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 OF 
 
 CHARLES A. KEYES 
 
 Delivered at the Thirty-Third 
 Annual Picnic Given by the 
 
 OLD SETTLERS' SOCIETY 
 
 OF 
 
 Sangamon County 
 
 TTFTiT) AJr 
 
 PAWNEE, THURSDAY, AUG. 14, 1900 
 
 Filled With Historic References; 
 Stories of Hardships Endured by 
 Pioneers; Their Pleasures Vivid- 
 ly Recalled. 
 
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 Address of Charles A. Keyes. 
 
 As early as the year 1720 the French government had, 
 through its missionaries, Marquette, La Salle, Pinet and others, 
 and by its military power, established a complete line of commu- 
 nication from Quebec, in lower Canada, by way of the great 
 northern lakes through what is now Illinois, down the Mississippi 
 river to the Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 In fact this vast and fertile stretch. of country was under 
 the dominion of France until the treaty of 1763, at which time 
 it (which is now an empire within itself), together with the 
 Canadas, became an appendage to the British crown, and after- 
 wards, in 1765, the English government, through its officer, 
 Captain Sterling, took possession of what is Illinois. 
 
 France, generous France, our friend, had nothing left be- 
 tween the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and the northern lakes and 
 the Gulf of Mexico, save its possessions west of the Mississippi 
 river, which were afterwards purchased by the Great Jefferson, 
 and in 1803 became a part of the United States and which we all 
 now know as the Louisana purchase. 
 
 France today has not one foot of soil in North America. 
 The glory of her conquests has departed, and the great Missis- 
 sippi valley and the Louisiana purchase are a powerful integral 
 part of the great Western republic. 
 
 THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 France had hardly surrendered her possessions in the Can- 
 adas and the Mississippi valley until were heard the low, distant 
 rumbling of the coming revolution; the thirteen American colo- 
 nies declared their independence of Great Britain, the first blow 
 Avas struck and the war of the revolution was on. 
 
 During that great trying struggle for free government the 
 colony of Virginia sent Col. George Rogers Clarke (afterward 
 General Clarke), in command of a detachment of militia into the 
 territor.y northwest of the river Ohio, to take possession thereof. 
 
 COL. CLARKE'S VICTORIES. 
 Colonel Clarke marched with his forces into the territory, 
 attacked and reduced forts Kaskaskia and Gates and then turned 
 his attention to the reduction of Fort Vincent, and easily took the 
 same. Prior to the expedition of Colonel Clarke the colony of 
 Virginia claimed the territory northwest of the river Ohio 
 (afterward known as the northwest territory), by her charter 
 
granted by James the First of England, but after the successful 
 expedition of Cokmel Clarke she clai»nied the territory by con- 
 quest as well as by treaty. 
 
 This vast territory extended from the river Ohio to the 
 ^•reat northern lakes and west to the Mississippi river, and was 
 named by Virginia the county of Illinois. Would not a board of 
 supervisors now have a time of it in legislating for the county of 
 Illinois 1 
 
 THE CESSION LAWS. 
 
 When the revolution was over and the government of the 
 United States had been formed and the Virginia colony had be- 
 come an honored State of the Union, the congress passed an act 
 on the 6th day of September, 1780, recommending to the several 
 states of the Union, having claims to waste and unappropriated 
 lands, in the western country, a liberal cessiix)n to the United 
 States of a portion of their respective claims for the common 
 benefit of the Union, and thereupon the State of Virginia did, by 
 an act of the general assembly, passed on the 2d day of January, 
 1781, yield to the congress of the United States, for the benefit of 
 the said States, all right, title and claim which the said State had 
 to the territory northwest of the river Ohio; and afterward 
 came the acts of the general assembly of the commonwealth of 
 Virginia, passed on the 20th day of October, 1873, authorizing 
 Thomas Jefit'erson, Samuel Hardy, Arthur Lee and James Mon- 
 roe, delegates representing said commonwealth in congress, to 
 convey, transfer, assign and make over unto the United States, 
 for the benefit of said States (Virginia included), all right, title 
 and claim, as well as of soil as of jurisdiction, which the said 
 commonwealth had to the territory northwest of the river Ohio, 
 
 The deed was made by Jefferson, Hardy, Lee and Monroe. 
 Was there ever such another deed made, and by such characters? 
 Was there ever such another made where the makers were so de- 
 void of selfish motives ? 
 
 Was there ever such another deed made where the results 
 arising therefrom were so great and far-reaching? 
 
 FIVE GREAT STATES. 
 Within the confines of this vast territory there have been 
 carved five great States of the Union. 
 
 These States, now with a population, perhaps, of sixteen 
 million people, having a vast and varied commerce, studded with 
 great and splendid cities, sustaining the most gigantic system 
 of railways of any country in the world, and guarding and 
 cherishing a school system which is at least equal to any. This 
 growth, change, advancement and prosperity has come within 
 two hundred years. 
 
By the ordinance of July 13, 1787, congress provided for 
 the government of the territory of the United States northwest 
 of Ohio. 
 
 May 7, 1800, an act of congress provided for the organiza- 
 tion of a territorial government to be called Ohio. Nov. 29, 
 1802, Ohio was admitted into the Union as a state. Indiana was 
 erected into a separate territory, and the provisions of the ordi- 
 nance of 1787 extended over the same on the seventh day of 
 May, 1800. It was admitted into the Union, Dec. 11, 1816. 
 
 ILLINOIS TERRITORY. 
 
 Illinois was erected into a separate territory and the pro- 
 visions of said ordinance extended over the same Feb. 3, 1809, 
 and was admitted into the Union as a State Dec. 3, 1818. 
 
 In the act passed by congress April 18, 1818, to enable the 
 people of the Illinois territory to form a constitution and state 
 government, and for the admission of such State into the Union, 
 certain propositions were submitted to the convention then in 
 session and framing a constituti<on for the state of Illinois, 
 which, if accepted by the convention, were to be obligatory upon 
 the United States. 
 
 LAND GRANTS ASKED FOR. 
 
 1. Section 16 of land in every township in the State should 
 be granted to the State for the use of the inhabitants of such 
 townships, for the use of schools. 
 
 2. All salt springs within the State and the land reserved 
 for the use of the same, should be granted to the State, for the 
 use of the State. 
 
 3. Five pr cent of the net proceeds of the lands lying 
 wiithin such state and which shall be sold by congress from and 
 after the first day of January, 1819, after deducting all expenses 
 incident to the same shall be reserved for the purposes follow- 
 ing: Two-fifths to be disbursed under the direction of congress, 
 in making roads leading to the State; the residue to be appropri- 
 ated by the legislature of the State for the encouragement of 
 learning, of which one-sixth part shall be exclusively bestowed 
 on a college or university. 
 
 4. Th;rty-six sections, or one entire township, which shall 
 be designated by the president of the United States, shall be re- 
 served for the use of a seminary of learning. 
 
 The foregoing propositions were offered on the condition 
 that the State convention, then in session, would provide by ov- 
 dinance, irrevocable, without consent of the United States from 
 and after the first day of January, 1819, should remain exempt 
 from any tax laid by order or under the authority of the State, 
 county or township, for the period of five years from and after 
 
6 
 
 the sale, and that the county lands granted, or thereafter to be 
 granted for military services during the late war (the war of 
 1812) should remain exempt from all taxes for the term of three 
 years and that all lands belonging to the citizens of the United 
 States residing without the State should never be taxed higher 
 than lands belonging to persons residing therein. 
 
 The convention accepted the propositions by ordinance 
 passed on the 18th day of April, 1818. 
 
 A SPLENDID DONATION. 
 What a magnificent donation on the part of congress, 
 given with the view of bringing about a general system of educa- 
 tion throughout the now great State of Illinois. Yet it must be 
 said that these donations have not been used and disposed of m 
 such a manner as conduced to the best interest of the cause of 
 education. 
 
 When the State came into the Union in 181b, the County 
 of Sangamon had not been erected. It was not until the year 
 1821 that the "Sangamo country," as it was called, became the 
 county of Sangamon. 
 
 Out of Sangamon county since its formation have been 
 carved from time to time the following counties and parts of 
 counties : Logan, Tazewell, Mason, Menard, Cass, part of Chris- 
 tian, part of Macon, part of McLean, part of Woodford, part of 
 Marshall and part of Putnam. 
 
 SANGAMON AN EMPIRE. 
 
 Old Sangamon in territory was an empire. If Virginia is 
 the "mother of presidents," the County of Sangamon is the 
 ' ' mother of counties. ' ' 
 
 Take Sangamon and the other counties mentioned, as they 
 now are, with their vast well tilled fertile lands, there can be pro- 
 duced from them, in one good crop year, sufficient meats and 
 breadstuffs to supply the people of Chicago for one year, and 
 from their cities, villages and farms there can be funrnished and 
 equipped fifty thousand fighting men, for a just cause. 
 
 Less than one hundred years ago, the Sangamon country 
 was practically a wilderness, with no inhabitants, save the In- 
 dian, the elk, the buffalo, the American deer, the black bear, the 
 panther, the wolf, the wild cat, the wild horse, the wild turkey 
 and the prairie chicken. The gentleman fox, both the gray and 
 red, delayed their coming to the Sangamo country until the time 
 of an advanced civilization. 
 
 Now in this year 1900 there are no Indians, no wild beasts, 
 no wild turkeys, no prairie chickens. The coming of the white 
 man has left no room for them. The doom of the North Ameri- 
 can Indian, as well as that of the wild beasts, is extinction. . 
 
EARLY SETTLERS' HARDSHIPS. 
 The coming of the early settlers to the Saxigamo country 
 was attended with many hardships to the men and women, more 
 especially to the women. They traversed a wilderness without 
 guide or compass, save the stars. Many times they were lost in 
 the dense timber or upon the vast prairies, without shelter from 
 the drenching rains and cold blasts; they were oftentimes with- 
 out water and could find it at times in no other way than by let- 
 ting loose their horses or cattle and following them, which by 
 either their instinct or their acute sense of smell would go to the 
 river even if it was ten miles distant. The pestiferous horse flies 
 would compel them to travel by night, and lay by i^n the day time 
 and build fires, in the smoke of which the stock would stand, well 
 knowing the protection it afforded them from the flies. Their 
 means of transportation were not always adequate. Members 
 of the party would take turns in walking and riding; then at 
 times a horse or steer would die. A greater calamity could 
 hardly come ; the lost animal could not be replaced. 
 
 HOW A FAMILY CAME. 
 An old pioneer, in telling how his wife, himself and two 
 children traveled on their way to the Sangamo country, said that 
 the wife, with a child in her arms, was placed upon a horse, with 
 a bed and bed clothing, and upon another the cooking utensils, 
 with two chairs; hi^mself and child were mounted, and thus 
 equipped, their caravan moved along the trackless prairies to 
 their future home, north of the Sangamon. 
 
 PRIVATIONS AFTER ARRIVAL. 
 The hardships and privations of the early settler were not 
 ended upon his arrival to his place of destination. A cabin had 
 to be built to shelter the wife and children, ground had to be 
 cleared in the timber before a crop could be raised ; the tough 
 prairie sod could not be broken with the plows and teams then at 
 hand, hence the ground for the crops was prepared in the timber. 
 There were no mills, either saw or grist, nearer than Edwards- 
 ville, eighty miles away, to which place the settler had to go with 
 his grist to have it ground. The women and children were left 
 at home, awaiting the return of the husband; their vigils were 
 long and weary. It required brave women to stand guard on 
 such occasions over the children and home, for the Indians then 
 possessed the country, the wolf roamed the prairies and the 
 panther stealthily awaited his prey. Often sickness came to the 
 household, and sometimes death. What greater sadness could 
 come to the heart of the mother than the loss of her child, in the 
 wilderness, she then, perhaps, more than 1,000 miles from her old 
 home and her people? 
 
8 
 
 STRONGEST MAN LEADER. 
 
 The men who settled Sangamon county were hardy per- 
 sons, strong physically and mentally. With them at that early 
 day physical strength marked the leading man, and there was 
 many a combat between powerful men to decide which was en- 
 titled to be leader. To illustrate how generally the idea pre- 
 vailed that the strongest man was the one entitled to lead, I will 
 give an example: The Buckles family lived in the Lake Fork 
 region. The men were powerful and combative, especially Mr. 
 Jerry Buckles. He heard that Andrew McCormick, who lived 
 at Sprin'gfield, was a powerful man and had exhibited such 
 strength and prowess that he was acknowledged to be the leader. 
 Buckles decided that he would go to Springfield, hunt up 
 McCormick and challenge him to combat. Buckles came and he 
 found McCormick standing on the pavement in front of the old 
 Glenn tavern. 'Is your name McCormick?" asked Buckles. 
 ' ' Yes, ' ' replied McCormick. ' ' I understand, ' ' said Buckles, ' ' that 
 you consider yourself the best man in Sangamon county and can 
 whip anyone. I believe that I am a better man than you are, and 
 I can whip you.' McCormick replied that he was not a fighting 
 man and said to Buckles to go away and not bother him. Buckles 
 persisted that they should fight; thereupon McCormick seized 
 him and threw him over a horse rack into the street. Buckles 
 got up and said : ' ' That will do ; you are the best man. Let us go 
 and take a drink." They drank and shook hands, and Buckles 
 departed for the Lake Fork region. 
 
 It is said that Buckles, upon hiis arrival home, had nothing 
 to say of his fight, but nevertheless the fame of McCormick be- 
 came known throughout all the countryside around. McCor- 
 mick was afterward elected to the legislature, and was one of the 
 "long nine" who caused the removal of the capitol from Vandalia 
 to Springfield. 
 
 WAS A WONDROUS SIGHT. 
 Those old settlers who first beheld the prairies of Illinois, 
 stretching far away, adorned with brilliant and variegated flow- 
 ers, must have stood enraptured at the wondrous sight, and when 
 afterwards they witnessed a prairie fire at night moving with the 
 swiftness of the racehorse, the flames mounting as high as the 
 billows of the ocean, whipped by the winds, the sky and earth 
 around as bright as day, the deer running before the fire for their 
 lives, they must have witnessed the grand and wonderful sight 
 with awe. 
 
 A DEER HUNT. 
 The early settlers had their pleasures, as well as their 
 hardships. They of a neighborhood would come together with 
 
their horses, guns and dogs, for a deer hunt. It would be about 
 sunrise when all would be at the meet. Some of the younger, 
 who were good shots, would be placed by their elders upon a 
 stand, and there await the eomi,1ig of the deer ; the others would 
 mount their horses and with their guns and dogs move out to the 
 starting point. On reaching the point the dogs scattered in dif- 
 ferent directions with their noses to the ground— the hunt had 
 commenced. Soon one of the dogs would strike a trail. If the 
 trail was not new he would bay gently, yet all the other dogs that 
 heard him would turn towards him and hunt for the trail. The 
 moment the second dog struck the trail he would bay, so with all 
 the other dogs, as they in turn struck the trail, and then would 
 come the full cry of the whole pack, and on they come, horsemen 
 and dogs in full pursuit, and as the trail became hotter, the louder 
 and more frequent the baying of the dogs and the more excited 
 became the horsemen. 
 
 Sometimes the stag would pass the stand of one who was 
 a good shot, and from the unerring bullet of the rifle the stag 
 would fall, and the hunt was over. At other times the game, 
 plucky stag, would elude all the stands and continue on in his 
 marvelous flight, with horsemen and dogs in hot and wild pur- 
 suit. The chase would prove too fierce and pressing for the 
 frightened and exhausted deer, the shot from the gun of some 
 horseman would bring him to the ground, or the dogs, made more 
 feroci.ous from their eagerness and long run, with their glaring 
 eyes and open mouths, would rush upon their exhausted prey 
 and bring it to the earth, the horsemen would come up, the deer 
 was dispatched by the use of a knife, the chase was over, and the 
 sun setting in the western sky. The spoils of the hunt were 
 then allotted and each hunter bent his way homeward. 
 
 OLD-TIME PARTIES. 
 
 Again, they would have parties, men and women, at which 
 they would truly and greatly enjoy themselves. There was no 
 slighting of one another. At such parties their fri^endship was 
 genuine and sincere, and then they would have their church meet- 
 ings at the home of this neighbor or that one. Some parson who 
 had wandered out into the great western wilds, like a missionary, 
 would preach to them, and they sang old fami^liar songs, such as 
 "On Jordon's Stormy Bands I Stand and Cast a Wistful Eye," 
 These church meetings gave them great comfort and consolation. 
 
 HAVE PASSED AWAY. 
 
 Most of the old settlers have passed away; they have 
 
 crossed the river. Their names are perpetuated by their deeds 
 
 and their descendants. Who does not know the Enoses, the 
 
 Jaynes, the Bergens, the Drennans, the Halls, the Matheneys, the 
 
10 
 
 stouts the Brittons, the Pulliams, the Barretts the S^^iths the 
 nuro'ns the Parkinsons, the lies, the Canipbells, the Bra^- 
 fords th^ MUlers, the Matthews, the Carpenters, the Brooks, e 
 Fa^ans th^ kelleys, the Hessers, the llerndons, the Logans, the 
 ^Slers the Pa fiis, the Gardners, the Dunlaps, the Freemans, 
 ^.e T ivlors the Grimsleys, the Elkins, the Constants, the Coun- 
 cUs th^D rSes, the Easleys, the Pyles, the Burt es, the T^U 
 hrtls the Casses the Dawsons, the Days, the Dodds, the Dan- 
 t if' he Gattons the Knotts, the Kalbs, the Doziers, the 
 Mauk^s the Sedans, the Jar'retts, the Staleys, the S.ms the 
 Jones the Browns, the Lyma^s^ the B-ckeWges the J ebe^s 
 the Masons, the Cantralls, the Prnnms, the Bal s, the Chiids me 
 Sir the Watts, the Sanders, the Hawleys, the Yates, the Da- 
 "the Eplers, the Purvines, the Ridgelys, the I™, the 
 MeDa'niels, the Nottinghams, the Norths^^the D--^-^*,^^^^;^^ 
 coxes the AVychoffs, the Yoakums, the Iseals, the Stattoids, tne 
 St Glairs the Browns, the Yv^alters, the Coopers, the Lasswells, 
 the A^amM^^^ Brewers, the Bridges, the McCoys, the Fullen- 
 vdders the Carters, the Crouches, the Edwards, the A¥memans, 
 IhfKe's^rrs, the Abies, the Pattons the Conklh^^^^^^^^^^^ Wsa^, 
 the Lanphiers, the Youngs, the Hathaways, the Po^^ers, tlit iaiK 
 n"t.nrthe Seotts, the La^bs, the Shepards, the Spiers h 
 Gi-ers the McLouds, the Wises, the Pickrells, the Elliotts the 
 ilayes; the Francises, the Southwicks, the Bolins and the Insleys. 
 
 THE PIONEER PREACHERS. 
 
 The old pioneer preachers must not be forgotten on an oc- 
 casion like the present. ^ 
 
 It is an historical fact that the honey bee came to the San- 
 eamo country just before the coming of the white man and tha^ 
 ?hrquai came just after the white man. Perhaps the bees came 
 b fo^to provide a supply of wild honey for the pioneer preach- 
 ers to eat,'^as John the Baptist had often eaten wi d honey whiie 
 he was preaching in the wilderness of Judea^ And P^^ haps the 
 
 quail came after as the quail "eame ^P '^f .^^^'^^^.tYJl of 
 for Israel to feed upon" as they marched from the land ot 
 
 ^^^Tt may be that the quail came to the Sangamo country for the 
 pioneer preachers to feed upon until the coming of the yellow- 
 
 ^'^^Therf was' Peter Cartwright, who did eat wild honey and 
 quail and told his camp-meeting congregation to wait until ne 
 made the devil pray; he left the pulpit, ^^^^^d ajowdy who was 
 disturbing the meeting, and whipped him until he P^f f • ^ou 
 can almost yet hear the gentte voice of Hooper Crews calling 
 sinnexs to repentence, and the Rev. John G. Bergen preaching 
 Presbyteri^nism in the wilderness, and Aaron Vandevei, ttic 
 
11 
 
 iron-side Baptist," thundering in the ears of sinners that the 
 only way to be saved Avas by water, and you can see, in your 
 niind's eye, the Rev. Hale standing and calling to his auditors to 
 come to Jesus Christ and be saved, and there is Father Hamilton 
 pointing his communicants to the cross and saying to them, 
 through the blood of Christ you must be saved. Then comes 
 Jonathan Stamper. He is preaching at a revi,val with great 
 force and eloquence ; he is depicting to his hearers hell ; it is lim- 
 itless, bottomless, a lake of brimstone and fire ; figuratively he is 
 shaking the sinner over the burning abyss. It is needless to say 
 that his revivals were always a success. 
 
 MARRIED WITHOUT LICENSE. 
 There stands the Rev. Rivers Corrnick, wdio married Ed- 
 ward Clark to Sarah Viney, without a license, March 4, 1821 ; 
 afterwards Avhen the county of Sangamon had been formed, 
 April 10, 1821, he remarried Edward and Sarah. 
 
 The presiding elder is to preach. The Rev. Peter Akers is 
 in the pulpit. He is the defender of the faith ; he is to promul- 
 gat the doctrine. With great power and clearness he states 
 what are the tenets of the Methodist church, and with a learning 
 and argument unsurpassed he defends those tenets or doctrines 
 of the church. 
 
 NoAv comes the Rev. Stribbling, last but not least, he who 
 is addicted to the use of big words so strange and unmeaning to 
 the ears of the plain, simple people of his congregation. He 
 approaches, in the evening, the house of a brother of the faith, 
 for shelter and care for himself and horse; he is cordially wel- 
 comed; the boy is sent to take his horse and rig. The Rev. 
 Stribling says to the boy: "Youth, disengage the quadruped from 
 the vehicle, divest him of his trappings, conduct him to the re- 
 ceptacle Avhere he may drink his fill of the waters, then repair 
 with him to a place of shelter, and give to him for his meal In- 
 dian maize, with cured grass, commonly called hay. 
 
 The time for his sermon comes, the church is crowded, the 
 Rev. Stribbling delivers one of his characteristic discourses. The 
 words and sayyigs are too profound for his listeners ; they wonder 
 at his great knowledge. 
 
 It may be said of the reverend gentleman, as the poet 
 Goldsmith said of his brother, the teacher: 
 
 "While words of learned length and thundering sound, 
 Amazed the gazing rusti/ss ranged around — 
 And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew, 
 That one small head should carry all he knew. ' ' 
 These reverend gentlemen have been gathered to their 
 
 fathers. 
 
 Here permit me to say something about the tribe of Kickapoo 
 
 Indians, 
 
12 
 
 THE HOME OF THE KICKAPOOS. 
 
 The Lands of the Kickapoos, as Given and Described 
 BY Perry J. Armstrong in his History of the North- 
 western Indians. 
 
 The lands of the Kickapoos, as given and described by Perry 
 J. Armstrong in his history of the Northwestern Indians. 
 
 The Sacs and Foxes owned land commencing on the Missis- 
 sippi River, at the mouth of the Illinois river, running thence up 
 the Illinois River to where Fort Clark then stood, where the city 
 of Peoria now stands; thence in a direct line to a point on the 
 Wisconsin River, seventy miles above its mouth ; thence down 
 that river to the Mississippi, and down the Mississippi to the place 
 of beginning, besides the entire State of Iowa and northeastern 
 Missouri, containing the aggregate of about fifty millions acres 
 of land. 
 
 The Sauks' had a small village near the mouth of the Des 
 ^Moines River, in Iowa, and the Foxes a similar one on the south 
 side of the Mississippi, where the city of Moline now stands. 
 
 To the north and east of then' possessions were the teri'i- 
 tories of the Pottawattamies and Winnebagoes, and adjoining 
 them were the lands of the Chippewas and Ottawas, while to the 
 south laid the lands of the Kickapoos. 
 
 The Kickapoos and the Mascoutins are treated here as but 
 one tribe, for the difference between them was only nominal at 
 best, The name is found written in the French Authorities as 
 "Kick-a-poux," " Kick-a-pous, " "Kick-a-bou," " Quick-a-pous. " 
 Some authorities claim the name to have been derived from the 
 Algonquin word Nee-gig (the otter, or the spirit of an otter). 
 Prof. Henry R. Schoolcraft, a recognized authority on the ethnol- 
 ogy of the northwestern tribes, alluding to the Kickapoos, says 
 they are an "eratic" race, who under various names, in connec- 
 tion with the Sacs and Foxes, have in good keeping with one of 
 their many names, which is said, by one interpretation, to mean 
 Rabbits Ghost (Wahboos with little variation in dialect being the 
 word for Rabbits), skipped over half the continent, to the mani- 
 fest discomfort of both German and American philologists who, 
 in searching for the so-called Mascoutens, have followed, so far 
 as their results are concerned, an "ignis fatuus. " 
 
 Mr. Beckwith says in his book of the History of the North- 
 west Indian that the Kickapoos have been long connected with 
 the histoiy of the northwest, in which they acquired great no- 
 toriety as well for the wars in which they were engaged ^vith 
 other tribes, as for the persistent hostilities to the white race 
 throughout a period of nearly one hundred and fifty years. 
 
 From Fox River, AVis., the Kickapoos seem to have passed to 
 the south, extending themselves in the direction of Rock River 
 
13 
 
 and a southern trend at Lake IMiehigau. Prior to 1718 they had 
 a village on Rock River, in the vicinity of Chicago. They 
 hated the French Missionaries, and took several of them prison- 
 ers. Later, and by progressive approaches, the Kiekapoos 
 worked further southward and established themselves in the ter- 
 ritory lying between the Illinois and the Wabash Rivers, and 
 south of Kankakee. 
 
 The migration was not accomplished without opposition and 
 bloodshed in punishing the Piankeshous east and south to the 
 M^ abash, and the Illinois tribes south and west upon the lower wa- 
 ters of the Kaskaskia. The Kiekapoos approached the Wabash 
 from the northwest. It is evident that prior to 1752 they had 
 driven the Illinois tribes from the hunting grounds lying east- 
 ward and south of the Illinois River. 
 
 In this conquest they were assisted by the Sacs and Foxes 
 and Pottawattamies. Within the limits of the territory defined 
 by the treaty at Edwardsville in 1819, the Kiekapoos. for genera- 
 tions before that time, had many villages. The principal of these 
 were Kickapogooni on the western bank of the Wabash, near 
 Hudsonville, Crawford Co., Illinois, and known in the early days 
 of the northwest territory as Musquiton (Mascuntine), another 
 on both sides of the Vermillion River at its conliuence to the 
 Wabash, higher up the Vermillion were other Kickapoo towns, 
 particularly the one some four miles west of Danville. The re- 
 mains of one of the most extensive burial grounds in the W^abash 
 Valley still attest the magnitude of this once populous Indian 
 city, and although the village cite has been in cultivation for over 
 fifty years, every recurring year the plow share turns up flint 
 arrow points, stone axes, gam flints, gun locks, knives, silver 
 brooches, or other mementoes- of its former inhabitants. These 
 people were greatly attached to the country watered by the Ver- 
 million and its tributaries ; and Governor Harrison found a diffi- 
 cult task to reconcile them to ceding it away. During the period 
 when the territory west of the Mississippi belonged to Spain, her 
 subjects residing at St. Louis "carried on a considerable trade 
 among the Indians eastward of the Mississippi, particularly the 
 Kiekapoos". 
 
 Further northward they had other villages, among them one 
 toward the headwaters of Sugar Creek, a tributary of Sanga- 
 mon Riiver near the southwest corner of McLean County (this 
 village was burned in the fall of 1812 by a part of Governor Ed- 
 ward's forces, while on their march from Camp Russell to Peoria 
 Lake). "Vide Gov. Reynolds My Own Times". 
 
 "In the month of August, 1791, the expedition, led by Gen. 
 James Wilkinson, left Kentuckj^ under orders given by Governor 
 Sinclair (then the executive head of the military, as well as of the 
 civil affairs of the northwest territory)." We find the follow- 
 ing: "Should the success attend you at L'Anguile" (the Eel 
 
14 
 
 River town on Eel River, some six miles above Logansport, In- 
 diana, which was to be attacked), which I wish and hope you ma> 
 find yourself equal to the attacking the Kickapoo town situated 
 in the prairie not far from Sangamon River, which empties itself 
 into the Illinois River. The General did reach the great Kickapoo 
 town, but not the prairie village near the Sangamon River. Mr. 
 Peck, in his historical sketch of the early American settlements in 
 Illinois, says: "The Kickapoos were numerous and warlike, and 
 had their principal towns on the Illinois and the Vermillion Riv- 
 ers. They were the most formidable and dangerous neighbors to 
 the whites and, for a number of years, kept the settlements (on 
 the American bottoms) in continual alarm." In the desperate 
 plans of Tecumthe, the Kickapoos took an active part. 
 
 "We find no instance in which the Kickapoos were allied 
 with either the French or the British in any of the intrigues or 
 wars for the control of the fur trade or the acquisition of dis- 
 puted territories in the northwest. They did not mix or mingle 
 their blood with French or other white people, and as compared 
 in this regard with other tribes in the voluminous treaties with 
 the Federal Government there is a singular absence of land reser- 
 vations of half bred Kickapoos. As compared with other Indians, 
 the Kickapoos were industrious, intelligent, and cleanly in their 
 habits, and were better armed and clothed. ' ' 
 
 As a rule, the men were tall, sinewy, and active ; the women 
 lithe, and many of them by no means lacking in beauty. 
 
 Governor Reynolds' Pioneer History of Illinois. 
 
 With the close of the war of 1812 the Kickapoos ceased their 
 hostility towards the whites, and a few years later disposed of the 
 residue of their lands in Illinois and in Indian, and, with the ex- 
 ception of a few bands, emigrated west of the Mississippi. 
 
 Governor Reynolds says of them, "they disliked the United 
 States so much that they decided when they left Illinois that they 
 would not reside within the limits of our government, but would 
 settle in Texas ; a large body of them did go to Texas, and when 
 the lone star republic became a member of the Federal Govern- 
 ment these Kickapoos retired to New Mexico, and later some of 
 them went over to Old Mexico. 
 
 The Kickapoos of the Vermilion and the Sangamon Rivers 
 were the last to emigrate— in 1832 and 1833— when they joined 
 a body of their people upon the reservation set apart for their use 
 near Fort Leavenworth. 
 
 For several years prior to the years 1832-1833 the Kickapoos, 
 or rather those who were left of them after others had left Illi- 
 nois, made their home upon the lands bordering upon the Sanga- 
 mon River, and Salt Creek, which flows into the Sangamon a 
 short distance below the City of Petersburg. 
 
 They built a village were ]\Iiddletown now stands on the 
 banks of Salt Creek, in Logan County. There are traces of their 
 
15 
 
 camps up and down the Sangamon River and Salt Creek. Their 
 camping places seem to have been generally located upon elevated 
 ground, for to this day the Indian stone axes, tiint arrow points, 
 and pieces of pottery are found upon elevated pieces of ground, 
 and in close proximity with the streams of water such as the San- 
 gamon River, Salt Creek, Sugar Creek, Spring Creek, Lake Fork, 
 Lick Creek and other streams. 
 
 They may have had a burial place at a point on the Sanga- 
 mon River north of the mill known as the Carpenter Mill, for in 
 excavating and cutting dowTi a hill on the north side of the San- 
 gamon to be used for the purposes of a road some sixteen skele- 
 tons were discovered and supposed to be the remains of Kickapoo 
 Indians, and the supposition was that at some time that had been 
 one of their burying places. 
 
 During the last years of their residence here they were per- 
 fectly friendly with the white settlers, and committed no depreda- 
 tions. It was after the year 1832 that they gathered together their 
 wigwam plunder, together with their squaws, ponies and dogs, 
 and left the bottoms of the Sangamon forever and turned their 
 faces to the country west of the Mississippi. Of this once numer- 
 ous, powerful and warlike Indian tribe there are now not more 
 than fifty remaining, and they are living in the Indian Territory 
 upon the bounty of friendly Indians. 
 
 OLD SETTLERS GAINED FAME. 
 
 Many of the old settlers of Sangamon county became dis- 
 tinguished men in politics, in the pulpit, in the law, in medicine, 
 in mercantile pursuits and farming. 
 
 The fame of Lincoln, Douglas and Baker is world-wide. 
 There were no lawyers in the State who excelled in ability and 
 tact Stephen T. Logan, John T. Stuart and Josiah Lambourne, 
 and right abrest with them were Milton Hay, Benjamin S. Ed- 
 wards, Ninian W. Edwards, Elliott B. Herndon, my old pre- 
 ceptor, William H. Herndon, William I. Ferguson, David Logan, 
 Thomas A. Bradford, David B, Campbell, Antrim Campbell, 
 Jonathan H. Pugh, James C. Conkling, Silas W. Robbins, Wil- 
 liam J. Black and John Calhoun. 
 
 I think it can truthfully be said of John Calhoun that in 
 point of particular and general education he was the peer of 
 any, and in political debate, Lincoln, Logan, Baker and Stuart 
 had on more than one occasion cause to feel and know his power, 
 and Judge Samuel H. Treat was one of them. The political 
 combats of those early days were fierce and long. The struggle 
 in 1838 between Stephen A. Douglas and Major John T. Stuart 
 for a seat in congi'ess was long and bitter. 
 
16 
 
 SOME EARLY POLITICS. 
 
 , liill ^ 
 
 014 649 862 O 
 
 Dr. Jacob Early, David Prickett, Rev. Aaron Vandever and 
 James W. Keyes, as delegates to the Democratic convention, held 
 at Peoria in 1838, went to said convention and brought about 
 the nomination of Douglas. Major Stuart was the Whig candi- 
 date opposed to him. The congressional district was known 
 as the Third, and extended from Greene county to Lake Michi- 
 gan. The length of the campaign was six months. The two 
 candidates traveled together and held joint debates. They lived 
 at Springfield and no other two men in the district had more 
 earnest, devoted and unselfish friends than they. The fight was 
 more than terrific. Before the election was over all hands were 
 called into the field to take part — Lincoln, Logan, Bledsoe and 
 the young Whig gentry, together with the late Richard W. 
 Thompson, of Indiana, held up the hands of Stuart, and John 
 Calhoun, the Rev. Vandever and the young bare-footed Democ- 
 racy held up those of Douglas. The election was had and Doug- 
 las was beaten sixteen votes, but from that time on Douglas was 
 the leader of the Democracy of Illinois. 
 
 LABORS NEARLY DONE. 
 
 The old pi,oneers, where are they? Passed to the beyond, 
 except a few who are still here, but their faces are turned to- 
 ward the setting sun. You can see them v/alking slowly in the 
 lengthening shadows, their labors are drawing to a close; they 
 will soon see the light that is beyond the skies.