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 ETN ATAEK 
 
 The Arrowsmith Battlefield 
 
 A half mile south, two miles east, a quarter south and a quarter 
 east of Arrowsmith, Illinois 
 
 ROUTE OP DEVILUERS 
 ROUTE OF OE NOYELLES 
 
 ooaaopROUTE OF STRANGE 
 
 Superimposed on a modern map are the routes taken by French command- 
 ers as they closed in on the Fox Tribe. 
 
The Story of Etnataek* 
 
 by William B. Brigham 
 
 When Jacob Smith came to this place in 1844, he noticed many circular 
 depressions in the grove on the hill. To the northeast about forty rods were 
 what appeared to be a series of rifle pits, and similar pits were seen to the 
 south and southeast of the hill. At times when wood from this hill was 
 being burned in an open grate, melted lead was seen trickling from it. 
 
 Mr. Smith's son, Joseph, and his grandson Roy, who is now living on 
 the farm, have found many trader's axes, gun parts, pot hooks and large 
 patina-coated bullets. They also have made interesting observations and 
 have aided historians and archaeologists in the study of this site. 
 
 Soon after their first contact with the French in Wisconsin, the Fox 
 Indians developed a feeling of distrust or suspicion that later broke out 
 in hostilities. French traders were murdered and their goods and canoes 
 were taken by members of this tribe. 
 
 French authorities decided to destroy or punish the Foxes, and to that 
 end they secured the assistance of other Indian tribes. After a skirmish 
 with the Illinois Indians near Starved Rock, the Fox chiefs decided to 
 move their women and children to the east among their friends, the 
 Iroquois. This would leave the three hundred warriors free to fight the 
 French. The entire tribe travelled south to the Illinois-Wabash Trail, 
 which crossed what is now McLean County from west to east. Arriving 
 at the little grove on the Sangamon (Smith farm), they dug in for a rest 
 and sent messengers with presents to the tribes on the Wabash. The 
 Foxes were seeking assurance that it would be safe to proceed eastward. 
 Other Indians that had been watching them sent runners to all French 
 trading posts, and soon the Foxes found themselves surrounded. 
 
 ♦Algonquin : where the fight, battle or clubbing took place. 
 
The battle began on August 17, 1730 and lasted twenty-three days. 
 Both sides suffered greatly for lack of food. The beseiged Foxes attempted 
 to escape during a storm in the night of September 8th. Many were captur- 
 ed or killed the next day. The French were pleased with the results of 
 the battle and the officers made complete reports. 
 
 Captain de Villiers sent his son, Coulon*, and Pierre Reaume, a Fox 
 interpreter who had been in the West many years, to carry the message 
 to Hocquart at Quebec. Hocquart states that he questioned the son on 
 all the facts of the report and got some details that had been omitted. 
 
 He also gathered the expressions of Reaume which were according to 
 Canadian usage. Chaussegros de Lery, chief engineer in building the 
 walls of Quebec, was called in. From the report, he drew up a plan of the 
 battle with notes on the same. 
 
 Being in the open country with no nearby landmarks, the site of this 
 battle was difficult to locate on a map, and some writers have placed it 
 elsewhere. But when all the records were carefully considered and the 
 various finds of this location were analyzed, we have conclusive evidence 
 that it was here that the Fox Indians were defeated and the once myster- 
 ious Arrowsmith battlefield is the real Etnataek. 
 
 THE OLD TRAIL 
 
 Over the high ground south of the marker ran the Illinois-Wabash 
 Trail. Here in early days travelled migrating Indians tribes and war 
 parties, going and returning from their raids. A state road closely follow- 
 ing this trail from Fort Clark (Peoria) to Danville was opened in 1831. 
 Emigrant wagons were then streaming westward along this route, and 
 mail by courier was delivered weekly. 
 
 Note: For a more complete account of this battle, see "Transactions 
 No. 4 of the McLean County Historical Society". 
 
 *It is interesting to note that Coulon de Villiers was in command of the 
 French army that defeated George Washington at Fort Necessity in the 
 French and Indian wars twenty-four years later. 
 
(Traces of the Battle are no longer visible.) 
 The French map below shows the fort in the hill and the stream (Sanga- 
 mon River). 
 
 Another map by deLery made at the same time, shows St. Ange with one 
 hundred French soldiers and Illinois Indians at the rifle pits southeast 
 on the prairie. The other French commanders were located to the north- 
 east including deVilliers with Kickapoos, Mascoutins, and Pottawatomies 
 from Starved Rock and de Noyelle with French and Miami Indians. A 
 small group if Ouyatanon Indians were camped at pits south of the marker. 
 
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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://archive.org/details/etnataekarrowsmiOObrig 
 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
 977.35901 B768E C001 
 
 ETNATAEK, THE ARROWSMITH BATTLEFIELD 
 
 3 01 
 
 2 025394625