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HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 ILLINOIS 
 
 AND 
 
 HER PEOPLE 
 
 BY 
 
 PROFESSOR GEORGE W. SMITH, M. A. 
 
 Head, Department of History, State Teachers College, Carbonddle, Illinois; 
 
 Author of a Student's History of Illinois; Member Board 
 
 of Directors, State Historical Society 
 
 Assisted by an Advisory Board 
 
 IN SIX VOLUMES 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 Volume I 
 
 PUBLISHERS 
 
 THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY, Inc. 
 
 CHICAGO AND NEW YORK 
 
 1927 
 
Copyright 1927 
 The American Historical, Society, Inc. 
 
177- 
 
 { 
 
 \ 
 
 % 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 V.J 
 
 
 FOREWORD 
 
 From the years when the Congress of the United States en- 
 acted and reenacted the Ordinance of 1787 to the present time, 
 faithful men and women have been recording the life of the 
 people of the Northwest Territory. Illinois was a part of that 
 Northwest Territory. It was in our beloved State that the 
 French first planted their social, industrial, and political insti- 
 tutions. Old Kaskaskia near Chester, in Randolph County, was 
 settled as early as 1699 or 1700 and was the oldest French settle- 
 ment in the Mississippi Valley. 
 
 The Northwest Territory, from the above early date to the 
 close of the French and Indian War in 1763, was wholly under 
 the control of the French. The history of Illinois for that per- 
 iod has recently become available to the general public, and it will 
 be found intensely interesting and instructive. The old French 
 life lingered on the old towns of Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Vin- 
 cennes till well into the nineteenth century. 
 
 The return to Illinois of the brave men who marched and 
 camped and fought with General George Rogers Clark in the con- 
 quest of the Illinois Country, brought an English speaking peo- 
 ple into Indiana and Illinois as permanent settlers. By the early 
 part of the nineteenth century the language, customs, and laws 
 had become English ; and from records, letters, newspapers, and 
 the writings of travelers we can gather a very accurate descrip- 
 tion of the life of these pioneer people. 
 
 Following the Civil War some good histories were written. 
 Enterprising publishing companies put out county atlases and 
 county histories of many counties. These county histories gath- 
 ered a great body of local history and traditions from the men 
 and women who had participated in the life of the people since 
 the state was admitted into the Union. 
 
 In January, 1916, the General Assembly of the State of Ill- 
 inois created the "Illinois Centennial Commission" whose duty 
 should be to provide for and carry out a "celebration in honor of 
 the Centennial of the admission of the State of Illinois into the 
 Federal Union." In addition the Commission was authorized to 
 "compile and publish a commemorative history of the State." 
 
 This history consists of six volumes edited by Professor 
 Evarts Boutell Greene of the University of Illinois who was also 
 a member of the Commission. The State was liberal in its ap- 
 propriation for the celebration and for the history, but the nura- 
 
 iii 
 
FOREWORD iv 
 
 ber of copies of the history was limited and the work is found in 
 only the larger libraries and in a few private collections. 
 
 These several sources of the history of Illinois have been 
 freely drawn upon in the preparation of these volumes. A few 
 years ago the author gave considerable time to research work 
 in the field of history in the south third of the State. This 
 region known as Southern Illinois or Egypt is exceedingly rich 
 in the history of the pioneer life of the State. The material thus 
 gathered has been supplemented by similar work in recent years 
 in other parts of the State, and it is confidently believed that 
 the work now presented will be found a most complete presenta- 
 tion of the glorious achievements of our beloved commonwealth. 
 
 Volumes IV, V, and VI will be found of inestimable value to 
 the present readers and to the future historian. In these vol- 
 umes are to be found the biographies of the men and women 
 whose forebears have borne the burden and the heat of the day. 
 Many of them came with the first English speaking settlers. 
 Here the reader will surely be convinced that our Illinois has been 
 a veritable melting pot for the molding of a high type of Amer- 
 ican citizenship. 
 
 Here will be found the names of men and women descended 
 from the Puritans of New England, the Cavaliers of old Virginia, 
 the Dutch of New York, the Quakers of Pennsylvania, or the 
 Huguenots from the foot hills along the eastern Alleghanies. 
 There will also be found in these volumes the names of hundreds 
 of people who are proud to trace their descent more directly 
 from England, Ireland, Scotland, France, the Scandinavian coun- 
 tries, Germany, Austria, Poland, Italy, Greece, Holland, Belgium, 
 the Balkans, and even from far-away Russia. It was these 
 earlier and later migrants who have carried on and whose de- 
 scendants will continue to carry on in the great days ahead of 
 us. 
 
 The History of Illinois and Her People is now presented 
 to an intelligent and appreciative constituency with the hope 
 that it may help its readers to a higher appreciation of the char- 
 acter and the worth of the noble men and women who con- 
 quered this western wilderness and planted here and cherished 
 those institutions which minister to the highest type of civili- 
 zation the world has ever known. 
 
 Geo. W. Smith. 
 
 Carbondale, Illinois, 
 November 13, 1926. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 Volume I 
 
 FROM THE EARLIEST DAYS TO THE COMPLETION OF 
 ADMISSION TO THE UNION 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Geologic Processes — Laplacian Hypothesis — Planetesi- 
 mal Hypothesis — Stages of Growth — Formation of 
 Seas and Oceans — The Geologic Eras — Geologic Time 
 Divisions — Geology of Illinois — Paleozoic Era — 
 Silurian System — Devonian — Mississippian — Penn- 
 sylvanian — glacial period — human period — our 
 Soil. 3 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 PHYSICAL BASIS OF THE STATE'S GREATNESS 
 
 Two Essential Elements — Analysis of the Physical En- 
 vironment — Industrial Institutions — Contour — 
 Climate — Resources, Mineral, Vegetable, Animal. __24 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE INDIANS 
 
 The Algonquins — The Illinois Confederation — Indian 
 Characteristics, War, Hunting, the Family, Selfish- 
 ness, the Tribe, Religion, Social Life, Burial of the 
 Dead, Some Virtues. 46 
 
vi TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE FRENCH IN CANADA 
 
 Relation of Illinois to Canada — America in Three Par- 
 cels — English and French Contrasted — Champlain, 
 Father of New France — Pushing Into the Interior — 
 First Bishops in New France — The Congress of Sault 
 Ste. Marie. 59 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER 
 
 Louis Joliet — Father Marquette — The Journey to the 
 Mississippi — The Piasa Bird — The Return Journey — 
 Mission of the Immaculate Conception — Death of 
 Marquette. 70 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 DEFEATS AND TRIUMPHS OF LA SALLE 
 
 His Post at Lachine — Fort Frontenac — Letters Patent — 
 The Griffin — Fort Miami — Kaskaskia — Peoria — Creve- 
 coeur — Hennepin Exposition — La Salle in New France 
 — Tonti's Trials 80 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 LA SALLE'S UNFINISHED TASK 
 
 LaSalle's Vision — The Process Verbal — Stricken With 
 Fever — The Great Fort — LaSalle at Matagorda Bay— 
 Tonti Alone. 96 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 PERMANENT SETTLEMENTS 
 
 The First Kaskaskia — Biloxi Founded — The New Kaskas- 
 kia — Louisiana Granted to Crozat — The Western Coun- 
 try — Fort Chartres — Resume. 109 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS vii 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 ILLINOIS A ROYAL PROVINCE. 
 
 Chickasa War — Revival of Interests — Conflict of In- 
 terests — King George's War — The Ohio Land Company 
 — Fort Necessity — Illinois in the French and Indian 
 War — End of War — Pontiac's War — Proclamation of 
 1763. 127 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 FRENCH CONTRIBUTION TO ILLINOIS LIFE 
 (By Joseph J. Thompson) 
 
 After the French Dominion — The Advent of Other Set- 
 tlers — The French Elsewhere in Illinois — At Bor- 
 bounnais and Kankakee. 145 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 ILLINOIS UNDER BRITISH CONTROL 
 
 Movement West — Description of Illinois — A Prophecy — 
 Courts Established — Captain Philip Pittman — Fort 
 Chartres Abandoned — The Quebec Act. 154 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 CLARK'S CONQUEST OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Kentucky Settlers — George Rogers Clark — Instructions — 
 Down the Ohio — Dr. Lyman Copeland Draper — March 
 Across Southern Illinois — The Capture of Kaskaskia 
 — Capture of Cahokia — Vincennes Surrendered — Illi- 
 nois County, Virginia. 169 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS 
 
 Colonel Vigo — March to Vincennes — The Attack — Terms 
 of Surrender — Coming of John Todd — Todd's Departure 
 — Illinois Abandoned. 186 
 
viii TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 A PERIOD OF ANARCHY 
 
 Decline — Soldiers — Spaniards in Illinois — Diplomacy 
 — Mustered Out — Kaskaskia Court. 204 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE ORDINANCE OF 1787 
 
 Population — The King's View — State or Nation — Mary- 
 land's Demand — Ordinance of 1784-1785 — Weakness of 
 Ordinance of 1784 — Ohio Company of Associates — Ordi- 
 nance of 1787 — Provisions of the Ordinance — Bill of 
 Rights — The Westward Movement — Territory First 
 Class — Counties Organized — St. Clair County — A 
 Memorial — Immigration — Randolph County. 217 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 NORTHWEST TERRITORY— FIRST AND SECOND CLASS 
 
 The Old Congress — First Class — Second Class — Delegate 
 — Territory Divided. 239 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 ILLINOIS PART OF INDIANA TERRITORY 
 
 Indiana Territory Created — The Sixth Article — Vote on 
 Second Class — Indentured Servants — Move Toward 
 Separation — Dueling — Division Accomplished. 244 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 Person, Places, and Things. 255 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS ix 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 ILLINOIS * * * TERRITORY OF FIRST CLASS 
 
 Territorial Officials — The Legislative Body — A New 
 Method — Treaties With the Indians — Centers of Pop- 
 ulation — Indian Barbarities — Battle of Tippecanoe — 
 Forts and Blockhouses. 263 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 THE WAR OF 1812 
 
 Causes of the War — Loss of Detroit — The Rangers — The 
 Fort Dearborn Massacre — The Illinois Campaigns — 
 Captain Craig at Peoria — The Governor Invades the 
 Enemy's Country — The Campaign of 1813 — Atrocities 
 Continue — Treaties. 277 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 ILLINOIS A TERRITORY OF THE SECOND CLASS 
 
 Illinois a First Class Territory — The Legislature Organ- 
 ized — Some Early Laws — Land Titles — Delegate in 
 Congress — Preemption Laws — Shadrach Bond — In- 
 creased Immigration — Civil Administration — Banks — 
 Cairo. 290 
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 LOOKING FORWARD TO STATEHOOD 
 
 Abstract of Title — Territorial Government — Comparisons 
 — Make-up of Congress — Government Aristocratic — 
 Right of Suffrage Modified — Factions — Editor Cook — 
 Propaganda. 308 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 THE ENABLING ACT 
 
 Membership of Legislature — The Petition — Slavery — Mr. 
 Pope Presents Petition — The Northern Boundary — 
 Some Features of the Act — Commercial Possibilities — 
 Electing Delegates — Expedient or Inexpedient — Who's 
 Who Among the Delegates — Occupations — Military 
 Service. 321 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 THE CONVENTION 
 
 Journal — Population — Death of Mr. Mangham — Appor- 
 tionment — The Capital — Bill of Rights — The Consti- 
 tution — Election. 342 
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 A RETROSPECT 
 
 Distribution of Population — The Pioneers — Economic Con- 
 ditions — Transportation — Religious Life — Educa- 
 tional Progress — The Return of Clark's Men. 356 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 A RETROSPECT (Continued) 
 
 The Canadian Contingent — A Cultured Family — Another 
 Picture — Sociability — Amusements — Punishments 
 — Newspapers — Centers of Settlement — Public Men — 
 Revolutionary Soldiers — Interesting Places. 373 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 THE TRANSITION 
 
 Travel and Transportation — The Flat Boat — The Steam- 
 boat — The National Road — The Frontier Line — Educa- 
 tion — The Ordinance — Free School Law — Population 
 Centers — Trade and Commerce — The Sangamon Coun- 
 try. 409 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 THE NEW STATE 
 
 Civil Organizations — Legislature at Work — Black Code — 
 Moving the Capital — Money and Banks — People in 
 1818. 426 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS xi 
 
 Volume II 
 
 FROM STATEHOOD TO THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 ILLINOIS AND NATIONAL EXPANSION 
 
 Self Government — Expansion Westward — Political Ex- 
 pansion — Court Decisions — Economic Expansion — Pop- 
 ulation Expansion — Approaching Danger. 7 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 FOR OR AGAINST SLAVERY 
 
 Four Candidates — Coles a Virginian — Ambassador — Slaves 
 Freed — Governor-Elect — The Message — Critical Sub- 
 ject — Report of Committee — Contested Election — A 
 Reversal — Public Appeals — Public Men — Outside Help 
 — A Bitter Campaign — Public Speakings — Secret So- 
 cieties — The Churches — The Papers — The Election — 
 Reflections. 18 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 POLITICS, NATIONAL AND STATE 
 
 Parties — Compromise — Campaign 1826 — Governor Edwards 
 — The Courts — Penitentiary — Public Lands — Public 
 Men. 51 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 A DISTINGUISHED VISITOR 
 
 Immigration — An Invitation — In St. Louis — At Kaskaskia 
 — At Shawneetown. 67 
 
xii TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 A SHORT RETROSPECT— 1830 
 
 Comparison — Some Immigrants — Trade and Commerce — 
 Roads — Newspapers — New Counties — Distribution of 
 Population — Industries — Religion — Some Legislation 
 — Social Progress — The Penitentiary. 73 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 EARLY HISTORY OF CHICAGO 
 
 The Name — The Winter of 1674-75 — The Treaty — The FmsT 
 Citizen — The First Wedding — Chicago in 1812 — New 
 Fort Dearborn — Fur Trading — Treaty — Chicago Grows 
 — Cook County. 98 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE LAST INDIAN WAR 
 
 Treaties — The Lead Mines — Black Hawk — The Winnebago 
 War — Raising Troops — The Military Tract — Saukenuk 
 Bought — Volunteers — The Army — The Interim — Mi- 
 litia Called — Organization — The March — Stillman's 
 Defeat — Burying the Dead. 108 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE LAST INDIAN WAR 
 (Continued) 
 
 Up Rock River — In Captivity — The New Army — Disobeys 
 Orders — Battle of Wisconsin — General Scott — Noted 
 Men. 135 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 MARTYRDOM OF LOVEJOY 
 
 Politics — Radicals and Conservatives — A Moral Hero- 
 Biography — Out West — Converted — Preaching - 
 The Observer — Slavery Editorial — New Code — Reply- 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS xiii 
 
 Judge Lawless — Moved to Alton — Second Press — Amal- 
 gamation — Anti-Slavery Society — Anti-Abolition — 
 Adding Fuel — Last Appeal — The Guard — The 
 Mob. 158 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 A PIONEER INDUSTRY 
 
 Evidences — Mr. Sellers — Sources — Springs Leased — Reser- 
 vations — Gift to Illinois — Indentured Slaves — The 
 Elliotts — Conrad Will — Other Works — Fuel — Thorn 
 House — Colonel Sellers. 187 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS 
 
 The Canvass — Local Interests — Canals — Indian Cessions — 
 Canal or Railroad — Railroads — In Illinois — Roads, 
 Bridges, etc. — Lotteries — Banks — Inaugural Message 
 — Boosting Alton — More Legislation — Governor's Mes- 
 saged — Noted Men — The Convention — The Law — Log 
 Rolling — Long Nine — Fund Commissioners. 204 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 COLLAPSE OF THE INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT SYSTEM. 
 
 Some Details — The Northern Cross — The Fund Commis- 
 sioners — The Last Message — Governor Carlin — More 
 Appropriations — The Balance Sheet — Special Session 
 — The Lost Interest — Northern Cross — Election — The 
 Debt — The Way Out — The Banks — Suspension of Specie 
 Payment.! 231 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 WHIGS AND DEMOCRATS 
 
 Party Politics — Election of 1824 — Party Politics in Illi- 
 nois — The Irish Vote — Secretary of State — Another 
 Case — Whigs in Convention — Preliminaries — Friendly 
 Debate — Monster Meetings — Log Cabin Campaign — 
 State Central Committee: — At Springfield. 251 
 
xiv TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 THE MORMONS 
 
 Religious Freedom — Origin — A Bible Student — A Religious 
 Romance — Witnesses — Church Organized — Smith a 
 Banker — The Gap Widens — Nauvoo — Smith in Wash- 
 ington — Politics — A Charter — For the Democrats — 
 Another Warrant — New Features — Old Citizen — 
 Spiritual Wives — The Expositor — More Habeas Corpus 
 — Governor Ford — Some Complaints — In Jail — The 
 Crime — Apostles Reign — Immigrants — The Wolf Hunt 
 — The Preparation — Real War. 268 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 A TRANSITION PERIOD 
 
 Transformation — Basis of Progress — Farmers — Manufac- 
 turing — Commerce and Transportation — Population — 
 Higher Education — Second Township — Four Colleges 
 — Shurtleff College — McKendree College — Illinois 
 College — The Yale Bond — Opening Day — Knox College 
 — Some Drawbacks — Repudiation. 295 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 ILLINOIS IN THE MEXICAN WAR 
 
 The Slogan — Call to Arms — The Organization — Off For 
 the War — Politics — Illinois Troops Return. 310 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE CONSTITUTION OF 1848 
 
 Constitution Not Submitted — First Effort — Some Changes 
 — Men of Prominence — Economy — Other Changes — 
 Ratification — Governor French. 323 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS xv 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 UNDER THE NEW CONSTITUTION 
 
 Township Organization — Homestead Exemption — Contro- 
 versy With St. Louis — State Policy — Tribute. 341 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 A NEW BANKING SYSTEM 
 
 More Population — Chicago a Business Center — Art. X, 
 Sec. 5 — The Law of '51 — Wildcats — Organizing a 
 Bank. 352 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 THE RISE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY 
 
 Slave History — Compromise of 1850 — Repeal — A Platform 
 — Senator Douglas — At Ripon — In Illinois — State 
 Mass Convention — Republican Convention — The De- 
 bate — The Outcome — Political Class — Paul Selby — 
 The Call — The Bloomington Convention — Delegate 
 Lincoln — In Major's Hall — The Lost Speech — Resolu- 
 tions — Democrats in 1856 — Bissell Elected. 361 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 THE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATE 
 
 The Missouri Compromise — Stephen A. Douglas — A New 
 Party — The Dred Scott Decision — Lecompton Consti- 
 tution — Nominations — Douglas in Chicago — Off for 
 Springfield — The Challenge — The Newspapers — Prep- 
 arations — The Reports — The Ottawa Debate — The 
 Freeport Debate — The Jonesboro Debate — The Charles- 
 ton Debate — The Galesburg Debate: — The Quincy De- 
 bate: — The Alton Debate — Other Estimates. 387 
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 The Freeport Debate. 420 
 
xvi TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD 
 
 Canal or Railroad — Whose Honor — The First Charter — 
 The Second Charter — The Third Charter — The Fourth 
 Charter — A Contention — Final Passage — The Gift — 
 The Memorial — The Fifth Charter — Work Begun — 
 Foreign Ownership — Cost of Road — The Charter — The 
 Income — A Contention. 454 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 ON THE EVE OF A GREAT CONFLICT 
 
 Douglas in the South — Southern Sentiment — Lincoln Ac- 
 tive — Cooper Union Speech — The Charleston Conven- 
 tion — Douglas Nominated — Presidential Candidates — 
 The Campaign — The Rivals — Lincoln in Springfield — 
 Douglas in the Campaign — Threats of Secession — Se- 
 cession Begins — Compromise — Lincoln Silent — The 
 Cabinet — Inaugural Address — Visits His Mother — 
 Farewell to Springfield — Illinois' War Governor — 
 Lincoln in Washington — Courtesies. 469 
 
 Volume III 
 
 FROM 1860 TO THE PRESENT TIME 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 AT HOME AND AT THE FRONT 
 
 Governor Yates — Defense of Cairo — Stephen A. Douglas — 
 Gen. U. S. Grant — Grant at Cairo — John A. Logan — 
 Williamson Secedes — End of 1861 — Some Politics — 
 Constitutional Convention — Legislature Democratic — 
 The Emancipation Proclamation — The Golden CntcLE 
 — The Press. 7 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS xvii 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 AT HOME AND IN BATTLE 
 
 Women's Help — Yates at Shiloh — State Sanitary Bureau 
 — The American Bastile — Cairo and Mound City — Gun- 
 boats — Mortar Boats — Camps and Prisons — Camp But- 
 ler — Camp Douglas — A Conspiracy — Politics in 
 1864. 36 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 MILITARY ORGANIZATION 
 
 Infantry — Cavalry — Artillery — Independent Bat- 
 terhjjs. 56 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 AFTER THE WAR 
 
 Recuperation — Increased Acreage — Skilled Agriculturists 
 — Better Implements — Transportation — Banks and 
 Currency — Growth of Cities — Manufactures — The 
 Homestead Law — Social Progress — The New Spirit — 
 Standards — Religious Advance — Camp Meeting — Some 
 Statistics — Education — Political Situation. 91 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF 1870 
 
 Constitution of 1818 — Constitution of 1848 — Call for a 
 Convention — The Delegates — Organization — The 
 Needed Changes — The Franchise: — The Canal — Minor- 
 ity Representation — Regulating Railroads — The Illi- 
 nois Central — Courts — Education. 122 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 POLITICAL UNREST 
 
 The FmsT Signs — Campaign of 1868 — -An Off Year — Some 
 Complaints — Results in Illinois — The Cincinnati Con- 
 vention — Campaign in Illinois. 149 
 
xviii TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE CHICAGO FIRE 
 
 A Wooden City — The First Fire — The Second Fire — Area, 
 Etc. — Temporary Relief — A Proclamation — Federal 
 Aid — Relief — Special Session — A Controversy — Action 
 of the Legislature. 164 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 BETTER FARMING 
 
 Agricultural Society — Better Stock — Prof. J. B. Turner — 
 Teacher's Association — The Leaven at Work — College 
 and Seminary Lands — Illinois Agricultural College — 
 Private or State School — School Opens 1866 — Bad 
 Management — Uncertainty — The Result — Improve- 
 ment in Farming — The Corn Planter — The Reaper — 
 Fodder — Silos — Building the Soil — Dairy Farming — 
 Wool Growing — Hogs. 179 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 FARMERS IN BUSINESS AND POLITICS 
 
 Corporations — Agrarian Discontent — The Railroads — Com- 
 petition — Buying and Selling — No Remedy in Politics 
 — Social and Intellectual Status — Remedy — The 
 Grange — Granges in Illinois — Farmers' Associations — 
 Political — Constitution of 1870 — Legislature of 1871 
 — Some Cases — Laws Amended — Farmers as Business 
 Men — Mail Order Concerns — Keeping Store — Co-oper- 
 ative Marketing — Social Value — Intellectual 204 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 ILLINOIS IN WORLD'S FAIRS 
 
 Centennial of Independence — Illinois at Philadelphia — 
 World's Columbian Exposition — Illinois Commission- 
 ers — Purpose of the Exhibit — Stock Company Organ- 
 ized — Committees — Site Selected — Midway Plaisance 
 — Artistic Buildings — Concessions & Privileges — Dedi- 
 cation of Buildings — Installation of Exhibits — Look- 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS xix 
 
 ing Forward — World's Congresses — Place of Meeting — 
 Art Display— The Opening, May 1, 1893— Sunday Clos- 
 ing — World's Fair Mayors — The Field Museum — The 
 Illinois Building — The Exhibits — The Louisiana Pur- 
 chase World's Fair. 232 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE STATE GOVERNMENT AT WORK 
 
 Republican Government — The Logical Order — The Legis- 
 lature at Work — Bills in Committee: — Advancing 
 Bills — The Last Lap — Other Methods — The Judicial 
 Department — Election of Judges — The Executive — 
 State Officers — The Governor — Special Sessions — Par- 
 tial Veto — Spoils — Boards and Commissions — Ef- 
 ficiency and Economy Committee — Report of Com- 
 mittee — Civil Administrative Code — Finance — Agri- 
 culture — Labor — Mines and Mining — Public Works — 
 Public Welfare — Public Health — Trade and Com- 
 merce — Registration and Education — The Budget.— 268 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY 
 
 Our Illinois — Neighboring States — Preliminaries — Legis- 
 lative Action — Publicity — County Celebrations — A 
 Historical Sketch — Important Dates — Illinois Day, 
 December 3, 1917. — Governor Lowden Presides — Sena- 
 tor Sherman — Governor Fifer — Governor Dunne — 
 Governor Yates — Illinois in War — Lincoln's Birthday 
 Observance — Justice Ridell, Ontario — In Flanders 
 Field — Thomas P. O'Connor — The Enabling Act — Mr. 
 echenrode — allen johnson — charles n. moore — a 
 Message From France — The Land of Men — American 
 Colonial System — Governor Lowden — Freeing of Illi- 
 nois^ — A Memorial Wreath — Overlooking Kaskaskia — 
 The Constitution Adopted — Vandalia Celebration — 
 First Governor Inaugurated — Hon. Josephus Daniels — 
 Lord Charnwood — The Chicago Celebration — The Clos- 
 ing Celebration — The Centennial History — The Cen- 
 tennial Building. 299 
 
xx TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 ILLINOIS IN THE WORLD WAR 
 
 Illinois Militia — Building up Sentiment — Theodore Roose- 
 velt — The First Steps — In the Cantonments — Of- 
 ficers Training Camp — The Illinois Contingent — 
 Money — Seven Billions — Loans and Taxation — Liberty 
 Loan — A Proclamation — Liberty Loan Day — Saving 
 Food — Dean Davenport — Seed Corn — Conservation — 
 Herbert Hoover — Work — Council of National Defense 
 — Council at Work — Methods of Work — Mothers at 
 Work — In the Cantonments — November 11, 1918 — Re- 
 view — New Problems — Bonus. 341 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 EDUCATION IN ILLINOIS 
 
 English Ideals — The First Schools — General Welfare — 
 Basis of Illinois System — The First University — The 
 Illinois Township — The First Step — Free Schools — 
 Primitive School Houses — Progress — Teachers' Insti- 
 tutes — Five Conventions — School Law of 1855 — The 
 Present System — Elementary Schools — Townships 
 and Districts — Revenues — The Villages — In Cities — 
 County Superintendent — School Houses — Course of 
 Study — Consolidation and Transportation — High 
 Schools — City High Schools — Township High School 
 — Two Functions — The Teachers Colleges — Two 
 Kinds of Work — Rural Practice — The State Univer- 
 sity. 371 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE SOUTHERN ILLINOIS TORNADO 
 The Cyclonic Area — Time Movement — Gorham Destroyed — 
 
 MURPHYSBORO NUMBER OF DEATHS — At DeSOTO — IN THE 
 
 Country — Hurst-Bush — West Frankfort — Parrish — 
 — Bringing Relief — Sources of Relief — Farm Bureau — 
 Sears, Roebuck and Co. 403 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS xxi 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 ILLINOIS OF TODAY 
 
 Land the Basis — Domestic Animals — Live Stock Products 
 — Comparisons — Manufacturing — Summaries — Prin- 
 cipal Industries — Distribution of Factories — New In- 
 dustry — Coal and Oil — Transportation — Hard Roads — 
 Governor Lowden — The Bates Test Road — Additional 
 Bonds — Illinois Waterways — Social Progress — Some 
 Signs — The Charities — Libraries — Nineteenth Amend- 
 ment. 411 
 
 Appendix A 434 
 
 Appendix B 441 
 
INDEX 
 
 Aachte, Hermann, VI, 422 
 
 Abbott, John B., V, 37 
 
 Abbott, Katherine L., VI, 318 
 
 Abell, Joseph L., VI, 270 
 
 Abstract of Title, Illinois, I, 308 
 
 Ackerman, William K., Ill, 239 
 
 Adams, Charles H., Ill, 66 
 
 Adams, Samuel, V, 138 
 
 Adcock, Edmund D., VI, 255 
 
 Adcock, William, VI, 256 
 
 Adderly, Henry C, VI, 100 
 
 Adkins, Charles, IV, 179 
 
 Adler, Leonhard W., V, 155 
 
 Agrarian discontent, III, 205 
 
 Agricultural societies, III, 94; society, 
 1819, 180 
 
 Agriculture: scientific, I, 30; expansion 
 in, II, 12; increased acreage, after 
 Civil War, III, 92; skilled agricultur- 
 ists, 93; agricultural societies, 94; 
 better implements, transportation, 95; 
 implements, 105, 179, 416; improve- 
 ments in farming, 192; corn planter, 
 194; reaper, 194; fodder, 195; silos, 
 196; building the soil, 199; dairy farm- 
 ing, 200; connection with business and 
 politics, 204; agrarian discontent, 205; 
 corn, 208; grain market, 208; competi- 
 tion, 209; during World war, 359, 412 
 
 Agriculture Department, III, 291, 294 
 
 Ahlschwede, George M. Jr., V, 59 
 
 Ahlstrom, Edwin, V, 348 
 
 Ainsworth, William E., IV, 314 
 
 Albert, Thomas J., V, 294 
 
 Albertsen, Ubbo J., IV, 71 
 
 Albion, I, 421 
 
 Aldrich, Chester A., VI, 78 
 
 Aldrich, Frederick C, V, 80 
 
 Alexander, Walter C, V, 323 
 
 Alexandrian limestone, I, 13 
 
 Algohquins, I, 46 
 
 Aliens, right to vote, II, 258 
 
 Allen, Burt M., IV, 404 
 
 Allen, Henry A., V, 73 
 
 Allen, James C, II, 494 
 
 Allen, James M., IV, 196 
 
 Allen, "Josh", III, 55 
 
 Allen, Leo E., VI, 329 
 
 Allen, Norman T., V, 296 
 
 Allen, Royal N., VI, 263 
 
 Allen, Thomas G., Ill, 72 
 
 Allen, William J., Ill, 128 
 
 Allied Relief Department, State Council 
 
 of Defense, III, 368 
 Allin, Eugenia, IV, 182 
 Allouez, Claude J., I, 66, 384 
 Alluvial soils, I, 23 
 Altgeld, John P. (illustration), III, 257; 
 
 IV, 377 
 Alton, II, 220; III, 101 
 Alton Battalion, III, 83 
 Alton College, II, 302, 417 
 Alton Seminary, II, 302 
 Alton Telegraph Printing Co., V, 8 
 Alvord, Clarence W., I, 145 
 Alward, V. L., IV, 375 
 Amell, J. Bruce, VI, 322 
 "American Bastile, The", III, 38 
 American Bottom (map), snowing old 
 
 French villages, I, 149; settlement, 
 
 258, 293, 407 
 American Colonial system, III, 327 
 American Fur Company, II, 104 
 Ammann, Arthur C, IV, 201 
 Ammann, Jacob F., V, 85 
 Amrhein, Carl, IV, 181 
 Amusements, pioneer, I, 379 
 Anarchy, period of, I, 204 
 Anderson, Benjamin F., VI, 100 
 Anderson, Cyrus H., V, 222 
 Anderson, Joseph, I, 404 
 Anderson, McKinley J., V, 196 
 Anderson, Palmer E., V, 10 
 Anderson, Robert, II, 153 
 Andrew, George H., V, 200 
 Andrews, James, I, 389 
 Andrews, James H., IV, 145 
 Andrews, Samuel W., V, 383 
 Angsten, Peter J., V, 33 
 Animal life, I, 27 
 Animal resources, I, 44 
 Ankney, Rollin V., Ill, 82 
 Anna Stone Company, V, 420 
 Annell, E. G., VI, 336 
 Anthony, Elliott, III, 128 
 Anthonv, John W., IV, 371 
 Anti-Abolition, II, 176 
 Anti-Mormon party, II, 282 
 Anti-Nebraska Convention, 1854, II, 375 
 Anti-Nebraska ticket, election of, II, 385 
 
 XX111 
 
XXIV 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Anti-Slavery Society, II, 175-179 
 
 Apken, Harry B., V, 96 
 
 "Appeal to the Citizens of Illinois", 
 
 1823, II, 34 
 Appell, Alfred, IV, 187 
 Appellate Court Building, Mt. Vernon 
 
 (illustration), II, 348 
 Apple River Canyon (illustration), II, 
 
 61 
 Arbeiter, William J. H., V, 297 
 Archeozoic Era, I, 10 
 Arlin, William P., Ill, 65 
 Armour, J. Ogden, III, 363 
 Armour, Philip D. (illustration) III, 201; 
 
 IV, 352 
 Armstrong, James C, IV, 173 
 Armstrong, Thomas J., IV, 220 
 "Army of Occupation", II, 311 
 Arnold, Bion J., VI, 234 
 Arnold, Fred, V, 282 
 Arnold, Isaac N., VI, 352 
 Arnold, John J., IV, 22 
 Articles of Confederation, I, 211 
 Artillery organizations, III, 87 
 Ashcraft, Edwin M., IV, 10 
 Association of Commerce, Bloomington, 
 
 VI, 390 
 Atkins, Smith D., Ill, 74 
 Atkinson, Charles T., V, 118 
 Atkinson, Henry, II, 150 
 Atkinson, Walter L., V, 244 
 Atlantic and Mississippi Railroad, II, 
 
 351 
 Atwater, John, I, 372 
 Atwood, Charles B., Ill, 253 
 Aubert, Louis, III, 325 
 Auditor of Public Accounts, office of, III, 
 
 278 
 Aurora, III, 100 
 
 Aurora Public Library, VI, 312 
 Austin, Elliott T., IV, 170 
 Automobiles, III, 416 
 Ayer, Edward E., VI, 401 
 Ayer, Elbridge G., VI, 401 
 
 Babcock, Amos C, III, 76 
 Baccus, W. I., V, 353 
 Bacon, J. H., IV, 154 
 Badgley, David, I, 389 
 Bagley, Fred, VI, 257 
 Bailey, Edward, VI, 62 
 Bailey, Fred S., VI, 62 
 Bailey, George W. K., Ill, 76 
 Bailey, James G., IV, 248 
 Bailey, Joseph, I, 151 
 Bailhache, John, IV, 379 
 Bain, John W., V, 154 
 Bain, Walter G., IV. 213 
 Baker, Benjamin F., IV, 152 
 Baker, David J., IV, 380 
 
 Baker, Edward D., II, 224, 312; III, 314; 
 
 IV, 357 
 Baker, Edwin P., V, 389 
 Baker, Henry M., Ill, 410 
 Baker, Henry S., VI, 11 
 Baker, Jehu, IV, 380 
 Baker, John C, V, 236 
 Baker, William C, VI, 30 
 Bakery products, III, 416 
 Baldwin, James S., IV, 135 
 Baldwin, Silas D., Ill, 68 
 Baldwin, Theron, III, 382 
 Balke, Clarence W., V, 199 
 Ball, Jacob F., IV, 230 
 Ballance, Charles, III, 71 
 Ballenger, G. Walter, IV, 93 
 Baltimore convention, III, 51 
 Bancroft, Edgar A., Ill, 326 
 Bandy, James M., VI, 146 
 Bane, Moses M., Ill, 67 
 Bank of Cairo, I, 307; Bill, (illustration) 
 
 I, 440 
 
 Bank of Edwardsville, The, I, 306 
 
 Bank of Illinois, The, I, 305 
 
 Banks: in Illinois Territory, I, 303; first 
 in Illinois Territory, 305; 439; 1820, 
 442; first United States, II, 10; char- 
 tering of, 91; second United States, 
 206; and internal improvement, 217; 
 1834, 246; 1841, 249; new system, 352; 
 early banking, 354; law of 1851, 356; 
 wildcat, 357; method of organization, 
 1851, 358; National Banking law, 360; 
 and currency, III, 96 
 
 Baptist: first church in Illinois, I, 366; 
 
 II, 87, 89; colleges, 301 
 Barbarities, Indian, I, 269 
 Barber, Howard E., VI, 90 
 Barber, John A., IV, 195 
 Barbour, James J., V, 6 
 Barco, A. U., V, 141 
 Bardill, J. G., V, 9 
 Barkdoll, Jacob W., IV, 56 
 Barnes, Gilbert A., VI, 239 
 Barnes, Hattie R. S., VI, 240 
 Barnes, Joseph E., VI, 45 
 Barnes, Mortimer G., V, 121 
 Barnes, Philip W., VI, 249 
 Barnett, Richard S., V, 16 
 Barrett, Charles V., VI, 53 
 Barrett, James A., Ill, 86 
 Barrett, John F., V, 93 
 Barry, John P., VI, 161 
 Bartelson, Frederick A., Ill, 76 
 Bartlett, Lloyd A., VI, 82 
 Barwell, John W., V, 223 
 Basil, James, IV, 171 
 
 Bass hatchery, Carlyle, (illustration) II, 
 
 233 
 Bastian, Harry A., VI, 328 
 
INDEX 
 
 XXV 
 
 Batchelder, Mark D., IV, 32 
 
 Bateman, Newton, III, 147, 159, 392; IV, 
 
 402 
 Bates, Alben F., V, 154 
 Bates, Charles T., V, 65 
 Bates Experimental Road, III, 426 
 Bates Test Road, III, 426 
 Battle of Antietam, III, 29 
 Battle of Bad Axe, II, 145 
 Battle of Buena Vista, II, 317 
 Battle of Cerro Gordo, II, 321 
 Battle of the Wisconsin, II, 144 
 Battle of Tippecanoe, I, 271 
 Batty, George F., VI, 44 
 Bauer, Edward N., VI, 29 
 Bauernfeind, Howard K., V, 201 
 Baum, Birchard E., VI, 225 
 Baum, William F., V, 87 
 Baxter, William J., VI, 277 
 Baysinger, Millard W., V, 391 
 Beach, Clifford E., V, 425 
 Beach, Raymond W., VI, 73 
 Beadles, Jesse A., VI, 257 
 Beardsley, James M., IV, 144 
 Beattie, James G., VI, 196 
 Beatty, Sydney M., IV, 170 
 Beaubien, Charles H., I, 151 
 Beaubien, John B., I, 151; II, 104, 106 
 Beaubien, Mark, I, 151; II, 106 
 Beaubien, Medard, I, 151; II, 107 
 Beaubien family, I, 151 
 Becker, Benjamin V., V, 72 
 Beckett, Catherine M., IV, 69 
 Beckett, John B., IV, 69 
 Beckwith, Hiram W., IV, 383 
 Beckwith, Walter E., V, 75 
 Beckwith, William H., IV, 422 
 Bedford, George, V, 298 
 Beebe, William L., IV, 300 
 Beecher, Howard B., IV, 177 
 Beecher, R. Edward, III, 382 
 Beekman, Harry E., V, 136 
 Beekman, J. Colby, V, 135 
 Behan, Louis J., IV, 343 
 Beimfohr, Alfred H., V, 182 
 Bell, Alexander H., V, 172 
 Bell, Harry E., VI, 28 
 Bell, Joseph W., Ill, 87 
 Bell, Newton E., V, 6 
 Bell, Thomas Z., V, 139 
 Bell, W. Hayden, VI, 429 
 Bellefontaine, I, 406 
 Belleville, I, 408, 420; III, 103 
 Bemis, Bertis B., VI, 333 
 Bencini, Edward L., V, 248 
 Bennison, William H., Ill, 71 
 Benson, Joe P., VI, 214 
 Benz, Adolph, Jr., IV, 72 
 Berra, Humbert A., V, 396 
 Berry, Roy C, V, 25 
 Berry, William D., V, 64 
 
 Besse, Robert W., IV, 162 
 
 Best, Don J., IV, 211 
 
 Best, John H., IV, 211 
 
 Best & Sons, John H., IV, 211 
 
 Beveridge, John L., Ill, 87, 161; IV, 383 
 
 Bierd, William G., VI, 82 
 
 Bierer, Frederick G., V, 338 
 
 Big Bay Creek settlement, I, 407 
 
 Big Muddy River, I, 407; III, 428 
 
 Big Muddy saline, II, 196 
 
 Big Spring, I, 406 
 
 Biggs, Henry P., V, 407 
 
 Biggs, John D., V, 408 
 
 Biggs, Oliver S., IV, 292 
 
 Biggs, William, I, 388, 404 
 
 Bill of Rights, I, 227, 350 
 
 Billings, Frank, III, 363 
 
 Biloxi, founded, I, 110 
 
 Birkbeck, Morris, I, 448, 450; II, 37; 
 III, 179 
 
 Birkett, David S., IV, 137 
 
 Birr, Bernard J., IV, 424 
 
 Birthplace of Stephen A. Douglas, (illus- 
 tration) II, 390 
 
 Bisch, Harold P., IV, 224 
 
 Bissel, George A., VI, 280 
 
 Bissell, William H., II, 383; IV, 360 
 
 Bitter campaign, A, I, 40 
 
 Bituminous coal, I, 38 
 
 Black, Jesse, Jr., IV, 76 
 
 Black, John C, VI, 170 
 
 Black, John W., IV, 197 
 
 Black, Robert, VI, 113 
 
 Black, Willis L., V, 374 
 
 Black Code, I, 434 
 
 Black Hawk, II, 110 
 
 Black Hawk Trail, near Dixon, (illustra- 
 tion) II, 111 
 
 Black Hawk War: volunteers for, II, 121; 
 army organization, 127; new army, 
 137; Kellogg Grove Monument, (illus- 
 tration), 138; orders disobeyed, 143; 
 noted men in, 150 
 
 "Black laws," III, 109 
 
 Black Partridge, I, 282, 390 
 
 Black walnut plantation, Mason County, 
 (illustration) III, 207 
 
 Blackburn, Lawrence A., V, 264 
 
 Blackstone, Timothy B., IV, 383 
 
 Blackwell, David, II, 38 
 
 Blair, Chauncey B., VI, 3 
 
 Blair. Francis G., VI, 408 
 
 Blair, William C, VI, 147 
 
 Blake, Elizabeth M., IV, 240 
 
 Blake, John D., IV, 239 
 
 Blanchard, Israel, III, 39 
 
 Blane, Frank E., IV, 319 
 
 Blane, Hetty J., V, 130 
 
 Blane, John P., V, 129 
 
 Blane, Mary A. B., V, 130 
 
 Blaney, James V., VI, 428 
 
XXVI 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Blanko, Edward C, VI, 383 
 
 Blatchford, John R., IV, 402 
 
 Bliss, Harold J., IV, 216 
 
 Block, Nathan, V, 133 
 
 Blockhouses, I, 260, 272 
 
 Blodgett, Albert M., IV, 164 
 
 Blodgett, William A., IV, 154 
 
 "Bloody shirt" campaigning, III, 156 
 
 Bloomington, III, 101 
 
 Bloomington Association of Commerce, 
 
 VI, 390 
 Bloomington Convention, 1856, II, 380 
 Bloomington Times, III, 34 
 Boeschenstein, Charles, IV, 14 
 Boggs, Berthold L., V, 179 
 Bohm, Alvin C, V, 28 
 Bohm, William H., V, 28 
 Boisbriant, (Lieut.), I, 256, 384 
 Boland, Lee, IV, 200 
 Boiling, George W., V, 412 
 Bolt, Martin G., IV, 325 
 Bolton, William H., Ill, 89 
 Bond, Shadrach, Sr., I, 371, 384; II, 36, 
 
 64; III, 330, 377 
 Bond, Shadrach, Jr., I, 293, 298 
 Bond County, population in 1818, I, 343 
 Bondurant, Flint, VI, 368 
 Bonney, Charles C, III, 250, 252 
 Bonniwell, Charles A., V, 233 
 Bonties, John F., IV, 293 
 Bonus, World War, III, 369 
 Boone, A. R., V, 380 
 Borbounnais and Kankakee, I, 152 
 Borgelt, Leo H., V, 99 
 Borgsmiller, Henry, Jr., V, 329 
 Borgsmiller, Henry, Sr., V, 328 
 Borough, Joseph, I, 337 
 Bostick, John W., V, 200 
 Boswell, Arlie O., V, 213 
 Boswell, John T., IV, 337 
 Bottrell, Joseph D., IV, 184 
 Bounty Tract, I, 433 
 Bourland, Frederick B., IV, 55 
 Bourland, Ogden P., V, 283 
 Bouton, Edward, III, 88 
 Bouton, Hugh E., VI, 43 
 Bowen, Esco N., VI, 89 
 Bowen, Mrs. Joseph T., Ill, 363, 368 
 Bowers, Henry, V, 144 
 Bowling, John W., VI, 248 
 Boyd, George W., VI, 309 
 Boyd, Hobart S., V, 314 
 Boyd, Lawrence J., V, 289 
 Boyle, Martin, IV, 99 
 Boys' Corn Club, (illustration) III, 216 
 Bracken, Thomas H., V, 252 
 Bracy, Harry W., VI, 116 
 Bradbury, John, I, 372; III, 376 
 Bradbury, Presley G., VI, 228 
 Bradley, Loyd M., V, 379 
 Bradsby, John, I, 385 
 
 Bradsby, William I 385 
 
 Bradshaw, Charles, VI, 52 
 
 Brainard, Daniel, IV, 354 
 
 Brais, Louis J., VI, 302 
 
 Brannan, George E., V, 156 
 
 Brantingham, Charles S., V, 308 
 
 Brass, Edgar E., V, 167 
 
 Brass, Ella B., V, 167 
 
 Brecher, George, IV, 67 
 
 Breese, Sidney, II, 153, 341; (illustra- 
 tion), 343, 456 
 
 Bremerman, Lewis W., VI, 161 
 
 Brennecke, H. A., VI, 309 
 
 Brewer, Mason P., IV, 156 
 
 Brewster, Guerdon L., V, 225 
 
 Brian, Frederick, IV, 288 
 
 Brichler, George W., V, 58 
 
 Brick industry, II, 86 
 
 Bridges, II, 313 
 
 Bridges, Lyman, III, 90 
 
 Bridges' Battery, Illinois Artillery, III, 
 90 
 
 Bridgman, Henry A., VI, 136 
 
 British claims, I, 309 
 
 British control, I, 154 
 
 Brittain, Joseph K., IV, 339 
 
 Brittin, Albert L., IV, 315 
 
 Britton, George A., IV, 114 
 
 Brock, Francis M., V, 188 
 
 Brocket, Albert G., Ill, 86 
 
 Bronson, Stephen, III, 82, 84 
 
 Brookings, Charles M., VI, 190 
 
 Brooks, James S., V, 383 
 
 Brooks, John F., Ill, 118, 382 
 
 Brooks, Mary, III, 118 
 
 Brooks, Robert E. L., V, 356 
 
 Brown, Antrim C, VI, 380 
 
 Brown, B. Gratz, III, 158 
 
 Brown, Columbus, VI, 208 
 
 Brown, Edward O., V, 262 
 
 Brown, Edwin L., Ill, 235 
 
 Brown, Jesse R., V, 111 
 
 Brown, John E., VI, 351 
 
 Brown, John J., V, 212 
 
 Brown, Lewis E., IV, 62 
 
 Brown, Robert E., V, 198 
 
 Brown, Stuart, IV, 65 
 
 Brown, William H., II, 39, 43 
 
 Browne, H. Kingsbury, IV, 413 
 
 Browne, Robert B., V, 157 
 
 Browne, Thomas C, I, 386, 401; II, 64 
 
 Browning, J. Roy, V, 238 
 
 Browning, John W., V, 230 
 
 Browning, Orville H., II, 154, 224, 478; 
 III, 127 
 
 Brownsville, I, 407 
 
 Brubaker, Archibald D., V, 272 
 
 Brundage, Edward J., VI, 199 
 
 Bruner, Albert M., IV, 233 
 
 Bruner, James D., IV, 234 
 
 Bryan, Silas, III, 128 
 
INDEX 
 
 XXVll 
 
 Bryan, Thomas B., Ill, 239 
 
 Bryan, William Jennings, birthplace of, 
 
 (illustration) III, 128 
 Bryant, Guy A., IV, 160 
 Bryant, William C, II, 475 
 Bryner, John, III, 66 
 Buchanan, De Witt W., VI, 151 
 Bucher, Jacques T., I, 215 
 Buchhalter, Isadore L., VI, 185 
 Buck, Solon J., Ill, 220 
 Buckbee, John T., IV, 403 
 Buckmaster, Nathaniel, II, 151 
 Buckner, Roy A., IV, 386 
 Buckwalter, Clarence J., VI, 374 
 Budde, Alford E., V, 226 
 Budget system, III, 297 
 Buel Institute, III, 384 
 Buffalo Rock, I, 258, 406 
 Buford, Napoleon B., Ill, 61 
 Building stone, I, 40 
 Bullard, Robert I., IV, 17 
 Bullard, Samuel A., IV, 65 
 Bullock, Frank M., V, 272 
 Bundy, Samuel H., Ill, 40 
 Bunn, Charles E., IV, 74 
 Bunn, Jacob, IV, 201 
 Buntain, C. M. Clay, VI, 281 
 Burchard, Horatio C, IV, 383 
 Burgess, Hampton S., V, 312 
 Burgess, Theodore C, VI, 354 
 Burke, Arthur M., VI, 228 
 Burke, John, V, 14 
 Burke, J. J., IV, 185 
 Burke, Patrick E., Ill, 69 
 Burkhardt, William H., VI, 195 
 Burkhart, Carl, VI, 208 
 Burkhart, James M., VI, 207 
 Burnett, H. Clinton, VI, 428 
 Burnett, Rad, V, 215 
 Burnett, Samuel T., IV, 38 
 Burnett, William E., VI, 214 
 Burnham, Albert C, VI, 12 
 Burnham, Daniel H., Ill, 244 
 Burnham, Mae W., VI, 14 
 Burnham, Robert D., VI, 13 
 Burnham Atheneum, The, VI, 43 
 Burnham Family, VI, 12 
 Burns, Frank L., VI, 316 
 Burnside, Ambrose E., Ill, 33 
 Burrall, Arthur, IV, 255 
 Burroughs, Benjamin R., V, 159 
 Burson, William W., IV, 388 
 Burson, Wilson W., IV, 388 
 Burton, Charles S., IV, 296 
 Bush, Frank N., VI, 419 
 Busse, Henry E., V, 32 
 Butler, Walker, VI, 105 
 Butter, III, 413 
 Butterworth, Benjamin, III, 239 
 Byus, David C, V, 63 
 
 Cable, Ransom R., IV, 384 
 Cabrilliac, Anthony B., I, 13 
 Cadwell, George, (illustration) II, 13 
 Cahokia, capture of, I, 181; court rec- 
 ords, 216, 233, 407; carding mill at, 
 
 447 
 Cahokia Creek, I, 407 
 Cahokia Indians, I, 49 
 Cairns, Caldwell, I, 338 
 Cairo, I, 307, 407; in Civil War, III, 42, 
 
 98 
 Cairo Bank at Kaskaskia, (illustration) 
 
 I, 441, II, 250 
 Cairo Public Library, V, 254 
 Cairo Vandalia Highway, near Cobden, 
 
 (illustration) II, 207 
 Cairo Weekly Times and Delta, 1858, 
 
 (facsimile) II, 413 
 Caldwell, Charles A., V, 121 
 Caldwell, Delia, V, 379 
 Calhoon, Emery E., VI, 350 
 Calhoun, N. Curtis, VI, 310 
 Callahan, Ethelbert, VI, 258 
 Callahan, James T., V, 377 
 Calumet-Sag Channel, Drainage Canal, 
 
 (illustration) III, 173 
 Cameron, Daniel Jr., Ill, 69 
 Cameron, Glenn J., IV, 168 
 Cameron, James A., IV, 168 
 Campaign in Illinois, 1872, III, 161 
 Campaign of 1826, II, 51, 55 
 Campaign of 1856, II, 385 
 Campaign of 1860, II, 482 
 Campaign of 1868, III, 153, 217 
 Camp, George, I, 404 
 Camp, Ichabod, I, 404 
 Camp Butler, III, 45 
 Camp Douglas, III, 47 
 Camp Grant, III, 348 
 Camp Russell, I, 408 
 Camps, Civil War, III, 44 
 Campbell, A. Courtney, Jr., VI, 385 
 Campbell, Bruce A., V, 84 
 Campbell, Delwin M., VI, 135 
 Campbell, Fitz J., VI, 344 
 Campbell, Herbert J., VI, 73 
 Campbell, Howard E., VI, 271 
 Campbell, James R., VI, 128 
 Campbell, Lloyd C, VI, 120 
 Campbell, Valentine B., VI, 128 
 Canada, relation of Illinois to, I, 59 
 Canadian contingent, I, 373 
 Canadian-French settlers, I, 373 
 Canal building, II, 206 
 Canal commissioners, II, 209, 240 
 Canal scrip bill, (illustration) 11, 237 
 Canals, III, 428, 454 
 Candidates for governor, 1822, II, 18 
 Cannon, Joseph G., (illustration) III, 
 
 270; IV, 7 
 Cannon, Vern E., IV, 32 
 
XXV111 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Canopy, Frank E., IV, 82 
 
 Capital, agitation to move from Kaskas- 
 
 kia, I, 349; moving of, 437 
 Capitol, proposal for new, III, 120 
 Capitol, Vandalia, (illustration) II, 255 
 Capitol, Springfield, 1857, (illustration) 
 
 II, 399 
 Capron, Horace, III, 87 
 Cardiff, Grant, IV, 221 
 Cardiff, Ida M., IV, 221 
 Cardiff, Kelly A., VI, 50 
 Carding mill, Cahokia, I, 447 
 Carley, Mark, VI, 47 
 Carlin, Thomas, I, 401; II, 150, 234, 235 
 Carlin, William H., Ill, 39 
 Carlinville, III, 101 
 Carlson, George E., IV, 327 
 Carlson, Martin R., IV, 158 
 Carlson, Victor C, V, 328 
 Carlyle, I, 419 
 
 Carmichael, Wilbur J., VI, 77 
 Carnovale, Luigi, VI, 372 
 Carpenter, Benjamin, VI, 267 
 Carpenter, Milton, II, 224 
 Carr, Clark E., Ill, 12; (illustration) 13 
 Carr, Eugene A., Ill, 85 
 Carriel, Henry F., IV, 384 
 Carrington, William E., VI, 160 
 Carroll, Augusta S, IV, 232 
 Carroll, Charles, II, 189, 202 
 Carroll, Charles V. B., IV, 232 
 Carrollton, I, 420 
 Carter, Albert R., V, 346 
 Carter, Orin, III, 333 
 Cartier, James, I, 63 
 Cartier, Octave J., VI, 284 
 Cartwright, James H., Ill, 337; VI, 16 
 Cartwright, Peter, I, 368; II, 87, 150, 
 
 303; (illustration), III, 113 
 Cascasquias, I, 160 
 Case, Charles C, VI, 408 
 Casey, Earl C, VI, 286 
 Casey, Thomas S., Ill, 77 
 Casey, Zadoc, I, 385; II, 66, 155, 330 
 Cass, Lewis, II, 156 
 
 Castle Rock, Dixon, (illustration) II, 61 
 Caswell, Henry, II, 290 
 Catalpa plantation, (illustration) II, 214 
 Caton, John D., IV, 356 
 Caudle, Charles B., VI, 88 
 Causey, Walter G., IV, 38 
 Cavalry organizations, III, 84 
 Cavanaugh, Thomas H., Ill, 85 
 Cavell, Edith, III, 321 
 Celebration of Independence Day, first 
 
 west of Ohio River, I, 229 
 Cenozoic Era, I, 11 
 Centennial Building, III, 338 
 Centennial Commission, III, 233, 337 
 Centennial Exposition, III, 234 
 
 Centennial Memorial Building, (illus- 
 tration) III, 300 
 
 Centennial of Independence, III, 232 
 
 Center, Charles D., V, 95 
 
 Center Presbytery of Illinois, II, 88 
 
 Centers of population, I, 266; of settle- 
 ment, 381 
 
 Central Illinois Gazette, II, 478 
 
 Cerre, Gabriel, I, 258 
 
 Cerre, John G., I, 399 
 
 Chafee, George D., VI, 340 
 
 Chamness, Clyde J., V, 378 
 
 Champaign National Bank, VI, 63 
 
 Champaign Public Library, VI, 43 
 
 Champion, Thomas E., Ill, 75 
 
 Champlain, Father of New France, I, 62 
 
 Chancellor, Justus, VI, 10 
 
 Chanute Field, III, 348 
 
 Chapline, Jesse G., VI, 381 
 
 Chapman, Fletcher H., Ill, 90 
 
 Charities, III, 430 
 
 Charles, Arthur W., VI, 200 
 
 Charleston Convention, 1860, II, 476 
 
 Charleston Debate, II, 414 
 
 Charnwood, Lord, III, 335 
 
 Chartering of banks, II, 91 
 
 Chase, Philander, IV, 385 
 
 Chase, Salmon P., II, 373, 484 
 
 Cheese, III, 413 
 
 Cheney, John T., Ill, 88 
 
 Chicago: varied spelling of word, I, 124; 
 prospective city of, 333, 419; early his- 
 tory of, II, 98; name, 98; winter of 
 1674-5, 99; first citizen, 100; first wed- 
 ding, 101; city in 1812, 101; in 1831, 
 (illustration) 102; Fort Dearborn, 103; 
 fur trading, 104; treaty congress, 105; 
 laid out in town lots, 105; growth of, 
 105; business center, 353; 1860, 480; 
 greatest grain port, III, 208; World's 
 Columbian Exposition, 235; Centennial 
 celebration, 336 
 
 Chicago Board of Trade Battery, Illinois 
 Artillery, III, 89 
 
 Chicago Board of Trade Regiment, III, 
 70 
 
 Chicago convention, 1860, II, 482 
 
 Chicago Drainage Canal, III, 428 
 
 Chicago fire, 1871, III, 164; legislative 
 action following, 176 
 
 Chicago Interstate Exposition, III, 235 
 
 Chicago Mercantile Battery, Illinois Ar- 
 tillery, III, 89 
 
 Chicago River, II, 104 
 
 Chicago Sanitary District (illustrations) 
 III, 173 
 
 Chicago Temple, (illustration) III, 419 
 
 Chicago Times, suppressed, III, 32 
 
 Chicago Tribune, II, 478 
 
 Chickasa War, I, 129 
 
 Childress, Edmund H., V, 190 
 
INDEX 
 
 XXIX 
 
 Chiperfield, Burnett M., V, 315 
 
 Choisser, Carl, VI, 173 
 
 Choisser, Robert E., VI, 180 
 
 Choisser, William V., VI, 180 
 
 Chouteau, Auguste, II, 156 
 
 Christian, Fay F., V, 275 
 
 Christopher, John, III, 74 
 
 Church, Lawrence S., Ill, 75 
 
 Church, Ralph E., V, 265 
 
 Church of St. Anne, II, 90 
 
 Churches: I, 260, 366; stand on slavery 
 question, II, 44, 86; III, 433 
 
 Churchill, George, II, 38 
 
 Chynoweth, William C, IV, 40 
 
 Cincinnati Convention, III, 159 
 
 Cities, growth of, III, 97 
 
 Citizens State Bank, VI, 228 
 
 City High Schools, III, 393 
 
 City of Far West, II, 275 
 
 City schools, III, 389 
 
 Civil administration, Illinois Territory, 
 I, 301 
 
 Civil Administrative Code, III, 291 
 
 Civil government, I, 186 
 
 Civil organization, 1818, I, 427 
 
 Civil War: Illinois in, III, 10; first 
 troops, 10; defense of Cairo, 10; end 
 of 1861, 22; newspaper influences, 32; 
 women's help, 36; Yates at Shiloh, 36; 
 State Sanitary Bureau, 37; "The 
 American Bastile," 38; Cairo and 
 Mound City, 42; gunboats, 43; mortar 
 boats, 44; camps and prisons, 45; a 
 conspiracy, 47; politics during 1864, 
 50; 91; recuperation, 91 
 
 Civil War soldier, (illustration), III, 46 
 
 Clark, Edward E., V, 62 
 
 Clark, Elmer E., IV, 44 
 
 Clark, Fletcher F., V, 334 
 
 Clark, Francis, I, 371; III, 376 
 
 Clark, George Rogers: I, 148; conquest 
 of Illinois, 169, 170; (illustration), 171; 
 instructions to, 173; expedition down 
 the Ohio, 175; march across Southern 
 Illinois, 177; capture of Kaskaskia, 
 180; capture of Cahokia, 181; Vin- 
 cennes surrendered, 182; attack on 
 Vincennes, 191; surrender of Vin- 
 cennes, 193; 385; III, 375 
 
 Clark, John, I, 371, 387 
 
 Clark, Samuel P., IV, 101 
 
 Clark, Sheldon, VI, 138 
 
 Clarke, Elam L., VI, 318 
 
 Clary, George P., V, 151 
 
 Clausen, Henry O., V, 358 
 
 Clay, Cassius M., II, 484 
 
 Clay products, I, 40 
 
 Clayton, John H., VI, 116 
 
 Clayton, John W., VI, 118 
 
 Cleary, John J., VI, 282 
 
 Cleaveland, Harry H., IV, 389 
 
 Clements, Charles F., IV, 94 
 
 Clements, Louis, IV, 419 
 
 Clendenen, Taylor C, IV, 418 
 
 Clendenin, Henry W., IV, 204 
 
 Clerk, Frederick E., VI, 233 
 
 Cleveland, Grover, III, 254 
 
 Climate, I, 36 
 
 Clinch, Walter A., IV, 54 
 
 Cline, Phil, V, 344 
 
 Clippinger, Roy, VI, 246 
 
 Clothier, Charles R., V, 215 
 
 Clothing industries, III, 416 
 
 Cloud, Newton, II, 224 
 
 Coal: I, 15; 38; pioneer mining, II, 85; 
 
 III, 420 
 Cochran, William G., VI, 83 
 Coddington, Eugene S., VI, 212 
 Cogswell, William, III, 89 
 Cogswell's Battery, Illinois Artillery, III 
 
 89 
 
 Cohn, Eugene, V, 212 
 
 Cohrs, Walter L., V, 133 
 
 Colborn, Byron C, IV, 46 
 
 Coleman, James E., V, 317 
 
 Coler, William N., Ill, 61 
 
 Coles, Edward, II, 19; (illustration) 21; 
 
 message of, 25; 37; 65; III, 179 
 Coliseum Building Corporation, VI, 87 
 College and seminary funds, III, 185 
 Colleges, II, 301 
 Collier, John S., VI, 305 
 Collins, Chester E., VI, 337 
 Colonial population, in 1760, I, 217 
 Colvin, Jay A., VI, 108 
 Colvin, John H., Ill, 90 
 Colvin's Battery, Illinois Artillery, III, 90 
 Commerce: Illinois Territory, I, 365; 
 
 early, 422; 1830, II, 75; 298 
 Commissioners of public works, II, 231 
 "Common School Convention", Chicago, 
 
 1846, III, 383 
 Community High School, Carbondale, V, 
 
 380 
 Community High Schools, III, 394 
 Compromise of 1850, II, 364 
 Compton, Charles W., IV, 222 
 Compton, Levi, I, 337 
 Conaghan, Edward T., IV, 81 
 Condon, Frank D., V, 300 
 Congress at St. Mary's, I, 67 
 Congressional townships, I, 221 
 Conner, Ephraim, I, 386 
 Connole, Henry, IV, 427 
 Connole, Martha L., V, 60 
 Connors, Matthew S., V, 8 
 Conquest of Illinois, Clark's, I, 169 
 Conser, William H., IV, 139 
 Consolidation of schools, III, 392 
 
XXX 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Constitutions: of 1848, II, 323; not sub- 
 mitted, 323; of 1848, ratification, 337; 
 of 1848, Article X, Section 5, 354; 
 of 1818, III, 122; of 1870, 122; of 1848, 
 123; of 1870, 124; provisions of, 131; 
 of 1870, 219; celebration of adoption 
 of, 330 
 
 Constitutional Conventions; of 1818, I, 
 342; II, 193; of 1848, members of, 
 327; of 1862, III, 24; call for, 1867, 
 124; delegates to, 1869-70, 125; or- 
 ganization of, 1869-70, 129 
 
 Controversy with St. Louis, II, 346 
 
 "Convention or Death", war cry, II, 31 
 
 Coventry, John W., IV, 334 
 
 Converse, William O., IV, 40 
 
 Conway, James R., IV, 169 
 
 Conzelman, William J., IV, 429 
 
 Cook, Burton C, IV, 383 
 
 Cook, Daniel P., I, 316, 401, II, 38, 44, 
 56, 63 
 
 Cook, John, III, 57 
 
 Cook, Marion C, V, 360 
 
 Cook, Robert T., V, 207 
 
 Cook County: first election in, 1832, II, 
 107; courts, HI, 144 
 
 Cooke, George A., IV, 339 
 
 Cooper, Jabas F., IV, 267 
 
 Cooper Union speech, II, 474 
 
 Cooperative buying, III, 223; marketing, 
 228; store, 227 
 
 Cope, William A., VI, 225 
 
 Corboy, William J., V, 17 
 
 Corley, Dewitt C, IV, 183 
 
 Corn, seed, III, 358 
 
 Corn Belt, I, 22 
 
 Corn field (illustration), III, 208 
 
 Corn planter, III, 194 
 
 Corporations, III, 204 
 
 Costello, Mark P., IV, 184 
 
 Cotton, I, 447 
 
 Cottonwood plantation, Whiteside Coun- 
 ty (illustration), III, 207 
 
 Coultas, Irwin F., VI, 202 
 
 Council of National Defense, III, 359, 
 362 
 
 Counties: organized, I, 232; Illinois Ter- 
 ritory, 299; in Illinois, 1818 (map), 
 328; new, II, 80; organization and 
 population (map), 83 
 
 County celebrations, Illinois Centennial 
 Anniversary, III, 305 
 
 County courts, III, 144 
 
 County of Illinois, created, I, 203 
 
 County school superintendents, III, 390 
 
 Courier-News Publishing Company, VI, 
 327 
 
 Court decisions, II, 11 
 
 Courts; established, I, 158; II, 58; III, 
 143 
 
 Cousley, Paul B., V, 8 
 
 Coventry, John W., IV, 334 
 Coventry, Sarah, IV, 335 
 Cowburn, Walter, IV, 298 
 Crabb, J. Warren, IV, 89 
 Crafts, John, II, 104 
 Craig, Alfred M., IV, 407 
 Craig, Charles C, IV, 408 
 Craig, Phil A., VI, 106 
 Craig, Thomas E., I, 285, 388 
 Crawford, Charles C, V, 209 
 Crawford, Walter B., VI, 164 
 Crawford County, population in 1818, I, 
 
 343 
 Creal Springs College, VI, 271 
 Cream, III, 413 
 Crebs, John M., VI, 192 
 Credit Mobilier, III, 158 
 Cregier, Clinton D., III. 259 
 Cregier, DeWitt C, III, 238 
 Crerar, John, V, 429 
 Crevecoeur, I, 89 
 Crittenden Compromise, II, 488 
 Croghan, Colonel, I, 144 
 Cromwell, Ray R., IV, 28 
 Crops, III, 414 
 Cross, John A., VI, 398 
 Cross, John E., V, 269 
 Crossman, George W., V, 264 
 Crow, Lewis M., V, 344 
 Crozat; Louisiana granted to, I, 112; 
 
 256 
 Crozier, Ray, IV, 33 
 Culbertson, Frederick D., V, 119 
 Culbertson, Samuel E., VI, 86 
 Culbertson, William J., IV, 58 
 Cullinane, Alexander D., VI, 152 
 Cullom, Edward N., I, 338 
 Cullom, Richard, II, 224 
 Cullom, Shelby M., Ill, 12; (illustration) 
 
 155; IV, 369 
 Culver, John H., IV, 176 
 Culver, Morton T., V, 31 
 Cumming, Gilbert W., Ill, 67 
 Cunningham, Frank S., VI, 133 
 Cunningham, Oliver B., VI, 133 
 Curtis, John, III, 83 
 Cushing, Charles W., IV, 47 
 Cushing, Lena O., IV, 47 
 Cushman, William H. W., Ill, 67 
 Custer, Omer N., V, 395 
 Cutler, Manassah, I, 224 
 Cutler, Reed F., IV, 399 
 Cyclone, III, 403 
 Cyclonic storms, I, 37 
 
 Dablon, Claude J., I, 70 
 
 Daggett, Arthur W., VI, 194 
 
 Dahlberg, Gotthard A., IV, 331 
 
 Dahle, Andrew, VI, 324 
 
 Daily, Whitson W., VI, 124 
 
 Daily Pantagraph, Bloomington, V, 267 
 
INDEX 
 
 XXXI 
 
 Dairy farm (illustration), III, 413 
 
 Dairy farming, III, 200 
 
 Dames, Fred C, VI, 290 
 
 Daniel-Graves, Harriett M., VI, 400 
 
 Daniels, Josephus, III, 334 
 
 "Danite Band", II, 274 
 
 Dannenberg, W. C, IV, 281 
 
 Darrow, Clarence S., VI, 19 
 
 Darrow, Nathan, I, 370 
 
 D'Artaguiette, Pierre, I, 129 
 
 Dasher, Edwin H., IV, 234 
 
 Daumont, Simon F., I, 67 
 
 David, Joseph B., VI, 204 
 
 Davidson, Peter, III, 82, 88 
 
 Davis, Charles A., IV, 112 
 
 Davis, David, II, 332, 478; III, 159; VI, 
 137 
 
 Davis, Homer H., V, 403 
 
 Davis, Jefferson, II, 151, 312 
 
 Davis, John A., Ill, 66 
 
 Davis, Lawrence A., V, 49 
 
 Davis, Levi, IV, 374 
 
 Davis, Nathan S., IV, 353 
 
 Davis, Ralph C, V, 220 
 
 Davis, Uriah C, V, 219 
 
 Davis, U. C. & Sons, V, 219 
 
 Davis, William B., V, 120 
 
 Davis, William C, V, 220 
 
 Davis, William F., IV, 113 
 
 Davis, William O., V, 267 
 
 Dawson, Roy, IV, 184 
 
 Dawson & Wikoff, IV, 184 
 
 Day, Henry M., Ill, 74 
 
 Day, Warren W., IV, 277 
 
 Deal, Don W., IV, 91 
 
 Dean, Earl D., V, 321 
 
 Dean, Henry W., Ill, 83 
 
 Dean, J. Clarke, V, 128 
 
 Deatherage, William W., IV, 243 
 
 Decatur, III, 100 
 
 Decatur Free Public Library, IV, 190 
 
 Deck, Jesse L., IV, 206 
 
 Declaration of Rights, II, 336 
 
 Deere, Charles H., Ill, 233 
 
 Deere, John, IV, 397 
 
 Dehn, George J., IV, 380 
 
 De la Balme, expedition of, I, 206 
 
 Delegates to State Constitutional Con- 
 vention of 1818, I, 333 
 
 De Long, Herman R., VI, 48 
 
 Dement, John, II, 224, 332; III, 127 
 
 Democratic Legislature, 1863, III, 26 
 
 Democratic National Conventions; 1840, 
 II, 260; 1864, III, 53 
 
 Democratic State Conventions; 1858, II, 
 397; 1864, III, 52; 1870, 157 
 
 Democrats, II, 251; in 1856, 385 
 
 Demos, Paul, VI, 158 
 
 Dempsey, H. C, IV, 181 
 
 Deneen, Charles S., Ill, 285; VI, 354 
 
 Denison, Raymond R., VI, 250 
 
 Dennis, Elias S., Ill, 62 
 
 Dennis, Herbert R., IV, 98 
 
 Department of Agriculture, III, 184, 291, 
 294 
 
 Department of Finance, III, 291, 294 
 
 Department of Labor, III, 292, 294 
 
 Department of Mines and Minerals, III, 
 292 295 
 
 Department of Public Health, III, 292 
 
 Department of Public Welfare, III, 292, 
 295 
 
 Department of Public Works and Build- 
 ings, III, 292, 295 
 
 Department of Registration and Educa- 
 tion, III, 293, 297 
 
 Department of Trade and Commerce, 
 III, 293, 296 
 
 De Rocheblave, Chevalier, I, 257 
 
 DeSoto, III, 404 
 
 Detroit, loss of, 1812, I, 278 
 
 Detweiller, Henry, IV, 223 
 
 Detweiller, Thomas H., IV, 223 
 
 De Villiers, Neyon, I, 257 
 
 Dewey, George F., VI, 265 
 
 Dewey, John M., VI, 272 
 
 Dewey, William S., VI, 57 
 
 DeWitt, John C, VI, 264 
 
 DeWolf, Edward P., IV, 391 
 
 Dibbern, Charles H., IV, 115 
 
 dTberville, Sieur le Moyne, I, 110 
 
 Dickey, T. Lyle, III, 85 
 
 Dickson, William C, VI, 40 
 
 Diggs, James L., VI, 278 
 
 Dill, Minnie A., IV, 190 
 
 Dillehunt, Samuel B., IV, 241 
 
 Diller, Adam E., VI, 312 
 
 Diller, Harold F., IV, 30 
 
 Dillman, John V., V, 170 
 
 Dillon, Nathan, II, 96 
 
 Director of Agriculture, III, 359 
 
 "Discovery and Conquest of the North- 
 west with the History of Chicago", 
 II, 98 
 
 Discovery of Mississippi River, I, 70 
 
 District of Louisiana, I, 248 
 
 Dodds, Fred C, IV, 209 
 
 Dodds, Joseph C, VI, 58 
 
 Dodge, Henry, II, 157 
 
 Dodge, John, I, 404 
 
 Doerfler, William J., IV, 220. 
 
 Dolbee, Harriet, VI, 326 
 
 Dolbee, Shadrach R., VI, 326 
 
 Dollear, Albert H., VI, 362 
 
 Dollins, James L., Ill, 72 
 
 Domestic animals, III, 412 
 
 Dominican Sisters of Illinois, IV, 33 
 
 Donley, Lee E., V, 125 
 
 Donovan, Harold A., V, 60 
 
 Dooley, James B., IV, 163 
 
XXX11 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Doren, Frank, IV, 285 
 
 Dormand, William L., V, 281 
 
 Dougherty, Henry, III, 60 
 
 Dougherty, John, II, 224 
 
 Douglas, Stephen A., II, 226, 261, 366, 
 367, 388; (illustration), 389; birth- 
 place of (illustration), 390; 401; in 
 the South, 469; 477; in campaign, I860, 
 485; III, 11, 334, 382 
 
 Douglas democrats, II, 398 
 
 Dow, Robert W., VI, 427 
 
 Dowdell, Nathan H., V, 340 
 
 Dowell, George W., VI, 184 
 
 Doyle, Cornelius J., IV, 21 
 
 Doyle, John, I, 383, 404 
 
 Dred Scott Decision, II, 393, 394 
 
 Dresser, Jasper M., Ill, 88 
 
 DuBois, Hervey A., IV, 363 
 
 Dubois, Jesse K., II, 224, 359, 478; III, 
 50 
 
 Dueling, I, 252 
 
 Dufault, Peter B., VI, 268 
 
 Duff, Andrew D., Ill, 40 
 
 Duffy, Frank T., V, 13 
 
 Dulaney, Harry B., VI, 269 
 
 Dulaney, Robert L., VI, 269 
 
 Dunas, Arthur, VI, 262 
 
 Dunbar, Edwin F., IV, 184 
 
 Duncan, Harvey E., VI, 245 
 
 Duncan, Joseph, I, 386, 416; II, 56, 64, 
 154, 204; inaugural message, 1834, 218; 
 special message, 222; IV, 384 
 
 Duncan, Mathew, I, 381 
 
 Duncan law, III, 379 
 
 Dunkelberg, Louis P., IV, 100 
 
 Dunlap, Charles R., VI, 350 
 
 Dunlea, Almira, IV, 39 
 
 Dunlea, James T., IV, 39 
 
 Dunn, Robert W., IV, 403 
 
 Dunnan, J. Wallace, VI, 240 
 
 Dunne, Edward G., Ill, 313; VI, 427 
 
 Dunnegan, James E., V, 103 
 
 Durfee, Charles, VI, 97 
 
 Durkee, William H., IV, 259 
 
 Dusenbury, Roy F., VI, 280 
 
 Dustin, Daniel, III, 77 
 
 Dwver, Joseph R., IV, 319 
 
 Dyrenforth, William H., IV, 271 
 
 Dyrenforth Family, IV, 270 
 
 Eagleton, John C, VI, 230 
 
 Earl of Dunmore, I, 169 
 
 Early day dwelling (illustration), I, 360 
 
 Early social decline, I, 204 
 
 Early society in Illinois, I, 373 
 
 Early transportation routes, I, 364 
 
 East, Clarence W., IV, 49 
 
 East St. Louis, III, 103 
 
 Easterly, H. Gatewood, V, 338 
 
 Eckhard, E. J., IV, 344 
 
 Eckols, William, I, 339 
 
 Economic conditions, pioneer, I, 359 
 
 Economic expansion, II, 11 
 
 Economy, III, 287 
 
 Eddleman, William M., V, 189 
 
 Eddy, Henry (illustration), II, 27, 39, 151 
 
 Eden, John R., Ill, 153; IV, 361 
 
 Edgar, John, I, 261, 383 
 
 Editors' convention, 1855, II, 378 
 
 Edmonds, Thomas M., VI, 220 
 
 Edmonson, George S., IV, 212 
 
 Edmunds, Palmer D., IV, 347 
 
 Edsull, James K., Ill, 161 
 
 Education: I, 370; pioneer, 415; public 
 school system, 1824, 417; free schools 
 created 1825, II, 95; 300; III, 115, 145; 
 college and seminary funds, 185; pri- 
 vate or state school, 188, 371; English 
 ideals, 371; first schools, 372; "log 
 colleges", 372; basis of system, 375; 
 first university, 376; free schools, 378; 
 primitive schoolhouses, 380; progress 
 of education, 382; teachers' institutes, 
 383; school law of 1855, 386; first nor- 
 mal school, 386; establishment of state 
 university, 386; elementary schools, 
 387; revenues, 388; rural schools, 388; 
 city schools, 389; county superintend- 
 ents, 390; buildings, 391; courses of 
 study, 391; high schools, 392; teach- 
 ers' colleges, 396; rural practice teach-, 
 ing, 399; state university, 400 
 
 Education Department, III, 293, 297 
 
 Edwards, Arthur, IV, 385 
 
 Edwards, Claire C, V, 175 
 
 Edwards, Cyrus, II, 224, 234; IV, 384 
 
 Edwards, Ninian, I, 263; invades enemy's 
 country, 285; (illustration) 315; 387; 
 compromise, 1824, II, 52; 57, 63, 224 
 
 Edwards, Richard, IV, 384 
 
 Edwards, Russell H., V, 176 
 
 Edwards County, population in 1818, I, 
 343 
 
 "Edwards Papers", I, 263 
 
 Edwardsville, I, 420 
 
 Edwardsville Public Library, IV, 335; 
 land offices, 441 
 
 Eeck, John F., V, 15 
 
 Efficiency and economy, III, 287 
 
 Egan, Edward F., IV, 222 
 
 Eggler, August B., V, 173 
 
 Ehrhardt, Simon, IV, 59 
 
 Eichler, Theodore F., VI, 324 
 
 Einbeck, Hannah, VI, 303 
 
 Elble, John, V, 7 
 
 Elder, Elmer R., IV, 222 
 
 Elections: general, 1824, II, 74; 1842, 
 241; 1824, 253; of 1860, vote statistics, 
 486 
 
 Electrical machinery, III, 416 
 
 Elementary schools, III, 387 
 
INDEX 
 
 XXXlll 
 
 Elgin, III, 100 
 
 Elgin Daily News, V, 374 
 
 Ellicott, Edward B., IV, 317 
 
 Elliff, John T., IV, 138 
 
 Elliott, Cornelius, II, 194 
 
 Elliott, George, II, 194 
 
 Elliott, James H., VI, 117 
 
 Ellis, Ira W., V, 331 
 
 Ellis, James J., VI, 226 
 
 Ellis, John M., II, 303 
 
 Elmore, Howard W., IV, 127 
 
 Elmore, Kenneth A., V, 116 
 
 Elvirade, I, 406 
 
 Ely, John H., IV, 297 
 
 Emancipation Proclamation, III, 28 
 
 Embarrass River, I. 406 
 
 Emory, James S., II, 383 
 
 Enabling Act, I, 321; consideration of, 
 329; features of, 330; signed by the 
 President, 332; commercial possibili- 
 ties, 332; 1818, III, 323; of Illinois, 
 375 
 
 Engbring, William H., VI, 293 
 
 English and French contrasted, I, 60 
 
 English Prairie Settlement, I, 421 
 
 English soldiers, in French villages, I, 
 205 
 
 Enoch, Clyde M., VI, 370 
 
 Equality, salt works, illustration of pipe 
 used in, II, 189 
 
 Erickson, Ole, IV, 386 
 
 Erickson Dry Goods Company, IV, 386 
 
 Erickson, W. B., IV, 386 
 
 Ernest, Ferdinand, I, 424 
 
 Eroded field, formerly in trees, Carroll 
 County (illustration), III, 207 
 
 Eschmann, Charles J., V, 171 
 
 Essington, Thurlow G., VI, 74 
 
 Estes, Clinton J., VI, 213 
 
 Etchison, John M., V, 177 
 
 Ethell, Elmer E., V, 110 
 
 Etherton, James M., IV, 411 
 
 Etnyre, Edward D., V, 187 
 
 Etnyre, E. D. & Company, V, 187 
 
 Ettelson, Samuel A., IV, 284 
 
 Evans, Alice G., IV, 189 
 
 Evans, Francis M., IV, 147 
 
 Evans, Frank N., IV, 213 
 
 Evans, Fred E., VI, 307 
 
 Evans, H. Leroy, VI, 171 
 
 Evans, Henry C, V, 63 
 
 Evans, J. Clyde, IV, 23 
 
 Evarista, M., IV, 415 
 
 Evers, Edward A., V, 369 
 
 Ewing, Adlai T., Ill, 233 
 
 Ewing, Charles H., VI, 15 
 
 Ewing, William L. D., II, 154, 224 
 
 Exemptions, homestead, II, 345; World 
 war, III, 346 
 
 Expeditions: into Central Illinois, 1812, 
 
 I, Lewis and Clark, 403 
 Expositor, The, II, 282 
 
 Factories, distribution of, III, 417 
 
 Fairbank, Nathaniel K., VI, 268 
 
 Fairchild, Raymond W., V, 221 
 
 Fairview Spar Mine, Rosiclare (illus- 
 tration), I, 39 
 
 Fairweather, William C, VI, 209 
 
 Falling Springs, I, 261, 406 
 
 Fanning, G. Carroll, VI, 137 
 
 Farber, Rudolph, V, 190 
 
 Farm advisor, III, 359 
 
 Farm Bureau, III, 409 
 
 Farm implements, III, 95 
 
 Farmer City Public Library, IV, 26 
 
 Farmers, pioneer, II, 296; in business 
 and politics, III, 204; social and in- 
 tellectual status, 212; Grange, 214; 
 State Association, 215; corn clubs, 
 216; as business men, 223; intellec- 
 tual development, 230 
 
 Farmers' Institutes, III, 361 
 
 Farming, better, III, 179; improvements 
 in, 192; dairy, 200; 414 
 
 Farms, II, 12 
 
 Farnsworth, John F., Ill, 86; IV, 359 
 
 Farrar, George W., IV, 318 
 
 Farris, George K., VI, 275 
 
 Farrow, David T., IV, 183 
 
 Farwell, John V., IV, 355 
 
 Faulkner, Harry, VI, 55 
 
 Faulkner, John J., V, 428 
 
 Fawcett, Harry J., VI, 110 
 
 Federal census of 1800, I, 245 
 
 Federal Constitution, Fourteenth Amend- 
 ment to, III, 120 
 
 Feehan, Patrick A., IV, 390 
 
 Fell, Jesse W., II, 478; V, 334 
 
 Felt, Anna E., IV, 397 
 
 Fenton, Raymond J., VI, 288 
 
 Ferguson, Edward C, IV, 343 
 
 Ferguson, Hamlet, I, 338 
 
 Ferrell, Mike, VI, 227 
 
 Ferriss, James H., V, 422 
 
 Fessant, Francis J., VI, 136 
 
 Feuchter, Frederick A., IV, 92 
 
 Ficklin, Orlando B., IV, 390 
 
 Field, Alexander P., II, 35, 66 
 
 Field, David D., II, 475 
 
 Field, Eugene, IV, 370 
 
 Field, Marshall (illustration), III, 260; 
 IV, 354 
 
 Fieldbrave, Alfred, IV, 243 
 
 Fifer, Joe, III, 312 
 
 Fifer, Joseph W., IV, 394 
 
 Filson, James E., VI, 64 
 
 Finance Department, III, 291, 294 
 
 Financial difficulties, 1842-45, II, 245 
 
XXXIV 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Finch, Eleazer C, VI, 418 
 
 Finley, John E., I, 368 
 
 Finneran, Martin H., V, 235 
 
 First Chicago Board of Trade Regiment, 
 
 III, 70 
 First Kaskaskia, I, 109 
 First Normal School Building, Normal 
 
 (illustration), III, 117 
 First United States bank, II, 10 
 Fischer, John B., VI, 345 
 Fish, Charles M., V, 322 
 Fish supply, I, 44 
 Fish and game preserves (illustration), 
 
 II 233 
 Fisher, Charles L., VI, 381 
 Fisher, George, I, 336, 397 
 Fisher, Harry M., V, 150 
 Fisher, Jack, III, 31 
 Fishing, I, 30 
 Fitch, Joel C, V, 405 
 Fithian, John B., VI, 282 
 Fitzgerald, Peter, VI, 240 
 Flat boat, I, 411 
 "Flatheads", II, 308 
 Flax, I, 448 
 
 Fleming, John W. A., V, 187 
 Flenniken, Wilson E., IV, 195 
 Fletcher, Hubert H., VI, 140 
 Fletcher, James, V, 147 
 Flint, Axel, V, 407 
 Flint, Thomas, V, 396 
 Flint, Timothy, I, 412 
 Floods, III, 428 
 Flour, III, 416 
 Flynn, Thomas P., V, 331 
 Fodder, III, 195 
 Foley, John C, V, 301 
 Folsom, Richard S., V, 32 
 Fonda, John D., Ill, 79 
 Food conservation, World war, III, 355 
 Ford, Thomas, II, 150, 242 
 Foreman, Abner W., VI, 149 
 Foreman, Adelaide R., VI, 150 
 Forester, Frederick L., VI, 191 
 Forester, John, VI, 191 
 Forestry (illustrations), II, 214; (illus- 
 trations) III, 207 
 Forests, I, 41 
 
 Forquer, George, II, 39, 65 
 Forsyth, Thomas, I, 402 
 Fort, Greenbury L., IV, 390 . 
 Fort Chartres, I, 118; (illustration) 119, 
 
 134, 161; abandoned, 164; (outline 
 
 plan) 165 
 Fort Chartres Magazine (illustration) I. 
 
 135 
 Fort Dearborn (illustration), II, 102* 
 
 new, 103; marker, 104 
 Fort Dearborn massacre, I, 280 
 Fort Frontenac, I, 81 
 Fort Gage, I, 257 
 
 Fort Massac, I, 116, 273, 406; entrance, 
 (illustration) II, 61 
 
 Fort Miami, I, 134 
 
 Fort Necessity, I, 134 
 
 Fort Russell, I, 408 
 
 Fort St. Louis, I, 101; Tonti alone at, 
 104; site of, 258 
 
 Forts, I, 260, 272 
 
 Foster, Charles K., V, 80 
 
 Foster, Isaac A., VI, 187 
 
 Foster, William M. C, V, 131 
 
 Fountain Creek, I, 406 
 
 Fourteenth amendment to Federal Con- 
 stitution, III, 120 
 
 Fowler, J. Henry, IV, 385 
 
 Fowler, Richmond R., VI, 301 
 
 Fox, Charles H., Ill, 76 
 
 Fox, George A., VI, 153 
 
 Fox, Owen M., V, 273 
 
 Fox Indians, I, 50; II, 125 
 
 Franchise, III, 130 
 
 Frank, Walter C, IV, 410 
 
 Franke, Carl D., IV, 226 
 
 Franklin, Angrean, III, 88 
 
 Franklin, Earl C, VI, 101 
 
 Franklin, J. Herbert, IV, 156 
 
 Franklin College, III, 379 
 
 Franklin County, population in 1818, I, 
 343 
 
 Free Banking system, III, 96 
 
 Free Public Library, Decatur, IV, 190 
 
 Free schools; 1825, II, 95; III. 378 
 
 Free West, II, 369 
 
 "Freeing of Illinois," III, 329 
 
 Freeport, III, 103 
 
 Freeport Debate, II, 409; Lincoln's 
 speech, 420; Douglas' speech, 429; Lin- 
 coln's rejoinder, 447 
 
 Fremont, John C, III, 51 
 
 French, Augustus C, II, 224, 337; (illus- 
 tration) 338; IV, 361 
 
 French and Indian War, I, 137 
 
 French claims, I, 309 
 
 French Contributions to Illinois Life, I, 
 145 
 
 French dominion, Illinois after, I, 146 
 
 French families, I, 150 
 
 French settlements, I, 146 
 
 French villagers, I, 374 
 
 French villages, English soldiers in, I, 
 205; old (map), I, 149 
 
 Frenchmen, influential, I, 148 
 
 Friedmeyer, John G., IV, 79 
 
 Friend, Hugo M., V, 179 
 
 Frizzell, Herman P., VI, 102 
 
 Frontier life, I, 414 
 
 "Frontier States," III, 312 
 
 Fry, Jacob, II, 153; III, 68 
 
 Fryer, John F., IV, 291 
 
 Fucik, Edward J., V, 183 
 
 Fugitive slave law, opposition to, II, 365 
 
INDEX 
 
 XXXV 
 
 Fuller, Allen C, III, 50 
 
 Fuller, Melville W., (illustration) III, 
 141; IV, 362 
 
 Fulton, Albert, IV, 157 
 
 Fulton, Emma C, IV, 158 
 
 Fulton, John R., V, 195 
 
 Fulwider, Luther A., V, 421 
 
 Fund commissioners, of internal im- 
 provements, II, 230; 231, 232 
 
 Funk, Eugene D., V, 271 
 
 Funk, Isaac, V, 270 
 
 Funk, Lafayette, III, 233 
 
 Funkhouser, J., Ill, 75 
 
 Furlong, James E., V, 172 
 
 Furlong, Robert, IV, 18 
 
 Furniture industry, III, 416 
 
 Furrer, Diebold, V, 20 
 
 Gabel, Orman H., V, 256 
 
 Gabriel, James T., IV, 26 
 
 Gage, Lyman J., Ill, 239, 252; IV, 357 
 
 Gail Borden Public Library, VI, 318 
 
 Galena, III, 99 
 
 Galena limestone, I, 13 
 
 Galesburg, III, 100 
 
 Galesburg Debate, II, 416 
 
 Gallagher, Mary M., VI, 256 
 
 Gallatin County, population in 1818, I, 
 343; Salt springs, II, 189 
 
 Galloway, James, II, 105 
 
 Gamber, John G., IV, 53 
 
 Game and fish preserves, (illustrations) 
 II, 233 
 
 Gannon, Martin J., IV, 106 
 
 Ganster, Howard E., V, 348 
 
 Gard, Seth, I, 337 
 
 Gardner, Albert S., VI, 115 
 
 Garesche, F. A., V, 160 
 
 Garrison, James, I, 371 
 
 "Garrison Abolitionists", II, 160 
 
 Garvin, Charles B., VI, 246 
 
 Garvin, George, VI, 54 
 
 Garvin, John, VI, 246 
 
 Gassaway, James M., V, 330 
 
 Gastman, Enoch A., Ill, 393 
 
 Gates, Eugene L., VI, 371 
 
 Gates, Leo V., VI, 204 
 
 Gatewood, William J., Ill, 382 
 
 Gattingef, John R., IV, 399 
 
 General Assembly, second, I, 442; Twen- 
 ty-fifth, III, 120; minority representa- 
 tion, 135, 281 
 
 Gensel, Nicholas, III, 64 
 
 Geologic processes, I, 3 
 
 Geological Eras, I, 10 
 
 Geological periods, present, I, 19 
 
 Geological time divisions, I, 10 
 
 Geology of Illinois, I, 3 
 
 Georg, Herbert, IV, 217 
 
 George, Albert B., VI, 411 
 
 George, William, VI, 272 
 
 Gerhard, Fred, II, 96 
 
 Getz, Peter L., IV, 70 
 
 Gibault, Pierre, I, 147, 150, 397 
 
 Gibson, James W., V, 287 
 
 Gibson, John W., IV, 342 
 
 Gibson, Raymond H., V, 288 
 
 Giddings, Joshua R., II, 373 
 
 Giddings, Salmon, I, 370 
 
 Gigliotti, Cairoli, IV, 341 
 
 Gilbert, A. Fred, IV, 24 
 
 Gilbert, Harold C, V, 234 
 
 Gilbert, Othniel, III, 70 
 
 Gilchrist, John F., V, 418 
 
 Gill, Joseph L., VI, 425 
 
 Gillespie, Charles E., VI, 326 
 
 Gillespie, Joseph, II, 153 
 
 Gillham, Daniel B., IV, 385 
 
 Gillham, John F., VI, 409 
 
 Gilmartin, Michael S., VI, 170 
 
 Gilmer, John T., Ill, 40 
 
 Girard family, I, 400 
 
 Glacial period, I, 16 
 
 Glandon, Edgar D., IV, 382 
 
 Glen Fern, Johnson County, (illustra- 
 tion), II, 119 
 
 Glenn, Lawrence A., V, 212 
 
 Glore, Charles F., VI, 242 
 
 Gnerich, Otto, V, 116 
 
 Goetz, George, IV, 67 
 
 Goetzman, Louis B., VI, 211 
 
 Goetzman, Louis W., VI, 211 
 
 Golconda; wharf at, (illustration) I, 
 410, 420 
 
 Golden Circle, The, III, 30 
 
 Golding, Robert N., IV, 348 
 
 Goldman, William G., V, 395 
 
 Goldstein, David S., IV, 381 
 
 Gollos, Anatol, VI, 169 
 
 Gompers, Samuel, III, 344 
 
 Goodall, Joab, VI, 309 
 
 Goodell, Walter, V, 40 
 
 Goodfellow, Guy C, IV, 145 
 
 Goodman, Benedict K., VI, 23 
 
 Goodwin, Andrew J., V, 278 
 
 Goodwin, John W., Ill, 82 
 
 Goodyear, Alonzo F., VI, 44 
 
 Gooley, Charles G., Ill, 89 
 
 Gordley, Dayton G., V, 58 
 
 Gore, Edward E., VI, 111 
 
 Gorham, III, 404 
 
 Gorin, Orville B., IV, 416 
 
 Gorman, James E., V, 379 
 
 Goshen, I, 408 
 
 Gould, Leo W., VI, 347 
 
 Government, of the First Class, I, 239; 
 of Second Class, 240; aristocratic, 313; 
 State, at work, III, 268 
 
 Governmental comparisons, I, 312 
 
 Governor; candidates for, 1822, II, 18; 
 office of, III, 276, 279 
 
 Govert, George W., V, 98 
 
XXXVI 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Gowenlock, Thomas R., VI, 247 
 
 Gragg, John B., V, 146 
 
 Grain port, Chicago, III, 208 
 
 Grand Risseau, I, 260 
 
 Grand Tower, I, 406 
 
 Grandy, William A., IV, 301 
 
 Grange, The, III, 214; social value of, 
 
 228 
 Grange stores, III, 226 
 "Granger Movement", III, 220 
 Grant, Oliver P., IV, 316 
 Grant, Ulysses S., Ill, 15; (illustration), 
 
 16; Home of, (illustration), 59, 60, 
 
 154 
 Grant, William R., IV, 320 
 Gratiot, Charles I, 402 
 Gratiot, General, I, 150 
 Graves, Harriett M. D., VI, 400 
 Graves, Isaac N., VI, 262 
 Gray, John D., V, 67 
 Gray, Thomas E., IV, 417 
 Grazing, I, 30 
 
 Great Lakes Naval Station, III, 348 
 "Great Salt Spring", II, 188 
 Greathouse, Lucien, VI, 275 
 Greaves, Robert H., V, 27 
 Greeley, Horace, II, 475, 484; III, 157 
 Green, Elizabeth B., VI, 368 
 Green, James F., V, 339 
 Green, Nathaniel, VI, 368 
 Green, Reed, V, 254 
 Green, Theodore N., IV, 244 
 Green, William C, IV, 165 
 Green Bay, II, 100 
 Greene, Charles H., VI, 320 
 Greene, Evarts B., IV, 398 
 Greene, Gaines, IV, 252 
 Greenman, Charles W., V, 83 
 Gregory, Clifford V., V, 43 
 Gresham, Samuel I., IV, 248 
 Gresham, Walter Q., IV, 373 
 Griesemer, John W., IV, 133 
 Griffin, James A., IV, 238 
 Griffin, The, I, 85 
 Griffith, Peter W., V, 218 
 Griffith, Roland W., V, 380 
 Grimes, Florence, VI, 368 
 Grimes, Jarret T., IV, 367 
 Grimm, Edward, VI, 332 
 Grimmer, C. Fred, IV, 51 
 Grissom, Ira V., IV, 206 
 Griswold, Edward A., VI, 305 
 Griswold, Fannie E. L., VI, 306 
 Griswold, George, II, 463 
 Griswold, Harry H., V, 66 
 Grove, Orion M., VI, 350 
 Grove, Pearl F., VI, 348 
 Growth and development, 1834-53, II, 
 
 347 
 Guard, Timothy, II, 199 
 Gubbins, Earl G., VI, 118 
 
 Guest, R. Albert, IV, 73 
 Guingrich, John L., VI, 130 
 Guinnip, Lyman, III, 72 
 Gulick, John H., IV, 345 
 Gumm, Albert G., VI, 81 
 Gunboats, Civil War, III, 43 
 Gunning, Thomas P., IV, 103 
 Gustin, Robert V., IV, 420 
 Guthrie, Edward T., VI, 88 
 
 Haag, Albert R., VI, 414 
 Haag, George A., VI, 414 
 Haag Brothers Company, VI, 414 
 Hacker, Fanny P., V, 269 
 Hacker, John S., V, 269 
 Hadley, Charles W., V, 309 
 Hadley, Wilbur C, VI, 4 
 Hadley, William E., VI, 5 
 Haeger, Edmund H., V, 419 
 Hager, Clyde, V, 392 
 Haley, James F., VI, 300 
 "Half Moon Lick", II, 199, 201 
 Hall, Albert L., V, 172 
 Hall, Charles R., VI, 87 
 Hall, Cyrus, III, 82 
 Hall, James, II, 64 
 Hall, James Jr., I, 338 
 Hall, John C, VI, 128 
 Hall, Richard C, V, 152 
 Hall, Ross C, VI, 132 
 Hall, Thomas W., VI, 335 
 Halliday, Henry E., VI, 264 
 Hallstrom, J. H., V, 286 
 Hamill, Ernest A., IV, 16 
 Hamilton, Arthur E., V, 91 
 Hamilton, Charles E., VI, 72 
 Hamilton, Edwin S., VI, 383 
 Hamilton, Elisha B., IV, 175 
 Hamilton, Henry, I, 185 
 Hamilton, James W., VI, 162 
 Hamilton, John C, IV, 77 
 Hamilton, John M., IV, 390 
 Hamilton, Paul M., VI, 32 
 Hamilton, Richard J., II, 385; IV, 390 
 Hamilton, William S., II, 155 
 Hamlin, Franklin C, VI, 415 
 Hamlin, Harry A., VI, 288 
 Hamlin, Howland J., VI, 343 
 Hamlin, Mary Ella, VI, 344 
 Hammel, Adolph B., VI, 45 
 Hammond, Jackson L., V, 214 
 Hammond, Thomas S., VI, 377 
 Hampton, Cecil F., VI, 194 
 Hampton, Samuel F., VI, 193 
 Handley, Robert M., Ill, 80 
 Handy, Moses P., IV, 389 
 Hanley, William F., V, 119 
 Hannant, Edward H., V, 106 
 Hansen, Harold J., V, 184 
 Harbaugh, Charles D., VI, 283 
 Harbaugh, Frank L., IV, 323 
 
INDEX 
 
 XXXVll 
 
 Harbaugh, May F., VI, 284 
 
 Hardin, John, II, 151 
 
 Hardin, John J., II, 224, 321 
 
 Harding, Abner C, III, 73 
 
 Harding, Eleazer E., IV, 103 
 
 Harding, George F., VI, 377 
 
 Hardy, John G., V, 340 
 
 Hargrave, Willis, I, 337 
 
 Harle, Ross A., VI, 270 
 
 Harlow, George H., Ill, 161 
 
 Harmon, Cameron, V, 388 
 
 Harmon, Oscar F., Ill, 80 
 
 Harned, Merton R., VI, 352 
 
 Harney, W. S., II, 312 
 
 Harper, Francis A., V, 57 
 
 Harper, William R., IV, 372 
 
 Harrauff, Oscar B., IV, 100 
 
 Harrell, Jerome L., VI, 201 
 
 Harrell, Roy W., V, 399 
 
 Harries, George H., VI, 392 
 
 Harris, Asa C., IV, 347 
 
 Harris, Benjamin F., Ill, 363; VI, 394 
 
 Harris, Charles E., VI, 398 
 
 Harris, Charles W., IV, 212 
 
 Harris, Henry J., VI, 219 
 
 Harris, Thomas W., Ill, 67 
 
 Harris Family, VI, 394 
 
 Harrison, Carter H., Ill, 259; VI, 366 
 
 Harrison, Isham, I, 339 
 
 Harrison, John H., Ill, 363; V, 91 
 
 Harrison, William H., I, 241 
 
 Harriss, Judson E., V, 229 
 
 Harriss, Louis P., VI, 323 
 
 Hart, George E., V, 9 
 
 Hart, Louis E., V, 33 
 
 Hart, Sterling P., IV, 231 
 
 Hart, William H., V, 426 
 
 Hart, William W., V, 427 
 
 Hart & Hart, V, 427 
 
 Hartwell, George P., IV, 415 
 
 Hartz, Irving T., V, 35 
 
 Hartz, Samuel B., V, 34 
 
 Harvey, Beauchamp A., VI, 132 
 
 Haskell, Frederick T., V, 417 
 
 Haskell, Fritz L., VI, 172 
 
 Haskell, W. A., VI, 209 
 
 Hastings, Clarence C, IV, 180 
 
 Hastings, Oris B., VI, 372 
 
 Hatch, Claude W., IV, 424 
 
 Hauberg, John H., IV, 405 
 
 Haven, Franklin, II, 463 
 
 Hawkes, Walter S., Ill, 41 
 
 Hawkins, John J., V, 157 
 
 Hawks, Joseph K. P., VI, 255 
 
 Hay, Henry C, V, 143 
 
 Hay, John, (illustration) II, 449; IV, 374 
 
 Hay, Logan, IV, 27 
 
 Hay, Milton, III, 128 
 
 Hayes, James T., V, 231 
 
 Hayes, John A., IV, 44 
 
 Haynie, Isham N., Ill, 66 
 
 Hayner, John E., VI, 210 
 
 Hays, Ellen S., IV, 387 
 
 Hays, Herbert A., IV, 387 
 
 Hays, John D., IV, 387 
 
 Heald, Capt., I, 280 
 
 Heap, Elnora R. W., V, 211 
 
 Heap, Harold R., V, 211 
 
 Heap, John E., V, 211 
 
 Hearn, Campbell S., Ill, 303 
 
 Heaton, Charles S., V, 68 
 
 Heaton, John A., VI, 86 
 
 Heberling, Julian H., V, 108 
 
 Hecker, Frederick, III, 61 
 
 Heckert, Henry F., VI, 211 
 
 Heckman, Louis, VI, 120 
 
 Heer, Harry L., V, 303 
 
 Hefter, Charles, V, 403 
 
 Heiligenstein, Christian X., VI, 332 
 
 Hellemann, Frank M., IV, 236 
 
 Hellemann, Fred W., IV, 149 
 
 Hellrung, Lawrence W., V, 86 
 
 Helmle, George B., IV, 23 
 
 Hembreiker, William J., IV, 335 
 
 Hendee, U. Clinton, V, 282 
 
 Henderson, James H., IV, 192 
 
 Henderson, John W., IV, 191 
 
 Henderson, Paul, VI, 143 
 
 Henderson, Thomas J., II, 265; III, 78; 
 
 IV, 388 
 Henneberger, Albert H., VI, 279 
 Hennepin, I, 256 
 Hennepin expedition, I, 90 
 Hennepin Canal, I, 256; III, 429 
 Hennessy, P. J., V, 292 
 Hennessy, William A., VI, 284 
 Henry, Charles D., VI, 276 
 Henry, Charles D. Jr., V, 134 
 Henry, Patrick, I, 196 
 Henry, Sylvester F., VI, 319 
 Henshaw, Edward C, III, 90 
 Henshaw's Battery, Illinois Artillery, 
 
 III, 90 
 Hensley, Alex P., VI, 104 
 Heob, Elroy W., VI, 194 
 Herb, Joseph D., V, 328 
 Hercz, Arthur, III, 336 
 Herding, I, 30 
 Herlihy, F. J., V, 7 
 Herman, Joseph L., IV, 20 
 Hermann, Otto H., V, 71 
 Herndon, William H., II, 478; IV, 377 
 Herring, Frederick A., V, 143 
 Hersh, Edward W., V, 298 
 Hertenstein, Bernard H., VI, 289 
 Hertenstein, Rudolph, VI, 289 
 Hess, C. Josephine, V, 177 
 Hess, George W., V, 177 
 Hess, Harvey H., IV, 122 
 Hess Memorial, V, 177 
 Hewitt, A. B., Ill, 40 
 Hewitt, Francis M., V, 367 
 
XXXV111 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Hewitt, Henry H., V, 43 
 
 Heydecker, Coral T., V, 341 
 
 Heyl, Clarence W., IV, 36 
 
 Heyworth, James O., VI, 253 
 
 Hickey, James P., IV, 45 
 
 Hickey, John P., VI, 279 
 
 Hickman, George T., IV, 235 
 
 Hickox, Warren R., VI, 57 
 
 Hicks, Stephen G., Ill, 65 
 
 Hieronymus, Robert E., VI, 56 
 
 Hieser, Christian, IV, 109 
 
 Hieser, John, IV, 118 
 
 Higdon, William D., V, 378 
 
 Higginbotham, H. N., Ill, 261 
 
 High schools, III, 392 
 
 Highway commission, III, 425 
 
 Highway scenes (illustrations), II, 77 
 
 Hiles, Perry H., V, 81 
 
 Hill, Columbus C, IV, 61 
 
 Hill, David, V, 415 
 
 Hill, Jacob H., IV, 214 
 
 Hill, John H., IV, 115 
 
 Hill, John W., IV, 275 
 
 Hill, Lysander, IV, 274 
 
 Hill, William H., VI, 381 
 
 Hill, William H., Sr., VI, 381 
 
 Hiller, Frank B., VI, 260 
 
 Hilliard, Thomas J., V, 248 
 
 Hilling, Richard A., V, 102 
 
 Hillskotter, John E., IV, 340 
 
 Hilterbrand, John, I, 404 
 
 Hine, Allen T., IV, 92 
 
 Hine, Lucius A., VI, 181 
 
 Hines, T. Henry, III, 48 
 
 Hippler, C. Harold, V, 304 
 
 Hirschi, Christian G., VI, 64 
 
 Histed, J. R., VI, 317 
 
 Historian, earliest Illinois, I, 145 
 
 History of the Ursulines in Springfield, 
 
 IV, 57 
 Hitchcock, Charles, III, 129 
 Hitchcock, Howard H., VI, 107 
 Hitt, Robert R., II, 407 
 Hoag, Howard C, V, 197 
 Hoagland, Edd, VI, 307 
 Hodge, George B., Ill, 78 
 Hodgson, Jonathan B., IV, 117 
 Hodkinson, LeRoy, IV, 330 
 Hodson, Thomas H., V, 276 
 Hoennicke, Edward, VI, 277 
 Hoffer, James J., V, 430 
 Hoffman, Adele, IV, 36 
 Hoffman, Francis A., II, 383, 494 
 Hogan, George F., V, 395 
 Hogan, George W., VI, 124 
 Hogan, Thomas D., IV, 27 
 Hogs, III, 202 
 
 Hoiles, Clarence E., V, 381 
 Holaday, William P., VI, 46 
 Holden, Hale, VI, 14 
 Holland, Howard L., V, 183 
 
 Holland, Thomas E., IV, 254 
 
 Hollenbeck, William T., VI, 243 
 
 Holmes, Grant, VI, 69 
 
 Holton, Campbell, V, 377 
 
 Holton, Tilghman, V, 376 
 
 Holly, Clara E. B., VI, 241 
 
 "Homestead Act", III, 106 
 
 Homestead exemption, II, 345; III, 106 
 
 Homrich, Walter A., V, 242 
 
 Hood, John F., V, 246 
 
 Hood, William J., VI, 182 
 
 Hoover, Herbert, III, 361 
 
 Hoover, S. N., V, 274 
 
 Hopkins, Caleb, III, 88 
 
 Hopkins, Corydon B., VI, 49 
 
 Hopkins, Fred G., IV, 138 
 
 Hopkins, John P., Ill, 363 
 
 Horberg, John A., IV, 130 
 
 Horneman, Herman C, VI, 63 
 
 Horse Prairie, I, 406 
 
 Horse racing, early, I, 379 
 
 Horstman, Henry G., VI, 352 
 
 Horticultural societies, III, 94 
 
 Horwitz, Sandor, IV, 52 
 
 Hostettler, Earl H., V, 359 
 
 Hotel (old), in Jonesboro, (illustration) 
 
 II, 471 
 Houchin, James, IV, 299 
 Hough, Henry A., IV, 240 
 Hough, Rosell M., Ill, 69 
 Houghtaling, Charles, III, 88 
 Houghton, Charles W., V, 35 
 Houlihan, Francis J., V, 61 
 House, Leroy B., VI, 231 
 House, Oscar, V, 211 
 Houston, Thomas P., V, 230 
 Hovey, Charles E., Ill, 62, 118, 393, 396; 
 
 IV, 388 
 Howard, Benjamin, I, 287 
 Howard, Nathaniel L., VI, 71 
 Howden, Walter E., VI, 43 
 Hoy, Alfred C, V, 345 
 Hoyne, Maclay, VI, 6 
 Hoyne, Thomas, IV, 353 
 Hrabik, John, VI, 416 
 Hubbard, Adolphus F., I, 337 
 Hubbard, Clifford L., IV, 126 
 Hubbard, Gurdon, II, 154 
 Huber, Martin, VI, 60 
 Huber, Vincent, VI, 367 
 Huck, William O., VI, 89 
 Huckins, William W., VI, 296 
 Hudgens, Egbert T., VI, 311 
 Hudgens, John B., VI, 423 
 Hudson, James H., VI, 390 
 Hudson, Zachariah, V, 213 
 Huff, Thomas D., V, 193 
 Hughes, Edward J., VI, 70 
 Hughes, Thomas, I, 405 
 Hughitt, Marvin, IV, 355 
 Hull, Franklin N., V, 222 
 
INDEX 
 
 XXXIX 
 
 Hull, Helen H., V, 222 
 Hull, William E., VI, 403 
 Hull's Landing, I, 406 
 Hull's Town, I, 260 
 Hunsaker, Curtis A., V, 203 
 Hunt, Anthony A., VI, 19 
 Hunt, Robert I., V, 34 
 Hunter, Earl, VI, 67 
 Hunter, William R., IV, 423 
 Hurd, Harry B., VI, 71 
 Hurdle, Orval N., VI, 223 
 Hurburgh, Charles F., V, 311 
 Hurlburt, Stephen A., II, 333 
 Hurley, Edward N., IV, 286 
 Hurst, Charles R., IV, 215 
 Hurst-Bush, III, 406 
 Hussey, Mike H., V, 312 
 Huston, William F., IV, 130 
 Hutchens, Gilbert K., VI, 34 
 Hutchings, Alexander W., V, 285 
 Hutchins, Thomas, I, 222 
 Huthmacher, Charles C, IV, 385 
 Huthmacher, George, V, 280 
 Huxley, Henry M., V, 69 
 
 Ice sheet invasions, I, 17 
 
 lies, Elijah, II, 150 
 
 Iliff, George F., VI, 247 
 
 Illini Indians, I, 47 
 
 Illinois: Contour of, 1, 32; waterways, 
 32; natural unity in, 34; relation of, 
 to Canada, 59; a royal province, 127; 
 in the French and Indian War, 137; 
 after French dominion, 146; under 
 British control, 154; description of, 
 1765, 156; Clark's conquest of, 169; 
 civil government in, 186; abandonment, 
 203; final act of cession, 214; Terri- 
 tory of First Class, 263; territorial 
 officials, 263; judges, 264; first legis- 
 lative session, 264; rangers, in 1812, 
 279; campaigns, in 1812, 284; mili- 
 tary campaigns in 1812, 287; First 
 Class Territory, 290; legislature of 
 1812, 291; early laws, 292; delegate 
 in Congress, 293; land titles, 294; 
 preemption law, 296; increased immi- 
 gration, 298; new counties, 299; civil 
 administration, 301; Supreme Court, 
 303; banks, 303; looking toward state- 
 hood, 308; abstract of title, 308; 
 claims of Spain, France and Great 
 Britain, 309; claim of Virginia, 310; 
 territorial government, 311; govern- 
 mental comparisons, 312; makeup of 
 Congress, 312; government aristo- 
 cratic, 313; rights of suffrage modi- 
 fied, 314; factional politics, 316; slav- 
 ery question, 319; boundaries, 326; in 
 1818 (map), 328; early society in, 373; 
 Canadian contingent, 373; social stand- 
 
 ards, 376; as a state, 426; early finan- 
 cial transactions, 433; as pioneer 
 state, 447; interest payments, 1841, II, 
 240; in 1836, 295; growth and de- 
 velopment, 1834-53, 347; Prairie State, 
 III, 299; neighboring states, 301; 
 militia in World war, 343; contribu- 
 tion to army, 345 
 Illinois Agricultural Association, VI, 153 
 Illinois Agricultural College, III, 186; 
 College Building at Irvington (illus- 
 tration), 187 
 
 Illinois Agricultural College, Irvington 
 
 (illustration) III, 187, 192 
 Illinois and Michigan Canal, II, 211, 240, 
 
 456; III, 133, 429 
 Illinois and Michigan Canal Associa- 
 tion, II, 216 
 "Illinois and the War", III, 316 
 Illinois Centennial Anniversary, III, 299 
 Illinois Central Railroad, II, 454; first 
 charter, 457; second charter, 457; third 
 charter, 458; fourth charter, 458; con- 
 tention, 459; passage of bill for Gov- 
 ernment grant, 461; fifth charter, 464; 
 work begun, 464; foreign ownership, 
 465; cost of road, 466; charter, 466; 
 income, 468; contention, 468; III, 139 
 Illinois College, II, 301, 303 
 "Illinois Commission to the Louisiana 
 
 Exposition", III, 265 
 Illinois Confederation (Indian), I, 48 
 Illinois Country, Virginia, I, 183 
 Illinois Democratic Convention, 1864, III, 
 52 
 
 Illinois Emigrant, The, I, 381; II, 27, 78 
 
 Illinois Gazette, II, 27, 45 
 
 Illinois Herald, The, I, 381; (facsimile 
 of early issue) II, 79 
 
 "Illinois Historical Collections", II, 400 
 
 Illinois Indians, I, 48 
 
 Illinois Industrial College, III, 188, 192 
 
 Illinois Industrial League, III, 386 
 
 Illinois Industrial University, III, 401 
 
 Illinois Intelligencer, The, I, 381; II, 45 
 
 "Illinois Land Company", I, 159 
 
 Illinois regiments, Mexican War, II, 313 
 
 Illinois Republican, II, 46 
 
 Illinois River, I, 33; from Prospect 
 Heights, Peoria, (illustration) II, 115 
 
 Illinois State Bank, I, 442 
 
 Illinois State Library, Extension Divis- 
 ion, IV, 33 
 
 Illinois State Historical Society, III, 303; 
 IV, 193 
 
 Illinois State Normal University, V, 334 
 Illinois State Register, IV, 193 
 Illinois Supreme Court Building (illus- 
 tration), III, 331 
 Illinois Teacher, III, 117 
 
xl 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Illinois Teachers' Association, III, 183, 
 
 383 
 Illinois Territory, I, 254; first lawyer in, 
 
 260; commerce and trade of, 305; 
 
 public men of, 382 
 Illinois Trust & Savings Bank, VI, 64 
 Illinois valley, floods, III, 428 
 Illinois Wilmot proviso, II, 365 
 Imhoff, Mary M., V, 387 
 Immigration, into Northwest Territory, 
 
 I, 236; increased, 298; 1825, II, 67; 
 revival of, 84 
 
 Immigrants, early, II, 73 
 
 "In Flanders Fields", III, 321 
 . Indentured servants, I, 250 
 
 Indentured slaves, II, 193 
 
 Indentured system, II, 15 
 
 Independence, Centennial of, III, 232 
 
 Independence Day, first celebration of, 
 west of Ohio River, I, 229 
 
 Indiana Territory, created, I, 244; elec- 
 tion, 244; division of, 253 
 
 Indian Buffalo, painted on bluff in John- 
 son County (illustration) I, 53 
 
 Indian cession, II, 209 
 
 Indian Creek massacre, II, 136 
 
 Indian War, last, II, 108 
 
 Indians, I, 46; of Central North Amer- 
 ica, 47; Illinois Confederation, 48; 
 characteristics, 51; war, 51; hunt- 
 ing, 53; family and tribal organiza- 
 tion, 54; selfishness, 55; religion, 5b 
 virtues, 58; conferences with, 231 
 treaties with, 265; barbarities, 269 
 treaties with, 289; last war, II, 108 
 treaties, 108, 149 
 
 Industrial Education Convention, III, 384 
 
 Industrial institutions, I, 28 
 
 Industrial League of Illinois, III, 184 
 
 Industries, early, II, 85; salt-making, 
 187; III, 416; distribution of factories, 
 417 
 
 Infantry, Regiments, III, 56 
 
 Ingersoll, Robert G., Ill, 54, 86; IV, 362 
 
 Ingham, George K., IV, 107 
 
 Ingham, Leonard W., IV, 107 
 
 Inland navigation, early, II, 208 
 
 Institutional church, III, 433 
 
 Insull, Martin J., V, 92 
 
 Insull, Samuel, III, 363, 366; V, 3 
 
 Intellectual development of farmers, III, 
 230 
 
 Internal Improvement Convention, 1836, 
 
 II, 225 
 
 Internal Improvements, II, 215; general 
 system of, 1837, 227; fund commis- 
 sioners, 230; system, 231; revenue tax- 
 ation, III, 340 
 
 Irish Dragoons, Illinois Artillery, III, 90 
 
 Irish vote, II, 257 
 
 Iron and steel, III, 416 
 
 Irons, David D., Ill, 73 
 Isaacs, Martin J., V, 394 
 Isenburg, Frank R., IV, 431 
 Isley, William E., VI, 296 
 
 Jack, Cecil M., IV, 246 
 
 Jack, James P., VI, 297 
 
 Jackson, Charles A., VI, 291 
 
 Jackson, David H., IV, 311 
 
 Jackson, Earl B., VI, 119 
 
 Jackson County, population in 1818, I, 
 343 
 
 Jacksonville, I, 420; III, 101 
 
 Jacobs, Fred W., IV, 348 
 
 Jacquess James F., Ill, 71 
 
 Jadrich, Joseph A., V, 236 
 
 James, Edmund J., Ill, 324; V, 427 
 
 James Millikin University, IV, 174 
 
 Janson, Walter E., V, 246 
 
 Jaranowski, John W., VI, 374 
 
 Jarman, Sarah A., Hospital, VI, 109 
 
 Jarrot, Nicholas, I, 389 
 
 Jarvis, W. W., V, 134 
 
 Jasinsky, David L., V, 240 
 
 Jay, Norman A., VI, 191 
 
 Jeffery, Edward T., V, 372 
 
 Jeffery, James C, V, 373 
 
 Jeffries, Joseph W., IV, 47 
 
 Jenkins, Alexander M., II, 332, 456 
 
 Jennings, Everett, V, 244 
 
 Jericho, M. Fraker, V, 235 
 
 Jingling, Carl H., IV, 121 
 
 Joehl, Edward L., V, 73 
 
 Joesting, Emit W., VI, 42 
 
 John Deere Plow Company, (illustra- 
 tion) III, 103 
 
 Johns, Frederick A., Ill, 82 
 
 Johns, George W., V, 194 
 
 Johnson, Alex C, VI, 69 
 
 Johnson, Allen, III, 324 
 
 Johnson, Amory K., Ill, 61 
 
 Johnson, Andrew, III, 51; administration, 
 150; impeachment of, 152 
 
 Johnson, Arthur L., V, 261 
 
 Johnson, E. Marie, V, 274 
 
 Johnson, Gustaf J., V, 425 
 
 Jonhson, Hiram N., VI, 327 
 
 Johnson, Lawrence C, VI, 416 
 
 Johnson, Madison Y., Ill, 41 
 
 Johnson, Mary A. G., IV, 284 
 
 Johnson, Simeon R., IV, 235 
 
 Johnson, William, IV, 394 
 
 Johnson, William C, VI, 121 
 
 Johnson, William E., IV, 283 
 
 Johnson, William R., V, 414 
 
 Johnson County, splendid tree specimen, 
 (illustration) I, 29; population in 1818, 
 343 
 
 Johnston, Albert S., II, 154, 312 
 
 Johnston, Edwin, V, 148 
 
 Johnston, Joseph E., II, 155, 312 
 
INDEX 
 
 xli 
 
 Johnston, Maurice B., V, 122 
 Johnston City State Bank, VI, 89 
 Joiner, Alvin, V, 371 
 Joliet, Louis, I, 70; (illustration) 71, 256; 
 
 II, 98; III, 104 
 Jolley, Louis B., V, 180 
 Jolley, William A., V, 165 
 Jones, Alba A., IV, 208 
 Jones, Alfred H., VI, 341 
 Jones, Arthur H., IV, 337 
 Jones, Edgar B., V, 333 
 Jones, Harry Y., VI, 391 
 Jones, Henry P., IV, 80 
 Jones, James 0., IV, 88 
 Jones, Jonathan, V, 320 
 Jones, John C, IV, 351 
 Jones, John R., I, 393 
 Jones, John Rice, I, 260 
 Jones, Lotte E., VI, 41 
 Jones, Mary H. S., VI, 258 
 Jones, Michael, I, 337 
 Jones, Norman L., VI, 308 
 Jones, Oliver M., V, 163 
 Jones, Walter C, V, 320 
 Jones, William C, VI, 257 
 Jonesboro, I, 407 
 
 Jonesboro Debate, II, 410; unveiling of 
 marker at site of, (illustration) 411 
 Jonesboro Gazette, III, 34 
 Jordan, Albert H., VI, 240 
 Jordan, Benjamin, VI, 39 
 Joyce, John T., V, 404 
 Judd, Norman B., II, 478; IV, 363 
 Judges, early Illinois, I, 264; election of, 
 
 III, 275 
 
 Judiciary Department, Illinois govern- 
 ment, II, I, 274 
 Judy, James W., Ill, 78 
 Judy, Samuel, I, 386 
 Just, Frank H., V, 416 
 Justice courts, III, 144 
 
 Kammann, Henry E., VI, 302 
 
 Kane, Elias K., I, 336, 400; II, 35, 65 
 
 Kane, Kevin, V, 57 
 
 Kane, Michael B., IV, 337 
 
 Kane, William C, VI, 178 
 
 Kaney, Anthony V., VI, 105 
 
 Kankakee, I, 152; III, 100 
 
 Kansas-Nebraska bill, II, 367 
 
 Kaoquias (village), I, 162 
 
 Karraker, David W., IV, 351 
 
 Karraker, Ira O., V, 337 
 
 Karraker, Orville M., VI, 185 
 
 Karraker, William W., V, 336 
 
 Kaskaskia, I, 86; first, 109; new, 111; 
 village life at, 1700, 115; capture of, 
 180; early land officers, 441; in 1901, 
 (illustration) III, 307; old, 327 
 
 Kaskaskia Court, I, 215 
 
 Kaskaskia Indians, I, 49 
 
 Kaskaskia River, suspension bridge 
 across, at Carlyle, (illustration) I, 
 111 
 
 Kauffman, Rebecca H. B., V, 408 
 
 Kaul, H., VI, 108 
 
 Kay, Joseph T., V, 260 
 
 Keeker, Frederick, III, 72 
 
 Keehn, Roy D., IV, 272 
 
 Keener, George W., Ill, 83 
 
 Kehoe, F. B., V, 8 
 
 Keig, Marshall E., V, 347 
 
 Keil, Adam J., IV, 131 
 
 Keith, Charles W., Ill, 89 
 
 Keith, John H., V, 88 
 
 Keith, L. Frederick, V, 117 
 
 Keller, Mark C, VI, 206 
 
 Keller, Theodore C, V, 382 
 
 Keller, Vincent F., IV, 131 
 
 Kelley, Earle R., VI, 324 
 
 Kelley, Oliver H., Ill, 214 
 
 Kellogg, William P., Ill, 85 
 
 Kellogg Grove Monument, Black Hawk 
 War, (illustration) II, 138 
 
 Kelly, Bernard, IV, 93 
 
 Kelly, Daniel M., VI, 272 
 
 Kelly, Edward A., VI, 404 
 
 Kelly, Edward J., IV, 14 
 
 Kelly, Harry E., IV, 251 
 
 Kelly, Harry L., IV, 46 
 
 Kelly, Wallace G., IV, 290 
 
 Kelton, John C, II, 68 
 
 Kemp, Philip G., V, 41 
 
 Kennedy, Bart R., V, 82 
 
 Kennedy, Thomas, VI, 141 
 
 Kenney, Andrew M., IV, 146 
 
 Kennicott, Hiram M. L., V, 18 
 
 Kennicott, Jonathan, V, 17 
 
 Kenny, William M., IV, 166 
 
 Kenry, George C, V, 226 
 
 Kent, Albert J., V, 250 
 
 Kent, Lillian, IV, 41 
 
 Kentucky, settlers in, I, 169 
 
 Keokuk, (chief) II, 150 
 
 Kern, Fred J., VI, 23 
 
 Kern, James W., VI, 53 
 
 Kern, Julius C, IV, 421 
 
 Kerr, Robert J., IV, 269 
 
 Kerr, Samuel, IV, 268 
 
 Kerr, William D., IV, 269 
 
 Kerrick, Thomas C, IV, 390 
 
 Kerz, Paul, V, 318 
 
 Kessberger, August W., IV, 210 
 
 Kettle used in salt making (illustration), 
 I, 196 
 
 Kewanee Printing & Publishing Com- 
 pany, IV, 143 
 
 Kickapoo Indians, I, 50 
 
 Kickapoo Towns, I, 408 
 
 Kidd, Robert, I, 371, 405 
 
 Kilby, Edgar E., IV, 60 
 
 Kilgore, Benjamin F., V, 360 
 
xlii 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Kilgore, Joseph G., VI, 70 
 
 Kilpatrick, Thomas M., II, 337 
 
 Kimball, Frank H., VI, 366 
 
 Kimble, Peter F., V, 125 
 
 Kimmel, Charles A., IV, 64 
 
 Kimmel, Howard E., VI, 159 
 
 Kimmel, Oscar H., VI, 94 
 
 Kimsey, John W., IV, 42 
 
 Kincaid, Ellen J. C, V, 56 
 
 Kincaid, John H., V, 55 
 
 Kincaid, Samuel W., VI, 48 
 
 Kincaid, Mrs. G. M., IV, 26 
 
 Kincaid, William I., IV, 309 
 
 King, Bismarck, IV, 210 
 
 King, Edward J., IV, 355 
 
 King, Francis C., V, 21 
 
 King, Loman T., VI, 276 
 
 King, Myron D., VI, 99 
 
 King George's War, I, 131 
 
 Kingsbury, Dennis H., IV, 413 
 
 Kingsley, Ronald, V, 335 
 
 Kinley, David, (illustration) III, 373; 
 
 IV, 8 
 Kinne, Harry C., V, 71 
 Kinney, Thomas J., Ill, 79 
 Kinney, William I, 367; II, 36, 64, 204 
 Kinsall, David M., VI, 200 
 Kinsey, Charles S., V, 108 
 Kinzie, John, I, 280, 396; II, 100, 103 
 Kirchner, William A., V, 295 
 Kirk, Edward Y., Ill, 64 
 Kirk, Ona M., VI, 174 
 Kirkham, Don I., V, 292 
 Kirkham, Robert, III, 68 
 Kirkpatrick, Thomas, I, 339 
 Kiser, Charles R., V, 26 
 Kitchell, Joseph, I, 339 
 Klaes, John J., VI, 119 
 Kleine, Ernest, V, 252 
 Knapp, Raymond K., VI, 323 
 Kneedler, R. Guy, V, 26 
 Knights of Columbus, World War, III, 
 
 365 
 Knights of the Golden Circle, III, 30 
 Knobelsdorff, Charles, III, 66 
 Knoerzer, John A., V, 163 
 Knox, Harry T., IV, 249 
 Knox College, II, 301, 306 
 Knuppel, John G., IV, 305 
 Koch, Alvin C, VI, 85 
 Koch, Caroline W., IV, 96 
 Koch, David, IV, 96 
 Koch, Emma, IV, 205 
 Koch, John, IV, 205 
 Koch, Silas A., V, 42 
 Koeneke, G. P., V, 188 
 Koerner, Gustavus, (illustration) II, 381, 
 
 478; IV, 364 
 Kohler, Eric L., V, 184 
 Kohn, Samuel, IV, 386 
 Kolb, Peter J., VI, 125 
 
 Koons, John A., VI, 138 
 Kraft, Charles J., IV, 415 
 Kraft, George W., IV, 215 
 Kratz, Ethel G., VI, 43 
 Kreider, Benjamin F., V, 38 
 Kreiling, Christian H., V, 145 
 Kreiling. Henry J., V. 30 
 Kriegsman, Philip J., IV, 75 
 Krohn, Henry W., VI, 410 
 Krome, Dora, V, 160 
 Krome, Lucy M., V, 160 
 Krome, William H., V, 159 
 Krooth, Arthur S., V, 227 
 Krooth, Joseph, V, 227 
 Kruzan, John A., IV, 200 
 Kueffner, William C, III, 83 
 Kuehn, Marcell F., V, 162 
 Kunneman, Christian H., V, 155 
 Kunz, Frank O., IV, 329 
 Kunz, Stanley H., VI, 376 
 
 Labor Department, III, 292, 294 
 
 Lackey, George W., Ill, 83; VI, 243 
 
 LaFayette visits Illinois, II, 68; in St. 
 Louis, 70; at Kaskaskia, 71; at Shaw- 
 neetown, 72 
 
 LaFramboise, Joseph, I, 151; II, 106 
 
 LaFramboise, Paul, I, 151 
 
 Lake Michigan, I, 33 
 
 Lakin, William T., V, 293 
 
 Lamborn, Josiah, IV, 375 
 
 Lamken, Samuel, IV, 223 
 
 Land offices, established, I, 296; early, 
 441 
 
 Land titles, territorial, I, 294 
 
 Landborg, Benjamin W., VI, 320 
 
 Lane, Charles O., VI, 166 
 
 Lane, Johnson H., VI, 130 
 
 Langlois, Harmedois A., V, 241 
 
 Langston, Vernon C, VI, 274 
 
 Langston, William M., VI, 273 
 
 Laplacian hypothesis, I, 5 
 
 Larned, Calista E., IV, 325 
 
 La Rosh, Jonas E., IV, 207 
 
 La Rosh, Theresia, IV, 208 
 
 LaSalle, Robert Cavalier, Sieur de, I, 80; 
 defeats and triumphs of, 80; (illustra- 
 tion 81; in New France, 91; unfinished 
 task of, 96; vision, 96; stricken with 
 fever, 99; at Matagorda Bay, 103, 256; 
 II, 100; III, 99 
 
 Latham, Robert H., Ill, 77 
 
 Latham, Sam W., VI, 177 
 
 La Trappe Monks, I, 391 
 
 Latzer, Louis, IV, 413 
 
 Law, John, I, 114 
 
 Law, William, II, 282 
 
 Lawler, Michael K., Ill, 58 
 
 Lawless (Judge) II, 172 
 
 Laws, early, I, 292 
 
 Lawson, William J., V, 40 
 
INDEX 
 
 xliii 
 
 Lawyers, first in Illinois Territory, I, 
 260 
 
 Lay, Frank M., IV, 129 
 
 Lead, I, 41 
 
 Lead mines, II, 110; (illustration), 299 
 
 Lead plates, I, 132 
 
 Lecompton Constitution, II, 395 
 
 LeCrone, George M., V, 217 
 
 Lee, D. Lewis, VI, 322 
 
 Lee, D. L. Publishing Company, VI, 322 
 
 Lee, Homer D., V, 341 
 
 Legier, John T., VI, 226 
 
 Legislation, 1809-1830, II, 90; 1835-7, 
 221; of 1871, III, 220 
 
 Legislative apportionment, in 1818, I, 
 347 
 
 "Legislative Farmers' Club", III, 220 
 
 Legislative session, first, Illinois-Terri- 
 tory of First Class, I, 264 
 
 Legislature, of 1816-17, I, 321; state- 
 hood petition, 324; of 1818, 428; of 
 1826-27, II, 62; of 1838, 235; appro- 
 priations of, 236; of 1838-39, 238; 
 1863, III, 26, 270 
 
 Legg, Achalis M., V, 412 
 
 Legg, Clark L., V, 413 
 
 Legris, Frederic E., V, 225 
 
 Leigh, Edward B., V, 402 
 
 Le Mai, II, 100 
 
 Lemen, James, I, 367; 391 
 
 Lemen, James Jr., I, 336 
 
 Leonard, Calvin, II, 189 
 
 Le Seure, Ernest X., VI, 114 
 
 Levens, Henry, I, 400 
 
 Lewis, Fletcher, V, 254 
 
 Lewis, Harold C, V, 375 
 
 Lewis, Harry A., V, 142 
 
 Lewis, John W., VI, 292 
 
 Lewis, Meriwether, I, 403 
 
 Lewis, Thurlow G., VI, 94 
 
 Lewis and Clark expedition, I, 403 
 
 Levy, Isaac K., VI, 353 
 
 Liberal Republican party, III, 159 
 
 Liberty loans, III, 350 
 
 Libraries, III, 432 
 
 Library Extension Division, IV, 33 
 
 Liebau, Carl L., IV, 207 
 
 "Life and Times of Ninian Edwards", 
 I, 263 
 
 Light, Austin, III, 65 
 
 Lillard, Joseph, I, 367 
 
 Lime kilns, old, II, 85 
 
 Limestones, I, 13 
 
 Lincoln, Abraham, II, 151 
 
 Lincoln, Abraham, (facsimile of bill in 
 handwriting of), 161; 224, 260, 265, 
 382, 398; 472; in Springfield, 484; 
 elected president, 489; cabinet, 490; 
 inaugural address, 491; visits mother, 
 492; farewell to Springfield, 492; in 
 
 Washington, 494, III, 9, 51, 102; birth- 
 day observance, 318 
 
 Lincoln-Douglas debates, II, 262, 372, 
 387; the challenge, 403; newspaper 
 comment, 404; preparations for, 406; 
 reports of, 407; at Ottawa, 408; at 
 Freeport, 409; at Jonesboro, 410; at 
 Charleston, 414; at Galesburg, 416; at 
 Quincy, 416; at Alton, 417; opinions 
 of, 418; at Freeport, 420 
 
 Lincoln Tomb, Springfield, (illustration) 
 III, 63 
 
 Lind, Frederick A., VI, 295 
 
 Lindauer, Hilmar C, VI, 71 
 
 Linder, Usher F., II, 224; IV, 365 
 
 Lindley, Walter C, VI, 5 
 
 Lindsey, Richard V., V, 138 
 
 Lippencott, Charles E., Ill, 161 
 
 Lippincott, Thomas, II, 38 
 
 Lish, Ira M., V, 262 
 
 Little, John S., V, 46 
 
 Livesay, George M., VI, 249 
 
 Live stock, III, 180; wool growing, 202; 
 hogs, 202; 412, 413 
 
 Loans, World War, III, 350 
 
 Lock and Dams at Lockport, (illustra- 
 tion) III, 173 
 
 Lockwood, Samuel D., II, 37, 66, 332 
 
 Lodge, William F., V, 408 
 
 Loellke, William F., V, 105 
 
 Loess soils, I, 22 
 
 "Log Cabin and Hard Cider", II, 263 
 
 Log Cabin Campaign, II, 263 
 
 "Log colleges", III, 372 
 
 Log houses, building of, I, 448 
 
 Logan, Charles H., Sr., V, 380 
 
 Logan, Gusta E., VI, 135 
 
 Logan, John, II, 224; III, 62 
 
 Logan, John A., II, 151; Home of, illus- 
 tration) 415; III, 17; (illustration) 18; 
 20, 62, 154, 158 
 
 Logan, Stephen T., II, 478; III, 102, 333 
 
 Logan, William S., VI, 135 
 
 Lohman, George W., VI, 256 
 
 Long, Simeon E., IV, 161 
 
 Long Nine, II, 228 
 
 Longfellow, Earl L., V, 110 
 
 Looking Glass Prairie, I, 407 
 
 Loomis, John M., Ill, 61 
 
 Loper, Harry T., IV, 44 
 
 Lord, John B., VI, 3 
 
 Lorenzen, Anton F., VI, 203 
 
 Losantiville, I, 232 
 
 Lost Speech (Lincoln's), II, 383 
 
 Lotteries, II, 217 
 
 Lotus Pond near Chillicothe, II, 119 
 
 Louisiana, granted to Crozat, I, 112 
 
 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, Illinois 
 exhibits, III, 264 
 
 Love, Minnie B., IV, 246 
 
xliv 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Lovejoy, Elijah P., II, 158, 162, 163, 
 167; last appeal of, 180; newspaper 
 office mobbed, 182; death of, 184; IV, 9 
 
 Lovejoy, Owen, II, 184; (illustration) 
 185; IV, 9 
 
 Lowden, Frank O., Ill, 289; (illustra- 
 tion) 290; 311, 328, 343, 351 425; V, 
 354 
 
 Lowe, Ausby L., VI, 233 
 
 Lowe, Leo H., IV, 143 
 
 Lowenstein, Claude, IV, 182 
 
 Lowenstein, Henry P., V, 401 
 
 Lowenstein, Isaac, VI, 259 
 
 Lowenstein, Louis, VI, 165 
 
 Lower, William H., IV, 118 
 
 Lowrie, Richard, V, 375 
 
 Lucas, Scott W., V, 137 
 
 Lucey, Patrick J., IV, 15 
 
 Luck, Charles H., V, 11 
 
 Ludens, Harrv J., IV, 155 
 
 Ludlow, Thomas W., II, 463 
 
 Luecke, Fred H., VI, 430 
 
 Luft, Nicholas, V, 123 
 
 Lumbering, I, 30, 362 
 
 Lunsford, George, I, 405 
 
 Lusk's Ferry, I, 406 
 
 Lutz, Gustave A., IV, 186 
 
 Lyerla, Orville W., VI, 246 
 
 Lyford, Will H., V, 142 
 
 Lynch, John, V, 416 
 
 Lynch, John A., V, 370 
 
 Lynch, William F., Ill, 68 
 
 Lynn, Herschell V., VI, 334 
 
 Lyon, William I., VI, 298 
 
 Lyons, Richard J., VI, 154 
 
 McAdoo, William G., Ill, 350 
 McAllister, Edward, III, 87 
 McArthur, John, III, 57 
 McBride, Charles, IV, 262 
 McCaleb, Albert G., V, 24 
 McCalmont, Samuel M., IV, 289 
 McCarthy, Richard, I, 405 
 McCarty, Donovan D., VI, 336 
 McCartv, Joseph W., V, 126 
 McCarty, William A., VI, 254 
 McCawley, Addie Q., VI, 266 
 McCawley, Walter, VI, 266 
 McChesney, Waters W., Ill, 81 
 McClellan, George B., (illustration) III, 54 
 McClelland, Thomas, V, 402 
 McClernand, John A., II, 152, 224, 341 
 McClure, Samuel, I, 389 
 McCollum, Harvey D., VI, 346 
 McConnell, Murray, II, 152 
 McCord, Miller S., V, 206 
 McCordic, Alfred E., VI, 75 
 McCordic, Fletcher L., VI, 75 
 McCormack, J. W., VI, 227 
 McCormick, Cyrus H., Ill, 194; (illustra- 
 tion) 197; IV, 389 
 
 McCormick, Medill, IV, 12 
 McCormick, William H. B., V, 12 
 McCoy, Annie M., IV, 176 
 McCoy, Gilbert, IV, 37 
 McCoy, James S., IV, 176 
 McCoy, John H., IV, 216 
 McCrae, John, III, 321 
 McCulloch, David, IV, 228 
 McCulloch, Edward D., IV, 230 
 McCulloch Family, IV, 228 
 McDavid, Horace W., IV, 188 
 McDermaid, William H., V, 288 
 McDonald, Burt A., V, 74 
 McDowell, James L., VI, 231 
 McDowell, John W., IV, 153 
 McEvoy, John H., IV, 220 
 McFadden, James L., IV, 411 
 McFadden, John H., V, 267 
 McFatridge, William, I, 337 
 McGee, John A., VI, 150 
 McGinnis, John F., Jr., V, 79 
 McGonagil, Theodore, VI, 188 
 McGready, James, I, 369 
 McGrew, William A., VI, 304 
 McHatton, Charles F., V, 36 
 McHenry, William, I, 338 
 Mcllvaine, Caroline M., V, 362 
 Mclnerney, John L., V, 81 
 Mclnnes, Mae D., IV, 409 
 McKeaig, George W., Ill, 79 
 McKee, David, II, 106 
 McKendree (Bishop), I, 368; III, 113 
 McKendree, William, IV, 389 
 McKendree College, II, 301, 303; V, 388 
 McKenzie, D. A., VI, 327 
 McKernon, William R., VI, 331 
 McKinlay, Marie, VI, 92 
 McKinlay, Robert L., VI, 91 
 McKinley, Clyde D. V., IV, 304 
 McKinley, William B., VI, 18 
 McKinney, James W., VI, 407 
 McKinney, Thomas H., V, 232 
 McLaughlin, Charles, IV, 237 
 McLean, John, I, 443; II, 36, 64 
 McLean, William T., IV, 123 
 McMahon, Charles C, IV, 247 
 McMillan, J. C, VI, 205 
 McMinn, James N., VI, 146 
 McMurtry, William, III, 76 
 McNabb, James, VI, 39 
 McNamee, Peter F., V, 14 
 McNeill, Corbin A., IV, 400 
 McNeill, L. R., VI, 110 
 McPherson, Charles W., V, 202 
 McPherson, Donald F., VI, 68 
 McRoberts, Samuel, II, 35 
 McRoberts, William G., IV, 165 
 McWilliams, David, V, 364 
 McWilliams, Edward, V, 365 
 Maass, J. Edward, V, 52 
 Mack, Alonzo, III, 71 
 
INDEX 
 
 xlv 
 
 Macarty, Chevalier de, I, 136 
 
 MacChesney, Nathan W., VI, 20 
 
 MacCracken, William P., Jr., VI, 123 
 
 Macnamara, Homer P., IV, 232 
 
 Macon County Court House, first (illus- 
 tration), II, 363 
 
 Madison, Relly, III, 88 
 
 Madison County, population in 1818, I, 
 343; first school, 372 
 
 Magill, Ansel 0., IV, 191 
 
 Magill, Samuel R., IV, 87 
 
 Mahr, Robert L., IV, 294 
 
 Mail order concerns, III, 225 
 
 Mail routes, early, II, 215 
 
 Main, Rufus H., VI, 218 
 
 Mangham, John K., I, 339 
 
 Manierre, George, IV, 357 
 
 Mann, Elizabeth M. T., V, 400 
 
 Mann, Joseph, V, 112 
 
 Mansfield, Henry, IV, 263 
 
 Mansion House, Belleville, (illustration) 
 II, 307 
 
 Manuel, negro, burned to death, I, 202 
 
 Manufacturing; I, 361; infancy of, II, 
 297 
 
 Manufacturers, III, 104; agricultural im- 
 plements, 105, 415 
 
 Manufacturing centers, III, 417 
 
 "March of the Spaniards Across Illi- 
 nois", I, 207 
 
 Marcy, Milton S., IV, 35 
 
 "Marine Settlement", I, 337 
 
 Marion Carnegie Library, VI, 406 
 
 Marissa Township High School, VI, 313 
 
 Mark, Clayton, VI, 183 
 
 Marker at site of Jonesboro Debate, 
 (illustration) II, 411 
 
 Marketing, cooperative, III, 228 
 
 Marks, Francis A., VI, 408 
 
 Marquette, Father, I, 66, (illustration) 
 71; journey to Mississippi, 72; re- 
 turn journey, 76; in Chicago, 78; 
 death of, 79, 256; II, 98 
 
 Marquis, C. C, V, 268 
 
 Marsh, C. Carroll, III, 60 
 
 Marsh, Jason, III, 71 
 
 Marsh harvester, III, 195 
 
 Marshall, Charles B., IV, 110 
 
 Marshall, John, first banker in Illinois, 
 I, 305 
 
 Marshall (John) Residence, in Shawnee- 
 town, (illustration) I, 304 
 
 Marshall, John A., VI, 164 
 
 Marshall, Samuel S., IV, 389 
 
 Marshall, Thomas A., Ill, 84 
 
 Marshall, W. A., II, 224 
 
 Marshall black clay loam, I, 22 
 
 Martin, Colfax T., V, 86 
 
 Martin, Frank W., V, 104 
 
 Martin, James S., Ill, 78 
 
 Martin, John W., VI, 58 
 
 Martin, Ransom S., V, 389 
 
 Maryland's demand, I, 220 
 
 Mascoutin Indians, I, 51 
 
 Mason, Edward G., IV, 393 
 
 Mason, R. B., Ill, 174 
 
 "Masque of Illinois, The", III, 339 
 
 Massacres, first of American settlers, I, 
 389 
 
 Masters, Nick A., V, 375 
 
 Mastodons, II, 201 
 
 Matheny, Charles R., I, 368, 393; III, 
 102 
 
 Mather, Thomas, II, 38 
 
 Mather, Thomas S., Ill, 88 
 
 Matteson, Joel A., IV, 394 
 
 Matthew, John B., IV, 174 
 
 Matthew, William O., IV, 175 
 
 Mattis, Ross R., VI, 60 
 
 Maurer, Benjamin L., IV, 125 
 
 Maurer, Charles J., IV, 220 
 
 Maxwell, Oliver G., V, 106 
 
 May, William H., V, 161 
 
 Mayer, Levy, III, 363 
 
 Mazir, Francis S., IV, 99 
 
 Meat packing, III, 416 
 
 Meckel, J. C, V, 51 
 
 Medill, Joseph, II, 478; III, 125; (illus- 
 tration) 126; 156 
 
 Meeker, Samuel G., IV, 261 
 
 Meeting at Ripon, Wisconsin, II, 366 
 
 Meisinger, Adam, VI, 153 
 
 Meisinger, Matilda P., VI, 154 
 
 Meixner, Fred M. F., IV, 30 
 
 Memorable year in American history, 
 I, 217 
 
 Memorial Stadium, University of Illi- 
 nois, (illustration) III, 352 
 
 Menard, Pierre, I, 150; mansion of (illus- 
 tration) 354; 390, 444; III, 376 
 
 Mendota Times, III, 34 
 
 Menz, John B., V, 33 
 
 Menzemer, Edwin J., IV, 410 
 
 Merick, Wendell S., VI, 112 
 
 Mermet, Father, I, 117, 256 
 
 Merritt, Wesley, IV, 395 
 
 Mertz, Albert A., IV, 206 
 
 Messenger, John, I, 336, 372, 387; III, 
 376 
 
 Messozoic Era, I, 11 
 
 Methodist colleges, II, 301 
 
 Methodists, I, 260, 367; II, 87 
 
 Metzger, Andrew C, VI, 114 
 
 Metzger, Paul H., V, 89 
 
 Mexican War, Illinois in, II, 310; call to 
 arms, 311; Illinois organization for, 
 313; regiments, 313; praise won by 
 Illinois troops, 320; James Shields' 
 brigade, 320; return of Illinois troops, 
 321 
 
 Mexican war soldier, (illustration) II, 
 312 
 
xlvi 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Meyer, Agnes E. W., V, 428 
 
 Meyer, Carl F., V, 428 
 
 Meyer, W. Ernest, V, 25 
 
 Meyer, Walter W. L., VI, 308 
 
 Meyers, D. S., Jr., Ill, 369 
 
 Michael, William H., V, 251 
 
 Michigami Indians, I, 49 
 
 Michigan Boulevard, Chicago, (illustra- 
 tion) III, 421 
 
 Middlesworth, Abram, VI, 215 
 
 Middlesworth, W. S., VI, 215 
 
 Mier, Fred A., V, 381 
 
 Miles, Coleman, V, 308 
 
 Miley, George M., VI, 194 
 
 Military campaigns in Illinois, 1812, I, 
 287; in 1813, 287; in 1814, 288 
 
 Military organization; infantry, III, 56; 
 cavalry, 84; artillery, 87 
 
 Military Tract, II, 116 
 
 Military Training Camps: Association, 
 VI, 143 
 
 Militia, called 1831-32, II, 126; in World 
 War, III, 343 
 
 Milk, III, 413 
 
 Mill, early, near Kaskaskia, I, 125 
 
 Miller, Allen H., IV, 86 
 
 Miller, Allie P., V, 210 
 
 Miller, Andrew J., V, 210 
 
 Miller, August W., IV, 346 
 
 Miller, Charles H., VI, 227 
 
 Miller, Fred B., VI, 424 
 
 Miller, George W., V, 89 
 
 Miller, Henry G., V, 421 
 
 Miller, John B., Ill, 88 
 
 Miller, John S., V, 90 
 
 Miller, Llewellyn W., V, 52 
 
 Milligan, C. W., IV, 255 
 
 Millikin National Bank, IV, 416 
 
 Mills, Luther L., IV, 358 
 
 Mills, Samuel, I, 368 
 
 Mineral resources, I, 26 
 
 Mines and Minerals Department, III, 
 292, 295 
 
 Minority representation, General Assem- 
 bly, III, 135 
 
 Minton, Ace. B., V, 335 
 
 Mission of the Immaculate Conception, 
 I, 78 
 
 Mississippi River, I, 32; discovery of, 
 70; from Water Tower, Chester, (illus- 
 tration) II, 9 
 
 Mississippian system, I, 14 
 
 Missouri Compromise, II, 158, 366; re- 
 peal of, 367; 376, 387 
 
 Mitchell, Arthur J., IV, 329 
 
 Mitchell, Frank A., VI, 109 
 
 Mitchell, James C, VI, 102 
 
 Mitchell, James E., V, 357 
 
 Mitchell, John J., IV, 3 
 
 Mitchell, John M., VI, 122 
 
 Mitchell, Leeds, V, 130 
 
 Mitchell, William G., IV, 430 
 
 Mitchell, William H., IV, 358 
 
 Modern barns and silos, (illustration) 
 III, 198 
 
 Modert, Alson W., VI, 337 
 
 Moffatt, Aquila, IV, 50 
 
 Moline, III, 102 
 
 Molthrop, Charles P., IV, 345 
 
 Molz, Charles O., V, 234 
 
 Monbreun, Sieur de, I, 215 
 
 Money, James, III, 80 
 
 Money and banks, I, 439 
 
 Monk's Mound, near East St. Louis, 
 (illustration) I, 19; 407 
 
 Monroe, Edward N., V, 110 
 
 Monroe, Nathaniel S., VI, 103 
 
 Monroe County, population in 1818, I, 
 343 
 
 Monson, Leon A., IV, 164 
 
 Montelius, Joseph K., VI, 371 
 
 Montgomery, Clinton L., IV, 185 
 
 Montgomery, Eugene W., VI, 413 
 
 Montgomery, James M., IV, 142 
 
 Montgomery, John, I, 405 
 
 Montgomery, Mary B., IV, 142 
 
 Montgomery, Samuel, IV, 260 
 
 Montgomery Ward and Company, III, 
 225 
 
 Monty, Hilda B., VI, 286 
 
 Monty, Joseph, VI, 286 
 
 Moore, Abraham B., Ill, 76 
 
 Moore, Charles A., IV, 395 
 
 Moore, Charles W., Ill, 325; V, 170 
 
 Moore, Enoch, I, 338 
 
 Moore, Harriett E. D., IV, 395 
 
 Moore, Ira, III, 118 
 
 Moore, James, I, 258, 371, 393 
 
 Moore, Jesse H., Ill, 78 
 
 Moore John, II, 224 
 
 Moore, John B., VI, 422 
 
 Moore, Risdon M., Ill, 79 
 
 Moore, Robert S., Ill, 73 
 
 Moralee, Matthew M., V, 332 
 
 Moran, William E., IV. 153 
 
 Morey, Charles W., VI, 80 
 
 Morgan, Carl P., V, 307 
 
 Morgan, H. Edward, VI, 188 
 
 Morgan, Lewis C, VI, 98 
 
 Morgan (County) Journal, II, 376 
 
 Mormons, II, 268; origin of religion, 
 269; Book of The, 272; Church or- 
 ganized, 273; politics, 276; Temple at 
 Nauvoo, (illustration) 277; 280; Gov- 
 ernor Ford's intervention, 285; settle- 
 ment at Nauvoo, 290; exodus of, 293; 
 war, 293. 
 
 Moro, Francis, III, 69 
 
 Morrill, John, III, 69 
 
 Morris, Buckner S., Ill, 41 
 
INDEX 
 
 xlvii 
 
 Morris, George, VI, 254 
 
 Morris. Governeur, II, 463 
 
 Morris, John S., V, 403 
 
 Morris, Mary B., Ill, 39 
 
 Morris Paper Mills, IV, 422 
 
 Morrison, James L. D., IV 396 
 
 Morrison, Mrs. Robert, I, 395 
 
 Morrison, William, I, 260, 395 
 
 Morrison, William R., Ill, 67 
 
 Morse, Cleveland, V, 205 
 
 Morse Samuel G., I, 339 
 
 Mortar boats, Civil War, III, 44 
 
 Morton, Galen W., IV, 312 
 
 Morton, Joy, VI, 112 
 
 Moser, Samuel, IV, 60 
 
 Moses, Thomas, IV, 406 
 
 Moss, Alice S. M., V, 207 
 
 Moss, Arthur H., V, 207 
 
 Moss, William R., V, 23 
 
 Mott, John F., IV, 90 
 
 Moulton, S. W., Ill, 118 
 
 Mounce, Oscar B., IV, 158 
 
 Mortar boats, Civil war, III, 44 
 
 Mount Carbon Coal Company, II, 86 
 
 Mount Vernon, I, 420 
 
 Mount Vernon Daily Register News, V, 
 289 
 
 Mount Vernon Printing Company, VI, 
 94 
 
 Mourning, Paul W., V, 114 
 
 Move toward separation, I, 252 
 
 Moynihan, John J., V, 383 
 
 Moynihan, Patrick H., VI, 376 
 
 Muckelroy, R. E., IV, 422 
 
 Mudd, William A., IV, 273 
 
 Mudge, Dick H., V, 51 
 
 Mueller, Adolph, V, 351 
 
 Mueller, Erhardt, IV, 159 
 
 Mueller, Paul F., IV, 334 
 
 Mueller Manufacturing Company, V, 
 352 
 
 Mulligan, James A., Ill, 60; IV, 394 
 
 "Municipal Farming", III, 356 
 
 Murdoch, Stuart M., V, 15 
 
 Murdock, Robert, V, 228 
 
 Murphy, Daniel J., V, 128 
 
 Murphy, James W., IV, 22 
 
 Murphy, John B., IV, 358 
 
 Murphy, John S., V, 366 
 
 Murphy, Kenneth M., V, 367 
 
 Murphysboro: III, 404; following tor- 
 nado of 1925, (illustration) III, 405 
 
 Murphysboro Paving Brick Company, VI, 
 381 
 
 Murray, Hugh V., VI, 411 
 
 Murray, John, I, 169 
 
 Musselman, D. L., VI, 26 
 
 Musselman, Ernest, IV, 132 
 
 Myer, Raymond P., V, 185 
 
 Myers, Clarence A., V, 51 
 
 Myers, Fred C, VI, 77 
 
 Nadig, Anton T., V, 308 
 
 Nash, John J., IV, 332 
 
 National Banking Law, II, 360 
 
 National Democratic Convention, 1864, 
 III, 53 
 
 National expansion, II, 7 
 
 National Republican Convention, Chi- 
 cago, 1860, II, 478; 1872, III, 160 
 
 National road, The, I, 413; II, 206 
 
 Natural unity in State, I, 34 
 
 Naughton, Patrick, III, 90 
 
 Nauvoo, II, 275; City charter, 278 
 
 "Nauvoo House Association", II, 278 
 
 Navigation, early inland, II, 208 
 
 Neal, David A., II, 463 
 
 Neely, George W., Ill, 81 
 
 Neff, Alexander W., VI, 262 
 
 Neff, Calvin V., IV, 420 
 
 Negro Servitude in Illinois, II, 30 
 
 Negroes, I, 204; act respecting, 1819, 
 435 
 
 Neighbour, Lambert B., IV, 257 
 
 Nelson, Edgar, VI, 346 
 
 Nelson, Frank G., V, 249 
 
 Nelson, G. Edward, VI, 388 
 
 Nelson, Jack, V, 29 
 
 New Athens Community High School, 
 VI, 411 
 
 New Design, I, 258 
 
 New France, first Bishop in, I, 66 
 
 New Scotland lime beds, I, 14 
 
 Newberry, Walter L., IV, 396 
 
 Newbold, Joseph H., Ill, 34 
 
 Newell, Moses E., VI, 65 
 
 Newland, H. W., Ill, 41 
 
 Newlin, Enoch E., VI, 229 
 
 Newspapers, in pioneer period, I, 381; 
 stand on slavery question, II, 45; 
 early, 78; oldest known copy of an 
 Illinois publication, (illustration) 79; 
 378; in Civil War, III, 32 
 
 Niagara limestone, I, 13 
 
 Nichols, Edward S., V, 334 
 
 Nichols, Judson D., V, 400 
 
 Nichols, Samuel W., VI, 379 
 
 Nicholson, John J., V, 359 
 
 Nicholson, W. J., V, 11 
 
 Nicolay, John G., IV, 396 
 
 Niedringhaus, George W., VI, 412 
 
 Nierstheimer, Adolph, Jr., IV, 124 
 
 Niess, John, VI, 311 
 
 "Nigger Spring", II, 188 
 
 Niles, Nathan, III, 81 
 
 Nimmo, Alexander J., Ill, 77 
 
 Nine Mile Creek, I, 408 
 
 Nineteenth Amendment, III, 433 
 
 Nischwitz, Edmund P., V, 123 
 
 Nixon, George F., V, 349 
 
 Nixon, William P., IV, 395 
 
 Noble, Silas, III, 84 
 
 Norbury, Frank P., VI, 355 
 
xlviii 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Norbury Sanatorium, VI, 360 
 
 Nordell, Mauritz P., VI, 72 
 
 Normal school, first, III, 386; American, 
 
 396 
 North, George, VI, 142 
 North, Marcus, V, 75 
 Northam, Martin K., VI, 176 
 Northern Cross Railroad, II, 232; 240 
 Northwest Territory; immigration into, 
 
 I, 236; delegate from, 241; divided, 
 
 242 
 Norton, Burton W., V, 281 
 Norton, Jesse O., IV, 396 
 Notre Dame de Cascasquias, (village) 
 
 I, 160 
 
 Nuveen, John, V, 186 
 Nystrom, Elmer E., IV, 19 
 
 Oakes, James, III, 33 
 
 Oakford, Aaron S., IV, 78 
 
 Oatman, Charles R., V, 10 
 
 O'Brien, Edwin C, VI, 223 
 
 Observer, The, new code of, II, 168; 
 
 moved to Alton, 174 
 O'Connor, Martin E., IV, 148 
 O'Connor, Thomas P., Ill, 322 
 O'Donnell, Thomas, VI, 65 
 Officers' Training Camps, III, 347, 348 
 Ogden, William B., IV, 358 
 Ogle, Benjamin, I, 400 
 Ogle, Joseph, I, 367 
 Oglesby, John G., Ill, 337, 363, 365 
 Oglesby, Joseph, I, 368 
 Oglesby, Richard J., II, 478; III, 50, 57, 
 
 161; IV, 365 
 O'Hair, Frank T., V, 5 
 Ohio Company of Associates, I, 223 
 Ohio Land Company, I, 132 
 Ohio River, I, 33; near Elizabethtown, 
 
 (illustration) II, 61 
 Ohio Salt Works, I, 407 
 Ohio and Mississippi Railroad Company, 
 
 II, 350 
 Oil, III, 420 
 Olander, V. A., Ill, 363 
 
 Old Brownsville, house built about 1830, 
 (illustration) II, 93 
 
 "Old Citizen" party, II, 281 
 
 Old Congress, I, 239 
 
 Old Kaskaskia, III, 327 
 
 Old National Road, at Salt Creek, (illus- 
 tration) I, 413 
 
 Old Riley Mill, I, 261 
 
 Old State House in Kaskaskia, (illustra- 
 tion) I, 295 
 
 Old-time residence, near Pinckneyville, 
 (illustration) I, 268 
 
 O'Leary, Arthur, III, 88 
 
 Olin, Frederick W., IV, 427 
 
 Olin, John M., VI, 391 
 
 Oliver, Frederick S., IV, 344 
 
 Oliver, John H., IV, 263 
 
 O'Loughlin, Daniel J., VI, 278 
 
 Olson, Walter A., IV, 107 
 
 O'Meara, Timothy, III, 74 
 
 O'Melveny, Samuel, I, 338 
 
 O'Neal, James, V, 255 
 
 Onstott, John N., IV, 324 
 
 Opeka, Frank M., V, 231 
 
 Orchard Creek shale, I, 14 
 
 Orchards, III, 418 
 
 Ordinance of 1784-1785, I, 220; 1784, 
 weakness of, 222 
 
 Ordinance of 1785, I, 415 
 
 Ordinance of 1787, I, 217, 224; provi- 
 sions of, 225, 246; III, 374, 433 
 
 O'Reilly, Charles A., VI, 52 
 
 Orine, William W., Ill, 75 
 
 Ormsby, Oscar B., V, 363 
 
 O'Rourke, Joseph, V, 73 
 
 Orr, George L., IV, 38 
 
 Orr, Loran E., V, 132 
 
 Osland, Birger, IV, 341 
 
 Ostendorf, Francis J., IV, 419 
 
 Ostrander, Roy J., V, 268 
 
 Ostrom, Bernard S., IV, 26 
 
 O'Sullivan, Joseph, V, 204 
 
 Otey, Charles, VI, 425 
 
 Otey, James F., VI, 424 
 
 Otrich, Charles O., V, 204 
 
 Ottawa, I, 420; III, 99 
 
 Ottawa Debate, II, 408 
 
 Otte, Hugo E., V, 72 
 
 Ottis, Daniel M., IV, 149 
 
 Ouilmette, Antoine, I, 151 
 
 "Our Illinois", Centennial hymn, III, 301 
 
 Owens, Alfred E., IV, 102 
 
 Oxford, John C, VI, 232 
 
 "Pack peddler", I, 379 
 
 Page, Joseph M., VI, 31 
 
 Paget, Pax, I, 262 
 
 Pagon, David, I, 405 
 
 Paine, Eleazer A., Ill, 57 
 
 Paine, Wilbur H., IV, 238 
 
 Paleozoic Era, I, 11 
 
 Palestine, I, 421 
 
 Palmer, John A., II, 383 
 
 Palmer, John M., II, 330; (illustration) 
 
 331; 478; III, 50, 58, 121, 152, 159, 174, 
 
 218 
 Palmer, Potter, III, 239; (illustration) 
 
 243; IV, 393 
 Panic of 1837, II, 238 
 Pantelis, Athanasius A., V, 25 
 Park, Martha, V, 279 
 Parker, Harry S., VI, 310 
 Parker, James H., IV, 159 
 Parker, James W., IV, 58 
 Parker, Lula M., IV, 159 
 Parkinson, Robert H., V, 19 
 Parks, Lawson A., IV, 395 
 
INDEX 
 
 xlix 
 
 Parks, Nannie G., VI, 407 
 Parrish, III, 406 
 Parrish, LaFayette, VI, 93 
 Parrish, Melvin P., IV, 25 
 Parsons, Claude V., V, 178 
 Parsons, Fernando A., IV, 327 
 Parsons, Herbert E., IV, 180 
 Parsons, Samuel H., I, 223 
 Partridge's Town, I, 407 
 Party politics, II, 251; in Illinois, 254 
 Paterson, Robert W., I, 374 
 Patrons of Husbandry, III, 214 
 Patterson, James A., V, 346 
 Patterson, Robert W., I, 422 
 Patton, Charles L., IV, 198 
 Patton, Grover C, VI, 394 
 Paulissen, John G., VI, 301 
 Pautler, Nicholas B., VI, 106 
 Payne, Edward W., IV, 212 
 Peabody, Francis S., VI, 335 
 Peabody, Stuyvesant, VI, 336 
 Peak, George J., VI, 175 
 Pearce, Clarence A., VI, 368 
 Pearce, Ebenezer J., V, 292 
 Pearce, Franklin B., V, 181 
 Pearce, Joe A. VI, 245 
 Pearce, Prince A., VI, 244 
 Pearce, Raymond B. } V, 168 
 \ Pearsons, Daniel K., IV, 396 - 
 PeckTJofrnr *r-3£64-n^3QA_^ 
 Peck, John F., VI, 353 
 Peck, John M., I, 384; II, 37, 89; III, 
 
 382 
 Pekin, III, 104 
 Pelhank, Henry H., V, 394 
 Peltz, Ralph C, IV, 54 
 Pemberton, John, V, 97 
 Pence, C. N., VI, 393 
 Pendleton, George H., Ill, 153 
 Penitentiary, II, 97 
 Penniman, David B., V, 278 
 Pennsylvanian system, I, 15 
 Peoria, I, 87; III, 102 
 Peoria Indians, I, 49 
 Peoria Public Library, IV, 189 
 Period of anarchy, I, 204 
 Permanent settlements, I, 109 
 Perrin, Frank, VI, 49 
 Perry, Edward O., IV, 204 
 Pervier, Clayton C, IV, 166 
 Peters, Daniel R., V, 48 
 Petersburg Canning Works, V, 167 
 Petersen, Edward A., V, 272 
 Peterson, P. A. IV, 402 
 Petroleum, I, 38 
 Pettis, H. S., V, 413 
 Petty, Ray H., VI, 338 
 Peverley, Edward E., Jr., V, 277 
 Pheasant breeding pens, State Game 
 
 Farm, Yorkville, (illustration) II, 233 
 Phelps, Charles A., V, 109 
 
 Philbrook, Elwood L., IV, 17 
 Philbrook, Emma K., IV, 17 
 Phillippe, David A., VI, 66 
 Phillippe, Rachel J. H., VI, 66 
 Phillips, Jesse J., IV, 396 
 Phillips, John C, III, 89 
 Phillips, John D., IV, 105 
 Phillips, John L., IV, 245 
 Phillips, Joseph, II, 36 
 Phillips, Thadeus, III, 81 
 Physical basis of Illinois' greatness, I, 24 
 Physical environment, analysis of, I, 25 
 Physicians, first in Illinois, II, 13 
 Piankeshaw Indians, I, 51 
 Piasa Bird, I, 73; (illustration) 74 
 Piasa Bluffs, I, 406 
 
 Piasa Chautauqua, (illustration) II, 119 
 Pickett, Thomas C, III, 81 
 Pierce, Charles I., V, 173 
 Pierce, Cyrus, III, 396 
 Pierce, J. Norman, VI, 314 
 Piggott, James, I, 405 
 Pike, Albert E., VI, 158 
 Pike, Charles B., V, 154 
 Pin oak, Hamilton County, (illustration) 
 II, 214 
 
 Pines near Polo, (illustration) II, 146 
 Pinkerton, Allan, V, 362 
 Pinkney, Clara P., IV, 333 
 Pinkney, Israel C, IV, 332 
 "Pioneer", Railroad engine (illustration), 
 II, 355 
 
 Pioneer History of Illinois, Reynolds, I, 
 199 
 
 Pioneers, I, 357; economic conditions, 
 359; religious life, 365; housekeeping, 
 377; sociability, 378; amusements, 379; 
 farmers, II, 296 
 
 Piotrowski, N. L., V, 101 
 
 Pittman, Philip, I, 159 
 
 Plant, Arthur H., VI, 302 
 
 Piatt, Henry R., VI, 74 
 
 Plattville limestone, I, 13 
 
 Plural marriages, II, 286 
 
 Politics: factional, I, 316; expansion, II, 
 10; early parties, 51; slavery question, 
 158; canvass, 1834, 204; log rolling, 
 227, 251; convention system in Illinois, 
 256; Mormon, 276; 318; 1853, 365; 
 1860, 477; 1861, III, 23; in 1864, III, 
 50; situation after Civil war, 119; un- 
 rest, 149; farmer's problem, 211; 217; 
 spoils, 284 
 
 Pollard, Aaron, IV, 310 
 
 Pont au Sable, Jean Baptiste, II, 100 
 
 Pontiac; assassinated, I, 257; 383 
 
 Pontiac's War, I, 140 
 
 Pope, Nathaniel, I, 263; (illustration), 
 325; 384; II, 63, 65; III, 375; 377 
 
1 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Pope County, population in 1818, I, 343; 
 1760, 217; in 1818, 343; distribution of, 
 356; 1820, 1830, 414; centers, 418; ex- 
 pansion, II, 14; distribution of, 82; 
 (map) 83; 257; growth in, 299; 1840, 
 1850, 352; III, 97; 1860-1870, 98; sta- 
 tistics, 1870, 115 
 
 Porter, George H., IV, 350 
 
 Postal rates, III, 350 
 
 Pottawatomie Indians, I, 51 
 
 Potter, Ben H., IV, 85 
 
 Potter, George M., V, 366 
 
 Potter, John W., IV, 85 
 
 Potts, Clarence E., VI, 30 
 
 Powder Magazine at Old Fort Chartres, 
 (illustration) I, 119 
 
 Powell, Hesakiah K., VI, 306 
 
 Powell, John W., Ill, 89 
 
 Powers, James M., IV, 72 
 
 Prairie du Rocher, I, 121, 161, 407 
 
 Prairie Farmer, III, 383 
 
 Prairie grass, I, 43 
 
 Prairies, origin of, I, 41 
 
 Preemption law, I, 296; II, 91 
 
 Prentiss, Benjamin M., Ill, 57; IV, 396 
 
 Presidential candidates, 1860, II, 477 
 
 Presbyterian colleges, II, 301 
 
 Presbyterians, I, 368; II, 87 
 
 Price, Anna M., IV, 33 
 
 Prickett, Abraham, I, 337 
 
 Primitive schoolhouses, III, 380 
 
 Prisons, Civil War, III, 44 
 
 Pritchett, Thomas W., IV, 43 
 
 Proclamation of 1763, I, 142 
 
 Proctor, David H., IV, 31 
 
 Proehl, Anna E. G., VI, 158 
 
 Proehl, John D., VI, 157 
 
 Proehl, Louisa G., V, 116 
 
 Proehl, William A., V, 115 
 
 Progress, basis of, II, 296 
 
 Prohibition, III, 430 
 
 Proterozoic Era, I, 11 
 
 Pruitt, Edgar C, IV, 202 
 
 Przybarski, Joseph L., IV, 384 
 
 Public Health Department, III, 292 
 
 Public lands, I, 218; II, 60 
 
 Public School System, 1824, I, 417 
 
 Public Welfare Department, III, 292, 295 
 
 Public Works and Buildings Department, 
 III, 292, 295 
 
 Pugh, Isaac C, III, 65 
 
 Pugh, Jonathan H., II, 39 
 
 Pullman, George M., (illustration) III, 
 138; 261; IV, 356 
 
 Punishments, early, I, 380 
 
 Purdy, Wallace C, V, 371 
 
 Purvines, A. N., IV, 152 
 
 Puterbaugh, Howell J,. IV, 240 
 
 Puterbaugh, J. Hartsell, IV, 97 
 
 Puterbaugh, Mary P., IV, 98 
 
 Puterbaugh, Sabin D., IV, 377 
 
 Putman, Floyd F., V, 258 
 Putnam, Holden, III, 74 
 Putnam, Rufus, I, 222 
 Putnam, Rufus W., VI, 217 
 Pyle, Ulys, VI, 197 
 
 Quebec Act, I, 165 
 
 "Queen Anne's War," I, 112 
 
 Quick, Moses, I, 398 
 
 Quincy, I, 419; III, 98 
 
 Quincy Debate, II, 416 
 
 Quincy Park Scene, (illustration) II, 146 
 
 Quinn, Frank J., IV, 87 
 
 Rackaway, J. Edwin, V, 289 
 
 Railroad and warehouse commission, 
 1871, III, 163; 221 
 
 Railroad convention, II, 349 
 
 Railroad engine, first, in Chicago, (illus- 
 tration) II, 355 
 
 Railroads, II, 211; first in Illinois, 212; 
 law for incorporating, 348, 454; regu- 
 lating, III, 137, 206, 209 
 
 Railsback, Roy J., IV, 282 
 
 Rainfall, annual, I, 34 
 
 Rains, Williams S., VI, 167 
 
 Raith, Julius, III, 66 
 
 Ramsay, Frank D., IV, 162 
 
 Ramsay, Luther R., IV, 162 
 
 Randolph County, I, 237 
 
 Randolph County, population in 1818, I, 
 343 
 
 Ranke, Frederick A., VI, 33 
 
 Rantoul, Robert Jr., II, 463 
 
 Ratcliff, Glenn, V, 304 
 
 Rathje, Frank C, VI, 79 
 
 Raum, John, II, 150 
 
 Rausch, Jacob W., V, 295 
 
 Rauth, Fred W., IV, 237 
 
 Rawlings Hotel, Shawneetown, (illus- 
 tration) II, 72 
 
 Rawlins, John A., IV, 371 
 
 Ray, George A., VI, 54 
 
 Ream, Harry F., V, 117 
 
 "Reannexation of Texas and Fifty-four 
 forty or Fight", II, 310 
 
 Reaper, III, 194 
 
 Reardon, Daniel, IV, 425 
 
 Reardon, James A., Ill, 62 
 
 Reardon, William J., IV, 426 
 
 Rebman Park, Johnson County, (illus- 
 tration) II, 81 
 
 Rechner, August, IV, 225 
 
 Reckhou, Williston E., VI, 382 
 
 Rector, Edward, V, 430 
 
 Rector, Nelson, I, 388 
 
 Rector, Thomas, I, 388 
 
 Rector, William, I, 387 
 
 Recuperation, after Civil War, III, 91 
 
 Red Cross, III, 365, 367, 407 
 
 Redheffer, Raymond L., V, 27 
 
INDEX 
 
 Reed, Clark S., V, 386 
 
 Reed, Joseph S., V, 410 
 
 Reeder, P. S., Ill, 40 
 
 Rees, Thomas, IV, 193 
 
 Reese, Frank H., VI, 384 
 
 Reeves, Owen T., Ill, 70 
 
 Reeves, Walter, IV, 366 
 
 Reeves Bluff, I, 437 
 
 Regan, Lawrence V., V, 393 
 
 Register-News Company, V, 289 
 
 Registration Department, III, 293, 297 
 
 Regulating railroads, III, 137 
 
 "Regulators", II, 308 
 
 Rehr, Harry P, VI, 284 
 
 Reich, Otto F., IV, 43 
 
 Reichmann, Frank, VI, 373 
 
 Reid, Charles C, VI, 426 
 
 Reid, John M., VI, 96 
 
 Reisch, George, IV, 203 
 
 Religious life; pioneer, I, 365; early 
 day, II, 86; freedom, 268; advance, III, 
 111; camp meetings, 112 
 
 Religious romance, II, 271 
 
 Rendleman, Harry W., V, 345 
 
 Renfer, Otto C, IV, 18 
 
 Renwick, George W., Ill, 90 
 
 Renwick's Elgin Battery, Illinois Artil- 
 lery, III, 90 
 
 Republican-Advocate, II, 78 
 
 Republican Convention, 1854, II, 369 
 
 Republican government, III, 268 
 
 Republican National Convention, Chi- 
 cago, 1860, II, 478; 1872, III, 160 
 
 Republican Party: rise of, II, 361; birth 
 of, in Illinois, 370; 392; division in, 
 III, 150 
 
 Republican State Convention, II, 398; 
 1870, III, 154; 1872, 161 
 
 Republicans, national, II, 254 
 
 Repudiation of State debt, II, 309 
 
 Resources, I, 38 
 
 Reuter, Henry, VI, 276 
 
 Revell, Alexander H., VI, 52 
 
 Revenue, II, 341; school, III, 388 
 
 Revolutionary soldiers, I, 404 
 
 Revolutionary War, troops mustered out, 
 I, 213 
 
 Reynolds, Charles H., VI, 155 
 
 Reynolds, Earl D., VI, 351 
 
 Reynolds, John, I, 145, 371, 394, 434; II, 
 36, 64, 156; (illustration), 216 
 
 Reynolds, Thomas II, 35 
 
 Reynolds, "Pioneer History of Illinois", 
 I, 199 
 
 Rhodes, James E., V, 245 
 
 Rice, Albert, VI, 224 
 
 Rice, Alexander Z., V, 202 
 
 Rice, Edward F., V, 241 
 
 Rice, Wallace, III, 301, 316, 329 
 
 Rich, Elmer, VI, 174 
 
 Richardson, Vol E., VI, 133 
 
 Richardson, William A., II, 385; IV, 374 
 
 Richardson, William H., II, 224 
 
 Richberg, Donald R., V, 237 
 
 Richeson, John J., IV, 139 
 
 Richmond, Asher L., VI, 136 
 
 Richmond, Jonathan, III, 80 
 
 Richmond shales, the, I, 13 
 
 Rickard, Elmer G., V, 45 
 
 Rickard, Harry L., V, 45 
 
 Rickard, Lewis, V, 44 
 
 Rickard, Lewis L., V, 46 
 
 Riddell, William R., Ill, 320 
 
 Riefler, Charles J., IV, 39 
 
 Riemenschneider, Albert L., IV, 345 
 
 Rigdon, Sidney, II, 289 
 
 Riggs, Hosea, I, 368 
 
 Riley, John V., V, 287 
 
 Rinaker, John I., Ill, 79 
 
 Ripley, Edward P., IV, 360 
 
 Rippetoe, George H., V, 330 
 
 Rising, Jorgen P., VI, 314 
 
 Ritchey, Alexander, V, 102 
 
 Rittenhouse, Martin L., VI, 106 
 
 River steamers, (illustration) I, 363; 
 steamboats, 412 
 
 River transportation, early, I, 410 
 
 Roads: early, II, 76 (illustrations), 77; 
 the National, 206; 213; hard, III, 423; 
 map showing progress of construc- 
 tion, 424; bond issues for, 427 
 
 Roberts, Adelbert H., V, 124 
 
 Roberts, Alexander H., V, 291 
 
 Roberts, Charles C, V, 426 
 
 Roberts, Harry E., IV, 190 
 
 Roberts, Millie J., V, 426 
 
 Robertson, Thomas, I, 339; VI, 220 
 
 Robinson, Carl E., V, 148 
 
 Robinson, Cora M., V, 208 
 
 Robinson, James C, III, 119; IV, 375 
 
 Robinson, James E., Ill, 54 
 
 Robinson, James F., IV, 276 
 
 Robinson, John M., IV, 376 
 
 Robinson, Lawson F., V, 208 
 
 Robinson, Mary E., IV, 277 
 
 Robison, Frank E., V, 357 
 
 Rock Island, III, 101 
 
 Rock Island Argus, IV, 85 
 
 Rock River from Castle Rock, Grand De- 
 tour, (illustration) II, 119 
 
 Rock Spring Seminary, I, 372; (illus- 
 tration), II, 302 
 
 Rockford, III, 104 
 
 Roderick, Solomon P., V, 99 
 
 Rodgers, Benjamin F., Ill, 89 
 
 Roedel, Carl, VI, 241 
 
 Rogers, Euclid B., IV, 225 
 
 Rogers, Myron C, IV, 176 
 
 Rogier, Henry O., IV, 278 
 
 Rohland, Charles B., VI, 404 
 
lii 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Rohlfs, Rudolph H., V, 53 
 
 Roman Catholics, II, 87, 89 
 
 Romeo, Main Channel Drainage Canal, 
 
 (illustration) III, 173 
 Rongetti, Amante, V, 329 
 Roodhouse, Charles B., V, 65 
 Roodhouse, William C, V, 152 
 Roos, Frederick B., IV, 280 
 Roosevelt, Theodore, III, 344 
 Root, Clarence J., IV, 167 
 Ross, Edward, VI, 78 
 Ross, Leonard F., Ill, 58 
 Ross, Walter H., V, 419 
 Rost, John W., IV, 64 
 Roth, Harry A., V, 59 
 Roth, Henry H., V, 254 
 Row, Harry R., V, 337 
 Royal Grant to Virginia, Connecticut 
 
 and Massachusetts, (map) I, 82 
 Royce, Clark E., Ill, 90 
 Ruckel, Abner D., V, 78 
 Ruckel, Carroll A., V, 78 
 Ruf, John L. H. Jr., VI, 51 
 Ruhl, A. S., IV, 404 
 Ruhle, Christian V., VI, 380 
 Rummel, Edward, III, 159 
 Runnells, John S., V, 105 
 Runnels, Mary Y., VI, 175 
 Rural practice teaching, III, 399 
 Rural schools, III, 388 
 Rush, William V., VI, 421 
 Russell, Horace G., VI, 144 
 Rutherford, Friend S., Ill, 75 
 Rutherford, Larkin, I, 371; 405 
 Rutz, Edward, III, 161 
 Ryan, D. J., V, 21 
 Ryan, George, III, 71 
 Ryan, Howard D., V, 284 
 Ryan, John F., V, 416 
 Ryman, Cora B, IV, 217 
 Ryrie, George M., V, 18 
 Ryrie, Sophia H., V, 19 
 
 Sabath, Joseph, VI, 148 
 
 Sac Indians, I, 50; II, 125 
 
 Sackman, William J., VI, 378 
 
 Sacred Heart Academy, IV, 33 
 
 St. Andrews Hospital, IV, 414 
 
 St. Angel, Jasper, IV, 359 
 
 St. Barbara's Church, IV, 99 
 
 St. Charles Community High School, VI, 
 
 328 
 St. Clair, Arthur, I, 233 
 St. Clair, Arthur W., VI, 195 
 St. Clair County, I, 232; population in 
 
 1818, I, 343 
 St. Denis, Juchereau de, I, 116 
 St. Joseph's Ursuline Academy, IV, 57 
 St. Louis, controversy with, II, 346 
 
 St. Mary's Catholic Church and School, 
 VI, 161 
 
 St. Peter, Orville G., V, 191 
 
 St. Peter sandstone, I, 13 
 
 Saint Philippe, (village) I, 162 
 
 "Salary Grab", law, III, 157 
 
 Saline River, II, 189 
 
 Salines, on Saline River, II, 192 
 
 Salt industry: II, 86, 187, 189; springs, 
 wells, licks, 189; springs leased, 191; 
 salt-making by French, 190; earliest 
 reference to, 190; fuel for, 197 
 
 Salvation Army, III, 367, 409 
 
 Salveson, Paul H., IV, 258 
 
 Sand dune suitable for growing cotton- 
 wood, (illustration) III, 207 
 
 Sanders, John W., V, 70 
 
 Sanders, J. W., IV, 214 
 
 Sanders, Karl D., V, 245 
 
 Sanders, R. Z., IV, 214 
 
 Sandy Meadows, I, 260 
 
 Sanford, John F. A., II, 463 
 
 Sangamon Country, I, 424; migration 
 
 Sanganash Hotel, Chicago, (illustration) 
 II, 106 
 
 Sanitary District of Chicago, (illustra- 
 tion) III, 173 
 
 Sargent, Fred W., V., 378 
 
 Sauer, Nicholas, V, 361 
 
 Sauer, Philip E., V, 362 
 
 Saukenuk, II, 116 
 
 Sauvage, William M., IV, 350 
 
 Savage, Thomas E., IV, 164 
 
 Savage's Ferry, I, 408 
 
 Sawyer, Josiah M., IV, 199 
 
 Scammon, Jonathan Y., V, 384 
 
 Scates, Walter B., II, 332 
 
 Scatterday, Frank F., VI, 215 
 
 Schaeffer, Delmont L., V, 168 
 
 Schauerte, Kasper, V, 280 
 
 Schauerte, Wienand, V, 280 
 
 Schein, George L., VI, 160 
 
 Schemmerhorn, John F., I, 368 
 
 Schenck, Charles F., IV, 346 
 
 Scherbarth, Herman R., VI, 303 
 
 Schertz, Benjamin F., IV, 178 
 
 Schertz, Julianna S., IV, 179 
 
 Schiele, William C, V, 255 
 
 Schierholz, Elmar L., V, 377 
 
 Schlipp, Frederick J., IV, 126 
 
 Schirding, Harry, VI, 425 
 
 Schirding, Henry H., VI, 425 
 
 Schlafly, Louis A., VI, 34 
 
 Schmidt, Henry G., V, 54 
 
 Schmidt, Otto L., Ill, 311; V, 5 
 
 Schmitt, Joseph M., IV, 51 
 
 Schofield, John M., IV, 376 
 
 Scholes, Robert, IV, 151 
 
 Schoolmaster general of Illinois, 1785, I, 
 371 
 
INDEX 
 
 liii 
 
 Schools: I, 370; in 1783, 371; pioneer, 
 415; law of 1825, 416; public system, 
 1824, 417; bill creating free, II, 95; 
 100; III, 145; private or state, 188; 
 first, 372; "log colleges", 372; Illinois 
 system, 375; first University, 376; free, 
 378; primitive buildings, 380; progress 
 of, 382; law of 1855, 386; first normal 
 school, 386; establishment of state uni- 
 versity, 386; elementary schools, 387; 
 revenues, 388; rural, 388; city, 389; 
 county superintendents, 390; buildings, 
 391; courses of study, 391; consolida- 
 tion, 392; high schools, 392; rural prac- 
 tice, 399; state university, 400 
 
 Schott, Emma, VI, 242 
 
 Schott, Henry C, VI, 242 
 
 Schott, Henry C. Jr., VI, 242 
 
 Schroder, William B., IV, 135 
 
 Schroeder, Simon P., V, 164 
 
 Schroeder, Werner W., VI, 107 
 
 Schroeppel, G. H. R., IV, 347 
 
 Schuette, Alfred E., VI, 205 
 
 Schumacher, Harry W., V, 181 
 
 Schurz, Carl, II, 484; III, 28, 158 
 
 Schuwerk, William H., VI, 109 
 
 Schuwerk, William M., VI, 192 
 
 Schuyler, Robert, II, 463 
 
 Schwaab, John E., V, 80 
 
 Schwaner, George W., IV, 182 
 
 Schwartz, Adolph, III, 89 
 
 Schwartz, Samuel, V, 319 
 
 Schwartz, Sarah K., VI, 375 
 
 Schwartz, William A., VI, 375 
 
 Scientific agriculture, I, 30 
 
 Scofield, Timothy J., V, 24 
 
 Scott, Alfred B. Jr., V, 84 
 
 Scott, John C., V, 239 
 
 Scott, John M., II, 266; IV, 366 
 
 Scott, Mabel, VI, 179 
 
 Scott, Mary A. S., V, 240 
 
 Scott, Mrs. Mathew T., I, 116 
 
 Scott, Travis M., IV, 256 
 
 Scott, Winfield F., II, 147; army at Chi- 
 cago, 148; 152; VI, 178 
 
 Scott Field, III, 348 
 
 Scovill, Albert T., VI, 67 
 
 Scoville, Thomas N., V, 265 
 
 Scrimger, Schuyler C, IV, 104 
 
 Searing, John H., VI, 225 
 
 Secession: threats of, II, 486; begins, 
 487 
 
 Second general assembly, Vandalia, I, 
 442 
 
 Second Illinois Artillery, III, 88 
 
 Second Illinois Cavalry, III, 84 
 
 Second township, II, 301 
 
 Secret societies, II, 44 
 
 Secretary of State, office of, III, 277 
 
 Seeberger, Anthony, III, 239 
 
 Seeley, John, III, 376 
 
 Seeley, Samuel J., I, 371 
 
 Seelye, Joseph, IV, 306 
 
 Sehring, George F., VI, 269 
 
 Seibold, William H., IV, 41 
 
 Seibold Family, IV, 41 
 
 Selby, Clarence, IV, 247 
 
 Selby, Paul, II, 376; (illustration) 377; 
 
 IV, 382 
 Selective Service Law, III, 346 
 Self-government, II, 7 
 Seligman, Arthur F., V, 24 
 Sellers, George E., II, 188; 202 
 Seminary funds, III, 185 
 Semple, James, II, 152 
 Seright, Roy L., VI, 312 
 "Serious financial depression", II, 333 
 Service Recognition Board, III, 370 
 Settlements, permanent, I, 109 
 Settlers, I, 147 
 
 Severinghaus, Albert H., V, 409 
 Sewage Treatment Works in Process of 
 
 Construction, 1925, (illustration) III, 
 
 173 
 Seward, Wm. H., II, 484 
 Sexton, Charles M., VI, 97 
 Sexton Creek limestone, I, 14 
 Seybold, Robert, I, 405 
 Seybt, Charles H., VI, 59 
 Shabbona: (illustration) II, 141; 152 
 Shanahan, David E., Ill, 337, 363 
 Shannon, James, IV, 148 
 Shaughnessy, John, IV, 152 
 Shaw, Charles E., VI, 56 
 Shaw, George E., V, 219 
 Shaw, James, VI, 312 
 Shaw, Ralph M., VI, 259 
 Shaw, Robert E., VI, 156 
 Shaw, Will G., V, 359 
 Shawnee Chief, II, 27 
 Shawneetown, I, 419; land offices, 441; 
 
 Presbyterian Church, 1823, II, 88 
 Shawneetown Bank, 1841, II, 249 
 Shawneetown Gazette, The, I, 381 
 Shawneetown land district, II, 192 
 Sheean, David, III, 40 
 Sheets, Horace H., V, 423 
 Shellabarger, David S., IV, 196 
 Shepardson, Francis W., V, 422 
 Shepherd, Frank W., VI, 325 
 Sheridan, James B., II, 407 
 Sherman, Francis I., Ill, 73 
 Sherman, Lawrence Y., Ill, 312 
 Sherman, W. P., VI, 275 
 Shields, James, brigade, I, 320; 341; IV, 
 
 368 
 Shields, James K., II, 224 
 Shiloh, I, 406 
 
 Shipton, Thomas D., V, 398 
 Shirk, Osro, V, 390 
 Shirley, Henry W., VI, 29 
 
liv 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Short, Jacob, I, 398 
 
 Short, John A., VI, 198 
 
 Shoupe, Walter C, VI, 80 
 
 Shouse, Thurman F., V, 96 
 
 Shuck, William D., IV, 233 
 
 Shugart, Leon M., V, 266 
 
 Shumaker, Andrew H., V, 273 
 
 Shumway, M. Raymond, V, 285 
 
 Shumway, Roland H., V, 284 
 
 Shup, Frank L., VI, 293 
 
 Shurtleff College, II, 301; V, 365 
 
 Shuster, F. E., IV, 219 
 
 Sibley, Frank C, VI, 197 
 
 Sickles, Hiram F., Ill, 83 
 
 Siebel, August F. W., IV, 330 
 
 Siekman, John H., IV, 379 
 
 Sikes, John H., IV, 232 
 
 Silos, III, 196 
 
 Silversparre, Axel, III, 88 
 
 Simon, Owen H., IV, 158 
 
 Simonds, Ossian C, VI, 325 
 
 Sims, Ira W., V, 413 
 
 Sinding, John W., V, 234 
 
 Singleton, James W., II, 333 
 
 Sinnett, Thomas P., IV, 114 
 
 Siqueland, Tryggve A., V, 288 
 
 Sitterly, John C, V, 107 
 
 Sixty-fifth Congress, III, 342 
 
 Skiff, Frederick J. V., Ill, 261 
 
 Skinner, George S., IV, 160 
 
 Skinner, Hosea E., V, 343 
 
 Skinner, John S., IV, 265 
 
 Skinner, Josef T., IV, 160 
 
 Skinner, Mark, IV, 367 
 
 Slade, Charles, IV, 397 
 
 Slavery: introduction of into Illinois, I, 
 125; introduction of, 249; 319; II, 15; 
 struggle in Illinois, 17; freed slaves, 
 22; fight with freedom, 28; report of 
 committees, 29; pamphlets, appeals, 
 posters, etc., 41; public speaking, 42; 
 stand of churches on, 44; newspapers, 
 45; in politics, 158; radicals and con- 
 servatives, 159; 193; question settled 
 in Illinois, 336; 361 
 
 Slawson, James H., IV, 336 
 
 Sloan, John F., IV, 29 
 
 Sloan, Thomas J., Ill, 80 
 
 Sloo, Thomas, II, 65 
 
 Sloo, Thomas, Jr., II, 55 
 
 Smiley, Ernest H., VI, 171 
 
 Smith, Alfred T., Ill, 84 
 
 Smith, Arthur G., IV, 172 
 
 Smith, Austin J., V, 296 
 
 Smith, Benjamin L., VI, 338 
 
 Smith, Carleton B., IV, 108 
 
 Smith, Charles G., V, 185 
 
 Smith, Charles N., VI, 245 
 
 Smith, Dudley C, III, 82 
 
 Smith, Edward A., IV, 409 
 
 Smith, Francis L., V, 369 
 
 Smith, Francis N., V, 368 
 
 Smith, Frank E., IV, 216 
 
 Smith, George P., Ill, 81 
 
 Smith, George W., VI, 430 
 
 Smith, Gustavus A., Ill, 64, 84 
 
 Smith, Henman B., V, 297 
 
 Smith, Henry W., V, 76 
 
 Smith, Hyrum, murder of, II, 288 
 
 Smith, J. Emil, IV, 207 
 
 Smith, James, I, 366; II, 89; III, 87 
 
 Smith, Jesse M., VI, 54 
 
 Smith, Joseph II, 269; (illustration) 270; 
 in Washington, 276; in jail, 287; mur- 
 der of, 288 
 
 Smith, Kirby B., VI, 393 
 
 Smith, Leander, IV, 408 
 
 Smith, Lynn C, VI, 42 
 
 Smith, Oscar C, VI, 189 
 
 Smith, Pearl, VI, 139 
 
 Smith, Richard E., V, 220 
 
 Smith, Robert E., V, 199 
 
 Smith, Theophilus W., II, 35, 65 
 
 Smith, Thomas B. F., V, 342 
 
 Smith, W. H. C, V, 47 
 
 Smith, William C, VI, 201 
 
 Smith, William H., IV, 120 
 
 Smith, William W., VI, 291 
 
 Smulski, John F., VI, 189 
 
 Snedeker, Isaac D., IV, 428 
 
 Snell, Thomas, III, 77 
 
 Snider, Louis B., IV, 132 
 
 Snook, Albert M., VI, 322 
 
 Snyder, Adam W., II, 152, 224, 242 
 
 Snyder, Byron J., IV, 235 
 
 Snyder, Harry M., VI, 326 
 
 Snyder, Joseph C, V, 149 
 
 Social progress, II, 92; III, 107; stand- 
 ards, 110; 429 
 
 Social standards, early, I, 376 
 
 Soils, I, 20; building, III, 199 
 
 Southern Illinois Hospital for the In- 
 sane, Anna, (illustration) III, 296 
 
 Southern Illinois State Normal Univer- 
 sity, (illustration) III, 397 
 
 Southern Illinois tornado, III, 403 
 
 Southern sentiment, 1860, II, 471 
 
 Spaniards in Illinois, I, 207 
 
 Spanish claims, I, 309 
 
 Spann, Harriet M. N., VI, 266 
 
 Spann, John H., VI, 266 
 
 Sparks, Edwin E., I, 448; II, 400 
 
 Sparks, Henry D., VI, 321 
 
 Spaulding, Jay L., V, 72 
 
 Spawning grounds, Carlyle, (illustra- 
 tion) II, 233 
 
 Spears, John W., VI, 292 
 
 Specie Payment, suspension of, II, 247 
 
 Speckman, Anna H. S., IV, 295 
 
 Speckman, Fred C, IV, 295 
 
 Speckman, Frederick H., IV, 295 
 
 Spectator, II, 45 
 
INDEX 
 
 lv 
 
 Speeman, Walter H., V, 323 
 Speicher, Joseph H., VI, 304 
 Spencer, Jack C, VI, 38 
 Spencer, Orson B., VI, 300 
 Spillman, Benjamin, I, 369 
 Spilman, Charles H., IV, 338 
 Spiritual wives, II, 281 
 Spoils, III, 284 
 Spoor, John A., Ill, 363 
 Sprague, Albert A., IV, 4 
 Sprague, Thomas K., VI, 287 
 Sprenger, George W., IV, 119 
 Sprenger, William H., VI, 417 
 Springer, William M., IV, 377 
 Springfield, I, 421; II, 484; III, 102 
 "Springfield and Alton Turnpike Road 
 
 Company", II, 456 
 Springfield Light Artillery, III, 89 
 Springfield Public Schools, IV, 197 
 Sproul, Elliott W., VI, 367 
 Spurgin, William G., VI, 387 
 Stadler, Percy E., VI, 196 
 Staley, Edward E., IV, 69 
 Star of the West, II, 78 
 Staring, Frederick A., Ill, 70 
 Starne, Charles A., IV, 215 
 Starr, Norman S., VI, 65 
 Starved Rock, (illustration) I, 258; 406 
 Starved Rock Park, (illustration) II, 
 
 146 
 State Agricultural Society, II, 296 
 State Bank chartered, 1834, II, 246 
 State Bank of Illinois, II, 92 
 State Board of Agriculture, III, 184 
 State Boards, III, 286 
 State Capitol, Vandalia, (illustration) I, 
 
 437 
 State Central Committee, II, 264 
 State Commissions, III, 286 
 State constitutional convention, of 1818, 
 
 delegates to, I, 333; draft of, 346; its 
 
 framers, 352; changes in, II, 324, 334; 
 
 new, 341 
 State Constitutional Convention of 1818, 
 
 I, 342; 1862, III, 24 
 
 State Council of Defense, III, 359, 362, 
 
 363, 367 
 State Crop Reporting Service, III, 359 
 State debt, repudiation of, II, 309; 1842, 
 
 243 
 State Farmers' Association, III, 215 
 State Governor, first, message of, I, 
 
 430 
 State Hatchery, Yorkville, (illustration) 
 
 II, 233 
 
 State Legislature, 1851, II, 350 
 
 State Mass Convention, 1854, II, 368 
 
 State officers, III, 277 
 
 State Policy, II, 347 
 
 State Sanitary Bureau, III, 37 
 
 State Teachers' Association, III, 391 
 
 State Treasurer, office of, III, 278 
 State University, establishment of, 1867, 
 
 III, 386, 400 
 Statehood petition, I, 324 
 Statehouse, frame, at Vandalia, burned, 
 
 II, 49 
 States, original thirteen, II, 14; new, 15 
 Staub, Sadie F., IV, 383 
 Steamboats, I, 412 
 Stearns, Leonard T., VI, 222 
 Steel, James, III, 90 
 Steel, James H., VI, 258 
 Steely, Harlin M., VI, 37 
 Stegman, Jacob R., V, 161 
 Stein, Henry, V, 185 
 Steinhouser, Carl A. Jr., V, 393 
 Stelle, John H., VI, 129 
 Stenbeck, Andrew, III, 89 
 Stephens, Alexander H., II, 487 
 Stephens, Malbern M., VI, 36 
 Stephens, Thaddeus, II, 484 
 Stephenson, Benjamin, I, 336 
 Stephenson, Ferdinand D., Ill, 84 
 Stephenson, James W., II, 234 
 Stephenson, Thomas B., VI, 186 
 Sterling, Thomas, I, 156 
 Sterling, Fred E., V, 351 
 Stevens, Albert D., IV, 170 
 Stevens, Bradford N., Ill, 155 
 Stevens, James E., V, 306 
 Stevens, Thaddeus, III, 150 
 Stevenson, Adlai E., (illustration) III. 
 
 255; IV, 372 
 Stewart, Bae, VI, 38 
 Stewart, Charles J., IV, 186 
 Stewart, Don B., VI, 188 
 Stewart, Warren, III, 8? 
 Stice, J. Maurice, VI, 216 
 Stickney, Edward S., V, 303 
 Stiers, Fred L., IV, 141 
 Stillman family, I, 375 
 Stillman's Defeat, II, 130 
 Stires, John C, V, 178 
 Stoakey, Simon J., Ill, 83 
 Stoakey's Company, III, 83 
 Stokes, James H., Ill, 89 
 Stolze, Albert E., V, 166 
 Stone, Clyde E., IV, 34 
 Stone, Harlan M., VI, 300 
 Storev, Wilbur F., IV, 397 
 Storms, I, 37 
 Storrs, Emery A., IV, 380 
 Stout, Clyde W., IV, 401 
 Stout, Ina R., IV, 120 
 Stoutin, George H., V, 112 
 Stowell, Rockwell, IV, 264 
 Strauss, Joseph B., VI, 363 
 Strawn, Silas H., V, 424 
 Street, Joseph M., II, 65 
 Streuber, Joseph P., V, 153 
 Streyckmans, Felix J., V, 16 
 
lvi 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Strickfaden, John, IV, 242 
 
 Strickfaden, Silas, IV, 140 
 
 Stridger, Felix, III, 31 
 
 Strong, Judson E., VI, 402 
 
 Strunk, William P., V, 423 
 
 Stuart, Cortland B., IV, 230 
 
 Stuart, David, III, 67 
 
 Stuart, Elias, III, 70 
 
 Stuart, John T., II, 156 
 
 Stuber, Alex, IV, 128 
 
 Stubbles, Charles S., V, 68 
 
 Stubbles, Cora B., V, 69 
 
 Studebaker, Clement, Jr., VI, 147 
 
 Stumbaugh, Charles E., VI, 418 
 
 Sturges, Jona., II, 463 
 
 Sturges, Mary D., Ill, 261 
 
 Sturgis Rifles, Illinois Artillery, III, 90 
 
 Sturtevant, J. M., Ill, 382 
 
 Sturtevant, Julian M., IV, 398 
 
 Sturtz, Charles E., V, 94 
 
 Stuttle, Albert L., IV, 228 
 
 Stutzman, Guy C, V, 290 
 
 Sucher, George B., IV, 48 
 
 Suffrage, rights modified, I, 314; aliens' 
 rights, II, 258; III, 130 
 
 Sullivan, W. E., VI, 131 
 
 Summers, Ephriam, V, 150 
 
 Sumner, Charles, III, 150 
 
 Sunnyside Coal Mine, Herrin, (illustra- 
 tion) III, 420 
 
 Superintendent of Public Instruction, 
 office of, III, 278 
 
 Supply companies, great, III, 224 
 
 Supreme Court, I, 237, 303; danger of 
 whig, 1840, II, 258; III, 144 
 
 Supreme Court Building, (illustration) 
 III, 331 
 
 Supreme Court Building, Mt. Vernon 
 (illustration), II, 348 
 
 Surghnor, Valentine H., IV, 111 
 
 Sutherland, William J., VI, 315 
 
 Sutton, Gertus D., IV, 279 
 
 Sutton, James P., IV, 417 
 
 Swanson, David I., V, 31 
 
 Sweet, Benjamin J., Ill, 48 
 
 Swett, Leonard, II, 478; IV, 369 
 
 Swift, Gustavus F., V, 324 
 
 Swing, David L., IV, 358 
 
 Swofford, James C, VI, 170 
 
 Swofford, Rassie A., VI, 170 
 
 Taff, Albert E., V, 310 
 
 Taft, William H., Ill, 344 
 
 Talbott, Lafayette E., VI, 155 
 
 Tallett, Harold J., V, 242 
 
 Talon, M. Jean, I, 67 
 
 Tamaroa Indians, I, 49 
 
 Tanner, John R. (illustration), III, 280 
 
 Tanner, John R., IV, 398 
 
 Taphorn, Henry, VI, 313 
 
 Taxation, World War, III, 350 
 
 Taxes, II, 336; increased, III, 354 
 
 Taylor, Benjamin F., VI, 118 
 
 Taylor, Ezra, III, 87 
 
 Taylor, Paul, VI, 306 
 
 Taylor, William, IV, 214 
 
 Taylor, Zachary, I, 289; II, 156, 312 
 
 Teachers' College, III, 396 
 
 Teachers' Institutes, III, 383 
 
 Tearney, George M., V, 263 
 
 Tecumseh, I, 271 
 
 Temperature, annual, I, 34 
 
 Teel, Levi, I, 405 
 
 Templeton, Anna G., VI, 304 
 
 Templeton, Elizabeth J., VI, 304 
 
 Templeton, James S., VI, 303 
 
 Tenth General Assembly, II, 224 
 
 Tenth Illinois Cavalry, III, 86 
 
 Tenth Illinois Infantry, III, 57 
 
 Territorial government, I, 311 
 
 Territorial land titles, I, 294 
 
 Territorial officials, I, 263 
 
 Territory First Class, I, 229 
 
 Territory of Illinois, I, 254 
 
 Terry, Charles D., IV, 231 
 
 Terry, Henry T., IV, 231 
 
 Terry, John C, IV, 143 
 
 Test, M. Lincoln, VI, 420 
 
 Thatcher, Charles P., IV, 186 
 
 Thatcher, Mary M. H., IV, 186 
 
 Theological Seminary and High School, 
 
 Rock Springs, II, 301 
 Third Illinois Cavalry, III, 85 
 Third Territorial Legislature, I, 321 
 Thistlewood, Wilbur B., VI, 263 
 Thode, August W., V, 431 
 Thomas, Benjamin F., V, 313 
 Thomas, Clarence C, VI, 310 
 Thomas, Frank W., V, 79 
 Thomas, Jesse B., I, 253, 336, 362, 393, 
 
 447; II, 30, 36, 64; III, 376 
 Thomas, William, II, 224 
 Thompson, A. Alonzo, VI, 402 
 Thompson, Charles H., VI, 180 
 Thompson, David O., VI, 68 
 Thompson, George E., VI, 328 
 Thompson, George H., VI, 313 
 Thompson, Joseph J., I, 145; V, 397 
 Thompson, Norman F., VI, 349 
 Thompson, Norman F., Jr., VI, 349 
 Thompson, T. Barney, V, 279 
 Thon, William G., VI, 399 
 Thorn House, II, 200 
 Thornton, Anthony, II, 332 
 Thornton, Charles S., VI, 9 
 Thrift stamps, III, 354 
 Tillman, Benjamin W., V, 115 
 Tilton, Floyd J., V, 411 
 Timm, William C, VI, 55 
 Tinsley, Robert R., V, 169 
 
INDEX 
 
 lvii 
 
 Tippecanoe, Battle of, I, 271 
 
 "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too," II, 263 
 
 Titterington, J. B., VI, 369 
 
 Todd, John, I, 195, 200; death of, 212 
 
 Todd Record Book, I, 258 
 
 Tohill, Noah M., VI, 342 
 
 Toler, Silas C, III, 68 
 
 Tolliver, Alsie N., V, 305 
 
 Tonti: trials of, I, 92; (illustration) 93; 
 
 vision, 96; alone at Fort St. Louis, I, 
 
 104, 265 
 Tornado, Southern Illinois, III, 403 
 Torrance, Herbert E., V, 260 
 Township High Schools, III, 393 
 Township High School, Sterling, IV, 170 
 Township organization, II, 342 
 Townships and districts, III, 388 
 Trade: Illinois Territory, I, 365; early, 
 
 422; and commerce, 1830, II, 75 
 Trade and Commerce Department, III, 
 
 293, 296 
 Transition period, II, 295 
 Transportation, I, 363; early routes, 364, 
 
 409; early river, 410; roads, 413; II, 
 
 298; III, 95, 392, 422 
 Trares, Wilbur A., IV, 342 
 Travers, Lawrence B., V, 113 
 Treat, Samuel H., Ill, 102; IV, 370 
 Treaties; of Peace, 1783, I, 210; with 
 
 Indians, 265 
 Treaty of 1816 with Indians, 289; of 
 
 Ghent, 289; with Sacs and Foxes, II, 
 
 149 
 Treaty Congress, Chicago, 1821, II, 105 
 Trevett-Mattis Banking Company, VI, 60 
 Trimble, Cairo A., VI, 26 
 Trimble, Harvey M., VI, 24 
 Trimble, Perry D., VI, 26 
 Tripp, Henry, IV, 298 
 Trobaugh, William H., V, 256 
 Troutner, Frank G., VI, 405 
 Troxel, James M., IV, 361 
 True, James M., Ill, 69 
 Trumbull, Lyman, (illustration) II, 374; 
 
 III, 152, 158, 159; IV, 368 
 Tucker, Cyrus J., VI, 375 
 Tucker, Joseph H., Ill, 70 
 Tupper, Benjamin, I, 223 
 Tupper, Nathan W., Ill, 78 
 Turchin, John B., Ill, 60 
 Turkey Hill, I, 407 
 Turner, Charles E., V, 39 
 Turner, Herbert H., IV, 381 
 Turner, Jonathan B., Ill, 181; (illustra- 
 tion) 183; 382; IV, 405 
 Turner, Thomas J., Ill, 58 
 Twelfth Illinois Cavalry, III, 86 
 Twelfth Illinois Infantry, III, 57, 90 
 Twente, Lucy B., VI, 273 
 Twitchell, Benjamin E., VI, 413 
 
 Twitchell, James W., VI, 413 
 
 Two mill tax, II, 336 
 
 Tygett, Roscoe, VI, 160 
 
 Typical township high school building, 
 
 (illustration) III, 379 
 Tyrrell, John F., V, 111 
 
 Underwood, Walter S., IV, 344 
 
 Union Agriculturist and Western Prairie 
 Farmer, II, 296 
 
 Union County, population in 1818, I, 343 
 
 Union Iron Works, IV, 181 
 
 Union Party, III, 50 
 
 United Colonies, I, 219 
 
 United States Bank, I, 439; first, II, 10; 
 second, 206 
 
 United War Work, III, 367 
 
 University, first, III, 376 
 
 University of Illinois, III, 120; Memorial 
 Stadium, (illustration) 352; (illustra- 
 tion) 373; (illustration) 401; depart- 
 ments of, 402 i 
 
 Updegraff, John J., Ill, 85 
 
 Upham, Fred W., Ill, 363 
 
 Uran, Benjamin F., V, 350 
 
 Ursula, Mother M., IV, 58 
 
 Ursuline Academy, IV, 57 
 
 Utterback, Rufus M., VI, 127 
 
 Valentine, Charles S., VI, 275 
 
 Van Arman, John, III, 80 
 
 Vandalia, I, 419; Old State Capitol at, 
 (illustration) 437, 438; statehouse 
 (frame), burned, II, 49; brick capitol 
 erected, 50; Last State Capitol Build- 
 ing, (illustration) 255; Centennial 
 celebration at, III, 332 
 
 Vanderwater, Ida G., V, 344 
 
 Vanetten, John D., IV, 322 
 
 Van Tuyle, Edward J., V, 78 
 
 Vaughn, Thomas F., Ill, 89 
 
 Veeder, Albert H., VI, 95 
 
 Veeder, Henry, VI, 96 
 
 Vegetable resources, I, 27, 41 
 
 Velde, Henry J., IV, 303 
 
 Velde, Ties, VI, 294 
 
 Verlie, Emil J., V, 14 
 
 Verrazano, I, 63 
 
 Vespasian Warner Public Library, IV, 40 
 
 Veto, III, 283 
 
 Vigo, Francis, I, 186, 258, 388 
 
 Vincennes: story of, I, 117; surrender, 
 182; Clark's attack on, 191; sur- 
 render, 193; Convention, 247 
 
 Vincennes & St. Louis Railroad, II, 350 
 
 Vincent, Charles R., VI, 206 
 
 Vincent, John P., VI, 317 
 
 Vincent, Milton, VI, 329 
 
 Vise, Hosea A., VI, 168 
 
 Volk, Leonard W., IV, 398 
 
lviii 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Volz, Bernard R., IV, 258 
 
 Von Colditz, G. Thomsen, VI, 139 
 
 Vose, Frederic P., V, 50 
 
 Vose, William M. R., V, 49 
 
 Voss, Arno, III, 86 
 
 Vote on Second Class, I, 248 
 
 Vredenburgh, Peter, IV, 68 
 
 Vurry, James, I, 404 
 
 "Wabash Land Company," I, 159 
 
 Wacher, Charles H., Ill, 363 
 
 Wade, Edward P., VI, 366 
 
 Wade, Samuel, V, 27 
 
 Wagner, George P., V, 42 
 
 Wagonmakers, pioneer, II, 86 
 
 Wahl, E. F., IV, 343 
 
 Waite, Walter W., V, 206 
 
 Wakefield, James G., V, 418 
 
 Waldman, Joseph S., V, 404 
 
 Walker, J. Donald, V, 201 
 
 Walker, Jesse, I, 368; III, 113 
 
 Walker, John D., V, 197 
 
 Walker, John H., Ill, 363; IV, 218 
 
 Wall, John E., VI, 221 
 
 Wall, Mary A., V, 257 
 
 Wall, Willard G., V, 257 
 
 Wallace, W. H. L., Ill, 57 
 
 Waller, Peter A., IV, 262 
 
 Walsh, William E., V, 381 
 
 Walters, Peter C, V, 201 
 
 War governor of Illinois, II, 493 
 
 War of 1812, I, 277; causes of, 277; loss 
 
 of Detroit, 278; Illinois rangers, 279; 
 
 Illinois campaigns, 284 
 "War of the Spanish Succession," I, 112 
 War Recreation Board, III, 367 
 War Revenue Act, III, 350 
 War sentiment, III, 343 
 Ward, George F. M., V, 294 
 Ward, George W., VI, 163 
 Ward, Harold E., IV, 171 
 Ward, Robert R., VI, 168 
 Ward, Walter B., VI, 285 
 Ward, William H., VI, 93 
 Warford, David A., V, 179 
 Warner, Ezra J., V, 353 
 Warner, John, III, 77 
 Warren, Halleck B., IV, 421 
 Warren, Hooper, II, 39 
 Warren, William O., VI, 285 
 Warwelez, Hurci, VI, 390 
 Washburn, Hemstead, III, 259 
 Washburn, William E., V, 117 
 Washburne, Elihu B., IV, 372 
 Washington County, population in 1818, 
 
 I, 343 
 Washington's message, I, 133 
 Waterhouse, Allen C, III, 88 
 Waters, Louis H., Ill, 73 
 Waterways, I, 32; III, 427 
 
 Watson, James A., VI, 104 
 
 Watson, Leo E., VI, 222 
 
 Watson, Walter R., VI, 339 
 
 Waubunsee, II, 157 
 
 Wayman, Louis R., V, 264 
 
 Wayne, Anthony, I, 236 
 
 Wayne Treaty, II, 100 
 
 Weather bureau districts, I, 37 
 
 Weaver, William E., IV, 150 
 
 Weaver, William H., IV, 250 
 
 Weaving, pioneer, I, 362 
 
 Webb, David T., VI, 348 
 
 Webb, Edwin B., II, 224 
 
 Webb, William A., Ill, 65 
 
 Weber, Arthur E., IV, 66 
 
 Weber, Carl H., VI, 429 
 
 Weber, Charles H., V, 253 
 
 Weber, George T., V, 214 
 
 Weber, Henry A., V, 399 
 
 Weber, Jessie P., IV, 193 
 
 Webster, Arthur W., VI, 325 
 
 Webster, Benjamin F., V, 156 
 
 Webster, Daniel, II, 365 
 
 Webster, Joseph D., Ill, 87 
 
 Webster, Wendell W., VI, 325 
 
 Webster, William D., V, 166 
 
 Weedman, Otto, IV, 209 
 
 Weekly Press, III, 34 
 
 Wehmeier, Albert L., V, 22 
 
 Weihe, Edward H., VI, 110 
 
 Weisbrod, Harry I., IV, 321 
 
 Welch, Mathew L., V, 39 
 
 Welch, Thomas, IV, 144 
 
 Welcher, Eugene P., IV, 116 
 
 Weldon, Lawrence, IV, 399 
 
 Wellman, Clarence E., V, 100 
 
 Wells, Edward A., V, 216 
 
 Welsh, Vernon M., IV, 349 
 
 Wendell, Elmer L., VI, 35 
 
 Wendt, Chris C, V, 207 
 
 Wentworth, John, II, 478; (illustration), 
 
 III, 151; IV, 354 
 Wernsing, Anna M. M., IV, 84 
 Wernsing, Henry, IV, 83 
 West, Emanuel J., II, 35, 66 
 West, Hezekiah, I, 337 
 West Frankfort, III, 406 
 West Jacksonville District School, (first 
 
 high school) III, 392 
 Westbrook, Samuel, II, 194, 203 
 Westerlund, Joseph E., IV, 110 
 Western Company, I, 115, 127 
 Western country, The, I, 114 
 Westervelt, John C, VI, 145 
 Weston, Mattie K., VI, 48 
 Westward expansion, II, 8 
 Westward movement, I, 164, 228 
 Westwick, John W., VI, 330 
 Wham, Charles, V, 418 
 Wham, Fred L., VI, 104 
 
INDEX 
 
 lix 
 
 Wharff, Howard E., V, 160 
 
 Wharff, Howard T., VI, 30 
 
 Wheatley, William W., VI, 182 
 
 Wheeland, Cyrus E., IV, 267 
 
 Wheeland, Olive B., IV, 267 
 
 Wheeler, Harry A., Ill, 357 
 
 Where Lincoln clerked, Old New Salem, 
 
 (illustrated) II, 371 
 Whig meeting, Springfield, 1840, II, 264 
 Whigs and Democrats, II, 251 
 Whigs in convention, 1839, II, 259 
 Whistler, John, II, 100 
 White, Clarence J., IV, 333 
 White, Crillon E., VI, 426 
 White, Harry S., IV, 85 
 White, Henry, IV, 84 
 White, Horace, II, 407; III, 156; IV, 381 
 White, Isaac, I, 391 
 White, James, I, 389 
 White, James A., V, 274 
 White, James E., VI, 50 
 White, Julius, III, 64 
 White, Leonard, I, 337 
 White, Mark B., V, 311 
 White, Minor E., VI, 278 
 White, Peter, (illustration) II, 31, 202 
 White County, population in 1818, I, 343 
 White Pine, Ogle County, (illustration) 
 
 III, 207 
 White pine plantation, Grundy County, 
 
 (illustration) II, 214 
 Whitehead, Robert, I, 405 
 Whiteside, Clarence A., IV, 373 
 Whiteside, John, I, 260, 404 
 Whiteside, Samuel, II, 150 
 Whiteside, William, I, 260, 396 
 Whiteside Station, I, 260 
 Whiting, John E., Ill, 73 
 Whitmer, Arthur L., V, 293 
 Whitney, Lorenzo H., Ill, 82 
 Whitney, Wallace P., IV, 177 
 Whittaker, John, I, 339 
 WHT Radio Station, IV, 327 
 Whyte, William D., V, 238 
 Wiggins Ferry, I, 408 
 Wightman, Charles A., V, 259 
 Wigwam, Chicago, (illustration) II, 479; 
 
 III, 14 
 Wikoff, Forest G., IV, 184 
 Wilcox, David F., IV, 422 
 Wilcox, Levi S., VI, 61 
 Wild animal life, I, 27 
 Wildcat banking, II, 357 
 Wildeman, George H., VI, 232 
 Wiley, Edwin, IV, 189 
 Wilhelm, Henry L., IV, 378 
 Wilkins, John, I, 157 
 Wilkins, William E., IV, 313 
 Will, Conrad, I, 338, 392; II, 195 
 Willard, Frances E., (illustration) III, 
 
 431; IV, 376 
 
 Willett, Samuel J., IV, 202 
 Willi, August G., V, 251 
 Williams, Archibald, II, 224 
 Williams, Frank J., VI, 400 
 Williams, Guy R., V, 391 
 Williams, James M., Ill, 40 
 Williams, Thomas S., VI, 334 
 Williamson, M. O., V, 302 
 Williamson, Thomas, V, 354 
 Williamson County fair grounds, (illus- 
 tration) III, 229 
 Williamson County secedes, III, 19 
 Willis, Omer M., VI, 410 
 Willsie, Horace H., Ill, 83 
 Wilmot, Lyman J., V, 224 
 Wilson, Alexander, I, 398 
 Wilson, Ernest G., V, 275 
 Wilson, Francis S., VI, 261 
 Wilson, Harrison, II, 151 
 Wilson, Isaac E., IV, 253 
 Wilson, Isaac G., Ill, 67 
 Wilson, J. Frank, VI, 85 
 Wilson, James T., VI, 251 
 Wilson, John P., IV, 266 
 Wilson, John P., Jr., IV, 267 
 Wilson, Percy, VI, 279 
 Wilson, William G., VI, 107 
 Wilson, William S., VI, 382 
 Wiltberger, William A., VI, 186 
 Winchester, Roy, VI, 205 
 Winchester Chronicle, n, 376 
 Winn, James R., VI, 126 
 Winnebago Indians, I, 50 
 Winnebago War, II, 112 
 Winston, Richard, I, 215 
 Winstrom, J. Harry, IV, 197 
 Winzeler, John W., IV, 34 
 Wirick, Sherburn V., V, 192 
 Wise, Frank J., V, 334 
 Wise, Seibert D., VI, 248 
 Witcher, Robert B., VI, 342 
 Witters, Charles P., VI, 218 
 Wolf hunt, II, 291 
 Wolfe, John S., Ill, 81 
 Wombacher, George F., VI, 252 
 Women, part in Civil War, III, 36 
 Wood, Dann A., VI, 167 
 Wood, John, II, 150; III, 82 
 Wood, McLain F., Ill, 84 
 Wood, Ruben H., V, 299 
 Woodall, Frank B., Ill, 83 
 Woodard, Selwyn C, IV, 336 
 Woodburn, James C, VI, 339 
 Woodland, (illustration) II, 214 
 Woodruff, Clair R., V, 247 
 Woodruff, Edward N., IV, 201 
 Woodruff, George, V, 140 
 Woodruff, Nelson L., IV, 201 
 Woodside, Edward E., IV, 401 
 Wool growing, III, 202 
 
lx 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Woolsey, Ralph B., IV, 28 
 
 Woolsey, Robert C, V, 411 
 
 Worack, Frank P., V, 174 
 
 Worcester, Hal C, V, 82 
 
 World War, Illinois in, III, 341 
 
 World war; Red Cross, III, 365; Y. M. 
 
 C. A. and kindred organizations, 365; 
 
 armistice signed, 365; registrations of 
 
 man power, 366; bonus, 369 
 World War Soldier, (illustration) III, 
 
 347 
 World's Columbian Exposition, III, 235, 
 
 240 
 World's Congresses, III, 250; Auxiliary, 
 
 251 
 World's Fairs, III, 232 
 Worner, Fred J., IV, 122 
 Worner, Louis A., IV, 83 
 Worth, Clyde J., VI, 304 
 Wright, Charles M., V, 194 
 Wright, Lyman D., IV, 255 
 Wright, Nelson A., IV, 308 
 Wright, Robert E., V, 415 
 Wright, William B., VI, 297 
 Wrigley Building, Chicago, (illustration) 
 
 III, 419 
 Wyatt, William W., IV, 45 
 Wyckoff, David A., V, 36 
 Wylie, Samuel, II, 87 
 Wylie, Samuel M., VI, 299 
 Wyllie, John P., V, 244 
 Wyman, John B., Ill, 58 
 
 Wyrick, Ambrose, V, 243 
 Wyss, Samuel H., V, 77 
 
 Yager, Levi D., V, 94 
 Yager, Louis J., V, 174 
 Yale Band, The, II, 305 
 Yates, Richard, II, 478, 494; (illustra- 
 tion) III, 8, 36, 119, 152, 315; IV, 370 
 Yates, W. A., VI, 290 
 Yellman, Ann D. P., V, 130 
 Yellman, William L., V, 130 
 Yocom, Jacob, IV, 95 
 Yocom, Susan L. IV, 95 
 Young, Brigham, II, 289 
 Young, Claude R., V, 397 
 Young, John S., V, 76 
 Young, Richard M., II, 36 
 Y. M. C. A., World War, III, 365, 367 
 
 Zalar, Joseph, VI, 290 
 Zane, John M., IV, 412 
 Zaph, S. D., V, 79 
 Zearing, Louis A., V, 127 
 Zelle, Adolph G., V, 258 
 Zerwekh, Paul W., VI, 151 
 Ziebold, George C, VI, 180 
 Ziebold, George W., VI, 179 
 Zimmerman, Daniel D., IV, 302 
 Zimmerman, Frederick E., IV, 227 
 Zimmerman, Ivan D., IV, 302 
 Zinc, I, 41 
 
 Zinser, Harley A., IV, 136 
 Ziock, William H., V, 287 
 Ziock, William, V, 286 
 
SOURCES AND AUTHORITIES 
 
 Geology Chamberlain-Salisbury 
 
 Geological Survey of Illinois Worthen 
 
 Parkman's Works Parkman 
 
 History of the United States Bancroft 
 
 Description of Louisiana Hennepin 
 
 Narrative and Critical History of the United States Winsor 
 
 History of the United States Channing 
 
 English Settlements in Illinois Sparks 
 
 Pittman's Mississippi Settlements Hodder 
 
 The Edwards Papers Washburne 
 
 Notes of the Northwest Territory Burnet 
 
 Illinois in 1837 Ellsworth 
 
 Peek's Gazateer of Illinois Peck 
 
 History of Vincennes Gauthom 
 
 Illinois and the West Jones 
 
 Sketches of America Fearon 
 
 The Fergus Publications 
 
 From Timber to Town 
 
 Pioneer History of Illinois Reynolds 
 
 Chapters from the History of Illinois Mason 
 
 Illinois Historical Collection Beckwith 
 
 History of Kentucky Butler 
 
 History of Indiana Dunn 
 
 Publications of the Illinois Historical Society 
 
 The Settlement of Illinois Boggess 
 
 Senate (U. S.) Documents 
 
 Journal of the Constitutional Convention, 1818 
 
 History of Illinois Breese 
 
 History of Lincoln Nicolay-Hay 
 
 History of My Own Times Reynolds 
 
 History of Illinois Moses 
 
 Report of (Illinois) Adjutant-General 
 
 Memoirs of General U. S. Grant Grant 
 
 History of Illinois '. Blanchard 
 
 Historic Highways Hulburt 
 
 Life of William Lloyd Garrison Garrisons 
 
 Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America Wilson 
 
 Sessions Laws of Illinois 
 
 House (U. S.) Documents 
 
 Riots at Alton Beecher 
 
 Territorial Records, 1809-1812 James 
 
 Writings of Morris Birkbeck Birkbeck 
 
 Battle of Stillman's Run Atwood 
 
 Lincoln at Gettysburg Carr 
 
 How Clark Won the Northwest Thwaite 
 
 Knights of the Golden Circle Stridger 
 
 Prairie Farming in America Caird 
 
 Sketch of Edward Coles Washburne 
 
 lxi 
 
lxii SOURCES AND AUTHORITIES 
 
 American Bastile Marshall 
 
 Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois Bateman, Selby 
 
 Report of the World's Fair Commissioners 
 
 Some of the Men I have Known Stevenson 
 
 The Republican Convention of 1856 Prince 
 
 Speeches and Letters of Lincoln 
 
 Fordham's Personal Narrative Ogg 
 
 History of Cairo Lansden 
 
 Illinois as It Was in 1857 Gerhard 
 
 Life of Ninian Edwards Edwards 
 
 Stephen A. Douglas Carr 
 
 Lincoln and Douglas Debates Joint Report 
 
 Memoirs of Elijah P. Lovejoy Lovejoy 
 
 Early Western Travels Thwaites 
 
 Autobiography of Black Hawk Black Hawk 
 
 Illinois at Shiloh Mason 
 
 Valley of the Mississippi Monette 
 
 Educational History of Illinois Cook 
 
 The Old Pike — The National Road Seawright 
 
 Illinois Reports 
 
 Census Report of Illinois for 1920 
 
 Williamson County Erwin 
 
 American State Papers 
 
 Negro Servitude in Illinois Harris 
 
 The Illini Carr 
 
 History and Geography of the Mississippi Valley Flint 
 
 Politics and Politicians Lusk 
 
 History of the Presbyterian Church in Illinois Morton 
 
 Annals of the American Pulpit Sprague 
 
 History of the People of the United States McMaster 
 
 Money and Banking White 
 
 Illinois Directory, 1855 Montague 
 
 My Own Times Reynolds 
 
 Illinois Blue Books 
 
 History of Illinois Davidson and Stuve 
 
 Adam W. Snyder in Illinois History Snyder 
 
 The Old Northwest Hinsdale 
 
 Virginia Commonwealth Series Scudder 
 
 Historic Illinois Parrish 
 
 Atlas of Illinois Warner and Beers 
 
 Life of Lincoln Tarbell 
 
 Annals of the West Hall 
 
 Stories of New Egypt Spitler 
 
 Illinois Historical Publications 
 
 Old Kaskaskia Days Holbrook 
 
 Counties Histories 
 
 State Reports 
 
 American State Papers 
 
 History of Illinois Perrin 
 
From the Earliest Days to the Com- 
 pletion of Admission to 
 the Union 
 
History of Illinois 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Geologic Processes — Laplacian Hypothesis — Planetesi- 
 mal Hypothesis — Stages of Growth — Formation of 
 Seas and Oceans— The Geologic Eras — Geologic Time 
 Divisions — Geology of Illinois — Paleozoic Era — 
 Silurian System — Devonian — Mississippian — Penn- 
 sylvanian — glacial period — human period — our soil. 
 
 Geology, as a science, assumes the task of telling the story of 
 the origin, growth, and present condition of the earth. A portion 
 of this task is relatively easy. The last stages of the growth, 
 as well as the present status of the outer parts of the earth, 
 constitute an open book to the geologist. The rock layers of the 
 earth's crust, together with the processes by which they were 
 formed, constitute a book to be read even by the unskilled 
 observer. The processes which through many hundreds, may be 
 thousands, of years have given us the familiar forms which we 
 may observe on the sea shore, in the mountains, in the quarries, 
 on the plains, or in the river valleys, may be seen at work by 
 any one interested in the great world in which he lives. 
 
 Geologic Processes 
 
 These processes with which the general reader may familiarize 
 himself have been designated by the geologist as Diastrophism, 
 Vulcanism, and Gradation. Diastrophism designates all those 
 movements of the earth's crust which have caused the crust 
 either to settle or to rise. It has been observed that many rock 
 layers which we know were formed at the bottom of the sea 
 are now hundreds of feet above the sea level. On the other 
 hand there are large areas which were formed at the bottom 
 
4 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 of the sea that were later raised above the sea but are now 
 sinking below the level of the ocean. 
 
 Vulcanism deals with all movements of lava or volcanic ma- 
 terial. This process and the first named are closely related as 
 many risings and sinkings of the crust of the earth are due to 
 volcanic action. 
 
 Gradation is the subject which explains all changes of the 
 earth's crust which tend to lower the mountains or to fill up 
 the valleys. Rivers are continually carrying great loads of 
 detritus from the mountain side into the ocean and our inland 
 seas. Great quantities of surface materials are transported from 
 one place to another by the action of glaciers and winds. The 
 mountains shall be lowered and the valleys shall be filled. 
 
 But our geologists have not been able to answer all the ques- 
 tions which have arisen about the earth's history. From the 
 surface men have descended into the deep interior of the earth 
 and thus have been able to make certain valuable observations 
 concerning rock layers, their relative positions, changes in tem- 
 perature, and life-remains, all of which have been very valuable 
 toward an understanding of the different stages of the earth's 
 growth toward its present state. Besides the great processes 
 above named have brought parts of the earth from many thou- 
 sands of feet below the surface to our view, through great 
 upheavals, and this has enabled the geologists to study the 
 structure of the earth at great depths. 
 
 But there are depths beyond which we know nothing from 
 observation. The great border land between what we know very 
 well and that of which we know nothing, forces us into explana- 
 tions and descriptions that are not altogether satisfactory. But 
 out of it all we know that there have been two great periods 
 in the formation of the earth as it is today. In the first one 
 of these periods there appears to have been little or no syste- 
 matic arrangement of the earth materials. At the end of this 
 period the earth was made up of a great mass of heated, maybe 
 molten materials. This great mass of heated material con- 
 tained probably all the earth matter that we find in the earth 
 today except that there may have been vast quantities of matter 
 added which was produced from certain forms of gases and 
 vapors which the heated earth was holding in surrounding space, 
 too light in weight to be drawn to the earth through gravity 
 because of the repulsive force of the heated mass. 
 
 The second period began with the return to the heated surface 
 of the earth of certain watery vapors which, when the crust of 
 the earth had sufficiently cooled, settled in the low places of the 
 uneven rock surface. Thus began to be formed what afterward 
 came to be our seas and oceans. Then also began the formation 
 of our sedimentary rocks by the process described above under 
 the term Gradation. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Laplacian Hypothesis 
 
 As to the origin of the earth, we have two theories which are 
 held by men who have given the subject much study. The older 
 school of geologists usually hold to what is called "The Nebular 
 Hypothesis." This is also called the "Laplacian Hypothesis" 
 from one of its earliest and ablest defenders. This theory of 
 accounting for the origin of the earth ends up in a conclusion 
 that the earth was once a molten mass and yet remains in that 
 condition in the interior of the sphere. From this we name all 
 the rocks below the lowest layers of sedimentary rocks as 
 igneous rocks, or fire rocks. 
 
 The later theory of the earth's origin is known as the Planetesi- 
 mal Hypothesis. This theory also supports the supposition that 
 the earth, at the time that the sedimentary rocks began to be 
 deposited, was in a highly heated state, if not red hot. 
 
 Both of these hypotheses predicate the fact that the earth was 
 evolved out of great masses of nebulous matter. From this point 
 the two theories separate to approach again just at the beginning 
 of the formation of sedimentary rocks. 
 
 The Laplacian Hypothesis holds that the members of our solar 
 system were evolved out of glowing masses of nebulous matter. 
 It is also held that this great mass of nebulous matter was 
 expanded so that it occupied all the space that is now occupied 
 by our solar system. In the course of long periods of time this 
 nebulous mass cooled and consequently shrank. At the same time 
 it took on a rotary motion and in the cooling and shrinking and 
 rotating there were certain masses of the nebula that became 
 detached from the central body but kept for themselves the 
 characteristics of the parent mass — that is, they cooled, and 
 shrank, and rotated. These detached masses at first may have 
 had the appearance of the rings of Saturn as we see them today. 
 These detached masses each having a center of gravity of its 
 own tended to become globular in the course of time and eventu- 
 ally came to constitute the members of our solar system. 
 
 The great central nebular mass, from which these fragments 
 had been thrown in its rotary motion, kept on in its shrinking, 
 cooling, and rotating till it assumed the nature of the sun. The 
 solar system as we know it today with a central sun, eight pri- 
 mary planets, asteroids, moons, and other objects formed within 
 the limits of the solar system, all originated in the great nebula 
 which at one time occupied the space destined for our sun and 
 its accompanying members. 
 
 The several planets and all other objects with which we are 
 familiar in our solar system must have been thrown off from 
 the equatorial regions of the central rotating mass since the 
 eight primary planets and their satellites are found revolving 
 about the sun in a zone sixteen degrees wide, eight on each side 
 
6 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 of the ecliptic. If one should place himself at the center of the 
 sun and allow his vision to extend toward the starry firmament, 
 he would see the eight primary planets pursuing their courses 
 about the sun all in the same direction, none of them farther 
 away from the ecliptic of the heavens than eight degrees. 
 
 These planets occupy distances from the sun depending upon 
 the position of the outer part of the rotating nebula at the time 
 the minor mass was detached. For example, Neptune is farthest 
 from the sun. Its orbit, therefore, marks the outer edge of the 
 parent nebular mass at the time the mass was detached which 
 formed Neptune. The earth's orbit about the sun, 92,000,000 
 miles distant from the sun today, marks the outer surface of the 
 parent nebula at the time the nebula which formed the earth 
 was detached. 
 
 Our earth, according to this theory, became a particular indi- 
 vidual planet when the nebular mass which was to form our 
 planet was thrown off from the parent mass. If the hypothesis 
 is true that the detached nebular mass retained the character- 
 istics of the parent mass, then we may begin to think of our 
 earth as an individual unit in what is to be the great solar system. 
 Our earth rotated on an axis, became globular, and shrank in 
 size. It revolved around the central mass, for while the motion 
 which it had as a part of the nebular mass was a rotary motion, 
 the moment it was detached, this former rotary motion is re- 
 solved into two motions, a rotary motion in the unit itself and 
 a motion in its part about the central mass. 
 
 We come now to study briefly the earth from the time it was 
 detached from the original nebular mass to the beginning of the 
 formation of the earth's sedimentary rocks. 
 
 Without doubt the earth continued to cool, shrink, rotate, and 
 revolve. The intense heat which the earth still contained, drove 
 all the lighter gases and vapors into the space about the earth. 
 The tendency to cool also favored the forming of a crust on the 
 surface of the earth. This crust also now had a tendency to 
 retain the heat, and the cooling process was checked except that 
 the crust was becoming cooler and thicker. The vapors and 
 heavier gases now began to return to the surface and to settle 
 in the lower levels. This then is a very brief account of the 
 "Nebular Hypothesis" or the Laplacian Hypothesis of the origin 
 and growth from the original nebular mass to the time when 
 sedimentary rocks began to be deposited upon the beds of the 
 oceans and seas. 
 
 The Planetesimal Hypothesis 
 
 The Planetesimal Hypothesis is not altogether different from 
 the hypothesis which we have just considered. The Planetesi- 
 mal Hypothesis starts with a nebula but it is a spiral nebula. 
 This nebula already has motion and its parts are already be- 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 7 
 
 coming differentiated. Photographs show that in these spiral 
 nebulae there is a central core or necleus around which long 
 arms of nebulous matter are apparently revolving. The arms 
 which reach out from the necleus in this spiral manner are 
 marked here and there by knots of more solid material than are 
 found in other parts. To these knots of semi-solid matter found 
 in the spiral arms of the nebula, the name planetesimals has 
 been given. The word means little planets. 
 
 These planetesimals are each separated from the others in the 
 same spiral by a mass of nebula of a rarer composition. In like 
 manner the planetesimals in one spiral arm are separated from 
 those of another arm by similar nebulus matter. The planetesi- 
 mals, therefore, appear to be scattered about in some regular 
 order in a field of somewhat rarefied nebulous matter in the 
 center of which is the necleus of parent spiral nebula from which 
 the planetesimals appear to have been detached by reason of the 
 rotary motion of the parent nebula itself. 
 
 It is now determined that the composition of spiral nebulae 
 differs from that assumed as the nature of the nebulae in the 
 discussion of the Laplacian Hypothesis. Geologists go as far 
 as to say that the knots which are seen in the arms of the spiral 
 nebulae are of the consistency of water or maybe as dense as 
 our clays and rocks. 
 
 Now the Planetesimal Hypothesis explains that one of these 
 spiral nebulae found in space aeons ago furnished the origin 
 of our solar system. The knots found in the arms furnishing 
 the basis for the planets, asteroids, and probably some other 
 members of our solar system. The central part, the nucleus of 
 the nebula, became the sun. It is further explained that as time 
 moved on the knots gathered to themselves other knots as well 
 as large quantities of nebular matter which tended to augment 
 particular planetesimals. This union of one planetesimal with 
 another was hastened since they are moving in the same general 
 direction around the nucleus of the spiral nebula. 
 
 Thus the earth was brought into the family of planets which 
 with the sun and other heavenly bodies make up our solar sys- 
 tem. This Planetestimal Hypothesis explains the origin of both 
 the rotary motion of our earth on its axis, and its revolution 
 about the sun. 
 
 Stages of Growth 
 
 If then we accept the Planetesimal Hypothesis of the origin 
 of the earth we shall be interested in knowing how that theory 
 accounts for the growth of the earth up to the period of the 
 beginning of sedimentary rocks. A brief account of the stages 
 as presented by this theory will be given for the reader's con- 
 sideration. 
 
 The earth began in a knot of a spiral nebula ; this knot became 
 
8 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 the nucleus of earth-growth. The knot may have been gaseous 
 or planetesimal, that is a hardened center. As this nucleus 
 moved in its revolution around the center of the spiral mass, it 
 gathered other planetesimals, gases, and other matter. The 
 earth-knot increased in size and grew more dense becoming 
 eventually a solid mass. It now may be considered an earth-body. 
 More and more this earth-body gathers other planetesimals and 
 gases thus growing in volume and taking on the globular form. 
 
 It is supposed that an atmosphere at this time gathered about 
 the earth. It probably did not contain all the gases and vapors 
 that are now known, but there was a large sheet of what we may 
 call the earth's air or atmosphere. This atmosphere gathered 
 more gases and vapors, for we must understand that our earth 
 had its rotation, and its revolution about the central mass, the 
 old spiral nebula. The earth mass was undergoing a condensing 
 process and as a result the earth was throwing off heat, and 
 for the time the atmosphere was increasing in volume. 
 
 The earth was becoming more condensed and more heated. 
 The heat was so intense that portions of the earth became molten. 
 Thus was laid the basis for volcanic action. This theory of 
 the cause of volcanic action does not admit the necessity for a 
 molten interior, but explains that volcanic activity results from 
 the accumulation of heat which is produced by compression and 
 other heat-generating forces. "The heat of the interior of the 
 earth is thus carried outward about as fast as it liquifies the 
 more fusible parts within its reach. Thus the interior of the 
 earth only reaches the temperature necessary to melt the more 
 fusible parts, leaving the earth as a whole solid all the time." 
 
 We have seen that the theory provides for the escape of gases 
 from the earth as it passes through alternate stages of heat and 
 cold, and that the escaped gases and the vapors and gases that 
 are gathered as the young earth passes through space, all are 
 held to the earth by gravity though there was in the earlier 
 periods no segregation of vapors and gases, but one great mass. 
 But the time came when the vapors, particularly water, began 
 to be a distinct element held by this atmospheric mass. In the 
 course of time this water held in the atmosphere began to be 
 precipitated to the earth's surface settling in the lowest levels 
 and thus was laid the foundation of our seas and oceans. 
 
 Foundation of Seas and Oceans 
 
 The beds thus ready for the seas and oceans are nothing more 
 nor less than the depressions in the uneven surface of the solid 
 earth. The theory further explains that all future additions 
 to the earth's surface in the way of planetesimals must reach 
 either the sea covered basins or the elevated portions of the 
 exposed surface. All materials reaching the earth's surface 
 which was covered with water would rest on the surface and 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 9 
 
 by reason of the protection which the young ocean furnished 
 would not disintegrate and hence not lose its weight, but would 
 constantly add to the downward pressure upon the sea bed. The 
 planetesimal matter which reached the exposed higher grounds 
 would in course of time be subject to the weathering forces and 
 therefore lose in specific gravity. There was thus established 
 an unequal downward pressure upon the earth's surface which 
 together with other forces brought about a constant tendency 
 to depression in the sea bed while there was a similar tendency 
 to move upward in the exposed portions. Thus the continental 
 forms were pushed up while the ocean beds were as constantly 
 sinking. 
 
 When the atmosphere had been cleared of much of the vapor 
 of water, and probably other vapors and water were distributed 
 over the earth's surface, there appeared the first life forms. 
 This first appearance of life did not therefore await the full 
 maturity of the earth but these forms may have developed as 
 the earth approached the later stages of its growth. 
 
 The Planetesimal Theory places the period of Volcanic activity 
 at this stage of the earth's growth. It would establish a rather 
 extended period here in which one of the three great processes, 
 previously named, Vulcanism, greatly modified the earth's sur- 
 face. At the same time there seems to be confusion in the story 
 as told by the rocks for there seems to be great intermingling 
 of igneous rocks with the first formation of sedimentary rocks. 
 In fact we seem to have reached the state when the three great 
 processes mentioned previously are very active. These three 
 forces are Diastrophism. This scientific term names all the 
 forces that are at work or have been at work either to elevate 
 or to depress the surface of the earth. Vulcanism — a term which 
 names the forces which bring the lavas, which have been formed 
 beneath the surface of the earth, to the outer surface of the earth. 
 Gradation names the processes by which the earth material is 
 transported from one place to another and is the process which 
 the layman may see carried on day by day at the present time. 
 
 We have thus briefly traced the earth through the various 
 stages of its growth as described in the Planetesimal Hypothesis 
 from the spiral nebula to that stage of the earth's development 
 where theory gives way to the unmistakable and convincing 
 testimony of the sedimentary rocks. From this stage or the in- 
 terpretation of real facts must take the place of hypothesis. 
 However we must not discard hypothesis as an old friend whom 
 we no longer need, for there are many cases where the revealed 
 facts hinder us from bridging over from one group of known 
 facts to another group of known facts and we should have no 
 way of crossing the chasm except by the good offices of our 
 friend, Hypothesis. 
 
10 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 The Geological Eras 
 
 Whether we favor the Laplacian or the Planetisimal Hypothe- 
 sis, as to the formation of the earth from the earliest times, we 
 will be perfectly safe in assuming that there was before the 
 formation of the first sedimentary rocks a "crust" upon which 
 the first rock layers were deposited. The older theory explained 
 that this crust was composed of igneous rocks which had hard- 
 ened from the loss of heat by radiation. The waste material 
 from the more elevated portions of this igneous crust were 
 washed into the shallow beds of the ocean and the work of laying 
 down the first stratified rocks began. 
 
 The Planetesimal theory does not admit that the earth was 
 ever molten, and so regards the surface of the earth prior to 
 sedimentation as made up of planetesimal matter. The sup- 
 porters of both theories agree that there was great intermingling 
 of the first layers and the "crust." There is slight evidence of 
 life available, but there must have been great confusion at the 
 time the first layers were formed. Igneous matter predominates 
 in the first layers. In fact volcanic action may have thrown vast 
 quantities of igneous matter through rents in many of the first 
 layers. In fact volcanic action has brought large quantities of 
 molten matter to the surface within the past few centuries. 
 
 Geology has provided for us a very simple system of classifi- 
 cation of these rock layers based upon the absence or presence 
 of the remains of life-forms in these layers. These layers have 
 been studied and named, and their life history written, and their 
 relationships established. The individual layers have been 
 brought into groups and named from the condition of life-forms 
 the remains of which have been found in the various groups. 
 The time occupied in depositing the layers in any group, is 
 spoken of as an era, while subdivisions of an era are known 
 as periods. A brief description of the eras will enable the reader 
 to follow the descriptive matter with greater ease. 
 
 The names of the five geologic eras are : The Archeozoic Era ; 
 The Proterozoic Era; The Paleozoic Era; The Messozoic Era; 
 and the Econozoic Era. These terms seem to have a common 
 element, and so they do. The word zoic means animal, so each 
 word has something to do with animal — hence life. 
 
 Geological Time Divisions 
 
 Archeozoic : The Archeozoic Era includes a group of the old- 
 est stratified rocks, and these under ordinary circumstances 
 would be found just above the "crust" of the earth. The word 
 means "beginning of life." However, few if any remains of ani- 
 mal life have been found in the layers of this era. So uncertain 
 are the geologists about the identity of life forms in this era, that 
 the word Azoic — no life — has been applied to this era. The rocks 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 11 
 
 of the Archeozoic Era are so interwoven with the igneous rocks 
 of the crust that great confusion exists and scientists are very 
 uncertain of their ground in this era. 
 
 Proterozoic: The Proterozoic Era names the time when the 
 group of layers just above the Archeozoic rocks were forming. 
 The word may be freely translated "before life", and is applied 
 to those rock layers in which few if any life remains have been 
 found. The Archeozoic and Proterozoic Eras are often classed 
 as one Era and called Azoic — without life. There are no ex- 
 posures of either the Archeozoic or the Proterozoic rocks in 
 Illinois, and no borings have reached any of these layers in this 
 state. But some igneous formations have been found in Pope 
 and Hardin counties. 
 
 Paleozoic: The Paleozoic Era is the third era in order and 
 lies just above the Proterozoic rocks. The word means ancient 
 life — that is, early life. The oldest animal remains are found 
 in the rocks of this era. Since they are the oldest forms they 
 would be by the evolutionary theory the lowest life forms when 
 structure is considered. Something like four hundred species of 
 the fauna of this era have been classified, belonging mostly to 
 the invertebrates. Some plant life has also been recognized. By 
 reference to the Table of Geologic Time Divisions it will be seen 
 there are seven periods of time in the Paleozoic Era and hence 
 seven systems of rock layers. As students of the geology of 
 our own state, we should know something of the systems of this 
 period as they are nearly all found cropping out in Illinois. These 
 we shall consider later in this chapter. 
 
 Messozoic: The Messozoic Era includes the time that four 
 systems of rock layers were being formed. This group of layers 
 lies just above the layers of the Paleozoic systems. The word 
 Messozoic means middle life — that is, middle between the early 
 life and the later life. The animal remains in these rock layers 
 are of reptiles, amphibians, and mollusks, with a few low forms 
 of mammals, fishes, and birds. Few of the layers of this era 
 out-crop in Illinois. 
 
 Cenozoic : The last era is the Cenozoic Era. This era includes 
 all the rock layers in which we have remains of modern life. We 
 shall find that Illinois will furnish much of interest from this era. 
 
 The Geology of Illinois 
 
 There are no rocks exposed in Illinois, from either the Arch- 
 eozoic or the Proterozoic Eras. And no borings have reached 
 completely through the Proterozoic Era. However, borings 
 have reached the Cambrian layers which are the lowest layers 
 in the Paleozoic Era. The systems in this era are as follows: 
 The oldest at the bottom of the list and the newest layers at 
 the top: — 
 
12 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Permian 
 
 Pennsylvanian (Coal) 
 p i . Mississippian (Subcarboniferous) 
 
 Paleozoic Devonian 
 
 ^ ra Silurian 
 
 Ordovician 
 Cambrian 
 
 So far as known there are no rocks from the Cambrian layers 
 exposed in Illinois and we are not specially interested in these 
 layers in the study of Illinois Geology. But when we come to 
 the Ordovician rocks we are approaching familiar ground. 
 
 Theoretically the layers of rock rest on top of one another in a 
 very regular and orderly way — the oldest rocks at the bottom 
 and the latest formations on top. This theoretical plan is not 
 always found in the rock layers when exposed in bluffs or cliffs, 
 and in the borings of wells. Certain rock layers that are promi- 
 nent in certain places are entirely absent in other places. 
 
 A region as long as Illinois from north to south might have 
 its north end depressed so as to be covered with the ocean while 
 the south end might be elevated many hundreds of feet above 
 sea level. In that case there might be sedimentary rocks de- 
 posited on the north end while the south end would have no 
 layers of that particular deposit. Therefore layers that are 
 prominent in one part of Illinois may be absent from other 
 parts of the state. In boring wells we find that the records kept 
 of the strata passed through are not the same, though two bor- 
 ings might not be many miles apart. A deposit at a certain river 
 bluff might show forty feet and borings might show that this 
 layer might decrease in thickness away from the river in a 
 wedge shape and finally disappear. 
 
 It has been stated above that there are no rocks of the Arch- 
 eozoic and Proterozoic Eras in Illinois so far as we know by 
 observation. The oldest rocks we know are from the Paleozoic 
 Era. This era has seven periods and so seven systems of rocks, 
 and all but one are found in Illinois. The lowest system, the 
 Cambrian, does not outcrop so far as is now known, but its pres- 
 ence under the other six layers is known by borings. 
 
 Paleozoic: — The oldest known layer of the Paleozoic Era 
 which outcrops in Illinois, is a layer of the second or Ordovician 
 System. This is the St. Peter sandstone which is to be seen on 
 the Rock river in the vicinity of Oregon and following down the 
 river almost to Dixon, and also on the Illinois in the region of 
 La Salle and Ottawa. The outcroppings of these rocks in this 
 vicinity is brought about by the anticline which runs from 
 northwest toward the southeast crossing the Rock and the Illinois 
 at Oregon and LaSalle. This is known as the LaSalle anticline. 
 It traverses the state toward the southeast and is the explana- 
 tion of the oil regions in the southeastern counties of Illinois. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 13 
 
 There are two economic values of the St. Peter sandstone. 
 In northern Illinois and in Wisconsin where this layer is found 
 beneath the Trenton and Galena limestone, it is a reservoir 
 where vast quantities of water are stored which is made avail- 
 able through artesian wells. The St. Peter sandstone which 
 lies several hundred feet below the surface in Northern Illinois 
 and Southern Wisconsin, outcrops in Central Wisconsin where 
 it gathers the water for its reservoirs in Northern Illinois. A 
 second economic value is found in the qualities of the sand which 
 adapts it to the manufacture of glass. 
 
 Immediately above the St. Peter sandstone we find several 
 layers of limestone. The names given in Northern Illinois are 
 Plattville and Galena limestones. The layers are about 400 feet 
 thick. These two forms of limestone are of economic value. 
 The value as building material is important, also for road mak- 
 ing and also for lime. These rocks are also of great value in 
 that they contain large quantities of lead and zinc. The lead 
 mines of Jo Daviess County were flourishing in the early and 
 middle part of the nineteenth century, but the opening of lead 
 and zinc mines in Missouri has dulled the lead interest in the 
 Galena mines. 
 
 In the south end of the state two layers, Kinswick and the 
 Plattville correspond, or are closely related to the Galena and 
 Plattville rocks of the north end of the state. But the Kinswick 
 and the Plattville do not outcrop in Southern Illinois, and they 
 are of no economic value so far as known. 
 
 Another layer or layers of the Ordovician system is known 
 as the Richmond shales. These layers were laid down from 
 quantities of mud (clay) sand, and limy sediment. This Rich- 
 mond shale is therefore sandstone, limestone, and shale. Often 
 the layers are distinct, but quite as often the three elements 
 were apparently intermingled and the result is a confused mass 
 containing all or a part of the three constituent elements. 
 
 This Richmond shale is economically valuable. The limestone 
 is good building material, the shale is used for brick and other 
 clay products. These layers outcrop in the immediate vicinity 
 of Thebes in Alexander County, where the original rock layers 
 have been greatly disturbed. The sandstone is known as the 
 Thebes sandstone while the limestone layers are known as the 
 Fernvale limestone. 
 
 Silurian : — The Silurian System, the third oldest system of 
 rocks in Illinois is known by two important layers, one the 
 Niagara limestone, the other, the Alexandrian, which is made 
 up of limestone and shale. The Niagara limestone is the most 
 important rock in the northeast part of Illinois. This formation 
 is present in about eight of the counties lying in the vicinity 
 of Lake Michigan. It is also found in the northwest corner of 
 the state in the vicinity of Rock River and about Galena. The 
 
14 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Galena deposits are rich in lead and zinc. The Alexandrian 
 layers in the southern portion of the state are marked near 
 Thebes as Orchard Creek shale, to the north of Thebes as Sexton 
 Creek limestone. These layers furnish material for building 
 purposes, for concrete work, and for macadam roads. 
 
 Devonian: — The Devonian System lies just above the Silurian 
 rocks. This system is studied as the older and later Devonian. 
 The first is found along the Mississippi River from a point some 
 miles south of Thebes in Alexander County to the immediate 
 vicinity of Grand Tower in Jackson County. The outcroppings 
 occur in the bluffs along the river and inland along the tribu- 
 taries for some six to ten miles. The oldest layers are known 
 as New Scotland Beds and are of lime formation. These rocks 
 are also found all along the Mississippi as far north as Rock 
 Island. Another deposit of the Devonian system is known as 
 the Clear Creek limestone, and is found in Union County and 
 as far north as Grand Tower. Here also are the Hamilton lime- 
 stones and further north along the Mississippi are the black 
 shale deposits in Calhoun County and farther north. All the 
 outcroppings of Devonian rocks found in the north part of the 
 state are of the later or upper Devonian. The geologic maps 
 do not show actual deposits in the eastern part of Illinois, but 
 the maps point out the possibility of a large part of eastern 
 Illinois as being underlain with Devonian layers. 
 
 Mississippian: — The system just above the Devonian is the 
 Mississippian which is divided into an upper and a lower Missis- 
 sippian. The Mississippian system is made up of limestone, 
 shales, and sandstone. The different layers take on different 
 names locally. The oldest layer is known as Kinderhook from 
 its being found at Kinderhook, Pike County. This deposit is 
 also found in Hardin and Pope Counties. This is a shale and 
 takes on various shades in the several places where it is found. 
 It is found as far north as Henderson County. The Burlington 
 group of limestones are next older than the Kinderhook. These 
 rocks are found in the western line of counties from Henderson 
 to Jersey. The limestone layers are of different degrees of 
 quality, some of them decompose when brought into sunlight and 
 air; others are of a good quality and some lime is burned from 
 them. 
 
 Keokuk: — Above the Burlington limestone is the Keokuk 
 group. It is found at Nauvoo and at Hamilton in Hancock 
 County. These layers are rich in the remains of animal life. 
 The lower beds are a cherty limestone while the upper beds are 
 hydraulic limestone in places, and some cement has been man- 
 ufactured from these layers. 
 
 The St. Louis group lies above the Burlington and is one 
 of the most interesting of the Mississippian system. This group 
 of lime, shale, and sandstone layers can be traced from Hancock 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 15 
 
 County south along the Mississippi till it reaches Jackson and 
 Union counties. Here it turns east and constitutes the back- 
 bone of the Ozark mountains. The water and weather resisting 
 qualities of the St. Louis limestones make them very valuable 
 for building purposes. The stone for the foundation of the 
 Capitol at Springfield was taken from the St. Louis limestone 
 in Hancock County. In Hardin County, at the east end of the 
 Ozarks, the St. Louis limestone is traversed by veins of fluor 
 spar, zinc, lead and sliver. These minerals were mined as early 
 as 1842, but they could not be gotten in sufficient quantities to 
 pay. It is said these are the only rocks in the state that are 
 traversed by true metallic veins. 
 
 The next older layer of the Mississippian system is the Chester 
 group. It is found in the south part of the state and extends 
 only as far north as the latitude of Alton. The layers are lime- 
 stone, sandstone, and shale. The layers outcrop in a belt which 
 starts in Hardin County and follows the southwest border of the 
 coal field to the vicinity of Belleville. Good building stone is 
 found in both the limestone and in the sandstone of this group. 
 
 Pennsylvanian : — The Pennsylvanian system is next to the last 
 of the Paleozoic Era. Without doubt this is the most important 
 system in this era. It is sometimes called the Carboniferous 
 system because the coal measures are found in these stratified 
 rocks. 
 
 Pennsylvanian 
 
 This group is divided in Illinois into three well marked layers ; 
 the Pottsville, the Carbondale, and the McLeansboro. The Potts- 
 ville is a deep layer of sandstone, sometimes called "Mill Stone 
 Grit." It is about 200 feet thick in Southern Illinois but thins 
 to about 25 feet in the north part of the state. These rocks 
 are exposed in the north sides of the Ozarks and are variously 
 colored. Some rocks are nearly white, but often stained red or 
 brown by the presence of iron. 
 
 Above the Pottsville sandstone lies the coal measures known 
 as the Carbondale and the McLeansboro formations. These 
 layers are, combined, 1,000 or 1,200 feet thick. They are com- 
 posed of alternate layers of shale, sandstone, conglomerate, lime- 
 stone and coal, with considerable iron intermingling with the 
 other layers. The shale strata make up a greater portion of the 
 thickness of the formations. These layers lie on generally hori- 
 zontal position, the dip, however, is sufficient to carry certain 
 seams from very near the surface to many hundred feet in the 
 central and northern part of the coal field. 
 
 The coal field in Illinois occupies about 37,000 square miles 
 and has very well denned boundaries. The workable veins are 
 deeper in the central part of the state while around the margins 
 of the field the workable veins may be found nearer the surface. 
 
16 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 There are sixteen coal seams in the coal measures, ranging in 
 thickness from a few inches to sixteen to eighteen feet in some 
 places. The proportion of coal to the entire thickness of the 
 system is as 1 to 40, or one fortieth of the thickness. If the 
 Coal Measures are 1,200 feet thick that would give thirty feet 
 for the thickness of all the coal seams. 
 
 Just below each vein of coal is often found a very good quality 
 of clay and in some places it is used for the manufacture of com- 
 mercial products. Above the veins of coal there is a roof usually 
 of shale but now and then of limestone. There are nine different 
 layers of coal in Illinois that are or have been worked and there 
 are other thinner veins that may be worked, but of course not 
 so profitably. The coal in Illinois is all of the grade known as 
 bituminous. 
 
 There are few or no examples of the Permian system in Illi- 
 nois and we pass to the next era. 
 
 Cenozoic: — The last era is the Cenozoic. This era has two 
 systems, the Tertiary and the Quaternary. The Tertiary for- 
 mation approached Illinois from the south but reached only 
 the counties which border the Ohio river, Alexander, Pulaski, 
 Massac, and Pope. The deposits are sandy shales and conglom- 
 arate. Some deposits of clay are thought to be of the quality of 
 potter's clay. Worthen says that there are signs of Tertiary 
 deposits along the Mississippi River as far north as the vicinity 
 of Quincy. 
 
 The Quarternary System "embraces all the superficial mater- 
 ial, including sands, clays, gravel, and soil." These are spread 
 rather evenly over the state and constitute what geologists call 
 "Mantle rock." It is of different thicknesses in different parts 
 of the state. There are small areas in the Ozarks where there 
 is no mantle rock, the solid layers being exposed to the winds and 
 rain, and running water. In many places in this state the 
 mantle rock is several feet deep. 
 
 The Glacial Period 
 
 The Cenozoic Era is so recent and its history is so vitally 
 related to the life of the human race that it will be quite proper 
 to give a more detailed account of the geological story of this 
 period. As said before, the Cenozoic era is divided into the Ter- 
 tiary and the Quaternary periods. The later period is popularly 
 divided into the Glacial and the Post-Glacial formations. These 
 formations have been so recent and the territory covered so 
 extensive, that great interest attaches to them. 
 
 In North America there seems to have been three great 
 centers of glacial movement — one known as the Labrador center ; 
 another known as the Keewatin center; and the third as the 
 Cordilleran center. From the Labrador center a great ice sheet 
 seems to have moved to the east and covered th gulf of St. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 17 
 
 Lawrence and adjacent islands; also west into the Hudson Bay 
 region; a third movement was toward the southwest, toward 
 the region of the Great Lakes. From the Keewatin center, great 
 fields of ice were sent to the southwest reaching the arid regions 
 of the western plains ; here it came in contact with the advance 
 movements from the Cordilleran center. 
 
 The ice sheet which moved southward from the peninsula of 
 Labrador is the one we in Illinois are specially interested in. 
 There was slight opposition in the path of this movement. It 
 reached our state at the northeast corner and spread almost 
 entirely over it. It seemed to move south and west across the 
 state, reaching its farthest point at the foot of the Ozarks, six- 
 teen hundred miles from Labrador. The advancing front in 
 Illinois took on a sort of cresent shape, and its furthest move- 
 ment southward reached a curved line running from Chester in 
 Randolph County southeast into Jackson County, eastward 
 through Jackson and eastward through Williamson, and north- 
 east through Saline and Gallatin, reaching the Wabash near its 
 mouth. This line marks also the southern limit of the prairie 
 and is coincident with the northern foothills of the Ozarks, 
 which trend in a general east and west direction. 
 
 Illinois was subject to at least four ice sheet invasions accord- 
 ing to the latest investigations. These in order of time were: 
 First, the Illinois sheet, the one just described which seems to 
 have covered nearly the entire estate. The ice sheet seems not 
 to have been able to push its way over the Ozarks. The counties 
 partly covered by the ice sheet are Jackson, Williamson. Saline. 
 Gallatin, and White; those not reached by the ice were the 
 counties of Union, Johnson, Pope, Hardin, Alexander. Pulaski 
 and Massac. This is the largest unglaciated area in the state. 
 There is another area which the ice sheet did not cover. It is 
 in the northwest part of the state and includes most of Jo 
 Daviess County. Then there is a third area which is put down 
 on the map as a drif tless area ; this is in the south side of Pike 
 County and including all the county of Calhoun. 
 
 There was a second invasion which is known as the Iowan 
 sheet. It is not known whether this sheet had its origin in 
 Labrador or near the Hudson Bay, but more than likely from 
 the Keewatin center. It seems to have approached Illinois from 
 the northwest and to have moved southeastward over the state. 
 There is a "profusion of large granatoid boulders which lie 
 chiefly on the surface and are somewhat aggregated into a 
 boulder belt on the eastern border of the tract." From these 
 boulders the people of some of the localities where they are 
 plentiful have built residences and other buildings, yard fences, 
 and ornamental structures. They vary in size from six inches 
 in diameter to two feet or more. Such houses and buildings 
 as mentioned may be seen in DeKalb and in adjacent counties. 
 
18 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 The area covered by this Iowan invasion may be bounded by 
 Rock River on the west, Wisconsin on the north, Lake Michigan 
 on the east, and the parallel of thirty-nine north latitude on 
 the south. 
 
 A third invasion of Illinois by ice sheets from the north is 
 called the Wisconsin invasion. This ice sheet covered the north- 
 east quarter of the state. It extended south to Clark County on 
 the east side of the state and reached a distance west of Lake 
 Michigan of some fifty or sixty miles. It would be possible 
 therefore to find remains of all three of these ice sheets in a 
 single boring in the territory around the west side of Lake 
 Michigan. 
 
 No other single agent has been so potent in the modification 
 of the surface of the earth as have glaciers and ice sheets. 
 When we remember that these ice sheets were hundreds of feet 
 and possibly thousands of feet thick, and were hundreds of miles 
 in width and length, some adequate notion may be formed of 
 their power to plow up and completely change the surface 
 structure of the earth. 
 
 The debris these ice sheets brought down with them from the 
 Laurentian highlands was distributed over nearly all the state. 
 This material which eventually became the basis of our soil in 
 the glaciated areas, was transported in several ways : first, much 
 of it was pushed along ahead of the front part of the advancing 
 glacial sheet, so that when the forward movement began slowing 
 up, this material was left scattered along in lines agreeing in 
 general with the front of the advancing glacial sheet at various 
 times. These deposits have a general east and west or a north- 
 west and southeast direction. Second, much material was car- 
 ried along under the ice-sheet and ground to finer parts. This 
 is found distributed pretty evenly over the state. Third, other 
 material was carried on the surface of the ice-sheet and would 
 often become deeply inbedded in it. As the great flow of ice 
 approached the warmer latitudes, these objects carried on the 
 surface of the sheet would become warm and would gradually 
 work their way deeply into the ice. When the flow southward 
 as finally checked these objects ate their way to the bottom of the 
 ice and rested on the earth's surface. Lastly, vast quantities of 
 waste were carried by the streams which continually flowed from 
 the melting ice. Much of this detritus was left on the broad flat 
 prairies, but vast quantities were carried by running water into 
 the creeks and rivers and at flood times when the river over- 
 flowed its banks, the sediment was left on the overflowed land 
 to build up the alluvial bottoms. 
 
 The material which these glaciers brought into our state 
 is called Drift. Its composition varies, but it is usually found 
 to be sand, clay, gravel and boulders. This drift is often found 
 stratified, but more generally is without definite layer formation. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 19 
 
 This material will be further considered when we discuss the 
 soils of our state. 
 
 We now come to the last phase of the Geology — the Human or 
 Present Period. 
 
 The Present Period 
 
 We now see the earth as the home of man. Through untold 
 ages the Creator has been gradually unfolding his plan to us, 
 of fitting the earth by these great geologic processes to be man's 
 temporary home. There has been deposited in the various lay- 
 ers of the earth all kinds of rocks, metals, useful and precious, 
 oil, coal, water, etc. On its surface He has caused the trees and 
 plants, grasses, grains, for the food and clothing of the race. 
 Animal life, which is so near man in intelligence, has been 
 
 MONK'S MOUND, NEAR EAST ST. LOUIS 
 
 scientifically distributed over the earth and everything has con- 
 spired to produce an environment where God's greatest experi- 
 ments — the nurture of the human race — is in process of comple- 
 tion. It must not be supposed that the forces which have been 
 operating through all the geological ages have all run their 
 courses and are no longer active and powerful. Many of the 
 forces which carried on the great process are still active and 
 will continue to work for untold ages. Among these we may 
 mention the forces affecting the elevation and subsidence of the 
 continental forms; the work which has been done by running 
 water is still being carried on; the forces of disintegration — ■ 
 alternation of heat and cold by the help of moisture are still as 
 active as ever. We might from this brief survey conclude that 
 the end of the world is not yet, and so it seems. The age of man 
 is just beginning. But so lavish as nature has been in producing 
 a physical environment which furnishes man with very needed 
 element for the building and maintaining of a highly organized 
 social structure, there are warnings which must be sounded 
 
20 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 and precautions which must be taken to conserve our heritage. 
 There are certain desirable conditions which the people are not 
 able to maintain. We are using our coal supply at the rate of 
 one percent in eighty-five years. At that rate in 8500 years our 
 coal supply will be exhausted. Already the timbered surfaces 
 of the earth have shrunk into a minimum area. The soils of 
 the earth are in need of constant upbuilding. The wild animal 
 life is rapidly becoming a thing of the past, and even domes- 
 ticated animals are, many of them, no longer a necessity. It is 
 not therefore out of place at the close of a chapter which has 
 enumerated the wonderful activities which have produced a 
 perfect physical stage upon which man shall act his part in 
 a short drama, to warn him to keep constantly before him the 
 necessity for his cooperation with the forces of nature for the 
 preservation of his great heritage. 
 
 Our Soils 
 
 Illinois has four general kinds of soil, or rather there are four 
 recognized sources of the soils of the state. First, there are the 
 soils which were made from the surface rocks which by their 
 position were exposed to the mechanical and chemical influences. 
 Second, the soils which have their source in the material brought 
 into the state by the ice-sheet. Third, the soil which had its 
 origin in the loess whose origin is not yet well established. And 
 fourth, the soil found in the river and creek bottoms, and known 
 as alluvium. There are other distinctions that might be made, 
 but these are the greater divisions. 
 
 The earth in any particular place has had its last inundation 
 from the sea and hence the last layer of sedimentary rock. This 
 region, we will suppose, has been pushed up so that its surface 
 becomes "dry land." If, as we may suppose, all of Illinois was 
 pushed above sea level for the last time, its surface would con- 
 sist of one immense layer of sedimentary rock or perchance sev- 
 eral different kinds of rock formation might be exposed here and 
 there. If in the upward movement the crust of the earth could 
 have become irregular, then when the climatic conditions became 
 favorable there would be rain and sunshine, freezing and thaw- 
 ing, and other conditions which would tend to break down the 
 physical and chemical composition of the rock in the upper rock 
 layer. 
 
 The broken material of this upper rock layer is the basis of 
 the first kind of soil mentioned above. It is known as Residuary 
 soil. The soil formed from the upper layers of rock will, if the 
 surface is generally level, remain where the change from rock 
 to soil occurred. If the surface is sloping, there will be a move- 
 ment of the soil along with running water to lower levels. Where 
 the surface is comparatively level the soil remains and as the 
 layer of soil becomes deeper as time passes, the rock surfaces 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 21 
 
 being somewhat protected, will "weather" more slowly and the 
 soil layer grows thick less rapidly. Now this is the soil form- 
 ing process which has taken place on all parts of Illinois; but 
 its processes are hidden wherever the ice sheet has covered the 
 state. There are three unglaciated regions as has been pointed 
 out above; one, the largest area, including in whole or in part 
 twelve of the counties at the extreme south end of the state. A 
 second unglaciated area is found in the northwest corner of the 
 state. And a third comprises the county of Calhoun and the 
 south half of Pike. 
 
 It will be readily seen that the character of the soil formed 
 by the process of decay of the original rocks will be determined 
 largely by the nature of the rock deposits exposed in different 
 localities. If the rocks are limestone the soils will be different 
 from what they would if the exposed layer were sandstone. 
 Then there are other soil elements that become a part of the cov- 
 ering besides that which comes from the rocks. At least in parts 
 of Illinois this residual soil has been covered over with loess 
 and in other places vegetation has added its share to the produc- 
 tivity of the present soil. (It has been estimated that the residu- 
 ary soil is on an average five feet deep over the unglaciated 
 areas.) 
 
 In these driftless areas the "soils show variations which cor- 
 respond in a rough way with variations in the structure of the 
 rocks from which they are derived. In regions underlaid by 
 shale or limestones a more compact and adhesive soil is formed 
 than in sandstone regions, while each class of limestones has 
 its own peculiar soil. With proper rotation of crops these soils 
 constitute a fertile portion of the state, otherwise they become 
 exhausted sooner than soils formed from glacial drift." 
 
 The second kind of soil is that formed from the materials 
 transported by the ice sheet. The character of the soil will vary 
 as the material transported varied. Three general classes have 
 been recognized. First, a stony or glacial clay soil. This is 
 made from the weathered surface of the drift sheet unaffected 
 by water in its formation and not subsequently covered over 
 with loess or silt. This soil is found in the "corn belt" north of 
 the Shelbyville moraine. The gravelly soils are found near the 
 streams and lakes and in regions where lakes once existed. It 
 is not of special value except as a subsoil for loamy deposits. A 
 third kind of soil is found in the old beaches and along certain 
 rivers. Mason County presents a very excellent illustration of 
 this class of drift soils. 
 
 It should be remembered that there may have been a consider- 
 able layer of residuary soil over the level central and northern 
 part of Illinois before the invasion of the ice sheet. If there 
 were layers of residuary soil covering the rocky earth crust, it 
 was all pushed along and transported far away from the place 
 
22 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 where it was formed. It is stated by the geologist that much of 
 the material which glaciers transport by different processes 
 has been carried a thousand miles from the place where the 
 material had its origin. There is therefore no geological con- 
 nection between the drift soil found in a certain place and the 
 rocks immediately below. 
 
 We hear much about the black "Corn Belt" in Illinois. Cli- 
 matically considered, Illinois comprises three great belts — the 
 wheat belt in the northern end of the state, the corn belt occupy- 
 ing the middle division of the state and the cotton belt which 
 applies to the south third of the state. The explanation of the 
 "black" in the soil of central Illinois may be found in the fact 
 that this region had from the earliest times great crops of wild 
 grasses, and while fires often swept over these areas and de- 
 stroyed the stems and leaves, the roots remained to produce 
 another crop. These roots formed thick beds of matted vege- 
 table matter reaching down to the depth of probably two feet. 
 In addition, in many places the surface was covered with water 
 and rich deposits of vegetable matter was added. This organic 
 matter adds a very rich element in the growing of crops and 
 gives the darkened appearance to the soil. 
 
 Bulletin 54, December, 1908, United States Bureau of Soils, 
 says: Marshall black clay loam (Illinois) "is a heavy, some- 
 what sticky, granular clay loam, containing a large percentage 
 of silt and organic matter. It has a depth of about 18 inches. 
 This soil type has formed where the natural drainage was poor. 
 The surface is level. In its original condition it is wet and 
 swamp and required thorough drainage." It is stated that the 
 soil in the central part of Illinois is made up of so many sources 
 that it would be strange if it were not very productive. The 
 drift soil itself has many elements of productivity, and added to 
 this the spread of a rich layer of loess over the black prairies, 
 and again the great amount of humus in the soil all tend to 
 make it a very rich soil. 
 
 A third kind of soil, or rather source of the soil in Illinois, 
 is loess soil. The loess soils are very widely distributed and 
 are of three classes according to the degree of their previousness 
 to water. They are those soils that are readily pervious ; those 
 that are slowly pervious, and those that are nearly impervious. 
 The first is the kind of soil found where loess deposits are found 
 in the south end of the state. These readily pervious soils 
 appear around the fringe of the state near the Mississippi, the 
 Ohio, and the Wabash. Out in the middle counties of Southern 
 Illinois, in Clay, Marion, and adjacent counties the loess soil 
 become of the nature of white clay. Its chief ingredients is 
 silica, and the soil is adapted to the raising of grains and fruits. 
 This whitish soil is the first thing which attracts the attention 
 of people who are accustomed to the black soil of DeWitt and 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 23 
 
 Champaign and other corn-producing counties in the Central 
 and Northern parts of the state. These visitors from the north- 
 ern counties say: "Why your soil is so poor, it is as white as 
 chalk." It is not necessarily the poor quality of the soil, but the 
 peculiar mechanical structure which allows the water of the 
 rainy springs to escape, together with the extended drouths — 
 from June to September that prevents this region covered with 
 loess soil from presenting an attractive appearance in mid- 
 summer. The slowly pervious loess soils are found in this 
 regions of the lower parts of the Illinois River. And the third 
 kind, that which has a nearly pervious make-up, may be found in 
 the interior of South Central Illinois. This white soil is a fine 
 soil for fruits. Clay, and Marion, and Wayne are good examples 
 of this impervious loess. These counties are giving more and 
 more attention to the raising of fruits, especially apples. 
 
 The deposit of large quantities of loess soil upon the hilly 
 parts of the southern end of the state is largely responsible for 
 the wonderful adaption of these hills to the growing of all forms 
 of fruits and vegetables. Bald Knob, near Alto Pass, one of the 
 highest parts of the Ozarks, is 800 feet high and is devoid of 
 timber for two hundred feet from its top and the soil is very 
 productive. It is of a deep rich brown color. Apples, peaches, 
 sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and grains abound. The owner says 
 there is a continual deposit on its top and sides of a fine pow- 
 dered dust which the winds seem to bring from the surrounding 
 country. 
 
 Alluvial soils, the fourth class mentioned, are found in all 
 river valleys and even in creek bottoms. Running water brings 
 vast quantities of detritus from higher levels, and when these 
 streams overflow their banks the speed is checked and the 
 material carried in suspension is deposited upon the overflowed 
 surfaces. The alluvial soils are the most productive of all the 
 soils, but their location in river bottoms has heretofore pre- 
 vented their being used for their full value. The recent drain- 
 age laws allow the organization of drainage districts for the 
 reclamation of this land. Prices of such lands have gone from 
 $5 and $10 an acre to $300 an acre within less than a dozen years. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 PHYSICAL BASIS OF THE STATE'S GREATNESS 
 
 Two Essential Elements — Analysis of the Physical En- 
 vironment — Industrial Institutions — Contour — 
 Climate — Resources, Mineral, Vegetable, Animal. 
 
 Without doubt the greatness of any state is the result of two 
 interacting, mutually and vitally related factors. There must be 
 a material or physical basis. There must be a given area of the 
 earth's surface upon which to construct the state. In all state 
 constitutions this area has very definite fixed boundaries. The 
 boundaries may be natural or artificial, but the state must 
 occupy a very definite area with very definite boundaries. All 
 political science writers are careful to make it plain that the 
 political state must have a physical basis. There must be soil, 
 timber, metals, minerals, building stone, climatic conditions, 
 waterways, and other elements which enter into the physical 
 basis. 
 
 Two Essential Elements 
 
 But all these physical elements which nature in the goodness 
 of her heart has provided would avail naught without another 
 essential factor, namely, people. Man must bring an intelligent 
 direction to the forces of both nature and man in order that 
 their relationship may be fruitful in those things which shall 
 minister to the well being of the individuals and the institu- 
 tions which are to grow upon this physical basis. 
 
 The poet has said that the state is constituted of 
 "Men— high-minded Men" — 
 
 But high-minded men can not alone constitute a state. Men 
 have never constituted a state in the great Sahara desert, nor 
 within the Arctic circle. Nor will they ever build a great state 
 in either place. The reason is not far to find. There is no physi- 
 cal basis for a state at least a great state in either place. 
 
 It would be as futile for a low-minded people to attempt to 
 constitute a state on the most favorable physical basis. There 
 are many striking illustrations of the failure which an incompe- 
 tent race makes in attempting to build a great state even upon a 
 physical basis of unsurpassed resources. It takes two coordinate 
 elements to produce what the world would call a great state — 
 territory and population, rich and abundant physical resources, 
 and a people rich in intellectual, moral, and physical resources. 
 
 It must be kept constantly in mind in analyzing the greatness 
 of the state that the relation between the two factors, the natural 
 
 24 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 25 
 
 environment and the population is a vital one, that these two fac- 
 tors are vitally related, "useless each without the other." Again 
 we must remember that each factor is constantly modifying the 
 other factor. Man undergoes changes in his mental and physical 
 nature if he goes from place to place. In warmer climates he 
 naturally becomes sluggish. On the rockbound seashore or 
 among the rugged mountains he becomes vigorous, brave, and 
 resourceful. But man bridges the streams, cuts canals, and 
 tunnels the mountains. Under his genius the world has become 
 smaller and its mysteries have become open secrets. But in 
 most of these modifications the changes are progressive, the 
 world becomes better, and the state profits. 
 
 Analysis of the Physical Environment. 
 
 Political Science Writers have agreed that the natural environ- 
 ment may profitably be considered under four heads — The Con- 
 tour of the Earth's Surface, The Climate, The Resources, and 
 the General Aspects of Nature. These four phases of the nat- 
 ural environment really condition the institutional life of the 
 race. And while these aspects of the physical environment will 
 always determine in a very definite way what shall be the direc- 
 tion of man's activity, each has been and will, in a large way, 
 be modified by man. 
 
 By the Contour of the Earth's Surface is meant land and water, 
 areas, location and magnitude of the mountains, location and 
 description of geographical units, mass, elevation and slope of 
 land surfaces, and natural boundaries of geographical units — 
 particularly important as political boundaries of states. 
 
 The state is usually erected in a geographical unit with well 
 defined physical boundaries. Thus the people within the state 
 have in the main the same influences acting upon them and there 
 is a tendency toward unity of aims and unity of means for their 
 attainment. Spain, Italy, Norway, Denmark, Greece, California 
 and Illinois are examples of states whose territorial areas have 
 quite well defined physical boundaries. 
 
 The greatness of a state may depend in a marked degree, 
 other factors being favorable, upon the extent of its area. Portu- 
 gal could hardly be placed in the list of great states. Likewise, 
 Serbia, Denmark, Ireland, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. 
 However, small states have been the saving clause in European 
 History, whereas the broad expanse of Russia has been its un- 
 doing. 
 
 While the greatness of a state may depend in no small degree 
 upon the extent of its area and upon its natural boundaries, 
 there must not be such barriers as to produce isolation. Pro- 
 gress in civilization depends upon intercourse with other states. 
 While therefore natural boundaries are of advantage, they must 
 not be prohibitive of an interchange of products and ideas. 
 
26 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Rivers, lakes, parallels and meridians should be slight obstacles 
 to the intercourse which one state desires to have with another. 
 
 Much of the greatness of a state will depend upon the direc- 
 tion of the outlets of that state. Greece's outlets led her to the 
 east and south — toward Phoenicia, Palestine, Syria, and Egypt. 
 These seem to have been the sources of her culture, as they were 
 of the physical sustenance. Rome faced west and her first con- 
 tact with the outer world was with barbarians mainly. Later 
 she turned east and encountered culture that was centuries old. 
 How fortunate that America faces east geographically. Europe 
 faces west and the transfer of all that was best in England, 
 France, Portugal and Spain to the new world was an easy task. 
 
 Climatic conditions help or hinder much. These conditions 
 refer to heat, light and moisture, chiefly. It is pointed out that 
 the early political state originated in warm climates. Here the 
 problem of sustaining human life was a simple one, and no 
 great amount of initiative was necessary. But it is further 
 shown that while states originating in warm climates flourish 
 through the early stages of development, they seldom reach a 
 very advanced stage of civilization. 
 
 The cold latitudes are not conducive to the development of 
 physical and intellectual vigor. Too much time is consumed in 
 warding off the benumbing influences of low temperatures. So 
 far, therefore, as climate depends merely upon distance from the 
 equator, the low and high latitudes are prejudicial to the promo- 
 tion of the higher and better forms of civilized life. 
 
 The practical tests of state building in rainless regions are 
 not very encouraging. Great rainless regions such as the Sahara 
 desert and the plains region in the western United States have 
 little physical basis for the support of an economic and political 
 life. "All great states have arisen in areas where a temperate 
 climate is combined with a moderate amount of moisture." From 
 a social point of view the study of crime in warm and cold 
 climates is very interesting. In warm climates the age of ma- 
 turity is reached earlier than in cold countries, the birth rate 
 is higher, population is denser, and physical contact of people 
 more intimate than in cold countries. In warm climates crimes 
 take on the nature of offenses against the person, such as "mur- 
 der, assault, and rape." While in colder latitudes the region is 
 more sparsely settled and there is less frequent personal contact 
 than is the case in warm climates. Here the offenses against 
 organized society are against property rather than against per- 
 sons. They are more often thefts, gambling, and disregard of 
 property rights. 
 
 The resources of a state may easily be classified as mineral, 
 vegetable and animal. The chief mineral resources includes iron, 
 lead, zinc, gold, silver, copper, oil, coal, building stone, clay, and 
 the soil. These are generally considered the natural wealth of 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 27 
 
 a state, but the economist does not regard them as wealth until 
 they have passed through the hands of man and become really 
 useful. However, we can see what a wonderful advantage a 
 state has that has an abundant supply of these minerals. The 
 ownership or control of sections where nature has made rich 
 deposits of iron, coal, oil, and other minerals has caused wars 
 and rumors of wars, and will continue to do so as long as human 
 nature remains as now constituted. 
 
 The vegetable resources of a region are an essential factor in 
 the building of a state. The food of a people is directly or indi- 
 rectly dependent upon the variety and abundance of the vegetable 
 growth. Not only so but shelter and clothing must be supplied 
 quite largely from the vegetable world. It has been shown that 
 the spread of population over the earth has had its origin in 
 the necessity that peoples have found for food, shelter and cloth- 
 ing. Greece and Rome and modern England have been great 
 colonizers, and in each case the explanation finds its basis in 
 the need of an ever crowded population for food, clothing, and 
 shelter. Not only so, but commerce, the spreader of civilization, 
 has its fundamental explanation in the desire to provide the great 
 essentials of life — food, clothing, and shelter. 
 
 The third form of resource is the animal world. A very cur- 
 sory view of the relation of these three great divisions of the 
 world's resources will show us that there is a law of dependence 
 which holds among them. The vegetable world has its origin 
 and its sustenance in the soil of the earth. The soil is only one 
 form of the mineral world. "Soil is decayed rocks." When 
 there is no soil there can be no true vegetables and where there 
 are no vegetables there can be no animal life. Where there 
 is no animal life there is slight basis for the building of a 
 state. The state is dependent on man, man is dependent on 
 animals, animals are dependent on the vegetable world, the vege- 
 table world is dependent upon the soil, and soil is dependent 
 upon the other forms of the mineral world. 
 
 The state in its early stages found a large part of its support 
 in the wild animal life of the plains and rivers and forests. 
 These various animals furnished the population with a large 
 supply of food and clothing. As time went on the animals be- 
 came domesticated and their usefulness was greatly extended. A 
 great state must be well supplied with domesticated animals 
 such as horses, cattle, sheep, hogs and fowls. And most states 
 give attention to the preservation and propagation of the wild 
 animals which naturally belong to its territory. 
 
 There remains to be considered briefly the General Aspects 
 of Nature as influencing the development of the state. In a 
 general way we know that the aspect of nature greatly affects the 
 mental life of people. It is said that the beautiful character of 
 Greek life as portrayed in the oration of Pericles over the dead, 
 
28 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 was the ideal counter part of the beautifully subdued mountains, 
 the gently flowing hillsides, the quiet streams, the balmy air, 
 and the glorious aspects of the rising and the setting sun. The 
 mental life of the mountaineer is in marked contrast to that of 
 the agriculturist on our western prairies. Buckle in his History 
 of Civilization in England calls attention to the fact that a people 
 who live in the presence of the constant manifestations of the 
 violent forces of nature are unable to organize and maintain a 
 very high type of civilization. Certain regions of the earth are 
 subject to volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tornadoes, great 
 mountains, mighty rivers subject to periods of destructive floods, 
 etc. There cannot be in the presence of such forces of nature a 
 very earnest and persistent effort to plan permanent agencies 
 of a great state. 
 
 It must not be thought that the individual and the state are 
 dominated by the physical environment which has been described 
 in the foregoing paragraphs. Man's distinguishing character- 
 istic is his ability to subordinate the physical world about him. 
 He makes the wind bring his ship into the port from the utter- 
 most parts of the earth, and under his direction it pumps the 
 water from the depths of the earth. The rivers and lakes carry his 
 produce of the soil to the markets of the earth. Instead of rivers 
 and mountains becoming impossible barriers, he tunnels the one 
 and bridges the other. He has redeemed large areas of swamps, 
 deserts, and mountain sides. Forests have been encouraged to 
 grow in barren places, and animal life has been transported and 
 acclimated to territory hundreds of miles away from its original 
 habitat. Not only has air yielded to man's control, but the very 
 ether has surrendered to the simple yet mysterious wireless. 
 Among the marvelous things which man has done is the trans- 
 mission of power and heat and light over many hundred miles 
 of space through a simple copper wire. Not only so, but the 
 human voice in song and in oratory may be broadcasted to the 
 four corners of the earth. And truly may we say with Samuel 
 
 Morse— "What hath God wrought" ! 
 
 Industrial Institutions — The Determining Factors 
 
 The writers of the Industrial History of the world have recog- 
 nized seven great industrial activities, namely: Herding, Fish- 
 ing, Mining, Lumbering, Agriculture, Manufacture and Com- 
 merce. 
 
 Whether a people shall follow one or the other of these indus- 
 trial activities is determined primarily by two great factors: 
 Geology and Geography. Often both of these factors contribute 
 to the endowment of a state so that it may be found that the 
 state may be able to engage in two or more of the industrial 
 lines named above with great profit. 
 
(Courtesy Miss Emma Rebman) 
 
 A SPLENDID SPECIMEN, JOHNSON COUNTY 
 
30 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 1 — Herding or grazing is a primitive industry. Abraham and 
 Lot were herdsmen. They lived upon the products of their flocks 
 and herds. In modern times this industry is carried on in parts 
 of the earth where the land cannot be cultivated, and where 
 the social life is of the simpler kind. 
 
 2 — Fishing too is a very old occupation. The question of fol- 
 lowing this occupation is one to be settled by the presence of 
 good "fishing grounds." It is found profitable along certain 
 shores of the ocean and seas and to a less profitable degree along 
 inland waters. While the calling is as old (if not older) as the 
 days of Peter, James and John, it has been modernized and 
 is a great industry in many parts of the world. 
 
 3 — Lumbering too is as old as the days of Noah and King Solo- 
 mon and Hiram Abif. The geography of a state determines 
 whether its people shall lend their energies to the furthering 
 of this occupation or to other forms. It is as natural for the 
 people of Maine, Arkansas, Oregon and British Columbia to be 
 engaged in the lumbering business as it is for Massachusetts 
 people along the coast to be in the Cod fishing business, or for 
 the people of Colorado to be engaged in the mining of metals, or 
 the people of Kansas and North Dakota to raise wheat. 
 
 4 — The three foregoing industries are not only primitive, but 
 they cannot be ranked with the four remaining ones in import- 
 ance. Agriculture, mining, manufacturing and commerce are 
 universal activities. Blest is the state which is provided by 
 nature with a rich soil spread over millions of acres. Agricul- 
 ture was also a primitive industry, but from the crude experi- 
 mental stage of only a century or so ago it has passed through 
 various stages of improvement until today it has taken rank as a 
 science. The raising of the food grains is no longer left to 
 chance. The state has spent millions of dollars in teaching 
 scientific agriculture. It is no longer a haphazard enterprise, but 
 a really scientific process. Soils have been analyzed, and their 
 productive power increased by the addition of those elements 
 in which they are found deficient. This scientific knowledge is 
 not only for men with scientific training, but it has been so 
 simplified that laymen in agriculture may become expert pro- 
 ducers upon the farm. Blest then we say is the agricultural 
 state, for the farms feed the world. 
 
 But it is possible that the state may be a great agricultural 
 area unsurpassed in fertility, and at the same time deep in the 
 recesses of her rock layers may be inexhaustible resources of coal 
 and iron and lead, and zinc, and oil, and floorspar, and clay and 
 gas ; and rock layers from which lime, cement, glass, and build- 
 ing stone may be derived. Blest is the state that can boast of 
 these resources. But what shall be said of a state that possesses 
 agricultural possibilities in the highest degree, and at the same 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 31 
 
 time can boast of rich and varied mineral resources? It certainly 
 is twice blest. 
 
 It seldom is good economy for a state to sell its resources as 
 raw material. It is said it is an economic principle of Denmark 
 that no article produced within her borders must ever be ex- 
 ported therefrom until the article has received all the labor 
 which is necessary to make it a completed article ready for the 
 consumer. This policy the American colonies desired to adhere 
 to in the pre-revolutionary days. But England supported the 
 policy that it should be the duty of the colonies to produce the 
 raw material while it should be her privilege to make the 
 finished article. The cotton growing states of the American 
 Union were exporters of "raw material" before the Civil war. 
 There were few factories south of the Mason & Dixon line and 
 the Ohio River in those days. Now the smoke pours out of 
 thousands of chimneys in the new south and her prosperity goes 
 forward with leaps and bounds. 
 
 Raw materials must therefore be made ready for consumption 
 inside the state where they are produced. Wheat must be made 
 into flour; hogs must be dressed and made as nearly ready for 
 the table as possible ; fruits and vegetables must be canned and 
 otherwise prepared for storage ; beeves must be made ready for 
 the butcher's block, and their hides made into boots and shoes 
 for the retailer's shelves; the milk from the great dairies must 
 be transformed into butter and cheese and condensed ready for 
 shipment to the ends of the earth. To do all this requires millions 
 of horse power. To run these great factories we must have 
 fuel or the power which comes from falling water. Water power 
 will seldom be found generally distributed over a great agri- 
 cultural state. Fortunate therefore that state which has abund- 
 ance of "raw material" and at the same time has inexhaustible 
 stores of fuel beneath her mantle rock. 
 
 But thrice blest is that state that ranks at the front as an agri- 
 cultural state, and as a mining state, and as a manufacturing 
 state. 
 
 But what shall it avail a state to produce enough raw material 
 to feed the world and enough coal to furnish the power to pre- 
 pare this food for the tables of the world if there is no means 
 of transporting it beyond its borders. It is said that many of 
 the famines in India could be averted if only the surplus food 
 products which are often plentiful in one province could be 
 transported to the starving people in another province not so 
 very far away. 
 
 Transportation as an industry of any state can never reach 
 very large proportions unless the state itself can furnish a very 
 large share of the products to be transported. Transportation 
 which originates in any state as Ohio and passes across a state 
 
32 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 as Indiana and terminates in another state as Illinois will never 
 profit the middle state to any marked degree. Through trains 
 which pass through the limits of the villages along the road 
 profit the villages little or nothing. 
 
 A state that profits from commerce must originate that com- 
 merce. Commerce that originates and terminates within the 
 state is doubly profitable. The means of transportation of which 
 a state may avail itself have in late years been confined to rivers, 
 lakes, and railroads. But another means is claiming the atten- 
 tion of the public; it is the truck system which is greatly en- 
 couraged by the hard roads of modern construction. 
 
 What bounds may we set to the greatness of a state whose 
 agricultural possibilities are unsurpassed, and whose mining in- 
 terests are second to few of the states of equal area, and whose 
 manufacturing processes are varied and extensive, and finally one 
 whose railroad mileage is second only to one other great state. 
 
 Contour 
 
 Illinois when put to the tests will be found to have a claim 
 to high rank in all the aspects of a physical basis. In area Illinois 
 contains 56,650 square miles. This is some smaller than an aver- 
 age of the forty-eight states in the union, which is 60,434. At 
 the same time it is larger than any one of a dozen of the smaller 
 independent European countries. Area is essential to the main- 
 tenance of large populations ; particularly is this true if the state 
 is in an agricultural region. Large areas also contribute to 
 variety in all kinds of products which will add greatly to other 
 forms of industrial activities. There is a relation between the 
 area of a state and the variety of its climate. This is readily 
 seen if we find the area reaching through several degrees of 
 latitude. Illinois is longer north and south than east and west, 
 and reaches from latitude 37 to 42° and 30' — a distance of 385 
 miles. This gives an appreciable difference in the annual tem- 
 perature between these two opposite ends of the state. If Illi- 
 nois were laid down along the Atlantic coast, Cairo would fall 
 on the mouth of Chesapeake Bay and the northern boundary 
 would be on Lynn, Massachusetts. 
 
 Illinois is very fortunate as to its water ways. The Missis- 
 sippi is the noblest river on the earth's surface. It washes the 
 western side of the state from the extreme northwest corner to 
 the extreme south end of the state at Cairo. The distance of 
 actual contact is approximately six hundred miles. There are 
 no serious obstructions to navigation, and in places it offers con- 
 ditions for the generation of powerful currents of electrical en- 
 ergy. Along its course the geological survey has indicated that 
 there are extensive deposits of clay, gravel, sand, and silt. This 
 region is usually known as the bottom lands and is one of the 
 most fertile regions in the state. In many places, however, these 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 33 
 
 lands are subject to overflow except where substantial levees 
 have been built to keep the water within the channel. 
 
 The Ohio forms the boundary on the southeast for a distance 
 of one hundred and thirty miles, and the Wabash for more than 
 a hundred miles. Both streams are navigable and are highly 
 prized by that part of the state as commercial routes since rail- 
 road building is somewhat difficult through the east end of the 
 Ozarks. The Ohio is bridged at Cairo and at Metropolis, the 
 latter being one of the most substantial structures in the mid- 
 dle west. 
 
 The Illinois River courses through the west central part of the 
 state from northeast near Chicago to the southwest part of the 
 state near Alton. It is a picturesque stream and adds many a 
 charm to the scenery in the region through which it flows. Not 
 less interesting are several of its tributaries — the Sangamon, the 
 raging Spoon, and the beautiful little Quiver River. To those 
 who have once enjoyed the beautiful Fox River valley there is 
 a lure which few other streams can surpass. Vermilion River 
 has been magnified by the creation at its mouth of the beautiful 
 Deer Park, a most wonderful display of the works of running 
 water through geological formations. 
 
 The Illinois is of considerable value as a commercial route and 
 the time is near, let us hope, that its usefulness may be increased 
 by the completion of the scheme to make it a deep water way 
 from Chicago to the Mississippi. Rock River has its origin in 
 Wisconsin, and is an intruder but a very welcome one we are 
 sure. It enters the state through Winnebago County and makes 
 its way through Ogle, Lee, Whiteside, and Rock Island counties 
 into the Mississippi River. Lorado Taft has given widespread 
 interest to this region by his heroic statue of Black Hawk. 
 
 But the greatest water asset Illinois has is Lake Michigan — 
 an inland sea of magnificent area. No words can describe this 
 great body of water. To know it well one must cross its placid 
 waters when the ripples only prevent one from observing his 
 image in the clear water. Then within a short time try to ride 
 its waves when a raging storm is crossing its wide expanse. To 
 experience these two extremes will be a sufficient introduction to 
 this inland sea. 
 
 Lake Michigan is only one of the largest groups of inland 
 lakes in the world. Few people have entered into a complete 
 understanding of the value of Lake Michigan when there shall 
 be an untrammeled waterway from Chicago to the mouth of the 
 St. Lawrence. We now see that so far as areas and waterways 
 are concerned, Illinois has shown her right to stand in the front 
 rank as a great state. 
 
 In the lie of the land, Illinois is very fortunate. The mass of 
 elevation of the whole state is 600 feet above sea level. There are 
 no extensive areas of swampy land and there is but one approach 
 
 4 VI 
 
34 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 toward mountains — the Ozarks. While there are extensive areas 
 that are comparatively level, the gentle slope of the surface from 
 the northeast toward the southwest is sufficient to give good 
 drainage systems for all the state. A glance at the map and 
 some attention to the direction of the streams will reveal the 
 general slope of the surface. 
 
 There are no physical boundaries of subdivisions of the state. 
 The physical structure is such that its surface is a complete unit 
 with no physical sub-units. The length of the state is so great 
 that very naturally the expressions, northern, and southern, 
 and central Illinois were applied in the early days of the history 
 of the state. These expressions have become a part of the geo- 
 graphical vocabulary. 
 
 There is a natural unity in the state as a whole which is prob- 
 ably emphasized by the fact that there are only two places where 
 straight lines form the boundary ; one from the Wabash River on 
 the east to Lake Michigan, a distance of 225 miles, the meridian 
 of Vincennes forms the boundary line. And from Lake Michi- 
 gan to the Mississippi River, the parallel of 42° 30' forms the 
 northern boundary for a distance of 150 miles. The remainder 
 of the boundary is natural boundaries — Lake Michigan, the Mis- 
 sissippi River, the Ohio River, and the Wabash River. Few of 
 the states of Europe have such marked physical boundary lines. 
 If Illinois were a sovereign national power, the problem of na- 
 tional defense would be comparatively easy. 
 
 The state with as large a proportion of physical boundaries as 
 Illinois has will develop a unity in the life of the people which 
 would naturally be more difficult in a state whose boundary lines 
 are parallels of latitude or meridians of longitude. The people 
 become homogeneous ; they speak the same language, their indus- 
 trial activities, while not the same, are correlated about some 
 interest or at least a few interests; the schools are quite uni- 
 formly of the same grade and of the same efficiency; there is a 
 state patriotism which is a powerful force for good things for 
 the state. 
 
 We thus see Illinois complying with all these advantages that 
 come from the distinct boundary of the state, and from the fact 
 that there are no marked physical barriers which separate one 
 section from another. Foreigners who have come to Illinois and 
 who have settled in communities and have purposed to maintain 
 their native language, their social, religious, and even industrial 
 customs which belonged in their native country, have found the 
 task a very difficult one. Their children will learn the Eng- 
 lish language, they will marry into English speaking families, 
 and even desert the religious services that are held in a foreign 
 tongue and go to the services that are held in English. If Illi- 
 nois were cut up into little geographical units as was Greece 
 we should not find this tendency to unity in so marked a de- 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 35 
 
 gree as we find it in Illinois today. Fortunate is the state whose 
 geographical features contribute to the maintenance of unity 
 in all those lines which combined make Illinois a great state. 
 
 While we would emphasize the fact that the geographical 
 agencies which we have discussed are valuable to establish and 
 maintain a marked degree of unity in the life of the people, 
 there is a danger which must be guarded against. Provincial- 
 ism is a weakness which an American state should shun. "What 
 a state gains in the way of protection by natural frontiers is 
 partly offset by the danger of provincialism and internal stag- 
 nation." Spain is pointed out as a state whose marked boun- • 
 dary lines have unfitted her people but at the same time has 
 made them narrow, selfish, and provincial. In England we find 
 distinct physical boundary lines but her history has been the 
 opposite of that of Spain. The salvation of England has come 
 from her position as "Mistress of the Sea." She has all dur- 
 ing her history maintained a strong navy and has supported 
 a flourishing merchant marine, and thus has been able to defend 
 herself against her enemies and at the same time to keep in 
 touch with all the civilized countries of the earth. 
 
 While Illinois appears to be bound in with the greatest rivers 
 of the world and by a great inland sea, at first glance we might 
 fear that these would act as barriers, yet the contrary is true. 
 As in England, instead of the ocean's being a barrier it has 
 been the great highway which has kept her in touch with the 
 great throbbing world, so in Illinois her rivers and her lake 
 have served as a means of communication with the outside 
 world. Illinois is a greater state by many times by reason 
 of the presence at its door of Lake Michigan. This great body 
 of water instead of being a hindrance to intercourse is a most 
 powerful factor in the state's progress. The Mississippi and 
 the Ohio are likewise useful in the prevention of stagnation. 
 Through them we reach the sunny regions to the south, and 
 near the mouth of the Father of Waters we find a seaport which 
 enables Illinois to hold commercial intercourse with the coun- 
 tries of Europe. Again these great rivers have been bridged 
 and that gives us easy access to our neighboring states. 
 
 The direction a state's intercourse takes with the outside 
 world is a determining factor in the state's greatness. If the 
 Mississippi should flow north and empty into Hudson's Bay, 
 its usefulness would be greatly decreased. The frozen regions . 
 near its mouth, in that case, would have but a single product 
 which would be desirable in Illinois. And if Lake Michigan's 
 outlet should be toward the west, instead of toward the east, 
 it could not serve the people as it does now. A westward outlet 
 of the Great Lakes would throw us into direct contact with the 
 civilization of the Orient and our own progress would be ac- 
 cordingly handicapped. We thus can easily see that Illinois 
 
36 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 is exceedingly fortunate in its natural outlets. Through both 
 of them we have direct communication with the very cradle 
 of civilization, a people whose products we greatly desire, and 
 one who demands our surpluses. As has been shown, it is this 
 intercourse particularly with active minds in other regions 
 which constitutes our safeguard against provincialism and stag- 
 nation. 
 
 Climate 
 
 It has been stated that climate is a determining factor in the 
 greatness of a state. Heat, moisture, and light are the chief 
 elements in climate. We know that latitude greatly affects the 
 heat question. In equatorial regions the heat is too intense 
 to permit those activities that result in the most rapid develop- 
 ment of the resources of a given territory. In the polar regions 
 the cold prevents vigorous growth in vegetables, and at the same 
 time benumbs the intellectual faculties and the highest attain- 
 ments for man are not reached. It is therefore in the middle 
 latitudes that we may look for the best climatic conditions. 
 Illinois is located approximately half way between the Equator 
 and the North Pole. 
 
 The annual temperature for different parts of Illinois is as 
 follows : 
 
 Illinois has her coldest days of the year in January or Febru- 
 ary. This is thirty to forty days after the sun has started 
 toward the Equator on December 21st. The temperature then 
 rises gradually till the latter part of July or first of August, 
 when it reaches the hottest days. The extreme south end of 
 the state has reached an extreme of cold of 20° below zero, while 
 the north has experienced a temperature of 32° below zero. In 
 the hot days of summer there is often a higher temperature at 
 northern points than at southern points. 
 
 Illinois has the usual amount of rainfall that belongs to the 
 interior middle latitudes. The annual rainfall for the extreme 
 south end of the state is slightly more than forty-one inches. 
 That for the northern portion of the state is thirty-six inches 
 yearly. The average for all observations is thirty-six and one- 
 half inches. In the south third of the state there is a precipita- 
 tion of only 21.6 inches in the summer time — April to September, 
 inclusive. This is slightly more than fifty per cent, of the total 
 for the year. This scant fall of water in the months when the 
 farmers are planting and cultivating their crops is greatly detri- 
 mental to the success of agriculture in "Egypt." The streams 
 that carry large volumes of water between September and April 
 present dry beds in August and the first part of September. In 
 the north two-thirds of the state the annual rainfall is some less 
 than in the south third, but sixty per cent, of the supply falls 
 between April and September, inclusive. The north part of the 
 state is therefore better adapted to farming than the south third. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 37 
 
 Notwithstanding the fact that in Illinois nature is not lavish 
 with its moisture, the state reports enormous yields of corn, 
 wheat, oats, hay, fruits, vegetables. The rearing of all forms of 
 live stock is an extensive business in many parts of the state. 
 
 Illinois lies in the path of what is called the revolving storms. 
 These cyclonic storms originate in the region of the Gulf of 
 Mexico and as they move toward the interior of the United 
 States they travel in a sort of circular path. They come into the 
 state from a general westerly direction. Often these cyclonic 
 movements are so quiet we do not think of them as furnishing 
 the basis for a more dreaded atmospheric movement, the tornado. 
 Tornadoes seem to originate in the southeast quadrant of a 
 cyclonic movement of large proportions. The circular movement 
 of cyclones is contrary to the hands of the clock. The tornado 
 also has a rotary motion from right to left. These tornadoes 
 sweep across Illinois usually from the west or southwest, rarely 
 from the northwest. They are observed as great black funnels 
 reaching from an elevation of several hundred feet to the ground. 
 If the lower end of the funnel reaches the ground the path of 
 destruction is as wide as the diameter of the funnel where it 
 reaches the surface. Nothing seems to be able to withstand the 
 force of the rotating wind. Often, however, the tornado plays 
 unexplainable pranks. A severe tornado crossed a portion of 
 Christian County some years ago. A small frame house and a 
 crude stable were in its path. Two horses were tied in two stalls 
 side by side. One horse was lifted out of the stall and carried 
 several yards away and dropped down uninjured; the other 
 horse, securely tied, was quietly eating hay when the storm had 
 abated. Some years ago these tornadoes became so common that 
 farmers dug what they called a "cyclone cellar" for the protec- 
 tion of the family. In some cases school directors dug cellars 
 on the school grounds large enough to hold the school. 
 
 It must not be thought that the people of Illinois are entirely 
 helpless in the presence of these agents of destruction. The 
 United States has organized such an efficient weather bureau, 
 and people are generally becoming so well informed that much 
 of the danger at least to human life may be averted. The state is 
 divided into three weather bureau districts, and in each district 
 there is an observation station. However, in the central division 
 there is an observation station at Springfield and one at Peoria. 
 The station in the Northern District is at Chicago, and for the 
 Southern District at Cairo. 
 
 Within each of these divisions there are several local observa- 
 tion stations in charge of public-spirited citizens who make no 
 charge for their services. These local observers take tempera- 
 ture, note direction of winds, observe the amount of rainfall, and 
 give other information to the one in charge of the division 
 observation station. Maps are made and distributed from the 
 
38 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 division stations and telegrams and letters are sent to local 
 observers and posted about postoffices and schools. In addition 
 to what the Government is doing to spread information about 
 weather conditions, the railroad companies are constantly on the 
 lookout for information which they give to shippers and to their 
 own employers who have charge of the shipment of live stock 
 and perishable property. 
 
 From this brief review of climatic conditions in Illinois — 
 amount and distribution of rainfall, the varying temperatures, 
 winds, and varying lengths of the days and nights, the prevailing 
 winds, and the consequent adaptation of all industrial activities, 
 especially farming, to these climatic agencies, we can easily see 
 that nature has been lavish with her gifts, and everything con- 
 spires to the establishment of the fact that Illinois ranks as a 
 great state. 
 
 Resources — Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal 
 
 It scarcely needs to be said that the natural resources of 
 Illinois contribute very greatly to the position the state takes as 
 one of the really great states in the Union. These resources are 
 so abundant and so varied that their enumeration only is suf- 
 ficient to convince us that in them the state has its foundation 
 for its greatness. 
 
 A very fine quality of bituminous coal lies under about two- 
 thirds of the surface of the state. It may be found in seams 
 some ten or twelve in number at depths ranging from a few feet 
 to several hundred feet. The seams vary in thickness from a 
 few inches in some places to eight or nine feet in others. Prob- 
 ably the first coal mined, at least for commercial purposes, was 
 in Jackson County, from the bluffs adjacent to the Big Muddy 
 River, in the early part of the nineteenth century. In 1835 the 
 Legislature chartered the Mount Carbon Coal Company, and in 
 1836 the property was offered for sale by a Mr. Hall Neilson, 
 who at that time lived in New York City, and from the descrip- 
 tion of the mine and the method of marketing the coal in New 
 Orleans by means of barges which were floated on the Big Muddy 
 and the Mississippi, the mines must have been in operation sev- 
 eral years prior to the offer of the mine for sale in 1836. Gov- 
 ernor Reynolds owned a mine near Belleville in 1837, and in 
 order to get his coal to the Mississippi River, he built a railroad 
 from Belleville to the Mississippi just below East St. Louis, a 
 distance of about seven or eight miles. The old roadbed built by 
 Governor Reynolds is still in use. The total production of coal 
 in Illinois annually is nearly one hundred million tons, with a 
 value at the mine of a trifle less than two dollars a ton. 
 
 Petroleum is the next most valuable resource. In 1917 the 
 state produced about eighteen million barrels, with a value of 
 nearly two dollars a barrel. The oil fields are found chiefly in 
 
40 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 the southeastern part of the state, in the counties of Lawrence, 
 Crawford, Clark and Cumberland. From these counties the 
 crude oil is piped to Martinsville, in Clark County, where it 
 joins a pipe line from Indiana which proceeds southwest along 
 the old National Road through Greenup and Effingham to 
 Vandalia. From this point the pipe line runs west nearly to 
 Staunton, whence it turns southwest, and before reaching Ed- 
 wardsville it runs west to Wood River, where there are immense 
 storage tanks and an oil refinery. There is also a refinery in 
 Lawrenceville, Lawrence County. Oil is found in other sections 
 than in the counties named above, but in small quantities. The 
 production has been decreasing since 1918. In that year the 
 production was 33,686,238 barrels; in 1916 the production was 
 17,714,235. 
 
 The clay products are very valuable in this state. The clays 
 are varied in their quality and this gives rise to a variety of 
 clay products. The most important clay in the state is perhaps 
 found in Union County, where a high-grade Kaolin is found. 
 Kaolin is formed from the decomposition of feldspar. It is one 
 of the two ingredients in Oriental porcelain. Kaolin occurs in 
 China, Japan, Saxony, Cornwall, Limoges and in several places 
 in the United States. The deposits in Union County are ex- 
 tensive and of a high grade. 
 
 Other grades of clay are found in Illinois. Fire clay for the 
 manufacture of fire brick is very plentiful in the state, but is 
 restricted to few areas. Clay suitable for drain tile and sewer 
 pipe is found in Greene, McDonough, and Warren counties. Clay 
 for pottery is found in the same counties and is extensively 
 manufactured into the several varieties of household articles, 
 crocks, jugs, jars and vases. Common building brick may be 
 made from what we call the "common clay" which lies beneath 
 the top soil. Within the past quarter of a century paving bricks 
 are made from the shales which are found near enough the 
 surface to make the procuring of this material inexpensive. 
 Terra cotta is extensively manufactured from deposits found in 
 the north part of the state. 
 
 Building stone in Illinois is found in inexhaustible quantities. 
 The limestones are not probably of as high grade for building 
 purposes as is found elsewhere, but great quantities are used. 
 Much of the limestone that is quarried in recent years is crushed 
 and used for road-making, concrete work, and for the correction 
 of the acid condition of the soil. Cement is made from a certain 
 kind of shale and limestone. Millions of barrels of cement are 
 made in Illinois every year. There are but two states that make 
 more cement than Illinois — Pennsylvania and Indiana. In these 
 days of hard road building, it is very fortunate that Illinois is 
 supplied with an unlimited quantity of material from which to 
 manufacture cement. Along the Ohio River from Cairo to the 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 41 
 
 eastern part of Massac County are rich deposits of sand, gravel 
 and clay, and a comglomerate is also found. This material is 
 found to be excellent for road making and is so used in the 
 counties along the Ohio. 
 
 Zinc and lead were once mined in large quantities in Jo 
 Daviess County, and these interests are yet very important. 
 These two metals together with silver are by-products in the 
 production of fluor-spar in Hardin County. Fluor-spar is a new 
 find in the West — at least the mines in Hardin County have not 
 been open very long. It is said that Illinois produces about 
 three-fourths of the fluor-spar produced in the United States. 
 
 Vegetable Resources 
 
 Among the vegetable resources which have contributed to the 
 growth in greatness of Illinois, we may mention those growths 
 found native, and those cultivated plants which have been trans- 
 planted from other regions. 
 
 Timber is a source of wealth to any state. The uses the world 
 makes of timber are determined somewhat by the geographical 
 location of the supply. If the supply is on the New England 
 coast the use is the construction of ships. If in the warm states 
 in the southern parts of the Mississippi basin, the timber is made 
 into building material for residences, barns, and warehouses. In 
 an early day in the central part of the Mississippi basin the 
 timber was used for fuel. But wherever the supply may be 
 found today, its distribution to the places where it is needed is 
 an easy problem. 
 
 Although Illinois is called the "Prairie State," in its early 
 history at least twenty-four per cent, of its surface was covered 
 with forests. These forests lay chiefly in the south end of the 
 state. "There was no county entirely without timber, but the 
 real forests were confined to the southern portion of the state." 
 Many counties in the forest-covered portion presented an un- 
 broken area of timber. South of a line running east and west 
 through the mouth of the Illinois River, there were no extensive 
 prairies ; there were prairie spots, but they would be entirely 
 surrounded by timber. These forests were chiefly deciduous 
 trees, rich in variety and of quality unsurpassed by any other 
 state. The growth on the margins of the smaller streams, the 
 areas between the forks of creeks, or wherever protected from 
 forest fires, consisted chiefly of the different kinds of oaks. 
 
 The origin of the prairies is accounted for on the theory that 
 the fires kept down the young trees. In 1880, when a careful 
 survey was made of the timbered areas, it was found that only 
 about fifteen per cent, of the state was at that time covered by 
 timber growths. This loss in area of timbered territory is 
 accounted for from the fact that for the past one hundred years 
 there has been a constant marketing of the best timber, and the 
 ground thus denuded of its good timber was prepared for the 
 
42 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 raising of crops. The oldest settlers in the various parts of the 
 state can remember when the sawmills were playing sad havoc 
 with the fine oaks, hickorys, maples, walnuts, ash, and the less 
 important woods. Not only so, but the oldtimers can remember 
 when instead of marketing the valuable logs from a forty-acre 
 field, it was customary to dispose of everything in the great log 
 heaps. The "log rollings" were the social occasions for the men, 
 and many a fine sawlog went up in smoke and down in ashes. 
 
 But the best timber is gone. There are few sawmills. It is 
 no longer possible to get even a good "barn frame" from the 
 growing timber. Some thirty-five years ago an Indiana firm 
 sent axmen and teamsters with great log wagons into a county 
 in West Central Illinois to buy up and ship all available logs of 
 walnut, cherry, and hard maple. The farmers who happened to 
 have these trees on the woodlands sold readily at a trifling price 
 these valuable logs. It was found later that logs that were sold 
 for two or three dollars apiece were worth from fifteen to 
 twenty-five dollars when made into lumber. 
 
 The state is nearly four hundred miles from north to south. 
 Within this distance of four hundred miles there grows as great 
 a variety of trees as is found in twice the distance from north to 
 south in the countries of Europe. 
 
 Exhibits of woods of the different forest trees found in Illinois 
 were made in the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 
 1892, and in the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis in 
 1903. The quality of the woods and the variety were a great 
 surprise to many intelligent citizens of the state. Three kinds 
 of gum, fourteen kinds of oak, four kinds of hickory, two of 
 locust, four of ash, five of maple, and four of elm were exhibited. 
 In addition to these native growths there were shown nineteen 
 genera of cultivated timber, including seventy-two species — 
 making in all one hundred and fifty species of woods in the state 
 at that time. A farm wagon, a part of the timber exhibit, was 
 shown made of twenty-five different kinds of cultivated woods, all 
 grown on one farm in Lee County. It was claimed that there 
 were more cultivated woods in the state than were exhibited. 
 
 The oldest citizens tell of some of the methods of waste in the 
 timber supply in the early days. Often in alluvial bottoms where 
 the timber had reached considerable size, it was customary to 
 clear out the underbrush and then with axes cut deep rings 
 around the trunks of the large standing trees. Sometimes a belt 
 of bark was removed from the standing trees a foot or so wide. 
 This was done in the early spring so the tree would not put forth 
 any leaves. The ground was broken and planted usually in corn. 
 The sunshine was thus enabled to get to the ground and give 
 strength to the growing crops. In the course of a year or so the 
 thrifty farmer would cut down the dead trees, burn up the limbs 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 43 
 
 and make lumber of the logs or burn them in the log-heaps as 
 described above. 
 
 As mentioned above, the "log-rolling" was the social event of 
 the early spring days. The farmer who had no desire to make 
 his large trees into lumber had no other way to dispose of them 
 except to burn them. This was often done by building a large 
 fire at the foot of the standing tree and burning the tree as it 
 stood. Often the tree would burn up entirely. Or he would cut 
 his trees down, cut the body into lengths of twelve to sixteen 
 feet and thus prepare for his social gathering. Invitations would 
 be sent to the neighbors to come on a certain day. At such a 
 time the women would also be invited to a quilting or carpet 
 tacking at the home where the log-rolling was to occur. The 
 host prepared "hand spikes" for use in carrying the logs. A log 
 sixteen feet long would be carried by eight men — four on each 
 side. The log pile was made of ten to fourteen logs. The fire 
 was built on top of the logs in the middle part and fed with 
 smaller fuel until the log pile was well lighted. The log. pile 
 would then burn and was always interesting to watch and to see 
 how successfully the pile was burned up. This seems to Us to 
 have been a wanton waste of valuable timber. 
 
 The great crops of prairie grass which covered all the open 
 land was a source of great profit to the early pioneers. This 
 grass was tender, juicy, and easily obtained. It was a free 
 pasture for all farmers who lived near to the edge of the woods. 
 This prairie grass was often cut in the summer and cured for 
 roughage for the winter. Even now, on the markets of Chicago 
 and St. Louis, one may see baled prairie hay. It is shipped into 
 these cities from some of the Western states. If the prairie was 
 the source of the food for cattle and horses, so was the woods 
 the source of food for the hogs. The early settlers in Illinois 
 settled in the wooded part because there was an abundance of 
 mast for their hogs. The oak, beech, hickory, pecan and chest- 
 nut in the forest were loaded with the fruit of the summer's 
 growth. In the late fall or early winter these trees began to 
 drop their rich nuts to the ground. The hogs, which had lived 
 through the summer on grasses, buds, and roots, began in the 
 late fall to fatten on the rich masts of the forests. Much of the 
 farmer's meat was derived from the hogs whose early food 
 through the fall and winter had been the nuts and acorns from 
 the forest trees. 
 
 Although the natural forested area of Illinois has dropped 
 from 25 to 17 per cent within the past one hundred years, it is 
 said there is as much leafage area now as there was one hundred 
 years ago. If this is true, it can be accounted for on the theory 
 that tree planting throughout the state has preserved the leafage 
 area. Most of the states in the Middle West are giving more or 
 
44 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 less attention to the forestation of their lands. Illinois has done 
 little along this line. The farmers and villagers have given 
 attention to the planting of trees and to the preservation of the 
 trees, but there has been a lack of interest in these matters. 
 However, we have an annual Arbor Day and Bird Day, and 
 probably good influences are at work that will result in great 
 good. 
 
 Animal Resources 
 
 When the first English speaking people came into this Western 
 country there was an abundance of animal life in the forests and 
 on the prairies. True, there was not much "big game," but the 
 game that was here served a very good purpose. They made up 
 a share of the food products and to some extent the clothing. Dr. 
 Robert W. Patterson, in an address before the Chicago Historical 
 Society in 1880 on early life in Southern Illinois, says "There 
 was, however, a considerable proportion of the more stable 
 population who, at an early day, like the genuine frontiersmen, 
 devoted themselves a great part of the time to the hunting of 
 wild game, hunting, trapping, and fishing. There were induce- 
 ments of this kind of life, when the country was new. For deer, 
 bears, turkeys, grouse or prairie chickens, and other fowl, were 
 abundant in the woods and prairies, and, at first, even elk and 
 buffaloes were numerous, and bees were found in all the forests. 
 Bears were depended upon by many in the less settled regions 
 for salt meat, instead of pork, until these animals, in a few 
 years, disappeared from the country." Doctor Patterson lived 
 in Illinois in 1822 and knew the conditions several years prior to 
 that date. He further says that hunting parties in the hilly 
 country of the Ozarks would kill as many as forty bears in a 
 single day. 
 
 Much of the wild game has disappeared. There are few or no 
 wild turkeys ; prairie chickens are to be seen here and there, 
 though rarely. Foxes are very scarce, likewise wolves ; but sev- 
 eral species of fur-bearing animals are to be found along the 
 rivers and creeks. The state has taken steps to preserve the 
 early animal life. Bird farms are supported by appropriations 
 from the state treasury. On these bird preserves not only are 
 native birds cared for, but birds are brought from other regions 
 and acclimated to Illinois. 
 
 Not only were the land animals and birds of great value in 
 Illinois from the earliest days, but perhaps no state could surpass 
 Illinois in the value of the fishes of our streams and lakes. The 
 Natural History Department of the state has collected a great 
 many statistics relative to the fish supply in this state. This 
 department has classified the fish according to their marketable 
 value into four classes. In the first class these fishes are placed 
 — white fish, Great Lake trout, blue cat, channel-cat, mud-cat, 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 45 
 
 common pike, white croppie, blue gill, small-mouthed black bass, 
 large-mouthed black bass, wall-eyed pike. The Illinois River is 
 particularly noted as one of the finest fishing rivers in the Mis- 
 sissippi region. The value of the fish taken from the Illinois 
 River exceeds that of all the other streams of the state combined, 
 including the Mississippi River and Lake Michigan. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE INDIANS 
 
 The Algonquin s — The Illinois Confederation — Indian 
 Characteristics, War, Hunting, the Family, Selfish- 
 ness, the Tribe, Religion, Social Life, Burial of the 
 Dead, Some Virtues. 
 
 The Indians found in the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi 
 basins when the white people began to explore, and later to set- 
 tle these basins, were known as the Algonquins. They com- 
 prised several powerful tribes among which were the Illinois 
 Indians. The Algonquins seemed to have another powerful con- 
 federation of Indians completely surrounded. These were the 
 Iroquois whose home was in the present state of New York. 
 When the French came up the St. Lawrence they soon came into 
 the territory of the Algonquins. As they went west along the 
 basin of the Great Lakes they were still in the country of these 
 same people. When they passed over into the basin of the Mis- 
 sissippi they were still within the country occupied by the 
 Algonquins. When therefore Marquette and Joliet came to the 
 Illinois country both on their downward trip toward the mouth 
 of the Mississippi and on their return journey up the Illinois 
 River, they were still within territory claimed and occupied by 
 a people who by the test of language were Algonquins. 
 
 This great body of North American savages comprised a 
 dozen or more subordinate tribes and confederacies, who were 
 scattered from the mouth of the St. Lawrence along the lakes 
 and down the Mississippi. There were no great differences 
 among these Algonquin tribes. The Indians who occupied the 
 present State of Illinois were known as the Illini — real men. 
 But it may be assumed that this high sounding and high mean- 
 ing title might as appropriately have been applied to many 
 another group of red savages. Indians like white people are 
 very much alike, and many characteristics that might be enumer- 
 ated as belonging to the Indians of one tribe might as properly 
 be applied to Indians of another tribe. 
 
 The Algonquins 
 
 They were truly the "children of nature." Theirs was an 
 outdoor life. They obtained their food, chiefly by fishing, and 
 hunting, and the chase. They cultivated the soil in many cases 
 and lived in a poorly organized community life. In some cases 
 they had established somewhat permanent homes, buried their 
 dead in well arranged cemeteries and cultivated the soil. They 
 
 46 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 47 
 
 Huron-Iroquois 
 
 i 
 
 were crafty, as hunters, herdsmen, and fishermen usually are. 
 They were vindictive as uncultured and selfish people are found 
 to be. They were physically strong as their life made them. They 
 were indolent as to those activities that would lead to a better 
 domestic life. They had wonderful powers of endurance. They 
 were sometimes generous, always treacherous, and wholly un- 
 appreciative. They knew the woods, the streams, and the wild 
 life. They had made some progress in the skilled arts. They 
 worked in silver, in wool, in leather, and exhibited a sense of 
 color which enabled them to add a touch of savagery to their 
 bodies when on the war path. They preserved no reliable tradi- 
 tions. They falsified unblushingly when it was to their interest 
 to do so. The administering of torture was an exact science 
 with them, and they seldom returned good for evil. Those who 
 had much to do with them in the early days believed that a 
 good Indian was always a dead Indian. 
 
 Hurons 
 Senecas 
 Cayugas 
 Onondagas 
 Oneidas 
 Mohawks 
 Tuscaroras 
 Knisteneaus 
 Athascas 
 Ottawas 
 Chippewas 
 Sacs and Foxes 
 Menomonees 
 Miamis 
 
 Pottawatomies 
 Kickapoos 
 Illinois 
 Shawnees 
 Powhatans 
 Corees 
 Nantichokes 
 Leni-Lenapes 
 Mohegans 
 New England In- 
 dians 
 Abenakes 
 Susquehamock 
 Mannahoacks 
 Monocans 
 
 The Ulini whom Marquette and Joliet found within the limits 
 of the present State of Illinois was a sort of confederation of 
 five somewhat distinct peoples about 12,000 in number. They 
 
 Indians 
 
 of 
 Central 
 North America 
 
 Algonquins 
 
48 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 were known as the Kaskaskias, the Cahokias, Michigamies, 
 Tamaroas and Peorias. These Illinois Indians are thought to 
 have come from the west and to have halted in Illinois near 
 Lake Michigan, while the kindred tribe, the Miamis, passed on 
 into Indiana and another, the Delaware, passed beyond the 
 Alleghanies and settled on the Delaware River. There were 
 other tribes in addition to the Illini in the limits of the present 
 state when the French first visited the territory. The Sacs and 
 Foxes were in the northwest corner of Illinois. The Kickapoos 
 first lived near the south end of Lake Michigan, and later in 
 the region of the Sangamon and the Mackinaw rivers. In later 
 years they lived near the mouth of the Wabash River. The 
 Piankeshaws were located on the middle and lower courses of 
 the Wabash River. The Pottawatomies lived at first in the north- 
 west corner of Indiana but afterwards moved around the end 
 of the lake and settled near Chicago. Other tribes lived near 
 the present limits of the state and more or less influenced the 
 life of the early pioneers. 
 
 It must not be thought that Illinois history has to do with all 
 or very many of the Indians of North America. But it has been 
 said, Indians were Indians and it mattered little what tribe 
 the white people had to do with, they would always wish it had 
 been another tribe. It is true that some tribes, by reason prob- 
 ably of their relation to the white people, were more humane than 
 other tribes. The Pottawatomies were the savages who carried 
 out the Fort Dearborn massacre in 1812. The Kickapoos too 
 were guilty of indescribable savagery. Often these horrible 
 acts of vengeance by a group of Indians were wrought upon 
 another group of Indians. In general when you have described 
 the activities of any one tribe you have given a pretty fair pic- 
 ture of any other tribe. 
 
 It should be said that the Iroquois and the Canadian tribes 
 of the Algonquins were very bitter enemies, and since the 
 Illinois Indians were Algonquins, there was often the deadliest 
 warfare between the Illini and the Iroquois. 
 
 The Illinois Confederation 
 
 At the coming of the French into the "Illinois Country," there 
 were several Algonquin groups of Indians within the territory 
 of the present state of Illinois. These were : The Illinois Con- 
 federation consisting of five families — the Kaskaskias, the 
 Cahokias, Tamaroas, Michigamies, and Peorias. These were 
 the Illini, the red men of whom Marquette had heard much 
 before he started with Joliet to explore the territory of the 
 Mississippi. In addition to the Illinois Confederation there were 
 the Piankeshaws, Pottawatomies, Miamis, Winnebagoes, Kick- 
 apoos, and the Sacs and Foxes. In addition to these there were 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 49 
 
 tribes that moved about and were at times temporarily settled 
 in Illinois. 
 
 It will be sufficient to give briefly a sketch of each tribe and 
 locate eash one within the limits of the state. Let us begin 
 with the Illinois Confederation. The Kaskaskia Indians came 
 from the far west and settled near Lake Michigan. From here 
 they were driven beyond the Mississippi by their enemy, the 
 Iroquois. They settled on the west side of the upper Mississippi 
 and made frequent visits to the mission of St. Esprit near the 
 head of Lake Superior. Father Marquette records these visits 
 as early as 1670. Shortly after this date they moved back into 
 the Illinois country and settled on the Illinois River in the 
 vicinity of Utica, seven miles below Ottawa. Here they built a 
 village of lodges. But there were other villages, for when 
 Marquette founded the mission of the Immaculate Conception 
 of the Virgin Mary, in 1675, there were present a concourse 
 of several thousand Indians. In 1700 the Kaskaskia Indians 
 moved down the Illinois River and passing on down the Missis- 
 sippi came to the mouth of the Kaskaskia River. Here they 
 stopped, built a village which took the name Kaskaskia. The 
 tribe remained here a century or more when they were put on 
 a reservation on the Big Muddy River from which they were 
 removed to the Indian Territory shortly before the Civil War. 
 
 The Cahokias lived in Illinois just opposite the present city 
 of St. Louis. They were not a large body but they had a very 
 flourishing village at that place. This Indian village became 
 the county seat of the first county organized within the limits 
 of Illinois. These Indians gradually decreased in numbers, and 
 they eventually joined the Kaskaskias. 
 
 The Michigamies were first located on Lake Michigan and 
 gave their name to that lake. The fierce Iroquois eventually 
 drove them south where they lived near the mouth of the Okaw 
 River. The tragic story of the death of the Michigamies on 
 starved rock may or may not be true, but the tribe was an- 
 nihilated by their enemies from the north. 
 
 The Tamaroas lived in the present county of St. Clair, but 
 earlier lived on the upper Illinois. They were closely associated 
 with the Cahokia Indians. About 1680 they were attacked by 
 the Iroquois and 700 of their men, women and children were 
 killed or carried away into captivity. The final struggle came 
 between the Tamaroas and the Shawnees about the year 1800 
 in a battle of extermination. This battle was fought near where 
 the Illinois Central Railroad crosses the Big Muddy River, sev- 
 enty miles north of Cairo. 
 
 The Peorias were found by Marquette and Joliet, when they 
 returned from their trip down the Mississippi, near the present 
 city of Peoria on the Illinois River. This tribe was never an 
 
50 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 important division of the Illini Confederation. They lived much 
 in dread of invasions from the Iroquois Indians. They were 
 driven to the south and joined the Kaskaskias sometime about 
 the last part of the eighteenth century. 
 
 In addition to these five subdivisions of the Illinois Indians, 
 there lived in the northwest part of the present state near the 
 mouth of Rock River, the Sacs and Foxes. These Indians were 
 living near the southern extremity of Green Bay as early as 
 1666. At the beginning of the eighteenth century they moved 
 into northern Illinois and became enemies of the Indians of the 
 Illinois Confederation. The Sacs and Foxes, together with 
 the Kaskaskias, were very dangerous, both to the French and 
 to other tribes. The French efforts at flattery were unavailing 
 and they rejected all overtures of friendship offered by the 
 French. This double tribe lived in Wisconsin and made forays 
 into the Illinois country from the latter part of the seventeenth 
 century till 1781 when they became permanently settled at the 
 mouth of Rock River. Here they attained a rather marked stage 
 of progress, having farms, homes, a cemetery, and some domes- 
 ticated animals. We shall hear more of them when we come 
 into the statehood period of Illinois. 
 
 The Winnebagoes were a western branch of the Algonquins. 
 They were in the region of Green Bay as early as 1640. Here 
 the French missionaries found them in 1647. They were a 
 somewhat manly group, brave but good natured. They are 
 described as an uncouth people, their language a deep gutteral 
 and very difficult to learn. In 1766 they were found farther 
 south in Wisconsin on Fox River. From here they moved west 
 and made Rock River their home. The present county of 
 Winnebago is supposed to be their early home. They were allies 
 of the French and joined Pontiac in his rebellion. Later they 
 were won over to the side of the British and in the War of 1812 
 they were bitter enemies of the Americans. They fought against 
 Colonel Crogan at Mackinaw, and against Colonel Dudley on 
 the Maumee; and against General Winchester at the Battle of 
 the Raisin. They lived partly in southern Wisconsin and partly 
 in Illinois. We shall hear of them again. 
 
 The Kickapoos were first known around the south end of Lake 
 Michigan. They moved south and lived for several years on 
 the eastern side of the state and in the western part of Indiana. 
 They were known as the "Thieving Kickapoos." They were a 
 strong factor in the Battle of Tippecanoe. They lived on the 
 upper courses of the Sangamon and the Mackinaw and estab- 
 lished a village known as the "Grand Kickapoo Village." This 
 village was due east of Peoria — about fifty miles — near the 
 present city of Pontiac in Livingston county. The Kickapoos 
 were always ready to join with any other Indians in an attack 
 upon the whites. In 1828 Peter B. Porter of the War Depart- 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 51 
 
 ment, Washington, D. C, notified Governor Ninian Edwards that 
 all the Indians in Illinois were preparing to move west "except 
 the band of the Kickapoo Prophet — and it is hoped that no 
 further cause of dissatisfaction will arise requiring force to 
 compel the removal of this fragment at an early day." 
 
 The Mascoutins were an unimportant group of Indians who 
 roamed over the east central part of Illinois and in connection 
 with the Kickapoos were a great menace to the earliest settlers. 
 They in connection with the Kickapoos captured Colonel Crogan 
 when he came down the Ohio in 1763 to receive the surrender of 
 the Illinois country from the French. 
 
 The Piankeshaws occupied the lower valley of the Wabash 
 and westward to the central part of the state. They earlier 
 lived near Green Bay, and Father Allouez speaks very highly 
 of them — particularly of their chief, about 1670. They were 
 active participants in the Pontiac conspiracy, and earlier were 
 a member of LaSalle's colony at Fort St. Louis. Little Turtle 
 was a warrior of this tribe and he won great honor for himself 
 among the Indians as he led his warriors in the defeat of Gen. 
 Arthur St. Clair on the Miami, November 4, 1791. They were 
 transferred to the Indian territory where they counted only 
 about one hundred people in the middle of the nineteenth cen- 
 tury. 
 
 The Pottawatomies lived at the south end of Lake Michigan 
 but mostly on the Indiana side. They were a blood thirsty tribe. 
 It is said that the missionaries could make no headway toward 
 converting them to the Catholic faith. About the beginning of 
 the nineteenth century they moved over on the west side of 
 Lake Michigan and were living there when the War of 1812 
 began. It may have been that the influence of the British agents 
 was responsible, but they carried out the greatest and most 
 unprovoked massacre — that of the soldiers from Fort Dearborn 
 in 1812, that ever occurred here in the west. They eventually 
 moved into the southwest where they numbered 1500 people in 
 the last century. 
 
 Indian Characteristics, War 
 
 The most common characteristic of all Indians at all times 
 was the tendency to make war. War was the common occupa- 
 tion among the Indians long before the whites came. The 
 Europeans never introduced war among the races of Red men. 
 They seem always to have been familiar with war. It has been 
 said that for the old Indian his greatest comfort in his old age 
 was to look back on a busy life of warlike activity. To the 
 young brave it was his highest ambition to see himself a great 
 warrior. It can not be denied that they had qualities of a good 
 warrior, not to say of a good soldier. They were brave, self- 
 sacrificing, and calculating. They were strategists and estimated 
 
 U. OF HA. LIB. 
 
52 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 the efficiency of their enemy with accuracy. They were good 
 leaders. When one of their number was selected to lead, there 
 was no stabbing in the back, no jealousies, no undermining. 
 They had long memories on wrongs they had suffered, and 
 forgot with ease the kindnesses of their foe. Their service in 
 battle was voluntary and without pay except the loot which they 
 might gather from their victories. The method of raising a 
 volunteer army has been described as follows: 
 
 "The leader who attempted to raise a volunteer band for war 
 purposes, must have previously distinguished himself in the 
 chase, in the killing of big game, or in previous battle. He 
 first appealed to the patriotism and courage of the warriors, 
 and was careful to intimate that the Great Spirit had made 
 known to him in dreams the success of his enterprise. Then 
 painted with vermilion to symbolize blood, he commenced the 
 war dance. This performance expressed in pantomime the 
 varied incidents of a successful campaign. The braves entering 
 on the war-path, the posting of sentinels to avoid surprise, the 
 advance into the enemy's country, the formation of ambuscades 
 to strike the unwary foe, the strife and carnage of battle, the 
 writhing victim sinking under the blow of the war-club, the 
 retreat of the enemy, the scalping of the slain, the feasting of 
 the vultures on the putrid bodies, the triumphant return of the 
 war party to their village, and the torturing of prisoners, were 
 all portrayed with the vividness and the vehemence of actual 
 warfare. 
 
 "As this pantomime proceeded the onlookers became more and 
 more interested and warrior after warrior wishing to volunteer 
 for the expedition, rapidly fell into the dance with the leader. 
 Each one, keeping time with the beat of the drum, sped in 
 mazy circles around a common center, until with increased 
 members the whole, in movement and uproar, resembled the 
 whirlwind. The several actors taxed their muscular energies 
 to the utmost endurance, stamping the ground with great fury, 
 throwing their bodies into different attitudes of combat, dis- 
 torting their faces with the frenzy of demons, and uttering the 
 war-cry with the frightful shriek of madmen. These hideous 
 orgies were a fitting prelude to the premeditated carnage. If a 
 young warrior participated in the dance, it was incumbent upon 
 him to enlist in the war and he could not afterwards honorably 
 withdraw." 
 
 Frances Parkman says in The Conspiracy of Pontiac, in de- 
 scribing the war-spirit of the Iroquois, "With fasting and 
 praying, and consulting dreams and omens; with invoking the 
 war-god, and dancing the war-dance, the warriors sought to 
 insure the triumph of their arms ; and then, their rites concluded, 
 they began their stealthy progress through the devious pathways 
 of the forest. — And now as evening closed, a shrill, wild cry, 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 53 
 
 pealing from afar, over the darkening forest, proclaimed the 
 return of the victorious warriors. The village was alive with 
 sudden commotion ; and snatching sticks and stones, knives and 
 hatchets, men, women, and children, yelling like fiends let loose, 
 swarmed out of the narrow portal, to visit upon the captives a 
 foretaste of the deadlier torture in store for them. The black 
 arches of the forest glowed with the fires of death; and with 
 brandished torch and firebrand the frenzied multitude closed 
 around their victim." 
 
 Hunting 
 
 Hunting was an activity which all Indians engaged in. There 
 were different motives, perhaps, but an important one was to 
 obtain food. The Indian lived largely upon the food to be 
 obtained from the forests and prairies. It is said by some 
 
 PICTOGRAPH FOUND ON BLUFFS OF THE ILLINOIS RIVER 
 
 writers that the Indians did not take kindly to fish as a food. 
 But the meat of the deer, buffalo, bear, and of smaller game, 
 together with all the game birds of forest and waters, made 
 up a large percent, of the daily food. The meat of wild animals 
 was supplemented by a liberal quantity of grains, beans, and 
 other vegetables. 
 
 Before the coming of the white man, the chief weapon with 
 which to procure food was the bow and arrow. Trapping of 
 game and birds was a common method of securing food. The 
 spear was used in catching fish. The dead fall was a trap in 
 which one end of a heavy log was held up by a system of triggers, 
 and the animal lured under it by some bait which was far 
 enough under the log, that when the trap was sprung the 
 animal was securely held by the heavy log. This form of taking 
 game was used when the purpose was to obtain the fur bearing 
 hides of animals. 
 
 So much stress was put upon the skillful use of the bow and 
 arrow, that the boys early began the practice of shooting with 
 
54 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 their weapons. The use of the bow and arrow had much to do 
 in developing the arms and body of the young men. It is said 
 that the experienced hunter could drive the arrow entirely 
 through the body of a buffalo. When the white man taught 
 the Indians the use of firearms it was fully expected that they 
 would displace the use of the bow and arrow, but this theory 
 was not altogether found true. Many Indians carried the bow 
 and quiver in preference to the gun on hunting excursions. 
 
 Hunting was not so much an individual thing as it was a 
 community affair, particularly with those tribes that gave some 
 intelligent attention to the raising of corn, squashes, beans and 
 other agricultural products. The summer was given over to a 
 sort of languid life ; the women doing whatever cultivation was 
 required to mature the crops. When winter came on, by a 
 sort of common consent, the whole tribe made preparation for 
 the annual hunt. On these annual hunts, the tribe selected some 
 appropriate locality close to the hunting grounds where the 
 winter camp could be pitched. From this winter camp the 
 hunters went forth singly or in small groups. The experienced 
 hunter was acquainted with all the devices for deceiving the 
 game, and considered that as much glory should come to the 
 great hunter as should come to the great warrior. 
 
 The carcass of the animals taken in these winter hunts was 
 prepared for the use of the families in the coming spring and 
 summer. This was done by drying and smoking or by the use 
 of salt. The skins of the animals could be used for the fur or 
 the pelts could be dressed for clothing, moccasins or thongs. 
 When the tribesmen returned to their summer homes they 
 brought a large quantity of cured meats, and hides. It was 
 through the contact of the Indian with the various phases of 
 nature that they acquired such perfection in the work of their 
 physical senses. Their sight was unerring, they heard with 
 the keenness of the wild animals, they interpreted every move- 
 ment, sound, and object with the unerring correctness. 
 
 The Family 
 
 The family and tribal organization did not differ materially 
 from that of primitive peoples in European countries. The 
 family was in no sense an ideal institution. There was what 
 we understand as a marriage relation. The hunter-warrior- 
 brave had his wife, often two or three, who was the mother of 
 his children. It has been said by those who knew Indian life 
 pretty well that there was no union of affection between the 
 brave and his wife. She was to all intents and purposes his 
 slave who did his work and obeyed his commands. She was 
 from an economic viewpoint, a beast of burden. She did almost 
 all, if not all, of the work in raising crops, procuring and pre- 
 paring the food and in moving from one place to another. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 55 
 
 Selfishness 
 
 The Indian was essentially selfish. The brave pursued his 
 own course and indulged his own fancy. He showed little or no 
 sympathy with his wife, child, or parent. His wife received no 
 help, encouragement, or sympathy from her husband-brave. 
 His home was only a shelter. It was no place for the expression 
 of love, interest, or helpfulness. There was no privacy in the 
 wigwam or home, and no preparation to care for the young, the 
 sick, or the helpless. Polygamy was an open shame in many 
 tribes. The brave might dissolve the frail tie which bound one 
 woman to him and contract another as frail which bound 
 another woman to him. It has been shown by the laws among 
 
 
 >*EMA.N Pit TO C< H AP H. ' , Hm»T« J*V .HlKTvl.S. 
 
 
 INDIAN BUFFALO PAINTED ON A BLUFF IN JOHNSON COUNTY 
 
 them, governing the descent of the sachem's rights that no Indian 
 brave had any assurance that the children which his wife bore 
 were his own offspring. So uncertain was it that the sachem's 
 title passed from the ruling brave to a sister's child, never to 
 his wife's child. 
 
 The tribe was an enlarged family. When the family consisted 
 of an old brave, his wife and their children, they adopted some 
 sign or emblem which served as a distinction to separate them 
 from other families. This sign was called a totem, and was 
 usually an animal or a bird. When the totem was once estab- 
 lished, the family grew by marriages with other families or by 
 other methods. The marriage of one member of a family never 
 could be consummated with another member of that same family. 
 The marriage of the members of different families or clans 
 naturally bound these different families and clans together and 
 
56 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 thus large tribes were formed with subordinate units known as 
 families or clans or often as tribes. 
 
 There was a head clansman known as sachem in some tribes 
 and in others as chief. He got his position through inheritance 
 through his mother in some cases, and in others by common 
 consent because of his prowess in the chase or in battle. It is 
 said too that the tribesmen desired a chief who could talk well 
 and had persuasive powers. There were many Indian chiefs 
 whose speeches have been preserved and when translated into 
 our tongue are types of elegant English and of forceful argu- 
 ment. 
 
 The chief often called about him the principal members of 
 the tribe, and thus constituted a council. There often sat in these 
 councils, the very old men of the tribe — too old to go to war. 
 The chief would often be a much younger man. It was consid- 
 ered the point of wisdom on the part of the chief to give heed 
 to the advice and counsel of these old warriors. These council 
 gatherings were conducted with great decorum. There was the 
 greatest respect for the one who was giving advice or using his 
 persuasive powers for or against a proposition. The Indian 
 chief in council with his warriors and old men about him has 
 often been the lure of the artist who wishes to portray the oc- 
 casion of considering some great questions of state. 
 
 Religion 
 
 The Indian was a religious creature, we are sure. Their 
 religion was a simple matter with them, but it was a universal 
 characteristic. It has been said there were no infidels among 
 the Indians. The general belief among the Indians was that 
 there are many gods. That is they saw a god in the sun, moon, 
 wind, storm, the ocean, and in fire, water, thunder and in the 
 still small voice. At the same time they saw gods in the forces 
 of nature, they also had one special manifestation of the Great 
 Good Spirit. But for fear of the need of having to attribute 
 evil doings to the Great Good Spirit, they created a Great Bad 
 Spirit. They thus worked out a theology not at all different 
 from some systems held by more highly civilized people today. 
 
 The Indians believed in a life after this life. It is not easy 
 to know just what their religious notions were as to this matter 
 dissociated from the influences of the missionaries. But we do 
 know that one of the great ambitions was to go to the happy 
 hunting grounds in the hereafter. This happy hunting ground 
 was an idealized counterpart of the hunting grounds over which 
 they had roamed while in this life. 
 
 Among most barbarous peoples there are priests who have 
 perfected a rather complicated system of practices and beliefs 
 to which the people must conform in order to gain the favor 
 of the gods. But among the Indians in the central North Ameri- 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 57 
 
 can regions, there were no Indians found who had a priesthood 
 separate and apart from the common people. And again there 
 were no temples among the Algonquins and Iroquois. Among 
 the Central American Indians however, there were temples of 
 worship and systems of priesthoods. 
 
 Social Life 
 
 The social life of the Indians makes up an interesting 
 chapter. As has been indicated previously, there was not among 
 the Indians a very high type of home life. The wigwam or long- 
 house was often occupied by two, three, and sometimes ten 
 families. There was no privacy in such a domicile. There was 
 no social intercourse — no talking between the members of the 
 family — no family ties, no planning to make life more tolerable. 
 The fire was built in the center of the hut and the smoke made 
 its way out through an opening in the center above. The cooking 
 was done over the open fire and was a very unsanitary process. 
 
 Intoxication was a common state of the brave when not in war 
 or in the chase. It is stated that the Indians were quite familiar 
 with intoxicating drinks before the coming of the whites, but 
 the intoxicating beverages which the whites introduced among 
 the savages were the ruin of many an Indian. Women seemed 
 not to have been addicted to the use of intoxicating drinks. 
 
 Dancing was an innocent pastime which was universally in- 
 dulged in. Of course there were different purposes in the 
 dances. The war dance was for the purpose of working up an 
 interest in an attack upon an enemy and was accompanied with 
 violent physical and mental exertion. In all dances there was 
 some form of music. In some instances this rhythmic noise 
 was produced by the ones who were dancing ; often the onlookers 
 furnished the music. 
 
 Burial of the Dead 
 
 The burial of the dead was a solemn ceremony ; and was much 
 the same in all tribes. They often dug graves and placing sticks 
 or grass in the bottom, laid the dead therein and covered it over 
 with skins. The grave was then filled with earth and a mound 
 made much as we do today. In some cases the corpse was placed 
 in a sitting posture. The body was often wrapped in skins and 
 placed on a scaffold some feet above the ground. In this way 
 the body was placed beyond the reach of prowling dogs and 
 wolves. It was customary to bury with the dead body the per- 
 sonal belongings of the deceased. The dead were not forgotten 
 as often the friends visited the grave and in some cases kept 
 fires burning on or near the grave for several days. In parts 
 of the country where slabs of stone were plentiful the grave 
 was lined with flat stones, sides and bottom. The body was 
 placed in this vault and large flat stones were laid over the 
 
58 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 grave and covered with earth. Such cists have been found near 
 Equality in Gallatin County. In Missouri, bodies of men, women, 
 and children have been found enclosed in large earthen pans of 
 the size of small bath tubs which were used in the evaporation 
 of salt water. The body was placed in one of these vessels and 
 another vessel would be inverted over the first and the two ce- 
 mented together with some form of pitch. These earthenware 
 coffins were placed in excavations in the earth and covered over. 
 
 Some Virtues 
 
 All the truth about the Indians would include the fact that 
 many of these red men had some qualities which the white man 
 ought to respect. Their chiefs often expressed the natural love 
 their people had for the rivers, plains and woods ; for the priv- 
 ilege of fishing, hunting and living where nature beckoned them 
 to come and to stay. They loved their home, the solitude of the 
 forest, the graves of their dead. It was difficult for the Indians 
 to think of the white as any other than trespassers on lands 
 which they thought their own. If we are to believe the stories 
 which have come down to us from the not very distant past, 
 we must believe that individuals of this fast disappearing race 
 possessed remarkable powers of argument and beautiful gifts of 
 oratory. The speeches made by Pontiac Little Turtle, Red Jacket, 
 Tecumseh, Chief Logan, Black Hawk and others are models of 
 consecutive thought and examples of polished expression. One 
 writer has said, "Cruel and implacable as the savages of North 
 America were, it would be doing them great injustice to say, 
 that instances of extraordinary frinedship, of fidelity, kindness 
 and forbearance were unknown". 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE FRENCH IN CANADA 
 
 Relation of Illinois to Canada — America in Three Par- 
 cels — English and French Contrasted — Champlain, 
 Father of New France — Pushing Into the Interior — 
 First Bishops in New France — The Congress of Sault 
 Ste. Marie. 
 
 Illinois, physically considered, is a portion of the great Mis- 
 sissippi basin; the Mississippi basin is an integral part of the 
 continent of North American. The people who have lived in 
 Illinois sustained a vital relation to the people who lived in 
 the Mississippi basin, and the people who lived in the Mississip- 
 pi basin were closely related to the people who lived on the con- 
 tinent of North America. The history of the people who have 
 lived in Illinois is a portion only of the history of the people 
 who have lived and wrought in the great basin of the Father 
 of Waters. And the history of this basin is only a portion of 
 that of the United States, and that only a part of the history 
 of the whole of North America. 
 
 Relation of Illinois to Canada 
 
 But this history of North America involved three great Euro- 
 pean nations, England, Spain, and France. The history of the 
 English in America is more intimately connected with the his- 
 tory of the French in America than with the Spanish in America. 
 
 History is a causal science having to do with the activities of 
 the human race living in organized society. "No man liveth to 
 himself alone," and no people liveth to themselves alone. There- 
 fore human society is the result of all the influences that have 
 been operating upon it. Human society therefore, being a com- 
 plex of many interacting agents can never be understood per- 
 fectly until each influencing agent is thoroughly comprehended 
 in its action upon the social whole. 
 
 The history of any unit of society is what it is because of the 
 influence of the units about it. The history of the life of the 
 early Virginia colonists was influenced by the Indians all about 
 them. The Dutch of New York had been weakened as Dutch- 
 men by the nearness of New Haven and the towns on the Con- 
 necticut River. The old Puritan standards which were planted 
 in Massachusetts and Connecticut in the first half of the sev- 
 enteenth century have all but disappeared before the attack of 
 the commercial spirit of the last century. The people who have 
 
 59 
 
60 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 lived on the border of the Latin-American countries have had 
 a different course from what they would have had if their neigh- 
 bors had been Anglo-Saxons. In a similar way we may show 
 that the colonies that bordered the French in Canada in the 
 seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were greatly affected by 
 the nearness of the Gallic spirit. 
 
 And while we propose to write the history of Illinois, it can 
 be done well only when we take into consideration the effect 
 directly and indirectly of the presence of the French not only in 
 Canada, but in the very limits of the state itself. The life of 
 the people of Illinois was not so greatly affected by the Spanish 
 to the west and south of us, but they had their influence upon 
 us, we may be sure. 
 
 America in Three Parcels 
 
 When fate parceled out the continent of North America to 
 the Europeans she very generously gave the English the most 
 valuable section, reaching north and south from the 32° of north 
 latitude to the 49th parallel. An observing reader of history 
 once remarked that the great men of the earth were born and 
 reared in the vicinity of the 40th parallel of north lattitude. 
 The great cities of the earth, he said, were located near this 
 parallel. The 40th parallel runs through the middle of this 
 great belt which was apparently set apart for the English people. 
 
 The Spanish people were assigned a country which in many 
 ways was well adapted to them — the warm moist country to 
 the south of the English claim. Here they have been for four 
 centuries. 
 
 The cold regions to the north of the great lakes and the St. 
 Lawrence were set aside for a very bright, active and resource- 
 ful people. The French were better able to contend with the 
 cold of the Canadian winters than the Spanish were with the 
 heat of the southern summers. Their whole life was so organ- 
 ized, at least in the new world, that they did not need a rich 
 soil in a warm country. 
 
 To the English was left the choicest part of the continent, 
 neither too hot nor too cold. In this moderate climate, were 
 found all the needful resources of a great people — soil, forests, 
 prairies, coal, iron, lead, copper, oil, rivers, lakes and ocean. 
 
 English and French Contrasted 
 
 One contrast : "When we contrast the heroic ardor of the 
 French voyageurs. soldiers and priests who opened up the Great 
 West to the vision of men, with the apathy of the English col- 
 onists, although our judgment approves the final issue, we can 
 but agree with Parkman when he says France's pretenses were 
 moderate (claims to territory) and reasonable compared with 
 those of England." (Parkman: Montcalm and Wolfe, I, 124, 
 125.) Hinsdale, The Old Northwest, p. 56. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 61 
 
 Parkman in his "Conspiracy of Pontiac" has made a striking 
 contrast between the French colonists of Canada and the Eng- 
 lish settlers of the old thirteen colonies," Canada, the offspring 
 of the Church and State, nursed from infancy in the lap of 
 power, its puny strength fed with artificial stimulants, its 
 movements guided by rule and discipline, its limbs trained to 
 martial exercise, languished, in spite of all, from lack of vital 
 sap and energy. The colonies of England, outcast and neglected, 
 but strong in native rigor and self-confiding courage, grew yet 
 more strong with conflict and with striving, and developed the 
 rugged proportions and unwieldly strength of a youthful giant." 
 Parkman shows the basic difference between the two peoples: 
 "Feudalism stood arrayed against Democracy; Papery against 
 Protestantism ; the sword against the ploughshare. If we search 
 the world for the sharpest contrasts to the spiritual and tem- 
 poral vassalage of Canada, we shall find it among her immediate 
 neighbors, the Puritans of New England, where the spirit of 
 non-conformity sublimed to a fiery essence, and where the love 
 of liberty and the hatred of power burned with sevenfold heat." 
 
 The English settlers became attached to the soil ; they loved 
 the scenes of their labors; they built homes, and joined with 
 nature in making the earth more beautiful. They were sober, 
 earnest, thoughtful. They established schools, colleges, churches, 
 and built permanent structures both temporal and spiritual. 
 There was a high type of family relationships. The father 
 dwelt with his wife and children in a home which was, the 
 church excepted, the most sacred place on earth. They enjoyed 
 a rare and sacred privilege of self-government. They made 
 their own laws, selected the officials to execute those laws, and 
 punished the offenders. 
 
 In New France, there were few homes in the Anglo-Saxon 
 sense. There was no attachment to a place of residence for 
 there was a roving spirit which prevented residence of sufficient 
 length of time for attachments to become fixed. There was no 
 love of the soil as in the English colonies. The Frenchman was 
 in no real sense an agriculturist. He had few domestic animals, 
 and gave little of his time to the furthering of a genuine domes- 
 tic life. 
 
 The lure of the forests and their rich fur bearing animals 
 took the Frenchman into the midst of the woods, where in its 
 solitude he was much better satisfied than he was in the busy 
 cities and villages. The fur traders became almost a separate 
 class of people, "more akin to the Indians than to the white 
 men." Hence the interest which the French colonists had in 
 agricultural pursuits was at a very low ebb. "Freely rooted in 
 the soil, she thrust out branches which overshadowed half of 
 America; a magnificent object to the eye, but one which the 
 first whirlwind would prostrate in the dust." 
 
62 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 The zeal of the French in Canada for the Catholic Church 
 is without a parallel in New World history. Champlain said, 
 "The saving of a soul is worth more than the conquest of an 
 empire." Not only were the priests interested in the saving of 
 the Indian's soul, but the rank and file of the people in Canada 
 were "filled with the zeal of proselytism." 
 
 But the work of the tradesmen, and the work of the priests 
 could not have prospered had it not been for the strong hand 
 of the government. The soldier was early on the ground for 
 the conquest of the territory for the King of France. This was 
 the dream of those who furnished the strong hand of miltary 
 power. There were thus three great ideas which gave life and 
 spirit to the conquest of New France. This was the conquest 
 of the territory in the name of Christ. The cross must be 
 planted in every village and the natives must be rescued from 
 ruin of body and soul by the messengers of the Gospel. In 
 somewhat unfavorable prominence was the idea of worldly gain, 
 the fur trade was a never ending source of wealth to those who 
 gave their time and energy to the work of collecting and ship- 
 ping the rich furs to the old world. Lastly there was the idea 
 of empire. The flag of France must float from every trading 
 post. It must be planted by the side of the cross in every mis- 
 sion station. 
 
 These three ideas were the fundamental moving forces in the 
 conquest of the region along the St. Lawrence, around the Great 
 Lakes, and down the Father of Waters. It is not easy to say 
 whether there was any particular order in which these forces 
 moved to the conquest of the new regions. In most instances it 
 may be shown that the priests were in the van. They opened 
 the way by reason of their evident unselfish interest in the na- 
 tives. But they were not far in advance of the fur trader who 
 came with the attractive wares of the European markets. In 
 the story of Marquette and Joliet we have a union of two ideas, 
 that of the saving of souls and of establishing dominion. The 
 government was somewhat conservative in its activities and 
 was probably lost on the field of conquest. But all of these agen- 
 cies were supplementary one to the other. 
 
 Champlain, Father of New France. 
 
 As early as 1504 French fishermen were visiting the banks 
 of Newfoundland and the coasts at the mouth of the St. Law- 
 rence River. These early visitors to the New World were from 
 the quaint corner of France called Brittany. Cape Breton Island 
 which guards the entrance to the St. Lawrence got its name 
 from these Breton fishermen. In 1506. Denys, a citizen of Hon- 
 fleur, a small port at the mouth of the Seine, drew for the King, 
 Francis I, a map of the mouth of the St. Lawrence and all the 
 adjacent islands and coasts. The Normans also became inter- 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 63 
 
 ested in the fisheries and soon there was a beaten path between 
 the fishing ports of Northwestern France and the banks of New- 
 foundland. 
 
 In 1524 Verrazano, an Italian, was employed by the French 
 King to explore the northern coasts of the New World since the 
 Spaniards were establishing themselves along the southern coast 
 of the new continent. This mariner visited the regions in and 
 about Nova Scotia and was received kindly by the natives. In 
 his report to the King the suggestion was made of the possi- 
 bility of finding a route through the continent to China. Upon 
 the explorations of Verrazano, the King based his claim to the 
 ownership of the northern parts of the New World. As early 
 as 1527 an English sea captain found in one of the harbors of 
 Newfoundland, eleven Norman vessels and one Breton vessel, 
 all engaged in the work of taking fish on the Newfoundland 
 banks. 
 
 In 1534 the French King selected one James Cartier, a cele- 
 brated French navigator, to explore the St. Lawrence River. 
 He reached Newfoundland after a voyage of twenty days and 
 raised there the cross and the banner of France. He sailed 
 up the St. Lawrence, but not being prepared to winter here, he 
 returned to France. His report to the King was intensely in- 
 teresting to that monarch and he immediately named his new 
 possession New France. In the following year Cartier again 
 sailed up the St. Lawrence, which he named after that distin- 
 guished martyr, as far as where Montreal is now located. Here 
 he held a conference with the Indians, erected a cross and re- 
 turned to his ships, where he spent the winter. During the 
 winter, which was very severe, he lost twenty-five of his men 
 who died of scurvy, a malady unknown in Europe, it is said. 
 
 France was not interested in colonizing the St. Lawrence 
 region, for so far no reports had been made of gold and silver 
 in that region, and nothing further was done till 1541, when 
 Cartier returned under the patronage of Lord of Roberval. 
 Cartier settled a small colony at what is now Quebec, where 
 they spent the winter of 1541-42. In the spring of 1542 Lord 
 Roberval arrived with more colonists, but he and Cartier disa- 
 greed about the colonizing plans and Cartier returned secretly 
 to France in the summer of 1542. Roverval wintered at Que- 
 bec and returned to France with all the colonists in the spring 
 of 1543. 
 
 The permanent occupation of New France awaited the coming 
 of a master mind, the renowned Samuel de Champlain, a man 
 of great ability. "Clever in his preparations, cautious in all 
 his movements, indefatigable in his efforts, untiring in his ex- 
 ertions, and fearless of danger." Champlain began his work 
 in New France in 1603 and for four years he was in a subordi- 
 nate position. But in 1608 he came in command of two ships 
 
64 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 under the patronage of De Monts who held a patent from the 
 French King granting him the monopoly of the fur trade in the 
 St. Lawrence region and authorized him to make permanent 
 settlements. 
 
 Champlain reached the present site of Quebec and erected a 
 fort near where Cartier had wintered in 1541-2. This marks 
 the beginning of the permanent occupation of the St. Lawrence 
 valley, and Champlain has been known as the Father of New 
 France. The Indians along the St. Lawrence had been visited 
 by the previous French explorers. There were three different 
 tribes or nations — those near the mouth of the St. Lawrence 
 were known as the Montagnais, mountain Indians; those in the 
 vicinity of the Ottawa River and the northern tributaries of the 
 St. Lawrence were Algonquins, and those further west on the 
 north side of the lakes were the Hurons. They were all ene- 
 mies of the Iroquois, who lived in what is now the present State 
 of New York. 
 
 Champlain was induced in the summer of 1609 to go with a 
 band of Algonquin warriors presumably to discover a beautiful 
 lake in the mountains of the Iroquois country, but in reality 
 to make war on the Iroquois. The two deadly enemies met on 
 the west shore of Lake Champlain on a bright morning in June, 
 1609. Champlain and two French soldiers with guns stepped 
 forth and fired into the ranks of the enemy. Two Iroquois 
 chiefs fell dead. The frightened Iroquois fled to places of safety, 
 leaving their dead and wounded to the tender mercies of the 
 Algonquins. This "entangling alliance" which the French en- 
 tered into with the Algonquins was a very unfortunate move- 
 ment in New World diplomacy. The Iroquois became deadly 
 enemies of the French and thus forced the latter when they 
 wished to reach the interior of the continent to seek such routes 
 as they could find on the north side of the Great Lakes. Their 
 route was up the Ottawa River, across to Lake Huron, by way 
 of Mackinaw and Lake Michigan to the eastern tributaries of 
 the Mississippi. 
 
 In 1615 Champlain returned to France for additional help. 
 Among the aids which he brought back from the homeland were 
 four Franciscan monks, Denis Jamay, Jean D'Olbeau, Joseph 
 Le Caron, Pacifique Du Plessis. Jamay and Du Plessis were 
 stationed in Quebec, while D'Olbeau took up work among the 
 Montagnais Indians, and de Caron was given the territory 
 north and west of Lake Erie. All of these priests did a great 
 work in keeping alive a friendly feeling between the French and 
 the Canadian Indians. The work undertaken by these four 
 monks became so burdensome that they appealed to the Jesuits 
 to help in the endless task. The order of Jesuits soon became 
 the leading order in New France and their work has been the 
 theme for great praise by those who have written of the spread 
 of the French empire in the New World. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 65 
 
 Pushing Into the Interior 
 
 Champlain was made governor of New France and held the 
 position till his death in 1635. During these twenty-seven years, 
 he was constantly furthering the interests of his king and the 
 Catholic religion. His dream was to find a way through the 
 continent to the Pacific Ocean, and in the pursuit of that aim 
 he was continually pushing westward into the interior of the 
 continent. Among those Champlain sent into the west to ex- 
 plore and lay claim to the country was Jean Nicolet, a friend 
 of Champlain. He had lived with the Indians and had mas- 
 tered their language and was much sought as an interpreter. 
 He discovered Lake Michigan in 1634. He visited the Indians 
 around Green Bay where he was well received by them. He 
 is said to have visited the most northern villages of the Illinois 
 Indians. 
 
 Two Jesuit missionaries, Brebeuf and Daniel, visited the 
 River St. Mary and the south side of Lake Superior about the 
 year 1634. By 1635 there were as many as fifteen Jesuit priests 
 in the region of the Great Lakes and along the St. Lawrence. 
 
 In all this movement of the missionaries and traders into the 
 western part of the lake region, there was the bitterest opposi- 
 tion on the part of the Iroquois. They never allowed an expedi- 
 tion to make use of the St. Lawrence or Lake Ontario and Lake 
 Erie. In passing from Quebec to the Green Bay region the 
 French must go a thousand miles out of their way. But these 
 unwearied Jesuits were always in advance of civilization. "The 
 history of their labors is connected with the origin of every 
 celebrated town in the annals of French America." "All day 
 long they must wade or handle the oar. At thirty and five water- 
 falls the canoes were to be carried on the shoulders for leagues 
 through the thickest woods and over the roughest regions." 
 Bancroft tells of the fate of Father Bressani. "Taken prisoner 
 while on his way to the Hurons (1643) ; beaten, mangled, mu- 
 tilated; driven barefoot over rough paths, through briers and 
 thickets; scourged by a whole village; burned, tortured, and 
 scarred, he was an eye-witness to the fate of one of his com- 
 panions, who was boiled and eaten. Yet some mysterious awe 
 protected his life." 
 
 But in the year 1635 Champlain's work passed into other 
 hands. The French were so harassed by the Iroquois and the 
 Dutch in the valley of the Hudson River that it looked as if the 
 good work which Champlain and those under his direction had 
 done would all go for naught. But brave hearts and strong 
 hands came to the task and eventually the interest of France 
 in this part of the New World was prospering again. In 1655 
 there was a cessation of hostilities on the part of the Iroquois 
 and a sort of peace was agreed to between the French and the 
 Iroquois. After this the French pushed their explorations far- 
 
 5V1 
 
66 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 ther to the west and southwest. Every expedition which re- 
 turned from the far west revealed the riches of that region. 
 Vast stores of furs from the region of the three western lakes 
 were brought at regular intervals to Montreal and Quebec for 
 shipment to the markets of Europe. 
 
 First Bishop in New France 
 
 The work of the church in New France for the first fifty 
 years was without the direction of a central authority. In the 
 year 1659 the interests were considered of sufficient importance 
 to justify the establishment of a bishop's see. In that year the 
 first bishop of New France, Francis Xavier de Laval, as bishop 
 of Montreal, arrived from France with many subordinates for 
 the further extension of the interest of the Catholic religion. 
 The Franciscan order furnished most of the early workers in 
 the church, but the Jesuit order was also early represented. In 
 about 1658 the Franciscans were excluded from New France 
 and from that time the Jesuits were the main support of the 
 church. "Their missionaries continued to defy every danger 
 and to endure every toil." But just when the skies were bright- 
 ening for the French a war broke out. French missionaries 
 who had gained a foothold to the south of the lakes were com- 
 pelled to abandon their stations and flee to Montreal for safety. 
 Another setback came to the French in the years following the 
 Restoration in England. When the valley of the Hudson was 
 transferred from the Dutch to the English in 1664 the end of 
 French influence among the Iroquois was at hand. 
 
 The Algonquins of the west were not always able to hold the 
 Iroquois in check as the latter would go forth on their cam- 
 paigns of destruction. They therefore sought to ally themselves 
 more thoroughly with the now growing French power. The 
 Bishop of Montreal himself was very desirous of going into the 
 west to bring about a union of all interests opposed to the de- 
 structive power of the Iroquois. The western Indians were 
 anxious to build up commercial relations with the French. In 
 1660 a deputation of 300 Algonquins in sixty canoes loaded 
 with pelts and furs accompanied the French traders on their 
 return to Quebec. The deputation made clear to the French 
 authorities at Quebec the need of an alliance between the French 
 and the Indians of the west. 
 
 Father Claude Jean Allouez, S. J., had spent two years in the 
 immediate vicinity of the south shore of Lake Superior. In 
 1669 he returned to Quebec to urge the sending of groups of 
 French emigrants into the West in order to establish permanent 
 missions and trading stations. Several missionaries arrived 
 from France, including James Marquette, S. J., about the time 
 Allouez visited Quebec. Almost immediately Father Marquette 
 with Father Dablon repaired to the West and founded a mission 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 67 
 
 at Sault Ste. Marie. These men Bancroft describes as defying 
 the severity of the climate, wading through water or through 
 snows, without the comfort of fire ; having no bread but pounded 
 maize, and often no other food but the unwholesome moss from 
 the rocks; laboring incessantly; exposed to live, as it were, 
 without nourishment, to sleep without a resting place, to travel 
 far and always incurring perils, all this to carry his life in his 
 hand, expecting captivity, death from the tomahawk, tortures, 
 fire. As they traveled to and fro they were continually hearing 
 wonderful stories of the Mississippi River. Marquette resolved 
 upon attempting its discovery and in 1669 began to study the 
 Illinois language. 
 
 The Congress at St. Mary's 
 
 The French Government had never up to 1670, taken much 
 interest in the work which had been done by the church in the 
 far west. In fact, the work seems to have been the result of 
 individual effort. But the increased commercial activities be- 
 tween Quebec and the Algonquins in the west became a matter 
 of much interest to the French government about this time. 
 Jean Baptiste Colbert, a brilliant statesman, was made Minis- 
 ter of Finance upon the death of Cardinal Mazarin in 1661. He 
 immediately introduced fiscal reforms by which the incomes of 
 the government were soon trebled. He became deeply inter- 
 ested in extending the power of France westward to the South 
 Sea. 
 
 The intendant of New France was M. Jean Talon, who under 
 the spirit of the new interest of the French Government ap- 
 pointed Simon Francois Daumont, sieur de St. Lusson, who had 
 lately been engaged in establishing French interest on the 
 Kenebec River to hold a congress of the Indian tribes at St. 
 Mary's, at the outlet of Lake Superior, in the summer of 1671. 
 An agent of the government had been sent into the region about 
 St. Mary's to invite the several tribes to send delegates to the 
 proposed congress. This agent, Nicholas Perrot, was very suc- 
 cessful in creating interest in the proposed congress. Fourteen 
 different nations or tribes sent delegates. 
 
 On the fourth of June, 1671, St. Lusson, with Father Allouez 
 and a brilliantly clad retinue of French officers, arrived at the 
 appointed place. St. Lusson, as the special representative of the 
 King of France, pointed out to the assembled congress that it 
 was the purpose of the "Great King" to take the tribes in this 
 western part of New France under his special care. These 
 delegates remembered too well the horrid butcheries which the 
 Iroquois had for many years perpetrated upon the Algonquins 
 of the country round about ; and the brilliant display of military 
 force which France had sent to this congress was well calculated 
 to create in the minds of those present the unquestioned ability 
 of France to defend them against the savage Iroquois. 
 
68 HISTURY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 One purpose of this congress was to detach the Indians with 
 their fur trade from the attractive markets opened by the Eng- 
 lish around the coasts of Hudson Bay. At regular intervals 
 great trains of hunters and trappers were carrying tons of furs 
 to the trading posts along the south border of Hudson Bay. If 
 this trade should continue, the French traders might as well 
 close their doors, and the priests might as well return to Quebec 
 or to France. 
 
 Again there was an ill-defined purpose of sending an expedi- 
 tion to the Illinois country for the purpose of taking the Gospel 
 to that region, and to discover whether this great river the mis- 
 sionaries had heard of might not empty into the waters of the 
 Pacific. The Indians had reported it as a fact that it did flow 
 into the Gulf of California. "Every nation of Western Europe 
 had been enthusiastic with the hope of discovering a direct route 
 by water to China, and all had searched for it in vain." 
 
 The Indians were greatly impressed with the ceremonies of 
 the congress and the friends of St. Lusson might hail him as 
 the great ambassador to the republicans of the West. The part 
 played by the church in this great meeting was indicated by a 
 cedar cross which was raised on the banks of the outlet of the 
 great lake, Superior. The French all bowed before the cross 
 and chanted the Vexilla Regis. 
 
 "The banners of Heaven's King advance; 
 The mystery of the cross shines forth." 
 
 By the side of the cross another cedar column was planted 
 which bore the lilies of France. Thus were united the faith of 
 the church and the power of the government for the saving of 
 souls and the spread of French dominion in the New World. 
 "Yet this daring ambition of the servants of a military monarch 
 was doomed to leave no abiding monument — this echo of the 
 middle age to die away." 
 
 The great concourse dispersed. The Indian delegates to go to 
 their several tribes to report, and they in turn to pledge anew 
 their allegiance to the "Great King." The missionaries to go to 
 their several stations to reconsecrate themselves to the task of 
 winning an indifferent race to an allegiance to a Greater King. 
 The agents and the soldiers of the King to go to Quebec, where 
 they might bask in the sunshine of official favor, and to await 
 the plaudits of an indulgent government. Thus ended a simple 
 incident, but one of far-reaching importance. The work of the 
 French Government was just begun and greater problems were 
 to be solved and great national consequences were at stake. 
 
 Father James Marquette, who had played no small part in 
 the West since his arrival, gathered about him the remnants of 
 a former prosperous Huron tribe and founded a mission where 
 the waters from Lake Michigan pass through the narrow con- 
 fines of the Straits of Mackinaw. The place was called St. Ignace 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 69 
 
 and is said to have been on the north side of the water passage. 
 The mission was called St. Ignace in honor of Saint Ignatius, a 
 bishop in the church of the early part of the second century. 
 Here he ministered to the Hurons and members of other tribes 
 who might pass that way. But he longed to go to the Illinois 
 country and to sail upon the great river he had heard so much 
 about. His wish will shortly be granted. 
 
 The King and his minister, Colbert, were well informed as to 
 the possibilities of this Western country. M. Talon, the in- 
 tendant of New France, wrote an extended letter to Colbert as 
 early as 1665, in which he describes the western part of Canada 
 as the home of divers nations rich in furs. He speaks of the 
 Southern peoples as being rich in other commodities. He calls 
 attention to the fact that if the French do not know as much 
 about the Southern nations as they do of the Northern tribes, it 
 is because the Mohawks have prevented the French missionaries 
 and traders from going into the Southern country. In the 
 ''Jesuit Relations" of 1668-9, Father Marquette says: "When 
 the Illinois come (to trade at) the Point (Point St. Esprit), they 
 pass a great river which is almost a league in width. It flows 
 from north to south and to so great a distance that the Illinois, 
 who know nothing of the use of the canoe, have never as yet 
 heard of its mouth." Father Marquette expressed the hope that 
 the means to "visit the nations who dwell along its shores in 
 order to open the way to the many of our Fathers who were 
 awaiting so great an opportunity," would soon present itself. 
 This river which is spoken of in their relations was what we call 
 the Mississippi. It is said by a scholarly writer that the word 
 comes from "Mechah" (big) and seebee (river) in the Ojibway 
 language. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER 
 
 Louis Joliet — Father Marquette — The Journey to the 
 Mississippi — The Piasa Bird — The Return Journey — 
 Mission of the Immaculate Conception — Death of 
 
 Marquette 
 
 The interest in the great river grew till, in 1672, M. Jean 
 Talon, who was getting ready to leave New France, made plans 
 for sending a representative of the government into the Illinois 
 country in order to find more particularly whether the river 
 flowed into the Gulf of Mexico or into the Gulf of California. 
 The new governor of Canada, or New France, was Count Fon- 
 tenac. He had superseded Courcelles, who was returning to 
 France on account of ill health. Frontenac readily adopted the 
 plans which Courcelles and Talon had worked out for the expedi- 
 tion to the Illinois country. 
 
 Louis Joliet 
 
 Louis Joliet was a native of New France and had received 
 excellent training in the Jesuit schools of Quebec. He had 
 studied for the priesthood, but liking travel and exploration, he 
 gave up the clerical studies and entered upon a very active life 
 of secular work. When a young man of twenty-four he had 
 made a trip to the Lake Superior region in search of copper 
 mines. On his return he ventured to sail on the waters of Lake 
 Erie. He was widely known as a voyageur. He was familiar 
 with the dialects of the various Indian tribes and was a man 
 of rather unusual attainments. 
 
 It fell out, therefore, that Joliet was selected by M. Talon 
 and Governor Frontenac to go on this expedition of discovery 
 and exploration. But the government of France had another 
 purpose in sending an expedition into the Illinois country. The 
 conversion of the Indians was a prime object on the part of the 
 government. It was therefore very appropriate that Joliet 
 should have some cleric with him on this journey. Father 
 Claude J. Dablon, the Father Superior of the Jesuit Missions, 
 was informed of the plans of the governor of New France. The 
 Father Superior, when fully informed of the purpose of the visit 
 to the Illinois country, selected with rare good judgment Father 
 James Marquette, who at that time was at his mission of St. 
 Ignace. 
 
 70 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 71 
 
 Father Marquette 
 
 Father Marquette had long contemplated a visit to the Illinois 
 country. We have previously called attention to the fact that he 
 had learned the Illinois tongue in order that he might some day 
 be able to preach the gospel to the natives in Illinois. It appears 
 that Father Marquette never applied to his Superior for per- 
 mission to travel in this country. Had he done so, it is very 
 likely that to him alone would have come the glory of discovery 
 and exploration of the Mississippi. Section I of the Shea trans- 
 lations of the "Relations" gives an extract from the diary of 
 Father Marquette relative to his desire to go on a trip to the 
 Illinois country. It reads : "The day of the Immaculate Con- 
 
 's 
 
 JOLIET 
 
 MARQUETTE 
 
 ception of the Blessed Virgin, whom I had always invoked since 
 I have been in this Ottawa Country, to obtain of God the grace 
 to be able to visit the nations on the River Missisipi, was iden- 
 tically that on which M. Jollyet arrived with orders of the Comte 
 de Frontenac, our Governor, and M. Talon, our Intendant, to 
 make this discovery with me. I was the more enraptured at this 
 good news, as I saw my designs on the point of being accom- 
 plished and myself in the happy necessity of exposing my life for 
 the salvations of all these nations, and particularly for the Illi- 
 nois, who had, when I was at Lapointe du St. Esprit, very 
 earnestly entreated me to carry the word of God to their 
 country." 
 
 Joliet was directed by Frontenac to proceed into the West and 
 join himself to Father Marquette and make preparations for the 
 journey. He left Quebec with his commission from the governor 
 
72 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 in the fall of 1672. He arrived at Mackinac on December 8, the 
 day of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin. Here 
 he remained over the winter of 1672-3. In the spring the 
 arrangements were completed for the journey. These it seems 
 after all were very simple. 
 
 Five voyageurs were engaged for the journey. Two bark 
 canoes, with a rather limited supply of Indian corn and some 
 dried meat. This indeed looks like a scanty supply for seven 
 men who expected to be gone all summer. 
 
 The Journey to the Mississippi 
 
 On the 17th of May, 1673, this flotilla of two canoes and seven 
 men pushed out of the harbor of St. Ignace. They carried charts 
 and maps which they had constructed from the descriptions they 
 had obtained from Indians who had been in the Illinois Country 
 Marquette says they sketched the course of the Mississippi, its 
 branches, the lands through which it runs, and located the 
 various Indian tribes through whose lands they would sail. 
 
 Their course was westward and south along the west side of 
 the present Lake Michigan till they reached Green Bay. Here 
 they turned into the bay with the expectation of reaching the 
 Mississippi through the Fox River, Wisconsin River, and a 
 short portage. They held conferences with the Menominee, who 
 were known by the name of Wild Oats. They spent three days 
 here and then proceeded on their way. They stopped with other 
 tribes, portaged from the Fox to the Wisconsin, and paddled 
 down the Wisconsin. 
 
 Marquette gives a detailed description of the mouth of Fox 
 River. He described it as a beautiful stream. Describes the 
 animal and bird life. Says the presence of birds is accounted 
 for by the presence of an abundance of wild oats which grow 
 along the banks of Green Bay. As they passed up Fox River 
 they came to a considerable town made up of Miamis, Maskou- 
 tins, and Kickapoos. In this town they found a beautiful cross. 
 To it were attached skins, bells, bows and arrows. The town 
 was beautifully situated and all about it were groves of timber 
 or patches of prairie. 
 
 Father Marquette knew he was near the divide between the 
 two drainage systems — one into the St. Lawrence, the other into 
 the Mississippi. He asked for two guides who should go with 
 them over the portage. The Indians tried to dissuade them 
 from their intention to go on to the great river. But they were 
 told that their course was determined. Two guides helped the 
 Frenchmen over the portage between the Fox River and the 
 Wisconsin. Marquette says, "I put the expedition under the 
 protection of the Blessed Virgin Immaculate, promising her that 
 if she did us the grace to discover the great river, I would give 
 it the name of Conception ; and that I would also give that name 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 73 
 
 to the first mission which I should establish among these new 
 nations, as I have actually done among the Illinois." 
 
 Before embarking on the Wisconsin they all made their devo- 
 tions to the Virgin, which they were careful to do each day of 
 their journey. The voyage down the Wisconsin was without 
 incident, except at one place they examined the banks for the 
 presence of iron which they claimed they found in abundance. 
 They reached the mouth of the Wisconsin and the broad Mis- 
 sissippi on the 17th of June, just one month from the day they 
 left St. Ignace. The sight of the great river filled them with a 
 joy inexpressible. 
 
 Marquette gives a very detailed account of the river, the land 
 on each side, the animal life and the life in the river. The buffalo 
 was a new animal to them, and some of the fishes they found in 
 the river were strange. On June 25th they found themselves 
 near the vicinity of what is now Keokuk, Iowa. Here they 
 discovered footprints, and a path leading into the prairie. Mar- 
 quette and Joliet left their canoes with the five voyageurs and 
 went into the prairie, where they found a village of Indians. 
 Four old Indians carrying tobacco-pipes came out to welcome 
 them. Marquette spoke to them and they replied that they were 
 Illinois and presented the pipes of peace. The two Frenchmen 
 visited the tent of the great chief, where they exchanged greet- 
 ings and made speeches. These Illinois Indians did their best 
 to dissuade the Frenchmen from going further down the river. 
 The Illinois set a feast, to which the Frenchmen were invited. 
 Marquette says he and Joliet partook of all the dishes except 
 the one which consisted of dog meat. The Frenchmen visited 
 the village of some three hundred cabins and remained that 
 night as the guests of the grand sachem. On the morrow the 
 visitors were accompanied to their boats by as many as six 
 hundred Indians, who bade them adieu and bon voyage. 
 
 The Piasa Bird 
 
 From here the Frenchmen went on down the Mississippi. 
 Marquette gives very careful description of the vegetables he 
 sees along the way. As they passed the mouth of the Illinois 
 River they were impressed with the high bluffs on the Illinois 
 side. On one of these some miles above what is now Alton, 
 Illinois, they saw what came to be a well-known object in this 
 state, representations of the Great Piasa Bird. Of this object 
 Marquette says : "As we coasted along rocks, frightful for their 
 height and length, we saw two monsters painted on these rocks, 
 which startled us at first, and on which the boldest Indians dare 
 not gaze long. They are as large as a calf, with horns on the 
 head like a deer, a fearful look, red eyes, bearded like a tiger, 
 the face somewhat like a man's, the body covered with scales, 
 and the tail so long that it twice makes the turn of the body, 
 
74 
 
 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 passing over the head and down between the legs, and ending 
 at last in a fish's tail. Green, red, and a kind of black are the 
 colors employed. On the whole, these two monsters are so well 
 painted that we could not believe any Indian to have been the 
 designer, as good painters in France would find it hard to do as 
 well ; besides this, they are so high upon the rock that it is hard 
 to get conveniently at them to paint them. This is pretty nearly 
 the figure of these monsters, as I drew them off." 
 
 In an early day in that part of Illinois north and east of the 
 locality of the Piasa Bird, there was a tradition which came 
 from the Indians to the effect that once there lived a great 
 monster in a cave at this place. The tradition ran that this 
 monster was a hideous creature with wings, and great claws, and 
 teeth. It was accustomed to devour every living creature which 
 
 THE PIASA BIRD 
 
 came within its reach ; men, women, children, and animals of all 
 kinds. The Indians had suffered great loss of their people from 
 the ravages of this monster and a council of war was held to 
 devise some means by which his career might be ended. Among 
 other schemes for his extermination was a proposition by a 
 certain young warrior to the effect that upon the departure of 
 the beast on one of his long flights for food that he would 
 volunteer to be securely tied to stakes on the ledge in front of 
 the mouth of the cave, and that a sufficient number of other 
 warriors of the tribe should be stationed near with their poisoned 
 arrows so that when the monster bird should return from his 
 flight and should attack the bound warrior, the concealed com- 
 panions might slay him with their poisoned arrows. 
 
 The proposition of the young warrior was accepted by the 
 other members of the tribe, and on a certain day the bird took 
 his habitual flight. The young warrior who offered to sacrifice 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 75 
 
 his life was securely bound to strong stakes in front of the mouth 
 of the cave where the beast had his den. The warriors who were 
 to slay the beast were all hidden in the rocks and shrubs nearby. 
 In the afternoon the monster was seen returning from his long 
 journey. Upon alighting near the cave, he discovered the young 
 Indian and immediately attacked, fastening his claws and teeth 
 in his body. The thongs held the Indian securely and the more 
 the monster strove to escape with his prey, the more his claws 
 became entangled in the thongs. 
 
 At a concerted moment the warriors all about opened upon 
 the monster with their poisoned arrows, and before the beast 
 could extricate himself his life blood was ebbing, and in a few 
 minutes he lay dead before them. 
 
 The story further runs that the Indians took the monster and 
 stretched him in front of the high, smooth bluff and there 
 marked out his form ; they afterwards painted this outline in the 
 colors which Father Marquette says he saw on his journey down 
 the river. An order went forth that each brave as he went up 
 or down the river should discharge at least one arrow at the 
 painting. This the Indians continued to do. When the Euro- 
 peans had supplied the Indians with firearms, they continued to 
 shoot at least once at the image in passing. 
 
 This story, which was current in Western Illinois in the 
 middle of the nineteenth century, has been greatly discounted 
 by many writers. Judge Joseph Gillespie, of Edwardsville, was 
 a man whom Illinois has greatly honored. He visited the bluffs 
 where the Piasa Bird was supposed to be in 1833, and he says 
 that he did not see anything that made him think that it was 
 intended to represent a bird. He thought the coloring matter 
 may have been exudations from the crevices of the rocks, and 
 may have so spread over the face of the bluff as to resemble a 
 birdlike monster to impressionable people. He further says: 
 "I did see the marks of the bullets shot by the Indians against 
 the rocks in the vicinity of the so-called picture. The object of 
 shooting at this I never could comprehend." 
 
 Judge Gillespie thinks the whole story originated with Prof. 
 John Russell of Bluff Dale, in Greene County. Professor Russell 
 was a resident of Illinois at an early date, but earlier lived in 
 Eastern Missouri, probably as early as 1818 or 1820. He was a 
 writer of considerable note and published a number of books. 
 He was around Alton as early as 1820 and may have started 
 the story of how the Indians killed the monster. 
 
 We left Marquette and Joliet at the bluffs above Alton. Mar- 
 quette describes the condition of things at the mouth of the 
 Missouri River. As they approached the junction of that stream 
 with the Mississippi they observed great trees, or, as he calls 
 them, floating islands, coming down the Missouri River. The 
 noise these floating forests made was frightful, and indeed the 
 
76 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 presence of these floating trees was a danger which Marquette 
 and his party were wise in avoiding. They next came to a 
 monster rock in the Mississippi which came to be known as 
 Grand Tower rock. This large tower rock still causes a com- 
 motion in the waters, and is dangerous to small craft, but it 
 would appear that Marquette and the Indians exaggerated the 
 importance of this rock as an obstruction to navigate. The 
 rock is near the Missouri side of the river, opposite the Village 
 of Grand Tower, in Jackson County. 
 
 The exploring party moved southward along the western 
 boundary of Illinois till it came to the mouth of the Ohio River. 
 Somewhere either above or below the mouth of the Ohio they 
 discovered a very pronounced deposit of iron. They also found 
 a sort of clay of various colors, purple, violet, red ; also some red 
 earth or sand which stained their oars. As they moved south 
 they came into the swampy lands of Arkansas and were greatly 
 disturbed by the mosquitoes. They also came into a land whose 
 inhabitants had guns and axes, hoes, knives, beads, and glass 
 bottles; in the bottles they kept their powder. Further down 
 the river they stopped with some Indians with whom it was 
 difficult to hold conversation. They were the Michigamies. Mar- 
 quette says he spoke six languages but they did not understand 
 one of them. At last an old man who could speak a little of the 
 Illinois language was found, and through him Marquette was 
 able to hold conversation with these natives. Marquette and his 
 party remained over night with these Indians. When ready to 
 go the next morning, they were told there was a tribe or village 
 down the river called Akamsea (Arkansas) who could tell them 
 all about the sea and the distance to it. 
 
 The Return Journey 
 
 They found these Indians somewhere about the mouth of the 
 Arkansas River. Here Marquette and his party were well re- 
 ceived, and acquired considerable information about the country 
 and the distance to the sea (Gulf of Mexico). Marquette and 
 Joliet held a council and decided that they had settled the fact 
 that the Mississippi River did not flow into the Pacific nor into 
 the Atlantic in the territory of Virginia, but that it flowed into 
 the Gulf of Mexico. They also agreed that there would be danger 
 of war with the Indians who lived further south. When they 
 had agreed to go no further south, they notified the Indians, 
 who were greatly pleased, for they knew something of the 
 dangers which lurked along the lower Mississippi. 
 
 The voyagers started on their return journey the 17th of July, 
 two months from the time they left St. Ignace. They found 
 the stream difficult to navigate on account of the opposition of a 
 strong current. When they approached the mouth of the Illinois 
 River, they were told that the distance to Lake Michigan was 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 77 
 
 much shorter up the Illinois River than by way of the Wisconsin 
 and the Fox rivers. Accordingly, they ascended the Illinois 
 River. Marquette was somewhat weakened by the long journey 
 and in poor health, and it was now his desire to return to his 
 mission as quickly as they could. They were greatly pleased 
 with the country through which they traveled. The placid 
 waters, the picturesque bluffs, the expansive prairies, the beauti- 
 ful timber, and the abundance of game of all kinds was a great 
 inspiration to their tired spirits. 
 
 They traversed this river with little of the unusual. At what 
 is now Peoria they found a village of Illinois Indians. Here they 
 remained some days, while Father Marquette preached to the 
 people. As he was leaving he baptized an infant which was 
 thought to be at the point of death. As they proceeded up the 
 Illinois River they came to the village of the Kaskaskia Indians. 
 The village was somewhere in the vicinity of the modern town 
 of Utica, some nine miles below Ottawa, LaSalle County. There 
 were seventy-four cabins in the village. The natives were well 
 disposed toward Father Marquette and his party. Marquette 
 preached to them and they were so deeply interested in him and 
 his story of the Gospel that they made him promise to return to 
 them and tell more of the story of the cross. So well pleased 
 were the natives that they furnished an escort of a chief and 
 several young men to accompany Marquette and his party to the 
 Chicago portage. From here they made their way by easy stages 
 to the mission at Green Bay, where they arrived in September, 
 1673. 
 
 Father Marquette remained at the Mission of St. Francois 
 Xavier, at the head of Green Bay, during the winter of 1673-4, 
 and also through the summer of 1674. Joliet also remained in 
 the vicinity of the western lakes till the late summer of 1674. 
 In August of that year he reported to the governor of New 
 France at Quebec. Here he gave only a verbal report of the 
 expedition into the Illinois country. When he left Green Bay, 
 in the summer of 1674, he traveled by boat toward Quebec. 
 When approaching Quebec his boat was upset and he and some 
 companions saved their lives, but lost everything else — maps, 
 notes, and specimens. Some maps, however, were left in the 
 West and they were afterwards identified. Joliet, after report- 
 ing to the governor, proceeded to France, where he was received 
 with great favor and afterwards sent on a mission to Central 
 America. 
 
 Late in the fall of 1674, Father Marquette determined to 
 redeem his promise to the Kaskaskia Indians that he would 
 return to them and tell them more about the Savior of the world. 
 Father Marquette has left very brief notes of his movements in 
 the winter and spring of 1674-5, and from them we may give 
 the following story: On October 27, 1674, in company with two 
 
78 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Frenchmen called Pierre Porteret and Jacques LeCastor, he left 
 the Mission of St. Francois Xavier, at the head of Green Bay, 
 to go to the Kaskaskia village, on the Illinois River, some eight 
 or ten miles below Ottawa. Apparently without Father Mar- 
 quette's knowledge, five canoes full of Pottawattomi and four 
 canoes full of Illinois Indians had started ahead of him en route 
 to the Illinois. The two canoes of Indians were overtaken on 
 the way down the west side of Lake Michigan and the weather 
 was so stormy that the company made little headway, often 
 having to stay five days at a time in one place because of storms 
 or other weather conditions. On November 21, 1674, Marquette 
 made note of the fact that he has a return of his old malady, 
 dysentery. In the notes which he records from time to time, 
 he often refers to the fact that he was able to say mass. They 
 reached Chicago River on December 4, 1674. There they built 
 some cabins and made themselves comfortable. Here they 
 planned to stay until spring. During the winter there was much 
 passing to and fro up and down the Chicago River. The Illinois 
 Indians who had come with him from Green Bay left him on the 
 15th of December. On this date he also complains of much 
 suffering from the dysentery. 
 
 The winter which Father Marquette spent in Chicago was a 
 long, severe one, and we might conclude that a very sick man 
 would suffer from cold, an improper kind and amount of food, 
 and from inattention. But we have it on very good authority 
 that the was tenderly cared for, and that many Indians in pass- 
 ing ministered to him, and that at least a few Frenchmen paid 
 him comforting visits. Marquette says disquieting news came 
 to him by the mouth of Jacques, who had returned from the 
 village of the Illinois. It was that the Indians there were at 
 the point of starvation on account of the severe weather, which 
 had prevented them from going on their winter hunt. This 
 village was only about six leagues, or probably eighteen or 
 twenty miles distant. Of the two Frenchmen who came to see 
 Marquette, one was a physician. He brought food and other- 
 wise ministered to Father Marquette. 
 
 On the 9th of February Father Marquette mentions the fact 
 that he is in much better health and is only awaiting better 
 weather conditions that he might proceed on his journey to the 
 village of the Kaskaskia Indians. On February 20th he reports 
 having killed several deer, and remarks that they were so lean 
 that they were obliged to leave the carcass on the lake shore. He 
 also says that the partridges are plentiful and very choice eating, 
 but not so good as the French partridges. 
 
 Mission of the Immaculate Conception 
 
 On the 30th of March he records that the ice was breaking 
 up and the waters had risen so much that one night they were 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 79 
 
 obliged to seek safety on a hillock of sand. On this day the little 
 band made a start for the Kaskaskia village. The route was up 
 the south branch of the Chicago River, and across the portage 
 to the Des Plaines River. On the 30th of March they crossed 
 the portage and hoped to reach the Indian village in a few days. 
 They made the trip without incident and reached the village on 
 April 8th, 1675. 
 
 He was received with great honor, as "an angel from Heaven." 
 Five hundred chiefs and elders of the tribes gathered about him 
 in a circle, and beyond this inner circle was an outer circle of the 
 common people to the number of fifteen hundred men, women, 
 and children. Father Marquette must have felt that this was 
 the happiest moment of his life. He spoke with deep religious 
 feeling, intensified by the fact that he felt his own end was 
 approaching. On the 11th of April, 1675, Father Marquette 
 founded and established a mission there under the title of "The 
 Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin." He remained 
 but a few days, for he was desirous of reaching St. Ignace before 
 the end should come. A great number of chiefs and warriors 
 accompanied him to the Chicago portage and to the lake. They 
 vied with one another to carry his baggage and to render him 
 assistance. At the lake they bade him an affectionate farewell. 
 
 Death of Father Marquette 
 
 The company had now been reduced to Father Marquette, 
 Pierre, and Jacques. The route selected was by way of the 
 southerly bend of Lake Michigan and along its eastern shore. 
 His strength gradually failed him and he begged his young men 
 to carry him ashore that he might die quietly on land and thus 
 escape death in a great storm which was then gathering upon 
 the troubled waters of the great lake. The two young French- 
 men took the dying man ashore, the exact spot is in dispute, but 
 the evidence appears to favor the place now occupied by the City 
 of Ludington, on an inlet from Lake Michigan known since as 
 Pere Marquette Lake, which is the mouth of a small stream 
 called Pere Marquette River. Here a few years ago some inter- 
 ested friends erected a pretentious monument to mark the spot 
 where Father Marquette is supposed to have died. 
 
 Father Marquette had given the two young men explicit direc- 
 tions as to his burial. They followed these, and after erecting a 
 cross to mark his final resting place, they continued their journey 
 to St. Ignace with the sad news of the death of its founder. In 
 the spring of 1676 the Ottawas of Canada were returning from a 
 hunting expedition in Southern Michigan. As they passed the 
 grave of Marquette, they took up the remains, separated the 
 bones from the decayed flesh, put them in a bark basket, and 
 safely carried them to St. Ignace, where they were buried under 
 the church which he had built there. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 DEFEATS AND TRIUMPHS OF LA SALLE 
 
 His Post at Lachine — Fort Frontenac — Letters Patent — 
 The Griffin — Fort Miami — Kaskaskia — Peoria — Creve- 
 coeur — Hennepin Exposition — La Salle in New France 
 — Tonti's Trials. 
 
 Robert Cavalier, Sieur de la Salle, is regarded by many as 
 the greatest character in the annals of French history in 
 America. He was born at Rouen in France, November 22, 1643. 
 He was educated by the Jesuits, but at the age of twenty-three 
 he severed his connection with that order and next came to 
 Canada. He was in need of entering into some profitable busi- 
 ness as he had renounced all his wealth when he joined the order 
 of Jesuits. 
 
 Defeats and Triumphs of La Salle 
 
 He first located as a fur trader on the St. Lawrence above 
 Montreal where he prospered. He was on good terms with Jean 
 Talon, the intendant of New France. He was encouraged by 
 Talon to go on exploring expeditions during which he explored 
 Lake Ontario and went as far as Lake Erie. While living at his 
 fur trading station called Lachine, he heard of the Mississippi 
 and thought it might lead to China. In July, 1669, he embarked 
 on his first voyage into the far west. He was accompanied by 
 two priests, De Galinee and D'Ollier. But at the west end of 
 Lake Ontario he disagreed with the two priests and they sep- 
 arated. For the next two years he was occupied in discoveries 
 and explorations. During these two years he was often by 
 himself in his work and at other times he was accompanied by 
 Frenchmen or Indians. 
 
 A wooden fort had been built by Count de Frontenac at the 
 outlet of Lake Ontario, where Kingston now stands. The fort 
 was not well cared for and was of little or no value to the Gov- 
 ernment. The strategic value of the position was well under- 
 stood by La Salle and by Count de Frontenac. In 1674 La Salle 
 went to France to ask the King for a grant of land about the 
 fort. He took a glowing account of the country to the King 
 and this report was confirmed by a letter from M. Talon in 
 which he says that it is possible to surround the English colonies 
 along the Atlantic coast. "Measures adopted to confine them 
 within narrow limits by taking possession which I have caused 
 to be effected do not allow them to spread." 
 
 80 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 81 
 
 Fort Frontenac 
 
 La Salle presented his case to the King through the great Col- 
 bert and created a favorable impression upon the French King. 
 He made bold to ask for the gift of the fort at the outlet of Lake 
 Ontario together with a grant of land of large area. The King 
 yielded to his request and a sort of contract was drawn up 
 which indicated the conditions under which La Salle should hold 
 the fort. They are briefly as follows : 
 
 1. La Salle agreed to repair the fort and keep it in a good 
 state of defense ; to keep a garrison there at all times ; clear and 
 till the soil; provide guns, artillery, ammunition, etc. 
 
 LA SALLE 
 
 2. To repay Count Frontenac for the cost of the fort, since 
 it was constructed by the governor. 
 
 3. To make grants of land to the settlers who came there to 
 live, and to give them all rights and privileges according to the 
 edicts of the Sovereign Council in New France. 
 
 4. To attract the Indians to this place ; grant them lands, in- 
 struct them in trades and labor. 
 
 5. La Salle agreed to build a church, and to maintain two 
 priests who should minister to those who resided at that point. 
 
 6. The King is humbly asked to give La Salle a title of 
 Nobility in recognition of the seven years of hard work he had 
 already performed in New France. 
 
 The King fully complied with the prayer of La Salle and made 
 the gift of the fort and extensive areas around it. La Salle 
 hastened to New France to take charge of his possessions. Here 
 
82 
 
 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 for two or three years he governed for his master in France. 
 The fort he rebuilt of stone, extensive grants were made to 
 Indians, he reared great herds and flocks, and the Iroquois sought 
 his protection. Monks carried on their work under his patron- 
 age, vessels were built and great success attended every plan 
 which La Salle furthered. 
 
 Just at this time Joliet returning from his journey down 
 the Mississippi passed Fort Frontenac and without doubt paid 
 his respects to the rising young statesman. Not only through 
 the report of Joliet, but through the warriors of the Iroquois 
 nation with whom he was in constant communication, he gained 
 a glorious picture of the great interior which awaited the coming 
 
 MAP SHOWING THE ROYAL GRANT TO VIRGINIA, CONNECTICUT AND 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS 
 
 of a master. He decided upon an expedition into this country 
 of the Illinois that the banner of his King might float over it 
 from the Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. It was a part of the plan 
 to build a chain of forts reaching from the St. Lawrence to the 
 mouth of the Mississippi, and to open up the great interior to 
 European commerce which he thought would quickly reach 
 important proportions. 
 
 Bancroft says La Salle had given hours of his time in the 
 solitude of upper Canada to the perusal of the voyages of Colum- 
 bus and the rambles of De Soto, and that his imagination was 
 aflame. To this was added the continued stories that came to 
 him from the Indians about the Ohio river and the lands west 
 of the Alleghanies. Out of all this he built up the outlines of a 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 83 
 
 great political and commercial empire in the Southwest and 
 boldly approached his King for the privilege of carrying out 
 his plans. 
 
 Letters Patent 
 
 In 1678 he went the second time to France. We should keep 
 in mind, however, that he has the warm support of Courcelles 
 and Talon, in New France and the attentive ear of Colbert at 
 the French court. "Colbert listened with delight to the gigantic 
 schemes which La Salle had formed ; and at the special instance 
 of Colbert's eldest son, the Marquis de Seignelay, a youth of 
 extraordinary promise, La Salle obtained an exclusive monopoly 
 in buffalo skins, and a commission from the King to explore the 
 valley of the Mississippi in Letters Patent as follows : 
 
 Letters Patent 
 
 Granted by the King of France to the Sieur de La Salle, on the 
 12th of May, 1678. 
 
 Translation 
 
 Louis, by the grace of God, King of France and of Navarre. 
 To our dear and well-beloved Robert Cavalier, Sieur de la Salle, 
 greeting. 
 
 We have received with favor the very humble petition, which 
 has been presented to us in your name, to permit you to endeavor 
 to discover the Western part of our country of New France; 
 and we have consented to this proposal the more willingly, be- 
 cause there is nothing we have more at heart than the discovery 
 of this country, through which it is probable that a passage 
 may be found to Mexico ; and because your diligence in clearing 
 the lands which we granted to you by decree of our council of 
 the 13th of May, 1675, and, by Letters Patent of the same date, 
 to form habitations upon the said lands, and to put Fort Fronte- 
 nac in good state of defence, the seigniory and Government 
 whereof we likewise granted to you, affords us every reason to 
 hope that you will succeed to our satisfaction, and to the advan- 
 tage of our subjects of the said country. 
 
 For these reasons, and others thereunto moving us, we have 
 permitted, and do hereby permit you, by these presents, signed 
 by our hand, to endeavor to discover the Western part of our 
 country of New France, and, for the execution of this enterprise, 
 to construct forts wherever you shall deem it necessary; which 
 it is our will you shall hold on the same terms and conditions as 
 Fort Frontenac, agreeably and conformably to our said Letters 
 Patent of the 13th of May, 1675, which we have confirmed, as 
 far as is needful, and hereby confirm by these presents. And it 
 is our pleasure that they be executed according to their form 
 and tenor. 
 
84 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 To accomplish this, and everything above mentioned, we give 
 you full powers; on condition, however, that you shall finish 
 this enterprise within five years, in default of which these 
 presents shall be void and of none effect; that you carry on no 
 trade whatever with the savages called Outauoacs, and others 
 who bring their beaver-skins and other peltries to Montreal ; 
 and that the whole shall be done at your expense, and that of 
 your company, to which we have granted the privilege of trade 
 in buffalo-skins. And we call on Sieur de Frontenac, our gov- 
 ernor and lieutenant-general, and on the Sieur de Chesneau, 
 intendant of justice, police and finance, and on the officers who 
 compose the supreme council in the said country, to affix their 
 signatures to these presents; for such is our pleasure. Given 
 at St. Germain en Laye, this 12th day of May, 1678, and of our 
 reign the thirty-fifth. 
 
 (Signed) Louis. 
 
 And lower down, by the king, 
 And sealed with the great seal of yellow wax Colbert. 
 
 The act of the governor, attached to these, is dated the 5th of 
 November, 1678. 
 
 The Patent was somewhat modified from the original request, 
 but La Salle and his friends thought that there were implications 
 in the document which would enable him to carry out his original 
 intentions. La Salle was anxious to have the Patent contain a 
 clause authorizing the founding of settlements in the Southwest, 
 but this idea was not favored by the King, as he thought such 
 enterprises in the West would draw off too many of his subjects 
 from Canada — New France. 
 
 Now that he was clothed with almost absolute authority in 
 the New World outside of New France, La Salle began to cast 
 about to see what he could do in the way of financing his great 
 undertaking. Different friends in France came to his relief 
 and he secured the sum of 45,000 livres, or $9,000 in our present 
 coinage. When he returned to New France, Frontenac arranged 
 to secure for him an additional 14,000 livres. In addition to all 
 this, his "brothers and relations spared nothing to enable him 
 to respond worthily to the royal goodness," and they say that 
 within five years they have advanced to La Salle the sum of 
 500,000 livres. If we are to credit all these figures, La Salle's 
 great undertaking cost him in the neighborhood of $112,000 in 
 gold. 
 
 La Salle while in Paris had the warm friendship of Colbert, 
 the King's great minister, his son, the Marquis de Seignelay, 
 and the Prince de Conti, one of the most prominent military 
 figures in France at this time. Among men of lesser note was 
 Abbe Renandot who was deeply in sympathy with La Salle and 
 to whom he introduced Henri de Tonti, an Italian officer who 
 had gained the favor of Prince de Conti. De Tonti was induced 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 85 
 
 to cast in his fortunes with La Salle and with his help the latter 
 began to gather up the various members of his company for his 
 return to New France. Carpenters, shipwrights, blacksmiths, 
 sailors and common laborers were secured; while large quan- 
 tities of material for the construction of ships, mills, and shops 
 were collected. 
 
 The Griffin 
 
 La Salle and his party sailed from Rochelle July 15, 1678, and 
 landed at Quebec the 15th of September following. The party 
 remained there only a few days when, formally taking leave of 
 Count de Frontenac, they sailed for Fort Frontenac at the outlet 
 of Lake Ontario. Here they remained only four days when they 
 proceeded to Niagara Falls to select a site for the building of 
 a boat for the navigation of the upper lakes. The place selected 
 was at the mouth of Tonawanda creek half way between Buffalo 
 and Niagara Falls. Here the workmen built a ship of some 
 sixty tons called the Griffin. While the ship was under construc- 
 tion in the winter of 1678-9, Father Louis Hennepin was busy 
 making friends with the Senecas — a branch of the Iroquois. La 
 Salle had sent forward some of his men to Michillimacanac with 
 money and European goods with orders to purchase furs of the 
 Indians and have them ready when the Griffin should arrive. 
 Following several weeks later went Tonti who was to have charge 
 of the business phase of the trip of the Griffin. 
 
 The ship was finished and ready to sail on the 7th of August, 
 1679. There were mounted on its deck two small brass cannons 
 and three arquebusses. The ship sailed westward over Lake 
 Erie, passed Detroit on the 10th and there took on Tonti and 
 his party. The vessel reached Mackinaw on the 27th of August. 
 Here La Salle found some of the men whom he had sent forward 
 to purchase furs. Others of the party had gone into the interior. 
 Some enemies of La Salle had dissuaded these men from the 
 work which they had been sent to do. They were told that La 
 Salle was visionary and that his boat would never get to Mack- 
 inaw. This was discouraging, but Tonti was sent into the in- 
 terior to hunt up these men, and La Salle with the Griffin 
 proceeded to Green Bay where he arrived about the 10th of Sep- 
 tember. 
 
 At Green Bay he disposed of large quantities of European 
 goods in exchange for furs. It is said he made a large sum 
 of money in this transaction — that is he would have done so if 
 his ship had ever gotten back to Niagara The ship with its 
 valuable cargo of furs was dispatched to Niagara while La Salle 
 and his company of fourteen proceeded south in small boats 
 along the east side of the lake, and entered the St. Joseph River, 
 November 1, 1679. This point had been agreed on as the place 
 where Tonti should report with the deserters whom he had been 
 
86 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 instructed to find and bring into the presence of La Salle. At 
 the end of twenty days Tonti appeared but he did not have all 
 of the deserters. He was sent back with orders to bring them 
 to the mouth of the St. Joseph. Not being able on account of 
 storms to reach the deserters Tonti returned and the company 
 made ready to ascend the St. Joseph to the Kankakee portage. 
 
 Fort Miami 
 
 Before leaving the mouth of the River St. Joseph, La Salle 
 built a chapel, and a store house expecting that the Griffin would 
 return there soon with goods and supplies from Niagara. The 
 company, thirty-eight in all in eight canoes left Fort Miami 
 the third of December. La Salle hung letters on the trees hoping 
 they would be found by the captain of the Griffin when it should 
 return. The St. Joseph-Kankakee portage was somewhere in the 
 neighborhood of South Bend, Indiana. When they reached this 
 place there was some trouble in finding the portage, but the 
 faithful Mohegan guide coming to their rescue, the company 
 soon found itself on the Kankakee on its way to the Illinois River. 
 The portage was five miles across and the ground was swampy. 
 They soon came to a current in the swampy ground, and into 
 this they put their canoes and then they could say they were on 
 the Illinois. As they proceeded down the sluggish stream, they 
 began to find game, especially fowl. At night they could see 
 the distant fires of hunters who roamed the region through the 
 day. Soon hills began to appear along the stream and more or 
 less timber was to be seen. They passed the site of the present 
 city of Ottawa at the mouth of the Fox River. A few miles 
 farther on they passed Buffalo Rock on their right. This is a 
 singular promontory on the north side of the river, some fifty 
 or sixty feet high and bounded on three sides by perpendicular 
 cliffs and extending from the river far enough to contain several 
 hundred acres of prairie and timber. Some eight miles below 
 Ottawa on the left bank stands the famous "Starved Rock." It 
 has become the best known place in the state. It is a bluff a 
 125 feet high with its front face at the water's edge. We shall 
 hear more of Starved Rock. 
 
 Kaskaskia 
 
 Opposite the Starved Rock is the present town of Utica ; near 
 by was the village of Kaskaskia. This is our third introduction 
 to the village. Our first was when Marquette and Joliet were on 
 their way back from the exploration of the Mississippi. On that 
 occasion they ascended the Illinois River and stopped at Peoria 
 and at Kaskaskia. Here Marquette preached to the Indians and 
 they were so delighted that they made him promise to return 
 and teach them more of the Saviour of the world. Marquette 
 and Joliet reported that the number of cabins or lodges was 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 87 
 
 seventy-four. Father Allouez visited Kaskaskia in 1677, two 
 years after Marquette established the mission there, and he re- 
 ports 450 lodges. Our second introduction to the village of 
 Kaskaskia was the occasion of Marquette's visit in the spring of 
 1675. He reported the presence of 2,000 warriors besides women 
 and children. Our third introduction is in the year 1680 when 
 La Salle reaches this center of the Illinois tribes. Father 
 Zenobius Membre visited Kaskaskia in 1680 and says the village 
 contained seven or eight thousand souls. The village evidently 
 varied greatly as to population. Father Hennepin who was in 
 La Salle's company, says when they reached the village of 
 Kaskaskia in 1680, the lodges were empty — not a soul in sight. 
 The tribes had gone on the annual winter hunt. 
 
 La Salle was very much embarrassed for his company was 
 out of food and the fires which the Indians had set the summer 
 before had driven small game far away from the banks of the 
 river. La Salle's men found an abundance of corn in the 
 "caches," a sort of outdoor cellar. But this corn was for the 
 sustenance of the tribe when it returned from its winter hunt. 
 Among Indians it would be a great offence to disturb this corn. 
 La Salle wished to follow the laws among the Indians, but there 
 was no one of whom he could purchase. He resolved therefore 
 to take as much as they needed, expecting to pay for it if he 
 should find the owners of it. The company stayed but a day in 
 the village, and after three or four days' travel they arrived 
 at the upper part of the lake we call Peoria. As they passed 
 down this lake they discovered the smoke of numerous camp- 
 fires rising through the evening air. The next morning as they 
 came to the south end of the lake, they found that both sides of 
 the river were occupied by lodges. The French were in eight 
 canoes all abreast, Tonti on the left and La Salle on the right. 
 The presence of the French caused a great commotion, and for 
 a time it looked as if war was certain. La Salle did not present 
 his calumet for fear they would consider it a sign of weakness. 
 Presently two chiefs appeared on a hill and arised the peace 
 pipe and in a short time confidence was restored. Fathers 
 Membre and Hennepin went among the people and explained 
 the purpose of their coming. Feasts followed and dancing and 
 good cheer prevailed. 
 
 Peoria 
 
 The Indians were camping on both sides of the river. La Salle 
 called a conference of head men on the west side of the river, 
 and after making them presents of tobacco and hatchets, he 
 told them that he had taken their corn at the Kaskaskia village 
 and was willing to restore it or pay for it as the Indians pre- 
 ferred. They told La Salle that he was welcome to the corn and 
 offered him more. He warned them that if they could not or 
 
88 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 would not minister to his necessities he would go on down the 
 river to the Osages where his blacksmith and gunsmith would 
 be doubly welcome. He also told them that if he stayed in their 
 midst that he must be allowed to build a fort and to refuse to 
 join them in an attack upon the Iroquois since they (the Iro- 
 quois) were subjects of the King of France. However, he told 
 them that if the Iroquois were the attacking party he would 
 defend them and furnish them arms and ammunition. 
 
 He further explained to them that because of the distance to 
 France and the difficult route by way of the St. Lawrence and 
 the Great Lakes, he was desirous of opening a way to France by 
 discovering the way out into the Gulf of Mexico through the 
 Mississippi. The Indians granted all his requests and gave him 
 a glowing picture of the great river. They said there were no 
 other Europeans on the river, but an Indian from the Gulf 
 coast said he had seen boats with white wings, and with white 
 puffs, and noises like thunder, out on the Gulf of Mexico. To 
 La Salle the skies were clearing. Here he was among friends 
 within a short distance of the mouth of the river and he slept 
 soundly as becometh a care-free mind. 
 
 In the night an Indian chief from the Mascoutins together 
 with several Miamis came among the Illinois Indians at Peoria 
 and undid in a few hours what La Salle in several hours had 
 established. They brought presents for the Illinois Indians and 
 easily poisoned their minds against La Salle. Monso, the lying 
 chief, told the Illinois Indians that La Salle was an agent of the 
 Iroquois and that the latter Indians would soon make an invasion 
 of the Illinois country. The Iroquois were greatly dreaded, for 
 we must remember that the Illinois were Algonquins and that 
 there had always been a deadly hatred between the two nations. 
 
 But there is always a silver lining. On the morrow an Illinois 
 chief came to La Salle and revealed the entire previous night's 
 work by Monso. La Salle was very grateful to the Illinois chief 
 and repaid him with presents. That same afternoon La Salle 
 and others of his party were invited to dine with a brother of 
 the head chief, Nicanope. The friends were seated around the 
 kettles of food, when the warrior arose and warned La Salle not 
 to proceed any further south as the journey was full of dangers 
 from the elements as well as from the Indians in that region. 
 La Salle arose and thanked the warrior for the advice given, but 
 said the greater the danger the greater the honor when the 
 danger is over ; Frenchmen do not flinch from danger. He then 
 told the warrior that "We were not asleep, my brother, when 
 Monso came to tell you under cover of night, that we were spies 
 of the Iroquois. The presents he gave you, that you might be- 
 lieve his falsehoods, are at this moment buried in the earth under 
 this lodge. If he told you the truth, why did he skulk away in 
 the dark? Why did he not show himself by day? — Go after this 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 89 
 
 impostor, Monso, and bring him back, that we may answer him 
 face to face ; for he never saw either of us on the Iroquois, and 
 what can he know of the plots he pretends to reveal?" 
 
 The next morning- six of his men were gone. They had been 
 dissatisfied and took this occasion to be a good time to desert. 
 La Salle called all his men before him and delivered a strong 
 condemnation against cowardice or ingratitude. He insisted 
 that now was a critical time and that if they would remain loyal 
 till spring he would gladly release them and they could then 
 return to Canada "without dishonor." In addition to this test 
 of La Salle's great powers, there was an effort made to poison 
 him through his food. 
 
 Crevecoeur 
 
 By the middle of January, 1680, the ice in the river was 
 loosened and Hennepin and La Salle went in their canoes about 
 two miles below the Illinois village and selected a spot for a 
 fort. The place is described as a hill 200 yards from the southern 
 bank of the river, in front, low marshy ground, a ravine on each 
 side of the hill. Here they built their fort and dug a moat on 
 the rear side, thus surrounding it with water. A palisade was 
 built around the grounds, and the place was considered secure 
 against either Illinois or Iroquois. The fort was named Creve- 
 coeur. 
 
 La Salle was now relieved from the annoyance of the chatter 
 of hypocrisy and could give earnest thought to the fortunes of 
 the Griffin. It had now been four months since he bade her 
 farewell at Green Bay. He fully expected some word from her 
 long ago. He is not only disappointed, but is in dire need of the 
 supplies which she was to bring on her return trip. He can 
 do nothing constructing a ship to sail the lower Mississippi and 
 the Gulf of Mexico without the materials which he left at Fort 
 Frontenac. Many explanations were offered for the apparent 
 loss of the Griffin, but explanations were no good at this time, 
 the ship was certainly lost. It was a gloomy time. The stories 
 from the Illinois were constantly being rehearsed about the fort 
 and there was a real fear among the French men of the dangers 
 on the Mississippi River. 
 
 One day an Illinois hunter was returned from a long hunt 
 without knowledge of the unpleasant conditions existing between 
 the French and the Illinois Indians. La Salle took this young 
 hunter to the fort and after a good meal secured from him a 
 frank confession of the conditions on the Mississippi River and 
 of the character of the people along its course. His story greatly 
 heartened La Salle and his company. La Salle repaired to the 
 village and told the chief men that he had been told by some 
 super-natural agent that they were all lying about the river 
 and in a short time they confessed that all they had said about 
 
90 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 the dangers were false. Shortly after this, Indians from the 
 tribes along the Mississippi came to the village and they too 
 reported very favorably as to navigation of the Mississippi but 
 in addition said the tribes along the river would gladly welcome 
 the Frenchmen. 
 
 "La Salle, apparently ruined in fortune, by the loss of the 
 Griffin ; pursued by enemies at Quebec and elsewhere ; surrounded 
 by nations whose friendship was uncertain ; in a wilderness al- 
 most without limits, 1,500 miles from any prospect of succor — 
 resolved in his mighty mind, to set out immediately on foot for 
 Canada in quest of aid." But as time passed day by day La Salle 
 was kept busy at work and in receiving delegations of Indians 
 from all the surrounding country. He began the construction 
 of a boat of considerable dimensions. This was for use on the 
 Mississippi and on the Gulf of Mexico. It was forty-two feet 
 long and twelve feet wide. The lumber was sawn from the trees 
 which grew all about. One purpose that La Salle had in going 
 back to Fort Frontenac was to bring cordage, sails, and certain 
 iron pieces he needed for this "Monster of the Mississippi." 
 
 But La Salle was further encouraged by the arrival of dele- 
 gations from the surrounding tribes. La Salle's fame had gone 
 abroad not only as a resourceful and fearless leader of men, but 
 as a man who was clothed by his Letters Patent with authority 
 over all the regions round about. One delegation was from the 
 far north — perhaps about the head of the waters of the Missis- 
 sippi River. They extended a pressing invitation to La Salle to 
 visit their country, assuring him that there was great wealth 
 of beaver and other furs, and also saying that it was very near 
 to the Western Sea. These reports created in the mind of La 
 Salle the value in his future work, of an acquaintance with the 
 country on the upper Mississippi. It has been thought that the 
 visitors from the upper Mississippi knew that the French were 
 easily influenced by the prospects of a flourishing trade in furs 
 and in this way they secured a promise from La Salle that he 
 would consider the matter of sending a group of his men to 
 visit in this far away country. 
 
 Hennepin Expedition 
 
 La Salle was now fully determined to go back to Fort Fron- 
 tenac for the needed supplies, and he also thought it advisable 
 to send a delegation down the Illinois and up the Mississippi. 
 Three men were selected as the leaders of the expedition. They 
 were Michael Acco, a Frenchman, Antoine Anguel, from Picardy, 
 France, but who was called Picard du Gay, and in addition to 
 these two robust men, the third was Father Louis Hennepin. 
 Father Hennepin wrote a full story of this expedition, but most 
 students of this period of explorations and discoveries in the 
 west, believe that his tendency to magnify himself led him to 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 91 
 
 overstate some things and fail to give credit to other people 
 where it was due. 
 
 La Salle furnished the party with a few European articles 
 with which they were to win the Indians whom they might 
 meet. The departure as on February the 29th, 1680. It was 
 a matter of great interest to the men about Fort Crevecoeur. 
 The priests were present to bless the venture and the Frenchmen 
 in the fort assembled and gave their best wishes. Father Ga- 
 briel Ribourde gave the benediction, "Be of good courage and 
 let your heart be comforted." 
 
 Let us follow briefly this expedition into the northwest. 
 Father Hennepin himself has written very fully of this ad- 
 venture. At evening of the first day they met Illinois Indians 
 returning from the south. Hennepin speaks of the large hills, 
 bluffs, along the course of the river and also of the fine timber 
 on the banks. On March the 7th, they passed a trible of Tama- 
 roa Indians some four or five miles above the mouth of the 
 Illinois. They reached the mouth of the river probably on the 
 8th ; he gave a description of the country which is very accurate. 
 Here they remained till March 12th on account of ice in the 
 Mississippi. They proceeded up the river giving good atten- 
 tion to the lay of the land. 
 
 Father Hennepin had taken St. Anthony of Padua, Italy, as 
 their patron saint, and so when he reached the falls he called 
 them the falls of St. Anthony. Here he erected a cross and 
 the arms of France. They stopped, here only a few days when 
 on the 11th of April they were captured by the Sioux Indians 
 who robbed the Frenchmen of all they had. They were taken 
 farther up the river and kept through the summer. In the fall 
 they were rescued by Daniel Greysolon Du L'Hut (Duluth), a 
 trader of the Lake Superior region. After their release, Father 
 Hennepin and Du Gay returned to France where the former 
 wrote and published a book called "La Louisiane" in 1683. 
 Acco later returned to Peoria and remained. 
 
 La Salle in New France 
 
 On the first of March, 1680, the next day following the de- 
 parture of Father Hennepin, La Salle took his leave of Fort 
 Crevecoeur — he started for New France. Ample preparation 
 had been made for his journey. Two well built birch bark canoes 
 were provided. They were loaded with baggage — "blankets, 
 clothing, kettle, hatchet, gun, powder, lead, and skins for moc- 
 casins." La Salle had selected six of his best Frenchmen to 
 go with him on this return trip. He also had a Mohegan hunter 
 who should act as guide. Before taking his departure he gave 
 Tonti instructions to take up his time till he should return. 
 
 The journey up the Illinois River was a trying one for the 
 river was full of ice and the snow and cold rendered traveling 
 a difficult undertaking. For miles and miles they pulled their 
 
92 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 canoes on sledges which they had built. Their nights were spent 
 about a roaring fire in the forest. On the 10th of March they 
 reached the Kaskaskia village where a few weeks before they 
 had taken the corn from the caches. Here they remained sev- 
 eral days. They were visited by one of the chiefs of the Illinois 
 Indians named Chassogoac (Chicago), who was very friendly 
 with La Salle. The chief agreed to send to the Frenchmen at 
 Crevecoeur a canoe full of corn which two of the Frenchmen 
 undertook to deliver. La Salle and the chief had a long con- 
 ference in which the chief approved of La Salle's plans, and 
 pledged support, both moral and physical. 
 
 The party proceeded up the Illinois and its branches till they 
 reached the swampy lands of the Calumet region and by the 
 24th of March they found themselves at Fort Miami at the 
 mouth of the St. Joseph River. At Fort Miami La Salle met 
 two of his men who had been sent back earlier to search for 
 tidings from the Griffin. They said they had been on all sides 
 of Lake Michigan and there was no trace of the ship. They 
 were ordered to proceed to Crevecoeur and join Tonti. 
 
 From Fort Miami, La Salle proceeded overland to Detroit. 
 Two men were sent to Mackinac, while he and the other two 
 proceeded under great hardships to Niagara. Here he heard no 
 word from the Griffin, but he does hear of the St. Pierre, loaded 
 with 20,000 francs worth of merchandise. It had foundered in 
 the St. Lawrence and all the cargo was lost. He also found that 
 sixteen of his men had gone back to France and that a portion 
 of his goods at Niagara had been stolen. From Niagara he 
 sent supplies to Fort Crevecoeur with a warning to Tonti that 
 the Iroquois were getting ready for an attack on the Illinois. 
 He passed on to Fort Frontenac. He here recruited more men 
 whom he despatched to Fort Crevecoeur. After putting some 
 business matters in order he returned to Fort Crevecoeur, gath- 
 ering men and material as he went. When he had gotten his 
 forces all together he had a ship carpenter, a surgeon, three 
 soldiers, two sawyers, two masons, two laborers, and an Indian. 
 There were many discouragements along the way, but by the 
 first of December, 1680, the company was in the vicinity of the 
 Kaskaskia village, on the Illinois. The great village was in 
 ruins. It had been burned and nothing remained but blackened 
 poles upon which hung "ghastly human heads." From here the 
 company went on down the Illinois which was lined on opposite 
 sides with Illinois and Iroquois warriors. When he reached 
 Fort Crevecoeur it too was abandoned and the village of the 
 Peoria Indians nearby was in ruins. 
 
 Tonti's Trials 
 
 When La Salle left Fort Crevecoeur in March, 1680, he left 
 Tonti in command with a company of fifteen Frenchmen, be- 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 93 
 
 sides two priests, Fathers Zenobius Membre and Garbriel de la 
 Ribourde. It was not difficult to see that the men who were 
 with Tonti were very unsettled and that they might at any time 
 desert. About the 15th of April two Frenchmen arrived who 
 had been sent from Fort Miami at the mouth of the St. Joseph 
 River. These two men brought discouraging news. They said 
 it was believed the Griffin was lost, and that La Salle was a 
 ruined man financially. The men with Tonti had received no 
 pay for some time and this news of La Salle's probable finan- 
 cial failure added greatly to the unrest. 
 
 These two Frenchmen, La Chapelle and Leblanc, brought also 
 a letter from La Salle telling Tonti to proceed to fortify the 
 great rock which we now call Starved Rock, near the great 
 
 TONTI 
 
 village of the Kaskaskia Indians. This Tonti made ready to 
 do. Taking four men he proceeded up the river to the vicinity 
 of Starved Rock. Tonti had not been gone more than a week 
 or so, when those who were left at Fort Crevecoeur, excepting 
 two, decided to abandon the fort, and after taking most every- 
 thing of value they began a return journey to Canada. A 
 servant of Tonti and another faithful man hastened to Starved 
 Rock to tell him of the desertion. Tonti immediately despatched 
 two of his four men to inform La Salle of this piece of bad news. 
 The Iroquois were bitter foes of all Algonquins and the Illi- 
 nois were of that nation, but there was another element of 
 trouble. The Iroquois looked upon La Salle and the French 
 government as trespassing upon their trade territory. They 
 therefore worked themselves into a pitch of frenzy in order 
 to attack the Illinois, who at that time were in the Kaskaskia 
 
94 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 village. There were 500 warriors in the attacking party be- 
 sides a band of Miamis who were in reality friendly and neigh- 
 bors to the Kaskaskia. Tonti with three Frenchmen and the 
 two priests were living in the village. 
 
 About the middle of September the quiet, lazy village was 
 thrown into consternation by the appearance of a friendly 
 Shawnee, who told them the Iroquois were within a league or 
 so of the Kaskaskia village. There were about 500 Illinois 
 warriors who were ready for the defense of their women and 
 children. 
 
 Some young scouts returned with word that a Frenchman 
 was seen among the Iroquois, and from that it grew to the 
 story that La Salle was among the Iroquois. It was next re- 
 ported that Tonti and his Frenchmen were traitors to the Illi- 
 nois. Tonti now had a most difficult task to preserve his life and 
 that of his companions. This he was able to do after much 
 effort, both physical and diplomatic. 
 
 The women and children in the village were sent down the 
 river to places of safety and the battle was begun. First the 
 Iroquois burned the village of Kaskaskia, dug up the bodies of 
 the dead, scattered their bones over the ground and hung the 
 skulls on the burned poles of the wigwams. There was little 
 real fighting for a couple of weeks. Both armies, one on one 
 side of the river, and one on the other, moved down the Illinois, 
 but in a short time the Illinois Indians began to scatter. It was 
 then that they were attacked and 700 women and children were 
 massacred near the mouth of the Illinois River. The Iroquois 
 now moved about over the country carrying death and destruc- 
 tion in all directions. The conflict was over and the Iroquois 
 returned to their homes in New York. 
 
 Tonti, Father Membre and the Frenchmen (Father Ribourde 
 having been brutally murdered by a band of Kickapoo) made 
 their way to the vicinity of Lake Michigan and took shelter 
 among the Pottawattomi. This was the situation when La Salle 
 returned in the late fall or winter of 1680-81. 
 
 La Salle was therefore obliged to return to Canada to find 
 Tonti and as many of his men as possible. Various places were 
 visited in the spring and summer of 1681 in search for Tonti. 
 La Salle took advantage of the opportunity that came to him to 
 trade in furs and thus he was enabled to replenish his treasury 
 which was sadly depleted. He spent some time in Green Bay and 
 from there sent out inquiries in all directions. He eventually 
 found Tonti in Mackinaw. After a trip to Quebec to make 
 some business arrangements he returned to the mouth of the 
 St. Joseph River. Here he gathered together eighteen Indians, 
 ten squaws and one child, and twenty-three Frenchmen, making 
 in all fifty-four, and counting La Salle we see there were fifty- 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 95 
 
 five people ready for another effort to find the mouth of the 
 Mississippi. 
 
 By the end of December, 1681, they were all at the Chicago 
 portage. The weather was very severe. They build sledges on 
 which they placed their canoes and luggage and started down 
 the frozen Illinois. When they reached the village of Kaskaskia, 
 it was still in ruins. They reached Crevecoeur on the 25th of 
 January, 1782. The fort was in fair condition. Here they 
 found open water and they constructed canoes for the journey 
 down the Mississippi. They reached the Mississippi on Feb- 
 ruary 6th, but were obliged to remain for several days on 
 account of the great ice floes in the Father of Waters. Nothing 
 unusual occurred as they proceeded down the river till they 
 reached the mouth of the Missouri. Here they halted and 
 heard wonderful stories about this river from the west. A 
 few days later they halted at the great village of the Tama- 
 roas, which was located about three or four miles below the 
 Eades bridge on the Illinois side. The place was called Cahokia. 
 As they proceeded they mentioned objects which enable one 
 familiar with the country to recognize the places along the 
 river. They soon passed the mouth of the Ohio from the east. 
 By the end of February they were in the vicinity of Vicksburg. 
 Here they hunted and built a small fort which the named Prud- 
 homme in honor of one of their number who was lost for nine 
 days. The journey from here to the mouth of the river was 
 uneventful, except that they got acquainted with all the Indians 
 along the river to its mouth. 
 
 They reached the mouth of the Mississippi early in April, 
 explored the three channels or mouths and all gathered above 
 the forks of the river to take formal possession of the river and 
 the territory which it drained. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 LA SALLE'S UNFINISHED TASK 
 
 LaSalle's Vision — The Process Verbal — Stricken With 
 Fever — The Great Fort — LaSalle at Matagorda Bay — 
 Tonti Alone 
 
 LaSalle was a far-seeing statesman, and he could not return 
 to his base of operations in Canada till he had figured out that 
 the territory drained by so large a river as the Mississippi was 
 indeed very extensive. He was personally familiar with it from 
 the lakes to the gulf. It was also possible that he knew that 
 its eastern parts lay far east of the Ohio. He also knew from 
 the size of the upper Mississippi and the Missouri, as well as of 
 the Arkansas and the Red, that the western and northwestern 
 slopes extended hundreds of miles toward the setting sun. He 
 had become so familiar with its resources that he could easily 
 say it was a region of great wealth. It was therefore his duty 
 to his King to take formal possession of the vast region in the 
 name of his Sovereign. He probably well knew that he had 
 passed through sections that had been visited and claimed by 
 the Spanish. But it was the part of wisdom from the French- 
 man's point of view to ignore completely the claims which Spain 
 or any other country might have on the lower part of the great 
 river and its adjacent territory. 
 
 "His sagacious eye discerned the magnificent resources of the 
 country. As he floated down its flood ; as he framed a cabin on 
 the first Chickasa bluff ; as he raised the cross by the Arkansas ; 
 as he planted the arms of France and the cross near the Gulf 
 of Mexico — he anticipated the future affluence of emigrants, and 
 heard in the distance the footsteps of the advancing multitude 
 that was coming to take possession of the valley. Meantime, he 
 claimed the territory for France, and gave it the name of 
 Louisiana. This was the proudest period of success of Louis 
 XIV." 
 
 LaSalle's Vision 
 
 In making up his party in Canada for this important expedi- 
 tion, LaSalle did not forget that he would have need of some 
 one in official relation to the government. He therefore secured 
 the services of one Jaques De La Metairie, notary of Fort Fron- 
 tenac, Canada. LaSalle saw how much weight would be added to 
 the claim of his King over the interior of the continent if all his 
 work in reaching the mouth of the Mississippi could be attested 
 by an officer of the King. De La Metairie was therefore directed 
 
 96 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 97 
 
 by LaSalle to keep a careful record of the various incidents 
 which took place along the journey from the lakes to the gulf. 
 This he did. 
 
 Before returning, LaSalle assembled the entire company on a 
 high bank along the river and there erected a column to which 
 was attached the arms of France, wrought from a copper kettle ; 
 and inscription reading: "Louis Le Grand, Roy de France et de 
 Navarre, regne le ge Avril, 1682." LaSalle proclaimed that he 
 took possession of the Mississippi and all the land it drained in 
 the name of his King. A cross was affixed to one of the trees 
 and the Te Deum was chanted. At the foot of the tree holding 
 the cross was planted a leaden plate upon which was a Latin 
 inscription giving a brief account of the discovery of the river 
 and its mouth and reciting that LaSalle and his company were 
 the first white people to traverse the Mississippi. 
 
 De La Metairie then presented the "Proces Verbal," which 
 was signed by himself and twelve others, among whom was 
 LaSalle, Tonti and Father Zenobe (Membre), and Jean Michel, 
 surgeon. The following is a portion of this document : 
 
 Process Verbal 
 
 "Of the taking possession of Louisiana, at the Mouth of the 
 Mississippi, by the Sieur De La Salle, on the 9th of April, 1682. 
 
 Jaques De La Metairie, Notary of Fort Frontenac, in New 
 France, commissioned to exercise the said function of notary 
 during the voyage to Louisiana, in North America, by M. de la 
 Salle, Governor of Fort Frontenac for the King, and commandant 
 of the said discovery by the commission of his Majesty given at 
 St. Germain, on the 12th day of May, 1678. 
 
 "To all those to whom these presents shall come, greeting: 
 Know, that having been requested by the said Sieur de la Salle 
 to deliver to him an act, signed by us and by the witnesses 
 therein named, of possession by him taken of the country of 
 Louisiana, near the three mouths of the River Colbert, in the 
 Gulf of Mexico, on the 9th of April, 1682. 
 
 "In the name of the most high, mighty, invincible, and vic- 
 torious Prince, Louis, the Great, by the Grace of God, King of 
 France and of Navarre Fourteenth of that name, and of his 
 heirs, and the successor of his crown, we, the aforesaid notary, 
 have delivered the said act to the said Sieur de la Salle, the 
 tenor whereof follows : 
 
 "An hour afterwards, we came to the Village of Maheouala, 
 lately destroyed, and containing dead bodies and marks of blood. 
 Two leagues below this place we encamped. We continued our 
 voyage till the 6th, when we discovered three channels by which 
 the River Colbert discharges itself into the sea. We landed on 
 the bank of the most western channel, about three leagues from 
 
 6V1 
 
98 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 its mouth. On the 7th, M. de la Salle went to reconnoitre the 
 shores of the neighboring sea, and M. de Tonty likewise exam- 
 ined the great middle channel. They found these two outlets 
 beautiful, large and deep. On the 8th, we reascended the river, 
 a little above its confluence with the sea, to find a dry place, 
 beyond the reach of inundations. The elevation of the north 
 Pole was here about 27.° Here we prepared a column and a 
 cross, and to the said column were affixed the arms of France, 
 with this inscription: 
 
 Louis Le Grand Roi De France Et De Navarre, Regne; 
 Le Neuvieme, Avril, 1682. 
 "The whole party, under arms, chanted the Te Deum, the 
 Exaudiat, the Domine salvum fac Regem ; and then after a 
 salute of firearms and cries of Vive le Roi, the column was 
 erected by M. de la Salle, who, standing near it, said, with a loud 
 voice, in French: "In the name of the most high, mighty, in- 
 vincible, and victorious Prince, Louis the Great, by the Grace 
 of God, King of France and of Navarre, Fourteenth of that 
 name, this ninth day of April, one thousand six hundred and 
 eight-two, I, in virtue of the commission of his Majesty which 
 I hold in my hand, and which may be seen by all whom it may 
 concern, have taken, and do now take, in the name of his Majesty 
 and of his successors to the crown, possession of this country of 
 Louisiana, the seas, harbours, ports, bays, adjacent straits; and 
 all the nations, people, provinces, cities, towns, villages, mines, 
 minerals, fisheries, streams, and rivers comprised in the extent 
 of the said Louisiana, from the mouth of the great river St. 
 Louis on the eastern side, otherwise called Ohio, Alighin, Sipore, 
 or Chickachas, and this with the consent of the Chaouanons, 
 Chikachas, and other people dwelling therein, with whom we 
 have made alliance; as also along the River Colbert, or Missis- 
 sipi, and rivers which discharge themselves therein, from its 
 source beyond the country of the Kious or Nadauessious, and 
 this with their consent, and with the consent of the Motantees, 
 Illinois, Mesigameas, Natches, Koroas, which are the most con- 
 siderable nations dwelling therein, with whom also we have 
 made alliance, either by ourselves or by others in our behalf; 
 as far as its mouth at the sea, or Gulf of Mexico, about the 27th 
 degree of the elevation of the North Pole, and also to the mouth 
 of River of Palms; upon the assurance which we have received 
 from all these nations, that we are the first Europeans who 
 have descended or ascended the said River Colbert; hereby pro- 
 testing against all those who may in future undertake to invade 
 any or all of these countries, people, or lands, above described, 
 to the prejudice of the right of his Majesty, acquired by the 
 consent of the nations herein named. Of which, and of all that 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 99 
 
 can be needed, I hereby take to witness those who hear me, and 
 demand an act of the Notary, as required by law. 
 
 "To which the whole assembly responded with shouts of Vive 
 le Roi, and with salutes of firearms. Moreover, the said Sieur 
 de la Salle caused to be buried at the foot of the tree, to which 
 the cross was attached a leaden plate, on one side of which were 
 engraved the arms of France, and the following Latin inscrip- 
 tion: 
 
 "After which the Sieur de la Salle said, that his Majesty, as 
 eldest son of the Church, would annex no country to his crown, 
 without making it his chief care to establish the Christian re- 
 ligion therein, and that its symbol must now be planted ; which 
 was accordingly done at once by erecting a cross, before which 
 the Vexilla and the Domine salvum fac Regem were sung. 
 Whereupon the ceremony was concluded with cries of Vive le 
 Roi. 
 
 "Of all and every of the above, the said Sieur de la Salle hav- 
 ing required of us an instrument, we have delivered to him the 
 same, signed by us, and by the undersigned witnesses, this ninth 
 day of April, one thousand six hundred and eighty-two. 
 
 "La Metairie, 
 
 Notary. 
 
 "De LaSalle, 
 
 "P. Zenobe, Recollect Missionary, 
 
 "Henry De Tonty, 
 
 "Francois de Boisrondet, 
 
 "Jean Bourdon, 
 
 "Sieur d'Autry, 
 
 "Jaques Cauchois, 
 
 "Pierre You, 
 
 "Gilles Meucret, 
 
 "Jean Michel, Surgeon, 
 
 "Jean Dulignon, 
 
 "Nocolas de la Salle." 
 
 Stricken With Fever 
 
 On the 10th of April, 1782, LaSalle and his company turned 
 their faces toward the north, and began the hard battle against 
 the current of the mighty Mississippi. But LaSalle, with some 
 close friends, pushed ahead more rapidly and reached Fort 
 Prudhomme, on the Chickasa bluffs, where a burning fever 
 forced him to abandon his journey. He occupied a cabin he had 
 built on the downward trip. He had no means of relief and a 
 messenger was sent down the river to urge the surgeon, who 
 was with the second section, to hasten to the relief of LaSalle. 
 This was done, but when they reached Fort Prudhomme it was 
 
100 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 decided that Tonti, with the main body of the company, should 
 proceed May 6th to Mackinaw to care for the interests of LaSalle. 
 
 Tonti, with several of the party, made his way up the Missis- 
 sippi, and along the Illinois and reached Mackinaw about the 
 middle of July, 1682. Tonti met with many obstacles on his 
 return journey, but he was a real diplomat and was able to quiet 
 his foes, and to strengthen his friendships among the Indians. 
 
 LaSalle was obliged to remain at Fort Prudhomme till the 
 early part of September, 1682 — he says forty days. Father 
 Zenobe Membre ministered to him and nursed him back to 
 partial health. They left Fort Prudhomme about the first of 
 August. They proceeded up the Mississippi and up the Illinois. 
 At Fort Crevecoeur LaSalle saw his ship partly burned. He 
 left some of his men here to hold the place for their master. 
 LaSalle reached Fort Miami, at the mouth of the St. Joseph 
 River, late in August. In September he reached Mackinaw, 
 where Tonti awaited him. Already he had received word that 
 he had active enemies in Canada. The following from Parkman 
 will give us some knowledge of the situation at this time. It is 
 a quotation from a letter which LaSalle wrote to a friend in 
 France in the fall of 1682: 
 
 "Though my discovery is made, and I have descended the 
 Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico, I can not send you this year 
 either an account of my journey or a map. On the way back, I 
 was attacked by a deadly disease which kept me in danger of 
 my life for forty days, and left me so weak that I could think 
 of nothing for four months after. (The surgeon, Jean Michel, 
 had bled LaSalle to counteract the fever.) I have hardly 
 strength enough now to write my letters — besides, my presence 
 is absolutely necessary in the place to which I am going. I pray 
 you, my dear sir, to give me once more all the help you can. I 
 have great enemies, who have succeeded in all they have under- 
 taken. I do not pretend to resist them, but only to justify my- 
 self, so that I can pursue by sea the plans I have begun here by 
 land." 
 
 LaSalle here acknowledges his inability to contend with his 
 enemies in New France, but hopes to justify himself before the 
 King and secure his permission to reach the Illinois country by 
 sea and the lower Mississippi River and thus avoid the necessity 
 of reaching Fort St. Louis by way of the St. Lawrence and the 
 lakes. 
 
 LaSalle was desirous of reporting to the King of France in 
 person, but that was impossible at this time, and he therefore 
 deputized Father Membre to proceed to France with a full 
 account of the discovery of the great river and its mouth. The 
 good priest made his way to Quebec and sailed for France in 
 the same ship which carried Count Frontenac to his native land. 
 Father Membre said of his work in this new world : "I can not 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 101 
 
 say that my little efforts produced certain fruits. With regard 
 to these nations perhaps some one by a secret effort of grace 
 has profited ; this, God only knows. All we have done is to see 
 the state of these nations, and to open the way to the Gospel, 
 and to missionaries; having baptized only two infants whom I 
 saw at the point of death and who in fact died in our presence." 
 
 In the fall of 1682 there were reports of an invasion of the 
 Iroquois into the Illinois country. LaSalle sent Tonti to the 
 south end of Lake Michigan with a small band of soldiers, and 
 wrote to the governor of New France, at Quebec, asking for 
 arms and ammunition for the defense of the Illinois country. 
 LaSalle himself went into the Illinois country in December, 1682, 
 and found Tonti at Fort Crevecoeur. It has been stated that the 
 mouth of the Illinois River had been considered as a good place 
 to make the center of his authority in the Illinois country, but 
 finally the region about Starved Rock was selected, and Tonti, 
 LaSalle and their followers of probably two score ascended the 
 Illinois to what afterward came to be known as Starved Rock. 
 This region had been greatly praised by Joliet and Marquette, 
 and both Tonti and LaSalle have given extravagant descriptions 
 of it. Tonti says it is as charming a country as one can see any- 
 where. The beautiful landscape, the abundance of animals — 
 buffalo, deer, wild turkeys, and smaller game — make it one of 
 the most desirable places he had ever seen. The river, the 
 islands, the falls, the alternation of groves and prairies, gives 
 great variety and beauty to the outlook from the many elevations 
 that abound along the Illinois. These descriptions had reached 
 the barren regions about Quebec and also had been repeated 
 enthusiastically in France, and as a result there were jealous 
 eyes looking toward the new center of commerce and political 
 power which was to grow up about the far famed Fort St. Louis. 
 
 The Great Fort 
 
 The new center of power in the Illinois country was to be 
 marked by one of the most picturesque and easily defended forts 
 of all those which La Salle had up to this time constructed. The 
 location is familiar to all the school children of Illinois. It stands 
 on the south side of the river some eight or nine miles below 
 Ottawa. The bluff is more than 125 feet high and is flanked 
 by three precipitous sides. One faces the river and is practically 
 a perpendicular wall from the water's edge to the top of the 
 bluff. Here the stronghold was to be constructed. The flat top 
 is more than an acre in extent and is approached from the side 
 opposite the river, and here only with difficulty. 
 
 The fort was constructed in the winter of 1682-3, and was 
 finished by the middle of March. There was built along the south 
 edge of the flat top of the rock a palisade of logs ten inches in 
 diameter and twenty-two feet high. A palisade of fifteen feet 
 
102 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 in height enclosed the other three sides, and in addition a parapet 
 of wooden logs was built around the edge of the flat top and just 
 within the palisade. These palisades bore heavy wooden spikes 
 with iron tips as a further safe-guard against the dreaded Iro- 
 quois. With the palisades were quite a few houses. Some were 
 used as dwellings, some for store houses, and one was a chapel. 
 On the completion of the fort sometime in March, 1683, the royal 
 ensign of France was unfurled. This must have been a proud 
 moment for La Salle. Here he was in the center of a great 
 agricultural region; rich valleys and prairies, with timber, 
 water, rocks, and wild game. Here he felt could be built up a 
 powerful stronghold for the King, and a great commercial center 
 for himself. Fort St. Louis was midway between the Gulf of 
 Mexico and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 
 
 But unfortunately La Salle's enemies were beginning to ap- 
 pear, and among these was no less a personage than the gover- 
 nor of Canada, La Febvre de la Barre, who had succeeded Count 
 Frontenac. La Barre had been instructed by the King to grant 
 no more permits to explorers to go into the West. It was the 
 King's notion that the French would better stay in Canada and 
 cultivate the soil. However, the new governor was directed to 
 allow La Salle to proceed with his enterprises, unless it should 
 appear that these might work to the disadvantage of the interest 
 of the King. Le Barre was scarcely installed in his office before 
 he began to place himself in opposition to La Salle. The latter 
 did not know that the new governor was against him, and he 
 therefore wrote to him asking for favors and telling the new 
 governor that there were men in Canada who would do all they 
 could to injure La Salle's cause. Many of La Salle's men would 
 be detained in Canada and thus the plans which La Salle wished 
 to carry out would be frustrated. 
 
 All through the spring of 1683, Tonti as the agent of La Salle 
 was going about through all the country inviting the Indians to 
 come to Fort St. Louis and settle as the best mode of protecting 
 themselves against the Iroquois. Tonti found that La Salle's 
 enemies were busy and it was with great difficulty that their 
 work could be overcome. However, in the course of the summer 
 of 1683, thousands of Indians were gathered about Fort St. 
 Louis. The Kaskaskia Indians now returned to their village on 
 the opposite side of the river and all along the Illinois were 
 settled the tribes and sub-tribes of the Algonquins. La Salle 
 reported to his King that he had under his care and control 
 4,000 warriors which would mean at least 20,000 souls. La 
 Salle now began to give out grants of land and everything 
 points toward a successful enterprise. What he most needed 
 was Frenchmen who were sympathetic with his great under- 
 taking. The governor of Canada had detained several of La 
 Salle's agents who had gone to Montreal for supplies which were 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 103 
 
 badly needed at Fort St. Louis. In the mid-summer of 1683 
 La Salle in desperation went to the Chicago portage and from 
 there, June 4th, wrote a long letter to La Barre asking his co- 
 operation in holding Fort St. Louis for the King against the 
 threatened attacks of the Iroquois. 
 
 In the summer of 1683 Le Barre sent one Durantaye with 
 authority to make friends with the Indians and to arrest La Salle 
 if the reports were found to be true that he was setting himself 
 up as a potentate among the Indians of the interior. Le Barre 
 also took the ground that La Salle had no right to be in the Illi- 
 nois country since his patent only lacked a few days of expiring. 
 
 In August, 1683, La Salle bade his faithful followers at Fort 
 St. Louis goodby, and took up his journey to Quebec and thence 
 to France to secure the consent of the King to further plans 
 which he had. Tonti was left in charge of the fort and of the 
 twenty Frenchmen to whom La Salle had granted lands about 
 the fort as well as the savages. At Chicago La Salle wrote a 
 letter to his friends at Fort St. Louis and told them he would 
 return in the spring of 1684. Shortly after the departure of 
 La Salle, Tonti was ordered to turn Fort St. Louis over to a 
 representative of Le Barre and to report at Quebec. Here he 
 was held virtually a prisoner till 1685 when by order of the 
 King he was restored to the command of Fort St. Louis. 
 
 La Salle at Matagorda Bay 
 
 La Salle reached France in due season and presented an ac- 
 count of all he had done and plans of what he wished to do, to 
 the King, who was deeply interested in them. The new plans 
 of La Salle provided for an expedition on a large scale to come 
 to the Illinois country by way of the mouth of the Mississippi 
 River. Bases of operation for the settling and developing of 
 the interior of the country were to be made near the mouth of 
 the Mississippi River and at points along its course. In this 
 way the great central station, Fort St. Louis, could easily com- 
 municate with France without having to come or to go through 
 Canada. In addition it was the purpose of the French Govern- 
 ment to occupy a port on the Gulf of Mexico to prevent the 
 Spaniards from interfering with French maritime rights in 
 that region. Everything seemed to work to the advantage of 
 La Salle and a very generous arrangement was devised for the 
 return of La Salle. 
 
 Four vessels were granted to La Salle, a hundred soldiers were 
 enrolled for the expedition, mechanics, laborers, volunteers, 
 burgers, and some gentlemen. A new thing in French coloniza- 
 tion in the new world was the presence in this expedition of 
 several married women, as well as young unmarried women who 
 looked forward to certain matrimony. There were also present 
 three priests of St. Sulpice, and three Recollects. One war ves- 
 
104 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 sel of thirty-six guns, another vessel of six guns together with 
 a store vessel and another called a Ketch — four vessels and nearly 
 400 men. 
 
 The expedition seemed destined for failure from the beginning. 
 La Salle and Beaujeu, the naval commander, quarreled while the 
 expedition was being fitted out, and considerable illfortune at- 
 tended the departure of the fleet from Rochelle in July, 1684. 
 The two men quarreled all the way across the Atlantic. La Salle 
 suffered a return of the fever such as had attacked him on his 
 return up the Mississippi, and being unable to give directions, 
 the naval commander did many things to the detriment of the 
 expedition. On entering the Gulf of Mexico, they were unable 
 to find the mouth of the Mississippi and so coasted West to 
 Matagorda Bay where they landed in the spring of 1685. One 
 of the ships had been captured by the Spanish and another was 
 wrecked in the Matagorda Bay. They built a fort and began 
 the exploration of the coast to determine where they were. They 
 landed and commenced a settlement. Sickness of a serious na- 
 ture was common and before fall there were thirty graves in 
 the new cemetery. The Indians were very hostile and the expe- 
 dition seemed doomed from the day they landed. La Salle went 
 on frequent exploring expeditions. 
 
 Having failed on these exploring parties to find the Mississippi 
 River, the decision was for a band to undertake the task of 
 reaching Canada. La Salle took a small band of seventeen with 
 him, and left the remainder to keep the fort till the exploring 
 party should return. This was in the spring of 1687. The band 
 proceeded with some difficulty in traveling and when out some 
 days a conspiracy was hatched proposing the assassination of 
 La Salle. This was accomplished. Parkman says the body was 
 not buried but left in the grass for the birds of prey. The con- 
 spirators returned to the fort where they took control and ruled 
 with a high hand. Eventually the twenty or more persons scat- 
 tered here and there, some finding their way back to France and 
 some into the Illinois country. 
 
 Tonti Alone 
 
 Tonti, upon his reinstatement as commander at Fort St. 
 Louis, made haste to put the fort in a state of defense and to 
 urge loyalty on the part of the men who had received grants 
 of land in that vicinity. The Indians had scattered and had 
 lost interest in the management of the fort since there were 
 no European goods to exchange for furs. During the absence 
 of Tonti as a virtual prisoner at Quebec, the governor of Fort 
 St. Louis, one De Baugy, permitted misunderstandings and dif- 
 ferences to arise between the Illinois and the Miami. Out of 
 these contentions came actual warfare between these tribes, 
 and when Tonti arrived in June, 1685, he was under the necessity 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 105 
 
 of pacifying these warring factions. To do so required all his 
 strength and skill in diplomacy, beside the paying out of more 
 than a thousand dollars to secure terms of peace between the 
 two tribes. 
 
 In the fall of 1685 disquieting rumors began to fill the air 
 concerning the expedition which La Salle was making to the 
 mouth of the Mississippi. Tonti was immediately alive to the 
 interests of his chief and dispatched reliable Indians to the 
 lower Mississippi to obtain any news of the expedition which 
 might be had ; he himself went immediately to Mackinac, hoping 
 to obtain the latest information concerning La Salle. At the 
 same time he hoped to counteract the influence of La Barre, 
 who was doing all he could to prevent goods and supplies from 
 reaching Fort St. Louis. Here he learned positively that La 
 Salle had sailed from France to seek the mouth of the Missis- 
 sippi. This was good news, but he was made to rejoice also 
 greatly on learning that his bitter enemy, La Barre, the gov- 
 ernor of Canada, had been recalled by the King and that the 
 Marquis de Denonville had replaced him and that he was al- 
 ready taking steps to further the good work which the King 
 understood Tonti was doing at Fort St. Louis. A letter written 
 by Denonville to Tonti was then on its way to the fort. While 
 yet at Mackinac, Tonti heard more disquieting news about 
 La Salle. He therefore hastened to Fort St. Louis in the hope 
 that the Indians whom he had sent to the lower Mississippi 
 had returned with news of La Salle. They did return in Feb- 
 ruary, 1686, but with no word from La Salle. 
 
 Tonti therefore decided to make a trip to the Gulf of Mexico 
 in search of word from his chief. The trip down the Illinois 
 and the Mississippi was full of interest to Tonti, because three 
 years ago he had descended these streams in search of the mouth 
 of the river. He spent some days at the mouth of the Missis- 
 sippi, but could find no trace of La Salle. On his return he 
 passed the place where La Salle three years ago had erected the 
 column holding the coat of arms of France and another upon 
 which the cross was placed. The elements and time had over- 
 thrown these monuments and Tonti was moved to restore them 
 by placing them in a more elevated spot on the bank of the 
 river. 
 
 On his return to Fort St. Louis he found preparations going 
 on for a joint attack upon the Iroquois. Denonville was to 
 furnish two or three thousand soldiers while Tonti was to join 
 with all the warriors he could raise around the fort. Tonti was 
 able to enlist about 400 or 500 Indians. From about Green 
 Bay and Mackinac and out of Canada came French volunteers 
 and Indians to the number of several hundred. These forces 
 all met on Lake Ontario July 10, 1687. The combined force of 
 probably 3,000 fighting men invaded the land of the Senecas 
 
106 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 and after a savage battle the latter were driven from their 
 homes which the invading army laid waste. In this battle three 
 French captains won great praise for themselves. Denonville, 
 in his dispatches, mentioned with great praise Tonti, Duluth, 
 and Durantaye, each of whom commanded separate divisions 
 of the invading army. The invaders remained in the land of 
 the Senecas for a week and destroyed everything which would 
 be of value to the Senecas when they returned to the place where 
 they had formerly lived. The invading army dispersed, each 
 division returning to its old haunts. 
 
 As Tonti and his contingent were nearing Fort St. Louis 
 from the war, a group of five men were slowly making their 
 way up the Mississippi and the Illinois. These were "Abbe 
 Jean Cavelier, La Salle's eldest brother; his nephew, Father 
 Anastasius Douay, a Recollect of the Franciscan Order; Teis- 
 sier, a mariner; and Henri de Joutel, historian. As they pro- 
 ceeded up the Mississippi and the Illinois they observed the 
 physical features and described them very accurately. They 
 approached Fort St. Louis about the middle of September, 1687. 
 
 These five men were the remnants of a band of followers of 
 La Salle who escaped assassination at the hands of the con- 
 spirators who had killed their chief. They banded themselves 
 together under the leadership of Abbe Cavelier, and determined 
 to reach Fort St. Louis. They agreed that they would not reveal 
 the death of La Salle to any one at Fort St. Louis. They were 
 joyfully received by Sier de Belief ontaine, a lieutenant of Tonti; 
 the latter had not yet returned from the attack on the Iroquois. 
 
 The five travelers were royally treated by the people at the 
 fort. When asked if La Salle was coming to Fort St. Louis, 
 they evaded the question by saying they left him on the way and 
 that they were not advised as to his plans, but that all was well 
 and that they thought it was his intention to come soon to Fort 
 St. Louis. At this time the Jesuit Father Allouez was at the fort 
 in ill health. He was visited by the two priests and Joutel. He 
 was very uneasy and inquired particularly about La Salle. 
 When told that La Salle might come to the fort at any time he 
 is said to have been visibly agitated. 
 
 Abbe Cavelier was desirous of proceeding to Quebec where 
 he wished to take passage for France before the winter weather 
 should arrive, so he remained only three days at Fort St. Louis, 
 whence he proceeded on his journey. His party reached Chi- 
 cago, but on account of the weather conditions, they returned 
 to Fort St. Louis about the 7th of October. Tonti returned 
 from his war on the Iroquois on October the 27th and gave 
 Cavelier's party a cordial greeting. Winter came on rapidly 
 and with it the coming to the fort of several Frenchmen, who 
 were friends of Tonti. It is said that game was plentiful and 
 that there was an abundance of nuts, acorns, and other forms 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 107 
 
 of forest foods. The winter was spent at the fort much as it 
 might have been spent in the homeland about a castle in the 
 middle ages. "Merry companies sallied forth upon the frozen 
 river at daybreak, drawing light sledges, which they brought 
 back to the fort at nightfall laden with deer. Of our living 
 there was no complaint to make, except that we had nothing but 
 water to drink." The day time was occupied by hunting parties 
 and the nights at the fort by parties about the cherry log fires in 
 the huts within the palisade. "Within, soldier and priest, trap- 
 per and native, mingled together and related tales of foray and 
 ambuscade, of stormy ocean voyages and weary journeys through 
 the wilderness. Without, the snow lay deed on all the land of 
 the Illinois, and the nearest white men were at the little mission 
 at the head of Green Bay. 
 
 In the spring of 1688 the parties which had wintered in the 
 fort began to break up. Cavelier was anxious for fear the truth 
 would come to light about the death of La Salle. Allouez was 
 as anxious to get away as was Cavelier. Cavelier made his way 
 to Lake Michigan, thence to Mackinac, and thence to Quebec; 
 from here he sailed to France late in the fall of 1688. 
 
 Tonti was left at Fort St. Louis hoping each day of a long 
 summer to hear something of La Salle. But late in the fall of 
 1688 a Frenchman and two natives arrived at the fort and re- 
 vealed the truth about La Salle. Tonti was indignant that Abbe 
 Cavelier should do him the great injustice to tell him indirectly 
 that La Salle was still alive and well. He immediately planned 
 an expedition to rescue the remnant of La Salle's colonists on 
 Matagorda Bay. After undergoing many hardships he came to 
 an Indian village probably in what is now Louisiana where the 
 natives told him the story of the death of La Salle at the hand of 
 conspirators. They also told of the death of the conspirators at 
 the hands of natives. Tonti went further toward the mouth of 
 the river but eventually returned to Fort St. Louis. 
 
 Tonti was now alone in the world so far as early associations 
 were concerned. He remained at Fort St. Louis, but his inter- 
 ests could not be protected now as they once could under the grant 
 to La Salle. Denonville, governor of Canada, is not the friend 
 to Tonti that he at first appeared to be. The governor made un- 
 favorable reports to the King as to Tonti's pretensions at the fort 
 and the King replied that Tonti's control in that section might 
 be annulled. Yet in 1690 the King granted Fort St. Louis to 
 Tonti and La Forest, formerly a lieutenant to La Salle. Here 
 these two carried on a fur trade for several years which must 
 have been at times very remunerative. La Forest operated at 
 what is now Chicago. 
 
 When La Salle departed from Matagorda Bay to go to his 
 fort on the Illinois River, he left some thirty colonists at that 
 place. This was in 1687. They had a fort and cannon with sucn 
 
108 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 provision and equipment as had been saved from the wreck of 
 one of their vessels in the harbor. Life was monotonous and 
 insecure as they were surrounded by the most savage Indians, 
 and besides they were on Spanish soil. The Spanish government 
 sent out as many as four ships from Vera Cruz to search for this 
 colony, but the distance of the settlement inland from the coast 
 prevented those on the ships from locating them. But in 1689 
 the Viceroy of Mexico sent Alonzo de Leon into the Texas coun- 
 try to find and capture this French settlement as intruders upon 
 Spanish soil. After days of marching under the guidance of a 
 French prisoner, they espied the settlement. There was no flag 
 flying, no sentries posted, no living beings to be seen. The proud 
 Spanish horsemen rushed through the gates of the palisade to 
 find everything in ruins — broken boxes, rusty kettles, ruined bar- 
 rels, guns and household articles scattered in all directions. Books 
 were torn and trampled in the mud, and on the prairie near the 
 corpses of men and women. The Indians stood about in utter 
 unconcern and in apparent ignorance of what had happened. 
 But there were present two Frenchmen who were concerned in 
 the murder of La Salle who were dressed as the Indians who 
 stood about. These were taken into custody by the Spanish com- 
 mander. They explained that some three months ago a band 
 of Indians savagely attacked the French colonists and killed 
 most of them. Some half dozen persons, including two young 
 girls from Paris, were spared. The two Frenchmen told Leon 
 that they came to the ruined village and buried fourteen of the 
 dead bodies. These two Frenchmen were sent to Spain as cap- 
 tives and the Indians were forced to give up all their French 
 prisoners to the Spanish commander. Thus perished La Salle s 
 colony on Matagorda Bay. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 PERMANENT SETTLEMENTS 
 
 The First Kaskaskia — Biloxi Founded — The New Kaskaskia 
 — Louisiana Granted to Crozat — The Western Country 
 — Fort Chartres — Resume 
 
 The Mission of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed 
 Virgin was established at the village of Kaskaskia across the 
 Illinois from Starved Rock, Thursday, April 11th, 1675, 
 by Father James Marquette, S. J. On that day he said Mass 
 and formally gave the mission the above name, and on Sunday 
 the 14th, which was Easter Sunday, he said Mass the second 
 time. On taking his departure, Marquette promised he would 
 return or another would come in his place. The records are 
 not continuous but it is clear that Father Claude Jean Allouez, 
 S. J., was sent to the Immaculate Conception where he arrived 
 April 27, 1677. Upon his arrival there he erected a cross 25 feet 
 high and preached to hundreds perhaps thousands of people. 
 He remained there till the early winter of 1679 when he took 
 his departure a few days before La Salle reached the fort. 
 
 Permanent Settlements 
 
 Father James Gravier, S. J., succeeded Father Allouez and 
 had charge of the mission until 1706. Rev. Sebastian Rale, S. J., 
 was in the mission temporarily before Father Gravier came. 
 This was from 1693 to 1695. Father Gravier was recalled and 
 two missionaries, Fathers Pierre Francis and Julien Binnitau 
 also ministered to the mission at Kaskaskia and at a new mis- 
 sion, Angel Guardian, at Chicago, from 1696 to 1699. 
 
 In 1688 James II was driven from the English throne. He 
 fled to France where Louis XIV not only gave him refuge but 
 championed his cause, and declared war on the English with 
 the purpose of restoring James to his throne. In 1689 William 
 of Orange and his wife Mary, the daughter of James II, were 
 crowned King and Queen of England. The war between the 
 French and the English continued from 1689 to 1697. During 
 this war not so much attention was given to the new acquisi- 
 tion, Louisiana, in the New World. La Salle had been mur- 
 dered in 1687, and the miserable remnant of his colony at Mata- 
 gorda Bay had been ruthlessly massacred by the Indians, and 
 the Spanish and later the English were jealously planning to 
 drive the French from the Lower Mississippi Valley. 
 
 109 
 
110 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 But the French government was too absorbed in European 
 politics, court intrigues, financial difficulties, and foreign wars 
 to pay much attention to its American possessions until it was 
 too late; monopolies and official corruption, both at home and 
 in the colonies, prevented healthy growth, and emigration was 
 not made attractive. Besides, the French people loved "La 
 Belle France" too much to emigrate in large numbers. The 
 pliant yielding to circumstances and the courteous tact that 
 recommended the French to the Indians, sprung from traits of 
 character that tended to disqualify them for overcoming the 
 greatest of difficulties. There were too few Champlains and 
 La Salles. 
 
 In 1699 a new figure appears upon the scene at the mouth of 
 the Mississippi. This was Sieur le Moyne d' Iberville who was 
 born in Montreal at the early date of 1661. His early life was 
 spent in the Canadian wilds, and at the age of fourteen he was 
 sent to France and was trained and educated as a naval and 
 military commander. He commanded a frigate at the age of 
 twenty-one, reduced two strong English forts on Hudson Bay 
 in 1695-7, and in 1698 was commissioned by the French gov- 
 ernment to open communications between France and the in- 
 terior of Louisiana. This commission conferred authority to 
 do the very thing that La Salle gave up his life to accomplish 
 only a dozen years before. 
 
 Iberville arrived at the mouth of the Mississippi with a col- 
 ony in the summer of 1699. He searched dilligently for some 
 sign of La Salle's lost colony but gave up in despair of finding 
 any trace of it. He ascended the Mississippi in two boats. P.e 
 was accompanied by his brother, Bienville, a young man not 
 yet twenty years old, and by a Franciscan monk who had trav- 
 ersed the river with La Salle some years before. On reaching 
 an Indian village Iberville was given a letter by a chief which 
 Tonti had written to La Salle in 1686 while he was in search of 
 La Salle's colony. 
 
 Biloxi Founded. 
 
 Not finding a suitable place to found a settlement, Iberville 
 returned to the gulf and coasting east established himself at 
 Biloxi, some forty miles west of the mouth of Mobile Bay. He 
 took possession in the name of his king of all the coast from 
 the mouth of the Rio Grande to the regions about Pensacola. 
 
 The news of the activity of Iberville about the mouth of the 
 Mississippi soon found its way to the Kaskaskia village and to 
 Fort St. Louis. Tonti was impatient of his partnership with 
 Le Forest. The Indians had all scattered from the locality of 
 the fort, but there were yet about twenty French-Canadians 
 who were cultivating their grants about the fort. Monette, in 
 Volume I of the Valley of the Mississippi, points out that the 
 French-Canadians were already moving south and west toward 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 111 
 
 more fertile soil and more moderate climate. Word that the 
 French were settling at the mouth of the Mississippi only in- 
 tensified the general unrest, and accelerated the movement 
 toward the south. 
 
 The New Kaskaskia 
 
 The great numbers at Kaskaskia village to whom Father Mar- 
 quette preached in 1675 had dwindled to a few hundred if not to 
 a few score. The Kaskaskia tribe and the Peorias had sepa- 
 rated and even the Kaskaskias had divided up and certain groups 
 had gone south. In 1699 Father Gravier, who had ministered 
 
 SUSPENSION BRIDGE ACROSS THE KASKASKIA AT CARLYLE 
 
 to the Mission at Kaskaskia, was recalled to Mackinaw. In 
 1700 he was sent to the mouth of the Mississippi. When he 
 approached the Kaskaskia village September 8, 1700, he found 
 them all astir making ready to depart for the mouth of the 
 Mississippi. The mission at that time was in charge of Father 
 Pierre Gabriel Marest, S. J. Father Gravier was displeased 
 that the village was to be abandoned but his pleadings to the 
 savages to remain were in vain. He seems to have traveled 
 with them four days and then to have gone forward with Fa- 
 ther Marest. When they reached the village of Cahokia they 
 halted for rest and refreshment, as Father Marest was quite 
 ill. Father Gravier proceeded on his way to the mouth of the 
 Mississippi. The body of Kaskaskians came on apace and when 
 they approached the junction of the present Kaskaskia River 
 with the Mississippi, they seem to have crossed the narrowest 
 
112 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 place, a sort of portage, and settled between the two rivers. 
 The new place of settlement came to be known as Kaskaskia, 
 and the small river also took on the name Kaskaskia, which it 
 has kept to this day. 
 
 It is very certain that Tonti abandoned Fort St. Louis in 
 the year of 1700. Bancroft says he was accompanied by twenty 
 Canadian residents of Illinois. It may be easily conjectured 
 that these twenty Canadians are the same twenty who held 
 grants at the fort and who, when their master prepared to go 
 to the new center of French interests at the mouth of the Mis- 
 sissippi, desired also to move to the new settlement. 
 
 A war raged between England and France from 1702 to 1713 
 known as the "War of the Spanish Succession." In America 
 we know it was "Queen Anne's War." During this war the 
 French must have been so occupied that they gave little atten- 
 tion to their colonists in the Mississippi Valley. The Illinois 
 settlements were allowed to go their way and care for them- 
 selves. Father Pinet established a mission at the village of 
 Cahokia just below East St. Louis, probably about the same 
 time that the Kaskaskia Indians arrived at the mouth of the 
 present Kaskaskia River. Kaskaskia and Cahokia were there- 
 fore the first permanent settlements in Illinois. Fort St. Louis 
 was abandoned, and Peoria was never occupied continuously by 
 white people in the seventeenth century. The war called Queen 
 Anne's war was brought to a close by a treaty in 1713. When 
 it was seen in France that the war would end there was a revival 
 of interest in the matter of colonization and trade in the Mis- 
 sissippi valley. Wonderful stories were coming to France as 
 to the wealth of this new religion. 
 
 Louisiana Granted to Crozat 
 
 The king came to the conclusion that it would be an easier 
 task for an individual to protect and develop the Louisiana 
 country than for the government to do so, since the government 
 had been almost continually in war for the past quarter of a 
 century. In casting about for such a man as La Salle, he se- 
 lected one Sieur Anthony Crozat, a man of large financial expe- 
 rience, a generous minded man, and one who had done so much 
 for the king that Louis felt he owed Crozat a debt which he 
 could pay in no better way than to grant him Louisiana. As- 
 cordingly on the 14th of September, 1712, the king caused to 
 be issued to Sieur Anthony Crozat a commercial patent covering 
 all business transactions within the Louisiana Territory for 
 a period of fifteen years. There is a sort of preamble which 
 reviews the history of the territory since the days of La Salle, 
 and then the document proceeds: "We have resolved to grant 
 the commerce of the country of Louisiana to Sieur Anthony 
 Crozat, our councillor, secretary of the household, crown, and 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 113 
 
 revenue, to whom we intrust the execution of this project. We 
 are the more readily inclined hereunto, because his zeal, and the 
 singular knowledge he has acquired in maritime commerce, 
 encourage us to hope for as good success as he has hitherto had 
 in the divers and sundry enterprises he has gone upon, and 
 which have procured to our Kingdom great quantities of gold 
 and silver — We by these presents signed by our hand, have 
 appointed and do appoint, the said Sieur Crozat, solely to carry 
 on a trade in all the lands possessed by us, and bounded by New 
 Mexico and by the lands of the English Carolina, all the estab- 
 lishments, ports, havens, rivers, and principally the port and 
 haven of the Isle Dauphine, heretofore Massacre; the river of 
 St. Louis, heretofore called Mississippi, from the edge of the 
 sea, as far as the Illinois; together with the River St. Philip, 
 heretofore called the Missouri, and of St. Jerome, heretofore 
 called Ouabache, with all of the countries, territories, lakes, 
 within land, and the rivers which fall directly, or indirectly, 
 into that part of the river St. Louis." 
 
 Then follows the Articles, Abridged : 
 
 All lands, countries, streams, rivers and islands shall remain 
 under the name of the government of Louisiana, which shall be 
 dependent upon the government of New France, to which it is 
 subordinate. 
 
 Crozat is permitted to search for, open, and dig all sorts of 
 mines veins, and minerals throughout all of Louisiana and trans- 
 port the same to France for a period of fifteen year. 
 
 Crozat is to pay to the King's treasury the fifth part of all 
 gold, silver, or other valuables transported to France, and one- 
 tenth of all that is kept in the Louisiana country. 
 
 He is also permitted to search for precious stones and pearls, 
 paying one-fifth of the valuables found to the king. 
 
 All mines, veins, or other deposits shall revert to the king if 
 the grantee fails for three years to work the same. 
 
 Edicts ordinances, and customs and the usages of the gov- 
 ernment of Paris shall be the laws and customs in the said coun- 
 try of Louisiana. 
 
 Dated September 14, 1712. 
 
 LOUIS. 
 
 Crozat was to bear all expenses and run all risks. The grant 
 was only a grant of the commerce and did not include any con- 
 trol of lands so far as making grants to individuals was con- 
 cerned. The territory included in general all the territory which 
 is drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries. Today we 
 understand that the wealth of any country is in its soil, but in 
 all the planning of King and Crozat there is no word about 
 cultivation of the soil. There was, of course, a temporary profit 
 in furs, but even the fur trade was held as only a makeshift in 
 comparison to the wealth which would be derived from the mines 
 
114 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 of gold, silver, and precious stones — to say nothing of the wealth 
 of the pearls to be gathered on all hands. 
 
 Crozat came to the Gulf of Mexico and soon associated with 
 himself La Motte Cadillac who at that time was governor of the 
 Louisiana Territory. These two men had great achievements to 
 their credit. Cadillac was a famous pioneer of New France and 
 had governed the station at Mackinaw and later founded Detroit 
 and was now in a position of power and great responsibility. 
 Crozat had astonished all Europe with his financial success. If 
 there was any wealth in the Louisiana country these two men 
 controlled the agencies of its production — one the business 
 sagacity, the other the authority to manipulate political power. 
 Bancroft tells how two pieces of silver ore had been left at Kas- 
 kaskia with the story that they had been taken from the mines 
 in the Illinois Country. Crozat and Cadillac rushed from place 
 to place to investigate wild rumors about gold and silver. They 
 sent men on investigating tours and did locate wealth in the 
 lead, copper, and iron deposits within the limits of their grant. 
 
 Crozat had brought many men into the territory with the 
 expectation of digging precious metals. Not finding employment 
 along these lines, they had taken up various kinds of work. Some 
 had gone to cultivating the soil, some had gone into the fur trade, 
 some to trading with English adventurers who came into the 
 territory. Cadillac died and was later succeeded by Bienville, 
 brother to Iberville, the first governor of Louisiana. The new 
 governor and Crozat did not work harmonously and after com- 
 plete discouragement, and finding he had lost 125,000 livres, he 
 resigned his charter to the crown. At that time there were not 
 more than 380 whites on the lower Mississippi and about 320 
 in the Illinois Country. 
 
 The Western Country 
 
 Crozat surrendered his charter in 1717. This was. apparently 
 a very fortunate time, for all France was stirred by the presence 
 of a great financier in Paris who brought forth schemes whereby 
 France might pay her debt of 3,000,000,000 livres. At the death 
 of Louis XIV in 1715 his grandson, a lad of five years, came 
 nominally to the throne under the regency of the Duke of Or- 
 leans. The regent was greatly troubled and was ready for any 
 suggestions which would relieve him of his financial embarrass- 
 ment. 
 
 John Law was a Scotchman, the son of a banker in Edin- 
 burgh. He had studied finance, and was a theorist of the first 
 order. His theory was that if a nation is financially embarrassed 
 it is from lack of a circulating medium — make more money. He 
 came into France a short time before Crozat relinquished his 
 charter. Law secured the right to organize a great bank which 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 115 
 
 for a while seemed to present the means by which the nation's 
 debts might be liquidated. 
 
 When Crozat relinquished his charter the Louisiana Territory 
 was granted to the Western Company, a great scheme worked 
 out by John Law, the banker. This Western Company was able 
 to sell its stock to the people of France and "although the union 
 of the bank with the hazards of a commercial company was an 
 omen of the fate of the system, public credit seemed restored 
 as if by a miracle." Three great undertakings to develop the 
 Louisiana region had been championed respectively by La Salle, 
 Iberville, and Crozat; and yet while each had practically failed 
 the enthusiasm in France was not a whit abated. "The vision 
 of a fertile empire, with its plantations, manors, cities, and busy 
 wharves, a monopoly of commerce throughout all French North 
 America, the certain products of the richest silver mines and 
 mountains of gold, were blended in the French mind into one 
 boundless promise of untold treasure." 
 
 In the early part of 1718 three ships with 800 emigrants cast 
 anchor near Dauphine Island at the mouth of Mobile Bay. In 
 the same summer Bienville selected the spot where New Orleans 
 now is and had begun to lay out the city. One of the things of 
 prime interest to the new comers was to establish the claims of 
 France as far east and west along the coast as they could. They 
 persistently claimed the Rio Grande as the western limit of the 
 Louisiana Territory, and likewise Pensacola Bay as the eastern 
 limit. 
 
 Of the 800 emigrants who landed on Dauphine Island in the 
 fall of 1818, many died, some deserted to the English in the Caro- 
 linas, and others dispersed among the Indians. A few were 
 planted in colonies along the lower Mississippi. 
 
 Let us now return to the Illinois Country. Kaskaskia, near 
 the mouth of the Kaskaskia River was the center from which 
 missionaries went out to other parts. Fathers Bineteau, Pinet, 
 Marest, and Mermet, all gave their time and their energies to 
 the work of the church in the south end of what is now Illinois. 
 Pinet established a mission at Cahokia, probably in the fall of 
 1699. It is said he was so popular as a preacher that his chapel 
 was insufficient to hold all that came. Father Bineteau on one 
 occasion accompanied the Kaskaskia Indians on a hunting expe- 
 dition in the country of "upland plains of the Mississippi" where 
 he died. Father Pinet died soon after. 
 
 The best information as to the life at the Kaskaskia village 
 from 1700 to about 1718 is indeed unsatisfactory, but there are 
 some things which we know for a certainty. The church rec- 
 ords of the Immaculate Conception were recently in the posses- 
 sion of the resident priest on the island of Kaskaskia. The record 
 of baptisms has been translated and appears in the publica- 
 
116 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 tions of the State Historical Library, Volume No. 9, page 394. 
 In these records, which reach back to 1692, we can tell fairly well 
 who was priest in charge at various dates : 
 
 March 20, 1692 James Gravier 
 
 May 13, 1697 Julian Bineteau 
 
 December 7, 1699____ Gabriel Marest 
 
 April 13, 1703 James Gravier 
 
 November 14, 1703 Gabriel Marest 
 
 January 19, 1707 J. P. Mermet 
 
 September 9, 1709 Gabriel Marest 
 
 April 16, 1712 J. M. de Viller 
 
 November 24, 1712 Jo Mermet 
 
 June 17, 1719 Le Boullenger, S. J. 
 
 Chaplain of the Troops 
 
 July 19, 1720 De Beaubois 
 
 This priest was in charge from July, 1720, to July, 1721. 
 As early as 1711 Father Marest left Kaskaskia on Good Fri- 
 day for Peoria which he reached twelve days later. Here he 
 took charge of the mission but it does not appear that there were 
 any white people then living in Peoria. The Peoria settlement 
 never seemed to prosper as many other settlements did. 
 
 In some instances it is difficult to determine whether or not 
 the early settled towns have been occupied continuously. This 
 is true as to Peoria. It is true also of Fort Massac. There is 
 pretty good evidence that Fort Massac below the mouth of the 
 Tennessee was visited as early as 1701 by Father Mermet who 
 was accompanied by Juchereau de St. Denis, a fur trader. The 
 point was chosen it is said by both the trader and the priest, 
 because it could be reached by Indians coming down the Ten- 
 nessee and the Cumberland from the south and by those coming 
 down the Ohio and the Wabash as well as those from the lower 
 Ohio and the Mississippi. The site of "Old Fort Massac" was 
 indeed well chosen. Standing on the fort, one may see down the 
 river ten or twelve miles, while looking up the Ohio the view 
 is unobstructed for more than a dozen miles. It is stated that 
 Charlevoix, the historian, reports that as early as 1700 the 
 French had established a trading post at the mouth of the 
 "Quabache" which, as he said, discharges into the Mississippi. 
 Of course the site of "Old Fort Massac" is not "near" the mouth 
 of the Ohio as we might use the word, but this site is the only 
 one which meets all the requirements of the story. 
 
 Mrs. Mathew T. Scott, president of the Daughters of the 
 American Revolution in a paper read before the State Historical 
 Society and found in the Transactions for the year, 1903, says: 
 "In August, 1702, M. Juchereau de St. Denis, accompanied by 
 thirty-four Canadians, including Father Mermet, departed from 
 the Mission at Kaskaskia, in the Illinois, on his expedition to 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 117 
 
 form a settlement at the mouth of the Ohio where he proposed 
 to engage in the fur trade with the Indians. 
 
 Father Mermet established a branch mission which was called 
 Assumption. It was the pious custom of the period to dedicate 
 to the patronage of some saint such works and enterprises as 
 this. The feast of the Assumption is celebrated in the Catholic 
 Church on August 15, so it is probable that the post and mission 
 of the Assumption was founded August 15, 1702. The Mas- 
 outens were the Indians who were immediately to be reached 
 by both the fur traders and the priests. It is said that Juch- 
 ereau died at the fort which was erected near the mission in 1704. 
 
 It is not easily established that this point was a permanent 
 settlement, but tradition persists in saying that it was con- 
 tinuously occupied till the French and Indian war when the 
 French who were driven out of Fort du Quesne in 1758 made 
 their way down the Ohio and took refuge in this fort. The 
 outlines of the fort are very distinctly marked today and the 
 general plan is an exact copy of Fort Gage, Fort Chartres, and 
 Post Vincents. It would appear certain therefore that the fort, 
 the remains of which we see today, was constructed about the 
 same time that the others were built, namely : sometime during 
 the French and Indian war. 
 
 The story of Vincennes, Indiana, is not strictly speaking Illi- 
 nois history. But in the early part of the eighteenth century, 
 there were no state lines and the "Illinois Country" included 
 much more than is now included in the State of Illinois. The 
 same influences which were at work at Fort St. Louis, Detroit, 
 Green Bay, Peoria, Cahokia, Kaskaskia were at work at Vin- 
 cennes. It will therefore not be thought out of place to call 
 attention to a few traditions and facts about "Old Vincennes." 
 There is indeed a very close relation between the history of 
 early Illinois and that of early Indiana. "Old Kaskaskia" bears 
 very much the same relation to the State of Illinois, as "Old 
 Vincennes" bears to Indiana. And surely there has always been 
 a very close relation politically and otherwise between the two 
 states. They were both included in the grant of James the first 
 of England to the Virginia company in 1609. They were both 
 settled by French missionaries and French traders. They were 
 both included in the conquest of George Rogers Clarke in 1778. 
 They were both ceded to the United States by Virginia in 1784. 
 They were both included in that immortal document, the Ordi- 
 nance of 1787 as a part of the Old North West Territory. They 
 both constituted from 1803 to 1809 the Indiana Territory, and 
 they both came into the union as free states and fought side 
 by side in the War of 1812, in the great Civil war, in the Spanish- 
 American war, and in the great World war. 
 
 Vincennes, the oldest town in Indiana, was settled as early 
 
118 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 as 1702, as declared by Henry S. Cauthorn, who has written 
 an interesting and what appears to be an accurate history of 
 the city of Vincennes. He bases the earliest history of the place 
 upon the records to be found in Quebec. According to this 
 writer Francois Morgan de Vincenne, an officer in the French 
 service, was sent from Canada with soldiers to build three forts 
 which would connect Canada with the upper part of the lower 
 Mississippi. The three points selected were the present site of 
 Fort Wayne, the site of Lafayette, and of Vincennes. The little 
 army under Vincennes reached the present site of "Old Vin- 
 cennes" in 1702. The little army was accompanied by a Jesuit 
 missionary who celebrated Mass in the open air in the presence 
 of the troops and hundreds of Indians near the fort that was 
 then probably under construction. The "Annals of Quebec" con- 
 sist of seventy-two volumes of relations and transactions in 
 French, Latin, or Italian, according to the nationality of the 
 priest who made the record. They were translated into English 
 under the supervision and editorship of Reuben Gold Thwaites. 
 Mr. Cauthorn relies further upon the testimony which he gath- 
 ered from the writings of Bishop Brute, the first bishop of the 
 Vincennes diocese, and upon other officials in the Catholic Church 
 who have had access to authorities not available to the general 
 public. 
 
 The Western Company was unfortunate as to the first col- 
 onists as stated above. But the company kept at the task of 
 populating the interior of the country, particularly the part below 
 the mouth of the Illinois. Grant of land were made to indi- 
 viduals and to small groups or sub-companies. Law himself 
 received a grant of thousands of acres on the upper Arkansas 
 River. Upon this estate he spent much treasure. In the mid- 
 summer of 1718 as Bienville was coming down the Mississippi 
 from a tour of inspection, he selected the present site of the 
 City of New Orleans and named the future southern metropolis 
 after the regent, the Duke of Orleans. The place grew very 
 slowly. This was no doubt caused by the fact that Mobile and 
 Biloxi remained the center of political authority for several years. 
 In August, 1723, however, the capital of Louisiana was located 
 at the new town on the Mississippi and New Orleans came 
 rapidly into prominence. 
 
 Fort Chartres 
 
 On one of the vessels which landed on Dauphine Island in 
 the early part of February, 1718, there came to Louisiana a 
 young French Canadian officer, Lieutenant Dugue de Boisbriant, 
 the King's military representative in Louisiana. He brought the 
 appointment of his cousin, Le Moyne de Bienville, as governor 
 of Louisiana to take the place of M. L'Epignay, removed. Late 
 in the fall of 1718 the young commander, with a detachment 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 119 
 
 of French soldiers, took up his voyage to the Illinois Country 
 in boats. He reached Kaskaskia in December, 1718, and set up 
 a military occupation of Illinois. Here his headquarters re- 
 mained for about eighteen months. One of the first tasks ap- 
 peared to be to select a good site for a fort which would com- 
 mand the movements up and down through the Mississippi valley. 
 The place selected was an alluvial plain on the left bank of the 
 Mississippi about sixteen miles above Kaskaskia. Along this 
 portion of the river's course the stream runs parallel to the 
 bluffs and at a distance of some three miles therefrom. The 
 bluffs in this region are very prominent, in some places a hun- 
 dred feet or more in height, and abrupt. There was probably 
 at this early date a trail running along this valley at the foot 
 of the bluffs from Kaskaskia to Cahokia. The site selected for 
 
 POWDER MAGAZINE AT OLD FORT CHARTRES 
 
 the fort was a half mile or more from the left bank of the river 
 on ground that was not subject to overflow except in times of 
 very high water. But between the fort and the bluffs some two 
 and a half or three miles to northeast was a bayou of consider- 
 able width and extending parallel to the foot of the bluffs some 
 two or three miles. The position of the fort made it easily de- 
 fended on two sides — on the side toward the river and on the 
 side toward the bayou. In recent years there have been very 
 fine forest trees all along on the ridge of alluvial land upon which 
 the old fort stood. Some critics have questioned the strategic 
 judgment of Lieutant Boisbriant in locating the fort on this 
 alluvial plain, but if one will go on the ground and make a care- 
 ful survey of the situation he will see that this fort absolutely 
 controlled the movements up and down the valley by water and 
 by land. 
 
120 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 During the temporary headquarters of Lieutenant Boisbriant 
 at Kaskaskia his men were building a fort at the place selected. 
 Tradition insists that there was a sort of warehouse or block- 
 house at this place which had been built by Crozat for the pur- 
 pose of protecting supplies and furs. The fort which Lieutenant 
 Boisbriant built was probably after this fashion : The fort was 
 laid out and a trench was dug some feet deep in which logs 
 fifteen or twenty feet high were placed on end as close together 
 as possible. Another trench a foot or more outside of the first 
 one was dug and into it likewise was placed another row of pali- 
 sade logs. The space in between was filled with earth and 
 tamped in, making a substantial defense against any form of 
 attack short of cannon. The area inside the palisade was large 
 enough to contain officers' quarters, barracks, supply houses, and 
 store houses for the use of the Western Company. The defense 
 work was known as Fort Chartres, probably in honor of the son 
 of the Regent whose title was Due de Chartres. The com- 
 mandant's headquarters were moved to the fort in the early 
 part of 1720. 
 
 Just near the fort there grew up a village occupied probably 
 by a few French traders with their Indian wives and their chil- 
 dren. The name of the village was New Chartres. The popula- 
 tion must have grown considerably as a "chapel at ease" was 
 early established and later a church was known as St. Anne's 
 Parish. Recently the records of the parish were in the keeping 
 of the priest in charge of the Prairie du Rocher Church. An 
 interesting part of these records is the part that records mar- 
 riages that were celebrated at the St. Anne Church. These 
 records show that many of the witnesses to the marriages were 
 men of high rank in the military establishment. On one page 
 the author observed the signature of Captain Neyon de Villier, 
 a brother of Jumonville de Villier, who was killed in an engage- 
 ment near Fort du Quesne May 28, 1754, with Virginia troops 
 commanded by George Washington. 
 
 There was a very close relation between the government in 
 France and the Western Company. The Regent was easily per- 
 suaded by John Law to render any assistance which the com- 
 pany needed in its efforts to develop the resources of the Louisi- 
 ana Territory. To further these interests a sort of sub-company 
 called the "Company of St. Phillip" was organized in Paris hav- 
 ing particularly for their aim the development of the mining 
 interests of the Louisiana Territory. At the head of this com- 
 pany was placed Phillipe Francois de Renault, a man of fortune 
 and one versed in the knowledge of mining. He was authorized 
 to proceed to America and carry to completion the plans which 
 had so miserably failed under Crozat. He brought with him 200 
 miners and a full complement of machines and tools. On his 
 way he stopped at the island of St. Domingo and bought 500 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 121 
 
 Guinea negroes and brought them into the Louisiana Country. 
 Many of these were left around New Orleans and along the lower 
 Mississippi but a goodly number was brought to Fort Chartres. 
 Here he arrived in the year 1720. He immediately sent his men 
 out in all directions to search for precious metals. He kept up 
 a vigorous investigation for two or more years, and finding noth- 
 ing but lead, he bethought himself of the necessity of putting 
 his laborers to wor 1 ^ raising something upon which to live till 
 a fortune should be found in mines of precious metals. 
 
 Accordingly a grant of land was made to Renault three miles 
 wide abutting on the Mississippi River and extending back into 
 the country nearly at right angles to the river a distance of six 
 miles. Upon this grant there was a village, St. Philippe. A 
 chapel was built and also a watermill. This grant was made by 
 Boisbriant representing the King and Des Ursins on behalf of 
 the Western Company. Settlers were encouraged to build homes 
 on this grant and to cultivate the soil. This grant was two or 
 three miles above Fort Chartres. The ownership of this land has 
 been the cause of much litigation — the legal titles being in 
 dispute. 
 
 About four miles nearly east of Fort Chartres was located the 
 village of Prairie du Rocher. This village was on a grant made 
 to Boisbriant which he afterward transferred to other parties. 
 In all these grants to villages there was a commons and a com- 
 mon field. In the commons there was pasturage and firewood 
 and in the common field there were allotments of ground to the 
 villagers. Prairie du Rocher was settled probably shortly after 
 1721 for in this year Charlevoix made a trip down the valley 
 and while he speaks of the fort and of Kaskaskia he does not 
 refer to Prairie du Rocher, but Reynolds in his Pioneer History 
 says the date is 1722. 
 
 The Western Company did not succeed in finding precious 
 metals any better than its predecessors. Renault was very active 
 in his search for metals of value. He sent exploring parties into 
 the northern foot-hills of the Ozarks in what is now Jackson 
 County. And there is a tradition that on Drewry Creek in the 
 very early days there were open mines that were said to have 
 been the work of Renault's miners in their search for precious 
 metals. Silver Creek which rises in Madison County and runs 
 south through St. Clair into the Kaskaskia River was named 
 from the fact that the French believed silver existed on this 
 creek and in the early days their excavations still were visible. 
 On St. Mary's River in Randolph County mining activities were 
 carried on, also in Monroe County. 
 
 Probably the most valuable mineral which Renault found 
 within the limits of Illinois or in any adjoining state was lead. 
 This metal was found in Illinois before 1700. In that year a 
 noted Frenchman, La Sueur, a bold traveler, on a journey from 
 
122 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 the mouth of the Mississippi up that stream visited the lead 
 mines on a river which comes from the north and flows into 
 the Mississippi. He said the lead mines were seven leagues from 
 the Mississippi River. He named the river "The River of 
 Mines." The river is now called Fever River. But in an old 
 atlas of Illinois published in 1876 there is a facsimile map of 
 Illinois published in the "American Atlas in 1822," and this map 
 shows what we now call Fever River was on that map called 
 "Mine River." 
 
 Another matter of interest with regard to Renault's search 
 for precious metals is the fact that the Western Company made 
 him a grant of land in the near vicinity of Peoria. The United 
 States in advertising the lead mines of Illinois for lease in 1817 
 excepted the lead mines on the Pimantoui Grant to Renault on 
 the Illinois River. Now since the lead mines of the northwest 
 corner of Illinois were known by the French as early as 1700 
 — possibly earlier — it is very probable that Renault worked these 
 mines. It is stated that great quantities of lead were shipped 
 from the mines of what is now Illinois and Missouri during the 
 period when Renault was searching for precious metals in the 
 Illinois Country. This trade in lead was supplemented by a pros- 
 perous trade in pelts and furs, flour, and outside of these four 
 articles of trade there is no record of any commercial activity. 
 
 John Law's great financial schemes in France collapsed in 
 May, 1720. He was driven from France and all his possessions 
 were confiscated. This of course was a great check upon the 
 Western Company's progress in Louisiana. However the com- 
 pany still functioned till 1732 when the charter was surrendered 
 to the king and Louisiana became a royal province. 
 
 Resume 
 
 It will not be amiss to restate the leading facts about the activ- 
 ities of the French and Indians in the Illinois Country from 
 1700 when Kaskaskia on the river by that name was settled till 
 the surrender of the charter by the Western Company on April 
 10, 1732. 
 
 In 1700 the Kaskaskia Indians lived on the Illinois River near 
 the present Town of Utica, LaSalle County. St. Cosme, a mis- 
 sionary priest in a letter to the Bishop of Quebec says the Kas- 
 kaskia Indians under Fathers Pinet and Marest were at Peoria 
 on their winter hunt in the early winter of 1699. St. Cosme was 
 accompanied by Tonti who had abandoned Fort St. Louis and 
 was on his way to the French settlement at Biloxi which had 
 just been made. 
 
 Again in the summer of 1700 LeSueur was journeying up the 
 Mississippi and at the mouth of the Illinois received a letter 
 written by Father Marest dated July 10, 1700, at the Mission 
 of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin at the 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 123 
 
 Illinois. Then we have the word of Father Gravier who made a 
 journey from Mackinaw to the mouth of the Mississippi. He 
 says he left Chicago September 8, 1700, and reached Kaskaskia 
 village too late to prevent the Indians at that time under Father 
 Marest from leaving their village to go to the settlements of 
 D'Iberville at the mouth of the Mississippi River. 
 
 The Kaskaskia Indians were found later, with Marest and 
 the Parish records, living quietly at the village of Kaskaskia on 
 the "Okaw." It is therefore easy to establish the fact that Kas- 
 kaskia on the "Okaw" was settled in the late part of the year 
 of 1700. 
 
 The records as given above show that M. Juchereau de St. 
 Denis with thirty-four Canadians established a trading post near 
 the mouth of the Ohio in 1702. Father Mermet established a 
 branch mission at this post which he called the Mission of the 
 Assumption. This point occupied by the trading post and by 
 the mission was occupied by French till the French and Indian 
 war when the soldiers retreating from Fort Du Quesne built at 
 the site of the Mission of the Assumption Fort Massac the ruins 
 of which still remain. 
 
 Vincennes was also visited about the year 1702 by French 
 soldiers from Quebec who established a fort at the present site of 
 Vincennes. They were accompanied by a Jesuit Father who said 
 mass and from that time forward the occupation of the place can 
 be shown. 
 
 Crozat came to Kaskaskia in 1712 as the holder of a grant 
 from Louis XIV to all the Territory of Louisiana for purposes 
 of trade. He was empowered to open mines and search for 
 precious metals paying one-fifth of what he found to the king. 
 Individual fur traders became jealous of Crozat as the holder of 
 a monopoly and the commercial interests of the Illinois Country 
 were greatly crippled. Crozat's efforts were greatly opposed 
 by many interests and he surrendered his grant in 1717. 
 
 The Western Company was organized in France by John Law 
 in 1717 and received a grant to the Territory of Louisiana which 
 Crozat had just surrendered. Under its patronage Fort 
 Chartres was established and a knowledge of the geography of 
 Illinois greatly enlarged. Its representative, Renault, established 
 a village, St. Philippe, on his estate now in Monroe County, 
 mining operations were carried on throughout the country and 
 were particularly successful at the lead mines near the present 
 City of Galena. 
 
 A village of some importance grew up very near Fort Chartres 
 known as New Chartres, and without doubt the Village of 
 Prairie du Rocher, some four miles east of the fort, was estab- 
 lished before the dissolution of the Western Company in 1732. 
 Cahokia was a flourishing village prior to 1732. But the records 
 concerning this place are scarce. Peoria was not at this time a 
 
124 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 center of white settlers. The Indians seem to have congregated 
 there, and there was a mission there, but it could hardly be 
 called a permanent settlement like Kaskaskia. 
 
 The word Chicago is spelled on thirteen different French 
 maps in thirteen different ways. These were drawn from 1687 
 to 1794. The first cabin built in Chicago was probably the one 
 built to shelter Marquette in the winter of 1674-5. 
 
 When Boisbriant came in 1818 to take possession of the Illi- 
 nois Country and had constructed his fort, he began to make 
 grants of land on behalf of the government and the Western 
 Company. These grants to individuals were usually narrow 
 strips extending back into the country from a river's front. The 
 old maps of those portions of Illinois occupied by the French in 
 this period show these grants. The atlas of Illinois published 
 by Werner and Beers of Chicago in 1876 show these grants in 
 Randolph, Monroe, and St. Clair counties. The grants are num- 
 bered and the plats remain as they were in the days of French 
 occupancy. Records were made and deeds given. Here is the 
 copy of one made very early, May 10, 1722 : 
 
 "Pierre Duquet de Boisbriant, Knight of the Military Order 
 of Saint Louis, and First King's Lieutenant of the Province of 
 Louisiana, commanding at the Illinois, and Monsignor Antoine 
 de la Loire Des Ursins, principal commissary for the Royal 
 India Company, on demand of Charles Danie to grant him a 
 piece of land of five arpents in front of the site of the Mitchi- 
 gamia River, running north and south, joining to Michael Philip 
 on one side, and on the other to Meleque, and in depth, east 
 and west to the Mississippi. In consequence they do grant to 
 the said Charles Danie, in socage, the said land, where on he 
 may from this date commence working, clearing, and sowing 
 in expectation of a formal concession, which shall be sent from 
 France by Messres the Directors of the Royal India Company, 
 and the said land shall revert to the domain of the said company 
 if the said Charles Danie does not work thereon within a year 
 and a day. Given this 10th day of May 1722. 
 
 Boisbriant, 
 Des Ursins." 
 
 The settlers did not have separate fields nor did they build 
 houses on the cultivated lands, but they lived in villages on lots 
 of ground like our village lots. These lots were one arpent square 
 and were enclosed with pickets. The house was built toward the 
 front part of the lot with flower beds and a few fruit trees next 
 to the street, while the back of the lot was used for stables and 
 garden. The fields — that is the private grants — lay side by side 
 and were never fenced. Sometimes a small ditch would separate 
 one field from the ones lying next to it. It is very interesting 
 to ride over the roads along the bluffs about Kaskaskia and 
 Prairie du Rocher and see these narrow fields as distinctly 
 marked off as they were in the days of the Western Company. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 125 
 
 An agency of great public utility was early established near 
 Kaskaskia. This was a mill for grinding grain. In a humble 
 petition presented to the Commandant and Judge of the Country 
 of Illinois on the 9th of February, 1727, signed by the inhabit- 
 ants of Kaskaskia, they asked for the consideration of four 
 matters pertaining to the lands chiefly. In the fourth request 
 they asked among other things that they may have confirmed 
 a small tract on the opposite (east) side of the little river (the 
 Kaskaskia) that it may constitute a mill site for the erection 
 of a water mill. In the disposal of this petition the Commandant, 
 Deliete, and the Judge, Chaffin, recommended to the Superior 
 Council of Louisiana that the request as to the mill site should 
 be granted. Now it is very interesting to know that there was 
 a water mill built and operated in the earliest times just east 
 across the Kaskaskia River, but a half mile or so above just at 
 the foot of a bluff from which there flowed forth and still flows 
 a stream of water which was used in running the water mill. 
 Upon this same site as late as the latter part of the eighteenth 
 century a mill of considerable capacity was built. The base- 
 ment of the building was of stone and the frame work above 
 was of huge timbers many of which were ten or twelve inches 
 square. The author visited this abandoned site a few years 
 ago and found the mill stones and timbers scattered about in 
 wild profusion. 
 
 Probably before the date of 1732 when the inhabitants of the 
 several villages along the Mississippi valley were shipping large 
 quantities of flour down the river to New Orleans. 
 
 The introduction of slavery into Illinois dates from the coming 
 of Renault in 1721. About three hundred slaves were brought 
 at that time to work in the timber and on the farms. When 
 the grant was made to Renault he put his slaves to work on 
 the lands to produce food for his men who were carrying on 
 the mining operations throughout the country. When Renault 
 left the Illinois country he sold many of his slaves to the farm- 
 ers about Fort Chartres and thus slavery was perpetuated till 
 about 1850 when a court decision released those then held in 
 bondage. These are known in history as the old "French slaves." 
 Their descendants are still occupying the land. They may be 
 seen on their farms or trading in the Village of Prairie Du 
 Rocher or attending the services of the Catholic Church in the 
 village. They do not greatly resemble the negroes that may 
 be seen in other towns of Southern Illinois and their speech is 
 not a Southern negro tongue but a mixture of French and 
 English. 
 
 The farms of the French villages were soon stocked with 
 cattle, sheep, hogs, horses, and fowls. The horses, so says Reyn- 
 olds, were a Spanish breed from the Southwest. They were of 
 the general build of ponies and were very hardy animals. The 
 cattle were brought from Canada and were small but easily 
 
126 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 kept and serviceable. Wheat, corn, oats, apples, pumpkins, pota- 
 toes and other vegetables were raised on the rich alluvial soil. 
 
 The church persisted but rarely flourished. There were mis- 
 sions or chapels or regular church organizations in all the vil- 
 lages. Without doubt the Church of the Immaculate Conception 
 at Kaskaskia was the most prosperous of all the religious cen- 
 ters. There was a monastery and a college there as early as 
 1721 according to Governor Reynolds in his "Pioneer History." 
 A large amount of the religious and secular activity was the 
 result of the hard work of the Jesuits who labored in and out 
 of season for the conversion of the Indians and for the building 
 of villages, homes, mills, boats, and for the manufacture of 
 cloth, the tanning of leather, and the manufactures in simple 
 ways in iron and wood. Bruce says that the "real control of 
 the minds and will of the people was the hands of the Jesuits." 
 
 We have followed the fortunes of Marquette and Joliet, of 
 LaSalle and Tonti, of priests, traders, and missionaries. We 
 have seen settlements take root, grow, and then die, and we 
 have observed the planting of at least a half dozen settlements, 
 where conditions were not the most favorable yet they have 
 lived — Kaskaskia, Fort Massac, Vincennes, Fort Chartres, St. 
 Philippe, Prairie du Rocher, Cahokia, Peoria and Chicago. In 
 fact at the date of the surrender of the Western Company of 
 its charter there were signs of great progress. The inhabitants 
 of these several villages were a happy-go-lucky set. Life was 
 easy and to villagers there were no signs of any serious disturb- 
 ance from without nor from within. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 ILLINOIS A ROYAL PROVINCE. 
 
 Chickasa War — Revival of Interests — Conflict of In- 
 terests — King George's War — The Ohio Land Company 
 — Fort Necessity — Illinois in the French and Indian 
 War — End of War — Pontiac's War — Proclamation of 
 1763. 
 
 The Western Company which had been merged into an East 
 Indian Company surrendered its control of Louisiana April 10, 
 1732. So far as the ordinary observer was concerned there was 
 no great change as the country passed from a chartered province 
 to a royal province. As has been intimated in a previous chap- 
 ter, the Jesuits were the ones who gave direction to the slight 
 political and intellectual activities which were observed among 
 the people. Outside of the issuing of a few grants of land, the 
 great company took little action in the Louisiana Territory. 
 Nearly all that was accomplished was done by individuals, 
 priests, traders, trappers, and a few political officials. 
 
 Illinois a Royal Province 
 
 One of the first steps taken by the crown was to separate the 
 Louisiana Territory from New France. The government of 
 Louisiana was carried on by a governor, and intendant, and a 
 Royal Council. These were appointed by the king. Illinois was 
 made a dependency of Louisiana. The commandant of Illinois 
 was to be appointed by the governor of Louisiana. Lieutenant 
 Boisbriant was recalled to Louisiana in 1725 to act as governor, 
 while De Bienville made a visit to France. The second com- 
 mandant of Illinois was Captain du Liette of the royal army. 
 The next commandant was St. Ange de Bellerive, who was 
 the one in control in the year 1732, when the Western Com- 
 pany surrendered its charter. M. Salmon was named to accept 
 the surrender of Louisiana from the company. 
 
 The Western Company had had control of the Louisiana 
 Country from 1717 to 1732 — fifteen years. During this period 
 the population had grown from about 700 souls of all colors, 
 ages, and sexes, till in 1732 there were 5,000 people in the 
 territory. Out of this 5,000 population about 2,000 of them 
 were slaves. When the charter was surrendered in 1732, the 
 crown purchased all the effects belonging to the company. There 
 were warehouses, goods, stock in trade, plantations, 260 negroes 
 in Illinois, and all the equipment about the plantations. Major 
 
 127 
 
128 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 D'Artaguette, a young officer in the French service who had won 
 distinction as an Indian fighter on the lower Mississippi, was 
 named as the king's first lieutenant, and commandant of Illinois. 
 He began his duties in 1734 and ruled till his death two years 
 later. 
 
 As the French had spread north from New Orleans, they had 
 settled among the Indians scattered along the Mississippi. 
 Among these Indians were the Natches, the Chickasas, and the 
 Choctas. The Natches were located in what is now Mississippi 
 where the City of Natches is found. To the north of the Natches 
 were the Chickasas, and southeast of the Natches were the 
 Choctas. The Chickasas had been very hostile at times to the 
 carriers of the commerce which passed up and down the Missis- 
 sippi River between the Illinois Country and the ports at the 
 mouth of the river. Bienville, while governor of Louisiana, was 
 able to hold these hostile natives in check, but in 1726 he was 
 called to France and it was then that the Chickasas renewed 
 their opposition to the navigation of the river by the people of 
 Illinois. In 1729 the Chickasas hatched a conspiracy among 
 the Indians in that region for the extermination of the French 
 in Lower Louisiana. In the war which followed the Natches 
 were annihilated as a tribe — the refugees taking shelter among 
 the Chickasas who had not taken an active part in the war. In 
 all of these unfortunate relations between the French and the 
 Indians along the Mississippi, the English of the Carolinas were 
 prominent factors. In 1732 Georgia was settled by the English 
 and they too soon became involved in the unfriendly relations 
 between the French and the Indians. 
 
 When Oglethorpe was fairly settled in his colony of Georgia 
 he was visited by the chiefs of the tribes to the west of the pres- 
 ent State of Georgia who came to tell him that the French were 
 encroaching upon his grant which the king had made to certain 
 trustees. The English in Georgia and the Carolinas set them- 
 selves to oppose the French along the Mississippi and about the 
 Gulf Coast. This was the basis for later complications, and 
 accounts for the continued bitter attitude of the Indians toward 
 the French. The Natches refugees who had been sheltered by 
 the Chickasas were still thirsting for the blood of the French 
 who had broken up their tribe. The Chickasas appeared for 
 some time to be neutral in the matter, but encouraged by the 
 English emissaries the Chickasas openly commenced depreda- 
 tions upon the French and the river commerce. Negro refugees 
 from the Natches war had taken up their abode in the Chickasa 
 villages. These renegades were now commissioned by the Chick- 
 asas to go about New Orleans and work up a revolt among the 
 slaves. It was planned to kill their masters and burn New 
 Orleans and make their escape to the Chickasa villages. The 
 plot was discovered, the leaders taken and executed. There 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 129 
 
 seemed nothing for the French to do now less than to punish 
 severely the Chickasas. 
 
 Bienville had returned to New Orleans as governor in 1635. 
 He was old but active and somewhat vain, since he wished to 
 finish up his career as governor of Louisiana by annihilating the 
 Chickasas. He therefore sent an ambassador to the Chickasas 
 asking them to surrender the Natches Indians who had been 
 guilty of massacreing French settlers on the river. This the 
 Chickasas refused to do and it was Bienville's plan to make war 
 on them to the point of utter destruction. 
 
 The Chickasa War 
 
 Bienville had definite plans for the war upon the Chickasas. 
 He ordered the new commandant at Kaskaskia, Pierre D'Ar- 
 taguiette, to assemble the fighting men of the French villages 
 about Kaskaskia and also the soldiers of Vincennes. With 
 these he was to march south and meet Bienville almost east of 
 the present City of Natches. The two armies — the one under 
 D'Artaguiette from the Illinois Country, and the other under 
 Bienville from Biloxi, New Orleans and other settlements. The 
 army under Bienville failed to reach the place of rendezvous 
 and D'Artaguiette attacked some small villages with apparent 
 success, but the main body of the Indians assembling before 
 Bienville arrived, attacked the Illinois troops, killed forty 
 Frenchmen and eight Indians. They also captured many of the 
 French and Indians whom they burned at the stake. Among 
 those burned at the stake were M. de Vincennes, the founder of 
 Vincennes, Indiana; D'Artaguiette, the Illinois commandant; 
 Father Senat ; DuTisne, a former commandant of Illinois ; Pierre 
 St. Ange, Brother Louis St. Ange, a later cammandant. The 
 remnants of the Illinois troops eventually returned to their 
 homes. In 1739 another expedition was planned but peace was 
 secured before any engagements were opened. 
 
 The death of D'Artaguiette was lamented by all who ever 
 knew him, and his loss was seriously felt by the settlers in the 
 Illinois villages. Alphonse de la Buissoniere who was one of the 
 leaders in the ill-fated Chickasa war was the successor to D'Ar- 
 taguiette. From 1736 to 1744 there were no public enterprises 
 to attract attention. The population was largely increased by 
 immigrants from the old world — mostly French. The Illinois 
 Country grew in population and also in different kinds of indus- 
 trial activities. There were by 1740 as many as six villages 
 along the Mississippi, from south to north as follows : Kaskas- 
 kia, Prairie du Rocher, New Chartres, St. Philippe, Prairie du 
 Pont, and Cahokia. There was still an Indian village at Peoria. 
 Fort St. Louis had been abandoned, and the present site of 
 Chicago was occupied only by transient traders, trappers, and 
 travelers. One of the most common products of the several 
 French villages was flour. Wheat was easily grown, and mills 
 
 * 
 
 7V1 
 
130 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 were constructed for the grinding of wheat into flour. Most of 
 the mills were water mills. These were erected at the foot of 
 the bluffs that skirted the eastern margin of the great American 
 bottom. There was at least one windmill if Governor Reynolds 
 was correctly informed. Then there were horse-mills for tread 
 mills. Reynolds reports great destruction of property along the 
 lower Mississippi in the fall of 1745. The villages on the Missis- 
 sippi and on the Wabash sent relief in the form of quantities of 
 flour. The flour was transported on boats and was sacked in 
 deer skins. 
 
 Revival of Interests 
 
 After the treaties of peace were signed between the French 
 and the Chickasas, in 1739, there was quiet from one end of 
 the Mississippi to the other. Commerce was one of the most 
 attractive enterprises in which one could engage. It was very 
 remunerative. The people of New Orleans depended almost alto- 
 gether upon the Illinois Country for their food supplies. "Regu- 
 lar cargoes of flour, bacon, pork, hides, tallow, leather, lumber, 
 wine, lead, and peltries were annually transported in keel boats 
 and barges to New Orleans where there was an excellent mar- 
 ket." The going trip was a very simple proposition — the boat 
 went with the stream, but the return journey was one to be 
 dreaded. The homeward cargo was of rice, sugar, coffee, 
 tobacco, indigo, cotton cloth, iron, and tools. It would be a 
 discouraging task to row a heavily loaded boat against the Mis- 
 sissippi current, but the mariners often had the wind to help 
 them. Then there was what was known as "cordelling." This 
 method consisted in pulling the boats up stream by means of long 
 ropes, the person walking along the bank; or one end was 
 often tied to a tree and the other end in the hands of the men 
 on the boat was tugged at continually against wind and 
 current. 
 
 It is not cruel to say that the life of the people who lived in 
 the villages along the Mississippi or on other streams was not 
 of a very high order. Government was simple. The comman- 
 dant soon found that the laws and customs of Paris were poorly 
 adapted to the needs of a simple intercourse of a simple people. 
 Practically the priest in charge of the village mission or church 
 had more to do in regulating the civil relationships than any of 
 the regularly appointed civil officers. There were no church 
 dissensions. No one questioned the authority of the priest in 
 church government or in interpretation. The great majority 
 of the citizens were blissfully ignorant. There were no schools 
 of any kind outside of Kaskaskia. There were no newspapers, 
 no orators except the Indians and no secret propaganda to be 
 disseminated. Socially there were no high ideals. There were 
 very few French women. Most of the mothers were Indian 
 squaws or daughters of Indian women, and the record of bap- 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 131 
 
 tisms of at least one church shows that the father of the child 
 was not always known. These people enjoyed the social activ- 
 ities of the community. They danced with great pleasure. 
 "While they were light-hearted, they were light-headed as well." 
 
 Conflict of Interests 
 
 It was very plain to those who were accustomed to interpret 
 the signs of the time that the time was not far removed when 
 there would be a serious lash as to the rightful ownership of the 
 lands west of the Alleghanies. The English colonies of Georgia, 
 the two Carolinas, Virginia, Connecticut, and Massachusetts all 
 had grants in their charters which included the lands west of 
 the settled portion as far west as the Pacific Ocean — the south 
 sea. Georgia and the two Carolinas were greatly concerned 
 about the presence of the French in the lands between the Alle- 
 ghany Mountains and the Mississippi River. The colonies farther 
 north found some trouble passing over the Alleghenies and they 
 do not seem to have cared for the presence of the French on the 
 Ohio and the Wabash, at least in the early days. Besides, from 
 1744 to 1748 the English Government and the northern colonies 
 were concerned about a war known as King George's war and 
 there was little time to think of the French west of the Alle- 
 ghanies. 
 
 King George's War 
 
 This war had its origin in Europe and is called a dynastic war. 
 It involved England and France, and so the English and French 
 colonies in America were more or less concerned. Since the close 
 of Queen Anne's war in 1713, the French had built what they 
 thought was an impregnable fort on the Cape Breton Island. 
 This fort was to guard the entrance to the St. Lawrence. Some 
 New England farmers were organized into a naval expedition by 
 William Pepperell and Louisburg was captured. There were 
 some conflicts near the border between the New England colonies 
 and the French in Canada, but nothing that in any way dis- 
 turbed the French in the Louisiana region. But when the war 
 closed in 1748, the French gave earnest heed to the occupation 
 of the Ohio River and valley. 
 
 During the first half of the eighteenth century the French 
 had tightened their grip on the waterways from the mouth of 
 the St. Lawrence to the mouth of the Mississippi by way of the 
 Great Lakes. There were forts, warehouses and mission stations 
 at Louisburg, Quebec, Montreal, Frontenac, Niagara, Detroit, 
 Mackinaw, Green Bay, Fort Miami, Starved Rock, Peoria, 
 Cahokia, St. Phillipe, Fort Chartres, Kaskaskia, Vincennes, Fort 
 Massac, Fort Prudhomme, Fort Rosalie, New Orleans, Biloxi, 
 and Mobile. There were other stations of lesser importance. 
 But in all of this strong chain of forts which completely hemmed 
 in the English colonies there was but a single defense on the 
 
132 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Ohio River for a distance of more than a thousand miles. It 
 was therefore the plan of the French Government immediately 
 to proceed to occupy this river from its nearest approach to 
 Lake Erie to its junction with the Mississippi. 
 
 The Ohio Land Company 
 
 The English have not been napping relative to their interests 
 west of the Alleghany Mountains. The English western line 
 had been pushed out in Georgia to Fort Moore, on the Savannah 
 River; to Camden, Charlottesburg ; and Hillsboro, in the Caro- 
 linas; in Virginia, well up into the Piedmont belt; in Pennsyl- 
 vania, well toward the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers; in 
 New York, to Oswego. The frontier line from New York to 
 Georgia was made up of hardy Pennsylvania Dutch, Scotch 
 Irish, Germans, and Huguenots. The English adventurers of 
 the coast had gone into the valleys of the mountains and had 
 established trading stations even to the west of the water part- 
 ing. In 1748 Thomas Lee, a member of the King's Council in 
 Virginia, formed the plan of effecting large settlements west of 
 the Alleghanies. He secured the assistance of a Mr. Hanbury, 
 a rich and influential merchant of London. With these two 
 leaders, a company of fourteen persons was formed, probably 
 half of the number residing in England and a half in Virginia 
 and other colonies. Among those in America who were stock- 
 holders in this Ohio Land Company were Governor Dinwiddie 
 and Lawrence and Augustine Washington, brothers of George 
 Washington. The King of England received the petition of this 
 Ohio Land Company and granted the company a half million 
 acres of land along the Ohio River. 
 
 While the company was being organized, Conrad Weiser, a 
 noted interpreter, was sent to the head waters of the Ohio River 
 to secure the friendship of the Indians in the venture of the 
 Ohio Land Company. The company was given the exclusive 
 right of trading with the Indians in the Ohio region. Trading 
 stations were established on the Alleghany River, the northern 
 branch of the Ohio. An important trading station was also 
 established at Logstown, eighteen miles below the junction of 
 the two rivers that form the Ohio. In 1750 Christopher Gist, a 
 frontiersman of great ability, went into the Ohio region; he 
 went into what is now the State of Ohio and as far west as the 
 Miami River. On this trip Gist found George Croghan and 
 Andrew Montour, two celebrated frontiersmen, who had pre- 
 ceded him into the Ohio country. Gist returned to Virginia by 
 way of Kentucky, where he also found a few feeble white settle- 
 ments. 
 
 The Lead Plates 
 
 As soon as word reached the governor of Canada telling of 
 the activity of the English in the region of the Ohio, he dis- 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 133 
 
 patched Louis Celeron, Knight of the Military Order of St. 
 Louis, into the Ohio valley for the purpose of depositing a num- 
 ber of lead plates at the mouths of rivers flowing into the Ohio. 
 Celeron kept the governor of Canada posted as to what was 
 transpiring in the Ohio valley. In January, 1750, Governor 
 Hamilton of Pennsylvania laid before his council a letter from 
 Celeron written from "Camp on the river Ohio, at an old 
 Shawnee village." In this letter the Frenchman said he was 
 surprised to find English traders from Pennsylvania in a coun- 
 try to which England had never laid claim, and requested the 
 governor to advise his people to refrain from trespassing on 
 the territory of France. Shortly after this the governor of 
 Canada wrote letters to the governors of New York and Penn- 
 sylvania warning them that English traders found in the valley 
 of the Ohio would be seized and held as trespassers on Frencli 
 territory. 
 
 Washington's Message 
 
 The French now began to send military forces into the valley 
 of the Ohio. They erected a fort at Presque Isle, now the City 
 of Erie, Pennsylvania. They next moved south some twenty- 
 five miles and built a fort on French Creek, one of the tributa- 
 ries of the Alleghany River. In the latter part of 1753 Gov- 
 ernor Dinwiddie sent George Washington to the French Com- 
 mander who was then at Venango with a request that he should 
 withdraw out of territory which had been a part of the English 
 possessions since the days of the Cabots, and the territory of 
 Virginia since 1609, the date of her second charter. Washing- 
 ton was used to the hardships which this task presented. He 
 had surveyed the hills and valleys of the Alleghanies, and he 
 had accompanied Lord Fairfax on many a hunt in these same 
 mountains. He reached Venango and delivered the message 
 from Governor Dinwiddie. The French officer was very cour- 
 teous to Washington, but told him that he was acting under 
 orders of his superior officer to whom he would present the 
 message from Governor Dinwiddie. Young Washington was 
 told to gather up quite a body of knowledge on this trip all of 
 which he did to the satisfaction of the governor. 
 
 Among other things which he observed was the strategic 
 value of the junction of the Alleghany and the Monongahela — 
 the "Forks of the Ohio." This he made a matter of special 
 report, and advised that the English should immediately take 
 possession of this point and erect a strong military defense. 
 Early in the spring of 1754 Washington, as head of the Vir- 
 ginia militia, was ordered to raise two hundred soldiers and 
 proceed to the defense of the "Forks of the Ohio." Preceding 
 this little army was a band of workmen who went to the desig- 
 nated place and began the erection of a fort. 
 
134 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Fort Necessity 
 
 Shortly after Washington's visit to the French at Venango, 
 a detachment of French soldiers was sent down the north 
 branch of the Ohio, with the purpose of taking possession of the 
 strategic "Forks of the Ohio." When they reached the place 
 they found the Virginia workmen engaged on the proposed 
 English Fort. The workmen were easily dissuaded and dis- 
 persed. In the meantime George Washington, now a Colonel, 
 was organizing his little band which was to take the first steps 
 in a great war. His troops were mostly Virginians but some 
 troops were from neighboring states. He left Williamsburg in 
 the early part of the year 1754 with a force of two hundred men. 
 He arrived at Great Meadows some fifty miles southeast of The 
 Forks on May 27, 1754. Here he was visited by Half -King, an 
 Indian chief, who lived at Loggstown on the Ohio below the 
 Forks. Half-King was an Iroquois chief who was a real friend 
 of the English. This chief had a small band of warriors ; they 
 had come to help Washington. Christopher Gist, a good friend 
 of Washington, had a short time before this settled just west of 
 Great Meadows ; he also came to tell Washington that a detach- 
 ment of French troops were encamped not far away awaiting 
 Washington's coming. On the 28th of May, Washington and 
 his friend Half-King marched forth and came upon the enemy 
 at a place called Little Meadows, five miles east of the present 
 City of Uniontown, Pennsylvania. There was fought the first 
 battle of the French and Indian war. All the French detach- 
 ment were killed, captured or dispersed. Among the killed was 
 Jumonville de Villiers, the commander of the French contingent. 
 
 Washington held his ground till June 28, when he learned that 
 Coulon de Villiers, a brother of the slain French commander, 
 was near with an army of several hundred men. Washington 
 then retreated to Great Meadows where he took refuge in a 
 crude fort which was called Fort Necessity. Here he was at- 
 tacked on July 3 by a thousand French troops. The battle 
 raged through the day. At nightfall in a heavy rain-storm 
 DeVillier sent terms of capitulation to Washington, who was 
 at that time out of provisions and ammunition. The generous 
 terms were accepted, and on July 4, 1754, George Washington 
 was permitted to march from its fort with flags flying and with 
 drums beating. He was allowed to return to Virginia, giving 
 up his French prisoners and leaving in the fort a few pieces 
 of artillery which he had brought over the mountains from 
 Virginia. 
 
 Fort Chartres 
 
 The justification for this somewhat detailed story of inci- 
 dents far from Illinois, may not on the face of it be understood, 
 but there is a very important relation between Illinois history 
 
136 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 and the story of the French and Indian war. When at the close 
 of the war which we call "King George's War," the French 
 decided to begin an active campaign of fort building from the 
 east end of Lake Erie down the Ohio River to its junction with 
 the Mississippi, they also began to strengthen their hold upon 
 all the route from the mouth of the St. Lawrence by way of the 
 Great Lakes and the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico. 
 This involved the repairing of old forts, the building of new 
 ones, and the accumulation of war supplies in all the places 
 suitable for such procedure. Among the places selected as a 
 strategic point on the Mississippi was Fort Chartres, sixteen 
 or eighteen miles above the young and growing city of Kaskas- 
 kia. The location of this fort has been given somewhat in detail 
 in a preceding chapter. The first fort was a palisade of a 
 double row of logs with space between filled with earth. It 
 was built in 1520, and was in all probability in need of repair. 
 But the French government's plans had passed beyond the tem- 
 porary stage. It was therefore decided to construct a very per- 
 manent fort at this place. In the summer of 1751 there arrived 
 at Fort Chartres Chevalier de Macarty direct from Paris with 
 orders to rebuild the fort, using stone instead of wood. This 
 apparently sudden decision of France to strengthen her claim 
 to the interior of the continent was the result of earnest appeals 
 that had been sent home by the governors of Louisiana and 
 New France. The governor of Canada wrote to his home gov- 
 ernment, saying: "The little colony of Illinois ought not to be 
 left to perish. The king must sacrifice for its support. The 
 principal advantage of the country is its extreme productive- 
 ness, and its connection with Canada and Louisiana." 
 
 Chevalier de Macarty was himself a Major of Engineers in 
 the army. He was given general control of building the new 
 fort, but the plans were drawn by Lieut. Jean B. Saussier, a 
 military engineer and maternal ancestor of Dr. John F. Snyder, 
 lately of Virginia City, Cass County, Illinois, a former president 
 of the Illinois State Historical Society. The work of construction 
 was begun not later than 1753, at least in May of that year. 
 Captain Bossu of the French marines who was at the fort says : 
 "The Sieur Saussier, an engineer, has made a plan for construct- 
 ing a new fort here according to the intention of the court. It 
 shall bear the same name as the old one which is called Fort de 
 Chartres. The general plan of the fort is shown by the accom- 
 panying diagram." It was built of stone quarried from the bluffs 
 just above Prairie du Rocher, and the old quarries may be seen 
 today as one goes north along the old road at the foot of the 
 bluffs. These quarries were about three or three and a half 
 miles away from the fort with a large part of the space covered 
 by a lake or bayou. The old settlers will tell you that the stones 
 were loaded on the boats at the foot of the bluff where they were 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 137 
 
 quarried and transported to within a few hundred feet of the 
 site of the fort where they were unloaded and hauled on ox carts 
 to the site of the fort. 
 
 The walls of the fort were 1,447 feet in length, more than 2 feet 
 thick, 18 feet high, contained four bastions each having eight 
 embrasures and a sentry box. The fort faced northeast, and in 
 the middle of the front wall was a gate of artistic construction. 
 The gateway was arched and 15 feet high. Over the gateway 
 was a sort of portico reached by a stone stairway of nineteen 
 steps with a balustrade up the steps and around the outer edge 
 of the portico. All the parts of the gate were of cut stone except 
 the doors or gates proper which were of iron. Within the walls 
 there were two store houses 90 feet long and 30 feet wide, two 
 stories high and gable-roofed. Two buildings used by the com- 
 mandant and the commissary each 96 feet long and 30 feet wide. 
 Two groups of four barracks each 135 feet long and 36 feet wide. 
 One powder magazine some 45 feet long and 30 feet wide. A 
 smaller magazine and a bake oven and stables for horses. There 
 were two wells, a rather large one and one of ordinary size. 
 They were both walled with broken rocks much as the farmers 
 in hilly regions wall their wells. These two wells are to be seen 
 today apparently in as good condition as they were in the days of» 
 the French and Indian war. Engineers who have surveyed the 
 site state there were about four acres within the walls. Just 
 in front of the gate and portico was a spacious parade ground 
 which may also be seen today, though overgrown with briers 
 and shrubs. One may, in his imagination, reconstruct this great 
 fortress that is supposed to have cost a $1,000,000 in our money. 
 The commandants who ruled at Fort Chartres from the time 
 it was first established to the close of the French and Indian war 
 were as follows : 
 
 Duque de Boisbriant 1718-1725 
 
 Du Tisne 1725^1726 
 
 De Lieite 1726-1730 
 
 St. Ange de Bellerive 1730-1734 
 
 Herre D'Artaguiette 1734-1736 
 
 De la Bussoniere 1736-1740 
 
 Benoist De St. Claire 1740-1743 
 
 Chevalier De Bertel 1743-1749 
 
 Benoist De St. Claire 1749-1751 
 
 Chevalier de Macarty 1751-1760 
 
 Neyon De Villiers 1760-1764 
 
 St. Ange de Bellerive 1764-1765 
 
 Illinois in the French and Indian War 
 
 The French government began to send soldiers and military 
 supplies to Fort Chartres as soon as it was seen there would be 
 a clash of arms over the control of the Ohio valley. Among the 
 
138 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 officers was a Captain Neyon de Villiers, whose brother, Coulon 
 de Villiers, was in command at Fort du Quesne. When the 
 French detachment was sent from Fort De Quesne to meet Colo- 
 nel Washington at Little Meadows, the little army was in com- 
 mand of an officer by the name of Jumoville de Villiers, a brother 
 to the commander at Fort Du Quesne, and of Neyon de Villiers 
 at Fort Chartres. 
 
 When word reached Coulon de Villiers at Fort Du Quesne that 
 his brother had been killed at the Little Meadows, word was 
 sent to the third brother, Neyon de Villiers at Fort Chartres, to 
 come at once to Fort Du Quesne with his company. This he did 
 and toward the end of June he reached Fort Du Quesne with his 
 grenadiers. The two brothers then marched toward Fort Neces- 
 sity, and on the morning of the 3d of July, 1754, they attacked 
 the fort and on the morning of July 5, 1754, Washington sur- 
 rendered. Thus we see that Illinois troops under the command 
 of an officer stationed in an Illinois fort took part in the capture 
 of the "Father of his Country." 
 
 Illinois performed other service in the French and Indian war. 
 The French villages along the Mississippi furnished supplies, 
 and men in addition to those sent under Neyon de Villiers in 
 1754. The supplies were sent down the Mississippi and up the 
 Ohio to Fort Du Quesne. Chevalier de Macarty was in command 
 of Fort Chartres from 1751 to 1760 and was untiring in his 
 devotion to the cause of his king. In 1760 this Frenchman with 
 an Irish name retired from the command of this great fort and 
 his successor, Neyon de Villiers, was appointed to the command. 
 Neyon de Villiers was a popular commander, for his name is 
 found on many of the certificates of marriages as shown in the 
 records of the St. Anne's Parish. 
 
 While still under Chevalier Macarty, as the war proceeded, 
 Neyon de Villiers was a constant and never failing support to 
 the French at Fort Du Quesne. The commandant at this fort 
 reported to the governor of Canada that he was in sore need of 
 supplies. He wrote to Macarty — "We are in sad want of pro- 
 visions. I send to you for flour and pork." Shortly after this 
 the governor of Canada wrote to the home government — "I knew 
 the route from the Illinois was as fine as could be desired. Cheva- 
 lier Neyon de Villier, who commands the escort of provisions 
 from here, came up with a bateau of 18,000 weight. This makes 
 known a sure communication with the Illinois whence I can de- 
 rive succor in provisions and men." "The tireless De Villiers, 
 hardly resting from his escort, duly crossed the Alleghanies with 
 his men, and captured Fort Granville, on the Juaniata." The 
 Marquis de Montcalm, writing of the work done by the Illinois 
 soldiers, says : "The news from the Beautiful River is excellent. 
 We continue to devastate Pennsylvania. Chevalier de Villiers, 
 brother of Jumonville, who was assassinated by the British, has 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 139 
 
 just burned Fort Granville, sixty miles from Philadelphia." Cap- 
 tain Aubry was sent from Fort Chartres with 400 men to re- 
 enforce the garrison at the Forks of the Ohio. Captain Aubry 
 defeated Major Grant and his Highlanders, and surprised an 
 English camp forty-five miles from Fort Duquesne and rode back 
 to the fort upon the captured horses. Illinois troops were in 
 Fort Duquesne when Washington captured the place in 1758 
 and made their escape down the Ohio by the light of the burn- 
 ing fort. 
 
 When Quebec fell before General Wolfe's Red Coats on the 
 Plains of Abraham in the middle of September, 1759, it was 
 known that Canada or New France would go to the English. 
 But public men in the Louisiana Territory could not see any rea- 
 son why Louisiana should be given up to the English. The Illi- 
 nois French were greatly shocked when they learned that the 
 Illinois as well as the lower parts of Louisiana on the East of the 
 river had been given over to the English. It is said that Bien- 
 ville, now an old man in Paris with tears in his eyes, pleaded that 
 Louisiana might not be ceded to the English. 
 
 End of the War 
 
 The treaty which closed the war was signed in Paris Febru- 
 ary 10, 1763. By the terms of the treaty all of New France was 
 ceded to the English and all of Louisiana east of the Mississippi 
 River excepting the City of New Orleans. Neyon de Villiers 
 was in command at Fort Chartres and there were still those who 
 thought that the French king would be able by some sort of 
 diplomacy to retain the Illinois country. Just at this uncertain 
 period an expedition arrived at Fort Chartres from New Or- 
 leans. It was led by a man of great means and wide business 
 experience. This man was Pierre LaClede. He represented a 
 company of rich merchants in New Orleans who wished to found 
 at some suitable point in the Illinois country a large fur trading 
 establishment. He reached Fort Chartres with a large stock of 
 valuable goods. Neyon de Villiers allowed him to store his goods 
 in the fort and his men were allowed also to make the fort their 
 stopping place. La Clede soon learned that the Illinois country 
 had been ceded to the British. He was greatly disappointed. 
 He hastily surveyed the western bank of the Mississippi, never 
 dreaming that that territory, too, had secretly been handed over 
 to the Spanish government for safe keeping. After some time 
 spent in inspecting several locations he finally settled on the 
 mounds where the City of St. Louis is now located. In the spring 
 of 1764 he moved his goods to the west side of the Mississippi 
 and thus the great City of St. Louis had its beginning. 
 
 The veteran St. Ange de Bellerive, who had been in charge of 
 the fort at Vincennes, came in 1764 to relieve Neyon de Villiers 
 who had done so much for the French and for the Illinois country. 
 
140 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Although the Lilies of France were still waving over Fort Char- 
 tres it was known that the British were only awaiting a favor- 
 able time when they would pull down the Lilies and run up the 
 Union Jack. When it was generally understood that the British 
 would eventually take possession of the Illinois country, there 
 was a regular exodus from the villages of the Illinois, and this 
 notwithstanding the proclamation of the English commander in 
 chief that they might remain in possession of all their property, 
 and might enjoy their religion undisturbed. 
 
 Pontiac's War 
 
 In the French and Indian war the Algonquin Indians were 
 favorable to the French while the Iroquois Indians were gen- 
 erally with the English. The Algonquins — particularly their 
 leaders — fully believed that the lands surrendered to the Eng- 
 lish might with united efforts on the part of the Indians and 
 French be taken from the English and restored to the French 
 king. The Indians were sullen and discontented. They looked 
 on, while the forts, settlements, and trading stations in the 
 northwest were being transferred to the English with revenge- 
 ful eyes. And while there seems at first to have been little or- 
 ganization or concerted action, as time passed the opposition to 
 the English occupation grew more and more formidable. The 
 first outward manifestation of this savage animosity was shown 
 when Major Rogers with a detachment of British soldiers was 
 marching to Detroit to take formal possession, Pontiac, an Ot- 
 tawa chief, presented obstructions and inquired why this army 
 should be marching across his possessions. Major Rogers handled 
 the case very diplomatically. He assured Pontiac that he was 
 fully authorized by the British government to take peaceable 
 possession of the lands which the treaty of Paris had trans- 
 ferred to the British king. After some minor points had been 
 considered the two men smoked the peace pipe and the soldiers 
 soon reached their destination. But Pontiac brooded over the 
 changed conditions. The French had been very affable and con- 
 siderate while the English were haughty and contemptuous. 
 The French had mingled freely with the Indians, had shared 
 their hardships and their joys. The priests had endeared them- 
 selves to the savages by attending their sick, baptizing their chil- 
 dren, burying their dead and leading them to believe in the 
 Christian religion. The more Pontiac thought these things over, 
 and built up in his imagination the conditions when the English 
 should occupy the land, the more he thought they should never 
 be allowed to dispossess the French. He therefore organized 
 a conspiracy among the several Indian tribes looking to the com- 
 plete annihilation of English power in New France and Louisi- 
 ana. The plan was to fall with savage fury upon all the forts 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 141 
 
 and settlements where the English had dispossessed the French. 
 The plan was well laid and was carried out with the usual sav- 
 age atrocities. Fort Pitt (old Fort Duquesne) and Detroit were 
 the only places of any importance which were able to drive off 
 the attacking redskins. The red savages wreaked their ven- 
 geance upon unprotected settlements and murdered or carried 
 into captivity hundreds of white settlers. The French officers 
 who were in command of the forts throughout Louisiana and 
 Canada regions, at the close of the war, had been asked by the 
 British government to retain those commands till the British 
 could come with sufficient military force to hold the country 
 and preserve order. Many of these French officers were sus- 
 pected of conniving with the Indians and in some cases of giving 
 them aid. But these charges of bad faith are probably not true 
 in any case. 
 
 When the British government found that the conspiracy was 
 really getting to be a formidable reality, it sent General Brad- 
 street into the disturbed region, who succeeded in pacifying a 
 few of the western tribes. Colonel Boquet successfully met a 
 large body of braves in Western Pennsylvania and when the 
 Indians found that the British government was determined upon 
 the restoration of order and the establishment of British au- 
 thority in the newly conquered territory, they agreed to a gen- 
 eral peace which was signed December 5, 1764. But Pontiac 
 personally had no part in the making of the treaty and would 
 not agree to abide by its terms. He insisted that the French 
 had not kept faith with him, at least he was greatly disappointed 
 in not receiving any help from them. 
 
 Pontiac was deserted by the tribes upon whom he had relied 
 for help. He seemed now alone in the struggle and with a heavy 
 heart he came into the Illinois country, thinking he might create 
 some interest among the Indians here. He found Neyon de 
 Villiers in command at Fort Chartres. They were old time 
 friends. Pontiac laid his plans before Villiers, but the latter 
 told him promptly that the treaty had been signed and sealed, 
 and that his scheme could have no support whatever. Shortly 
 after, he returned to Fort Chartres again and plead with St. 
 Ange de Bellerive to assist him in his efforts to keep the British 
 out of the Illinois country. St. Ange followed the example set by 
 de Villier and gave no countenance to the scheme of the wily 
 savage. 
 
 In the spring of 1764, Major Loftus, with a force of 400 men, 
 started up the Mississippi to accept the formal surrender of 
 Fort Chartres, the only place where the French flag was still 
 waving. He was met down the Mississippi from Fort Chartres 
 and attacked by Pontiac's braves and after suffering a severe 
 defeat he returned to New Orleans. In May, 1765, Col. George 
 
142 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Croghan, a trader and pioneer, with friendly Indians and whites, 
 came down the Ohio and made an encampment on the Ohio where 
 Shawneetown is today, and sent word to the French at Fort 
 Chartres. At daybreak on the morning of the 8th of June, 1765, 
 they were attacked by the Indians; some were killed and the 
 remainder captured. They were all forced to march to Vin- 
 cennes and from there to Detroit. Thus the second attempt by 
 the British to reach Fort Chartres failed. The Lilies of France 
 were still flying over the Illinois country. 
 
 Colonel Croghan, however, was able to make terms with Pon- 
 tiac and later the latter publicly acknowledged his relinquish- 
 ment of all claim to the right to rule the Illinois country. At 
 Detroit he said to Colonel Croghan : "Father, we have all smoked 
 together this peace pipe, and as the Great Spirit has brought 
 us together for good, I declare to all the nations that I have made 
 peace with the English. In the presence of all the tribes now 
 assembled, I take the King of England as my father, and dedicate 
 this pipe to his use, that henceforth we may visit him and smoke 
 together in peace." 
 
 The military contingent which was to follow Colonel Croghan 
 did not leave Fort Pitt till late in the autumn of 1765. It con- 
 sisted of 120 men from the Forty-second Regiment of the Scotch 
 Highlanders under command of Captain Sterling. They made 
 their way down the Ohio and up the Mississippi and on the 10th 
 of October, 1765, the ensign of France was lowered from the 
 walls of old Fort Chartres and the cross of St. George rose in 
 its place. The French commandant, to whom fell this sad duty 
 of hauling down the Lilies of France, was St. Ange de Belle- 
 rive, a Canadian officer of rare tact and good judgment. Neyon 
 de Villiers, the only living brother of a family of seven all of 
 whom had given their lives for the French cause in America, 
 had sadly taken his departure with a few devoted friends for 
 New Orleans a year before. St. Ange de Bellerive, with twenty- 
 one faithful soldiers, took their departure for St. Louis, a new 
 village on the west side of the river above Cahokia. 
 
 Proclamation of 1763 
 
 Captain Sterling brought with him to Fort Chartres a procla- 
 mation issued by the authority of the King of England and 
 signed by the King's military chief, General Gage. The purpose 
 of this proclamation was to reassure the French inhabitants of 
 the purpose of the British government to deal fairly with the 
 King's new subjects. These new subjects of the English King 
 were already leaving the Illinois country by the hundreds. 
 . "Whereas, by the peace concluded at Paris, the 10th of Feb- 
 ruary, 1763, the country of the Illinois has been ceded to his 
 Britannic Majesty, and the taking possession of the said coun- 
 try of the Illinois, by the troops of his Majesty, though de- 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 143 
 
 layed, has been determined upon ; we have found it good to make 
 known to the inhabitants — ■ 
 
 "That his majesty grants to the inhabitants of the Illinois, 
 the liberty of the Catholic religion, as it has already been granted 
 to his subjects in Canada. He has consequently given the most 
 precise and effective orders, to the end that his new Roman 
 Catholic subjects of the Illinois may exercise the worship of 
 their religion, according to the rites of the Romish church, in 
 the same manner as in Canada. 
 
 "That his majesty, moreover, agrees that the French inhab- 
 itants or others, who have been subjects of the most Christian 
 King (the King of France), may retire in full safety and free- 
 dom wherever they please, even to New Orleans, or any other 
 part of Louisiana ; although it should happen that the Spaniards 
 take possession of it in the name of his Catholic majesty (the 
 King of Spain), and they may sell their estates, provided it 
 be to subjects of his majesty, and transport their effects as 
 well as their persons, without restraint upon their emigration, 
 under any pretense whatever, except in consequence of debts, 
 or of criminal processes. 
 
 "That those who choose to retain their lands and become 
 subjects of his majesty shall enjoy the same rights and priv- 
 ileges, the same security for their persons and effects, and the 
 liberty of trade, as the old subjects of the King. 
 
 "That they are commanded by these presents, to take the oath 
 of fidelity and obedience to his majesty, in presence of Sieur 
 Stirling, captain of the Highland regiment, the bearer hereof, 
 and furnished with our full powers for this purpose. 
 
 "That we recommend forcibly to the inhabitants, to conduct 
 themselves like good and faithful subjects, avoiding, by a wise 
 and prudent demeanor, all cause of complaint against them. 
 
 "That they act in concert with his majesty's officers, so that 
 his troops may take peaceable possession of all the forts, and 
 order be kept in the country. By this means alone they will 
 spare his majesty the necessity of recurring to force of arms, 
 and will find themselves saved from the scourge of a bloody 
 war, and of all the evils which the march of an enemy into 
 their country would draw after it. 
 
 "We direct that these presents be read, published, and posted 
 up in the usual places. 
 
 "Done and given at headquarters, New York — signed with 
 our hand — sealed with our seal at arms, and countersigned by 
 our secretary, this 30th of December, 1764. 
 
 "THOMAS GAGE. 
 
 "By his excellency, g. MATURIN." 
 
 The population of the Illinois country at the time of its trans- 
 fer to the English was estimated as follows : 
 
144 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 ''White men able to bear arms 700 
 
 White women 500 
 
 Children 850 
 
 Negroes, both sexes 900 
 
 Total 2950 
 
 It is estimated that at least one-third of all the people left 
 when it was finally known that the British would take charge 
 of Illinois. Many went to St. Louis, some to Cape Girardeau, 
 some to St. Mary's, and many to New Orleans. 
 
 Some will want to know the end of a man who could for three 
 years thwart the power of a great government like England. 
 After he signed a final treaty with Colonel Croghan, he wan- 
 dered about like a man without a country. He came into the 
 west and lived in the forest where he could meditate on the 
 great events of the past decade. He is said to have lived as the 
 red men had lived in an earlier day and to have secured the 
 food for his wife and children by hunting and fishing. All this, 
 notwithstanding the fact that he had held a high military rank 
 in the French organization, and wore on public occasions the 
 uniform of a French officer, which is said to have been given 
 him shortly before the battle on the Plains of Abraham. 
 
 In his hours of loneliness in the forests he would recall the 
 days when Frenchmen were his friends, and there arose a great 
 desire to renew, even if only temporarily, his former friend- 
 ships and acquaintances. On one such occasion he visited St. 
 Louis in April, 1769, to spend some time with two very highly 
 respected friends, Pierre Chouteau and St. Ange de Bellerive. 
 He had been cordially received and hospitably entertained by 
 the two noted Frenchmen and was about ready to return to his 
 haunts in the forests, when he learned that there was a large 
 party of Indians carousing at old Cahokia, just across in Illi- 
 nois from St. Louis. He expressed his desire to join these In- 
 dians and enter once more into the joys of strong drink. He 
 was unavailingly dissuaded from carrying out his intentions. 
 He joined the revelers and became intoxicated. He may have 
 made unwise threats at this time, at least it was reported that 
 an English trader hired a trifling Kaskaskia Indian to kill Pon- 
 tiac. The pay the Indian received for his dastardly deed was 
 a barrel of whisky. His body lay where it fell from the blow 
 of a tomahawk until his white friend, St. Ange de Bellerive, 
 came from St. Louis and claimed the body as that of his former 
 friend. He removed it to St. Louis where decent burial was 
 accorded it at the hands of the two French friends. In after 
 years a bronze tablet was attached to a building which stood 
 over the grave of the great Indian chieftain. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 FRENCH CONTRIBUTION TO ILLINOIS LIFE* 
 
 After the French Dominion — The Advent of Other Set- 
 tlers — The French Elsewhere in Illinois — At Bor- 
 bounnais and kankakee. 
 
 The influence exerted by the French people who first settled 
 Illinois might be viewed either from what they were and what 
 they did while they were in possession and control and from 
 the situation and circumstances as affected by them or what 
 they had done after they had been superseded in control and 
 virtually in possession. 
 
 Regarding the early French inhabitants much has been writ- 
 ten, and much of which is by way of criticism, but the critics 
 were all foreigners or visitors or enemies. Those who lived 
 amongst the French and knew them intimately as well as those 
 who have made a study of their lives, give a different view. 
 
 John Reynolds, who became governor of Illinois, was Illinois' 
 earliest historian. He dwelt amongst the French virtually all 
 his life and has left us this picture of them : 
 
 "The leaders of the first French settlements of Illinois were 
 men of talents and for the most part, of classic education. They 
 were characters of the first order and rank in any society, while 
 the payans, voyageurs and couriers du bois were innocent, hon- 
 est and kind and obedient to the commands of their leaders. 
 * * * The society in Illinois before any government was 
 organized was moral, honest and innocent and perhaps no more 
 happiness in any other condition could be enjoyed. * * * 
 Kaskaskia for many years was the largest town west of the 
 Alleghany mountains. It was a tolerable place before the ex- 
 istence of Pittsburgh, Cincinnati or New Orleans. * * * The 
 people being governed by the precepts of the Gospel, enforced 
 by the power and influence of the church, formed a pious and 
 religious community which was the basis of the happiness of 
 the Illinois people in the primitive times." 
 
 Clarence Walworth Alvord, the leading historian of the west 
 of the present day, gives these early French people and the 
 manner of their lives full credit and a high place : 
 
 "Although priests and governors made loud complaint of the 
 disorderliness of the habitants, yet their pleasures and vices 
 were of a far milder type than those of their counterparts, the 
 American backwoodsmen. The French always retained a re- 
 spect for law and constituted authority. * * * The picture 
 
 Contributed by Joseph J. Thompson. 
 
 145 
 
146 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 of the village would be incomplete if limited to a description of 
 the couriers du bois and voyageurs; for it was never wholly 
 vulgarized and depraved owing to the presence here of many 
 persons from the better classes of France and Canada — the 
 gentry, Clark called them — who, accustomed to greater refine- 
 ments of life than those of the log cabin endeavored to sur- 
 round themselves with such little elegancies as might be brought 
 from Canada and elsewhere. * * * These were the men 
 and others like them, to whom Sir William Johnson, the British 
 commissioner, referred when he wrote that the French traders 
 were gentlemen in character, manners and dress, and 'men of 
 ability, influence and address.' " 
 
 As a matter of fact an analysis will demonstrate that so far 
 as progress and advancement are concerned the French in Illi- 
 nois at least kept up with the rest of the world. It proves noth- 
 ing to point to crude methods of agriculture or other industries 
 employed in the ancient settlements. The same or even cruder 
 methods were at the time employed everywhere. 
 
 A resume of the progress of the French people in Illinois 
 shows the establishment of five settlements, viz. : Kaskaskia, 
 Cahokia, Prairie du Rocher, St. Phillippe, and Nouvelle Char- 
 tres, and an increase in the population to more than 3,000 
 French settlers. So prosperous and progressive were agricul- 
 tural operations that when Captain Pittman visited the region 
 in 1766, he was able to report that one settler, M. Beauvais, 
 furnished 43,000 barrels of flour to the King's commissary in 
 one year and that was only a part of his harvest. In fact the 
 French inhabitants became the providers for the dwellers of 
 the lower Mississippi settlements, the support of the French 
 and British forces in the Mississippi valley and even sent con- 
 signments of foodstuffs east in post Revolution days besides 
 supporting and providing for Clark's army and sustaining the 
 Virginia and subsequent governments. 
 
 After the French Dominion 
 
 The good nature and trustfulness of the French have been, 
 painted as supineness. But the French inhabitants of Illinois 
 demanded autonomy from English rule as early as 1770, six 
 years before the Declaration of Independence and five years 
 before the declaration of Mecklenburg. "The French in Louisi- 
 ana," says Rosengarten in his "French Colonists and Exiles in 
 the United States," "have the glory of having thought of estab- 
 lishing a republican form of government in America in 1768, 
 eight years before the Declaration of Independence." Soon they 
 translated their thoughts into action. On August 24, 1770, 
 pursuant to a call for the purpose, the French residents of Illi- 
 nois met as Kaskaskia, declared for an autonomous government, 
 and commissioned Daniel Blouin to go to New York and lay their 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 147 
 
 demands before General Gage, the military ruler. Blouin se- 
 lected as a fellow commissioner, William Clazon, and after some 
 rebuffs from General Gage, set before that officer a plan of 
 representative government. The plan was rejected, an imperial 
 plan suggested, and ignoring the commissioners, the inhabitants 
 were called together in 1772 to consider the substitute plan. 
 When Hamilton, the lieutenant governor, addressed them he re- 
 ported, "They were very high on the occasion." And they let 
 him know that they "expected to appoint their governor and 
 all other civil magistrates." Upon being requested to draw 
 up a plan of government they informed Hamilton that they had 
 deputed Daniel Blouin to represent them before General Gage, 
 and that until they could learn what success he had met with 
 they would give no definite answer. 
 
 This bit of little known history makes it easy to understand 
 how the French at the very earliest opportunity, which was the. 
 campaign of George Rogers Clark in 1778, gladly threw off the 
 British yoke and espoused the American cause. 
 
 This period and these events cannot be understood without 
 reference to the French-Canadian priest, Pierre Gibault. He 
 was in every sense the leader of the French in Illinois from 
 his arrival in 1768 to the end of the century. He favored the 
 American cause and was chiefly instrumental in the bloodless 
 but successful conquest of the Illinois posts and of Vincennes 
 and the Wabash country. After the war he sustained the Amer- 
 ican government in its darkest hours in the west and spent 
 himself and his substance for his country and his people and 
 went to his grave wholly unrequited. 
 
 The Advent of Other Settlers 
 
 Control passed from the French in Illinois after the Revolu- 
 tionary war and due perhaps to the fact that few French names 
 appear in the lists of officeholders in the new governments, it 
 has been inferred that the French population ceased to be an 
 element of importance in the subsequent history of Illinois. 
 Loose statements are found in accounts of the period to the 
 effect that all able Frenchmen, men of importance, left Illinois 
 and went to Missouri or elsewhere following the occupation of 
 the former French territory by the English in 1763-5. An ex- 
 amination of the records and established historical data with 
 reference to who left and who remained proves these state- 
 ments unfounded ; for while a number of residents did leave the. 
 Illinois side and go over into the Spanish domain on the west- 
 side of the Mississippi, it is nevertheless true that in 1790 
 "Kaskaskia was one of the largest towns west of the Alleghany 
 mountains" and the population was almost wholly French. 
 
 It was, of course, a disappointment to the French inhabitants 
 when England came into possession of their country, and they 
 
148 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 were at some loss as to what action they would take. In their 
 perplexity they asked the English commander for a period of 
 nine months in which to decide whether they would stay or sell 
 their property and leave. The commander refused so long a 
 period but granted a shorter one, and the inhabitants with his 
 knowledge and consent, petitioned General Gage, the governor 
 general, for a period of nine months' delay. The petition was 
 forwarded by Captain Thomas Stirling, the local English com- 
 mander, under date of October 18, 1765, and contained the names 
 of the leading Frenchmen of the region as follows: De Roche- 
 blave, La Grange, Gavobert Duplasy, Du Lude, Charleville, Au- 
 bochon, Jr., Cerre, H. Brazeaux, Gandouin, J. Baptiste Beau- 
 vais, Blouin, Tessier dit La Vigne, Mere Pilotte, Baptiste Moyot, 
 Jacques Bileront, Hubert LaRue, De Girardot, Calamanderie, 
 J. M. Mercier, Lonoval, Janis, Lachanse, J. Lasource, Francois 
 Ricard. 
 
 Every one of these prominent people, and some of them, and 
 some of their descendants, became still more prominent, re- 
 mained in their residences in Illinois until their death, so far 
 as the record discloses, with the exception of Rocheblave, who 
 afterward became the commandant for the English and was 
 the representative of the British power in Kaskaskia when 
 George Rogers Clark, with the invaluable aid of Father Gibault, 
 captured the country and sent Rocheblave a prisoner to Patrick 
 Henry and Thomas Jefferson in Virginia. Cere later made his 
 home in St. Louis. 
 
 There were many other influential Frenchmen not named on 
 the petition who remained, and many others came and stayed. 
 Amongst the important Frenchmen, men of the very highest 
 standing, who were in Illinois during the early days of Kas- 
 kaskia, Cahokia, Prairie du Rocher and Peoria, who remained, 
 may be named Nicholas Jarrot, who was in Illinois from 1794 
 until his death in 1832. Jean Baptiste Saucier was one of the 
 greatest among the great men of early Illinois who remained 
 here until his death. He was the father-in-law of such noted 
 men in the future history of the community as Col. Pierre 
 Menard, Colonel Choteau, Sr., James Morrison and Adam Sny- 
 der. James Francois Perry was here from 1792 until his death. 
 He also married a daughter of Saucier. Michael LeCroix was a 
 very prominent Frenchman who remained here until his death 
 in 1821. The Quentine village was settled by De Lorme and a 
 number of Frenchmen who came into Illinois in 1804. The 
 Penseneaux were some of the most prominent French people 
 that ever came to Illinois and the three brothers with their large 
 families were here during that period. August Choteau re- 
 mained in the territory and after the War of 1812 was ap- 
 pointed one of the commissioners to treat with the Indians. 
 Later he resided in St. Louis. 
 
MAP OP AMERICAN BOTTOM, SHOWING OLD FRENCH VILLAGES 
 
150 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 As is well known, Pierre Menard was a leading public man 
 from the time he came into the region until his death, being the 
 leading spirit in the territorial legislature and the first lieuten- 
 ant-governor of the state. 
 
 Judge Gillespie, one of the ablest of the early pioneers, who 
 knew most of the Frenchmen of the period in question, says : 
 
 "Certain of these old French families have displayed a vigor 
 and energy which cannot be surpassed. Take, for instance, the 
 Choteaus, the Valles, the Pratts, the Gratiots, old Pierre Menard, 
 and Nicholas Jarrot and his son, Vital, were men whose lives 
 were given to almost romantic business adventure. They were 
 the first to develop the Missouri and Galena lead mines. The 
 'fur trade' was by some of them carried to a distance of thou- 
 sands of miles. They had their trading posts all along the foot 
 of the Rocky Mountains. They explored every river that runs 
 into the Mississippi to its source in their trading excursions, 
 and even took in New Mexico when it was a province of Spain. 
 I know of none who has been so instrumental in bringing to 
 light the inexhaustible resources of Missouri and developing 
 the iron industry of St. Louis, as Choteau, Harrison and Valle. 
 
 "The 'Mound City' would never have been what she is but 
 for the enterprise, judgment and daring of these old French 
 families. * * * Without them this country would not have 
 been discovered so soon. Without them we should have had 
 greater difficulties to encounter with the Indians. They could 
 penetrate farther into the western wilds than the Americans. 
 They were better acquainted with the Indian character than 
 we were. 
 
 "To some of these we are indebted in more recent times. It 
 may not be generally known, but is nevertheless true, that one 
 of the finest military engineers in the world was General Gra- 
 tiot, who designed and constructed Fortress Monroe, and who 
 for a long time was at the head of the engineering department 
 of the United States. He was a man of the strictest integrity, 
 added to great professional ability. If that fortress had not 
 been so formidable, and had fallen into the hands of the rebels, 
 it might have cost greater efforts and loss of life and treasure, 
 to have maintained the supremacy of the law and integrity of 
 the Union. General Gratiot belonged to one of those French 
 families. I can say that, after devoting all his energies to the 
 promotion of the welfare of his country, General Gratiot was 
 poorly requited." 
 
 Not Gratiot alone, but all the French were poorly requited. 
 It is interesting to note the conclusions of Dunn, the Indiana 
 historian : 
 
 "In truth, our French friends fared hardly under American 
 rule, and none so badly as Father Gibault, who did not get any 
 return in land as a militiaman or the head of a family. * * * 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 151 
 
 He never received a particle of compensation from Virginia or 
 the United States for his services and he never received one 
 cent of repayment for money and goods actually furnished to 
 the troops. The situation seems almost incredible, but it was 
 a horrible reality. The French claimants had neither the knowl- 
 edge nor the pecuniary ability to press their claims and there 
 was no one to do it for them." 
 
 From his examination of documents and records Dr. Alvord 
 concludes that the men who gave most generously and suffered 
 most for the American cause in Illinois were Daniel Murray, 
 Richard Winston, Cere, Janis, the Charlevilles, the Beauvais, 
 Duplasy, the Bienveneaus, of Kaskaskia, Barbeau of Prairie du 
 Rocher, Godin, Trottier, Gibault, La Croix, Gratiot, and Macarty 
 of Cahokia, La Gros, Huberdean, and Bosseron of Vincennes and 
 Vigo with possibly others of St. Louis. But, he says, "In fact 
 the list of those who at this time or later furnished supplies on 
 credit is a very long one, including almost every man of property 
 in Illinois. Gratiot of Cahokia, Cere of Kaskaskia, and Vigo of 
 St. Louis have always received due credit for the assistance they 
 furnished, but they were more active than the other members of 
 the French villages. * * * Richard Winston, who at the 
 time of Clark was regarded as wealthy, died in poverty ; and the 
 Beauvais family was reduced to almost the same extremity." 
 
 The French Elsewhere in Illinois 
 
 It has already been seen that Marquette, Joliet, La Salle, and 
 Deforest all were connected in one way or another with Chi- 
 cago, and when time of permanent settlement came it was 
 Frenchmen that founded and settled that city. 
 
 Beyond doubt the first white man about modern Chicago was 
 Antoine Ouilmette, the old Frenchman for which the thriving 
 City of Wilmette has been named. He was about the region 
 in 1790. The next Frenchman was Francis La Mai. He and 
 Jean Baptiste Peltiere and their families were living at the 
 present site of Chicago in 1699 for on October 7th of that year 
 they traveled to Missouri and had their children baptized in 
 the cathedral at St. Louis by Rev. C. Lusson, as appears by the 
 baptismal record still extant. 
 
 The first white men to come to Chicago after the Chicago 
 massacre of 1812 and began the settlement over again, were 
 the Beaubiens, John Baptiste and Mark, and their families, Paul 
 and Joseph La Framboise, and Pierre LeClerc. At the time 
 Chicago was incorporated in 1831, 90 per cent of the people there 
 were French. 
 
 Amongst men of distinction in early Chicago who were French 
 besides those named, may be mentioned Joseph Bailey, Medard 
 Beaubien, a prominent business man, and Charles H. Beaubien, 
 a graduate of Princeton and almost the first school teacher in 
 
152 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Chicago. A little later there were amongst the French citizens, 
 Peter De Mevelle, who came to Chicago in 1837. P. J. Rofino, 
 David Franchere, N. Franchere, 0. J. Franchere, Joseph Le 
 Pitre, Doctors Mrguerat and Henrotin, J. Menard, P. L. Labbe, 
 Joseph Poitras, Cyril LeBeau, J. B. Valliquet, Victor Gerardin, 
 Duchene De Meville. Later, Z. P. Brosseau, the Plamondons, 
 and the Bergerons and many others. 
 
 At Borbounnais and Kankakee 
 
 The modern City of Kankakee and its surrounding territory 
 was settled and developed by the French. Borbounnais Grove 
 was the place of pioneer settlement and Noel Le Vasseur was 
 the pioneer settler, arriving there in 1832. He was soon joined 
 by Henry Boucher, Dominic Brais, Louis Granpre, Elois Ber- 
 geron and John Flageole. The settlement grew and prospered 
 and the Frenchmen from various parts settled throughout the 
 country. 
 
 Among deserving names of Frenchmen of a later day than 
 old Kaskaskia should be mentioned Pierre LaClede, the founder 
 of St. Louis, and his but little less noted associate, Pierre Cho- 
 teau; Francis De Langdale of Wisconsin, Antoine LeClaire of 
 Iowa, the founder of Davenport, Solomon Juneau and Joseph 
 Le Croix of Milwaukee, Louis Viviat of several states, Pierre 
 Navarre, thirty-six of whose names and connections fought on 
 the side of the United States in the War of 1812, the Godefroi 
 brothers and their numerous descendants whose name has be- 
 come Godfrey, all of whom had more or less connection with 
 the progress and development of Illinois. 
 
 The geography of Illinois bears the impress of the French 
 in a long list of names of rivers, counties and cities, such as 
 Champaign, Fayette, Joliet, La Grange, La Harp, La Salle, 
 Marengo, Marseilles, Massac, Menard, Meredosia, Prairie Du 
 Rocher, Rochelle, Saint Anne and others. 
 
 Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, in an article in the Century mag- u 
 azine on ''The Distribution of Ability in the United States" 
 (reprinted in his "Historical and Political Essays"), says: 
 
 "If we add the French and the French Huguenots together, 
 we find that people of the French blood exceed absolutely, in 
 the ability produced, all other races represented in Appleton's 
 Encyclopedia of American Biography, except the English and 
 Scotch Irish, and show a percentage in proportion to their orig- 
 inal immigration much higher than that of any other race." 
 
 To sum up: Frenchmen discovered, explored and settled 
 Illinois and for a full century held sway in the wilderness sur- 
 rounded by savages, some of whom they tamed and civilized. 
 French missionaries brought and spread Christianity here, mak- 
 ing Illinois the seat of the Catholic Church in mid-America; 
 the French laid the foundations of our prosperity and conquered 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 153 
 
 the wilderness. Frenchmen in Illinois gave the world the first 
 and best example of civilizing the savage. Frenchmen of Illi- 
 nois gave success to the Virginia conquest and gained for the 
 United States a vast empire. The French priest, Pierre Gibault, 
 who rendered valuable and, in this, the most important event 
 in the history of the region between the Alleghanies and the 
 Rocky Mountains, and the Frenchman and others who aided 
 him deserve the undying gratitude of all succeeding genera- 
 tions. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 ILLINOIS UNDER BRITISH CONTROL 
 
 Movement West — Description of Illinois — A Prophecy — 
 Courts Established — Captain Philip Pittman — Fort 
 Chartres Abandoned — The Quebec Act. 
 
 By the unfurling of the banner of Great Britain over the ram- 
 parts of Fort Chartres October 10, 1765, the civil and military 
 jurisdiction of the British Empire was extended to include all the 
 continent of North America East of the Mississippi as far north 
 and including Hudson Bay. The precarious hold which Spain 
 had on the Floridas modifies the above statement. A million and 
 a half of population, almost wholly English, was fairly regularly 
 distributed over that part of the above territory south of the St. 
 Lawrence, north of Florida, and east of the Alleghanies. They 
 were gradually moving west and seeking the passes in the Alle- 
 ghanies, and the routes to the west around the south end, and 
 through the low barriers of the north end. Already individuals 
 from the "Old Thirteen" had crossed over and had spied out the 
 land in the rich river valleys. In addition the French and Indian 
 war had furnished an opportunity for many adventurous spirits 
 to become enamored of the New West — the "back country" as 
 the Virginians called the country west of the Alleghany. Penn- 
 sylvania's grant extended west far enough to include all the 
 streams that make up the headwaters of the Ohio and many of her 
 own people had gone into this region and had established perma- 
 nent settlements. 
 
 Movement West 
 
 There was therefore before the close of the French and Indian 
 wars a great body of English settlers west of the Alleghany 
 Mountains from the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, 
 and the Carolinas. This movement of the bone and sinew of 
 the "Old Thirteen" beyond the mountains alarmed the Royal 
 governors and protests were sent to the British government. 
 Just as soon as the war closed therefore the King issued his 
 celebrated proclamation of October 7, 1763, as follows 
 (abridged) : 
 
 "No governor or commander-in-chief shall grant warrants of 
 survey, or pass patents, for any lands beyond the heads or sources 
 of any of the rivers which fall into the Atlantic Ocean from the 
 west or northwest, or upon any lands whatever, which have not 
 been ceded to or purchased by us, such lands are reserved to the 
 
 154 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 155 
 
 Indians. And it is strictly forbidden on pain of our displeasure, 
 for any or all of our loving subjects to make any purchases or 
 settlements whatever, or taking possession of Indian lands with- 
 out our special leave or license, for that purpose first obtained. 
 
 And whereas great frauds and abuses have been committed in 
 purchasing lands of the Indians to the great prejudice of our 
 interests and to the great dissatisfaction of the said Indians; 
 in order, therefore, to prevent such irregularities for the future, 
 and to the end that the Indians may be convinced of our justice 
 and determined resolution to remove all reasonable cause of dis- 
 content; we do, with the advice of our privy council strictly en- 
 join and require, that no private person do presume to make 
 any purchase from said Indians, of any lands reserved to the 
 said Indians within those parts of our colonies where we have 
 thought proper to allow settlements. 
 
 But that, if at any time any of the Indians should be inclined 
 to dispose of the said lands, the same shall be purchased only 
 for us in our name, at some public meeting or assembly of the 
 said Indians, to be held for that purpose by the governor or 
 commander-in-chief of our colony respectively, within the limits 
 of any proprietors, comfortably to such directions and instruc- 
 tions as we or they shall think proper to give for that purpose." 
 
 Notwithstanding this very explicit instruction to the King's 
 agents in America, the work of making grants went on in an 
 open-faced manner. So many people were moving over the 
 mountains that George III wrote a letter to John Penn, Esquire, 
 Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania on October 24, 1765, in 
 which he gives him direction as to this matter: 
 
 "Whereas, it hath been represented unto us that several per- 
 sons from Pennsylvania and the back settlements of Virginia 
 have migrated to the westward of the Alleghany mountains, and 
 these have seated themselves on lands contiguous to the River 
 Ohio, in express disobedience to our Royal Proclamation of 
 October, 1763, it is therefore our will and pleasure, and you are 
 hereby strictly enjoined and required to use your best endeavors 
 to suppress such unwarrantable proceedings, and to put a stop 
 to these and other like encroachments for the future, by causing 
 all persons belonging to the province under your government 
 who have thus irregularly seated themselves on lands to the 
 westward of the Alleghanies immediately to evacuate those set- 
 tlements, and that you do enforce as far as you are able, a more 
 strict obedience to our commands signified in Our Said Royal 
 Proclamation, and provide against any future violation thereof." 
 
 In 1774 John Murray, the Earl of Dunmore, the last British 
 governor of Virginia, encouraged the people of Virginia "to take 
 warrants from him for lands in the Ohio Valley." Many of 
 these land warrants were issued and the holders crossed over the 
 mountains and laid claims along the Ohio River. 
 
156 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Butler's History of Kentucky gives very readable and accurate 
 accounts of the coming of hunters, settlers, and explorers into 
 the territory which afterwards formed the State of Kentucky. 
 These adventurous Virginians paid no attention to the proc- 
 lamation of George III forbidding the settling of the territory 
 west of the Alleghanies. It should be kept in mind however, 
 that many of the early men whose names are very familiar in 
 Kentucky's history were not real settlers, but at first they were 
 merely casting about looking for the best lands and locating 
 claims which had been granted by Lord Dunmore, or obtained 
 from the Indians by direct cession. It was not till 1774 that 
 the first permanent home was built — a log cabin built by James 
 Harrod on the present site of Harrodsburg, Kentucky. However, 
 there must have been a rapid influx of settlers in 1774 and 1775, 
 as there were enough people near Harrodsburg to organize a 
 militia company in the spring of 1776. 
 
 We have thus shown briefly how the English settlers moved 
 over the Alleghanies and settled in what is now Western Penn- 
 sylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky and in Tennessee. But this 
 wave of population had in no instances crossed the Ohio into 
 Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. From the day that Captain Sterling 
 ran up the British flag on the walls of Fort Chartres, to the 
 coming of George Rogers Clark in 1778, no English speaking 
 people had come into the Illinois country, except those connected 
 with the little "army of occupation." Between 1765 and 1774, 
 the Illinois country was virtually under a military rule. The 
 Commandants of the Illinois country during the period of British 
 occupation were: 
 
 Capt. Thomas Sterling 1765 
 
 Maj. Robert Farmer 1765-1766 
 
 Col. Edward Cole 1666-1768 
 
 Col. John Reed 1768-1768 
 
 Lt. Col. John Wilkins 1768-1771 
 
 Capt. Hugh Lord 1771-1775 
 
 Capt. Mathew Johnson 1775-1776 
 
 Chevalier de Rocheblave 1776-1778 
 
 Description of Illinois 
 
 Two letters were written from Fort Chartres during the stay 
 of Captain Sterling. One written by Lieut. James Eidington 
 on October 17, 1765. The other written by Captain Sterling, 
 himself, October 18, 1765. In the letter of October 17, the writer 
 speaks in very uncomplimentary terms of the French soldiers, 
 forty in number, who were holding the fort upon the arrival 
 of Captain Sterling. He says the merchants or storekeepers 
 charged the British soldiers immoderate prices for the things 
 they buy. He says the price of a gallon of brandy is twenty 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 157 
 
 shillings, and eatables in proportion. The country is fine and 
 the soil very productive, but the land is very flat and hence un- 
 healthful. This Lieutenant says that Fort Chartres is the finest 
 stone fort he has ever seen, but that there are no stores. He 
 says there are several French villages round about. He says 
 they are looking daily for Maj. Alexander Fraser who was com- 
 ing up the Mississippi from Mobile with the Thirty-fourth Regi- 
 ment to relieve them. The writer intimates that they are anxious 
 to be relieved. 
 
 The second letter referred to above was written by Captain 
 Sterling, October 18, 1765, only eight days after he had accepted 
 the surrender of the fort. He states it took him forty-seven days 
 to come from Fort Pitt to Fort Chartres. He says as they 
 passed Kaskaskia going up the Mississippi they found the Kas- 
 kaskia Indians very sullen and even threatening. Speaks of St. 
 Genevieve just across in Missouri as having twenty-five families 
 and of St. Louis as having forty families. He says Cahokia is the 
 second largest of the French villages. The village at the fort, 
 New Chartres, was nearly depopulated. Captain Sterling says 
 there are only twenty French soldiers with St. Ange. There 
 were no judges, no police. He complains that he has no inter- 
 preter and no presents to give the Indians. He transmits with 
 this letter to General Gage a complete "Proces-Verbal de la 
 Cession Du Fort Chartr." This is a very complete list and 
 description of the fort and everything in and about it. 
 
 Captain Sterling found much opposition to the oath of alleg- 
 iance which he asked the inhabitants to take, and he says that 
 it looked as if every person would go across the river rather 
 than take the oath. He therefore modified the oath to mean 
 that they would be loyal to the King of England so long as they 
 resided in the Illinois country. He estimates that there are fifty 
 families at Kaskaskia, forty at Cahokia, while Prairie du Rocher, 
 New Chartres, and St. Philippe are, practically deserted. He 
 says the fort at Kaskaskia and the one at Cahokia are nearly use- 
 less as they have fallen in and are decayed — from which we infer 
 they were constructed of wood. 
 
 The second, third and fourth commandants remained, sever- 
 ally, but a short time and there is nothing of consequence to 
 record during their time. But the fifth commandant, Col. John 
 Wilkins ruled some three years and introduced some reforms in 
 the general ongoing of the Illinois country. Colonel Wilkins 
 brought seven companies of soldiers with him from the east. 
 These troops found a new enemy in the material conditions about 
 Fort Chartres. This enemy of good health carried off three 
 officers, twenty-five men, twenty-seven women and children in a 
 few days more than a month's time. 
 
158 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 A Prophecy 
 
 Sir William Johnson, his Majesty's superintendent of Indian 
 Affairs, gave careful attention to the Indians in the Illinois 
 country. The opposition of the British government to the set- 
 tling of the back country — the lands west of the Ohio — has 
 been considered in a preceding paragraph. General Gage in 
 writing to the government in England said: "As to increasing 
 the settlements northwest of the Ohio, (in the Illinois country) 
 I conceive it altogether inconsistent with sound policy. In the 
 course of a few years necessity would force them to provide 
 manufactures of some kind for themselves, and when all con- 
 nection, upheld by commerce, with the mother country shall 
 cease, it may be expected that an independency in her govern- 
 ment will soon follow." The governor of Georgia in a letter to 
 the Lords of Trade said: "This matter, my lords, of granting 
 large bodies of land in the back parts of any of his Majesty's 
 northern colonies appears to me in a very serious and alarming 
 light. If a vast territory be granted to any set of gentlemen who 
 really mean to people it, and actually do so, it must draw and 
 carry out a great number of people from Great Britain, and I 
 apprehend they will soon become a kind of separate and inde- 
 pendent people, who will set up for themselves, and they will 
 soon have manufactures of their own, and in process of time 
 they will soon become formidable enough to oppose his majesty's 
 authority." 
 
 Courts Established 
 
 Some of the Commandants who preceded Wilkins were very 
 tyrannical toward the French who had so lately become British 
 subjects. Colonel Wilkins was therefore authorized to organize 
 a system of courts in the Illinois country. This court was to try 
 civil cases. Looking to this end Colonel Wilkins selected seven 
 good men and true who should sit as a court. They were to 
 meet monthly at Fort Chartres. This court held its first session 
 at Fort Chartres Dec. 6, 1768. This has been called the first 
 court of common law jurisdiction ever held in Illinois. There 
 was under this plan no appeal from the decisions of this court 
 as there was no higher law court — and there was no lower law 
 court, so there could be no appeal and it was therefore a court 
 of original jurisdiction. The French citizens did not like this 
 system of jurisprudence, for they could not understand how a 
 jury made up of unlearned farmers, woodsmen, and laborers 
 could make just decisions about the law. For a period of seventy 
 years these people had been ruled by the arbitrary decisions of 
 priests and commandants, and the English system was not at 
 all a welcome change. 
 
 It appears that Colonel Wilkins was concerned in some grants 
 of land which he himself made, and which were afterwards con- 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 159 
 
 firmed by Governor St. Clair of the Northwest Territory. It is 
 claimed that Colonel Wilkins granted many thousands of acres 
 to prominent Americans reserving always one-sixth part of the 
 grant to himself. 
 
 In 1773 while Capt. Hugh Lord was commandant at Fort 
 Chartres a company was organized known as the "Illinois Land 
 Company." This company obtained two grants of land from 
 the Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Peoria Indians. One grant included 
 about ten of the most southern counties of Illinois, while the 
 second grant included a strip of land lying along the east side 
 of the Illinois River from its mouth to Chicago and averaging 
 thirty or forty miles in width. These two grants were paid for 
 by the grantees with large quantities of clothing, blankets, pow- 
 der, guns, flour, corn, horses, cattle, and some money. 
 
 Other grants were obtained by a company called the "Wabash 
 Land Company." These grants lay in the eastern part of Illinois 
 and in the west part of Indiana. It is said that all these grants 
 were regularly recorded in the Notary's office at Kaskaskia. 
 These grantees made persistent efforts to get the United States 
 Congress to confirm these grants and for thirty years they plead 
 with Congress, but Congress was firm and refused to be a party 
 to so gigantic a steal. 
 
 Capt. Philip Pittman 
 
 Capt. Philip Pittman was commissioned an ensign in the Brit- 
 ish army July 13, 1760. He is supposed to have come from 
 Havana to Pensacola with the British troops that took charge 
 of the Floridas at conclusion of the treaty of Paris in 1763. 
 Parkman says Pittman tried to steal into the Illinois country in 
 the troublous days of Pontiac, as a French trader, but abandoned 
 the enterprise. In the spring of 1765 Pittman was surveying on 
 the lower Mississippi. He ascended the Mississippi River with 
 Maj. Robert Farmer who was on his way to relieve Captain 
 Sterling of the command of Fort Chartres. Major Farmer 
 reached the fort December 4, 1765, and relieved Captain Sterling, 
 having been more than five months on the way from Pensacola. 
 This slow journey up the Mississippi gave Captain Pittman an 
 opportunity to make careful study of all forts, and settlements 
 which had come under the control of Great Britain by reason 
 of the cession of the territory east of the Mississippi to the 
 English. 
 
 Captain Pittman as an engineer in the British army was 
 authorized to make careful surveys of all the newly acquired 
 possessions of his government. This he did. It appears that 
 Captain Pittman was under the direction of Gen. Frederick 
 Haldiman who at that time was in command of the Floridas. 
 This appears because his reports of "surveys" are addressed to 
 
160 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 General Haldiman and are signed Lieutenant Pittman, Royal 
 Engineer. Lieutenant Pittman returned to England in 1770 and 
 published a small book or pamphlet entitled : "The Present State 
 of the European Settlements on the Mississippi." 
 
 From the arrangement of the matter in the book it appears 
 as intimated above that the "surveys" were made as he came 
 up the river with Major Farmer. So he commences his descrip- 
 tion with Balize at the mouth of the southeast pass of the Mis- 
 sissippi. He comes up the river and gives a description of New 
 Orleans and thence up the river to the mouth of the Ohio where 
 he strikes the Illinois country. The first place of course as he 
 comes up the river from the mouth of the Ohio, is the village 
 of Kaskaskia, and this is his description. 
 
 Cascasquias 
 
 "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 situa- 
 tion ; it stands on the side of a small river, which is about eighty 
 yards across ; its source lies northeast, about sixty leagues from 
 the village, and fifteen leagues east of the remarkable rock of 
 Peorya, and it empties itself with a gentle current into the Mis- 
 sissippi, near two leagues below the village. This river is a 
 secure port for large batteaux, which can lie so close to its bank 
 as to load and unload without the least trouble; and at all sea- 
 sons of the year there is water enough for them to come up. It 
 must be observed here, that it is extremely dangerous for 
 batteaux or boats to remain in the Mississippi, on account of the 
 bank falling in, and the vast number of logs and trees which 
 are sent down, with a violent force, by the rapidity of the cur- 
 rent, as also on account of the heavy gales of wind to which 
 this climate is subject. Another great advantage that Cascas- 
 quias receives from its rived is the facility with which mills for 
 corn and planks may be erected on it: Mons. Paget was the 
 first who introduced water-mills in this country, and he con- 
 structed a very fine one on the River Cascasquias, which was 
 both for grinding corn and sawing boards ; it lies about one mile 
 from the village. The mill proved fatal to him, being killed 
 as he was working in it, with two negroes, by a party of the 
 Cherokees, in the year 1764. The principal buildings are, the 
 church and Jesuits house, which has a small chapel adjoining to 
 it; these, as well as some other houses in the village, are built 
 of stone, and, considering this part of the world, make a very 
 good appearance. The Jesuits plantation consisted of 240 arpens 
 of cultivated land, a very good stock of cattle, and a brewery; 
 which was sold by the French commandant, after the country 
 was ceded to the English, for the crown, in consequence of the 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 161 
 
 suppression of the order. Mons. Beauvais was the purchaser, 
 who is the richest of the English subjects in this country; he 
 keeps eighty slaves, he furnished 86,000 weight of flour to the 
 King's magazine, which was only a part of the harvest he reaped 
 in one year. Sixty-five families reside in this village, besides 
 merchants, other casual people, and slaves. The fort, which 
 was burnt down in October, 1766, stood on the summit of a high 
 rock opposite the village, and on the other side of the river; it 
 was an oblongular quadrangle, of which the exterior polygon 
 measured 290 by 251 feet; it was built of very thick squared 
 timber, and dove-tailed at the angles. An officer and twenty 
 soldiers are quartered in the village. The officer governs the 
 inhabitants, under the direction of the commandant at Fort 
 Chartres. Here are also two companies of militia." 
 
 La Prairie du Rocher 
 
 La Prairie Du Rocher is about seventeen miles from Cascas- 
 quias ; it is a small village, consisting of twelve dwelling-houses, 
 all of which are inhabited by as many families; here is a litte 
 chapel, formerly a chapel of ease to the church at Fort de Char- 
 tres. The inhabitants here are very industrious, and raise a 
 great deal of corn and every kind of stock. This village is two 
 miles from Fort Chartres; it takes its name from its situation, 
 being built under a rock that runs parallel with the River Mis- 
 sissippi at a league distance, for forty leagues up. Here is a 
 company of militia, the captain of which regulates the police of 
 the village." 
 
 Fort Chartres 
 
 Fort Chartres when it belonged to France was the seat of 
 government of the Illinois ; the headquarters of the English 
 commanding officer is now here, who is, in fact, the arbitrary 
 governor of this country. The fort is an irregular quadrangle, 
 the sides of the exterior polygon are 490 feet ; it is built of stone 
 and plastered over, and is only designed as a defence against 
 the Indians, the walls being two feet two inches thick, and 
 pierced with loop-holes at regular distances, and with two port- 
 holes for cannon in the faces, and two in the flanks of each 
 bastion; the ditch has never been finished; the entrance to the 
 fort is through a very handsome rustic gate; within the wall is 
 a small banquette, raised three feet, for the men to stand on 
 when they fire through the loopholes. The buildings within the 
 fort are, the commandant's and commissary's houses, the maga- 
 zine of stores, corps de garde, and two barracks; these occupy 
 the square. Within the gorges of the bastions are, a powder 
 magazine, a bakehouse, a prison, in the lower floor of which are 
 four dungeons, and in the upper two rooms, and an out-house 
 belonging to the commandant. The commandant's house is 
 
 8V1 
 
162 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 thirty-two yards long, and ten broad; it contains a kitchen, a 
 dining-room, a bed chamber, one small room, five closets for 
 servants, and a cellar. The commissary's house (now occupied 
 by officers) is built in the same line as this, its proportions and 
 distribution of apartments are the same. Opposite these are 
 the store-house and guard-house, they are each thirty yards long 
 and eight broad; the former consists of two large store-rooms 
 (under which is a large vaulted cellar) and a large room, a bed- 
 chamber, and a closet for the store-keeper; the latter of a 
 soldier's and officer's guard-rooms, a chapel, a bed-chamber and 
 closet for the chaplain, and an artillery store-room. The lines 
 of barracks have never been finished; they at present consist 
 of two rooms each, for officers, and three rooms for soldiers; 
 they are good spacious rooms of twenty-two feet square, and 
 have betwixt them a small passage. There are fine spacious 
 lofts over each building which reach from end to end ; these are 
 made use of to lodge regimental stores, working and intrenching 
 tools, etc. It is generally allowed that this is the most com- 
 modious and best built fort in North America. The bank of 
 the Mississippi, next the fort, is continually falling in, being 
 worn away by the current, which has been turned from its course 
 by a sand-bank, now increased to a considerable island covered 
 with willows; many experiments have been tried to stop this 
 growing evil, but to no purpose. When the fort was begun in 
 the year 1756, it was a good half mile from the water-side; in 
 the year 1766 it was but eighty paces ; eight years ago the river 
 was fordable to the island, the channel is now forty feet deep. 
 In the year 1764 there were about forty families in the village 
 near the fort, and a parish church, served by a Franciscan friar, 
 dedicated to St. Anne. In the following year, when the English 
 took possession of the country, they abandoned their houses, 
 except three or four poor families, and settled at the villages 
 on the west side of the Mississippi, choosing to continue under 
 the French government." 
 
 Saint Philippe 
 
 "Saint Philippe is a small village about five miles from Fort 
 Chartres, in the road to Kaoquias ; there are about sixteen houses 
 and a small church standing; all the inhabitants, except the 
 captain of militia, deserted it in 1765, and went to the French 
 side ; the captain of militia has about twenty slaves, a good stock 
 of cattle, and a water-mill for corn and planks. This village 
 stands in a very fine meadow, about one mile from the Missis- 
 sippi. 
 
 Kaoquias 
 
 "The village of Sainte Famille De Kaoquias is generally reck- 
 oned fifteen leagues from Fort Chartres, and six leagues below 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 163 
 
 the mouth of the River Missouri ; it stands near the side of the 
 Mississippi, and is masked from the river by an island of two 
 leagues long ; the village is opposite the center of this island ; it 
 is long and straggling, being three-quarters of a mile from one 
 end to the other; it contains forty-five dwelling-houses, and a 
 church near its center. The situation is not well chosen, as in the 
 floods it is generally overflowed two or three feet. This was the 
 first settlement on the River Mississippi. The land was pur- 
 chased of the savages by a few Canadians, some of whom mar- 
 ried women of the Kaoquias nation, and others brought wives 
 from Canada, and then resided there, leaving their children to 
 succeed them. The inhabitants of this place depend more on 
 hunting, and their Indian trade, than on agriculture, as they 
 scarcely raise corn enough for their own consumption ; they 
 have a great deal of poultry and good stocks of horned cattle. 
 The mission of St. Sulpice has a very fine plantation here, and an 
 excellent house built on it ; they sold this estate, and a very good 
 mill for corn and planks, to a Frenchman who chose to remain 
 under the English government. They also disposed of thirty 
 negroes and a good stock of cattle to different people in the 
 country, and returned to France in the year 1764. What is 
 called the fort is a small house standing in the center of the 
 village; it differs in nothing from the other houses except in 
 being one of the poorest; it was formerly enclosed with high 
 palisades, but these were torn down and burnt. Indeed a fort 
 at this place could be of but little use. 
 
 In addition to these brief descriptions of the four villages, 
 Lieutenant Pittman gives some facts about the country, the 
 government, and the people. A few of Pittman's observations 
 will be given, as it is interesting always to know one's judgment 
 at first hand. He says the Illinois country is bounded on the 
 west by the Mississippi, on the north by the Illinois River, on 
 the east by the Quabache, and on the south by the Ohio. The 
 months of March and September are periods of heavy rains and 
 hard gales. The summer months are excessively hot, while 
 January and February are very cold. There are four Indian 
 tribes — the Kaskaskias, Cahokias, Michagammies, and the Peor- 
 ias. They are poor, debauched, and dastardly people. They 
 have about 350 warriors. They are remnants of other tribes 
 scattered about. The products of a very rich soil are all forms 
 of food grains, hops, hemp, flax, cotton and tobacco. Wine is 
 made from wild grapes and is very intoxicating. There are 
 buffalo, deer, and wild fowl, such as geese, swans, turkeys, and 
 pheasants. There is also an abundance of fish. In the French 
 and Indian war the Illinois country furnished vast quantities of 
 flour, beer, wine, hams and other provisions. 
 
 His description of the government applies to the years prior 
 to the coming of the British. The country was governed by a 
 
164 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 major-commandant who was appointed by the governor of 
 Louisiana at New Orleans ; and he was usually some relative or 
 friend of the governor. The Indian trade was under the control 
 of the commandant. All Indians entertained at a French post 
 were provided for at the expense of the King of France. There 
 was much grafting by the commandant in his dealings with the 
 Indians. All able-bodied men were enrolled in the militia and 
 the officers were appointed by the commandant. A certain 
 amount of free labor was required from each able-bodied man 
 on roads, bridges, forts, or other public works. 
 
 There were four classes of people in the Illinois country. First 
 there were the Indians ; second, the French, who had either come 
 from Canada or direct from France by way of the lower Mis- 
 sissippi ; third, the Negroes, who were the descendants of the 
 slaves brought by Renault in 1519, together with others that 
 had been brought up the Mississippi in more recent years ; and 
 lastly a considerable group of mixed breeds. (This mixed race 
 may be seen in the vicinity of Prairie du Rocher at the present 
 time.) The men are superstitious and ignorant, physically well 
 made, can bear much fatigue, and are skilled in woodcraft. The 
 chief trades are carpenters, smiths, masons, tailors, and mill- 
 wrights. 
 
 Fort Chartres Abandoned 
 
 The site of Fort Chartres was on the alluvial lands within a 
 mile of the Mississippi. And this river, which, Mr. Mason says, 
 had always been a French river, wished to take out vengeance 
 upon the English, and so in the spring of 1772 the rains came 
 and the floods descended, the Mississippi rose and plowed 
 through the rich, black, alluvial soil between the fort and the 
 river, and attacked the fort, tore away a bastion, and under- 
 mined the south wall of the fort. The British soldiers hastened 
 across the low valley to the hills near Prairie du Rocher and 
 afterwards moved to Fort Gage, to the east of the Kaskaskia 
 River, near the Village of Kaskaskia. Governor Reynolds visited 
 the old fort in 1802 and says: "It is an object of antiquarian 
 curiosity. The trees, undergrowth, and brush are mixed and 
 interwoven with the old walls — large trees were growing in the 
 houses which once contained the elegant and accomplished 
 French officers and soldiers." 
 
 Major Stoddard, of the United States Engineers, visited Fort 
 Chartres and thus described it: "Its figure is quadrilateral with 
 four bastions, the whole of limestone well cemented. The walls 
 are still entire. The enclosure is covered with trees from 7 to 12 
 inches in diameter. In fact it is a splendid ruin." Judge Brack- 
 enridge said of it in 1817: "Fort Chartres is a noble ruin. The 
 walls, barracks, and magazine are still standing. There is a 
 number of cannon lying half buried in the earth with their 
 trunnions broken off." Another visitor to the old fort in 1820 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 165 
 
 says : "The walls in some places perfect, the buildings in ruins, 
 except the magazine, and in the hall of one of the houses an oak 
 growing, eighteen inches in diameter." Judge James Hall, who 
 visited the place in 1829, says : "Although the spot was familiar 
 to my companions, it was with some difficulty that we found the 
 ruins, which are covered over with a vigorous growth of forest 
 trees and a dense undergrowth of bushes and vines. The build- 
 ings were all razed to the ground, but the lines of the foundation 
 could be easily traced. And it was curious to see in the gloom 
 
 of the wild forest these remnants of the architecture of a past 
 age." Fort Chartres was visited in 1849 by Governor Reynolds, 
 who found it a "pile of moldering ruins and the walls torn away 
 almost even with the surface." 
 
 The Quebec Act 
 
 As the determined attitude of the American Colonists towards 
 the British policy of Colonial control became better known in 
 England, the government became more determined to crush the 
 opposition by repressive acts. So in 1774 four acts were passed 
 by the English Parliament having for their purpose the crushing 
 out of opposition in the colonies, particularly in Massachusetts. 
 
166 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 These acts provided : (1) For the closing of the port of Boston 
 to all commerce. (2) For the suspension of the operations of 
 the Massachusetts charter, and the substitution of military con- 
 trol. (3) For the trial of British agents, who might be accused 
 of criminal acts in the discharge of their duty, outside (pre- 
 sumably in England) of the colony in which the offense was 
 committed. (4) For the quartering of British troops in the 
 town and villages in the colonies. 
 
 Before we discuss the Quebec Act, let us recall the Proclama- 
 tion of 1763. In this proclamation the King of England pro- 
 vided for the government of the territory which had been 
 wrested from France and Spain by the treaty which closed the 
 French and Indian war. The old thirteen English colonies were 
 not disturbed by the proclamation which was put out in 1763. 
 All the French settlements on the St. Lawrence were included 
 in a province to be known as Quebec, with certain definite boun- 
 dary lines. Two new provinces were created out of the Spanish 
 territory on the Gulf of Mexico to be known as East and West 
 Florida. All the lands north of West Florida, west of the Alle- 
 ghanies, east of the Mississippi River and reaching as far north 
 as the Great Lakes was to be known as the Indian country. This 
 Indian country included all the French settlements along the 
 Mississippi on the east side, those on the Wabash, the Illinois, 
 Detroit, Mackinaw, Green Bay, and other settlements of minor 
 importance. 
 
 There was in the Proclamation of 1763 also a clause which 
 was intended as a direct check upon a movement which was 
 just beginning in the old thirteen colonies. It forbade the 
 settling of the country west of the Alleghanies. But in spite of 
 this there was a constant stream of people going into the region 
 which was afterwards made into West Virginia, Kentucky, and 
 Tennessee. 
 
 The treaty of 1763 was followed by the King's proclamation 
 which we have just seen made disposition of the newly acquired 
 territory. For ten years there had been an unsatisfactory con- 
 dition existing in Canada and in the Indian country. Indian 
 affairs and the fur trade were badly managed. The Canadians 
 did not like the English political system, particularly the judicial 
 system. Nor was the religious situation entirely satisfactory. 
 There was no participation by the Canadians in their govern- 
 ment. They had no elective or legislative privileges. The 
 British Government had been considering a readjustment of con- 
 flicting interests in New France and the Indian country for 
 several years, and it so happened that Parliament enacted the 
 law which we call the Quebec Act shortly after the passage of 
 the four intolerable acts enumerated above. 
 
 The Quebec Act provided that the boundaries of the province 
 should be enlarged to include all that part of the Indian country 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 167 
 
 which lay north of the Ohio River. Another provision was that 
 the governor of Quebec should have as a council not less than 
 seventeen nor more than twenty-three persons. The governor 
 and this council constituted the legislative branch of govern- 
 ment, and all ordinances passed by this body should be laid 
 before His Majesty for his royal sanction or disapproval. This 
 body could do nothing toward laying taxes, nor could they legis- 
 late about religious matters. A third provision guaranteed the 
 enjoyment of the "Religion of the Church of Rome, subject to 
 the King's Supremacy." The inhabitants who professed the 
 Catholic religion were not obliged to take the Oath of Supremacy, 
 but must swear allegiance to the King. Again the English crim- 
 inal law was made the supreme law of the land in all criminal 
 cases. 
 
 The passage of this law at the time or shortly after the pass- 
 age of the intolerable acts could not be disassociated from them 
 by the colonists. They charged the British Government with 
 establishing by law the Catholic religion as the state religion in 
 the new Province of Quebec. They argued that if England could 
 establish the Catholic religion in one colony or province, by the 
 same token she could make that faith the established religion 
 in any other colony. There was still another serious opposition 
 among the English colonists to the Quebec Act. The movement 
 of population over the mountains, and the peopling of the Ohio 
 valley, was now gaining headway every year and the incorpora- 
 tion of that part of the Indian country north and west of the 
 Ohio into the Province of Canada could be viewed in no other 
 light by many than an effort to obstruct the emigration of the 
 people of the old thirteen colonies. We may recall that large 
 quantities of land had been granted to individuals and to com- 
 panies within the Indian country north of the Ohio River. The 
 people who were thus interested looked upon the passage of the 
 Quebec Act as endangering their rights in these grants. 
 
 When Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independ- 
 ence he enumerated the charges which the English colonists held 
 against the King of Great Britain. In this document we read : 
 
 "For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neigh- 
 boring province (Quebec and Illinois), establishing therein an 
 arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as td 
 render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing 
 the same absolute rule into these colonies." 
 
 There can be little doubt that the outcome of the French and 
 Indian war brought the British Government face to face with 
 problems which she was not ready to solve. What can be learned 
 proves that the government had no constructive policy as to the 
 handling of the territory west of the Alleghany Mountains. It 
 was fairly easy to convert the Floridas into English provinces, 
 and so with regard to Quebec. But while every one of the old 
 
168 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 thirteen colonies had more or less of self-government — each had 
 a legislature and local self-government — there was no self- 
 government provided for any one of the three new provinces. 
 The excuse was that the population was too sparse to justify any 
 effort at self-government. The proclamation of the 7th of Octo- 
 ber, 1763, relative to the Illinois country, was a delay of any 
 definite policy. It was a negative proclamation. "We do declare 
 it to be our Royal Will and pleasure for the present to reserve 
 our sovereignty, protection, and dominion, for the use of the said 
 Indians, all lands and territories" lying west of the Alleghanies, 
 north of the Floridas, east of the Mississippi and south of the 
 Great Lakes. "For the present" shows a vacillating policy in 
 dealing with a great question. 
 
 The inhabitants of the Illinois petitioned to be annexed to the 
 Province of Canada. There was no government established for 
 the French villages on the Mississippi, the land speculators were 
 already crowding into this territory, and it was thought that the 
 placing of all this region north and west of the Ohio under the 
 government of the French interests of Canada would drive the 
 land speculators out and would also pacify the French inhabit- 
 ants of the Illinois villages. 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 CLARK'S CONQUEST OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Kentucky Settlers — George Rogers Clark — Instructions — 
 Down the Ohio — Dr. Lyman Copeland Draper — March 
 Across Southern Illinois — The Capture of Kaskaskia 
 — Capture of Cahokia — Vincennes Surrendered — Illi- 
 nois County, Virginia 
 
 The conflict of arms between the American colonies and the 
 mother country began in the spring of 1775, at the battles of 
 Lexington and Concord. Following these two engagements, on 
 the 19th of April, 1775, the fife and drum assembled the Minute 
 Men in the towns of New England, nor were the towns and 
 plantations of the middle and southern colonies less patriotic. 
 Indeed, all the settlers to the east of the Alleghanies were soon 
 under arms for the preservation of their rights as Englishmen. 
 While war soon became the common lot of the lands to the east 
 of the mountains, in like manner the American settlers along 
 the slopes from the Alleghanies to the Ohio were soon involved 
 in a movement not for their rights as Englishmen, but for the 
 safety of their homes and loved ones. By 1775 a kidney-shaped 
 area in Kentucky starting on the Ohio River, in the present 
 County of Mason, thence running south and west through the 
 counties of Fayette, Bourbon, the eastern part of Jefferson, 
 Mercer, and Nelson contained scores of settlers. There were 
 also well-established settlements on the Great Kanawha, in what 
 is now West Virginia. There had been serious friction between 
 the Indians along the Ohio River and the "land jobbers," as the 
 people were called who came into the Ohio valley with land grant 
 warrants which had been issued by the Earl of Dunmore (John 
 Murray) , the last British governor of Virginia. Several of these 
 settlers were killed and a war ensued, led by one Greathouse on 
 the part of the whites. In these conflicts several Indians were 
 killed. Among the Indians killed were the members of the 
 Indian chief Logan's family. Governor Dunmore came into the 
 Ohio valley and, after a conflict lasting from the spring to the 
 fall of the year 1774, made peace with the Indians and returned 
 to Virginia. 
 
 Settlers in Kentucky 
 
 Following the Dunmore war, the settlers came over the moun- 
 tains in increasing numbers. During the war and following, 
 there were continued attacks upon the whites by Indians from 
 
 169 
 
170 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. It was understood at that time that 
 the British officers about the several posts in the country around 
 the lakes and along the Mississippi and Wabash rivers were 
 provoking the Indians to make incursions into Kentucky and 
 murder and scalp the white settlers. And it was also understood 
 that the Indians were paid so much for each white person's 
 scalp which they should bring back with them. At one time the 
 attacks were so general and so savage that the leading people 
 of the several settlements thought seriously that they would be 
 compelled to abandon their new homes and go over the moun- 
 tains to their old homes. 
 
 It was in the midst of this trying time that George Rogers 
 Clark came into Kentucky. He was a Virginian, born about 
 1753. He had held an office in the Dunmore war and for meri- 
 torious conduct he had been offered a commission in the royal 
 service. This he refused and seems to have passed the winter 
 of 1774-5 in Virginia. In the spring of 1775 he quietly made his 
 appearance at Harrodstown, in Kentucky, where the people were 
 discussing the question whether the settlers then in Kentucky 
 should consider themselves as citizens of the State of Virginia 
 or whether they ought to form an independent state. Col. 
 Richard Henderson, a rather noted Virginian, had, in company 
 with others, secured from the Indians a large grant of land in 
 the central part of Kentucky, and was disposing of it to settlers, 
 and the prices he asked for the lands had created opposition on 
 the part of the settlers. Clark was rather sympathetic with the 
 land company, but at the same time he tried to persuade the 
 people that the thing to do was to unite all the interest within 
 reach against the Indians, who were playing sad havoc among 
 the settlers everywhere. 
 
 George Rogers Clark 
 
 Clark remained in Kentucky through the summer of 1775, 
 studying the situation, and late in the fall he returned to Vir- 
 ginia. In Virginia he found quite a bit of confusion of ideas 
 about Henderson and his company's claim to lands in Kentucky, 
 and again there was a division of judgment as to whether Vir- 
 ginia had any claim upon the Kentucky territory and settlements. 
 Clark returned to Kentucky in the early spring of 1776 with a 
 very definite plan in his mind. It was to call a public meeting 
 at Harrodstown for the purpose of selecting deputies who might 
 proceed to Virginia and treat with that commonwealth and 
 secure certain conditions that would be favorable to Kentucky 
 in case Virginia claimed Kentucky as a part of her territory. 
 He had as an alternative that if Virginia was not willing to 
 treat with the deputies to their advantage, then his plan was to 
 set up in Kentucky an independent state, and by setting up the 
 theory that the new commonwealth owned all the public lands, 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 171 
 
 they could dispose of these lands with two ends in view. First, 
 generously to offer this land to people in the old colonies if they 
 would come into Kentucky and make permanent settlements. 
 The second end was to use this land or the income from it for 
 the construction of forts, the purchase of munitions of war, and 
 the maintenance of a well-organized militia. 
 
 The meeting was called for June 6, 1776. Clark was several 
 hours late to the meeting, and did not therefore have an oppor- 
 
 GENERAL GEORGE ROGERS CLARK 
 
 tunity to help shape public policy. Those present concluded it 
 was the plan to regard themselves as Virginians and to elect 
 representatives to the Virginia Assembly, with instructions to 
 secure from the Assembly an act creating Kentucky a county in 
 Virginia. George Rogers Clark and Gabriel Jones were elected 
 as delegates to the Virginia Assembly. The two delegates pro- 
 ceeded at once, with their instructions, to Williamsburg, the 
 capital of Virginia, but before reaching that place they learned 
 that the House of Burgesses had adjourned and they were at a 
 loss as to their future actions. Gabriel Jones proceeded to join 
 the forces then organizing to repel the Indians in the Holston 
 valley, while Clark proceeded to Williamsburg to secure powder 
 
172 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 for the defense of the Kentuckians. When Clark reached the 
 Virginia capital, he found that the governor, Patrick Henry, was 
 sick at his home in Hanover. Clark proceeded to that place and 
 placed before the governor the conditions in Kentucky. Gov- 
 ernor Henry referred all these matters to his council, who were 
 impressed with the recital of conditions and the needs of the 
 Kentuckians. It was finally agreed after a long discussion to 
 lend the Kentucky people 500 pounds of powder, to be trans- 
 ported from the capital of Virginia to Fort Pitt and thence down 
 the Ohio River to convenient points in Kentucky. 
 
 Clark and Jones attended the session of the Legislature in 
 the capital in the fall and were well received by that body. 
 After long delays a bill was passed creating the County of Ken- 
 tucky with the limits of the present state, and making provision 
 for the government of the same. Clark returned to Kentucky in 
 the spring of 1777, and believing that the Indian attacks upon 
 the Kentucky settlers were instigated and encouraged by the 
 British commanders or agents of the British Government, at 
 Kaskaskia, Vincennes, Detroit and other posts in the Northwest, 
 sent two trusty spies, Benjamin Linn and Samuel Moore, to 
 Kaskaskia to determine whether the British favored directly or 
 indirectly the attacks, whether the French inhabitants were 
 sympathetic with the British or the Americans in the revolution 
 just then in its earlier stages, and thirdly, to find out whether 
 the militia organizations were of considerable size and whether 
 they were efficient. 
 
 These two faithful frontiersmen returned in the fall of 1776. 
 They reported to Clark that there was evidence that the British 
 commandants at the several posts in the Northwest were largely 
 if not altogether responsible for the continued attacks upon the 
 people of Kentucky. Second, that there were indications that 
 the native French inhabitants, where they were free to think as 
 they pleased, were quite sympathetic with the American cause. 
 And third, that well-organized and well-trained militiamen were 
 to be found in all the French villages on the Wabash and the 
 Mississippi. Clark's mind was now made up as to his duty. He 
 was not a man who conferred with others very much on prob- 
 lems which he felt the average person ought to solve. No one 
 knew that Linn and Moore had gone to Kaskaskia. 
 
 In the fall of 1777, Clark left Kentucky for Virginia. The 
 people declaimed against his going, and Clark says himself that 
 he left them reluctantly. But he told them he would return. It 
 was now Clark's plan to secure an authorization to organize an 
 army of several hundred men for the invasion and conquest of 
 the British posts in the Northwest. This plan he communicated 
 to Governor Patrick Henry. Governor Henry had some mis- 
 givings as to the wisdom of this undertaking, but after many 
 secret conferences with his council, it was decided to order the 
 raising and equipping of an army of seven companies of fifty 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 173 
 
 men each, well officered and provided. The while proceedings 
 were carried on secretly — that is, the Assembly was not asked to 
 enact any laws providing for such a campaign. On the other 
 hand, it was wholly in the hands of the executive of the colony 
 (State of Virginia) and his executive council. It was agreed 
 that Clark should be provided with 6,000 pounds English money, 
 that the Legislature would be asked to grant each individual 
 private who volunteered and went on this campaign 300 acres of 
 land as a bonus, the officers to have a larger allotment. 
 
 Instructions 
 
 The governor gave to Clark two letters which were to serve as 
 his authority for raising troops and invading the Northwest. 
 One set consisted of a few statements showing the purpose of 
 the campaign to be merely the defense of the Kentucky people ; 
 the other was to be kept secret unless such exigencies should 
 arise that it might be necessary to produce evidence of authority 
 from one higher in command. These two instructions are given, 
 as they will show the purpose of the whole movement. 
 
 Public Instructions to Clark 
 
 On January 2, 1778, Colonel Clark received two sets of instruc- 
 tions relative to his proposed expedition to the Illinois country. 
 One set he was to make public for the purpose of securing 
 recruits for the defense of Kentucky. These instructions were 
 as follows : 
 
 "Lieutenant Colonel George Rogers Clark: You are to pro- 
 ceed, without loss of time, to enlist seven companies of men, 
 officered in the usual manner, to act as a militia under your 
 orders. They are to proceed to Kentucky, and there to obey such 
 orders and directions as you shall give them, for three months 
 after their arrival at that place ; but to receive pay, etc., in case 
 they remain on duty a longer time. 
 
 "You are empowered to raise these men in any county in the 
 commonwealth ; and the county lieutenants, respectively, are re- 
 quested to give you all possible assistance in that business. 
 
 "Given under my hand at Williamsburg, January 2nd, 1778. 
 
 "P. Henry." 
 Private Instructions 
 
 "Virginia in Council, Williamsburg, January 2d, 1778. Lieu- 
 tenant Colonel George Rogers Clark: You are to proceed with 
 all convenient speed to raise seven companies of soldiers, to con- 
 sist of fifty men each, officered in the usual manner, and armed 
 most properly for the enterprise ; and with this force attack the 
 British fort at Kaskaskia. 
 
 "It is conjectured there are many pieces of cannon and stores 
 to considerable amount, at that place, the taking and preserva- 
 
174 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 tion of which would be a valuable acquisition to the state. If you 
 are so fortunate, therefore, as to succeed in your expedition, you 
 will take every possible measure to secure the artillery and 
 stores, and whatever may advantage the state. 
 
 "For the transportation of the troops, provisions, etc., down 
 the Ohio, you are to apply to the commanding officer at Fort Pitt 
 for boats; and during the whole transaction you are to take 
 especial care to keep the true destination of your force secret — 
 its success depends upon this. Orders are therefore given to 
 secure the two men from Kaskaskia. Similar conduct will be 
 proper in similar cases. 
 
 "It is earnestly desired that you show humanity to such 
 British subjects and other persons as fall in your hands. If the 
 white inhabitants at that post and the neighborhood will give 
 undoubted evidence of their attachment to this state (for it is 
 certain they live within its limits), by taking the test prescribed 
 by law, and by every other way and means in their power, let 
 them be treated as fellow citizens, and their person and property 
 duly secured. Assistance and protection against all enemies 
 whatever shall be afforded them, and the commonwealth of Vir- 
 ginia is pledged to accomplish it. But if these people will not 
 accede to these reasonable demands, they must feel the miseries 
 of war, under the direction of that humanity that has hitherto 
 distinguished Americans, and which it is expected you will ever 
 consider the rule of your conduct, and from which you are in no 
 instance to depart. 
 
 "The corps you are to command are to receive the pay and 
 allowance of militia and to act under the laws and regulations of 
 this state now in force, as militia. The inhabitants of this post 
 will be informed by you, that in case they accede to the offers 
 of becoming citizens of this commonwealth, a proper garrison 
 will be maintained among them and every attention bestowed to 
 render their commerce beneficial, the fairest prospects being 
 opened to the dominions of France and Spain. 
 
 "It is in contemplation to establish a post near the mouth of 
 the Ohio. Cannon will be wanted to fortify it. Part of those at 
 Kaskaskia will be easily brought thither, or otherwise secured, 
 as circumstances will make necessary. 
 
 "You are to apply to General Hand for powder and lead 
 necessary for this expedition. If he can't supply it, the person 
 who has that brought from Orleans can. Lead was sent to 
 Hampshire, by my orders, and that may be delivered to you. 
 
 "Wishing you success, 
 
 "I am, sir, 
 
 "Your humble servant, 
 
 "P. Henry." 
 
 Clark sent out several officers with authority to enlist soldiers 
 for the service of Virginia. Two of these officers were to bring 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 175 
 
 their recruits to Fort Pitt, while others were to meet him on the 
 Ohio in Kentucky. Clark himself went to Fort Pitt, where he 
 assembled men, boats, provisions, ammunition, and arms. How- 
 ever, he met with opposition by people at Fort Pitt, who, not 
 knowing his plans, advanced the theory that it would be cheaper 
 to move all the Kentuckians to the east side of the Alleghanies 
 than to attempt to defend them. He found it advisable not to 
 attempt to do more than to secure such supplies as his orders 
 from Governor Henry authorized him to obtain. He took 
 passage with quite a motley crowd aboard his boats for the 
 lower Ohio. Word was sent to those who were recruiting that 
 they should assemble with their contingents at Corn Island, 
 opposite the present city of Louisville, Kentucky. The forces 
 gathered slowly. Major Smith, who was asked to recruit four 
 companies on the head waters of the Tennessee, sent only one 
 company. When the troops were all assembled it was agreed 
 that certain communities could not safely be left unprotected by 
 the able-bodied men, and so quite a few were allowed to return 
 to their homes. One company deserted, and when the final day 
 arrived to proceed there were only 153 who were ready for the 
 descent of the Ohio. To these Clark had revealed the ultimate 
 purpose of the expedition. The following captains were in com- 
 mand: Bowman, Helm, Harrod, and Montgomery. A few 
 families had accompanied Clark from Fort Pitt down to Corn 
 Island. For their protection, Clark had erected a fort on the 
 island. When Clark and his men took their departure, these 
 people on Corn Island moved across to the Kentucky side of the 
 Ohio and founded the City of Louisville. 
 
 Down the Ohio 
 
 The expedition left Corn Island on the 24th of June, 1778, 
 while the sun was in a total eclipse. They had been out but a 
 few days when they were overtaken by an agent sent by Colonel 
 Campbell, in command at Fort Pitt. This courier brought good 
 news from Colonel Campbell. It was to the effect that France 
 and the United States had entered into a treaty of alliance, and 
 that France would send men, money, and ships. This was wel- 
 come news, for it was believed that the French inhabitants could 
 now be won over to the American cause much more easily than 
 at any previous time. Clark was somewhat undecided which 
 stronghold, Vincennes or Kaskaskia, to attack first. He says 
 that Vincennes was larger, had more troops, and if he should be 
 defeated he would have a hard time finding a place of refuge. 
 He thought, too, that the Illinois settlements were more scat- 
 tered, they could be conquered separately more easily, and he 
 would be close to the Spanish territory, to which he could retreat 
 at any time. He therefore decided to attack Kaskaskia first. He 
 therefore sailed by the mouth of the Wabash and purposed to 
 
176 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 land at Fort Massac and march overland to Kaskaskia. At the 
 mouth of the Tennessee River, Clark halted to make some 
 preparation for the final landing, and while there a hunter by 
 the name of John Duff, with others, came by in boats and were 
 obliged to come before Clark and give an account of themselves. 
 They said they had lately been to Kaskaskia and knew the situa- 
 tion there very well. From them Clark found out that there 
 were no British soldiers at either Kaskaskia or Vincennes. That 
 Governor Abbot of Canada was lately at Vincennes, but that he 
 had gone back to Canada. Also that a Frenchman, Chevalier 
 de Rocheblave, was in command at Kaskaskia, and that the only 
 defense there was the militia, which was well organized and 
 alert. The hunters indicated their willingness to accompany 
 Clark and act as guides. This was agreed to and they proved to 
 be very dependable and useful men. 
 
 Clark moved on down the river some eight miles to Fort 
 Massac. Here he landed and made final preparation for his 
 journey to Kaskaskia. Some fifty yards above the fort a con- 
 siderable branch or creek comes into the Ohio at right angles 
 to the direction of the river. It has steep banks and the over- 
 hanging trees on either side make a leafy archway over the 
 stream in summertime. Clark called this stream a "gully." In 
 this "gully" they hid their boats and with light marching equip- 
 ment began their journey of some 120 miles to Kaskaskia. 
 
 Before starting on this journey across Southern Illinois, let 
 us get our bearings as to the source of our information. Reuben 
 Gold Thwaites, a writer of several volumes on western histories, 
 wrote in 1903 a single volume with the title, "How George Rogers 
 Clark Won the Northwest, and other Essays, etc." The last 
 chapter of this book, Chapter VIII, he devotes to "The Draper 
 Manuscripts." Dr. Lyman Copeland Draper, born in 1815 — died 
 in 1891, was the greatest collector of historical material that 
 ever worked west of the Alleghanies. At the age of twenty-three 
 he began to collect material for biographies of western pioneers. 
 For many years he collected his material wholly by correspond- 
 ence, but about 1840 he began to visit persons and places. He 
 is supposed to have traveled more than 60,000 miles in his search 
 for material for projected works which he never wrote. He was 
 personally in touch with Bancroft, Hildreth, Drake, Parkman, 
 Sparks, Lessing and other great historians. In 1849 the Wis- 
 consin Historical Society was organized at Madison. In 1852 
 Dr. Draper was made secretary of this organization and from 
 that simple beginning the society has come to be the most noted 
 one in the middle west. He still continued to gather material 
 looking forward to the writing of biographies and histories. 
 At his death it was found that he had willed all this material 
 to the Wisconsin Historical Society. It has since been classified, 
 arranged, and bound into 400 folio volumes. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 177 
 
 It is now in order to state that several of these folio volumes 
 deal with the life work of George Rogers Clark. And among 
 these, four volumes are made up of letters, notes, and reports 
 from the men of his day upon the route which Colonel Clark 
 took in his march from Fort Massac to Kaskaskia to Vincennes. 
 This material is open to the investigation of students and writers 
 and has been consulted by those who are interested in the content 
 of this original material. 
 
 In 1903 Mr. Archer Butler Hulbert, a writer of note on His- 
 torical Highways made a very exhaustive study of these manu- 
 scripts in the Wisconsin State Historical Library pertaining to 
 the two routes of George Rogers Clark, the route from Fort 
 Massac to Kaskaskia and from Kaskaskia to Vincennes. The 
 two routes described in this volume, are based upon the con- 
 clusions of Mr. Hulbert after a study of the Draper Manuscripts. 
 
 March Across Southern Illinois 
 
 Colonel George Rogers Clark left old Fort Massac on the Ohio 
 River June 29, 1778, with an army of 175 men. They carried 
 four days' rations. The general direction from Fort Massac 
 to Kaskaskia is northwest. There were at that time two trails 
 leaving Fort Massac either of which might have been taken by 
 Clark. These trails were originally marked out by the buffaloes 
 which went in great droves across Illinois in the general direc- 
 tion above given as the course pursued by Clark. One trail went 
 north, to the east of the cypress swamps which lie to the north 
 of Metropolis, and through Massac County, into Pope County. 
 It probably passed by Sulphur Springs, now Dixon's Springs, 
 on over the Ozarks through what is now called Moccasin Gap 
 into the edge of Saline where it joined a trail from Shawneetown 
 to Kaskaskia. This Shawneetown-Kaskaskia trail passed on 
 west not far from Marion in Williamson County where it was 
 joined by another trail from Fort Massac over the Ozarks 
 through the Buffalo Gap. It was over this Buffalo Gap trail 
 that Mr. Hulbert says the Draper manuscripts plainly indicate 
 that Clark marched. With this in mind we shall trace his trip 
 from Fort Massac to Kaskaskia. 
 
 On leaving the fort the morning of the 29th of June, 1778, 
 Clark went northwest and kept between the cypress swamps 
 north of the fort and those further west, which drain into the 
 Cache River. In the extreme northwestern corner of Massac 
 County the swamps which drain eastward into Big Bay Creek 
 and those that drain westward into the Cache come close to- 
 gether. Between these swamps there is a strip of high ground 
 a half mile wide over which an old trail ran. This trail crossed 
 out of Massac in section two or three in town 14 south, range 3 
 east, and entered section 33 in town 13, range 3 east. Here the 
 
178 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 trail went north over the west side of the high lands called 
 Indian Point. The part over which the trail ran is 106 above 
 the alluvial plains of the Ohio, while portions to the east of the 
 trail a mile, are from 120 feet to 258 feet high. The trail over 
 Indian Point was easily discernable a few years ago. On the 
 north slope of this high hill the Daughters of the American 
 Revolution have erected a granite monument to mark the route 
 of George Rogers Clark through Johnson County. The Daughters 
 were led by Mrs. Pleasant Chapman of Vienna, Johnson County. 
 
 Here on Indian Point some eighteen miles from Fort Massac 
 the little army camped the first night out. On the morning of 
 June 30 the army moved northwest, crossed the east branch of 
 the Cache River, then a little east of northwest crossing the 
 present wagon road from Vienna to West Vienna about a mile 
 east of the latter village. Here the trail is discernible, and to 
 the south of the wagon road the traveler may see here also a 
 granite boulder monument erected by the Daughters of the 
 American Revolution. From here the trail ran nearly due north 
 a little east of the village of Buncombe, Johnson County, climbed 
 the Ozarks through the Buffalo Gap, near the beautiful canyon 
 of Fern Cliff and on to the present village of Goreville on the 
 Chicago and Eastern Illinois. Just as the trail emerges on the 
 upland the Daughters of the American Revolution have planted 
 another monument to mark the patriots' path. 
 
 Three and a half miles north of Goreville the little army 
 emerged into the present county of Williamson and at Pulley's 
 Mill or just north a mile or so in Williamson, they camped the 
 second night out from Fort Massac. Here the ground is open 
 and a fine spring furnished plenty of excellent water. During 
 the second day they had crossed the present county of Johnson 
 — eighteen miles from north to south. The morning of July 1st 
 they broke camp and marched north some eight miles when sud- 
 denly the guide became confused as to his location and the army 
 halted. Clark told the guide if he did not find the Kaskaskia- 
 Shawneetown trail he would kill him. They were then less than 
 two miles from the above trail which in that region ran east 
 and west, and were due south of Bainbridge, an old village which 
 stood on the Kaskaskia-Shawnee trail three and a half miles due 
 west of Marion, Williamson County. This trail was in those 
 days called the "hunter's road." The army was now in the center 
 of a very large prairie afterwards called Phelps Prairie. The 
 guide soon found the "hunter's road" and the army was soon in 
 motion. They struck the Kaskaskia-Shawneetown trail at old 
 Bainbridge and turned slightly north of west and camped prob- 
 ably about where Carterville is located at a good spring. 
 
 The next morning, the 2nd of July, the army pushed west into 
 Jackson County, entering, and crossing Crab Orchard Creek in 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 179 
 
 section 2, town 9, range 1 west. Thence due west crossing Big 
 Muddy at Marshall's shoals section 6, town 9, range 1 west. 
 Thence due northwest, south of Ava crossing into Randolph 
 three miles west of Campbell Hill. The camp at the end of the 
 fourth day was supposed to have been in Levan Township in 
 Jackson County. This point is eighteen miles from the camp of 
 the previous night. On reaching Shilo Hill in the southeastern 
 part of Randolph they were then almost due east of Kaskaskia, 
 a distance of seventeen miles. But from now on the march is 
 over a very broken country and not at all in a straight course. 
 The manuscripts seem to indicate that the army passed by Wine 
 Hill in section 5, town 7 south, range 5 west, Randolph County. 
 From there to St. Mary's River at Bremen Station in section 36, 
 town 6 south, range 6 west. Here was the fifth camp. The 
 morning of the fourth found them within twelve miles of Kas- 
 kaskia but they are without provisions and they were too close 
 to kill game. They moved nearly west to Diamond Cross only 
 five miles from Kaskaskia. Here they reached the Vincennes 
 trail running from Kaskaskia to Vincennes. Even from Diamond 
 Cross, Clark does not wish to march straight to Kaskaskia, and 
 the route was taken which carried them round toward Ellis 
 Grove, thence south and west to the Kaskaskia River a mile or 
 so above the town. Clark says: "On the 4th of July, in the 
 evening, we got within a few miles of the town, where we lay 
 until near dark, keeping spies ahead, after which we commenced 
 our march, and took possession of a house wherein a large family 
 lived, on the bank of the Kaskaskia River, about three-quarters 
 of a mile above the town. Here we were informed that the peo- 
 ple a few days before were under arms, but had concluded that 
 the cause of the alarm was without foundation ; and at that time 
 there was a great number of men in the town, but that the In- 
 dians had generally left it, and at present all was quiet." 
 
 Clark now secured boats and his little army was taken across 
 on the west side of the river. There was a good wagon road 
 which ran from the town of Kaskaskia north along the west 
 side of the river for a distance of two or three miles. Clark 
 marched his little army to the edge of the town. Here he divided 
 it into two parts, with one he marched to the south side of the 
 town where the commander, Phillippe Francois de Rastel, Cheva- 
 lier de Rocheblave, was quartered in the House of the Jesuits. 
 This building had a stockade around it but it was much in need 
 of repairs and it presented no obstacles to the Kentuckians. They 
 easily entered stockade and house and soon had the Chevalier 
 a prisoner of Virginia. The other part of the little army was 
 directed to go into the streets of the town and keep the people 
 within their homes. 
 
180 • HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 The Capture of Kaskaskia 
 
 The next morning the people were disarmed. Clark says 
 "nothing could exceed the confusion these people seemed to be 
 in, being taught to expect nothing but savage treatment from 
 the American." Clark's policy was to present the character of 
 a tyrant. So he did not allow the French people to communi- 
 cate with the soldiers. Father Gibault, the priest in charge 
 of the church at Kaskakia and Vincennes, ventured, with a few 
 of the more honorable citizens of the town, to call on Clark to 
 ask if they might have a service in the church. Clark gave his 
 permission. The bell rang out and the people gathered for their 
 accustomed devotions. At the close of the service Father Gibault 
 came again to Clark to request that in their separations that 
 families might not be divided and that the prisoners might be 
 privileged to take a portion of their personal belongings. They 
 were evidently thinking of the departure of the Acadians. 
 Colonel Clark then explained to the priest that Virginia was not 
 making war on women and children, but that their mission in 
 coming to Kaskaskia was to protect women and children — their 
 own wives and children. Clark then explained that the French 
 King had made a treaty of alliance with the American colonies 
 against Great Britain, and that it would be entirely proper now 
 for the French colonists in the Illinois Country to ally them- 
 selves with the Americans. The priest was told that this was 
 what the French King desired them to do. Clark further told 
 the priest and the men with him that in order to prove to them 
 that he was speaking the truth, he told them that they were now 
 free to go and inform the people that they should dismiss their 
 fears, that they should conduct themselves as usual as no harm 
 was intended them. The men in irons and those in prison were 
 released and there was immediately great joy and loud demon- 
 strations through the town. The church bell rang and the people 
 were overjoyed. They met in the church and thanked God for 
 their happy deliverance. Clark issued a proclamation which 
 was read in the village and all acknowledged Colonel Clark as 
 the commandant of the village. 
 
 An oath of allegiance to Virginia was prepared and all were 
 required to subscribe there to. There was a notable exception 
 to the general attitude of the French toward the Americans. 
 The exception was the Chevalier de Rocheblave. He was nearly 
 unmanageable and after Clark had given him time to reconsider 
 his first position he was put in irons and sent to Williamsburg 
 as a prisoner of war. His private property was seized including 
 slaves which were sold for $2,500 which was divided among the 
 soldiers greatly to their appreciation. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 181 
 
 Capture of Cahokia 
 
 After the oath of allegiance had been administered, Colonel 
 Clark decided that the next move was the capture of Cahokia. 
 This town was sixty miles up the Mississippi and was an im- 
 portant post and the rendevouz of hundreds of Indians who might 
 easily become hostile to the Americans. Major Bowman was 
 authorized to organize a small army for the purpose of reducing 
 Cahokia. When the French found out that an expedition was 
 being organized to reduce Cahokia, they came to Clark and told 
 him the people in Cahokia were their friends and relatives and 
 that they could be of material help in the conquest of the post. 
 Clark was glad to have them volunteer their services, and he 
 issued an order that guns and ammunition should be returned to 
 the French citizens. A company of French volunteers was ac- 
 cepted as a part of the force to capture Cahokia. Probably as 1 
 many as sixty or seventy persons made up the expedition, a large 
 part of whom was French militia. They rode French ponies 
 and reached Cahokia on the 6th of July, 1778. It was an easy 
 task for the French from Kaskaskia to explain to the Cahokia 
 citizens the alliance between France and the Americans, and to 
 assure them that the French King was desirous that the French 
 in the Illinois should ally themselves with the Americans. The 
 post surrendered and the oath of allegiance to Virginia admin- 
 istered. When the Cahokia citizens first saw the Kentuckians 
 they shouted "Long Knives," the name given by the French to 
 the Virginians. The Indians who were encamped about Cahokia 
 were told that the Virginia Government would not permit them 
 to congregate in large numbers and they quietly dispersed 
 
 An interesting incident occurred in these early days of the 
 conquest of Illinois. There was a very wealthy Frenchman living 
 in Kaskaskia, a merchant. He was reported to be a bitter foe 
 to the Americans and their cause. It was learned that Monsieur 
 Cere was, at the time that Clark captured Kaskaskia, in St. 
 Louis on his way to Quebec to attend to important business. 
 Clark wished to convert Cere to the American side, and think- 
 ing that he could do it best by severe measure, he took possession 
 of all of the Frenchman's property as well as his family. Guards 
 were placed about his house and his stores, and his warehouse 
 was put under lock and key. The rich merchant hearing that 
 Kaskaskia was in the control of the Americans, and probably 
 aware of the situation that really existed, hastened to Kaskaskia 
 and sought an interview with Clark. Colonel Clark had been 
 informed by the Kaskaskia citizens that Monsieur Cere had insti- 
 gated many of the atrocities in Kentucky. M. Cere had brought 
 with him from St. Louis a very fine indorsement from the gover- 
 nor there, as well as one from the commandant at St. Genevieve. 
 Clark would not be influenced by the beautifully worded indorse- 
 
182 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 merits. It appears that Cere's presence in Kaskaskia was not 
 very generally known. In his interview with Clark he was told 
 that he stood charged with very serious offenses, and that Colonel 
 Clark had no desire to condemn him unheard and that he pur- 
 posed investigating the case and to act accordingly. M. Cere 
 denied all the charges and offered to produce witnesses who would 
 testify that M. Cere had on repeated occasions voiced his con- 
 demnations of the brutalities in the Kentucky country. He de- 
 manded that his accusers should meet him face to face. This 
 Clark proposed to have done. M. Cere was asked to occupy a 
 side room from the office and all his accusers were brought before 
 Clark. Many other citizens came to see what the proceedings 
 should be. When the accusers were all assembled M. Cere was 
 brought in and placed before them. One by one they began to 
 deny knowing anything against the merchant, and eventually no 
 one was willing to testify. Colonel Clark therefore exhonorated 
 him of all charges and congratulated him upon the happy ending 
 of an ugly situation. M. Cere became an American citizen by 
 taking the oath of allegiance and pledged himself loyally to sup- 
 port Clark and the American cause. 
 
 Vincennes Surrendered 
 
 When Colonel Clark first planned his expedition into this 
 country he had intended to attack Vincennes first and later to 
 reduce Kaskaskia. But before he reached the mouth of the Wa- 
 bash, he decided to change his plans, and he attacked Kaskaskia 
 first as we have seen. But Clark says he had never given up 
 the plan of reducing Post Vincennes. Clark was a man who 
 could make the best use of all the resources at hand, he there- 
 fore called before him Father Gibault and talked about the size 
 of the army needed to capture Vincennes. Just as Clark expect- 
 ed, the priest told Clark that Governor Abbott of Canada had 
 very recently left Vincennes and that there were no British 
 troops there, and that the local militia had charge of the fort 
 and its supplies. He further informed Clark that he, the priest, 
 would go to Vincennes and try to get the citizens to transfer 
 their allegiance from the British government to the Virginia 
 government. Clark therefore sent Father Gibault, accompanied 
 by two or more men who Clark thought could be depended on, 
 to see what could be done with the citizens at Vincennes. The 
 priest presented the matter of the transfer of their allegiance 
 in such a way as easily to persuade them to change their al- 
 legiance. They all gathered in the church and the oath was 
 administered to all the citizens. They then selected some of 
 their own number to act in official capacities. They then went 
 to the fort, pulled down the British flag, and hoisted the flag 
 of Virginia. The Indians were told that the old French King 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 183 
 
 had come back to life and that he was displeased that his former 
 children should be working for the British. Father Gibault 
 and his party returned about the first of August, accompanied 
 by several men from Vincennes who wished to confer with 
 Colonel Clark. 
 
 While Father Gibault was absent from Kaskaskia on the mis- 
 sion to Vincennes, Colonel Clark was solving troublesome ques- 
 tions which were constantly arising. Among other things he 
 planned to reenlist as many of the Kentucky soldiers as he could. 
 The agreement between Clark and his Kentucky soldiers was to 
 the effect that their enlistment period should not extend beyond 
 the reduction of Kaskaskia and Vincennes; and now that both 
 were under the flag of Virginia, he feared many would claim 
 that their time was out. He therefore called for reenlistments. 
 About one hundred of his Kentucky men reenlisted. The others 
 were to be mustered out at the Falls of the Ohio. He further 
 opened the enlistments to the French citizens. Clark says the 
 French young men took delight in entering the service of Vir- 
 ginia. These new recruits were drilled and became acquainted 
 with the ideals of the American soldier. The French troops 
 were given French commanders. Colonel Clark then stationed 
 Captain Bowman at Cahokia and Captain Williams at Kaskaskia. 
 Col. Wm. Linn returned to the Falls of the Ohio with the men 
 who were to be mustered out. Captain Montgomery had charge 
 of Chevalier Rocheblave whom he conducted to Williamsburg; 
 he also carried dispatches for Governor Henry from Colonel 
 Clark. Captain Helm was commissioned to have charge at Vin- 
 cennes and especially to treat with the Indians on the Wabash. 
 
 The lack of space will prevent our taking up in detail all of 
 Clark's conferences with the Indians about this region; suffice 
 it to say that considerable time was given to the receiving of 
 great chiefs, and in making speeches, and in the making of 
 treaties. One great council was held at Cahokia where the chiefs 
 of many tribes appeared. The peace pipe was smoked, speeches 
 were made, and treaties favorable to the Americans were entered 
 into. 
 
 Illinois Country, Virginia 
 
 Word reached Governor Patrick Henry of the signal victories 
 of the handful of Virginia troops who had laid the foundation 
 for the annexation of a vast empire to the government of Vir- 
 ginia. It was not only a piece of news which would ordinarily 
 have pleased the friends back home, but it was the entering 
 wedge to a successful demand for all territory east of the Mis- 
 sissippi when the acknowledgment of the independence of the 
 colonies should be wrung from Great Britain. Jefferson, Mason, 
 Henry, Randolph and a host of other Virginians saw the unlooked 
 for importance of Clark's conquests in the West. The Virginia 
 
184 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Assembly was in session in October, 1778, and the following is 
 a law that was passed creating the Country of Illinois, in the 
 State of Virginia : 
 
 "All the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia who are 
 already settled or who shall hereafter settle on the western side 
 of the Ohio, shall be included in a distinct county which shall 
 be called Illinois County ; and the governor of this commonwealth, 
 with the advice of the council, may appoint a county-lieutenant 
 or commander-in-chief, during pleasure, who shall appoint and 
 commission as many deputy commandants, militia officers, and 
 commissioners as he shall think proper in the different districts, 
 during pleasure ; all of whom, before they enter into office, shall 
 take the oath of fidelity to this commonwealth and the oath of 
 office, according to the form of their own religion. 
 
 And all civil officers to which the inhabitants have been accus- 
 tomed necessary for the preservation of the peace, and the ad- 
 ministration of justice, shall be chosen by a majority of the citi- 
 zens in their respective districts to be convened for that purpose 
 by the county-lieutenant or commandant, or his deputy, and shall 
 be commissioned by the said county-lieutenant or commander- 
 in-chief." 
 
 In November the House of Delegates took formal action in 
 expressing its thanks to Clark and his brave men for their won- 
 derful success in their campaign in the West. It appears of 
 record as follows : 
 
 In the House of Delegates 
 
 Monday the 23d, Nov., 1778. 
 
 Whereas, authentic information has been received that Lieut.- 
 Col. George Rogers Clark, with a body of Virginia militia, has 
 reduced the British posts in the western parts of this common- 
 wealth on the Mississippi and its branches, whereby great ad- 
 vantage may accrue to the common cause of America, as well 
 as to this commonwealth in particular: 
 
 Resolved, That the thanks of this House are justly due to the 
 said Colonel Clark and the brave officers and men under his 
 command, for their extraordinary resolution and perserverence 
 in so hazarodus an enterprise, and for their important services 
 to their country. 
 
 E. Randolph, 
 C. H. D. 
 
 Attest : 
 
 Clark was to have some thorns along with the roses. When 
 Captain Helm was sent to Vincennes to take charge of the post 
 there, he took with him an American by the name of Henry. 
 They were joyfully received by the inhabitants. He assumed 
 full control of all civil and military activity. This was in the 
 middle or latter part of August. It appears that the French 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 185 
 
 militia were somewhat organized and furnished with guns and 
 powder with the understanding that these soldiers should help 
 in the defense of the village and the fort, if necessary. 
 
 Word came to Henry Hamilton, governor of Detroit, that Clark 
 had invaded Illinois and that he was in possession of Post Vin- 
 cennes and Fort Sackvile. Without delay he prepared to retake 
 the fort and village. His force consisted of thirty regular troops, 
 fifty Canadians, and 400 Indians, and with this body of warriors 
 he started for the headwaters of the Wabash. He was obliged 
 to refuse the offer of a large number of Indians along the Wabash 
 to aid him in the recapture of Vincennes. An interesting story 
 is told in Butler's History of Kentucky, published in 1834, as 
 follows : 
 
 As General Hamilton was nearing the village, the villagers 
 not heeding the call of the fort for help, Captain Helm and 
 Private Henry decided upon a bold procedure. Private Henry 
 loaded one of the cannon of the fort and it was placed at the 
 gate of the stockade, while Captain Helm stood near with a 
 torch in his hand. When General Hamilton came within hailing 
 distance, Captain Helm called out to Hamilton, "Halt!" The 
 British army was brought to a standstill. Hamilton there de- 
 manded the surrender of the fort, when Helm replied, "No man 
 shall enter until I know the terms." Governor Hamilton re- 
 plied that the force in the fort should march out with the honors 
 of war. Captain Helm thought these terms were entirely satis- 
 factory and so he and Hamilton prepared for the formal surren- 
 der, and at the proper time Captain Helm with the flag and 
 Private Henry with the drum marched out between the long lines 
 of Red Coats, Canadians and Indians. 
 
 Helm was held in Vincennes as a prisoner of war. Governor 
 Hamilton found that he had too large a force to hold in idle- 
 ness about Vincennes; it was therefore provided that only a 
 portion of the force should remain at Fort Sackville while a 
 larger part was sent down on the Ohio and the Mississippi for 
 the purpose of guarding against the approach of reenforcements 
 for Colonel Clark. 
 
 Governor Hamilton had in mind that he would make a sort 
 of campaign up the Ohio, ravaging Kentucky and possibly re- 
 ducing Fort Pitt, and returning in the spring, gather his scat- 
 tered forces and attack Kaskaskia and capture Clark and his 
 rag-a-muffin army. But Governor Hamilton was hindered, and 
 his dream was never realized. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS 
 
 Colonel Vigo — March to Vincennes — The Attack — Terms 
 of Surrender — Coming of John Todd — Todd's Departure 
 — Illinois Abandoned. 
 
 When Colonel Clark first reached the Illinois Country he little 
 dreamed that he would find friends in this region. Among sev- 
 eral warm friends which Colonel Clark made in this country, 
 none were more loyal or more really helpful than Colonel Francis 
 Vigo, a Spanish merchant who lived in St. Louis. He early 
 visited Colonel Clark at Kaskaskia and was soon greatly attached 
 to the American cause. He promised Clark his influence, and 
 proved the sincerity of his profession by making Clark a sub- 
 stantial loan. When Clark left the Illinois Country he was in 
 debt to Vigo to the amount of twenty thousand dollars. 
 
 Colonel Vigo 
 
 Helm took charge of Fort Sackville at Vincennes August 15, 
 1778. Clark got little or no word directly from Helm and he 
 was concerned about his welfare. After the capture of Vin- 
 cennes by Hamilton all communication with Kaskaskia ceased. 
 Clark did not know that Hamilton had retaken Vincennes, but 
 he thought it strange that he heard nothing from Helm. About 
 the first part of January, 1779, Clark asked Colonel Vigo to 
 make a trip to Vincennes and to report to him the situation. 
 Vigo was glad to serve his friend, more particularly since he 
 often went to Vincennes to trade in furs and pelts. When Vigo 
 arrived at Vincennes he was arrested by Hamilton on the theory 
 that he was a spy. But Vigo knew the people of the village, 
 and they all knew him ; besides the Indians all knew Vigo. These 
 friends were ready to vouch for Vigo. In addition to his standing 
 in the village and among the Indians as a merchant and trader, 
 he was a subject of Spain and his arrest and confinement might 
 precipitate diplomatic complications. After being restrained of 
 his liberty for some time, Hamilton agreed to his release pro- 
 vided he would go straight to his home in St. Louis and that he 
 would do nothing on the way to injure the British cause. 
 
 Colonel Vigo was an honest old soldier. He made a direct 
 and rapid journey to St. Louis. He kept the contract he had 
 made with Hamilton. But he remained only long enough to 
 
 186 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 187 
 
 comply with his agreement with Hamilton. He repaired imme- 
 diately to Kaskaskia to confer with Colonel Clark. He arrived 
 in Kaskaskia January 29, 1779. Clark was already very much 
 disturbed by reason of the absence of information from Captain 
 Helm. But the news which Colonel Vigo brought was a great 
 shock to Colonel Clark. He ordered Captain Bowman to report 
 at Kaskaskia to assist in organizing an overland expedition for 
 the conquest of Hamilton at Vincennes. for, as Colonel Clark 
 said, "If I do not take Hamilton, Hamilton will take me." A 
 part of the plan of conquest was to send a galley down the 
 Mississippi, and up the Ohio and the Wabash, to await below 
 Vincennes the coming of the land expedition. A large Missis- 
 sippi keel boat was purchased and fitted out as a galley. Two 
 four-pound guns were mounted, and in addition four large 
 swivels. Provisions and ammunition were placed on the boat 
 which was christened "The Willing." Capt. John Rogers was 
 the captain ; he 1 had forty-six men under his command, and they 
 sailed on the fourth of February, 1779. 
 
 Orders were given for preparation for the overland march. 
 Two French militia companies were organized, one from Cahokia 
 and one from Kaskaskia. The company from Cahokia was com- 
 manded by Captain McCarty, and the one from Kaskaskia by 
 Captain Charleville. There were three companies of Americans 
 commanded by Captains Bowman, Williams, and Worthington. 
 The company was usually made up of fifty men, but in these 
 five companies there were but 170 men, an average of only 
 thirty-four men to a company. Clark has given us a very good 
 picture of the interest in the preparations in Kaskaskia and 
 probably in the other villages. He says: "Orders were immedi- 
 ately issued for preparations. The whole country folk took fire 
 with alarm ; and every order was executed with cheerfulness by 
 every description of the inhabitants — preparing provisions, en- 
 couraging volunteers, etc., etc., and as we had plenty of stores, 
 every man completely rigged with what he could desire to with- 
 stand the coldest weather." 
 
 March to Vincennes 
 
 Everything was ready on the 5th of February and after being 
 lectured, and receiving absolution from the priest they crossed 
 the Kaskaskia River and marched about three miles and en- 
 camped. This camping place was not far from the village of 
 Diamond Cross or Palestine. Here they remained in camp from 
 the 5th to the 7th, when they resumed the march. The direc- 
 tion is in general northeast. A careful study of the geography 
 will reveal that this direction was between two water systems; 
 one of which on north and west is the Kaskaskia system, and 
 the one to the east and south is the St. Mary's. This gave a high 
 
188 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 dry route from Diamond Cross to Sparta, a distance of ten 
 miles. From Sparta in a straight course northeast to Nashville, 
 passed a mile south of Coulterville. From Nashville to Rich- 
 view, thence to Walnut Hill in the southwest part of Jefferson 
 County. From Walnut Hill in a very direct way to Xenia in 
 Clay County. From Xenia very nearly east passing Flora and 
 Clay City. Up to this point the little army had experienced 
 hardships but no serious opposition. They killed game for food 
 and usually had a sort of feast at night, all the companies gather- 
 ing about one fire where they cooked, ate, and enjoyed them- 
 selves very freely, so Clark says. The rains were falling and 
 every stream was full to the top of its banks. Captain Bow- 
 man's journal says, "11th crossed the Saline River. Nothing 
 extraordinary this day." They arrived at the Little Wabash 
 a mile east of Clay City and found the low land between it and 
 the Big Muddy Creek three miles east, covered with water. In 
 fact there was about five miles of space covered by water. Here 
 they built a boat for the purpose of conveying them over the 
 deeper parts of the water. The larger stream, the Little Wa- 
 bash, was crossed by means of the newly made boat, and the 
 baggage placed on a sort of platform in three feet of water. 
 The pack horses swam the river which was a 100 feet wide. 
 The men were brought across in the boat, the pack horses were 
 reloaded, and all started through the three feet of water which 
 covered the low ground between the Little Wabash and the Big 
 Muddy Creek — a distance of three or more miles. The drowned 
 lands to the east of the Big Muddy Creek extended the whole 
 width to five miles. In the low ground between the two channels 
 the water was from 3 to 5 feet deep. The men carried their 
 guns and powder on top of their heads. Of course there was 
 great suffering, but the men had steeled themselves to do and 
 to dare unprobable and impossible things. The army reached 
 the "Wabashes" the afternoon of the 13th, built their boat on 
 the 14th, and crossed the Wabashes on the 15th of February. 
 On the morning of the 16th they marched east and crossed 
 Fox River. They reached the Embarras River about where the 
 City of Lawrenceville is on the afternoon of the 17th. Find- 
 ing the lands between the Embarras and the Wabash — that is, 
 between Lawrenceville and Vincennes — flooded and not finding 
 any boats, they moved south and east along the Embarras till 
 they found a place to camp for the night. "18th — at daybreak 
 heard Hamilton's morning gun. (They were then 10 miles 
 southwest of Vincennes.) Set off and marched down the river 
 (Embarras), saw some fine land. About 2 o'clock came to the 
 banks of the Wabash." 
 
 Here they spent the next three days building rafts, digging 
 canoes, and trying to cross the Wabash. Major Bowman's 
 journal says on the 19th — "Many of the men cast down — par- 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 189 
 
 ticularly the volunteers (the French militia). No provision 
 now of any sort, two days, hard fortune." On the 20th they 
 captured five Frenchmen from Vincennes who told the Amer- 
 icans that Hamilton was ignorant of the presence of Clark 
 then so near to Vincennes. They killed a deer on the 20th. On 
 the 21st the army was ferried across the Wabash in canoes, 
 and on the raff. They rested on a small rise in the ground 
 called "mamelle" about two and a half miles from the river. 
 They were now eight miles in a straight line south from the 
 village and fort. From the first "mamelle" they marched east 
 and a little north a distance of three miles to a second "ma- 
 melle." The next high ground was said by the guides to be a 
 place called the sugar camp two miles north of the second 
 "mamelle." Canoes were sent out on reconnoitering expeditions. 
 They returned with nothing encouraging. The men had had 
 some meat and soup since they crossed the river and were in 
 fairly good spirits. At best, however, the situation was ex- 
 tremely perilous. Clark took some powder in his hand, poured 
 on water and blackened his face, gave the warhoop, and plunged 
 into the water and made toward the sugar camp. The men were 
 very weak but with a huzza they followed, the water sometimes 
 to their shoulders. They went through a wood just before reach- 
 ing the sugar camp and the men hung to the limbs of trees and 
 floated on the logs. As the men came to land they would fall to 
 the ground as they came out of the water. They built fires and 
 took a little exercise in the sunshine and all regained their 
 strength. 
 
 They were now about five miles due south of the village. 
 Some of Clark's men who were out in a canoe spied some squaws 
 and children making their way over the flooded lands to Vin- 
 cennes. They were forced to come to the sugar camp where 
 the soldiers were resting and, lo! in the boat was a quarter of 
 buffalo, some corn, tallow, kettles, etc. This was a great cap- 
 ture. Broth was made and served to the weakest with caution, 
 to the strong in quantities. Clark was a psychologist and he 
 was constantly bringing about desirable ends by indirection. 
 From the sugar camp they crossed a lake in canoes and waded 
 the drowned lands to Warrior's Island (Warren's Island) . They 
 were now two miles south of the fort which was in plain view. 
 Some Frenchmen were seen at a distance hunting ducks in the 
 overflowed land. Some of Clark's French soldiers were sent 
 out to these hunters and one of them was asked to come to 
 Clark's camp, which he did. He said the British had just com- 
 pleted the repairs on the fort and that a number of Indians 
 were lounging about the village. Clark began then to march 
 on the fort. But as a part of the plan he wrote the following 
 address to the inhabitants in the village and sent it in by a 
 messenger. 
 
190 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 "To the Inhabitants of Post Vincennes: 
 
 Gentlemen: Being now within two miles of your village, 
 with my army, determined to take your fort this night, and not 
 being willing to surprise you, I take this method to request 
 such of you as are true citizens and willing to enjoy the liberty 
 I bring you, to remain still in your houses; and those, if any 
 there be, that are friends to the king, will instantly repair to 
 the fort and join the hair-buyer general, and fight like men. 
 And if any such as do not go to the fort shall be discovered 
 afterwards, they may depend on severe punishment. On the 
 contrary, those who are true friends to liberty may depend on 
 being well treated; and I once more request them to keep out 
 of the streets. For every one I find in arms on my arrival, I 
 shall treat him as an enemy. 
 
 (Signed) G. R. Clark." 
 
 The messenger who carried this communication to the inhabi- 
 tants of the village was watched by the soldiers as they could 
 see him all the way to the village. In a short time the villagers 
 began to gather in knots on the outskirts of the town, and there 
 were signs of activity in the village. All this time the people 
 in the fort were wholly unconscious of the nearness of Clark's 
 troops, and knew nothing of any unusual situation in the vil- 
 lage. It was now late in the afternoon of the 23d of February, 
 1779. Clark began to march toward the village. The little 
 army was moved in such a way as to make it appear to people 
 in the village and fort that there were two or three times as 
 many soldiers as there really were. Clark had flags of different 
 colors which he had prepared before he left Kaskaskia. These 
 were used so that it appeared there were many more soldiers 
 than there were. 
 
 On reaching the village the American army was marched 
 through the outlying parts of the village in order to make an 
 impression upon the citizens of the town. When Clark was 
 ready he opened fire on the fort. This took Hamilton com- 
 pletely by surprise. The fire was vigorous and was returned as 
 vigorously. The American army would have soon exhausted 
 their powder had it not been for the action of the Vincennes 
 inhabitants. Upon the approach of Hamilton when he came 
 from Canada, the inhabitants of the town had word that Ham- 
 ilton expected to confiscate all the powder and bullets in the 
 village. To circumvent this misfortune, the villagers hid their 
 supply of powder and bullets. When Clark came into the town, 
 the people very generously let him have all their stock of am- 
 munition. Clark's little army was therefore well supplied, and 
 the firing went on without abatement. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 191 
 
 The Attack 
 
 There were several hundred Indians in the town and a part 
 of them were very anxious to join in the attack on the fort but 
 Clark felt that he would better reduce the fort without their 
 help. He told them he would confer with them on the morrow. 
 The fort was completely surrounded and the bombardment was 
 kept up till about nine o'clock the next morning. Fifty of 
 Clark's army were held in reserve, but fully that many of the 
 French villagers took their places in the ranks of the besieging 
 army. The fort was supplied with cannon, but when the port- 
 holes were opened the American riflemen would so surely pick 
 off the gunners that they gave up the use of the cannon. Sev- 
 eral of Hamilton's men who ventured to show their heads over 
 the walls of the fort were also picked off by the riflemen. Dur- 
 ing the night Colonel Clark sent a detachment of workers as 
 close to the fort as they could get in order to dig trenches and 
 throw up breastworks. This they did successfully, so that when 
 the morning came the Americans were safe behind their own 
 breastworks. 
 
 About 9 o'clock on the morning of the 24th, Colonel Clark 
 decided to put on a bold front and demand the surrender of 
 the fort. He did this because he was uncertain what would be 
 the attitude of the Indians should the siege hold out too long. 
 Colonel Clark had not heard anything from the vessel which 
 was overdue, and he felt that the time was opportune, as their 
 might be some unforeseen conditions arise which would render 
 all of their advantage of no avail. He therefore directed a let- 
 ter which he sent to the fort under a flag of truce. The com- 
 munication sent to Colonel Hamilton was as follows: 
 
 "Sir: In order to save yourself from the impending storm 
 that now threatens you, I order you immediately to surrender 
 yourself, with all your garrison, stores, etc., etc. For if I am 
 obliged to storm, you may depend on such treatment as is justly 
 due to a murderer. Beware of destroying stores of any kind, 
 or any papers or letters that are in your possession, or hurting 
 one house in town — for, by Heavens! if you do, there shall be 
 no mercy shown you. 
 
 (Signed) G. R. Clark." 
 
 We must admit that this was a pretty vigorous demand on an 
 officer to surrender. Colonel Hamilton immediately returned 
 the following reply: 
 
 "Lieutenant Governor Hamilton begs leave to acquaint Colo- 
 nel Clark, that he and his garrison are not disposed to be awed 
 into any action unworthy British subjects." 
 
 This was a dignified reply and a little haughty in tone. The 
 firing was resumed and was kept up vigorously on both sides. 
 Clark says his men frequently proposed to rush the fort and 
 
192 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 put an end to the conflict. But Clark wished to save the lives 
 of his soldiers. In the afternoon after the garrison had lost 
 several of its men Colonel Hamilton made a proposition under 
 flag - of truce for a three days' truce in the following form: 
 
 "Lieutenant Governor Hamilton proposes to Colonel Clark a 
 truce of three days; during which time he promises there shall 
 be no defensive works carried on in the garrison, on condition 
 that Colonel Clark shall observe on his part a like cessation of 
 any defensive work; that is, he wishes to confer with Colonel 
 Clark as soon as can be; and promises whatever may pass 
 between these two, and another person mutually agreed upon to 
 be present, shall remain secret till matters be finished, as he 
 wishes, that whatver the result of the conference may be, it 
 may tend to the honor and credit of each party. If Colonel 
 Clark makes a difficulty of coming into the fort, Lieutenant 
 Governor Hamilton will speak to him by the gate. 
 
 (Signed) Henry Hamilton. 
 24th February, 79." 
 
 This proposition for a three days' truce, all things consid- 
 ered, would probably have been to the advantage of Colonel 
 Clark. He had hopes that Captain Helm with the Willing 
 would be on the scene within three days, with provisions and 
 men. In that case there would be no question as to Clark's 
 ability to force the garrison to surrender. When Clark con- 
 ferred with his officers there were different interpretations of 
 the note from Colonel Hamilton. Some thought it a scheme 
 to get Clark within the fort for the purpose of detaining him 
 indefinitely. After the conference with his officers, Colonel 
 Clark decided to send the following communication to Colonel 
 Hamilton : 
 
 "Colonel Clark's compliments to Lieutenant Governor Ham- 
 ilton, and begs leave to inform him that he will not agree to any 
 terms other than Mr. Hamilton's surrendering himself and gar- 
 rison prisoners at discretion. If Mr. Hamilton is desirous of 
 a conference with Colonel Clark, he will meet him at the church, 
 with Captain Helm. 
 
 February 24th, '79. G. R. C." 
 
 Clark tells the story of the conference in a very interesting 
 way. The two principals met at the church which was some 
 eight yards from the fort. Hamilton was accompanied by Major 
 John Hay who was Superintendent of Indian Affairs about 
 Detroit, also by Captain Helm who was held as a prisoner in 
 the fort. Colonel Clark was accompanied by Major Bowman. 
 Lieutenant Governor Hamilton presented what he thought would 
 be acceptable terms of surrender, but Clark, like Grant, would 
 have nothing but unconditional surrender. After a fruitless 
 conference, they parted to renew attack and defense. Hamil- 
 ton had not gone far toward the fort till he turned and renewed 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 193 
 
 the discussion as to terms. In this second stage of the con- 
 ference Clark told Hamilton that he expected to take the fort 
 and that his men would have no mercy on any one. Hamilton 
 and Hay were visibly affected by the savage threats of Clark, 
 and were told to return to the fort and that Clark would recon- 
 sider his terms of surrender. 
 
 In the afternoon of the 24th Colonel Clark sent a set of ar- 
 ticles to the fort for Governor Hamilton. These were agreed 
 to and the struggle was over. The following are the terms as 
 offered by Clark: 
 
 Terms of Surrender 
 
 1. Lieutenant-Governor Hamilton engages to deliver up to 
 Colonel Clark, Fort Sackville, as it is at present, with all the 
 stores, etc. 
 
 2. The garrison are to deliver themselves as prisoners of 
 war ; and march out with their arms and accoutrements, etc. 
 
 3. The garrison to be delivered up at 10 o'clock tomorrow. 
 
 4. Three days' time to be allowed the garrison to settle 
 their accounts with the inhabitants and traders of this place. 
 
 5. The officers of the garrison to be allowed their necessary 
 baggage, etc. 
 
 Signed at Post St. Vincent, 24th February, 1779. 
 
 Agreed for the following reasons: The remoteness from 
 succor; the state and quantity of provisions, etc.; unanimity of 
 officers and men in its expediency ; the honorable terms allowed ; 
 and lastly, the confidence in a generous enemy. 
 
 HENRY HAMILTON, 
 
 Lt. Gov. and Superintendent. 
 
 On the 27th of February, the Willing, with supplies and men, 
 arrived. With the Willing came dispatches from Virginia. The 
 army of conquest was now busy carrying out the terms of the 
 surrender. Governor Hamilton and Major Hay were sent to 
 Williamsburg as prisoners of war. The soldiers were detained 
 a while and paroled and allowed to return to Detroit. 
 
 Just as the surrender occurred word came to Clark that sev- 
 eral canoes loaded with provisions and supplies destined for 
 Fort Sackville were on their way down the Wabash from De- 
 troit. A company of men under Captain Helm left Vincennes 
 on the 26th to capture this flotilla. The vessels were found in 
 the mouth of the Vermilion River. There were seven boats. 
 The boats were easily captured at night. Captain Helm re- 
 turned to Vincennes on the 5th of March with a large store of 
 provisions to be used for the good of the soldiers. Besides 
 these seven boats of provisions, clothing, etc., there were con- 
 siderable supplies in the fort when it was surrendered. 
 
 Now that this task is done, the men are ready for another 
 which would have been as trying, and if successful, as profit- 
 able both to the government and for the soldiers as individuals. 
 
 9V1 
 
194 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 This was the capture of Detroit. Clark, too, is very anxious, 
 but he hesitated. He probably was wise, for to garrison De- 
 troit, Vincennes, Cahokia, and Kaskaskia, besides the small vil- 
 lages here and there would have been a big undertaking. It 
 appears that Clark wasted valuable time — but we must remem- 
 ber that he was absolutely under the command of the governor 
 of Virginia. And again that Virginia had given not a bit of 
 help materially since the expedition started from Corn Island. 
 Eventually Clark selected Lieutenant Brashear to command the 
 fort at Vincennes. He had as assistants Lieutenants Bayley and 
 Champlin and forty soldiers. Capt. Leonard Helm was made 
 commandant of the town, and superintendent of Indian affairs. 
 Moses Henry was made Indian agent, and Patrick Kennedy 
 was made Quartermaster. Clark and the remainder of the army 
 took passage in boats for Kaskaskia. In due time they reached 
 their destination. One day in June the little army was surprised 
 by the arrival of Colonel Montgomery from Kentucky. This 
 was the first batch of reinforcements for the Detroit expedition. 
 In the middle of the summer of 1779 Clark assembled a force 
 at Vincennes for the purpose of proceeding to the attack of 
 Detroit but there were so many discouragements and disappoint- 
 ments that the expedition was abandoned, at least for the time 
 being. 
 
 One might say, what is all this suffering, this anxiety, these 
 sacrifices, and these weary journeys about? Have these British 
 posts of Kaskaskia, Vincennes, and Detroit ever been responsi- 
 ble for enough suffering in Kentucky to justify all this outlay 
 of labor and suffering on the part of Clark and his men? One 
 picture will be given, and then when we remember that this 
 is only one in many, we can answer whether the conditions 
 justified the work of Clark and his Kentucky backwoodsmen. 
 
 At some period before Lieutenant-Governor Hamilton left De- 
 troit for the capture of Vincennes in the fall of 1778 one John 
 Leith, an American sympathizer, engaged in the fur trading 
 business, was arrested and held at Detroit as a prisoner with 
 more or less of liberty. In his diary was found the following 
 incident which was copied by H. W. Beckwith who was the 
 author of volume 1 of the Illinois Historical Collections. 
 
 "One day, while detained at the fort (in Detroit), I observed 
 some soldiers drawing cannon out of the fort and placing them 
 on the banks of the river. While I was ruminating in my mind, 
 what could be the meaning of this singular maneuvre, a young 
 silversmith, with whom I was intimately acquainted, came and 
 asked me to walk with him and see them fire the cannon. I 
 walked with him to the place where they had carried them. 
 When we arrived there we found Governor Hamilton and sev- 
 eral British officers who were standing and sitting around. 
 
 Immediately after our arrival at the place, the Indians pro- 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 195 
 
 duced a large quantity of scalps, the cannon fired, the Indians 
 raised a shout, and the soldiers waved their hats, with huzzas 
 and tremendous shrieks, which lasted some time. 
 
 This ceremony being ended, the Indians brought forward a 
 parcel of American prisoners (supposed to be from the Ken- 
 tucky settlements) , as a trophy of their victories ; among whom 
 were eighteen women and children, poor creatures; dreadfully 
 mangled and emaciated ; with their clothes tattered and torn to 
 pieces, in such a manner as not to hide their nakedness, their 
 legs bare and streaming with blood ; the effects of being torn 
 with thorns, briers, and brush. To see these poor people dragged, 
 like sheep to the slaughter along the British lines, caused my 
 heart to shrink with throbbings and my hair to raise with rage ; 
 and if ever I committed murder in my heart, it was then; for 
 if I had had the opportunity, and had been supported with 
 strength, I certainly should have killed the governor, who seemed 
 to take great delight in the exhibition. My business hurried 
 me from this horrible scene, and I know not what became of 
 those poor wretches who were the miserable victims of savage 
 power." If this was the common occurrence during these trou- 
 blous times, there was ample justification in Clark's calling 
 Governor Hamilton the "hair buyer general." 
 
 Coming of John Todd 
 
 Let us recall that the territory north and west of the Ohio 
 River was by act of the Legislature of Virginia, in the fall of 
 1778, organized into a county, and steps were taken "for the 
 more effectual protection and defense thereof." This action was 
 taken before Clark captured Governor Hamilton in Fort Sack- 
 ville. "The act creating the County of Illinois recites the suc- 
 cessful expedition of the Virginia militiamen in the country 
 adjacent to the Mississippi, and that good faith and safety 
 require that the citizens there of who have acknowledged the 
 Commonwealth, shall be supported and protected and that all 
 the citizens of Virginia, settled on the western side of the Ohio, 
 shall be included in a distinct county to be known as the Illinois 
 County." 
 
 The act provided that the Governor of Virginia should ap- 
 point a county-lieutenant or commandant, and that this offi- 
 cial should appoint and commission all deputy commandants, 
 militia officers, and other needed official assistants. The few 
 civil officials were to be elected by the voters in their respective 
 districts. 
 
 The governor, Patrick Henry, looked about for a suitable per- 
 son for so important a position as lieutenant-commandant of 
 Virginia's newly acquired domain. He was probably not long 
 in making his decision. According to Mr. Edward C. Mason, 
 
196 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 who is considered a very careful writer, all during the time 
 that this act was before the Virginia Legislature, the man who 
 was to be so highly honored with the appointment as county 
 lieutenant of Illinois County, Virginia, was bravely helping 
 to win from British power by force of arms, the very domain 
 which he was later selected to govern. This man who was to 
 institute and establish the fundamental principles of English 
 law and government in a territory wrested from the tyranny 
 of George III, was John Todd, Esq., lately a judge of the Ken- 
 tucky court at Harrodsburg. 
 
 John Todd was born in Pennsylvania, educated in Virginia, 
 practiced law in the latter state and moved to Kentucky in the 
 exodus which passed over the Alleghanies in 1775. He was a 
 member of the first House of Delegates of Kentucky, and later 
 was a representative in the Virginia Legislature. When Clark 
 was gathering up his troops for the campaign against the Brit- 
 ish posts in the march west, John Todd was found among the 
 soldiers. There was at least one notable exception to the care- 
 less statement that Clark's soldiers were the backwoodsmen 
 of Kentucky. Mason says that when Clark had surrounded the 
 house in which Rocheblave was sleeping that John Todd was 
 the first man to enter the house, and further that Todd was 
 with Clark at the capture of Hamilton in Vincennes. If this 
 is true we can understand the strong ties of friendship which 
 bound the two men together. 
 
 Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia, in the quaint old town 
 of Williamsburn, sat in the chair of state, where the royal 
 governors had ruled the Old Dominion, and wrote in a common 
 account book with his own hand the appointment, the instruc- 
 tions, and the limitations of a governor of an imperial domain — 
 the territory out of which five of the nation's great states have 
 been formed — Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. 
 This historic document now rests securely in a fire-proof vault 
 where at least "where thieves can not break through and steal." 
 These instructions to County-Lieutenant John Todd occupy five 
 pages and may be stated in brief : 
 
 Todd is referred to the law or act creating the office of 
 County-Lieutenant, and continues — "The grand objects which 
 are disclosed to the view of your countrymen will prove bene- 
 ficial, or otherwise, according to the value and abilities of those 
 who are called to direct the affairs of that remote country. The 
 present crisis rendered favorable by the good disposition of the 
 French and Indians, may be improved to great purposes, but if, 
 unhappily, it should be lost, a return of the same attachments 
 to us may never happen. Considering, therefore, that early 
 prejudices are so hard to wear out, you will take care to culti- 
 vate and conciliate the affections of the French and Indians." 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 197 
 
 Todd is directed to consult and advise with the most intelli- 
 gent and upright persons who may fall in his way. 
 
 He is directed to co-operate with the military authorities in 
 the defense of the country against hostile British and Indians. 
 
 The county-lieutenant is to have charge of militia, which can 
 be placed under the control of the military only at the command 
 of the civil authority. He is to inculcate in the people on all 
 occasions the value of liberty and the difference between the 
 state of free citizens of this commonwealth and that of slavery. 
 
 He is to remove the grievances that obstruct the happiness 
 and prosperity of that country. 
 
 He is to discountenance and punish every attempt to violate 
 the property of the Indians, particularly their lands. 
 
 He must cultivate the most friendly relations with the Spanish 
 commandant at St. Louis. 
 
 The businesses given into your "charge are singular in their 
 nature, and weighty in their consequences, to the people imme- 
 diately concerned, and to the whole state. They require the full- 
 est exertion of ability and unwearied diligence." 
 
 Todd is ordered to do what he can to restore to the wife of 
 Rocheblave the property of which she had been deprived at the 
 surrender of Kaskaskia. 
 
 To summarize: "Conciliation of the newly-enfranchised in- 
 habitants, selection of competent advisers, defense against for- 
 eign and native enemies, subordination of the military to the 
 civil arm of the government, establishment of republican insti- 
 tutions, administration of equal justice to all, an alliance with 
 friendly neighbors, encouragement of trade, the unwearied abil- 
 ity, diligence, and zeal, in behalf of his people" — these are the 
 high ideals held up for the guidance of this new guardian of civil 
 and religious liberty in a country where the people have been 
 used to bloodshed, scalps, intrigue, and tyranny. 
 
 These instructions were written probably while Clark and 
 Todd were passing through the severest tests as to the final out- 
 come after the first flush of victory on July 4, 1778. A trusted 
 courier we believe brought these instructions by way of Pitts- 
 burg and down the Ohio and delivered them to Todd while he 
 yet was at Vincennes, in the spring of 1779. At least Todd ap- 
 peared in Kaskaskia in May, 1779. On the 12th of that month 
 a great concourse of French, soldiers and Indians, gathered at 
 the door of the church where Clark gave a sort of eulogy upon 
 the faithfulness of the people of Kaskaskia and neighboring vil- 
 lages; and bespeaking their intelligent participation in civil 
 affairs in a republican government now about to be established 
 in Illinois County, Virginia, Clark now introduced County Lieu- 
 tenant John Todd, Esq. Mr. Todd made a short speech, giving 
 a brief outline of the government which he was to establish, 
 and pointing out to the people their duties and privileges there- 
 
198 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 under. Following these formalities the citizens voted for judges 
 in true republican style. Nine judges were elected for Kas- 
 kaskia. These judges were selected from among the more in- 
 telligent French citizens of the village. 
 
 The second step for Mr. Todd was to organize the militia in 
 the several villages of his territory. We have spoken of the 
 book in which Governor Patrick Henry wrote out John Todd's 
 commission and instructions. These took up five pages of the 
 book and the following pages were used by Todd in which to 
 keep a record of the orders and appointments of his office so the 
 book has come to be known as "Todd's record book." On page 6 
 of the book are the entries which record the appointment of the 
 militia officers for Kaskaskia : This list is taken from Mason's 
 "Chapters from Illinois History." 
 
 "Made out the military commissions for the District of Kas- 
 kaskia, dated May 14, 1779 : 
 
 Richard Winston, Commandant, as Captain. 
 
 Nickolas Janis, First Co., Captain. 
 
 Baptiste Charleville, 1st Lieutenant. 
 
 Charles Charleville, 2d Lieutenant. 
 
 Michael Godis, Ensign. 
 
 Joseph Duplassy, 2d Captain. 
 
 Nicholas le Chanie, 1st Lieutenant. 
 
 Charles Danee, 2d Lieutenant. 
 
 Baptiste Janis, Ensign. 
 
 12th May, sent a Commission of Command of Prairie du 
 Rocher, and Captain of the militia to Jean B. Barbeau." 
 
 And then follows a list of militia officials for Cahokia. 
 
 "Commissions dated 14th May, 1779, 3d year of the Com- 
 monwealth." 
 
 On pages 7 and 8 of the record book Mr. Todd entered the 
 "List of the Court as Kaskaskia, the Court of Kahokias, and the 
 Court of Vincennes, as elected by the people." 
 
 In many cases these officials held two offices at once. Richard 
 Winston was not only deputy-commandant at Kaskaskia, but 
 also sheriff of that district. Jean B. Barbeau was deputy- 
 commandant at Prairie du Rocher and judge of the court at the 
 same time. 
 
 Having now attended to the courts and the militia, Mr. Todd 
 turned his attention to the commercial interests of the new coun- 
 try. On Page 11 of the record book is an account of the issue 
 of a trader's license to Richard McCarthy, Gentleman. This 
 permit was very generous for it gave the grantee the right to 
 trade anywhere in the Commonwealth. It bears date of June 
 5, 1779. 
 
 Todd next gives attention to the financial situation. On the 
 11th of June, 1779, he addressed a communication to the Court 
 of Kaskaskia which is found on page 12 of the record book, 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 199 
 
 which shows that he had great faith in his government. He 
 says that the only way to carry on the war (the Revolutionary 
 war) is to support the bills of credit which the government has 
 emitted. He says: "There is no friend to American Inde- 
 pendence, who has any judgment, but expects to see it (the 
 paper money) equal to gold and silver, but that merely from its 
 uncommon quantity, and in proportion to it arises the complaint 
 of its want of credit." There can hardly be any explanation as 
 to this enthusiasm, as within one year from the date of this 
 address to the Kaskaskia Court, the Continental (paper) dollar 
 was worth but two cents in gold and was never more valuable. 
 Then follows a sort of land-bank system which provided that 
 paper money issued in the County of Illinois should rest for 
 its ultimate redemption on the value of land, 21,000 acres near 
 Cahokia being proposed to be set aside for such redemption. 
 
 From this land-bank discussion, Mr. Todd passes to the con- 
 sideration of the land grants which have been made in this 
 region as well as to consider the conditions which might arise 
 when other grants should be made. On June 15th, 1779, Colonel 
 Todd issued a proclamation in which he forbade the further 
 settling of the flat lands adjacent to the rivers Mississippi, Ohio, 
 Illinois, and Wabash until further notice. And in order to 
 establish the titles to lands claimed from grants previously 
 made by the governments in control of this region, it was ordered 
 that each inhabitant who claimed lands should present for rec- 
 ord the source of his present title. If his claim was derived 
 direct from those in authority, he should present date, amount, 
 and source of grant. If an individual received his title from 
 another person, and he from another, and so on, then there must 
 be established record of all these transfers. "The number of 
 adventurers who will shortly overrun this country, renders the 
 above method necessary, as well as to guard against trespassers 
 which will probably be committed on lands not of record. 
 Given under my hand and seal, at Kaskaskia, the 15th of June, 
 in the third year of the Commonwealth, 1779. 
 
 "JOHN TODD, JR." 
 
 Colonel Todd intimates in his proclamation that he is look- 
 ing for the coming of large numbers of settlers from the older 
 states and he wishes to have the question of land claims well in 
 hand before the arrival of these adventurers. It turned out that 
 Colonel Todd accurately forecasted the actual conditions in the 
 years 1779, 1780. Butler's History of Kentucky says that as 
 many as three hundred large families came down the Ohio and 
 landed at the Falls, the present site of Louisville in the spring of 
 1780, and from there spread out through the present State of 
 Kentucky. 
 
 Governor Reynolds in his Pioneer History of Illinois reports 
 the coming to Illinois of James Moore, Shadrach Bond, Robert 
 
200 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Kidd, Larken Rutherford, and James Garrison, in the year 1781. 
 They brought their wives and children with them and they came 
 unarmed. They came over the Alleghanies and down the Ohio 
 thence up the Mississippi to Kaskaskia. From here, Moore and 
 Rutherford followed the trail from Kaskaskia along the foot 
 of the bluffs, to Prairie du Rocher. Just north of this village 
 the trail went up a canyon and reached the uplands. Thence 
 north through a hilly region and then came out into an open 
 country about five miles southeast of New Design. The trail 
 wound northward to Bellefontaine, a village laid out by James 
 Moore. There was a very fine spring here and it became a 
 center for settlers. This was in 1781. A fort was built at Belle- 
 fontaine, and two years later, 1783, a fort was built just north of 
 Bellefontaine but below the bluffs in what was called the Grand 
 Ruisseau. The Village of Bellefontaine eventually declined and 
 Waterloo, Monroe County, grew up in its stead. 
 
 Shadrach Bond, Robert Kidd, and James Garrison settled on 
 the alluvial lands in what is now Monroe County just below 
 the mouth of Fountain Creek. Because these Americans settled 
 in the bottom lands, this alluvial land was named the American 
 Bottom. The American Bottom extends from Alton to the mouth 
 of the Kaskaskia River, a distance of about ninety miles, and is 
 five or six miles wide. 
 
 Todd's Departure 
 
 Just when Todd left Illinois is not known. On August 18, 1779, 
 he wrote to the governor of Virginia as follows: "I expected 
 to have been prepared to present to your excellency some amend- 
 ments upon the form of government of Illinois, but the present 
 will be attended with no great inconvenience till the spring ses- 
 sion, when I beg your permission to attend and get a discharge 
 from an office with an unwholesome air, a distance from my 
 connections, a language not familiar to me, and an impossibility 
 of procuring many of the conveniences of life suitable ; all tend 
 to render uncomfortable." This letter did not reach the gov- 
 ernor of Virginia. On December 23, 1779, Todd was at the 
 Falls of the Ohio and wrote to Thomas Jefferson, then governor 
 of Virginia, stating his desire and intention of resigning. 
 
 It is certain that there was great dissatisfaction in the Illi- 
 nois Country on the part of the inhabitants toward the Ameri- 
 can soldiers who were stationed at Vincennes, Kaskaskia, and 
 perhaps at Cahokia. Nor were the people backward about 
 expressing their dissatisfaction with the rule of Mr. Todd. Bog- 
 gess in his "The Settlement of Illinois," says: "Colonel Todd's 
 position was difficult because of the discontent prevailing among 
 both the French and the Americans in Illinois. His salary was 
 so small that he feared that he must sell his property in Ken- 
 tucky to support himself while in public service. He regarded 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 201 
 
 Kentucky as a much better place than Illinois for the ambitious 
 man, the retired farmer, or the young merchant." 
 
 Without doubt Todd left Illinois not later than 1780. Things 
 were in a bad way. The finances were in a wretched condition, 
 food was scarce, and of course high priced. The Spanish inter- 
 fered with the Illinois people as the latter were attempting to 
 market their produce in New Orleans. The commanders of 
 the Virginia troops in the French villages were obliged to take 
 by force food for the soldiers. The enforcement of any sort 
 of law was at the lowest ebb. 
 
 The "record book' shows that Todd left Kaskaskia about June, 
 
 1779, probably temporarily for he writes an order in the "record 
 book" turning the command of the country over to the deputy- 
 commandant, Richard Winston, and directed him to confer with 
 the court and if Colonel Clark needed any thing and the people 
 were not willing to furnish it, that he should, with the consent 
 of the court, force the people to furnish supplies and that he 
 should have two men value the supplies under oath. This order 
 is dated June 15, 1779. It has been thought that this absence 
 from Kaskaskia was only temporary as the "record book" shows 
 that he issued an order on June 27th, that the citizens holding 
 continental issues of certain dates must deposit their money 
 with some designated official or the issue would not be redeemed. 
 
 Just prior to this as the record shows he ordered the Kas- 
 kaskia Court to hold a session in Kaskaskia on Saturday, July 
 the 21st, 1779. This order is directed "To Gabriel Cerre, etc., 
 Esq. Judges of the Court for the District of Kaskaskia." 
 
 On August 9, he wrote a very cordial letter to the Spanish 
 commandant at St. Genevieve and also one to the commandant 
 at St. Louis offering help in case they were attacked by the 
 British. In these letters he calls attention to the fact that 
 Colonel Clark is still at Vincennes. 
 
 On the 13th of August, 1779, he condemned a vacant lot and 
 proclaimed it the property of the commonwealth. A partial 
 record of a grant of land to Colonel Montgomery is the last 
 entry in the book. There is no date. Todd took an interest in 
 Kentucky and was a delegate to the Virginia Legislature in 
 
 1780. He married while in Williamsburg, Virginia, and returned 
 in the early part of 1781 with his wife to Lexington, Kentucky. 
 Todd is given credit for securing state aid from Virginia for the 
 founding of Transylvania University at Lexington, Kentucky, 
 the first college west of the Alleghanies. Thomas Jefferson, 
 governor of Virginia appointed Todd Colonel of a Kentucky regi- 
 ment in December, 1781. In August, 1782, he assisted in the 
 defense of Lexington against an attack of Indians. They were 
 driven off and pursued to Blue Lick Springs where a severe 
 engagement took place in which Todd was killed. 
 
 There are some entries in the record book which are not in 
 
202 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Todd's handwriting. On page 28 is an oath of allegiance admin- 
 istered to one James Moore, at Kaskaskia, on July 10, 1782. 
 In this oath James Moore renounces all fidelity to King George 
 the Third, his kin and successors, and agrees to make known to 
 some justice of the peace all treasonable or traitorous conspira- 
 cies against the United States which may come to his knowledge. 
 This is the same James Moore that founded Bellefontaine. He 
 was intimately associated with Gabriel Cerre in the fur-trad- 
 ing business in Tennessee with headquarters at French Licks 
 afterwards the City of Nashville, Tennessee. 
 
 Before leaving the story of John Todd we probably ought to 
 call attention to the customs of the times in legal matters. In 
 the commission issued to John Todd and the instructions which 
 followed, the county-lieutenant was given power to pardon all 
 offenses, except murder or treason. On June 13, 1779, he issued 
 an order to Richard Winston to carry out a very savage and 
 cruel provision of the law of that time. It reads as follows : 
 
 "Illinois, to wit: To Richard Winston, Esq., Sheriff in chief 
 of the District of Kaskaskia. 
 
 "Negro Manuel, a Slave, in your custody, is condemned by 
 the Court of Kaskaskia, after having made honorable Fine 
 (Fine — restitution?) at the door of the Church, to be chained 
 to a post at the Water Side, and there be burnt alive and his 
 ashes scattered, as appears to me of Record. This sentence 
 you are hereby required to put in execution on Tuesday next 
 at 9 o'clock in the morning, and this shall be your warrant. 
 Given under my hand and seal at Kaskaskia the 13th day of June 
 in the third year of the Commonwealth." 
 
 Now the crime for which Negro Manuel was burned to death, 
 chained to a stake, was probably neither murder nor treason. 
 It would appear therefore that the county-lieutenant could easily 
 have pardoned the negro for his crime. The crime according to 
 the best interpretation was voudouism or as we know it, witch- 
 craft. Witchcraft was practiced by whites, voudouism by 
 American Negroes and Creoles. Usually the punishment was 
 burning at the stake. This puts the burning of Manuel at Kas- 
 kaskia, the Quakers at Salem, Massachusetts, and Joan of Arc 
 at Rouen all in the same class. 
 
 The Virginia troops were scattered over the Illinois Country 
 and were creatures of bitter hatred on the part of the French 
 inhabitants. There were not enough in any one place to act 
 defensively and their support was a serious problem. It was 
 therefore deemed advisable to concentrate them at some point 
 which they would be of service in case of need. It was first 
 thought best to build a fort some where about Mound City in 
 Pulaski County, Illinois, but it was observed that Continental 
 money was valueless in Illinois but current in Kentucky, the 
 decision of Virginia was for the south side of the Ohio. The fort 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 203 
 
 was built on the east side of the Mississippi some seven miles 
 below the mouth of the Ohio, just near but below the Town of 
 Wycliff, Kentucky. In those days it was thought advisable and 
 really necessary to foster a large community of civil life about 
 a fort. It was in those days of poor transportation facilities, 
 the best way to provide food for the garrison. Accordingly 
 grants of land in liberal quantities were made to settlers, and 
 when Fort Jefferson was located it was planned to induce scores 
 of families to settle in the vicinity of the fort. 
 
 Illinois Abandoned 
 
 In the summer of 1780, the troops from all the posts in the 
 Illinois Country were withdrawn and concentrated at Fort Jef- 
 ferson. Sad stories are told of the deplorable condition of these 
 Virginia troops in the summer of 1780. When the order reached 
 Cahokia for all troops to report at Fort Jefferson the captain 
 of the company, McCarty, found few of his men able to make 
 the trip. Corn without grease or salt was the only food. Deaths 
 were frequent. The garrison embarked in five boats, all of 
 which were more or less unseaworthy. On the way down the 
 river several of the number were left at villages because they 
 could not proceed. This order to concentrate the Illinois troops 
 at Fort Jefferson stripped Illinois of Virginia troops except a 
 few who were left at Kaskaskia, since it was the capital of the 
 Northwest. The garrison at Fort Jefferson remained till the 
 summer of 1781, June 8, when it was ordered to the Falls of the 
 Ohio, where it seemed they were little better off than they were 
 in the Illinois Country. 
 
 When the County of Illinois was created in 1778, the General 
 Assembly of Virginia passed "An Act for establishing the County 
 of Illinois and for the more effectual protection and defense 
 thereof." It appears that this act was not a permanent act but 
 one with time limitations. The act would expire at the end of 
 the session of the Legislature in May, 1780. A renewal act 
 was therefore passed "for one year after the passing of this act, 
 and from thence to the end of the next session of Assembly." 
 An effort was made in the fall of 1781 to renew the act for 
 another period of one year, but after a discussion in committee 
 of the whole, the measure was put upon its passage and failed. 
 The County of Illinois, Virginia, ceased to exist by expiration 
 of the period designated in its creation, January 5th, 1782. 
 
 Thus we take our leave of the County of Illinois, Virginia ; of 
 Col. John Todd, county lieutenant; of Col. George Rogers Clark, 
 the man who saved to the American cause a vast domain north 
 and west of the Ohio River, and likewise of law, order, and 
 progress in the Illinois Country. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 A PERIOD OF ANARCHY 
 
 Decline — Soldiers — Spaniards in Illinois — Diplomacy 
 — Mustered Out — Kaskaskia Court 
 
 For a period of ten years 1780-1790 the territory now within 
 the limits of Illinois was without any government. This period 
 was practically begun when George Rogers Clark left Illinois 
 and began the construction of Fort Jefferson. Its beginning 
 is also marked by the departure of John Todd for the more 
 agreeable political, social, and economic conditions of Kentucky. 
 With the going of these two men went also all restraints of the 
 passions and practices of an ignorant, undisciplined, and indolent 
 people. Even with both of these vigorous men giving all their 
 time to the direction of the ongoing of the political and indus- 
 trial life there was little progress. The truth is that the five or 
 six French villages from Kaskaskia to Cahokia were never in so 
 flourishing a condition as they were at the close of the French 
 and Indian war. Pittman. already quoted in this volume, says 
 there were more than two thousand white persons in Illinois 
 when he visited the country in 1766, three years after it was 
 known that the land had been ceded to the English. From 
 the day it was known the English were to control the land to 
 the coming of Todd as civil administrator, there was a gradual 
 decline in all forms of industry, in standards of civil and 
 social life, in population and in religious interests. Marriage 
 contracts were consummated by the inhabitants without the aid 
 of the priests. Church attendance had declined, and the gen- 
 eral tone of society was at a low ebb. 
 
 Decline 
 
 In the early days of British control in the West there probably 
 were more negroes than whites in Illinois. There were probably 
 as many Indians as both blacks and whites. It was the opinion 
 of Pittman in 1766 that the Indian had sunk to a very low level 
 as compared to the lofty assumptions of the earlier days. The 
 influence of the French upon the Indians was weakening and 
 degrading. The two races had intermarried so that many fami- 
 lies were "neither fish nor fowl." The life the people lived was 
 an easy life. There was little culture except among a few fami- 
 lies. Less than a year ago the author spent a day in "Old Kas- 
 kaskia," that is in the vicinity. In one home he found a descend- 
 
 204 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 205 
 
 • 
 
 ant of the Pierre Menard family. The man was coarse but kind. 
 He opened his home to the inspection of the furniture which 
 the Menard heirs have saved from the old Pierre Menard man- 
 sion and he is sure that the collector of old furniture would con- 
 sider it a valuable collection. This furniture was brought from 
 France and if the Menard mansion were provided with this 
 grade of furniture throughout, LaFayette certainly thought him- 
 self in the Paris of the West when he was entertained in this 
 home. 
 
 The lieutenant commandant was authorized by the "Act creat- 
 ing the County of Illinois" to "appoint and commission as many 
 deputy commandants, militia officers, and commissaries as he 
 shall think proper." The act provided that these appointments 
 should hold during pleasure. In the absence of Todd from the 
 capital, the deputy assumed charge and exercised authority. 
 When Todd left Illinois in late 1779 or early 1780, Richard Win- 
 ston took charge and exercised authority. From the time 
 Winston left till the coming of St. Clair as governor of the North- 
 west Territory, Demunbrunt was "commandant of the village of 
 Kaskaskia and its dependencies," according to his own signature. 
 Richard Winston was made "commander of Kaskia" on June 
 15, 1779, while John Todd was absent from the City of Kas- 
 kaskia. 
 
 It is probable that Demunbrunt served as deputy-lieutenant 
 at such times as Winston was otherwise engaged. 
 
 Soldiers 
 
 There was a very great amount of dissatisfaction with the 
 rule of the English. As long as there were soldiers stationed in 
 the French villages, they were in conflict with the inhabitants. 
 Usually the soldiers were billeted on the people and this was a 
 cause of discontent. The officers in charge of the troops were 
 obliged to commandeer food, horses and other things of value. 
 The soldiers too were the cause of complaint for they were poorly 
 fed and badly clothed. The officers who bought food and cloth- 
 ing of the inhabitants usually paid for it with orders drawn 
 on superior officers or on the treasury of Virginia. These bills 
 would be accepted in payment but when they were sent to the 
 people on whom they were drawn, payment would be refused 
 and the drafts be returned to the maker. 
 
 Gabriel Cerre had been very willing to sell goods to Clark's 
 soldiers and when the drafts given in payment were protested 
 they came back to Mr. Cerre and he complained bitterly to Col- 
 onel Clark about the inconvenience and loss it meant to him. An- 
 other cause of severe complaint arose from the fact that the 
 village of Kaskaskia was forced to provide food for the soldiers 
 but in addition the village must also feed the American settlers 
 who had lately arrived together with slaves. "When the change 
 
206 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 of government had failed to satisfy the French and the presence 
 of the soldiers had led to disorder and tyranny, there began a 
 steady stream of emigration to the Spanish bank which ended 
 in almost depopulating some of the villages in the American 
 Bottom." 
 
 While Colonel Clark was working on Fort Jefferson, just be- 
 low the mouth of the Ohio on the Kentucky side, he gave orders 
 for the final movement of all the troops in the Illinois villages 
 to concentrate at the New fort. Before Colonel Montgomery 
 could carry out the order, word came that the British were 
 moving from both north and south to crush the Spanish villages 
 along the Mississippi to prevent them from aiding the Americans, 
 and incidentally to deal the Americans such a blow that they 
 would give no further trouble in the west. Colonel DeGalva 
 in command of the Spanish forces at New Orleans successfully 
 prevented the British forces in their march under Gen. Camp- 
 bell from Pensacola north. The British forces about the lakes 
 were organized to march from Mackinac south and attack St. 
 Louis and the Spanish and American settlements along the 
 Mississippi River. Word was sent Colonel Clark at the Falls 
 of the Ohio who hastily pushed on to the Illinois country. He 
 reached Cahokia only a day or so before the British from the 
 north arrived. Colonel Montgomery had gathered the Illinois 
 soldiers and the British were repulsed. They were also beaten 
 off at St. Louis by the Spanish forces at that place. The motley 
 band of Red Coats, Indians, and Canadians retreated north fol- 
 lowed by Colonel Montgomery in hot pursuit. Illinois was thus 
 saved from the control of the British. 
 
 Another interesting chapter in this period of Anarchy was an 
 expedition led by De la Balme, a Frenchman who had recently 
 come to this country to offer his sword for the independence of 
 the United States. His services were accepted by congress, and 
 after a short time spent in the east, he appeared in the Illinois 
 country apparently with the consent of both Washington and 
 La Fayette. He was shunned by the Virginia troops and the 
 Spanish as well. He issued an address which was calculated to 
 attach the Indians to his plans. A company was formed of from 
 twenty to fifty French citizens mostly from Cahokia. 
 
 The expedition was enlarged at Vincennes and marched north 
 and successfully attacked a fort on the Maumee River. De la 
 Balme was afterward killed in a defensive action. The presence 
 of a Frenchman in the Illinois country greatly stirred the French 
 villages against the Virginia troops as well as against the Amer- 
 ican people generally. In his address which he delivered before 
 his departure for Detroit De la Balme says: "It is well that 
 you know that the troops of the State of Virginia have come 
 here against the wish of the other states of America, — and the 
 different deputies who compose the congress are ignorant of the 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 207 
 
 revolting proceedings and acts of violence, which the troops 
 are practicing towards you." Nothing was more potent in 
 spreading anarchy in the Illinois country than such a speech. 
 
 Spaniards in Illinois 
 
 The march of a Spanish army across Illinois from East St. 
 Louis to the south end of Lake Michigan in 1780, appears on 
 the face of it interesting, but not specially important. But 
 the more fully we read of the many international complications 
 in the days of the American Revolutionary war the more we see 
 how fortunate the American states were to have at the council 
 table during the peace negotiations such powerful characters 
 as Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, and John Adams. But the 
 diplomacy of these men will be better understood after we have 
 retold a very interesting story of "The March of the Spaniards 
 Across Illinois." 
 
 We have seen that early in 1780 the British from about 
 Mackinac sent a force against the Spanish town of St. Louis as 
 well as against the American town of Cahokia. This expedition 
 was defeated in battle at both St. Louis and Cahokia. Appar- 
 ently as a matter of revenge, the Spanish authorities of St. Louis 
 fitted out an expedition for the capture of Fort St. Joseph located 
 on the lower course of the St. Joseph River in Southwestern 
 Michigan. This fort seemed to be the center of British and In- 
 dian interests west of Detroit in 1763. This post had suffered 
 siege, capture, and massacre at the hands of Pontiac. At that 
 
 time there were only Ensign S and fourteen British 
 
 soldiers in the garrison. Eleven of the men were massacred, 
 the ensign and three men were taken as prisoners and marched 
 toward Detroit. A French trader at the fort at the time of 
 Pontiac's attack gave a full account of the fall of the fort. This 
 Frenchman's name was M. Louison Chevalie. With the Spanish 
 expedition which marched across Illinois to Fort St. Joseph in 
 the winter of 1780-81 was one Don Louis Chevalier, interpreter, 
 who is supposed to be the same man who was the French trader 
 at Fort St. Joseph in 1763. 
 
 The Spanish expedition about which we are writing was made 
 up of sixty-five white soldiers about half of which were French 
 inhabitants from Cahokia, a band of sixty-five Indians besides 
 guides, etc. They chose not the most direct route from St. Louis 
 to Fort St. Joseph; that would have been across the Grand 
 Prairie, which in January, 1781, would have been found without 
 food, shelter or water. But they chose to stay close to the rivers 
 and the sheltered uplands to their destination. The commander 
 of this expedition of the Spaniards was Don Eugenio Pourre. 
 Second in command was Don Carlos Tayon. 
 
 They left the village of St. Louis on January 2, 1781, for an 
 
208 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 objective four hundred miles away. Each one carried his own 
 provisions besides his weapons. The march must be made 
 through dangerous and hostile tribes of Indians who were to 
 be won to the side of the Spaniards by generous gifts and Spanish 
 diplomacy. There were two routes one of which the expedition 
 must have taken. One up the Mississippi and the Illinois thence 
 up the Kankakee and down the St. Joseph River. The other east 
 over the Vincennes trail, thence up the Wabash and the Tippe- 
 canoe River and thence to South Bend and to the St. Joseph River 
 and on to the fort. 
 
 The few soldiers and English traders who were in the fort 
 were easily and quickly silenced. They probably knew they had 
 been left in the lurch by the Indians upon whom they had relied 
 for information and protection. The British flag was hauled 
 down and the banner of Spain flung to the breeze. Mr. Mason 
 in his Chapters from Illinois History called attention to the 
 fact that this post had been handed about by sovereigns until 
 the people in that vicinity had become used to the capture and 
 the surrender of the fort as the very natural thing to expect. 
 La Salle's banner may have first floated there as he was on his 
 way down the Mississippi ; it then fell to the governor of Canada, 
 who was La Salle's bitter foe ; the English next came and claimed 
 it; next the banner of Pontiac the conspirator; then the English 
 again, and now over the ramparts floated the banner of Spain. 
 The story is told that in 1804 the commissioners of the United 
 States seeking a favorable place to build a fort at the south end 
 of Lake Michigan selected the site of the old St. Joseph fort as 
 a suitable place for a more permanent structure. But the In- 
 dians were opposed to the plan of having a fort there because 
 the land had not yet been ceded to the government. The com- 
 missioners proceeded to the west side and there erected old Fort 
 Dearborn. About the site grew up a flourishing village which 
 in due course of time came to be a town, then a city, and now 
 the greatest inland metropolis of the world. 
 
 Captain Don Eugenio Pourre easily transferred this fort to 
 the Spanish King and announced that all the Illinois country 
 had become the possession of the crown of Spain. The British 
 flag, which the Spanish displaced with the Spanish banner, was 
 brought back to St. Louis and delivered to the commandant as 
 evidence that the expedition had been successful. 
 
 There comes now a serious question. What was the real pur- 
 pose of this expedition? If this expedition had been one of 
 revenge for the attack upon St. Louis and Cahokia the previous 
 year, 1780, it should have been directed against Mackinac and 
 not against St. Joseph. If it was for the sake of loot it can 
 be said that the disposition of the valuable material found in 
 the fort would disprove any such assumption, for the supplies of 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 209 
 
 all sorts were given to the Indians or burned on the spot. No 
 things of value were brought away by the soldiers. 
 
 Now the only logical explanation of the expedition is that it 
 was undertaken at the command of the Spanish Court. This 
 may be better understood when we remember that France en- 
 tered into a treaty of alliance with the United States on the 6th 
 of February, 1778. At that time Spain was an ally of France 
 but while she was sympathetic with the United States she neither 
 acknowledged the independence of the United States nor became 
 involved in war with Great Britain, for the new premier of Spain 
 believed it wholly unpolitic for Spain to be assisting rebellious 
 colonies in America. However, Spain was ready to do what she 
 could to distress her colonizing rival, England. Helping at least 
 directly to plant an independent nation — a republic — in the New 
 World would be a bad example for her own colonies. However, 
 in June, 1779, Spain joined France in war on the British govern- 
 ment. Steps were immediately taken to regain the territory she 
 lost in the French and Indian war, East and West Florida. 
 Thousands of troops were sent to the West Indies and plans laid 
 for the disposing of England about the Gulf of Mexico. Mobile 
 and Pensacola were captured and held, in March and May. And 
 in the same summer the Spanish forces with the help of Col. 
 George Rogers Clark were able to drive off an attacking party 
 of British at St. Louis and Cahokia, as has been told in the early 
 part of this chapter. The expedition to St. Joseph was under- 
 taken in January, 1781 ; it was successful and the Spanish officer 
 in charge proclaimed all the Illinois country the territory of his 
 king. 
 
 Diplomacy 
 
 The negotiations looking toward peace between the United 
 States and Great Britain began in the winter and spring of 
 1781-82. English diplomats appeared at The Hague and in Paris 
 to discover upon what terms a cessation of hostilities might be 
 proclaimed. John Adams at The Hague and Franklin at Paris 
 (with John Jay at Madrid) felt that the general trend of public 
 events was favorable to the United States and refrained from 
 appearing too anxious for negotiations looking toward an armis- 
 tice. In the summer of 1781 Adams came to Paris from The 
 Hague and Jay also came from Madrid. The British government 
 was slow about authorizing its agents to present definite terms 
 of peace. "John Jay, the second commissioner to have confer- 
 ences with Oswald (the British commissioner) came of an old 
 French family, long resident in America. With the inherited 
 prejudices of a Huguenot, he had no faith in the rectitude of the 
 Bourbon monarchy. He believed that the Frenchmen were in 
 league with the Spaniards to confine the newly born nation with- 
 in the strictest geographical limits and in this he was entirely 
 
210 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 right" The French monarchy was largely guided by the desires 
 of the Spanish government. In 1780 Spain had joined in the 
 conflict. She had entered into no formal alliance with the United 
 States, his object being to drive the English from the Floridas 
 and once more become supreme on all the shores of the Gulf of 
 Mexico. Dreading the spread of republican ideas which would 
 be the inevitable outcome of the colonization of the country be- 
 tween the Mississippi and the Alleghanies. Spain wished to see 
 the lands northwest of the Ohio River remain in British posses- 
 sion rather than have it transferred to the United States" 
 (Channing, History of the United States, Vol. III). Spain 
 would have included the territory south of the Ohio but there 
 were already too many Americans in that territory — Kentucky 
 and Tennessee. 
 
 France had no scruples in desiring all the land west of the Alle- 
 ghany although in the treaty of Alliance with the United States 
 she had agreed never to reclaim any land which she had ceded 
 to England. To be consistent she said the country west of the 
 Alleghanies had never belonged to any one except the Indians. 
 Summing up, Dr. Channiny says: "Nevertheless there seems to 
 have been some kind of an intrigue set on foot by French and 
 Spanish emissaries for the purpose of again adding these set- 
 tlements (The Illinois Country) and others in the Great Lakes 
 region to Spanish or French possession." From this discussion 
 it seems clear that the "March of the Spaniards Across Illinois" 
 had for its object the establishment of a claim to the country 
 between the Alleghanies and the Missouri River — the Illinois 
 Country. 
 
 The Treaty of Peace signed at Paris 1783, September 3d, 
 acknowledged the independence of the United States and estab- 
 lished the boundary line on the west as the middle of the Missis- 
 sippi. This put the Illinois Country in the United States. Let us 
 now examine briefly the claims of certain states to portions of 
 this land between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi River. 
 Massachusetts Bay Company received a charter from Charles the 
 First of England in 1629 which provided that the company 
 should have all the land between two parallels passing through 
 points three miles north and three miles south of the headwaters 
 respectively of the Merrimac and the Charles Rivers. This char- 
 ter was modified by the courts in later years and its width cut 
 down considerably. Connecticut was granted a charter in 1662 
 by Charles II in which the colony was given all the land lying 
 south of the south line of Massachusetts and reaching to the lati- 
 tude of New York, and reaching westward to the South Sea. 
 Virginia was given a charter by James I in 1607, which was 
 modified in 1609, with a grant of land bounded by two lines run- 
 ning west and northwest, beginning at points respectively north 
 and south two hundred miles from Old Point Comfort. The col- 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 211 
 
 onies of North and South Carolina and Georgia also had grants in 
 their charters of lands lying west of the settled portions reach- 
 ing to the* South Sea. All the Illinois country was included in 
 the grant to Virginia in 1609. Massachusetts' grant covered 
 the north end of the present State of Illinois and Connecticut's 
 claim covered the territory just south of the Massachusetts' 
 grant. Now as soon as the war had made some progress toward 
 winning independence, the states that had grants to western 
 lands began to renew their claims and figure on making this 
 back country pay the cost of the Revolutionary war. Some 
 states had no claims to land west of the Alleghanies. These were 
 New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, and 
 Maryland. Pennsylvania had a definite western boundary but 
 the state reached well beyond the Alleghanies. New York had 
 a hazy claim to this back country by reason of certain treaty 
 cessions which the Iroquois Indians had made to that colony. 
 
 The Articles of Confederation had been presented to Congress 
 in the summer of 1776, but Congress had failed to endorse them 
 till the fall of 1777. They were then sent to the states for ratifi- 
 cation. The provision pertaining to ratification required that 
 the Articles must be ratified by all the colonies before they 
 should go into effect. The weaknesses of the Articles were 
 known by all the colonies, but some ratified without attempting 
 to secure needed amendments. Others had delayed, and in the 
 spring of 1781 all the states had ratified except Maryland. Mary- 
 land brought forward the doctrine that since some states had 
 no western lands they were at a disadvantage in the remunera- 
 tion of their soldiers. Virginia had already provided liberal 
 grants of land for her soldiers, and particularly those who had 
 served with George Rogers Clark. The states with no grants of 
 western lands argued that since all had fought to win independ- 
 ence all should share the spoils equally. The western lands 
 were regarded as legitimate spoils of war and properly subject 
 to equal distribution among the states who participated in the 
 war. 
 
 Some of the states were selfish and did not wish to acknowl- 
 edge the legitimacy of the argument stated above. Finally all 
 of the states had accepted the Articles except Maryland, and she 
 stoutly refused to ratify the Articles of Confederation till the 
 states having claim to western lands should cede this "back 
 country" to the Congress to be used for good of all. The times 
 demanded a certain degree of self sacrifice. The situation was 
 critical. New York, whose claim was without a substantial 
 basis, agreed to cede her claim to the Congress in 1781. Virginia 
 followed New York, and Maryland, believing that the other 
 states would cede their lands, withdrew her opposition to the 
 Articles and ratified them on March 1, 1781. The next day, 
 March 2d, when Congress met she was under the constitution, 
 
212 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 that is the Articles of Confederation. The actual deeds of 
 cession were made in the course of the next few days. Several 
 of the deeds of cession contained reservations which* were ob- 
 served in the final disposal of the lands by the Government. Con- 
 necticut reserved several square miles in the northeast corner of 
 Ohio, known as the Connecticut Reserve or the Western Reserve. 
 Virginia reserved lands for George Rogers Clark and his men 
 along the Ohio. The present State of Kentucky was reserved by 
 Virginia. So Kentucky was never a portion of the National Do- 
 main, nor was Tennessee. 
 
 Following the departure of Todd there was bitter rivalries 
 and destructive activities. Richard Winston was supposed to be 
 Todd's successor in the civil administration, but it soon came to 
 pass that each village went its own way and there was unity in 
 only one thing — that was disorder. The paper money brought 
 by Clark into the territory was next to valueless. There was 
 very little coin in circulation and barter was an unwieldy way 
 of doing business. The French merchants and men of affairs 
 who wished to see the American cause prosper came forward 
 to bolster up the tottering business end of the Virginia govern- 
 ment in Illinois. They loaned money, sold goods on credit to 
 the officials, and took drafts on Virginia which were never paid. 
 There was a final withdrawal of support by these French men 
 of means and the remnant of the military government was 
 obliged to use force to provide soldiers and officers with food 
 and clothing. The distressing times at the close of Todd's and 
 Clark's active control of affairs are revealed in the correspond- 
 ence carried on between the officials who resided in the territory 
 and those who were in Virginia or other places. 
 
 The inhabitants of the several villages were losing their in- 
 terest in the American cause, and in the American people. The 
 Spanish who were near neighbors and the British who were in 
 Canada were constantly scattering discontent among the French 
 habitants, and the poor people were constantly harrassed by de- 
 mands upon them from contending sources. George Rogers Clark 
 wrote a letter from the Falls of the Ohio in December, 1781, to 
 the Court of Kaskaskia in which he says that he had learned 
 that there are in the village of Kaskaskia numerous vagabonds 
 and refugees who are a constant annoyance to the peace and 
 tranquility of the community since they are engaged in stealing, 
 and committing other offences against good order and decency. 
 He urges the court to use its powers to the extent of inflicting 
 corporal punishment or even the death penalty, and tells them 
 to call on the militia to carry out their orders. 
 
 During 1782 there was an Indian raid of large proportions into 
 Kentucky from the Ohio region and in the effort to drive them 
 out of the Kentucky territory, John Todd was killed. It is not 
 known whether he was still acting as county-lieutenant of Illi- 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 213 
 
 nois or not, but the supposition is that he was still nominally 
 the chief civil official in the Illinois Country though he resided 
 in Kentucky and Virginia. Colonel Clark with a good sized body 
 of troops avenged the death of Todd by wasting villages, crops 
 and killing savages along the Miami River in late November, 
 1782. 
 
 Mustered Out 
 
 The preliminary treaty of peace between the United States 
 and Great Britain was signed November 30, 1782, and the defi- 
 nite treaty was signed September 3, 1783. 
 
 It was therefore known in America in the early part of 1783 
 that the war was over. The governor of Virginia therefore 
 ordered the mustering out of all the Virginia troops in Illinois. 
 On the 18th day of January, 1783, therefore the Virginia troops 
 in Illinois were mustered out of service, and July of that year 
 Colonel Clark was notified that his services would be no longer 
 needed. The following communication was sent from the gov- 
 ernor of Virginia to Colonel Clark : 
 
 In Council, July 2, 1783. 
 
 Sir: The conclusion of the war> and the distressed situation 
 of the State, with regard to its finances, call on us to adopt the 
 most prudent economy. It is for this reason alone, I have come 
 to a determination to give over all thought, for the present, of 
 carrying on an offensive war against the Indians, which, you will 
 easily perceive, will render the services of a general officer in that 
 quarter unnecessary, and will, therefore, consider yourself out of 
 command. But, before I take leave of you, I feel myself called 
 upon, in the most forcible manner, to return you my thanks, and 
 those of my council for the very great and singular service you 
 have rendered your country, in wresting so great and valuable 
 a territory from the hands of the British enemy, repelling the 
 attacks of their savage allies, and carrying on a successful war 
 in the heart of their country. This tribute of praise and thanks 
 so justly due, I am happy to communicate to you as the united 
 voice of the Executive. 
 
 I am, with respect, sir, 
 
 Yours, etc., 
 
 BENJAMIN HARRISON. 
 
 From 1783 to the coming of Governor St. Clair in 1790, there 
 was no semblance of civil authority except what each village 
 maintained in its court. There are several reasons why order 
 was lacking in the Illinois country. 
 
 First: The Act of the Virginia Legislature creating the 
 County of Illinois, passed December 9, 1778, was renewed in 
 May, 1780, with provision that it was to continue for one year 
 and until the end of the next session of the Legislature. This 
 prolonged the life of the act to the 5th of January, 1782, when 
 the act ceased by reason of the adjournment of the Legislature. 
 
214 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Second: The death of County-Lieutenant John Todd, at the 
 Blue Licks, August 18, 1782, removed from authority the only 
 civil officer which Virginia ever sent into the Illinois country. 
 The act creating the Illinois country provided that the county 
 lieutenant should appoint all civil and military officers that were 
 necessary to administer justice and protect life and property. 
 When the act creating the county expired by limitation the 
 authority of Todd and every one who held any office under him 
 ceased in the Illinois country. Todd and all his appointees con- 
 tinued after the county ceased to exist, to exercise authority in 
 the several villages. Of course whatever they did which was 
 helpful to the cause of order and safety was morally right and 
 was endorsed by fair-minded people; but when they tyrannized 
 over the people, forced the inhabitants to furnish food and cloth- 
 ing for soldiers and officers which had no legal status, they were 
 doing moral wrong and legal injustice. 
 
 Third : Another step which helped to drive the Illinois coun- 
 try into anarchy was the dismissal of Colonel Clark from the 
 service of Virginia. As long as Clark's commission was in force 
 there was some pretense that he could exercise authority in the 
 Illinois country. At least ho one rose in revolt against his 
 authority, since it was always exercised in favor of the conditions 
 which ought to obtain. 
 
 Fourth: A fourth consideration should be noticed. On Jan- 
 uary 2, 1781, Virginia, by action of her Legislature, began the 
 process of ceding to the general government her claims to the 
 lands west and northwest of the Ohio River. And while the final 
 cession was not made till 1784, it was understood that the ces- 
 sion would be made. So that practically, Virginia ceased to have 
 any control in the Illinois the moment she passed her first act of 
 cession in 1781. She ceased legally the moment the act of ces- 
 sion was completed in 1784. 
 
 The final act of the cession came March 1, 1784. "The country 
 had been in a state of unconcealed anarchy for more than two 
 years, all semblance of Virginia authority having ceased, and 
 the cession is quite as much a tribute to Virginia's shrewdness 
 as to her generosity." 
 
 This cession on the part of Virginia was a transfer of title 
 from Virginia to the Congress of the United States for all the 
 territory northwest of the Ohio which was in later years included 
 in the five states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wis- 
 consin. Virginia's cession had a few provisos in it which we will 
 state briefly : (See Boggess, The Settlement of Illinois.) 
 
 "1. The territory should be formed into states of not less 
 than 100 nor more than 150 square miles each. 
 
 2. Virginia's expenses in subduing and governing the terri- 
 tory should be reimbursed by the United States. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 215 
 
 3. Settlers should have their 'possessions and titles con- 
 firmed.' 
 
 4. One hundred and fifty thousand acres, or less, should be 
 granted to George Rogers Clark and his soldiers. 
 
 5. The Virginia Military county lands should be located north 
 of the Ohio River, unless there should prove to be enough land 
 for the purpose south of that river. 
 
 6. The proceeds for the sale of the lands (ceded) should be 
 for the United States severally." 
 
 Richard Winston whom John Todd left at Kaskaskia as deputy 
 lieutenant commandant or county-lieutenant, served from the 
 fall of 1779 to January 8, 1783. He then resigned and appointed 
 Jacques Timothe Bucher Sieur de Monbreun. Winston, while 
 civil ruler in Kaskaskia, was greatly annoyed and hindered in 
 his work by John Dodge, a representative of the military spirit 
 of Kaskaskia. Dodge probably did not have a military commis- 
 sion from any one, but assumed to do as he would if he had held 
 a military commission. He resided in Kaskaskia for a few years 
 after Todd left the country and he and Winston were continu- 
 ally at swords' points. Winston allied himself with the French 
 faction while Dodge belonged to the American party. Dodge 
 issued an order for the arrest of Winston who was thrown into 
 jail. The wife of Winston appealed to the President of the Kas- 
 kaskia court to have John Dodge brought into court and show 
 why her husband was held as a criminal. Antoine Bauvais was 
 president of the court and he lived at Prairie du Rocher. Court 
 was called but there were obstacles to a speedy hearing. The 
 prosecuting attorney took the matter into his hands and heard 
 some testimony against Winston who was given his freedom but 
 the charges remained against him. This whole incident was a 
 conflict between the civil and military authority in which the 
 civil authority lost prestige. A short time after this, toward the 
 end of the year 1782, Winston issued an order abolishing the 
 Kaskaskia court, and the village was without a court till 1787. 
 This allowed Dodge to carry things with a high hand. 
 
 Winston decided to go to Virginia and see if by some plan a 
 new government could be organized in Kaskaskia. And before 
 he left he appointed Timothy De Mountbrun as county-lieutenant 
 as stated above. Winston appeared before the Virginia authori- 
 ties but accomplished little. He died in Richmond in 1784 in 
 great poverty. Dodge now had almost a clear field. He took 
 charge of old Fort Gage on the bluffs overlooking the Kaskaskia 
 village put two cannon in place and surrounded himself with sol- 
 diers and kindred spirits and ruled Kaskaskia with an iron hand. 
 
 Kaskaskia Court 
 
 The history of Kahokia from 1780 to 1790 is very different 
 from that of Kaskaskia. These two villages and Vincennes are 
 
216 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 the chief centers of interest in this decade of anarchy. Prairie 
 du Rocher and Bellefontaine were considered as belonging in 
 the jurisdiction of Kaskaskia and for a while participated in the 
 civil affairs of this village. Grand Risseau being near Cahokia 
 was under her jurisdiction. At one time within this period of 
 confusion, 1780-1790, Bellefontaine, Grand Risseau and some 
 Americans under the bluff near Bellefontaine, took steps to 
 organize an independent government but the Cahokia court was 
 too strong, and overawed the people of Grand Risseau and the 
 plans never matured. The Cahokia court was well organized, 
 met regularly and enforced its decisions. The court even went 
 so far in civil government as to pass ordinances and enforced 
 them. It was therefore a legislative body, an executive body, 
 and a judicial body. The number of judges who usually sat 
 upon the bench was six but in some cases more and in some cases 
 fewer than six. The first court was organized by Colonel Clark 
 and the first sitting was on December 31, 1778. Capt. Joseph 
 Bowman, one of Clark's officers, was president of the court. The 
 first criminal case was a charge against a negro for poisoning 
 another negro. This case was first found in Todd's record book 
 by Mr. Mason of Chicago. The order of Todd to the sheriff is 
 copied in a previous chapter. Because the case has not been 
 well understood, a brief account of the court proceedings will be 
 given here: 
 
 Two negroes, Manuel and Moreau, were walking along a road 
 and met a third negro. The two negroes gave the third negro a 
 pint of tafia, who having drunk the liquor began to die by slow 
 degrees. The wife of the dying negro testified in court that the 
 negroes Manuel and Moreau told her that they had poisoned her 
 husband. The case became very complicated as it was prose- 
 cuted. It developed that Manuel and Moreau had been in the 
 wholesale poisoning business. After the evidence was all in, the 
 States Attorney, J. Girault, made a very strong plea in which he 
 said that both negroes were guilty as stated in the indictment 
 and that no form of death would be too severe for them. The 
 court then passed judgment and fixed the penalty at death. The 
 evidence showed that Moreau was more guilty than Manuel, for 
 he had administered the poison while Manuel had provided the 
 same. While the court records do not state the form of death, 
 Todd's record book says that Manuel was to be burned at the 
 stake while Moreau was to be hanged. The early writers who 
 had meager information thought the charge against these two 
 negroes was witchcraft, but the court records show that the 
 above are the facts. 
 
 The court records for Cahokia are very complete. They have 
 been translated by Professor Alvord, formerly of the University 
 of Illinois, under the direction and support of the Illinois State 
 Historical Library. They are found in Volume II of the Illinois 
 Historical Collections, and in Volume I of the Virginia series. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE ORDINANCE OF 1787 
 
 Population — The King's View — State or Nation — Mary- 
 land's Demand — Ordinance of 1784-1785 — Weakness of 
 Ordinance of 1784 — Ohio Company of Associates — Ordi- 
 nance of 1787 — Provisions of the Ordinance — Bill of 
 Rights — The Westward Movement — Territory First 
 Class — Counties Organized — St. Clair County — A 
 Memorial — Immigration — Randolph County 
 
 The year 1787 was a memorable year in American history. 
 Two distinguished groups of men both working under the lash 
 of necessity wrought out two of the most profound and far- 
 reaching political documents that have been produced in the 
 history of the New World. These were the Constitution of the 
 United States, and the Ordinance of 1787 for the Government of 
 the Territory Northwest of the Ohio River. 
 
 When Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and Virginia 
 ceded their lands beyond the Alleghanies to the general govern- 
 ment to be administered and disposed of for the good of the 
 whole people of the United States, they imposed a task upon the 
 government which was not less difficult than the one which the 
 government had just successfully performed. 
 
 Population 
 
 There were supposed to be at the accession of George I, in 
 1760, about one and a half million people in the thirteen colonies. 
 In spite of three decades of civil and political strife, war, and 
 national and international adjustment, there were a little less 
 than four million of Europeans and their descendants in the 
 settled portions of the continent of North America. This was 
 a remarkable increase when we think of the uncertainties in 
 political and economic life which prevailed in all this country. 
 Of this 4,000,000 people 110,000 of them were living outside 
 of and beyond what was known at that date as the territorial 
 jurisdiction of the thirteen colonies. The 110,000 people were 
 not under the advantages and protection of civil government. 
 The constant stream of emigration which poured over the Alle- 
 
 217 
 
218 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 ghanies from 1775 to 1790 has been a source of study for the 
 historian. The unknown physical conditions, the great danger 
 from Indians, the almost unbearable hardships of the journey, 
 the unsettled civil and political life in which one must live were 
 no embargo on this constant movement into the new West. 
 
 The full fledged American adventurer who left a comfortable 
 home in the southern or middle states, besides having to con- 
 tend with the physical hardships of travel, the dangers from 
 sickness in a new land, the inconveniences of markets for his 
 surplus products, had in addition, the veiled though often open 
 opposition of four races of people. 
 
 The Indians looked upon the coming of the Americans into 
 the region west of the Alleghanies as a real menace to their 
 hunting privileges and rights. The fundamental difference be- 
 tween the menace of the American settlers and that of the so- 
 called settlers among the French, the Spanish or even the Eng- 
 lish was to be found in the fact that the Americans who came 
 into the West were real home-makers. They became attached 
 to the soil. The Frenchman was not rooted to the soil. He was 
 here today, there tomorrow. The Spanish was much like the 
 Frenchman. The Englishman was a real sojourner. He was 
 here in the West because there were opportunities of money- 
 making. In other words, the French and Spanish settlements 
 never interfered with the occupation of the Indian. If the 
 Americans settled in a region it was ruined for a hunting ground. 
 
 The King's View 
 
 It may not be amiss to study for a few moments the condi- 
 tions under which the public lands in America were settled. 
 The King of England always understood, in granting lands in 
 America to individuals or to companies, that he was not re- 
 linquishing his sovereignty over the area granted. According 
 to English law and imperial practice, the title to American soil 
 was in the King and in those to whom he had granted it, subject 
 in each case to the conditions of the letters patent. English 
 conceptions of land holding were still distinctly feudal, and 
 American land grants had been based directly upon those ideals. 
 So the King could not alienate the property of the crown, these 
 patents (grants of lands) were made on terms of rental tenure." 
 According to the English idea of land holdings, the holder of 
 land did not possess the land in "fee simple," but occupied it 
 under terms of this rental tenure. The possessor of land could 
 hold his grant as against any other subject so long as he paid 
 an annual fee to the King. There grew up therefore a system 
 of "quit rent tenure." 
 
 The agreement between the King of France and La Salle 
 relative to the grant of Fort Frontenac as well as to the grant 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 219 
 
 of the entire Louisiana country was that La Salle should pay 
 a quit rent annually in lieu of all other claims which the King 
 of France might have. The same conditions were provided in 
 the grant of Crozat, who was to give the King of France one- 
 fifth of all gold and silver mined in the Louisiana country. 
 
 The English Kings in making grants in the New World re- 
 quired quit rents of all grantees. These quit rents are quoted 
 at two shillings to each hundred acres. All unoccupied land, 
 that is, all ungranted land, was held subject to the wish of the 
 King. When James I succeeded in getting the charter of Vir- 
 ginia annulled in 1624, he resumed control of all ungranted 
 land within the limit of the charter of 1609. All the lands there- 
 fore west of the Alleghanies, according to the old English theory 
 of land holding, reverted to the King of England. When the 
 King of England acknowledged the independence of the United 
 States and agreed to and acknowledged a definite boundary line, 
 he transferred the sovereign control of all lands and all people 
 within the said boundary to another sovereign power, namely, 
 the United States. This transfer of the unoccupied land west of 
 the Alleghany Mountains was a transfer in "fee simple," a sort 
 of quit claim deed. 
 
 State or Nation 
 
 To whom did the King of England transfer the unoccupied 
 land in America? There were two answers to this. One theory 
 was that the different states (formerly colonies) each was given 
 the unoccupied land within its boundary. The resolution by 
 Richard Henry Lee in the Continental Congress of 1776 read: 
 "Resolved that these united colonies are and of right ought to 
 be free and independent states, that they are absolved from 
 all allegiance to the British crown and that all political connec- 
 tion between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought 
 to be, totally dissolved." In the Declaration of Independence 
 the above words are inserted and in addition this : "and that as 
 free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, 
 etc." These quotations would seem to indicate that the states 
 were to be free and independent (sovereign) states. If so then 
 Virginia owned all the land in Illinois not heretofore granted 
 to some individual or to a group of individuals by some sov- 
 ereign power which for the time was in control of the territory. 
 This theory that the states were recognized as independent 
 sovereignties was the basis of the doctrine of states' rights. 
 
 The other theory was that when the United Colonies asserted 
 their independence they were not thinking about each colony 
 becoming an independent (sovereign) state, for Patrick Henry, 
 who early in the first Continental Congress declared that he 
 was no longer a Virginian but an American. He said : "Where 
 
220 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 are your land marks, your boundaries of colonies? — I am no 
 longer a Virginian, but an American." And Christopher Gads- 
 den of Charleston, South Carolina, wrote to a friend of his in 
 London as early as 1765: "There ought to be no New England 
 men, no New Yorkers, etc., known on the continent, but all of 
 us Americans." The commissioners who worked out the terms 
 of the treaty of peace between the United States and Great 
 Britain were the envoys of the new sovereign power, the United 
 States of America. They spoke for no state, they spoke for 
 the United States. The British Government would not have 
 honored their appointment if it had been made by any one state 
 or any three states. 
 
 From this it appears that Great Britain must have trans- 
 ferred her sovereign control of the unoccupied land in America 
 to one sovereign power and that this transfer clothed the United 
 States with the ownership of a public domain, and we did not 
 have to wait till the different states made their transfers in 
 order to come into control of a public domain. 
 
 Maryland's Demand 
 
 The Articles of Confederation were presented by John 
 Dickinson to the Continental Congress in the middle of the sum- 
 mer of 1776. The document lay upon the table till late in the 
 summer of 1777, when Congress endorsed the Articles as a 
 frame work of government. The Articles were then sent to the 
 states for ratification as provided in the document itself. The 
 states began to ratify, but the end of February, 1781, had ar- 
 rived and the document was not in force because one state, 
 Maryland, had not yet ratified it. "The delay in ratification of 
 the Articles was not due in any way to the undesirableness of 
 the form of government to be established under them, but to the 
 jealousy of the states that had no claim to western lands 
 towards those who were more fortunate in this respect." The 
 lands west of the Alleghanies were known to be rich agricul- 
 tural regions, and nearly everyone expected a general movement 
 of population to these rich western lands as soon as the war 
 was over. 
 
 The states that had no claims to western lands were New 
 Hampshire, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, and Mary- 
 land. The Articles were so favorable to the small states, giv- 
 ing them equal voting strength, in the Congress, with the larger 
 states, that Delaware, New Hampshire, and New Jersey ratified 
 without stubbornly refusing because of the western land situa- 
 tion. This left Rhode Island and Maryland. The former state 
 soon after ratified, and the whole question of a national govern- 
 ment was up to Maryland. She positively refused to sign unless 
 all the states having claims would cede those claims to the gen- 
 eral government. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 221 
 
 On February 19, 1780, the New York Legislature passed an 
 act of cession. It was laid before Congress March 7, 1780. 
 January 2, 1781, the Virginia Legislature passed an act of ces- 
 sion. On March 1, 1781, Maryland, taking the promises of the 
 several states for the real act, ratified the Articles of Confed- 
 eration, and on the next day, March 2, 1781, the Congress of 
 the United States met under a written constitution. 
 
 The deeds of cession must all be presented to Congress and 
 be accepted. The first deed accepted was that of New York, 
 which was presented and accepted October 29, 1782. By No- 
 vember 13, 1784, all the states having claims north of the Ohio 
 River had ceded their lands and the transfers were either com- 
 pleted or on the way to early completion. 
 
 Ordinance of 1784-1785 
 
 Now that the United States had come to own a vast area 
 of the richest land in the world, the question that next arose 
 was, what disposition shall be made of it? Thomas Jefferson 
 was a member of Congress from Virginia in 1784 and being 
 chairman of a committee to consider how the western lands 
 should be disposed of, reported on March 1, 1784, a temporary 
 plan of government for these lands. It was amended more or 
 less and was passed April 23, of the same year. By this plan 
 the territory west of the Ohio should be made into ten states. 
 These states might be admitted into the Union when the popu- 
 lation was as large as that of the least populous of the original 
 thirteen states. This ordinance was never put into operation. 
 
 A second ordinance was passed in the year 1785, May 20. 
 This was what has been called the Survey Ordinance. This or- 
 dinance provided for the appointment of a Geographer of the 
 United States. Under his direction and oversight, the lands 
 west of the Ohio were to be surveyed and maps made. The 
 system was what we know as the rectangular system survey. 
 Most people are quite familiar with this system. The law pro- 
 vided for the first or principal meridian to be drawn north from 
 a point on the Ohio River which is due north of the west end 
 of the south line of Pennsylvania. Then other north and south 
 lines were to be drawn at distance of every six miles, west of 
 the first or prime meridian. Through the said point on the 
 Ohio River an east and west line should be drawn, and other 
 lines parallel thereto every six miles to the north and the south. 
 Thus we see the territory north and west of the Ohio River 
 and Pennsylvania would be cut into rectangles six miles each 
 way. These are known as Congressional townships, or as town- 
 ships. Plats or maps were to be made and returned by the 
 Geographer to the Board of Treasury of the Congress. 
 
 The Geographer was especially charged to have the surveyors 
 make notes on their maps or plats of the location of all mines, 
 
222 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 salt springs, salt licks and mill-seats, qiiarries, etc. This rec- 
 tangular system of survey is in contrast with the "metes and 
 bounds system" which prevailed in Kentucky and Tennessee. 
 The reservation of Connecticut on the south side of Lake Erie 
 and that of Virginia along the Ohio were not surveyed and 
 platted by this township system. The Survey Ordinance pro- 
 vided that the townships should be sub-surveyed so that the 
 rectangle should be divided into thirty-six equal "lots" or as we 
 are accustomed to say, sections. These "lots" or sections should 
 be numbered as we know they were beginning at the north- 
 east, etc. The ordinance says: 
 
 "There shall be reserved the lot of 16 of every township for 
 the maintenance of public schools, within the said township; 
 also one-third of all gold, silver, lead, and copper mines to be 
 sold or otherwise disposed of as Congress shall hereafter di- 
 rect." Thomas Jefferson has been given the credit for orig- 
 inating the rectangular system of survey, but Col. Charles 
 Whittlesey gives the honor to Thomas Hutchins, the first "Geog- 
 rapher of the United States." This title was afterwards, 1796, 
 changed to that of Surveyor-General, and the first person to hold 
 this latter title was Gen. Rufus Putnam. Doctor Hinsdale in 
 "The Old Northwest" says that Thomas Hutchins conceived this 
 system in 1764 when he was a captain of the Sixtieth Royal Regi- 
 ment, and engineer to the expedition to the Ohio, under Col. 
 Henry Boquet. He was at one time stationed at Fort Chartres, 
 so it is claimed. He resigned his position in the British army 
 and after being a prisoner in London for treasonable corre- 
 spondence with Benjamin Franklin, he joined the American 
 army at Charleston under General Greene. He died at Pitts- 
 burg in 1789. The first principal meridian is the east line of 
 Ohio. The second principal meridian is the meridian 84,° 51' 
 west longitude. This meridian is some eighteen miles west of 
 Indianapolis. The third principal meridian is the meridian of 
 89,° 10/ 30" west longitude, and runs north practically from 
 the mouth of the Ohio River passing through Mound City, the 
 county seat of Pulaski County. The fourth principal meridian 
 is the meridian 90,° 29/ 56," and runs north from the mouth 
 of the Illinois River. This meridian governs the surveys west of 
 the Illinois River and that part of the state north of the Illinois 
 River and west of the third principal meridian. 
 
 Weakness of Ordinance of 1784 
 
 When Thomas Jefferson was a delegate from Virginia to the 
 Continental Congress in 1784, he worked out the details of the 
 ordinance of that date. He was very favorable to the peopling 
 of the land west of the Alleghany Mountains. Most statesmen 
 thought of the back country as a source of income with which 
 the old debt could be paid. But Jefferson was opposed to charg- 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 223 
 
 ing a price for the western lands to settlers, because, he said, 
 these settlers will become a part of the nation and will be taxed 
 to help pay the nation's debt, and that was as much as they 
 ought to be expected to do. But the Ordinance of 1784 brought 
 no settlers to the back country. People were coming into the 
 West, but they were not coming because of the Ordinance of 
 1784. They were individuals who were of an adventurous na- 
 ture and were attracted to the West because the West was the 
 counterpart of their ideals. Governor Reynolds in his "Pioneer 
 History," gives the names of the people who came into the lo- 
 calities of the French villages especially about Kaskaskia. Ca- 
 hokia, and other nearby localities, from the early days of the 
 Revolutionary war to the coming of Governor St. Clair. But 
 there was no general emigration into the territory northwest 
 of the Ohio. This is not to say that there were none who were 
 planning large movements of people into this Northwest, but 
 up to 1787, there had always been some difficulty arise which 
 postponed action. The soldiers who fought in the Revolutionary 
 war were paid off at the close of the war with paper money 
 or with "certificates of indebtedness," which could not be ex- 
 changed for coin. Just what they could do with these certifi- 
 cates was a problem. As people began to hear more of the lands 
 beyond the Ohio, they also commenced to plan for the exchange 
 of their "certificates of indebtedness." A body of officers who 
 were, in the latter part of 1783, out of military service or soon 
 to be out, petitioned Congress for a grant of land west of the 
 Ohio where they might organize a state which might eventually 
 be admitted into the Union, on an equal footing with the thir- 
 teen original states. 
 
 Ohio Company of Associates 
 
 It appears that there were many officers about Boston who 
 had large holdings of the "final certificates." It was proposed 
 that a sort of company be organized having for its end the con- 
 version of those "final certificates" into broad acres on the fer- 
 tile prairies of the West. 
 
 In the year 1785 three prominent men from about Boston had 
 acquired a great deal of enthusiasm for this movement into the 
 west. They were Gen. Benjamin Tupper who visited Pittsburg. 
 Another was Gen. Samuel Holden Parsons who visited as far 
 west as Louisville, and a third, the Rev. Manasseh Cutler, who 
 was introduced to Thomas Hutchins in New York in the latter 
 part of the year 1785. Hutchins told Cutler that the best place 
 to settle in the West was about the Muskingum River. The 
 Ohio Company of Associates was formed in Boston March 3, 
 1786. The directors of the company sent General Parsons to 
 Congress to propose the purchase of a large tract of land west 
 of the Ohio by the Ohio Company. Parsons presented his pe- 
 
224 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 tition to a committee and after an interview or two with the 
 committee he returned to Boston. His place was taken by Dr. 
 Manassah Cutler. 
 
 Doctor Cutler was a scientist of considerable note, a Con- 
 gregational minister of great influence. He had interested 
 himself in the old soldiers who were at loss to know what to do 
 in order to realize on their "final certificates." When Doctor 
 Cutler arrived at New York on July 5th, 1787, the committee 
 to whom had been referred the proposed ordinance for the 
 government of the Northwest Territory was about ready to 
 report thereon. The times were critical, the Government was 
 approaching a final dissolution, brave hearts were, however, 
 not ready to desert the sinking ship. Over at Philadelphia a 
 group of men from the old thirteen were working out a new 
 experiment in government. The Constitutional Convention of 
 some fifty of America's most profound thinkers was half done 
 the task of writing up a frame of government for a "more 
 perfect union." 
 
 Ordinance of 1787 
 
 There were only eight of the thirteen states represented in 
 the Continental Congress — Massachusetts, New York, New Jer- 
 sey, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and 
 Georgia. 
 
 The purpose of the visits of both General Parsons and Doctor 
 Cutler was to negotiate the purchase of a tract of land on the 
 Ohio River in the name of the "Ohio Company of Associates." 
 This company had $1,000,000 in certificates of indebtedness with 
 which they wished to purchase the lands on the Ohio. Doctor 
 Cutler, being a minister and an educated man and one who 
 looked upon the things of culture as of as much worth as broad 
 acres of rich land, interested himself in the work of the com- 
 mittee which was just ready to report the new ordinance for the 
 government of the land beyond the Ohio. He conferred with 
 them orally and gave them many new ideas as to the principles 
 which should be incorporated in the ordinance. He arrived 
 on the 5th of July and by the 10th such headway had been made 
 that the committee consisting of Carrington and Lee of Vir- 
 ginia, Dane of Massachusetts, Kean of South Carolina, and 
 Smith of New York, invited Doctor Cutler to submit in writing 
 his views touching the points which had been discussed orally. 
 This he did. On the 11th of July the committee presented the 
 report, the Ordinance of 1787, and after three days' discussion 
 the report was adopted by the unanimous vote of the states 
 present. Thus we see that an act creating a government for a 
 large area of the country was rounded out and finished in less 
 than two weeks which Congress had been working on for two 
 or three years. 
 
 We have said that Doctor Cutler's real mission was the pur- 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 225 
 
 chase of $1,000,000 worth of land on the Ohio. On July 23, 
 1787, Congress adopted a resolution which authorized the Board 
 of Treasury to contract with any person or persons for a grant 
 of land lying just north of the Ohio, east of the Scioto River, 
 west of the west line of the seventh row of townships and 
 reaching as far north as the tenth range. The resolution pro- 
 vided that the land should be surveyed by the purchasers ac- 
 cording to the rectangular system. The 16th section should be 
 reserved for school purposes and sections 8, 11 and 26 should 
 be reserved for religious purposes; and two townships of land 
 reserved for a university. The price fixed by Congress was 
 $1.00 per acre, in gold or silver, or in loan office certificates 
 reduced to a specie basis. 
 
 On July 26, three days after the Board of Treasury was au- 
 thorized to contract the sale of this large piece of land, Doctor 
 Cutler and Winthrop Sargent addressed a communication to 
 the Board of Treasury in which they offered several changes 
 in the contract. One pertained to the survey of the land; one 
 to the payment which the purchasers fixed at one half million 
 at signing of contract, one half million when survey is com- 
 pleted, and remainder in six equal annual installments; one 
 provided for the establishment of the university; another pro- 
 vided for the transfer of deeds; another guaranteed, morally, 
 the payment of the deferred installments; a final provision 
 called attention to the fact that none of the lands were to be 
 settled until payments have been made. 
 
 On October 27, 1787, Manasseh Cutler and Winthrop Sar- 
 gent bought of the Congress 1,500,000 acres of land lying in the 
 tract as marked off in the Resolution of July 23, 1787. Cutler 
 and Sargent purchased a large tract on their own account. 
 Other friends were let in on the ground floor and arrangements 
 made for the sale of the land in smaller lots. An agent was 
 sent to Europe to place this land on the market in that country. 
 Considerable of this land was sold in France and a goodly num- 
 ber of French made a settlement at a place they called Gal- 
 lipolis — the city of the Gauls. On the 29th of August John 
 Cleves S'ymmes applied for a permit to purchase a large tract 
 on the Miami River. As a result of his petition the Congress 
 sold to Symmes and his associates 1,000,000 acres, the sale was 
 afterwards modified and the amount reduced. 
 
 Provisions in Ordinance 
 
 1. The territory northwest of the Ohio River shall for the 
 purposes of government be considered one district, but may be 
 divided into two if found expedient. 
 
 2. The estates of persons dying intestate shall descend to the 
 children of said person in equal parts. If there are no children 
 then to nearest of kin. 
 
 10V1 
 
226 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 3. Estates may be bequeathed by wills in writing, and real 
 estate may be transferred by deed, signed, sealed, and delivered. 
 
 4. The laws for the descent of property in Kaskaskia, St. 
 Vincents, and other French villages shall remain unchanged by 
 this ordinance. 
 
 5. For purposes of government Congress shall from time to 
 time support a governor who shall serve three years who shall 
 reside in the said territory. There shall be a secretary who 
 shall serve four years ; he also must reside in the said territory. 
 The duties of the secretary shall be such as devolve upon sim- 
 ilar officials in like situations. The Congress shall appoint a 
 court consisting of three judges who shall live in the territory. 
 Their appointments shall run during good behavior. 
 
 6. The governor and judges shall adopt and publish such 
 laws of the original states, criminal and civil, as may be neces- 
 sary and suited to the needs of the district. These laws must 
 be reported to Congress from time to time. 
 
 7. The governor shall be commander-in-chief of the militia, 
 appoint and commission all officers in the militia. 
 
 8. The governor for the time being shall appoint civil of- 
 ficers for the counties, townships, etc. 
 
 9. After territorial legislatures are organized, these shall 
 make laws for appointments to civil offices in the counties, etc. 
 
 10. The laws adopted shall be in force in all parts of the 
 district. The governor shall lay out and organize counties for 
 the more convenient execution of law and the preservation of 
 order. 
 
 11. When the population has reached 5,000 free male inhab- 
 itants 21 years of age there shall be organized a territorial 
 Legislature made up of representatives elected from the sev- 
 eral counties or other units. The appointment being one rep- 
 resentative for every 500 free male inhabitants. There were 
 property and residence qualifications for both electors and rep- 
 resentatives. Vacancies in the representation should be filled 
 by election. 
 
 12. There should be a legislative council made up of five 
 members holding office for five years. These five councilors 
 were to be selected by Congress from a list of ten nominated 
 by the Legislature. 
 
 13. The legislative functions of government shall be exer- 
 cised by the governor, the council, and the representatives. 
 Bills passing both houses of the Legislature, and being signed 
 by the governor, become laws. The governor had the power to 
 convene, prorogue, and dissolve the Legislature. 
 
 14. The two houses of the Legislature in joint session shall 
 elect a delegate to Congress who shall have all rights of mem- 
 bers except voting. 
 
 15. For the purpose of extending the fundamental principles 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 227 
 
 of civil and religious liberty which form the basis of these re=. 
 publics; and "to fix and establish those principles as the basis 
 of all laws, constitutions, and governments which forever here- 
 after shall be formed in the said territory; to provide, also, for 
 the establishment of states and permanent government therein ; 
 and for their admission to a share in the federal councils on an 
 equal footing with the original states." 
 
 Following the outline of government as given above there 
 were six articles which constitute a sort of Bill of Rights such 
 as are found in the constitutions of most of the states today. 
 The Ordinance of 1787 regarded the articles which are given 
 below as "articles of compact between the original states and 
 the people and states in the said territory, and forever remain 
 unalterable unless by common consent. 
 
 Bill of Rights 
 
 Art. 1. No person, demeaning himself in a peaceable and or- 
 derly manner, shall ever be molested on account of his mode 
 of worship or religious sentiments, in the said territory. 
 
 Art. 2. The inhabitants shall always be entitled to the bene- 
 fits of the writ of habeas corpus, and of trial by jury. 
 
 They shall be entitled to proportionate representation in the 
 Legislature, and of judicial proceedings. 
 
 All persons shall be entitled to bail except in capital cases. 
 All fines shall be moderate, and cruel and unusual punishments 
 shall never be inflicted. 
 
 No man shall be deprived of his liberty or property, but by 
 the judgment of his peers, or the law of the land. 
 
 No law shall ever be made which shall interfere with con- 
 tracts previously entered into, if bona fide and without fraud. 
 
 Art. 3. Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary 
 to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and 
 the means of education shall forever be encouraged. 
 
 Good faith towards the Indians shall be observed, and their 
 property, rights and liberty shall not be invaded unless in just 
 wars authorized by Congress. 
 
 Art. 4. The said territory, and the states which may be 
 formed therein, shall forever remain a part of this confederacy 
 of the United States of America. 
 
 The inhabitants and settlers in the said territory shall be 
 subject to pay a part of the federal debt, contracted or to be 
 contracted. 
 
 The legislatures of those districts, or new states, shall never 
 interfere with the primary disposal of the soil by the United 
 States in Congress assembled, nor with any regulations Con- 
 gress may find necessary for securing the title in such soil, to 
 the bona fide purchasers. 
 
 Art. 5. There shall be formed in the said territory not less 
 
228 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 than three, nor more than five states, with boundaries as fol- 
 lows : The state farthest west shall be bound by the Mississippi, 
 the Ohio, and the Wabash and the meridian of Vincennes, and 
 on the north by Canada. The middle state by the meridian of 
 Vincennes, the Wabash, the Ohio and the meridian of the mouth 
 of the Great Miami River, and on the north by Canada. The 
 eastern state shall be bounded by the meridian of the mouth of 
 the Great Miami, the Ohio, and Pennsylvania, and on the north 
 by Canada. 
 
 But Congress may run an east and west line through the 
 southerly bend of Lake Michigan and form two states out of 
 the territory to the north of this line. 
 
 When any one of these states shall have 60,000 free inhab- 
 itants it may be admitted as a state into the Union, on equal 
 footing with the old thirteen states. 
 
 Art. 6. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist 
 in the said territory except as a punishment for crime, whereof 
 the party shall have been duly convicted. 
 
 Slaves or involuntary servants escaping into the said territory 
 shall be delivered up to the ones to whom such labor or service 
 is due. 
 
 The Movement Westwakd 
 
 The Rev. Manasseh Cutler had quietly done a great work. 
 He had served his company well, but he had rendered a great 
 service to the millions who were to be the pioneers in the North- 
 west Territory. Not only so, but he marked out in the ordinance 
 the fundamental principles upon which government was built 
 in most of the Louisiana Purchase. In fact the Ordinance of 
 1787 contained the most rational plan of colonization which the 
 world has ever seen. As the United States has come into pos- 
 session of more territory, the principles so clearly marked out 
 in the Ordinance of 1787 have been applied to the settlement 
 and government of the new colonies which sprang up on the 
 new lands. 
 
 The Ordinance of 1784 and the one of 1785 brought no set- 
 tlers into the lands west and north of the Ohio River. The work 
 of surveying the territory west of the Ohio was proceeding, and 
 for the purpose of aiding and protecting the people thus en- 
 gaged a fort was erected at the mouth of the River Muskingum 
 in the year 1786. The fort was called Fort Harmer in honor 
 of General Harmer who was in charge of the protection of the 
 people in the Northwest Territory. 
 
 The ordinance was passed July 13, 1787. Doctor Cutler and 
 Winthrop Sargent closed their purchase deal with Congress for 
 the 1,500,000 acres lying west of the "seven ranges" and east 
 of the Scioto River, October 27, 1787. But there must have 
 been considerable activity around the offices of the Ohio Com- 
 pany of Associates through the summer of 1787, for "before 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 229 
 
 the end of the year 1787, the vanguard of the first colony was 
 on the march through Pennsylvania to the upper waters of the 
 Ohio. They reached Youghiogheny River somewhere in the 
 vicinity of Fort Necessity on January 23, 1788, and on Feb- 
 ruary 14, 1788, a second division of the New England adven- 
 turers arrived. Here they constructed boats in which they were 
 to descend the Ohio. In several boats led by the Mayflower the 
 expedition moved down the Ohio. On April 7, 1788, Gen. Rufus 
 Putnam, a hero of two wars, might have been seen standing 
 majestically on the deck of the Mayflower as the fleet neared 
 the mouth of the Muskingum. This New England colony num- 
 bered forty-eight souls — men. 
 
 Here was a beginning from which great enterprises were to 
 develop. They began the spring work in regular pioneer style. 
 Trees were felled, foundations were laid, a city was begun, a 
 stockade was erected and lo ! the City of Marietta and Camp 
 Martius stand forth, April 7, 1788. Not far behind this van- 
 guard of emigrants we see coming the strong arm of the gov- 
 ernment, the officials who are to secure the guarantees laid 
 down in the compact of the ordinance. 
 
 Territory First Class 
 
 On October 5, 1787, Congress selected Gen. Arthur St. Clair 
 as governor of the new territory, and Winthrop Sargent for 
 secretary. A short time after Samuel Holden Parsons, James 
 M. Varnum, and John Cleves Symmes were chosen judges. 
 These men were all public spirited citizens. These men were not 
 only interested from the standpoint of public spirit, but most of 
 them were interested in the grants of land which have been 
 mentioned above. 
 
 Two of the judges and probably the secretary reached Mari- 
 etta shortly after the landing of the settlers. On July 4th was 
 held the first celebration of Independence Day west of the Ohio. 
 Judge Varnum was a prominent lawyer of Rhode Island, and 
 had served in the Revolutionary war. It was thought proper 
 that Judge Varnum should give the oration. Governor St. 
 Clair landed at Marietta July 9, and was received with appro- 
 priate civic and military honors. On the 15th of July, the 
 governor and secretary, and Judges Parsons and Varnum were 
 formally received by the citizens of Marietta. General Putnam 
 welcomed the officials to the scene of their future labors. The 
 first session of the governor and the judges as a legislative body 
 was held on the 26th of July. At this session the County of 
 Washington was created. The county included the territory in 
 the region of the new town and Fort Harmer. Marietta was 
 made the county seat. Later on a local court was organized, 
 judges, sheriff and other officials appointed and installed. This 
 was all done with considerable ceremony. The sheriff opened 
 
230 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 court in the old English style. From an elevated place he made 
 the accustomed proclamation : "0, yes ! a court is open for the 
 administration of even-handed justice to the poor and the rich, 
 to the guilty and the innocent, without respect of persons ; none 
 to be punished without trial by their peers, and then in pur- 
 suance of the laws and evidence in the case." Paul Fearing 
 was admitted to the bar and was the first practicing attorney 
 under the government of the Northwest Territory. 
 
 The legislative body then turned its attention to the enact- 
 ment of laws. The following abstract follows Dillon's "His- 
 torical Notes" : 
 
 1. The first law was one providing for the establishment of 
 a militia system in the territory of the United States. 
 
 2. A law providing for Courts of Quarter Sessions, County 
 Courts of Common Pleas, and a law providing for the office of 
 sheriff, and for the appointment of sheriffs. 
 
 3. Another law providing for the establishment of court of 
 probate. 
 
 4. A law providing for the sitting of the general court in 
 the territory to hear general cases beyond the adjudication of 
 the courts of the counties. This court was to be held by the 
 three judges or by any two of them. They were to be held 
 four times a year in such counties as suits the pleasure of the 
 judges. This general court shall have civil and criminal juris- 
 diction. The law provided for adjournment of sessions and for 
 continuance of processes. 
 
 5. A law was enacted providing for oaths of office for the 
 several officials in the several counties. 
 
 6. A law respecting crimes and the punishments thereof. 
 Treason, murder, and arson, if death results, are punishable by 
 death. Burglary and robbery, by whipping, fines and imprison- 
 ment. Minor offenses were punishable by fines, whippings, dis- 
 franchisement, or the pillory. Offenders who could not pay 
 their fines were sold by the sheriff for limited terms according 
 to the offense. 
 
 Children or servants who were disobedient to the commands 
 of their parents or masters might be sent to a house of cor- 
 rection by the courts. 
 
 Drunken persons were to be fined for the first offense five 
 dimes, for the second offense ten dimes and for the third they 
 could be sent to the stocks. 
 
 "Whereas, idle, vain and obscene conversation, profane curs- 
 ing and swearing, and more especially the irreverently mention- 
 ing, calling upon, or invoking the Sacred and Supreme Being, 
 by any of the divine characters in which he hath graciously 
 condescended to reveal his infinitely beneficent purposes to man- 
 kind, are repugnant to every moral sentiment, subversive of 
 every civil obligation, inconsistent with the ornaments of pol- 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 231 
 
 ished life, and abhorrent to the principles of the most benevo- 
 lent religion. It is expected, therefore, if crimes of this kind 
 should exist, they will not find encouragement, countenance, or 
 approbation in this territory. It is strictly enjoined upon all 
 officers and ministers of justice, upon parents and others, heads 
 of families, and upon others of every description, that they 
 abstain from practices so vile and irrational; and that by ex- 
 ample and precept, to the utmost of their power they prevent 
 the necessity of adopting and publishing laws, with penalties 
 upon this head. And it is hereby declared that the Government 
 will consider as unworthy its confidence all those who may ob- 
 stinately violate these injunctions." 
 
 This quotation has been made at length to enable the reader 
 to obtain some insight into the notions that the people of that 
 time held relative to profanity. In an additional paragraph 
 the governor and judges lay down the rule governing labor and 
 acts of charity upon the Lord's day or the first day of the week. 
 
 7. A law regulating marriages. Marriage contracts cannot 
 be consummated unless the intention of the parties to the con- 
 tract is published at least fifteen days before the marriage. The 
 means of publicity was announcement in the place of worship 
 three different Sundays or holy days, or by publishing through 
 a written statement acknowledged before a justice of the peace, 
 etc. 
 
 8. This was a supplementary law pertaining to Act 1 rela- 
 tive to the organization of the militia. 
 
 9. A law providing for the exercise of authority by the 
 coroner. 
 
 10. A limitation of the time of commencing civil and crim- 
 inal actions. 
 
 The governor and the judges spent the fall and early winter 
 on the foregoing legislation and in conferences with the Indians 
 in the region about the lakes. On January 9, 1789, Governor 
 St. Clair began to treat with the Six Nations, the Wyandottes, 
 Delawares, Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawattomies, and Sacs. 
 These treaties secured peace at least for a while with these 
 troublesome neighbors. 
 
 On June 15, 1789, General Knox, secretary of war, sent a 
 long communication to the President of the United States in 
 which he gives the distressing fact that defenseless whites along 
 the Ohio have been brutally killed by savages who seem to have 
 headquarters along the Wabash. The secretary reports 2,000 
 warriors about Vincennes, and the United States troops on the 
 border do not exceed 600. President Washington was greatly 
 distressed at the dangerous situation for the settlers along the 
 Ohio. In an official communication to Governor St. Clair he 
 ordered the governor to proceed with dispatch, if with safety, 
 to the locality of Kaskaskia and Vincennes that the inhabitants 
 
232 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 in those and other villages might have confirmed to them the 
 lands which Congress had promised them in 1785. This was 
 that the Congress would confirm their lands to all inhabitants 
 of the Illinois country who were residents in Illinois in 1783 
 and who had taken the oath of allegiance to Great Britain. 
 
 Counties Organized 
 
 Governor St. Clair, the Secretary, and the Judges left Marietta 
 about January 1, 1790, and went down the Ohio River to a place 
 called Losantiville, the present city of Cincinnati. Here the gov- 
 ernor by executive order created a county which he named 
 Hamilton, the county seat he called Cincinnati. The site had 
 been selected for a town and its name was to be Losantiville. 
 But it is said no houses had been built and there was no town 
 there when Governor St. Clair reached it in 1790. In 1795 there 
 were fifteen small frame houses and as many log cabins. There 
 was not a brick in the town. 
 
 From Cincinnati the governor and the other officials proceeded 
 to Kaskaskia which they reached in the early part of March, 
 1790. Governor Reynolds, who came to Illinois in the year 1800, 
 had an opportunity to obtain first hand inf ormation with regard 
 to conditions in Illinois not only at the time he came but for 
 several years before the date of his coming. Governor Reynolds 
 estimated that in 1800 there were 2,000 white people in Illinois. 
 Of these he says 800 were Americans, while 1,200 were French 
 or French descendants. The proportion of Americans to French 
 which Governor Reynolds found in 1800, would not be that of 
 1790 when Governor St. Clair arrived. The American popula- 
 tion grew very much in the decade from 1790 to 1800, but there 
 was evidently no growth in the number of habitants. The Hon. 
 E. B. Washburne, who has written a charming sketch of Edward 
 Coles, the second governor of Illinois, in discussing the make-up 
 of the early people, says: "The earliest inhabitants of Illinois 
 were French Canadians, and emigrants from Kentucky, Ten- 
 nessee, and North Carolina — The emigration from Kentucky was 
 by far the best, Tennessee was below Kentucky, and the North 
 Carolina emigration was mostly "poor whites." This is partly 
 accounted for by saying that the Americans were from slave 
 states and only the non-slave holding people came into the West 
 and it was that class that was poor. 
 
 St. Clair County 
 
 Notwithstanding the fact that the people were poor and 
 ignorant and unstable in their attachments, the governor pro- 
 ceeded to lay off a county which by some hook or crook was 
 named St. Clair. It was bounded on the west by the Illinois and 
 the Mississippi, and on the south by the Ohio, and on the north- 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 233 
 
 east by a straight line drawn from the Illinois River at the mouth 
 of Mackinaw Creek to Fort Massac on the Ohio. The county 
 officials appointed by Governor St. Clair were as follows : Sheriff, 
 William Biggs; coroner, Charles le Fevre; surveyor, Antoine 
 Gerardin; captains, John Edgar, J. B. Dubergin, Philip Engle, 
 F. Janis, James Piggott; notary public, Joseph La Bussiere; 
 judges Court of Common Pleas, Jean Baptiste Barbeau, John 
 Edgar, Antoine Gerardin, Philip Engle, John de Moulin; Court 
 of Quarter Sessions, John Edgar, Philip Engle, Antoine Gerar- 
 din, Antoine Louviers ; justices court of St. Clair County, Francis 
 Trottier, E. Janis, Nicholas Smith, James Piggott, B. Saneier; 
 judge of probate, Bartholomew Tardeveau ; clerk and recorder 
 of deeds, Wm. St. Clair. 
 
 It will be noticed that in several cases the same man was ap- 
 pointed to more than one office. It will be noticed also that 
 about twenty out of twenty-eight positions were held by French 
 citizens. Cahokia was made the county seat. It appears that 
 all this organization work was done while the governor was 
 sojourning at Kaskaskia, though Cahokia was made the county 
 capital. 
 
 The third task was the problem of land claims. After he had 
 gotten the official list made up, the governor put out a proclama- 
 tion in which all the citizens were notified to come to his office 
 and present their titles to the lands they claimed. Colonel Todd 
 had required the same thing at the hands of the land owners. It 
 was the purpose to make records of all claims as a matter of 
 precaution. As a result of this order a great many brought in 
 their titles and their claims were recorded. The governor in a 
 report to the United States secretary of state said: "Orders 
 of survey were issued for all the claims at Kaskaskia, that ap- 
 peared to be founded agreeably to the resolutions of Congress; 
 and surveys were made of a greater part of them. A part only 
 of those surveys, however, have been returned, because the people 
 objected to paying the surveyor, and it is too true that they 
 "are ill able to pay." Governor St. Clair said the settlements in 
 Illinois on the Wabash were in great distress and, had been 
 since they came under Clark's domain. The people in Kaskaskia 
 and in other towns had furnished supplies for the troops under 
 General Clark with everything they could spare and had been 
 paid in a currency that was without value, and when they had 
 presented their claims to the State of Virginia their claims had 
 been rejected. In addition to the loss of what was justly due 
 them from the State of Virginia nature had been very hard on 
 them. There had been three inundations of the American Bot- 
 tom within recent years and their crops had either been swept 
 away or they had been hinderd from planting. In addition to 
 all this the governor calls attention to the fact that the Indians 
 had been unfaithful and had in some instances been even hostile. 
 
234 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 "They are the most ignorant people in the world, there is not a 
 fiftieth man that can either read or write." The following 
 memorial signed by Father Gibault, Priest, presents a sad pic- 
 ture: 
 
 A Memorial 
 
 (Abridged) 
 
 St. Clair County, June 9th, 1790. 
 To His Excellency Arthur St. Clair, 
 
 Governor and Commander-in-chief 
 
 Of the Territory of the United States 
 Northwest of the River Ohio. 
 
 The memorial humbly showeth that by an act of Congress of 
 June 20, 1788, it was declared that the lands heretofore possessed 
 by the said inhabitants should be surveyed at their expense ; and 
 that this clause appears to them neither necessary nor adapted to 
 quiet the minds of the people. It does not appear necessary, 
 because from the establishment of the colony to this day, they 
 have enjoyed their property and possessions without disputes 
 or lawsuits on the subject of their limits; that the surveys of 
 them were made at the time the concessions were obtained from 
 their ancient Kings, Lords and Commandants ; and each of them 
 knew what belonged to him without attempting an encroachment 
 on his neighbor, or fearing that his neighbor would encroach on 
 him. It does not appear adapted to pacify them, because, instead 
 of assuring to them the peaceable possessions of their ancient 
 inheritance, as they have enjoyed it till now, that clause obliges 
 them to bear expenses which, in their present situation, they are 
 absolutely incapable of paying, and for the failure of which they 
 must be deprived of their lands. 
 
 Your Excellency is an eye witness of the poverty to which the 
 inhabitants are reduced, and of the total want of provision to 
 subsist on. Not knowing where to find a morsel of bread to 
 nourish their families, by what means can they support the ex- 
 pense of a survey which has not been sought for on their parts, 
 and for which, it is conceived by them, there is no necessity? 
 Loaded with misery, and groaning under the weight of misfor- 
 tunes accumulated since the Virginia troops entered their 
 country, the unhappy inhabitants throw themselves under the 
 protection of your Excellency, and take the liberty to solicit you 
 to lay their deplorable situation before the Congress ; and, as it 
 may be interesting for the United States to know exactly the 
 extent and limits of their ancient possessions in order to ascer- 
 tain the lands which are yet at the disposal of Congress, it ap- 
 pears to them, in their humble opinion, that the expense of the 
 survey ought more properly to be borne by Congress, for whom 
 alone it is useful, than by them who do not feel the necessity of 
 it. Besides, this is no object for the United States, but it is great, 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 235 
 
 too great, for a few unhappy beings who, your Excellency sees 
 yourself, are scarcely able to support their pitiful existence." 
 
 Signed, Fr. P. Gibault, 
 and Eighty-seven Others. 
 
 In January, 1790, before Governor St. Clair left Clarksville 
 on the Ohio for Kaskaskia, he sent to Major Hamtramck, the 
 officer in command at Post Vincennes, some speeches which he 
 asked to have delivered to the several Indian tribes on the Wa- 
 bash. Major Hamtramck selected Antoine Gamelin as one who 
 could translate these speeches to the Indians and do it in such a 
 way as to leave the best impression possible. Mr. Gamelin per- 
 formed this service in the early summer of 1790 and returned 
 to Vincennes in June of that year. He reported that on the 
 whole his mission had been fruitless. He reported that the 
 Indians were in an ugly mood and that they were already on 
 the war path. When Governor St. Clair received this word he 
 immediately prepared to return to Fort Harmer for the purpose 
 of organizing an army for the safety of the settlements in the 
 Northwest. Before leaving Kaskaskia to return to Fort Harmer, 
 he deputized Winthrop Sargent to complete the work of making 
 a permanent record of the lands claimed by the citizens on the 
 Mississippi and the Wabash. He was also directed to lay out 
 and organize a county with Vincennes as the county seat. 
 
 Sargent proceeded immediately to Vincennes where he laid 
 out Knox County, established the county seat at Vincennes, ap- 
 pointed the various civil and military officers and began the 
 work of making records of the land claims presented by the 
 citizens. Mr. Sargent in reporting his work to the President 
 said there was an utter lack of system in the few records that 
 had been kept and the only evidence to rely upon was the oral 
 testimony of the land claimant and his neighbors. He reported 
 that not more than one case in twenty were the records complete. 
 "In one instance, and during the government of Mr. St. Ange 
 here, a royal notary ran off with all public papers in his posses- 
 sion, as by a certificate produced to me. And I am very sorry 
 further to observe that in the office of Mr. Le Grand, which con- 
 tinued from 1777 to 1787, and where should have been the 
 vouchers for important land transactions, the records have been 
 so falsified, and there is much gross fraud and forgery as to 
 invalidate all evidence and information which I might otherwise 
 have acquired from his papers." 
 
 On the 13th of July, 1790, there were 143 heads of families 
 living in Vincennes who were living there in 1783. This period 
 of residence entitled the individual to a grant of land which the 
 Government was authorized to confirm to the individual. 
 
 Congress on March 3d, 1791, passed a law which provided that 
 the governor of the Northwest Territory was empowered, in 
 cases where lands had been actually improved and cultivated 
 
236 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 under a supposed grant from some one in authority, to confirm 
 to such person, his heirs, and assigns, the land which he had 
 improved and cultivated; provided not more than 400 acres 
 should be confirmed to any one person. Secretary Sargent was 
 so fair and yet so firm in the administration of the functions of 
 temporary governor that the people of Vincennes sent him a 
 communication expressing their great delight and entire satis- 
 faction in his conduct of the governor's office. 
 
 By reason of the lack of proper military organization the at- 
 tack upon the Indians in Northern Indiana and elsewhere in the 
 North resulted in the defeat of General Harmer and General St. 
 Clair in two campaigns and the military forces were put under 
 the command of Gen. Anthony Wayne, who eventually (1794) 
 forced the Indians to sue for peace. But those unsettled condi- 
 tions took the attention of the governor and his associates in 
 government and little attention was given to Illinois and the 
 settlements lapsed into a listless order of civil and political life 
 not much different from that prior to the coming of St. Clair. 
 
 Immigration 
 
 The Indian wars very greatly retarded the growth of popula- 
 tion through immigration. Governor St. Clair estimated that 
 there were only 15,000 inhabitants in the Northwest Territory 
 in 1795. But following the victory of General Wayne over the 
 Indians on the Maumee River in 1794 there was a continually 
 increasing number of immigrants into the Northwest Territory. 
 Very naturally most of these immigrants stopped in Ohio, a 
 smaller number came into Indiana, and a still smaller number 
 into Illinois. The treaty of Greenville which was signed in 1795 
 lulled all suspicion of the whites, and there was a tendensy be- 
 tween the whites and Indians to hold friendly intercourse with 
 one another. "Forts, stations, and stockades were abandoned 
 to decay; the hardy pioneer pushed ever forward and extended 
 the frontier; and men of capital and enterprise, securing titles 
 to extensive bodies of fertile lands, organized colonies for their 
 occupation, and thus the wilderness under the tread of civiliza- 
 tion was made to blossom as the rose. 
 
 Following the departure of Governor St. Clair in 1790, the 
 Illinois country made little or no progress. There was a goodly 
 number of immigrants arrived, but governmental question 
 lagged. The general government had taken the governor and 
 the three judges to task for making laws instead of adopting 
 laws from the other states. The three judges had assumed 
 additional functions as the Government became more compli- 
 cated. It was a court of original and appellate jurisdiction in 
 civil and criminal cases. There was no appeal from its decisions. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 237 
 
 It therefore soon came to be called a supreme court. It was 
 occupied more in Ohio, at Marietta and Cincinnati, than in the 
 Western country. There was no session in Illinois from 1790 to 
 1794. In 1793 St. Clair sent word to the judges that court should 
 be held in Illinois. But it was October, 1794, before Judge 
 Turner reached Kaskaskia. He had just previously held court 
 at Vincennes and had encountered much opposition there, and 
 by the time he reached Kaskaskia he was in a resentful frame 
 of mind. While Cahokia was the county seat the official life 
 seemed to be at Kaskaskia. There was a lack of interest in 
 political life in St. Clair County and Judge Turner attempted 
 to correct some faulty conditions as he saw them. He therefore 
 ordered the court records to be removed from Cahokia to Kas- 
 kaskia. The clerk, Mr. William St. Clair, brother to General St. 
 Clair, the governor, refused to obey the judge. The judge re- 
 moved the clerk and put the records in the hands of a Mr. Jones. 
 William St. Clair then resigned as clerk of the court, and the 
 inhabitants of the North end of the country signed a very com- 
 plaining remonstrance. Governor St. Clair restored his brother 
 as clerk and ordered him to take charge of the records. Governor 
 St. Clair was detained at Cincinnati, but he and Judge Symmes 
 arrived at Kaskaskia in the early part of 1795. It appears that 
 Judge Turner had left this part of Illinois. Governor St. Clair 
 in conjunction with Judge Symmes divided St. Clair County into 
 two counties by the following : 
 
 Randolph County 
 
 A Proclamation. 
 Whereas, the division of the County of St. Clair into districts, 
 etc. — Now Know ye, that by virtue of the power vested in me by 
 the United States, I have ordered and ordained and by these 
 presents, do order and ordain, that all and singular, the lands 
 lying and being within the following boundaries, viz : Beginning 
 at the Cave Spring, a little south of New Design, and running 
 thence due east to the line of the County of Knox, and thence 
 south with that line to the Ohio River, thence with the Ohio to 
 the Mississippi, thence with the Mississippi to the parallel of 
 the said Cave spring, and thence to the place of beginning, shall 
 be a county named and hereafter to be known and called by the 
 name Randolph, which said County of Randolph shall have and 
 enjoy, all and singular, jurisdiction and rights, liberties and 
 immunities whatsoever to a county appertaining, and which any 
 county that now is or hereafter may be erected and laid out shall 
 or ought to enjoy conformably to the ordinance of Congress for 
 the government of the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, 
 bearing date the 15th day of July, 1787. 
 
238 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 In testimony, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the 
 seal of the Territory to be affixed, at Cahokia, in the County of 
 St. Clair, the 5th day of October, in the year of our Lord 1795, 
 and of the Independence of the United States the twentieth. 
 
 Arthur St. Clair, Governor. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 NORTHWEST TERRITORY— FIRST AND SECOND CLASS 
 
 The Old Congress — First Class — Second Class — Delegate 
 — Territory Divided 
 
 The Ordinance of 1787 provided for a progressive system of 
 government for the territory northwest of the Ohio River. The 
 more one studies this basic law, the more he wonders that it 
 should have come from a body of men, the congress under the 
 Articles of Confederation, with so little experience in self-gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 The Old Congress 
 
 It has been pointed out that the old Congress had dropped to 
 a very low ebb in political life by the year 1787. Many of the 
 public men of the several colonies, or states, had refused to be 
 honored with seats in the Congress. And more particularly in 
 the summers of 1786 and 1787 public men of great ability were 
 holding themselves in readiness to answer the call of their states 
 to act as delegates in the approaching Philadelphia convention to 
 consider the amendments to the Articles of Confederation. A 
 list of the public men who sat in the constitutional convention 
 will include the great men of the time. Washington, Madison, 
 Franklin, Hamilton, Randolph, Dickinson, Morris, Sherman, 
 Ellsworth, Patterson, Rutledge, and the two Pinckneys were all 
 present. When these men are excluded from a list of the really 
 great men in the United States at that time, what is left will not 
 include many men of note. 
 
 However, the ordinance shows that the men who made it, 
 though they may not have been among the great statesmen of 
 the time, were yet able to present a wonderful framework for 
 self-government. 
 
 First Class 
 
 The ordinance provided that the machinery of government 
 should be very simple. There were to be three stages of govern- 
 ment. The first stage was known as First Class; the next as 
 Second Class; and the next as Third Class, or Statehood. The 
 differentiation depends upon population. The territory of the 
 first class was, by the ordinance, provided with a governor, three 
 judges, a secretary, and such military officers as could be used, 
 to be appointed by the governor. The governor and the three 
 judges sitting together constituted the legislative department 
 
 239 
 
240 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 for a territory of the first class. They were limited in their 
 legislative capacity to the adoption of laws already on the statute 
 books of the old states. Even then Congress was to have the 
 right to veto any of these laws as to their use in the Northwest 
 Territory. After the laws were adopted by the governor and 
 the three judges, the governor was to enforce them and the three 
 judges sat as a court either alone or in company with one or 
 two of the other judges. This form of government continued 
 from the coming of St. Clair in 1788 to the year 1798. In the 
 latter year it was found that the Northwest Territory had the 
 required number of inhabitants and it passed from a first class 
 to a second class territory. The ordinance required 5,000 free 
 male inhabitants of twenty-one years of age before the second 
 class government could be organized. This requirement was 
 omitted in the ordinance as revised by the Congress under the 
 Constitution. 
 
 Second Class 
 
 As soon as the governor was satisfied that there were 5,000 
 free white males of twenty-one years or over, he ordered an 
 election to be held on the third Monday of December, 1798, for 
 the choice of members of the Lower House of the Territorial 
 Legislature. The newly elected Legislature was called to meet 
 at Cincinnati, on the Ohio, February 4th, 1799. The summer 
 of 1798 was spent in the first political fight in the Northwest 
 Territory. At this time there were nine counties in the terri- 
 tory, and, according to the ordinance, there was to be one repre- 
 sentative to every 500 voters. The proclamation called for 
 twenty-two delegates, so it appears there were found to be 11,000 
 voters in the territory. The counties, the number of repre- 
 sentatives, and the men chosen are given herewith : 
 
 Hamilton County (seven members) — William McMillan, John 
 Smith, Robert Benham, Aaron Caldwell, William Goforth, John 
 Ludlow, and Isaac Martin. 
 
 Ross County (four members) — Thomas Worthington, Samuel 
 Findley, Elias Langham, and Edward Tiffin. 
 
 Wayne County (three members) — Solomon Sibley, Jacob 
 Visgar, Charles F. Chobart de Joncaire. 
 
 Washington County (two members) — Johnathan Meigs, Paul 
 Fearing. 
 
 Jefferson County (one member) — James Pritchard. 
 
 St. Clair County (one member) — Shadrach Bond. 
 
 Knox County (one member) — James Small. 
 
 Adams County (two members) — Joseph Darlington, Nathan- 
 iel Massie. 
 
 The ordinance also provided that the lower branch should 
 select the names of ten men, which list should be sent to the 
 President of the United States, from which he is to select five 
 who shall sit as the council members. The following five men 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 241 
 
 were selected at the first session of the lower branch of the 
 Legislature, which occurred February 4, 1799, at Cincinnati. 
 The following men were chosen by the President : 
 
 James Findley, Hamilton County. 
 
 Jacob Burnet, Hamilton County. 
 
 Henry Vandeburg Knox County. 
 
 David Vance, Jefferson County. 
 
 Robert Oliver, Washington County. 
 
 Shadrach Bond, the representative from St. Clair County, was 
 a native of Maryland, and was born November 24, 1778. He 
 was a farmer boy. He came to Illinois in 1794. He had only a 
 very plain education. He was a large jolly man, and very popu- 
 lar. He was an enthusiastic hunter. Burnet, in his "Notes on 
 the Northwest Territory," gives a short sketch of each of the 
 men in the Upper and Lower House. Jacob Burnet was a mem- 
 ber of the Upper House. He wrote very fully of the Northwest 
 in the year 1847. He shows that the twenty-seven men whose 
 names appear above were men who in later years became prom- 
 inent, and he shows that many of them held high offices. 
 
 It has been stated that the Lower House met February 4, 1799. 
 All they could do at that time was to select the ten names from 
 which the President was to choose five. The Lower House then 
 adjourned till the 16th of September, when both branches of the 
 law-making body assembled. The governor delivered his mes- 
 sage and the mill was ready to grind. 
 
 Delegate 
 
 One of the important duties was the selection of a delegate to 
 represent the Northwest Territory in the Lower House of Con- 
 gress at Washington. Many friends of Jacob Burnet, of Cin- 
 cinnati, solicited him to become a candidate, but his law practice 
 and lack of means prohibited him from even thinking of accept- 
 ing so honorable a station. The honor then was contended for 
 by William Henry Harrison and Arthur St. Clair, Jr. After a 
 spirited preliminary the two houses met in joint session and 
 balloted for the choice of the joint session for delegate to Con- 
 gress. William Henry Harrison was elected, the vote standing 
 twelve for Harrison and ten for St. Clair. Mr. Harrison was at 
 that time secretary of the Northwest Territory. This office he 
 resigned and proceeded without delay to Congress, which was 
 then in session at Philadelphia. 
 
 One of Mr. Harrison's first accomplishments was to secure the 
 passage through both houses of Congress of a bill providing for 
 the subdivision of townships, and for the sale of the public lands 
 in small tracts. The speculators opposed the bills very much, 
 as they preferred to buy the land from the Government in town- 
 ships and to resell the sections or half sections to the actual 
 settlers. Up to this time the sale of the public lands had been 
 
242 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 made only to the rich in large quantities. Now the poor man, 
 or at least the ordinary well-to-do man, could buy directly from 
 the Government. The amount was reduced to 320 acres. The 
 price fixed by the Government when the ordinance was put into 
 force was $1 an acre cash — that is in specie. By the legislation 
 which Mr. Harrison was enabled to secure, the amount was 
 reduced to a half township, but the price was fixed at $2 per 
 acre, with a required payment of one-fourth down at time of 
 entry. The purchaser was allowed one, two, and three years on 
 the balance of the purchase price. The settlers were thus en- 
 abled to secure 320 acres for a cash payment of $80. The Gov- 
 ernment was very lenient in the matter of the deferred pay- 
 ments. This was the policy of the Government from 1800 to 
 1820, when the purchase price was fixed at SI. 25 per acre, to 
 be paid for in full at the time of purchase. It was estimated in 
 1820 that there was due the Government on the deferred pay- 
 ments on land sales the sum of $20,000,000. 
 
 This legislation, making it easy for poor people to buy land 
 in the Northwest Territory, was the most popular bit of legis- 
 lation which had been enacted relative to this territory. It 
 made Mr. Harrison very popular not only in the West, where the 
 people profited by his foresight, but even the members of Con- 
 gress from the older states saw in the young delegate from the 
 West the possibilities of a great statesman in the near future. 
 
 Gen. William Henry Harrison was the son of Governor Ben- 
 jamin Harrison of Virginia, one of the signers of the Declara- 
 tion of Independence. The younger Harrison was educated at 
 Hampden Sydney College and afterwards was a student in a 
 medical college at Philadelphia. But he did not finish his course, 
 but left the study of medicine to fight the Indians in the West. 
 He was commissioned an ensign and was aide-de-camp to Gen- 
 eral Wayne and distinguished himself in the battle of Maumee 
 Rapids. He was secretary of the Northwest Territory under 
 St. Clair, and was elected as a delegate to Congress to repre- 
 sent the Northwest Territory as a second class territory and took 
 his seat in December, 1799. 
 
 Territory Divided 
 
 On May 7, 1800, Congress passed an act which divided the 
 Northwest Territory into two divisions by running a line from 
 the Ohio River, opposite Kentucky River, to Fort Recovery and 
 thence north to the boundary line between the United States and 
 Canada. The part of the territory lying east of this line should 
 be known and called the Northwest Territory, and retained all 
 the officials which were serving at that time. 
 
 All that part of the old Northwest Territory which lay west 
 of the line drawn north from the Ohio opposite Kentucky River 
 was to be called the Indiana Territory. The seat of government 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 243 
 
 was located at Saint Vincennes. The law dividing the Northwest 
 Territory was to go into effect July 4, 1801. The President 
 appointed William Henry Harrison governor of the new terri- 
 tory. John Gibson, of Pennsylvania, was named as secretary, 
 while William Clark, John Griffin, and Henry Vanderburgh, 
 were named as judges. The form of government was to be that 
 of a territory of the first class. 
 
 The part of the old Northwest which lay east of the dividing 
 line spoken of above was soon to be made into the State of Ohio. 
 There were in 1800 seven counties in what afterwards came to 
 be Ohio. Their names and their population were : 
 
 Adams County, population 3,432 
 
 Hamilton County, population 14,692 
 
 Jefferson County, population 8,766 
 
 Ross County, population 8,540 
 
 Trumbull County, population 1,302 
 
 Washington County, population 5,427 
 
 Wayne County, population 3,206 
 
 Total population 45,365 
 
 The ordinance provided that whenever any division of the 
 territory as marked out in the ordinance should contain 60,000 
 inhabitants, it should be admitted as a state into the Union. In 
 1810 the Federal census gave Ohio 230,760 inhabitants. This 
 would give an increase in ten years of 185,395, or an average 
 yearly increase of 18,539. In 1801, therefore, the population of 
 Ohio was 63,904. However, the census taken by the territory 
 itself in 1801 showed only 45,028 persons.. The political situa- 
 tion was rather tense in Ohio and those who wanted statehood 
 petitioned Congress for an enabling act. Congress complied 
 and a convention met at Chillicothe November 1, 1802, and two 
 days later Governor St. Clair made a speech to the convention 
 which offended the republican party, and President Jefferson 
 dismissed the governor at once. Governor St. Clair was a 
 very strong Federalist and the speech was an excuse for his 
 dismissal. The Constitution was duly made and accepted by 
 Congress, and on February 19, 1803, the state was recognized as 
 a member of the Federal Union. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 ILLINOIS PART OF INDIANA TERRITORY 
 
 Indiana Territory Created — The Sixth Article — Vote on 
 Second Class — Indentured Servants — Move Toward 
 Separation — Dueling — Division Accomplished 
 
 On May 7, 1800, the President of the United States signed the 
 bill which Congress had just passed creating the Indiana Terri- 
 tory. The following is a brief analysis of the act. 
 
 Indiana Territory Created 
 
 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
 the United States of America in Congress assembled, that from 
 and after the 4th of July, 1800, all the territory west of a line 
 beginning at the Ohio River, opposite the mouth of the Kentucky 
 River, and running thence to Fort Recovery, and thence due 
 north to the line between the United States and Canada, shall 
 for purposes of temporary government constitute a separate ter- 
 ritory and be called Indiana Territory. 
 
 Sec. 2. The government within the said territory shall be 
 similar in all respects to that provided in the ordinance passed 
 by Congress the 13th of July, 1787 ; and the inhabitants shall be 
 entitled to all the rights and privileges secured to the people in 
 the said ordinance. 
 
 Sec. 3. The officers appointed by the President of the United 
 States, for the government of the said Indiana Territory, shall 
 exercise similar powers therein as are provided in the said 
 ordinance. 
 
 Sec. 4. All that part of the said ordinance providing for the 
 organization of a general assembly shall be applicable to the said 
 Indiana Territory when the majority of the freeholders may 
 wish such general assembly, though there may not be 5,000 
 voters. 
 
 Sec. 5. Prohibits the officials in the Northwest Territory from 
 exercising any authority in the Indiana Territory after July 4th, 
 1800, and also permanently fixing the boundary line between 
 Indiana Territory and Ohio when it shall be admitted into the 
 Union, at the meridian of the mouth of the Great Maumee River. 
 
 Sec. 6. That until further enacted by the legislatures of the 
 said territories, the seat of government for the territory north- 
 
 244 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 245 
 
 west of the Ohio River shall be Chillicothe, and that of the Indi- 
 ana Territory shall be Vincennes. 
 
 The period of ten years between the coming of St. Clair to the 
 Illinois country, in 1790, and the creation of the Indiana Terri- 
 tory, in 1800, had been one of apparently studied neglect. Only 
 one term of court for the punishment of crimes had been held 
 within that ten years. The settled regions in Knox, St. Clair, 
 and Randolph counties had become places of refuge for crim- 
 inals. The appointment of sheriffs, judges, military officials, 
 etc., had been made with a flourish in 1790. But few of the 
 men appointed ever performed the duties of the office. The 
 officials of the Northwest Territory were of course all Amer- 
 icans, likewise the settlements north of the Ohio were made up 
 of Americans, excepting Gallipolis. It is easy therefore to see 
 why the officials lingered about the American settlements. The 
 people of Vincennes, Cahokia, and Kaskaskia were with few 
 exceptions French or of French descent. St. Clair said they 
 were the most ignorant people imaginable. Colonel Todd gave 
 these conditions as his reasons for wanting to resign the control 
 of these same three French villages. In 1800 there were some 
 indications that these three centers of population in the West 
 might get some attention from the general Government. 
 
 Governor Harrison at the time of his appointment was a 
 delegate from the Northwest Territory in the Congress at Phila- 
 delphia. He was not able therefore to come to Vincennes to 
 take control of the government of the Indiana Territory on July 
 4, 1800. The secretary, John Gibson, therefore, was empowered 
 to proceed with the installing of the machinery of government. 
 The secretary appointed all necessary officers and the laws which 
 had been a dead letter for the past ten years took on new life 
 and every one looked forward to the reestablishment of order 
 and the restoration of life along all lines^ Governor Harrison 
 reached Vincennes on January 10, 1801, and on the 12th he con- 
 vened the judges in a legislative session for the adoption of such 
 laws as the conditions required. Quite a few pressing. needs 
 were attended to along the legislative lines. It was taken for 
 granted that the laws that were in operation in the Northwest 
 Territory before the separation of Indiana thereform were in 
 operation in Indiana without being reenacted. At the first 
 sitting of the legislative body, the governor and three judges, 
 there were six laws passed. These were amendatory to those in 
 force before the division. The argument in favor of the validity 
 of the old laws in the Indiana Territory was based on the theory 
 that the division was for administrative purposes. This inter- 
 pretation was upheld by the courts in a case that came before 
 the judges in 1803. Again since the Indiana Territory must 
 drop back to the stage of territory of the first class, the laws 
 must by the ordinance be adopted from older states. 
 
 The Federal census of 1800 showed population as follows : 
 
246 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Indiana proper 2,517 
 
 Illinois proper 2,458 
 
 Michigan proper 551 
 
 Wisconsin proper 115 
 
 Total 5,641 
 
 In this count there were reported in Illinois as it is today — 
 Fort Cahokia, 719. At Bellefontaine, 286. South end of St. Clair 
 County, 250. At Kaskaskia, 467. At Prairie du Rocher, 212. 
 At Mitchell's Settlement (six miles east of Belleville), 234. At 
 Fort Massac, 90. Peoria, 100. On the Wabash (on the Illinois 
 side), about 110. This gives the proper number, 2,458, for 
 Illinois. In this total for the Indiana Territory of 5,641, there 
 were reported 135 slaves and 163 free Negroes. But Dunn, in 
 his "Indiana," thinks the report on the number of Negroes and 
 slaves is inaccurate. 
 
 The Sixth Article 
 
 One of the questions which arose in the early history of the 
 Indiana Territory was, "How can the provision of the sixth 
 article of the Ordinance of 1787 be set aside?" This article 
 reads : "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servi- 
 tude in the said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of 
 crimes where the party shall have been duly convicted." 
 
 It will be remembered that when Governor St. Clair arrived 
 at Kaskaskia in 1790, one of the most troublesome questions 
 presented to him for solution was, does the ordinance set free 
 the slaves held about Kaskaskia? Governor St. Clair, after 
 taking the matter under advisement, gave out a public state- 
 ment that the ordinance did not free the Negroes held in bondage 
 in the Illinois country prior to the passage of the Ordinance of 
 1787, but that it did' prohibit the bringing in of slaves from 
 other states. 
 
 During the decade from 1790 to 1800 there was little interest 
 in the 'Northwest Territory by the slave-holding interests. Emi- 
 grants from Maryland, Virginia, or the Carolinas who passed 
 to the west of the Alleghanies stopped in Kentucky or Tennessee 
 or passed on into the Spanish territory. People from the older 
 states who were opposed to slavery, if they came West, stopped 
 in the Northwest Territory. Ohio of course got most of this 
 class, Indiana received a smaller number, and Illinois received 
 very few. There were those who thought that Illinois might 
 increase her population by securing an annulment of the sixth 
 article of the ordinance. 
 
 On January 12, 1796, a petition was presented in Congress 
 from Kaskaskia asking for a repeal of article 6 of the ordinance. 
 The petition was presented in the House, but seems not have 
 been received with much favor. In 1799 a petition from some 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 247 
 
 old Revolutionary soldiers was presented to the Indiana Legis- 
 lature asking permission to bring their slaves with them and to 
 reside on the military tract reserved by Virginia, but the Ter- 
 ritorial Legislature stated it would be incompatible with the 
 articles of the compact. In 1800 a petition was circulated about 
 Kaskaskia, where it was very generally signed, asking Con- 
 gress to permit the introduction into the Indiana Territory of 
 slavery and the establishing of a system of gradual emancipa- 
 tion. The petition was presented on January 23, 1801. It was 
 never acted on. 
 
 Notwithstanding the fact that all efforts to secure an annul- 
 ment of the sixth article of the ordinance, the friends of slavery 
 made one more effort to have set aside this article. Governor 
 Harrison visited Kaskaskia in the fall of 1802, where he was 
 petitioned to call a convention for the purpose of considering 
 the best means of securing the admission of slavery into the 
 Indiana Territory. November 22 he issued a call for such a con- 
 vention. At this time there were four counties in the Indiana 
 Territory, St. Clair, Randolph, Knox, and Clark. The first two 
 counties were to send three delegates each, Knox four, and Clark 
 two. The sheriffs of the counties were to hold the elections ; the 
 convention met at Vincennes on Monday, December 20, 1802. 
 The delegates from St. Clair County were Jean Francois Perry, 
 Shadrach Bond, and John Moredock. Those from Randolph 
 were Pierre Menard, Robert Reynolds, and Robert Morrison. 
 
 The Vincennes Convention 
 
 The convention thus made up of twelve good citizens was pre- 
 sided over by Governor Harrison, and John Rice Jones was 
 secretary. In a memorial to Congress they show that many 
 good people are driven to the Spanish side of the Mississippi 
 because they can not bring their slaves into the Indiana Terri- 
 tory. They ask for a suspension of the sixth article for a period 
 of ten years, during which time Negro slaves may be brought 
 into the territory, after which the article should be again put in 
 force. The convention also asked that treaties be made with the 
 Indians for the extinction of their titles to land in the south end 
 of the Indiana Territory. Another request they made was that 
 a grant of 400 acres of land to each person who opened good 
 wagon roads and established inns or hotels along the public 
 highways. 
 
 The memorial was sent to Washington by a special carrier and 
 presented to Congress. The matter was taken up in Congress 
 and referred to a committee, which reported unfavorably. One 
 part of the report, which is supposed to have been written by 
 John Randolph, of Virginia, is as follows: "The rapidly in- 
 creasing population of the State of Ohio sufficiently evinces, in 
 the opinion of your committee, that the labor of slaves is not 
 
248 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 necessary to promote the growth and settlement of colonies in 
 that region." The people in the Indiana Territory were greatly 
 disappointed at the failure of Congress to comply with their 
 requests. But they were not altogether discouraged. The sec- 
 ond legislative session of the governor and judges was held in 
 the fall of 1803. At this session the Legislature passed a law 
 which provided that persons coming into the Indiana Territory 
 "under contract to serve another in any trade or occupation 
 shall be compelled to perform such contract specifically during 
 the term thereof." 
 
 The two Illinois counties, as soon as the Louisiana purchase 
 should be placed under civil authority, asked to be made a part 
 of the Louisiana Territory. (Annals Eighth Congress, pp. 489- 
 555, 623.) Congress afterwards changed the plan somewhat 
 and made the governor, judges and the secretary of the Indiana 
 Territory the officials of the District of Louisiana. The two 
 were distinct governments, but the same officials served both. It 
 has been said that the prominent men of Kaskaskia and Cohokia 
 were willing to do anything to get out from under the control of 
 Governor Harrison. There were political contests and savage 
 political attacks among the public men of the time. 
 
 The appointees of Governor Harrison who lived along the 
 Mississippi began to agitate the public mind for a separation of 
 Illinois from Indiana. The Ordinance of 1787 had been con- 
 firmed by the Congress under the Constitution and at the same 
 time there were several minor provisions which were changed. 
 In the draft of 1787 there must be 5,000 voters in a territory 
 before it could pass from the first stage to the second stage, and 
 must have 60,000 inhabitants before it could be admitted as a 
 state. The Ordinance of 1789 did not give a minimum number 
 of voters as a requirement for passing from the first stage to the 
 second stage. In 1801 the Illinois people wanted the governor 
 to consent to the plan of making Indiana Territory a territory 
 of the second class. He objected. But now in 1804 the gov- 
 ernor is anxious to change and the people were indifferent. To 
 show that they were indifferent or were preoccupied, we need 
 only call attention to the light vote that was cast when the elec- 
 tion was called for an expression on the part of the voters. 
 
 Vote on Second Class 
 
 The people of the Illinois section, as has been shown, wanted 
 slavery. But they were wholly at the mercy of a governor and 
 other officers who were in no way under obligation to the people 
 who at that time desired a territory of the second class. The 
 people thought that if they had a representative, that is a dele- 
 gate, in Congress that their wishes would be much more likely 
 to be granted by Congress than by a legislative body made up 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 249 
 
 of the governor and the three judges. There was another reason 
 why some people were looking forward to the coming of a 
 second class territory. The people who desired the introduction 
 of slavery had persistently petitioned Congress and the governor 
 to be allowed to bring slaves into the Indiana Territory. Now 
 they argue that if they had a delegate in Congress they might 
 be able to present their wants in a more effective way. And 
 again they thought that a territorial legislature might be able 
 to think out some relief from the provisions in article 6 of the 
 ordinance. 
 
 On the 4th of August, 1804, the governor of the Indiana Ter- 
 ritory issued his proclamation calling an election to be held in 
 the several counties in the Indiana Territory on September 11, 
 to determine the wish of the voters on the question of passing 
 from a first class to a second class territory. From August 4th 
 to 11th of September would be only thirty-eight days, and with 
 the meager means of communication at that time it was im- 
 possible to inform the entire voting population. Besides the 
 shortness of the time, there was in some quarters a certain 
 amount of indifference which could not be overcome. The men 
 who were for the passing to the second grade in 1801 were now 
 against it, and they probably thought that the less agitation, the 
 less likelihood the measure would have of passing. 
 
 At the time of the election there were six counties in the 
 Indiana Territory, namely, St. Clair, Randolph, Knox, Clark, 
 Dearborn, and Wayne. The last named county included all of 
 what is now Southern Michigan. The vote stood as follows: 
 St. Clair, sixty-nine for and twenty-two against ; Randolph, nine- 
 teen for and forty against; in Dearborn County there were 
 twenty-six votes, all against the advance to a second class; in 
 Clark County forty-eight votes were cast and a majority of 
 thirty-five was for advancing to second class. Knox County 
 voted 137 for advance to twelve against. Wayne County was 
 not aware an election was held till it was all over. On December 
 the 5th, 1804, the governor proclaimed that "Indiana Territory 
 is and from henceforth shall be deemed to have passed into the 
 second or representative grade of government, and that the good 
 people of the territory, from the date thereof, are entitled to 
 the rights and privileges belonging to that situation." 
 
 Election of representatives was held in January, 1805. St. 
 Clair sent two representatives, Shadrach Bond and William 
 Biggs, while Randolph County sent George Fisher. When the 
 list of ten names was presented to the President, he chose John 
 Hay, from St. Clair, and Pierre Menard, from Randolph, to sit 
 in the Upper House. The first session of the two houses was 
 held in Vincennes July 29, 1805. The governor, following a 
 custom established many decades previously, the delivering of a 
 message to the Legislature, gave to this representative body his 
 
250 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 recommendations as to the subjects upon which he wished legis- 
 lation. 
 
 In his message to the Legislature he recommended the passage 
 of a law to prevent the sale of intoxicating liquors to the Indians. 
 He also called attention to the need of an improved judicial 
 system, to the need of the reorganization of the militia, more 
 vigorous laws for the punishment of crime and a better system 
 of raising revenue. The two houses of the Legislature in joint 
 session elected Benjamin Parke, of the eastern half of the terri- 
 tory, as delegate in Congress from the Indiana Territory. He 
 was opposed by the anti-Harrison faction, who charged that 
 Parke was and would be a tool in the hands of Governor Harri- 
 son, but Dunn's Indiana praises the services of Benjamin Parke 
 to Indiana and her people. 
 
 The Legislature at this session, in the summer of 1805, adopted 
 many of the laws which had been in force in the Northwest Ter- 
 ritory and also in Indiana Territory while it was a territory of 
 the first class. Before the legislature adjourned it authorized 
 the appointment of a commission to revise all the laws which 
 had been adopted by the Legislature. John Rice Jones and 
 John Johnson, two very prominent lawyers, were appointed to 
 make the revision. This they did and their report was made in 
 the session of the Legislature of 1807. 
 
 Indentured Servants 
 
 But probably the most far reaching actions taken by the 
 Legislature in 1805 was the passage of a law which bore the 
 title: "An act concerning the introduction of Negroes and 
 Mulattoes into this territory." Without doubt this law was in 
 conformity to the wishes of a great many people in the Indiana 
 Territory. They were not willing to cease their efforts to secure 
 the repeal of the sixth article of the ordinance. The Legislature 
 of 1805 petitioned Congress for "relief," as they termed it, from 
 the sixth article. The act mentioned above provided : 
 
 1. That Negro slaves may be brought from any state or ter- 
 ritory of the Union into the Indiana Territory. 
 
 2. Within thirty days the owner of any of said slaves might 
 enter into an agreement with such slave, before a clerk of the 
 court, to the effect that the slave should serve his owner for a 
 designated number of years. 
 
 3. If the slave refused to enter into such agreement, the 
 owner could remove the slave to any slave state or territory. 
 
 4. Slaves under fifteen years of age could be brought into 
 the Indiana Territory and held, males till they are thirty-five, 
 and females till they are thirty-two years old, with no other 
 formality than the registration of these minors with the clerk 
 of the court. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 251 
 
 5. Children born of slaves under the indenture system were 
 to serve their masters, males till they are thirty, and females 
 until they are twenty-eight. 
 
 6. Masters were required to give bond for the good behavior 
 of Negroes who might become free under the provisions of this 
 law. 
 
 At the same session a law was passed that applied only to 
 white apprentices, similar in some respects to the indenture law. 
 This indenture law was viciously attacked by the press of other 
 states and territories and was defended by some of its sup- 
 porters in the Indiana Territory. One defender of the law said 
 it would be the means of clearing 700,000 acres of rich land in 
 the territory. The bringing of these slaves from the South 
 would greatly relieve the overcrowded conditions of the South. 
 It would be a great blessing to the slaves who were brought from 
 the South, "where they are driven in famished droves — where 
 farms are overstocked with them — where they are hired out for 
 want of employ to every mercenary wretch, whose only study is 
 how he may strain the most labor with the least sustenance — 
 where they are fed on cotton seeds, stinking fish, and the very 
 off-scourings of the soil — where they are lashed, slashed, fet- 
 tered and trodden down — where the least glimmering of hope 
 never comes, but slavery without end. 
 
 "From this soul-sinking situation, worse than non-existence, 
 they are brought into the Indiana Territory, where they are 
 bound to serve for seven years to industrious farmers, who 
 work in the same field with them; here they are decently clad 
 and well fed with good, wholesome food; here they may learn 
 industry, frugality, and in short how to gain a comfortable liv- 
 ing; cheered and delighted with the sure and certain prospects 
 of future freedom to themselves and their children." 
 
 The contest between those who favored the introduction of 
 slavery and those who opposed it was bitter and continuous. The 
 session of 1805 had under consideration a petition to Congress 
 asking for the admission of slavery into the Indiana Territory, 
 but for some reason it failed of endorsement by the Lower House 
 of the Legislature. Another matter that was demanding the 
 attention of the public men was that of separating the Indiana 
 Territory, the west part to be known as the Illinois Territory. 
 From the separation of the Indiana Territory from the North- 
 west Territory, and the appointment of William H. Harrison as 
 governor of the new territory, there had grown up a strong 
 anti-Harrison party not only about the Mississippi settlement, 
 but in the territory about Vincennes. We have already seen 
 that some of the Illinois people would rather be joined to the 
 Louisiana Territory than to remain under the tyranny of Gov- 
 ernor Harrison. Congress was petitioned to separate the Illinois 
 country from the Indiana Territory in 1806. The committee to 
 
252 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 whom the petition was referred reported to the house that it 
 would be "inexpedient" to comply with the request. 
 
 Move Toward Separation 
 
 The people in Illinois were not at all unanimous in wanting 
 the separation of the territory. However, petitions were sent 
 to the governor of the territory as well as to Congress, the 
 people thinking that agitation at least was worth something. In 
 1805 a petition was signed by about 350 people about Kaskaskia 
 and Cahokia asking for separation. One reason for asking for 
 the separation was the distance from Kaskaskia to Vincennes. 
 The petitioners said it was 180 miles, that the road to the capital 
 lay through a rough and dangerous country, flooded at one sea- 
 son and at another so dry that water could not be had for the 
 traveler. As a result of this long and hazardous journey to the 
 seat of government, few people except those who were by neces- 
 sity required to visit the capital ever undertook the journey 
 thither. The inconveniences and hardships of the journey were 
 magnified into a dangerous undertaking. Those who favored 
 separation argued that without a division of the territory, the 
 Illinois side would lose all its citizens, as Louisiana was offering 
 inducements for immigration into her territory. 
 
 At the same time that this petition reached Washington, an- 
 other was presented which prayed as earnestly that the territory 
 be not divided, claiming that the people were too poor to support 
 two territorial governments. All these petitions were patiently 
 received by Congress, and were referred to appropriate commit- 
 tees. The Congress was of course not concerned in these con- 
 tentions and the committees reported adversely on the petitions. 
 
 The first session of the Legislature of the Indiana Territory 
 had met in 1805, July 29. A special session was held November, 
 1806. The chief thing before the special session was the ad- 
 mission of slaves into the Indiana Territory. Petitions with 
 arguments were forwarded to Congress. An additional law 
 relative to indentured servants was passed. It provided that 
 the unexpired time of indentured Negroes and mulattoes might 
 be levied upon and sold as personal property. The law provided 
 that the indentured Negro or mulatto whose time was thus sold 
 must serve the purchaser for the remainder of his term, and the 
 purchaser was required to carry out the agreement of the 
 original master. Certain stringent police laws applicable to 
 slaves and indentured servants who should be found as many 
 as ten miles from the home of the master were enacted. The 
 punishment for the infraction of these police laws was whipping, 
 thirty-nine lashes. 
 
 Dueling 
 
 The second session of the Legislature met August 17, 1807. 
 St. Clair County sent Shadrach Bond, Jr. (who was afterward 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 253 
 
 the first governor of Illinois), and William Biggs; Randolph 
 County sent George Fisher. These sat in the Lower House. In 
 the Upper House from these two counties were Pierre Menard, 
 from Randolph, and John Hay, from St. Clair. These two men 
 resigned, and their places were filled by Shardrach Bond, for 
 St. Clair, and George Fisher, from Randolph. These two 
 vacancies were filled by special election of Rice Jones, from Ran- 
 dolph, and John Messinger, from St. Clair County. Pierre 
 Menard and John Hay were bitter opponents of separation. The 
 fight for and against separation grew so bitter that a feud grew 
 between the two factions and led to serious consequences. 
 Shadrach Bond challenged Rice Jones to a duel. Jones accepted, 
 but on the field of honor friends secured an amicable adjust- 
 ment and the duel was called off. However, Dr. James Dunlap, 
 Bond's second, expressed himself very freely about the matter 
 and the feud grew more dangerous, and on December 7, 1808, on 
 the streets of Kaskaskia, Doctor Dunlap shot and killed Rice 
 Jones. Dunlap fled to Texas, where he lived and died. 
 
 Jesse B. Thomas was a member of the house of delegates from 
 Dearborn County. He was a candidate for delegate in Congress. 
 He had no special convictions about the matter of division of the 
 territory, but entered into a secret pact with the friends of divi- 
 sion that if they would support him for the position of delegate, 
 he would pledge them his influence in Congress to secure the 
 division of the territory. He was elected as delegate October 26, 
 receiving six votes out of ten. Thomas repaired to Washington, 
 where he found Congress in session. Petitions for and against 
 slavery and for and against division were coming to Congress 
 thick and fast. On the 13th of December all these petitions were 
 referred to a committee of which Jesse B. Thomas was chair- 
 man. The other members were Kenan of North Carolina, Bas- 
 sett of Virginia, Taggart of Massachusetts, and Smilie of Penn- 
 sylvania. 
 
 Division Accomplished 
 
 This committee was kept busy reading petitions for and 
 against both slavery and division. On December 31 the commit- 
 tee reported a bill favorable to the division of the Indiana Ter- 
 ritory. Mr. Thomas argued in favor of division that a majority 
 of the people of the territory favored a division, and to meet an 
 argument that a division would be very costly, he contended that 
 the increased value of the public land would more than offset 
 any additional cost of the government. An estimate was made 
 that there were 11,000 people in the Illinois country, and 17,000 
 on the Indiana side of the Wabash. The act reported by the 
 committee was passed and approved by the President on Febru- 
 ary 3, 1809. The act provided that all that part of the Indiana 
 Territory lying west of the Wabash River and a line running 
 due north of Vincennes to the line separating the United States 
 
254 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 from Canada should be incorporated into a separate territory, 
 with a separate government, and be known as the Territory of 
 Illinois. The committee that recommended the division of the 
 Indiana Territory estimated the population of Illinois at 11,000, 
 and that of Indiana at 17,000. The Federal census of 1810 gives 
 St. Clair County as having a population of 5,007, and Randolph 
 as having 7,275 inhabitants, or a total for Illinois Territory of 
 12,282 inhabitants. Indiana Territory by the same census was 
 reported as having 24,520. 
 
 We thus take our leave of Indiana Territory, Governor Wil- 
 liam Henry Harrison, and Old Vincennes. Henceforth we shall 
 think of them only as neighbors, but we shall acquire some of 
 their citizens, among whom was the Hon. Jesse Burgess 
 Thomas, who, after having secured the division of the Indiana 
 Territory, applied for and received the appointment as one of 
 the three judges of the Illinois Territory. He was a resident of 
 Dearborn County, in the Indiana Territory, but he had made 
 bitter enemies by bringing about the division and he thought 
 best to cast his lot with the people of the new and promising 
 young territory. He first settled near Prairie du Rocher, but 
 later moved to the vicinity of Cahokia. 
 
 By the act of separation Illinois Territory became a territory 
 with a first-class government and we shall proceed to the organi- 
 zation of that government. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 PERSONS, PLACES, AND THINGS 
 
 What men think, how they feel, and what they do are always 
 interesting things in the story of human history. How the 
 thinking, feeling, and doing of one age differs from that of a 
 previous age is the story of human progress. It is this improved 
 situation along any or all three of these lines that become objects 
 of the intensest interest. Nature charms us by her aspects of 
 power, by the display of her beauty, or by the revelation of her 
 purposes. We stand in awe before Niagara, the Colorado canon, 
 or the giant trees of California. We are transfixed by the beauty 
 of the landscape, the extent of the rolling ocean, or the glory 
 of moon and stars. And we bow in humility before the wisdom 
 and goodness of God as we more and more discover the plans 
 and purposes in his dealings with his earth and his people. 
 
 Nature everywhere — the deserts of the sub-tropics, the moun- 
 tains, the plains, the forests, the prairies, the meandering 
 streams, the islands, the caves, the glaciers, and the wild expanse 
 of the polar regions — lures us to her study and companionship. 
 
 But the works of man have also an interest, and a double in- 
 terest, when combined with the interests we have in nature. 
 History is what the human race has thought, felt, and done. 
 The particular feature of history that adds to its value as a 
 profitable study is that we may discover that back of all that 
 man has done in the world lies purpose good or bad. Interest 
 is also added when we discover that we are thinking the same 
 thoughts, are moved by the same emotions, and are doing the 
 same things that man in all ages have thought, felt, and done, 
 The interest therefore which we might have in persons, places, 
 and things if near at hand in time and place does not differ in 
 quality from that which is distant in time and place. An in- 
 cident in the early history of Illinois has all the elements of 
 interest and value that might be found in the far away incidents 
 of time and space. The incident of the founding of the first 
 church at old Kaskaskia on the Illinois River by Father Mar- 
 quette is not different in quality from that of the planting of the 
 first church on the shores of England. The block houses and 
 palisades with which our forefathers in Illinois were so very 
 familiar have all the elements of human purpose in them that 
 may be found by a profound study of the walled cities of Europe 
 or the Chinese wall. We shall therefore be abundantly justified 
 in calling attention to persons, places, and things that had to do 
 
 255 
 
256 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 with the earliest history of our beloved commonwealth. In this 
 chapter we shall of necessity have a "twice told tale," but it 
 shall be short and possibly presented in a new setting. 
 
 Very naturally we should begin with two great characters, 
 Marquette and Joliet. Marquette had devoted his life to the 
 telling of the story of the cross. His heart burned with the 
 desire to visit the Illinois country and to preach the Gospel to 
 its people. While living in this restlessness in his humble home 
 in Mackinac, Providence sent him a helpmeet in the person of 
 Joliet whose life had been one of activity among the Indians along 
 the St. Lawrence. These two men with frail barks risked life 
 and all for the opening of the roadway into the heart of the Illi- 
 nois country. Marquette after founding the first church in 
 Illinois in the spring of 1675, died amid the forests along the 
 east side of Lake Michigan. His bones rest in the mission he 
 loved so well at Mackinac. The great Mississippi, the Missouri, 
 the Ohio, the great bluffs at Alton and the Piasa bird, the beauti- 
 ful bluffs and hills which skirt the Illinois River, Grand Tower 
 rock, Peoria Lake, Starved Rock, Buffalo Rock, and Chicago 
 portage were all put on the map by Marquette and Joliet. 
 
 The story of La Salle and Tonti must always be told together. 
 Their fortunes were destined to be won or lost together. Many 
 fine qualities of head and heart are found in these inseparable 
 friends. We know their story. They gave France a boundless 
 empire between the Alleghanies and the Rockies. They revealed 
 the greatness of the Mississippi as a great artery of commerce 
 and trade. These two men gave us Creve Coeur and Fort St. 
 Louis. 
 
 Father Hennepin's name is intimately connected with the ex- 
 ploration of the Upper Mississippi. The Hennepin Canal per- 
 petuates his name. Father Marest ministered to the missions 
 at Kaskaskia, Cahokia and at Peoria. Father Mermet founded 
 a mission at the present site of old Fort Massac in 1711. He 
 afterwards ministered to the mission at Peoria. 
 
 Crozat was in Illinois from 1712 to 1717. He was seeking to 
 develop the mines which the French thought could be opened 
 in the Mississippi Valley. His contribution to Illinois was the 
 extension and more definite knowledge of the geography of the 
 state. 
 
 Lieutenant Boisbriant gave us the first Fort Chartres, 1720, 
 and introduced us to the showy military life of the French in 
 America. Phillipe Francois de Renault brought slaves to Illinois 
 and thus helped to fix slavery in our state which was not abol- 
 ished till well into the nineteenth century. Kaskaskia, a village 
 on the portage between the Mississippi and the Kaskaskia River, 
 was a flourishing city of 2,500 people at the close of the French 
 and Indian war. It contained a college as early as 1720. Its 
 church was the one established at Old Kaskaskia by Marquette. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 257 
 
 Its old bell given to the church by the King of France is still in 
 possession of the church. 
 
 One of the most interesting of the French commanders of Fort 
 Chartres was Neyon de Villiers. He took a company of French 
 soldiers from Fort Chartres to Fort Du Quesne in midsummer, 
 1774, and with the assistance of another brother captured George 
 Washington at Fort Necessity, July 4, 1774. The new Fort 
 Chartres which was built in 1754-7, was a stone structure of 
 large dimensions. It inclosed about four acres of ground. Its 
 walls rose from 15 to 18 feet high, and were more than two 
 feet in thickness. It and the church of St. Anne, which was in 
 the village near by furnished the standards for social and relig- 
 ious life in the middle of the eighteenth century. The Jesuits 
 were outlawed in France in 1764, and in 1766 all their posses- 
 sions in Illinois were confiscated by the government and sold. 
 This order had a large plantation, a monastary, a brewery, and 
 other public property. The monastary became the headquarters 
 of the British when they moved from Fort Chart in 1772. 
 
 Chevalier de Rocheblave, the British commandant who sur- 
 rendered Kaskaskia to Colonel Clark, was a well known character 
 in Illinois. He had taken the oath of allegiance to the British 
 government and when the last British commander left with his 
 troops for Canada, Rocheblave was given the command of the 
 town. He was sent as a prisoner to Williamsburg, Virginia, 
 where he was held as a prisoner of war. He was later released 
 and returned to Canada where he was active against the thirteen 
 colonies. 
 
 Pontiac, an Ottawa chief, was the leader of the uprising of the 
 Indians in opposition to the British at the close of the French 
 and Indian war. He was assassinated in the streets of Cahokia. 
 His body was taken to St. Louis and given Christian burial by 
 some French friends. 
 
 Fort Gage was a fort about which little is known. It was 
 built by the French and was probably occupied during the French 
 and Indian war. Captain Pittman who visited Kaskaskia in 
 1767 says the fort was on a bluff across the river. He says it 
 was burned in October, 1766. This evidently has reference to 
 the wooden buildings inside the embankments which were of 
 earth. These embankments remain and are very distinct, 290 
 feet by 265 feet. 
 
 Col. George Rogers Clark, a Virginian, in command of about 
 175 soldiers, captured Kaskaskia from the British, July 4, 1778. 
 He afterwards captured Cahokia and Vincennes. These were not 
 hard tasks as there were no British troops at any one of the 
 three places. Clark's exploits gave the Americans a claim to the 
 land as far west as the Mississippi. Col. John Todd a soldier 
 with Clark in the conquest of Illinois, was afterward made civil 
 commandant of the Illinois country. He ruled from 1779 to 1782, 
 
 11V1 
 
258 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 though he did not reside in Illinois during the latter part of this 
 period. The Todd Record Book in the keeping of the Chicago 
 Historical Society is one of the rare original documents of Illinois 
 history. 
 
 Starved Rock has become the best known physical object in the 
 state. It is a bluff some 125 feet high and covering not more at 
 the base than a few acres. It was the site of Fort St. Louis 
 which Tonti constructed about 1682. The grounds hereabouts 
 have been purchased by the state and a park is being maintained. 
 It is some few miles below Ottawa on the Illinois River. Between 
 Starved Rock and Ottawa is Buffalo Rock. This too is a very 
 noted natural object. It is not so high but covering much more 
 ground than Starved Rock. 
 
 Col. Francis Vigo, a Sardinian, was a Spanish soldier and 
 served in the West Indies and about New Orleans. He came to 
 St. Louis just after the French and Indian war. He was a fur 
 trader and accumulated considerable money. He was a real 
 friend to Col. George Rogers Clark. He furnished food and 
 clothing for Clark's army. He held at one time $20,000 of worth- 
 less Continental money for which he had furnished supplies. He 
 died in poverty near Vincennes in 1835 at the ripe age of eighty- 
 eight years. 
 
 Gabriel Cerre was a rich Frenchman who was a resident of 
 Kaskaskia at the time that Clark captured that town. The vil- 
 lagers reported Cerre as a bitter enemy of the Americans, but it 
 appeared upon investigation that the people were jealous of 
 Cerre and that they hoped to win Clark's favor by turning on 
 Cerre. Cerre came before Clark and took the oath of allegiance 
 and like Vigo rendered Clark a real service. 
 
 James Moore was one of the two spies sent by Clark from 
 Kentucky to Kaskaskia in 1777. He was a captain in Clark's 
 army. He lead a band of Virginians to Kaskaskia in the fall of 
 1781 and in the spring of 1782 he lead his little party to Belle- 
 fontaine and settled. The old trail from Prairie du Rocher 
 goes north a few miles below the bluff, then ascends to the upland 
 and runs north as many as ten to twelve miles probably a few 
 miles more and then descends into the alluvial plain. About half 
 way across this upland was Bellefontaine. This region is full 
 of rather large sink holes, and good springs are abundant. With 
 James Moore was one Rutherford. Three other men, Bond, Kidd 
 and Garrison, settled in the low lands near the river and were 
 the first Americans who settled in this low bottom land and so 
 the alluvial plain from Alton to Kaskaskia was afterwards called 
 the American Bottoms. 
 
 New Design was settled by James Lemen, Sr., a Revolutionary 
 soldier who was at the surrender of Cornwallis in 1781. He 
 came to Illinois and settled a mile south of Bellefontaine. Mr. 
 Lemen was the first person who was added to the Baptist Church 
 
u 
 o 
 
 « 
 
 o 
 
 > 
 
 7. 
 
260 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 by immersion. He became a very influential pioneer, and it is 
 said was approached by Aaron Burr and solicited to join Burr's 
 expedition down the Mississippi. 
 
 By 1796 there were salt works just under the bluff west of 
 New Design. A trail followed the foot of the bluffs from Prairie 
 du Rocher, and on this trail north of St. Phillipe, which was a 
 French village, was an American village called Hull's Town, and 
 still further north a village called Sandy Meadows. South of 
 Prairie du Pont some five miles was a settlement called Grand 
 Risseau, and between Grand Risseau and Prairie du Pont were 
 mounds known as Indian tombs. Before 1800 there were block 
 houses near each of these villages. 
 
 William Whiteside, a Revolutionary soldier, native of North 
 Carolina, came to Illinois in 1793. He was accompanied by John 
 Whiteside, a brother, who also was a Revolutionary soldier. Each 
 had a son, respectively William and Samuel, who were captains 
 in the War of 1812. These people, with others, established them- 
 selves at a place about four miles north of the present city of 
 Waterloo. They built a fort and the place came to be known as 
 Whiteside Station. This came to be known far and wide. 
 William Whiteside was accused of murdering an Indian, but the 
 grand jury refused to indict him because they said it was justi- 
 fied. 
 
 The first Methodist Church in Illinois was founded at New 
 Design by the Rev. Joseph Lillard in 1793. 
 
 John Rice Jones was the first lawyer in the Illinois Territory. 
 He was born in Wales, educated in Oxford in medicine and law. 
 Practiced law in London, came to Philadelphia in 1784, was at 
 Louisville in 1786, went with Clark against the Indians, took up 
 his residence at Vincennes where he was in the employ of the 
 Government. Lived at Kaskaskia, Vincennes, and St. Louis. He 
 was a successful lawyer, acquired vast areas of land, died in 
 St. Louis 1824. 
 
 William Morrison was a pioneer merchant who came to Kas- 
 kaskia from Philadelphia in 1790. He was agent for the firm of 
 Bryant and Morrison, Philadelphia. He was the founder of a 
 large family of highly valued citizens who were prominent in 
 public affairs in the latter part of the eighteenth century. 
 
 The red savages attacked the American settlers in 1786 and 
 killed James Andrews, his wife and his daughter. In 1788 John 
 Vallis was killed and William Biggs was captured by the Ottawas, 
 but later released. In the same year Samuel Garrison and William 
 Reddick were killed and scalped. In 1789 four more Americans 
 were killed by the savages. 
 
 Blockhouses and forts were constructed by the settlers for 
 protection against the Indians. These defenses were often con- 
 structed in this wise : Four log houses would be erected, one at 
 each of four corners of a rectangle. The space between two 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 261 
 
 corner houses on the same side would be filled by a palisade of 
 logs set endwise in the ground. The enclosed space would often 
 cover as much as an acre of ground. In cases of great danger 
 the settlers took their personal belongings including their live 
 stock inside these forts where they remained till the danger had 
 passed. The grounds about these forts were generally cleared 
 trees and underbrush to remove shelter for the approaching In- 
 dians. 
 
 Gen. John Edgar, a native of Ireland, and an officer in the 
 British navy in the Revolutionary war, came to Kaskaskia in the 
 year 1784. He married a high minded American woman who 
 urged him to desert a losing cause. He was a friend of La 
 Fayette and served with him a short time. He acquired quite a 
 fortune in lands and is said to have owned as many as 50,000 
 acres in Southern Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Edgar lived in a beau- 
 tifully furnished old mansion in Kaskaskia and set the pace for 
 the social life of the largest city west of the Wabash. 
 
 Falling Springs is a very noted place which prior to 1800, 
 was the seat of a mill for the grinding of grain. It is some three 
 or four miles southeast of old Cahokia. The water gushes from 
 a crevice in the bluff some fifty or sixty feet above the alluvial 
 plain and in rainy weather the flow from the spring is reinforced 
 by the drainage of the hills and the falls become a young Niagara. 
 When the old mill was in use the water was carried from the 
 descending current through a hollow log to the water wheel. 
 
 The first water-mill that was erected in the north end of the 
 American Bottom was built on the Prairie du Pont Creek which 
 flows out of the bluffs southeast of Cahokia and finds its way 
 across the Bottom and empties into the Mississippi just below 
 East Carondalet. This was built by the members of the St. 
 Sulpice mission which was a vigorous organization at Cahokia. 
 The village of Prairie du Pont grew up about this mill. 
 
 James Piggot, John Doyle, Robert Whitehead, and a Mr. Bowen 
 were soldiers with Colonel Clark in 1778. After the Revolution- 
 ary war was over they came to Kaskaskia to settle. Governor 
 Reynolds says Doyle was well versed in Indian and French and 
 frequently acted as interpreter. He taught school. 
 
 One of the most interesting ruins in the region of Kaskaskia 
 is what is known as the Old Riley Mill. This ruin is up the river 
 somewhat from a point opposite the site of Old Kaskaskia. The 
 bluffs are somewhat broken and through an opening in them a 
 small stream emerges. If one will follow an old road which 
 winds its way up this stream he will eventually come to a strange 
 stone structure much like an old bake oven, but considerably 
 larger. There are no placards indicating its use, and the visitor 
 may make his own interpretation. Following the winding road 
 a few hundred feet further and you come to the ruins of what 
 was once a very large and completely equipped grist mill. Pass 
 
262 • HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 the old ruins and go a few hundred yards further up the stream 
 and you are in the presence of a lake of moderate dimensions 
 called Riley's Lake. The lake is several feet above the mill seat 
 and the water if properly controlled would accumulate consid- 
 erable headway before reaching the mill. 
 
 There have been three distinct periods in the life of the mill. 
 Pax Paget (Prix Pagi) built a mill here as early as 1722. 
 Whether he made use of the lake for a headway is not known. 
 It was the closest mill to the village of Kaskaskia and without 
 doubt did a flourishing business. It is tradition that the mill 
 ground the flour with which the French troops at Fort Du Quesne 
 were supplied in the French and Indian war. Shortly after this 
 war, the Kickapoos, while on the war path came to this mill. 
 They murdered Pax Paget and his negro slaves, mutilated their 
 bodies and threw them into the grain hopper. 
 
 General John Edgar came into possession of the mill, greatly 
 enlarged it by building a stone basement, and on this stone 
 foundation erected a substantial wooden building. He conducted 
 it as a successful business till near the date of his death, 1832. 
 Later a Mr. Daniel Riley operated the mill till about 1855. After 
 this the mill seems to have gone into decay. When the writer 
 visited the ruins some few years ago the great frame work had 
 given way and was lying in ruins here and there. Many of the 
 beams and sills of oak twenty or more feet long and ten inches 
 square, seemed as sound as they were the day they were put 
 into the building. The great burstones, without doubt brought 
 from France, were lying among the rubbish. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 ILLINOIS * * * TERRITORY OF FIRST CLASS 
 
 Territorial Officials — The Legislative Body — A New 
 Method — Treaties With the Indians — Centers of Pop- 
 ulation — Indian Barbarities — Battle of Tippecanoe — 
 Forts and Blockhouses. 
 
 Not since the days of Col. John Todd had real government come 
 so close to the people of Illinois as appeared when the secretary 
 of the Illinois Territory arrived at Kaskaskia and began to name 
 officials who should carry out the laws which should be adopted 
 when the legislative body should assemble. 
 
 Territorial Officials 
 
 Nathaniel Pope, who had been named by President Madison 
 as secretary of the newly created Territory, arrived at Kaskaskia 
 on April 28, 1809. He immediately issued his proclamation es- 
 tablishing the Territorial Government. He reestablished the 
 counties of St. Clair and Randolph, giving them definite bound- 
 aries. He appointed John Hays sheriff of St. Clair county and 
 Benjamin Stephenson sheriff of Randolph County. Other 
 officers were appointed including coroners, clerks, and justices 
 of the peace. 
 
 Nathaniel Pope was a brother of John Pope, a United States 
 Senator from Kentucky, and later governor of Arkansas Terri- 
 tory. He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, 1784. He received a 
 classical education in Transylvania College, Lexington, Kentucky, 
 and later at St. Genevieve, Missouri ; he became very prominent 
 as a French scholar. He was named as secretary and assumed 
 the duties of that office at the age of twenty-five years. 
 
 Ninian Edwards was born in Maryland in 1775 and as a young 
 boy had the celebrated William Wirt as tutor. He afterwards 
 graduated from Dickinson College. At the age of nineteen he 
 came into Kentucky where he found friends in Henry Clay and 
 John Pope. He studied law and rose rapidly in his profession. 
 He was at the time of his appointment as governor of Illinois 
 Chief Justice of the Court of Appeals in Kentucky. "The Ed- 
 wards Papers," a large collection of letters written to or by him, 
 show his intimate relations with the great men of his day. Also 
 "Life and Times of Ninian Edwards" reveals his acquaintance 
 with public men of great prominence. 
 
 263 
 
264 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Governor Edwards was recommended to President Madison 
 by Judge Boyle of Kentucky, Henry Clay, and others. He arrived 
 at Kaskaskia June 11, 1809. He took the oath of office and 
 entered upon its duties. The people of Kaskaskia and Cahokia 
 who had favored division formulated a very courteous and re- 
 assuring address which was read to him at the inaugural 
 ceremonies. This address as has been said was presented by 
 those who favored division, and it was difficult for them to keep 
 this fact from showing in their public address. The governor 
 replied to the address in guarded language; yet he was bold to 
 say that his only motives would be those of one who looked upon 
 office as a public trust. He promised that in appointments to 
 office he should allow no system of favoritism to dictate selec- 
 tions. He declared a partisan, he would not be. He referred 
 to the hard fight which the people had gone through in securing 
 the separation of Illinois from Indiana, and said he deplored 
 these contentions as much as any man. "To promote the happi- 
 ness of the people and the prosperity of this country will always 
 engage my most earnest exertions." 
 
 The three judges originally appointed were Jesse B. Thomas, 
 Alexander Stuart, and Obadia Jones. Judge Stuart being trans- 
 ferred to Missouri, Stanley Griswold was appointed in his stead. 
 
 As an inducement to men of rank and ambition to accept office 
 in this wild country, the Government provided that the governor 
 should have 1,000 acres of land and each judge should have 500 
 acres to be selected by the officials wherever they wished to live. 
 Nathaniel Pope located in Kaskaskia. Governor Edwards se- 
 lected his land near Prairie du Rocher, as did also Jesse B. 
 Thomas. The governor brought slaves and herds of live stock to 
 his home which he called "Elvirade" in honor of his wife whose 
 name was Elvira. He of course spent much of his time at Kas- 
 kaskia and at the Salines near Equality. A law was passed by 
 Congress providing that the secretary of the treasury should 
 have charge of the United States salines. The secretary, Mr. 
 Gallatin, appointed Governor Edwards superintendent of the 
 salines in Illinois. He was authorized to make all contracts and 
 all rules and regulations governing the leasing of the salt works. 
 Details about the salines will begin in a succeeding chapter. 
 
 The Legislative Body 
 
 The first legislative session of the governor, and judges was 
 held June 16, 1809. Judge Thomas had not yet arrived because 
 of his duties as delegate from the Indiana Territory in the Con- 
 gress at Washington. The governor and Judges Sprigg and 
 Stuart, therefore made up the legislative body. It was the policy 
 of this legislative body to introduce no new laws. The laws of 
 the Indiana Territory, while it was a territory of the first and 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 265 
 
 the second class, were adopted. Governor Edwards was some- 
 what embarrassed in starting the new government for there were 
 still very bitter feelings remaining, over the fight for and against 
 the division of the territory. Those people who had favored 
 the division felt that those who had opposed division should not 
 be appointed to office in the new government. This situation 
 threatened to become troublesome especially in the organization 
 of the militia. 
 
 A New Method 
 
 Governor Edwards struck upon a happy alternative in the 
 matter of making appointments to office. He issued an order 
 that each company of militia should elect its own officers by 
 popular vote. Then these officers should elect the higher officers 
 of the military organization. The plan he thought ought to 
 result in the selection of good men, and by it also there ought to 
 be no hard feelings as each man who was a candidate for a 
 position must stand or fall upon his own merits. Governor 
 Edwards also introduced popular elections as the method of 
 choosing civil officers in the counties. It should be remembered 
 that the secretary, Nathaniel Pope, had made quite a few ap- 
 pointments to office before the governor arrived. These persons 
 were not disturbed in the positions to which they had been ap- 
 pointed. Governor Edwards left his work in Kentucky on rather 
 short notice and he was obliged to return to that state to adjust 
 some matters which others could not attend to. When he re- 
 turned he took up the matter of elections referred to above. 
 
 Treaties With the Indians 
 
 Governor Harrison had been very active in making treaties 
 with the Indians. In all- these treaties there were cessions of 
 lands to the United States. General Wayne had made the famous 
 Greenville treaty in August, 1795, with eleven distinct tribes liv- 
 ing in the Northwest Territory. In addition to this general 
 treaty with these eleven tribes, Governor Harrison had made six 
 distinct treaties with smaller groups of the same Indians be- 
 tween 1803 and 1809. In these seven treaties more than 40,000,- 
 000 acres of land had been ceded to the United States, most if not 
 all, lying within the limits of the Northwest Territory. These 
 treaties had cost the Government more than one and a quarter 
 million of dollars. Tecumseh claimed that all the Indians in 
 Indiana and Illinois were federated and therefore treaties were 
 not binding unless all the federated tribes should agree to the 
 terms of the treaty. In September, 1809, General Harrison made 
 a treaty at Fort Wayne, Indiana, with the Delawares, Pottawat- 
 tomies, Miamis, Kickapoos, Waas and Eel River Indians. In 
 this treaty a very large tract of land was ceded to the United 
 States, comprising about 3,000,000 acres in Western Indiana, 
 
266 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 lying east of the Wabash and including some of the territory- 
 claimed by Tecumseh as his hunting ground. His tribe, the 
 Shawnees, did not participate in this treaty and Tecumseh de- 
 nounced it as an unjust and illegal agreement. He immediately 
 began planning vengeance on the whites. There had been very 
 great dissatisfaction among the natives since the first of the 
 treaties in 1803. The Indians believed that their lands had been 
 bartered away and that they saw themselves fast losing their 
 once productive hunting grounds. Tecumseh and his brother, 
 the prophet, began to fan the smoldering embers of dissatisfac- 
 tion and revolt. 
 
 Tecumseh was a man of extraordinary parts. His father was 
 a Shawnee and his mother was an Ottawa woman. He possessed 
 the confidence of the Indians of the Northwest and was not un- 
 known as a great warrior in distant parts of the country- His 
 brother, the prophet, was a man of some education and was 
 greatly under the influence of the British in Canada. Tecumseh 
 was a crafty statesman. He planned to organize the Indians into 
 a great confederacy whose purpose should be to make war upon 
 the whites and if possible drive them back over the Alleghany 
 Mountains. 
 
 The relations between the United States and Great Britain 
 were strained and war had been imminent for the past four or 
 five years. The nation was divided over the justification of war 
 and the President and his friends hesitated to enter into war 
 since they knew there was sectional opposition, but the conditions 
 were unbearable and war was finally declared. 
 
 Centers of Population 
 
 The infant territory of Illinois was in great danger in case 
 war should come. There were, as previously stated, about 12,000 
 people within the limits of the Territory, but they were greatly 
 scattered. The towns of Kaskaskia, Prairie Du Rocher, Cahokia 
 were the only places of any size. Other centers of population 
 were more on the order of neighborhoods than towns. Shawnee- 
 town had a couple dozen houses and probably as many as sixty 
 or seventy-five inhabitants. The salt works near the present 
 site of Equality was an industrial center. There were four or 
 five hundred people in this locality, many, maybe half, were free 
 negroes or indentured slaves. The place fluctuated as to popula- 
 tion. There were well defined routes of travel from the various 
 centers of population in Kentucky to the United States salines, 
 and these all centered at Shawneetown where there was a ferry 
 as early as 1801. This gave Shawneetown prominence. There 
 was also a considerable camp of the Shawnee Indians near the 
 town and this gave rise to some traffic at that place. 
 
 Golconda in Pope County was another crossing place on the 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 267 
 
 Ohio River and this naturally became a settlement in a very 
 early day. As early as the coming of George Rogers Clark, there 
 was a well known trail from Golconda to Kaskaskia. And in 
 1800 when Governor Reynolds came from Tennessee to Illinois 
 he crossed the Ohio at Golconda. He was then a lad of eleven 
 years and he says the trail was marked out by blazing trees and 
 then burning on the blazed surface, with hot iron, the number 
 of miles it was from Golconda and to Kaskaskia, At old Fort 
 Massac there were United States troops and in the vicinity there 
 were quite a few settlers. In what is now Johnson County there 
 were settlers in the western part of the county. The county was 
 organized in September, 1812, and the county seat was fixed at 
 the home of John Bradshaw, six miles northwest of the present 
 city of Vienna. The place was called Elvira, probably in honor 
 of the wife of Governor Edwards. This was only a short mile 
 west of the trail taken by George Rogers Clark from Indian Point 
 to Phelps Prairie. There were quite a few families about Elvira 
 at the breaking out of Indian hostilities in 1811. 
 
 Another center of settlement was at the present site of Mound 
 City. This settlement was some five or six miles above Cairo on 
 the Ohio River. There were four or five families there in 1810. 
 Due north of the present Mound City there was a village called 
 Wilkinsonville. The old maps give it, but its name must have 
 been changed as it appears to have been about where Wetaug 
 is today. At the most northerly bend of the Ohio at the most 
 easterly part of Pulaski County near the river was a fort in 1811 
 called Post Wilkins. On the Mississippi below the present town 
 of Thebes were several settlers. There were six grants of land 
 there supposed to have been made by the Spanish government 
 at the close of the French and Indian war. The author talked to 
 the Rev. Samuel Westbrook, who died in Eldorado, Illinois, a 
 few years ago at a very advanced age, about the War of 1812. 
 He said he was three years old and that his parents lived not far 
 from Goose Island, which lies opposite the Spanish grants. His 
 father had told him that the neighbors were able to keep on the 
 good side of the Indians in that region. 
 
 In 1804 seven brothers by the name of Jordan, John and 
 William Browning, Joseph Estes, and a Mr. Barbrey, came from 
 Smith County, Tennessee, and settled near the line between 
 Williamson and Franklin counties. It was known as the Jordan 
 Settlement. (Sometimes spelled Jourdan.) Thirty miles north 
 of the Jordan settlement there were two prairies called Moore's 
 Prairie and Jordan's Prairie. There were settlements in these 
 prairies. Williamson County had settlers in Phelps Prairie west 
 of Marion, in 1811. Settlers were scattered along the Big Muddy 
 in the northwest part of Williamson County. 
 
 White settlers were in Jackson County as early as 1802. Two 
 families, Reed and Jones, came from about Kaskaskia and settled 
 
268 
 
 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 on Reed's Creek, in the extreme western part of Jackson County. 
 In 1805 William Boone settled at the mouth of Degognia Creek 
 which separates Jackson from Randolph. Quite a settlement 
 grew up here. By 1811 there were settlements all along the Big 
 Muddy in Jackson County. A ferry was established on the Mis- 
 sissippi at the Devil's Backbone in 1805. It was owned and 
 managed by Col. James Gill, who came from South Carolina. 
 
 The New Design settlements had grown in numbers, and in 
 1811 had spread to surrounding territory. The settlements along 
 the Bottoms from Prairie du Rocher to Cahokia had increased, 
 and so had the settlements in the region east of Cahokia in St. 
 Clair County. 
 
 AN OLD-TIME RESIDENCE NEAR PINCKNEYVILLE, BUILT IN 1S08 
 
 There was an important neighborhood of hardy settlers about 
 eight miles north and a little east of Belleville, known as the 
 Ridge Prairie settlement. Just a few miles west of north of 
 the present city of Belleville there was another settlement known 
 as the Badgeley's Settlement. Then just south and a little east 
 there was a settlement where in after years a Mr. Stookey lived. 
 These settlements were well peopled by 1811. The site of the 
 present city of Belleville was not laid out till 1814. The settle- 
 ment called Goshen was just under the bluffs some four and a 
 half or five miles south and a little west of Edwardsville. The 
 region was explored as early as 1799 by the Rev. David Badgley 
 and others, and called Goshen on account of the richness of the 
 soil and the great abundance and luxuriance of the vegetation. 
 The settlement which afterwards was called Goshen was made 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 269 
 
 by one Ephriam Conner in 1800. In 1801 Colonel Samuel Judy- 
 purchased Conner's interests and lived there many years before 
 his death. Colonel Judy's father, Jacob, was a pioneer, a native 
 of Switzerland, who migrated to the United States about the 
 time of the Revolutionary war. He moved from Maryland to 
 Louisville, Kentucky, thence to Kaskaskia, thence to New De- 
 sign, and thence to Madison, where he died in 1807. The Goshen 
 settlement never took on the form of a town, but it was an 
 important social and religious center. A company of hardy 
 pioneers who had settled in other neighborhoods farther south, 
 came to the Goshen settlement in 1802 and another group in 
 1803. By 1811 this Goshen settlement was scattered for several 
 miles around the original center. There were enough people to 
 furnish a company in the War of 1812. 
 
 East of Edwardsville in Shoal Creek there were settlements 
 in the vicinity of Greenville. The Indians were greatly feared 
 in this region and two forts were erected which will be located 
 later. Scattering settlements were to be found about Alton and 
 around the mouth of the Illinois River. No more settlements 
 were to be found toward the north till Peoria was reached. To 
 the east of Peoria were the Indian villages of the Kickapoos. 
 There were a few scattering settlers along the Mississippi in 
 the vicinity of the present city of Warsaw. Near Vincennes 
 on the Illinois side of the Wabash, Americans had built homes 
 before the beginning of the nineteenth century. In fact all along 
 the Wabash from Vincennes to Shawneetown the country was 
 sparsely occupied. 
 
 The great middle portion of the state was unoccupied by white 
 people. In the northwest part of the state in the vicinity of 
 the lead mines there were quite a few people engaged in the 
 mining of lead. There were two or three houses in Chicago 
 in 1811, besides those occupied by the United States troops sta- 
 tioned in old Fort Dearborn. White people were to be found 
 also in the region of Prairie du Chein. 
 
 Indian Barbarities 
 
 To show how the Indians produced the greatest consternation 
 in these settlements wherever they appeared, let us enumerate 
 some of the cruel butcheries of the Indians in the various parts 
 of the Illinois Territory up to the early stages of the War of 
 1812. In July, 1810, a band of Pottawattomies returning from 
 Western Missouri, stole property from citizens living on the 
 Missouri River toward its mouth. The whites pursued them and 
 when near the mouth of the Illinois were attacked by the Indians 
 who killed four of the whites. The Pottawattomies lived in 
 Illinois Territory and the governor of Missouri made a demand 
 on Governor Edwards for the arrest and punishment of the In- 
 
270 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 dians. Governor Edwards made demands upon Gomo, chief of 
 the Pottawattomies, and a long and fruitless diplomatic inter- 
 course ensued. In this intercourse it developed that the Indians 
 were being urged to commit depredations upon the whites in 
 Indiana and Illinois, and that the British were furnishing arms 
 and ammunition. 
 
 On June 2, 1811, the Indians murdered a young man by the 
 name of Cox whose parents lived on Shoal Creek in Bond County. 
 His sister was carried away into captivity but later made her 
 escape though badly wounded. 
 
 On the 20th of June a Mr. Price was treacherously slain near 
 the present site of Alton. He was a relative of the Whitesides. 
 One Indian approached him, laid down his gun and offered to 
 shake hands. Price thinking the Indian was friendly took his 
 hand. The Indian held him firmly while other Indians brutally 
 attacked and killed him. 
 
 Other murders occurred in the region about Belleville, Ed- 
 wardsville, and Greenville. It appeared that in all these murders 
 the bodies of the whites were horribly mutilated. A large mass- 
 meeting was held in St. Clair County and resolutions were form- 
 ulated and forwarded to the governor and to the President of 
 the United States. 
 
 In the summer and fall of 1811, there were many speeches 
 exchanged between Governor Edwards and the Indians. But 
 murders were reported from the vicinity of Fort Madison. Later 
 during the war two whole families were butchered near the 
 present city of Mound City. Four whites were slain in what is 
 now Washington County in the summer of 1813. In 1812 Andrew 
 Moore and his son were killed in the vicinity of Mount Vernon. 
 Barbara Jourdan was killed at Jourdan's Fort in 1812. 
 
 In the vicinity of Wood River near Alton, Mrs. Reagan and 
 six children were murdered in the early part of 1814. Near the 
 Village of Aveston near the Jourdan Fort, murders were com- 
 mitted in the early part of this ante-war period. 
 
 It has been previously explained that Tecumseh had organized 
 all the Indians in the Northwest into a confederation, and set 
 up the theory that one tribe could not alienate any of its lands 
 without the consent of the council of headmen from all the 
 tribes. In 1809, General Harrison entered into a treaty with the 
 Kickapoos in which treaty the Kickapoos ceded 38,000 acres to 
 the general Government. Tecumseh argued that this was an 
 illegal cession and demanded of Governor Harrison that he se- 
 cure its recession. There were serious clashes between the In- 
 dians and the whites in Western Indiana. 
 
 In October, 1811, Governor Harrison was constructing a small 
 fort where Terre Haute stands. One of the guards was mur- 
 dered by Indians. Governor Harrison looked upon this and other 
 warlike acts as a sufficient cause for war. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 271 
 
 Battle of Tippecanoe 
 
 In 1808 Tecumseh and his brother, the Prophet, built a village 
 on the Tippecanoe River toward its mouth. Here he made head- 
 quarters and secured the confederation previously spoken of. 
 After the Kickapoo cession, Tecumseh was very busy visiting 
 the Indians in the Northwest and inciting them to open war 
 against the whites. At the same time the British along the 
 lakes were very active urging the Indians to unite to oppose the 
 further encroachments of the Americans. 
 
 In the summer of 1811 Tecumseh took twelve of his most 
 trusty warriors and went south to secure the assistance of the 
 Indians in the region south of the Tennessee. Tecumseh passed 
 through the portion of Williamson County where Marion, the 
 county seat, is now located. He went south along the trail 
 through Phelps Prairie where he met John Phelps after whom 
 the prairie was named. Phelps talked to Tecumseh and after- 
 wards told the early settlers of his interview with the great 
 chieftain. Tecumseh did not return to the region of the Wabash 
 till after the battle of the Tippecanoe. 
 
 In the fall of 1811, Governor Harrison raised an army of 800 
 whites and about 500 Indians. The whites came chiefly from 
 Indiana and Kentucky. There were no military organizations 
 from Illinois, but there were several citizens of Illinois in the 
 expedition to the Tippecanoe country headed by Governor Harri- 
 son. Among those from Illinois was Col. Isaac White, who was 
 government agent at the United States salines near Equality. 
 Colonel White was a friend of Governor Harrison and accom- 
 panied him to the battle. He was unfortunately killed in the 
 battle. 
 
 It is probable that Governor Harrison hoped to evade a contest 
 of arms when he went north with his army. When he reached 
 the vicinity of the camps of the Indians, he sent forward word 
 that he should be glad to confer with a representative of the 
 chief. A conference was held and Harrison was told that on 
 the morrow further steps would be taken to establish permanent 
 friendship between the whites and the Indians. That night Har- 
 rison's men slept with their loaded guns at their sides. About 
 4 o'clock the whites were aroused by a furious onslaught upon 
 them. It was exceedingly fortunate that Harrison had taken 
 the precaution to have his men sleep upon their arms. The con- 
 flict raged into the early morning, and resulted in a victory for 
 the whites. The Prophet was at a safe distance from the battle 
 on a hill overlooking the battlefield. He engaged in all forms of 
 mysterious incantations. When told that the bullets of the 
 whites were killing his braves, he told them to continue the 
 contest as it would soon change. The actual leaders of the battle 
 were chiefs of the tribes who had gathered at this point in 
 
272 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 answer to the call of Tecumseh and his brother. The names of 
 three of these chiefs were — White Coon, Stone Eater, and Winne- 
 mac. 
 
 The losses were large for so short a time. The Americans 
 lost, killed in action, thirty-five; died from wounds, twenty-five; 
 wounded, 128. The Indians left thirty-eight dead on the battle- 
 field. The town was burned, crops destroyed, and the place 
 rendered unfit for a capital of the confederation. When Tecumseh 
 returned from the south he was much cast down upon realizing 
 the extent of the crushing blow which Governor Harrison had 
 dealt his warriors. Tecumseh proceeded to Canada where he 
 joined the British in the war which was then just beginning 
 between Great Britain and the United States. 
 
 The victory which General Harrison won over the Indians 
 in the Battle of Tippecanoe, marked him as a great commander 
 in border warfare. In this battle he commanded 250 United 
 States regulars, some 600 or 700 militiamen, and a few hundred 
 Indians. He returned to Vincennes and made his report to the 
 President of the United Etates. 
 
 Forts and Blockhouses 
 
 We have digressed from the story of Illinois to recount the 
 incidents of the battle of Tippecanoe, for the purpose of empha- 
 sizing the conditions which Illinois must face in a year or so. 
 From the standpoint of the United States Government, the 
 problem in the Northwest was the same everywhere regardless 
 of the boundary line of states. 
 
 Governor Edwards was commissioned as governor of the Ter- 
 ritory of Illinois on April 24, 1809. He arrived at Kaskaskia on 
 June 11, 1809. The first task was the organization of the civil 
 machinery for the preservation of life and the protection of 
 property. There had been bitter feelings and one death over the 
 separation of Illinois from Indiana. There was rivalry between 
 the factions which had taken part in the separation fight, over 
 the appointments which the governor was authorized to make. 
 This bad spirit the new chief executive wished to pacify. He 
 frankly told them he would favor no factions. In taking a 
 strong stand for harmony he won the respect and support of all 
 factions. But he was in office only a few months when the war 
 clouds began to gather. Bands of Indians began to roam over 
 the country and became an evil omen to the quiet pioneers every- 
 where. The governor early put the proper interpretation into 
 the darkening clouds. He secured some help from the general 
 Government, but relied largely upon the resources of the ter- 
 ritory. There was one simple thing that could be done every- 
 where — that was to construct substantial defenses — forts and 
 blockhouses. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 273 
 
 The blockhouses of the War of 1812 did not differ from the 
 blockhouses which the colonists erected in New England and 
 the middle sections of the old thirteen colonies. It was usually 
 a square log house reaching some eight or nine feet to the sec- 
 ond story. This second story was built so as to project over the 
 first story three or four feet. The second story was usually low, 
 possibly not more than five feet high around the sides of the 
 building. It was covered with clapboards. A strong oak door 
 with crude pioneer lock would withstand the attacks of strong 
 hands from without. Portholes were arranged and the fort 
 provided with supplies of food and ammunition. The problem 
 of securing water for those within the fort, or blockhouse, was 
 sometimes difficult of solution. In most cases the timber or at 
 least the underbrush was cleared away for a considerable dis- 
 tance on all sides of the blockhouse. This would prevent the 
 Indians from coming too close, and also gave an unobstructed 
 view from the defense in all directions. 
 
 One form of fort consisted in erecting at each of the four 
 corners of a square, a blockhouse similar to the one described 
 above, and then building a palisade some twelve feet high in 
 the four spaces reaching from one house to another. The area 
 enclosed with often quite large, and there were frequently sheds 
 or other shelters within the enclosure. 
 
 The blockhouses were often used as homes but the palisaded 
 forts were used only in emergencies. The larger structures 
 were built by the neighborhood and in case of real danger, the 
 whole people moved in taking the stock and other belongings. 
 The author well remembers listening to the recital of the har- 
 rowing days of 1812 by an old lady, Mrs. Medusa Piper, who 
 lived near Kaskaskia, and who said she had many times sought 
 safety within the blockhouse or the palisade. 
 
 No maps in the histories which have previously been pub- 
 lished show all the "forts" as they were usually called. As the 
 country was settled up these structures were torn down or used 
 for other purposes and the place where they stood is actually 
 forgotten. Of course the site of old Fort Dearborn was marked 
 by the buildings themselves till late in the last century. It was 
 first built in 1803 and was very noted by 1812. It was a palisade 
 with a sort of blockhouse at one corner and with barracks, and 
 officers' quarters within. It stood on the south side of the Chi- 
 cago River a few hundred yards from its mouth. 
 
 The site of old Fort Massac has been preserved. This fort 
 was on the Ohio River one mile above the City of Metropolis, 
 the county seat of Massac County. It was an earth embank- 
 ment of rectangular form enclosing probably one-fourth of an 
 acre. At the four corners of the fort bastions were constructed 
 after the form common among the French in the early days in 
 the New World. There may have been a palisade erected on 
 
274 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 the earth work as without it the earth walls could have been 
 easily scaled. The old earth walls and bastions are well pre- 
 served and the state has purchased more than a hundred acres 
 upon which it has erected a keeper's home. The Daughters of 
 the American Revolution were instrumental in preserving the 
 grounds and fort, and in erecting a monument in side the fort 
 outline. 
 
 Old Fort Chartres was of no value in the War of 1812, as 
 it had been abandoned in 1772 and was overgrown with trees, 
 underbrush, and vines. The southwest wall had been under- 
 mined by the river, and the whole situation was one of desola- 
 tion. It was four miles northwest of the present village of 
 Prairie du Rocher, in Randolph County. Fort Russell was a 
 wooden structure built by Governor Edwards about one and a 
 half miles northwest of Edwardsville. It has been difficult to 
 get a description from anyone in that vicinity and difficult 
 to find a written description. Two or more cannons were 
 brought to Fort Russell from the ruins of Fort Chartres, and 
 were later the playthings of the young boys in that neighbor- 
 hood. It is reported that a junk dealer passed one day and 
 offered to buy one of the cannons from the boys. They agreed 
 on a price and the junk dealer carried away a precious relic of 
 the days of Louis XIV. 
 
 Then there was Fort St. Louis on Starved Rock. This fort 
 was abandoned in 1700 by Tonti, and it is doubtful whether it 
 was occupied in the early days of the eighteenth century, at 
 least in a military way. The settlements at the foot of the 
 rock were flourishing in the early part of that century, but 
 in 1718 the fort proper was burned and the place was evidently 
 no longer used for military purposes. 
 
 The lower Wabash was guarded in the War of 1812 by as 
 many as five temporary forts and blockhouses. One known 
 as Fort La Motte was located in what is now Crawford County, 
 a little south of east of Robinson, the county seat, near the 
 Wabash River. It was built in 1813. South of Fort La Motte 
 was a blockhouse, or fort, in the northern edge of Lawrence 
 County. Fort Sackville was of course east of the Wabash, at 
 Vincennes, but it too served as protection to Illinois. It was 
 built there by the French in the early part of the eighteenth 
 century. It was the famous fort captured by George Rogers 
 Clark in 1778. Just north of Vincennes was Fort Knox built 
 in 1788. This fort was also in the Indiana Territory. 
 
 Lower down on the Wabash River, and in the territory ad- 
 jacent thereto was Skillet Fork Fort. This was in White County 
 and was in the forks of the Little Wabash and Skillet Fork 
 Creek, a few miles north of Carmi. Further south, in Saline 
 County was a fort whose ruins impress the traveler of today. 
 It is a few miles east of the village of Stone Fort on the Big 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 275 
 
 Four Railroad. This fort was discovered by the surveyors who 
 laid off Illinois into townships, and back of this we so far know 
 nothing of the fort. Mr. A. L. Kelley of the village of Stone 
 Fort is having the Spanish Archives at Seville, Spain, searched 
 for the origin of this fort on the theory that it is of Spanish 
 origin. It was constructed of broken stones of considerable 
 size, and enclosed probably one-eighth of an acre. The walls 
 were about eight feet high and were well built. The stones 
 were brought from the valley below to the top of a bluff some 
 sixty-five feet above the valley. The walls are somewhat dilap- 
 idated — people having rolled the stones down the bluff for 
 amusement. This fort, known as Stone Fort, was probably 
 used or held ready for use in the days of the war. It is on the 
 old Indian trail from Golconda to Kaskaskia. 
 
 There were no defenses about Shawneetown which at this 
 time was a village of some twenty or more cabins together with 
 two brick buildings. Other blockhouses were built in what is 
 now Hardin and Pope, but their location cannot be established. 
 On the big bend of the Ohio in the eastern part of Pulaski 
 County was a fort called Post Wilkins which was built about the 
 year 1800. 
 
 But it was in the present vicinity of Williamson and Frank- 
 lin counties that fort building was carried on with the greatest 
 interest. In 1804 seven Jordan brothers settled in Franklin 
 County. One of them a short time afterwards moved south a 
 few miles which brought him within the present County of 
 Williamson. Here he built a fort by erecting a strong stockade 
 enclosing an acre of ground. Inside the stockade were several 
 cabins and a well. This fort appears just on the line between 
 Franklin and Williamson. Another fort was built south a few 
 miles of the city of Benton, the present county seat of Franklin 
 County. This second fort was known as Frankfort and eventu- 
 ally grew into the thriving city of that name today. On the 
 Big Muddy, in the extreme northwestern corner of Williamson 
 County, there was a blockhouse built by the early settlers. Her- 
 rin's Prairie was settled in 1811 but it is said the Indians were 
 so threatening that the first settler, one Hibbins, was obliged to 
 seek safety where there were more settlers. In 1802 the Shaw- 
 nees and Kaskaskias fought a desperate battle near the Big 
 Muddy and the blockhouse was afterwards built near if not 
 on the battlefield. Ruffin Harrison, now deceased, who lived in 
 Herrin said he remembered the blockhouse well. Another fort 
 was built in the edge of Phelps Prairie south and west of Ma- 
 rion, the date is fixed at 1811. There were no blockhouses or 
 forts in Union and Jackson; but in what is now Randolph and 
 Monroe counties there were several defenses constructed. Prob- 
 ably old Fort Gage was not in use at this time. The buildings 
 of that fort were burned, so Captain Pittman says, in October, 
 
276 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 1766, and there is no information which would justify our 
 saying that the fort was ever rebuilt. The old earthworks are 
 very much like those at Fort Massac. The dimensions being 
 about 300 by 250 feet. Between Kaskaskia and Old Cahokia 
 there were several defenses constructed. 
 
 The New Design and Bellefontaine were protected by a fort 
 from the earliest times. These settlements were just south of 
 Waterloo, and were begun as early as 1786. On Fountaine Creek 
 in the American Bottom there was a fort. This was built as 
 early as 1790. There was a fort known as Piggott's Fort a 
 short distance south of Cahokia. Whiteside's Station was a 
 fortified home which was built by William Whiteside, some 
 miles north of Waterloo. On Silver Creek east of the present 
 East St. Louis there was what was called Chambers Fort. It 
 was not far from Lebanon on the edge of Looking Glass Prairie. 
 Jones Fort and Hill's Fort were on Shoal Creek east of Ed- 
 wardsville. In Clinton County there was a blockhouse near 
 Carlyle; also one near Troy in Madison County. Governor 
 Reynolds tells about building a fort on Wood River near Alton. 
 A fort was constructed near the mouth of the Illinois River, and 
 another was built about thirty miles above the mouth of the 
 Illinois on the peninsula between the Illinois and the Missis- 
 sippi. This was built by Maj. John Campbell of the United 
 States Army while he was on a march toward the northwest 
 portion of Illinois. Fort Edward and Fort Johnson were built 
 in 1814. They were in Hancock County. Fort Clark was erect- 
 ed in 1813 on the present site of Peoria. Without doubt many 
 other defenses were erected and served a good purpose whose 
 history has not been recorded. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 THE WAR OF 1812 
 
 Causes of the War — Loss of Detroit — The Rangers — The 
 Fort Dearborn Massacre: — The Illinois Campaigns — 
 Captain Craig at Peoria — The Governor Invades the 
 Enemy's Country — The Campaign of 1813 — Atrocities 
 Continue — Treaties. 
 
 War between two countries may often exist without a formal 
 declaration. The people of the United States were in war with 
 the subjects and allies of Great Britain for more than a year 
 before a declaration of war was passed by the American Con- 
 gress. While there may not have been any formal alliance 
 between the Indians of the regions west of the Alleghanies and 
 the British Government in Canada, there was to all intents and 
 purposes an alliance which was as effective as ever existed 
 between any two governments. The Indians and the British of 
 Canada were, during the latter part of 1810 and through 1811, 
 in open hostility toward the whites in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. 
 The declaration of war was not passed by Congress without a 
 contest. As a party, the democrats were for the war, while the 
 old federalist party was opposed. We are not particularly in- 
 terested in the causes of the war only to discover what way 
 the people of the Illinois Territory were involved in the causes 
 and the results. 
 
 War was declared in June, 1812. The President sent a war 
 message to the Congress on June 1, 1812. In this message he 
 reviewed the relations between the United States and Great 
 Britain and summed up the causes of war. 
 
 Causes of the War 
 
 The President showed that the following policies which Great 
 Britain had sustained toward the United States constituted a 
 sufficient cause of war. 
 
 1. The impressment of American seamen. 
 
 2. Patroling of our Atlantic Coast with armed vessels to 
 prevent our merchantmen from enjoying the freedom of the 
 sea. 
 
 3. Interfering with our commerce on the high seas. 
 
 4. Encouraging the Indians to attack our settlers on the 
 western frontier; for furnishing these savages with guns, am- 
 munition, and other supplies. 
 
 277 
 
278 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 The President's message was carefully considered in Con- 
 gress behind closed doors and when the final vote was taken on 
 the resolution declaring war, in the House it stood: for, 79 
 against, 49. In the Senate the vote stood : for, 19 ; against, 13. 
 It passed the Senate on the 17th of June, 1812, and the Presi- 
 dent signed it the same day, and two days later, June 19, 1812, 
 the President issued his declaration of war. The resolution was 
 as follows: 
 
 "Be it enacted, etc., That war be, and the same is hereby de- 
 clared to exist between the United Kingdom of Great Britain 
 and Ireland, and the dependencies thereof, and the United States 
 of America and their territories ; and that the President of the 
 United States is hereby authorized to use the whole land and 
 naval force of the United States to carry the same into effect, 
 and to issue to private armed vessels of the United States, com- 
 missions, or letters of marque, and general reprisal, in such 
 form as he shall think proper, and under the seal of the United 
 States, against the vessels, goods, and effects of the government 
 of the said United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and 
 the subjects thereof." 
 
 It has been intimated that a state of war existed in the re- 
 gions northwest of the Ohio for more than a year prior to the 
 above action taken by the Congress of the United States. The 
 declaration of war was soon known in this western country and 
 war was then entered into with renewed determination. It has 
 already been shown that blockhouses and forts were built pretty 
 generally over - Southern Illinois. The governor had given en- 
 couragement to the organization of local companies of militia. 
 These early military companies were not under the command of 
 the governor, but were volunteer organizations. The line sep- 
 arating the settled from the unsettled parts of the state might 
 be traced as follows : From the mouth of the Illinois River 
 eastward through Alton, thence to Fort Russell, near Edwards- 
 ville, and from there northeast through the north side of Bond 
 County. The line then dipped southeast to where Salem, Marion 
 County, is, thence into Wayne County, thence northeast through 
 Richland and Lawrence, through Crawford and Clark counties 
 to the Indiana line. Nearly all the 12,000 whites lived south of 
 this line and the Indians held high carnival north of this line. 
 
 Loss of Detroit 
 
 When war was declared, there were ten regiments in the 
 United States military establishment, but the actual number of 
 men was less than 5,000. A large part of these were stationed 
 in the West in various forts not to exceed a hundred men in 
 some of them. The strategic position in the West was Detroit 
 at the west end of Lake Erie. Gen. William Hull, a Revolu- 
 tionary soldier was territorial governor of Michigan, and by 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 279 
 
 virtue of his experience and his position as governor was held 
 responsible for the defense of Detroit. He commanded prob- 
 ably 1,000 men. He was ordered to cross Detroit River and 
 capture Fort Maiden and then to sweep up the peninsula and 
 join other forces from Niagara and thus overrun Canada. He 
 crossed into Canada and besieged Fort Maiden, but gave up the 
 siege and returned to Detroit. General Brock was hastening to 
 prevent Hull's invasion of Canada and with an army of 1,000 
 he crossed the Detroit River above the city and ordered the 
 surrender of the fort, the town of Detroit, and all of the Terri- 
 tory of Michigan. Hull complied August 16, 1812. Mackinaw 
 was previously surrendered, July 17, and thus the whole of 
 Michigan was lost and Indiana and Illinois were exposed. 
 
 General Hull justified his surrender on the ground that his 
 supply of provisions were very limited; that Mackinaw had 
 surrendered, and that the British forces from that direction 
 would be free to attack him from the north. That there was 
 no hope of relief from Niagara, and that if he should resist the 
 siege and later be compelled to surrender, that his army and 
 the 800 people of the town would appease the Indians with 
 their lives. 
 
 The Rangers 
 
 In the summer of 1812 Congress passed a law creating a 
 regiment of ten companies of rangers in the West. It was put 
 in command of Col. William Russell, an Indian fighter from 
 Kentucky. The several companies were to be made up of the 
 hardy pioneers of the several localities where their services were 
 most needed. Four companies were allotted to Illinois. These 
 were organized under Captains Wm. B. Whiteside, James B. 
 Moore, Jacob Short, and Samuel Whiteside. These rangers 
 furnished their own horses, provision, equipment and served 
 for $1 a day. Two companies were organized in Missouri, and 
 four companies were to be organized in Kentucky. The regi- 
 ment was to be known as the Seventeenth. Independent com- 
 panies of rangers were also organized. Three or four com- 
 panies were recruited on the Wabash and on the Ohio about 
 Shawneetown. They were under Captains Willis Hargrave, 
 Wm. McHenry, Nathaniel Journey, and Thomas Craig. Capt. 
 Wm. Boone, an early settler on the Big Muddy River, organized 
 a company in the present limits of Jackson County. A company 
 was organized as early as 1809 in St. Clair County. Abram 
 Clark was the captain. As the war proceeded the governor 
 authorized the formation of additional companies. During the 
 early part of the Indian troubles, local military forces were 
 active in defense of Illinois ; there were as many as three dif- 
 ferent regiments organized. At different times there were 
 changes in the officers of the regiments and companies, and 
 thus it appears from the rosters that there were more officers 
 
280 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 than were needed for the three regiments. At one time Col. 
 Michael Jones commanded the First Regiment; Col. William 
 Whiteside commanded the Second Regiment; Col. Isaac White, 
 the Third. After war was declared in the summer of 1812, 
 the governor reorganized his military forces and there were 
 four regiments. The earlier commissioned officers resigned and 
 younger men were promoted, and new enlistments gave a new 
 membership to the regiments and companies. The new organ- 
 izations were maintained till the close of the war, but the in- 
 dividual make-up changed very greatly from time to time. 
 
 The Fort Dearborn Massacre 
 
 The reports of United States troops in the several stations 
 in the Illinois Territory, including Vincennes and Fort Madison 
 were as follows; Fort Massac, on the Ohio River, 36; Fort 
 Madison, across the Mississippi from Nauvoo, 44; Vincennes 
 and vicinity, 117; Fort Dearborn, 53. Total, 250. These reg- 
 ulars did little of the real task of defending the remotely settled 
 parts of the country. That task was left to the militia com- 
 panies and to the volunteer rangers. 
 
 General Hull surrendered Detroit on August 16, 1812. On 
 the 7th of August, Captain Heald received an order from Gen- 
 eral Hull to evacuate Fort Dearborn and proceed to Fort Wayne. 
 This information was soon noised abroad. The officers under 
 Captain Heald as well as John Kinzie, the Government Indian 
 agent, advised against abandoning Fort Dearborn, since Gen- 
 eral Hull had given Captain Heald discretion in the matter. The 
 Indians were gathering about Fort Dearborn in large numbers 
 and were hostile in their attitude. At the same time they were 
 very persistent in taking liberties about the fort. The friendly 
 Indian, Winnemac, who brought the order from General Hull, 
 knew the hostile intentions of the Indians. He, John Kinzie, 
 and Lieutenant Helm all advised against giving up the fort. 
 But Captain Heald seemed to lack decision and for three or four 
 days after receiving the order from General Hull halted be- 
 tween two opinions. The friendly Indian suggested that if it 
 were Heald's intention to abandon the fort to do so at once 
 and with all haste. But he argued that with the supply of pro- 
 vision and ammunition with which the fort was supplied that 
 a siege of six months could be withstood. 
 
 When Mr. Kinzie and the officers in the fort say they could 
 not prevail on Captain Heald to remain in the fort they with- 
 drew their counsel and conferred only among themselves and 
 awaited the fateful day. The soldiers became restless and in- 
 subordinate. The Indians soon became aware of the conditions 
 at the fort. They gathered in larger numbers from the sur- 
 rounding territory. Captain Heald was told that the friendly 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 281 
 
 relations which he thought obtained between the garrison and 
 the Indians was reduced to the frailest ties. The good offices 
 of John Kinzie and his family was all that stood between the 
 Americans and their treacherous neighbors. It was pointed out 
 that their retreat from the fort would be slow as he was deter- 
 mined to take certain provisions and then there were women 
 and children to be provided for. 
 
 Word had been received by the Indians from Tecumseh that 
 Michilimackinac had been surrendered to the British, that Gen- 
 eral Hull was retreating from Canada, and that without doubt 
 he would be forced to surrender Detroit. They were advised to 
 hold themselves under arms ready for any emergency. 
 
 On August 12, Captain Heald called a conference of the chiefs 
 and prominent whites who were about the fort. It was the 
 purpose to devise ways and means which would enable Captain 
 Heald to conduct his garrison to Fort Wayne in safety. It has 
 been stated that the subordinate officers did not attend as they 
 did not want to share the responsibility for what might happen. 
 On the contrary they remained at the fort and when the council 
 had assembled, the officers and soldiers opened the port holes 
 and ran into position the loaded cannon where they could be 
 seen by the Indians at the council, and it is believed that this 
 action on the part of those in the fort is the only thing that 
 prevented a massacre while the council was in session. In 
 this council Captain Heald revealed his determination to leave 
 the fort. He promised the Indians present that he would leave 
 the Government stores in the fort and that they might be di- 
 vided among the Indians. There was also a quantity of storesi 
 in the Indian agency in charge of Mr. Kinzie, these, too, were 
 promised the Indians. In return the Indians promised to give 
 him an escort of friendly warriors to accompany him to Fort 
 Wayne, Indiana. 
 
 There was within the fort a quantity of liquor, ammunition, 
 and food. Mr. Kinzie was perfectly familiar with the Indian 
 character. He knew a fatal mistake had been made, and that 
 it was probably too late to remedy it. Captain Heald, after 
 he had left the council and returned to the fort, seemed to 
 realize the dilemma in which he now found himself. Here Cap- 
 tain Heald seemed to come to his senses and desired very much 
 to undo some things he had done, but he had adopted a policy 
 against the wise counsel of Mr. Kinzie and his own officers. 
 However, the policy was to be reversed. It was decided that 
 all liquor should be poured out, the guns broken to pieces and 
 the powder thrown into the river, except what was to be taken 
 with them on the march to Fort Wayne. A part of this changed 
 program was carried out, that is the goods within the fort, and 
 in the warehouse at the Kinzie home, were distributed among 
 
282 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 the Indians. These goods consisted of blankets, broadcloths, 
 calicoes, paints, and other articles. There was no liquor, nor 
 guns, nor powder, .and the Indians were greatly disappointed. 
 
 The night following the distribution of the goods, the gar- 
 rison was busy destroying the surplus guns, amunition, and the 
 liquors. The Indians were very indignant and they hung about 
 the fort and crawled in the grass and discovered what was going 
 on. They even crawled along the edge of the Chicago River 
 and drank the water which carried the whisky toward the lake. 
 It has been thought that the chiefs among the Pottawattomies 
 felt themselves strong enough to restrain their warriors from 
 deeds of violence. But when they learned that the guns, pow- 
 der and whisky had been destroyed, they expressed grave doubts 
 as to their ability to longer hold their young men in check. 
 Winnemac, who brought the order from General Hull to Captain 
 Heald, was a Pottawattomie chief. He had kept from the In- 
 dians some news as to the situation in Michigan which he thought 
 would render the warriors more unmanageable. 
 
 Another of the Pottawattomie chiefs was Black Partridge, 
 who wore suspended from his neck a medal which had been 
 given to him by President Madison for services rendered in 
 maintaining friendly relations between the Indians and the 
 whites in the Western territory. He saw that his people had 
 murder in their hearts and he so reported to Captain Heald. 
 This chief came to the fort and in an interview with Captain 
 Heald said: "Father, I come to deliver up to you the medal I 
 wear. It was given to me by the Americans, and I have long 
 worn it in token of our mutual friendship. But our young men 
 are resolved to imbrue their hands in the blood of the whites. 
 I can not restrain them, and I will not wear a token of peace 
 while I am compelled to act as an enemy." 
 
 On the 14th of August there arrived at the fort Captain Wil- 
 liam Wells with a force of thirty friendly Miamis. He had come 
 in all haste from Fort Wayne when he heard that Fort Dearborn 
 was in distress. Captain Wells was an uncle of Mrs. Heald, and 
 an officer of marked distinction. The arrival of Captain Wells 
 was hailed with a sigh of relief by the weary garrison. All 
 through the day of the 14th preparations were in progress for 
 the departure on the morning of the 15th. Each man was given 
 twenty-five rounds of ammunition. The wagons were in readi- 
 ness for the departure. 
 
 On the morning of the 15th of August the people were all 
 astir making ready for the fateful march which by order of the 
 commanding officer should begin at 9 o'clock. Mr. Kinzie, the 
 Government Indian agent, had agreed to march with the soldiers, 
 as he felt that he could be of service to the whites in case there 
 might arise trouble along the way. Mrs. Kinzie, with her four 
 young children, were to go by boat along the southerly bend of 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 283 
 
 Lake Michigan to the mouth of the St. Joseph River. She was 
 to be accompanied by a nurse, a clerk in Mr. Kinzie's office, two 
 servants, the boatmen and two Indians who were to give protec- 
 tion to Mrs. Kinzie and her little company. Mr. Kinzie was told 
 by a friendly Indian that he ought to accompany Mrs. Kinzie 
 in the boat, as the garrison would be attacked by the Indian 
 escort which was made up of 500 Pottawattomies. But Mr. 
 Kinzie felt that his place was with the soldiers. 
 
 All was breathless expectation as at 9 o'clock Captain Wells, 
 with his face blackened, at the head of a part of his Miami band 
 rode forward. Next in line were twelve militiamen, followed 
 by the regulars. Next came the wagons carrying the camp 
 equipage, food, women, children, and the sick. Bringing up the 
 rear were Miami Indians, Mrs. Heald, and Mrs. Helm. A few 
 musicians played a dead march. The Indian escort was sup- 
 posed to bring up the rear, but they moved to the right as they 
 marched southward and were hidden from the garrison by sand 
 hills. They had reached what is now Fourteenth Street, two 
 blocks south of the Illinois Central Station, when Captain Wells, 
 who was in front, discovered the savages to his right making 
 ready to attack the little army. He rode back to the main body 
 of soldiers and reported what he had observed. Captain Heald 
 marched his men west 200 or 300 yards to the sand hills, where 
 they came in view of the Indians. The Indians attacked them 
 furiously. Captain Heald ordered his men to return the fire, 
 whereupon the savages retreated, some to the north and some 
 to the south. They then flanked the little army, and Captain 
 Heald says that in fifteen minutes the savages had possession of 
 the horses and wagons. The Miamis were so completely taken 
 by surprise that they fled and rendered no assistance. Captain 
 Heald, with his soldiers, took his stand on an elevation somewhat 
 distant from the scene of the first attack, where he later sur- 
 rendered. The Indians who flanked the soldiers then attacked 
 the women, children, the sick, and the wounded. When the 
 massacre was over there were twenty-six regulars, twelve 
 militiamen, two women, twelve children, Ensign George Ronan, 
 Dr. Isaac V. VanVoorhis and Capt. William Wells dead upon 
 the field of carnage. Captain Heald, Lieutenant Helm, twenty- 
 five regulars, and eleven women and children were taken pris- 
 oners. The prisoners were scattered among the different tribes. 
 Many died of wounds, some actually starved and some were 
 killed for various reasons and some lived through the great trial. 
 The boat which contained Mrs. Kinzie was overtaken at the 
 mouth of the Chicago River and brought back to the fort. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Kinzie, with their family, were allowed to return to 
 their home, across the Chicago River opposite the fort. Here 
 Mrs. Captain Heald was ministered to, she having been severely 
 wounded. 
 
284 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 On the 16th of August the Indians set fire to the fort and 
 soon afterwards scattered in different directions. Some of the 
 prisoners were held for ransom and some were released. Cap- 
 tain and Mrs. Heald were taken to St. Joseph's River, where 
 they were left with a sister of charity. From here they went 
 to Mackinaw, thence to Buffalo. The bones of those killed at the 
 massacre lay on the sandy beach some four years, when they 
 were gathered up by some soldiers stationed at the new Fort 
 Dearborn and buried close to the fort. The bones in later years 
 were buried in a cemetery. 
 
 The details of this horrible tragedy have been written by Mrs. 
 Helm, wife of Captain Helm. She was the stepdaughter of Mr. 
 Kinzie. Mrs. Helm was in the thickest of the massacre. She 
 was struck with a tomahawk and was severely wounded. She 
 grappled with the Indian who struck her, but she was rescued by 
 Black Partridge, who dragged her to the lake and immersed her 
 in the water, allowing her face to remain exposed. By this she 
 knew he wished to save her life. She was required to remain in 
 the water till the conflict was over. She was then taken back to 
 the Chicago River and in a measure ministered unto. Her story 
 of the many incidents is too heart-rending to repeat. 
 
 The Illinois Campaigns 
 
 In the spring and early summer of 1812 Governor Edwards 
 was very busy organizing his troops and gathering supplies 
 preparatory to the campaigns which he later conducted through 
 the central part of the state. 
 
 There seemed to be a troublesome nest of Indians and French 
 gathered about the Peoria Lake. They were reported to be 
 engaged in seditious conduct. The Indians occupied the territory 
 east, and all along the Illinois River from Peoria toward Chi- 
 cago. It was understood by Governor Edwards that many of 
 the Indian raids were planned by the whites who lived in Peoria. 
 
 The governor gathered all his available militia forces at Camp 
 Russell in the early fall of 1812, with the purpose of leading an 
 expedition into the enemy's country on the upper Illinois River. 
 The total number of troops gathered at Camp Russell was not to 
 exceed 400. These included six companies of United States 
 Rangers under the command of Col. William Russell of Ken- 
 tucky. The volunteer troops were divided into two regiments, 
 commanded by Col. Elias Rector and Col. Benjamin Stephenson. 
 There were majors and captains to the number of ten or twelve. 
 There were two or three independent units, one under Capt. 
 Samuel Judy, consisting of twenty-one men recruited from the 
 neighborhood of Goshen, near Edwardsville. 
 
 This expedition into Central Illinois was what might be called 
 mounted infantry. Each soldier furnished his own horse, and 
 was directed to prepare twenty days' rations which should be 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 285 
 
 packed on his horse. There were no wagons to be taken on the 
 march. It was expected that the horses would secure their prov- 
 ender from the grasses of the prairies. The little army took 
 up its line of march on the 18th of October, 1812. 
 
 Captain Craig at Peoria 
 
 Before the little army took up its departure from Camp Rus- 
 sell the governor detached Capt. Thomas E. Craig, of Shawnee- 
 town, from the main command and ordered him to take charge 
 of two boats and proceed to Peoria, where he was to remain till 
 the overland expedition reached that vicinity. One of the boats 
 was well supplied with provisions, ammunition, guns and other 
 military supplies. The other carried tools and implements for 
 the construction of forts. There were enough men properly to 
 guard the boats and even to take the initiative in case of neces- 
 sity. Captain Craig was given considerable discretion as to the 
 course he should pursue when he should reach Peoria. 
 
 Captain Craig landed at Peoria on the 5th of November, 1812, 
 and left the place on the 9th. In his report to the governor, 
 made December 10th, 1812, he describes somewhat in detail the 
 incidents of this expedition. He claimed that the homes in the 
 town were deserted. He took out of the homes some furniture 
 and other things that pleased his fancy, and justified it because 
 the whites were at war with the Indians, and the whites of 
 Peoria were helping the Indians. 
 
 The morning of the 6th there appeared in the village Thomas 
 Forsyth, a secret agent of the Government, whose employment 
 as an agent was not known to the Indians. Captain Craig be- 
 lieved that Forsyth was the instigator of the opposition of the 
 Peorians to the United States and to Illinois. Mr. Forsyth could 
 not reveal his real attitude to Captain Craig, and was obliged to 
 submit to arrest and to indignities at the hands of Captain 
 Craig. Forsyth claimed the goods which Captain Craig had 
 taken, and Captain Craig affirmed in his report that he gave up 
 most of them. Captain Craig burned most of the village, includ- 
 ing the fine home of Lecroix. He then forced the people who 
 remained in the village on his boats and returned to near Alton. 
 He visited Camp Russell and, not finding Governor Edwards, he 
 left a letter for him as follows : 
 
 Camp Russell, Nov. 16, 1812. 
 
 Dear Sir: This comes to inform you that I arrived last eve- 
 ning from Peoria, and am at a loss to know what to do, as I have 
 a number of the inhabitants of that place as prisoners with me, 
 and a considerable quantity of property of different Sioux chiefs. 
 I wish very much to see you or to hear from you as soon as 
 possible. I am, dear sir, 
 
 Your most obdt. 
 
 Governor Edwards. Thos - E - Crai £- 
 
286 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Captain Craig discharged his prisoners on the east bank of 
 the Mississippi opposite the mouth of the Missouri River. There 
 were few if any settlers in that locality and these refugees suf- 
 fered great hardships in reaching St. Louis, where they were 
 cared for. There were about seventy-five of them — men, women, 
 and children. Some of them were able to return to their homes 
 before the spring of 1813, among them Mr. Forsyth, the Gov- 
 ernment secret agent. Captain Craig says in his report: "I 
 burned down about half of the town of Peoria," and among the 
 houses burned was a very fine house built by Lecroix. It was 
 elegantly furnished, and from it, while burning, the soldiers 
 under the direction of Captain Craig, took valuable articles 
 which were brought back by Captain Craig. 
 
 The Governor Invades the Enemy's Country 
 
 It was stated above that Governor Edwards left Camp Russell 
 on the 18th of October, 1812. An account of this expedition 
 was written by Governor John Reynolds in 1855 and published 
 in his history, "My Own Times." This account has been the 
 source of most of the descriptions which have been written, and 
 I shall give a free interpretation of the details as given by Gov- 
 ernor Reynolds. In the fall of 1812 John Reynolds was a young 
 man twenty-three years old. He had just returned from his law 
 studies in Knoxville, Tennessee. He joined Captain Judy's spy 
 company and accompanied the governor on his invasion of the 
 Indian country. The army marched up into the present County 
 of Macoupin and on north, crossing the Sangamon a few miles 
 east of Springfield. Thence to Elkhart Grove and thence to a 
 Pottawattomie village, which they found deserted. They burned 
 the wigwams and proceeded to the village of the Black Part- 
 ridge, on the Illinois River, at the upper end of Lake Peoria. 
 They approached within five miles of the village and camped for 
 the night. Governor Reynolds says in his account of this night 
 that the soldiers were nervous, and that they slept with their 
 loaded guns at their sides. The horses remained saddled, and 
 tied very near the owners' places on the ground. They all 
 thought of the possibility of the repetition of the battle of Tip- 
 pecanoe. 
 
 On the morrow the army moved closer to the Indian village. 
 They approached its immediate vicinity to find that the men, 
 women, and children had just taken their departure. The 
 militiamen fell upon the deserted village and soon wrecked the 
 cabins. The fleeing savages were pursued and several of their 
 number killed. The army did not remain long at this point. It 
 was the general plan that General Hopkins, with 2,000 Ken- 
 tuckians, was to join with Governer Edwards' expedition at 
 Peoria Lake for an invasion of the more northern parts of the 
 state. General Hopkins was a veteran of the Revolution and 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 287 
 
 had been sent to Vincennes to organize his army, most of the 
 members of which were from Kentucky. This expedition left 
 Vincennes early in October, 1812, and proceeded up the Wabash. 
 When out from Vincennes a few days, the army rebelled against 
 going further, and after conferences and voting, the army was 
 headed back to Vincennes. Among the officers in this small 
 army was Capt. Zachary Taylor. 
 
 When Governor Edwards could hear nothing of General Hop- 
 kins' army, he- decided to stay no longer in the vicinity of Peoria 
 Lake, and the army under the governor's command returned to 
 Camp Russell, where they arrived the 1st of November, having 
 been gone thirteen days. It appears from the account of Gov- 
 ernor Reynolds that the militiamen were not mustered out, but 
 were given leave of absence, and they returned to their homes. 
 
 The military campaigns in Illinois in the summer of 1812 
 were not very successful. The friends of the governor, in jus- 
 tifying his activities for this year, argued that the Indians were 
 held in check and even severely punished. That the militia had 
 had quite a lot of real experiences, that the loss to the Indians in 
 the number killed, the villages burned, the crops destroyed, had 
 been a sufficient punishment for their depredations in the years 
 1810 and 1811. Notwithstanding the severe treatment which 
 the Indians received at the hands of the whites during the sum- 
 mer of 1812, they still continued to commit all kinds of horrid 
 atrocities in the winter of 1812-13. It was reported that thir- 
 teen whites were killed in the early spring of 1813. While these 
 whites were thus being sacrificed, the governor was planning 
 extensive campaigns for the summer of 1813. It was the gov- 
 ernor's policy to leave his people who remained with the "stuff" 
 well protected. Looking to that end, he ordered all blockhouses 
 and forts to be repaired and to be carefully guarded during the 
 absence of the active military forces. 
 
 The military operations for the summer of 1813 were under 
 the direction of General Benjamin Howard, a former governor 
 of the Missouri Territory. Troops were assembled from Mis- 
 souri, Illinois, Indiana, and some from Kentucky. All the Illi- 
 nois troops were organized in one regiment under the command 
 of Col. Benjamin Stephenson. There were two majors, W. B. 
 Whiteside and John Moredeck. Joseph Philips, Samuel Judy, 
 Nathaniel Journey, and Samuel Whiteside were captains. The 
 Illinois troops assembled at Camp Russell. The destination was 
 Peoria. Gomo, the most active chief among the Illinois Indians, 
 lived just above Peoria. 
 
 The Illinois troops were to co-operate with the Missouri 
 troops. They were to unite somewhere near the present city of 
 Quincy. The Missouri troops consisted of one regiment, com- 
 manded by Colonel McNair, afterwards governor of the State of 
 Missouri. The two regiments after joining early in the fall 
 marched over on the Illinois in the vicinity of Peoria. The 
 
288 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 troops cut logs and built Fort Clark. The United States Regu- 
 lars and the Indians had a small engagement near Peoria Lake 
 before the command of General Howard arrived. In November 
 the army was ordered back to their respective states. The Illi- 
 nois troops arrived at Camp Russell on October 22, and were 
 sent to their homes for the winter. There were many murders 
 committed by the red savages in the spring of 1814. 
 
 Atrocities Continue 
 
 The military operations of 1814 differed from those of the 
 two preceding summers. The success of the United States on 
 Lake Erie, the recapture of Detroit, and the glorious victory of 
 General Harrison in the battle of the Thames, in which Tecum- 
 seh was killed, all combined to drive the Indians further west, 
 and they gathered in great numbers on the upper Mississippi. 
 Their defeats and losses were humiliating, and with the en- 
 couragement of the British they nerved themselves to more 
 savage butcheries than ever before. From the regions in the 
 western part of Wisconsin, bands of the various tribes made 
 their way to the thickly settled parts of Southern Illinois and 
 committed all forms of crimes. One of the most regrettable 
 of these crimes was the murder of a Mrs. Reagan and her six 
 children on Wood River, east of Alton, in July, 1814. The sav- 
 ages were pursued into the Sangamon country, where the leader 
 was killed. The Rangers rendered valuable service in protecting 
 the settlements from greater danger. 
 
 The general in command in this western area, General How- 
 ard, was absent from his post in the summer of 1814, and leader- 
 ship fell to Governor William Clark of St. Louis. He organized 
 a flotilla of barges to carry an expedition by water from St. 
 Louis to the center of the Indian camps about Prairie du Chien. 
 This naval expedition left St. Louis about the first of May, 1814. 
 There were five armed barges, carrying 200 soldiers. On the 
 approach of the armed barges, the Indians scattered and their 
 camps were occupied about Prairie du Chien by the soldiers. A 
 fort was built and named Fort Shelby. Governor Clark re- 
 turned to St. Louis and while he was away the Indians and 
 British came across Wisconsin from Green Bay, surprised and 
 captured a part of Governor Clark's army. The soldiers were 
 paroled and the British and Indians took possession of the fort 
 and warehouses. The barges were still in possession of Gov- 
 exmor Clark's soldiers. These were reenforced by more than a 
 hundred soldiers sent to their relief from St. Louis in three 
 barges under command of Lieutenant Campbell. 
 
 Above Rock Island Lieutenant Campbell's vessel was run 
 ashore, where it was boarded by Indians and set on fire. Many 
 of Lieutenant Campbell's men were killed, Campbell himself was 
 wounded. The other two boats, under command of Captains 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 289 
 
 Riggs and Rector, were farther up the stream. When they 
 became aware of the situation they came to the rescue of Lieu- 
 tenant Campbell. Captain Rector succeeded in getting the men 
 off of Campbell's boat, but Campbell's boat and Captain Riggs' 
 boat were taken and plundered by the Indians. Captain Rector 
 reached St. Louis with his cargo of human freight. Governor 
 Reynolds says the soldiers who came back with Captain Rector 
 were a distressing sight. They were worn down to skeletons 
 and were fit only for the hospital. 
 
 The British and Indians were gathering about Rock Island and 
 Prairie du Chien in large numbers. They were well armed and 
 had six field pieces of artillery. Against such a force the small 
 expeditions that we had sent up to that locality were unable to 
 cope. But another expedition was planned. 
 
 Maj. Zachary Taylor, later to win great glory in the Mexican 
 war and to serve a short time as President of the United States, 
 was appointed to command a third expedition up the Mississippi. 
 Early in the fall of 1814 he sailed from St. Louis with eight 
 barges and 450 men. Forty were regulars and the rest Rangers 
 and volunteers. The prime purpose of this third expedition was 
 to build and maintain a fort of considerable pretensions in the 
 heart of the Indian country. Near the mouth of Rock River the 
 boats encountered Indians, cannon, and British Red Coats. 
 Major Taylor engaged the Indians on a small island and while 
 so engaged his own boats were subjected to a very destructive 
 bombardment from the British cannon stationed along the shore 
 of the river. Major Taylor made good his retreat and came 
 down the Mississippi to about where Warsaw, Hancock County, 
 is, and there built Fort Edwards. Here the expedition lingered 
 for several weeks, when they returned to St. Louis and the 
 volunteer soldiers were discharged, October 18, 1814. 
 
 Treaties 
 
 The war was officially ended by the Treaty of Ghent, December 
 24, 1814. The Indians were held in check by the fact that the 
 British had made peace with the United States, though treaties 
 with the Indians were not made till July, 1815. The President 
 appointed Governor William Clark, Governor Ninian Edwards, 
 and Hon. Augusta Chouteau to make treaties with the leading 
 Indian tribes that had been allied with the British in the War of 
 1812. The American commissioners and the representatives of 
 two or three of the tribes in the Northwest agreed to the basis 
 of a future treaty in July, 1815. The following year this treaty 
 with slight modifications was formally signed by representatives 
 of most of the tribes, including the Ottawas, Chippewas, and the 
 Pottawattomies. Other treaties were signed with the Waas, 
 Peorias, and Illinois. In the treaty of 1816 the Indians ceded 
 1,418,400 acres of land, chiefly in Illinois. In two treaties made 
 in 1818, 17,886,280 acres of land were ceded to the United States. 
 
 12V1 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 ILLINOIS A TERRITORY OF THE SECOND CLASS 
 
 Illinois a First Class Territory — The Legislature Organ- 
 ized — Some Early Laws — Land Titles — Delegate in 
 Congress — Preemption Laws — Shadrach Bond — In- 
 creased Immigration — Civil Administration — Banks — 
 Cairo 
 
 The Ordinance of 1787 provided for the government of the 
 territory northwest of the Ohio River until it should be admitted 
 into the Federal Union as individual states. 
 
 Illinois a First Class Territory 
 
 In 1809 Illinois Territory was separated from Indiana Terri- 
 tory. The territory which was subject to the jurisdiction of the 
 authority of the government to be established therein was all 
 that region north of the Ohio River, east of the Mississippi, and 
 west of the Wabash River and a line running due north from 
 Vincennes to the boundary between the United States and the 
 Territory of Canada. When the Act of Separation was passed, 
 February 3, 1809, Illinois became a territory of the first class — 
 having a governor, three judges and a secretary. In the original 
 Ordinance of 1787, 5,000 legal voters were necessary before the 
 territory could pass from the first class to the second class. In 
 the ordinance as revised by the first Congress under the Con- 
 stitution, the territory might pass to a second class when a 
 majority of the voters expressed themselves favorable to such 
 action, "Notwithstanding there may not be therein 5,000 free 
 male inhabitants of the age of twenty-one years and upwards." 
 In the "Life of Governor Edwards," he is made to say that "he 
 chose to be guided by a deliberate expression of the will of the 
 people." But Governor Edwards was a politician, and just what 
 the motives were which caused him to desire that the territory 
 should pass to the second class will not be easily judged. On 
 March 14, 1812, he called an election the first Monday in April, 
 at which the people should express their wish relative to a 
 change from a first class to a second class territory. 
 
 The Ordinance of 1787, which provided the basis for the gov- 
 ernment in this territory, provided that the governor must own 
 1,000 acres of land; the judges, secretary and members of the 
 Upper House of the legislative body should own 500 acres each ; 
 representatives must own 200 acres of land ; the last straw that 
 
 290 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 291 
 
 broke the camel's back reads: "That a freehold of fifty acres 
 of land in the district" was necessary for the privilege of the 
 franchise. Out of 12,000 inhabitants which were in Illinois in 
 1812, 2,000 of them were twenty-one or over, and had the proper 
 age requirement for voting, but it was very likely that not more 
 than 400 of the 2,000 owned the necessary amount of land which 
 was required in order to be able to vote. 
 
 It therefore fell out that on the day set for voting on whether 
 Illinois should pass to a territory of the second class, that only 
 about 300 votes were cast on the question. A very large majority 
 of the votes, however, favored the change to a territory of the 
 second class. Word was conveyed to Congress, which on May 
 21, 1812, raised the territory to the second class. The require- 
 ment that a voter must be a landholder was abolished. 
 
 By reason of the military operations in the summer of 1812, 
 described in the preceding chapter, the governor was too greatly 
 interested to give any time to other matters. But on September 
 14th, 1812, the governor issued a proclamation creating three 
 new counties, Madison, Gallatin, and Johnson. These three new 
 counties, together with St. Clair and Randolph, made five coun- 
 ties. The County of Madison included all of Illinois Territory 
 north of an east and west line which was an eastward extension 
 of the present boundary line between St. Clair and Madison. 
 The house of Thomas Kirkpatrick was made the county seat of 
 Madison County; the Village of Shawneetown was to be the 
 county seat of Gallatin County ; and tne house of John Bradshaw 
 was to be the seat of justice for Johnson County. On tne same 
 day, September 16th, the governor by another proclamation 
 called an election for the 8th of October, 1812, for the election 
 of members of the Legislature and a delegate in Congress. This 
 election was held when the people were in the midst of a war 
 and there was no great amount of interest in the choice of 
 officials. 
 
 Five members of the Upper House, the Council, were chosen 
 as follows : "Pierre Menard, merchant, from Randolph County ; 
 William Biggs, farmer, from St. Clair County; Samuel Judy, 
 farmer, from Madison County ; Thomas Furgeson, from Johnson 
 County; and Benjamin Talbot, from Gallatin County." The 
 members elected to the House of Representatives were as fol- 
 lows: From Randolph County, Dr. George Fisher was chosen; 
 Joshua Oglesgy, a Methodist minister, and Jacob Short, a 
 farmer, were chosen from St. Clair County; William Jones, a 
 Baptist minister, was selected from Madison County; Colonel 
 Philip Trammel, a Ranger, and Alexander Wilson, a tavern- 
 keeper, were chosen from Gallatin County ; and John Grammar, 
 farmer, from Johnson County. At this same election Shadrach 
 Bond was chosen as a delegate to sit in Congress. 
 
 The newly elected Legislature met at Kaskaskia, November 
 
292 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 25th, 1812, and organized for legislative work by choosing Pierre 
 Menard as presiding officer of the council, and John Thomas 
 as secretary. In the House of Representatives, Dr. George 
 Fisher was elected speaker, and William C. Greenup was elected 
 clerk. Governor Reynolds says the entire Legislature of twelve 
 men all boarded at the same house and slept in the same room. 
 
 When this legislative body assembled, the governor delivered 
 his message, a document of some 4,000 words. The chief topic 
 was of course war. He incorporated considerable European his- 
 tory in his message, and gave minute details of military opera- 
 tions in the present war. He characterized the Indians, and 
 concluded that the final necessity would be the conquest of 
 Canada. He paid a tribute to Colonel Russell of the Ranger 
 regiment, recommended some needed laws, and ended by saying : 
 "In the meantime I beg leave to assure you of my readiness to 
 afford you every facility to the discharge of your duties, and of 
 my sincere desire to cooperate cordially with you in all measures 
 calculated to promote the public good." The Legislature formu- 
 lated a short reply to the governor's message, in which they 
 praised him for his wisdom in handling the problems of the ter- 
 ritory and expressed the wish that "You may long continue to 
 enjoy the confidence of your country, and with it health and 
 happiness." 
 
 Some Early Laws 
 
 After the preliminaries were over the Legislature took up 
 the matter of providing laws for the territory. A bill was pre- 
 sented providing for the creation of courts of various grades, 
 and also an act to provide a more efficient military organization. 
 Much of the time of the Legislature was taken up in providing 
 for the military operations in which the territory was engaged. 
 All general laws in operation while Illinois was a part of Indiana 
 Territory, as well as the laws which were in force in Illinois 
 while it was a first class territory, were adopted for Illinois as a 
 territory of the second class. Some of the laws will be of in- 
 terest at this time. 
 
 Whipping on the bare back for felonies and misdemeanors was 
 a common form of punishment. Confinement in the stocks or 
 standing in the pillory was often the punishment for minor 
 offenses. Branding with hot irons was not an uncommon method 
 of judicial punishment. Fines and loss of citizenship were com- 
 mon. There was no penitentiary, and jails were not common. 
 Imprisonments were often made in private homes or in other 
 private rooms. In whipping, as a form of punishment for 
 offenses, it was customary to bare the back, and the number 
 of lashes ranged from ten to 500, according to the seriousness 
 of the offense. In the case of fines as a form of punishment, if 
 the officers were unable to collect the amount named in the deci- 
 sion of the court, the offender's time could be sold and he was 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 293 
 
 required to work at hard labor so many days in lieu of money 
 payment. In treason and murder, the penalty of death by hang- 
 ing was named as the punishment. Hanging was the punish- 
 ment also for arson and rape. 
 
 In the matter of the collection of debts the principles of the old 
 common law were applied. The creditor was usually favored. 
 All the property of the debtor was subject to seizure for the 
 satisfaction of debts. There were no exemptions as now. There 
 were cases in which the person of the creditor could be seized 
 and cast into prison. 
 
 One of the problems before the Legislature was the question 
 of raising money for the support of the Government. There 
 was no way to raise a revenue except by some form of taxation. 
 This would include tax on lands, on personal property, and a poll 
 tax. The bottom lands of the Mississippi, the Ohio, and the 
 Wabash were taxed at the rate of $1.00 per 100 acres. The up- 
 lands were not considered as valuable as the bottom lands and 
 were charged 75 cents per 100 acres. All the money raised by 
 taxation of lands went to the support of the territorial Govern- 
 ment, while the county expenses were met by a tax on personal 
 property. There was a poll tax of $1.00 per head on men owning 
 $200 worth of taxable property. There was also a system of 
 licenses collected on certain occupations and businesses. Stuve 
 reports the amount of taxes actually collected in the three years 
 1812, 1813, 1814, as being $4,875.45. The amount actually paid 
 to the proper officers to be expended was $2,516.89, the balance 
 remained in the hands of the delinquent collectors — a practice 
 the officials still find convenient. 
 
 Delegate in Congress 
 
 The revised ordinance provided that a territory of the second 
 class might have a delegate in Congress who should be elected 
 by the people. At the time of the election of the members of the 
 first territorial Legislature, a delegate was therefore selected 
 to represent the new territory in Congress. The choice fell on 
 Mr. Shadrach Bond, a pioneer of the Illinois country. Mr. Bond 
 was a Marylander, born November, 1773. He was a farmer and 
 received only a limited education. He emigrated to Illinois as 
 early as 1794. His uncle, Shadrach Bond, Sr., James Moore, 
 and others had settled near the present city of Waterloo and in 
 the American Bottoms near, as early as 1781. To this settlement 
 Shadrach Bond, Jr., came from his Maryland home. He took 
 an interest in public affairs, and was a member of the Legisla- 
 ture of Indiana Territory in 1807. In 1809 he was an aid to 
 the governor with the title of lieutenant colonel commanding. 
 His election as Illinois' first delegate in Congress was by common 
 consent. He was well liked and was considered a man of supe- 
 rior natural attainments. 
 
294 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 This position of delegate, was not, in those days, a position 
 that most men would take any great trouble to secure. It was 
 of course an honor to be chosen as the delegate from any terri- 
 tory to sit in Congress. But only those who had means and 
 leisure could afford to accept such positions. It was a journey 
 from Kaskaskia to Washington of many days. The mode of 
 travel was usually on horseback. The pay was eight dollars a 
 day during the session with some allowance for travel, etc. In 
 1813 Washington was a new town in the woods on the Potomac, 
 and the accommodations were of course very meager. It is said 
 that men did not so much desire the office of delegate to Congress 
 as they desired the opportunity to secure appointments to better 
 positions in the Government service. At least Mr. Bond was 
 appointed to a receivership in the land office at Kaskaskia before 
 he returned from Washington. 
 
 Land Titles 
 
 Nothing has been more troublesome for those in authority, 
 both in the national and in the territorial governments, than the 
 confusing and overlapping claims to lands within the limits of 
 Illinois. The French, between the years 1720 and 1763, made 
 many hundreds, if not thousands, of land grants within the pre- 
 ent state. Their grants were made along the Mississippi, the 
 Illinois, the Ohio, and the Wabash Rivers. Some of their grants 
 are found, however, scattered somewhat inland from these 
 streams. These grants were usually surveyed and platted, and 
 recorded, but in many cases the grants were difficult to locate. 
 The English authorities also made grants in nearly all the dif- 
 ferent states west of the Alleghanies. Many of these were not 
 definitely located, except in the mind of the one to whom the 
 grants were made. The grantee often made or caused to be 
 made a survey of his grant. This was before the rectangular 
 system of surveys was known, and the boundary lines followed 
 streams or lines running from one natural object to another. In 
 1778 Illinois fell into the possession of the State of Virginia. The 
 State of Virginia held Illinois from 1778 to 1784 when she ceded 
 her claims to western lands to the general government. During 
 the time Virginia held Illinois she made many grants to her 
 soldiers in the Northwest Territory. Many of these were not 
 definitely located. In 1788 the Congress made a ruling that the 
 United States would recognize all grants of land made by those 
 in authority previous to that time. The United States under 
 the articles and afterwards under the Constitution made grants 
 in this western country. 
 
 As early as the coming of John Todd in 1779, Virginia en- 
 deavored to bring about the establishment of the records of the 
 claims of the inhabitants of the French villages to land grants 
 
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296 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 under the French government. And again as early as 1790, 
 the governor of the Northwest Territory was authorized to ad- 
 just the conflicting land claims which were continually arising 
 in the regions over which he exercised control. This duty was 
 imposed upon all the governors of the Northwest Territory down 
 to 1804. In that year the President was authorized to appoint 
 commissioners of the land office who should sit as a sort of court 
 to adjust conflicting claims and to grant titles to disputed lands. 
 These commissioners and the governors of the territories worked 
 together to establish valid titles to the lands. It is claimed that 
 these conflicting claims in the Northwest Territory greatly re- 
 tarded the opening of the land offices for the sale of the public 
 lands. 
 
 Three land offices were established in 1804 ; one at Kaskaskia, 
 one at Vincennes, and one at Detroit. These land offices seem 
 not to have been established for the sale of public land to settlers, 
 but their chief work seems to have been a sort of clearing house 
 in which the validity of land titles should be determined. These 
 land claims were very difficult in many cases to establish, and 
 the sale of public lands to actual settlers was not begun till in 
 1814. Each land office was in charge of a register and a receiver 
 of public moneys. These two officials were the land commission- 
 ers of their respective districts. All persons claiming lands by 
 reason of any grant by any government were notified to appear 
 before the commissioners and present evidence of the genuineness 
 of their claims. If the commissioners found that any claim was 
 based on insufficient authority the claim became a part of the 
 national domain and was sold at auction. 
 
 Preemption Law 
 
 As early as 1781 some of George Rogers Clark's soldiers came 
 from Kentucky, the Carolinas, or other of the older states and 
 "squatted" on the public lands without any regard to the owner- 
 ship of the lands. Often these settlers would make improvements 
 which were of real value in that region. In 1790 James Piggott 
 and forty-five other settlers living between Kaskaskia and 
 Cahokia petitioned the Government for the right of preemption. 
 As a result of these and other petitions, Congress in 1791 passed 
 a law providing that each American head of a family should 
 have confirmed to him 400 acres of land provided he had settled 
 upon it as early as 1783. And, if having once settled and then 
 moved away, upon his return he should have his holding con- 
 firmed to him. This law was intended to bring back those 
 Americans who, because of dissatisfaction, had moved across the 
 Mississippi River. 
 
 In 1796 a small number of residents of Kaskaskia petitioned 
 Congress to be allowed to select their 400 acres in the prairie 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 297 
 
 lands east of the Kaskaskia River, as the law of 1791 required 
 their allotments to be located between the Kaskaskia and the 
 Mississippi. The petition was not granted. Other petitions 
 asking the right of preemption were presented but Congress 
 seemed to be averse to complying with these requests. Up to 
 1800 the smallest tract of land which the government offered for 
 sale in the Northwest Territory was 4,000 acres. 
 
 In 1799 William Henry Harrison was elected a delegate to 
 Congress from the Northwest Territory. "His first attention 
 was imperiously called to the subject of the public lands." At 
 that time emigration into the Northwest Territory was rapidly 
 increasing, but it was still hindered by the fact that poor people 
 could not buy land and the public knew that Congress was not 
 well disposed toward the principle of preemption. Mr. Harrison 
 secured recognition at once as a man of marked ability and as 
 one who was perfectly familiar with the needs of the people in 
 the Northwest Territory. He championed the cause of the poor 
 people by securing a law which reduced the minimum amount of 
 public lands to be bought at one-half section — 240 acres. An- 
 other master stroke was a law which placed the price at $2.00 
 per acre with the privilege of paying one-fourth down. The 
 balance was payable in future installments. We have already 
 called attention to the qualifications of the voters who partici- 
 pated in the election of 1812 when Illinois Territory passed from 
 a first class to a second class territory. Those only could vote 
 who owned 50 acres of land, and it will be remembered that only 
 about 400 voted out of a population of 12,000. There should be 
 2,500 voters in a population of 12,000 ; so there must have been 
 nearly 2,000 men — heads of families — who were "squatters" in 
 Illinois Territory in 1812. 
 
 Hundreds of settlers had been induced to come to Illinois 
 Territory from 1804 to 1812 by the fact that the general Gov- 
 ernment had established two land offices in Illinois Territory in 
 1804 — one at Shawneetown and one at Kaskaskia. From this 
 action of the general government the conclusion was easily 
 drawn that the unsold lands would soon be put on the market. 
 But in 1812 at the first meeting of the Legislature no land had 
 yet been put on the market. All these settlers, known as "squat- 
 ters," who had settled prior to 1813, were in danger of having 
 their lands taken from them. Many had been bold enough to 
 make improvements — dig wells, clear lands, build houses, fence 
 fields, plant orchards — many of them, in the nature of things, of 
 common interest in the neighborhood such as roads, bridges, 
 churches, burying grounds, and now and then a schoolhouse. 
 Without a preemption law — after the lands were placed on the 
 market — any one might go to the land office and buy a well im- 
 proved quarter section or a half section for which he would 
 receive a deed or patent signed by the President of the United 
 
298 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 States. The man who had made the improvements was helpless 
 before the law to protect the fruit of many years of hard labor, 
 and unless the purchaser was willing to concede something to 
 the "squatter" who had made all these improvements he must 
 lose all. These conditions and practices were intolerable and it 
 is indeed strange that anyone should come to Illinois Territory 
 and make improvements on Government land, when he ran the 
 risk of losing it all. 
 
 Shadrach Bond 
 
 Shadrach Bond, Jr., was a man of the common people. He 
 was thoroughly acquainted with their ambitions and their vir- 
 tues. He was intelligent, practical, honest. Reynolds says: 
 "He was educated in the wide world of the human family, and 
 his conscience and sound judgment were his unerring precep- 
 tors." He was by profession a farmer, a real "dirt farmer." 
 In his early life he was a member of the Territorial Legislature 
 which met at Vincennes. Here he won great praise from the 
 people for his faithful attention to the duties of his office. In 
 1812 when the Territory of Illinois was to choose a delegate to 
 sit in the Congress of the United States, Shadrach Bond was 
 the choice of the people. 
 
 "During his term as a delegate in Congress, he secured the 
 enactment of the first pre-emption law ever put upon the statute 
 books in the United States. This law will be better appreciated 
 when we understand the practices of frontier life. 
 
 The wave of immigration often traveled westward faster 
 than the surveys did. In such cases the settler never knew 
 just where his land would fall when the region was platted by 
 the surveyor. And again, after the surveyor had done his work 
 it often happened that the surveyed land was not placed on the 
 market for a number of years. The settler usually selected his 
 lands and made improvements with the expectation that he 
 would buy the land when it came on the market. Unprincipled 
 men would watch and would often step in ahead of the settler 
 at the land office and buy the improved land at Government 
 prices. This often resulted in violence and bloodshed." 
 
 Bond's pre-emption law recognized the equity which the set- 
 tler had in the land over and above the government price of the 
 land. If the settler selected a certain quarter section and made 
 improvements thereon he had the first chance to buy that quar- 
 ter section when it was placed on the market. If the settler did 
 not wish to buy the land and another wished to buy it, the 
 settler still had an equity in the improvements. 
 
 Increased Immigration 
 
 At the close of the War of 1812, there was a rapid increase in 
 the population of the Illinois Territory. The population of 
 Illinois in 1810 was 12,282; while in 1820 it was 55,162, an 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 299 
 
 increase of 42,880 or an increase of 450 per cent. This was an 
 increase of 4,288 for each of the ten years. But we must re- 
 member that from 1810 to 1815 there was slight increase on 
 account of the war. Probably more than 80 per cent of this 
 increase came between 1815 and 1820. 
 
 The forces of nature seldom work alone, and there is no ex- 
 planation of this increase in population that can be stated in 
 terms of a single cause. But just as we find a combination of 
 forces operating in the physical world to bring about certain 
 ends, so in the historical world there is often a union of forces 
 working harmoniously together to bring about certain desirable 
 ends. There were at least five influences at work which won- 
 derfully increased the population from 1815 to 1820 perhaps 
 to a later date. 
 
 First, there were the conditions of peace and security which 
 always prevail following the cessation of hostilities. From 1810 
 to 1815 there was being carried on a most distinctive form of 
 warfare. Neither life nor property was secure anywhere within 
 the- limits of the territory. This condition which was the lot 
 of those who lived in Illinois Territory at this time was known 
 throughout the older settled portions of the United States. There 
 was no desire along the seaboard to leave a quiet, peaceful life 
 to come into a new and war-ridden section such as prevailed in 
 the Illinois Territory. And while there were sections of the 
 older parts of the United States where the same unsettled con- 
 ditions prevailed as was found in the Illinois Territory, there 
 was no disposition in those older sections to "jump out of the 
 frying pan into the fire." But when the war closed and people 
 were free to give way to the spirit of adventure, there was 
 a steady movement toward the new west. 
 
 A second explanation of the rapid migration to the west is 
 to be found in the improved and increased means of travel which 
 the people found in 1815. The early emigrants from the older 
 settled portions of the country to the west found distressing con- 
 ditions, whether they came most of the way by water or by land. 
 If they came by way of the Ohio from Pittsburg in an early day, 
 the journey must be made in rudely constructed flat boats which 
 furnished little shelter for people — men, women, and children. 
 By 1815-20 the steam boat was a familiar object on the Ohio — 
 the first one coming down that stream in 1811. The overland 
 journey was much improved by 1815. Roads were definitely 
 marked out, bridges had been built, ferries established along the 
 streams, taverns were built along the main lines of travel, and 
 villages were beginning to appear. Taking into consideration 
 all the phases of traveling into a new country the conditions were 
 greatly improved. 
 
 The third thing to be considered was the policy of organizing 
 new counties in the Illinois Territory. The first county organized 
 
300 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 was St. Clair in 1790. In 1795 the south half of St. Clair was 
 organized into Randolph County. When the vote was to be taken 
 on whether the Illinois Territory would pass from a first class 
 to a second class, the governor created three new counties — Madi- 
 son, Gallatin, and Johnson. In 1814, Nov. 28, Edwards County 
 was created, and on December 9th, 1815, White County was laid 
 off and organized. Monroe was created January 6, 1816; Jack- 
 son County, January 10th; Pope County, January 10th; Craw- 
 ford County, December 31, 1816; Bond County, January 4, 1817; 
 Franklin, Union, Washington, January 2, 1818. These were the 
 fifteen counties which constituted the state when it was admitted 
 into the Union in 1818. The county seat town, in the American 
 state, is usually the largest and wealthiest town in the county. 
 It is usually located in the central part of the county and soon 
 becomes the center of political, social, and financial interests. It 
 turned out that the creation of thirteen new counties and the 
 location of their capitals between 1812 and the early part of 
 1818 gave great encouragement to the ambitious and aggressive 
 emigrants moving out of the "old thirteen" into the newer west. 
 Some of these counties were organized with no more than a 
 hundred or so of inhabitants. The county seat was often located 
 in some residence till the commissioners should determine where 
 it should be located permanently. It was desirable on the part 
 of the early settlers to get into a new county and take part in 
 the organization. There were offices to be filled and policies to 
 be initiated and these activities were alluring to the pioneers. 
 
 There was a fourth condition which tended greatly to the at- 
 tractiveness of Illinois just after the War of 1812. That was 
 the safety of life and property which was guaranteed in the 
 treaties which the government made with the Indians after the 
 war. The Indians were allied with the British in the war, and 
 suffered many defeats while the conflict was on. They were 
 driven from their villages, and their homes were destroyed. The 
 British made no special effort to safeguard the Indians' posses- 
 sions, and there was a feeling that the Indian had been abandoned 
 by his former ally. At least the Indians had learned that they 
 were losing from year to year in pursuing their former policies. 
 Treaties were therefore made between 1816 and 1820 in which 
 the Indians of the Illinois Country agreed to cede all their lands 
 east of the Mississippi, and to move west of the Mississippi 
 River just as soon as the whites should need the lands in Illinois 
 for actual settlement. It was felt everywhere that there was a 
 new and more hopeful outlook as to the problem of handling the 
 Indians after the War of 1812. This feeling was shared by the 
 people of the older states and the sentiment worked greatly to 
 the advantage of an increased emigration into the Illinois Terri- 
 tory. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 301 
 
 And lastly, nothing gave a more certain assurance of perma- 
 nency in the settling of the new lands in Illinois than the pre- 
 emption law which had been referred to. This law gave the 
 squatter a stake in the land he occupied. He could make im- 
 provements with the full assurance that all the labor he ex- 
 pended upon houses, barns, fences, orchards, cleared lands, etc., 
 was so much capital invested which could not be taken from him 
 without his consent. If he desired to hold his quarter section 
 when it came on the market he must be ready to pay the gov- 
 ernment price. But in any avent the land-claim-jumper could 
 not get something for nothing. 
 
 These five conditions favored the rapid settling of the west and 
 they are the explanation of the growth in population between 
 1812 and 1818. 
 
 Civil Administration 
 
 The passing of Illinois Territory from the first stage to the 
 second stage was without doubt an important event in the civil 
 affairs of the territory. In the early days of the territory there 
 was not a great amount of interest in the civil government. The 
 people were governed but they did not govern. There were two 
 fairly good reasons why the people were passive in the matter 
 of government. It must be remembered that a large part of the 
 people in Illinois Territory were of French descent. The French 
 were never a self-governing people. They were a passive people, 
 at least in questions relating to government. They had no popu- 
 lar meetings for the expression of public opinion, they held few 
 offices, and these only where routine was required. There was 
 another element in the population which had come into the terri- 
 tory from Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, the two Carolinas, and 
 Georgia. They of course were English, and had always lived 
 under English institutions, but they too were of a passive nature. 
 The form of local government in the "old thirteen" was entirely 
 different in the southern colonies from what it was in the north- 
 ern colonies. They never enjoyed the privilege of holding demo- 
 cratic gatherings for the determination of public questions. The 
 county officers were cared for by the county commissioners, while 
 the local affairs were largely under the control of the vestry of 
 the Episcopal churches. No school directors levied taxes in the 
 old slave states, no town meeting determined the rate of taxation 
 for the raising of the poor fund, nor were the few local officials 
 elected at popular elections. The appointing power lay with the 
 governor or with the "county courts." 
 
 The peculiar characteristics of the government for territories 
 of the first class are therefore easily explained when we remem- 
 ber that fewer than a score of members sat in the Continental 
 Congress when the ordinance was made and that a large majority 
 of these were from the southern states where self-governing 
 
302 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 democracies were not well understood. From 1809 when Illinois 
 became a territory of the first class till 1812 when less than 20% 
 of the men over 21 years of age voted on the question of passing 
 into a second class territory, there was little participation in 
 the affairs of government by the people. 
 
 But by the close of the War of 1812 there had come into the 
 Illinois Territory quite a few people from the northern states. 
 These had had experiences in the matter of government and 
 would in the future exert in a quiet way influences which would 
 bring about some changes in the civil government in Illinois as 
 a territory of the second class. 
 
 The governor and judges had in 1809 passed a law prohibiting 
 any one from holding two offices at the same time. The legisla- 
 ture, in December, 1814, passed three whereases which condemn 
 the law of 1809. The legislature went on record as follows : 
 
 "Whereas, The free people of this territory are as competent 
 as their public servants to decide on whom it is their interest 
 to elect to represent them in the general assembly; and are 
 too enlightened and independent to recognize the odious and aris- 
 tocratical doctrine that they (the people) are their own worst 
 enemies, or to admit it is the duty of their representatives to 
 save them from themselves ; 
 
 "Whereas, This legislature, being composed of the servants, 
 not the masters of the people, cannot without an arbitrary as- 
 sumption of power, impose restrictions upon the latter as to the 
 choice of their representatives which are not warranted by the 
 express words or necessary implications of the ordinance from 
 which the legislature derives its powers; and 
 
 "Whereas, The duties of the judges of the county court estab- 
 lished by law are such as have heretofore been performed in the 
 territory by the justices of the peace, by whom they are also 
 usually performed in many of the states, and there being nothing 
 in the ordinance, nor any reason to exclude from a seat in the 
 legislature those judges of the county, or surveyors, or prosecut- 
 ing attorneys, that do not apply with equal force to military 
 officers and justices of the peace, and the duties of the former 
 being no more incompatible with a seat in the legislature than 
 those of the latter, therefore" 
 
 "Be it resolved, that laws inconsistent with the above senti- 
 ments be abolished." 
 
 The Ordinance of 1787 provided for the appointment of three 
 judges who should reside in the territory northwest of the Ohio 
 River, and have common law jurisdiction. The governor who 
 should be appointed by the Congress should appoint such magis- 
 trates in each county or township as he might deem "necessary 
 for the preservation of the peace and good order in the same." 
 But after the territory should pass into the second grade, the 
 legislature shall have power to organize and regulate the local 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 303 
 
 government in the several counties. In pursuance of the author- 
 ity conferred upon the governor while the territory was in the 
 first class, the governor appointed a certain number of justices 
 of the peace in each county. These justices constituted a court 
 of common pleas in each county, and quarter sessions were held. 
 The three judges appointed by Congress constituted a sort of 
 Supreme Court to which cases came from the Common Pleas 
 courts. This was the simple arrangement from 1809 to 1812 
 when the territory became second class. 
 
 In 1814 the Legislature by reason of the authority conferred 
 upon it in the ordinance, reorganized the judicial system of the 
 territory. In a bill entitled: "An act to establish a Supreme 
 Court for Illinois Territory," the general court was abolished 
 and the three judges appointed by Congress were made judges 
 of circuit courts, and at the same time constituted the "Supreme 
 Court." As circuit judges, the judges each had a circuit of two 
 counties in which he was to hold two sessions in each county 
 each year. Then once a year the three judges should hold a 
 session at the seat of government where they were to hear ap- 
 peals from the circuit courts. 
 
 The three judges opposed the law for they were not willing 
 to do this "circuit" work. Again they argued that a mere Legis- 
 lature could not regulate or direct judges holding their appoint- 
 ments from the President. They also objected to the principle 
 that the court should sit in banc to hear cases on appeal from 
 one of their own number. The governor was in favor of the 
 bill, but the judges were asked to give their decision on the 
 case in hand and their decision was against the plan. The whole 
 matter was referred to Congress and that body endorsed the 
 bill as passed, but the judges were very much dissatisfied. The 
 territory soon became a state and the whole system was set aside 
 by the Constitution of 1818. 
 
 Banks 
 
 There was little money in circulation in the Illinois Terri- 
 tory. The French had lived the simple life, and when the Ameri- 
 cans came into the Illinois Country they too were accustomed 
 to the barter system. But when population increased and the 
 towns began to grow there was more and more need of a cir- 
 culating medium. The old United States bank established in 
 1791 furnished a paper issue which circulated on par with gold 
 and silver — at least most of the time. But the charter to this 
 bank expired in 1811, and heroic efforts to recharter it failed. 
 Its business was wound up and its issue disappeared from cir- 
 culation. From 1811 to 1816 the issue of paper money was in 
 the hands of the hundreds of irresponsible banks which operated 
 under state charters or which were purely private concerns and 
 
304 
 
 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 were subject to slight oversight. The paper money of this period 
 was never up to par with gold and silver and there was a limited 
 amount of coin in circulation. The War of 1812 brought some 
 coin and the emigrant brought some, but there was not enough 
 coin to meet the needs of legitimate trade. Immediately after 
 the war there was a revival of industrial activities. Governor 
 Reynolds says there was a considerable amount of exporting of 
 hogs, cattle, horses, wheat and other farm products. Much of 
 the live stock could be raised upon the "range" without cost to 
 the owner. It was therefore a profitable business to the farmer. 
 These products of the farm were marketed in Cincinnati and 
 Pittsburg or sent down the Ohio and the Mississippi River to 
 New Orleans. Steamboats were in common use on the Ohio and 
 
 JOHN MARSHALL'S RESIDENCE IN SHAWNEETOWN 
 The building in which the first bank in the State was housed, 1813 
 
 on the lower Mississippi, and by 1818 steamboats were plying 
 the upper courses of the Mississippi. 
 
 While Illinois could sell her agricultural products in New Or- 
 leans, since that was a market for products destined for Euro- 
 pean consumption, she was unable to buy her supplies for the 
 farm, the home, the shop, and the "infant manufactories" in 
 that city. Many of her necessaries and most of her luxuries 
 must come from the Atlantic Coast. While the means of trans- 
 porting goods purchased in Philadelphia and other eastern cities, 
 to the towns on the Ohio and along the Mississippi, were inade- 
 quate to the demands of the western farmers and business men, 
 the means of making payment in the eastern cities for such 
 goods were indeed crude and unbusinesslike. It has been told 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 305 
 
 of John Marshall, the first banker in Illinois that he carried his 
 money from Shawneetown to Philadelphia in an old fashioned 
 "carpet-bag" with which he paid for consignments of goods sent 
 to the merchants of Shawneetown. The good money which the 
 settlers brought with them and that left over from the war was 
 soon spent, in payments for lands and only the cheapest kinds 
 of private and state bank issue were left for other business 
 transactions. What was needed was some system of exchange 
 which would permit a merchant to pay a debt in Philadelphia by 
 depositing the cash in a bank in his own town and sending the 
 exchange by mail to his wholesale house in the eastern city. 
 
 But there were no banks in Illinois prior to 1816. There was 
 however a business enterprise in Shawneetown which served 
 the purpose of a bank. John Marshall, a successful merchant, 
 came to Shawneetown in 1804, and resided there the rest of 
 his life. He was a very active citizen and was of great worth 
 to the village in which he lived. He built a two story brick 
 on the bank of the river toward the south edge of the town. In 
 one room of the lower floor he took deposits of people, and kept 
 a sort of bank. He loaned money and may have bought and 
 sold exchange. It is told that he kept the money in a sort of 
 vault under the floor of the room and that access to it was through 
 a trap door which was covered by a carpet. The old building 
 still stands. When the levee was constructed, it was located 
 just in front of his house with barely a passage way between 
 the levee and the front door. A porch was afterwards con- 
 structed which enabled people to walk out of the upper rooms 
 and on to the levee. The old brick building may be seen a few 
 doors down the river from the "Grand View" hotel. But this 
 institution which we call John Marshall's bank was in no real 
 sense a bank. It was a place where one could leave his money 
 for safe keeping, or where he might borrow a sum with proper 
 security. 
 
 The first bank in Illinois Territory was chartered by the terri- 
 torial legislature December 28, 1816. It was called The Bank 
 of Illinois. It had a capital of $300,000, one-third of which was 
 reserved for the territory, or the state when the territory should 
 become a state. The charter was to run from January 1, 1817, 
 to January 1, 1837. There were to be twelve directors to be 
 chosen annually. It was provided in the charter, that if the 
 bank should at any time refuse to redeem any of its bills, the 
 holder might collect twelve per cent, interest per annum from 
 the time he made the demand for redemption. It was located 
 in Shawneetown. Among its early officers were John Marshall, 
 Leonard White, Samuel Caldwell, John Caldwell, John McLean 
 and Michael Jones. John Marshall was its first president, and 
 John Siddall was its first cashier. The history of this bank is 
 an interesting part of the banking business of Illinois. 
 
306 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 An interesting letter may be found in the Edwards Papers, 
 edited by Elihu B. Washburne, from John Marshall the presi- 
 dent of the Shawneetown Bank, concerning the treatment of his 
 bank by the Kaskaskia Bank and the banks in Missouri and the 
 bank at Edwardsville. The letter dated May 25, 1819, is directed 
 to Ninian Edwards who at that time was United States senator 
 from the young State of Illinois. A few extracts will give some 
 notion of Mr. Marshall's complaints against his rivals. "I have 
 some knowledge of the low plodding and cunning of certain char- 
 acters at Kaskaskia. — The course the receiver (of public money) 
 at Kaskaskia has lately pursued towards our bank, one day tak- 
 ing our notes and the next day refusing them, thus vexing the 
 holders and thereby trying to impair the credit of our bank, 
 shows their hostility towards us as well as yourself. The Bank 
 of Missouri, acting in the same way, or rather worse ; whenever 
 she thinks proper to take our notes it is with a view alone of 
 making a run for specie; as proof of this I need only mention, 
 that she has lately paid us a visit and carried off $12,000 of 
 our specie — I can assure you the directors of this bank, so far 
 as have come to my knowledge, are disposed to be on the most 
 friendly terms with the Bank of Edwardsville ; they had ordered 
 the cashier to receive your notes, but various reports reaching 
 us of the most unfavorable nature, the directors thought proper 
 to rescind that order until they could be informed of the true 
 situation of your bank." 
 
 It appears that Senator Edwards was one of the main men 
 in the bank at Edwardsville, and further that the Bank of Mis- 
 souri, in which the money for the sale of the public lands in 
 Illinois was deposited, was making efforts to break down the 
 bank at Edwardsville and at Shawneetown. And it was probably 
 true that the bank at Kaskaskia was playing into the schemes of 
 the Bank of Missouri. 
 
 The Bank of Illinois located at Shawneetown, was incorporated 
 on December, 1816. At the next session of the Legislature the 
 bank of Edwardsville and another at Kaskaskia were chartered. 
 These, like the Shawneetown Bank, were banks of issue. The 
 Legislature by a clause in the law virtually forced creditors to 
 accept the issue of these banks in payment of debts, since the 
 law provided that if upon the creditor's securing judgment 
 against a debtor, if the creditor would not accept the issue of 
 the Illinois banks the actual collection of the debt was postponed. 
 Both the bank at Edwardsville and the one at Shawneetown 
 became banks of deposit for the funds arising from the sale of 
 public lands in 1818. The bank at Edwardsville seems to have 
 been unfortunate since it was accused of not paying over to the 
 United States the receipts for the sale of public lands. Its stock 
 was held as follows: $214,250 in Kentucky; $18,000 in St. Louis: 
 $66,750 in Illinois. In 1821 the bank failed and the government 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 307 
 
 secured judgment against it for $45,000 which was never col- 
 lected. 
 
 Cairo 
 
 The point of land between the Ohio and the Mississippi at their 
 junction attracted public notice at a very early date. As early 
 as July 26 and 28, 1817, John G. Comegys of Baltimore pur- 
 chased at the land office in Kaskaskia, Michael Jones register, 
 and Warren Brown receiver, all or nearly all the land between 
 the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers, amounting to about eighteen 
 hundred acres. At that time the price of land was $2.00 per 
 acre, one-fourth of which could be paid in cash and the balance 
 in installments. Comegys paid the first and second installments, 
 and after his death the third payment was made. The fourth 
 payment was never made and in 1835 the lands were resold and 
 the purchase money reverted to the government. 
 
 In 1818, January 9, the Legislature passed "The Act to Incor- 
 porate the City and Bank of Cairo." The incorporators were 
 John G. Comegys, Thomas H. Harris, Thomas T. Herbert, Charles 
 Slade, Shadrach Bond, Michael Jones, Warren Brown, Edward 
 Humphreys, and Charles W. Hunter. Comegys was from Balti- 
 more, Md. ; Bond, Jones, Brown and Humphreys lived at Kas- 
 kaskia; Hunter lived in St. Louis; Harris, Herbert, and Slade 
 lived in Virginia. John G. Comegys was a rich merchant who 
 did business in Baltimore and St. Louis. It was the plan of 
 these incorporators to lay off the tract of land which Comegys 
 had bought and to begin a city at the junction of the two rivers. 
 It was the plan to sell the lots at $150 ; put $100 into the bank 
 capital and use $50 of each lot to construct a system of levees 
 around the future city. A plat was drawn in Baltimore. The 
 streets ran east and west and north and south. There were 290 
 blocks with twenty lots to a block, making 5,800 lots. These 
 if sold at $150 per lot would produce $870,000. John G. Comegys 
 died in the spring of 1818, and the attempt to found the City 
 of Cairo was deferred many years. But the Bank of Cairo 
 was opened in Kaskaskia in 1818 or 1819. The bank never 
 flourished, though it issued bills and did a general banking busi- 
 ness it never was a strong financial institution. It is said of the 
 Shawneetown Bank that it always redeemed its own issue, while 
 other banks were obliged at time to suspend specie payment. 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 LOOKING FORWARD TO STATEHOOD 
 
 Abstract of Title — Territorial Government — Comparisons 
 — Make-up of Congress — Government Aristocratic — 
 Right of Suffrage Modified — Factions — Editor Cook — 
 Propaganda 
 
 We have now about completed the study of the redemption of 
 Illinois from a wilderness of forests and of prairies, and from 
 the blight of Indian occupation. Possession is not ownership, 
 but among the pioneers of our country it was nine points of law. 
 It is desirable to trace the chain of possession from the earliest 
 period to the date when Illinois knocked at the door of national 
 Union for membership. When Illinois applied for admission 
 into the Union as a state, we did not present the territorial area 
 which we know as Illinois to the Union and ask its acceptance, 
 since it may be shown that the United States at that time not 
 only had possession but held ownership as well. It is to show 
 this possession and ownership that we shall give a brief sur- 
 vey of the prior occupants and owners. If we can show that 
 the several possessors and owners made transfers of Illinois in 
 such forms as is recognized by the powers immediately con- 
 cerned, as well as by the peoples remotely concerned, then we 
 shall be able to establish the ownership of Illinois by the United 
 States in 1818. 
 
 Abstract of Title 
 
 Whatever one may think as to the competency of the Indian 
 tribes to own the soil, he can have no question as to the fact 
 that they occupied the land when it was first known by white 
 men. And there are abundant evidences of the fact that the land 
 had been occupied for many centuries prior to the coming of the 
 first white men. Just how long the same tribes, which were 
 found within the limits of the present state of Illinois at the 
 coming of the whites, had been residing here is difficult to de- 
 termine. Let us suppose that they had possessed the land for 
 many decades — at least long enough to give them nine points in 
 law. For the sake of a starting point then let us say the Illinois 
 Indians consisting of a loose confederation of five tribes once 
 owned Illinois. These were the Tamaroas, Cahokias, Peorias, 
 Kaskakias and the Michigamies. These were other tribes in 
 Illinois at different times, but their occupation was not perman- 
 ent and they were not considered as owning the soil of Illinois. 
 
 308 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 309 
 
 These five Illinois tribes were the first owners or claimants of the 
 soil. 
 
 The continent of North America was claimed by Spain as a 
 result of the discoveries of Columbus and of other early Spanish 
 discoverers and explorers. The Spanish explorer who furnished 
 Spain the best claim to the Illinois Country was Ferdinand De 
 Soto, who first saw the Missippi River, and whose travels about 
 that stream really gave Spain a claim to Illinois. There was 
 an old law which said that the Christian prince who first saw 
 or discovered a river, should have prior claim to the terri- 
 tory drained by that river. If there was any merit in this 
 law, then Spain's claim to Illinois was a prior claim to the one 
 by France, based upon the proclamation by La Salle at the mouth 
 of the Mississippi River in the year 1632, April 9. 
 
 Spain formally ceded her claim to all parts of Illinois to Great 
 Britain in the Treaty of Paris in 1763, at which time France 
 also ceded all her claim to Illinois to Great Britain. 
 
 France's claim to the Illinois Country as has been indicated, 
 was based upon the discovery and exploration of the Mississippi 
 by La Salle, in 1682. This claim was reenforced by a charter 
 granted by Henry IV, King of France, in 1603. This charter, 
 granted to Pierre de Ganst, Sieur de Monts, authorized the 
 Sieur de Monts to settle and occupy any territory between the 
 fortieth and forty-sixth degrees of north latitude. This would 
 include all of Illinois north of the latitude of Springfield (near- 
 ly) and reaching to the latitude of the Straits of Mackinaw. The 
 claim established by La Salle and the assumption of ownership 
 in the charter of de Monts, were substantially strengthened by 
 the discoveries and explorations of French Missionaries and by 
 the actual occupation by France in 1712 and by military force 
 in 1718. All the claims which France ever had to the Illinois 
 Country were relinquished to Great Britain in 1763, at the close 
 of the French and Indian war. We thus see that Spain and 
 France have both claimed Illinois, and both have relinquished 
 their claims to Great Britain. 
 
 Great Britain early laid claim to the territory including Illi- 
 nois. John Cabot visited the eastern coast of North America 
 in the year 1497. This gave Great Britain a claim to all the 
 central part of the continent. In the course of the seventeenth 
 century Great Britain parceled out to various companies and to 
 individuals all this great interior of the continent. The par- 
 ticular grants which had to do with the Illinois territory were 
 first, a grant to the Virginia Company in 1606 which included 
 all territory between the thirty-fourth and forty-fifth degrees 
 of North latitude. There is nothing in this charter however 
 which might be interpreted as meaning that Great Britain's 
 claim extended from sea to sea. But in the amended charter of 
 1609 there is a distinct claim and grant of the continent from 
 "sea to sea." In this year the king issued what is known as 
 
310 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 the "second Virginia charter." The geography of the grant has 
 its basis in Point Comfort as the starting place. The charter 
 provides that from points two hundred miles north and two 
 hundred miles south of Point Comfort lines shall run west and 
 northwest enclosing "all that space and circuit of land, lying 
 from the sea coast of the precinct foresaid, up into the land 
 throughout from sea to sea, west and northwest." This new 
 grant evidently reached four hundred miles along the coast. 
 Now, if the north lines runs west and the south line runs north- 
 west, the two lines will meet 400 miles west of the coast, along 
 the north line. If the south line runs west and the north line 
 northwest, the two lines will diverge and will never come to- 
 gether. This is the only interpretation which can be given to the 
 boundary lines which will produce a "seat to sea" grant. In this 
 grant, as thus interpreted, lies Illinois; and though the charter 
 issued in 1809 was annulled in 1624, the Old Dominion always 
 claimed the territory north and west of the Ohio River. 
 
 This claim of Virginia to the land northwest of the Ohio River 
 was revived during the Revolutionary war and is the explana- 
 tion of the sending of the George Rogers Clark expedition into 
 the territory of the northwest. When in the Continental Con- 
 gress, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, introduced his resolu- 
 tion providing for the declaration of the independence of the 
 American colonies, there was coupled with this resolution, 
 another which provided for the formation of a form of govern- 
 ment. In compliance with this resolution a committee, called 
 the Grand Committee, composed of thirteen members, with 
 John Dickinson as chairman, formulated what afterwards came 
 to be called the Articles of Confederation. This constitution of 
 perpetual union was to become effective only when all of the 
 thirteen colonies had ratified the document. The war absorbed 
 the interests of the colonists and they were slow about ratify- 
 ing the articles. In the winter of 1780-81 all the colonies (or 
 states) had ratified except Maryland. The document was null 
 and void without the signature of Maryland. The Maryland 
 people therefore had it in their power to make or break the 
 new experiment. This state made a proposition to the other 
 states that Maryland would ratify the articles if all states hav- 
 ing western lands would cede those lands to the general govern- 
 ment to be used for the good of all the people of all the states. 
 
 This proposition of Maryland was a challenge to the states of 
 Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Virginia, North and 
 South Carolina, and Georgia. All of those seven states except 
 New York had been given, in their early days of settlement, "sea 
 to sea" grants. New York had acquired from the Iroquois In- 
 dians a claim to large areas west of the Alleghanies. These states 
 with western grants one by one took steps to transfer their 
 claims to the general government, whereupon Maryland ratified 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 311 
 
 the Articles of Confederation. Illinois thus passed from the 
 ownership of Virginia to the control of the United States under 
 the Articles of Confederation. This was in March, 1781. 
 
 The unsettled condition of the country continued till the treaty 
 of peace of 1783, and the general government gave little or no 
 attention to its new lands till 1784 when Thomas Jefferson 
 reported from a committee in Congress on the government of 
 the lands west of the Alleghany Mountains. This scheme of 
 Jefferson was known as the Ordinance of 1784. This ordi- 
 nance was never put into operation. In 1785 Congress passed 
 what is known as the Survey Ordinance which was the basis 
 of the rectangular system of surveys used in all national terri- 
 tory since that date. 
 
 In 1787 the ordinance for the government of the territory 
 northwest of the Ohio River was passed by the Old Congress. It 
 was under this ordinance that five states acquired the experi- 
 ence which fitted them for the trials and burdens of statehood. 
 Illinois has passed through these stages of development and is 
 now ready to present herself for aceptance in the Federal Union. 
 
 We are now ready to say that the title to the ownership of Illi- 
 nois has been examined and that the transfers have all been 
 properly and legally made. We are now ready to ask the 
 National Government to admit us to an equal position among 
 the other states in the Union. 
 
 Territorial Government 
 
 Some writers have criticised the Ordinance of 1787 for pro- 
 viding a system of territorial government which they called 
 undemocratic. Fault is found that the people in a definite area 
 of territory as the Northwest Territory or the Indiana Terri- 
 tory 'were obliged to serve a period of probation before they 
 were given the control of their own political affairs. The system 
 of political development is characterized as undemocratic. 
 There were three stages of political growth. In the first stage 
 the people had no initiative. Government was imposed from 
 without. The people were truly governed. In the second stage 
 there were simple phases of self-government permitted. There 
 were opportunities for initiation. The people elected a legisla- 
 tive body consisting of an upper and a lower house. 'Tis true 
 that the governor had the veto power, but this only served to add 
 a caution to the legislature and to tend to hold them within 
 bounds. It is a stretch of the imagination to suppose that meas- 
 ures of unquestioned value to the young political community 
 would be vetoed and that the wishes of the best people would 
 be ruthlessly cast aside because an absolute veto power per- 
 mitted it. 
 
312 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Comparisons 
 
 The whole theory of political development has always been 
 from absolute monarchial forms to limited aristocracies and 
 thence to republican democracies. If one were observant in the 
 days before the coming of the horseless carriages, when the 
 father with his wife and two-year-old were enjoying a carriage 
 ride, he would have noticed that the father was too wise to turn 
 over the control of the spirited team to the two-year-old. The 
 father may allow the young son to hold the lines back of the 
 father's grip, but not in front at first. It seems to the writer 
 that the plan of colonial political development which was with- 
 out doubt hastily worked out by the Congress of 1787, was an 
 admirable one. No other plan has been devised in the past 
 century and a third and the United States within that period 
 has settled vast areas of territory and has fostered the growth 
 of millions of population. The famed colonial systems of Greece, 
 Rome, England, and Spain sink into insignificance when com- 
 pared with the work in that line accomplished by the United 
 States under the Ordinance of 1787. It may be that we shall 
 understand the Ordinance of 1787 better if we remember that 
 the Congress under the Articles of Confederation had in the later 
 years been deprived of the wise counsel of the great men who 
 had in earlier years given it their time, their minds, and hearts. 
 It was no longer, in 1784 to 1787, a body in which the best 
 minds desired a seat. It was more desirable to be a member of 
 the State Legislature than to be a member of Congress. And 
 there were other public places which brought more honor than 
 membership in the old Congress. It should be said to the credit 
 of the Southern states that their representatives remained longer 
 at their posts in the old Congress than did the representatives of 
 the Northern states. 
 
 Make-up of Congress 
 
 In the summer of 1787 when Doctor Cutler reached New York 
 he found in Congress representatives from eight states, namely : 
 Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia, 
 North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Three Northern 
 states and five Southern states. The only Southern state not 
 represented was Maryland, while four Northern states were 
 unrepresented — New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut and 
 Pennsylvania. When the ordinance that was under the consid- 
 eration at the time Doctor Cutler reacher Congress, was referred 
 to a new committee for final action, the committee was made 
 up of Dane of Massachusetts, Smith of New York, Carrington 
 and Lee of Virginia and Kean of South Carolina. Two North- 
 ern men and three Southern men. If then we will bear in 
 mind that Congress was made up of three Northern states and 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 313 
 
 five Southern states, and that the committee was made up of 
 two Northern men and three Southern men, it will be easy to 
 understand the statement that Southern notions of political 
 organization and not Northern notions dominated the Congress. 
 In the New England states the town system of local government 
 prevailed. The government was democratic, the people elected 
 all officials who exercised political authority. In the South the 
 county government idea prevailed. There were no popular 
 assemblies corresponding to the town meetings of New England. 
 All men who held official position were appointed to office. The 
 government was artistocratic — it was in the hands of the "well 
 born." 
 
 Government Aristocratic 
 
 It would be strange if the Ordinance of 1787 had had any pro- 
 vision for government by all the people. The men who made 
 it were not believers in government by all the people. They there- 
 fore incorporated in the ordinance the appointive method of fill- 
 ing public stations. The governor was appointed by Congress, 
 likewise the three territorial judges and the secretary. The 
 governor was the commander-in-chief of the militia, and ap- 
 pointed and commissioned all minor militia officers. He also 
 appointed all civil officers which he thought were necessary in 
 the several counties and townships. To show that the organi- 
 zation was aristocratic we need only point out that the governor 
 must own 1,000 acres of land, while the secretary and judges 
 must own 500 acres. 
 
 There were some evidence that the political organization of a 
 territory under the ordinance was artistocratic even after the 
 territory had passed into the second grade. For even here the 
 members of the council (or senate) were obliged to own 500 
 acres of land and the members of the lower house must own 
 200 acres. Even the electors must own a free hold of fifty 
 acres as a prerequisite to participating in a general election. 
 
 When Jefferson purchased Louisiana in 1803, the problem of 
 its government was not easy of solution. It was at first put 
 under the care of the governor and judges of the Indiana Terri- 
 tory. But in 1804 the south half, the more thickly settled por- 
 tion, was by a law of Congress placed in the hands of the Presi- 
 dent. He was to devise and carry out any plan which he deemed 
 wise. The general plan adopted was similar to that laid down 
 in the Ordinance of 1787. "He, the President, simply stepped 
 into the place of King Charles of Spain, as the absolute ruler of 
 the province." It was argued that such principles as govern- 
 ment by the consent of the governed, popular control of officials 
 through the ballot box, trial by jury, and no taxation without 
 representation were completely ignored by the system of gov- 
 ernment which was instituted by the plan adopted by Congress 
 and the President. In 1803 Edward Livingston of New York, 
 
314 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 a brother of Robert R. Livingston, a patriot of the Revolu- 
 tionary days, moved to New Orleans where he began the prac- 
 tice of law. Mr. Livingston soon entered upon a period of agita- 
 tion for a fuller measure of self-government. On behalf of 
 "planters, merchants, and other inhabitants of Louisiana" he 
 formulated a vigorous protest against the law passed in Con- 
 gress which deprived the inhabitants of Louisiana of participat- 
 ing in their government. His chief argument was that the pur- 
 chase treaty promised the right and privileges of American citi- 
 zens to the inhabitants who occupied the territory which was 
 bought by President Jefferson. 
 
 Mr. Livingston made a good case for his clients and Congress 
 modified the law, somewhat, but in the minds of the inhabitants 
 they never realized the full rights of Americans citizens till the 
 territory was admitted into the Union as a state in 1812. 
 
 Rights of Suffrage Modified 
 
 Illinois came to be a territory of the first class in 1809. Prior 
 to this time several states in the Union had omitted the clauses 
 in their constitutions which required property qualifications of 
 the electors. And in keeping with this spirit of progress, the 
 Congress had liberalized the requirements for voting in the 
 Indiana Territory, and had given the voters the right to elect 
 the territorial delegate in Congress and also the members of the 
 upper house, or council, of the territorial legislature. These 
 were regarded as great concessions by the Federal Government 
 to the pioneers who were pushing westward the frontier line of 
 civilization. When Illinois reached the period when she should 
 pass to a territory of the second class, there was a very general 
 notion that the question of passing was in the hands of a very 
 small number. There were supposed to be 12,000 people in 
 Illinois at that time. One-fifth of these or 2,400 would be over 
 twenty-one years of age and by all means should take part in the 
 election. Governor Edwards thought at that time that there 
 were not over two hundred and twenty actual votes — since each 
 voter must own fifty acres of land and since the land in Illinois 
 had not been put on the market. Governor Edwards in a letter 
 dated Elvirade, Randolph County, March 14, 1812, and addressed 
 to Hon. Richard M. Johnson, congressman from Kentucky, ex- 
 plains at length that the people of Illinois can not participate 
 in the government because of this restriction upon the right of 
 suffrage. He shows that 130 free holders can cast the vote of 
 more than 12,000 population. 
 
 Congressman Johnson, in response to the governor's letter and 
 to petitions sent in from Illinois citizens, secured the passage 
 of a law which greatly pleased the people of Illinois. It granted 
 the right of suffrage to all free white males twenty-one years 
 of age, and who had paid a territorial tax. The law was passed 
 
NINIAN EDWARDS 
 
316 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 on May, 1812, and in the election to test the wish of the people 
 of Illinois on passing to the second-class, held in October, 1812, 
 the vote cast was in excess of 400. But the territory was in 
 the midst of the war and it has been claimed that the date and 
 purpose of the election was not generally well known. From 
 this time on to 1818, the people of the territory became organized 
 into political factions. 
 
 Factions 
 
 These factions did some good as they kept alive the matter of 
 representation and popular participation in the government. 
 There grew up an Edwards party and an anti-Edwards party. 
 The separation of the people into two factions grew out of the 
 effort to establish a rule that the three Federal judges should 
 serve as a supreme court and at the same time perform circuit 
 court duty. An appeal was finally taken to Congress which 
 decided with the view held by Governor Edwards that the judges 
 should hold circuit courts. This seemed to be a victory won by 
 Governor Edwards and the death of one of the judges shortly 
 thereafter intensified the factional conflict. In filling the place 
 made vacant by the death of Judge Griswold, Governor Edwards' 
 candidate, Thomas Towles of Kentucky, was the successful 
 candidate. 
 
 Among the public men who were more or less concerned in 
 what we may call factional politics were the governor, Nathaniel 
 Pope, Shadrach Bond, Elias Kent Kane, John McLean, Leonard 
 White, Thomas C. Browne, Daniel Pope Cook, Jesse B. Thomas, 
 Joseph M. Street. There were other public men, but these 
 were the men who molded policies and directed the public mind. 
 Among these public men the one who is given the credit for ini- 
 tiating the movement for the admission of the Territory of Illi- 
 nois into the Union as a state was Daniel Pope Cook, a young 
 lawyer who had grown up under the care of Nathaniel Pope. 
 By the aid of powerful friends he had carried dispatches to 
 John Quincy Adams, minister at the Court of St. James, Lon- 
 don. Upon his return from London he became the editor of the 
 Western Intelligencer, a newspaper formerly owned by Mathew 
 Duncan and published in Kaskaskia. 
 
 Editor Cook 
 
 Mr. Cook is regarded as one of the most brilliant men of terri- 
 torial days. The Hon. Elihu B. Washburne, editor of the Ed- 
 wards' Papers says of Cook: "He was undoubtedly one of the 
 ablest and most remarkable men whose name ever graced the 
 annals of Illinois." Mr. Cook served three terms in Congress 
 and died shortly after the close of this third term. Mr. Wash- 
 burne again says: "There was before him when he died the 
 promise of a most brilliant and distinguished career, which 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 317 
 
 would have added additional lustre to his name and brought 
 additional honor to the state of his adoption." 
 
 When Mr. Cook took charge of the Kaskaskia Herald he 
 changed its name to the Western Intelligencer. The editorials 
 were of a high order and the paper took on new life and inter- 
 est. In addition to the editorials and news columns, articles 
 began to appear under the guise of contributions, signed by 
 Aristides. These articles follow the general line of complaint 
 that the Ordinance of 1787 under which all the Northwest Ter- 
 ritory must be governed till it is all admitted as states into the 
 Union, should be greatly modified or set aside. And since there 
 had been several attempts made to have the ordinance changed 
 without success, the only thing left as an alternative was the 
 admission of the territory as a state. A propaganda was set 
 on foot. There was the assurance of the rapid growth of the 
 Territory in population, the need of electing a delegate to Con- 
 gress who would stand pledged to the annulling of the ordinance 
 or at least those parts which prohibited the greatest freedom 
 in political action. 
 
 Nathaniel Pope entered Congress as a delegate on his second 
 term in December, 1817. The public men in Illinois led by 
 young Daniel P. Cook were successfully agitating the question 
 of the admission of Illinois as a state into the Union. "Aris- 
 tides" as well as the editor of the Intelligencer were active in 
 keeping the matter before the public. They compared the posi- 
 tion of Illinois with reference to the general government with 
 that of the colonies and Great Britain prior to the Revolutionary 
 war. Late in 1816 Aristides said: "The present rapid influx 
 of population, that growing and prosperous state of the coun- 
 try, justifies the belief that it will not be more than three or 
 four years before we will burst the chains of despotism, by 
 which we are now bound, and stand a sovereign and indepen- 
 dent state." An informal census had been taken and it was 
 known that the population was only a little above 30,000. The 
 ordinance provided that there should be 60,000 inhabitants 
 before a state could be admitted into the Union. However, the 
 people were urged to talk about admission and to continually 
 keep the matter before the people. When in a rather discour- 
 aged tone the Intelligencer said: "The question (the admission 
 to statehood) not very important at present, as the population 
 of the territory will not in all probability, within the time for 
 which the present delegate is to be elected, entitle us to the 
 redress alluded to. So soon as the population is sufficient we 
 hope that those evils will be obviated by a state government." 
 
 Propaganda 
 
 Young Cook was called to Washington in February, 1817. 
 Here he was entrusted with dispatches to the Court of St. James. 
 
318 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 He returned to Washington in the late summer and tarried a 
 while hoping for a remunerative appointment from the Presi- 
 dent, but nothing offered that was attractive and he returned 
 to Kaskaskia in November, 1817. Two days after his arrival 
 in Kaskaskia, an editorial appeared in the Intelligencer which 
 indicates a rapid movement at least in Cook's mind as to the 
 desirability of admitting Illinois into the Union. "While we 
 are laboring under so many of the grievances of a territorial, 
 or semi-monarchical government, might not our claims to a 
 state government be justly urged? That part of our territory 
 which must ultimately form a state will no doubt be willing to 
 take the burden of a state government upon themselves at this 
 time, rather than submit any longer to those degradations which 
 they have so long been compelled to put up with. We hope in 
 our next issue to present to our readers, such a view of the 
 subject as will induce our fellow citizens, as well as the Legis- 
 lature, to take such measures as will bring it before the national 
 Legislature, at their approaching session. We invite a discus- 
 sion of the measure by such gentlemen as have, or will reflect 
 on the subject." 
 
 In the following issue there appeared a discussion of some 
 of the objections to the assumption of statehood. One of the 
 objections that was discussed was the cost of statehood as 
 compared with that of territorial government. It was pointed 
 out that under territorial government the national government 
 was meeting all the expenses. The governor, judges, and secre- 
 tary were all on the pay roll of the United States. The amount 
 of the annual pay roll was some better than $6,000. It was 
 pointed out that for a few years it would be possible to secure 
 the services of patriotic citizens gratis, or at least at a nominal 
 salary. Another objection to statehood was the very large per- 
 centage of the population that was French and therefore ignor- 
 ant and unable to participate in political activities. This was 
 met by the statement that nine-tenths of the voting population 
 were Americans and that prior to their coming to Illinois had 
 participated in government in the states from which they came. 
 
 The arguments in favor of the territory's assuming the respon- 
 sibilities of statehood were pointed out as follows: A constitu- 
 tion could be so framed as to take from the governor the abso- 
 lute veto. (The law makers fretted very much over the fact 
 that the territorial governor had the absolute veto power.) The 
 state would be supreme with regard to its internal affairs. The 
 claim was set up that under the territorial system of courts 
 that crimes often of the darkest hue went unpunished because 
 the ultimate control of the courts was not in the hands of the 
 people, but in the hands of appointive judges. Mr. Cook said 
 that demoralized condition of the judiciary was a sufficient 
 justification for desiring statehood. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 319 
 
 Dr. John Snyder, who lived in Cahokia in the early part of 
 the nineteenth century and was familiar with conditions in 
 those early days says, in his sketch of Conrad Will, that "The 
 population of Illinois Territory had so greatly increased, and 
 the politicians and office seekers had become so clamorous for a 
 state government that the Territorial Legislature, at its Janu- 
 ary (1818) session passed a resolution instructing Nathaniel 
 Pope, the Illinois delegate in Congress, to present a petition to 
 Congress asking for enactment of a law enabling the people of 
 Illinois Territory to form a state government which he did." 
 As Dr. Snyder says, the politicians and office seekers were 
 chiefly concerned in getting the territory into the Union, and 
 although there were two factions as has been stated they were 
 all for securing the territory's admission into the Union. The 
 line-up has been given as follows: Those with Governor 
 Edwards were Nathaniel Pope, Daniel P. Cook, Thomas C. 
 Browne, George Forquer, and Pierre Menard. The opposing 
 faction included Shadrach Bond, Jesse B. Thomas, Michael 
 Jones, John McLean, Elias Kent Kane, and William Kinney. 
 We shall see how the offices in the new state were distributed. 
 
 The most serious problem before the proponents of admis- 
 sion was the lack of population. The ordinance required 60,000, 
 but when Ohio applied for admission in 1802, the census, taken 
 by the territorial officials, reached 45,028. Yet the Ohio people 
 on top of that pressed their petitions for an enabling act. The 
 act was passed and Ohio eventually admitted. Indiana was 
 admitted with a population of 8,000 more than the required 
 number. Mr. Cook argued that the admission of Illinois on a 
 population less than that required in the ordinance would not 
 "be inconsistent with the general interests of the confederacy." 
 It was generally believed that the admission of the territory 
 would greatly stimulate immigration and that there were com- 
 mercial and economic advantages which would greatly counter- 
 balance the mere lack of a few thousand population. 
 
 Again, there was another question which was a great detri- 
 ment to the growth in population, and in other ways, as long 
 as Illinois remained a territory. That was the slavery ques- 
 tion. Slavery existed under the French regime. It was legal 
 under British control, and the treaty of 1783 guaranteed to the 
 inhabitants all their possessions under the United States. The 
 Ordinance of 1787 prohibited it, but no court had ever passed 
 on its validity. The slaves that were here when the treaty of 
 1783 was signed were still slaves and children born of slave 
 mothers were slaves. But an interpretation of the ordinance 
 had gone out which said all persons in slavery when the land 
 cessions were made to the general government were to be 
 regarded as still in bondage, but that no slaves could be brought 
 into Illinois from a slave state. People were in great doubt. 
 
320 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Slave holders in the old slave states could not afford to move 
 into Illinois for fear their slaves would be set free. People in 
 Pennsylvania, New York and the New England states dare not 
 move in for fear that when the territory did come into the 
 Union it would come in as a slave state. So there was little 
 interest in coming to Illinois by either the slave owners or the 
 free state people. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 THE ENABLING ACT 
 
 Membership of Legislature — The Petition — Slavery — Mr. 
 Pope Presents Petition — The Northern Boundary — 
 Some Features of the Act — Commercial Possibilities — 
 Electing Delegates — Expedient or Inexpedient — Who's 
 Who Among the Delegates — Occupations — Military 
 Service. 
 
 The third Territorial Legislature met at Kaskaskia Decem- 
 ber 2, 1816, and adjourned January 14, 1817. A second and 
 called session of the third Legislature met December 1, 1817, 
 and adjourned January 12, 1818. 
 
 The membership of this general assembly was as follows: 
 
 Membership of Legislature 
 
 The Council 
 Randolph, Pierre Menard, president. 
 Madison, John G. Lofton. 
 St. Clair, Abraham Amos. 
 Johnson, John Grammar. 
 Gallatin, Thomas C. Browne. 
 Joseph Conway, Secretary. 
 
 House of Representatives 
 
 Randolph, Dr. George Fisher, speaker. 
 
 St. Clair, Charles R. Matheny, William H. Bradsby. 
 
 Jackson, Nathan Davis. 
 
 Johnson, Joseph Palmer. 
 
 Edwards, Seth Gard. 
 
 Pope, Samuel 0. Melveny. 
 
 Gallatin, M. S. Davenport. 
 
 White, Willis Hargrave. 
 
 Monroe, John Moredock. 
 
 Madison, Mr. Gilham. 
 
 Crawford, Edward N. Cullom. 
 It will be noticed that the foregoing list of counties is four 
 counties short of the proper number, fifteen. One explanation 
 is that the ordinance required that a member of the lower house 
 should be a citizen of the United States three years and that he 
 should be the holder in fee simple of 200 acres of land within 
 the territory. Complaint was made that there were large areas 
 
 321 
 
 13V1 
 
322 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 where no one could qualify for membership in either the lower 
 or the upper House of the Legislature. 
 
 As has been said the Legislature met in special session on 
 December 1, 1817. On the next day the governor, Ninian 
 Edwards, delivered his message. This was an optimistic speech 
 in which he congratulated the members of the Legislature, and 
 the territory "upon the flattering prospects which our astonish- 
 ingly rapid increase in population affords that our present tem- 
 porary government must soon give place to one more congenial 
 to the principles of natural liberty." The governor pointed out 
 that one of the prerequisites to asking Congress to consider an 
 application for statehood was definite knowledge of the popula- 
 tion of the territory. It does not appear that the governor at 
 this time was enthusiastic about seeking admission into the 
 Union as a state. One would think that Governor Edwards 
 would be consulted as to any plans which Cook was working out 
 for an immediate movement on Congress. Cook belonged to 
 Edwards' faction and later married the governor's daughter. 
 Cook was not a member of the Legislature, but he was the clerk 
 of the Lower House and thus had a splendid opportunity not 
 only to know what public thought was but in a large measure 
 to influence its formation. 
 
 The governor in his message had referred to the taking of the 
 census so the results might be laid before the next Legislature. 
 Now, the next Legislature would not meet until December, 1818, 
 and the active spirits could not think of another whole year 
 of marking time. On the same day that the governor's message 
 was received, steps were taken looking toward securing admis- 
 sion. William H. Bradsby, a very active and intelligent mem- 
 ber of the Lower House, introduced a resolution providing "that 
 a committee be appointed to draft a memorial to Congress pray- 
 ing for this territory to be admitted into the Union, with all the 
 rights and privileges of a state government." The motion pre- 
 vailed, the committee was appointed, the memorial was formu- 
 lated, and on December the 6th the House adopted the memo- 
 rial. There was no opposition, and the memorial was sent to 
 the council which also adopted it. Mr. Alvord in Volume I of 
 the Centennial History of Illinois has pointed out that prob- 
 ably one thing which hastened the leaders in Illinois to a deci- 
 sion to lose no time in preventing their case in Congress was 
 the fact that Missouri was at the same time agitating the ques- 
 tion of the admission of that territory into the Union. In fact 
 Missouri presented her request in March, 1818. 
 
 The Petition 
 
 The memorial prepared by the committee of the Lower House 
 had without doubt the help of Mr. Cook, as there are incorpo- 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 323 
 
 rated in it many points which had been discussed in the Intelli- 
 gencer within the past year. Some of the points are: 
 
 1. An assurance that the population had reached a suffi- 
 ciently large number to justify the people in taking over the 
 government. 
 
 2. The Territorial Government is characterized as undemo- 
 cratic, hostile to the principles of republican government. 
 
 3. The population is estimated from reliable sources at not 
 less than 40,000, made up of immigrants from the eastern as 
 well as from the western states. 
 
 4. The burden of financial support for the new state could 
 be met (it was suggested) by grants to the state by the general 
 government of the lead mines in the northwestern part of the 
 state, and of the salines in the southern part of the state. 
 
 5. There was only a suggestion that the sixteenth section in 
 each township be reserved for the schools of the township. 
 
 6. The suggestion is also made that a certain per cent of 
 the income from the sale of the public lands within the state be 
 granted to the state to be expended for the betterment of the 
 public roads. 
 
 7. Similar generous gifts from the general government had 
 been made to Ohio, admitted in 1803 ; Indiana, admitted in 1816 ; 
 and Mississippi, admitted in 1817. The petitioners therefore 
 most humbly ask for similar generous consideration. 
 
 Slavery 
 
 There were two questions still in the minds of those who were 
 pushing the admission of Illinois to statehood. One was whether 
 the Congress would accept the statement that there were 40,000 
 inhabitants in Illinois; and the other was what is to be done 
 about slavery? To meet the first question — as to the population 
 — the Legislature authorized the taking of the census. The 
 enumeration was to be made under the direction of the Terri- 
 torial Legislature. The enumeration was to be begun on April 
 1st and should be completed by June 1st. The returns should 
 be delivered to the secretary of the territory. A supplementary 
 law was enacted which provided for adding to the report turned 
 in on June 1st, all newcomers who might arrive between June 1st 
 and December following. In case the Congress did not question 
 the statement in the petition as to the number of inhabitants, 
 then the supplementary counting should be abandoned. The 
 slavery question, however, was a real problem. 
 
 This question was raised when a resolution was introduced 
 into the Legislature declaring the indenture laws then in force 
 in the Illinois Territory as a violation of the slavery article in 
 the Ordinance of 1787. The incoming population, at least since 
 1815, was largely from the non-slave holding states, and the 
 
324 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 anti-slavery sentiment was getting stronger from day to day. 
 It was known that Missouri would apply for admission as a 
 slave state and it was generally believed that the territory 
 would be admitted as a slave state. If so, this would strengthen 
 the slavery sentiment in Illinois. If the indenture system 
 could be declared unconstitutional by the Legislature and the 
 whole system abolished before the writing of the new constitu- 
 tion for Illinois it would help very much to exclude slavery 
 therefrom. The bill was warmly debated and passed by both 
 the Lower and the Upper House, but was vetoed by the governor. 
 Governor Edwards wrote a very excellent defense of his action 
 in vetoing the bill, but stated in the message that he was no 
 advocate of slavery and if it depended on him, slavery would 
 never be admitted into another state or territory. The governor 
 suggested to anti-slavery supporters that they might proceed 
 in two other ways to accomplish their end, but they did not 
 make any further attempt to annul the indenture laws. The 
 thought at that time was that the battle would have to be fought 
 out in the election of delegates to the constitutional convention. 
 Before leaving the Legislature we may recall that before 
 adjournment they created three new counties — Washington, 
 Franklin, Union. There were now fifteen counties. It has been 
 suggested that these three new counties might have something 
 to do in determining the make-up of the convention for the 
 making of the constitution in case Congress should pass the 
 enabling act. 
 
 Congress met in the early part of December, 1817. Nathaniel 
 Pope, who had been elected delegate in Congress in 1816, reached 
 Washington on the 6th of December. The petition asking for 
 admission was passed by the council on the 10th of December, 
 1817. It was forwarded immediately to Mr. Pope. It has been 
 stated that without doubt Mr. Pope had taken no part in work- 
 ing up sentiment in favor of admission. There can be no doubt 
 he was interested in getting Illinois into the Union before Mis- 
 souri should attract the attention of the opposing forces for 
 many people could see that Missouri was destined to cause a 
 real sectional fight in the Congress. 
 
 Mr. Pope Presents the Petition 
 
 The petition of the Illinois Legislature was presented to the 
 House on January 16, 1818. It seems not to have stirred up any 
 opposition at least at first. It was a great compliment to Natha- 
 niel Pope to be named chairman of a special committee of five 
 to consider the petition and report to the House. The other 
 members were Claiborne of Tennessee; Johnson of Kentucky; 
 Spencer of New York; and Whitman of Massachusetts. Three 
 of these men were from north of the Mason and Dixon line, 
 while two were from slave states. It is evident that this select 
 
NATHANIEL POPE 
 
326 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 or special committee of five set immdiately to the task of con- 
 sidering the petition sent in by the Legislature of the Territory 
 of Illinois, for on the 23d of January, just one week from the 
 day the committee was appointed, they began work. One thing 
 that enabled them to work rapidly was they had the enabling 
 act which was passed for the admission of Indiana and the two 
 acts were in the main alike. However, Mr. Pope soon discov- 
 ered a weak spot in the petition. This was the question of 
 population. The memorial or petition stated that the popula- 
 tion was estimated at "not less than 40,000 souls." Mr. Pope 
 could not make any definite statement to the committee as to 
 the population. No census had recently been taken and Mr. 
 Pope was left in an embarrassing position. When the enabling 
 bill was first drawn a proviso required that the census be taken 
 prior to the meeting of the convention. Mr. Pope, writing to 
 the editor of the Intelligencer, says he hopes to get this proviso 
 struck from the bill. To one at this distance from the incidents 
 it would appear that Mr. Pope was not convinced himself that 
 there were 40,000 people within the territory. He suggests to 
 Mr. Cook that if they had assurances that there were 35,000 
 inhabitants, there would be no difficulty in getting favorable 
 action on the bill at the hands of the special committee. The 
 reason he mentions this number was that during the decade 
 from 1810 to 1820 the congressional ratio was 35,000 and this 
 number would justify one representation which the Federal 
 constitution grants each state — large or small. 
 
 The Ordinance of 1787, Article V of the "Compact," provided 
 that there should be formed in the said Northwest Territory 
 not fewer than three nor more than five states with certain boun- 
 daries stated in the said article for three states which might 
 be formed out of the territory south of an east and west line 
 passing through the southerly bend of Lake Michigan. North 
 of this east and west line the Congress was authorized to form 
 two states. The boundary between the west state (Illinois) 
 and the middle state (Indiana) should be the Wabash River 
 and a north and south line through Vincennes. When Indiana 
 was admitted the enabling act fixed the western boundary at 
 the middle of the Wabash River and a north and south line 
 drawn through Vincennes as far north as ten miles north of 
 the parallel passing through the southerly bend of Lake Michi- 
 gan. Thus the northern boundary line of Indiana was fixed at 
 a parallel ten miles north of the parallel designated in the 
 Ordinance of 1787. 
 
 The Northern Boundary 
 
 The enabling act as far as boundary is concerned, reported 
 to Congress by Mr. Pope's committee fixed the northern boundary 
 at the parallel of 41° 37' 07.9," the parallel of the most south- 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 327 
 
 erly curve of Lake Michigan. The committee, as has been said, 
 was appointed on the 16th of January, 1818, and reported on 
 January 23d. The bill was read twice and committed to the 
 committee of the whole, on the next Monday, which would have 
 been January 26. It appears that there were so many bills 
 ahead of Mr. Pope's enabling act that the bill was not called up 
 in committee of the whole until April 3, 1818. On that day 
 "The House resolved itself into a committee of the whole on the 
 bill to enable the people of Illinois Territory to form a consti- 
 tution and State government, and for the admission of the State 
 into the Union on a footing with the original states." Between 
 the time the bill was reported by Mr. Pope, January 23, and the 
 day the committee of the whole took up the bill for discussion, 
 April 3, Mr. Pope had changed his mind about the northern 
 boundary. He discovered that if the northern boundary should 
 run west along the parallel of the southerly bend of the lake 
 that the northeast corner of Illinois would be several miles from 
 Lake Michigan, and there would be no chance for a lake port. 
 Mr. Pope therefore thought out a change in the boundary as 
 follows : "Beginning at the mouth of the Wabash River ; thence 
 up the same, and with the line of Indiana to the northwest cor- 
 ner of said state; thence east with the line of the same state 
 to the middle of Lake Michigan; thence north along the mid- 
 dle of said lake to north latitude 42° and 30' ; thence west to the 
 middle of the Mississippi River; and thence down along the 
 middle of that river to its confluence with the Ohio River ; and 
 thence up the latter river along its northwestern shore to the 
 place of beginning." 
 
 Mr. Pope offered this amendment or change in the northern 
 boundary line. He offered his reasons in a short speech reported 
 in the Debates in Congress, Volume VI, page 173. They may be 
 stated in brief as follows : 
 
 1. The object of the change was to gain a certain amount 
 of lake coast for the State of Illinois. 
 
 2. This change would afford additional security to the per- 
 petuity of the Union, inasmuch as Illinois would (by this change 
 in the boundary) be connected (in commerce) with Indiana, 
 Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. 
 
 3. The facility of opening a canal between the lake and the 
 headwaters of the Illinois River has been acknowledged by all 
 who have taken the trouble to make a superficial survey. The 
 canal should lie and have both terminals in the same state. 
 This could not be possible with the boundary as reported by the 
 special committee. 
 
 4. Mr. Pope also argued if Illinois could not have a lake port 
 her commerce would seek its outlet through the Mississippi 
 River and this would naturally attach the state to the southern 
 
THE FIFTEEN COUNTIES IN ILLINOIS WHEN ILLINOIS WAS ADMITTED 
 INTO THE UNION IN 1818 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 329 
 
 states. In case, therefore, of a national disruption Illinois would 
 cast her fortunes with the south rather than with the north. 
 
 There seems to have been no objection to this change in the 
 boundary which gave to Illinois Chicago and the mouth of Chi- 
 cago River. The amendment was adopted without division. 
 Mr. Pope came forward with another amendment. The original 
 draft as presented to Congress by the special committee pro- 
 vided that a gift of five per cent of the income from the sale of 
 public lands within the limits of the state should be given over 
 to the state which should use it for the construction of roads 
 within the state. Similar provisions were found in the Ohio, 
 the Indiana, and the Mississippi enabling acts. But Mr. Pope 
 believed that the money which the Government was willing to 
 give Illinois from the sale of public lands could be better spent 
 than for public roads. His investigations had shown that the 
 money given to the other states named had been wasted. That 
 the state could not make so good use of this money as the gen- 
 eral government, so his amendment provided that the general 
 government should use two of the five per cent for the purpose 
 of building roads leading to the state, and that three of the five 
 per cent should be administered for the cause of education. One- 
 sixth of the three per cent or one-half of one per cent should be 
 set aside for the purpose of founding and maintaining a col- 
 lege or university. He argued that the universally acknowledged 
 need in a republic was education, and that there were slight 
 resources in a new country that could be immediately converted 
 into the agencies of popular education. In addition Mr. Pope 
 pointed out that in Illinois the problem of road building was 
 not a serious one since the surfaces were generally level. He 
 thought the people would build roads as fast as they were needed, 
 but were not situated so as to maintain efficient systems of edu- 
 cation. The motion to divert 3 per cent of the income from the 
 sale of public lands in Illinois to educational purposes and 2 per 
 cent to the building of roads leading to the state passed without 
 division. Other minor amendments were agreed to by the com- 
 mittee of the whole and the committee arose. 
 
 This consideration of the enabling act took place in committee 
 of the whole on April 3, 1818. When the committee arose the 
 matter was reported to the House and after a few minor changes 
 the bill was ordered engrossed as amended, read a third time, 
 and passed April 6. It was then sent to the Senate. The bill 
 was referred to the committee on public lands. The committee 
 offered minor amendments and reported the bill to the Senate. 
 On the 13th of April, the bill was discussed in committee of 
 the whole. The only serious objection was to the assumption 
 by the petitioners that there were upwards of 40,000 people 
 in the Illinois Territory. It was eventually reported to the 
 Senate which added a few amendments after which it was 
 
330 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 agreed to in conference, passed by the Senate, and signed by 
 the President April 18, 1818. 
 
 Some Features of the Act 
 
 A brief analysis of the several sections composing the 
 Enabling Act will be given. 
 
 Section 1. Be it enacted, etc., That the inhabitants of the 
 Territory of Illinois be, and they are hereby authorized to form 
 for themselves a constitution and state government, and to 
 assume such name as they shall deem proper ; and the said 
 state, when formed, shall be admitted into the Union upon the 
 same footing with the original states, in all respects whatsoever. 
 
 Section 2. This section bounds the territory which shall lie 
 in the jurisdiction of the state when formed. This boundary 
 is quoted in full on a preceding page, and need not be repeated 
 here. The boundaries of the proposed state shall be ratified by 
 the convention. "The said state shall have concurrent jurisdic- 
 tion with the State of Indiana on the Wabash River, so far as 
 said river shall form a common boundary to both, and also con- 
 current jurisdiction on the Mississippi River, with any state 
 or states to be formed west thereof, so far as said river shall 
 form a common boundary to both." 
 
 Section 3. This section determined the qualifications of those 
 who should choose delegates to the constitutional convention. 
 The requirements were : White male citizens of the United 
 States ; a residence in the territory of six months, in addition 
 any other requirements necessary to vote for a member of the 
 Territorial Legislature. These properly qualified electors were 
 authorized to elect delegates from their respective counties as 
 follows : 
 
 From Bond 3 delegates From Franklin 2 delegates 
 
 From Madison 3 delegates From Pope 3 delegates 
 
 From St. Clair 3 delegates From Gallatin 2 delegates 
 
 From Monroe 2 delegates From White 2 delegates 
 
 From Randolph 2 delegates From Edwards 2 delegates 
 
 From Jackson 2 delegates From Crawford __ 2 delegates 
 
 From Johnson 2 delegates From Union 2 delegates 
 
 From Washington. 2 delegates — 
 
 Total 33 delegates 
 
 The election of delegates from the several counties shall be 
 held on the first Monday in July, 1818, and the two following 
 days. The election shall be held in the same form and under 
 the same authority as regular elections in the territory. 
 
 Section 4. The duly elected members of the convention were 
 authorized to meet at the seat of government of the said terri- 
 tory on the first Monday in August, 1818, and proceed to deter- 
 mine, by a majority of the whole number of delegates elected 
 whether it is, or is not, expedient to proceed with the work of 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 331 
 
 forming a constitution and a state government. If a majority 
 say it is expedient, they shall proceed with the making of the 
 constitution: provided the said constitution shall be republican 
 in form and not repugnant to the ordinance passed by the Con- 
 gress the 13th of July, 1787 — except as to the boundary of the 
 said proposed state. And, provided further, that the enumera- 
 tion heretofore ordered to be taken by the Legislature of said 
 territory shall show a population of the proposed state of not 
 less than 40,000 inhabitants. 
 
 Section 5. "And be it further enacted, That until the next 
 general census shall be taken, the said state shall be entitled 
 to one representative in the House of Representatives of the 
 United States." 
 
 Section 6. The following propositions were offered the con- 
 vention which if accepted by that body, they shall be binding 
 on the United States and the State of Illinois. 
 
 First. Section numbered 16 in each township or its equivalent 
 shall be granted to the state, for the use of the inhabitants of 
 such township, for the use of schools. 
 
 Second. All salt springs within the state, together with the 
 lands reserved for the use of the same shall be granted to the 
 said state, for the use of the said state according as the wisdom 
 of the Legislature of the said state shall determine. Provided 
 the Legislature shall never sell nor lease the same for a longer 
 period than ten years at any one time. 
 
 Third. Five per cent, of the net proceeds of the sale of the 
 lands lying within the proposed state, which shall be sold by 
 Congress, shall be reserved and disposed of as follows: Two- 
 fifths shall be held and disposed of by Congress for the construc- 
 tion of roads leading to the state. The other three-fifths shall 
 be used by the state for the benefit of the schools when organized 
 — one-sixth part of the three per cent, shall be applied to the 
 founding- and maintaining of a college or university. 
 
 Fourth. One entire township or thirty-six sections shall be 
 set aside by the President of the United States together with one 
 previously set aside (in the Ordinance of 1787) for the purposes 
 of a seminary of learning. The State Legislature shall hold this 
 land in trust to be administered by the State Legislature. 
 
 All these gifts with the understanding that all tracts of land 
 sold after January 1, 1819, by the United States, lying within 
 the State of Illinois, shall be exempt from taxation of any form 
 for a term of five years from the date of the sale. And that 
 all bounty lands granted for military services when held by 
 the patentee or his heirs, shall be exempt from taxation for a 
 period of three years from the date of the patent. Again, all 
 lands in Illinois held by citizens of the United States and residing 
 without the said state shall not be taxed higher than lands be- 
 longing to citizens residing within the state. 
 
332 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Section 7. All lands lying north of Indiana, and all lands 
 lying north of northern boundary of Illinois, as fixed by this 
 act, shall be organized into and become the Michigan Territory. 
 
 Commercial Possibilities 
 
 The enabling act was signed by the President April 18, 1818. 
 The news must have reached Kaskaskia within the next thirty 
 days — at least by May 20. This was surely a time of great 
 rejoicing at least on the part of those who had worked so hard 
 and so faithfully in furthering the project of admission. Of 
 course the intelligencer was in close touch with Mr. Pope and 
 was fully informed as to the progress of the enabling act as 
 it worked its way through special House committee, committee 
 of the whole of the House, the House itself, and then in the 
 Senate it must run the gauntlet in the committee on public 
 lands, the committee of the whole of the Senate, and finally in 
 the Senate itself. 
 
 The champion of the bill in the House was of course Mr. Pope, 
 but he had warm supporters in the members of the special 
 committee who served with him — Mr. Claiborne of Tennessee, 
 Mr. Johnson of Kentucky, Mr. Spencer of New York, and Mr. 
 Whitman of Massachusetts. Mr. Johnson of Kentucky was an 
 especial friend of Edwards and Pope, and being a near neighbor 
 he desired to see the young commonwealth prosper. In the Sen- 
 ate Mr. Tait of Georgia professed friendship for the bill, but 
 was not at all convinced that the population in the territory 
 would reach the forty thousand mark as the petitioners for 
 statehood has so confidently assured Congress it would do. He 
 desired to defer the consideration of the bill, but the friends of 
 the bill — Senators Morrow of Ohio, Talbot of Kentucky and Bar- 
 bour of Virginia — all professed the greatest confidence in the 
 judgment of the Territorial Legislature of Illinois who had stated 
 in their petition that there were not less than forty thousand 
 inhabitants within the limits of the proposed new state. 
 
 The news of the final passage of the bill and of the President's 
 signature thereto reached Kaskaskia, and was published in the 
 Intelligencer on May 20, 1818. The rapid movement of the bill 
 through the House and Senate, its intelligent support by Mr. 
 Pope and other members of Congress from the western and 
 southern states, the wide discussion of the location, geography, 
 resources, and adaptation to agriculture and commerce, centered 
 the public mind upon Illinois as had been the case in the admis- 
 sion of no other state into the Union. Particularly had Mr. 
 Pope's discussion in favor of the northward extension of the 
 northern boundary attracted the attention of public men in Penn- 
 sylvania, New York and all New England. He had shown what 
 wonderful possibilities there were in an all water route from the 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 333 
 
 embryonic port of Chicago to the greatest port on the Atlantic. 
 At this time the Erie Canal was well along in its stages of con- 
 struction. It had been chartered in 1817 and was being pushed 
 toward completion. The whole east was aflame with the pros- 
 pects of an enlarged trade with the west. A traveler through 
 the west at this time comments upon the evidences of luxury 
 ghanies. But the transporting of these evidences into the west- 
 and refinement which he found in the region west of the Alle- 
 ern country from the ports of entry on the Atlantic coast was 
 a costly undertaking. Freight rates from the Atlantic coast 
 to Pittsburg and Cincinnati were from one hundred twenty-five 
 to one hundred fifty dollars per ton. "Most of this stock was 
 transported over the mountains from Philadelphia or Baltimore. 
 In 1820, three thousand wagons carried to Pittsburg, the dis- 
 tributing center of the West, nearly eighteen million dollars' 
 worth of merchandise." The commercial interests of the East 
 were quick to see the dream of Mr. Pope of opening an all water 
 route from New York City to the prospective City of Chicago, 
 via the Hudson River, the Erie Canal and the Great Lakes. Mr. 
 Pope in his letters to Mr. Cook the editor of Intelligencer stated 
 that the rapid movement of the bill and the discussions had 
 awakened great interest in the East about the new West. He 
 thought there would be an increasing emigration to Illinois 
 within the next two or three years. His good judgment is shown 
 when we consider the census reports of 1810, 1820, and the 
 census taken by the territorial authority in the summer of 1818. 
 The census of 1810 showed 12,282 people in Illinois. In 1820 
 the federal census showed 55,162, an increase of 42,000, or an 
 increase of more than 350 per cent, in ten years. The popula- 
 tion taken in the summer of 1818 showed 34,610. This gives a 
 gain in two years, from 1818 to 1820, of 20,552 or an increase in 
 per cent, of nearly sixty in two years. In 1830 the census returns 
 gave Illinois 157,445, again from 1818 to 1830 of 123,000 (near- 
 ly) , or an increase in twelve years of nearly 362 per cent. 
 
 Mr. Cook felt so jubilant over the success of his efforts that 
 he changed the name of his paper from the Western Intelligencer 
 to the Illinois Herald, 1814-1816. The paper then became the 
 Western Intelligencer, 1816-1818. It now became the Illinois 
 Intelligencer. 
 
 Electing Delegates 
 
 The election of delegates to the constitutional convention must 
 take place, according to the enabling act, on the first Monday 
 in July and the two following days. This would give a portion 
 of May and all of June for the canvass of the candidates and 
 the discussion of the measures which should be incorporated in 
 the new constitution. But the people did not wait for the passage 
 of the act, but took it for granted that it would be passed, and 
 
334 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 began to discuss the public questions quite early in the spring 
 of 1818. The method of discussion was chiefly through the Intel- 
 ligencer, though there were some public discussions and private 
 conversations. Among the questions which attracted most atten- 
 tion was, of course, that of slavery. Other questions were the 
 expediency or inexpediency of deferring the making of the con- 
 stitution for at least a year; the question whether the old 
 pioneers should be elected or whether the new comers should sit 
 in the convention ; the equalization of taxes ; shall lawyers be 
 elected delegates; and shall ministers sit in the convention. 
 
 On the question of slavery there were three positions — One 
 group was for a constitution which would permit slavery just 
 as would be found in any slave state. One group was bitterly 
 opposed to slavery in any form and would do all in their power 
 to prevent a slave clause from being incorporated in the consti- 
 tution. A third group was indifferent to the slavery question 
 They were apparently not concerned about slavery or the inden- 
 ture system. 
 
 Mr. Cook who was still connected with the Intelligencer opened 
 the campaign as early as April, 1818, by an article signed "A 
 republican." In this article he took strong grounds against slav- 
 ery. He said the pro-slavery people say that a constitution recog- 
 nizing slavery would greatly stimulate immigration, but he said 
 we know that the emigration from the eastern and northern 
 state has been and will continue to be far greater than that 
 from the slave states. He also called attention to the fact that 
 the Ordinance of 1787 forbids it. The paper editorially tried 
 to steer between the rocks by saying, "Whatever the people 
 shall dispassionately say on the subject, we will acquiesce in 
 without a murmur, and for that purpose we invite investigation. 
 Our columns will be open as well to the friends of the measure, 
 as to the opponents." 
 
 A writer signing his name "Caution," and purporting to live 
 on Silver Creek, St. Clair County, was an extreme opponent of 
 slavery. 
 
 A writer from St. Clair County warned the people not to put 
 too much confidence in the prohibitions of slavery found in the 
 ordinance, but told them that these prohibitions were only valid 
 so long as Illinois was a territory. 
 
 One of the most polished and forceful statements of the anti- 
 slavery side of the discussion was presented by a writer who 
 signed his name "Agis." The identity was never fully estab- 
 lished but from the ease with which he directs his thoughts 
 through a long contribution to the Intelligencer, the writer was 
 supposed to be Edward Coles who at that time was temporarily 
 residing in Illinois keeping his eye on the turn things might take 
 in the matter of slavery in the constitution. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 335 
 
 Other writers contributed articles for the Intelligencer usually 
 condemning the proposition to make Illinois a slave state. The 
 pro-slavery men were too shrewd to enter into a newspaper war 
 in defense of that "peculiar institution." They were satisfied 
 to talk their side in the gatherings and in public places. 
 
 Expedient or Inexpedient 
 
 A clause, Section 4, in the enabling act provided that the mem- 
 bers of the convention when first assembled should take a vote 
 to determine the expediency or the inexpediency of forming a 
 constitution at the time, August, 1818, set in the act. If a ma- 
 jority decide it inexpedient to form a constitution at this time, 
 they should call another election of delegates for a convention 
 at a future time. But if they vote by a majority to proceed with 
 the work in hand, then they shall frame the constitution and 
 submit it to the Congress. This gave some timid people a cue, 
 and upon it they argued for a postponement of the convention 
 till 1819. Their reasons were that it was doubtful whether the 
 territory had the 40,000 required in the enabling act. They were 
 also hoping that in some way or other the slavery question would 
 solve itself by that time. Their argument was met by those who 
 were ready to face their duty by saying that a bird in the hand 
 was worth two in the bush. Now was the time to rid the people 
 of the unbearable ills of territorial government. 
 
 Another question was freely discussed — Shall the constitution 
 be written by the older set who had redeemed the lands, or 
 by the young lawyers who had flocked into the territory and 
 had not borne any of the heat or the burden of the day. Some 
 of these went so far as to express some doubt as to the ability 
 of most of the men to write a constitution. They doubted a 
 "sufficiency of men of talents and political experience to form 
 a constitution." There was a very strong dislike among the 
 older settlers against the flock of young lawyers who had in 
 the past two decades come into the territory. At the same time 
 there was some doubt expressed about the propriety of choosing 
 ministers 'to sit in the convention. There were many other minor 
 matters which were discussed as to the fitness of men to sit in 
 the convention. 
 
 Who's Who Among the Delegates 
 
 As the day approached for the selection of delegates to the con- 
 vention the issues which had been before the public for the past 
 year gradually faded away and the personality of the candidates 
 constituted the big factor in making the selection. Some of the 
 delegates selected were men of high standing in the territory 
 while little is known of some. The reader might wish to know 
 
336 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 who served in the convention and what other service he had ren- 
 dered earlier and what later. The following is a list of the 
 selected delegates. The counties are listed in the order of their 
 age. There were fifteen counties in the Territory of Illinois in 
 1818, and the enabling act assigned to three counties three dele- 
 gates each, namely: St. Clair, Madison, and Gallatin. To each 
 of the other twelve counties, two delegates each, making in all 
 thirty-three delegates. 
 
 St. Clair County. St. Clair County is the oldest county in the 
 state, and it had the distinction of furnishing the most con- 
 spicuous member in the person of the president of the conven- 
 tion. Its three delegates were: 
 
 Jesse Burgess Thomas, a native of Maryland, descendant of 
 Lord Baltimore, attorney, speaker of the Indiana Legislature 
 (Lower House), delegate in Congress securing separation of 
 Illinois from Indiana Territory, one of three federal judges of 
 Illinois Territory, President of the Constitutional Convention, 
 United States Senator, and author of Missouri Compromise, died 
 at Mt. Vernon, Ohio, 1853. 
 
 James Lemen, Jr., native born, Baptist minister, of a very 
 noted family, second American white born in Illinois, anti-slavery 
 worker, his father in "pact" with Jefferson. 
 
 John Messenger, pioneer, surveyor, mill-wright, teacher of 
 Mathematics in Rock Springs seminary, author, served in In- 
 diana Territorial Legislature, speaker of first general assembly, 
 died near Belleville, 1846, a very scholarly gentleman. 
 
 Randolph County contained the capital of the territory, the 
 town of Kaskaskia, the most historic town in early history of 
 Illinois. It furnished the delegate who had more to do in formu- 
 lating the constitution than any other man. 
 
 Elias Kent Kane, graduate of Yale University, came to Kas- 
 kaskia at twenty years of age, great orator, judge of Eastern 
 District of Illinois, is said to have written much of the constitu- 
 tion before the meeting of the convention, United States Sena- 
 tor, cousin of Chancellor Kent, and a relative of Elisha Kent 
 Kane, the Arctic explorer. 
 
 George Fisher, doctor, surgeon in Stephenson's brigade in War 
 of 1812, first sheriff of Randolph county, served in Indiana Terri- 
 torial Legislature, speaker in Illinois Territorial Legislature, 
 helped to organize first Masonic lodge in Illinois, 1806, said to 
 have been most eminent physician in Illinois at that time. 
 
 Madison County. At the time of the convention this county 
 included the west part of the state — everything north of the 
 present north line of St. Clair and west of a meridian a little 
 east of Springfield. It was the largest county in area and in 
 population — 6,303. 
 
 Benjamin Stephenson reached Illinois in 1809, the first sheriff 
 of Randolph County, was a colonel in the War of 1812, dele- 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 337 
 
 gate in Congress, receiver of public moneys at Edwardsville, 
 assisted Auguste Chouteau in treaty with Kickapoos, was a 
 faithful public servant. 
 
 Abraham Prickett a pioneer from Kentucky in 1809 was a 
 druggist, lived in Edwardsville, served in the first general assem- 
 bly, postmaster at Edwardsville, traded with Indians in Quincy, 
 took government contracts. 
 
 Joseph Borough was a private in early part of War of 1812. 
 Later was lieutenant in ranger company, served in Lower and 
 Upper Houses in general assemblies. 
 
 Gallatin County contained the United States salines and 
 Shawneetown, a ferry across the Ohio gave Shawneetown much 
 importance. 
 
 Leonard White a gallant soldier in War of 1812, a lessee of 
 the salt works, major in the 4th regiment, later Senator in second 
 general assembly, government agent at United States Salines, 
 White County named in his honor. 
 
 Adolphus Frederick Hubbard was an early comer to Shawnee- 
 town; he was a lawyer, pro-slavery, member general assembly, 
 lieutenant-governer 1822-1826, candidate for governor in 1826. 
 
 Michael Jones came to Kaskaskia 1804, register of land office, 
 pro-slavery, excitable and passionate, colonel in War of 1812, 
 member third general assembly. 
 
 Johnson County at that time included part of Pulaski and 
 part of Massac, Elvira was the county seat, Fort Massac was the 
 most noted place in the county, smallest of the counties in popu- 
 lation 767. 
 
 William McFatridge has left very little behind him which his 
 friends have made a matter of history, served in the Legislature 
 of 1822-24. 
 
 Hezekiah West was an early pioneer but little is known of him. 
 
 Edwards County included all or parts of eight counties from 
 the third principal meridian to the Wabash. This county in- 
 cluded the famous "Marine Settlement," or the English settle- 
 ments. The coming figure of this county was Morris Birkbeck, 
 a vigorous opponent of slavery. 
 
 Seth Gard, the county's first judge, served in Territorial Legis- 
 lature from 1815 to 1818, he helped to found the Town of 
 Palmyra which must have disappeared from the map. 
 
 Levi Compton was a native of Virginia, was perhaps the first 
 permanent settler in Wabash County, was a large slave owner 
 in Kentucky, but was an anti-slavery supporter, built a fort in 
 1804 called Compton's fort, was county treasurer 1815-1819, an 
 important man in his day. 
 
 White County included, White, Hamilton and north part of 
 Franklin. 
 
 Willis Hargrave was a newcomer, and an open advocate of 
 slavery, was county commissioner in 1818, captain in War of 
 
338 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 1812, inspector of the United States salines at Equality, he was 
 "efficient and active in the defense of the country in War of 
 1812." 
 
 William McHenry came from Kentucky to White County in 
 1809, was captain in War of 1812, later served in Black Hawk 
 war, served in both lower and upper houses of state Legislature, 
 McHenry County was named in his honor. 
 
 Monroe County had a population in 1818 of 1,517 souls. New 
 Design, the home of the Lemens, was famous far and near, Belle- 
 fontaine, Harrisville and the Renault Grant made Monroe known. 
 The Moores, Piggotts, Lemens and Whitesides were household 
 names in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. 
 
 Caldwell Cairns was a doctor of wide renown, he came in 
 1800 from Pennsylvania, was fond of agriculture, lived in the 
 "Bottoms," was a justice of the peace, he was an active member 
 of the convention, was the father-in-law of Gen. James Semple. 
 
 Enoch Moore was born in the old block house at Bellefon- 
 taine, 1782, one of the first American children born in Illinois, 
 was a ranger, clerk of the court, judge, member of the second 
 general assembly, died 1848. 
 
 Pope County lay on the Ohio River and contained a ferry prior 
 to 1800, it was the crossing point for immigrants from Tennessee 
 and western Kentucky, it had 2,069 inhabitants in 1818, in 1820, 
 2,610. Good trails led from Golconda to Kaskaskia. 
 
 Samuel O'Melveny engaged in the flat-boat business on the 
 Ohio and the Mississippi, a popular Irishman, was county treas- 
 urer of Pope in 1816, later removed to Randolph County, held 
 seat in general assembly from Union County in 1820-22. 
 
 Hamlet Ferguson has left no record behind. Reynolds says he 
 filled various offices and sat in the Constitutional Convention. 
 Hamlet Ferguson is. listed as a major in the Third Regiment, 
 Illinois Militia, Col. Isaac White commanding. 
 
 Jackson County has been the scene of much Illinois history. 
 Conrad Will brought this county before the public in several 
 ways. So did John A. Logan. 
 
 Conrad Will was a native of Pennsylvania, a physician by 
 profession, a tanner, a manufacturer of salt, county commis- 
 sioner, member of Constitutional Convention. Served many 
 years in the General Assembly. 
 
 James Hall, Jr. There seems to be no record of Mr. Hall as 
 a private citizen or as a public servant. It is reported he was 
 one of the five lawyers in the convention. 
 
 Crawford County lay along the east side of the state north 
 of the parallel of Olney and east of the meridian of Vandalia. 
 Its population was chiefly in the southeast corner. It contained 
 about one-third of the area of the state. 
 
 Edward N. Cullom was a prominent early settler from Ken- 
 tucky, was a large land owner, built flat-boats and marketed 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 339 
 
 his produce in New Orleans, bought more land and became rich, 
 lost it all in helping his friends. 
 
 Joseph Kitchell lived near the old Town of Palestine, his 
 brother was an attorney-general of Illinois, Joseph was a promi- 
 nent lawyer, his father-in-law was a Revolutionary soldier, 
 served in Territorial Legislature, his nephew, J. W. Kitchell of 
 Pana, gave the state the only known copy of the Journal of Pro- 
 ceedings of the Constitutional Convention. 
 
 Bond County was a long, narrow strip reaching from the pres- 
 ent Bond County to the north line of the state. The strip was 
 a little wider than the present county. Its population was mostly 
 in the south portion. 
 
 Thomas Kirkpatrick lived near the present City of Green- 
 ville, was among the first commissioners, he was a first lieu- 
 tenant in the Edwardsville Militia, built a flouring and saw mills, 
 his home was the county seat a short time for Madison County, 
 in 1812. 
 
 Samuel G. Morse was also an early settler in Bond County. 
 He was the first sheriff, was a singing teacher. 
 
 Union County included also what is now Alexander County, 
 seems not to have sent its most prominent people to the conven- 
 tion. 
 
 William Eckols has left no history of himself and did not 
 take a very important part in the convention, seems to have 
 been against slavery and that is to his credit. 
 
 John Whittaker was the other delegate, an early settler, mem- 
 ber of grand jury in 1818, served in General Assembly in 
 1824-26. 
 
 Washington County was west of Edwards, and east of St. 
 Clair there were some German families in this county as early 
 as 1818. 
 
 Andrew Bankson was a very active member of the conven- 
 tion, lived first in St. Clair County, and later in Washington, 
 was colonel in militia, served in General Assembly, was anti- 
 slavery. 
 
 John K. Mangham was the colleague of Mr. Bankson, was 
 delayed one day in reaching convention, died Tuesday, August 
 11, 1818. 
 
 Franklin County included also what is now Williamson County. 
 It was the last county created prior to the convention. 
 
 Thomas Roberts was an early settler, held several military 
 offices, seemed to be anti-slavery, moved to Union County and 
 elected to the General Assembly. 
 
 Isham Harrison has not left any record behind him. He was 
 elected probably because there was not many aspirants from 
 the county as this county was the last county organized prior 
 to the convention. 
 
 The convention was due to assemble Monday, August 3, 1818. 
 
340 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 On that day all the delegates appeared except the two from 
 Jackson County and the two from Washington. Jesse B. Thomas 
 was made the permanent chairman, William C. Greenup was 
 made the permanent secretary, and Ezra Owen was chosen ser- 
 geant-at-arms. 
 
 Occupations 
 
 It will be found very interesting and profitable to recall the 
 composition of the convention relative to the occupations of the 
 delegates. It has been generally thought that the men who made 
 the constitution were men who had had little training in political 
 life, that they were mostly farmers and hunters, woodsmen and 
 Indian fighters. There were such men in the convention. They 
 were men with a world of experience and experience is very 
 valuable. But there were men of large caliber in the conven- 
 tion, lawyers, doctors, business men, men who were quite famil- 
 iar with constitutional government as it had been worked out 
 in the older American states. There were men who had attended 
 the best colleges of that day and were familiar with the best 
 political theories of the times. And more than all, these men 
 knew what they wanted and what they needed and were frank 
 in expressing their wants and needs in the fundamental law of 
 the state which their sacrifices had founded. 
 
 In making the following classification the farmer group may 
 seem large in comparison with the other groups, but many of 
 these farmers were also engaged in other lines of work. 
 
 Lawyers and Judges Thos. Kirkpatrick 
 
 Jesse B. Thomas Leonard White 
 
 Elias K Kane Teachers 
 
 James Hall c , ~, ,.. 
 
 Adolphus F. Hubbard ^"t^ M °° re 
 
 Joseph Kitchell John Messenger 
 
 Ministers 
 James Lemen, Jr. 
 
 Officials 
 Benj. Stephenson 
 Michael Jones Merchant 
 
 Willis Hargrave Abraham Prickett 
 Wm. McHenry _ _ 
 
 Enoch Moore Farmers, Etc. 
 
 Levi Compton 
 
 Doctors Joseph Borough 
 
 Caldwell Cairns Seth Gard 
 
 George Fisher Andrew Bankson 
 
 Conrad Will * Enoch Moore 
 
 Wm. McFatridge 
 
 Manufacturers Hezekiah West 
 
 *Jesse B. Thomas *Caldwell Cairn 
 
 * Conrad Will *John Whittaker 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 341 
 
 Wm. Echols Thomas Roberts 
 
 John K. Mangham Isham Harrison 
 
 Samuel O'Melveny Edward N. Cullom 
 
 Hamlet Ferguson 
 * Counted second time 
 
 Military Service 
 
 It is a matter of pride too, to .all of us that we find that so 
 many of these delegates were loyal Americans. The following 
 is the record of military service so far as we have been able to 
 find it. This service was chiefly in the War of 1812, though in 
 one or two instances it was later. 
 
 Colonels — Benjamin Stephenson, Andrew Bankson, Michael 
 Jones. 
 
 Majors — Wm. McHenry, Willis Hargrave, Leonard White. 
 
 Captains — Hamlet Ferguson, Thomas Roberts, Enoch Fisher. 
 
 Surgeon — George Fisher. 
 
 First Lieutenants — Thomas Kirkpatrick, Joseph Borough. 
 
 Ensign — John Whittaker. 
 There can be no doubt that many of the convention men not 
 enumerated as officers took an active part in the defense of 
 their communities, in building forts and blockhouses, and in 
 guarding the most exposed posts of the country while the war 
 was in progress. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 THE CONVENTION 
 
 Journal — Population — Death of Mr. Mangham — Appor- 
 tionment — The Capital — Bill of Rights — The Consti- 
 tution — Election 
 
 The Enabling Act designated the first Monday in August as 
 the day on which the convention should meet. On that day the 
 delegates from thirteen of the counties appeared with certifi- 
 cates of their election. 
 
 Journal of the Convention 
 
 Monday, August 3, 1818 
 
 At a convention begun and held at the Town of Kaskaskia on 
 Monday the third day of August, in the year of our Lord one 
 thousand eight hundred and eighteen, for the purpose of form- 
 ing a constitution and state government pursuant to the Act 
 of Congress passed on the 18th of April, 1818, entitled "An 
 Act to enable the people of the Illinois Territory to form a con- 
 stitution and state government, and for the admission of such 
 state into the Union on an equal footing with the original states." 
 A majority of representatives (delegates) appearing, Jesse B. 
 Thomas was chosen president, I. V. W. Varick, secretary, and 
 Ezra Owen, door-keeper, pro tern. 
 
 The roll of the delegates from the several counties was then 
 called and twenty-nine answered to their names. The delegates 
 from Jackson, Conrad Will and James Hall, Jr., and Andrew 
 Bankson and John K. Mangham from Washington did not report 
 until Tuesday, August 3d. It was now ordered that the conven- 
 tion proceed to the election of permanent officers, whereupon 
 Jesse B. Thomas was elected president, William G. Greenup, sec- 
 retary, and Ezra Owen, sergeant-at-arms. The president made 
 a very short inaugural address. A committee of three, Messrs. 
 Kane, Stephenson and Hargrave, was appointed to examine the 
 credentials of the members of the convention ; another commit- 
 tee of three, Messrs. Messenger, Fisher and Cullom, was ap- 
 pointed to formulate a set of rules which should govern the 
 deliberations of the convention during the session ; and still 
 another committee of three to secure the services of a minister 
 of the Gospel who should open the session on the morrow with 
 prayer. Messrs. Moore, Gard and Hubbard were named and 
 they secured the services of the Rev. Mr. Mitchell who opened 
 
 342 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 343 
 
 the session on August the 4th with prayer. Dr. John Snyder 
 says that this one prayer seems to have been considered suffi- 
 cient for the entire sitting of the convention, as there is no 
 record of there having been any more prayers offered. 
 
 Tuesday, August 4, 1818 
 On the second day at 9 o'clock the session opened. The dele- 
 gates from Jackson and Washington counties presented their 
 certificates of election and were sworn in. On motion a com- 
 mittee of three, Kane, Kitchell and Cairns, was named to exam- 
 ine the returns of the census as made to the secretary of the 
 territory and report to the convention. There was one census 
 enumerator appointed in each county and the returns were to 
 be made to the office of the secretary of the territory. 
 
 Population 
 
 Wednesday, August 5, 1818 
 On Wednesday, August 5th, the Committee on Credentials 
 reported that the sitting members were all entitled to serve in 
 the convention from the several counties. Mr. Kane from the 
 committee on the census returns in the office of the secretary of 
 the territory made the following report: 
 
 From the County of Bond 1,398 
 
 From the County of Madison 6,303 
 
 From the County of St. Clair 5,039 
 
 From the County of Washington 1,819 
 
 From the County of Monroe 1,517 
 
 From the County of Randolph 2,974 
 
 From the County of Jackson 1,619 
 
 From the County of Johnson 767 
 
 From the County of Union 2,709 
 
 From the County of Pope 2,069 
 
 From the County of Franklin 1,281 
 
 From the County of Gallatin 3,849 
 
 From the County of White 3,832 
 
 From the County of Edwards 2,243 
 
 From the County of Crawford 2,839 
 
 Total 40,258 
 
 The report from the secretary's office was accepted as the 
 population of the Territory of Illinois and authority to make a 
 constitution was assumed as provided by the Enabling Act. A 
 set of rules governing the conduct of business during the sessions 
 was adopted. 
 
 The Enabling Act contained a rather queer proposition ; it was 
 this. The convention should upon assembling determine by a 
 majority vote whether in the judgment of the convention it was 
 or was not expedient to proceed with the making of a consti- 
 
344 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 tution at this time. It probably was the thought in the minds 
 of Congress that if, when the convention assembled, it should 
 turn out that there were actually fewer than 40,000 inhabitants 
 in the territory, there might be the general feeling that it would 
 be better to wait till the summer of 1819 to proceed with the 
 work of constitution making. Now that the report showed that 
 there were more than forty thousand inhabitants there were 
 few who felt they would be justified in deferring the work of 
 making a constitution. Upon taking a vote on the question of 
 expediency, it was determined affirmatively. The records do not 
 give the vote and it is not known just how strong the sentiment 
 in favor of deferring the making the constitution was. 
 
 A committee of fifteen, one from each county, was appointed 
 to frame and report to the convention a constitution for the 
 people of the Illinois Territory. The committee named was: 
 White, Kane, Prickett, Lemen, Cairns, Cullom, Hargrave, Comp- 
 ton, Roberts, Kirkpatrick, Bankson, Hall, West, Eckols and 
 O'Melveny. A committee was appointed to contract with Messrs. 
 Berry and Blackwell for the printing of the Journal of the Pro- 
 ceedings of the Convention. Berry and Blackwell were at that 
 time editors and proprietors of the Intelligencer the only paper 
 published in Illinois at the time. (The Illinois Immigrant was 
 founded in the summer of 1818. It was published at Shawnee- 
 town by Henry Eddy and Peter Kimmel.) 
 
 Thursday, August 6, 1818 
 
 The convention met at 9 o'clock. The convention proceeded to 
 consider the report of the committee on rules for the govern- 
 ment of procedure in the work of the convention. These were 
 in general such rules as might be found in any hand book on 
 parliamentary procedure. A few interesting rules will be given : 
 "In case of any disturbance as disorderly conduct in the galleries 
 or lobby, the president shall have power to order the same to 
 be cleared." Just what building in Kaskaskia had a gallery or 
 a lobby is a question no one has been able to answer. 
 
 "No person shall be permitted to smoke tobacco in the con- 
 vention while in session. 
 
 "There shall be no reading of newspapers or any other docu- 
 ments, that do not immediately concern the business for which 
 we are convened." 
 
 The Committee on Printing was ordered to have thirty-three 
 copies of the rules printed at expense of the individual members, 
 and thirty-three copies of the constitution when completed at 
 public expense. Several minor motions were made and all 
 deferred to the morrow. On motion of Mr. Kitchell the Com- 
 mittee on Printing was ordered to contract for the printing of 
 500 copies of the proceedings of the convention. The vote on 
 this motion was deferred till the morrow. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 345 
 
 Friday, August 7, 1818 
 
 The motion to order 500 copies of the proceedings printed 
 was decided in the negative. 
 
 On this day a very important matter came before the con- 
 vention. "Mr. Kane presented two petitions signed by sundry 
 inhabitants of Randolph County, one praying that this conven- 
 tion shall declare in the constitution to be formed that the moral 
 law is the basis of its structure, and acknowledge therein an 
 universal parent." The other praying that this convention may 
 declare the scriptures to be the word of God, and that the 
 constitution is founded upon the same; which said petitions 
 were received and read. They were referred to a committee 
 which never reported. This group of people that presented these 
 petitions were known as covenanter Presbyterians and were un- 
 der the leadership of the Rev. Samuel Wiley. 
 
 Saturday, August 8, 1818 
 There was no business transacted this day, and the conven- 
 tion adjourned till Monday, August 10, 9 o'clock, a. m. 
 
 Monday, August 10, 1818 
 Mr. Cullom obtained leave to lay before the convention a 
 draft of additional rules for the regulation of the work of 
 the convention. They were laid on the table till the morrow. 
 The convention then adjourned till Tuesday, August 11, 9 
 o'clock, a. m. 
 
 Death of Mr. Mangham 
 
 Tuesday, August 11, 1818 
 Upon the assembling of the convention, Mr. Bankson of Wash- 
 ington County, announced the death of his colleague, Mr. John 
 K. Mangham, at 1 o'clock a. m., of that day. A committee, 
 Messrs. White, Bankson and Morse, was appointed to have 
 charge of the funeral services, and the convention adjourned 
 to the morrow. 
 
 Wednesday, August 12, 1818 
 A motion to adopt additional rules for the convention was 
 lost. Mr. Kitchell from the Committee on Printing, presented 
 the offer of the public printers, Blackwell and Berry for print- 
 ign and binding copies of the Journal of the convention. It 
 was as follows : 
 
 For composing each page $1.00 
 
 Twenty quires paper 6.00 
 
 Press work 1.00 
 
 Folding and stitching .06 
 
 On motion 500 copies of the constitution were ordered 
 printed. 
 
346 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Mr. White, chairman of the committee of fifteen appointed 
 to present a draft of the constitution as prepared by the com- 
 mittee reported. The draft in manuscript form was then laid 
 on the secretary's table, and later was read. 
 
 The document consisted of: 
 
 A preamble. 
 
 Article 1 with two sections separating the powers into three 
 distinct parts. 
 
 Article 2 with thirty-five sections vests the legislative author- 
 ity in a General Assembly consisting of two houses, an upper or 
 senate, and a lower or house of representatives. 
 
 Article 3 with sixteen sections vests the executive power in 
 the governor. 
 
 Article 4 with eight sections vests the judicial power in one 
 supreme court, and in such inferior courts as the Legislature 
 shall, from time to time, order and establish. 
 
 Article 5 with five sections creates the militia of the state 
 and deals with its organization. 
 
 Article 6 with one section says : "There shall be neither slav- 
 ery nor involuntary servitude in this state otherwise than for 
 the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been 
 convicted," etc. 
 
 Article 7 with one section provides for amending the consti- 
 tution. 
 
 Article 8 with twenty-two sections constitutes the Bill of 
 Rights. 
 
 An ordinance accepting the propositions, made by the Con- 
 gress in the Enabling Act, in the form of gifts to the state 
 as follows : 
 
 First. Section numbered 16 in every township for the bene- 
 fit of the schools of that township. 
 
 Second. All salt springs within the state and the reserva- 
 tions of land attached thereto to be held by the state but not 
 to be sold without the consent of Congress. 
 
 Third. Five per cent of the income from the sale of public 
 lands within the state to be used — 2 per cent of such sales to 
 be expended by the general government for the construction of 
 roads leading to the state and 3 per cent to be used by the state 
 for educational purposes. 
 
 Fourth. The gift of an entire township to be used in found- 
 ing a seminary of learning. 
 
 To these acceptances there was attached a pledge that the 
 state would exempt from taxation for a period of five years 
 all public lands in Illinois sold after January 1, 1819. And 
 furthermore that lands owned by non-residenters shall never 
 be taxed higher than lands owned by those living in the state. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 347 
 
 Thursday, August 13, 1818 
 On this day of the work of modifying and changing the con- 
 stitution as handed in by the committee, began. On motion 
 Articles 1 and 2 and the first seven sections of Article 3 were 
 taken up for discussion. Article 1 was accepted with one slight 
 change in each of its two sections. Article 2 was adopted with 
 changes in Section 18 as to salaries of the state officers. Slight 
 changes in other sections. Section 35, which dealt with the 
 organizing of new counties and put limitations on the removal 
 of the capital of the state was struck out entirely. Article 3, the 
 first seven sections were accepted with the filling in of the proper 
 blanks as to length of terms, length of residence, etc. 
 
 Friday, August 14, 1818 
 
 The convention declined to order an election to fill the place 
 made vacant by the death of delegate John K. Mangham. The 
 thought was that a new member could not be elected and seated 
 before most of the work of the convention would be done. Sec- 
 tions 8, 9, 10, of Article 3 were adopted. Section 11 provided 
 that the sheriff and coroner should be elected by the qualified 
 voters in each county for a period of two years. Those were the 
 only county officers the people might vote for. Section 15 of 
 Article 3 makes the governor and the Supreme Court a sort 
 of reviewing body on laws. Bills passing the two houses are 
 presented to the governor with the Supreme Court shall ratify 
 or reject all bills. 
 
 Article 4 was adopted with little or no objection. Articles 5 
 and 7 and part of 8 were adopted with slight changes. Article 
 6 was reserved for further discussion. 
 
 Apportionment 
 
 Saturday, August 15, 1818 
 The balance of Article 8 and the ordinance were adopted. A 
 committee of five was appointed to consider whether there were 
 other articles which should be added to the constitution. The 
 members of this committee were Kitchell, Hubbard, Borough, 
 Fisher, Messenger. The convention then adjourned till 2 o'clock 
 that afternoon. 
 
 Mr. Hubbard offered a scheme of apportionment of members 
 of the General Assembly, and also suggested dates for the elec- 
 tions, etc. The following apportionment of members followed 
 the third reading: 
 
 Madison County 1 senator, 3 representatives 
 
 Bond County 1 senator, 1 representative 
 
 Washington County 1 senator, 1 representative 
 
 St. Clair County 1 senator, 3 representatives 
 
 Monroe County 1 senator, 1 representative 
 
348 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Randolph County 1 senator, 2 representatives 
 
 Jackson County 1 senator, 1 representative 
 
 Union County 1 senator, 2 representatives 
 
 Pope County 1 senator, 2 representatives 
 
 Johnson County 1 senator, 1 representative 
 
 Franklin County 1 senator, 1 representative 
 
 Gallatin County 1 senator, 3 representatives 
 
 White County 1 senator, 3 representatives 
 
 Edwards County 1 senator, 2 representatives 
 
 Crawford County 1 senator, 2 representatives 
 
 Total — 14 senators, 28 representatives. 
 The committee recommended that the dates of elections remain 
 the same as they now are under the territorial laws. 
 
 The report was received, read, and adopted, and the conven- 
 tion adjourned till Monday, next, at 9 o'clock. 
 
 Monday, August 17, 1818 
 The convention had now gone over the draft of the constitu- 
 tion and had made changes here and there with the exception 
 of Article 6 which was the article dealing with slavery. It 
 was now ordered that the convention go over the entire draft 
 section by section for second reading. This the convention did. 
 The most important change occurred in Section 15 in Article 
 3. In the original draft the veto power was located in the gov- 
 ernor and the Supreme Court. In the first reading, the section 
 was changed and the power was given to the governor alone, 
 but in the second reading the convention reverted to the original 
 draft. This provided that when bills have passed both houses 
 they shall be presented to the governor who together with the 
 Supreme Court shall constitute a council of revision who shall 
 pass upon the proposed law. If a majority of the council shall 
 deem the law worthy they may sign it, and if the majority 
 deem it improper they shall veto it. The article provided that 
 the two houses should have the right to pass the bill over the 
 veto, but the vote need be only a majority of those elected to 
 each house. Articles 4 and 5 were adopted on this day. 
 
 Tuesday, August 18, 1818 
 On this day the section providing for apportionment of sena- 
 tors and representatives was put in final form as found under 
 date of Saturday, August 15th. Then the sixth article was taken 
 up and the first lines changed to read "neither slavery nor invol- 
 untary servitude shall be introduced into this state otherwise 
 than for the punishment of crimes," etc. A second section 
 was added providing that no person bound to labor in any other 
 state shall be hired to labor in this state except within the 
 tract reserved for the salt works near Shawneetown, nor there 
 for a longer period than one year. When the motion was put 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 349 
 
 in the second reading of Section 1, Article 6, the vote stood as 
 follows : 
 
 For the adoption — Borough, Cairns, Cullom, Fisher, Hall, 
 Harrison, Hubbard, Jones, Kane, Kitchell, Messenger, Morse, 
 O'Melveny, Prickett, Stephenson, Will and White — 17. 
 
 Those against the adoption — Bankson, Compton, Eckols, Fer- 
 guson, Hargrave, Kirkpatrick, Lemen, McFatridge, McHenry, 
 Moore, Roberts, West and Whittaker — 14. The second section 
 was then adopted. 
 
 Article 8, section 8, in the original draft guaranteed to the 
 inhabitants of the old villages their commons. This was modified 
 in the second reading by adding that this guarantee does not 
 apply to Cahokia nor to Prairie du Pont. Section 15 was 
 amended to provide that imprisonment for debt was prohibited 
 if one had delivered up his estate for the benefit of his creditors. 
 
 Mr. Hubbard then reported a schedule which was read and 
 considered the first time. This schedule provided for the trans- 
 fer of the machinery of government from the Territory to the 
 State. This schedule as finally adopted has fourteen sections 
 and was not a matter of contention in the convention. 
 
 Mr. Hubbard from the committee on "additional articles or 
 sections," laid before the convention offers of donations of 
 lands upon which the new capital of the state might be erected. 
 These offers came from persons interested in Pope's Bluff, Hill's 
 Ferry, and Covington. These offers were of sites along the 
 Kaskaskia River. 
 
 Wednesday, August 19, 1818 
 
 On this day the Preamble and Articles 1 and 2 were ordered 
 engrossed and read the third time. 
 
 The date of the election of the first governor was set for the 
 first Thursday in September. After the first election of the 
 governor the date was fixed for the first Monday in August. 
 The first governor's term shall end the first Monday in Decem- 
 ber and at the end of each four years thereafter. 
 
 The engrossed preamble and Articles 1 and 2 were read and 
 passed. 
 
 The first seven sections of Article 3 were read and passed. 
 Mr. White offered a new section to Article 6, the slavery article. 
 This section provided for a fulfillment of all contracts or inden- 
 tures heretofore existing. 
 
 The Capital 
 
 Thursday, August 20, 1818 
 The first thing which came before the convention this day was 
 a motion by Mr. Kitchell that it was expedient at this time to 
 move the capital from Kaskaskia. Then Mr. Gard moved that 
 
350 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 a committee of five be appointed to view the sites that had been 
 offered on the Kaskaskia River and to report the most suitable 
 site for the seat of government. The ball had been set rolling 
 and Mr. Bankson moved that the Town of Covington be accepted 
 as the seat of government. Mr. Kane offered a resolution that 
 Kaskaskia be made the capital for five years, and at the end of 
 that five years that the capital be moved to Pope's Bluff. Mr. 
 Prickett moved the capital be fixed at Hill's Ferry, or Fredonia. 
 Mr. Hubbard resolved that a committee survey the whole state 
 and report the same to the first session of the General Assembly. 
 All of these motions and resolutions were decided in the negative. 
 
 The convention now took up the real work of making the con- 
 stitution. It proceeded to consider the remainder of Arti- 
 cle 3 from the eighth section to the close of the article. These 
 sections were adopted with only a few changes. The convention 
 proceeded to the third reading of Articles 4, 5, 6 and 7 as 
 amended and engrossed. In Section 5 of Article 4 the salary 
 of governor and other officers was fixed at not to exceed $1,000. 
 Carried by a vote of 17 to 14. 
 
 Sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 of Article 5 were accepted. Section 6 
 provided for exemption from arrest of the militia while at mus- 
 ter elections of officers, and in going and coming from the same, 
 except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace. 
 
 In the afternoon of this day the convention took up Articles 6 
 and 7. Mr. Card moved to strike out Section 2 of Article 6 
 but his motion was lost 10 to 21. The third section of Article 6 
 was amended so as to validate contracts of service made under 
 territorial laws, but children born of indentured parents shall 
 be free, males at twenty-one and females at eighteen years 
 of age. 
 
 Bill of Rights 
 
 Article 8, the bill of rights, was next considered. The first 
 seven sections were adopted as given in second reading. The 
 eighth section was amended with a proviso that the General 
 Assembly shall have the right to grant the same privileges to 
 Cahokia and Prairie du Pont as the bill of rights guarantees 
 to other villages and towns. Section 15 was amended so as to 
 secure freedom from imprisonment for debt unless the debtor 
 refuses to deliver up his estate, etc. The remaining sections 
 were then passed. 
 
 Mr. Roberts then introduced two new sections to be added to 
 the bill of rights. Section 23 asserted the freedom of the press 
 as "one of the invaluable rights of man, and every citizen may 
 freely speak, write, and print on any subject, being responsible 
 for the abuse of that liberty." 
 
 Section 24 provided that the press shall be protected in the 
 publication of the conduct of public officials and "the truth may 
 be given in evidence." 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 351 
 
 Section 21 was added to Article 3 providing that the state 
 treasurer and public printer shall be appointed by the Legis- 
 lature, but the governor shall have the privilege of filling vacan- 
 cies when the Legislature was not in session. 
 
 Section 22 gave the governor the appointing power over all 
 officers named in the constitution whose selection is not other- 
 wise provided for. But such local officers as have duties limited 
 to a county may be appointed in such manner as the General 
 Assembly may provide. 
 
 The ordinance was then passed unanimously. A clause was 
 then ordered to be attached to the schedule providing that the 
 General Assembly should enact such laws as were necessary 
 to prevent dueling. 
 
 Friday, August 21, 1818 
 The schedule was then considered. The words lieutenant- 
 governor were inserted in the schedule naming an election offi- 
 cer following the word governor. The question of locating the 
 capital of the new state had been one of great concern. Many 
 propositions had been brought forward, but no positive action 
 had been taken. There was a general belief that the capital 
 would not long remain at Kaskaskia. Mr. Gard offered a reso- 
 lution that the seat of government should remain at Kaskaskia 
 until its location should be determined by the General Assem- 
 bly. However, the first General Assembly was directed to ask 
 Congress for a gift of four sections of land upon which the 
 capitol building should be located. This carried by a vote of 
 18 to 13. 
 
 Saturday, August 22, 1818 
 
 A petition of one William Thompson asking that the conven- 
 tion shall announce that the moral law was the basis of the con- 
 stitution, and that the scriptures are the word of God, the 
 supreme rule of faith, and practice. The petition was laid on 
 the table. 
 
 A committee of three, Messrs. Lemen, O'Melveny, and Kane, 
 was appointed to make a study of the constitutions as amended 
 and passed and to report next Monday at 9 o'clock. 
 
 Monday, August 24, 1818 
 
 By resolution the right to vote at the first election was granted 
 to all white, male inhabitants who were residents of Illinois 
 at the signing of the constitution. 
 
 The committee to study the constitution and report to the con- 
 vention, recommended that Section 22 of the schedule be wholly 
 expunged which was done. Many other changes were offered 
 but there was a general feeling that the time for changes was 
 past and the constitution remained about as read the third time. 
 
 The convention was in session on Tuesday the 25th, and on 
 Wednesday the 26th, but there is no official record of what was 
 
352 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 done in those two days. The only copy of the journal of the 
 proceedings known was given to the secretary of state in 1905 
 by J. W. Kitchell, a nephew of Joseph Kitchell, a delegate from 
 Crawford County. 
 
 The Constitution 
 
 No doubt great credit is due the pioneers who framed our 
 first constitution. The framers were all men of prominence 
 in the counties from which they came. Five of the delegates 
 were lawyers, Thomas, Kane, Hall, Hubbard and Kitchell. The 
 first two named were Federal judges. Kitchell was without 
 doubt an able man. He appears to have initiated more valuable 
 provisions in the constitution than any other one man. He was 
 not on the committee of fifteen which presented the first draft 
 of the document, but from the time the work on the floor of the 
 convention began, Mr. Kitchell was in the forefront. Mr. Kane 
 probably had more to do in determining the fundamental fea- 
 tures of the constitution than any one else. In an exhaustive 
 article on Conrad Will, by Dr. John F. Snyder in Publications 
 of the Illinois Historical Society, Volume 10, 1905, in a foot- 
 note, Dr. Snyder says: "Judge Breese, who was then a law 
 student in Elias K. Kane's office in Kaskaskia, said the consti- 
 tution modeled in part after that of Kentucky, was written in 
 Mr. Kane's office some time before the meeting of the conven- 
 tion." Judge Jesse B. Thomas was the presiding officer of the 
 convention and seems not to have taken an active part in the 
 work of making the constitution, but without doubt his counsel 
 was always available. Not much is known of Hall as a lawyer, 
 but from what can be gathered as to the professional attain- 
 ments of Mr. Hubbard it may be inferred he was not a man who 
 ranked high among the lawyers of his day. 
 
 There was one minister of the Gospel among the delegates. 
 The Rev. James Lemen was a Baptist preacher and a man of 
 high motives and strong convictions. He voted against fixing 
 the salaries of the governor and the judges of the Supreme 
 Court at $1,250. He favored $1,000 as the salary. On direct 
 votes on the slavery question, Mr. Lemen always voted against 
 slavery. 
 
 There were three doctors in the convention: Dr. George 
 Fisher from Randolph, Dr. Caldwell Cairns of Monroe County, 
 and Dr. Conrad Will of Jackson County. 
 
 There was one delegate who had given all his life to study 
 and teaching, John Messenger from St. Clair County. 
 
 The other delegates were not men of mark except they were 
 men of wide official experience who were valuable in their prac- 
 tical knowledge of affairs generally. The following is believed 
 to be a reliable distribution among the callings: 
 
 Judges and Lawyers 5 
 
 Ministers 1 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 353 
 
 Physicians 3 
 
 Teachers 2 
 
 Business Men 4 
 
 Merchant 1 
 
 Miller 1 
 
 Office Holders 6 
 
 Farmers 10 
 
 Total 33 
 
 Election 
 
 Section 9 of the schedule reads as follows : 
 
 "The president of the convention shall issue writs of election 
 to the several sheriffs of the several counties — requiring them 
 to cause an election to be held for governor, lieutenant-governor, 
 representative to the present Congress of the United States, and 
 members of the General Assembly, and sheriffs and coroners in 
 the respective counties; such election to commence on the third 
 Thursday of September next and continuing that and the two 
 succeeding days." 
 
 These elections were authorized on the theory that the consti- 
 tution would be accepted and the state government would need 
 to take charge of the affairs of the state. Accordingly the elec- 
 tions were held and resulted in the choice of the following : 
 
 Governor, Shadrach Bond. 
 
 Lieutenant Governor, Pierre Menard. 
 
 Representative in Congress, John McLean. 
 
 There was little opposition to Mr. Bond as a candidate for the 
 governorship. He had no announced opponents, but there were 
 votes cast for other men for the position. There seems to have 
 been some opposition to Bond in St. Clair County. Bond had been 
 mentioned as a candidate for Congress. Daniel P. Cook and 
 John McLean were also candidates, and they both desired to be 
 rid of Bond as a rival canidate. When Bond decided to make the 
 race for the governorship, it left a clear field for Cook and 
 McLean for Congress. Slavery was injected into the canvass, 
 Cook was anti-slavery and McLean was pro-slavery. The 
 national interest in the slavery question was just awakening. 
 The vote of the Illinois representative might be needed badly 
 by either side in the fight which far-seeing statesmen saw was 
 coming. It is said that Cook and McLean debated the slavery 
 question along the lines somewhat afterwards followed by Lin- 
 coln and Douglas. When the votes were counted it was found 
 that McLean had outrun Cook by fourteen votes in the state. 
 
 For the office of lieutenant-governor there were three candi- 
 dates — Pierre Menard, William L. Reynolds, and Edward N. 
 Cullom. Menard was well known over the state. The consti- 
 tution had been worded so as to permit him to serve as lieuten- 
 
 14 VI 
 
354 
 
 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 ant-governor, Section 3 as finally amended says the governor 
 shall be thirty years of age and a citizen of the United States 
 for thirty years. Section 13 of the same act says the lieuten- 
 ant-governor shall have the same qualifications as the governor. 
 Section 14 of the schedule says the lieutenant-governor shall be 
 thirty years of age and a citizen of the United States, and must 
 have resided in the state two years next preceding his election. 
 This change in the schedule was made it was said to allow 
 Menard to serve as lieutenant-governor. William L. Reynolds 
 was a doctor of Kaskaskia and Cahokia, one who stood high 
 in his profession. He had had experience in the Territorial 
 Legislature, but that was limited. Edward N. Cullom was a 
 
 MANSION OF PIERRE MENARD, AT THE FOOT OF THE BLUFF ON WHICH 
 STOOD OLD FORT GAGE OPPOSITE KASKASKIA 
 
 member of the convention from Crawford County. He, too, 
 had served in the Legislature. It is stated that both Reynolds 
 and Cullom received fewer than half as many votes as Menard. 
 Section 24 of Article 2 says : "The first meeting of the Gen- 
 eral Assembly shall commence on the first Monday of October 
 next, and forever after, the General Assembly shall meet on 
 the first Monday in December next ensuing the election of the 
 members thereof." In pursuance of this provision the Legis- 
 lature met on the 5th of October, 1818. Here arises a curious 
 situation. The constitution which had been made in August was 
 never ratified by the people and on the meeting of the Legis- 
 lature on October 5th had not yet been accepted by the Con- 
 gress. The state constitution, Article 2, Section 26, says that 
 every person elected or appointed to office in this state shall, 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 355 
 
 before he enters upon the duties thereof take an oath to sup- 
 port the constitution of the United States and of this state, and 
 also an oath of office. What would have been the value of these 
 elections, appointments, and oaths if Congress had refused to 
 accept the constitution which had just been made? What would 
 have been the force of an oath to support a constitution which 
 the people had not ratified and which Congress would not 
 accept? If it be contended that the action of the joint session 
 of the two branches of the General Assembly in electing two 
 United States assemblymen, was valid, why did the Legislature 
 adjourn and wait till January before laws could be made and 
 many other forms of legislative activity participated in? 
 
CHAPTER XXV 
 
 A RETROSPECT 
 
 Distribution of Population — The Pioneers — Economic Con- 
 ditions — Transportation — Religious Life — Educa- 
 tional Progress — The Return of Clark's Men. 
 
 We have reached the day when Illinois is to be recognized as 
 having obtained her majority. Illinois will presently be admitted 
 into the Union. Her population is increasing, her settlements 
 are spreading. Her industries are multiplying, towns are grow- 
 ing, the soil of her rich prairies and the resources of her tim- 
 bered areas are becoming known as well in Europe as within 
 our own New World. 
 
 Distribution of Population 
 
 The population by the census of 1820 was 55,162 while in 
 1810 it was 12,282. This would give 46,586 as the population 
 in 1818. This of course is too large, as there were less than 
 40,000 people by the census of 1818 when Illinois was admitted 
 into the Union. The large counties in population were Madi- 
 son, Randolph, St. Clair, Gallatin, Edwards, Crawford, and 
 Bond. With the exception of Bond these all touch the Ohio or 
 the Mississippi. Union, Alexander, Pulaski, Johnson and Mas- 
 sac had less than two people to the square mile in 1818. This 
 distribution of population along the Ohio and the Wabash and 
 along the Mississippi is easily explained. In the last two decades 
 the population had come from the south and east, and as the 
 people sought their homes they remained close to the rivers and 
 their tributaries. The settlements had gone up the Mississippi 
 several miles beyond the mouth of the Illinois River, and up 
 the Ohio and Wabash to the present Clark and Edgar counties. 
 That part of the state now occupied by Johnson, Williamson, 
 Franklin, Jefferson, Marion, Clay and Effingham were very 
 sparsely settled — except Williamson, and Franklin. The popu- 
 lation of the state in 1818 or 1820 occupied less than one-fourth 
 of the area of the state. 
 
 The north two-thirds or three-fourths of the state was still 
 a wilderness. There were remnants of Indian tribes in the cen- 
 tral and northern parts of the state. A map of Illinois printed 
 in the American Atlas, published in Philadelphia, shows Indian 
 villages southeast of Peoria, east of Peoria, on the Kankakee, 
 south of Chicago, and at the mouth of the Rock River. These 
 
 356 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 357 
 
 Indians were the Kickapoos, the Moonpokes, the Sax and Foxes, 
 the Winnebagoes, and the Pottawattomios. There were other 
 broken tribes in the unsettled portions of the state. 
 
 The people in Illinois in 1818 were chiefly from the slave- 
 holding states. There were of course the descendants of the 
 early French found mostly along the Mississippi with a few 
 along the Wabash near Vincennes. True enough there were 
 here and there men of prominence and influence who had made 
 their way into the southern parts of Illinois from Pennsyl- 
 vania, Massachusetts, and New York. Then there were many 
 individuals and now and then groups from the Old World. The 
 English settlements at Albion and Wanboro in Edwards County, 
 Thornwald in Union County and German settlements in St. 
 Clair County are illustrations. Many groups of Scotch-Irish 
 came into Illinois in a very early day, but they nearly all came 
 by way of the Carolinas and thence through Tennessee into 
 Illinois. 
 
 The Pioneers 
 
 The people who came into Illinois between 1800 and 1818, as 
 well as those who were already here, were of the class known 
 as the pioneers. They were the John the Baptists opening the 
 way for those who might come after them. They were the 
 frontiersmen who pushed the opposing forces of civilization 
 continually backward. They drove back the red savages, opened 
 roads, discovered the natural resources, located the fords, built 
 the first defenses, established homes, planted the first signs of 
 a Christian civilization, subdued the wild beasts and kept open 
 communication with the older sections of the country. The 
 Marquis de Castellux, a French officer, traveled through this 
 country at the close of the eighteenth century. He was greatly 
 interested in the work of the pioneers. He was surprised to 
 find what one man had done in one year. Then the mystery 
 was solved when he found that there was a pioneer every three 
 miles, and was filled with enthusiasm when he found that no 
 man worked by himself but that a most beautiful spirit of help- 
 fulness was manifest everywhere. He said he would be asked 
 in France, where they do not understand the life of the pio- 
 neers, how men working alone in the forest wilds could do what 
 he found accomplished. He said he would tell his people that 
 on the frontier "a man is never alone, never an isolated being. 
 The neighbors, for they are everywhere to be found, make it a 
 point of hospitality to aid the new farmer. A cask of cider 
 drunk in common, and with gaiety, or a gallon of rum, are the 
 recompense for these services. Such are the means by which 
 North America, which 100 years ago was nothing but a vast 
 forest, is peopled with 3,000,000 of inhabitants." 
 
 The French Marquis discovered one element of the life of 
 the pioneers — helpfulness. There was also a sturdiness in the 
 
358 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 life of the frontiersman which is not found in the life which 
 succeeds the life of the pioneers. There was nothing light and 
 trivial in the true pioneers. They were people who had their 
 minds made up, and their hearts set on immediate ends, and 
 all their energies were brought to bear in the realization of 
 these ends. The subduing of the wilderness whether it be on 
 the open prairies or in the timber, the founding of a home 
 whether humble or elaborate, the building and maintaining of 
 a house of worship, the opening of roads, the building of bridges, 
 the supporting of some sort of educational system, however 
 crude, and above all the maintenance of high standards in moral 
 and economic relationships. These are the things the Marquis 
 saw in the humble people he found in the territory west of the 
 Appalachians at the end of the eighteenth century, and these 
 are the same people with the same high ideals that prepared 
 Illinois for statehood in the early part of the nineteenth century. 
 
 The men and the women who came into Illinois in the first 
 quarter of the last century, had not only the immediate ends 
 which they must accomplish of making sure the basis of their 
 immediate physical and spiritual well-being, but they had a 
 really broad outlook upon the world. They brought high ideals 
 and ambitious plans which were not realized for decades in the 
 future. Cities were planned, school systems matured, free gov- 
 ernment, state and local, projected, and many looked forward 
 to the development of the great resources of the state though 
 possibly in the distant future. To confirm the doubting Thom- 
 ases we need only to mention the life work of Dr. John Peck, 
 Morris Birkbeck, Rev. John M. Ellis, Ninian Edwards, Hon. 
 John Rice Jones, Hon. Elias Kent Kane, James Hall, Rev. James 
 Lemen, Governor John Reynolds, and many others, all of whom 
 helped to lay the foundations of the greatness of an imperial 
 commonwealth. 
 
 There is and ought to be no purpose to deny the fact that 
 there was an ignorant and uneducated class of people in the set- 
 tled portions of Illinois in 1818. As has been said above the 
 large majority of the people who migrated into Illinois in the 
 first quarter of the nineteenth century were from states where 
 there were no free schools, where the participation in the affairs 
 of the local government were very limited, and where ease of 
 making a living did not contribute to the development of 
 resourcefulness of the individual. These people were therefore 
 slow in adapting themselves to the conditions which another 
 group of people might desire to obtain. But ignorance is not 
 a crime. Nor does it lead necessarily to criminality. It will 
 often turn out that the standards of right conduct are found 
 to be of a very high order even among an uneducated people. 
 There were few crimes committed in Illinois between 1800 and 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 359 
 
 1818. True, some of the forms of punishment were crude and 
 barbarous, but not more so than those for offenses of a later date. 
 
 Economic Conditions 
 
 It is true that the pressing need among the early settlers 
 was an economic need. Food must be provided out of the 
 resources at hand. The fishes of the streams and lakes must 
 contribute their share to the sustaining of the people. The 
 people found the problem of supplying this form of food an 
 easy one. The streams were at the doors, the rich foods which 
 the prairies and the woods furnished the fishes of the streams, 
 and the running water pure and fresh kept the fishes in the 
 best condition as a food supply. The wild game was plentiful. 
 If the settler was located in the timber areas, he might secure 
 an abundance of the choicest meats from the wild animals. The 
 wild turkey without doubt furnished the choicest meat that 
 could be obtained from the woods or fields. The prairie chicken 
 was a close second to the wild turkey ; wild pigeons, ducks, geese 
 and quails were found in abundance and their contribution to 
 the food supply of the early settler was abundant and exceed- 
 ingly acceptable. On the open prairies beside the prairie 
 chicken, there was the deer and the timid antelope, and in the 
 earlier days the buffalo. It is difficult for us to see how the pio- 
 neers could have accomplished so much in the opening up of 
 the country if their living had not been so easily obtained. 
 
 Providing shelter was a simple task for our forefathers. Most 
 of them had been used to the building of log houses in the states 
 from which they came. The timber furnished the logs for the 
 cabin. In the building of the first homes, there was that charm- 
 ing spirit of helpfulness which we have already spoken of. In 
 any considerable neighborhood there were always as many as 
 four "corner men," professional ax men who could carry up 
 the corner of a log house in a really artistic manner. The house 
 raising was a day when men and women shared with each other 
 the joy of service. The women would provide excellent dinners 
 for the men who were "raising the house." We hear much of 
 the puncheon floors, but we must not imagine that there were 
 no saw mills in the country. They were in fact quite plentiful. 
 They ran by water power, by horse power, and now and then a 
 stream mill would be seen. The floors, doors, and partitions 
 were often of sawed boards. The proverbial clapboard was in 
 evidence everywhere. Every farmer who lived in the timber 
 owned his frow and could rive his own boards. The climax of 
 artistic construction was to be found in the building of the "mud 
 and stick" chimney. Fifty to seventy years ago, the stick chim- 
 ney was still to be seen in some parts of Illinois. And to the 
 young people of those days it was always a mystery why the 
 
360 
 
 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 chimney did not catch fire, but the mystery was easily cleared 
 up by watching the professional chimney builder as he pur- 
 sued his art. 
 
 Farming was universal. Probably as many as 75 per cent of 
 the people followed the tilling of the soil. The land everywhere 
 was productive. If it were in the timber regions, it had become 
 enriched by the decay of immense crops of leaves. To this was 
 added the decayed limbs and nuts which covered the ground in 
 the summer time. The prairies received each year the crop of 
 grass which the summer had produced. Thus the native soil 
 needed no fertilizers. Farming was not always carried on 
 because it was a matter of necessity. It was considered a very 
 profitable line of economic activity. There were two lines of 
 
 AN EARLY DAY DWELLING IN RICHLAND COUNTY 
 Built of clay and straw mixed 
 
 profit in farming in the early days. The markets of New Orleans 
 were permanently opened up to the people of the Mississippi 
 Valley when the Government purchased Louisiana in 1803. The 
 countries of Europe early learned that New Orleans was a fine 
 market in which to purchase sugar, corn, oats, cotton, wheat, 
 tobacco, cordage, hay, potatoes, cured meats, lumber, hides, 
 wool, lead, and even live stock. In 1802 James Madison said : 
 "The Mississippi is everything to them (the people west of the 
 Alleghanies) ; it is the Hudson, the Potomac, the Delaware, and 
 all the navigable rivers of the Atlantic coast formed in one." 
 The exports from New Orleans in the year 1802 were a little 
 short of three-quarters of a million dollars. Two hundred and 
 sixty-seven ocean going vessels cleared from New Orleans in 
 1802. In 1818, $16,771,711 worth of produce from the Missis- 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 361 
 
 sippi Valley was exported from New Oreans. At the same date 
 it cost one-third of the farmer's wheat crop in Western Penn- 
 sylvania to market the other two-thirds in New York City. And 
 the cost of bringing a ton of merchandise from Baltimore to 
 Cincinnati at this time was $150. Farming was therefore a 
 profitable business in Illinois. Much of the Illinois produce was 
 transported from the place where it was raised by flat-boats, 
 which was a very cheap form of transportation. Flat-boats 
 even as early as 1818 were built, and carried the produce out of 
 the Little Wabash, the Big Wabash, the Saline, the Cache, the 
 Big Muddy, the Kaskaskia and possibly out of smaller streams. 
 A second form of profit that the early farmer realized was in the 
 enhanced value of his farming lands. The best land in Illinois 
 could be bought at $2.00 per acre — and after 1820 at $1.25 per 
 acre. If this land were in the prairie it was within a few years 
 worth from $5 to $10 an acre. If the farm were in the timber 
 regions it took longer to improve it and even then it was not 
 worth so much per acre, still the price had often quadrupled 
 within less than a dozen years. 
 
 Manufacturing advanced as rapidly as other forms of eco- 
 nomic activity. Ford, in his history of Illinois, says: the few 
 things which the farmers could not supply themselves with 
 were obtained from the merchants in the larger towns. Tea 
 and coffee were not in common use and sugar was often made 
 from the sap of the maple trees. Nearly all forms of clothing 
 were manufactured in the home. The wool was raised by the 
 farmer. It was carded and spun by the farmer's wife and her 
 daughters. It was woven in the home and the cloth was made 
 into garments for the members of the family. Leather was 
 tanned by the early settlers. Tanneries could be seen on the 
 farms as late as the Civil war. It was no uncommon thing to 
 find among the frontiersmen a cobbler's outfit. Some farmers 
 even made shoes for the family. A bellows, anvil, forge, vise, 
 and a few crude tools were to be found in each neighborhood. 
 It was no trick for the farmer to sharpen a plow, shrink his 
 tires, upset his axe, and weld broken iron. The more thrifty 
 farmers kept a work bench, a shaving horse, and a few tools 
 for the different kinds of wood work. The thoughtful farmer 
 usually had lumber ready for the making of crude coffins. The 
 author was told by an early settler that he often helped to make 
 coffins for the burial of the dead. 
 
 Among a people so self-sufficing, we should expect manu- 
 factures to progress slowly. And yet there were certain kinds 
 of manufacturing which were carried on in a really business- 
 like way. Perhaps the most pretentious manufacturing enter- 
 prise in the state was the salines near the Town of Equality in 
 Gallatin County. Here was a plant that had been in continuous 
 operation since the earliest travelers passed this way. The 
 
362 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 works in its most palmy days turned out several hundred barrels 
 of salt per day. Several hundred men were employed — many of 
 them indentured slaves. We shall describe the manufacture of 
 salt at this saline more fully in a future chapter. 
 
 Jesse B. Thomas was one of the three Federal judges ap- 
 pointed in 1809 to hold court in Illinois Territory. He arrived in 
 Kaskaskia and took up his home in or near "Elvirade," the coun- 
 try home of the governor. A few year's later, Mr. Thomas began 
 to farm near Cahokia. In those days the farmers were produc- 
 ing wool in abundance. This must be carded by hand, spun and 
 woven into cloth for the families of the pioneers. The most ted- 
 ious part of the process was to card the wool into rolls. Mr. 
 Thomas therefore decided to erect a carding house in Cahokia. 
 This he did in the summer of 1817. The building was a roomy 
 barn-like structure with a spacious basement. In the basement 
 was a large tread-mill where the power to run the carding ma- 
 chine was generated. Oxen were forced to climb the tread-mill, 
 and were kept at their task by the manager of the mill from the 
 upper floor. The carding machinery was brought from the east 
 and was installed and managed by Hon. Adam W. Snyder, who 
 later served two terms in Congress and a term as state senator. 
 He was the democratic candidate for governor in 1842, but died 
 in the early summer and his place on the ticket was taken by 
 Judge Ford. The carding mill which Judge Thomas erected and 
 fostered in Cahokia was the first industry along that line in 
 the state. 
 
 The making of lumber was an important form of manufac- 
 turing in the period just before statehood. The timber in South- 
 ern Illinois was of a very fine quality and the choicest lumber 
 was produced. Much of this lumber was used locally, but 
 much of it was sent by flat boat to New Orleans. Walnut, ash, 
 oak, gum, cherry, hard maple, and other kinds constituted a 
 choice lot of lumber for the markets in Cincinnati, St. Louis and 
 New Orleans. Oak, hickory, and ash were sawed for the vari- 
 ous parts of the making of wagons, plows, harrows, and other 
 kinds of farm machinery. Wagon-makers were to be found 
 located here and there in the villages and towns. 
 
 Weaving was done not only in the home, but in many places 
 home-made cloth was found in the stores, which had been woven 
 by expert weavers. The tanning of leather was carried on as a 
 business, and rope walks were not uncommon in the early days. 
 The grinding of grain was also a very common form of manu- 
 facturing in the early days of the last century. Mills were 
 found in the larger towns, and frequently in out of the way 
 places on account of the location of falls or the ease of making 
 dams. Much flour was marketed in New Orleans or in the 
 larger towns along the Upper Mississippi or on the Ohio. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 363 
 
 Transportation 
 
 The economic activity most closely related to farming and 
 manufacturing is commerce and trade. Surpluses in the raw 
 material, such as wheat, corn, wool, lumber, etc., together with 
 the manufactured products, must be moved to localities where 
 they are needed. And fortunate are any people who are blessed 
 with an abundance of the raw material from which the manu- 
 factured articles may be made who also have abundant means 
 of transportation. From all points of consideration, Illinois 
 was, from the earliest times, a state which could easily develop 
 her means of transportation. The Mississippi was from the 
 
 RIVER STEAMERS ON THE MARINE WAYS AT MOUND CITY 
 
 first an unrivaled means of transporting goods. Even in the 
 days before the steamboat, the Mississippi was the great artery 
 of trade with New Orleans. There was of course some diffi- 
 culty in bringing the goods purchased in New Orleans to the 
 Illinois Territory. The boats must be brought up by oars or by 
 a process called cordelling, or possibly by the help of sails. But 
 in spite of the difficulty of bringing goods from New Orleans to 
 Illinois, prior to the days of the steam-boat, that was the route 
 of most of the imports into the Illinois Territory. The Ohio 
 served a similar need in the early days. Cincinnati early became 
 an excellent market for goods brought over the mountains from 
 New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore. In addition to the 
 rivers named, there were the Illinois, the Kaskaskia, the Wabash 
 and others of less importance. Roads were early laid out and 
 made available for cross-country traffic. 
 
364 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 There were transportation routes established from the larger 
 towns along the three larger rivers to inland towns and com- 
 munity centers. There were a few of the "Connestoga" style of 
 wagons that found their way over the Alleghanies from New 
 York and Pennsylvania. They might have been seen moving 
 from the towns and landing places along the rivers to the 
 country seats and less important villages, loaded with the neces- 
 saries of life — salt, iron, earthernware, domestics, leather, tools, 
 and implements in limited quantities, coffee, spices, and some 
 articles that in those days might have been called luxuries. To 
 show that many articles of foreign make were found in the 
 stores we copy from the introductory volume of the Illinois Cen- 
 tennial Publications, a list of articles offered for sale by one 
 John Grant who in January, 1819, offered for sale a considerable 
 list of articles all of foreign make. 
 
 New Store 
 
 Carmi, White County, Illinois. 
 
 The Subscriber has opened a choice assortment of the follow- 
 ing goods, which he has selected with care and attention in 
 Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and which he will sell on reason- 
 able terms, whole-sale and retail : 
 
 Domestic and imported superfine cloths and cassimeres. 
 
 Sattinets, cassenets, and kerseys. 
 
 Velveteens and vestings. 
 
 Printed calicoes. 
 
 Furniture ditts. 
 
 Domestic and imported ginghams and chambrays — plain and 
 twilled. 
 
 Bombozets. 
 
 White and colored flannels. 
 
 Rose and Point blankets. 
 
 Steam-loom and domestic shirtings. 
 
 Sheeting muslins and bedticks. 
 
 Men's and women's worsted and cotton hose. 
 
 Men's and women's gloves. 
 
 Waterloo shawls and silk handkerchiefs. 
 
 Cambric, Jaconet and book muslins. 
 
 Insertion trimmings and ribbons. 
 
 Scots thread and cotton balls — white and colored. 
 
 Manteras and sevantines. 
 
 India muslins. 
 
 Men's, women's, and children's boots and shoes. 
 
 Looking-glasses and Jap'd trays. 
 
 Tortoise, ivory and common combs. 
 
 Hand vises. 
 
 Millsaw and handsaw tiles. 
 
 Pitt and cross-cut saws. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 365 
 
 German steel handsaws. 
 
 Thumb latches, hinges and locks. 
 
 Spades, shovels, hoes, axes, frying pans, pots, teakettles, dutch 
 ovens, smothing-irons, with a great variety of cutlery, cast and 
 hollow ware. 
 
 Groceries, hollow glassware of Kenwell's manufacture — win- 
 dow glass. 
 
 School books and stationery. 
 
 English Crowley Mellington steel. 
 
 Juanitta Bar-iron. 
 
 Sieves and riddles. 
 
 Grindstones of the best quality. 
 
 JOHN GRANT. 
 
 Carmi, December 31, 1818. 
 
 A shawneetown merchant offered cash for the following 
 
 :ts from the farm: 
 
 
 Tallow 
 
 Turnips 
 
 Candle cotton 
 
 Onions 
 
 Soft flax for wicks 
 
 Parsnips 
 
 Venison hams 
 
 Carrots 
 
 Butter 
 
 Hops 
 
 Cheese 
 
 Sage 
 
 Eggs 
 
 Twilled bags 
 
 Potatoes 
 
 
 These two advertisements would indicate that there were 
 many goods in the stores that were evidently not hand-made, 
 and that there was a good market for what the farmer could 
 produce on the farm. So there was work for the wagoner in 
 bringing the foreign goods to the inland towns and in carrying 
 the farmers' produce which accumulated in the country stores 
 to the river towns for shipment to the larger cities. 
 
 The commerce and trade of the Illinois Territory was greatly 
 stimulated by the appearance of the steamboats upon the rivers. 
 We have already called attention to the part played by the com- 
 ing of the steamboat in stimulating immigration. In a like man- 
 ner the steamboat shortened the time which was required to get 
 the farmers' produce from the shipping points along the rivers. 
 Not only was there a saving of time, but there was a cheapening 
 of rates of transportation. The desire of the people to have 
 easy access to the shipping points along the rivers gave added 
 interest to the building of roads and bridges, and thus the prob- 
 lems of transportation were from year to year being solved. 
 
 Religious Life 
 
 The moral tone of the life of a people in a newly settled coun- 
 try is always of high standard. The people who migrate from 
 an older settled country are usually not of the "upper classes" 
 
366 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 as we use the expression, nor of the dregs of society. But they 
 are of the great middle class — the bourgeois. Their purpose in 
 emigrating is to better their condition in life, and they are con- 
 scious that this better condition can come only through the 
 severest discipline in the new country. They usually have no 
 notion that by any form of legerdemain they can place them- 
 selves in positions of wealth or high social standing in the new 
 country. They seek only the opportunity to cooperate with the 
 natural and legitimate forces which bring prosperity, happiness, 
 and acknowledged superiority. They are patient, industrious, 
 self-sacrificing, considerate always of the rights and wishes of 
 others. Such were the people who made up the larger part of 
 the population of Illinois in 1818. They believed in honest toil, 
 they lived close to nature, and were obedient to the laws of 
 man and of God. These early comers were not always members 
 of the church. The Rev. John Peck, who was the best known 
 individual in Illinois at the close of the first quarter of a century, 
 gives the names of James Moore, Shadrach Bond, Sr., Robert 
 Kidd, James Garrison, Larkin Rutherford, J. Piggott, Joseph 
 Ogle, Joseph Worley, James Andrews, James Lemen, Sr., James 
 McRoberts, George Atchison, and David Waddle as early settlers 
 at and near New Design, now the town of Waterloo, Monroe 
 County. These were men with high ideals and stout hearts. 
 They came into Monroe County, some of them, as early as 1781. 
 Doctor Peck says not one of them was a member of the church. 
 On Sundays they would all gather at a particular home and 
 there engage in simple religious exercises. They read the scrip- 
 tures, commented on them, sang songs and psalms, read ser- 
 mons, but never prayed. They thus kept rather high ideals as 
 to duty of pioneers on the Lord's day. 
 
 "In the summer of 1787, James Smith, a Baptist preacher 
 from Lincoln County, Kentucky, visited New Design and 
 preached to the people repeatedly." His labors were not with- 
 out reward, for James Ogle and James Lemen and their wives, 
 and others, were converted. Reverend Smith returned to Ken- 
 tucky, and the next year found him back at New Design. He 
 was captured in a battle with the Indians, carried to the Wabash 
 a prisoner, and was eventually ransomed by the people of New 
 Design by the payment to the Indians of $170. In 1794 Rev. 
 Josiah Dodge, also from Kentucky, a preacher in the Baptist 
 Church, held what we know as a revival or protracted meeting 
 at New Design, and at this time he baptized James Lemen, his 
 wife, John Gibbons, and Isaac Enochs. Reynolds says these 
 were the first people baptized in Illinois. 
 
 The first Baptist Church in Illinois was organized by the Rev. 
 David Badgley in 1796. The Reverend Badgley was from Vir- 
 ginia. It appears that quite a few people who had belonged to 
 the Baptist Church in Kentucky had come to the New Design 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 367 
 
 settlement, among whom was Joseph Chance, who had been set 
 apart as a lay elder. The Reverend Badgley preached earnestly 
 for more than three weeks and fifteen persons were converted. 
 These, together with those who had formerly belonged to the 
 Baptist Church, were organized into a church in New Design. 
 There were twenty-eight members. The next year the Reverend 
 Badgley and Joseph Chance preached and worked faithfully and 
 organized another Baptist Church in the American Bottom, a 
 few miles west of New Design. Mr. James Lemen became a 
 Baptist preacher of much power. He was a man of marked 
 character both as a preacher and as a citizen. "Father John 
 Clark" came into Illinois in 1797 and did . a great work as 
 preacher and teacher. In the early part of the last century Rev. 
 Mr. Lindley preached in what is now Sangamon County. Rev. 
 William Jones came into what is now Madison County, on Wood 
 River, in 1806, and preached there for many years. Several 
 Baptist churches were formed about 1807 in what is now Madi- 
 son County and in the present limits of St. Clair County. 
 
 The Rev. John Peck calls attention to the fact that at least 
 four sons of the Rev. James Lemen became Baptist preachers. 
 The Rev. William Kinney became a member of the Baptist 
 Church and was a power for good for many years. He was 
 prominent in politics in the early years of the state. The Rev. 
 Deacon Smith came from Maine to St. Clair County about the 
 time Illinois was admitted into the Union. 
 
 "An association of Baptist churches was formed in 1807, con- 
 taining five churches, namely, the New Design, Mississippi Bot- 
 tom, Richland, Wood River, and Silver Creek. There were three 
 ordained preachers and sixty-two members in these churches. 
 In 1809 six preachers were ordained, and in all 400 communi- 
 cants in Missouri and Illinois. The Baptist churches grew in 
 proportion to other religious congregations, and the population 
 of the country, until this day (1855) they are established in 
 almost every section of the country, and are the second religious 
 denomination in the state. The census of 1850 states that the 
 Baptist churches number 265 — accommodating 91,620 persons, 
 and their property is estimated at $204,095." 
 
 Without doubt the most noted Baptist in Illinois prior to his 
 death, in 1858, was John Mason Peck. In another place we shall 
 speak of his life and public services. 
 
 The Methodists were early on the ground in Illinois. The 
 Rev. Joseph Lillard was the first preacher. He was a circuit 
 rider in Kentucky, and in 1793 he came to New Design, where 
 he preached and had what they called "class meetings." These 
 were of the nature of a prayer meeting and experience meeting 
 combined. Joseph Ogle, who had been converted under the Rev. 
 James Smith, the Baptist preacher, joined in with the preaching 
 of the Rev. Mr. Lillard, who made Mr. Ogle the "class leader." 
 
368 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 The Rev. Hosea Riggs, an exhorter in the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, came in 1796. The "class" that was organized by the 
 Reverend Lillard had disbanded and Mr. Riggs reorganized it 
 and it held together for a few years, but later disbanded. The 
 Rev. Mr. Riggs organized a "class" in the Goshen neighborhood, 
 near Edwardsville, which flourished for awhile. Dr. Joseph 
 Oglesby was a circuit rider in Illinois in 1805 and the Rev. 
 Charles R. Matheny performed similar service in 1806. In the 
 next year Bishop McKendree visited Illinois and organized 
 churches at various places where the earlier preachers had 
 gathered a few people together. In all the churches he organized 
 there were 200 members. While Bishop McKendree was in 
 Illinois he held two camp meetings, assisted by the Rev. Jesse 
 Walker, one of the most successful missionaries the Methodists 
 had had in Illinois. One of these camp meetings was held a few 
 miles south of Edwardsville, probably not far from the Goshen 
 settlement, and the other was held at Shiloh, in St. Clair County, 
 some six miles northeast of Belleville. These were the first 
 camp meetings ever held in Illinois and were a new form of 
 religious activity. The Rev. Jesse Walker introduced Methodism 
 into St. Louis in 1820, greatly against the wish of certain in- 
 terests, but he persisted and, with the help of the Baptists, he 
 secured a foothold. With the help of friends, the Rev. Mr. 
 Walker cut timber on the Illinois side of the Mississippi and 
 built a substantial structure in St. Louis which came to be 
 known as "Father Walker's Church." 
 
 But without doubt the greatest figure in Methodism in Illinois 
 was the Rev. Peter Cartwright, whose sketch will be found in 
 another place. 
 
 The Presbyterians were at work in Illinois as early as 1796. 
 In that year the Rev. John Evans Finley, from Chester County, 
 Pennsylvania, arrived at Kaskaskia for the purpose of laboring 
 with the Indians and Spanish. He preached to the red men and 
 baptized several of them. He lived a while on the west side of 
 the Mississippi, and when he thought he might be forced to do 
 military duty in the Spanish army, he returned to the east, at 
 least resided afterwards in Ohio. 
 
 The Presbyterians were next represented by two licentiates, 
 John F. Schemmerhorn and Samuel Mills. They were sent into 
 the West by the Presbyterian Missionary Board of New Eng- 
 land. They reached Illinois in 1812. In making reports they 
 say: "There is no Presbyterian or Congregational minister in 
 Illinois. There are a number of good people who are anxious 
 to have such ministers amongst them. They likewise wish to 
 be remembered by the Bible and Religious Tract Societies." 
 They seem to have made a very thorough canvass of Illinois, and 
 later went with Andrew Jackson from Nashville, Tennessee, to 
 New Orleans in 1813. Their reports made a great impression 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 369 
 
 upon Eastern Presbyterians as to the needs of the West. They 
 came into Illinois by way of Vincennes and Shawneetown. "This 
 territory is deplorably destitute of Bibles. In Kaskaskia, a place 
 containing eighty to 100 families, there are, it is thought, not 
 more than four or five Bibles. In the fall of 1814 they visited 
 Kaskaskia and held a conference with Governor Edwards about 
 organizing a Bible society for Illinois. "We did not find any 
 place in the territory where a copy of the scriptures could be 
 obtained." The Reverend Mills was in Illinois and conferred 
 with Judge Griswold of the Territorial Court about organizing 
 the Bible society. While in Shawneetown Mr. Mills was told by 
 one that he had tried for fifteen years to obtain a Bible and had 
 not succeeded. In the reports sent back East by these mission- 
 aries, they call attention to the wickedness of Shawneetown. 
 They say the town is subject to floods from the Ohio and to 
 worse floods of impiety and iniquity. 
 
 These reports give us a good picture of the country in relation 
 to other matters than Presbyterianism. They say that six miles 
 from Kaskaskia there were forty families constituting an Asso- 
 ciate Reformed congregation. Kaskaskia had 100 families, two- 
 thirds of which were French Catholics. There were no Baptists 
 or Methodists about Kaskaskia, but several churches in St. Clair 
 County, to the north. The report says that "The majority (of 
 the people in Illinois), though by no means regardless of religion 
 have not yet embraced any fixed sentiments respecting it — 
 hence every kind of heretical preachers in the country flock to 
 the new settlements. Hence also the Baptist and Methodist de- 
 nominations are exerting themselves to gain a footing in the ter- 
 ritories." 
 
 Norton's "History of the Presbyterian Churches in the State 
 of Illinois" says that in 1815 "One ordained minister had landed 
 in Kaskaskia, a Rev. Mr. McGready, had preached a few times 
 in White County and three licentiates had traveled across the 
 territory." No church had been located and no Presbyterian 
 preacher had been located within the territory. 
 
 The Rev. James McGready organized the first Presbyterian 
 Church in Illinois. It was known as the Church of Sharon. 
 This was in the fall of 1816. The membership was made up of 
 people from Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky. The Reverend 
 McGready died in 1818 or 1819. Shortly after this two brothers, 
 William and John Barnett, Coumberland Presbyterians, came 
 into the region of the Sharon Church and preached. This broke 
 up the membership of the Sharon Church. Some of the Sharon 
 people joined the new organization, but later deserted it. The 
 new church was called Hopewell, and was two miles from En- 
 field. 
 
 Benjamin Spillman moved into Illinois in September, 1817. 
 The name of Spillman is very closely associated with Presby- 
 
370 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 terianism in Illinois. It is thought that before 1820 there were 
 only a few regularly established Presbyterian churches in East- 
 ern Illinois, one at Sharon, in White County, and one at Gol- 
 conda, established in 1819. 
 
 A Presbyterian Church was organized on Shoal Creek by Rev. 
 Salmon Giddings in 1819. It was four miles north of Green- 
 ville, Bond County. Mr. Giddings preached often in Kaskaskia, 
 and on occasions at the Irish settlement, sixteen miles east of 
 Kaskaskia, a church was organized at Edwardsville by the Rev. 
 Mr. Giddings. A lady who came to Edwardsville in 1817 says: 
 "When I came to Edwardsville, in 1817, I could find no pro- 
 fessor of religion in that place, and for eighteen months no 
 sermon was preached there. I lived to see a church of nine mem- 
 bers, and (later) increased to thirty." The Rev. Nathan Darrow 
 organized a Presbyterian Church in Golconda, October 24, 1819. 
 There were sixteen members. James E. Willis was made the 
 first elder. 
 
 The foregoing brief account describes the activities of the 
 Presbyterians in Illinois prior to 1820. 
 
 Educational Progress 
 
 We have called attention to the fact that most of the people 
 who came to Illinois were from states where free schools were 
 not popular. The large part of the early settlers were therefore 
 illiterate. Prior to the coming of George Rogers Clark the 
 efforts to educate the people were very meager. There was some 
 sort of institution founded by the Jesuits in Kaskaskia as early 
 as 1721. But this religious order was suppressed by order of 
 the French Government in 1763, and it is not likely that the 
 school established in 1721 did much toward the work of educa- 
 tion after 1763. Certainly the general level of educational stand- 
 ing was at a low ebb when the country passed into the hands of 
 General Clark in 1778. In 1790, when General St. Clair had 
 come to Kaskaskia to organize a semblance of government there, 
 he was greatly disappointed. General St. Clair had great dif- 
 ficulty in picking out men who could hold the simple offices, such 
 as justice, constable, clerk, or sheriff. He stated that "not a 
 fiftieth man can read or write." That would be 2 per cent. A 
 population in which 98 per cent were illiterate is sadly deficient 
 in the rudiments of an education. It should be stated that any 
 system of education which may be considered in the Illinois 
 country has reference only to the Americans. 
 
 It may not be amiss to say that many of the soldiers who came 
 with Clark in 1778 eventually were mustered out and returned 
 to their homes in Kentucky, Virginia or other of the older states. 
 The short stay in the Illinois country had made them acquainted 
 with the possibilities which the future would develop in Illinois. 
 The rich soil, the abundance of timber, the animal life, the won- 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 371 
 
 derful springs, creeks, and rivers all constituted a lure which 
 the men could not withstand. And so it was only a few short 
 years before the more progressive of Clark's heroes began to 
 return to the hills, valleys, and prairies of the Illinois country. 
 We are indebted to Governor John Reynolds for what we know 
 of the Illinois country just after the days of George Rogers 
 Clark. Governor Reynolds, a boy of eleven years, came from his 
 Tennessee home in 1800. He made his home in the American 
 Bottom, and was personally acquainted with everybody who 
 lived in St. Clair and Randolph counties. He was very well 
 educated and had a real insight into historical values. In the 
 following paragraphs we have therefore followed the facts as 
 given by Governor Reynolds. 
 
 The Return of Claek's Men 
 
 In 1781, while the Revolutionary war was still in progress, 
 five heads of families, with their wives and children, made their 
 way across the Alleghany Mountains, descended the Ohio, and by 
 the exercise of much muscular energy and great patience they 
 ascended the Mississippi River, probably disembarking at Kas- 
 kaskia, whence they passed, a part to the high ground near the 
 present city of Waterloo and the rest to the bottom lands just 
 west of Waterloo. Two of these pioneers had served with Clark 
 in his campaigns against Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Vincennes. 
 These men were James Moore, Shadrach Bond, Sr., Robert Kidd, 
 Larkin Rutherford, and James Garrison. Kidd and Rutherford 
 were soldiers with Clark. Mr. Kidd lived in the American Bot- 
 toms, near Fort Chartres, till 1849. Mr. Rutherford lived later 
 in St. Clair County, north of Belleville, for many years. Thomas 
 Brady and William Arundel were the only two non-French 
 people in Cahokia prior to 1788. 
 
 By 1783 there were forty-five American families in Illinois. 
 In 1791 there were sixty-five Americans who could bear arms. 
 After 1783 the American settlers came in larger numbers and 
 settlements were built up in what is now Monroe, Randolph, and 
 St. Clair counties. The first man to teach school in Illinois was 
 Samuel John Seeley. His first school was in 1783. He taught 
 at New Design. Probably the second teacher was Francis Clark, 
 who appeared as early as 1785, and the next teacher was an 
 Irishman named Halfpenny. He was occupied in teaching for 
 many years. He taught in so many different places that he 
 might be styled the schoolmaster general of Illinois, at least for 
 that day. A Mr. John Clark was a preacher as well as a teacher. 
 He was a Scotchman and was well educated. Most of the 
 teachers gave instruction in the common branches only, but Mr. 
 Clark taught higher mathematics, philosophy, etc. 
 
 These men who have been named as teachers occupied the 
 educational stage toward the latter part of the eighteenth cen- 
 
372 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 tury. There were no standards, no one spoke with authority 
 educationally. The teacher's preparation was of course very 
 limited. There were few books that could be used as texts. 
 Reading, writing, and arithmetic were the chief lines of study. 
 The teacher would board about in the neighborhood. There were 
 no schoolhouses this early. Classes were taught wherever they 
 could assemble, in unoccupied parts of dwellings, abandoned 
 cabins, or other vacant buildings. There was no equipment — 
 no maps, globes, blackboards, text books, or schoolroom furni- 
 ture. The teacher was paid a small fee for each pupil per 
 month. 
 
 "Madison County had its first school on the edge of the Great 
 American Bottom in 1804. The teacher, John Bradbury, is said 
 to have been faithful but not learned. John Atwater opened a 
 school near Edwardsville in 1807. He came from Massachu- 
 setts and gained a reputation as a good teacher. Six-Mile had 
 a school in 1805." John Messenger was probably the most noted 
 teacher in Illinois in the first and second decade of the nineteenth 
 century. He was born in Massachusetts in 1771, and had the 
 advantage of good schools and the use of a good library. He 
 came to Illinois in 1802 and seems to have settled in the Amer- 
 ican Bottom. He afterwards, 1804, moved to New Design, where 
 he ran a mill, and afterwards moved to "Clinton Hill," a few 
 miles northeast of Belleville. He was a natural mathematician 
 and gave instruction in surveying to many people. In 1815 he 
 was made deputy surveyor general, with the task of surveying 
 the military tract, the land between the Illinois and the Missis- 
 sippi rivers. He was professor of mathematics in the Rock 
 Spring Seminary, which the Rev. John Peck conducted at Rock 
 Springs in 1827. 
 
 It is difficult to measure the value of the very crude agencies 
 of a common school education which flourished in Illinois from 
 1783 to 1818. The fact that there were those who could and 
 would impart instruction to illiterate men of the time in some 
 measure interprets to us the spirit of the pioneer times. There 
 was that spirit of helpfulness in social life as we have seen in 
 the physical relations. And the fact that men and women would 
 pay out money to these teachers proves their thirst for knowl- 
 edge. There were better days ahead for these people, and the 
 foundations of those better days were being laid in this simple 
 method of caring for the education of the common people in 
 those pioneer days. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 A RETROSPECT (Continued) 
 
 The Canadian Contingent — A Cultured Family — Another 
 Picture — Sociability — Amusements — Punishments 
 — Newspapers — Centers of Settlement — Public Men — 
 Revolutionary Soldiers — Interesting Places. 
 
 Early Society in Illinois 
 
 There were three distinct elements in the early population of 
 the Illinois country. Prior to the French and Indian war which 
 closed in 1763, the population was made up of French and In- 
 dians. The Indians contributed nothing to the advancement 
 of the social life of the country. In fact they were a serious 
 detriment to any steps that might have been taken looking 
 toward an improvement in social conditions. 
 
 The Canadian Contingent 
 
 The French who came into Illinois in the earlier years were 
 chiefly from Canada, and among the Canadians there were few 
 agencies of culture and refinement. Parkman says: "Canada, 
 the offspring of the Church and State, nursed from infancy in 
 the lap of power, its puny strength fed with artificial stimu- 
 lants, its movements guided by rule and discipline, its limbs 
 trained to martial exercise, languished, in spite of all, from 
 the lack of vital sap and energy." There was little initiative 
 in the mass of Canadian citizens. There was of course a cer- 
 tain amount of initiative among the people, but it was in the 
 hands of the Church and the State. The great body was "ig- 
 norant, light-hearted Canadian peasants who knew nothing and 
 cared nothing about popular rights and civil liberties. Born 
 to obey, they lived in contented submission, without the wish or 
 the capacity for self-rule." They were full of adventure, and 
 the chase and the quest for the furs of the Indians satisfied in 
 large measure the spirit of restlessness and the buoyancy of 
 their physical nature. These Canadian French built no real 
 homes, they knew no family altar, they dreamed not of civil 
 or religious liberty. "In the evening dance, his red cap mingled 
 with the scalp-locks and feathers of the Indian braves; or, 
 stretched on a bearskin by the side of his dusky mistress, he 
 watched the gambols of his hybrid offspring in happy oblivion 
 of the partner whom he left unremembered leagues behind." 
 
 373 
 
374 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 These were the founders of villages, the builders of forts, the 
 planters of mission posts, and the pioneers who built up the 
 first crude social life in the Illinois country. If the standards 
 of social life were low on the banks of the Canadian waters, 
 they were lower in the forests of southern Illinois. Here were 
 no cities, no first-hand communication with the mother land, 
 and little or no oversight of Church or State. The villages 
 were truly French villages up to 1763. The only effect the In- 
 dians' presence in the French villages was to drag down, never 
 to build up. The social life of these people was one of pleasure. 
 It was said that they passed much of their time in singing, 
 dancing, and gaming. The Frenchmen married the Indian 
 squaws of the different tribes and this of necessity lowered the 
 tone of the social life. The population became mixed, and con- 
 sequently degenerated. There can be little doubt that there 
 were many illegitimate children born. The parish records lead 
 one to suppose this for the records often show that children 
 were born of legitimate marriages, and often give the name 
 of the mother but not of the father. The following is copied 
 from the parish records of the St. Anne Church : 
 
 "In the year 1743, on the 28th of December of the same year, 
 I, the undersigned, N. Laurent, priest, missionary apostolic, I 
 baptized in the absence of M. J. Gagnon, missionary of St. 
 Anne's Parish of Fort Chartres, a daughter, born in the same 
 month and day mentioned above, of the legitimate marriage of 
 Andrew Thomas des Jardins and of Marie Joseph Larett — . 
 
 "Laurent, P. M. Ap." 
 
 The common people, that is, the French villagers in Illinois, 
 were unambitious, lazy, unconcerned about providing for the 
 future. They were kind hearted, generous, and happy, much 
 devoted to their church. They yielded to circumstances, were 
 pliant and accommodating. 
 
 The French homes were usually one story high with thatched 
 roof of straw or grass. The walls were made of posts set in 
 the ground to form a rectangle. The walls were white-washed 
 within and without, the houses making an attractive contrast 
 with the abundance of green of the summer time. The yards 
 were fenced in with a picket fence. The French women and 
 Indian squaws were attentive to flowers about the yard and to 
 fruit trees in the rear of the cabin. 
 
 It was into surroundings thus described that the Americans 
 came following the conquest by Clark. Only the boldest and 
 most courageous of the people of the older states came into 
 Illinois in the earliest days. A careful observer, who was a 
 citizen of the state as early as 1820, Mr. Robert W. Paterson, 
 has said that the early comers were of two classes — a sort of 
 adventurous class who desired to continue to live in a new 
 country and therefore were obliged to move on as civilization 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 375 
 
 and polite society came on; and second a class of people who 
 had been forced out of the older states especially the slave 
 states, by the fact of having to compete with slave labor. They 
 wished to own land and to plant a permanent home, and this 
 could not be done in the older states. Strangely enough these 
 two classes lived together very agreeably. The first class did 
 not care for the frills and superfluities of refined life and the 
 second could not afford them, so they very agreeably adopted 
 methods that were congenial to each other. Of course it must 
 not be inferred that there were no people who were uncultured 
 and uneducated. There were many such people. Judge Charles 
 P. Kane of Springfield has given a very pleasing account of the 
 marriage of Martha Stillman and Philo Beers in 1820 in a 
 log cabin near the present City of Springfield, then in Madison 
 County. 
 
 A Cultured Family 
 
 The Stillman family had removed from Western New York 
 to Illinois by way of Morganfield, Kentucky, where they win- 
 tered in 1819-20. In the spring of 1820 they reached the San- 
 gamon country where they built a log house of moderate dimen- 
 sions, into which they moved the precious things they had 
 brought from Western New York. "What furniture had been 
 conveyed from New York was disposed about the rude man- 
 sion with such taste and skill as graduates from the seminaries 
 of Junius and Aurora, under the circumstances, might display, 
 and things were made as comfortable as possible; but the result 
 was so disappointing, that Mother Stillman sat upon the side 
 of the bed, hid her face in her hands and allowed the tears to 
 fall unrestrained. Her children began to realize in much dis- 
 may the sacrifice she had made for them in undertaking the 
 life of a pioneer of a century ago." One of the daughters, 
 Martha Stillman, was married in the spacious parlor of this 
 log cabin. Over the puncheon floor spread with a soft matting 
 of straw, had been laid an ingrain carpet. On one side of the 
 room stood a small piano of primitive design and construction, 
 which upon the exodus from Canandaigua had been bereft of 
 its legs for convenience of transportation. The deficiency was 
 supplied by brother Stephen, who cut a sappling of suitable 
 size into proper lengths, peeled off the bark and stained the 
 glistening wood to resemble the body of the instrument, and our 
 piano stood once more upon a proper footing. On another side 
 of the room stood a tall narrow mirror, framed in guilt and 
 reaching from the floor nigh to the ceiling, gaily bedecked the 
 clay-daubed wall and blithely reflected the smiling faces of the 
 merry company. In the middle of the apartment was placed 
 a center table of oak having a curious foot, deftly carved in 
 imitation of a huge pineapple. These, with other less conspicu- 
 
376 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 ous articles of furniture, were reminders of the eastern home 
 abandoned the year before." 
 
 The wedding dress was of fine white jaconet, cut low in the 
 neck, with short puffed sleeves, waist no longer than the sleeves, 
 gathered into a belt from which a gored skirt fell to the floor, 
 terminating in a generous flounce of the same material. The 
 "second day dress" was made of lilac silk, fashioned as a trav- 
 eling suit and ornamented with two rows of silk covered but- 
 tons running down the front and extending over the shoulders. 
 The material of the two dresses was brought from the East 
 along with the piano, the mirror, and the oak center-table. The 
 feast, spread before the guests, was provided from the delicacies 
 which nature furnished. Of delicious meats there was an abun- 
 dance of venison, turkey, prairie chicken, quail, squirrel, and 
 fish ; wild honey, fruits and nuts. The perplexing thing was the 
 supply of bread and pastries. These must be made from flour 
 or meal, ground in the nearest mill which was at Edwardsville; 
 eighty miles distant. 
 
 These details have been given to warn us against the too 
 prevalent notion that there was no wealth, education, or cul- 
 ture to be found in the humble homes in Illinois in the early 
 days. 
 
 Another Picture 
 
 The social standards of this new country, however, were set 
 not by such homes, and such people as the Stillmans, but rather 
 by the men and women who knew nothing of silks and satins, 
 pianos, carved center-tables, and plate-glass mirrors. But by 
 those who raised flax, wool, and hemp from which the women 
 folk carded, spun, and wove the coarse fibered clothing for the 
 family. By men and women who went into the forests for the 
 wild grapes, the nuts, the fowls, the fishes, and the furs. These 
 men and women lived close to nature and nature in turn boun- 
 tifully supplied their every want. The homes were self-suffic- 
 ing, or in case there were those less fortunate, the spirit of 
 social helpfulness easily supplied the deficiencies. The cloth 
 which was woven in the home was often dyed with materials 
 which never saw a chemical factory. The bark of certain trees, 
 the hulls of walnuts, butternuts, together with a bit of madder 
 and a simple mordant gave color and permanency to the dyer's 
 art. 
 
 Most of the clothing was therefore made on the farm or in 
 the village home. Shoes or moccasins were made in the home 
 from the leather which was the product of a neighborhood tan- 
 nery. Till much later than the period of which we now write, 
 the summer hats for both men and women were plaited and 
 sewed from the straws from the farm or from the wild grasses. 
 Bonnets were made for the older women of light cloth supported 
 by small strips of cardboard inserted into narrow cases run- 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 377 
 
 ning from front to back in the bonnet. An essential article 
 about every pioneer home was the hunter's rifle. This served 
 two important purposes. One was that of protection. From 
 1800 to 1815 there was constant danger from prowling Indians. 
 Even after the close of the second war with England, and the 
 signing of treaties with the several tribes in Illinois, there was 
 no guarantee from Indian violence. The farmer was therefore 
 amply justified in keeping close at hand his faithful rifle. He 
 often took it with him as he went into the fields to work or as 
 he was in the timber. Two guns were often kept and the wives 
 and daughters were often good marksmen. Then the rifle was 
 the means by which the table was kept in many kinds of food. 
 
 There have been some questions as to the moral standards 
 which were maintained in the pioneer life in Illinois. Some 
 have thought that because the restraints of polite society were 
 not present that there may have been a common disregard of 
 the best standards of social purity. Doctor Patterson, who lived 
 in Bond County prior to the close of the first quarter of the nine- 
 teenth century, says that breaches of social purity were very 
 rare. The minor vices of swearing, gambling, drunkenness, and 
 dishonesty were observed, but these even were not common. 
 He thinks that these shortcomings were greatly held in check 
 by the strong religious sentiment which prevailed in most of the 
 communities with which he was acquainted. There were of 
 course violations of well established rules of conduct. There 
 were roughs and rowdies in many communities and the agencies 
 of correction were often brought into exercise, but the general 
 tone of social life was pitched upon an elevated plane. 
 
 The courtships preceding the assumption of the marriage 
 relation was a simple yet interesting period of young people's 
 lives. There were no moving pictures to supplement a faint 
 heart, no auto-joy-rides to make one dizzy, no round dances 
 to bridge the chasm between the young couple. The only way 
 was to regard the whole procedure as a matter-of-fact sort 
 of affair. The father and mother and the kids all acted as 
 chaperones. Marriages were solemnized by a justice of the 
 peace or some county official as the preachers were not very 
 plentiful. The young married couple went to housekeeping with 
 the minimum amount of furniture and kitchen equipment. Beds 
 were provided by boring large augur holes in the walls of one 
 corner of the log house; one hole six feet from the angle, an- 
 other about four feet from the corner. Into these were driven 
 two poles, one about six, the other about four feet long. A 
 post was erected where the two poles came together and after 
 making the poles secure to it, slats were laid across the rect- 
 angular space or rope was woven back and forth till a foun- 
 dation was made. Then the straw tick was placed on the rope 
 or slats. One of the gifts of the mother to her daughter was 
 
378 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 a feather bed. But often this could not be provided; in that 
 case the straw bed must suffice. Not more than one or two 
 chairs were to be found in the new home. These were usually 
 the handiwork of the father of one of the contracting parties. 
 Tables were likewise the product of the skill of one of the 
 fathers. The cooking outfit was simplicity itself. A frying 
 pan and a "Dutch oven" often constituted the kitchen set. 
 Gourds served the purpose of dippers, cups, jars and recepta- 
 cles generally. There were no buckets, but there were piggins 
 which were much like buckets, but without a bail. Usually one 
 of the staves extented six or eight inches above the others and 
 served as a handle. The piggins were usually made of cedar 
 and often exhibited considerable skill in the handling of tools. 
 Thus equipped with home-made bed, chairs, table, and simple 
 cooking vessels, the young couple began a happy and useful 
 life. 
 
 The most marked social characteristic of the early people was 
 that of hospitality. The southern states among the old "thir- 
 teen" early gained a wide reputation for their kindly hospital- 
 ity. This hospitality was not patented by the poor people of 
 the south, it was a marked characteristic of the planter life. 
 Of course it should be understood that the extension of hospi- 
 tality by the planter was always to those of his social class, 
 while the poor people of the south were equally hospitable to all. 
 
 Sociability 
 
 However, the poor whites of the south very naturally had 
 comparatively few opportunities to show their generous na- 
 tures to the planter class at least in a social way. Few planters 
 came to Illinois from the Southern States, the great mass of 
 Southern people who did come were of the humbler sort. There 
 are many things in common among people who settle a new 
 country and these common things make for common concerns 
 in many other ways. One thing in common with all settlers 
 was a desire to better their condition. There were common 
 dangers — the Indians and wild beasts were no respecters of 
 persons. There were common dangers from the diseases and 
 ailments which frequent a newly settled country. There were 
 common hardships. The winters were severe alike to rich and 
 poor. It required patience alike of the well-to-do and of the 
 poor man. There must be patient waiting for the coming of 
 the seasons, for the increase in the flocks, for the transform- 
 ing of the virgin soil to the cultivated fields. 
 
 These things make for mutual hospitality. These things break 
 down the barriers between individuals and between communi- 
 ties. These common elements in the life of the people solidify 
 the people. They make it easy to centralize effort, to solve 
 common problems, and to overcome common obstacles. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 379 
 
 The stranger who is traveling through the country today finds 
 among the people a lack of that form of sociability which the 
 stranger would have found in the first part of the last cen- 
 tury. In the days of the log cabin and the puncheon floor, no 
 traveler was ever denied the shelter and the food which was 
 necessary to one in need of them. This was as true of the well- 
 to-do who back in the older states would have belonged to the 
 planter class, as it was to the humble folk. "Hospitality of 
 home and hearth, table and bed was quite universal." In fact 
 there was a remuneration which the plain people received from 
 the traveler if he were intelligent and had had a wide experi- 
 ence in his perambulations. There were no newspapers, no 
 way by which the doings of the world outside of the restricted 
 area of the local neighborhood, might be known, and it was 
 worth all it cost to entertain the well informed traveler. 
 
 Among these people who came to the door of the humble 
 pioneer home was the Irish linen peddler otherwise the "pack 
 peddler." This method of bringing imported goods to the in- 
 land villages and communities was common in the first half of 
 the last century. It was no uncommon sight in the early days 
 to see a strong son of Erin with a large pack on his back, 
 trudging his weary way along the better traveled roads, stop- 
 ping at the houses and with the permission of the lady of the 
 house, displaying a wealth of wares direct from the land of the 
 "ould sod." If he were permitted to show his stock, he laid 
 his pack on the floor, untied the four corners of an outer canvas 
 and unwrapped with much care the attractive articles — table 
 linens of the most artistic weave, scarfs, towals, table mats, 
 handkerchiefs, and often articles of woolen or silk materials. 
 At prices which this traveling store keeper asked for his goods, 
 he carried many scores of dollars worth of material. If he 
 remained over night with a family he used all his arts to pay 
 his bill with some article from his pack. 
 
 Amusements 
 
 Amusements were of various kinds in the different sections of 
 the settled parts of the country. From the earliest days horse 
 racing was a common diversion. This pastime was brought 
 from the older states, especially in Kentucky this form of 
 amusement was very generally engaged in as it is to this day. 
 The humor of raising fine horses was noticed as early as 1795. 
 George Rogers Clark when he came to Kaskaskia in 1778 found 
 the French were raising a very small farm horse which he called 
 ponies. The breed was of Spanish origin and came into the 
 Illinois country from the Southwest. As soon as the Americans 
 began to arrive they introduced a larger breed of farm horses, 
 and as early as 1800 there were breeds introduced adapted to 
 use as saddle horses and as driving horses. In 1793 Col. Wil- 
 
380 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 liam Whiteside came into what is now Monroe County from 
 Kentucky, though formerly from North Carolina. He had re- 
 mained long enough in Kentucky to acquire the love of fine 
 horses. In 1795 he brought from Kentucky a celebrated blooded 
 horse of the Janus stock. In the early days judges of horse 
 flesh said this was the finest horse ever seen in Illinois. This 
 horse sired many colts in the country that became noted race 
 horses as time went on. In 1803 a famous race was run be- 
 tween two horses both sired by Colonel Whiteside's Janus. The 
 owners made heavy bets on their horses. The race was to be 
 three miles and return. The race took place on Horse Prairie, 
 a rich undulating region some five miles southeast of Red Bud. 
 There was a settlement there in 1803 of some dozen families. 
 The race drew great numbers of people from St. Clair and 
 Randolph counties. Governor Reynolds was a boy of thirteen 
 and attended the race. He states that one-third of the male 
 population of the territory was present, together with hundreds 
 of the fairer sex. The race was won by Sleepy Davie. The 
 winner became a very well known horse throughout the terri- 
 tory. Governor Reynolds says these famed races served a great 
 end socially. He compares them to the Olympic games in Greece 
 where all Greece sent her representative citizens who exchanged 
 ideas with others and returned home to spread new ideas and 
 to build up new ideals. 
 
 In addition to the advantages socially of these gatherings, 
 there were other good results. Often at these races where 
 hundreds of people assembled there were business transactions 
 of various kinds. Debts were paid, stock bought and sold, elec- 
 tioneering in later times, and all forms of amusements such as 
 foot-racing, wrestling, jumping, and shooting-matches were in- 
 dulged in. It was not uncommon for -those who had an eye to 
 business to set up temporary trading stands where liquors were 
 sold, and luncheons were served. Governor Reynolds thinks 
 at this time that there were not to exceed three thousand souls 
 within the Illinois territory. 
 
 Punishments 
 
 Some forms of punishment were extremely cruel. Branding 
 was not a common form of punishment but it was practiced. 
 Whipping was very common. The pillory and the stocks were 
 used. Other forms were imprisonment, fines, loss of citizenship, 
 and temporary slavery. 
 
 Some of the crimes and misdemeanors enumerated in the 
 laws of the Indiana and the Illinois Territory were treason, 
 murder, arson, rape, burglary, robbery, forgery, perjury, lar- 
 ceny, Sabbath-breaking, profanity, disobedience of parents, 
 drunkenness, cock-fighting, gambling, duelling, and bribery. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 381 
 
 Newspapers 
 
 There were two newspapers in Illinois Territory prior to the 
 admission of Illinois into the Union. The first one established 
 was The Illinois Herald. This paper was founded in Kaskaskia 
 as early as 1809, so Reynolds says. The proprietor was Mathew 
 Duncan, a brother of Joseph Duncan who was governor of Illi- 
 nois from 1834 to 1838. Mathew Duncan was from Kentucky, 
 and belonged to a very prominent family. There is a lack of 
 information as to the date of the first publication of this paper. 
 The oldest copy on file bears date April 18, 1816. It is number 
 32, volume 2. It has been worked out and shown that if the 
 publications were weekly and continuous, the first issue would 
 have been published September 6, 1814. The Missouri Repub- 
 lican which was established in 1808 has no mention of The Illi- 
 nois Herald, 1814. The two towns were neighbors and it would 
 seem that the Republican would have said something if the 
 paper was running prior to 1814. In 1817 the Herald was sold 
 to Daniel P. Cook and Robert Blackwell. The name was changed 
 to The Illinois Intelligencer. Daniel P. Cook was a brilliant 
 young statesman and a successful lawyer. He had been in 
 politics and had served as auditor of public accounts. Cook 
 assumed the editorship while Blackwell had charge of the busi- 
 ness end of the enterprise. At first the paper was a folio of 
 three columns to a page, the new proprietors changed it to a 
 four-column sheet. When the capital was moved from Kaskas- 
 kia to Vandalia in 1820, the paper was moved and continued 
 as The Illinois Intelligencer. When the slavery fight came in 
 1823-4, the Intelligencer was opposed to slavery and therefore 
 opposed the convention. 
 
 The second newspaper established in Illinois was called The 
 Illinois Emigrant. In later years the name was once more 
 changed to The Shawneetown Gazette. This paper was against 
 slavery in Illinois. 
 
 Centers of Settlement 
 
 In populating a new country there are certain methods that 
 seem to be fitted to accomplish the ends in view. When Illinois 
 first attracted the attention of the American settlers, just at 
 the close of the Revolutionary war, there were already five 
 or more centers of settlement — probably others. These in order 
 from south to north were Kaskaskia, Prairie du Rocher, New 
 Chartres, St. Phillipes, Prairie du Pont, and Cahokia. These 
 were all French settlements and contained few if any Americans. 
 The first comers came out of Kentucky or over the northern 
 Appalachians and down the Ohio. Those coming directly out 
 of Kentucky crossed over the Ohio at either Golconda or Shaw- 
 neetown and made their way across Southern Illinois towards 
 
382 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 the French settlements along the Mississippi River. Those who 
 came down the Ohio from Pittsburg could debark either at 
 Shawneetown or Golconda, or continue on down the Ohio and 
 thence up the Mississippi to Kaskaskia. 
 
 In going from Golconda or Shawneetown to the French set- 
 tlements, it was necessary to have a road over which wagons 
 or carts could travel. These roads followed the old Indian trails 
 and were worked out before 1800. John Reynolds says that 
 when his father with two wagons and eight horses reached the 
 Ohio River, on his way from Tennessee to Kaskaskia, he found 
 the river full, and a beautiful stream. The ferry was known 
 as Lusk's Ferry. They encamped for the night. Here they 
 were deserted by three hired hands and felt alone on the edge 
 of a wilderness. On a beautiful Sunday morning they crossed 
 the river and began a journey of one hundred miles or more 
 to Kaskaskia. They soon reached a road from Fort Massac to 
 Kaskaskia. Here they found the trees scalped and the number 
 of miles from Fort Massac cut with an iron instrument and 
 painted red. Another road from Miles Ferry, some seven miles 
 above Golconda, ran to Kaskaskia, almost parallel to the one 
 from Golconda to Kaskaskia. This road was opened by one 
 Capt. Nathaniel Hull, who in company with several other Rev- 
 olutionary soldiers, left Massachusetts, came down the Ohio to 
 a place called Ford's Ferry. Here he landed and cut a road 
 to Kaskaskia. Ford's Ferry was afterwards called Hull's Land- 
 ing and later Miles Ferry. It was at Miles Ferry that James 
 Lemen landed with a company which afterwards settled at 
 Bellefontaine, Monroe County. 
 
 In the very early days there was no settlements between Gol- 
 conda and Kaskaskia. But settlements grew up and became 
 very well known along these roads. The Jourdan settlement 
 and the settlement which grew into Mount Vernon are two 
 illustrations. The Hacker settlement in Union County is an- 
 other illustration. The Goshen settlement near Edwardsville 
 is one in point. The Whiteside settlement is another. Turkey 
 Hill is an illustration. It was near Belleville. Phelps Prairie 
 was an early center. Herrin's Prairie was an early settlement. 
 Rock Springs the home of John Peck is an example. Shoal 
 Creek in Bond was early settled. Wanboro was a settlement- 
 center. Equality in Gallatin, Alabama settlement in Union 
 County, Allison's Prairie, near Vincennes, Badgley's settlement, 
 five miles northwest of Belleville. 
 
 Public Men 
 
 Before taking up the steps which Illinois took to get in the 
 Union let us recall the men who have had to do with preparing 
 Illinois for statehood. Some of the men whose names are con- 
 sidered in this list were active in Illinois after the state came 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 383 
 
 into the Union, but they also had to do with Illinois history- 
 prior to 1818. 
 
 Prominent Men 
 
 In a retrospect of the history of Illinois from the viewpoint 
 of 1818, it may not be amiss to recall the names of men who 
 helped to bring Illinois to the proud moment of statehood. It 
 is not our intention to attempt any full description of the life 
 and public services of the prominent people named below. 
 Merely to recall in a very general way the more important 
 things these people did. These men named, with others not 
 named, are entitled to our sincerest thanks for giving their 
 time and energy to laying the foundations of a great civil and 
 political state. 
 
 The names are not arranged in alphabetical order, nor are 
 they arranged in order of time, but were arranged in a sort 
 of hit and miss order. 
 
 John Edgar was a native of Ireland and was well schooled. 
 In the Revolutionary war he was a British naval commander 
 on the Great Lakes. Toward the close of the struggle he gave 
 up his position and made his way into the American lines where 
 he became acquainted with General La Fayette. He later came 
 to Kaskaskia. He was a man of considerable means. He came 
 to Kaskaskia in 1784. Here he bought up large quantities of 
 land and became prominent in the public affairs of the Illinois 
 region. He served in positions of honor and trust. He was a 
 member of the Legislature of the Northwest Territory which 
 met at Chillicothe, Ohio, 1799. He served as a judge in the 
 Illinois Territory. He was a major-general of the Illinois mi- 
 litia, receiving his appointment from the President. General 
 Edgar and his wife lived in a fine old brick mansion just in 
 the edge of Kaskaskia and were the most noted people in the 
 Illinois Territory. General Edgar was the worshipful master 
 of the first lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons in Illi- 
 nois, chartered in 1806. He entertained General La Fayette 
 when that distinguished guest visited Kaskaskia in 1824. He 
 died in 1832. 
 
 John Doyle, too, was an Irishman. He taught school about 
 New Design as early as 1790. He was a soldier with Colonel 
 Clark and returned to the Illinois country as early as 1780. 
 
 Pontiac, an Indian chief, became a national character at the 
 close of the French and Indian war. He was an Ottawa chief 
 who conceived the idea of organizing a confederacy of all the 
 Northwestern tribes for the purpose of opposing the occupation 
 of the Northwest by the British. He kept the British from 
 occupying some of the western posts for a period of three years. 
 It required a large British army to suppress the uprising and, 
 even then Pontiac was very loathe to desist. He was finally 
 
384 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 placated. He was murdered in the village of Cahokia in 1769 
 and buried in St. Louis, Missouri. 
 
 Nathaniel Pope, the father of Gen. John Pope of the Civil 
 war, was the first secretary under Ninian Edwards, governor 
 of the Illinois Territory. He was connected with a family of 
 distinction in Kentucky. He came into the upper Louisiana 
 country in 1804. He lived at St. Genevieve, Missouri, from 1804, 
 to 1809. He was highly educated, especially was he gifted in 
 language. He was a lawyer of marked ability, and of admirable 
 traits of character. In 1809 he was made secretary of the 
 Illinois Territory. In 1816 he was elected a delegate in Con- 
 gress where in 1818 he directed the movements for the admis- 
 sion of Illinois into the Union. The details have been given in 
 a preceding chapter. 
 
 Father Claude Allouez was a priest who was prominent in 
 the days of La Salle. He was familiar with the Indians about 
 the Great Lakes as early as 1675. He reported the need of ex- 
 plorations to the governor of Canada and is said indirectly to 
 have been responsible for Joliet and Marquette's journey into 
 the Illinois country. He was not friendly to La Salle and was 
 thought by some to have caused La Salle's ill fortune. 
 
 Lieutenant Boisbriant, the first military commandant of the 
 Illinois country, arrived at Kaskaskia in the summer of 1718. 
 He had charge of a company of French soldiers. He proceeded 
 up the Mississippi and built Fort Chartres some four miles 
 northwest of Prairie du Rocher. The fort was a wooden struc- 
 ture and stood till 1755. Lieutenant Boisbriant made the first 
 grant of land to be held in "fee simple" that was made in Illi- 
 nois. This was a grant about three miles wide and extending 
 back into the country a distance of six miles, and made to Phil- 
 lipe Francois de Renault. Boisbriant was made acting governor 
 of Louisiana in 1725. He left Fort Chartres in charge of Cap- 
 tain de Liette and took up the duties of his new post at New 
 Orleans. 
 
 John Mason Peck was a mission worker in the Baptist Church. 
 He was a Connecticut Yankee who came to Illinois in 1817. He 
 spent some time in Illinois and later moved to Missouri where 
 he stayed a year or more when he returned to Illinois. The 
 great work of the Rev. Mr. Peck was done after Illinois came 
 into the Union, but he was identified with the Illinois country 
 enough before 1818 to justify our putting him in the group of 
 territorial worthies. We shall speak of him more fully in the 
 following chapters. 
 
 Shadrach Bond, the first governor of the State of Illinois, 
 was a native of Maryland, and his coming to Illinois was pre- 
 ceded by that of his uncle, Shadrach Bond, Sr. The elder Bond 
 arrived in the American Bottom opposite New Design in 1781. 
 He had been a soldier with General Clark in the conquest of 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 385 
 
 Illinois in 1778. In conjunction with other immigrants coming 
 from Maryland, the elder Bond built a fort in the bottoms west 
 of the present City of Waterloo. He held many places of honor 
 and responsibility. He was a sort of preacher, and was an ex- 
 emplary citizen. Shadrach Bond, Jr., a nephew of the elder 
 Bond, came to his uncle's home in the bottoms in 1794. He 
 was a substantial citizen and the life of the social group of 
 which he was a part. He took an active part in the War of 
 1812, was a delegate in Congress in 1813-15 and was the author 
 of the pre-emption law as has been explained. In 1818 he 
 was the only candidate for governor. His later life will be 
 noticed later in this work. 
 
 John and William Bradsby were soldiers of the Revolution. 
 They settled three miles north of Lebanon in the edge of Look- 
 ing Glass Prairie. They were from Kentucky and were for- 
 merly from Ireland. They were the parents of a large number 
 of children many of whom were prominent in the middle of the 
 last century. 
 
 Zadoc Casey's father was an Irish emigrant before the Rev- 
 olutionary war. He came to North Carolina and fought under 
 Marion and Sumter in the conflict in the Southern States. Za- 
 doc was born in 1796, married in 1815, came to Illinois in 1817, 
 and settled at Mount Vernon in Jefferson County in that year. 
 He is credited with the founding of that thriving city. He was 
 the ancestor of a large number of people. He held many public 
 offices and was highly esteemed by the people. He was elected 
 lieutenant-governor in 1830, when John Reynolds came into 
 office as governor. He was later elected to Congress. 
 
 George Rogers Clark was a native of Virginia, born Novem- 
 ber 19, 1752. His early life was genuinely pioneer. He re- 
 ceived little or no education, lived on the frontier, was accus- 
 tomed to the savage Indian and the wild animals, was schooled 
 in the hard experiences of the times, and was ready for the 
 kind of work his country offered him in 1778. He came into 
 Kentucky early in 1775 and took an active part in making 
 preparations for the defense of that country against the sav- 
 ages. He drilled the militia at Harrod's Station and at Boons- 
 boro and was recognized as the best military commander in 
 Kentucky. Clark was a delegate from the settlements in Ken- 
 tucky to the Virginia Legislature. He was well known by Jef- 
 ferson, Henry, Mason and other noted Virginians. In 1778 
 he was given authority by Virginia to invade the West and 
 capture what was supposed to be British strongholds — Kaskas- 
 kia, Vincennes, and Detroit. His great success from 1778 to 
 the close of the Revolutionary war is so well known that it need 
 not be repeated here. Clark was sadly disappointed in not 
 being able to lead an army against Detroit. From the day of 
 his dramatic campaign against Vincennes in the early part of 
 
 15V1 
 
386 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 1779, his fame began to decrease. He was given to periods 
 of moroseness and lost his grip on men and affairs. Thomas 
 Jefferson personally proposed at one time about 1783 to send 
 Colonel Clark on an exploring tour across the western part of 
 what is now the United States. The project fell through, but 
 Colonel Clark's brother made the trip for Jefferson in 1803. 
 Clark lived near Louisville, Kentucky, in his later days his own 
 worst enemy. He died February 18, 1818. 
 
 Joseph Duncan was the fifth governor of Illinois. He was 
 a Kentuckian and had the advantage of an early life in the 
 cultured City of Paris. He was a minor officer with General 
 Harrison in his invasion of Canada in the War of 1812. He 
 was voted a sword by Congress for gallant conduct in the war. 
 He came into Illinois and settled at the foot of Fountain Bluff 
 in Jackson County, in 1818. There accompanied him his broth- 
 er, Dr. John S. Duncan, a sister, Polly Anna, his mother who 
 had married a Mr. Moore, and her son Ben. The Duncans 
 brought several slaves to Illinois with them in 1818. Joseph 
 Duncan built the "White House" on the bank of the Mississippi 
 River and also erected a mill for grinding grain. He was a 
 member of the Illinois Legislature in 1825 and introduced a 
 bill to establish a free school system. This system will be dis- 
 cussed in a later chapter, as will the life and labors of Gov- 
 ernor Duncan. 
 
 Thomas C. Browne, a prominent lawyer of Shawneetown, 
 was a native of Kentucky. He came to Shawneetown in 1812, 
 and began the practice of law. Reynolds says court was held 
 on two boats moored to the bank. There were no houses in 
 which to hold court. He was a member of the Illinois Legis- 
 lature in 1814, prosecuting attorney for several eastern coun- 
 ties, later a member of the Legislative Council (or Senate). In 
 1818 he was chosen by the Legislature as a member of the Su- 
 preme Court which position he held for about thirty years. 
 
 Ephraim Conner was the first American settler in Madison 
 County. He located just under the "Bluffs" six miles south and 
 west of the present City of Edwardsville. This region was 
 visited in 1799 by the Rev. David Badgley and others who called 
 the country Goshen. This name was restricted to the settle- 
 ment made by Connor. Mr. Connor sold his possessions to 
 Col. Samuel Judy in 1801. 
 
 Samuel Judy came into Illinois in 1788 with his father, Jacob 
 Judy, who was born in Germany and migrated to this country 
 and settled in Maryland. He resided four years in Kaskaskia 
 and then moved to New Design. It was here his son, Col. Sam- 
 uel Judy, married into the Whiteside family and later bought 
 out Ephraim Conner and moved to Goshen where he lived many 
 long years. Colonel Judy was an Indian fighter and engaged 
 in two famous personal conflicts in each of which he came out 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 387 
 
 the victor. He served in the Territorial Legislature, and took 
 an active part in the War of 1812. He was a successful farmer 
 and stock raiser, but suffered great loss by the ravages of "milk- 
 sickness." He was one of the three trustees of the first peni- 
 tentiary, at Alton. 
 
 John Clark was an early school teacher. He was a Scotch- 
 man, was well educated. He taught about Kaskaskia prior to 
 1790. He gave instruction in higher mathematics and philoso- 
 phy. 
 
 Ninian Edwards was the territorial governor of Illinois Ter- 
 ritory from 1809 to 1818. He was a Marylander, born in 1775. 
 He received a college education. He moved to Kentucky where 
 he entered upon the study of law. He became chief justice of 
 the Court of Appeal which position he resigned in 1809 to ac- 
 cept the governorship of the Illinois Territory. He took an 
 active part in providing defenses for the people of the terri- 
 tory in the War of 1812. He organized the militia, built forts 
 and blockhouses, and worked admirably with the United States 
 Government in protecting the people from the attacks of the 
 savage red man. He was active in carrying on the work of 
 admitting the Territory of Illinois into the Union as a state. 
 He was one of the new state's first United States Senators. In 
 1826 he was elected the third governor of Illinois. He died in 
 1833. His son, Ninian Wirt Edwards, married Elizabeth P. 
 Todd, a sister of Mrs. Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 John Messenger was one of the most brilliant men of the 
 early days in Illinois. He was born in Massachusetts, in 1771. 
 He passed his early years on a farm but gave diligent attention 
 to the science of mathematics, studying under William Coit, 
 a noted mathematician of Massachusetts. He was very prac- 
 tical. He not only knew scientific farming, but he was well 
 versed in several trades as carpentry, millwright, and the pro- 
 fession of surveying. He migrated to Illinois and settled at 
 New Design and operated a mill a few miles east of that village. 
 In 1815 he was appointed a deputy United States surveyor and 
 did quite a deal of work in the military tract, the land between 
 the Illinois and the Mississippi rivers. He also surveyed con- 
 siderable tracts in St. Clair County. In 1827, at the opening of 
 Rock Springs Seminary, he was installed as the professor of 
 mathematics. 
 
 William Rector was the oldest brother in a very noted fam- 
 ily of nine brothers and four sisters. They were Virginians. 
 Reynolds says they were a peculiar family, "ardent, excitable, 
 and enthusiastic in their dispositions. They were passionate, 
 fearless, but true hearted. They were given to military dis- 
 play and one of them, Capt. Nelson Rector, went into battle in 
 the War of 1812 dressed in a rich and gaudy uniform. Wil- 
 liam Rector was a lieutenant in a company of United States 
 
388 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 rangers. Thomas Rector killed Joshua Barton on Bloody Island, 
 opposite St. Louis, about 1814. Nelson Rector accompanied 
 Col. Zachary Taylor into Wisconsin on a military expedition 
 about 1814. One of the nine brothers was later governor of 
 Arkansas. 
 
 William Biggs was one of Gen. George Rogers Clark's gallant 
 Marylanders in the Illinois campaign of 1778. He held the 
 position of lieutenant in the campaign. Congress recognized 
 his services and granted him three sections of land. After the 
 close of the Revolutionary war he left his Maryland home and 
 in company with two brothers he came to Bellefontaine, near 
 New Design. Shortly after returning to Illinois, probably about 
 1788, he and a neighbor named Vallis were attacked by Indians 
 on the road to Cahokia. Vallis was killed and Biggs was cap- 
 tured and carried away to the Wabash northeast of Vincennes. 
 He was badly treated by his captors and was almost unable to 
 walk when he got to the Indian camp on the upper Wabash. 
 He was ransomed by a Spanish trader who was afterwards 
 repaid for his outlay. He was a plain man, but full of business, 
 and entirely dependable. He was sheriff of St. Clair County 
 in 1790. He served in the Territorial Legislature of the North- 
 west Territory which convened at Chillicothe, Ohio. He was 
 also a member of the Indiana Legislature in 1808. He also held 
 the office of county judge. He manufactured salt on Silver 
 Creek in Madison County. He was one of Illinois's most re- 
 spected pioneers. 
 
 Thomas E. Craig was a citizen of Shawneetown, and served 
 as captain in the War of 1812. He gained more notoriety than 
 fame in conducting an expedition from the south end of Illinois 
 to Peoria where he captured several men, women, and children 
 whom he brought to a point below Alton where they were or- 
 dered from his boat to find shelter and food in the woods. He 
 wrote an elaborate report to Governor Edwards about the ex- 
 pedition. 
 
 Francis Vigo was a Sardinian and a Spanish subject but no 
 one individual rendered more service to Gen. George Rogers 
 Clark and to the American cause than Vigo. He sold goods 
 to Clark for his army and took the Virginian continental paper 
 money at par. He also guaranteed its value to others who had 
 goods to sell to Clark. He was a citizen of St. Louis at the 
 time he rendered Clark such valuable service. But in his later 
 years he lived near Vincennes. His help to Clark is described 
 in the story of Clark's capture of Vincennes told in a previous 
 chapter. In his last years he was often in want and his needs 
 were ministered to by neighbors. At the same time the United 
 States owed him about $20,000 for money and goods he had ad- 
 vanced to General Clark. He used to say, "I guess the Lord 
 has forgotten me." 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 389 
 
 Nicholas Jarrot was a native of France, a member of a prom- 
 inent family, a gentleman of education and culture. He left 
 France and finally reached Cahokia by way of New Orleans, in 
 1794. He had no means when he landed at Cahokia and was 
 without friends, but he later became the richest man probably 
 in Illinois. He never was idle. He took no vacations. His 
 greatest pleasure was work. He found time to serve the state 
 as major of militia. He began business as soon as he landed 
 in Cahokia. He engaged in trade with the Indians and sent 
 his boats as far away as Prairie du Chien. He kept a store in 
 Cahokia and marketed his furs in New Orleans. He took an 
 honorable part in the War of 1812, supplying his troops with 
 needed articles from his own purse. He acquired large hold- 
 ings in land, and held stock in the Wiggins Ferry Landing on 
 the Illinois side of the Mississippi. Among other things he was 
 interested in building mills, and he did not always use good 
 judgment as to the location of his mill. Major Jarrot built a 
 fine brick house in Cahokia — said to have been the first brick 
 house in St. Clair County. His first wife was Miss Barbeau of 
 Prairie du Rocher, who died after the birth of her first son. 
 Major Jarrot then married a Miss Beauvais of Ste. Genevieve. 
 This lady is said to have been a woman of great culture and is 
 said to have been of great help to her husband in many of his 
 profitable undertakings. 
 
 James Andrews and his wife, three daughters, James White, 
 and Samuel McClure settled a few miles northwest of Water- 
 loo, Monroe County, prior to the year 1786. There were few 
 white people in that region at that time. In the year just men- 
 tioned, the Indians began what appeared to be a well laid plan 
 of extermination. The red devils fell upon the home of James 
 Andrews, whom they killed, together with his wife, one daugh- 
 ter, and James White and Samuel McClure. The other two 
 daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Andrews were carried away into 
 captivity. One of the daughters died in captivity, the other 
 was ransomed by some French traders. This was the first real 
 massacre of American settlers by the Indians. It was a great 
 shock to the few settlers who were in the settled parts of Illi- 
 nois, and it aroused them to the great danger they were con- 
 tinually facing. This sad incident stimulated the whites to 
 the work of defense, and forts and blockhouses were erected in 
 every neighborhood, and the people provided for guards to be 
 on duty in each neighborhood day and night. 
 
 David Badgley, a Baptist preacher, came from Virginia to 
 the New Design settlement as early as 1796. In that summer, 
 he with the help of Joseph Chance, organized the first Baptist 
 church in New Design. So many Baptists had come to New 
 Design that the membership of the church when first organized 
 was twenty-eight. A few years later he organized another 
 
390 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Baptist Church i" the American Bottom of fifteen members. 
 He was what we call a revivalist, and did a great work in the 
 pioneer times. 
 
 Black Partridge, a prominent Pottawattomie chief, was with 
 his tribe at Fort Dearborn when the garrison of that fort was 
 massacred. He wore a medal given him by Americans for 
 some act of kindness. This he took from his breast and gave 
 it to Captain Heald, saying he could no longer wear it since 
 his people, the Pottawattomies, had determined upon taking the 
 lives of his friends, the people in the fort. On the field of mas- 
 sacre Black Partridge rescued Mrs. Heald from the clutches 
 of a savage who was striving to take her life. Black Partridge 
 not only rescued her, but accompanied her back to her home 
 near the fort. He not only did this but he guarded with all 
 faithfulness the whites who were saved from the massacre. 
 His home was in an Indian village at the head of the Peoria 
 Lake. 
 
 Pierre Menard was the first lieutenant-governor of Illinois. 
 He was born in 1767. He came from Canada to Vincennes in 
 1786. He was one of three brothers, all natives of Quebec. 
 They belonged to a very prominent family. Pierre attached 
 himself to Colonel Vigo in the Indian trade. This trade was 
 partly supplying the American troops in the West with food 
 supplies. In 1790 Pierre and one Du Bois of Vincennes entered 
 into a partnership and established a store in Kaskaskia. Pierre 
 Menard was a very conspicuous character among the men of his 
 time. He had been well educated in Canada, but his experiences 
 in the world had greatly developed his judgment and enlarged 
 his outlook on life. He commanded great respect from the 
 white people who knew him, and the Indians looked to him as 
 their white father. Menard grew very wealthy and commanded 
 the trade with the Indians and whites from Kaskaskia. He 
 served in the Territorial Legislatures of both Indiana and Illi- 
 nois, presiding with great dignity over the council of the Legis- 
 lature in 1812. When the state was admitted into the Union 
 in 1818 he was selected lieutenant-governor which position he 
 held for four years. He was a patriotic citizen and laid stress 
 upon the value of the civil and political institutions under which 
 he lived. He lived in great style in an old French mansion on 
 the east side of the Kaskaskia River opposite the town of Kas- 
 kaskia. Towering above his home were the great bluffs on 
 top of which are the remains of the old fort called Fort Gage. 
 Just back of his house is the spring from which flows a con- 
 siderable stream just as it did in the happy days of 1800. He 
 raised a very large family of sons and daughters whose descend- 
 ants are to be found in Randolph County. In the home of a 
 relative of Pierre Menard some few hundred yards from the 
 old mansion are several pieces of old French furniture which 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 391 
 
 would make the eyes of the "old furniture" connoisseur open 
 with wonder. But the owner seems to know the value of these 
 priceless articles. Pierre Menard died in 1844, aged seventy- 
 seven years. 
 
 The La Trappe Monks were a strange religious order which 
 came into the American Bottom in 1809 and occupied what we 
 now know as Monk's Mound situated some five or six miles 
 northeast of the present City of East St. Louis. They had pre- 
 viously lived in Kentucky and a portion of them resided in 
 Missouri, but in the year 1810 they commenced the erection of 
 buildings on the largest of a score or more of the mounds which 
 are found in the locality indicated. The principal building was 
 a monastery which was of considerable dimensions — built of 
 timbers. These monks were excellent mechanics, and gave con- 
 siderable attention to the different breeds of stock. They found 
 the locality very unhealthful and several of their number died, 
 including two of their priests. Two vows were perpetual silence 
 and celibacy. Reynolds, who often was at their monastery, 
 said they were so averse to females that a woman was not al- 
 lowed on their premises, and should one trespass, they quickly 
 swept the ground where she had walked. If a visitor should 
 try to talk with them they made signs that he could get infor- 
 mation at a certain place on the grounds. They slept on the 
 bare stone floor and fared on bread and water. Each day each 
 one dug a part of his grave. They were poorly clad but were 
 fat and hearty. They left the Mound in 1812. 
 
 James Lemen was a man to whom the people of Illinois are 
 much indebted. He was a Virginian. He was a Revolutionary 
 soldier at the age of seventeen, and served with Washington 
 in the campaign about New York. He came to Illinois in 1786 
 shortly after his father-in-law, Capt. Joseph Ogle, had come 
 West. He first made Kaskaskia his home but subsequently re- 
 moved to New Design. He had always been of a very religious 
 turn, but was not a professed Christian till he came under the 
 influence of the Rev. James Smith, who preached in New De- 
 sign in the summer of 1787. Mr. Lemen became a member 
 of the Baptist Church and a fearless preacher of that faith. 
 The Rev. .James Lemen was the father of six sons and two 
 daughters. The sons were Robert, Joseph, James, William, Jo- 
 siah, and Moses. They all brought up large families and were 
 all members of the Baptist Church. This family took an active 
 part in the fight against the introduction of slavery in Illinois 
 in 1824. 
 
 Isaac White was the United States agent stationed at the 
 salt works near Equality when the War of 1812 was brewing. 
 He was formerly a resident of Vincennes and a man of busi- 
 ness capacity. He and Governor Harrison were intimate 
 friends. Governor Harrison as territorial governor had had 
 
392 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 control of the salt works at Equality and gave attention to the 
 leasing of the wells and the collection of the rental. In 1804 
 Governor Harrison appointed Isaac White the agent at the 
 works whose duty it was to collect the rentals due the Govern- 
 ment. As the rents were paid in kind the agent must ship and 
 market the part that fell to the Government. In 1806, Governor 
 Harrison appointed Mr. White captain of a company of Knox 
 County militia presumably organized about the salt works and 
 about Equality. In 1809 Illinois Territory was separated from 
 Indiana Territory and Isaac White became a major in the Illi- 
 nois militia and still later he was appointed colonel of the Third 
 Regiment consisting of two battalions. In the summer of 1811 
 Colonel White was in Vincennes and at the urgent request of 
 Governor Harrison he consented to accompany the expedition 
 that was then forming to attack the Indians on the upper Wa- 
 bash. On September 19, 1811, he was raised to the sublime 
 degree of Master Mason. On November 7, 1811, Colonel White 
 and Colonel Daviess both fell at the head of their respective 
 commands. White County was named in honor of Colonel White. 
 Conrad Will was of German parentage. His parents came 
 from Germany as early as the latter part of the eighteenth 
 century. Conrad was born in 1779, studied medicine, prac- 
 ticed in Somerset County where he married Susanah Kimmelz 
 in 1804. He visited Illinois in 1813, stopping awhile at Kas- 
 kaskia which was then a fairly thriving town. He rode over 
 the settled portions of Illinois and when ready to return to 
 Pennsylvania, he bought for gold a drove of cattle which he 
 drove over the country to the Pennsylvania markets making a 
 handsome profit. He then decided to move to Illinois for per- 
 manent residence. He located at a salt spring some four miles 
 down the Big Muddy River from Murphysboro. Here he pre- 
 pared to manufacture salt and at the same time practice medi- 
 cine. He returned to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in the summer 
 of 1816, and bought thirty cast iron kettles weighing 400 pounds 
 each and holding sixty gallons of water, in which he boiled 
 down the salt water. He was instrumental in getting Jackson 
 County organized. This was done in 1816, and the capital was 
 fixed at Brownsville, which was the home of Doctor Will, at 
 the salt works. Brownsville grew to be a flourishing town. 
 Doctor Will was one of the early county commissioners; he 
 kept a store, practiced medicine, ran a saw and grist mill, and 
 operated a tannery. Doctor Will employed slaves in his salt 
 works under the indenture system, but the works never paid 
 Doctor Will for all his labor and trouble and he discontinued 
 the making of salt for the general market, and operated the 
 works as a sort of local enterprise. Doctor Will was a mem- 
 ber of the Constitutional Convention of 1818, the other delegate 
 from Jackson County was James Hall, Jr. Doctor Will took a 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 393 
 
 very active part in the conduct of public affairs and was the 
 associate of some of the most prominent men in early Illinois 
 history. He was a very active man and though not succeeding 
 financially, he lived a very useful life. He died in June, 1835. 
 He was at the time of his death a member of the State Senate. 
 
 Jesse B. Thomas was a very prominent man in early Illinois 
 history. He is said to have been a descendant of Lord Balti- 
 more. He came from Maryland to the west as eary as 1803. 
 In that year he settled in Indiana Territory and in 1805 was 
 speaker of the Territorial Legislature. In 1809 he was a dele- 
 gate in Congress from the Indiana Territory pledged to secure 
 the separation of Illinois from the Indiana Territory. This 
 he accomplished and while in Washington secured the appoint- 
 ment from President Madison to one of the judgeships of the 
 newly organized territory. He resided first in Kaskaskia, but 
 later joined the other territorial officials at the county seat of 
 "Elvirade" not far from Prairie du Rocher. Later he moved 
 to Cahokia where he built and operated a wool-carding machine. 
 He was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention that made 
 the Constitution of 1818 and presided over that body. He 
 was one of Illinois's United States Senators and took an active 
 part in the passage of the Missouri Compromise. He was re- 
 elected to the United States Senate in 1823 and served till 1829. 
 He later moved from Illinois to Ohio where he is said to have 
 died as a suicide. 
 
 Charles R. Matheny was a preacher in Illinois as early as 
 1806. He was also a lawyer, and in the War of 1812 he was 
 a "ranger" in Capt. James B. Moore's company. He served in 
 the Territorial Legislature representing St. Clair County in 
 1816-18. He practiced law before Judge Jesse B. Thomas and 
 later was prosecuting attorney for St. Clair County. The Rev. 
 Charles R. Matheny moved to Sangamon County in 1821 where 
 he was circuit clerk of the court till 1839. He left five sons 
 and three daughters. The five sons have all held honorable and 
 responsible positions in business, in politics, in government, 
 and in society. 
 
 James Moore was one of a party of five who came over the 
 Alleghanies and made their way to Kaskaskia and thence to 
 New Design as early as 1781. Two of the five had been sol- 
 diers with Clark in 1778-9. Mr. Moore was in the employ of 
 Gabriel Cerre, a wealthy merchant of St. Louis. In this capacity 
 he traveled as far south as Nashville, Tennesee. The Rev. John 
 Mason Peck regarded Mr. Moore as a very worthy citizen. His 
 name is in a list of 114 "heads of families" who are entitled to 
 land grants of 400 acres each for having settled in Illinois Ter- 
 ritory prior to 1788. 
 
 John Rice Jones was a Welshman, having been born in Wales 
 in 1759. He was educated at Oxford University in medicine 
 
394 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 and law, and came to Philadelphia in 1784 where he counted 
 among his friends, Dr. Benjamin Rush, Dr. Benjamin Franklin, 
 and Meyers Fisher. He practiced law in Philadelphia a year 
 or so, then came over the mountains and down the Ohio. At 
 the Falls of the Ohio he found George Rogers Clark making 
 up an army to go against the Indians on the Wabash. He vol- 
 unteered and the expedition reached Vincennes in 1786. Here 
 Mr. Jones was stationed for the next four years in a govern- 
 ment capacity. In 1790 he went to Kaskaskia where he re- 
 mained eleven years. He then returned to Vincennes where he 
 received the appointment from Governor Harrison of attorney- 
 general for the Indiana Territory. In 1808 he returned to Kas- 
 kaskia. At this time he is said to have been very rich. He did 
 William Biggs, who had been captured by the Indians on the 
 Wabash, a great favor by securing his release and helping him 
 to return to his family at New Design. John Rice Jones was 
 one of the earliest, if not the earliest, English-speaking lawyers 
 in the Territory of Illinois. He was the father of several sons 
 all of whom were men of considerable prominence in Western 
 affairs. 
 
 John Reynolds was the best known person in Illinois in the 
 first part of the nineteenth century. He was a native of Penn- 
 sylvania but his father and mother had migrated from Ireland 
 in 1785. Young Reynolds with his parents came into Illinois 
 by way of Tennessee where they tarried a few years, reaching 
 Illinois in 1800. They were very well-to-do people. The son 
 had received some education in Tennessee and had always had 
 the assistance of his father and mother. They reached the 
 Illinois country in the year 1800 at Golconda and made their 
 way to Kaskaskia, expecting to pass beyond the Mississippi and 
 settle on Spanish soil, but the elder Reynolds found that he 
 would have to agree to bring up his children in the Catholic 
 faith before the Spanish Government would allow him to acquire 
 land and settle in Louisiana. He therefore settled two and a 
 half miles east of Kaskaskia where six other Americans had 
 already settled. The son was sent back to Tennessee to receive 
 a college education. He studied law and returned in time to 
 enter the "ranger" service in the War of 1812. Between 1815 
 the close of the War of 1812, and the admission of Illinois into 
 the Union he was getting settled in the practice of law. In 
 1817 he married a French lady of Cahokia and they lived hap- 
 pily together till 1834 when she died. From her he learned 
 the French language and became a very fine conversationalist 
 in that tongue. He seems to have taken no part in the Consti- 
 tutional Convention, but when the government was set in op- 
 eration, he was selected as one of the four judges of the Su- 
 preme Court. Reynolds says that it was difficult for him to 
 assume a position and air of dignity among officials and lawyers 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 395 
 
 with whom he had fought Indians and engaged in the social 
 activities of a pioneer life. Governor Reynolds served on the 
 Supreme bench till 1824 and was not reappointed because of 
 his stand in favor of slavery in the fight to make Illinois a slave 
 state. We shall hear much of John Reynolds in the early years 
 of Illinois as a state. 
 
 William Morrison belonged to a very notable family in early 
 Illinois history. He came from -Pennsylvania in 1790, where 
 he was born in Bucks County prior to the Revolutionary war. 
 He is said to have had a limited education, but to have had a 
 wide experience in the practical affairs of life. He was dig- 
 nified and cultured beyond the average successful business man 
 of his day. He was a man of commendable ambition and of 
 wonderful foresight. He came to Illinois, and to Kaskaskia, as 
 one of the firm of Bryant and Morrison of Philadelphia. This 
 firm established a branch office and store in Kaskaskia, and 
 from this place carried on extensive commercial transactions 
 as far away as Prairie du Chien, Pittsburg, New Orleans, and 
 even as far west as the Rocky Mountains. There were local 
 branch stores at St. Louis, Cape Girardeau and New Madrid. 
 The firm enjoyed a large and profitable trade with the Indians 
 at all of their stores and warehouses. Before 1800 he was en- 
 couraging the farmers to raise wheat which he bought at good 
 prices. This was ground in General Edgar's mill on the east 
 bank of Kaskaskia, and shipped to New Orleans for export, in 
 flatboats that were built in Horse Creek which runs through 
 Monroe and empties into the Kaskaskia River in Randolph 
 County. He built and lived in an elegant stone mansion in 
 Kaskaskia. In the War of 1812, he had Government contracts 
 for the furnishing of rations for the troops and from these con- 
 tracts he seems to have cleared large sums of money. He was 
 very much given to public enterprise and was largely respon- 
 sible for the building of two bridges across the Kaskaskia, one 
 at the town of Kaskasia and one at Covington in Washington 
 County. Mr. Morrison was a man of great energy and was 
 always concerned in community welfare. He was in the best 
 sense a lover of the society of ladies and was much in their com- 
 pany. He died in 1837. 
 
 Mrs. Robert Morrison, the wife of a brother of William Mor- 
 rison, was a woman of rare culture and education. She was 
 a native of Baltimore, Maryland. She had been from her early 
 youth associated with the best people of that ancient city. She 
 was of a romantic turn of mind and that accounts for her com- 
 ing to the west in 1805 with a brother, Colonel Donaldson. She 
 married Robert Morrison in 1806. Mrs. Morrison reveled in the 
 fields of poetry. She remodeled in verse the Psalms of David. 
 She wrote in both prose and verse. Some of her writings found 
 
396 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 their way into the classical and scientific magazines of the day. 
 She reared an interesting family. 
 
 William Whiteside and quite a few others of the same fam- 
 ily name came from North Carolina by way of Kentucky to 
 Illinois in the year 1793. William settled near New Design. 
 There were several families in the group headed by William 
 Whiteside and they all settled in the region of the village of 
 New Design. William Whiteside had been a soldier in the Rev- 
 olutionary war having fought in the battle of King's Mountain. 
 The Whiteside family was a warm hearted, patriotic, and faith- 
 ful family. William Whiteside built a fort just north of New 
 Design on the road to Cahokia. It was called Whiteside's Sta- 
 tion. This was probably one of the best known places of safety 
 in the country in 1812-15. Mr. Whiteside's military training 
 in the Revolutionary war gave him prominence as a leader in 
 the work of offensive and defensive warfare. Many stories are 
 told of the conflicts with the Indians. Mr. Whiteside received the 
 title of captain probably before the title came officially. In 
 1811 he was elected colonel of militia in St. Clair County. In 
 the War of 1812, the Whitesides were very active and the rec- 
 ords show that William was not adverse to addressing com- 
 munications to President Madison about the conduct of the war. 
 Following the War of 1812, Colonel Whiteside gave his attention 
 to his farm at the "Station." Very high praise is given to 
 Colonel Whiteside by Governor Reynolds who knew him very 
 well. "His frontier life, with the Indian war and all its dan- 
 gers and perils impending over him for many a year, developed 
 his mind and made him a grave, reflecting man." He died at 
 the "Station" in 1815, remembered and mourned by the whole 
 population. 
 
 John Kinzie, always remembered in connection with the Fort 
 Dearborn massacre, was born in Canada, of Scotch parents, at 
 the close of the French and Indian war. From Canada young 
 Kinzie was brought to Long Island to attend school. He ran off 
 from school and returned to Quebec, where he partially learned 
 the silversmith trade. He later engaged in general trade at 
 Detroit, and other cities about the lakes. In 1804 he and his 
 wife and a child made the journey from Detroit to Chicago on 
 horseback through the woods and across rivers. They followed 
 an Indian trail from Detroit through Ypsilanti, Niles, and St. 
 Joseph, and around the southerly bend of the lake to the newly 
 established Fort Dearborn. They camped each night and the 
 journey must have been a long tiresome one for a woman and a 
 six months old child. When he arrived at Fort Dearborn he 
 bought a small hut from a French trader by the name of Le Mai. 
 This hut, originally a trading station, was improved from time 
 to time and eventually became the home of Mr. and Mrs. Kinzie. 
 This hut which became by enlargement and improvement the 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 397 
 
 spacious home of the Kinzies stood on the north side of the 
 Chicago River just opposite the fort, which stood on the south 
 side. Here Mr. Kinzie built up a large trade, having trading 
 stations at various points in the northern part of what is now 
 Illinois. In 1811 Captain Heald superseded Captain Whistler as 
 commander at the fort. John Kinzie was now quite well ac- 
 quainted with all the conditions about Fort Dearborn so far as 
 the attitude of the Indians toward the presence of United States 
 troops in Illinois was concerned. He was able, as a friend to 
 both Indians and whites, to render the greatest service in the 
 trying times through which they were passing. John Kinzie 
 urged the evacuation of the fort as soon as the situation became 
 alarming, but Captain Heald was slow to take advice, and when 
 he did decide to abandon the fort, John Kinzie saw it was too 
 late. John Kinzie and his wife came through the dreadful ordeal 
 with no physical injuries, but they were carried away into cap- 
 tivity and did not return until 1816, when Mr. Kinzie again 
 entered into the trade which was so rudely disturbed at the time 
 of the Fort Dearborn massacre. He died in Chicago in 1828. 
 His funeral was held in the fort and he was buried nearby, but 
 the body was in after years moved to the beautiful Graceland 
 Cemetery, where it now lies. 
 
 Father Pierre Gibault was the priest in charge of the Catholic 
 Church at Kaskaskia at the time of the arrival of George Rogers 
 Clark. He was also the vicar-general for a large territory with 
 Kaskaskia as the center. The priest was the leader of a group 
 of the most prominent people in the town who called upon Clark 
 the next morning after the capture to intercede for his people. 
 The priest and Clark soon found common ground on which they 
 could stand and they became good friends. Father Gibault went 
 on a mission for Colonel Clark to Vincennes, where he was able 
 to win to the American cause the French of that village also. 
 In many ways Father Gibault rendered valuable service to the 
 American cause. He furnished considerable amounts of goods 
 and money to Colonel Clark's army when there was no chance 
 of getting them from the Government, and so far as we have 
 been able to determine, the Government never made any serious 
 effort to reimburse him. This case of Father Gibault seems to 
 be one more proof that republics are ungrateful. Father Gibault 
 died about 1800, very much broken in spirit. 
 
 George Fisher practiced medicine and held office in Kaskaskia 
 for a good many years. He was a Virginian. He came to Illinois 
 before the end of the eighteenth century. He kept store for a 
 while. Governor Harrison appointed Doctor Fisher the first 
 sheriff of Randolph County. He sat in the Indiana Territorial 
 Legislature, and in the first assembly in the Illinois Territory. 
 He was a very popular man. He sat in the convention that 
 framed the first Constitution for Illinois. There was scarcely 
 
398 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 a year that he did not hold some kind of an office. He died on 
 his farm, near Kaskaskia, in 1820. 
 
 Alexander Wilson came to Shawneetown about 1809. He was 
 a member of the first Territorial Legislature under Governor 
 Edwards. He died in 1812. He left an interesting family be- 
 hind him. He had contributed to the permanent well being in 
 many ways. The Legislature, in recognition of his services, 
 granted to his heirs a perpetual right to operate a ferry across 
 the Ohio at Shawneetown. Maj.-Gen. James H. Wilson, a de- 
 scendant of Alexander Wilson, was a distinguished general in 
 the Civil war. Maj. Henry S. Wilson and Maj. Bluford Wilson 
 were officers in the Civil war. 
 
 Jacob Short was a captain in the War of 1812. He had come 
 to Illinois in 1796 in company with four other pioneers named 
 Griffin, Gibbons, Roberts, and Valentine. They settled between 
 New Design and the Mississippi River. The place seemed un- 
 desirable, so they moved their settlement in the course of a few 
 years, but not till they had buried some of their dead in the 
 neighborhood graveyard. In 1811 Jacob Short and Moses Quick 
 built a flatboat on the north bank of the Kaskaskia, about a mile 
 below the present town of New Athens, in St. Clair County. The 
 craft was loaded with beef cattle and corn and in March of that 
 year the boat floated out in the Mississippi and on to New 
 Orleans, where the cargo and boat were sold at a good profit. 
 The men returned on horseback to their homes in the late sum- 
 mer. This was the first flatboat that was built that high up on 
 the Kaskaskia. Jacob Short was a captain in the regiment 
 authorized by Congress to be raised in Kentucky, Illinois and 
 Missouri and known as the Rangers. The regiment was in com- 
 mand of Col. William Russell, of Kentucky. Illinois was entitled 
 to four companies out of the ten, and the captains were Capts. 
 Jacob Short, Samuel Whiteside, William B. Whiteside, and 
 James B. Moore. It will be remembered that Illinois Territory 
 passed from a first class territory to a second class in 1812. In 
 selecting members of the Lower House from St. Clair County, 
 the people chose Jacob Short and Joshua Oglesby. Captain 
 Short was selected by the Legislature of the Territory of Illinois 
 as a member of a committee of seven to select a new site for the 
 county seat of St. Clair County. Cahokia had been the county 
 seat for more than two decades, but was still given over to 
 French life and ways, and the Americans were desirous of locat- 
 ing the new capital where the town would be free from French 
 influence. Belleville was selected as the new location. Capt. 
 Jacob Short was a dependable citizen and was concerned with 
 all activities which would contribute to the on-going of the com- 
 munity life. 
 
 Moses Quick was one of three sons of Isaac Quick who came 
 to Illinois from New Jersey by way of Pennsylvania. The 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 399 
 
 elder Mr. Quick settled near the present town of Mascoutah, 
 St. Clair County, in the year 1806. The older of the three Quick 
 boys, Aaron, married Lucy Preston, of Virginia, and reached 
 St. Clair County and settled near Belleville in 1809. Here he 
 bought a thousand acres of land and became one of the rich 
 men of St. Clair County. Aaron Quick was one of the first 
 school teachers of St. Clair County. He is said to have been a 
 man of a high grade of intelligence, accompanied by a liberal 
 self-culture and general information. Aaron Quick died in 
 Belleville in 1816. He was a man of fine social qualities and 
 leader in a wide circle of friends and relatives. Moses Quick 
 was an adventurous sort of man and was engaged in a number 
 of enterprises. He owned a mill near Belleville, on Richland 
 Creek, and a farm adjoining. It is said that in this mill was 
 ground the first flour manufactured in St. Clair County. The 
 proprietor shipped 200 barrels of flour from this mill to New 
 Orleans in 1816. The following advertisement appeared in the 
 Missouri Gazette and Illinois Advertiser on April 27, 1816 : 
 
 For Sale 
 
 a SAW mill, now in full plight, and equal if not superior 
 to any in the territory, and a Grist Mill partly built, which can 
 be put in operation at a small expense. Also, 167 acres of well- 
 timbered land, situated one mile from Belleville, Illinois Terri- 
 tory. 
 
 April 26. Moses Quick. 
 
 The records show the mill and land were sold for $3,000. 
 Moses Quick moved from Illinois in later years and resided in 
 Mississippi. He was engaged in steamboat navigation on the 
 Mississippi River and was very prosperous. The daughters of 
 the elder Mr. Quick married into the best families in St. Clair 
 County and their descendants number hundreds of good people 
 in this end of the state. The sons and grandsons also have taken 
 high rank in the social and political world. A son of Aaron 
 Quick, the Hon. Thomas Quick, was a resident of Washington 
 County and was instrumental in establishing the State Agricul- 
 tural College at Irvington in 1861. He was afterward one of 
 the trustees of the first board for the State University at Cham- 
 paign. 
 
 John Gabriel Cerre has not been generally recognized as hav- 
 ing a very important part in the making of Illinois history ; but 
 in recent years his connection with public men in the early part 
 of the history of Illinois, and his general activity in business en- 
 terprises, have seemed to justify the changed attitude of the stu- 
 dents of Illinois history. He was a Canadian Frenchman, born 
 in 1734. As early as 1755 he was engaged in the Indian trade 
 along the Mississippi River, and was settled in Kaskaskia, the 
 "little Paris in the wilderness," in the last mentioned year. He 
 
400 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 married in Kaskaskia in the year 1764. His wife was Catherine 
 Girard, whose parents had come to Kaskaskia in 1729, and were 
 known as one of the "first families" of this Western Paris. Mr. 
 Cerre had his enemies, and when Clark reached Kaskaskia, they 
 banded together to do him harm. Cerre was away from the little 
 village, but returned and faced his accusers. Clark soon saw 
 through the plans of Cerre's enemies, and thenceforth Clark and 
 Cerre were the best of friends. In 1779 he bought out a business 
 in St. Louis and opened in that town a trading emporium of 
 large proportion. He assisted in the municipal affairs in St. 
 Louis, but seems to have remained in Kaskaskia as a citizen of 
 that place. But eventually he took up his residence in the Span- 
 ish village. In 1786 a committee of Congress sent a "question- 
 naire" to Mr. Cerre asking him seven questions as to the condi- 
 tion of the Illinois country. He answered very fully and clearly 
 the questions, showing not only that he was perfectly familiar 
 with conditions in Illinois, but showing a marked sympathetic 
 interest in the welfare of its people. He was all his life a great 
 friend of Illinois. 
 
 Benjamin Ogle was a native of Virginia who with his family 
 came to St. Clair County about 1785. He was shot by Indians 
 while he was engaged in farm work in 1788. He recovered from 
 his wounds and became a very efficient Indian scout. His son, 
 Joseph Ogle, was a doctor and a brilliant Indian scout. He was 
 a Methodist class leader. The Methodists found his home 
 always open to the work of that church. There were many 
 descendants of this father and son and St. Clair still has many 
 Ogles. 
 
 Henry Levens came into Illinois in 1797 from the western 
 part of Pennsylvania. He came down the Ohio and debarked at 
 Fort Massac. He moved from Fort Massac to Kaskaskia with 
 two wagons, one pulled by horses and one by oxen. He mounted 
 a large skiff on one wagon for a wagonbed and to be used as a 
 ferry in crossing the swollen streams. He was twenty-five days 
 going from Fort Massac to Kaskaskia. When they had reached 
 Kaskaskia, they attracted a great deal of attention, for all the 
 members of the family were musicians; they played the violin 
 and other instruments and they all danced. So their home 
 became a sort of social center in the town. He did not stay 
 long in the village, but moved to a spacious home on Horse 
 Creek, which flows into the Kaskaskia just a mile or so above 
 the present town of Evansville. Here he erected a large saw- 
 mill, where all the lumber for flatboats was sawed out. The 
 family became very prosperous, though they gave much of their 
 time to amusements. Reynolds says this family was a true 
 pioneer family. They eventually moved to Missouri — probably 
 to keep in the front line of the pioneer life. 
 
 Elias Kent Kane was not an early comer. He arrived in 1814. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 401 
 
 He was from New York and was highly educated. He was a 
 lawyer of excellent preparation, and was gifted with the char- 
 acteristics of a high-bred gentleman. He was an eloquent public 
 speaker, was the first secretary of state for Illinois, served in 
 the Legislature, and was elected to the United States Senate in 
 1824. He was reelected and died while at Washington in 1835. 
 He was an able lawyer, an uncompromising champion of slavery. 
 
 Daniel Pope Cook was another brilliant young man whose 
 race was short. He hailed from Kentucky. He came to St. 
 Genevieve, Missouri, in 1811, where he worked as a clerk in a 
 store. He was poor, without friends, and contending with the 
 incipient ravages of a dreaded disease. He left St. Genevieve 
 for Kaskaskia, where he studied law under Judge Nathaniel 
 Pope. He passed his bar examination in 1815 at the age of 
 twenty-two years. His health began to fail as a result of great 
 mental strain and he travelled in warm countries for his health. 
 He was sent with secret messages to John Quincy Adams, who 
 was our minister at the court of St. James. On his return he 
 was appointed to a judgeship in the western part of Illinois. In 
 1820 he was elected to the United States Senate over John Mc- 
 Lean, of Shawneetown. "His career in Illinois was brief, but 
 elevated and conspicuous." 
 
 Thomas C. Browne, a Kentuckian, was a conspicuous public 
 man in early Illinois history. He came to Shawneetown, having 
 studied law in his native state. Reynolds says before they had a 
 courthouse or any public hall where court could be held, they 
 improvised a courthouse by pulling two flatboats up to shore 
 side by side, one being used by the grand jury and the other 
 by the trial court. Mr. Browne is supposed to have practiced 
 in this court. He served in the Legislature with Philip Tram- 
 mel, from Gallatin County. He was for a time prosecuting 
 attorney for the counties along the Ohio. In 1816 he was 
 elected to the Council (or Senate) of the Legislature, which 
 position he held when the territory was admitted into the Union. 
 He was chosen one of the members of the Supreme Court in 
 1819. This position he held for a quarter of a century. In 
 1822 he was one of four candidates for governor. The other 
 three were Chief Justice Joseph Phillips, Maj.-Gen. James B. 
 Moore, and Edward Coles. Phillips and Browne divided the 
 slavery vote and Coles was elected. Browne was brilliant but 
 not a hard student, and for this lack of application he was 
 severely criticised. "Honor, integrity, and fidelity were prom- 
 inent traits of his character." 
 
 Thomas Carlin was not surpassed by any pioneer in bringing 
 Illinois up to the statehood. He did not begin his labors as 
 early as some, but he was continually serving the people and the 
 state in some commendable way. He came on the scene in 1811. 
 He was of Irish extraction and, like many young men of that 
 
402 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 people, he was poor and without friends — two very serious 
 handicaps. His education was very meager. He was a private 
 with Capt. William B. Whitesides in the War of 1812. In 1813 
 he marched under the orders of General Howard. At the close 
 of the war he located near the present city of Carrollton, in 
 Greene County. He was the first sheriff of Greene County. 
 While living on his farm in Greene County he was often selected 
 to serve in the Legislature. He also was receiver of public 
 moneys at Quincy, which position he filled with great credit to 
 himself and with perfect satisfaction to the Government. We 
 shall hear of him later as governor of Illinois. 
 
 Charles Gratiot is one of the men to be honored in connection 
 with the pioneer history of Illinois. He was a Swiss Huguenot. 
 He was put in school in London, where he came under the 
 influence of wealthy merchants. From these men he developed 
 a genius for trade, and at the close of his term of school he 
 went to Canada, where he entered a partnership with Kay & 
 McRae. The field of operations extended over Canada and the 
 Northwest — from the Falls of St. Anthony to the mouth of the 
 Ohio. Charles Gratiot was the master mind in this great enter- 
 prise. Prior to 1774 he worked principally in the North, but in 
 that year he came to the Illinois country and established trading 
 centers at Cahokia and Kaskaskia. It was at the time he had 
 reached the height of his commercial activity, and at a time 
 when his influence with Indians and French was widespread, 
 that George Rogers Clark arrived at Kaskaskia. It was now 
 that Charles Gratiot proved a friend indeed. Clark's army was 
 destitute of food and clothing, and if it had not been for such 
 generous spirits as Vigo, Cerre, Gibault and Gratiot, what would 
 have become of the far flung victories of Colonel Clark and his 
 Virginia Long Knives? Charles Gratiot had a generous heart 
 toward the American cause and he opened it wide for the Amer- 
 ican patriots. Gratiot paid the French and Spanish citizens for 
 the food and clothing of which Clark's army stood in need. "His 
 heart and soul were enlisted in the cause of human freedom. 
 The blood of the country of Tell burned in his veins and all his 
 means were exhausted in the glorious conquest of Illinois." 
 Charles Gratiot was never reimbursed for his expenditures for 
 Clark's army. In his later years he abandoned his commercial 
 enterprises and gave himself up to domestic employments. The 
 Gratiot family was an extensive connection in Illinois and Mis- 
 souri. 
 
 Thomas Forsyth was a half-brother of John Kinzie, the Indian 
 agent at Fort Dearborn in 1812. He was brought up among the 
 Pottawattomies and was very influential among them. In the 
 War of 1812 Mr. Forsyth was heartily in favor of the Amer- 
 icans. Since he knew the Pottawattomies so well, he was at all 
 times well posted as to the temper of the red men. He lived in 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 403 
 
 Peoria and mingled freely with the Indians along the Illinois 
 River. In 1812 Mr. Forsyth was in St. Louis on business, and 
 while there had a conference with Governor Clark about the 
 seriousness of the situation, more particularly in Illinois. He 
 also visited Governor Edwards at Kaskaskia. Governor Clark 
 had Forsyth appointed a secret Indian agent for the Govern- 
 ment. It needed to be kept secret, because the Indians would 
 have turned against him and he could have had no influence 
 with them. His home in Peoria placed him in the midst of the 
 territory whence might come the greatest danger. When 
 Forsyth heard of the Fort Dearborn massacre, he proceeded to 
 the Indian towns along the Illinois River with the hope that he 
 could render aid to the unfortunate Americans. This was even 
 then considered very dangerous by Forsyth himself. He prac- 
 ticed a little diplomacy on this trip. He took some old French- 
 men who had married Indian squaws, together with their wives 
 and children, and without arms, powder, or lead, he went to the 
 relief of the distressed Americans. He rendered timely service 
 and returned to Peoria. In the fall of 1812, Capt. Thomas Craig, 
 with two boats and a company of militia, appeared in Peoria to 
 investigate a report that Forsyth and certain Frenchmen were 
 causing all the unrest among the Indians. Craig captured more 
 than three scores of men, women, and children, among whom 
 was Forsyth. They were brought down to the mouth of the 
 Missouri and unloaded in the woods on the Illinois side. Forsyth 
 helped these people to St. Louis and himself returned to Peoria. 
 After the war he was engaged in agency work for the Govern- 
 ment, in which capacity he rendered very acceptable service. 
 
 Lewis and Clark were two Virginians who performed a great 
 service for the United States. They had very little to do directly 
 with early Illinois history, but their short stay in Illinois is an 
 interesting short chapter and is worth the telling. Meriwether 
 Lewis was private secretary to Thomas Jefferson ; William Clark 
 was a brother of George Rogers Clark. Jefferson got an appro- 
 priation to pay the expenses of a mission to the Indians upon 
 the upper Missouri. It was Jefferson's plan to extend the mis- 
 sion's work to an exploration to the Rockies and beyond. Lewis 
 and Clark were ordered to prepare an expedition to start in the 
 spring of 1804. Lewis was a captain and Clark was a lieutenant 
 in the regular army. They made their camp in the winter of 
 1803-4 at or near the mouth of Wood River, three miles below 
 the present city of Alton. Here they gathered supplies, men 
 and information. In doing so they visited Cahokia, St. Louis, 
 and other centers of population. Reynolds says there were 
 thirty-four men in the party, but there were probably more than 
 that number by the time they started, May 14, 1804. Some of 
 the party were recruited from the frontier, as Reynolds gives 
 the names of Thompson, Collins, Willard, Newman, Windsor, 
 
404 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Frazier, and Gibson as having returned from the overland jour- 
 ney and settled in Illinois. There were no settlements as far 
 north as this camp established by Lewis and Clark in 1803. 
 
 Governor Reynolds in his "Pioneer History of Illinois" is 
 careful in giving sketches of the pioneers to point out those who 
 had been Revolutionary soldiers, and particularly to mention the 
 fact that they served with Colonel Clark in his companies in 
 Illinois in 1778 to 1781. And while the men whose names appear 
 below may have been given above as among the pioneers, a 
 separate list is given below as a matter of convenience for those 
 especially interested in the Revolutionary patriots. The first 
 two soldiers were not with Clark, but all the rest of the list 
 were with Clark on some of his expeditions. 
 
 Revolutionary Soldiers 
 
 William Whiteside was from North Carolina. He fought in 
 the battle of King's Mountain, October 7, 1780. The British 
 force of 1,000 men, under Colonel Ferguson, was either killed or 
 captured to a man. This Revolutionary hero arrived in 1793. 
 
 John Whiteside, a brother to William, was also a Revolu- 
 tionary soldier in North Carolina. He came to Illinois and set- 
 tled at Bellefontaine in 1793. 
 
 Joseph Anderson was one of Clark's soldiers. He returned 
 with others from beyond the Ohio and settled on Nine Mile 
 Creek, east of the Kaskaskia River. 
 
 James Vurry showed soldierly qualities in the capture of 
 Kaskaskia and the fort at Vincennes. He was out hunting on 
 Nine Mile Creek when he disappeared, supposed to have been 
 killed by Indians. His body was never found. 
 
 George and Ichabod Camp were enrolled with Clark's army. 
 They settled on Camp's Creek, in Randolph County. They after- 
 wards moved to St. Louis and settled at Camp Spring, west of 
 the city. 
 
 William Biggs was a Revolutionary soldier at the age of 
 twenty-three. Congress granted him a tract of land for his 
 services. He had many "hair-breadth 'scapes" in his pioneer 
 life. He held many offices. 
 
 John Doyle was a school teacher. He helped win the Revolu- 
 tionary war. He taught about Kaskaskia after 1790. 
 
 Bowen was with Clark, and after the war he re- 
 turned to Illinois, in company with three other ex-soldiers, 
 Piggott, Doyle and Whitehead, and settled near Kaskaskia. 
 
 John Dodge settled in Kaskaskia in 1783. He is recorded as 
 being entitled to a land grant of 400 acres. He was related to 
 the noted Dodge family, early pioneers of Illinois. 
 
 John Hilterbrand, together with a Revolutionary soldier by 
 the name of Tell, settled on Nine Mile Creek and made quite a 
 few improvements. This was in 1780. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 405 
 
 David Pagon settled just across the Kaskaskia River opposite 
 the village. Pagon built a house some two miles farther east, 
 where he resided in 1788. 
 
 Thomas Hughes helped Clark in his Illinois campaigns. He 
 was a Pennsylvanian and returned to Illinois in 1783. On his 
 way down the Ohio, near Fort Massac, he was murdered, and 
 also his baby. The mother and others escaped and finally 
 reached Kaskaskia. 
 
 George Lunsford settled first near Kaskaskia. Later he and 
 Colonel Judy bought the "sugar loaf," some five or six miles 
 south of Cahokia. This was a round top hill which attracted 
 much attention. 
 
 Richard McCarthy sounds as if he Were an Irishman, but he 
 commanded a company from Cahokia on the march to Vincennes 
 in February, 1779. He was a miller and built a mill on Cahokia 
 Creek, about a mile south of the Relay Depot, East St. Louis. 
 
 James Piggott came back to Illinois with other soldiers in 
 1781. He settled at New Design and was very active in pro- 
 moting religious life of the community. 
 
 Robert Kidd was one of Clark's soldiers. After being dis- 
 charged, he went to his home in Maryland, and in company 
 with other soldiers came to Illinois about 1781. He came from 
 Pittsburg to Kaskaskia by water. 
 
 Robert Whitehead was one of a half dozen men who came into 
 Illinois as early as 1781, most of them returned soldiers. They 
 settled in the bottoms south of Cahokia. 
 
 Larkin Rutherford was one of the Clark men who came with 
 Whitehead and Kidd, mentioned above. 
 
 Levi Teel was not only a British fighter, but he was an Indian 
 fighter. He was once transfixed to a cabin floor by a spear in 
 the hands of an Indian. He was near a door and the spear was 
 driven through his foot. He was otherwise badly wounded, but 
 his companion saved him and got him back to Kaskaskia, two 
 miles distant. 
 
 Groots belong to the settlement near Goshen, in Madison 
 County. 
 
 Robert Seybold was one of Clark's soldiers who was associated 
 with Hilterbrand, Camp, Teel, and others. Some of these men 
 came into Illinois direct from Fort Jefferson. 
 
 John Montgomery was a captain in Clark's little army and 
 later was made a major. He took Rocheblave a prisoner to 
 Williamsburg, Virginia. He returned to Illinois in 1783 and 
 built a home a few miles east of Kaskaskia, on the trail to Vin- 
 cennes, where he operated a mill. 
 
 Interesting Places 
 
 Places are sometimes as interesting as persons. There can 
 of course not be so many interesting places as there are persons 
 
406 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 in the pioneer history of a region. Many of the people gather 
 about certain places — the place remains for generations, but 
 men come and go. A few of the most interesting places are 
 given. Probably some have been omitted. 
 
 Falling Spring was a curiosity to the early travelers along 
 the road from Prairie du Pont to the New Design settlement. 
 The water gushed from a crevice in the rock wall forty or fifty 
 feet above the level ground below. A flouring mill was erected 
 here. 
 
 Fountain Creek was a small stream that ran west through the 
 present county of Monroe and across the American Bottom into 
 the Mississippi River. 
 
 Fort Massac was a point of debarkation for immigrants com- 
 ing down the Ohio and desiring to reach points in the south end 
 of the Illinois Territory. 
 
 The Big Spring was on the road from Waterloo to Whiteside 
 Station. Here was a hard battle between Capt. N. Hull and 
 eight settlers and a score of Indians in May, 1791. The Amer- 
 icans came out victors. 
 
 Bellefontaine was a village a mile north of New Design. 
 
 Horse Prairie lies west of the Kaskaskia River and east of 
 Horse Creek. The early Americans found wild horses on this 
 prairie — they had escaped from the French villages. 
 
 Elvirade was the country home of Governor Edwards. It 
 was located not far from Prairie du Rocher. 
 
 Embarrass River is a stream that rises in Douglas County and 
 flows south through Coles, Cumberland, Jasper and southeast 
 through Lawrence. 
 
 Grand Tower, a perpendicular rock, rising from the rocky bed 
 of the Mississippi opposite Grand Tower Village. It is forty or 
 fifty feet high, according to the various stages of the river. 
 
 Starved Rock, a perpendicular bluff about 125 feet high, 
 located on the Illinois River a few miles below Ottawa. Here is 
 where LaSalle and Tonti built Fort St. Louis. 
 
 Buffalo Rock is between Starved Rock and Ottawa and is 
 larger but not so high as Starved Rock. They are prominent 
 parts of the bluffs that skirt the Illinois River. 
 
 Piasa Bluffs are high rocky bluffs which skirt the Illinois side 
 of the Mississippi between the mouth of the Illinois River and 
 Alton. Here is where Marquette saw the painting on the rock. 
 
 Shiloh, a settlement six miles northeast of Belleville. Here 
 Bishop McKendree held a camp meeting in 1807. 
 
 Hull's Landing, a point on the Ohio about seven miles above 
 Golconda, where Captain Hull landed in 1780. There was a road 
 from this point to Kaskaskia. 
 
 Lusk's Ferry was established at Golconda probably some time 
 prior to the coming of George Rogers Clark. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 407 
 
 Prairie du Rocher was a French village some three or four 
 miles southeast of Fort Chartres. It was founded about 1720. 
 
 Big Bay Creek settlement was some miles south of Golconda. 
 It was settled in 1803 and grew to be a prosperous settlement. 
 
 Turkey Hill was a French and Indian trading post many years 
 before the Americans came. It was four miles southeast of 
 Belleville and was settled by Americans in 1798. It was the 
 second most important American settlement in the early part of 
 the last century. 
 
 Cahokia was located some three miles down the river from 
 the present East St. Louis. It was the county seat till Belle- 
 ville was laid out in 1814. 
 
 Cahokia Creek rises in Macoupin County and flows south 
 through Madison and empties into the Mississippi near the vil- 
 lage of Cahokia. It was a well-known stream in early Illinois 
 history. 
 
 The Ohio Salt Works were located near the present town of 
 Equality, in Gallatin County. They were flourishing in the early 
 part of the last century. 
 
 Monk's Mound, the largest of the artificial mounds to be seen 
 some five or six miles northeast of St. Louis. The largest and 
 two or three scores of the smaller ones have been purchased by 
 the state for $50,000. The largest will be examined by scientific 
 men to determine its age, its purpose and its mode of construc- 
 tion. 
 
 Brownsville was located on the Big Muddy River, some four 
 miles below the present city of Murphysboro. There were salt 
 works there as early as 1817 or 1818. It was the first county 
 seat of Jackson County. 
 
 Jonesboro was the first county seat of Union County. It is 
 about forty miles north of Cairo. It is in the midst of beautiful 
 natural scenery. 
 
 Cairo, at the mouth of the Ohio River, was settled as early 
 as 1805 by a family by the name of Bird. 
 
 The American Bottom was an extensive stretch of alluvial 
 land reaching from the present city of Alton to the City of 
 Chester. It is from two to five miles wide, lying between the 
 Mississippi River and a long line of bluffs. With two or three 
 exceptions, all the early settlements were in the American 
 Bottom. 
 
 Partridge's Town was an Indian village at the north end of 
 Peoria Lake, on the east side of the Illinois River. 
 
 The Big Muddy River is a fairly good sized stream which 
 rises in Jefferson County, flows south through Jefferson and 
 Franklin and west through Jackson into the Mississippi below 
 Grand Tower. 
 
 Looking Glass Prairie, a large prairie lying in the eastern part 
 
408 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 of St. Clair County. This prairie was visited by Charles Dickens 
 in 1842. Mr. Dickens had never seen a prairie, and his St. Louis 
 friends took him out to see this prairie. A decade ago his son 
 also went from St. Louis to see Looking Glass Prairie. 
 
 Wiggins Ferry was the means of crossing the Mississippi from 
 Illinoistown (now East St. Louis) to St. Louis. 
 
 Nine-Mile Creek was a settlement of that name on a creek of 
 the same name some miles northeast of the Village of Kaskaskia. 
 
 Belleville was laid off as a town in 1814, and the county seat of 
 St. Clair County moved there from Cahokia in the same year. 
 
 Camp Russell, or Fort Russell, was located about one and a 
 half miles northwest of Edwardsville. It was built in 1812 as a 
 sort of advance post of civilization. 
 
 Kickapoo Town was a village of the Kickapoo Indians near 
 the Elk-Heart Grove, in what is now Sangamon County. 
 
 Savage's Ferry was just below the mouth of the Missouri and 
 is the point where Captain Craig unloaded the Peorians in 1812. 
 
 Goshen was a settlement a few miles south and west of Ed- 
 wardsville. It was below the bluffs. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 THE TRANSITION 
 
 Travel and Transportation — The Flat Boat — The Steam- 
 boat — The National Roai> — The Frontier Line — Educa- 
 tion — The Ordinance — Free School Law — Population 
 Centers — Trade and Commerce — The Sangamon Coun- 
 try. 
 
 It was the part of wisdom in those who urged the admission 
 of the Territory of Illinois into the union as one of the family 
 of states. From 1818 to 1830, there was a wonderful impetus 
 to every line of human endeavor which marks the separation of 
 a highly prosperous, progressive, people from unprogressive and 
 indifferent communities who remain in the same institutional 
 ruts from decade to decade. This growth is seen in the indus- 
 trial, educational, religious, political, and social changes which 
 began as soon as it was evident that the Territory of Illinois 
 would become a state. 
 
 Travel and Transportation 
 
 Nothing will contribute to the growth and development of a 
 new country so much as agreeable and safe means of ingress 
 and egress. There must be routes of travel and means of com- 
 munication between a new state and the older and more civilized 
 regions of the earth, or the new state will languish and eventually 
 perish. 
 
 As for the new State of Illinois — no American state was ever 
 so blessed with natural means of communication with the outside 
 world. The Mississippi gave the people of the new state a direct 
 line of intercourse with the most civilized and refined portions 
 of the old world. In the period of which we write, the ships of 
 nearly every country on the earth unfurled their flags in the 
 harbor of New Orleans. The silks, and satins, the carpets, and 
 rugs, and tapestries of Arabia, Persia, and Indian; the coffees, 
 teas, spices, and fruits of the tropical world; the jewelry, dia- 
 monds, carved wood, and the hand-tooled leathers of the over- 
 crowded cities of the old world; woolens, cottons, boots, shoes, 
 hats, gloves and furs from the western parts of Europe; farm- 
 ing implements, tools, machinery for the "infant industries," 
 and carriages from the factories of England, France, and other 
 states of the old world — filled the warehouses of New Orleans 
 and awaited shipment up the Mississippi to the distributing 
 
 409 
 
410 
 
 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 cities of the interior — Natchez, Nashville, Louisville, Cincinnati, 
 Pittsburgh, St. Louis and a score or more trade centers of lesser 
 importance. 
 
 There lay on the miles of wharf at New Orleans ready for 
 transhipment to the hungry peoples of the earth, the products 
 of the crude farms, and the rich prairies, and the fatness of the 
 forests of Illinois and other interior states. Millions of bushels 
 of wheat, thousands of barrels of flour, tons of pork in various 
 forms, beef on foot, sheep and other animals ready for the holds 
 of the great ocean going vessels. There were lumber, lead, 
 crude iron, hides, tobacco, cotton, naval stores, and furs. 
 
 THE WHARF AT GOLCONDA 
 
 Not only did the lower Mississippi connect Illinois directly 
 with New Orleans and furnish us with a direct outlet to the old 
 world trade, importations and exportations, but the upper Mis- 
 sissippi brought us the furs of the vast northwest, lead from 
 Northwestern Illinois and Southwestern Wisconsin, and lumber 
 from the pineries of the Northern forests. 
 
 The Ohio was in no sense less important than the Mississippi. 
 It acted not only as a trunk-line of communication, but as an 
 important feeder to the Mississippi. While the Mississippi was 
 a great commercial waterway it was not important as a migra- 
 tory route. Few immigrants ever came into Illinois by way of 
 New Orleans and the Mississippi. The Ohio on the other hand 
 brought Illinois a very large part of the immigration from east 
 of the Alleghanies. Not only so, but there were large quantities 
 of manufactured goods from the eastern states that found their 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 411 
 
 way into Illinois by way of Pittsburg and the Ohio River. Fine 
 stock for breeding purposes, horses, cattle, hogs, sheep and 
 fowls from New York, Pennsylvania and other states, reached 
 Illinois over the Ohio. Very little if any commerce from Illinois 
 went up the Ohio, but there was a constant stream of travel 
 both ways on that river. 
 
 Then there were the Illinois and the Wabash which were both 
 navigable streams. There were no towns on the Illinois of any 
 consequence prior to 1830 except Peoria. This was a French 
 city till 1812 when it was partly destroyed by fire because it 
 was supposed to be helping the British in the war. Americans 
 settled and rebuilt the town in 1819. In 1824 the American Fur 
 Company established a trading post at this point and from that 
 time forward Peoria grew. The Illinois River became the line 
 of travel and transportation between Peoria and points farther 
 up the river as well as between Peoria and Alton, St. Louis, and 
 New Orleans. 
 
 The Wabash had one good trading station on it, namely Vin- 
 cennes. This was a very old trading point, and large quantities 
 of goods of all kinds were distributed from here to the towns in 
 Western Indiana and in Eastern Illinois. 
 
 There were several small streams that were valuable in a 
 commercial way only. The Little Wabash, the Embarrass, the 
 Cache, the Big Muddy, and the Kaskaskia were all adapted to 
 the use of flat boats. 
 
 The Flat Boat 
 
 The flat boat was one of the unfailing signs of pioneer life. A 
 man who had been engaged in the building and navigating of 
 this form of rivercraft between the years of 1823 and 1835 de- 
 scribes the making of a flat boat as follows : The axmen felled 
 trees whose bodies were three to six feet in diameter, and from 
 fifty to seventy feet long. These were split from end to end and 
 the two halves hewn to the thickness of six or eight inches, and 
 three to six feet wide. These were placed side by side some 
 twelve to sixteen feet apart, or even wider apart if desired. The 
 front and rear ends were rounded down from the top like sled 
 runners upside down. These were called by the boat builders the 
 gun'ls (gunwales). They were held apart and in position by 
 cross beams. A strong floor was placed on the top (which event- 
 ually will be the bottom) and the boat pushed into the water. 
 Here several strong men overturned the boat, the water was 
 dipped out and the bottom caulked. A false bottom was then 
 laid. Frequently a sort of frame was laid upon the top of the 
 gun'ls much as a hay frame is often placed on a wagon. This 
 frame protected on each side some three to six feet, thus widen- 
 ing the platform which was to receive the cargo. There was 
 thus a platform some sixty or seventy feet long and sixteen to 
 
412 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 twenty-four feet wide, and was much like a fiat car. Sides and 
 ends were often arranged around this platform to prevent the 
 loss of parts of the cargo. The hull of the boat was loaded with 
 the heavier part of the cargo and the lighter articles were placed 
 on the extended platform. A small hut was built on the deck 
 in which the cook prepared the meals and in which was one or 
 more bunks. From three to five men would take one of these 
 boats, loaded with the produce of the neighborhood, from the 
 place where it was built to New Orleans. Here, after the cargo 
 was disposed of, the boat would be knocked to pieces and sold 
 for lumber. 
 
 Timothy Flint, a traveler of wide experience, who wrote a very 
 interesting and accurate description of the Mississippi Valley 
 in 1830, says : "The instance of a young man of enterprise and 
 standing, as a merchant, trader, planter, or even a farmer, who 
 has not made at least one trip to New Orleans, is uncommon. 
 From the upper and even the middle western states, before the 
 invention of the steam boats, it was a voyage of long duration, 
 and we may add, of more peril, than a voyage across the Atlantic. 
 The Mississippi is still descended as before that invention, in 
 boats of every description. Most of them now, however, are 
 keel and flat boats. Every principal farmer along the great 
 water courses, builds a flat boat and sends to New Orleans the 
 produce of his farm in it." Mr. Flint estimates the trip to New 
 Orleans by a young man of standing and situation in life to be 
 of great value in enlarging his grasp of the manners and cus- 
 toms of the world. He states further that there was more or 
 less danger from sandbars, snags, rocks, and other obstructions 
 of safe navigation. The return trip in an old fashioned river 
 steamer to St. Louis or Louisville required from twelve to fifteen 
 days. "It must be admitted that while these frequent trips up 
 and down the river, and more than all to New Orleans, give to 
 the young people, and those who impart authority, impulse and 
 tone to fashion and opinion, an air of society, ease and con- 
 fidence ; the young are apt at the same time to imbibe from the 
 contagion of example, habits of extravagance, dissipation, and 
 a rooted attachment to a wandering life." 
 
 Steamboats 
 
 The steamboats on the Ohio, and the Mississippi in these early 
 days were indeed floating palaces. The passengers who traveled 
 from Pittsburg, Cincinnati, or St. Louis, to New Orleans found 
 all the accommodations one could find in the best city hotels. 
 These were the days of slavery, and service was not only cheap 
 but attentive. The meals which the best river steamers fur- 
 nished were not equaled by any of the city hotels. A steamboat 
 would care for several scores of passengers, beside it carried 
 large amounts of freight. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 413 
 
 The National Road 
 
 A large majority of the people who came to Illinois in the 
 early days came by wagon or on horseback. The roads were 
 indeed very poor and there were few places where travelers 
 could find lodging over night, but as the country improved in 
 others matters so with regard to travel. Taverns were built 
 along the main traveled highways, and their prices were fixed 
 by legislation. Fords, bridges, and roads were gradually im- 
 proved and travel came to be more tolerable. There was much 
 travel on horseback, and no small amount on foot. 
 
 CONCRETE BRIDGE OVER SALT CREEK, EAST OF EFFINGHAM ON LINE 
 OF OLD NATIONAL ROAD 
 
 The National Government began a phase of "internal improve- 
 ment" as early as 1806. On the 29th of March of that year, the 
 President, Thomas Jefferson, signed a bill entitled "An Act to 
 Regulate the Laying Out and Making a Road from Cumberland, 
 in the State of Maryland, to the State of Ohio." Thirty thousand 
 dollars was appropriated to survey and to make estimates of the 
 cost of the road. It was the ultimate aim to extend this road 
 into Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri. The road was eventually 
 extended to Vandalia, Illinois. It started at the town of Cumber- 
 land, Maryland, and passed through the following cities — 
 Brownsville and Washington in Pennsylvania; Wheeling, now 
 West Virginia; Janesville, Columbus, and Springfield, Ohio; 
 Richmond, Indianapolis, and Terre Haute, Indiana ; Marshall and 
 Vandalia, Illinois. By 1819 the road was completed into Ohio. 
 An act of 1820 ordered the road to be laid out and constructed 
 
414 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 to a point on the left bank of the Mississippi between the mouth 
 of Illinois River and the City of St. Louis. (The point evidently 
 was Alton.) The total sum of $6,824,919.33 was appropriated 
 for the building of this road. 
 
 It was over this road that thousands of people reached Illinois 
 between 1818 and 1830. In 1837 John Quincy Adams visited 
 Uniontown, Pennsylvania, and was welcomed by Dr. Hugh Camp- 
 bell, one of the state's great orators. In the course of the address 
 he said: "We stand, sir, upon the Cumberland Road, which 
 has, to some extent broken down the great wall of the Appala- 
 chian Mountains, which served to form a natural barrier be- 
 tween what might have been two great rival nations." Later the 
 Hon. James Veach in writing of the influence of the National 
 Road in the development of the West said: "It is a monument of 
 a past age ; but like all other monuments, it is interesting, as well 
 as venerable. It carried thousands of population and millions of 
 wealth into the West ; and more than any other material structure 
 in the land, served to harmonize and strengthen, if not to save, 
 the Union." 
 
 The common dirt roads were much improved by 1820, but 
 they were nothing to brag on as means of travel. Laws had 
 been passed authorizing the county authorities to open and im- 
 prove the public roads, but much of the labor of opening roads 
 and keeping them in repair was donated by the public spirited 
 citizens, and since there was no well established permanent sys- 
 tem of sustaining the roads when once opened, they were usually 
 in poor repair. 
 
 The Frontier Life 
 
 By a careful study of the census reports for 1820 and 1830 we 
 may get fairly definite notions of the density of population as 
 well as the extent of the area of the state covered by settlements 
 and the parts remaining unsettled. It of course is difficult to 
 determine the density of population since the counties were in 
 most cases much larger than they are today and we know the 
 population was not uniformly distributed. All the travelers 
 who wrote of what they observed as to the distribution, remarked 
 the presence of population along the streams, as for example, 
 along the Ohio, and the Wabash, on the east and southeast ; along 
 the Mississippi and the Illinois, in the West; and along the 
 Kaskaskia, toward the Northeast. Maps that show the distribu- 
 tion of population represent that part of Illinois across the 
 Wabash from Vincennes as being thickly populated. Also the 
 territory about the salines on the Ohio, and the region along 
 the Mississippi opposite St. Louis. These three facts can be 
 easily accounted for. The territory opposite Vincennes was 
 included in Knox County laid off by Governor St. Clair in 1790 
 with Vincennes as the county seat. Illinois was separated from 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 415 
 
 Indiana in 1809, so this territory, now included in Wabash, 
 Lawrence, Edwards, and Crawford grew much more rapidly 
 than the counties one tier further west. Gallatin County had 
 the salines and Shawneetown to draw population. The immigra- 
 tion down the Ohio could not well debark till the travelers had 
 passed the mouth of the Wabash, and Shawneetown was the 
 first opportunity below te mouth of the Wabash. There was 
 also a good ferry across the Ohio at Shawneetown from the be- 
 ginning of the nineteenth century. All these things combined to 
 increase the population in that region. The counties opposite 
 St. Louis were from the earliest settlement of the territory, 
 well populated. The region was attractive in many ways. The 
 soil throughout St. Clair and Madison is very fertile. Cahokia, 
 Belleville, Edwardsville, were thriving towns and there were 
 several smaller villages which drew numbers of the new comers. 
 There was no general movement of population into the state 
 from the north or northeast prior to 1830. There were strag- 
 gling settlements along the Illinois, a few about Chicago, and 
 probably several scores in the vicinity of the lead mines, near 
 Galena. The fringe of permanent settlements ran east from 
 the south side of Greene and Macoupin to Vandalia, thence it 
 bent south toward Mount Vernon, thence northeasterly to Mar- 
 shall, Clark County. Perhaps it would not be amiss to say that 
 the unsettled parts of Washington, Jefferson, Marion, Clay, 
 Effingham, Jasper and Cumberland may be accounted for by 
 saying they are farther from large streams and their lands are 
 probably not so productive as those east and west. 
 
 Education 
 
 Schools had no legal existence till 1825. There were at all 
 times schools in some form. But these were of no indifferent 
 character from the time the first Americans began to arrive. 
 This was before the passage of the Ordinance of 1787. There 
 were some provisions in that famous document which guarantees 
 to the settlers in the territory north and west of the Ohio that 
 education would not be neglected. The Ordinance declared that 
 — "Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good 
 government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the 
 means of education shall forever be encouraged." 
 
 Then again the Ordinance of 1785 (which is sometimes called 
 the Land Ordinance, an ordinance providing for the survey of 
 the territory northwest of the Ohio River), there was a pro- 
 vision which said "there shall be reserved from sale the lot 
 number 16 (Section number 16) of every township for the 
 maintenance of common schools within the said township." 
 These provisions of course were of no avail till Illinois became 
 a state, and up to that time the schools of the Territory were 
 very much on the same footing as the churches. If the people 
 
416 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 of a neighborhood wanted a school they could have it just as they 
 could have a church if they wanted it. If they wanted a good 
 school they must find a good teacher, provide a good building 
 and equipment. If the people of any community were indifferent 
 about the value of schools, they would of course have an indiffer- 
 ent school or perhaps none at all. Thus the educational interests 
 flourished or languished according to the ideals of the various 
 communities in the Territory. 
 
 The Ordinance 
 
 When Illinois applied for admission into the union, and John 
 Pope was given the task of writing up the Enabling Act, he 
 incorporated the clause which we find in the Ordinance of 1785 
 as to the sixteenth section, and also a provision that three per 
 cent of the proceeds of the sale of public lands in Illinois should 
 be turned over to the state to be used to further the cause of 
 education. In addition he confirmed that gift of one township, 
 given in the Ordinance of 1785 for a higher institution of learn- 
 ing, and gave another township for the same purpose. This 
 generosity on the part of the general Government would nat- 
 urally beget an ambitious spirit among the people of the new 
 state. The Constitution of 1818 has not a word about schools 
 or education. The men who made it were probably too deeply 
 interested in slavery — either for or against. 
 
 We have already called attention to the inaugural address of 
 Governor Bond in which he said in discussing education, "It is 
 our imperious duty, for the faithful performance of which we 
 are amenable to God and to our country, to watch over this 
 interesting subject." 
 
 The members of the General Assembly seems not to have done 
 much toward performing their "imperious duty." But in re- 
 sponse to the prayers of the good people of Belleville, Edwards- 
 ville, and Carlyle the General Assembly granted charters to three 
 academies to be located in these three towns. "The preamble 
 recites that several of the inhabitants have entered into arrange- 
 ments among themselves to build by subscription academies for 
 the education of their youth." 
 
 There were resolutions and acts of the General Assembly 
 which applied to towns whose citizens were progressive enough 
 to make requests for help from the General Assembly. But the 
 first real earnest effort of the law makers to provide for a system 
 of public free schools resulted in what is known as the Duncan 
 Free School law of 1825. 
 
 School Law of 1825 
 
 Joseph Duncan, who resided in Jackson County in 1824, was 
 elected to the State Senate in that year. He was an eastern 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 417 
 
 young man with an exceptionally good education. He introduced 
 a law which provided a Public School System very much like the 
 one we have today. There was a preamble, and twenty-four 
 sections, a synopsis of which will give the reader a very good 
 notion of the plan of this system. 
 
 Preamble. To enjoy our rights and liberties, we must under- 
 stand them; their security and protection ought to be the first 
 object of a free people; and it is a well established fact that no 
 nation has ever continued long in the enjoyment of civil and 
 political freedom, which was not both virtuous and enlightened ; 
 and believing that the advancement of literature has always 
 been, and ever will be, the means of developing the rights of 
 man, that the mind of every citizen of a republic is the common 
 property of society, and constitutes the basis of its strength 
 and happiness ; it is therefore considered the peculiar duty of a 
 free government, like ours, to extend the improvement and culti- 
 vation of the intellectual energies of the whole ; therefore, 
 
 Section 1. Be it enacted, etc. This section authorizes a free 
 school or schools in every county for pupils between five and 
 twenty-one. 
 
 Section 2. The county commissioners shall establish these 
 schools. 
 
 Section 3. The voters shall elect a board of three trustees 
 (directors) who shall have control of the schools. 
 
 Section 4. The trustees shall select teacher, fix salary, take 
 census and make report to the county commissioners. 
 
 Section 5. Each school district is made a body politic. 
 
 Section 6. Trustees may hold property in the name of dis- 
 trict, prosecute and defend suits. 
 
 Section 7. There shall be a clerk in each district who shall 
 keep a record of all transactions by trustees. 
 
 Section 8. There shall be a treasurer of each district. 
 
 Section 9. A collector shall collect all moneys and pay them 
 over to the treasurer. 
 
 Section 10. The assessor shall list all property in district, 
 making report to the trustees. 
 
 Section 11. Legal voters in a district must serve in any dis- 
 trict office if elected or pay a fine. 
 
 Section 12. Legal voters may levy a tax of one-half of one 
 per cent on property — provided no person shall pay more than 
 $10 annually. 
 
 Section 13. Provides for presiding officer for meetings and 
 gives plan of levying the taxes. 
 
 Section 14. Trustees shall issue a warrant to the collector to 
 collect taxes. 
 
 Section 15. Appropriation of $2 out of every $100 paid into 
 the state treasury is appropriated to the common schools. Also 
 five-sixths of the interest on the permanent school fund. This 
 
 16V1 
 
418 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 money to be pro-rated among counties according to the number 
 of school children in each county. 
 
 Section 16. Auditor to draw funds from state treasury and 
 pay over to county treasurer. 
 
 Section 17. County treasurer pays each district treasurer 
 his proportionate share of the state taxes. 
 
 Section 18. The rents or income from the school lands shall 
 be divided among tax payers in proportion to his school tax. 
 
 Section 19. Auditor and secretary of state made commission- 
 ers of school fund. 
 
 Section 20. Explains how the school fund on deposit in the 
 state bank may be drawn and utilized by the commissioners. 
 
 Section 21. The county clerk shall make abstract reports of 
 the business of the trustees in his county which shall be for- 
 warded to the secretary of state. 
 
 Section 22. The legal voters may erect school houses, buy 
 furniture, may require legal voters to furnish labor on buildings 
 or in providing fuel. 
 
 Section 23. Persons holding school funds must give bonds. 
 
 Section 24. Teachers may be paid in merchantable produce 
 instead of in cash. 
 
 It appears that this free school system was a new system 
 except in some New England states. Ford says schools sprang 
 up in all the counties. But it appears that none of the two per 
 cent from the state treasury was ever paid to the county treas- 
 urer. 
 
 The valuable phases of the law were repealed in 1829. This 
 has been explained by the statement that 95 per cent of the 
 people of Illinois at that time had come from slave holding states 
 where they had not been used to taxation to support schools, and 
 they rebelled against the system which required taxes for sup- 
 port. The schools of Illinois languished from 1829 to 1855. 
 
 Population Centers 
 
 The population of Illinois in the summer of 1818 was 34,620. 
 In the summer of 1820 it had grown to 55,162. In 1830, the 
 census showed 157,445. This was indeed a rapid increase. It 
 is difficult to locate this population by the census report for 1820 
 and 1830 for the counties have greatly changed and increased 
 between 1820 and 1830. The census reports for the villages 
 available in this period is unofficial. The Rev. John M. Peck 
 gathered up statistics of the several towns and villages in the 
 second decade after the admission of the Territory into the 
 union. But these were obtained by estimating the number of 
 inhabitants by counting the dwellings and multiplying by the 
 average sized family. 
 
 In settling a new country some one must take the lead and he 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 419 
 
 may or may not select the best place for a population center. By 
 population center we mean a sort of distributing point for the 
 immigrants. Thus Kaskaskia, the first place in Illinois where 
 white people settled permanently, was known all through the 
 older states as well as in countries of the old world. Any one 
 who wished to visit the Illinois country in the eighteenth century 
 would first make his way to Kaskaskia and from that place 
 journey to the part of the country he wished to investigate. 
 Chicago served the same purpose for the northeastern part of 
 Illinois. Persons from Pennsylvania, New York, and New Eng- 
 land who wished to prospect or settle in the northern part of 
 the state would first make their way by lake travel to the young 
 village of Chicago and from there to the regions they wished to 
 become acquainted with. Vincennes became a well known place 
 to all people seeking a place to settle in the eastern part of the 
 state. Cahokia, and St. Louis served as the distributing points 
 for all the southwestern part of Illinois. 
 
 Near the beginning of the second decade of statehood the Rev. 
 Timothy Flint traveled over Illinois and gave a very accurate 
 description of the country and giving some notion of the location 
 of the population centers. We shall give a few of these centers 
 with reasons why they seemed to serve that purpose in the 
 settling of Illinois. The period covered in estimating population 
 is from 1825 to 1830. 
 
 Quincy was a town of some 300 people. People interested in 
 selecting land in the Military tract would take upper Mississippi 
 steamboat at St. Louis with Quincy for the destination. 
 
 Carlyle on the Kaskaskia was considered as a prospective 
 capital city. The river was navigable for small vessels, and 
 several roads centered at Carlyle. There were not more than 
 125 inhabitants. It was on the direct line of travel between 
 Vincennes and St. Louis. A direct road also ran from Equality 
 to Mt. Vernon, thence to Carlyle and to Greenville and Hillsboro. 
 A road led from Kaskaskia to Waterloo, and thence to Belleville, 
 Lebanon, and Carlyle. 
 
 Chicago was our only lake port and immigrants destined for 
 the Danville district, Ottawa, or Galena would find direct roads 
 from Chicago to these points. Chicago was a town of perhaps 
 1200 people in 1825. 
 
 Vandalia was the capital. It was on the Kaskaskia. It was 
 on the direct travel between St. Louis and Terre Haute, and 
 between Mount Carmel and Hillsboro. These roads were laid 
 out shortly after the capital was located at Vandalia. Travelers 
 would come to the capital and from here would investigate the 
 surrounding country. 
 
 Shawneetown was born with the century. It was the place 
 for debarkation for immigrants coming down the Ohio, destined 
 for the southeast part of the state. 
 
420 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Carrollton was on the very fringe of the settlements as they 
 moved east and north away from the lower Illinois River. The 
 country was exceedingly rich and well watered and people flocked 
 to this county seat in large numbers. It was on a direct road 
 from St. Louis, Alton, Jerseyville, White Hall, and Jacksonville. 
 
 Mount Vernon was settled about 1817 or 1818, but it was a 
 well known point on the north side of Casey's prairie much 
 earlier than the date of actual settlement. The town was small, 
 but well known to travelers and settlers. 
 
 Ottawa was situated on the Illinois where the Fox enters the 
 former stream. As a point in travel it was known by the French 
 and Indians long before the white settled there. It was settled 
 by whites in 1825 and incorporated as a village in 1838. The 
 town proper grew rather slowly at first, but it was a well known 
 point. A direct road from Ottawa to Galena crossed Rock River 
 at Dixon. Travel from Chicago to the lead mines came by way 
 of Ottawa. 
 
 Edwardsville became well known in the War of 1812 from 
 the fact that Fort Russell, the headquarters and base of opera- 
 tions for both state and national government for operations in 
 Illinois, was situated within a mile or so from the village. By 
 1825 the village was probably a place of 200 people or more. 
 
 Jacksonville was the best known town in Central Illinois up 
 to the time Springfield was selected as the capital in 1836. The 
 town was laid out in 1825. It was about this time selected as the 
 seat of Illinois College, one of the first institutions of higher 
 learning to be permanently established in Illinois. It was sur- 
 rounded by the richest farming land in the state. It was on a 
 well established road from Indianapolis to Danville, and Quincy. 
 The town grew very rapidly and the rich land for many miles 
 around was soon all taken up. 
 
 Golconda was never a large place in the early days, but it was 
 well known. A ferry was established as early as 1800, or before. 
 Good roads led into the interior. One starting from Golconda 
 passed through Frankfort, Nashville, Belleville, and to St. Louis. 
 
 The Belleville site was selected on March 10, 1814. The 
 county seat had been at Cahokia since 1790, but this village was 
 largely French and the Americans were anxious to be rid of 
 the unprogressive ways of the early settlers, and so in 1813 they 
 secured an order from the Territorial Legislature to move the 
 county seat to a place to be selected by James Lemen, Dr. Cald- 
 well Cairns, John Hays, Isaac Enochs, William Scott, Nathan 
 Chambers, and Jacob Short — all Americans. They selected a 
 beautiful spot of high ground on the farm of George Blair, 
 thirteen miles southeast of St. Louis. One acre was given by 
 Mr. Blair for a public square; he also gave every fifth lot out 
 of the twenty-five acres surrounding the square for the purpose 
 of erecting the public buildings- The town was platted early 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 421 
 
 in 1815. The place grew rapidly. By 1835 it had nearly a 
 thousand population. It was a manufacturing town from the 
 beginning. A very early map shows it on the road from Shaw- 
 neetown through Equality, Frankfort (now West Frankfort), 
 Nashville, Belleville, to St. Louis. Belleville became the center 
 of a dozen communities before Illinois was admitted into the 
 Union. 
 
 Springfield was settled first in 1819, made the county seat 
 in 1820, and land office located there in 1823. Between 1823 and 
 1828 nearly a half million acres of land was sold from the Spring- 
 field land office. The land was exceedingly fertile and in most 
 part well drained, though to the south the land is comparatively 
 level. The town grew so rapidly and the country round about 
 it was quickly settled. In fact Springfield became the center of 
 the Sangamon country of which we shall speak later. 
 
 Palestine, a most interesting center in an early day was the 
 only town in Crawford County, which was laid off by the Legis- 
 lature in 1816- Crawford County included all of Illinois east of 
 the third principal meridian and north of the parallel of Olney, 
 Richland County. La Motte, a French trader, settled at the 
 mouth of La Motte Creek at a very early date but left when 
 the War of 1812 began. American settlers arrived in 1811, and 
 in 1812 built a fort about where Palestine is which was called 
 Fort La Motte. At the close of the war many settlers from the 
 south came, and the village was laid out at the south end of La 
 Motte Prairie. A land office was located here about 1820 or 
 1821. All the eastern side of Illinois north of Vincennes and 
 south of Paris was settled, with Palestine as a center. 
 
 Albion, the county seat of Edwards County, was a well known 
 center in the first decade of the state's history. There were 
 settlers in Edwards County as early as 1809, and in 1812 and 
 1813 the Indians killed some of the settlers. But the real settle- 
 ment began with the coming of Morris Birkbeck. In 1817 when 
 he crossed the Wabash and reached the home of a Mr. Williams 
 on the edge of Big Prairie, now in White County, July 26, 1817, 
 he found 300 acres of corn growing, and the militia assembled 
 to the number of thirty, twenty of whom carried rifles. But 
 farther north he found only lonely hunters' cabins. He located 
 his land-purchase of 1400 acres half way between the Big and the 
 Little Wabash- Here he and his friend laid out two villages. 
 Wanboro and New Albion. Mr. Birkbeck began Wanboro August, 
 1818, while Mr. Fowler began New Albion October of the same 
 year. They were two miles apart. By 1819 there were 400 
 English men and 700 Americans on this immediate vicinity. It 
 was called the English Prairie Settlement. It was also known 
 as the Marine Settlement because many of the English settlers 
 had been English seamen. The reason Albion was so well known 
 as a center was the fact that so much was written and printed 
 
422 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 about it. Birkbeck himself, George Flowers, William Cobbett, 
 Thos. Hulme, John Woods, Bradshaw Fearon, William Faux, and 
 many more wrote, between 1817 and 1825, letter sketches, books, 
 and pamphlets which were printed in both England and America. 
 
 Trade and Commerce 
 
 Trade for the first decade was generally of the style of barter. 
 Money was scarce after the close of the War of 1812, till the 
 opening of the State bank in 1821- After 1821 there was plenty 
 of money but it was of such uncertain value that it did not alto- 
 gether displace the barter system. One essential element in a 
 permanent and profitable trade system is a non-fluctuating unit 
 of exchange. A bushel of wheat has a permanent value as a 
 food. Likewise a pound of butter. A milk cow will exchange 
 for so many sheep. True enough, but if the wheat crop is short 
 people might be willing to give more pounds of bacon for a 
 bushel of wheat, but the values do not change over night. The 
 money that should have been the standard of value in the com- 
 mercial world in Illinois was more uncertain than the weather. 
 A man might accept $100 in payment of a debt and on the mor- 
 row attempt to pay a debt of $100 which he owed only to find 
 that his $100 would pay only $90 of his debt. 
 
 The first installment of the pioneers made little use of any 
 form of money. They lived from hunting, fishing, and trapping 
 and the very few things they could not produce could easily be 
 secured through barter. This early class of immigrants was 
 mainly from the mountains of Kentucky, Virginia, and the Caro- 
 linas, and as the country became more thickly settled, they moved 
 toward the west where they found the economic problem more 
 earily solved. There were many good industrious people among 
 the early comers and not a few trifling ones in the second wave 
 of immigrants- 
 
 But a goodly number of the people was industrious, plain 
 farmers, small merchants, and unenterprising manufacturers. 
 Villages were plentifully scattered along all the public roads, and 
 in these villages there were always to be found what came to be 
 
 called country stores. Peck in his Gazateer says, "C has 
 
 five stores, three taverns, a grist and saw mill and forty fami- 
 lies." That is one store to eight families in the village. Another 
 writer says that "in 1819-21 there was hardly such a thing as 
 money to be found. Many a family lived a whole year without 
 the possession or the use of $50 in cash." 
 
 In such cases the family must exchange the simple products 
 of the farm for the bare necessities from the stores. But in 
 spite of all the facts that may be stated as to the lack of trade 
 between the country people and the store keepers, there are 
 other facts that should be stated. Robert W. Patterson, D.D., 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 423 
 
 in an address before the Chicago Historical Society in 1880, tells 
 of his personal recollections of the economic conditions in the 
 earliest years of statehood as he lived in Southern Illinois as a 
 young man. "The clothes of women, like those of the men, were 
 almost entirely of home manufacture except in the older villages- 
 Their bonnets were occasionally purchased from the stores, but' 
 more commonly they were of the simple Virginia style. From 
 the villages, however, the use of imported materials for women's 
 wear, gradually extended into the country and young ladies es- 
 pecially, before 1825, began to appear in calicoes or richer goods 
 imported from the distant markets." 
 
 The whole problem of local trade or the more extended com- 
 mercial transactions of shipping and importing, was almost 
 wholly dependent upon roads and waterways as a means of 
 transporting the produce of the country people and of bringing 
 in the manufactured goods of distant places. Any people are 
 intelligent, as well as cultured, in proportion to the degree that 
 they exchange their own products for the products of other 
 peoples. This trade or exchange with other peoples contributes 
 not only to the physical welfare of a people, but minister as well 
 to the intellectual and spiritual life. The wearing of silks, satins, 
 broadcloths, and silk hats should not be condemned for these are 
 the signs of the intercourse of a people with the outside world. 
 In most cases where people from the old world came in groups 
 and settled in neighborhoods, they were inclined to introduce 
 the use of a better grade of goods and to indulge in some of 
 the luxuries. The English settlers who located in Edwards 
 County brought with them many evidences of a better social 
 life than they found in the newly settled parts of Illinois. An 
 English colony also settled in Monroe County in 1818. They, 
 too, introduced some new types of dress and furniture, etc. The 
 Germans who early came into St. Clair County were among 
 those who showed that people could be hard workers, thrifty, 
 and yet enjoy some of the better things of life. 
 
 The stores soon began to bring on such things as could not be 
 produced on the farm and the people were eager purchasers- 
 The coming of the Yankees also stimulated trade and indirectly 
 assisted in the opening of roads and waterways. The steam- 
 boats were improving in their construction and increasing in 
 number and they were continually coming closer to the interior. 
 Trade was therefore improving. 
 
 From 1820 to 1830 a larger percent of the immigrants were 
 skilled laborers, merchants and professional men than had come 
 in the preceding decade. These lived some better than the farm- 
 ers, and demanded of the store keepers a greater variety of 
 goods in the stores and this increased the trade with New 
 Orleans and the eastern cities. 
 
424 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 The Sangamon Country 
 
 A study of the encroachment of population upon the interior 
 of the state would reveal the movement up the Ohio and up the 
 Mississippi. The immigration was from the east and southeast. 
 •Those who came from the east generally left the Ohio before they 
 reached its mouth and proceeded inward from that stream or 
 traveled up the Wabash. In this way the southeastern side of 
 the state was peopled, the density decreasing gradually towards 
 the interior usually at a right angle to the rivers. Those who 
 came from the Southeast appeared to shift to the west side of the 
 state and traveled up the Mississippi and the Illinois. This left 
 an unoccupied tongue of land reaching south and west through 
 the south end of the state. When the state was admitted into the 
 union there was less than two people to the square mile in the 
 counties of Jefferson, the east part of Washington, Marion, west 
 part of Wayne, Clay, Effingham, Cumberland and west part of 
 Jasper. The fact that this tongue of land was unsettled can 
 be accounted for by showing that it is too far east to have the 
 advantages of the streams that flow into the Kaskaskia and too 
 far west to have the use of the streams that flow into the Wabash 
 and the Ohio- In other words ail the good drainage basins in 
 the south end of the state were occupied in 1818. This left open 
 for settlement the basin of the Sangamon River which flows 
 into the Illinois River from the east. 
 
 The Sangamon and its branches drain wholly or in part the 
 counties of Sangamon, Christian, Macon, Cass, Menard, Logan, 
 Piatt, parts of Champaign, McLean, Tazewell and Mason. The 
 basin of the Sangamon River is probably the richest area of its 
 size in the state. Sangamon is Pottawattomi for "Good things 
 to eat." 
 
 Ferdinand Ernest, a German traveler, who explored large 
 areas of the interior of the United States in the years 1819 and 
 1820, wrote a book describing the Sangamon country, which was 
 published in Hildersheim, in Hanover, in 1823. This book was 
 immediately brought to the United States and extensively circu- 
 lated. It was also generally read in the old world. This little 
 volume helped to give prominence to the Sangamon country. 
 
 We shall trace briefly his trip into the Sangamon country. On 
 July 23, 1819, Mr. Ernest reached Edwardsville. The Kickapoo 
 Indians were encamped near the town ready to make a treaty 
 with the United States, ceding their lands in Illinois- These 
 probably were the first real Indians which Mr. Ernest had seen 
 and he describes quite fully their appearance and gives some of 
 their customs. In Edwardsville Mr. Ernest met his traveling 
 companion, a Mr. Hallman and together they went four miles 
 out of the town to see a country man by the name of Barensbach. 
 From this man they secured information which they found very 
 valuable to them. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 425 
 
 From Edwardsville they proceeded to Vandalia, the new 
 capital. He evidently found quite a few people here for he says 
 they told him the lands in the Sangamon country were much 
 finer than they were around Vandalia. He did not buy land but 
 commenced the erection of a house. "We began to build a little 
 log house here from logs, after the manner of the Americans — 
 the logs are laid one upon another, the ends let down into the 
 grooves. As soon as the building was far enough advanced so 
 that my companion was able to finish it alone, I started upon a 
 journey to view the wonderful land upon the Sangamon before 
 I returned to Europe." 
 
 On the 27th of August, 1819, with a guide he went west from 
 Vandalia about twenty miles, crossing Shoal Creek- He then 
 turned northwest into what is now Macoupin County and struck 
 the road from Kaskaskia through Waterloo, Belleville, Collins- 
 ville, Edwardsville, Bunker-Hill, Carlinville, Girard, and Spring- 
 field. He says as soon as he passed over the divide which 
 separates the drainage into the Kaskaskia from the region 
 draining the Sangamon, there was a marked change in the char- 
 acter of the soil. 
 
 Another writer of about the same date as Mr. Ernest's visit 
 says: "The country here is beautiful — equal in native attrac- 
 tions, though not in classic recollections, to the scenes I visited 
 and admired in Italy. The vale of Arms is not more beautiful 
 than the valley of the Sangamon, with its lovely groves and 
 murmuring brooks and flowing meads." 
 
 Mr. Ernest seems to have encircled Springfield (as there were 
 only a few families there in August, 1819.) He visited the 
 region of Elkhart Grove. He says this is a hill some two miles 
 in circuit covered with heavy timber, the only timber in a circuit 
 of several miles. A Mr. Latham lived on the hill and had raised 
 thirty acres of fine corn in the level land to the east. He thought 
 the Elkhart locality a very beautiful country. He speaks of 
 two very fine springs on this elevation- Mr. Ernest says this 
 farm of Mr. Latham was the farthest north of any farm in the 
 central part of the state. He hoped to visit the site of the 
 Kickapoo village just north across Salt Creek, but that stream 
 was at flood and he did not venture to cross but returned to 
 Vandalia in time for the sale of lots September 6, 1819. 
 
 Following the admission of Illinois into the Union migration 
 into the counties of the Sangamon country increased greatly. 
 The roads leading into this region were lined with movers going 
 into that region. The population must have grown rapidly for 
 when the vote was taken in the summer of 1824 on "for or 
 against a convention" the friends of slavery polled 153 votes. 
 The anti-slavery vote was 772. This is a total of 875 which 
 indicates a population of 4,375. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 THE NEW STATE 
 
 Civil Organizations — Legislature at Work — Black Code — 
 Moving the Capital — Money and Banks — People in 
 1818 
 
 The mere fact that the people of Illinois are soon to pass out 
 from under a territorial form of government into that of a state 
 will make little difference in their everyday life. The daily 
 tasks of toil in shop, in field, in store or in the home are the 
 same they have been for many years preceding. In fact the 
 daily life of any people is slightly affected by legislation. The 
 farmer, the mechanic, the common laborer, and even the pro- 
 fessional man, finds the daily round of life much the same from 
 day to day regardless of the orderly changes in forms of govern- 
 ment. The housewife finds her tasks no more easily performed, 
 nor more slavish, because the form of government has changed. 
 The religious life will continue in the same lines after as before 
 the governmental change. Likewise the social changes, if any 
 come, will come very slowly. The experiences of three wars 
 show that the great forces of revolution and war are slow in 
 reaching many of the phases of the life of a people. The winter 
 that the British troops occupied Philadelphia, 1777-78, the peo- 
 ple of that city led a gay life, and the farmers within a radius 
 of twenty miles of that city continued to market their produce 
 in Philadelphia as usual. It has been said that life was as gay 
 in Paris during the World war, in many ways, as at other times. 
 In the time of the Civil war, when the Government was passing 
 through the most trying days, there were many homes and even 
 neighborhoods that knew nothing of the war except what they 
 may have chanced to see in a stray paper or learned from their 
 better informed neighbors. However, these simple folk who 
 lived in the remoter parts from the centers of population dis- 
 covered in a very real way that the regular ongoing of life had 
 been disturbed when they wished to buy domestics, coffee, tea 
 and other necessities of life at the village store. 
 
 But we must be careful not to overemphasize the lesson. 
 There will be changes which will come to those who live through 
 political evolutions as well as through political revolutions. We 
 shall understand the matter better if we remember that political 
 changes are brought about by the very active work of a small 
 number of professional politicians, and such changes as may 
 
 426 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 427 
 
 come to a people by reason of changes in government come 
 rather gradually. 
 
 Civil Organization 
 
 It will be recalled that the Constitution was made in the 
 month of August, 1818. Congress would not regularly meet till 
 the first Monday in December, but a called session met on Mon- 
 day, November 16, 1818, and on the first day, following the ap- 
 pointment of a committee to act in conjunction with a like com- 
 mittee from the Senate to notify the President that the two 
 houses were ready to received any communication he might 
 wish to lay before them, the speaker, Mr. Clay, laid the Con- 
 stitution of Illinois before the House. But it was known that 
 considerable time would be required to secure the adoption of 
 the Constitution by the two houses of Congress. The politicians 
 were therefore loath to wait till Congress had accepted the Con- 
 stitution. So the framers of the Constitution provided in the 
 Schedule, section 9, that "The president of the convention shall 
 issue writs of election directed to the several sheriffs of the 
 several counties * * * requiring them to cause an election 
 to be held for governor, lieutenant governor, representative to 
 the present Congress of the United States, and members of the 
 General Assembly, and sheriffs and coroners in the respective 
 counties; such election to commence on the third Thursday of 
 September next, and to continue for that and two succeeding 
 days, etc." 
 
 Accordingly, on the 3d of September, and on the two follow- 
 ing days, an election was held, at which time the officers enu- 
 merated above were elected. As has been pointed out before, 
 this election was held months before the Constitution was ac- 
 cepted by Congress, and, strictly speaking, was unconstitutional. 
 
 Article 2 of the Constitution, section 24, provided that "The 
 first session of the General Assembly shall commence on the 
 first Monday of October next (1818), and forever after the 
 General Assembly shall meet on the first Monday in December 
 next ensuing the election of the members thereof, and at no 
 other period, unless as provided by this Constitution." 
 
 Accordingly, the Legislature met on the day provided, when 
 the governor and other elected state officers took the oath of 
 office as provided in article 2, section 26. The General Assembly 
 then proceeded to the business before it, which will be discussed 
 in the next topic. It will be recalled that the Constitution pro- 
 vided for the election by the people of only a limited number of 
 the public officers. To show this a scheme is presented below 
 giving the name of the office, the person who filled it, and the 
 method of his selection. 
 
 Governor, Shadrach Bond, elected by the people. 
 
 Lieutenant governor, Pierre Menard, elected by the people. 
 
428 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Secretary of state, Elias Kent Kane, appointed by the gov- 
 ernor. 
 
 Auditor of public accounts, Elijah C. Berry, elected by General 
 Assembly. 
 
 Attorney general, Daniel P. Cook, elected by General As- 
 sembly. 
 
 State treasurer, John Thomas, elected by General Assembly. 
 
 Supreme Court, Joseph Phillips, Thomas C. Browne, William 
 P. Foster, John Reynolds, elected by General Assembly. 
 
 U. S. senators, Ninian Edwards, Jesse B. Thomas, elected by 
 General Assembly. 
 
 Member of Congress, John McLean, elected by the people. 
 
 State printers, Blackwell & Berry, elected by General As- 
 sembly. 
 
 State senators, fourteen members, elected by the people. 
 
 House of Representatives, twenty-eight members, elected by 
 the people. 
 
 Sheriffs, one for each county, elected by the people. 
 
 Coroners, one for each county, elected by the people. 
 
 It will be noticed that out of fourteen positions, the people 
 elected seven, and seven of them were chosen by the governor or 
 the General Assembly. By our present Constitution, the people 
 elect twelve of the thirteen positions. The public printer is the 
 only appointive position out of the thirteen enumerated above. 
 
 Legislature at Work 
 
 Section 24 of article 2 provided that the new government 
 should begin its work on Monday, the 5th of October, 1818. 
 Accordingly, there appeared in Kaskaskia on that day those 
 citizens who had been selected at the election in September for 
 the elective offices according to the Constitution. They were 
 sworn in and the new venture was launched. The governor de- 
 livered to the General Assembly his inaugural message, which 
 contained some good advice as to the curbing of party spirit. 
 The General Assembly was a body of rather new men, many of 
 the men familiar with the government under the territorial 
 period were not selected for public office even when they offered 
 themselves as candidates. It is said there were eleven men out 
 of the twenty-eight in the Lower House who had not held public 
 office. On the whole, it would seem that the Legislature was 
 made up largely of men with little or no experience which would 
 tend to fit them for the important work to be done. Nathaniel 
 Pope, who had done so much for Illinois, offered himself as a 
 candidate for the lower branch of the Legislature, but was 
 defeated. He was soon appointed a district judge by President 
 Monroe, which position he held for many years. 
 
 The first day of the session was taken up in organizing the 
 two houses and in canvassing the returns of the elections. On 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 429 
 
 the second day they participated in the inaugural ceremonies, 
 and on the third day the joint session of the General Assembly 
 proceeded to the election of the two United States senators. On 
 the fourth day of the session the joint session of the two houses 
 proceeded to the election of the four members of the Supreme 
 Court. Their names appear on a preceding page. On the fifth 
 day the joint session selected the men to fill the positions of 
 attorney-general, auditor, treasurer, and public printers. 
 
 The preliminaries were now over and the General Assembly 
 was ready to begin the work of law making. As has been stated 
 on a preceding page, there now arose doubts as to the legality 
 of any measures which this body might enact into law. The 
 Constitution, which had been made in August, and which had 
 been presented to the Lower House of the National Congress 
 for its acceptance, had not yet been ratified by that honorable 
 body. The Legislature was eager to begin the task set before it 
 by the governor's message. But just as the young statesmen 
 were ready to test their powers in the new field, the Senate 
 threw cold water on the whole affair by passing a resolution 
 authorizing a joint committee to consider the advisability of 
 adjourning the session till such time as might be agreed upon, 
 giving ample time for the ratification of the Constitution by the 
 Congress. "Be it therefore, and it is further resolved, that the 
 governor of the state be, and he is hereby requested, as soon as 
 he shall ascertain that this state has been so admitted into the 
 Union, to issue his proclamation for calling a special meeting of 
 the General Assembly of the state, at a convenient time there- 
 after." Efforts were made to modify the resolution, but after 
 considerable discussion, the two houses passed the resolution 
 and adjourned on Tuesday, October 13, 1815. 
 
 The legal status of all that was done by this so-called Legis- 
 lature was never determined. It was by common consent ac- 
 cepted as proper and legitimate. But the mere fact that the 
 Legislature refused to enact any bills into law shows that there 
 were grave doubts in the minds of the members as to the legality 
 of any work which the so-called Legislature did. However, there 
 was one measure of interest which should be noticed. Before 
 the Legislature adjourned it complied with the thirteenth section 
 of the Schedule, which provided that : 
 
 "The General Assembly, at their first session holden under 
 the authority of this Constitution, shall petition the Congress 
 of the United States to grant to this state a quantity of land, to 
 consist of not more than four, nor less than one section, or to 
 give this state the right of preemption in the purchase of said 
 quantity of land. The said land to be situate on the Kaskaskia 
 River, and as near as may be, east of the third principal meri- 
 dian on said river." The same section, 13, provides that if the 
 Congress complies with the request of the Legislature for the 
 
430 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 grant, that the Legislature at its next session shall appoint five 
 commissioners who shall be authorized to locate the said grant, 
 lay off the town which shall become the capital, and proceed to 
 build a suitable building as the state capitol. 
 
 The petition was duly received by Congress. It was presented 
 to the House of Representatives, December 7th, three days after 
 Illinois had been formally admitted into the Union. Within a 
 few days a vigorous counter petition was received by Congress 
 signed by more than fifty citizens of Illinois protesting against 
 the location of the capital so far north. This protest made it 
 appear that the convention which framed the Constitution was 
 not a representative body, as the six delegates from St. Clair 
 and Madison represented more people than the fourteen dele- 
 gates from seven other counties. The protest also showed that 
 the provision in the Constitution was passed with sixteen votes 
 against fifteen in the negative, out of thirty-three, the number 
 elected to the convention. There were other complaints. One 
 that such things as moving the capital of a state should be left 
 to the legal voters. The petition was not acted on till February 
 25, when Senator Thomas introduced a bill making the grant as 
 requested. The bill passed both branches of Congress and was 
 signed by the President on the 3d of March, 1819. When the 
 Legislature reassembled in Kaskaskia on January 4, 1819, noth- 
 ing had been heard of the petition for the grant of the four 
 sections, and efforts were made to locate the capital at Carlyle, 
 but the measure was defeated. 
 
 When the governor was inducted into office on October 6, 1818, 
 he had delivered a vigorous yet modest inaugural message. He 
 first plead for an abatement of party spirit or rather factional 
 spirit. He hoped that whatever motives may have produced 
 divisions, factions, and unjust resentment, that all might now 
 realize the need of united efforts toward the securing of pros- 
 perous and profitable launching of the new government. 
 
 He pointed out five broad lines of legislation which he felt 
 should receive the careful consideration of the people's chosen 
 representatives. 
 
 First, he called attention to the need of providing funds for 
 the necessities of the new government. The treasurer's books 
 showed that the income to the territory from December 2, 1817, 
 to October 1, 1818, was $3,979.72 ; while the expenditures for the 
 same period had been $4,039.25. The treasurer estimated the 
 income to December 1, 1818, as $8,771.20 ; and the outstanding 
 warrants $7,588. This would leave a balance of $183.20 cash 
 in the treasury, which after paying the debt of $59.53 would 
 leave for the new state a working balance of $123.67. 
 
 Second, he pointed out the need of the revision of the laws. 
 Especially was he concerned about the harsh laws which pro- 
 vided for the punishment of offenses and crimes. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 431 
 
 Third, he called the attention of the Legislature to the need 
 of fostering public education. "It is our imperious duty, for 
 the faithful performance of which we are amenable to God and 
 our country, to watch over this interesting subject." 
 
 Fourth, the governor was aware of the fact that the Salt 
 Works which the general government had been operating near 
 the town of Equality had not been profitably managed. There 
 were large quantities of salt manufactured, but the general gov- 
 ernment had not profited much from this enterprise. By the 
 terms of the enabling act these and all other salt wells and 
 springs in Illinois had been turned over to the State of Illinois. 
 The state was to have charge of these interests, but could not 
 sell the lands or rent or lease the salines for a longer period 
 than ten years. The governor thought that these salines if 
 properly managed would greatly reinforce the weakened state of 
 the finances. 
 
 And lastly, the governor called the attention of the Legislature 
 to the advisability of taking steps toward the construction of a 
 canal from the headwaters of the Illinois River to the shore of 
 Lake Michigan. 
 
 The Legislature now, January 6, 1819, took up the work of 
 law making in earnest. The territorial governor, Ninian Ed- 
 wards, had turned over the control of affairs to the new gov- 
 ernor, and all the territorial officials had relinquished their 
 offices and the whole problem of civil administration was in a 
 chaotic condition, and had been since the preceding October. 
 The laws in force in Illinois at the meeting of the Legislature on 
 January 4, 1819, were the old territorial laws. Many of these 
 had been in use since the organization of the Northwest Terri- 
 tory in 1788. Some had been copied from the statutes of the 
 older states while Illinois was a part of the Indiana Territory, 
 and some had been adapted from the laws of other states while 
 Illinois was a territory of the first and second class. 
 
 The governor had pleaded for a modification of the penalties 
 laid against misdemeanors and crimes. There were no jails 
 and no penitentiary. If offenders were to be detained, they were 
 confined in private houses, stores, halls or other secure place. 
 The form of punishment was usually whipping, fining, or lan- 
 guishing in the stocks or pillory. Death by hanging was the 
 penalty upon conviction of treason, murder, arson, and for re- 
 peated convictions for horse stealing. Burglary and robbery 
 were punishable by whipping, fines, and imprisonment. In case 
 of imprisonment for crimes, the convicted would need to be sent 
 to a state or territory where a penitentiary was maintained. 
 Other offenses against the law and order were punishable by 
 whipping, fines, and confinement. Disfranchisement and the 
 pillory were some times assessed as the penalty for offenses. A 
 man who had been fined and was unable to pay his fine was 
 
432 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 sometimes bound out for a certain period. Some of the offenses 
 were treason, murder, rape, arson, horse stealing, manslaughter, 
 larceny, forgery, assault, hog stealing, gambling, swearing, Sab- 
 bath breaking, bigamy, disobedience. 
 
 The Legislature did not agree with the governor that the 
 penalties were severe and barbarous. The fact is, as has been 
 stated, that these laws which were in force in territorial days 
 were all taken from the laws of other states, and in those days 
 public opinion was not subject to the weaknesses and sentimen- 
 tality of the present day. The laws were not recast, but on the 
 contrary, the enacting clause of each law was changed to con- 
 form to the requirements of the State Constitution, which read : 
 "Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented 
 in the General Assembly." 
 
 One task which fell to this first session of the Legislature was 
 the fixing of the salaries of the state officials. Some effort was 
 made in the constitutional convention to fix salaries, at least to 
 fix maximum salaries. Section 18 of article 2 says: "The Gen- 
 eral Assembly of this state shall not allow the following officers 
 of government greater or smaller annual salaries than as fol- 
 lows, until the year 1824: The governor, S1,000; and the secre- 
 tary of state, $600." When the Legislature reached the matter 
 of salaries they established the following amounts: Governor 
 and the four Supreme judges, SI, 000 each; auditor, $700; secre- 
 tary of state, $600 ; treasurer, $500 ; attorney general, S250 ; 
 circuit attorneys, S150 ; adjutant general, S150. A per diem was 
 allowed as follows : Lieutenant governor, S5 per day for actual 
 service ; speaker of the Lower House, S5 per day actual service ; 
 members of the General Assembly, $4 per day actual service; 
 the delegates who framed the Constitution, $4 per day actual 
 service. 
 
 Another matter which demanded the attention of the law- 
 makers was the establishment of some system of providing per- 
 manent revenues for the support of the state government. Odd 
 as it may seem there were people who were opposed to the 
 application of the territory to pass from the first to the second 
 class, and there were those who objected to the assumption of 
 statehood and their arguments were the increased financial ob- 
 ligations of a second class over a first class territory. In like 
 manner they pointed out that whereas as a territory of the 
 second class the United States bore a large share of the finan- 
 cial burden, now that the people were about to take on state- 
 hood, they must carry the whole load. 
 
 Taxation is an age-old method of providing government with 
 necessary funds for the support of the various branches of civil 
 administration. And likewise the objects upon which taxes 
 have always been laid may be named as real estate — land — per- 
 sonal property, and persons. The scheme of taxation was sim- 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 433 
 
 pie, if not altogther just. All the annual expense of the state 
 government, some $20,000 to $25,000 was to be raised by taxes 
 collected on the land owned by nonresidents or bank stock, and 
 two-thirds of the tax on residents' land. The fourth clause of 
 section six of the Enabling Act provides "that all the lands 
 (within the proposed state) belonging to the citizens of the 
 United States, residing without the said state, shall never be 
 taxed higher than lands belonging to persons residing therein." 
 Following the War of 1812, the Congress set aside a body of 
 land lying between the Illinois and the Mississippi rivers in 
 which soldiers of the war could locate bounty lands. Few old 
 soldiers came to the Bounty Tract. They disposed of their land 
 warrants and eventually large areas of the land in the Bounty 
 Tract was held by speculators who in the main were nonresi- 
 dents. 
 
 An odd provision was made as to taxing lands, as follows: 
 All lands were regarded as belonging in one of three classes. 
 Those of least value were said to be worth $2.00 per acre ; those 
 of the next grade were supposed to be worth $3.00 per acre; 
 those of greatest value were rated at $4.00 per acre. Each 
 nonresident landowner determined in what class he wished to 
 place his land for taxation. Under oath, he listed his land 
 directly with the auditor for taxes, it required three times the 
 tax amount to redeem them. 
 
 There was the rentals from the salines near Equality to be 
 listed with the incomes to the state. The county expenses were 
 to be met by a tax on slaves and servants and 1/2 P er cen t on 
 personal property and a tax on residents' lands. In some cases 
 the county tax was not sufficient to meet the legitimate needs 
 of the county and in a few cases subsidies were granted from 
 the public treasury to counties whose income was not equal to 
 the necessary expenditures. 
 
 The following balance sheet is from Moses' History of Illinois, 
 and gives a very good idea of the simplicity of the financial 
 transactions in those early days : 
 
 Receipts Oct. 18, 1818, to Dec. 31, 1820 $53,362.22 
 
 Expenditures for same period 35,655.00 
 
 Receipts Dec. 31, 1820, to Dec 31, 1822 : 
 
 Cash on hand $17,707.22 
 
 From Sheriffs 7,268.23 
 
 Taxes from Non-Residents 38,437.75 
 
 Tax on Non-Residents' bank stock 97.77 
 
 From salines 10,763.09 
 
 Sale of Vandalia lots 5,659.86 
 
 $79,933.92 
 Expenditures for same period : 
 
 Legislative department $14,966.18 
 
 Executive department 6,940.06 
 
434 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Judicial department 7,932.33 
 
 Prosecuting attorneys 1,531.08 
 
 Contingents — printing, etc. 3,976.36 
 
 Ohio Saline 1,800.00 
 
 Repairs, etc., on state-house 1,101.57 
 
 Militia 784.00 
 
 Postage, etc. 234.10 
 
 Boundary line expense 78400 
 
 State bank 2,000.00 
 
 Pike County 1,500.00 
 
 $47,145.25 
 Balance on hand 32,788.67 
 
 The governor's suggestion as to the need and value of educa- 
 tion seems not to have stirred the legislators to action along that 
 line. Nothing was done in the matter of providing a system of 
 education, but some interest seems to have been taken as to the 
 care of the sixteenth section in each township, but even this 
 legislation has the appearance of personal and private profit 
 coming from the location of the section. The timber on the 
 school section was to be used by any of the citizens of the town- 
 ship, some charters were granted for the establishing of acade- 
 mies. One at Edwardsville, one at Belleville, and one at Carlyle. 
 These will be considered later. 
 
 The suggestion as to the desirability of the construction of a 
 canal from Lake Michigan to the head waters of the Illinois 
 River was unfruitful so far as immediate work was concerned. 
 John Reynolds who was a member of the Supreme Court, drew 
 a bill providing for an examination of the route over which it 
 would be feasible to construct a canal from Lake Michigan to 
 the Illinois River. Since Mr. Reynolds had had some experience 
 in the construction of public utilities, it was thought his judg- 
 ment as to cost, etc-, would be safe. He must have made an 
 estimate of cost, at least the Legislature thought that the venture 
 would be too expensive, the bill failed to pass. 
 
 The Black Code 
 
 Before the Legislature adjourned, it enacted into law a very 
 strict black code. This may be said, that the only use the ma- 
 jority of the members of the Legislature had for a black man 
 was as a slave or an indentured servant. There were negroes 
 and mulattoes. Both came under the black code. Some were 
 in perpetual slavery, some were held under the indenture sys- 
 tem, and some were free. The laws of the Indiana Territory 
 were very harsh as to negroes, mulattoes, and servants. These 
 laws were carried bodily over into and became the laws of Illi- 
 nois Territory in 1809 when the separation occurred. The laws 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 435 
 
 of the black code were, many of them, almost word for word as 
 they were under the territorial regime. The black code has 
 twenty-five sections and covers nearly all relations between the 
 colored people and their relation to the white people. It will be 
 sufficient to give the essential features of each section. 
 An Act respecting free Negroes, Mulattoes, Servants, and Slaves. 
 
 Approved March 30, 1819- 
 
 Be it enacted, etc. 
 
 Section 1. No free black or mulatto shall reside in Illinois 
 unless he shall file with the clerk of the Circuit Court a certificate 
 of his freedom. 
 
 Section 2. Free negroes and mulattoes bringing families into 
 this state must present certificate of freedom as under section 
 1 ; but the overseers of the poor might remove such families from 
 the state if they should be adjudged paupers. 
 
 Section 3. It was declared unlawful for any person to bring 
 a slave into Illinois for the purpose of setting said slave free. 
 However, a person might bring in a slave and set him free by 
 giving bond in $1,000 for his good behavior and that said freed 
 man shall not become a charge upon any county. The penalty 
 for violation of this section was $200 for each offense. 
 
 Section 4. Each free negro or mulatto, residing in this state 
 at the adoption of this law shall register with the circuit clerk 
 the evidence of his freedom. Compliance with this section does 
 not vitiate any legal claim which any white man might have on 
 said negro or mulatto. 
 
 Section 5- It shall be unlawful for any person to hire any 
 negro or mulatto unless said person has a registered certificate of 
 his freedom. The penalty was a fine of $2.50 for each day said 
 negro or mulatto shall work for said employer. 
 
 Section 6. It was illegal for any one to harbor or secrete any 
 negro or mulatto, the same being a slave to his knowledge. The 
 penalty was the same as that for receiving stolen goods know- 
 ingly. 
 
 Section 7. Any negro or mulatto found in the state without 
 a certificate of his freedom, shall be held to be a runaway slave, 
 and shall be held by the sheriff as such, and if not claimed cer- 
 tain time, may be sold for one year to the highest bidder. 
 
 Section 8. If after a negro or mulatto has been sold he shall 
 obtain a certificate of his freedom, he shall receive the hire for 
 his labor after the necessary expenses have been paid. And if 
 any one shall fraudulently claim any such negro or mulatto, he 
 shall be deemed guilty of perjury and be punished accordingly. 
 
 Section 9- Any person who shall fraudulently transport any 
 negro or mulatto out of the state shall be fined $1,000. 
 
 Section 10. Servants shall be provided by their masters with 
 
436 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 sufficient and proper food, clothing, and lodging, and shall, when 
 the period of service has expired, be provided with certain desig- 
 nated clothing, etc. 
 
 Section 11. Contracts for service are declared transferrable 
 with the consent of the servant in the presence of any justice 
 of the peace. 
 
 Section 12. Any servant being lazy, disorderly, or guilty of 
 misbehavior shall be punished by stripes upon the order of a 
 justice of the peace. Or if refusing to work he may be compelled 
 to serve double time. The expense of returning to the master 
 any absconding servant shall be borne by the said servant. 
 
 Section 13. Masters are to be held liable for any injuries 
 inflicted illegally upon servants. The case to be heard by any 
 circuit judge. 
 
 Section 14- All contracts between master and servant (en- 
 tered into) during the time of service are void. 
 
 Section 15. The circuit courts may hear complaints of serv- 
 ants who reside in the court's jurisdiction. The court may apply 
 such remedies as the judge deems fair and proper. 
 
 Section 16. Servants legally and properly coming into posses- 
 sion of anything of value shall enjoy the possession of the same. 
 And masters must not discharge sick or unprofitable servants 
 to become a charge upon the county. 
 
 Section 17. No Indian, negro, or mulatto shall hold a servant 
 of any other color than his own. And if white persons are 
 bound as servants to such persons said white servant shall be 
 set free. 
 
 Section 18. No person shall have any pecuniary transaction 
 with any servant or slave and persons offending are fined four 
 times as much as the value of the thing sold or traded. 
 
 Section 19. In all violations of the law punishable by fines, 
 the same offense committed by servants shall be punishable by 
 not more than forty lashes. 
 
 Section 20. Each servant who fulfills the terms of his service 
 shall be given a certificate of freedom by the circuit court. 
 
 Section 21. Any slave or servant found more than ten miles 
 from his master's home without authority from the master, may 
 be arrested and punished by whipping. 
 
 Section 22. Slaves and servants found upon any one's prem- 
 ises without the order of their masters were subject to punish- 
 ment by whipping. 
 
 Section 23. Riots, routs, unlawful assemblies, trespasses, and 
 seditious speeches, by slaves or servants may be adjudged unlaw- 
 ful and said slaves or servants may be whipped by order of 
 the justice of the peace. 
 
 Section 24. Persons permitting more than three slaves or 
 servants to assemble on their premises for dancing or revelling 
 or other disorder may be fined twenty dollars and cost. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 437 
 
 Section 25- All officials who shall be cognizant of any form 
 of disorderly conduct enumerated in the previous section, shall 
 arrest such offenders and commit them to the county jail, and 
 may cause the said offenders to be punished by whipping. Pro- 
 vided, however, that persons of color might with the written 
 permission of their masters assemble for amusement on condi- 
 tion that no disorderly conduct is indulged in. 
 
 Moving the Capital 
 
 We have already called attention to the fact that the con- 
 stitution provided that the legislature at its first session should 
 ask Congress for a donation or grant of four acres upon which 
 
 THE OLD STATE CAPITOL, AT V AND ALIA 
 
 a new capital city might be located. This the Legislature did. 
 The Congress on the 3d of March, 1819, passed an act giving 
 Illinois four acres to be located by commissions appointed by 
 the Legislature. 
 
 The Legislature selected five commissioners to locate the dona- 
 tion of land, and erect- a suitable building for the use of the 
 various departments of government. The terms provided that 
 the capital should be situated on the Kaskaskia and east of the 
 3d principal meridian. The place selected was several miles 
 north of any settlements located in the central southern part 
 of the state. The place where the town was to be located was 
 called "Reeve's Bluff." It was on the west side of the Kaskaskia 
 River, and is said to have been in the midst of virgin forests. 
 "The plan of the town is a square, subdivided in to sixty four 
 
 17V1 
 
438 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 squares, and a space of two of these squares in the middle is 
 intended for public use. Every square, having eight building 
 lots, contains 320 square rods. Each building lot is 80 feet wide 
 and 152 feet deep- Each square is cut from south to north by 
 a sixteen foot alley; and the large regular and straight streets, 
 eighty feet wide, intersect each other at right angles." Lots 
 were sold at public auction. Mr. Ferdinand Ernest, a German, 
 who was traveling in Illinois late in the year 1819, was the first 
 man to begin a house in the new city. In his diary dated Sep- 
 tember 10, 1819, he says : "Only four weeks ago the commis- 
 sioners advertised the sale of lots (it will take place tomorrow) 
 and there is already considerable activity manifested. Charles 
 Reavis and I were the first who began to build." From this it 
 will be seen that the people began to build before the sale of lots 
 was held. Mr. Ernest further says: "When the lots in Van- 
 dalia were sold, I purchased four of them and after I had made 
 the necessary arrangements for the completion of my house, I 
 set about preparing for my return to Europe." Lots sold all 
 the way from $100 to $780. 
 
 The commissioners who located the new capital were also au- 
 thorized to erect a building in which the new government might 
 be housed. The building was a two story frame structure. This 
 burned in 1823, and another building was erected at a cost of 
 $15,000- This building was replaced in 1836 by the building 
 which is now occupied by the Fayette County Courthouse. When 
 the transfer of the seat of government was made in 1820, Decem- 
 ber, the archives which were in the custody of Elias Kent Kane 
 as secretary of state, were turned over to a young law student 
 by the name of Sidney Breese for transfer. Mr. Breese suc- 
 cessfully transported the books and records to the new seat of 
 government in a farm wagon. The road for the wagon had to 
 be opened up a portion of the way, but Mr. Breese delivered 
 his cargo and received for his services the sum of twenty-five 
 dollars. "Reeves Bluff" was an ideal place for a city. It lies 
 immediately west of the Kaskaskia and not more than a few 
 rods from that stream. The place occupied by the old capitol 
 building is high and the land slopes away in all directions. 
 
 It is said that the commissioners were at a loss to know what 
 to call the new town. Several names were suggested, when a 
 wag standing near said that there once, lived on the Kaskaskia 
 in the region of the new city a powerful tribe of red men known 
 as the Vandals. The race was gone but their memory should 
 be perpetuated by giving their name to the new capital. He 
 therefore suggested that the new town be called "Vandalia." 
 The commissioners were delighted with the suggestion, and they 
 unanimously adopted the name Vandalia for the new capital. 
 
 The second session of the Legislature met in the new capital 
 the first Monday in December, 1820. The state had made rapid 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 439 
 
 strides in the two years since admission into the Union. The 
 census as taken by the Federal government in 1820 showed a 
 population of 55,120. Four new counties had been organized — 
 Alexander, Clark, Jefferson, and Wayne making now nineteen 
 counties in the state. 
 
 The governor called the attention of the Legislature to some 
 needed legislation. First, he wished to give attention to the im- 
 provement of the capital city. He suggested the erection of sub- 
 stantial public buildings, among which should be a "seminary of 
 learning." He argued that there ought to be an institution of 
 learning at the state's capital, "because by an occasional visit 
 at the houses of the general assembly, and the courts of justice, 
 the student will find the best specimens of oratory the state can 
 produce; imbibe the principles of legal science, and political 
 knowledge, and by an intercourse with good society his habits 
 of life would be chastened, and his manners improved." He 
 showed that the territorial debt had been paid and that the state's 
 finances were in a healthy condition. His message closed with 
 a prayer : "May the Almighty God, to whose kind providence we 
 are indebted for the safe and tranquil condition of our common 
 country, and the plentiful harvest of the year, teach us to dis- 
 trust ourselves, and to rely firmlv upon Him, that we may live 
 to His glory, and die in His love." 
 
 Money and Banks 
 
 Illinois began her political life in the midst of great national 
 prosperity. The close of the War of 1812 brought about a new 
 era in the life of the American people- The sea was once more 
 free to American shipping; trade relations with the nations of 
 the earth greatly multiplied ; the Indians, who in all the past 
 had been more or less an ever-present danger, are hence-forth 
 to be considered as no longer an obstacle to the westward move- 
 ment of the pioneer line ; politics the great disturber in state 
 and national life was at its lowest ebb; the financial world was 
 never more healthy; and the people everywhere were taking on 
 new life and undertaking more difficult problems. The United 
 States Bank which Alexander Hamilton had championed in 1791 
 had run a successful course of twenty years. Its charter expired 
 in 1811 and its renewal was defeated by the vote of Henry Clay 
 as speaker of the House of Representatives. The War of 1812-15 
 was fought on state bank money, treasury certificates, and a 
 slight amount of gold and silver. By 1816 the country was ready 
 to welcome a bank whose bills were exchangeable for gold and 
 silver. Early in the spring of this year, 1816, the Congress 
 passed a bill which created a bank to be known as a United 
 States bank. Its capital was $35,000,000 of which the govern- 
 ment was to furnish one-fifth. This bank was to be a bank of 
 issue and its bills were seldom if ever below par. 
 
440 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Between 1811, when the charter of the first bank expired, 
 and 1816, when the second United States bank was authorized, 
 there were hundreds of banks chartered by the legislatures of 
 the several states. These were also banks of issue and the 
 country was flooded with paper money, the issue of these state 
 banks. In most cases the bank's capital was merely on paper 
 and most of the banks were unable to redeem their issue- In 
 1816 when the second United States bank opened its doors for 
 business and began to pay out the bright crisp bills, the state 
 bank bills went into hiding. This condition obtained only where 
 the United States Bank and its branches were located. There 
 were none of its branches in the new west and the state bank 
 bills had no competition in this part of the country. However 
 some of the money issued by the United States bank found its 
 way into the states west of the Alleghany Mountains. 
 
 BANK OP CAIRO BILL 
 
 By 1818-1820 there were three general kinds of money: 
 
 Gold and silver coin which was very scarce as there were no 
 mines of these metals yet in operation in this country and the 
 only material the mints had to work on was the gold and silver 
 articles which had been brought to this country from the old 
 world or South America. There was, however, in circulation 
 quite a bit of gold and silver coins, the issue of Spain and France 
 and England. 
 
 Then there was a limited amount of the issue of the United 
 States bank. This was brought over by the settlers who came 
 from the states east of the Alleghany Mountains. 
 
 Lastly, there was the issue of the state banks or of private 
 banks which sometimes issued paper bills. The state bank bills 
 were often from the banks of Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Mis- 
 souri. Many of these bank bills were exchangeable for gold and 
 silver as the bank which issued them stood ready at all times 
 to redeem their issue. Estimated in face value, the money 
 issued by the state banks were greatly in excess of all other 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 441 
 
 kinds, perhaps there was about the same amount in United States 
 bank bills and in gold and silver. 
 
 We are particularly interested in the effort of Illinois to hold 
 her own with the adjoining states in the matter of providing 
 her citizens with a circulating medium- As early at 1816 the 
 Territorial Legislature issued charters to banks, or rather passed 
 a law permitting banks to be organized in Edwardsville, Kas- 
 kaskia, and Shawneetown. This law provided that one-tenth of 
 the capital stock should be paid in. This would produce a small 
 redemption fund, but not nearly enough to redeem a small part 
 of the issue. The banks at Edwardsville and at Shawneetown 
 
 THE CAIRO BANK AT KASKASKIA 
 The wooden building is the bank and the brick building is the land office 
 
 were doing business when Illinois was admitted into the Union. 
 It has been said of the Shawneetown bank that it always was 
 ready to redeem its issue but not so the bank at Edwardsville. 
 
 Land offices were established at Kaskaskia, and Vincennes in 
 1804. One was located in Shawneetown in 1812, and one in 
 Edwardsville in 1816. The public lands were placed on sale at 
 Shawneetown and Kaskaskia in 1814. But the money received 
 for the sale of the government land had to be deposited in the 
 Bank of Missouri, and it is said that at one time the Bank of 
 Missouri held as much as $600,000 of government money. The 
 
442 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 secretary of the treasury, Mr. William H. Crawford, made the 
 banks at Edwardsville and at Shawneetown banks of deposit 
 for the money received from the sale of public lands. It often 
 happened that much of the money received by the receiver at the 
 land office and deposited in the bank designated by the govern- 
 ment would turn out to be worthless- The Edwardsville bank 
 did not succeed in satisfying the government nearly so well 
 as the bank at Shawneetown. The bank at Edwardsville failed 
 in 1821 and the government lost more than fifty thousand dollars 
 of land office money or other money belonging to the government. 
 The Shawneetown bank, otherwise known as the Bank of Illi- 
 nois, had been able to redeem its issue when called on, and 
 made regular payments to the government of the land office 
 money or of other money which the bank may have had on 
 deposit belonging to the government. 
 
 It seemed that the year 1820 was hard on banks. Those with 
 insecure foundations were unable to withstand the storm and 
 there were many failures. The suspension of specie payment 
 is always the sign of weakening, and when the Illinois banks 
 suspended in 1820 it was taken as the sign that they would be 
 obliged to surrender their charters. The Illinois bank at Shaw- 
 neetown was able to weather the gale and was considered one 
 of the best financial institutions in the west. 
 
 "By 1820, the banks of neighboring states were broken, and 
 those of Illinois suspended ; specie had fled the country and 
 immigrants came as moneyless as were those who looked for- 
 ward to their well filled purses ; paper towns failed to grow into 
 flourishing villages; trade flagged; there was no commerce to 
 bring money into the country ; real estate was unsalable while 
 contracts wildly entered into; matured. As the folly of the 
 people became apparent, ruin stared them in the face. Enormous 
 sacrifices of prosperity under prospective executions must ensue, 
 unless some scheme for relief could be devised. In August, 1820, 
 a new legislature would be elected. The genius of this body 
 (when it convened) would be invoked on behalf of the embar- 
 rassed people. At its session in 1820-21, it willingly addressed 
 itself to this work (of the relief of the people), and evolved 
 the 'Illinois State Bank' with a capital of half a million of 
 dollars, based entirely upon the credit of the state." 
 
 The second general assembly met in Vandalia in the new capi- 
 tol building. It felt like erasing the past and beginning anew. 
 The real desire of the lawmakers was to find relief for the 
 people. The people could forget the past if only there were 
 better times ahead of them. And so the Legislature struck 
 upon a scheme of bringing prosperity to the people. 
 
 A bill was brought in which created the Illinois State Bank 
 with a capital stock of $500,000. There was no capital as we 
 use that word. The capital stock was not to be sold. No one 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 443 
 
 owned a dollars worth of stock in this bank. Certain individ- 
 uals were authorized to pilot this bank through the financial 
 breakers and rapids of the next ten years. There was to be a 
 sort of mother bank which was to be located at Vandalia and 
 there were four branch banks situated at Edwardsville, Madi- 
 son County; Brownsville, Jackson County; Shawneetown, Galla- 
 tin County, and at the county seat of Edwards County when the 
 seat of justice should be permanently located. The management 
 of the bank was placed in the hands of a board of directors to 
 be chosen by the Legislature, one member from each county. 
 There were twenty-six counties in the state by the end of Febru- 
 ary, 1821, seven counties having been created in the months of 
 January and February, 1821. There would thus be twenty-six 
 members of the board of directors of the Illinois State Bank. 
 Directors and officers were to be elected by the joint action of 
 the Legislature. 
 
 As stated, there was no capital as we think of capital. The 
 bill provided that the bank could issue $500,000 in paper money 
 and the state and all its resources were pledged to the redemp- 
 tion of this issue. The bills were to be issued in one, two, three, 
 five, ten, and twenty-dollar amounts. Those bills drew interest 
 at the rate of 6 per cent per annum, and when issued from 
 the bank, the name of the one to whom the bills were issued was 
 indorsed on the face of the bill and also the date of the issue. 
 It is a queer notion that a bank should pay interest to the one 
 who borrows money from it. 
 
 No more than one hundred dollars could be loaned to any per- 
 son on personal security. Amounts more than one hundred dol- 
 lars must be secured by real estate, and in no case should more 
 than $1,000 be loaned to one person. 
 
 The notes of the Illinois State Bank "were made receivable 
 in payment of all state and county taxes, costs and fees, and the 
 salaries of the public officers were payable in them." These 
 bills were also made a sort of legal tender in the payment of 
 debts, for when Mr. A. secured a judgment against Mr. B., 
 unless Mr. A. endorsed across the judgment "The bills of the 
 State Bank of Illinois, or either of its branches, will be received 
 in discharge of this execution," the defendant, Mr. B., could 
 secure a three-years' stay of payment. This virtually forced 
 the creditor to accept the bills as legal tender for their full face 
 value. 
 
 When this bill came up for consideration there was bitter 
 opposition to it. In the Lower House, the speaker, John McLean 
 of Shawneetown, was strenuously opposed to the bill. The rules 
 of the Lower House provided that the speaker could not speak 
 upon any measure before the House except when the House was 
 in committee of the whole. The House was favorable to the 
 bill and did not want to hear Mr. McLean's logic against the 
 
444 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 bill, so they refused to go into committee of the whole, where- 
 upon Mr. McLean resigned as speaker and took his seat on the 
 floor of the House and did his utmost to prevent the passage 
 of the bill. Joseph Kitchell then a member of the Upper House 
 introduced a resolution "denouncing the establishment of a bank 
 without specie capital with which to redeem its paper on 
 demand." 
 
 The objection to the measure from the standpoint of the con- 
 stitution of the United States may be briefly stated. Article 
 one of the constitution of the United States, section ten, clause 
 one, in enumerating the powers denied to the states, says : "No 
 state shall emit bills of credit, or make any thing but gold and 
 silver coin a tender in payment of debts." During the Revolu- 
 tionary struggle the Continental Congress had issued large quan- 
 tities of bills of credit. The several states also had issued paper 
 money, which were bills of credit, in large amounts. Much 
 confusion had resulted in these state bills of credit as they passed 
 at different rates of discount in different states, and at different 
 times. The framers of our constitution saw that there could 
 never be any degree of uniformity in the medium of exchange 
 if each state were allowed to control the issue of bills of credit. 
 And hence the denial in the constitution to the states of the 
 power to set up any standard of value for either paper money or 
 for coins other than that fixed by the Congress of the United 
 States. 
 
 But these arguments by men who foresaw the inextricable 
 confusion that would come from the adoption of this banking 
 system, fell on deaf ears, and on unwise judgments. Ford in 
 the history of Illinois says : "So infatuated were this Legisla- 
 ture with the absurd bank project, that the members firmly 
 believed that the notes of this bank would remain at par with 
 gold and silver." As an indication of their faith in the stability 
 of this banking system a resolution was passed requesting the 
 secretary of the United States Treasury to accept the notes of 
 the State Bank of Illinois in payment for the public lands sold 
 in this state. When this resolution came before the Senate, 
 there was a feeling that it was just a little presuming to ask 
 the secretary to accept bills which the wise one saw would fall 
 to 50 per cent within a short time after their issue. An amus- 
 ing story is told of the presiding officer in the Senate, Lieuten- 
 ant-Governor Pierre Menard, when the resolution was before 
 that body. After a full and free discussion of the merits of the 
 resolution the time arrived for the vote. When the presiding 
 officer put the question he said: "Gentlemen of de Senate, it 
 is moved and seconded dat de notes of dis bank be made land office 
 money. All in favor of dat motion, say aye ; all against it say no. 
 It is decided in de affirmative. And now, gentlemen, I bet you one 
 hundred dollar he never be made land office money." 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 445 
 
 The law provided that only $300,000 of the half million capi- 
 tal should be issued in bank notes, without authority of the Leg- 
 islature. The law further authorized the division of the §300,000 
 issue among the parent bank and the four branch banks as 
 follows : 
 
 The Vandalia Bank the sum of $ 35,699.11^ 
 
 The Edwardsville branch the sum of 83,516.86% 
 The Brownsville branch the sum of_ 48,834.00 
 The Shawneetown branch the sum of 84,685.00 
 The Edwards Co. branch the sum of 47,265.02 
 
 Total §300,000.00 
 
 The bill as passed by the two Houses of the Legislature went 
 to the governor who placed it before the Council of Revision. It 
 may be remembered that the Constitution of 1818 did not give the 
 governor the veto power, but placed that duty in the hands of the 
 Supreme Court (four members) and the governor. These five 
 men, in terms of the constitution, were called the Council of 
 Revision. Here the bill was carefully considered. When it 
 came to the final vote the council stood three against the bill 
 and two for the bill. The governor and Judges Phillips and 
 Reynolds were opposed to the bill's becoming a law ; while Judges 
 Wilson and Browne were for the bill's becoming a law. The 
 bill was therefore returned to the House in which it originated, 
 vetoed. The constitution provided that when a bill was vetoed 
 by the Council of Revision, if it should be passed by each House 
 by a majority of the members elected it should become a law. 
 It was easy therefore to pass the bill for the bank over the veto. 
 
 When the bank was open for business there was a rush for 
 accommodations. Every person who wanted more than §100 
 and less than $1,000 and had a small piece of unincumbered land, 
 borrowed to meet his supposed needs and mortgaged his land 
 for the payment of the debt. If one wished less than $100 and 
 could get a neighbor to go his security, he borrowed it at the 
 bank. It is said that it was not long before the entire issue of 
 $300,000 provided by law was out in circulation. Reynolds 
 says that these bank bills never did circulate at par and that they 
 sunk as low as 25 cents on the dollar. 
 
 The auditor reported to the Legislature in 1823 that the bank's 
 bills were circulating at 50 cents on the dollar, and complained 
 it was a hardship to pay state officials in money worth only 50 
 cents on the dollar. He suggested that the law which required 
 the bank to retire one-tenth of its issue each year be enforced 
 and thus the bank would be out of the woods at the end of 
 ten years. The only relief that came at this time was an act 
 to increase the salaries of the state officials 50 per cent. In 
 other words pay them 75 cents while they should be paid $1. 
 
 As time went on the condition got worse, and in 1825 there 
 
446 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 were additional laws passed requiring the cashiers to redeem 
 and destroy at least 10 per cent of the issue each year — or if 
 any bills were loaned the second time, they should be stamped 
 showing that they drew no interest. The banks therefore had 
 little to do except to act as collection agencies, gathering in 
 the money which had been formerly loaned. 
 
 The state's annual income was gathered through the various 
 forms of taxation — on lands belonging to non-residents; bank 
 stock held by non-residents, and the income from the salines. 
 Governor Edwards in his campaign for the governorship in the 
 summer of 1826 stated that $25,000 would cover the annual 
 expenses of the state government. He showed that the taxes on 
 non-resident land holders should produce at least $40,000 per 
 year, thus leaving 815,000 in the treasury annually. But by 
 some form of kindness to these non-resident land owners, they 
 were required to pay their taxes only biennially. And even then 
 the state was lenient if they failed to pay. There was therefore 
 little money in the state treasury and it became necessary to 
 issue state warrants to meet the state's obligations which were 
 held or exchanged as money. What money was in the treasury 
 came in as good money, but since in general circulation it was 
 worth only one-third of its value, the state passed a law that 
 state officials should be paid three dollars in current funds or 
 in warrants for each dollar the state owed them. In 1825 the 
 state's annual expense if it had been paid in good money would 
 have been §35,000. The state, to pay these expenses issued to 
 the state's creditors §107,000 in auditor's warrants. Thus the 
 state was piling up a big debt which the future must pay. 
 
 The banks had run their course by 1826. The full amount of 
 $300,000 had been issued and handed out to the people for notes 
 with personal and real estate security. Thousands of dollars 
 were never repaid. Ford says: "More than half of those who 
 had borrowed, considered what they had gotten from it as so 
 much clear gain, and never intended to pay it from the first." 
 In many instances where money was loaned on mortgages the 
 amount loaned was not only often greatly in excess of $1,000, 
 but when the mortgages were foreclosed the real estate would 
 bring only a half or a third of the debt. It was found that in 
 various ways the bank lacked $100,000 of having enough money 
 in 1831 when the bank charter expired of meeting all its obliga- 
 tions. This amount of money the state borrowed from a Mr. 
 Wiggins of Cincinnati, paid off all the debts of the bank and 
 quit the banking business — at least for five or six years. 
 
 The state itself was in debt some $300,000, so Mr. Ford thinks, 
 but by a system of financial sleight of hand, the state was kept 
 out of bankruptcy. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 447 
 
 The People in 1818 
 
 Illinois was indeed a pioneer state when it was admitted to 
 the Union in 1818. The manner of life was simple to the point 
 of crudeness. The physical things with which they worked were 
 all of the pioneer type. Wagons were generally home made. 
 What is made by the man who used it or at least by a neigh- 
 bor who in no sense was a manufacturer. There were few 
 wholly iron plows; there were those with iron points and bars, 
 the rest being wood — the mold-board; then there were wooden 
 plows except a point of iron which protected the union of the 
 shear and the bar. Looms were home-made as were also the 
 spinning wheels — whether for flax or wool. 
 
 There were no stoves in those days. But the Dutch oven and 
 the crane were the essential equipment for preparing a meal. 
 To the crane were swung the kettles in which the vegetables and 
 meats were boiled. The Kentuckians baked a delicious pone on 
 a clean board held in place before a hot fire. Often certain 
 vegetables were cooked in the hot coals and ashes. These early 
 people really served roasting-ears upon the table — we serve 
 boiled ears upon our tables and call them roasting-ears. The 
 young ears of Indian corn were turned before the fire till the 
 milky grains were thoroughly cooked when they were served 
 hot, brown, and well seasoned. The meals were provided from 
 the products of the farm, the game from the chase or the traps 
 or the fish from the streams, wild honey and wild fruits were 
 not infrequently a portion of the bountiful supply. The maple 
 trees furnished maple sugar as well as a delicately flavored 
 syrup. 
 
 The clothing continued to be "home-made" wool, flax, hemp 
 and the skins furnished the basis of the wearing apparel. The 
 wool must be washed, picked, and carded. Judge Jesse B. 
 Thomas erected a carding mill at Cahokia about the time the ter- 
 ritory was admitted into the Union. But one carding mill could 
 not make rolls for all the country, so the old hand system of mak- 
 ing rolls prevailed even as late as the Civil war. Weaving was 
 one of the fine arts. Clothing was woven wholly of wool or 
 partly of wool and partly of cotton. Blankets were woven from 
 the poorer qualities of wool. Beautiful woolen counterpanes 
 were often woven in colors of beautiful design. Similar coun- 
 terpanes were often woven of cotton. In the more costly coun- 
 terpanes the dyes were often imported, while in the cheaper 
 ones the housewife made up her own dyes. A few of these 
 old counterpanes may be seen here and there in the old homes 
 or where the housewife is preserving one of these as an heir- 
 loom because "my great great-grandmother wove it." Cotton 
 was carried through pretty much the same process as wool. It 
 was the material for the summer wear. Much cotton was raised 
 in the south third of the state up to the time of the Civil war. 
 
448 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 Few native Illinoisans ever saw flax raised and made into cloth. 
 But from the coming of the Americans into Illinois up to the 
 days of the Civil war the raising of flax was a common industry 
 among the farmers. Many of us have seen the beautiful little 
 flax wheels in the homes of our people. Hemp is a fiber plant 
 flourishing in tropical countries. It grows to the height of six 
 or eight feet. Its stem is as large as the smaller corn stalks, 
 and runs the entire height of the plant. It has branches along 
 the upper parts of the stem. The inner part must be rotted and 
 broken into smaller bits leaving the fiber or bark, unharmed. 
 This outer fiber is dressed by beating and rubbing until all the 
 pith is separated from it. It is then soft and fluffy. It was 
 spun into coarse threads and woven into cloth suitable for bag- 
 ging, canvas cloth, or coarse clothing. But its principal use was 
 probably for the manufacture of ropes. Rope-walks were no 
 unusual sight about the villages or frequently about a farm. It 
 was not an uncommon thing to see men with clothing made from 
 the skins of animals, but there were many instances in which 
 caps, gloves, and moccasins were made in the home from the 
 skins of fur-bearing animals. 
 
 In the early year of statehood, the prevailing home was built 
 of logs. But there were well built frame houses, and even sub- 
 stantial brick buildings were used as residences, stores, and 
 churches. The use of the log house as a home has not altogether 
 passed away. In many of the timbered counties you will prob- 
 ably still find the log house used as a residence. Dr. Edwin Erie 
 Sparks in his charming volume "The Expansion of the Ameri- 
 can People," describes in one chapter the pioneer life of the 
 Ohio Valley. In discussing the home life, he says a log home 
 could be built for $150 and a double log home for $250. 
 
 "In letters from Illinois," by Morris Birkbeck, published in 
 Philadelphia in 1818, we find a very clear description of the cost 
 of building a log home. In Letter No. VIII we find this descrip- 
 tion of a log house which Mr. Birkbeck had erected as a tem- 
 porary home till he could build his permanent residence. "Hav- 
 ing fixed on the northwestern portion of our prairie for our 
 future residence and farm, the first act was building a cabin 
 about 200 yards from the spot where the house is to stand. 
 This cabin is built of round straight logs, about a foot in dia- 
 meter, lying upon each other, and notched at the corners, form- 
 ing a room 18 by 16 feet long; the intervals between the logs 
 'chuncked,' that is, filled in with slips of wood; and 'mudded,' 
 that is daubed with a plaster of mud ; a spacious chimney built 
 of logs, stands like a bastion at one end; the roof is well cov- 
 ered with four hundred 'clap boards' of cleft oak, very much 
 like the pales used in England for fencing parks. A hole is 
 cut through the side, called, very properly, the 'door' (the 
 through) for which there is a shutter, made also of cleft oak. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 449 
 
 and hung on wooden hinges. All this has been executed by con- 
 tract, and well executed for $20. I have since added $10 to the 
 cost, for the luxury of a floor and ceiling of sawn boards, and 
 it is now a comfortable habitation." 
 
 Doctor Sparks was thinking of paying for labor at the union 
 scale probably. Many of the log houses in which our pioneer 
 forefathers reared large families were built with the outlay 
 of but a few dollars. The only articles which must be bought 
 were glass for windows and a few nails. Chimneys were built 
 of wood, rocks, and clay. The floor was often the smoothed 
 flat sides of split logs, called puncheons ; the door was not infre- 
 quently made of well riven clap-boards; the roof was laid of 
 clap-boards held in place, not nailed, by long poles secured with 
 wooden pins. The fire place and the hearth were built of flat 
 stones which were procured from nearby streams or bluffs. 
 Doctor Sparks called attention to a necessary adjunct of every 
 well regulated home — that was the "smoke house." This was 
 a small low building near the kitchen door, if there were a kit- 
 chen, in which the supplies were usually kept. In the winter 
 the farmer "butchered his hogs," and salted away the shoulders, 
 hams and sides. In the spring these parts were taken out of 
 the dry salt and hung up to cross-pieces, care being taken that 
 the several pieces did not touch one another. A fire was then built 
 in the center of the floor and the smoke arose like incense to 
 preserve the meat. Many days the smoldering fire would be 
 kept going, and the smoke would continually escape from the 
 roof of the small building and hence "smoke house." 
 
 It could not be said that the people were all industrious, but 
 they were a hard working class. The man who cleared the tim- 
 ber from his land, broke up the soil, and planted and tended his 
 crops was a hard working man. He was also industrious. He 
 was tired at the end of each day's work. The man who spent 
 his day locating bee trees, or fishing all day, or hunting, or loaf- 
 ing about the village had worked hard, but he was not industri- 
 ous. Many were not thrifty. There was no effort in the summer 
 and fall to prepare suitable shelter for horses, cattle, hogs and 
 chickens when the storms of winter should come. In those sec- 
 tions where the settlers had come from the northern states the 
 above statement probably would have to be modified. The Yan- 
 kees were not only industrious but thrifty. They built good 
 stables or barns for their stock and made provision in the fall 
 for the winter by gathering in fuel and forage. They were accus- 
 tomed to sit by their winter fires and give some attention to good 
 books and conversations. 
 
 The people were in the true sense of the word temperate in 
 their habits. They were accustomed to drink certain kinds of 
 intoxicating liquors, but there were few drunkards. Their con- 
 versations were coarse but not unchaste. Men were given to 
 
450 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 swearing but the law forbade it and the penalties were severe. 
 Gambling was not of the kind we have known about the saloons 
 and joints of our cities. The common people who went to the 
 horse races often bet on the outcome of the race. But the 
 amounts wagered were small, and it was usually open and above 
 board. Reynolds in "My Own Times," states that one form of 
 amusement among the common people consisted in practical 
 jokes on one another. Some times their jokes disturbed pub- 
 lic gatherings. 
 
 Social intercourse was regulated by the make-up of the com- 
 munity. In some instances the people were of one religious faith 
 or of one industrial activity and in such cases there was not 
 as much helpfulness gotten from social contact as was the case 
 where the neighborhood or community was some what hetero- 
 geneous. Morris Birkbeck, writing from the western part of 
 Indiana, Princeton, on July 24, 1817, says : "Regretting, as I 
 must, my perpetual separation from many with whom I was in 
 habits of agreeable intercourse in Old England, I am much at 
 ease on the score of society. We shall possess this one thing 
 needful, which it was supposed the wilderness could not supply, 
 in the families of our own establishment, and a circle of citi- 
 zen neighbors, such as this little town affords already. The 
 social compact here is not the confederacy of a few to reduce 
 the many into subjection, but is indeed, and in truth, among 
 these simple republicans, a combination of talents, moral and 
 physical, by which the good of all is promoted in perfect accord- 
 ance with individual interest. It is, in fact, a better, because 
 a more simple state than was ever portrayed by the Utopian 
 theorist." 
 
 In the small villages there was often social conditions quite in 
 contrast with the life in the interior. Morris Birkbeck boarded 
 a while in the Town of Princeton, Indiana, in August, 1817. 
 This town, of course, would not differ from a town of the same 
 size and age in Illinois. Princeton is twelve miles south of east 
 from Mount Carmel. "Though but two years old, and containing 
 about fifty houses, this little town affords respectable society; 
 it is the county town, and can boast as many well informed 
 genteel people, in proportion to the number of inhabitants, as 
 any county town I am acquainted with. I think there are half 
 as many individuals who are entitled to that distinction as there 
 are houses, and not one decidedly vicious character, nor one that 
 is not able to and willing to maintain himself." 
 
 On July 7, 1817, Mr. Birkbeck writing from the Wabash, had 
 stated a rather unfavorable report of the people whom he found 
 in the country districts of Eastern Illinois and Western Indiana, 
 as understood in England. ' At that time he explained what the 
 difference was between the first and second waves of pioneers. 
 
HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 451 
 
 "An unsettled country, lying contiguous to one that is settled, is 
 always a place of retreat for rude and even abandoned charac- 
 ters, who find the regulations of society intolerable; and such, 
 no doubt, had taken up their unfixed abode in Indiana. These 
 people retire with the wolves, from the regular colonists, keep- 
 ing always to the outside of civilized settlements." 
 
 On August the 10th, Mr. Birkbeck appears to be back in 
 Illinois and at the place selected for his future home (the Eng- 
 lish Prairie). After describing Shawneetown which he says 
 will be his nearest shipping point (forty-five miles away), he 
 says: "We are on the confines of society, among true back- 
 woodsmen. We have been much among them — have lodged in 
 their cabins, and partaken of their wretched and scanty fare; 
 they have been our pilots to explore situations still more remote, 
 and which only hunters visit. (Mr. Birkbeck wishes to apolo- 
 gize for some impressions which had obtained in England about 
 these backwoodsmen and so he proceeds to say) : 
 
 "From a nearer view of these people, something must be with- 
 drawn from the picture which is given of their moral character 
 in the note above referred to. (As found in his letter of July 
 7, 1817.) It is rather an ill-chosen or unfortunate attachment 
 to the hunters' life, than an unprincipled aversion to the regula- 
 tions of society, which keeps them aloof from the abodes of 
 more civilized men." 
 
 He further points out that these frontiersmen must live where 
 there is plenty of "bear and deer, and wild honey." They really 
 love bear hunting and are willing to live in frontier wretched- 
 ness in order to have the opportunity to enjoy this economic 
 sport. "Yet they are not savages in their disposition, but honest 
 and kind, ready to forward our wishes, and even to labor for 
 us, though our coming will compel them to remove to the outside 
 again." 
 
 A historian writing before the Civil war and describing 
 some of the aspects of the social world says : "During the years 
 from 1820 to 1830, a great change took place in the appearance 
 and modes of dress of the people. The coon-skin cap, the hunt- 
 ing shirt, and leather breeches, the moccasins and the belt 
 around the waist, to which the butcher knife and tomahawk 
 were appended, had entirely disappeared before the modern 
 clothing apparel. The women had exchanged their cotton and 
 woolen frocks, manufactured, and striped with blue dye, by them- 
 selves, for modern dresses of silk and calico ; they had laid aside 
 the cotton handkerchiefs, which formerly covered their heads, 
 and adopted bonnets instead ; they would not, as formerly, walk 
 barefooted to church, but would often be seen riding on fine 
 horses to the house of worship. They would go to church flat- 
 tering themselves with a secret hope that they would make the 
 
452 HISTORY OF ILLINOIS 
 
 best figure in the whole assembly, and outshine their neighbors 
 by the brilliancy of their dress. 
 
 To be able to gratify their ambition for fine dresses, they 
 were obliged to become industrious and enterprising in business. 
 The desire for fine dresses also superinduced a similar desire for 
 polite society and knowledge, so that the old folks, who would 
 have much preferred remaining undisturbed in their sluggish 
 tranquility and repose, thoroughly taken by surprise, every- 
 where uttered loud complaints, that the prodigalities, luxuries, 
 and innovations of the young, would speedily cause the ruin of 
 the country." 
 
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