew not whither. Pass-
ins down the lake in search of him and his men, LaSalle discov-
ered that the fort had been destroyed; but the vessel which he had
partly constructed was still on the stocks, and but slightly injured.
After further fruitless search he fastened to a tree a painting repre-
senting himself and party sitting in a canoe and bearing a pipe of
peace, and to the painting attached a letter addressed to Tonti.
LaSalle was.born in France in 1643, of wealthy parentage, and edu-
cated in a college of the Jesuits, from which he separated and came
to Canada, a poor man, in 1666. He was a man of daring genius,
42 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS,
and outstripped all his competitors in exploits of travel and com-
merce with the Indians. He was granted a large tract of land at
LaChine, where he established himself in the fur trade. In 1669
he visited the headquarters of the great Iroquois confederacy, at
Onondaga, New York, and, obtaining guides, explored the Ohio
river to the falls at Louisville, For many years previous, it must
be remembered, missionaries and traders were obliged to make their
way to the Northwest through Canada on account of the fierce
hostility of the Iroquois along the lower lakes and Niagara river,
which entirely closed this latter route to the upper lakes. They
carried on their commerce chiefly by canoes, paddling them through
Ottawa river to Lake Nipissing, carrying them across the portage
to French river, and descending that to Lake Huron. This being
the route by which they reached the Northwest, we have an explana-
tion of the fact that all the earliest Jesuit missions were established
in the neighborhood of the upper lakes. LaSalle conceived the
grand idea of opening the route by Niagara river and the lower
lakes to Canada commerce. by sail vessels, connecting it with the
navigation of the Mississippi, and thus opening a magnificent water
communication from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mex-
ico, This truly grand and comprehensive purpose seems to have
animated him in his wonderful achievements, and the matchless
difliculties and hardships he surmounted. As the first step in the
accomplishment of this object he established himself on Lake
Ontario, and built and garrisoned Fort Frontenac, the site of the
present city of Kingston, Canada. Here he obtained a grant of
land from the French crown, and a body of troops, by which he
repulsed the Iroquois and opened passage to Niagara Falls, Hav-
ing by this masterly stroke made it safe to attempt a hitherto
untried expedition, his next step, as we have seen, was to build a
ship with which to sail the lakes. He was successful in this under-
taking, though his ultimate purpose was defeated by a strange com-
bination of untoward circumstances. The Jesuits evidently hated
LaSalle and plotted against him, because he had abandoned them
and united with a rival order. The fur traders were also jealous of
his success in opening new channels of commerce. While they were
plodding with their bark canoes through the Ottawa, he was con-
structing sailing vessels to command the trade of the lakes and the
Mississippi. These great plans excited the jealousy and envy of
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 43
small traders, introduced treason and revolt into the ranks of his
men, and finally led to the foul assassination by which his great
achievements were permanently ended.
lasalle's assassination.
Again visiting the Illinois in the year 1682, LaSalle de-
scended the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. He erected a
standard upon which he inscribed the arms of France, and took
formal possession of the whole valley of this mighty river in the
name of Louis XIY., then reigning, and in honor of whom he named
the country Louisiana. LaSalle then returned to France, was
appointed Governor, and returned with a fleet of immigrants for the
purpose of planting a colony in Illinois. They arrived in due time
in the Gulf of Mexico, but failing to find the mouth of the Missis-
sippi, up which they intended to sail, his supply ship, with the
immigrants, was driven ashore and wrecked on Matagorda Bay.
"With the fragments of the vessel he constructed rude huts and
stockades on the shore for the protection of his followers, calling
tiie post Fort St. Louis. He then made a trip into New Mexico
in search of silver mines, but, meeting with disappointment,
returned to find his colony reduced to forty souls. He then resolved
to travel on foot to Illinois. With some twenty of his men they
filed out of their fort on the 12th of January, 1GS7, and after the part-
ing, — which was one of sighs, of tears, and of embraces, all seeming
intuitively to know that they should see each other no more, — they
started on their disastrous journey. Two of the party, Du Haut
and Leotot, when on a hunting expedition in company with a
neohew of LaSalle, assassinated him while asleep. The long
absence of his nephew caused LaSalle to go in search of him. On
approaching the murderers of his nephew, they fired upon him, kill-
ing him instantly. They then despoiled the body of its clothing,
aiic left it to be devoured by the wild beasts of the forest. Thus,
at the age of 43, perished one whose exploits have so greatly
enriched the history of the New World. To estimate aright the
marvels of his patient fortitude, one must follow on his track
through the vast scene of his interminable journeyings, those thou-
sands of weary miles of forest, marsh and river, where, again and
again, in the bitterness of baffled striving, the untiring pilgrim
pushed onward toward the goal he never was to attain. America
owes him an enduring memory ; for in this masculine figure, cast
44 HISTORY OF lULINOlS.
in iron, she sees the heroic pioneer who guided her to the possession
of her richest heritage.
Tonti, who liad been stationed at the fort on the Illinois, learning
of LaSalle's unsuccessful voyage, immediately started down the
Mississippi to his relief. Reaching the Gulf, he found no traces of
the colony. He then returned, leaving some of his men at the
mouth of the Arkansas. These were discovered by the remnant of
LaSalle's followers, who guided them to the fort on the Illinois,
where they reported that LaSalle was in Mexico. The little band
left at Fort St. Louis were finally destroyed by the Indians, and the
murderers of LaSalle were shot. Thus ends the sad chapter of
"Robert Cavalier de LaSalle's exploration.
FRENCH OCCUPATION.
FIRST SETTLEMENTS.
The first mission in Illinois, as we have already seen, was com-
menced by Marquette in April, 1675. He called the religious
society which he established the " Mission of the Immaculate Con-
ception," and the town Kaskaskia. The first military occupation of
the country was at Fort Crevecoeur, erected in 1680; but there is no
evidence that a settlement was commenced there, or at Peoria, on
the lake above, at that early date. The first settlement of which there
is any authentic account was commenced with the building of Fort
St. Louis on the Illinois river in 1682; but this was soon abandoned.
The oldest permanent settlement, not only in Illinois, but in the val-
ley of the Mississippi, is at Kaskaskia, situated six miles above the
mouth of the Kaskaskia river. This was settled in 1690 by the
removal of the mission from old Kaskaskia, or Ft. St. Louis, on the
Illinois river. Cahokia was settled about the same time. Tlie
reason for the removal of the old Kaskaskia settlement and mission,
was probably because the dangerous and difficult route by Lake
Michigan and the Chicago portage had been almost abandoned, and
travelers and traders traveled down and up the Mississippi by the
Fox and Wisconsin rivers. It was removed to the vicinity of the
Mississippi in order to be in the line of travel from Canada to
Louisiana, that is, the lower part of it, for it was all Louisiana then
south of the lakes. Illinois came into possession of the French in
1682, and was a dependency of Canada and a part of Louisiana.
During the period of French rule in Louisiana, the population
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 4:5
probably never exceeded ten thousand. To the year 1730 the fol-
lowing five distinct settlements were made in the territory of
Illinois, numbering, in population, 140 French families, about 600
" converted " Indians, and many traders ; Cahokia, near the mouth
of Cahokia creek and about five miles below the present city of
St, Louis; St. Philip, about forty-five miles below Cahokia; Fort
Chartres, twelve miles above Kaskaskia; Kaskaskia, situated on the
Kaskaskia river six miles above its confluence with the Mississippi,
and Prairie du Kocher, near Fort Chartres. Fort Chartres was
built under the direction of the Mississippi Company in 1718, and
was for a time the headquarters of the military commandants of
the district of Illinois, and the most impregnable fortress in North
America. It was also the center of wealth and fashion in the West.
For about eighty years the French retained peaceable possession
of Illinois. Their amiable disposition and tact of ingratiating them-
selves with the Indians enabled them to escape almost entirely the
broils which weakened and destroyed other colonies. Whether
exploring remote rivers or traversing hunting grounds in pursuit
of game, in the social circle or as participants in the religious exer-
cises of the church, the red men became their associates and were
treated with the kindness and consideration of brothers. For more
than a hundred years peace between the white man and the red was
unbroken, and when at last this reign of harmony terminated it
was not caused by the conciliatory Frenchman, but by the blunt
and sturdy Anglo-Saxon. During this century, or until the coun-
try was occupied by the English, no regular court was ever held.
When, in 1765, the country passed into the hands of the English,
many of the French, rather than submit to a change in their insti-
tutions, preferred to leave their homes and seek a new abode.
There are, however, at the present time a few remnants of the old
French stock in the State, who still retain to a great extent the
ancient habits and customs of their fathers.
THE MISSISSIPPI COMPANY.
During the earliest period of French occupation of this country,
M. Tonti, LaSalle's attendant, was commander-in-chief of all the
territory embraced between Canada and the Gulf of Mexico, and
extending east and west of the Mississippi as far as his ambition or
imagination pleased to allow. He spent twenty-one years in estab-
lishing forts and organizing the first settlements of Illinois. Sep-
46 HISTOEY OF ILLINOIS.
tember 14, 1712, the Frencli government granted a monopoly of all
the trade aud commerce of the country to M. Crozat, a wealthy
merchant of Paris, who established a trading company in Illinois,
and it was by this means that the early settlements became perma-
nent and others established. Crozat surrendered his charter in
1717, and the Company of the West, better known as the Missis-
sippi Company, was organized, to aid and assist the banking system
of John Law, the most famous speculator of modern times, and
perhaps at one time the wealthiest private individual the world
has ever known; but his treasure was transitory. Under the
Company of the West a branch was organized called the Company
of St. Philip's, for the purpose of working the rich silver mines sup-
posed to be in Illinois, and Philip Kenault was appointed as its
agent. In 1719 he sailed from France with two hundred miners,
laborers and mechanics. During 1719 the Company of the West
was by royal order united with the Royal Company of the Indies,
and had the influence and support of the crown, who was deluded
by the belief that immense wealth would flow into the empty treas-
ury of France. This gigantic scheme, one of the most extensive
and wonderful bubbles ever blown up to astonish, deceive and ruin
thousands of people, was set in operation by the fertile brain of
John Law. Law was born in Scotland in 1671, and so rapid had
been his career that at the age of twenty-three he was a " bankrupt,
an adulterer, a murderer and an exiled outlaw." But he possessed
great financial ability, and by his agreeable and attractive manners,
and his enthusiastic advocacy of his schemes, he succeeded in
inflaming the imagination of the mercurial Frenchmen, whose greed
for gain led them to adopt any plans for obtaining wealth.
Law arrived in Paris with two and a half millions of francs,
which he had gained at the gambling table, just at the right time.
Louis XIY. had just died and left as a legacy empty cofiers and an
immense public debt. Every thing and everybody was taxed to
the last penny to pay even the interest. All the sources of in-
dustry were dried up; the very wind which wafted the barks of
commerce seemed to have died away under the pressure of the
time; trade stood still; the merchant, the trader, the artificer, once
flourishing in affluence, were transformed into clamorous beggars.
The life-blood that animated the kingdom was stagnated in all
its arteries, and the danger of an awful crisis became such that
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 47
the nation was on the verge of bankruptcy. At this critical junc-
ture John Law arrived and proposed his grand scheme of the
Mississippi Company; 200,000 shares of stock at 500 livres each were
at first issued. Tliis sold readily and great profits were realized.
More stock was issued, speculation became rife, the fever seized
everybody, and the wildest speculating frenzy pervaded the whole
nation. Illinois was thought to contain vast and rich mines of
minerals. Kaskaskia, then scarcely more than the settlement of a
few savages, was spoken of as an emporium of the most extensive
traffic, and as rivaling some of the cities of Europe in refinement,
fashion and religious culture. Law was in the zenith of his glory, and
the people in the zenith of their infatuation. The high and the low,
the rich and the poor, were at once filled with visions of untold
wealth, and every age, set, rank and condition were buying and selling
stocks. Law issued stock again and again, and readily sold until
2,235,000,000 livres were in circulation, equaling about $450,000,000.
While confidence lasted an impetus was given to trade never before
known. An illusory policy everywhere prevailed, and so dazzled
the eye that none could see in the horizon the dark cloud announc-
ing the approaching storm. Law at the time was the most influ-
ential man in Europe. His house was beset from morning till
night with eager applicants for stock. Dukes, marquises and
counts, with their wives and daughters, waited for hours in the
street below his door. Finding his residence too small, he changed
it for the Place Vendome, whither the crowd followed him, and the
spacious square had the appearance of a public market. The boule-
vards and public gardens were forsaken, and the Place Vendome
became the most fashionable place in Paris; and he was unable to
wait upon even one-tenth part of his applicants. The bubble burst
after a few years, scattering ruin and distress in every direction.
Law, a short time previous the most popular man in Europe, fled
to Brussels, and in 1729 died in Venice, in obscurity and poverty.
ENGLISH KULE.
As early as 1750 there could be perceived the first throes of the
revolution, which gave a new master and new institutions to Illi-
nois. France claimed the whole valley of the Mississippi, and Eng-
land the right to extend her possessions westward as far as she
might desire. Through colonial controversies the two mother
48 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
countries were precipitated into a bloody war within the North-
western Territory, George Washington firing the first gun of the
military struggle which resulted in the overthrow of the French
not only in Illinois but in North America. The French evinced a
determination to retain control of the territory bordering the Ohio
and Mississippi from Canada to the Gulf, and so long as the En-
glish colonies were confined to the sea-coast there was little reason
for controversy. As the English, however, became acquainted
with this beautiful and fertile portion of our country, they not only
learned the value of the vast territory, but also resolved to set up a
counter claim to the soil. The French established numerous mili-
tary and trading posts from the frontiers of Canada to New Or-
leans, and in order to establish also their claims to jurisdiction over
the country they carved the lilies of France on the forest trees, or
sunk plates of metal in the ground. These measures did not,
however, deter the English from going on with their explorations;
and though neither party resorted to arms, yet the conflict was
gathering, and it was only a question of time when the storm
should burst upon the frontier settlement. The French based
their claims upon discoveries, the English on grants of territory
extending from ocean to ocean, but neither party paid the least
attention to the prior claims of the Indians. From this posi-
tion of affairs, it was evident that actual collision between the
contending parties would not much longer be deferred. The En-
glish Government, in anticipation of a war, urged the Governor
of Yirginia to lose no time in building two forts, which were
equipped by arms from England. The French anticipated the
English and gathered a considerable force ta defend their possessions.
The Governor determined to send a messenger to the nearest
French post and demand an explanation. This resolution of the
Governor brought into the history of our country for the first time
the man of all others whom America most loves to'Jionor, namely,
George Washington. He was chosen, although not yet twenty-one
years of age, as the one to perform this delicate and difiicult mission.
With five companions he set out on Nov. 10, 1753, and after a per-
ilous journey returned Jan. 6, 1754. The struggle commenced and
continued long, and was bloody and fierce; but on the 10th of Octo-
ber, 1765, the ensign of France was replaced on the ramparts of
Fort Chartres by tlie flag of Great Britain. This fort was the
GEN. GEORGE ROGERS CLARK.
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
51
depot of supplies and the place of rendezvous for the united forces
of the French. At this time the colonies of the Atlantic seaboard
were assembled in preliminary congress at New York, dreaming of
liberty and independence for the continent; and Washington, who
led the expedition against the French for the English king, in less
than ten years was commanding the forces opposed to the English
tyrant. Illinois, besides being constructively a part of Florida for
over one hundred years, during which time no Spaniard set foot
upon her soil or rested his eyes upon her beautiful plains, for nearly
ninety years had been in the actual occupation of the French, their
puny settlements slumbering quietly in colonial dependence on the
distant waters of the Kaskaskia, Illinois and Wabash.
GEN. CLAKk's exploits.
The Northwest Territory was now entirely under English rule,
and on the breaking out of the Revolutionary war the British held
every post of importance in the West. While the colonists of the
East were maintaining a fierce struggle with the armies of England,
their western frontiers were ravaged by merciless butcheries of In-
dian warfare. The jealousy of the savage was aroused to action by
the rapid extension of American settlement westward and the im-
proper influence exerted by a number of military posts garrisoned by
British troops. To prevent indiscriminate slaughters arising from
these causes, Illinois became the theater of some of the most daring
exploits connected with American history. The hero of the achieve-
ments by which this beautiful land was snatclied as a gem from
the British Crown, was George Rogers Clark, of Yirginia. He had
closely watched the movements of the British throughout the
Northwest, and understood their whole plan; he also knew the
Indians were not unanimously in accord with the English, and
therefore was convinced that if the British could be defeated and
expelled from the Northwest, the natives might be easily awed into
neutrality. Having convinced himself that the enterprise against
the Illinois settlement might easily succeed, he repaired to the cap-
ital of Yirginia, arriving Nov. 5, 1777. Wliile he was on his way,
fortunately, Burgoyne was defeated (Oct. 17), and the spirits of the
colonists were thereby greatly encouraged. Patrick Henry was
Governor of Yirginia, and at once entered heartily into Clark's
plans. After satisfying the Yirginia leaders of the feasibility of
hie project, he received two sets of instructions, — one secret, the
U.OF^U.UB.
62 HISTOKT OF ILLINOIS.
other open. The latter authorized him to enlist seven companies
to go to Kentucky, and serve three months after their arrival in
the West. The secret order authorized him to arm these troops,
to procure his powder and lead of General Hand at Pittsburg, and
to proceed at once to subjugate the country.
HE TAKES KASKASKIA.
With these instructions Col. Clark repaired to Pittsburg, choos-
ing rather to raise his men west of the mountains, as he well knew
all were needed in the colonies in the conflict there. He sent Col.
"W. B. Smith to Holstein and Captains Helm and Bowman to
other localities to enlist men; but none of them succeeded in rais-
ing the required number. The settlers in these parts were afraid
to leave their own firesides exposed to a vigilant foe, and but few
could be induced to join the expedition. With these companies
and several private volunteers Clark commenced his descent of the
Ohio, which he navigated as far as the falls, where he took posses-
sion of and fortified Corn Island, a small island between the present
cities of Louisville, Ky., and New Albany, Ind. Here, after having
completed his arrangements and announced to the men their real
destination, he left a small garrison; and on the 24th of June, dur-
ing a total eclipse of the sun, which to them augured no good, they
floated down the river. His plan was to go by water as far as Fort
Massac, and thence march direct to Kaskaskia. Here he intended to
surprise the garrison, and after its capture go to Cahokia, then to
Yincennes, and lastly to Detroit. Should he fail, he intended to
march directly to the Mississippi river and cross it into the Spanish
country. Before his start he received good items of information:
one that an alliance had been formed between France and the United
States, and the other that the Indians throughout the Illinois
country and the inhabitants at the various frontier posts had been led
by the British to believe that the " Long Knives," or Virginians,
were the most fierce, bloodthirsty and cruel savages that ever scalped
a foe. With this impression on their minds, Clark saw that
proper management would cause them to submit at once from fear,
if surprised, and then from gratitude would become friendly, if
treated with unexpected lenity. The march to Kaskaskia was
made through a hot July sun, they arriving on the evening of the
4th of July, 1778. They captured the fort near tlie village and
soon after the village itself, by surprise, and without the loss of
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 53
a single man and without killing any of the enemy. After suffi-
ciently working on the fears of the natives, Clark told them they
were at perfect liberty to worship as they pleased, and to take
whichever side of the great conflict they would; also he would pro-
tect them against any barbarity from British or Indian foe. This
had the desired efiect; and the inhabitants, so unexpectedly and so
gratefully surprised by the unlooked-for turn of affairs, at once
swore allegiance to the American arms; and when Clark desired
to go to Cahokia on the 6th of July, they accompanied him, and
through their influence the inhabitants of the place surrendered
and gladly placed themselves under his protection.
In the person of JVI. Gibault, priest of Kaskaskia, Clark found a
powerful ally and generous friend. Clark saw that, to retain pos-
session of the iSTorthwest and treat successfullj- with the Indians, he
must establish a government for the colonies he had taken. St. Yin-
cent, the post next in importance to Detroit, remained yet to be
taken before the Mississippi valley was conquered. M. Gibault
told him that he would alone, by persuasion, lead Yincennes to
throw off its connection with England. Clark gladly accepted this
offer, and July lith, in company with a fellow-townsman, Gibault
started on his mission of peace. On the 1st of August he returned
with the cheerful intelligence that everything was peaceably ad-
justed at Yincennes in favor of the Americans. During the inter-
val. Col. Clark established his courts, placed garrisons at Kaskaskia
and Cahokia, successfully re-enlisted his men, and sent word to
have a fort (which proved the germ of Louisville) erected at the
falls of the Ohio.
While the American commander was thus negotiatinof with the
Indians, Hamilton, the British Governor of Detroit, heard of Clark's
invasion, and was greatly incensed because the country which he
had in charge should be wrested from him by a few ragged militia.
He therefore hurriedly collected a force, marched by way of the
Wabash, and appeared before the fort at Yincennes. The inhabi-
tants made an effort to defend the town, and when Hamilton's
forces arrived. Captain Helm and a man named Henry were the
only Americans in the fort. These men had been sent by Clark.
The latter charged a cannon and placed it in the open gateway, and
the Captain stood by it with a lighted match and cried out, as Ham-
ilton came in hailing distance, "Halt!" The British officer, not
54 niSTOEY OF ILLINOIS.
knowing the strength of the garrison, stopped, and demanded the
surrender of tlie fort. Helm exclaimed, " No man shall enter here
till I know the terms." Hamilton responded, " You shall have the
honors of war." The entire garrison consisted of one officer and one
private.
VINCENNES CAPTURED.
On taking Kaskaskia, Clark made a prisoner of Rocheblave,
commander of the place, and got possession of all his written
instructions for the conduct of the war. From these papers he
received important information respecting the plans of Col. Ham-
ilton, Governor at Detroit, who was intending to make a vigorous
and concerted attack upon the frontier. After arriving at Yin-
cennes, liowever, he gave up his intended campaign for the winter,
and trusting to his distance from danger and to the difficulty of
approaching him, sent off his Indian warriors to prevent troops from
coming down the Ohio, and to annoy the Americans in all ways. Thus
he sat quietly down to pass the winter with only about eighty soldiers,
but secure, as he thought, from molestation. But he evidently did
not realize the character of the men with whom he was contending.
Clark, although he could muster only one hundred and thirty men,
determined to take advantage of Hamilton's weakness and security,
and attack him as the only nieans of saving himself; for unless he
captured Hamilton, Hamilton would capture him. Accordingly,
about the beginning of February, 1779, he dispatched a small galley
which he had fitted out, mounted with two four-pounders and four
swivels and manned with a company of soldiers, and carrying stores
for his men, with orders to force her way up the Wabash, to take
her station a few miles below Yincennes, and to allow no person to
pass her. He himself marched with his little band, and spent six-
teen days in traversing the country from Kaskaskia to Yincennes,
passing with incredible fatigue through woods and marshes. He
was five days in crossing the bottom lands of the Wabash; and for
five miles was frequently up to the breast in water. After over-
coming difficulties which had been thought insurmountable, he
appeared before the place and completely surprised it. The inhab-
itants readily submitted, but Hamilton at first defended himself in
the fort. Next day, however, he surrendered himself and his gar-
rison prisoners-of-war. By his activity in encouraging the hostili-
ties of the Indians and by the revolting enormities perpetrated by
HI6T0KY OF ILLINOIS. 55
those savages, Hamilton had rendered himself so obnoxious that he
was thrown in prison and put in irons. During his command of
the British frontier posts he oifered prizes to the Indians for all the
scalps of the Americans thej would bring him, and earned in con-
sequence thereof the title, "Hair-Bujer General," by which he was
ever afterward known.
The services of Clark proved of essential advantage to his coun-
trymen. They disconcerted the plans of Hamilton, and not only saved
the western frontier from depredations by the savages, but also
greatly cooled the ardor of the Indians for carrying on a contest in
which they were not likely to be the gainers. Had it not been for
this small army, a union of all the tribes from Maine to Georgia
against the colonies might have been effected, and the whole current
of our history changed.
ILLINOIS.
COUNTY OF ILLINOIS.
In October, 1778, after the successful campaign of Col. Clark, the
assembly of Virginia erected the conquered country, embracing all
the territory northwest of the Ohio river, into the County of Illi-
nois, which was doubtless the largest county in the world, exceeding
in its dimensions the whole of Great Britian and Ireland. To speak
more definitely, it contained the territory now embraced in the great
States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan. On the
12th of December, 1778, John Todd was appointed Lieutenant-
Commandant of this county by Patrick Henry, then Governor of
Yirginia, and accordingly, also, the first of Illinois County.
NOETHWESTERN TERRITORY.
Illinois continued to form a part of Yirginia until March 1, 1784,
when that State ceded all the territory north of the Ohio to the
United States. Immediately the general Government proceeded to
establish a form of government for the settlers in the territories
thus ceded. This form continued until the passage of the ordi-
nance of 1787, for the government of the Northwestern Terri-
tory. No man can study the secret history of this ordinance and
not feel that Providence was guiding with sleepless eye the des-
56 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
tinies of these unborn States. American legislation has never
achieved anything more admirable, as an internal government,
than this comprehensive ordinance. Its provisions concerning the
distribution of property, the principles of civil and religious liberty
which it laid at the foundation of the communities since established,
and the efficient and simple organization by which it created the
first machinery of civil society, are worthy of all the praise that has
ever been given them.
OKDINANCE OF 1787.
This ordinance has a marvelous and interesting history. Con-
siderable controversy has been indulged in as to who is entitled to
the credit for framing it. This belongs, undoubtedly, to Nathan
Dane; and to Eufus King and Timothy Pickering belong the
credit for suggesting the proviso contained in it against slavery,
and also for aids to religion and knowledge, and for assuring for-
ever the common use, without charge, of the great national high-
ways of the Mississippi, the St. Lawrence and their tributaries to
all the citizens of the United States. To Thomas Jeflferson is also
due much credit, as some features of this ordinance were embraced
in his ordinance of 1784. But the part taken by each in the long,
laborious and eventful struggle which had so glorious a consum-
mation in the ordinance, consecrating forever, by one imprescript-
ible and unchangeable monument, the very heart of our country to
Freedom, Knowledge, and Union, will forever lionor the names of
those illustrious statesmen.
Mr. Jeiferson had vainly tried to secure a system of government
for the E"orthwestern Territory. He was an emancipationist and
favored the exclusion of slavery from the territory, but the South
voted him down every time he proposed a measure of this nature.
In 1787, as late as July 10, an organizing act without the anti-
slavery clause was pending. This concession to the South was
expected to carry it. Congress was in session in New York. On
July 5, Kev. Manasseh Cutler, of Massachusetts, came into New
York to lobby on the Northwestern Territory. Everything
seemed to fall into his hands. Events were ripe. The state of the
public credit, the growing of Southern prejudice, the basis of his
mission, his personal character, all combined to complete one of
those sudden and marvelous revolutions of public sentiment that
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 67
once in five or ten centuries are seen to sweep over a country like
the breath of the Ahnighty.
Cutler was a graduate of Yale. He had studied and taken de-
grees in the three learned professions, medicine, law, and divinity.
He had published a scientific examination of the plants of New
Eno-land, As a scientist in America liis name stood second only to
that of Franklin He was a courtly gentleman of the old style,
a man of commanding presence and of inviting face. The Southern
members said they had never seen such a gentleman in the North.
He came representing a Massachusetts company that desired to
purchase a tract of land, now included in Ohio, for the purpose of
planting a colony. It was a speculation. Government money was
worth eighteen cents on the dollar. This company had collected
enough to purchase 1,500,000 acres of land. Other speculators in
New York made Dr. Cutler their agent, which enabled him to
represent a demand for 5,500,000 acres. As this would reduce the
national debt, ai:d Jeiferson's policy was to provide for the public
credit, it presented a good opportunity to do something.
Massachusetts then owned the territory of Maine, which she was
crowding on the market. She was opposed to opening the North-
western region. This fired the zeal of Virginia. The South caught
the inspiration, and all exalted Dr. Cutler. The entire South ral-
lied around him, Massachusetts could not vote against him, be-
cause many of the constituents of her members were interested
personally in the Western speculation. Thus Cutler, making
friends in the South, and doubtless using all the arts of the lobby,
was enabled to command the situation. True to deeper convic-
tions, he dictated one of the most compact and finished documents
of wise statesmanship that has ever adorned any human law book.
He borrowed from Jefferson the term "Articles of Compact," which,
preceding the federal constitution, rose into the most sacred char-
acter. He then followed very closely the constitution of Massa-
chusetts, adopted three years before. Its most prominent points
were:
1. The exclusion of slavery from the territory forever.
2. Provision for public schools, giving one township for a semi-
nary and every section numbered 16 in each township; that is, one
thirty-sixth of all the land for public schools.
3. A provision prohibiting the adoption of any constitution or
58 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
the enactment of any law that should nullify pre-existing contracts.
Beit forever remembered that this compact declared that "re-
ligion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good govern-
ment and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of edu-
cation shall always be encouraged." Dr. Cutler planted himself
on this platform and would not yield. Giving his unqualified dec-
laration that it was that or nothing,— that unless they could make
the land desirable they did not want it,— he took his horse and buggy
and started for the constitutional convention at Philadelphia. On
July 13, 1787, the bill was put upon its passage, and was unani-
mously adopted. Thus the great States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
Michigan, and "Wisconsin, a vast empire, were consecrated to free-
dom, intelligence, and morality. Thus the great heart of the nation
was prepared to save the union of States, for it was this act that was
the salvation of the republic and the destruction of slavery. Soon
the South saw their great blunder and tried to have the compact
repealed. In 1803 Congress referred it to a committee, of which
John Kandolph was chairman. He reported that this ordinance
was a compact and opposed repeal. Thus it stood, a rock in the
way of the on-rushing sea of slavery.
SYMPATHY WITH SLAVERY.
With all this timely aid it was, however, a most desperate and
protracted struggle to keep the soil of Illinois sacred to freedom.
It was the natural battle-field for the irrepressible conflict. In the
southern end of the State slavery preceded the compact. It ex-
isted among the old French settlers, and was hard to eradicate.
That portion was also settled from the slave States, and this popu-
lation brought their laws, customs, and institutions with them. A
stream of population from the North poured into the northern part
of the State. These sections misunderstood and hated each other
perfectly. The Southerners regarded the Yankees as a skinning,
tricky, penurious race of peddlers, filling the country with tinware,
brass clocks, and wooden nutmegs. The Northerner thought of the
Southerner as a lean, lank, lazy creature, burrowing in a hut, and
rioting in whisky, dirt, and ignorance. These causes aided in
making the struggle long and bitter. So strong was the sympathy
with slavery that, in spite of the ordinance of 1787, and in spite of
the deed of cession, it was determined to allow the old French set-
tlers to retain their slaves. Planters from the slave States might
GEN. ARTHUR ST. CLAIR.
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 69
bring their slaves if they would give them an opportunity to choose
freedom or years of service and bondage for their cliildren till they
should become thirty years of age. If they chose freedom they
must leave the State within sixty days, or be sold as fugitives.
Servants were whipped for offenses for which white men were fined.
Each lash paid forty cents of the fine. A negro ten miles from
home without a pass was whipped. These famous laws were im-
ported from the slave States, just as the laws for the inspection of
flax and wool were imported when there was neither in the State.
ST, CLAIR, GOVERNOR OF NORTHWESTERN TERRITORY.
On October 5, 17S7, Maj, Gen. Arthur St. Clair was, by Congress,
elected Governor of this vast territory. St. Clair was born in Scot-
land and emigrated to America in 1755. He served in the French
and English war, and was major general in the Revolution. In
1786 he was elected to Congress and chosen President of that body.
ILLINOIS TEREITORY.
After the division of the jSTorth western Territory Illinois became
one of the counties of the Territory of Indiana, from which it was
separated by an act of Congress Feb. 3, 1809, forming the Territory
of Illinois, with a population estimated at 9,000, and then included
the present State of "Wisconsin. It was divided, at the time, into
two counties, — St. Clair and Randolph. John Boyle, of Ken-
tucky, was appointed Governor, by the President, James Madison,
but declining, Ninian Edwards, of the same State, was then
appointed and served with distinction; and after the organization
of Illinois as a State he served in the same capacity, being its third
Governor.
WAR OF 1812. THE OUTBREAK.
For some years previous to the war between the United States
and England in 1812, considerable trouble was experienced with the
Indians. Marauding bands of savages would attack small settle-
ments and inhumanly butcher all the inhabitants, and mutilate
their dead bodies. To protect themselves, the settlers organized
companies of rangers, and erected block houses and stockades in
every settlement. The largest, strongest and best one of these was
Fort Russell, near the present village of Edwardsville. This stockade
60 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
was made the main rendezvous for troops and military stores, and
Gov. Edwards, who during the perilous times of 1812, when Indian
hostilities threatened on every hand, assumed command of the Illi-
nois forces, established his headquarters at this place. The Indians
were incited to many of these depredations by English emissaries,
who for years continued their dastardly work of " setting the red
men, like dogs, upon the whites."
In the summer of 1811 a peace convention was held with the
Pottawatomies at Peoria, when they promised that peace should
prevail; but their promises were soon broken. Tecumseh, the great
warrior, and fit successor of Pontiac, started in the spring of 1811,
to arouse the Southern Indians to war against the whites. The pur-
pose of this chieftain was well known to Gov. Harrison, of Indiana
Territory, who determined during Tecumseh's absence to strike and
disperse the hostile forces collected at Tippecanoe. This he success-
fully did on Nov. 7, winning the sobriquet of " Tippecanoe," by
which he was afterwards commonly known. Several peace councils
were held, at which the Indians promised good behavior, but only
to deceive the whites. Almost all the savages of the Northwest
were thoroughly stirred up and did not desire peace. The British
agents at various points, in anticipation of a war with the United
States, sought to enlist the favor of the savages by distributing to
them large supplies of arms, ammunition and other goods.
The English continued their insults to our flag upon the high
seas, and their government refusing to relinquish its offensive course,
all hopes of peace and safe commercial relations were abandoned,
and Congress, on the 19th of June, 1812, formally declared war
against Great Britain. In Illinois the threatened Indian troubles
had already caused a more thorough organization of the militia and
greater protection by the erection of forts. As intimated, the In-
dians took the war-path long before the declaration of hostilities
between the two civilized nations, committing great depredations,
the most atrocious of which was the
MASSACRE AT FOKT DEAKBOEN.
During the war of 1812 between the United States and England,
the greatest, as well as the most revolting, massacre of whites that
ever occurred in Illinois, was perpetrated by the Pottawatomie In-
dians, at Fort Dearborn. This fort was built by the Government,
in 1804, on the south side of the Chicago river, and was garrisoned
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
61
by 54 men under command of Capt. Nathan Heald, assisted by
Lieutenant Helm and Ensign Ronan; Dr. Voorhees, surgeon. The
residents at the post at that time were the wives of officers Heald
and Helm and a few of the soldiers, Mr. Kinzie and his family, and
a few Canadians. The soldiers and Mr, Kinzie were on the most
friendly terms with the Pottawatomies and Winuebagoes, the prin-
cipal tribes around them.
On the 7th of August, 1812, arrived the order from Gen, Hull, at
Detroit, to evacuate Fort Dearborn, and distribute all United States
property to the Indians. Chicago was so deep in the wilderness
OLD FORT DEARBORN,
that this was the first intimation the garrison received of the dec-
laration of war made on the 19th of June. The Indian chief who
brought the dispatch advised Capt. Heald not to evacuate, and
that if he should decide to do so, it be done immediately, and by
forced marches elude the concentration of the savages before the
news could be circulated among them. To this most excellent ad-
vice the Captain gave no heed, but on the 12th held a council with
62 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
the Indians, apprising them of the orders received, and offering a
liberal reward for an escort of Pottawatomies to Fort Wayne. The
Indians, with many professions of friendship, assented to all he
proposed, and promised all he required. The remaining officers re-
fused to join in the council, for they had been informed that treach-
ery was designed, — that the Indians intended to murder those in
the council, and then destroy those in the fort. The port holes were
open, displaying cannons pointing directly upon the council. This
action, it is supposed, prevented a massacre at that time.
Mr. Kinzie, who knew the Indians well, begged Capt. Heald
not to confide in their promises, or distribute the arms and ammu-
nitions among them, for it would only put power in their hands to
destroy the whites. This argument, true and excellent in itself,
was now certainly inopportune, and would only incense the treach-
erous foe. But the Captain resolved to follow it, and accordingly on
the night of the 13tli, after the distribution of the other property, the
arms were broken, and the barrels of whisky, of which there was a
large quantity, were rolled quietly through the sally-port, their
heads knocked in and their contents emptied into the river. On that
night the lurking red-skins crept near the fort and discovered the
destruction of the promised booty going on within. The next morn-
ing the powder was seen floating on the surface of the river, and
the Indians asserted that such an abundance of " fire-water" had
been emptied into the river as to make it taste " groggy." Many
of them drank of it freely.
On the 14th the desponding garrison was somewhat cheered by
the arrival of Capt. Wells, with 15 friendly Miamis. Capt. Wells
heard at Fort Wayne of the order to evacuate Fort Dearborn, and
knowing the hostile intentions of the Indians, made a rapid march
through the wilderness to protect, if possible, his niece, Mrs. Heald,
and the officers and the garrison from certain destruction. But
he came too late. Every means for its defense had been destroyed
the night before, and arrangements were made for leaving the fort
on the following morning.
The fatal morning of the 16th at length dawned brightly on the
world. The sun shone in unclouded splendor upon the glassy waters
of Lake Michigan. At 9 a. m., the party moved out of the south-
ern gate of the fort, in military array. The band, feeling the solem-
nity of the occasion, struck up the Dead March in Saul. Capt.
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 63
Wells, with his face blackened after the manner of the Indians, led
the advance guard at the head of his friendly Miamis, the garrison
with loaded arms, the baggage wagons with the sick, and the women
and children following, while the Pottawatomie Indians, about 500
in number, who had pledged their honor to escort the whites in
safety to Fort Wayne, brought up the rear. The party took the
road along the lake shore. On reaching the range of sand-hills
separating the beach from the prairie, about one mile and a half-
from the fort, the Indians defiled to the right into the prairie, bring
ing the sand-hills between them and the whites. This divergence
was scarcely effected when Capt. Wells, who had kept in advance
with his Indians, rode furiously back and exclaimed, "They are
about to attack us. Form instantly and charge upon them!"
These words were scarcely uttered before a volley of balls from
Indian muskets was poured in upon them. The troops were hastily
formed into line, and charged up the bank. One veteran of 70 fell
as they ascended. The Indians were driven back to the prairie, and
then the battle was waged by 54 soldiers, 12 civilians, and three or
four women — the cowardly JVFiamis having fled at the outset —
against 500 Indian warriors. The whites behaved gallantly, and
sold their lives dearly. They fought desperately until two-thirds
of their number were slain; the remaining 27 surrendered. And
now the most sickening and heart-rending butchery of this calam-
itous day was committed by a young savage, who assailed one of
the baggage wagons containing 12 children, every one of which fell
beneath his murderous tomahawk. When Capt. Wells, who with
the others had become prisoner, beheld this scene at a distance, he
exclaimed in a tone loud enough to be heard by the savages, " If
this be your game, I can kill too;" and turning his horse, started
for the place where the Indians had left their squaws and children.
The Indians hotly pursued, but he avoided their deadly bullets for
a time. Soon his horse was killed and he severely wounded. With
a yell the young braves rushed to make him their prisoner and re-
serve him for torture. But an enraged warrior stabbed him in the
back, and he fell dead. His heart was afterwards taken out, cut in
pieces and distributed among the tribes. Billy Caldwell, a half-
breed Wyandot, well-known in Chicago long afterward, buried his
remains the next day. Wells street in Chicago, perpetuates his
memory.
64 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
In this fearful combat women bore a conspicuous part. A wife
of one of the soldiers, who had frequently heard that the Indians
subjected their prisoners to tortures worse than death, resolved not
to be taken alive, and continued fighting until she was literally cut
to pieces. Mrs. Heald was an excellent equestrian, and an expert
in the use of the rifle. She fought bravely, receiving several wounds.
Though faint from loss of blood, she managed to keep in her saddle.
A savage raised his tomahawk to kill her, when she looked him full
in the face, and with a sweet smile and gentle voice said, in his
own language, " Surely you will not kill a squaw." The arm of
of the savage fell, and the life of this heroic woman was saved.
Mrs. Helm had an encounter with a stalwart Indian, who attempted
to tomahawk her. Springing to one side, she received the glancing
blow on her shoulder, and at the same time she seized the savage
round the neck and endeavored to get his seal ping-knife which
hung in a sheath at his breast. While she was thus struggling, she
was dragged from his grasp by another and an older Indian. The
latter bore her, struggling and resisting, to the lake and plunged
her in. She soon perceived it was not his intention to drown her,
because he held her in such a position as to keep her head out of
the water. She recognized him to be a celebrated chief called
Black Partridge. When the firing ceased she was conducted up
the sand-bank.
SLACGHTEE OF TRISONERS.
The prisoners were taken back to the Indian camp, when a new
scene of horror was enacted. The wounded not being included in
the terms of /the surrender, as it was interpreted by the Indians,
and the British general, Proctor, having offered a liberal bounty for
American scalps, nearly all the wounded were killed and scalped,
and the price of the trophies was afterwards paid by the British
general. In the stipulation of surrender, Capt. Heald had not
particularly mentioned the wounded. These helpless sufferers, on
reaching the Indian camp, were therefore regarded by the brutal
savages as fit subjects upon which to display their cruelty and satisfy
their desire for blood. Keferring to the terrible butchery of the
prisoners, in an account given by Mrs. Helm, she says: "An old
squaw, infuriated by the loss of friends or excited by the sanguin-
ary scenes around her, seemed possessed of demoniac fury. She
seized a stable-fork and assaulted one miserable victim, who lay
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
65
groaning and writhing in the agonies of his wounds, aggravated by
the scorching beams of the sun. With a delicacy of feeling, scarcely
to have been expected under such circumstances, Wan-bee-nee-wan
stretched a mat across two poles, between me and this dreadful scene.
I was thus spared, in some degree, a view of its horrors, although I
could not entirely close my ears to the cries of the sufferer. The
following night live more of the wounded prisoners were toma-
hawked."
KINZIE FAMILY SAVED.
That evening, about sundown, a council of chiefs was held to
decide the fate of the prisoners, and it was agreed to deliver them
OLD KINZIE HOUSE.
to the British commander at Detroit. After dark, many warriors
from a distance came into camp, who were thirsting for blood, and
were determined to murder the prisoners regardless of the terms of
surrender. Black Partridge, with a few of his friends, surrounded
Kinzie's house to protect the inmates from the tomahawks of the
bloodthirsty savages. Soon a band of hostile warriors rushed by
them into the house, and stood with tomahawks and scalping-knives,
awaiting the signal from their chief to commence the work of death.
66 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
Black Partridge said to Mrs. Kinzie: "We are doing everything
in our power to save you, but all is now lost; you and your friends,
together with all the prisoners of the camp, will now be slain," At
that moment a canoe was heard approaching the shore, when Black
Partridge ran down to the river, trying in the darkness to make out
the new comers, and at the same time shouted, "Who are you?"
In the bow of the approaching canoe stood a tall, manly personage,
with a rifle in his hand. He jumped ashore exclaiming, " I am
Sau-ga-nash." " Then make all speed to the house; our friends are
in danger, and you only can save them." It was Billy Caldwell,
the half-breed Wyandot. He hurried forward, entered the house
with a resolute step, deliberately removed his accouterments, placed
his rifle behind the door, and saluted the Indians: " How now, my
friends! a good day to you. I was told there were enemies here,
but am glad to find only friends." Diverted by the coolness of his
manner, they were ashamed to avow their murderous purpose, and
simply asked for some cotton goods to wrap their dead, for burial.
And thus, by his presence of mind, Caldwell averted the murder of
the Kinzie family and the prisoners. The latter, with their wives
and children, were dispersed among the Pottawatomie tribes along
the Illinois, Rock and Wabash rivers, and some to Milwaukee.
The most of them were ransomed at Detroit the following spring.
A part of them, however, remained in captivity another year.
EXPEDITION AGAINST THE INDIANS.
By the middle of August, through the disgraceful surrender of
Gen. Hull, at Detroit, and the evacuation of Fort Dearborn and
massacre of its garrison, the British and Indians were in possession of
the whole Northwest. The savages, emboldened by their successes,
penetrated deeper into the settlements, committing great depre-
dations. The activity and success of the enemy aroused the people
to a realization of the great danger their homes and families were
in. Gov. Edwards collected a force of 350 men at Camp Russell,
and Capt. Russell came from Yincennes with about 50 more. Being
oflicered and equipped, they proceeded about the middle of October
on horseback, carrying with them 20 days' rations, to Peoria. Capt.
Craig was sent with two boats up the Illinois, with provisions
and tools to build a fort. The little army proceeded to Peoria
Lake, where was located a Pottawatomie village. They arrived late
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS. 67
at night, within a few miles of the village, without their presence
being known to the Indians. Four men were sent out that night
to reconnoiter the position of the village. The four brave men who
volunteered for this perilous service were Thomas Carlin (after-
ward Governor), and Robert, Stephen and Davis Whiteside. Thej
proceeded to the village, and explored it and the approaches to it
thoroughly, without starting an Indian or provoking the bark of a
dog. The low lands between the Indian village and the troops were
covered with a rank growth of tall grass, eo highland dense as to
readily conceal an Indian on horseback, until within a few feet of
him. The ground had become still more yielding by recent rains,
rendering it almost impassable by mounted men. To prevent de-
tection, the soldiers had camped without lighting the usual camp-
fires. The men lay down in their cold and cheerless camp, with
many misgivings. They well remembered how the skulking sav-
ages fell upon Harrison's men at Tippecanoe during the night. To
add to their fears, a gun in the hands of a soldier was carelessly
discharged, raising great consternation in the camp.
AN INDIAN KILLED.
Through a dense fog which prevailed the following morning, the
army took up its line of march for the Indian town, Capt. Judy
with his corps of spies in advance. In the tall grass they came up
with an Indian and his squaw, both mounted. The Indian wanted
to surrender, but Judy observed that he "did not leave home to take
prisoners,^' and instantly shot one of them. With the blood
streaming from his mouth and nose, and in his agony " singing the
death song," the dying Indian raised his gun, shot and mortally
wounded a Mr. Wright, and in a few minutes expired. Many guns
were immediately discharged at the other Indian, not then known
to be a squaw, all of which missed her. Badly scared, and her hus-
band killed by her side, tlie agonizing wails of the squaw were
heart-rending. She was taken prisoner, and afterwards restored
to her nation.
TOWN BURNED.
On nearing the town a general charge was made, the Indians
fleeing to the interior wilderness. Some of their warriors made a
stand, when a sharp engagement occurred, but the Indians were
routed. In their flight they left behind all their winter's store of
68 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
provisions, which was tcaken, and their town burned. Some Indian
children were found wlio had been left in 1 he hurried flight, also
some disabled adults, one of whom was in a starving condition and
with a voracious appetite partook of the bread given him. He is
said to have been killed bj a cowardly trooper straggling behind,
after the main army had resumed its retrograde march, who wanted
to be able to boast that he had killed an Indian.
About the time Gov. Edwards started with his little band against
the Indians, Gen. Hopkins, with 2,000 Kentucky riflemen, left
Vincennes to cross the prairies of Illinois and destroy the Indian
villages along
