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 John T. Faris 
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 Public Library of Fort Wayne and Allen County 
 
 1955
 
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 FOREWORD 
 
 The following publication, which narrates the fortunes of 
 the ancient settlement of Kaskaskia in Illinois, originally appeared 
 as chapter XI in THE ROMANCE OF FORGOTTEN TOWNS by John 
 T. Faris. The publishers, Harper & Brothers, have graciously 
 granted permission to reprint the chapter. 
 
 The Boards and the Staff of the Public Library of Fort Wayne 
 and Allen County present this account with the feeling that it is an 
 important part of our heritage and with the hope that it will be 
 interesting and informative to Library patrons.
 
 WHEN the French missionaries and traders found 
 their way to the rich American Bottom, some of 
 them located on a choice site on the neck of land between 
 the Kaskaskia River and the Mississippi River. There 
 they built a town that for more than a century was the 
 chief settlement for hundreds of miles. From about the 
 year 1700 until well into the nineteenth century it was 
 famous socially, commercially, and politically. Its name 
 was heard in Richmond, when the Illinois country was a 
 county of Virginia, and its problems sometimes were con- 
 sidered by government officials at Washington. Early 
 travelers were eager to visit it and were proud to write 
 of it. Pioneer surveyors gave it prominent place on their 
 maps of the Illinois country. But for many years most 
 travelers to the region where Kaskaskia long ruled alone 
 have been unconscious of their nearness to the site of the 
 old town, and those who would find It named on a map 
 must go to an old atlas, or to the records of the historian. 
 The early years of Kaskaskia were like those of other 
 pioneer settlements. The surrounding Indians were on 
 friendly terms with the peaceable French cottagers, though 
 there were times of anxiety and danger when the savages 
 were threatening. Adventurers toiled past the town on 
 their way to the Missouri or to the upper Mississippi, or
 
 floated down toward the mouth of the Ohio and New Or- 
 leans. Scores of those whose names are written large 
 in the history of the Mississippi Valley paused there, or 
 lived there for a season. 
 
 But usually life was very tranquil there, even when the 
 French gave way to the English, and the English to the 
 Americans. For Kaskaskia, like so many settlements of 
 the Mississippi Valley, was a town of three flags. 
 
 The earliest authentic picture of the frontier commu- 
 nity was drawn by Captain Philip Pittman, whose book 
 telling of travels in America was printed in London in 
 1770: 
 
 "The village of Notre Dame de Cascasquias is by far 
 the most considerable settlement in the Country of the 
 Illinois, as well from its number of inhabitants, as from 
 its advantageous situation. It stands on the side of a 
 small river, which is about eighty yards wide, and empties 
 itself into the Mississippi more than two leagues below 
 the village. The river is a secure port for the large 
 bateaux which lie so close to the banks, to load and unload 
 without the least trouble, and at all seasons of the year 
 there is water enough for them to come up. . . -. An- 
 other great advantage that Cascasquia receives from the 
 river is the facility with which mills for corn and plank 
 may be erected on it. Moses Paget was the first who in- 
 troduced water-mills in this country, and he constructed a 
 very fine one on the river Cascasquia, which was both for 
 grinding corn and sawing board. 
 
 "The principal buildings here are the church, and the 
 Jesuits' House, which has a small chapel adjoining it; 
 these, as well as some of the other houses In the village, 
 are built of stone, and considering the part of the world,
 
 make a very good appearance. The Jesuits' plantation 
 consists of two hundred and forty arpents [an arpent is a 
 little less than an acre] of cultivated land, a very good 
 stock of cattle and a brewery, — which were sold by the 
 French Commandant, after the country was ceded to the 
 English, for the Crown, in consequence of the suDnression 
 of the order. Mons. Jean Baptiste Beauvais was the pur- 
 chaser, who is the richest of the English subjects in the 
 country. He keeps eighty slaves; he furnishes 86,000 
 weight of flour to the King's Magazine, which was only 
 part of the harvest he reaped in one year. 
 
 "The fort, which was torn down in October, 1766, 
 stood on the summit of a high rock opposite the village, 
 and on the opposite side of the river." 
 
 At the time of Pittman's visit there were about sixty- 
 five families in the village, whose customary dress was 
 coarse blue cotton, with deer-skin moccasins. In winter, 
 of course, the cotton clothing gave way to skins and furs. 
 Each head of a family owned his house, and had a right 
 also to the use of the common field outside of the village. 
 Most of this was open pasture, though some was culti- 
 vated. It was the law of the community that occupancy 
 gave title to the land, but no one could alienate it; when 
 occupancy ceased, the land reverted to the community. 
 
 The most exciting day in the history of the sleepy village 
 came in 1778, when, according to one account, there were 
 two hundred and fifty houses there. If this figure is 
 correct, the growth in the twelve years since the visit of 
 Pittman had been large. 
 
 The story of that day of excitement really began with 
 December 10, 1777, when George Rogers Clark told 
 Governor Patrick Henry In far-away Virginia how easy
 
 it would be to take the northwest country from the British. 
 He outlined his plan for capturing the villages on the 
 Mississippi River, Vincennes on the Wabash, and perhaps 
 Detroit. With a vision that classes him with Thomas 
 Jefferson — to whose far-seeing wisdom the purchase of 
 the Louisiana country was due, less than a generation 
 later — he gave Clark the authority he sought. The gov- 
 ernor was not troubled by the fact that some might ques- 
 tion his authority to send an expedition to what was then 
 the far West; he resolved to take advantage of a rather 
 vague provision on the statute book of Virginia that made 
 it possible for him to undertake projects for the defense 
 of the commonwealth. 
 
 So he told Clark (he was only a colonel then, though 
 his exploits were to make a general of him) that he might 
 enlist seven companies of militia. To these men he was 
 to announce that he was going to the defense of the Ken- 
 tucky settlements against the Indians; but on the same day 
 he was given private instructions which led him — after 
 grave difficulties in securing men and supplies — down the 
 Ohio, then overland from Fort Massac (where Metropolis 
 now stands) to Kaskaskia. 
 
 But the leader of that expedition should tell of the 
 events that followed. He was writing to Hon. George 
 Mason of Gunston Hall, Virginia, on the Potomac, the 
 intimate friend of George Washington: 
 
 "On the Evening of the 4th of July we got within three 
 miles of the Town Kaskaskias, having a River of the same 
 name to cross to the Town. After making ourselves ready 
 for anything that might happen, we marched after night 
 to a Farm that was on the same side of the River about a 
 mile above the Town, took the family Prisoners, and
 
 ^-3- 
 
 .iook ^ family ^ri^ma^,.
 
 found plenty of Boats to cross In; and in two hours trans- 
 ported ourselves to the other shore with the greatest 
 silence. I learned that they had some suspicion of being 
 attacted, and had some preparations, keeping out spies, 
 but they making no discoveries had got off their Guard. 
 I immediately divided my little Army into two Divisions, 
 ordered one to surround the town, with the other I broke 
 into the Fort, secured the Governor, M. Rocheblave [who 
 had transferred allegiance from the French to the Eng- 
 lish] in 13 minutes had every street secured, sent Runners 
 through the Town ordering the People on Pain of Death 
 to keep close to rheir Houses, w^hich they observ'd, and 
 before daylight had the whole town disarmed; nothing 
 could excell the Confusion the people seemed to be in, 
 being taught to expect nothing but Savage treatment from 
 the Americans. Giving all for lost, their lives were all 
 they could dare beg for, which they did with the greatest 
 fervancy, they were willing to be Slaves to save their 
 Families. I told them it did not suit me to give them an 
 answer at that time, they repaired to their homes, trem- 
 bling as if they were led to Execution; my principals would 
 not suffer me to distress such a number of People, except 
 through policy it w^as necessary. A little reflection con- 
 vinced me that it was my Interest to attach them to me, 
 according to my first plan. ... I sent for all the Princi- 
 pal men of the Town, who came in as if to a Tribunal that 
 w^as to determine their fate forever. Cursing their for- 
 tunes that they were not apprised of us time enough to 
 have defended themselves; I told them that I was sorry to 
 find that they had been taught to harbour so false an 
 opinion of the Americans and their Cause; Explained the 
 nature of the dispute to them in as clear a light as I was 
 capable of, it was Certain that they were a Conquered
 
 People, and by the fate of War was at my mercy, and that 
 our Principal was to make them Redeemed from insted of 
 enslaving them as they immagined, that if I could have 
 surety of their Zeal and Attachment to the American 
 Cause, they should immediately enjoy all the privileges of 
 our Government, and their property secured to them, and 
 that it was only to stop the further effusion of Innocent 
 Blood by the Savages and the influence of the Governor, 
 that made them an object of our attention, &c. 
 
 "No sooner had they heard this their Joy sparkled in 
 their Eyes and (they) fell into Transports of Joy that 
 really surprised me . . . that they should . . . think 
 themselves the happyest People in the World if they were 
 united with the Americans. . . . 
 
 "They returned to their families, and in a few minutes 
 the scean of mourning and distress was turned into an ex- 
 cess of Joy, nothing else seen or heard. Addorning the 
 Streets with flowers and Pavilians of different colours, 
 compleating their happiness by singing, &c." 
 
 Thus, without firing a gun, Clark's force of a little 
 more than a hundred men — the Kaskaskians thought he 
 had at least ten times as many — succeeded in winning 
 Kaskaskia, and so the entire Mississippi country, for the 
 colonies. 
 
 Clark made many friends in the village who were of 
 wonderful assistance to him in the further perforrfxance 
 of the task he had set himself. Easily first among them 
 was Francis Vigo, a Spaniard who had gone from Sardinia 
 to New Orleans, and from there to St. Louis. He was in 
 business there when he learned of Clark's presence in 
 Kaskaskia. Attracted by him, he offered to do anything 
 he could to help him. So Clark sent him to Vincennes to 
 learn how fared Captain Helm, whom Clark had sent to
 
 thing of the remoteness of the community and the manner 
 of hfe there. This letter, dated at Fort Washington 
 (Cincinnati), 13th April, 1795, was addressed to "His 
 Excellency the Commander in Chief." It reads: 
 
 "Just as I arrived at this place Capt. Pierce was sending 
 forward dispatches for Your Excellency from the War 
 Office, which no doubt contained the intelligence & arrange- 
 ments that have been so long expected. There is nothing 
 new here worth Your Excellency's attention but some in- 
 formation I got from Mr. I. Ludlow who is just arrived 
 (through the woods) from Kaskaskies. He says, that the 
 two Indians mentioned In the Extract enclosed in Captain 
 Pastner's letter to you were murdered when under the 
 protection of a magistrate of Kaskaskies by Whitesides, 
 between Kaskaskies and Cohokia as they were going to the 
 latter place, where they were to be confined. Whitesides 
 is at the head of a small settlement between Kaskaskies & 
 Cohokia. Thinking that designing men may endeavour to 
 prevent Your Excellency's Proclamation from reaching 
 these remote parts, I shall have a few copies of it printed 
 in Lexington . . . and shall enclose them to Capt. Past- 
 ner to be distributed in VIncennes and the settlements 
 on the Mississippi, that those lawless Rascals may have 
 no excuse for violating the laws and treaties of the 
 country. . . ." 
 
 When Illinois became a territory, the pioneer legislature 
 met at Kaskaskia on November 25, 18 12. Both houses 
 met in a large building of uncut limestone, which had a 
 steep roof and a gable of unpalnted boards. There were 
 also dormer windows. The building, after the flood that 
 caused the abandonment of Fort Chartres, had been used 
 by the French as headquarters for the military comman- 
 dant. This building remained the Capitol until the re-
 
 moval to Vandalia in 1818, when all the records were 
 transferred in a single small wagon ! 
 
 Forsaken by the legislature, Kaskaskia was not forsaken 
 by the rivers between which its founders had located it. 
 Gradually these encroached upon the site. Finally floods 
 threatened to make Kaskaskia an island, the Mississippi 
 reaching across the neck above the town to the Kaskaskia 
 (or Okaw, as the river came to be called, because of the 
 French way of saying that they were going aux Kan, to 
 Kaskaskia). 
 
 In vain the government strove to protect the Kaskaskia, 
 but, following the heavy winter snows of 1880-81, the 
 ice and floods swept down the river and carried away the 
 protecting works. Then the Mississippi cut across the 
 four-hundred-yard neck that separated the rivers. At 
 first the water fell into the Kaskaskia with a six-foot fall, 
 but soon the alluvial soil was swept away and a far wider 
 channel for the river was made. The people stood by and 
 watched the awful force of the flood waters as they tore 
 across to the Kaskaskia, which was but six hundred feet 
 wide at the point of the junction. The flood was flung 
 against the farther bank of the Kaskaskia, where great 
 trees were uprooted and carried downstream. Sometimes 
 a half acre of ground would fall into the river at one time. 
 
 The relentless river then began to wear away the 
 island on which Kaskaskia stood. One by one the houses 
 slipped into the stream, and year after year there were 
 less people In the town. Some lingered until 1898, but 
 by that time there was little left. In 1906 a single chim- 
 ney was standing on the bank of the stream — all that was 
 left of old Kaskaskia! 
 
 It is easy to enter into the feelings of an Illinois histo- 
 rian who. In the course of an address, said :
 
 "The very river upon whose placid waters the French 
 settlers paddled their light canoes, has become the bed of 
 the wild currents of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, 
 and that beautiful and rocky peninsula, whereon the old 
 town was located, has become a desert island. The his- 
 tory of the world affords no parallel to the rapid and 
 absolute demolition of old Kaskaskia Town. Cities have 
 gone down to ruin, but yet have left some traces of their 
 former greatness; not so with old Kaskaskia. The very 
 earth on which she stood has become a desert and a 
 desolation. It is scarcely beyond the life of those now 
 living when she was the most important place in our 
 western territories — the center of trade in Illinois, the 
 capital of our territory, the capital of our state, and, 
 with a population of some three thousand people, em- 
 braced a large proportion of the wisdom, learning, wealth, 
 and eloquence of Illinois." 
 
 For many years it was thought that even the old records 
 of Kaskaskia had perished. But in 1905 a member of 
 the Chicago Historical Society discovered them, stored 
 on top of the bookcase in one of the county offices at 
 Chester, the successor of Kaskaskia as county seat of Ran- 
 dolph County. These records go back to 1737, when a 
 clerk of the French court lived at Kaskaskia, and when a 
 judge came from Fort Chartres to mete out justice there. 
 Thus the patient student is able to piece out the history 
 of the heroic days when Indian met Frenchman, when 
 Spaniard dealt with fur trader, when rich river towns 
 were pawns in the game of nations.
 
 f
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 077 '192F22K C001 
 
 KASI^SKIA. THE ILLINOIS TOWN THAT RESTS 
 
 3 0112 025400000