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YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

ED"WIN J. BEINECKE, '07
FREDERICK W. BEINECKE, '09 S
WALTER BEINECKE, '10
FUND
The Gift of the
Somerset Foundation

PERRIN'S

HISTORY

..OF..

ILLINOIS

... BY

J. NICK PERRIN

Copyright, 1906, by J. Nick Perrin.

PRINTED BT
TtilflXOIS STATB) SBGISTlDIt,
fiFRixaFiuLD, irji:..

AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
This is an attempt to present the outline of Illinois
history in such a form as to furnish a system, "which 'will
secure to the student a convenient iadex for the further
ance of his studies and will enable the historian to avail
himself of the groundwork upon which he may build.
Quite a number of voluminous historical works, contain
ing data concerning the various events which have trans
pired in this state, have been issued and these may be con
sulted for detailed information. This work aims simply
at a brief arrangement, in systematic and chronological
form, of leading events, in order to furnish a convenient
indicator for those who are desirous of being assisted in
pursuing their investigations systematically. The task
of writing a full and detailed account of the happenings,
which have occurred upon the soil of Illinois within the
last two hundred and thirty-two years, will be left to
more ambitious historical compilers and commentators.
The ambition of the author of this work will be realized
and gratified if he may succeed in infusing a spirit of re
search into others by indicating to them the importance
of the history of our state through this brief recital.
Hence, it has been deemed adequate to the scope of this
work to give solely that important chain of incidents,
which in itself is sufficient to enlist the attention of those
who are interested in the history of a people who have
contributed so largely to the progress of the world as the
people of Illinois.

CHAIN OF TITLE.

Owners, Occupants or Claimants.
riNDL4.NS: Illinois (Illini) and others . .
Illinois tribes:
1. Metchigamls 
2. Kaskaskias 
3. Peorias 
4. Cahokias 
5. Tammarois 
SPAIN:
ENGLAND: SPAIN:

Nature of Claim.
Occupancy and use of soil.

Extent of Claim.

Indefinite.

FRANCE:

ENGLAND:

Columbus' Discovery, 1492.
Cabot's Discovery, 1498.
1. De Leon's Discovery of Florida,

1513.
2. De Soto's Landing on the Missis
sippi, 1541,
3. Melendez' Proclamation, 1565,
De Chastes — De Monts,
Charter, 1603.
1, Patent for Virginia, 1606 and 1609.
London Company, South Virginia,
Intermediate district open to both,
Plymouth Comp,, North Virginia,
2. Massachusetts Bay Charter, 1629,

1. Originally -west of the Mississippi
river, ,
2, Region between Lake Michigan and
Lake Peoria.
3, Region of Lake Peoria,
4. Region of Cahokia and the Ameri
can Bottom.
5. Region of southeastern Illinois.
"Western Hemisphere.
Continent of America,
1, North America south of Great <^
Lakes.
Region on Mississippi river and its
tributaries.

3. All North America,
North America bet-ween 40 degrees and
46 degrees north latitude.
1. North America bet-ween 34 degrees
and 45 degrees north latitude,
34 degrees to 38 degrees north lati
tude,
Bancroft, Hist, U, S., Vol, 1, 120,
41 to 45 degrees north latitude,
Massachusetts Bay Country to sea
on west,
gonriecUcut Rii'-er Country.

FRANCE:

ENGLAND:
VIRGINIA:UNITED STATES:

Canada and Indians of the west —
Treaty 1671.
Discovery of Illinois, etc, by Mar
quette et al., 1673.
La Salle ceremony at the mouth of
the Mississippi, 1682.
Crozat Patent, 1712.
Company of the "West, 1717.

1. Treaty of Paris, 1763.
2. Transfer of Fort Chartres, 1765.
1. Capture by Clark, 1778.
2. Erected into Illinois county,
1. Cession from "Virginia, 1784,
2, Cession from Massachusetts, 1785.

3. Cession from Connecticut, 1786.

ILLINOIS:

4. Northwest Territory, by ordinance
of 1787,
5. Indiana Territory, by Act of Con
gress, 1800,
6. Illinois Territory, by Act of Con
gress, 1809.
7. Illinois Territory, Second Grade,
1812.
8. Indian Cessions.
Admitted as a State by Act of Con
gress, 1818.

1. Northwestern Lake Region.
2. Illinois and the Northwest.
3. Mississippi and tributaries from
Gulf to New France.
4. Same as far as the Illinois.
5. Same.
1. French possessions east of Missis
sippi river except New Orleans
and island.
2. Same.
1. Northwest of Ohio river.
2. Same.
1. Country Northwest of the Ohio
river.
2. 42 degrees, 2 minutes to 43 degrees,
43 minutes, 12 seconds, north
latitude, west of New York to
Mississippi river.
3. 41 degrees to 42 degrees, 2 minutes
north latitude, west of Pennsyl
vania to Mississippi river.
4. Country northwest of the Ohio
river.
5. Indiana, Illinois, etc.

6. Illinois, Wisconsin, etc.
7. Same.
8. "Various tribes.
Illinois.

CHAIN OF TITLE.
In tracing title, attention must be given to whatever
is involved in establishing the various links which form
the so-called chain. Original conditions, changes and sub
sequent contingencies, together with generally accepted
notions, international agreements and legal interpretations
enter into the consideration.
In the course of the world's affairs a theory was form
ulated that a nation might acquire dominion over terri
tory through discovery, conquest or purchase. In prac
tice, it would seem that a general consensus of opinion
agreed that the original occupants of a soil should be en
titled to its use. "Where savage or barbarous nations
have been discovered by the more civilized peoples of
other nations, they have usually been allowed to retain
their habitat on the territory which they occupied.
With reference to the soil of Illinois, all three of the
forms of acquiring dominion (discovery, conquest and
purchase) are embraced within the chain of title, in addi
tion to original occupancy. The soil has been claimed by
occupancy, by constructive discovery, by constructive
counter-discovery, by actual discovery, by conquest and
by purchase. Our present status is grounded on these
with the foregoing supplemental modifications of this
statement. During the progress of this work each link in the chain
will be presented in its order.

10
The first link, or the Indian right, was legally passed
upon in 1823 and in the opinion delivered by Chief Jus
tice Marshall, while referring to "the original inhabi
tants," is found the following statement: "They were
admitted to be the rightful occupants of the soil, with a
legal as well as just claim to retain possession of it, and
to use it according to their o"wn discretion; but their
rights to complete sovereignty, as independent nations,
were necessarily diminished, and their power to dispose
of the soil at their own will, to whomsoever they pleased,
was denied by the original fundamental principle, that
discovery gave exclusive title to those who made it." It
was decided in this ease, which is reported tn 8 Wheaton
543,^ that the right of a "tribe northwest of the Ohio"
to make grants "to private individuals cannot be recog
nized in the courts of the United States. ' ' But whatever

11

INDIANS.^
The first inhabitants on the soil of Illinois of whom
history makes mention were Indians ; and consisted mainly
of a confederacy of tribes of Illini (or Illinois). There
fore the first link of our chain of title was formed through
their occupancy. It is idle to speculate on how long this
occupancy existed. Vague traditions are of no historic
utility. The true historian must be a historical surgeon
and must carve all matters of mere speculation and sug
gestion out of his consideration. The exact truth is hard
to be obtained at best; even when the most reliable
sources alone are considered, without entering the field of
guesswork and tradition. As a diversion, the presenta
tion of the folklore or the mythology of a people may be
allowable. But nothing less than the nearest possible
approximation to accuracy of statement can ever be dig
nified into history. Hence it is out of place in this con
nection to surmise that the Illini were here at any particu
lar time antedating authentic information on the subject.
The historic truth is that they were here in 1673. They
were discovered then by white men.
a. Origin of the Indians — See Hennepin's Description of
Louisiana by Shea — 277.

12

SPAIN.
Although the sea-kings of the north may have made ex
plorations on this Western Hemisphere in the ninth, tenth
and eleventh centuries as claimed by some, yet, the dis
covery by Columbus in 1492 of land in the Bahamas is the
generally accepted event from which is dated the begin
ning of American history. Through this was given to
the Spanish government of Ferdinand and Isabella the
first claim by right of discovery to that new world in
which somewhere (though unkno"wn at the time to Euro
peans) was Illinois. This is the second link in our chain
of title.

13

"U

16

ENGLAND.
When Cabot made the discovery of our Continent in
1498, under a commission from Henry VH of England, a
claim thereto accrued to the English government and Illi
nois (though to Europeans an unkno"wn part of the Con
tinent) was necessarily included. And the third link in
our chain of title was thus formed.

17

DISCOVERED BV
CABOT IH-SS

«0»

-v

19

SPANISH, ENGLISH AND FRENCH DISCOVERIES.
Soon after the discovery of this Continent, three great
streams of discovery, settlement, colonization and civil
ization came from Europe to North America. The Span
ish came to the South and the English to the eastern sea
board, while the French made discoveries along the At
lantic coast which culminated in the Northeast where
settlements were made by them throughout Canada, New
Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Besides
these, minor streams were also contributed by other Euro
pean nations. Claims to various portions of the North
American Continent were made by the respective govern
ments whose representatives made discoveries. The de
scriptions, which were attempted for these claims at that
time, were of the character which accorded such scope as
would embrace everything as far as it was practicable and
possible to gain or hold possession. The limitations seem
to have been natural barriers and superior human counier-
agencies. Lakes, rivers, oceans, prairies, forests, hunting
grounds and mountain chains furnished in their indefinite
way the boundaries. The tenure of the discoverer hav
ing been as uncertain as the extent of the discovery, the
claim only maintained some degree of authority so long
as it or any part of it was not disturbed or overcome by
some one else.
Through the enterprises and movements of the Euro
pean governments, it came to pass that Illinois became
subject to claims of title by Spain, Prance and England,
prior to its acquisition by Virginia and the United States.

22

^^ -I,.

Spanish CiJ

M£IENDE£ ISSJ
Ponce de Leon
ISI3

23

SPAIN.
In 1513 Ponce de Leon under a royal Spanish grant
discovered Florida.*^ Under the generally accepted notions
in those days, when claims were exceedingly vague and
indefinite both as to their scope and duration, he gave to
the Spanish government by this act a claim to an indefin
ite tract which extended so far as it was in the power of
his government to acquire possession and so long as it was
not dispossessed by some counter claim of superior po
tency. Florida in this early sense may have meant every
thing in North America south of the Great Lakes. In
fact this meaning may be gathered from the earlier
"writers. De la Vega, a Peruvian historian, in his history
of ' ' The Conquest of Florida, ' ' finished in 1591, speaks ol
it as a great country of which all the parts were not theu
kno'wn and in admitting the difficulty of description says :
"One does not know in efi:ect, if on the north (Septen-
trion) Florida is bounded by land or sea." One presump
tion would limit its extent at the first natural boundaries,
the Great Lakes, on the north, though possibly in those
times there was nothing to interfere with the construction
that might have carried the bounds to the Arctic Ocean.
Under either presumption or construction, as the soil of
Illinois was embraced in this indefinite tract, in our chain
of title we record this Spanish claim as the next link.
a. "Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America, Vol. U,
233.

24
Spain's claim was strengthened in 1541 when De Soto
landed on the southern Mississippi river. According to
the prevailing notions of those times, this occurrence car
ried with it a claim to all the country on the stream and
its tributaries. De Soto's indefinite claim included Illi
nois as it was situated both along the Mississippi and some
of its larger tributaries.
After an unsuccessful attempt to establish a French
Huguenot colony had been made by Ribaut, Laudonniere
and others at Fort Carolina, the third act in establishing
the claim of title for Spain took place when Melendez laid
the foundation of St. Augustine in 1565 and proclaimed
the Spanish king monarch of all North America. And
though another attempt was made two years after this by
a French expedition under De Gourges and although St.
Augustine was demolished in 1586 by tie English under
Drake (who, however, hastened to Virginia), yet on ac
count of a cessation of further attempts on the part of the
French and English to form settlements in Florida, Illi
nois as a part thereof was confirmed to the Spanish claim
by the universal acceptance of the methods adopted b^^ the
world at that time.
While these acts gave constructive possession, no at
tempt was made by the Spanish to settle on the soil of Illi
nois or in fact by any one else until its discovery by white
men one hundred and sixty years after the discovery of
Florida by Ponce de Leon. It remained undiscovered
and unexplored until the arrival of Marquette and JoUiet
in 1673, when actual possession was established for the
first time by Europeans.

26

:^7^

CP'-

27

FRANCE.
French explorations on this Continent began when
Verrazani, a Florentine navigator, was sent out by the
French government and in 1525 reached the coast of North
Carolina and then explored the coast of North America
from Florida to Newfoundland. To his indefinite dis
coveries was given the name of New France. Other French
explorations followed and in ,1534 Cartier reached the
coast of Newfoundland and discovered Canada and the
St. Lawrence river. He erected a wooden cross and
claimed the country for France. Other Frenchmen made
attempts at discovery and settlement in New France until
in 1603, when a grant was made to De Chastes (which was
afterwards given to De Monts) by Henry IV of France of
aU of North .America between 40° and 46° north latitude.
As this grant extended from ocean to ocean, it embraced
the north half of Illinois. It was the first generally
recognized adverse claim made against the Spanish and
although the French made no actual settlements on the
soil of Illinois any more than the Spanish, yet, through
this grant northern Illinois became subject constructively
to a claim by the French government. This vague claim
was like its predecessor (the Spanish claim) liable to be
come neutralized by some other of equal potency or en
tirely negatived or annihilated by one of paramoimt force.
This contingency soon arose.

30

81

ENGLAND.
In 1606 a patent for the colonization of Virginia was
granted (which was reinforced by a charter of 1609) ex
tending between 34° and 45° north latitude (or from Cape
Fear to beyond Halifax)^ and indefinitely westward by
James I of England in order to enable the planting of two
colonies. Within these bounds from north to south the
Plymouth and London companies founded settlements
along the Atlantic region.*' The claim on the part of
England included Illinois, the north part of which was
resubjected to the English claim under the Massachusetts
Bay Charter and the Connecticut Colony Rights, until the
treaty of 1671 between France and the Indian tribes of the
West, when the claim to the West (including Illinois, of
course,) passed to France. The Massachusetts Bay grant
extended "from sea to sea."° The English made no ex
plorations in the western or northwestern region and their
claim was only one of constructive possession.
a. Bancroft, Hist. U. S., "Vol. I, 120,
b. London Company, 34 degrees to 38 degrees,
Plymouth Company, 41 degrees to 45 degrees.
Intermediate district open to both.
Bancroft, Hist. U, S„ Vol. I, 120.
c. Old South Leaflets 1, General Series No. 7.

34

35

FRANCE.
During the years that the Spanish had been engaged in
the South and the English on the eastern coast, the
French had been busily occupied in the Northeast, where
they firmly planted the seeds of the New France in
America. Cartier discovered the St. Lawrence; De
Monts and Champlain and others established settlements
and Quebec and Montreal and Three Rivers were founded ;
forts and mission stations were erected and by 1670 Can
ada had made decided progress and was in charge of an
Intendant who administered affairs on behalf of the
French government at Quebec, which was the seat of gov
ernment for New France. The early part of the seven
teenth eentury had brought the vanguard of those mission
aries, who aided so materially in discovery while bent
spiritually on the conversion of the savage tribes. Prior
to 1670 all of the Great Lakes in the Northwest had been
visited by missionaries and fur traders. These had
brought and sent back to Canada accounts of a great river
in the west which had been heard, which stimulated both
the spirit of discovery and proselyting. The missionaries,
who were stationed near the end of Lake Superior at the
Bay of Chegoimegon, in their communication with the In
dian tribes which came to the station from the south and
west, received reports of a great river, which the Indians
saw or crossed in their travels.^
a. Parkman, La Salle and the Disc, of the Great "West, 30.
Letter of Marquette to Superior, Relation of 1670, 87.
Dablon. Relation of 1671, 24, 25.

36
As there had long been a search for a short route to
China and as it was believed that somewhere in the west
there was an outlet to the ocean, which would furnish this
northwest passage to the Orient, the reports of this river
were seized upon as furnishing the clew. Both the civil
and religious authorities at Quebec saw an opportunity of
extending their field of operations. Mesnard and AI-
louez had built the pioneer missionary station in the ex
treme northwestern Lake Region. Dablon and Mar
quette worked in the same field. In 1670 Allouez con
ceived the idea of a peace conference between the repre
sentatives of the western Indian tribes and the Canadian
government. In that year Perrot made his appearance
at the Sault Sainte Marie or St. Mary's of the Falls as the
agent for Talon, the French Intendant of Canada, and as
the representative of the French government of Louis
XIV, for the purpose of convoking a universal Indian Con
gress at that place. Perrot invited all the neighboring
tribes and in May, 1671, the meeting was held at St.
Mary's, where Allouez acted as interpreter. At that
meeting a treaty was made, whereby the friendship of the
tribes was secured as well as dominion over the Great
West for France in return for protection promised the
tribes by the French government, and formal possession
was taken by French officers, while a cross of cedar was
erected and thus through this treaty and the ceremonies
attendant thereon, Illinois again became subject construc
tively to a French claim, as it was embraced in this in
definite cession of the Great West. Marquette, in that
year, established the mission of St. Ignace near the pres
ent Mackinac and it was there that he functioned when
the Canadian government decided to send out a voyage

37
of discovery for the great rivei' which should furnish an
outlet to the western ocean and a short northwest passage
to China. Marquette was joined at his mission station by
JoUiet and five companions who were sent by the Cana
dian government. These seven men set out from St.
Ignace on the thirteenth of May, 1673, and began the
journey that led through Green Bay and Fox river,
through the villages of the Kickapoos, the Mascoutens aud
the Miamis, through marshes and swamps and across the
portages in Wisconsin, down the Wisconsin river unti. on
the seventeenth of June, 1673, they beheld the Mississippi.
Then they made the journey do"wn the newly discovered
stream to the country of the Arkansas Indians and on July
seventeenth, 1673, returned and passed up the Illinois
river until they found a village of the Illinois Indians sit- :
uated on the upper Illinois river near the site of the pres
ent to"wn of Utiea,^ in La Salle County, and this advent of;
white men on the soil embraced within the present limits \
of our state is the beginning of the authentic period of
Illinois history. The master-spirits of this voyage were
Marquette and JoUiet and to them and their companions
belongs the credit of having disclosed to the world a dis
covery which is second to none and which has cro-wned
their names with immortality.''
a. Mason in Breese, Early Hist, of 111., 142 (note).
Parkman, La Salle and the Disc, of the Great West, 69, 223.
b. Marquette's Journal, Breese, Early Hist, of 111., 235 and
suite.

-^

M ETCH I SAME A

41

THE ILLINOIS INDIANS.
When Marquette, JoUiet and their companions arrived
at the village of the Illinois Indians in 1673, they found
it in possession of the Kaskaskia tribe which was a branch
of the Illinois confederacy.
The Illinois confederacy (known as the Illini)^ was
composed of five tribes, viz. : Metchigamis, Kaskaskias,
Peorias, Cahokias, Tammarois.
The habitat of the Metchigamis'^ was originally west of
the Mississippi and they really became a part of the con
federacy by adoption. They have impressed their name
on the lake and state of Michigan.
The habitat of the Kaskaskias was the region between
Lake Michigan and Lake Peoria and they have impressed
their name on the village and river of Kaskaskia and the
mound° in Clinton County.
The habitat of the Peorias was the region of Lake
Peoria and they have impressed their name on the lake
and city of Peoria,
a. Brown, Hist, of 111,, 115.
b. Beckwith, The 111. and Ind, Indians,
Charlevoix, 296,
Moses, 111, Hist, and Stat., Vol. 1, 58.
"Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac, 248, (Map.)
Breese, Hist, of 111., 78. (Map.)
Dr. E. A. "Woelk in "The Dental Brief," September, 1905.

42
The habitat of the Cahokias was the region of Cahokia
and the American Bottom^ and they have impressed their
name on the village and creek and mound of Cahokia.
The habitat of the Tammarois was the region of south
eastern Illinois and they impressed their name on the to"wn
of Tamaroa. The Illinois confederacy never rose to any great dis
tinction. The most important thing which it accomplished
was to impress a name upon the river and state of Illinois.
It may be estimated that its population numbered more
than ten thousand when discovered by the French. When
Membre was among them at the close of 1679 and the be
ginning of 1680, he found "seven or eight thousand souls"
at their principal village.'' They were called Illini, which
term has been given various shades of meaning, the gen
eral signification being, however, that they were superior
men;" though their superiority, if they ever possessed
any, was not sho"wn in any marked degree during the
period of authentic history. They served mainly as the
prey of the fierce eastern tribes, who made occasional in
cursions until ultimately the Illinois were decimated and
the fragmentary tribes were consolidated and found a
refuge for a time in the southwestern portion of
the state in the American Bottorn. While the Kas-
a. The American Bottom is a low tract extending from Alton
to Chester and from the Mississippi river to the Bluffs
on the east and contains something like four hundred
and fifty square miles or about 288,000 acres.
b. Le Clercq, Estab. of the Faith (Shea), Vol. n, 117, 132.
c. Beckwith, The 111. and Ind. Indians.
Marquette's Journal in Breese, Early Hist, of III,, 251,

43
kaskias were originally on the Illinois river above Peoria,
yet, in 1700^ on account of the fear of the eastern Indians
and their frequent depredations and the harassments of
their neighboring tribes they started to migrate with
Father Marest, their mission priest, to southern Illinois,
where they finally settled near the junction of the Kas- /
kaskia and Mississippi rivers. All the remnants of the
other tribes also became merged into this Kaskaskia fam
ily. By 1736, they were in the southern portion about
Kaskaskia and an enumeration of that year shows that
they had only about six hundred warriors.'' Later, even
the remnants became almost extinguished ; one of the main
causes for the almost utter extinction of the Illinois by the
other Indians having been the murder of Pontiac by an
lUinois Indian in 1769 at Cahokia. Thomas Hutchins,
whose "Topographical Description, etc.," was published
in 1778, in an appendix, gives a list of tribes with the
number of their fighting men and among them he places
the Kaskaskias, Peorias and Metchigamis at three hun
dred.'' According to Governor Reynolds,"^ in 1800 there
were about one hundred and fifty warriors of the whole
confederacy left with a half-breed by the name of Ducoign
or DuQuoin for their chief. Beckwith,"^ however, quotes
from a letter from General Harrison to the Secretary of
War from which it appears that when he became Governor
of the Indiana Territory (which included Illinois) in 1800,
a. Mason quoted in Breese, Early Hist, of 111., 142 (in note.)
b. Beckwith, The III. and Ind. Indians, 105.
c. Hutchins' Topographical Description, 67.
d. Reynolds, Pioneer Hist., 10.
e. Beckwith, The 111. and Ind. Indians, 106.

44
there were only thirty warriors. Basing the calculation
on one warrior to every five individuals and applying it
to the latter statement, it might be inferred that Reynolds
really meant to give the whole number when he spoke of
one hundred and fifty. After the state was admitted into
the Union and their lands were ceded to the government,
the handful of Indians that was left was removed to the
Indian Territory.
Like all Indians the Illinois were somewhat migratory
in their habits. Although their usual habitat was per
haps the soil of our state, yet, they lived west of the Mis
sissippi river at times and in the days when Marquette
was stationed at Allouez' mission of St. Esprit near the
end of Lake Superior, they brought him the news of the
great river of which he was destined to become the dis
coverer later.^ Some of them drifted about and dwelt in
Iowa, Missouri and Arkansas prior to the settlement of
most of them on the Illinois river. In their voyage do"'wn
the Mississippi, Marquette and the discoverers visited
some Illinois on the western side near the Des IMoines
river, where we find them marked on the map purporting
to be Marquette's, though also claimed to be a contempor
aneous Jesuit map; and a "Metchigamea" village is also
marked thereon in the Arkansas country.''
Tonti's account," as he saw them in 1679, does not give
them a character for good morals.
a. "Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac, 201, 234.
Jesuit Relation 1670-1 (Dablon).
b. Marquette's Journal, Breese, Early Hist, of 111,, 264,
Breese, Early Hist, of 111,, 78 (map,)
"Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac, 248 (map),
c, Tonti, 58.

45
Father Zenobius Membre, who was among them as
early as 1679, found them possessing a characteristic which
he describes as "thievish." He also represents them as
"wandering" and "idle."^
La Hontan wrote from Missilimakinae in 1689 concern
ing a trip which he undertook on September twenty-fourth
of the previous year during which he explored the Wis
consin, Mississippi, Illinois and other rivers. On April
ninth, 1689, he entered the Illinois from the Mississippi
and sailed up its stream till he came to the village of the
lUinese (as he calls them), where he arrived on April
twentieth, 1689. He tells of how he engaged four hun
dred of them to transport baggage, saying they were "in-
eourag'd by a Bribe of a great Roll of Brazil Tobacco, an
hundred pound v/eight of Powder, two hundred weight of
Ball, and some Arms."'' In a discourse on the savages
of North America he says ' ' The lUinese, the Oumamis, and
the Outagamins: with some other adjacent Nations are of
an indifferent size, and run like Greyhounds, "° And as
bearing on this in another portion of the discourse, he tells
how they rely on this characteristic in case of danger:
"presuming that in case of a discovery, they can easily
save themselves by their good Heels, "'^
Father Charlevoix, who visited the country of the Illi
nois Indians less than one half a century after its discov
ery, says in a letter written by him in 1720 : ' ' The Illinois
a, Le Clercq, Establishment of the Faith, Vol. II, 134. (Shea.)
b. La Hontan, New Voyages to North America, Vol. I, 135,
c. La Hontan, New Voyages to North America, Vol, II, 4,
d- La Hontan, New Voyages to North America, Vol, II, 77,

46
have the Character of being cunning Thieves." And he
teUs what precautions he took concerning his baggage
during his stay at the Rock'^ (Le Rocher) on the upper
Illinois river and how in spite of the exercise of due vigil
ance he missed ' ' a Gun, and some Trifles ' ' at his departure
which he never recovered.''
a. Starved Rock, Accounts, which may receive some atten
tion from a, sentimental standpoint, have furnished a story for the
Starved Rock. It is told that aftei Pontiac's assassination at
Cahokia in 1769 by a half-breed Peoria Indian, Pontiac's Indian
friends, in order to avenge his death, banded together for the pur
pose of accomplishing the extermination of the Illinois tribes.
That having been relentlessly pursued everywhere else, the Illinois
resolved to make a final stand at the site of their ancient village;
but, after a desperate resistance of some days, retreated during a
blinding storm in the night to the rock across the river, whereon
the warriors succumbed to starvation and death in a final contest
rather than surrender to their foes. It has been told how only
one warrior escaped to tell the story. But, from an account re
ceived by Caton from an old Pottawatomie chief (Meachelle),
"eleven of the most athletic warriors, in the darkness and con
fusion of the fight, broke through the besieging lines." "While the
data in the foregoing chapter do not bear out the idea that this
was the ending of the existence of the Illinois nation, the story has
at least served to Impress a name on a very interesting spot.
b. Charlevoix, 283,

47

FIRST WHITES AND FIRST STATION IN ILLINOIS.
Marquette, JoUiet and five companions were the first
white men to discover and reach the soil of Illinois, so far
as historic evidence shows. Surmises of earlier arrivals
lack positive proof for substantiation. I
Marquette was born at Laon, France, in 1637. He was
educated for the priesthood and joined the Jesuits. In
1666, at the age of twenty-nine, as a missionary, he came
to join the colony of New France on the western Conti
nent. He seems to have been prompted in his coming by
a strong desire to convert the Indians. After spending
several years among the tribes located in the region about
Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, he finally established
the mission of St. Ignace in 1671 and here was joined in
1673 by JoUiet, a merchant from Quebec, and a small
company who were sent on a voyage of discovery for a
short passage to the western ocean.
JoUiet was born at Quebec in 1645. He too was edu
cated by the Jesuits for the priesthood but went into the
fur trade. When he joined Marquette in 1673 he was
twenty-eight and Marquette was thirty-six.
These young men became the leaders of that expedition
which resulted in the discovery of the northern Mississippi
river and the country of the Illinois. On their return trip
from their exploration of the Mississippi, as narrated in a
former chapter, they turned in at the mouth of the Illinois
river which furnished a shorter route to the Lakes. After
having voyaged sixty-five leagues, it was on this river that
they found a village of the Illinois Indians which Mar-

48
quette in his journal calls Kuilka. It was also known as
La Vantum. JoUiet called it Kaskaskia. The name Kas
kaskia was retained by the white villages that became the
successors of the Indian town — one planted on the site of
the Indian town on the upper Illinois river near Utica and
its successor, which was located for nearly two centuries
about seven miles above the junction of the Mississippi
and Kaskaskia rivers (and between them) until the cur
rent of the Mississippi changed and through its encroach
ments washed away a great portion of the village and un
til its main channel flowed through the channel of the Kas
kaskia and the remainder of the village was so endanger
ed as to require its removal.
The Indian village found by Marquette and his com
panions has been variously called Kuilka, La Vantum
and Kaskaskia (or Cascaschia, as Membre puts it ) and
its population has also been variously estimated. Many
of the Illinois Indians, who were driven from their
original seat, near Lake Michigan, by the Iroquois to the
west of the Mississippi, had returned to the east and were
located on the Illinois. In this village Marquette s.ays
he found seventy-four cabins. This was in 1673. Henne
pin, who arrived towards the close of December of 1679,
found it situated at 40° latitude in a marshy plain on the
right bank of the river and containing four hundred and
sixty cabins, each cabin four or five fires, each fire one
or two families.^ Father Zenobius Membre speaks of
it as "The village of the Ilinois Cascaschia, situated
west of the bottom of Lake Dauphin, a little southwest,
a. Hennepin, Description of Louisiana, 153. (Shea.)

49
at about 41° latitude. " This was in the beginning of 1680
and he says it was composed of "seven or eight thousand
souls. ""^ Marquette in his journal speaks of the kind
treatment accorded him at this village and the promise ex
tracted from him to return. On leaving he was conducted
by Indian escorts to Lake Michigan (Lake Illinois as it
was then called) and reached Green Bay at the close of
September where he remained the following winter and
summer. He left in October 1674 for the Illinois, reached
the Chicago river in November but could go no farther on
account of enfeebled health. His two companions, who
had come with him from the Green Bay mission, built a
cabin near this river and spent the "winter. On March
thirtieth, 1675, they left and reached the Des Plaines river
and floated dov/n to its junction with the Illinois river and
then do"wn to the Kaskaskias. In April, near Easter, they
were received in grand council on a large meadow and in
the midst of several thousand people (chiefs, warriors, wo
men and children had turned out) established the mission
of the Immaculate Conception, which has continued to this
day., and is known by the same name. Shortly
after, Marquette left for his home mission, but died
on the way on the eastern shore of Lake Michi
gan.'' Allouez was appointed his successor.*" In 1693
Father James Gravier built a chapel in the fort
of the Starved Rock. A record of baptisms dating
back to 1695 is among the archives of the present church
of Kaskaskia. From this it appears that in 1695 Gravier
a. LeClercq, Establishment of the Faith, Vol. II, 132. (Shea.)
b. Parkman, La Salle and the Disc, of the Great "West, 67.
c. "Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac', 250, 266, 290, 323.

50
baptized a child named Peter Aco, From this baptismal
record it also seems that from 1695 until the removal of
the Kaskaskia Indians, Fathers Gravier, Bineteau and
Marest functioned at this mission. About the latter part
of 1700 the Indians around the Kaskaskia mission, having
become tired of the constant harassments from the other
Indians, resolved to leave that portion of the country and
Father Marest, who officiated there, after endeavoring to
dissuade them from their project, finally joined them in
their migration to the south which resulted in the estab
lishment of the mission of the Immaculate Conception be
tween the Mississippi and Kaskaskia rivers about seven
miles north of the present city of Chester. Here it remain
ed with varying fortunes for nearly two centuries. It
gradually grew into a considerable village which served as
the early entrepot for trade between Louisiana, in the
south, and New France, in the north; which became the
capital of the territory of Illinois and the first capital of
the state and was recognized in the halcyon period im
der the French Commandants as the "Paris of the West."
On account of its proximity to the Mississippi, the
constant washings of the waters of the river in their
attempt to find a straighter channel, caused the 'vU-
lage to sufi^er much in later years. After the Mis
sissippi broke across the country and found its channel
in the Kaskaskia river so that the main current began to
flow through the Kaskaskia on the east side of the village,
an island was formed, the head of which graduaUy
washed away under the pressure of the waters in their
still further attempt to straighten the channel until the
safety of the buildings became endangered. Acres of land
were swept away, gardens were washed into the stream

51
and buildings were loosened from their foundations, until;
the work of devastation thus wrought by nature impressed
the village priest. Father L. W. Ferland, with the import
ance of making an attempt for the preservation of this;
olden Illinois settlement. And to his efforts may be at- ,
tributed, in a large measure, the existence of the new
Kaskaskia which has been established farther south on the
lower part of the island thus formed as above stated. The
olden cemetery, in which the pioneer dead had been
buried from time to time for a period dating back nearly
two hundred years, having been in danger of watery de
struction, the legislature of 1891 appropriated $10,000 for
the removal of the dead. Under this act, Father L. W.
Ferland, Hon. Charles Becker and Judge Cyrus Cook were
appointed commissioners and entrusted with the removal.
They selected C. M. Wheeler as secretary for the commis
sion, bought twenty acres of land situated on top of the
hill on the east of the river opposite Kaskaskia near the
ruined earthworks of an old fort and let the contract for
boxes and reinterments. The number of boxes conveyed
to the new cemetery amounted to thirty-eight hundred.
Some of these boxes contained a whole family. The south
part of the cemetery (which is Catholic) contains fifteen
hundred unknown, while in the north part (devoted to the
public generally) there are four hundred and fifty more
unkno"wn. It is a somewhat remarkable fact or
coincidence that whUe this first mission was estab
lished by an envoy from Canada (Father Mar
quette) after two centuries of its existence, its affairs
should be wound up, prior to its removal to its pres
ent site, where it has taken up its abode as a new Kas
kaskia, by another Canadian priest, Father Ferland, who

52
by nativity is a Canadian and a near kinsman to the Abbe
Ferland, a distinguished Canadian churchman and his
torian. In this connection it may be stated that about the time
of the removal of Kaskaskia from-4he northern Illinois
river to southern Illinois, Cahokia began its existence.
Prom the letter of St. Cosme,^ a missionary priest, it ap
pears that he made a voyage from upper Lake Michigan
to the site of Chicago and down the Illinois river to the
Mississippi and the day after reaching the Mississippi (or
on December 7, 1899) he came to the village of the Tam
marois. Pie learned at this village that the Indians knew
nothing of any priest except Father Gravier. The Tam
marois village was probably on the site of the present ham--
let of Cahokia as the Tammarois and Cahokia Indians
were neighboring tribes belonging to the same confeder
acy (the Illini) and practically occupied the same habitat.
It follows from this that Cahokia as a settlement or even
as a mission station does not antedate the year 1700.
There are indications,'' however, which warrant the state
ment that the approximate historic truth is that its begin
ning may be said to commence with 1700 and hence its
founding is about coetaneous with that of the Kaskaskia
of southern Illinois.
a. Mason in Breese, Barly Hist, of 111., 143 (in note).
b. Le Sueur's Journal.

53

DISCOVERY OF COAL IN ILLINOIS.
After the discovery of Illinois, JoUiet went back to
Canada and his report stimulated other adventurers. In
less than a decade came the bold enterprise of La Salle.
Through letters patent granted by Louis XIV, king of
France, May twelfth, 1678, he was permitted ' ' to endeavoi
to discover the western part of our country of Ne"Vv
France, and for the execution of this enterprise, to con
struct forts wherever you shall deem it necessary."'^
An expedition was organized that year with La Salle in
command and Tonti as his lieutenant. In the company
were Hennepin, Ribourde and Membre, friars of the Recol
lect order. This expedition went from Canada and passed
through the St. Lawrence river and the Lakes until they
reached the country of the Illinois toward the close of
1679 after various hardships encountered, the most im
portant of which was the matter of building their vessel,
the Griffin, and its subsequent loss as well as other difficul
ties with which they had to contend.
During this visit of La Salle's party to the country of
the Illinois (1679) Father Louis Hennepin, a Recollect mis
sionary, was with the party. And he makes the first his
torical mention of coal in this region. During their expedi
tion from Canada, after having arrived in the Miami coun
try and while they were seeking for a portage by which
they could reach the Illinois river, La Salle, while explor
ing the
a. Breese, Early Hist, of 111., Appendix B, 272.

54
country, became separated from the rest and as he did not
return as soon as they expected, searching parties were
sent after him. On the follo"wing day Hennepin and two
others went out again and in the afternoon found him,
' ' His hands and face all black with the coals and the wood
that he had lighted during the night which was cold."^
This was in the Miami country, a short distance from the
head-waters of the Illinois river. After giving an account
of how they reached the Illinois he says: "There are
mines of coal, slate, iron, and lumps of pure red copper
which are found in various places indicate that there are
mines and perhaps other metals and minerals, which wUl
one day be discovered."'' These vague references would
furnish no definite index to the location of the coal fields
hinted at beyond the inference that they were somewhere
in northern Illinois. When amplified by the testimony
of later writers it becomes possible to designate the loca
tion with greater certainty.
On the twenty-seventh of September, 1720, Father
Charlevoix arrived at the junction of the Kankakee
and Illinois rivers. Lower down on the lUinois at
its junction with a river which he mentions as being
called the Pisticoui and which flows from the country of
the Mascoutens, he speaks of a fall caUed la Char-
boniere "because they find many Coals in its Environs. "°
(This was in what is now La Salle County.)
From Kennedy's Journal"^ it appears that on the sixth
a. Hennepin, Description of Louisiana, 137 (Shea).
b. Hennepin, Description of Louisiana, 151 (Shea).
c. Charlevoix, 281.
d. Kennedy's Journal in Hutchins' Top. Des. 56, 61.

55
of August, 1773, he passed the junction of the Illinois and
Mackinaw rivers where he found some pieces of coal and
he says: "I was induced to walk up the river a few
miles, tho' not far enough, to reach a coal mine. In many
places I also found clinkers, which inclined me to think
that a coal mine, not far distant, was on fire, and I have
since heard, there was." On the ninth of August they^
passed the Vermilion and one mile farther, the water be
ing too low for the boat, the boat was left and they went
by land. On the tenth of August they came to the junc
tion of the Illinois and the Fox (Pisticoui). Proceeding
fifteen miles farther, they stopped at an encampment of
French traders on an island, but, receiving no informa
tion about the copper mine which they were hunting, thej
started back on the eleventh for their boat which was about
forty-five miles away according to his computation. That
night they got within nine miles of their boat. On the
morning of the twelfth, they went three miles farther
do'wn and being then six miles from their boat (which was
left one mile above the mouth of the Vermilion) they were
at this point seven miles above the mouth : which is near
the present to"wn of La Salle. This point must have been
near Utica, the site of the old Kaskaskia Indian to"wn.
Kennedy says : ' ' On the north-western side of this river
is a coal mine, that extends for half a mile along the mid
dle of the bank of the river, which is high. ' '
In a book issued in 1823, Beck says : ' ' Coal is found in
great abundance in different parts of the state; it is
a. Several Coureurs de Bois (forest rangers) were with him,
b. Beck, Gazetteer of 111. and Mo., 41,

56
of a good quality, and is very valuable on account of the
scarcity of timber. ' '
In the interval of time between Hennepin's account
and the present, the coal industry of this state has grown
to such extensive proportions that it is one of our leading
industries. From a summary furnished by the Secretary
of the Illinois Bureau of Labor Statistics it appears that
in 1905 there were 990 mines in the state which produced
37,183,374 tons and this product was secured by the
efforts of 59,230 employees. Fifty-six of the one hundred
and two counties of the state contributed toward this
production.

57

FIRST FORT IN ILLINOIS.
In January, 1680, La Salle's company was among the
tribes near Peoria where they built a fort which they
caUed Creve Coeur. From Hennepin's map it would
appear that it was located. on the east side of the river.^
Leclercq,'' who obtained his information from Father
Membre 's diary, speaks of the location as "a little emi
nence," while Hennepin" calls it "a little mound," and
La Salle'i caUs it "a little hiUock," and Tonti^ calls it "a
height" near to the river. It has been pretty definitely
settled where this site is and on the strength of the pre
ponderance of the views of the later historians, a monu
ment has been established on the spot at Wesley City in
Tazewell County by the Peoria Chapter of the Daughters
of the American Revolution.' The original fort was per
haps not a very pretentious structure but it served as a
defense against hostile Indian attacks. Hennepin
describes how the eminence was cut do"wn steep at
the sides and how they supported the earth with timber
and then placed a stockade around it while the
a. Hennepin, Description of Louisiana (Map) (Shea).
b. LeClercq, Establishment of the Faith, Vol. II, 123 (Shea).
c. Hennepin, Description of Louisiana, 176 (Shea).
d. La Salle in Margry, Vol. n, 48, 49.
e. Tonti, 61.
f. Ada Greenwood McLaughlin, 111, Hist, Soc, Pub. 7, (1902),
179 and suite.

58
summit was left in its natural shape except that they
placed a raised wall of earth at the edge. The men were
provided with barracks in two angles and the priests had
a cabin where they lodged and where they held services.
They also had a forge for the blacksmith and officers'
quarters where La Salle and Tonti were placed in the
middle of this fortified post.

60

61

FURTHER FRENCH OCCUPATION.
After La Salle's party arrived among the tribes near
Peoria in 1680, the building of a new vessel was started
for the Mississippi river voyage but on account of the
lack of certain articles necessary for its construction La
Salle went to the settlements in Canada and left Tonti in
charge with instructions to move the fort farther up.
About this time troubles were going on between the Iro
quois and the Illinois. Tonti left while La Salle was away
and when La Salle reached Creve Coeur again he found
it abandoned. He continued and reached the Mississippi
in December, 1680, but went back to the Miami country
in 1681, from where he crossed back into the Illinois coun
try and hearing of Tonti went and found him at Mack
inaw on the Lakes. The following year La Salle went
west again. This was his third attempt. He and his
companions went do"wn the Illinois in canoes. The vessel
at Creve Coeur was not yet built and in fact it was never
finished. On February sixth, La Salle and his compan
ions were again on the Mississippi river. They went
do"wn its current until they reached its mouth on
April ninth, 1682, and setting up a cross on that day
took possession of the country in the name of Louis
XIV and in his honor called the country, bordering on
the stream and its tributaries, Louisiana. This Louisiana
embraced an indefinite scope from the Gulf to the
Lakes or to v/here the indefinite bounds of New
Prance extended ; and becoming a part of New France be-

62
came subject to the sway of the French-Canadian govern
ment. On the return up the river to Arkansas, La Salle
fell sick and the priest Membre stayed with him while
Tonti went ahead to report the news. La Salle later joined
Tonti at St. Ignace. Then Tonti was sent to found a
colony in the Illinois country and La Salle joined him and
they built Fort St. Louis (Le Rocher) at the "Starved
Rock."^ La Salle was commissioned again in 1683 and
made governor of Louisiana. In 1685 his expedition by
sea landed near Matagorda Bay or Galveston Bay, having
missed the mouth of the Mississippi which he sought. He
searched in vain and was assassinated in 1687 near Trin
ity river. After the fort was built at ' ' Starved Rock, ' '
the Indians settled their villages around it and in 1684
Tonti's party and these friendly Indians repelled an attack
upon it made by two hundred Iroquois. Some historians
may try to use this isolated instance, with the semblance
of victory, as testimony in favor of the prowess of the
Illinois Indians, but, this defense can hardly be cited as
more than a scintilla of evidence in behalf of a nation
which was worsted so often and in this case became the
beneficiaries of a protective European infiuence whose
force under a trained leadership achieved the result. In
1686 Tonti went with forty men to the Gulf of Mexico
in search of La Salle. It has been conjectured by
some, and so stated by historians, who relied too im
plicitly on the guesswork of others, that Tonti's fol
lowers during this search or on their return settled
the villages of Cahokia and Kaskaskia in southern lUinois.
There is no warrant for such a belief. A later trip''
a. Parkman, La Salle and the Disc, of the Great "West, 294.
b. Mason's reference to St. Cosme's Letter, Breese, Early
Hist, of 111., 142 (note).

63
in which Tonti took a part or acted as a guide may have
served to confuse the inference on this head. These
stations, in their present locations, were not in existence
until about the year 1700. This date is the nearest ap
proach to accuracy that can be given as stated in a pre
vious chapter.
In 1712 came the grant to Crozat. In the letters-
patent granted to Anthony Crozat by the king of France
dated September fourteenth, 1712, reference is made to
the commission given La Salle in 1683 by which he was
"to undertake a discovery of the countries and lands
which are situated in the northern part of America be
tween New France and New Mexico ' ' and the royal decree
expresses a belief, based on the success of La Salle 's enter
prise, that communication might be established between
New France and the Gulf of Mexico by means of the riv
ers. Inasmuch as the French government had been dis
tracted by the war in Europe, there had been no chance
to continue these enterprises and hence the matter re
mained in abeyance until a more favorable time — until it
was decided to make this grant to Crozat. In these
letters-patent the country is officially called Louisiana.
Crozat is granted the commerce of the country for fifteen
years and the territory in which he is to carry on trade
is described as bounded by New Mexico on the one hand
and the English Carolina on the other. The grant em
braced various rivers, particularly the Mississippi from
the sea as far as the Illinois country, the Ohio and the
Missouri, with the minor tributaries of these great
streams, with whatever bordered along their courses;
thereby confirming the claim of Prance laid to
this country which extended from the Gulf to New
Prance. The articles provided that all of the afore-

64
said be under the name of the government of Louisiana
and be subordinate to the general government in New
France, providing further that .all the lands derived from
the Illinois be united with the general government of New
France whenever required, with the right to enlarge the
government of Louisiana whenever deemed fit. These
letters also carried with them permission to mine and hunt
for precious stones; and further, the property right was
given him to all factories which he might erect and to
lands which he might cause to be cultivated. The customs
of Paris were to become the law for the guidance of this
new province of Louisiana. Provision was made upon
what terms he might enjoy these privileges. The forego
ing privileges were the principal ones embraced in the
grant except that it provided that if he deemed it proper
for the culture of his plantations he might employ blacks
and for this purpose might send a ship every year to trade
for them on the coast of Guinea and in turn might sell
them to the inhabitants of the Louisiana colony. Crozat,
being disappointed in the pursuit of mineral treasure, af
ter nearly five years of prospecting, willingly surrendered
his rights under this patent in 1717. Although the search
for mineral treasure proved somewhat disappointing, yet,
the energy employed during these adventures, the influx of
migration and the stimulus given to primitive trade, serv
ed to lay the foundation for the early time settlements,
which a few years thereafter became centers of trade and
population. Although Laws' organization of the Company
of the West or Royal India Company, with property rights
in the soil of Louisiana, ended in failure with the explosion
of what was known as "The Mississippi Scheme" yet
during the

65
life of these grants beginnings were made which served as
foundations for the upbuilding of the Louisiana country.
Although Crozat had not realized his expectations, it
was decided by a council of state at Versailles that the
colony of Louisiana should be continued and as it was the
opinion of this council that the undertaking was too great
for any individual enterprise, they concluded to give the
administration to a company and this resulted in the crea
tion of the Western Company or Royal India Company.
The charter of this company was given its force by the
French Parliament September sixth, 1717.^ Prior to this
time the settlers had held title to their lots and gardens
and farms and pasture lands through Indian grants and
possession and actual cultivation and occupation of the
soU but thenceforth a more definite system was inaugu
rated and yet one which in after years became a source of
much troublesome litigation on account of its inadequacy
when put to the test, though it served its purpose in its
0"wn time.
This Royal India Company made many grants of land
to applicants for the purposes of cultivation. The
earliest records go back as far as 1722 and were made
by Boisbriant, the first commandant in Illinois, on be
half of the king and the Royal India Company by Des
Ursins, the principal commissary. One of the largest
grants was made June fourteenth, 1723, to Philip Fran
cois Renault,'' Director-General of the company's min
ing explorations. He was given a league square in the
southwest part of the present county of Monroe and
about fourteen thousand acres at Peoria.
a. Gayarre, History of Louisiana, "Vol. I, 192.
ta. It is stated in connection with these mining operations
that Renault brought "five hundred slaves,"

66
The early French settlers settled in villages. Around
their houses they enclosed a lot of ground which they used
for garden and stable purposes. Their farms extended
from the villages out over the adjacent prairie or bottom
lands and were narrow strips which extended from the
villages to the river or creek on the one side and the bluffs
on the other. The inhabitants thus lived in communities
which afforded mutual protection while at home and also
while working in their fields. These farms were kno"wn
as ' ' The Common Fields. ' ' In addition to this there was
a "Common" which furnished them in common "with pas
turage and fuel. On June twenty-second, 1722, these in
dividual and common rights were confirmed to the inhabi
tants by Boisbriant, the king's lieutenant of Louisiana,
and by Des Ursins for the Royal India Company. Bois
briant, who was second in official rank in the Louisiana
government by virtue of his station, was the commandant
of the Illinois portion of the country until he was caUed
to the post of acting governor when Bienville the gov
ernor was called to France. Under Bienville as governor
the planting of New Orleans was set on foot in 1718. The
population of Louisiana then was about fifteen hundred.
Follo"wing the planting of New Orleans in 1718 came the
planting of Fort Chartres in the Illinois country and in
1719 the village of St. Phillipe upon what became the
Renault grant "within a few miles of the fort and also the
village of Ste. Anne near the fort. On a tract containing
several thousand acres granted to Boisbriant the village
of Prairie du Rocher commenced.
In 1721 when Charlevoix visited the Kaskaskia and

67
Fort Chartres region, in a letter of that time "written by
him, he has the following to say: "The French are here
pretty much at their Ease. A Fleming, a Servant of the
Jesuits, has taught them how to sow Wheat,^ and it
thrives very well. They have some Horned Cattle and
Fowls, ' ' He also speaks well of the manner in which the
Illinois Indians cultivate the lands and mentions that
their wives spin Buffalo's wool and make it into gowns
which they sew together "with the Thread made of the
Sinews of Roe-Bucks."
When Bienville was called to Prance, Boisbriant as
sumed the post of acting governor of Louisiana and Des
Liettes became commandant of the Illinois country until
he was succeeded by St. Ange de Belle Rive in 1730 who
maintained the post till 1734. In 1732 however the Royal
India Company surrendered its privileges to the crown
and a new government was instituted for Louisiana which
took it from New France and included Illinois as a de
pendency. After the surrender of the patent of the
Royal India Company and the consolidation of the Illinois
country with the Louisiana province came a new order of
government. Over the province there was appointed (by
the king) a governor, an intendant and a royal council.
The governor had power to appoint a commandant over
the Illinois country. Now followed the regime of the
French commandants.
D'Artaguette''  1734-36
De La Buissoniere<=  1736-40
St. Clair  1740-43
a. Charlevoix 293, — Census 1900 IU. produced 19,795,500
bushels.
b. "Wounded, captured and burned to death with companions
in expedition against Chickasaws in Mississippi.
c. Also led a Chickasaw expedition.

68
De Bertel  1743-49
St. Clair  1749-51
Makartya  1751-60
Neyon de ViUiers  1760-64
St. Ange de Belle Rive  1764-65
These commandants ruled tUl 1765 when after the
French-Indian war under the treaty between France and
England the Illinois country was transferred to the British.
The Illinois country, as it had been known all along up to
this time, (on account of it having been the country of the
Illinois Indians) was a part of the French possessions
kno"wn as Louisiana for eighty-three years from 1682 tiU
1765. During the French regime other settlements sprang
up. Across the Mississippi river in 1764 St. Louis and
Ste. Genevieve began ; on this side in 1760 Prairie du Pont
commenced near Cahokia (which place then had a mill for
corn and planks) while in the north were the Wisconsin
and lake region settlements. A considerable trade was
carried on between these settlements.
As the regime of the commandants was largely in the
nature of the administration of affairs in a mUitary way,
a judge was also appointed by the authorities in New Or
leans who was to exercise a sort of super"nsion over the
business affairs of this dependency. If he had any exten
sive judicial powers granted him they seem never to have
been exercised to any greater extent than to keep a general
oversight over the civil officer who was stationed part
of the time at Kaskaskia and part of the time at Fort
a. Fort Chartres was rebuilt, improved and enlarged under
Makarty's Administration.

69
Chartres or the village of New Chartres. This civil officer
appears to have been a sort of prothonotary or as he de
scribes himself "a registrar of the bench." He kept a
register in the French language which is still in existence
belonging to the archives of St. Clair County.^ The
entries cover a period from 1737 to 1769 and it is called
"Registre des Insinuations des Donations aux Siege des
Illinois." It is a record of gifts by will, marriage con
tracts and the like. At the end of each year there ap
pears subjoined an act of approval by a representative of
the marine department and the civil bench. The register
is interesting in the way of showing that there appeared
before the local functionary inhabitants of Cahokia, Can
ada, Fort Chartres, Kaskaskia, Ste. Genevieve, St. Louis,
St. PhiUipe, Vinceimes. It also shows the existence and
status of slavery in the early days in Illinois. The slaves
were negroes and Indians. As samples among the many
recitals on this point it appears that in 1751 Mr. and Mrs.
Bourbonnais gave to Pierre Aubuchon, who was their son-
in-law, an old negro slave, who, in the language of the
transfer, could only do the ordinary kitchen work and
chores. In 1755 Francois Lacroix gave his property to
his children on condition that they maintain him. His
slaves are enumerated as one Indian man, two Indian
women, and one little Indian girl aged seven years. The
last entries in the book are of instruments dated in June,
1768. a. "When the original St. Clair County was divided into St.
Clair and Randolph counties, in tthe division of the papers
and records this register, which is bound in hog-hide,
was allowed to remain in St. Clair County. A fuller de
scription appears by author in Trans, of 111. State Hist.
Soc. 1901, 63-65.

70
To furnish a satisfactory and accurate presentation of
the regime of the French commandants in Illinois is a
somewhat difficult undertaking, as the material bearing
on the subject necessarily must be gathered from scatter
ed sources. Prom various early time records hints may
be gathered. Margry 's collections of general data per
taining to French affairs in America are of great use-
^fulness, while the work of Wallace on "lUinois and
Louisiana under French rule" is a valuable contribution
to this branch of research. The different histories on
.Louisiana are helpful aids, notably the "writings of Gay
arre. In the custody of the Missouri Historical Society
in St. Louis is a valuable manuscript on "Fort Chartres"
and its commandants by Oscar W. CoUet which shows
much research and presents a collection of desirable his
torical material concerning the period of French occupa
tion of the Illinois country. A very erudite paper by Mrs.
(¦'Mathew T. Scott on "Old Port Massac" published m the
Transactions of the Illinois State Historical Society for
1903 contains a list of the commandants, the correct
ness of which is certainly as close a chronological arrange
ment as it is practicable to obtain. Prom these sources
¦"nre derived the indices on which our information depends
with reference to the sway of the French commandants
in the Illinois country.

72

73

ENGLAND.
Prior to the treaty of Paris of 1763 France had by
secret treaty in 1762 conveyed to Spain her claim to Louis
iana west of the Mississippi river ; so that when possession
was taken by the English in 1765 their claim was limited
to the eastem portion. The treaty of Paris was made
February tenth, 1763. It transferred everything east of
the Mississippi and north of Iberville. Under this the
actual transfer was made October tenth, 1765, when St.
Ange de Belle Rive, the last French commandant, deliver
ed Port Chartres to Captain Sterling and a company of
Highlanders. In 1768 Colonel Wilkins arrived in Kaskaskia on Sep
tember fifth by the order of General Gage and establish
ed a eourt of seven judges with monthly sessions at
Port Chartres. This was the first real legal machinery
set in motion in Illinois. It superseded the military tri
bunal existing theretofore; though it was not popular
on account of the lack of trial by jury. On account of
changed conditions many of the French moved away and
crossed the Mississippi river. During this English occupa
tion Pontiac was assassinated at Cahokia in 1769. This
led to the Indian war which almost exterminated the Illi
nois. Pontiac had fought on the side of the French dur
ing the French-Indian War and, foreseeing that the tide
of white immigration would engulf his own race unless re
sisted, he formed most of the western tribes into a
great confederacy for the purpose of offering resistance.

74
This is called in history the Conspiracy of Pontiac though
in reality it was but a defense of native rights. For four
years he held at bay the sweep of English migration to the
westward but finally succumbed against superior odds.
His management of this campaign stamps him as the great
est character in the history of the aboriginal race. He
remained friendly to the French to his latest years. In
his last year he went to St. Louis and visited his friend
Chouteau. During this visit he heard of a baU in Caho
kia and he determined to visit his French friends in this
village. It was during his stay in this village that a cor
rupt conspiracy was formed by an English trader to en
compass his destruction. The trader bought a half-breed
Peoria Indian with a barrel of rum to carry out the de
signs of the conspiracy. The Illinois country was then
occupied by the English. After Pontiac's assassination
he was sent to St, Louis and buried near the fort ; near the
site of the present Southern Hotel, in whose lobby a tablet
to his memory was placed on one of the waUs in 1900 by
the St, Louis Chapter of the Daughters of the American
Revolution.^ In 1772 on account of the encroachments of the river
the government headquarters were moved from Fort Char
tres to Kaskaskia. Here Roeheblave was in possession
when captured by Clark. Under the conquest of the
Northwest in 1778 and its acquisition by Virginia the Illi
nois country became Virginian.
a. Pontiac was born in 1710. Assassinated 1769.

77

FORT CHARTRES AND THE CONQUEST OF THE
NORTHWEST.
The importance of Illinois was recognized immediately
upon its discovery. The Mississippi river, the great cen
tral water-way of North America, bounding it on the west,
connected with the Ohio, which furnished communication
with the east and bounding it on the southeast, the great
Chain of Lakes to the northeast, furnishing an avenue to
the Atlantic Ocean, gave Illinois a central and command
ing position, which, coupled with its 0"wn inland streams,
its fertile soil and its mineral substrata made it the key to
dominion in North America for any power that might be
fortunate enough to come into possession of this favored
tract of territory, which, by nature, seems to be designed
to be as much the political heart of a great nation as the
human heart is the dominant factor in the physical organ
ism of man. The French, therefore, seized upon the op
portunity after its discovery to form settlements around
the mission stations and to build forts to protect them
selves, not alone against the movements of the native
tribes, but, also to better enable them to retain a firm
hold on their possession. In addition to the small forts,
one was projected in an advantageous position to become
in time the controUing center for their dominion in
this country. The site selected was in the present
county of Randolph, four miles to the west of what
is now Prairie du Rocher and near the Mississippi
river. It was selected in 1718 by Boisbriant and

78
when completed was a wooden stockade surrounding the
interior earthworks. Later it was ordered rebuilt of stone
and a new structure about a mile above the old fort and
near the river was made according to a plan of the engi
neer Jean Baptiste Saussier^ in 1751. It covered about
four acres of ground. The walls, which were sixteen feet
high, were two and a half feet thick at the base. Within
this enclosure were barracks, stables, store-rooms, officers'
quarters and magazines.'' It is estimated that from time
to time a million dollars were spent on this immense forti
fication. Few vestiges of this fort are now left. The
foundation of the wall may still be plainly traced amid
the growth of weeds, brier and timber, and also the founda
tions of some of the larger buUdings. Two of the wells
are still in existence and a powder magazine in the north
eastern portion made of solid masonry is preserved almost
intact to this day. In 1772 through encroachments of the
river the fort was abandoned as it was considered un
tenable on account of the crumbling of one of its waUs.
The headquarters were then moved to Kaskaskia.
The importance of Illinois was likewise recognized by
the English for after its transfer to England they con
tinued to garrison Port Chartres untU the removal of their
headquarters to Kaskaskia.
During the war of the American Revolution a young
Virginian who had done military duty among the frontier
settlements of Kentucky, which was then a part of Virginia,
recognizing the importance of the Illinois country, con-
a. Dr. Snyder says this was original spelling of name.
b. Snyder, Capt. John Baptiste Saucier, 29.

79
ceived the idea that he could best serve the cause of Ameri
can Independence by aiming a blow at the British power
in the west. He had virtually been in command for Virginia
in the Kentucky region during the year 1777 and it was
then that he projected the plan to capture the French
settlements in the Illinois country and pursuant to this
aim he enlisted the good offices of Patrick Henry, the gov
ernor of Virginia, from whom he received a commission
and instructions which should enable him to carry out his
intentions. The expedition which was organized resiUted
in the capture of Kaskaskia with Roeheblave its British
commandant as well as the military posts at Cahokia and
Vincennes.^ The capture of Kaskaskia was accomplished
first and as if complying not alone with the intent of the
Declaration of Independence, but also as if it had been
designed by the Pates that the anniversary, in its an
nouncement, should be celebrated by some substantial
fruition, this capture was effected on the night of the
fourth of July, 1778. This was done by George Rogers
Clark and his little army of " a little upwards of two hun
dred" men.''
a. Father Pierre Gibault, Charles Gratiot and Francois Vigo
deserve honorable mention for services rendered in the
Revolutionary cause through supplies contributed to aid
the soldiers and further the making of Indian treaties.
b. Clark's letter to Mason In English, Conquest of the N. "W.,
Vol. 1, 437.

83

VIRGINIA AND THE COUNTY OF ILLINOIS.^
Through the conquest by Clark, which was as decisive
a step in the war of the Revolution as was the breaking
of the backbone of the Confederacy at Vicksburg during
our CivU War, the dominion to the Northwest passed to
Virginia, carrying Illinois with it as a part thereof. The
legislature of Virginia passed a vote of thanks to Clark,
his officers and men, erecting the Illinois country into ' ' the
county of Illinois"'' and appointing John Todd as the
county commandant." He had seen service on the fron
tiers during the Revolutionary war and was thoroughly
well adapted for the position. His commission may be
found entered up in Todd's Record or Minute Book now
in the quarters of the Chicago Historical Society. This
Minute Book was found in the court house at Chester.'^
The commission was issued by Patrick Henry, the Governor
of Virginia. It contained very full instructions on how
the county commandant was to deal with his surround-
a. "The county of Illinois" it would seem was meant to
embrace the whole Northwest, viz.: Ohio, Indiana, Illi
nois, Michigan and "Wisconsin.
b. This legislative provision applied to the citizens "on the
"Western side of the Ohio, '
Moses, 111. Hist, and Stat., Vol, I, 159,
c. Edwards, Hist, of 111., 7,
English, Conquest of the N, "W., Vol, I, 249,
d. Mason, 111, in the 18th Cent,, 51.

84
ings and above all breathes that spirit of liberty with
which the air of the New Continent was laden. The com
mandant was counselled "to cultivate and conciliate the
affections of the French and Indians;" "to advise with
the most intelligent and upright persons" that might come
in his way (particularly Colonel Clark) ; to watch hostUe
movements and to co-operate in a military "way with
Clark or troops that might be sent from Virginia; "to in
culcate on the people the value of liberty;" "to see that
the inhabitants have justice administered to them for any
injury received from the troops;" to "punish every at
tempt to violate the property of the Indians ; " to cultivate
the Spanish commandant near Kaskaskia and to see that
Roeheblave 's wife and family did not suffer. These were
the principal injunctions. Beyond this the Govemor
showed his faith in his appointee by reciting the following
in the commission: "Act according to the best of your
judgment in cases where these instructions are sUent and
the laws have not otherwise directed." A popular gov
ernment began its era in the county of lUinois and the
people were allowed to elect judges for their primitive
courts who functioned at Cahokia, Kaskaskia and Prairie
du Rocher. Then came an influx of settlers from Vir
ginia. In 1781 came Bond, Garrison, Edd, Moore, Pig
gott and Rutherford and settled near the BeUe Fontaine
(Beautiful Fountain) in what is now Monroe County; and
either on account of this immigration or the fact that the
territory on the Missouri side of the Mississippi river was
then Spanish territory, the low tract of land extending
from Alton to Chester and from the river to the bluffs was
called the American Bottom.^
a. American Bottom, See page 42. (Note.)

85
Todd fell in the battle of Blue Licks August nineteenth,
1782. After this, a Lieutenant-Commandant par interim
functioned for a whUe in a perfunctory way, but, from the
cession by Virginia to the United States of the Northwest
in 1784, to the establishment of the St. Clair government,
or rather the creation of St. Clair County in 1790, there
was not much systematic administration of governmental
affairs in Illinois.

89

UNITED STATES— NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
After the acquisition of the Northwest Territory, as
stated in the preceding chapter, the Congress of the
United States by act of September sixth, 1780, recommend
ed cessions to the United States, of claims on the part of
the several states''- holding the same ' ' to waste and unap
propriated lands in the western country" "for the com
mon benefit of the Union" and in pursuance thereto, on
January second, 1781, Virginia made a cession of her claim
to the territory northwest of the Ohio to which Congress
stipulated certain terms, by an act of September thirteenth,
1783, on which the United States would agree to accept the
cession. FoUowing these preliminaries came an act of the
General Assembly of Virginia of December twentieth, 1783,
by which authority was given to the delegates of that
state in Congress to convey to the United States the
rights of that Commonwealth to the territory acquired by
it. The main conditions of this transfer provided in sub
stance that the territory should be formed into states in
due course of time and when admitted as members of
the Federal Union that they should enjoy "rights of sov
ereignty, freedom and independence" common to all the
states. ' ' That the French and Canadian Inhabitants, and
a. In 1785 Massachusetts ceded from 42 degrees 2 minutes to
43 degrees, 43 minutes and 12 seconds north latitude,
west of New York to the Mississippi.
In 1786 Connecticut ceded from 41 degrees to 42 degrees 2
minutes north latitude, west of Pennsylvania to the
Mississippi.

90
other settlers of the Kaskaskies, St. Vincents, and the
neighboring villages, who have professed themselves citi
zens of Virginia, shall have their possessions confirmed
to them, and be protected in the enjoyment of their rights
and liberties. ' ' And that a grant of land shoiUd be made
to Clark and his officers and soldiers. In pursuance of
all of the foregoing a deed of cession on March first, 1784,
was made by the delegates of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson,
Samuel Hardy, Arthur Lee and James Monroe, to the
United States by which the Virginia title passed to the
tract of country "lying and being to the northwest of the
river Ohio."
By the act of Congress of July thirteenth, 1787, called
the "Ordinance of 1787," for the government of this
territory, provision was made with reference to inher
itances, descents, wills, conveyances, transfers, sales, etc.,
saving, however, again to the French and Canadian In
habitants their laws and customs. The ordinance pro
vided for a Governor, a secretary and a court of three
judges. The Governor and judges, or a majority, had
the power of making laws subject to disapproval by Con
gress until a General Assembly should be organized and
then the legislature was given power to make alterations.
The Governor was also Commander-in-Chief of the militia.
Before the organization of the legislature, he could also
appoint such officers as were necessary to preserve peace
and good order. Afterward, the legislature was to make
regulations. The Governor was given power to lay out
counties and townships subject to alteration afterward by
the legislature. The ordinance prescribed the mode of
electing representatives and their qualifications. It also
made provision for the organization of a General Assem
bly. Not less

91
than three nor more than five states were to be formed in
this territory, and the boundaries, as soon as Virginia
should consent to modify her cession, were to be fixed as
follows: "The western state in the said territory shall
be bounded by the Mississippi, the Ohio and the Wabash
rivers; a direct line draAvn from the Wabash and Post
Vincents, due north, to the territorial line between the
United States and Canada ; and by the said territorial line
to the Lake of the Woods and Mississippi. The middle
state shall be bounded by the said direct line, the Wabash
from Post Vincents to the Ohio, by the Ohio, by a direct
line dra"wn due north from the mouth of the Great Miami
to the said territorial line, and by said territorial line.
The eastern state shall be bounded by the last mentioned
direct line, the Ohio, Pennsylvania, and the said terri
torial line; Provided, however, and it is further under
stood and declared, that the boundaries of these three
states shall be subject so far to be altered, that, if Con
gress shall hereafter find it expedient, they shall have au
thority to form one or two states in that part of the said
territory which lies north of an east and west line dra"wn
through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michi
gan. ' ' It was also further provided that there should be
"neither slavery nor involuntary servitude" except as a
punishment for crimes, providing, however, for the return
of fugitives to the original states where such labor or ser
vice could be lawfully claimed. This latter provision
was the distinguishing feature of the ordinance, which in
after years led to the making of so much history on the
subject of African slavery and which resulted in making
Illinois a prominent factor in the ultimate settlement of
the question as subsequent events show.

92
A most important article in the ordinance was to this
effect: "Religion, morality and knowledge being neces
sary to good government and the happiness of mankind,
schools and the means of education shall forever be en
couraged." On this foundation is built the splendid
system of education which is being maintained in the
Northwest and which has certainly placed Illinois in the
forefront. On the seventh of July, 1786, Congress stated certain
reasons why the foregoing division of this territory
"would be attended with many inconveniences" and rec
ommended a revision so as to allow such di"vision into
states "not more than five nor less than three in number,
as the situation of that country and future circumstances
might require," to which Virginia assented by act of
December thirtieth, 1788.
On February first, 1788, General Arthur St. Clair was
appointed Governor of this new territory. After the re
vision of the ordinance of 1787 and its acceptance by Vir
ginia, St. Clair was reappointed in 1789. Although born
in Scotland, he served in the French and Indian War and
the Revolution and was in public life so much that he be
came identified with the interests of the new world to that
extent which made his appointment as appropriate as if
he had been to the "manor born."
The seat of territorial government was placed at Mari
etta (Ohio). Under the power conferred by the ordinance
of 1787 on the Governor, the county of Washington (in
Ohio) was the first county organized and then the county
of HamUton (also in Ohio) followed. In the spring of
1790, the Governor

94

95
came to the lUinois country and established a county and
appointed officers to attend to its affairs. This coxmty
was named after himself. It was the first county erected
"within the confines of the territory embraced within the
present limits of Illinois and its extent covered about one
third of the area of our state. The proclamation^ estab
lishing this county fixed its boundaries as follows :
"Beginning at the mouth of the little Miehilmakinack
river, running thence southerly in a direct line to the
mouth of the little river above Fort Massac upon the Ohio
river; thence with the said river to its junction with the
Mississippi ; thence up the Mississippi to the mouth of the
Illinois river, and so up Illinois river to the place of be
ginning, with all the adjacent islands of said rivers, Illinois
and Mississippi."
The date of this proclamation was April twenty-sev
enth, 1790. The population of Illinois, at that time, was
about two thousand in round numbers.
In the year of the organization of this county, a belief
in witchcraft'' being still prevalent, two negroes were
executed for witchery at Cahokia as mentioned by Gover
nor Reynolds." At this execution, a flock of crows was
observed flying over the scene and it was remarked by the
assembly that the spirits of the witches had gone Into the
crows and had taken flight.
In 1787, James Smith of Kentucky, a Baptist preacher,
a. Book A, p. 1. Recorder's Office, St. Clair Co., 111.
b. Mason, 111. in the 18th Cent., 59.
c. Reynolds, Pioneer Hist, of 111., 143.

96
came to the New Design''^ settlement in Monroe County
and his arrival meant the beginning of Protestantism in
Illinois, which in 1793 received an added impulse through
the arrival of Joseph Lillard, a Methodist missionary.''
As an important event, not alone in the history of this
territorial period, but, important in the history of the state
on account of its bearing on its progress, was the arrival
of "the first American school master." Governor Rey
nolds says that this was John Seely, who came in 1783 to
the New Design."
In 1795, the county of St. Clair was divided and the
southern portion was erected into Randolph County, while
the northern part remained under its original name. This
was done by the Proclamation of the Governor on October
fifth, 1795. The dividing line was established at "Cove
Spring, a little south of the New Design, and running from
thence due east, etc." After the division, these two
counties remained subject to the jurisdiction of the gov
ernment of the Northwest Territory until by act of Con
gress of May seventh, 1800, the Northwest Territory was
divided into two parts. The one part shortly afterward
became the present state of Ohio, while the other part
was erected into the Indiana Territory, and General Wil
liam Henry Harrison was appointed as Governor. The act
provided that from the fourth of July, 1800, the territory
northwest of the Ohio and west "of the line beginning at
the Ohio, opposite the mouth of Kentucky river, ' ' to Port
a. The New Design Settlement was formed in the neighbor
hood of the Belle Fontaine in Monroe County by Amer
ican pioneer immigrants in 1782.
b. Cartwright, 167.
c. Reynolds, Pioneer Hist, of 111., 122.

97

TERRITORY

99

103
Recovery and north to Canada should be the Indiana Ter
ritory. Illinois as a part of this tract remained subject
to the jurisdiction of the Indiana Territory and sent its
delegates to the Indiana territorial legislature at Vin
cennes until the act of Congress of February third, 1809,
divided the Indiana Territory into two separate govern
ments, one of which became the Territory of Illinois. This
Territory of Illinois, which was created to commence its
existence on the first day of March, 1809, embraced the
tract "west of the Wabash river and a direct line drawn
from the said Wabash river and Post Vincennes due
north" to Canada. The following year it contained a
population of 12,282 as shown by the census of 1810.
Soon after the creation of this territory, namely, on
April twenty-fourth, 1809, Ninian Edwards^ was ap
pointed as its Governor. Governor Edwards was born
in Maryland in 1775. He became a lawyer by profession
and moved to Kentucky, where he became Chief Justice of
the Court of Appeals. He was recommended to President
Madison by Henry Clay for Governor of the Illinois Terri
tory and was appointed on the foregoing date and again
in 1812, when the territory was raised to the second grade
and reappointed from time to time until the admission of
the state. He was also elected as one of the first United
States Senators with Jesse B. Thomas, on the admission
of the state into the Union, and was elected its Governor
in 1826. He died at BeUevUle July twentieth, 1833. The
county of Edwards was named after him.
The earthquake of 1811 mentioned by Rejoiolds'' was an
a. Edwards, Hist, of 111., 27.
b. Reynolds, My Own Times, 125

104
event of considerable physical importance. This occurred
on the night of November sixteenth. The shocks were so
severe as to cause great fear both among the population
and the cattle. Through the American Bottom, chimneys
were thrown do"wn, houses were cracked and the bells in
the churches rang.
In 1812, Illinois was raised to a territory of the second
grade and Gallatin, Johnson and Madison counties were
formed on September fourteenth.^ The act of Congress
of May second, 1812, raising the territory into the second
grade, provided by its terms for an extension of the right
of suffrage and also in thus raising its grade gave
to the territorial legislature unlimited powers of legis
lation except where restrained by the ordinance of 1787.
Following this, up to the period of statehood, our ci"7il
history is mainly noted for its creation of new civil divis
ions in the shape of new counties. Edwards'" County
(named after the Governor) was formed November
twenty-eighth, 1814; White" County on December fifth,
1815; Monroe"^ County on January sixth, 1816; Jackson^
and Pope' Counties on January tenth, 1816; Craw-
fords County on December thirty-first, 1816; Bond''
a. By Proclamation of Ninian Edwards, Governor of Illinois
Territory. See Ter. Rec. of III. of 1809-1818, edited by
Prof. B. J. James and published by the Illinois State
Hist. Lib. 1901, p. 26.
b. Ter. Rec. of 111. of 1809-181S, p. 35.
c. Acts of 1815-16, p. 5.
d. Acts of 1815-16, p. 25.
e. Acts of 1815-16, p. 62.
f. Acts of 1815-16, p. 66.
g. Acts of 1816-17, p. 21.
h. Acts of 1816-17, p. 28.

105
County on January fourth, 1817 ;' Franklin,'^ Union'' and
Washington" Counties on January second, 1818.
During this time, however, the progress of events was
somewhat enlivened by the first appearance of steamboats
in the west.*^
After having passed through its various vicissitudes
and changes involving different occupants, discoverers,
claimants, possessors and o"wners to which were added
nine years of its own individual territorial period, Illinois
finally, one hundred and forty-five years after its discov
ery by white men, was admitted as an integral part of the
Union and granted all the rights of sovereignty pertaining
to each of the members of our great sisterhood of states.
It was the twenty-first state to be admitted. A new design
for our national fiag had been adopted some time previ
ously and the first star that was added to the constellation
on the field of azure blue was the star of Illinois.
a. Acts of 1817-18, p. 11.
b. Acts of 1817-18, p. 15.
c. Acts of 1817-18, p. 39.
d. Ford, Hist, of 111., 96,
Reynolds, My Own Times, 177,
Moses, 111. Hist, and Stat,, Vol, I, 389,
For descriptions and quotations (except St, Clair and
Randolph Counties) see Acts, Ordinances, Constitutions,
Statutes of 111,

106

THE WAR OF 1812.
The second war against England was declared on June
eighteenth, 1812, on the recommendation of President
Madison. For a number of years prior thereto, the In
dians had been growing more and more hostile towards
the American inhabitants and settlers; desultory murders
and depredations had been committed from time to time
until finally Tecumseh made an effort to arouse all the
tribes of the Northwest against the United States. Gen
eral Harrison, with an army, undertook to disperse them
at the Prophet's Town on the Wabash, where they had
assembled in great numbers. The battle of Tippecanoe,
coming as it did on the heels of former hostUities, was an
announcement to the settlers that the Indian war had be
gun. And then, as Governor Reynolds says: "The
United States Rangers were established for the defense of
the frontiers."
During the war of 1812, at the instigation of British
Indian agents and traders, many barbarities were commit
ted by the Indians in Illinois. In every settlement and
neighborhood log forts were erected for defensive opera
tions. One had been placed on the site of Chicago and a
little garrison stationed at Fort Dearborn^ under Captain
Heald, under orders, evacuated the fort on August fif
teenth, 1812, and
a. Fort Dearborn was on the south side of the Chicago river
about a quarter of a mile from Lake Michigan, and was
garrisoned by about seventy men.

107
with the women and the children marched out, but, having
gone only a short distance, were attacked by savages. A
combat ensued which lasted until Heald 's force was con
siderably reduced, when the Indians withdrew for consul
tation, after which they proposed to spare the lives of the
survivors if they surrendered. Heald and his remaining
party did surrender but only to suffer the massacre of a
considerable part of their number.
Now came a concerted movement to stamp out the In
dian uprising. Governor Edwards prepared an expedition
by boat and by land. In October .of 1812, two boats were
sent up the Illinois river under Captain Craig, while the
Governor, with a force of four or five hundred men under
Colonel Russell, marched for the headquarters of the en
emy at Peoria in the vicinity of which the Indians were
established. About the same time. General Hopkins with
three or four thousand Kentucky volunteers left Vincennes
in order to form a junction with Governor Edwards.
Hopkins was deceived by his guides, the Indians fired the
prairies, and he was compelled to retreat and hence could
not form a junction with the Illinois troops. Edwards
waited, but, getting no reinforcements, retired to hunt
winter quarters, however, destroying the Indian villages
which lay on his return route. Peoria was burned be
cause Captain Craig's boats had been fired on by the In
dians and he suspected the inhabitants of having been in
the conspiracy with the Indians.
In 1813, another campaign was undertaken in northern
Illinois. The Illinois troops were joined by a force from
Missouri and together they marched to Peoria where they
built Port Clark (named in honor of George Rogers Clark),

108
burned Gomo 's to"wn and two other villages. Part of the
force was sent up the Illinois river, while a part was sent
to scour the Rock river country for the enemy; and the
Indians fled before their advance. A small force was
left in; Fort Clark and late in the fall of 1813 the little
army returned to Camp Russell*^ from where it started.
At the end of the war Fort Clark was abandoned by the
Americans and shortly after was burned by the Indians.
In 1814 Major Campbell went to Rock Island with a
force in boats and had an engagement with the Sac and
Pox Indians. Later in the same year Major Zachary
Taylor (afterward President of the United States) also
went to Rock Island with a force in boats and had an en
gagement "with the Indians and British.
Toward the end of 1814 hostUe operations began to
slacken and by the summer of 1815 peace was restored be
tween the United States and the tribes of the Northwest.
As bounties to the soldiers of the war of 1812, lands
were given which are embraced in what is kno"wn as The
Military Tract, which extends between the Mississippi and
Illinois rivers from the mouth of the Illinois northward
one hundred and sixty-nine miles.''
a. Established in 1812 as Military Headquarters.
b, Stevens, The Black Hawk War, 77,
References for foregoing chapter:
Beck, Gazetteer of 111, and Mo., 55, 56, 111, 143,
Brown, Hist, of 111., 291 and suite.
Edwards, Hist, of 111. (First Part.)
Peck, Gazetteer of 111,, 81, 87.
Reynolds, My Own Times, 128 and suite,
Reynolds, Pioneer Hist, of 111., 323 and suite.

109

THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
In the ordinance of 1787 it was provided with refer
ence to the Northwest Territory, in forming it into states,
that there should be "not less than three, nor more than
five." It was also provided that "The western state in
the said territory shall be bounded by the Mississippi, the
Ohio and the Wabash rivers; a direct line dra"wn from the
Wabash and Post Vincents, due north, to the territorial
line between the United States and Canada; and by the
said territorial line to the Lake of the Woods and Missis
sippi." Declaring further, "that, if Congress shall here
after find it expedient, they shall have authority to form
one or two states in that part of the said territory which
lies north of an east and west line dra"wn through the
southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan. ' '
Under this ordinance, if the original boundaries of this
western state had been allowed to remain, the state of
lUinois would have embraced also the state of Wisconsin.
But, Congress found it "expedient" to erect two states
out of this territory under the discretionary powers grant
ed by the ordinance. In 1818, a petition was presented to
Congress from the territorial legislature of Illinois, by the
territorial delegate, Nathaniel Pope, asking for admission
as a state. Through the efforts of Judge Pope an act of
admission was passed in which he secured the extension of
the northern boundary to the parallel of 42° 30' north
latitude instead of the southerly bend of Lake Michigan.

110
Later, a controversy arose over this boundary line be
tween the states of Wisconsin and Illinois, which ended
favorably to our state, as it was deemed that Congress
had a right to exercise this power under the clause which
made the matter of expediency the governing feature.
Through the work of Judge Pope, fourteen of the north
ernmost counties were saved to us. The act of admission
was passed April eighteenth, 1818, and by this the bound
aries were fixed as follows: "Beginning at the mouth of
the Wabash river; thence up the same, and with the line
of Indiana, to the northwest corner of said state; thence
east with the line of the same state to the middle of Lake
Michigan; thence north along the middle of said lake, to
north latitude 42° 30'; thence west to the middle of the
Mississippi river; and thence do"wn along the middle of
that river to its confiuence with the Ohio river ; and thence
up the latter river along its northwestern shore, to the be
ginning.'' Following this, at a convention held in Kaskaskia, a
state constitution was adopted on the twenty-sixth of
August, 1818, which was ratified by Congress on December
third of that year, and Illinois became a fuU fiedged state
on that date. This constitution provided the foregoing
boundaries and the constitutions of 1848 and 1870 have re
tained them since.
Our state has concurrent jurisdiction "with Indiana on
the Wabash, so far as it forms a common boundary, and
concurrent jurisdiction on the Mississippi with the states
west thereof, so far as it forms a common boundary, and
such jurisdiction on the Ohio "as she is now entitled to, or
such

Ill
as may hereafter be agreed upon by this state and the state
of Kentucky." The act of Virginia of December eighteenth, 1789,
creating the state of Kentucky, had provided with refer
ence to the Ohio river as follows : ' ' The use and naviga
tion of the river Ohio, so far as the territory of the pro
posed state, or the territory which shall remain within the
limits of this commonwealth lies therein, shall be free and
common to the citizens of the United States. And the re
spective jurisdictions of this commonwealth and of the
proposed state, on the river as aforesaid, shall be concur
rent only with the states which may possess the opposite
shores of the said river. ' '
At the first election held for officers of the new state
government, Shadrach Bond was elected Governor. He
was born in Maryland in 1773 and on his removal in 1794
to Illinois, settled in the American Bottom. He was a
member of the territorial legislature and also a territorial
delegate in Congress. He died in 1834. A monument
has been erected to his memory in the cemetery at Chester,
for which the state appropriated $1500 in 1881.
Pierre Menard became the first Lieutenant-Governor.
He was naturalized not more than a year before. As the
constitution required a citizenship of the United States for
thirty years, in order that Menard might be qualified to
hold the office, it was provided in the schedule of the con
stitution as follows : "Any person of 30 years of age who is
a citizen of the United States, and has resided within the
limits of this state two years next preceding his election,
shall be eligible to the office of lieutenant governor, any-

112
thing in section 13, article IH, of this constitution con
tained, to the contrary notwithstanding." And through
this he became legally qualified to hold the office of Lieu
tenant-Governor. A monument was erected to his mem
ory on the State House grounds at Springfield by his
friend Chouteau of St. Louis in 1885.
Within the foregoing boundaries, our state contains
55,405 square miles. Its extreme length, extending from
37° to 42° 30' north latitude, or from Cairo to Wisconsin,
is 378 miles. Its extreme width, extending from 87° 49'
to 91° 28' west longitude (Greenwich), is 212 miles.
As early as the year of the admission of the state, an
influx of German immigration began. Koerner mentions
some Swiss families that were here in 1818.^
a. Koerner, Das Deutsche Element, 245.
For descriptions and quotations, see Acts, Ordinances, Con
stitutions, Statutes of III.

113

BOND 1818-1822.
Shadrach Bond was inaugurated as the first Governor
of Illinois on October sixth, 1818,- The capital or seat of
state government was fixed at Kaskaskia which place had
been the seat of territorial government. New counties
were formed as follows during the year 1819, namely:
Alexander County on March fourth;'^ Clark County on
March twenty-second;'' Jefferson County on March
twenty-sixth;" Wayne County on March twenty-sixth.<i
The first legislature also provided for the removal of the
capital and the site of Vandalia was selected, to where the
government was moved in December, 1820. At the time
of this removal the state contained nineteen counties and
a population of 55,211."
When the General Assembly met at Vandalia in the
winter of 1820 the paramount question which agitated the
minds of the law-makers related to the incorporating
of a state bank. This agitation was brought about
in view of the depressed financial condition of affairs,
which condition had been produced by too much specula
tion and over-stimulation. This bank was to be at Van
dalia with four branches, namely,
a. Act of 1819, p. 113.
b. Act of 1819, p. 166.
c. Act of 1819, p. 267.
d. Act of 1819, p. 268.
e. TJ. S. Census,
Beck, Gaz, of 111. and Mo,, pub. in 1823, p. 56,

114
at Brownsville, Edwardsville, Shawneetown and the seat
of justice for Edwards County.^ The measure passed
successfully through the General Assembly. If its subse
quent workings had been equally successful it would have
been much more fortunate for the public. These banks
were authorized to issue their notes, bearing a small rate
of interest backed by the credit of the state, and these
notes were to be loaned to the people on personal and real
estate security. This scheme caught the popular favor, as
any scheme of like nature, which promises relief frcm com
mercial distress would be likely to do, until its promises
are found to be of the utmost futility. Hence, at first
nearly everybody was satisfied because nearly everybody
wanted money and through this governmental agency
nearly everybody received accommodations, until $300,-
000 were circulated in this way. As there seemed to be
no redemption, depreciation began to set in. As the se
curities furnished by the borrowers were of various na
tures, collections from them by the banks were extremely
dilatory and doubtful; and as change became scarce, the
fractional parts of bills, cut in pieces, served to take the
place thereof. With this condition of things it can be
well understood why these issues finally depreciated
until it took three dollars to pay for one. It may be
safely estimated that in the course of five years
through this project, the state was the loser to the
extent of more than a quarter of a million dollars.
It is refreshing to know, however, that in the midst of the
popular clamor a few sturdy men stood out boldly for
the honor and financial well-being of our commonwealth.
a. Act of 1821, pp. 80, 144.

115
John McLean, who was then speaker of the Assembly,
vigorously battled against the enactment of the proposi
tion, and although beaten, the public realized his worth in
after years to the extent of elevating him to the position
of a United States Senator and his memory is perpetuated
ih the name of the county of McLean. Pierre Menard
also understood the fallacy of the movement and when a
resolution was passed, asking the Secretary of the Treas
ury to accept these bills for public lands, whilst the pre
siding officer of the Senate, he offered to wager that this
would never be done. Menard County, on which he im
pressed his name, may be particularly proud of this god
father, while Illinois at the present day, relieved of the
dangers of a return to this sort of a currency system, will
revere his memory whUe gazing with pride upon his statue
in the grounds of the Capitol.
In 1821, the following counties were formed, namely:
Lawrence County on January sixteenth ;^ Greene County
on January twentieth;'' Sangamon County on January
thirtieth ;" Pike County on January thirty-first ;'^ Hamilton
County on February eighth;® Montgomery County on
February twelfth;* Fayette County on February four-
teenth.e When Pike County was formed, although its territorial

a.

Act

of

1821,

p.

16.

b.

Act

of

1821,

p.

26.

c.

Act

of

1821,

P-

45,

d.

Act

of

1821,

p.

59,

e.

Act

of

1821,

p.

113.

f.

Act

of

1821,

p.

142.

g-

Act

of

1821,

p.

164.

116
extent was great, yet, its population was sparse. Beck
wrote in 1823 that it "contains between 7 and 800 inhabit
ants."^ And of Chicago he wrote as of "a village of
Pike County, situated on Lake Michigan, at the mouth of
Chicago creek. It contains 12 or 15 houses, and about 60
or 70 inhabitants."'' The original boundaries of Pike
County were as follows: "beginning at the mouth of the
Illinois river, and running thence up the middle of said
river to the fork of the same, thence up the south fork of
said river until it strikes the state line of Indiana, thence
north with said line to the north boundary line of this
state, thence west with said line to the west boundary line
of this state, and thence with said line to the place of be
ginning."" Within these limits it embraced about one-
third of the state.
A law of February twelfth, 1821,*^ recited "whereas
Daniel D. Smith has prepared for engraving a map of this
state, the publication of which will greatly benefit the
people of said state and others; — Therefore," — and then
forty copies were authorized, ten of which were for the
Secretary of State 's office for the use of the General Assem
bly and one for each of the counties of the state to be kept
in the circuit clerk's office as county property "for the
use and inspection of the citizens."
Some doubts have been expressed by some historians as
to whether the state really had the required population
at the time of its admission. The congressional action
a. Beck, Gazetteer of 111. and Mo., 82.
b. Beck, Gazetteer of 111. and Mo., 100.
c. Act of 1821, p. 59.
d. Act of 1821, p. 147.

117

119
taken to authorize the formation of a state government re
quired forty thousand inhabitants resident in the terri
tory. As the census brought forth the required number
there is no room for quibbling on this subject. The
census of 1820 and Beck's Gazetteer of 1823 show that the
state had advanced more than fifteen thousand beyond the
required number necessary for admission. And whatever
surmises may have arisen have long since been merged in
the subsequent establishment of a commonwealth that is
second to none.
A very important act of this period was that of March
thirtieth, 1819, entitled "An act respecting free Negroes,
Mulattoes, Servants and Slaves. ' '^ The provisions of this
act, with subsequent supplemental acts, are kno"wn in his
tory as ' ' The Black Laws. ' '
The legislature in 1821 passed a resolution requesting
concurrent jurisdiction of the Ohio river.''
In the year 1821 the first legal execution took place in
this state.
a. Act of 1819, p. 354 and suite.
b. Act of 1821, p. 186.

120

THE FIRST LEGAL EXECUTION.^
As the result of what was intended for a sham duel,
the Grand Jury, at a special term of Court for St. Clair
County on Monday, March the eighth, 1819, presented a
bill of indictment against Timothy Bennett, Jacob Short
and Nathan Pike. Previous thereto, on the occasion of
the assembling of a large number of people in Belleville,
it was suggested that a sham duel should take place be
tween Alonzo C. Stuart and Timothy Bennett. It seems
that every one, who was cognizant of the intention of the
affair, understood that it was to be merely a hoax for the
purpose of having sport with Bennett. The latter, how
ever, did not understand the nature of the scheme on foot.
The parties were placed at a distance of forty yards from
each other. It was intended that the weapons should
simply be charged with powder. When Bennett fired his
rifle it lodged a ball in Stuart's breast which killed him.
Pike and Short had acted as seconds in this duel in the
belief that it was to be a sham as was sho"wn on the trial
of their case, and they were acquitted by a jury on June
seventeenth, 1819. When the indictment had been re
turned and the sheriff was ordered to bring forth the body
of Bennett, the sheriff made the following return : ' ' The
within named Timothy Bennett has made his escape
by breaking the jail of St. Clair County, therefore
a. Reynolds, My Own Times, 217, and suite.
Affleck, Trans. State Hist. Soc. III., 1901, p. 96.

121
I cannot bring his body into the Court as I am com
manded. ' '^ Bennett remained out of the state until 1821,
when he was found in Missouri and brought back to Belle-
viUe and at a special term of the Circuit Court he was
tried and convicted as shown by the record of the twenty-
eighth of July, 1821, on which day the jury before whom
he was tried returned its verdict of guilty. In fixing the
date for the execution, after sentence "that he be hanged
by the neck untill he be dead" had been pronounced, it ap
pears that Saturday, the twenty-fifth day of August, was
at first selected, but was changed to Monday, the third day
of September, as sho"wn by pen marks dra"wn through the
former date.'' In either event, he was not ordered to be
hanged on the traditional Friday. There were present
at this court, John Reynolds, presiding as Judge, William
A. Beard as Sheriff, and John Hay as Clerk. It was sho"wn
on the trial that Bennett had secretly placed a ball in his
rifle. And hence he expiated his crime on the gallows in
accordance with the order of the court.
a. Record B. 139 in Circuit Clerk's office, St. Clair Co.
b. Record C. 224 in Circuit Clerk's office, St. Clair Co.

122

COLES 1822-1826.
On account of the enactment of "The Black Laws" in
1819, followed by the national agitation in 1820 concern
ing the admission of Missouri as a free or slave state, it
appears that during his gubernatorial campaign, the slav
ery question contributed very largely to Coles' election.
Although elected, it was by a plurality only; the votes
cast for him having been vastly in a minority among the
number cast. Out of the 8,606 votes poUed, he received
2,854. Three other candidates were in the field who di
vided the vote in such a way as to make it possible for
Coles to succeed. Of these candidates, two were pro
nouncedly for slavery, while Coles was considered, in one
form and another, anti-slavery. This question had been
ever present since the introduction of slaves by Renault
and although the ordinance of 1787 ought to have pro
duced a definite settlement, yet the various interpreta
tions that arose from time to time continued to carry the
question into Illinois history after it entered the period of
its statehood, even after the state constitution tried to dis
pose of it by its provision. So it was found still to be
a live issue in the campaign and continued to vex the
course of affairs during Governor Coles' administration.
The Governor added fuel in his inaugural address by deal
ing directly with the issue and making certain recommend
ations with reference thereto. The committee, to which the

123
message had been referred, reported a lengthy review
which was strongly pro-slavery, and recommended the
amending of our constitution. After many heated sieges,
the legislature of 1823 adopted a resolution submitting to
the voters the matter of amending the constitution. Pol-
lowing this came a memorable campaign in which most of
the leading men of the state were arrayed against the
administration and which convulsed the state for a year
and a half and which forms one of the most important
links in the great chain of human liberty. When the polls
closed on August second, 1824, it was found that there
were 4,972 votes for the convention to amend the constitu
tion and 6,640 against the same.^
This administration was also harassed by unfortunate
financial conditions produced through the state bank sys
tem of which the Governor had pointed out the objection
able features in his inaugural message.
In his inaugural he also presented the importance of
a great water-way through Illinois, from the Lakes to the
Mississippi river, (which Governor Bond had also done in
his inaugural) which project has been ever since in course
of contemplation and which though advanced to some de
gree in the building of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, and
later, the digging of the Chicago Sanitary Canal, will
never be thoroughly realized unless the national govern
ment shall aid in establishing a navigable deep water-way from the
a. Ford, Hist, of HI., 50.
Reynolds, My Own Times, 239.
Edwards, Hist, of 111., 192.
Moses, HI. Hist, and Stat., 307.

124
Lakes to the Gulf. This project would not only be of
immense value to the state, whieh is the heart and center
of the nation, but in its far-reaching effect would be pro
ductive of much commerical utility to every section of the
nation. By act of January seventeenth, 1825, the Illinois
and Michigan Canal Company was incorporated.^
During the year 1825, La Payette, during his tour of
the United States, paid our state a visit at the invitation
of the legislature. His reception took place at Kaskaskia.
He had visited St. Louis and made the trip by boat. Prom
there he visited the south and on his return trip, again
visited Illinois by making a stop at Sha"wneetO"wn.
In spite of the persistence of the opposition to nearly
all of the measures recommended by the Govemor in his
inaugural message, he found a laudable support in one re
spect which found its fruition in the law relating to free
schools introduced by Joseph Duncan, who was then a
member of the Senate, and later became one of the Gov
ernors of this state. This act for the establishment of
free schools was passed on January fifteenth, 1825.''
During this administration counties were formed as
follows :
Edgar  January 3, 1823.
Marion  " 24, "
Fulton  " 28, "
Morgan  " 31, "'
Clay  December 23, 1824.
Clinton  " 27, "
a. Act of 1825, p. 160.
b. Act of 1825, p. 121.

Act of 1823,

P-

74

f < ii

49

it Ci

88

a a

109

1824,

18
iC ii
28
125

Wabash . . .
Calhoun. . . .
Adams 
Hancock . . .
Henry 
Knox 
Mercer 
Peoria ...
Putnam ....
Schuyler . .
Warren ....
Vermilion . .
McDonough

.December 27, 1824. Act of 1824, p. 25

January 10, 1825.
" 13,
" 13,
" 13,
" 13,
" 13,
" 13,
" 13,
" 13,
" 13,
18, 1826.
25, "

1825,

1826,

659393
9494 93
85 9493935076

126

EDWARDS 1826-1830.
On December sixth, 1826, Ninian Edwards was inau
gurated as the third Governor.
The banking system had been an issue in the campaign
and was still uppermost in the publie mind. Hence the
Governor in his inaugural among other things made refer
ence to this subject.
The slavery question, too, although it had received a
set-back at the polls in 1824, nevertheless occupied the
legislators and the Black Laws were reinforced by an act
of February second, 1827, which prohibited negroes, mu
lattoes and Indians from being witnesses against whites.
By this law a mulatto was defijied to be a person of one-
fourth negro blood.^ Also a law of January seventeenth,
1829, provided against harboring negroes.''
The first session of the legislature provided by act of
February fifteenth, 1827," that as soon as Congress gave
consent for the sale of the Saline Reserves they were to be
sold and part of the proceeds was to be appropriated for
the erection of a penitentiary. This became the peniten
tiary at Alton.
A school act was adopted February seventeenth, 1827,*
a. Act of 1827, p, 320.
b. Act of 1829, p, 109,
c. Act of 1827, p, 353,
d. Act of 1827, p. 364,

127
amendatory of the school act of 1825 providing that no
person should be taxed for school purposes without con
sent, but the persons residing in the limits of a school dis
trict should have the privilege of subscribing for the sup
port and establishment of the school and the rents and
profits of any school lands within the boundaries of the
tO"wnship were to be assigned and appropriated for the use
of the school under the superintendence of trustees.
At the next session of the legislature by act of January
twenty-second, 1829,^ the policy of selling school lands
was inaugurated for the purpose of loaning the proceeds
to the state to meet its current expenses. This act pro
vided for the sale, as soon as Congress should assent, of
sections sixteen or the school lands in each township.
The Illinois and Michigan Canal Company incorpora
tion act was repealed on January twentieth, 1826,'' on the
ground that the object could be best promoted under the
direction of the state. Commissioners to settle the route
of the canal were provided. Congress in 1827 had grant
ed the state the alternate five sections on both sides of the
Illinois and Michigan Canal to aid its construction. And
on January twenty-second, 1829, an act provided for con
structing the canal."
On the whole the affairs of this administration seem
to have left a very satisfactory impression. The trend
of affairs among the people was chiefiy marked by the
awakening of an interest in higher educational affairs.
a. Act of 1829, p. 150,
b. Act of 1826, p. 63.
c. Act of 1829, p. 14,

128
In 1827, John Mason Peck, a Baptist minister, built a
two story frame house, which he called ' ' The Rock Spring
Theological Seminary and High School" half way between
the present cities of O 'Fallon and Lebanon. This pioneer
beginning has since developed into Shurtleff College,
which is situated in Upper Alton.
McKendree College sprang into being three miles to
the east of Rock Spring where it still retains its name and
existence in the city of Lebanon.
Illinois College was one of the educational pioneers
which still retains its name and existence in the city of
Jacksonville. And these three institutions laid the foundation for
our present higher education.
The census for the closing year of Edwards' adminis
tration shows that the population of the state had in
creased to 157,445. So that in the first decade of its ex
istence the new state had almost trebled in population.
During this administration the following counties were
formed :
Shelby  January 23, 1827.
Perry  " 29, "
TazeweU  " 31, "
Jo Daviess .... February 17, ' '
Macoupin  January 17, 1829.
Macon  " 19, "
As part of that series of Indian depredations which
harassed the state until the Black Hawk War practically
settled the Indian difficulties, may be mentioned the con-

Lct of 1827,

V-

115

Ci li

110

ii ii

113

i i ii

117

1829,

26
ii ii
28
129
stant troubles between the miners around the Galena min
ing district and the Winnebagos, which have been dignified
into a war by some historians and which may be accredited
as properly to the history of Wisconsin as to the history
of our state. The most important episode which oc
curred was in the summer of 1827 when a couple of keel-
boats on the Mississippi were attacked somewhere above
Galena near Prairie du Chien and quite a lively skirmish
ensued between the crews and the Indians. This naval
maneu"VTe seems to have been about all there was of the
Winnebago war. The soldiers under General Atkinson
who went into the heart of the Winnebago country ended
the war by bringing the principal chief Red Bird and six
others to Prairie du Chien and confining them in jail where
Red Bird died. Black Hawk, although of the Sacs, was
among the number brought in. No bill was found against
him, however, and he lived to cause much annoyance later.
a. Edwards, Hist, of 111., 218 and suite.

130

THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM.
As supplemental to that part of the foregoing chapter
which bears on the history of the earlier attempts at the
establishment of places of instruction, it may be weU at
this juncture to trace the history of our educational sys
tem from its incipient stage to its present development.
The ordinance of 1787 contained the following lan
guage: "Religion, morality, and knowledge, being neces
sary to good government and the happiness of mankind,
schools and means of education shall forever be encour
aged. ' '
The act of Congress which enabled Illinois to prepare
for statehood, provided that section sixteen in every to"wn-
ship should be "Por the use of schools." Also that five
per cent of the net proceeds from the sale of land by Con
gress should be divided by devoting two-fifths thereof to
the making of roads and the balance for the encourage
ment of education. One-sixth of this balance was to be
used for a university. Also an entire to"wnship, to be
designated by the President, together with one already
reserved for the purpose, was to be appropriated for the
use of a seminary. Which provisions among others were
accepted by Illinois and became the basis for our school
and university system.
Shadrach Bond, our first Governor, in his message
recommended the building of a "Seminary of learning."

131
In 1825, Senator Joseph Duncan's Free School act^
was passed pro"viding for local and state taxation. But
the temper of the people did not seem to be quite ready
for the introduction of the system, so that for a while
longer the history of education is but the recital of at
tempts made to employ some itinerant school master to
teach what they called in the language of the day "The
three R's." It was not until the effort was made at the
establishment of the early time colleges that a decisive im
pulse was given to the educational movement.
In 1827'' Duncan's school law was amended. Rents
and profits of school lands were devoted to school pur
poses. In 1829 it was decided to inaugurate a policy of
seUing school and seminary land in order that the state
might borrow the proceeds to pay its running expenses.
The law of 1849 made the Secretary of State ex-officio
Superintendent of Schools. And this led to the law of
1854 by whieh the office of State Superintendent was es
tablished and also a system of free schools.
The law of February eighteenth, 1857, established the
first State Normal University. The principal purpose ex
pressed was ' ' To qualify teachers for the common schools
of the state. ' ' It was located at what is now Normal.
By the constitution of 1870, the State Superintendent
became an executive officer and his term was lengthened
from two to four years. This constitution gives the legis
lature power to "Provide a thorough and efficient system
of free schools, whereby all children of this State may re
ceive a good common school education. ' '
a. See ante, p. 126.
b. See ante, pp. 128, 129.

132
Following have been State Superintendents :
Ninian W. Edwards  1854
William H. PoweU  1857
Ne"wton Bateman  1859
Newton Bateman  1861
John P. Brooks  1863
Newton Bateman  1865
Newton Bateman  1867
Newton Bateman  1869
Newton Bateman  1871
Samuel W. Etter  1875
James P. Slade  1879
Henry Raab  1883
Richard Edwards  1887
Henry Raab  1891
Samuel Inglis ] ,. „„p.
Joseph H. Freeman j
Alfred Bayliss  1899
Alfred Bayliss  1903
Following are the State Educational Institutions:
Northern Illinois State Normal School, DeKalb. .
Eastern Illinois State Normal School, Charleston.
Western Illinois State Normal School, Macomb.
niinois State Normal University, Normal.
Southern Illinois Normal University, Carbondale.
University of Illinois, Urbana.
III. Inst, for Education of Blind, JacksonviUe.
111. Inst, for Education of Deaf and Dumb, Jackson
ville.

133

REYNOLDS AND EWING 1830-1834.
On December ninth, 1830, John Reynolds was inau
gurated as Governor. In his inaugural message he dealt
with but few subjects. He made a favorable recommen
dation as to the construction of the Illinois and Michigan
Canal. Also recommended the finishing of the peniten
tiary at Alton and that a final disposition be made of
state bank affairs. In line with the latter recommenda
tion, the legislature authorized the state to borrow $100,-
000 "with which to redeem an outstanding circulation about
to fall due.
His message to the • next General Assembly was also
brief, dealing mainly with the matter of improving the
harbor of Lake Michigan and connecting the lake with
the Illinois river. He was also in favor of the establish
ment of a common school system and so urged in this
message. The matter of building railroads began to receive some
attention and several charters of incorporation were
granted. In 1834 Reynolds was elected to Congress and resigned
as Governor. Zadoc Casey had been elected Lieutenant-
Governor in 1830, but in 1832 was elected to Congress and
William L. D. Ewing was elected President pro tem of the
Senate and on Reynolds' resignation on November seven
teenth, 1834, (because he was elected to Congress) Ewing
became Governor.

134
During this administration counties were formed as
follows :
Coles  December 25, 1830.
McLean  " 25, "
Cook  January 15, 1831.
LaSalle  " 15, "
Rock Island .... February 9, ' '
Effingham .... " 15, "
Jasper  " 15, "
Champaign .... " 20, 1833,
Iroquois  " 26, "
Of the events which took place under this administra
tion the one which has received most attention from his
torians was the Black Hawk War. '

Act of 1830,

p. 59

il ii

57

1831,

54

Ci ii

54

i i li

52

i i a

51

ii ii

50

1833,

28

ii ii

19

135

THE BLACK HAWK WAR.
The Black Hawk War grew out of a disagreement over
the provisions of a treaty made November third, 1804, be
tween the Sac and Pox Indians, and the national govern
ment. The United States had agreed to pay these tribes
an annuity of the value of a thousand dollars a year for
?/hich the Indians ceded their lands between the Wiscon-
."un, Pox, Illinois and Mississippi rivers, including a large
portion beyond the Mississippi in Missouri also in the ces-
.sion, retaining to the Indians the right to live and hunt,
however, on these lands so long as they belonged to the
government. On account of long-continued frictions between the
Indians and whites, it was easy to arrive at a misunder
standing on the subject of this cession. The government
had caused some of the lands to be surveyed and as the
purchasers to whom they were afterwards sold settled on
them, the question was raised by Black Hawk, a chief of
the Sacs, as to their right to take possession. He claimed
that the treaty of 1804 was a nullity because he charged,
in effect, that the Indians who had made it at St. Louis
with General Harrison were not empowered with authority
from their nation; that these Indians had been sent to St.
Louis to look after some others who had been arrested for
murder; that when they came back to the tribes in the
Rock river country, beyond the memory of a big spree,
they only

136
remembered further, in a somewhat confused way, that
they had sold some land. It was on this pretext that
Black Hawk based his opposition to the removal of his
tribe. On account of collisions occurring between the
settlers and the Indians, Governor Edwards in 1828 asked
for the expulsion of the latter and in 1829 President Jack
son issued an order in compliance with the request. The
time limit in which they were to move beyond the Missis
sippi was to be April first, 1830. To this order Keokuk,
a leader of one of the Indian factions, counselled acqui
escence but Black Hawk was obstinate. With his bands,
enforced by Winnebago and Pottawatomi aUies, Black
Hawk began his raids on the settlers. These appealed to
the Governor for protection. Reynolds was Governor at
the time. He construed the Indian conduct, after the
order of expulsion, as an invasion of the state. He com
municated with the Superintendent of Indian affairs and
with General Gaines of the United States army, with a
view to securing the defense of the settlers and the re
moval of the Indians. General Gaines Avent to Rock Island
with several companies of regulars and the Governor issued
a call for seven hundred mounted volunteers. In the
early part of June of the year 1831, the volunteer militia
assembled at Beardsto"wn to the number of fifteen hun
dred. The populace responded with such alacrity that
the number called for was more than doubled. The brig
ade was commanded by Major-General Joseph Duncan.
When this force made its junction with the regulars on
the Mississippi in the Rock river country the entire army
numbered about twenty-five hundred men. This force
overawed the Indians, who withdrew to the west bank of
the Mississippi.

137
When General Gaines sent notice of his intention to follow
the Indians, Black Hawk made his appearance at the head
quarters of the army and entered into a treaty on June
thirtieth, 1831, by which he agreed that he and his band
would not come to the east side of the Mississippi except
by permission. But, restless under the advancing tide of
white migration and encouraged in his resistance thereto
by his neighboring tribes and aUies, Black Hawk came
back with his band on April sixth, 1832. On AprU six
teenth Governor Reynolds again issued a call for volun
teers and in a few days 1,935 men rendezvoused at Beards-
to"wn ready to participate and co-operate with the one
thousand regulars in the impending struggle for the final
removal of the Indian band, whose hostility could not
otherwise be tamed, from the soil of Illinois. Brigadier-
General Samuel Whiteside was placed in command of the
volunteer force. The Governor accompanied the army on
its line of march, which it took up on the twenty-seventh
of April. A junction was again effected in the Rock river
country with the regulars, then under General Henry At
kinson. The volunteers were to proceed ahead up the Rock
river, while the regulars were to follow with provisions.
The Prophet's To"wn was set on fire by the troops and the
march was continued to Dixon. Here two battalions of
volunteers had already arrived who were anxious to see
service; and these under Major Stillman on May twelfth
were sent on a spy expedition which resulted in an encoun
ter at a small creek which is now known as " Stillman 's
Run." Black Hawk poured his main force on this party,
in numbers much smaller than his, and drove them back to
Dixon. The next morning the army marched to the place

138
of disaster but found that the Indians had gone. They
returned to Dixon and the next day General Atkinson and
the regulars came up with the provisions. As the volun
teers had been away from their homes for about a month,
an unwillingness to continue in the service began to seize
many of them and so after marching about two weeks
longer, they were discharged on their arrival at Ottawa
on May twenty-seventh.
Under another call two thousand more volunteers were
raised so that the entire volunteer force amounted to over
three thousand. These rendezvoused on June fifteenth at
Beardstown and Hennepin and on the twentieth began to
move under the command of General Atkinson of the regu
lars until the forces were concentrated at Dixon from
where subsequent operations started and the hunt for
Black Hawk began. These operations consisted of
marches across the country, desultory engagements with
fragmentary Indian bands, mixed with dissatisfaction on
the part of the troops until a skirmish took place on the
Wisconsin, after which the movement of the army was di
rected towards the Mississippi, where a considerable en
gagement took place near the Bad Axe river, in which
Black Hawk took part, but from where he escaped with a
number of companions and fell back to the Wisconsin. A
number of Sioux and Winnebagos, who professed friend
ship for the whites, were sent after him and his compan
ions and captured them up on the Wisconsin river and hav
ing brought them to Prairie du Chien to the Indian agent.
General Taylor ordered them taken to Rock Island, but on
their arrival on account of the cholera they were taken
to Jefferson Barracks at St. Louis, where they made a

139
treaty by which they ceded a large tract of land in Iowa.
The prisoners were held as hostages as a guarantee for
the good behavior of the rest of the band. They were
taken to Washington and met General Jackson, who was
then President. They were ordered to Fortress Monroe.
On June fourth, 1833, by order of the President, they
were allowed to return to their own country west of the
Mississippi, where Black Hawk remained until he died in
1838. On August fifteenth, 1832, at Dixon, the volunteer
army was mustered out.
Every Illinois historian, who has written since 1832,
has treated of this war and the chapters of their works
' bearing on this subject are suggested for reference.
Besides these there are works devoted particularly and
exclusively to this historic affair.
"The Sauks and the Black Hawk War" by Armstrong
was published in 1887 and contains over seven hundred
pages of interesting matter.
"The Black Hawk War" by Stevens was published in
1903. It contains over three hundred pages and is a very
sound presentation.

140

DUNCAN 1834-1838.
On December third, 1834, Joseph Duncan was inau
gurated as Governor. His inaugural message pressed upon
the legislature the consideration of a public school system
and the construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal
and a generaj system of Internal Improvements.
During this administration, in spite of the failure of
the state banking system, which had brought so many
financial collapses a few years before, the state bank
scheme was revived by the creation of a new state bank^
and the revival of the charter of the bank at Sha"wnee-
town.'' History repeated itself in after years when the
collapse of both these banks came in 1842.
The agitation for the removal of the state capital had
already taken place during the previous administration
and the legislature submitted the question of a relocation
to the people. Alton, Jacksonville, Peoria, Springfield
and Vandalia were in the contest, but neither received a
majority. At the legislative session on February twenty-
fifth a bill for the removal was passed and a few days
later both houses met together and selected the location.
On the fourth ballot Springfield was selected; to where
the seat of government was removed in 1839.
An act for the construction of the lUinois and Michi-
a. Act of 1835, p. 7.
b. Act of 1835, p. 15.

141
gan Canal was passed by the legislature January ninth,
1836.^ The Governor was empowered with authority to
negotiate a loan of $500,000 and three canal commissioners
were provided to conduct this business of the state. The
canal was to commence "at or near the to"wn of Chicago ' '
and end "near the mouth of little VermUlion in La Salle
county." This canal to be not less than forty-five feet
wide on the surface and thirty feet at the bottom and at
least four feet deep. Ninety feet on each side were also
reserved to be used in case it became necessary to enlarge.
The main water supply, of course, was to be from Lake
Michigan but the commissioners were to use such other
sources as they deemed proper. On the recommendation
of the chief engineer, the commissioners decided to make
the canal sixty feet wide at the surface, thirty-six feet at
the bottom and six feet in depth. In 1837, the year after
this act was passed. Peck said in his Gazetteer, "The
project of this canal is a vast enterprise for so young a
state, but truly national in its character, and will consti
tute one of the main arteries in eastern and western com
munication."'' On the twenty-seventh of February, 1837," an act was
passed which provided for a "Board of Fund Commission
ers" and a "Board of Commissioners of Public Works"
who were to look after and manage the system of internal
improvements which was to be undertaken by the state,
with the exception of the Illinois and Michigan Canal
which had its own board provided for. The scheme of
these works involved a
a. Act of 1836, p. 145.
b. Peck, Gazetteer of 111., 57.
C. Act of 1837, p. 121 and suite.

142
matter of more than ten millions of dollars. It embraced
in its far-reaching intentions the improvements of rivers,
roads and railroads, as well as subsidies to counties where
no road or canal improvements were to be made. Appro
priations were made as follows :
1. Por the improvement of the navigation of
the Great Wabash river  $ 100,000
2. Por the improvement of the navigation of
the Illinois river west of the third Prin
cipal Meridian  100,000
3. Por the improvement of the navigation of
the Rock river  100,000
4. Por the improvement of the navigation of
the Kaskaskia river  50,000
5. Por the improvement of the navigation of
the Little Wabash river  50,000
6. Por the great western mail route leading
from Vincennes to St. Louis  250,000
$30,000 on that part between Vincennes and
LawrencevUle, commonly called the
"purgatory swamp."
$15,000 on the Wabash river bottom between
the Big Muddy and the main river.
$30,000 between the Bluffs and the Missis
sippi river in St. Clair County.
-And the residue in bridging and repairing as
equally as practicable.
7. Railroad from Cairo to Galena via Vandalia,
ShelbyvUle, Decatur, Bloomington and
Savannah  3,500,000

143
8. Railroad from Alton to Mount Carmel via
Edwardsville, Carlyle, Salem, Fairfield
and -Albion, with divergencies and inter
sections  $1,600,000
. 9. The northern cross railroad from Quincy
to Indiana via Columbus, Clayton, Mt.
Sterling, Meredosia, Jacksonville, Spring
field, Decatur, Sidney and Danville  1,850,000
10. A branch of the central railroad com
mencing at intersection near Shelbyville
and Hillsboro, thence via Shelbyville,
Charleston and Paris to state line in gen
eral direction for Terre Haute  650,000
11. RaUroad from Peoria to Warsaw via Can
ton, Macomb and Carthage  700,000
12. Railroad from Lower -Alton via Upper Al
ton and Hillsboro to central railroad. . . . 600,000
13. Railroad from Belleville via Lebanon to in
tersect railroad from Alton to Mt. Carmel 150,000
14. Railroad from Bloomington to Mackinaw
and branches  350,000
15. Por counties without railroads or canals. . 200,000
-Although Duncan had recommended public improve
ments, yet when the matter assumed such extravagant
form, he refrained from giving it his approval. But the
legislature passed the act nevertheless.

144
The impulse toward improvement was not alone in the
public mind but private enterprises also began to be set
on foot. Thus was formed by Ex-Goveronr Reynolds the
project of a plan on private account to build a raUroad
which may justly lay claim to having been the first in the
Mississippi valley and in fact in the entire west. This
was in 1837.^ It ran from the Mississippi river, from the
site of the present city of East St. Louis, eastward across
the American Bottom for about six miles to the Bluffs.
These Bluffs are a range of hills full of coal and it was in
order to connect these coal fields with the market that
this pioneer'' western road was built. St. Louis on the
west side of the -Ajnerican Bottom and across the river was
the market to be reached. Reynolds o"wned a vast amount
of land in that region and in company with some others he
undertook the construction of this work which was des
tined in after years to develope the great coal fields of
southern Illinois. Great piles were driven into the Grand
Marais" to furnish a foundation on which to buUd the
track over
a. Reynolds, My Own Times, 503.
b. Col. John Thomas, who was a veteran of the Black Hawk
war and who lived to the ripe age of ninety- six, some
years before his death told the author that he remem
bered the internal improvement system days and when
the Vincennes and St. Louis road (great western mail
route) was built, he took a contract, and while at work
with his force in the American Bottom in the fall of
1837, the building of Reynolds' railroad was going on a
few miles to the south.
c. Grand Marais — Great Marsh.

145

the great marsh lying immediately at the foot of the hills.
For a whUe horse power was used.^ Later, iron rails were
sent from Pittsburg do"wn the Ohio and up the Mississippi.
On their arrival, holes were punched into them, and spikes
were made by the early time blacksmiths of the -American
Bottom.'' Under this administration the following counties were
formed :

WiU 

. . . January

12, 1836.

Act of 1836, p.

262

Kane 

( £

16, "

i i ii

273

McHenry . .

l l

16, "

i C i i

273

Ogle 

l i

16, "

w ii

274

Whiteside . .

( (

16, "

i ^ ii

274

Winnebago .

1 1

16, "

a i i

273

Livingston .

. .February

27, 1837.

1837

83

Bureau ....

I £

28, "

ii ii

93

Cass 

 March

3, "

i i a

101

Boone 

£ £

4, "

C i ii

97

DeKalb ....

£ £

4, "

i C i. i

97

Stephenson .

£ £

4, "

ii .i

97

During this administration there took place an event
which was not only the most important that transpired on
the soil of this state, but is possibly one of the most im
portant events in the history of the universe. This was
the a.ssassination of Lovejoy on November seventh, 1837.
a. Ackerman, Early Illinois Railroads, 13.
b. Chrisostomus Boul, a. very aged Frenchman, who was a.
blacksmith in the early days, told the author that he
helped to punch holes and make spikes.

146

LOVEJOY'S ASSASSINATION.
(From Author's Lecture on "The Man of Illinois.")
Although in point of time the commonwealth of lUi
nois cannot compare with nations into whose historic seas
a thousand rivers of antiquity have flowed, yet, in pomt
of merit it can compare with all the hoaryheaded com
monwealths that have existed since creation's da"wn. In
fact, although its civil life dates back but little more than
two hundred years, yet in the two centuries and a quarter
since the first white man landed on its soil, it has con
tributed a galaxy of stars pre-eminent in the firmament of
human greatness and has produced the greatest and grand
est event in the history of the universe.
Attempts at the establishment of liberty were made by
nations and peoples in the past ; some in a degree were suc
cessful; the French Revolution obtained a more just dis
tribution of property rights; the American Revolution
established a more just distribution of personal and politi
cal rights ; it was reserved, however, for lUinois to become
the actual birthplace of freedom in its more perfect sense.
La Fayette had presented to the Constituent Assembly of
France his famous Declaration of the Rights of Man.
Thomas Jefferson had given the world a still greater chart
in the Declaration of Independence. But the rights of
man and independence only began to be recognized sixty
years later. During these sixty years we preached the
doctrine of the Declara-

147
tion that there ' ' are certain inalienable rights, among them
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Yet, during
these sixty years we practiced human slavery, both white
and black. The blacks had their bodies held in bondage,
while the whites had their minds held in fetters, on this
and other subjects. When at the end of sixty years, a
champion came for both white and black, a realization
was found at last in the coming of the fulfillment of the
promises contained in our political charter. And though
this champion fell, a martyr to his faith, yet from his
blood there sprang the seed that ripened into liberty full
grown itself. When Lovejoy fell below the base of Al
ton's bluff in 1837, the flag of freedom rose on every cliff
throughout the universe. When on his vision fell the
curtain of the night of death, in that moment dawned the
day of life upon his fellow-men. In this dawn the hand
of Fame inscribed upon its roll the martyr's name and -Al
ton as his place of death; inscribed the name of Liberty
and Alton as its place of birth ; and then it placed a credit
to the name of lUinois.
Elijah Parish Lovejoy was born in Maine in 1802. He
began life with a century that was freighted with weighty
events and to which he was destined to contribute the
weightiest of all. He passed his infancy, his boyhood
and his youth in his native pine tree state. He
breathed its pure air as he played amid the ocean
zephyrs that were wafted from the bay of old Penob
scot ; he learned his first lessons near the crystal waters
of the Kennebec and later he came with honors from
a school of the region of his 0"wn nativity. The star of
empire then was journeying westward, and he like many
others followed. The star began to shine upon the val-

148
ley of the Mississippi. This valley was his destination.
He came to St. Louis and became connected with newspa
per work, but, decided on the ministry for his profession.
And although his father had been a Congregational min
ister, he allied himself with the Presbyterians. He went
back east to a theological seminary but in less than two
years was again in St. Louis. Here a religious newspaper
was established by some parties and he was given its man
agement. This was the St. Louis Observer, the publica
tion of which was commenced toward the end of 1833.
For quite a while all things went well but after a time
editorials began to appear directed against slavery. Mis
souri being then a slave state, public sentiment immediate
ly became aroused against the author and while the tenor
of these editorials was simply in favor of what he called
' ' gradual emancipation, ' ' yet the state of the public mind
was such at that day that not alone did the slave-holders
and their friends and partisans meditate "violence, but
many of the warmest friends and supporters of Lovejoy
and the Observer began to express their fears of the re
sult ; these friends even going so far as to communicate to
him their willingness to allow this subject to be passed
over in silence. Having simply advocated "gradual
emancipation, ' ' in which as he further admitted and insist
ed editorially that "the rights of all classes of our citizens
should be respected" he felt of course that popiUar opinion
in the shape of popular menace was unreasonable and that
the timidity of friends was a sign of the instability of
their characters. He knew that the great blot upon the
Republic could only be erased by an educated, humane and
liberal sentiment. He knew that this point could only be

149
reached through agitation. And knowing then, what we
all know and admit now, that within the law he had a
right to propose a redress for what he conceived to be a
grievance, Lovejoy certainly felt that the opposition to his
agitation meant a curtailment of constitutional rights. In
fact, he could feel nothing less in view of the expressed
provision in the constitution of Missouri which said ' ' that
every person may freely speak, "write and print on any
subject." He therefore declared a solemn protest against
the attempt, as he "wrote, "to frown down the liberty of
the press and forbid the free expression of opinion. ' ' By
these words he sounded the key-note for the emancipation
of human thought. By these words he raised the war-
cry for the disenthralment of the human mind. By these
words he uttered the battle-shout for universal freedom
of opinion for mankind. Thenceforth he entered upon
that agitation that embraced within its scope the right to
think, the right to speak, and the right to print anywhere
and everywhere those thoughts that come upon the brain
like sparks from some great central fire that burns upon
the altar of Divinity. The question of the slavery of the
black was merged in that far-reaching question of the lib
eration of the world.
In the midst of the gravity of the situation, a negro was
lynched in St. Louis. Lovejoy, in his Observer, expressed
his opinion of mob law. Then his office was mobbed. He
saved the press and moved it to Alton. A mob
threw it into the river. A new press was obtained and the
key-note of the agitation was re-sounded. Por nearly a
year, with varying fortunes, this agitation was continued,
when, again a mob entered his office and destroyed his
press and

150
material. A new press was obtained and the war-cry of
the agitation was raised anew. The night it arrived a
mob took it and threw it into the river. The fourth press
was ordered and Lovejoy uttered the final battle-shout of
the agitation, which though bringing death to end his o"wn
career, brought life for that career which showers bless
ings on a posterity which twines to-day and wUl forever
twine a wreath for him on which will be the name of "Im
mortality." He resolved to make a last stand for prin
ciple. He had left a state where he was not protected in
his property nor person. He came to another state be
cause he was seeking that protection. He came to Illinois
because he expected here to find it and in order to become
himself a man of Illinois. When he failed to find it he
resolved still to be and if need be to die a man of Illinois.
Hence he said with resolution, "I am determined to make
my grave in Alton." When we think of this resolve we
hail him, both in spirit and in truth, as verily a man of
Illinois. On the night of November sixth, 1837, the fourth
press landed in Alton. It was stored in a warehouse which
stood near the Mississippi river. Alton then had a popu
lation of only twenty-five hundred people, and, owing to
the lack of a regular police force in those early days of
the city, sixty brave men volunteered their protection.
This brave band stayed on duty all day on the seventh.
Their conduct brought a lull in the tempest just before it
began to spread in all its fury. Everything seemed quiet.
And by night these volunteers thought their work com
pleted. They were about to go to their homes and fami
lies. The proprietor of the warehouse however expressed
a desire that some should stay as a further precaution.

151
Twenty of these brave men stayed. Lovejoy was among
them. These twenty whose heroic conduct will shine
through time eternal became the guardians of the citadel
in which were centered all the hopes and aspirations of a
yearning people whose solicitude merits grateful recollec
tion by succeeding generations. These twenty became
the body guard of freedom. It was not long before their
services were needed. In the clear moonlight a mob as
sembled outside the warehouse. The press was demanded
with a threat of burning the building unless it was deliv
ered. In the consultation held among the defenders on
the inside it was decided not to yield to this demand. The
warehouse was made of stone with a shingle roof. Its
north side faced a bluff across the street; its south side
faced the river and opened directly on the levee. On the
east side was a vacant lot where the mob assembled. The
first attempt to storm the building was made at the north
door facing the street. At this a shot was fired from the
inside which killed a member of the unlawful assembly.
Then a ladder was placed against the east side of the ware
house and a member of the mob with lighted torch mount
ed to fire the wooden roof. Lovejoy and two others left
by a south door and ranged themselves in position to fire
at the incendiary. There was a post on the leyee, placed
there to wind ropes around it in tying up boats. Lovejoy
probably placed himself behind this post in order that he
might be shielded from the bullets of the mob stationed
to the northeast. But as there was a lumber pile directly
east of this post behind which some of the assassins were
concealed he unintentionally and unfortunately so
placed himself as to be directly within the range

152
of their missiles. The assassins behind the lumber pUe
pierced him with five bullets. He ran into the warehouse,
announced to his associates that he was shot and as they
tenderly laid him do"wn he died a martyr to his cause at
the exact age of thirty-five on that very day. Then the
citadel was taken and the garrison, deprived of its leader,
surrendered. The press was sunk beneath the waves of
the Mississippi, the mob dispersed and next morning a
widow and her little son received the dead body of a brave
and loving husband, a brave and loving father ; and, whUe
their tears in agony ran do"wn their cheeks, the world
heard of this martyr's tragic end and with his wife and
boy in sympathetic strain it wept his fate but looked-
through all its tears with yet a smile, perhaps from resig
nation born and because it fancied that it saw the planting
of the tree of liberty above that martyr's grave. Then
they laid him 'neath the sod upon the hill above the Mis
sissippi's tide where Alton's bluff is laved by waters which
unceasing currents bring and in whose gentle roar is
heard the solemn dirge of "The Man of Illinois." Eight
and sixty years since then have passed. The slave is
free. The tongue is free. The press is free. And these
with fondest words of praise speak of "The Man of Illi
nois." And we, who by adoption or by birth claim title
to this state, will never fail in counting o 'er the names of
our distinguished great to mention him who was "The
Man of Illinois."
The author in 1894 had quite an interview on this subject
with the distinguished veteran, Col. J. R. Miles, who was one of
four young men who accompanied the undertaker and Lovejoy's
dead body home next morning after the tragic event.

153

SLAVERY IN ILLINOIS.
Whilst lUinois was never a slave state in the strict
sense in which the states of the south were regarded as
slave states, yet, in various forms both negro and Indian
slavery existed on the soil of our state from shortly after
its discovery until the ultimate settlement of the question
in the middle of the nineteenth century.
After the grant was made to the Company of the West
or the Royal India Company, the chief engineer, Renault,
in 1719 left Prance with some miners destined for the
French possessions in the new world. In addition, he
brought "five hundred slaves" obtained in the West In
dies for the purpose of developing the minerals in the
lUinois country.^
The very earliest records, while they do not throw
much light on the status of this institution of slavery, yet
show conclusively that its existence was continued and en
couraged. In 1787, when the ordinance of that year was
passed, a will was made by James Moore in which he tells
what disposition is to made of his negroes Bingo and Ju
dith, showing from these record entries that the institution
received not only popular toleration but also absolute
recognition. To remedy this state of affairs, the ordin
ance of 1787 provided that "neither slavery nor involun
tary servitude, ' ' except as a punishment for crimes, should
ever exist on the soil of the Northwest Territory. Yet, in
a. Harris, Negro Servitude in Illinois, 1.

154
spite of the official attempt to blot out the institution or
at least prevent its growth thereafter, it remained in vari
ous forms and as a political question was left for many
years to harass the minds of the citizens of the state.
While the intent of the ordinance was plain enough, yet
the adherents of slavery found a subterfuge in the pro
vision which retained to the French and Canadian inhabit
ants their laws and customs and the further provision
that allowed the return of fugitives to the original states,
where such labor or service could be lawfully claimed.
As the French inhabitants, from time immemorial, had
recognized the institution, it was virtually a part of their
laws and customs. And on these provisions, the oppo
nents to a change based their arguments. On these argu
ments were based the laws passed by the Indiana and Illi
nois Territories on this subject. These laws virtually em
braced the allowance of a modified form. These early en
actments allowed an immigrant to bring his slaves "with
him. If when the slave was of age he would sign an
agreement to serve his master, this indenture could be held
to specific performance. If the slave did not consent to
make such an agreement, he might be sent from the terri
tory in sixty days. The children who were under age were
taken before an officer and registered, by which act they
were bound until they were thirty-two years old. In at
tempting to evade the direct proposition of countenancing
slavery, a system of indentured and registered servants
grew up which circumvented the intent of the framers
of the ordinance of 1787. Thus it came to pass that
in Illinois regulations were made, which in their severity
fiavored of all the tyranny of the slave system.

155
If a negro or mulatto did not have a certificate of free
dom he was deemed a runaway slave and on arrest could
be sold for one year as a punishment. When we ponder
on the stringency of the laws which allowed the whipping
of slaves or servants for simply coming upon planta
tions or for assembling at dances, it seems to us at this day
as if Illinois, though born in the days when the cradle of
liberty was rocking at its fullest, certainly passed through
a harsh infancy. -And when we learn that these whip
pings were to be inflicted the day after judgment unless
the same happened to be Sunday and in that case to be
postponed to the day after, we are really led to know to
what a farcical extent an evasion of law and good morals
may lead. The pretense of thus being too good to dese
crate the Sabbath becomes a veritable burlesque when
viewed in the light in which one would see a human brute
administering corporal punishment to a weaker creature
whose misfortune of birth is his greatest offense.
The constitution of 1818 provided against slavery and
involuntary servitude and even tried to regulate in its
terms the matter of indentured service. This did not seem
to settle the matter however. The Black Laws of 1819, in
the first year of the state period, followed the Black Laws
of the territorial period, which followed the Black Code or
Le Code Noir of Prance. The admission of Missouri as a
free or slave state in 1820 was a matter which kept alive
the question. The agitation was continued and in the
campaign which elected Governor Coles in 1822 the issue
was at fever heat. On account of a factional division in
the ranks of the pro-slavery party, Coles, though in

156
the minority, was elected Governor by a plurality vote. In
his message he took a decided stand on the slavery ques
tion but the legislature in 1823 made an attempt to amend
the constitution, which however was not adopted by the
people to whom the question was submitted in 1824.
After the Lovejoy assassination in 1837, the matter in
its various phases began to be tested in the courts. Nu
merous cases were tried and appealed.
At the December term, 1845, the Supreme Court of Illi
nois decided in effect that the descendants of the old
French slaves born after the ordinance of 1787 could not
be held to slavery.^ This was practically a decisive case.
Edwards says, "since that time the State of Illinois has
been freed from the evils of slavery."'' Reynolds says,
"This decision liberated all the French slaves in the coun
try."" The constitution of 1848 provided "There shaU be
neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this state, ex
cept as a punishment for crimes, whereof the party shall
have been duly convicted. ' '
In 1849 the supreme court practically decided the in
validity of the fugitive slave law.'^
By act of the legislature of February twelfth, 1853, it
was again attempted "to prevent the immigration of free
negroes. ' '"
a. Jarrot v. Jarrot, 2 Gilman, 1,
b. Edwards, Hist, of 111., 184.
c. Reynolds, My Own Times, 209.
d. See ante, p. 128.
e. Act of 1853, p. 57.

157
The whole matter was settled on February seventh,
1865, when the Black Laws were repealed, including the
act of February twelfth, 1853 ;^ and when the constitution
of 1870 was adopted, after this legislative settlement and
the nation had passed through the great Civil War, by
which the matter of slavery was forever finally determined
in all of the states, this constitution did not deem it neces
sary to make mention of the subject.
Illinois was the first state in the union to ratify the
thirteenth amendment to the national constitution in 1865.
In 1867 it ratified the fourteenth and in 1869 the fifteenth.
Por further information the act is given entitled "AN
ACT respecting free Negroes, Mulattoes, Servants and
Slaves," commonly kno"wn as the famous "Black Laws."
a. Laws of 1865, p. 105.

158
"AZV AGT respecting free Negroes, Mulattoes, Servants and
Slodws. Approved, March 30, 1819.
[Sect. 1.] Be it enacted by the people of the state
of Illinois represented in the general assenMy, That from
and after the passage of this act, no black or mu
latto person shall be permitted to settle or reside in this
state, unless he or she shall first produce a certificate,
signed by some judge or clerk of some court in the United
States, of his or her actual freedom; which certificate,
shall have the seal of such court affixed to it ; on produc
ing the same to the clerk of the circuit court of the county
in which he shall intend to settle, it shall be the duty of
such clerk to make an entry thereof, and endorse a certifi
cate on the original certificate, stating the time the same
was entered in his office, and the name and description of
the person producing the same ; after which it shall be law
ful for such free negro or mulatto to reside in this state.
Sect. 2. And he it further enacted, That it shall be
the duty of all free negroes and mulattoes, who shaU come
to reside in this state after the first day of June next,
and having a family of his or her o"wn, and having a cer
tificate as mentioned in the first section of this act, to
"give to the clerk of the circuit court at the time of mak
ing an entry of his certificate, a description, "with the
name and ages of his, her or their family, which shall

159
be stated by the clerk in the entry made by him of such
certificate; and the clerk shall also state the same on the
original certificate : Provided however, That nothing con
tained in this or the preceding section of this act, shall be
construed to prevent the overseers of the poor in any to"wn-
ship, from causing any such free negro or mulatto to be
removed who shall come into this state contrary to the pro
visions of the act concerning the poor.
Sect. 3. And ie it further enacted, That it shall not
be lawful for any person or persons to bring into this state
after the passage of this act, any negro or mulatto, who
shall be a slave or held to service at the time, for the pur
pose of emancipating or setting at liberty any such negro
or mulatto; and any person or persons, who shall so bring
in any such negro or mulatto for the purpose aforesaid,
shall give a bond to the county commissioners of the
county where such slave or slaves are emancipated, in the
penalty of one thousand dollars, conditioned that such
person so emancipated by him, shall not become a charge
on any county in this state; and every person neglecting
or refusing to give such bond, shall forfeit and pay the
sum of two hundred dollars for each negro or mulatto so
emancipated or set at liberty, to be recovered by action of
debt before any court competent to try the same, to be
sued for in the name of the county commissioners of the
county, where the same shall happen, to the use of the
county. Sect. 4. And ie it further enacted, That every black
or mulatto person, (slaves and persons held to service
excepted) residing in this state at the passage of this

160
act, shall on or before the first day of June next, enter his
or their name (unless they have heretofore entered the
same,) together with the name or names of his or her fam
ily, with the clerk of the circuit court of the county in
which they reside, together with the evidence of his or her
freedom ; which shall be entered on record by the said
clerk, together with a description of all such persons ; and
thereafter the clerk's certificate of such record shaU be
sufficient evidence of his or her freedom : — Provided never
theless. That nothing in this act contained, shall be con
strued to bar the lawful claim of any person or persons to
any such negro or mulatto;
Sect. 5. And he it further enacted, That it shall not
be lawful for any person or persons residing in this state
after the first day of June next, to hire, or in any "wise em
ploy any black or mulatto person, unless such person shall
have one of the certificates aforesaid ; and any person who
shall hire or employ any black or mulatto person contrary
to the provisions of this section, shall pay the sum of one
dollar and fifty-cents for each day they shall hire or employ
any such black or mulatto person, recoverable before any
justice of the peace, or court competent to try the same,
in the name of the county commissioners of the county
v/here the offence may be committed ; one third thereof to
the person giving the information, and the other two-thirds
to the use of the county; which said two-thirds shall be
paid to the owner or owners of the black or mulatto person,
if any there shall be, and apply for the same.
Sect. 6. And he it further enacted, That if any

161
person or persons, shall harbor or secrete any black or
mulatto person, the same being a slave or owing service or
labor to any other person or persons, and knowing the
same, or shall in any "wise hinder or prevent the lawful
o"wner or 0"wners of such slaves or servants from retaking
and possessing his or their slave or servant, shall be deem
ed guUty of felony, and upon conviction thereof, before
any court competent to try the same, shall suffer the pains
and penalties prescribed by law for persons guilty of re
ceiving stolen goods, knowing them to be stolen.
Sect. 7. And he it further enacted, That every black
or mulatto person who shall be found in this state, and not
having such a certificate as is required by this act, shall be
deemed a runaway slave or servant ; and it shaU be lawful
for any inhabitant of this, to take such black or mulatto
person and carry them before some justice of the peace;
and should such black or mulatto person not produce such
certificate as aforesaid, it shall be the duty of such justice
to cause such black or mulatto person, to be committed to
the custody of the sheriff the county, who shall keep such
black or mulatto person, and in three days after receiving
them, shall advertise them at the door of the court house,
and shaU transmit a notice and cause the same to be adver
tised for six weeks in some public newpaper, printed near
est to the place of apprehending such black person or mu
latto, stating a description of the most remarkable features
of such supposed runaway ; and if such person, so commit
ted, shall not procure a certificate or other evidence of their
freedom within the time aforesaid, it shall be the duty

162
of the sheriff to hire them out for the best price he can get,
after having given five days previous notice thereof, from
month to month, for the space of one year. — And if no
owner shall appear and sub.stantiate their claim before the
expiration of the year, the sheriff shall give a certificate to
such black or mulatto person, who on producing the same
to the next circuit court of the county, may obtain a cer
tificate from the court, stating the facts, and' that the per
son shall be deemed a free person, unless they shall be law
fully claimed by their proper owner or o"wners thereafter.
-And as a reward to the taker up of such negro, there shall
be paid by the owner, if any, before he shall receive him
from the sheriff, ten dollars, and the o"wner shall moreover
pay to the sheriff for the justice, two dollars, and reason
able costs for carrying such runaway to the sheriff; and
shall also pay the sheriff all fees for keeping such runaway
as other prisoners : Provided however, That the proper
o"wner, if any there be, shall be entitled to the hire of any
such runaway from the sheriff, after deducting the ex
penses of the same : And provided also, That the taker up
shall have a right to claim any reward which the o"wner
shall have offered for the apprehension of such runaway;
should any taker up claim such offered reward, he shaU
not be entitled to the allowance made by this act.
Sect. 8. And he it further enacted, That in case
any black or mulatto person shall not be claimed by the
0"wner in the time aforesaid, and such person shall have
obtained a certificate from the court aforesaid, they
shall receive all the amount of the wages for which they

163
may have been hired, after paying the expenses ; and any
person applying to the proper authority as provided by
the laws of the United States, or of this state, for judging
in such cases for reclaiming any black or mulatto person
as his, her, or their slave or servant, and whose character
for veracity, is not such as to satisfy any judge or justice
of the peace, or other proper authority, that the oath or
representation of such claimant is entitled to credit; and
should such claimant be a stranger, it will be necessary
that such authority should be made satisfied that such
claimant or claimants are citizens of the United States, and
that they are entitled to such credit as is before required,
before they act thereon, otherwise than securing those
claimed, until a decision can be had therein ; and should
any person or persons fraudulently obtain possession of
any free negro or mulatto, by false swearing before any
competent authority, such person or persons so offending,
shaU be deemed guilty of perjury, and on conviction there
of, shall be liable to suffer the penalties prescribed by law
for such offences.
Sect. 9. And he it further enacted, That any person
or persons, who shall forcibly take and carry out of
this state any negro or mulatto, (slaves excepted by their
owners,) owing service or labor to any person in this
state, or who shall forcibly take out of this state, any
free negro or mulatto having gained a legal settlement
in this state, shall forfeit and pay for every such
offence the sum of one thousand dollars to the party
injured, to be recovered in the name of the people of the

164
state of lUmois, by action of debt in any court havmg
cognizance of the same: Provided however, That this
section shall not bo construed so as to prevent the owner
or owners, or their agents, from removing their servants,
who shall runaway and be found in this state, to any state
or territory ^vhere they may belong, nor to persons who
shall be travelling cr removing their servants through this
state, to any other .state or territory.
Sect. 10. And he it further enacted, That servants
shall be provided by the master with wholesome and suf
ficient food, clothing, and lodging, and at the end of their
service, if they shall not have contracted for any reward,
food, clothing and lodging, shall receive from him one new
and complete suit of clothing suited to the season of the
year, to-wit : a coat, waist coat, pair of breeches, and shoes,
two pair of stockings, two shirts, a hat and blanket.
Sect. 11. And he it further enacted, That the benefit
of the said contract of service, shall be assignable by the
master to any person being a citizen of this state, to whom
the servant shall in the presence of a justice of the peace,
freely consent, that it shall be assigned; the said justice,
attesting such free consent in "writing; and shall also
pass to the executors, administrators and legatees of the
master. Sect. 12. And he it further enacted, That any such
servant being lazy, disorderly, guilty of misbehaviour
to his master, or master's family, shall be corrected by
stripes, on order from a justice of the county, wherein
he resides; or refusing to work, shall be compelled

165
thereto in like manner, and moreover shall serve two days
for every one he shall have so refused to serve, or shall
otherwise have lost, without sufficient justification; all
necessary expences incurred by any master for appre
hending and bringing home any obsconding servant, shall
be repaid by further services, after such rates as the cir
cuit court of the county shall direct, unless such servant
shaU give security, to be approved of by the court for the
payment in money within six months after he shall be free
from service, and shall accordingly pay the same.
Sect. 13. And he it further enacted, That if any
master shall fail in the duties prescribed by this act, or
shall be guilty of injurious demeanor towards his servant,
it shaU be redressed on motion, by the circuit court of the
county wherein the servant resides, who may hear and de
termine such cases in a summary way, making such orders
thereupon, as in their judgment will relieve the party in
jured in future.
Sect. 14. And he it further enacted, That all con
tracts between masters and servants, during the time of
service, shall be void.
Sect. 15. And he it further enacted, That the cir
cuit court of every county shall, at all times, receive
the complaints of servants, being citizens of any of the
United States of America, who reside within the jurisdic
tion of such court, against their masters or mistresses,
alledging undeserved or immoderate correction, insuffi
cient allowances of food, raiment, or lodging, and may
hear and determine such case in a summary way, making

166
such orders thereupon as in their judgment will relieve
the party injured in future ; and may also, in the same
manner hear and determine complaints of masters and
mistresses against their servants, for desertion without
good cause, and may oblige the latter for loss thereby
occasioned, to make restitution by further services after
the expiration of the time, for which they had been bound.
Sect. 16. And he it further enacted, That if any
servant shall at any time bring in goods or money, during
time of their service, shall by gift, or other lawful means,
acquire goods or money, they shall have the property, and
benefit thereof, to their own use ; and if any servant shaU
be sick or lame, and so become useless or chargeable, his
or her master or owner, shall maintain such servant, until
his or her time of service shall be expired; and i£ any
master or owner, shall put a^vay any lame or sick servant,
under pretence of freedom, and such servant becomes
chargeable to the county, such master or o"wner, shall for
feit and pay thirty dollars, to the overseers of the poor of
the county, wherein such offence shall be committed, to
the use of the poor of the county, recoverable with costs,
by action of debt in any circuit court ; and moreover, shaU
be liable to the action of the said overseers of the poor at
the common law for damages.
Sect. 17. And he it further enacted, That no negro,
mulatto, or Indian, shall at any time purchase any servant,
other than of their o"wn complexion, and if any of the per
sons aforesaid, shall nevertheless presume to purchase a

167
white servant, such servant shall immediately become free,
and shall be so held, deemed and taken.
Sect. 18. Arid he it further enacted, That no person
shall buy, sell or receive of, to, or from any servant or
slave any coin or commodity without leave or consent of
the master or owner of such slave or servant; and any
person so offending shall forfeit and pay to the master
or o"wner of such slave or servant four times the value
of the thing so bought, sold or recovered, to be recovered
with costs of suit before any court having cognizance of
the same ; and every servant upon the expiration of his or
her time shall be entitled to a certificate from the clerk of
the court of the county where such servant is indentured
or registered, and such certificate shall indemnify any per
son for hiring or employing such person.
Sect. 19. And he it further enacted, That in all
cases of penal laws where free persons are punishable by
fine, servants shall be punished by whipping, after the
rate of twenty lashes for every eight dollars, so that no
servant shall receive more than forty lashes at any one
time, unless such offender can procure some person to pay
the fine.
Sect. 20. And he it further enacted, That every
servant upon the expiration of his or her time, and proof
thereof made before the circuit court of the county, where
he or she last served, shall have his or her freedom re
corded and a certificate thereof, under the hand of the
clerk, which shall be sufficient to indemnify any person
for entertaining or hiring such servant; and if such

168
certificate should happen to be torn or lost, the clerk,
upon request shall issue another, reciting therein the loss
of the former.
Sect. 21. And he it further enacted, That if any
slave or servant shall be found at a distance of ten miles
from the tenement of his or her master, or the person with
whom he or she lives, without a pass or some letter of
token, whereby it may appear that he or she is proceeding
by authority from his or her master, employer or overseer,
it shall and may be la"wful for any person to apprehend
and carry him or her before a justice of the peace, to be
by his order punished with stripes, not exceeding thirty-
five, at his discretion.
Sect. 22. And he it further enacted, That if any
slave or servant shall presume to come and be upon the
plantation, or at the dwelling of any person whatsoever,
without leave from his or her o^vner, not being sent upon
lawful business, it shall be lawful for the o"wner of such
plantation, or dwelling house to give or order such slave
or servant, ten lashes on his or her bare back.
Sect. 23. And he it further enacted, That riots, routs,
unlawful assemblies, trespasses and seditious speeches, by
any slave or slaves, servant or servants, shaU be punished
with stripes, at the discretion of a justice of the peace, not
exceeding thirty-nine, and he who wUl, may apprehend
and carry him, her or them before such justice.
Sect. 24. And he it further enacted, That if any
person or persons shall permit or suffer any slave or
slaves, servant or servants of color, to the number of

169
three or more, to assemble in his, her or their house, out
house, yard or shed for the purpose of dancing or revell
ing, either by night or by day, the person or persons so
offending shall forfeit and pay the sum of twenty dollars,
with costs, to any person or persons who will sue for and
recover the same, by action of debt or indictment, in any
court of record proper to try the same.
Sect. 25. And he it further enacted, That it shall be
the duty of aU coroners, sheriffs, judges and justices of
the peace, who shall see or known of, or be informed of
any such assemblage of slaves or servants, immediately to
commit such slaves or servants to the jail of the county;
and on view or proof thereof, order each and every such
slave or servant to be whipped, not exceeding thirty-nine
stripes, on his or her bare back, on the day next succeed
ing such assemblage, unless it shall happen on a Sunday,
then on the Monday foUowing ; which said stripes shall be
inflicted by any constable of the township, if there should
be one therein, or otherwise by any person or persons
whom the said justices shall appoint, and who shall be
"wUling so to inflict the same: — Provided however, That
the provisions hereof shall not apply to any persons of
color, who may assemble for the purpose of amusement,
by permission of their masters first had in "writing, on
condition that no disorderly conduct is made use of by
them in such assemblage. ' '^
a. Foregoing is a. copy of Act 1819, pp. 354 and suite, with
grammatical and typographical mistakes as in original.

170

CARLIN 1838-1842.
On December seventh, 1838, Thomas Carlin was inau
gurated as Governor. Unlike his predecessor. Governor
Duncan, who was opposed to overdoing the matter of in
ternal improvements on account of the wastefulness and
extravagance attendant thereon, Carlin urged the wisdom
of the policy. Questions of national politics had been
dra"wn into the campaign and the national banking sys
tem to which Carlin was opposed was one of these. The
legislature, which by the way was the last one that met at
Vandalia prior to the removal of the capital to Spring
field, continued the policy of internal improvements,
though it placed itself on record by resolution against the
Governor's financial views and in favor of the national
banking system. The sale of bonds for state improve
ments and the blundering operations on the part of the
agents entailed much loss to the state government. The
agreement to receive payments in installments or deferred
payments meant a loss of interest and the sale of some of
the bonds on credit to banks which faUed meant an en
tire loss. Some of the bonds, which were placed on sale
in London, sold for less than their face value and before
even those returns were made, on account of the failure
of the firm placing them, were reduced to mere
creditors' dividends for the state. The Governor ex
perienced a change of sentiment on this subject and

171
in a message to the legislature he pointed out the ruinous
tendency of the policy to overdo the system. While the
struggle was continued for the maintenance of the system
in its entirety, enough legislators were of the opinion that
it should be curtailed. And so a readjustment began,
which virtually meant the beginning of the end of that
stupendous system which found its birth in the fertile
brain of legislative dreamers, urged forward by the il
lusive hopes of constituencies who in those days, as now,
were illured by thoughts of prosperity which though laid
on uncertain foundations should increase with lightning
like rapidity. More than $12,000,000 had been expended
since the movement had been set on foot. It narrowed
itself do"wn under this administration to the matter of
completing the railroad from Meredosia to Springfield for
which an appropriation was secured. But this last sur
vivor of the internal improvement wreck, too, yielded be
fore the end of this administration. The state then
placed it into the hands of lessees but in 1847 it was sold
for $21,100. Dr. Bernard Stuve says : "Nothing further
was ever done toward completing any of the rest of the
works, which were scattered in detached parcels over the
State, where excavations and embankments were in evi
dence for many years as monuments of a costly legislative
folly, "a
a. Trans. III. State Hist. Soc. 1902, p. 125. "
For Internal Improvement System see also:
Peck, Gazetteer of 111. — Ford, Hist, of 111. — ^Brown, Hist.
of 111.— Davidson & Stuve, Hist, of 111.— Moses, 111. Hist.
and Stat, and various Session Laws.

172
The Illinois and Michigan Canal which was closely
allied to the system has practically pursued its course
alone with varying fortune up to the present time and in
its decay serves as a reminder of the dreams of wealth
and glory of the earlier days of the state. The central
railroad, another off-spring of this unfortunate birth,
fared better in after years when the national government
came to its assistance.^ The amount expended on the
Illinois and Michigan Canal from the date of its beginning
in 1836 to the end of this administration was nearly $5,-
000,000. After this, work was suspended on account of
the lack of funds untU in 1845 the state provided for a
loan of $1,600,000 for its completion and the whole mat
ter was turned over to a set of trustees who were to repre
sent the state and the bond holders. It was completed
in 1848 so that boats could pass the entire length from La
Salle to Chicago. In 1871,' all incumbrances settled, it
was turned over to the state by the canal trustees. Up
to this time its receipts seemed to have kept do"wn the ex
penses. In after years the expenses exceeded the toUs.
The construction of railroads and new methods of trans
portation have largely diverted the carrying trade to
faster channels. A work on similar lines has in recent
years been undertaken and completed by the Chicago
Drainage District in the shape of a sanitary canal
from Chicago to Joliet which has involved an expendi
ture of more than $50,000,000. An effort is also be
ing made to establish a deep water-way by means of
this route down and through the Illinois and Miss-
a. Land Grant to Illinois Central.

173

issippi rivers to the Gulf of Mexico by which large steam
ers may be enabled to carry the internal commerce of the
country to its northern-most and southern-most bounds;
whUe in connection with the Panama Canal project this
interior water-way with its northern and southern outlets
would exercise a tremendous influence on the commerce
of the whole nation and thereby it may be that the dreams
of the early pioneers may yet find a realization before the
present generation shall have gone to join them. Thus,
this monument, having outlived the other state creations
of contemporaneous birth, may bring about the fruition of
the hopes of both the past and the present.
During this administration the following counties were
formed :
MarshaU  January 19, 1839. Aet of 1839, p. 43
Bro"wn  February 1, " " " 52
DuPage  " 9, " " " 73
Dane (name changed to
Christian)'"-  February 15, " " " 104 104104126160170 208110 199216

Logan 

. " 15,

Menard 

. " 15,

Scott 

. " 16,

CarroU 

„ " 22,

Lee 

, " 27,

Jersey 

. " 28,

Williamson . ,

, " 28,

De Witt 

, , . . March 1,

Lake 

.... " 1,

a. Changed -February 1, 1840. Act of 1840, p. 80.

174

l-LCtX VXIXJ. 
Stark 

. . . , X1XCLL yj-Li. Uj J-»^(^ty. -t-V
... " 2, "

£ ££

229

Henderson . .

. .January 20, 1841.

1841,

67

Mason 

20, "

69

Piatt 

.. " 27, "

71

Grundy 

.February 17, " '

74

Kendall 

19, "

75
Richland . . . .
24, "
77
Woodford . . .
27, '¦'
84
On the fourth day of July, 1839, when the capital was
moved to Springfield, the state was divided into eighty-
seven counties and the population the year foUowing was
476,183 as shown by the census of 1840.
During the latter part, toward the close, of this admin
istration, the Mormon troubles began to arrive whieh ex
tended into the next administration.
175

THE MORMONS.^
In 1829, near Palmyra, New York, Joseph Smith claim
ed to have discovered or unearthed some gold tablets or
plates "with inscriptions upon them and that he did this in
pursuance to a revelation made to him by the Angel
Maroni. This discovery attracted some attention in the
locality, and others, who claimed to have received mani
festations, became ready to vouch for the genuineness of
the discovery. Smith made a translation of the inscrip
tions using what was called a seer stone. This transla
tion was formed into what has since become kno"wn as the
Book of Mormon. Human credulity brought some be
lievers and in 1830 we find Smith and his associates form
ing into a church at Manchester. Later, they established
themselves near Cleveland, Ohio, where Smith established
a bank at a place called Kirtland. After the failure of
this project, he and his followers went to Independence,
Missouri. Here troubles soon arose between the Mormons
and the Gentiles, which led to many legal squabbles until
the Mormons began to defy the authority of the state.
Then the Governor called out the militia for the purpose
of placing them into submission. The leaders were arrest
ed and court-martialed ; were saved through the clemency
of General Doniphan, but were held by a Circuit Judge on
a number of charges. The rest were allowed to go on condi-
a. They call themselves the Latter Day Saints.

176
tion that they leave the state. The leaders also making
their escape, the entire Mormon force migrated to lUmois
in 1839. They settled in Hancock County and founded
the to"wn of Nauvoo. Here difficulties soon arose between
them and the Gentiles, similar to those which had taken
place in Missouri. They became offensively officious m
the matter of politics and on account of their numbers and
political strength were humored by the politicians, and
through this became a still greater disturbing power. The
legislature -of 1840- '41 granted a charter to Nauvoo
which clothed it "with almost plenary local jurisdiction.
It was allowed not alone to pass ordinances but to estab
lish courts with far-reaching powers and organize its
militia into the Nauvoo Legion. Under this charter, the
city was organized in 1841 and Joseph Smith was elected
its mayor. During this year, in the faU, the Governor
of Missouri requested that Smith and the leaders be re
turned as fugitives and Governor Carlin issued a warrant
of arrest, which however was not executed. In 1842, the
"writ was issued again by Governor Carlin. Smith this
time was arrested, taken before Judge Douglas on a "writ
of habeas corpus, but discharged on the groimd that inas
much as the warrant had been returned unexecuted be
fore, it had become of no further force. On the heels of
this, the Nauvoo council passed an ordinance gi"ving its
municipal court jurisdiction over arrests, by no matter
what process made, "within its limits.
A continuation of these complications, thus begun, was
carried on under the succeeding administration.

177

FORD 1842-1846.
On December eighth, 1842, Thomas Ford was inau
gurated as Governor. At this time, the Mormons numbered
about sixteen thousand in this state. Governor Ford, in
his history,^ says, ' ' the Mormons were desirous of having
the cause of arrest legally tested in the federal court."
Hence, he issued a new warrant on the strength of which
Smith appeared in Springfield and on a habeas corpus pro
ceeding he was discharged by Judge Pope of the federal
court. On account of political intrigues and factional
differences in the church, this discharge did not termin
ate the troubles which were destined to harass this admin
istration for some time longer. A new indictment was
found in Missouri against Smith in 1843 for an attempt to
murder the Governor and on the seventh of June a requis
ition was made on the Governor of Illinois, who issued a
warrant which was given to a constable of Hancock Coun
ty to serve, who, after making the arrest, turned his pris
oner over to the Missouri officer from whom he was res
cued by an armed body of Mormons who took him back
to Nauvoo where he was discharged by the municipal
court, which had been clothed with such extraordinary
judicial powers. The Missouri official called upon the
Govemor to call out the militia, which however he de
clined to do.
These successes led the Mormons to become exceedingly
a. Ford, Hist, of III., 313.

178
arrogant. The council provided by ordinance that i£ any
one should try to make arrests on foreign "writs, the of
fender should be imprisoned for life without hope of par
don from the Governor, unless the mayor of Nauvoo con
sented. This act amounted practically to the setting up
of a separate government within the limits of our state
government unprovided for by our constitution and
wholly repugnant to the groundwork of our institutions.
Smith himself tried to assume the most autocratic pre
rogatives. He established a system of local autocracy,
created a recorder's office through which titles were to
pass and monopolized the sale of liquors to himself and
even went so far as to announce a candidacy for the presi
dency of the United States. These high-handed meas
ures divided the Mormons themselves into factions. One
of these factions, having attempted to issue a newspaper
in order to make the outside world acquainted "with the
wrongs that were being perpetrated in Nauvoo, had the
press destroyed. It was impossible to convict anyone in
the municipal court for this outrage. In Jime, 1844, the
Governor having been requested by the citizens of Car
thage in the county of Hancock, where Nauvoo was lo
cated, to call out the militia to assist in restoring order.
Governor Ford visited the county in person, where he met
a considerable armed force ready to aid in the establish
ment of legal process. Nearly all the offenses on the
calendar of crime were charged against the Mormons,
which, of course, were denied by them under the pretext
of religious persecution. The Governor ordered arrests
to be made, with the assurance that if the accused sur-

179
rendered they would be guaranteed a fair trial, but in
case of resistance, that the entire state militia would be
called into requisition. The mayor and council appeared
and entered into recognizances. Joseph Smith and his
brother Hiram however were arrested for treason and
were sent to the county jail to await their trial. As it
was reported that the counterfeiting of money was being
undertaken in Nauvoo, the Governor was asked to take
the mUitia there from Carthage. This however was not
done and the troops were disbanded. Three companies
were allowed to remain, some of whom guarded the jail,
the Governor himself going to Nauvoo to make a personal
inspection. The popular feeling was one of extreme hos
tility to the prisoners and as soon as the Governor had
left Carthage, a force was organized which broke into the
jaU and at the first volley killed Hiram Smith, the
prophet's brother. Joseph Smith, the so-called prophet,
although making a determined fight in his vain attempt to
escape, was soon thereafter riddled with bullets. This oc
currence did not allay the hostility existing between Mor
mons and Gentiles and led to further strife between the
contending forces. The people were clamoring for the ex
pulsion of, what they considered, a disturbing element
from the state. Thousands of citizens were preparing to
undertake this work and probably would have done so had
not the Governor interfered. Those accused of being im
plicated in the mobbing of the Smiths were arraigned and
acquitted in 1845. As the successor of Joseph Smith,
Brigham Young succeeded to the head of the church. The
warfare was kept up until through the intervention of the

180
Governor an agreement was arrived at by which the Mor
mons were to leave the state in the spring of 1846. Dur
ing the winter prior thereto, they made their arrange
ments to leave and by the middle of May sixteen thousand
of them had gone on their way to the great west, where
finaUy in 1847, they established themselves in the Great
Salt Lake Valley.
A minor portion of the Mormons, having been left in
this state, caused some further disturbances which kept
the military power of the state in activity until order was
restored. Governor Ford, in his message, had recommended con
ciliatory measures with reference to the banks and in har
mony with his recommendation, a compromise bUl was
passed by the legislature requiring the state bank and the
bank at Sha"wneetown to go into liquidation. The act of
1845 also provided for the completion of the lUinois and
Michigan Canal and to this end it provided for a loan of
$1,600,000. The financial affairs of the state began to assume a
better tone and on the whole the administration of
Governor Ford was a very creditable one. In his his
tory, Ford says, "I hope to be excused from saying any
thing in these memoirs in relation to my o"wn personal
quality and history. If it should ever be thought import
ant that a knowledge of such humble matters should be
perpetuated, I will trust the task of doing it to other
hands. "^ Although his historical work is strongly
tinged with the partisanship of his time and whUe he
a. Ford, Hist, of HI., 269.

181
himself is not always willing to render an account of
others without allowing his temper to come to the surface,
yet, the justice of history must aCcord to him an import
ant station in the history of this commonwealth.
Under this administration the foUowing counties were
formed :
Massac  February 8, 1843. Act of 1843, p. 74
Moultrie  " 16, " " " 83
Cumberland  March 2, " " " 94
Pulaski  " 3, " " " 99
The uncertainty, which had existed for a long time in
the minds of many of the people in the northern portion
of this state, as to whether they belonged to Illinois or
Wisconsin was definitely settled in 1846. The legisla
ture of 1830- '31 had authorized Governor Reynolds to ap
point a commissioner to mark our state line at 42° 30'
north latitude and John Messenger, an early-time sur
veyor, who had been the professor of mathematics in
Peek's Seminary, did the work.^ But this does not seem
to have ended the controversy between the state of Illinois
and the territory of Wisconsin. In this controversy the
sentiment of northern Illinois seemed to be rather in favor
of the Wisconsin contention. The whole affair grew out
of different constructions placed upon that part of the or
dinance of 1787, which provided, on the score of expedi
ency, that Congress "shall have authority to form one or
two states in that part of the said territory which lies
north of an east and west line drawn through the souther
ly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan. ' ' The enabling act
a. Reynolds, My Own Times, 319.

182
for the admission of Illinois in 1818, by which Congress
fixed the boundary of Illinois at 42° 30', ought to have
been decisive enough. But the agitation was continued
on account of the disposition of the leading men of Wis
consin to claim all they could, reinforced by a strong
northern Illinois sentiment, which arose out of the diver
sity of immigrations — ^the northern Illinois immigrants
coming from New England and the southern Illinois im
migrants mainly from Kentucky and Virginia. Meetings
were held and conventions even were caUed and the Wis
consin Territorial Governor, J. D. Doty, was conspicuously
active in the early forties,^ even addressing a letter to the
Governor of Illinois with regard to the matter.'' The
entire dispute was set at rest by the enabling act of Con
gress of August sixth, 1846, which admitted Wisconsin
as a state into the Union and through which the bound
ary between the two states remained at 42° 30' north lati
tude. Besides the foregoing acts, this adminstration was
marked by the outbreak of the Mexican War. In this
event of national importance, Illinois took a very conspic
uous part. Her soldiers were in the forefront of the most
important battles fought on the soil of Mexico. Six regi
ments were contributed to the service "with General James
Shields at the head of the contingent.
a. Brown, Hist, of 111., 353.
b. Moses, 111. Hist, and Stat., 279.
Radebaugh, The Boundary Dispute, etc., 137.
Professor "William Radebaugh presented a very exhaustive
address on this subject before the Chicago Historical
Society on May 19, 1904.

183

MEXICAN WAR.
The war between the United States and Mexico was
not the outgrowth of a sudden burst of passion. The
ultimatum came after all the antecedent happenings had
taken place in the channel from whence at last the inevit
able flows.
After having floundered through the darkness of three
centuries under Spanish rule, the country kno'wn as New
Spain and afterward as Mexico, awakening from its pas
sive state, began to show signs of revolt. .After sixty-
four Spanish viceroys had occupied the position of Gov
ernor over this province and had imposed that autocratic
power upon the natives which eventually drove them into
restlessness, at length the spirit of discontent became a
spirit of revolt. The standard of revolt was raised in
1810 at Guanajuata by the famous revolutionist, Hidalgo.
Although he was defeated and executed, after him came
Morelos. He in turn was executed. Then came the
"Liberator." Iturbide proclaimed the independence of the
nation in 1821. But he was only allowed to rule by ,
Spanish recognition. Independence had to be achieved
again. And in 1822 Santa Anna proclaimed the Republic
at Vera Cruz. Iturbide abdicated; left; returned; was
shot in 1824. Por the next decade this nation witnessed
contested presidencies, the reaction of the church, the
abolition of the constitution and the final consolidation
of confederated states in a mongrel republic, with Santa
Anna as its President, though its dictator in power and

184
practice. Texas, which had belonged to Mexico since the
Florida and Louisiana purchases, refused to submit. In
1836 she seceded from the Mexican confederacy and under
the leadership of as brave a set of men as ever marched to
war she achieved her independence. At the -Alamo, the
first great blow was struck which was avenged on the San
Jacinto's banks, where Santa Anna was captured but re
leased upon the guarantee that Texas freedom should be
recognized. Then Texas became a republic and was
recognized by the United States in 1837 and then by Bel
gium, Prance and England. Mexico still continued to
commit depredations on our trade although in 1831 she
had agreed to cease. The United States and Mexican
commissioners met for the purpose of squaring accounts.
This was in 1840. By this time their depredations aggre
gated in the neighborhood of $6,000,000. Their o"wn com
missioners themselves acknowledged $2,000,000. Three
years later they acknowledged it all, thereby admitting
their guilt and piracy. The promise was made to pay in
$300,000 installments. They paid three of these and then
refused to pay the balance. This was the situation in
1845. This was the relationship existing when the matter
of the annexation of Texas to the United States came up.
It was therefore not the subsequent annexation alone that
produced the Mexican War, but principaUy the antece
dent thefts committed by Mexican pirates on the seas, the
refusal to treat and make redress, the consent later to a
treaty by commissioners, but also its wUlful "violation
after it was made. In the war which resulted and in
which a hundred thousand American patriots took a part,
Illinois furnished six regiments with General Shields at
the head.

185

GENERAL JAMES SHIELDS.
Shields was born in Ireland in 1810. He came to this
country when a mere lad and during the more than half
century of his stay, till his death upon American soil, be
came to all intents and purposes as much an American as
if he had been native born. In 1832 he settled in old Kas
kaskia and entered on the practice of the law. Old Kas
kaskia had been the territorial and state seat of govern
ment. It still retained its potency as the center of refine
ment or the "Paris of the West." For more than a cen
tury it had been the military, civil, and literary center of
the Mississippi valley. It was here that the beginnings
of our history were made. It was here that the founda
tions of our commonwealth were laid. It was the Mecca
for aU who crossed the AUeghanies. It had encouraged
immigration. It had contributed the larger share of the
intellectual giants, among the pioneer great men, to the
public service. It had installed Shadrach Bond as the
first Governor of our state and had entertained a distin
guished foreign champion of the rights of man, and friend
of American liberty, in the person of La Payette. It
Was to this olden capital with the halo of its former
pomp stUl hovering about it that Shields came to
settle. Endowed with physical and mental vigor, with
brilliancy and genius, he soon rose from station to
station. He became a member of the legislature, auditor
of state, judge of the supreme court and commissioner of

186
the United States Land Office. He was in the vigor of
his youth at the age of thirty-six when the Mexican War
broke out. At the outbreak he volunteered and became
the Brigadier-General of the Illinois contingent. Por
more than a year the conflict lasted. In the north of
Mexico from Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma westward
to Monterey the intrepid fighters marched, and then across
and down to Saltillo, Victoria and Tampico until they
routed Santa Anna on the field of Buena Vista. In the
south of Mexico, the conquering host mowed a swath of
glory from the bay of Vera Cruz until they reached the
heart and center and camped within the capital of Mex
ico. In this march and at the fight of Cerro Gordo,
Shields was wounded. A canister ball passed through
one of his lungs. In fact, passed entirely through his
body from the front, coming out at the back, below his
shoulder blade. His comrades carried him away to die
as they feared. But a silk handkerchief was drawn
through the wound and he recovered and lived to repre
sent three states successively in the United States Senate
Chamber. He was mustered out in 1848 and was offered
the Governorship of Oregon Territory but declined and
was elected United States Senator from lUinois. He
served till the close of his term in 1855 and then moved to
Minnesota where on the admission of that state he became
her United State Senator. Prom there he went to Cali
fornia in 1860. The Civil War broke out and he volun
teered. Became again a Brigadier and showed again his
bravery, for none more fearless rode through the Valley of
the Shenandoah. Prom California he went to Missouri and
Missouri honored him and herself by electing him as her
United States Senator. He died in 1879 at Ottumwa, Iowa.

187

FRENCH 1846-1849-1853.
On December ninth, 1846, Augustus C. French was in
augurated as Governor. The proposition to call a con
stitutional convention had been submitted to a vote of the
people and ratified. While the Governor's inaugural
dealt with matters affecting the cojnpletion of the canal
and the school law as his most important suggestions, a
large part of public attention was occupied with the re
vision of the constitution. The constitutional convention
made its revision from June seventh, 1847, to August
thirty-first, 1847, after which it was submitted to a vote
of the people on March sixth, 1848, and ratified. Inas
much as the term of the Governor, through the act of this
convention and the adoption of the constitution, had been
somewhat curtailed, it was felt due him that he should be
re-elected and hence it was that at the first gubernatorial
election held after the adoption of the new constitution,
he received practically the whole vote. On January
eighth, 1849, he was re-inaugurated. During his admin
istrations the following counties were formed :
Saline  February 25, 1847. Act of 1847, p. 34
Kankakee  " 11, 185L " 1851, 30
The constitution of 1848 provided that "no state bank
shall hereafter be created. ' '
In 1850 the population was 851,470.
The legislature of 1851 passed an act for the incorpora
tion of the lUinois Central Railroad Company.

188

THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD.
In 1850 Congress granted lands in aid of the construc
tion of a railroad from Chicago to Mobile. After this
grant, the legislature of Illinois incorporated the "Illinois
Central Railroad company,"^ which was to build a rail
road from "the southern terminus of the Ulinois and Mich
igan canal, to a point at the city of Cairo, ' ' with branches.
Alternate sections, for six miles in width on each side of
the road, were ceded for the purpose of aiding through the
sale of these lands. This act of the legislature, passed
at the session of 1851, formulated terms for the construc
tion of this road. In pursuance of these enactments, a
company took hold, agreeing to build the road within the
time limit stated by law and to pay seven per cent of its
gross earnings. The road and its branches were com
pleted before the close of 1856. The matter was taken
hold of in earnest and the seven hundred miles of this
early gigantic system were built in the space of five years.
Two and one half millions of acres, approximately, were
embraced in the congressional grant and these were nearly
all sold to actual settlers. As the outcome of this great
plan, the state became the recipient of an annual revenue
of seven per cent on the gross earnings of a profitable
business enterprise and its wild lands became the homes of
thousands of settlers who have contributed to the up
building of the state.
a. Act of 1851, p. 61.

189

MATTESON 1853-1857.
In January, 1853, Joel A. Matteson was inaugurated as
Governor. The legislature on February twelfth passed
an act "to prevent the immigration of free negroes."^
The succeeding legislature is to be commended for a more
meritorious proceeding in the adoption of ' ' An act to es
tablish and maintain a uniform system of common
schools." The history of the state, under this admin
istration, is that of an era of prosperity following on the
heels of former financial depressions resultant from wild
financial policies and preceding financial depressions that
again came soon thereafter. The struggles of politicians
occupied the theatre of public life and in this state, as in
every other state in the Union, matters of local importance
were dwarfed in the discussion of questions affecting na
tional politics. Illinois was full of rising and ambitious
statesmen and this period more than any other in the his
tory of the state was marked by political discussions and
"wranglings. Many of those, who in later years became
prominent in the affairs of the nation, were then engaged
in measuring forensic swords on political battle-fields in
this state. Party leaders and party followers were
beginning to make different party alignments. The
Lincolns and Douglases were appearing upon the
scene and preliminary skirmishes were taking place
that led to greater contests later. In the midst
of all this came the birth of a new party in 1856.
a. Act of 1853, p. 57. See ante p. 158.

190

BISSELL AND WOOD 1857-1861.
On January twelfth, 1857, WUliam H. Bissell was in
augurated as Governor. He had been in the Mexican
War as the Colonel of the Second Illinois Regiment of Vol
unteers. After the close of the war he was three times
elected to Congress. The sectional feeling between north
and south was then already growing. In response to a
speech made by a member from the south, who had at
tacked the conduct of the northern troops on the field of
Buena Vista where an Indiana regiment had given way,
he made an impassioned reply; he defended the northern
troops and showed how his own regiment and others were
on hand before the Mississippi regiment, which was claim
ed to have come to the rescue, took part in the conflict.
At this, Jefferson Davis pretended to feel aggrieved and
sent a challenge which Bissell accepted. But through the
intervention of friends all further trouble was averted
and as stated in the Washington Union of February twen
ty-eighth, 1850, the matter was ' ' Most honorably adjusted
to the gratification and entire satisfaction of their mutual
friends. ' '
During his administration the building of another pen
itentiary was provided for and also the establishment of a
Normal University.
During this administration the following counties were
formed :

191
Douglas  February 13, 1857. Act of 1857, p. 71
Ford  " 17,1859. " 1859, 29
Since which time no other counties have been formed
and the creation of Ford County, as the last in the series,
completed the rounding out of the county system in the
state. BisseU died on March eighteenth, 1860, before the end
of his term, and the imexpired term was filled by Lieuten
ant-Governor John Wood.
During this period two great political giants appeared
upon the scene and engrossed popular attention. In fact
the political debates between Lincoln and Douglas at
tracted national interest.
The population in 1860 was 1,711,951.

192

LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS.
The repeal of the Missouri Compromise in 1854 brought
Abraham Lincoln into promintoce. He entered with all
his force into the discussion of the repeal. He opposed
it. In fact he led the opposition. His activity secured
him the leadership. In 1856 the Republican party was
organized. Lincoln was present at the birth of the new
party. As one of the organizers, he stood by and helped
to rock the infant of republicanism in the free soil cradle
of a growing public sentiment.
Douglas was a United States Senator and became a
candidate for re-election in 1858. Lincoln was desig
nated by the new party as the opposing candidate. A
challenge to enter into a public debate was sent to Doug
las and finally the terms were arranged for the memorable
contest which extended from Preeport in the north to
Jonesboro in the south. During the discussion Lincoln
never went farther than to insist that slavery should be
put "in course of ultimate extinction." As Lovejoy had
at one time spoken of "gradual emancipation" so Lincoln
dreamed of "ultimate extinction." But the course of
events forced Lovejoy to widen his sphere of agitation
and the course of events dispelled the dream of Lincoln,
when in its very midst he awakened to its realization.
In the contest of 1858 Douglas won. In 1860 he was

193
named as the candidate of his party for the presidency.
Lincoln was again designated as his opponent. In this
contest Lincoln won. Douglas was beaten through a di
vision in his 0"wn party. The Civil War came on in wliich
Lincoln became the great central figure of that four years'
confiict, in which the irrepressible course of events brought
about the "ultimate extinction" of slavery. Por in order
to sooner suppress the rebellion the Emancipation Proc
lamation was issued on the first day of January, 1863.
At the commencement of the Civil War these two great
figures that had all along been political opponents stood
side by side for the constitution and the preservation of
the Union. Unfortunately, Douglas died in the summer
of 1861 and in his death the patriots lost one of their
ablest defenders, for he believed in
' ' The Union of Lakes, The Union of Lands,
The Union of States none can sever.
The Union of Hearts, The Union of Hands,
And the Flag of our Union forever ! ' '
The war continued with varying successes till its close.
Lincoln quietly directed its destiny. After his real work
had been performed and the closing days of the confiict
had been assured it seemed a strange decree of Pate that
he should not live to see the final fruition of his patriotic
prayers. Lee had surrendered. Johnston was still in
the field but soon to be conquered. Before this last act
closed the drama, the great central figure was removed
from the scene of action by an assassin's bullet, leaving,
however, "One of the few, the immortal names,
That were not born to die, ' '

194
while he who bore it in his lifetime now is sleeping in his
coffined bed at Springfield, underneath a great mausoleum
which every eye regards with reverence and to which there
comes a never-ending stream of pilgrims bringing offer
ings to the tomb,of Lincoln.

195

YATES 1861-1865— CIVIL WAR.
On January fourteenth, 1861, Richard Yates was in
augurated as Governor.
The most important act passed during the first session
of the legislature was one for the protection of married
women in their separate property.
As the CivU War period was now on hand, public senti
ment and official life were busy with the treatment of na
tional questions rather than local ones. As some of the
states were threatening secession, the Governor's message
devoted much attention to this matter, insisting upon the
indissolubUity of the government. Virginia called for a
peace conference at Washington and Illinois among other
states responded by the appointment of commissioners.
The efforts of this peace conference however failed and the
Civil War came on. While the legislative sessions were
constantly harassed with discussions on the all-important
topic of the war, there was a practical unanimity of senti
ment throughout the state in favor of the prosecution of
the war and the maintenance of the Union. Illinois gave
Lincoln to the nation as its President and elected a patriot
who became our War Governor. The state contributed
to the military service during the war 259,092 soldiers. It
also contributed Grant who became the leader of all the
Union forces in the conflict and Logan, a native lUinoisan,
who was looked upon as the greatest representative of the
vol-

196
unteer soldiery. In the midst of all the excitement at
tendant upon the war situation, an attempt to amend our
state constitution was made. A constitutional convention
was held in the early part of 1862 but when the instrument
which was prepared was submitted to the people it was
rejected by an overwhelming vote. The succeeding legis
lature met under circumstances when the war feeling was
at a still greater tension. While the people as a whole
were undoubtedly loyal, there were those both in public
and in private life who were ready to throw obstacles in
the way of the war's progress. Many of the members of
this legislature were guilty of conduct which might be
characterized, to put the matter mildly, as an approach to
disloyalty. The President's Emancipation Proclamation
gave umbrage to such members and they denounced the
President and his course in their speeches; resolutions
were framed denunciatory of nearly everything and every
body connected "with the war, until the Governor finally,
tiring of this session which was bringing nothing but
odium upon the state, prorogued the legislature on June
tenth, 1863.

197

OGLESBY 1865-1869.
On January sixteenth, 1865, Richard J. Oglesby was in
augurated as Governor.
January thirty-first, 1865, a joint resolution of Con
gress, which had passed the Senate some time previously,
passed the House, proposing the thirteenth amendment to
the national constitution, providing that slavery should
not exist in the United States. Being sanctioned by the
President the next day, the news was at once sent to the
various states of the country and the legislature of this
state by its prompt action placed Illinois in a position of
being the first state to ratify the amendment. And this
act furnished the concluding chapter to the question of
slavery in our state.
January fifteenth, 1867, the fourteenth amendment to
the national constitution was ratified by Illinois. This
amendment conferred citizenship without regard to color.
-Another measure which received attention by this legis
lature was the location of an Agricultural or Industrial
College. The place selected was Urbana. Congress had
made donations of lands to the several states for this pur
pose, of which Illinois received nearly a half million acres.
Futile attempts were made to remove the state capital
but by act of February twenty-fifth, 1867, a new State
House was provided for, the cost of which was to be lim
ited to $3,000,000, and the capital remained at Springfield.

198

PALMER 1869-1873.
On January eleventh, 1869, John M. Palmer was inau
gurated as Governor.
On March fifth, the fifteenth amendment to the na
tional constitution was ratified by the legislature. The
legislature of 1867 had submitted to the electors of the
state the question of calling a convention for the purpose
of framing a new state constitution. This convention
met December thirteenth, 1869. The most important
change made in the fundamental law prohibits the matter
of special legislation which theretofore had been the prin
cipal business which occupied legislative sessions. This
constitution was ratified by the people July second, 1870.
In this year the population had gro"wn to 2,539,891. Dur
ing the year 1871, the great Chicago fire occurred, out of
which there grew a disagreement between the state and
federal authorities. The local authorities of Chicago and
the business interests had called for assistance to aid them
in the protection of their property. This aid was fur
nished by the federal troops which was resented by Gov
ernor Palmer on the score that the authorities of the state
were amply able to furnish such protection. The con
troversy was carried on between the Governor and Presi
dent Grant, in which the Governor was indorsed by one
branch of the legislature for his stand, while at the same
time exonerating the military from any "wrong intent, the
Senate taking no action, and the incident became closed
except in so far as it furnished a precedent for the adher
ents of both opposing views.

199

CHICAGO AND THE CHICAGO FIRE.
The birth of the great city of Chicago may be said to
date back to the winter of 1674, when Marquette, on his
return from his mission station at St. Ignace to visit the
Kaskaskia Indians on the Illinois river, made a stop near
the Chicago river and with his companions built a cabin
where he wintered untU the following spring. This was
the first home of the white man in Illinois, from which also
dates the beginning of Chicago. After the discovery, the
site of Chicago, in a few years, became an Indian trading
post. In 1804 Port Dearborn^ was established by the
United States near the mouth of the Chicago river on the
south side. Here occurred an Indian massacre in the
war of 1812.
In 1823 Beck called Chicago "a village of Pike Coun
ty, ' ' with a population of sixty or seventy.''
' ' The original plat of Chicago  covered less than
half a" square mile, ' ' on August fourth, 1830."
"In 1832 it contained five small stores, and 250 inhab
itants."* In 1837 it was incorporated into a city by the legis
lature. a. See ante 106.
b. Beck, Gazetteer of 111. and Mo.,100. See ante 118.
c. Moses, 111. Hist, and Stat., Vol. II, 940.
d. Peck, Gazetteer of IU., 179.

200
The census of 1870 showed its population to have been
298,977. Late on Sunday evening, the eighth of October, 1871,
a stable was discovered to be on fire in a portion of the
city about half a mile southwest of the main business por
tion. The fire was soon communicated to the neighboring
buildings and a strong southwest wind rapidly blew the
conflagration toward the very heart of the city. The
work of fiery devastation continued from 8 :45 o'clock that
evening, when it started, through the night and into the
next day until $200,000,000 worth of property had been
destroyed and one hundred thousand people rendered
homeless, while two hundred and fifty men, women and
children lost their lives in the terrible holocaust. The
world at once came to the assistance of the stricken city
in its dire distress and the legislature of the state reim
bursed the city for its expenditure on the canal to the
amount of nearly $3,000,000.
A most "vdvid description of this catastrophe was pub
lished in 1892 written by Reverend Da"dd S"wing, a very
celebrated Chicago minister.

201

OGLESBY AND BEVERIDGE 1873-1877.
On January thirteenth, 1873, Richard J. Oglesby was
inaugurated as Governor for his second term. Being
elected to the United States Senate on January twenty-
first he resigned his office on January twenty-third and
John Lo"wrie Beveridge became Governor. The history
of the state under this administration consisted mainly of
sporadic attempts on the part of various religious, politi
cal and social reform elements to engraft their views upon
the public. The liquor question, the regulation of rail
roads, the organization of granges and farmers ' clubs and
the effort to establish so-called reform parties in politics ;
these all came in for their share of public attention. A
general revision of the laws was made and some new ones
of a necessary nature were added. A commission was pro
vided and placed in charge of Illinois interests at the
Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876 and for this
purpose ten thousand dollars was appropriated. The
closing part of the administration was occupied with the
political excitement attendant on the great political cam
paign of 1876.

202

CULLOM 1877-1881.
On January eighth, 1877, Shelby M. CuUom was inau
gurated as Governor. In his inaugural he advised amend
ing the clumsy revenue laws of the state. Senator John
A. Logan, whose term was to expire on the fourth of
March in the first year of this administration, became in
volved in a contest for re-election. On account of the
independent movements which had been fashionable under
the preceding administration, enough independent mem
bers had been elected to the legislature to hold the balance
of power so that as a result neither of the prominent can
didates of the two leading political parties was successful.
The long contest resulted in the election of Judge David
Davis on the fortieth ballot as Logan's successor.
A great railroad strike occurred in July, 1877; while
the head center was at Pittsburg yet its various branches
extended to other states. In Illinois, Chicago and the
larger railroad and manufacturing and mining centers be
came involved in the strike. As disturbances took place
at some of these points, troops were called for to preserve
order and the military force of the state was ordered out.
In the course of a week order was again restored and busi
ness began to enter upon its usual channels.
During the last year of this administration the popula
tion had grown to 3,077,871 as sho"wn by the census of
1880.

208

CULLOM AND HAMILTON 1881-1885.
At the election of 1880 Cullom was re-elected and on
January tenth, 1881, he was re-inaugurated as Governor.
His message was largely devoted to the matter of the ces
sion of the Ulinois and Michigan Canal to the United
States. The legislature failing to act however on this
subject and also having failed to reapportion the state into
congressional and legislative districts, he reconvened it in
special session in March, 1882, to carry out these purposes.
At this session the state was reapportioned and an act was
passed with reference to the cession of the canal by which
provision was made to submit the matter to a vote of the
people in November of that year which was ratified. The
Governor's message to the legislature at the special session
on the subject of the canal was characterized by such a
business-like directness that it deserved not alone the at
tention of the legislature to which it was addressed, but
deserves the attention of the entire nation for years to
come untU a deep water-way shall have been furnished
through the center of our country. On the general sub
ject of transportation the Governor said : "I believe that
the most important work is the improvement of our rivers,
lakes and canals, and the construc^n of such new
canals as will unite the waters, and whenever it can reason
ably be done, shorten distances for the transportation
of freights. The government in the past has contributed

204
many millions of dollars and millions of acres of the public
domain in aid of the construction of railroads across the
continent, and in different portions of the undeveloped
territory of the United States. It should now direct its
expenditures to utilizing the waters of the country in the
interest of cheap transportation. ' '^
On January sixteenth, 1883, Cullom was elected to the
United States Senate. Lieutenant Governor John Marshall
Hamilton succeeded to the office of Governor on CuUom's
resignation on February seventh.
The legislature of 1883 passed the Harper high license
law which pro"vides for the payment of not less than $500
per annum for the keeping of dram shops and not less than
$150 for the sale of malt liquors only.
a. Governor's Message to Special Session Thirty-second
General Assembly, p. 4.

205

OGLESBY 1885-1889.
On January thirteenth, 1885, Richard J. Oglesby was
sworn in for the third time as Governor. The most ex
citing political event of this period was the election of a
United States Senator as the successor of Senator Logan,
"who was a candidate for re-election. On account of the
closeness of the vote between the parties in the, legislature
much time was taken up until the death of one of the mem
bers in whose place a successor of the opposite political
faith was chosen. Logan had all along lacked one vote
of the requisite number to secure an election and through
this change he secured sufficient strength to be again
elected. A legislative enactment secured the establishment of a
Soldiers' and SaUors' Home which was located at Quincy.
An event of great consequence occurred on the night
of May fourth, 1886. A meeting was held in the Hay '
Market Square in Chicago at which the eight-hour day was
under consideration. On the approach of the police for
the purpose of dispersing the crowd, a bomb was thro"wn
from the crowd and through the explosion seven policemen
were killed and many were wounded. Mathias Degan was
one of the policemen killed and for this an indictment was
found against eight men who were tried and found guilty
and sentenced to be hanged with the exception of one who se-

206
cured a sentence of fifteen years imprisonment. The
matter was appealed but affirmed by the Supreme Court in
the fall of 1887. One of the defendants committed suicide,
while the sentences of two others were commuted by the
Governor to life imprisonment and four were hanged on
November eleventh, 1887.

207

FIFER 1889-1893.
On January fourteenth, 1889, Joseph Wilson Fifer was
inaugurated as Governor.
On November twenty-fifth, 1889, the lUinois State His
torical Library was organized.
The drainage legislation which took place during this
administration was a most vital move affecting the com
mercial interests of the state and resulted in the creation
of the Sanitary District of Chicago and the construction of
the Drainage Canal.
After Congress had decided to celebrate the four hun
dredth anniversary of the discovery of this continent by
Columbus and Chicago had been selected as the site for the
celebration, the Governor was requested by the Chicago
authorities to convene a special session of the legislature
for the purpose of taking steps with a view to aiding this
undertaking. The session was held in the summer of 1890
and granted such authority to the World 's Columbian Ex
position as was deemed necessary to enable it to carry out
the purposes intended by the movement set on foot for the
celebration; among other things submitting a constitu
tional amendment to the people enabling Chicago on a vote
of its electors to issue $5,000,000 in bonds whereof the pro
ceeds might be devoted to Exposition purposes.
The population of the state in 1890 was 3,826,351.

208

ALTGELD 1893-1897.
In January, 1893, John P. Altgeld was inaugurated as
Governor. He was the first foreign-born Governor of the
state. He was born in Germany in 1848. He came to
this country when a mere boy and was reared on a farm ia
Ohio. At the age of sixteen he went into the Union army
and after the war taught school until he adopted the law
as a profession. He practiced in Missouri till 1875, when
he moved to Chicago and identified himself thereafter "with
Illinois affairs.
Among the acts of this administration which attracted
the most attention and provoked the greatest discussion
was the pardoning of the three men who were in prison for
the affair which occurred on the Hay Market in May, 1886.
Pour of those who had been charged with complicity in
that occurrence had been hanged in 1887, one had commit
ted suicide, two had their sentences commuted from the
death sentence to life imprisonment by Governor Oglesby
and one had received an original sentence of fifteen years.
These last three were serving time when on June twenty-
sixth, 1893, Governor Altgeld granted them an absolute
pardon. Petitions signed by many thousands of citizens
of all classes and occupations had been sent to the Gov
ernor praying for executive clemency. In granting the
pardon he gives his reasons for so doing and enters into an
exhaustive review of the history of the whole matter as
well as the legal phases involved. During this adminis
tration the World's Columbian Exposition took place on
Illinois soil.

209

THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION.
The movement for the celebration of the four hun
dredth anniversary of the discovery of the continent by
Columbus had its origin in Illinois. The initial step was
taken several years prior to the time when the anniversary
would occur and the movement was kept alive from time to
time by various Chicago clubs, which interested themselves
until in 1889 the city council of Chicago authorized the
appointment of a committee of prominent citizens whose
business it was to keep alive the agitation and see to it
that if a World's Fair would be held, Chicago should
secure the location of the same. A corporation, capital
ized at $5,000,000, was organized. Senator Cullom brought
the matter before Congress and on the twenty-fifth of
April, 1890, the national enactment was consummated
which set on foot definitely the great exposition which
afterward took place on our soil. In the contest for the
location, four cities were competitors, namely. New York,
Washington, St. Louis and Chicago. It took eight ballots
in the lower house of Congress to determine the matter.
In the summer of that year a special session of the Ulinois
legislature, through its legal enactment, helped to round
out the legal machinery through which the exposition was
to be set in operation. The directors of the corporation
selected a part of the Lake Front and Jackson Park for the
site of the great Fair. The Fair was opened on May first,
1893, and was continued until the end of October.

210

TANNER 1897-1901— CUBAN WAR.
In January, 1897, John R. Tanner was inaugurated as
Governor. The destruction of the Maine, while on a friendly visit
in the harbor of Havana, with the accompanying loss of
American seamen, furnished the cause for the declaration
of war with Spain. As soon as the news of the tragedy
flashed across the wires, the nation was aroused. An ex
tra session of the Illinois legislature took place and Gov
ernor Tanner on February seventeenth, 1898, asked this
body to authorize him to offer the support of the state in
this crisis, which authority was at once given, thereby
placing Illinois first on the list in the sisterhood of states
in the offer of extending help. Under the President's call
this state was to provide seven regiments of infantry and
one of cavalry. They rendezvoused at Camp Tanner at
Springfield. In addition, one battery of light artillery
was also accepted. Under the President 's second call two
more regiments of infantry were furnished. The eighth
regiment was a colored regiment.^
Prom the Adjutant-General's report it appears that
the Illinois regiments saw service as follows :
The first and second infantry (Chicago) regiments in
Cuba; The third infantry in Porto Rico ;
a. Adj. -Gen. Report of 1902, Vol. 9.

211
The fourth infantry in Cuba ;
The fifth infantry at Chickamauga, Newport^ News and
Lexington ;
Part of the sixth infantry in Cuba and part in Porto
Rico; The seventh infantry (Chicago) at Camp Alger and
Camp George G. Meade ;
The eighth infantry (colored) in Cuba;
The ninth infantry in Cuba;
The first cavalry at Camp Thomas and Port Sheridan;
Battery A (light artillery) in Porto Rico.
On May twenty-third, 1900, the Illinois State Histori
cal Society was incorporated with the following object:
"To excite and stimulate a general interest in the history
of Illinois ; to encourage historical research and investiga
tion and secure its promulgation; to collect and preserve
all forms of historical data in any way connected with
Illinois and its people."^
The population in 1900 was 4,821,550.
a. Articles of incorporation.
Trans. 111. State Hist. Soc, 1900, p. 1.

212

YATES 1901-1905.
In January, 1901, Richard Yates was inaugurated as
Governor. He was born at Jacksonville, Illinois, on De
cember twelfth, 1860, and was the first native-born Gov
ernor of our state. He was educated for the legal pro
fession and after graduating from the Michigan Univer
sity he entered upon the practice of his profession.
The first legislative session under his administration
reapportioned the state into twenty-five congressional
and fifty-one senatorial districts. Among the appropria
tions provided for was one of $250,000 for the purpose of
erecting a building and presenting Illinois exhibits at the
Louisiana Purchase Exposition, through which the great
ness of Illinois should be presented to the world. And
at the Exposition in 1904, our state made a splendid
showing over which every lUinoisan felt a just pride.
In line with a patriotic and educational tendency, the
second legislative session passed an act, which was ap
proved by the Governor on May sixteenth, 1903, making
the Illinois State Historical Society a department of the
Illinois State Historical Library. Incidental expenses
are to be paid for interviewing old settlers and examining
county, church, school and like records under the direc
tion of the Historical Library Board. And thus, a means
was provided by which our historic progress may be pre
served and transmitted to the generations yet to come.

213

DENEEN 1905—.
On January ninth, 1905, Charles S. Deneen was inau
gurated as Governor.
He was born May fourth, 1863, at Edwardsville in
Madison County and hence is the second native-born Gov
ernor of our state. He received his education in the
public schools of Lebanon and at McKendree College and
the Union College of Law (now Northwestern Law
School). He moved to Chicago where he pursued his
profession and became coimected with some of the lead
ing law firms of that city. On May tenth, 1891, he was
married to Miss Bina Day Maloney. In the fall of 1892
he was elected a member of the Illinois legislature; in
1895 Attorney for Sanitary Board; was nominated and
elected in 1896 as State's Attorney for Cook County and
re-elected in 1900. Was a delegate to the National Re
publican Convention in Philadelphia in 1900. Was nom
inated for Governor and elected on November eighth,
1904. His father, Samuel H. Deneen, was professor of Latin
and ancient and medieval history in McKendree College
and in the Civil War was adjutant of the 117th Illinois
Volunteers and under President Harrison's administration
was United States Consul at Belleville, Ontario.
His grandfather, William L. Deneen, was County Sur
veyor of St. Clair County as early as 1849.

214

NEWSPAPERS.
This book has not been dedicated to any individual
or class in particular, for fear that its shortcomings, what
ever they may be, might not be a welcome offering. If the
author could be entirely shorn of this fear, he knows of
no guild to whom he would rather dedicate the labor of
his love than to the newspaper fraternity of Illinois. The
newspaper in its potentiality has been a tremendous force
in the evolution of human civilization. While the great
development of human liberty has received its greatest
impetus from the march of events right here on Illinois
soU and while our history is an unbroken chain of cir
cumstances leading to the consummation of the political
equality of man, the newspapers of the state have been
dominant factors in moulding and shaping the course of
these circumstances, which have produced such beneficent
results. Mathew Duncan began to publish the "Illinois Her
ald" on September sixth, 1814, at Kaskaskia. It was the
first newspaper in our state.^
There are now over seventeen hundred newspapers
and periodicals being issued in Illinois and these, with
their powerful influence, exert an incalculable effect
on the public and private life of Illinois. More than
five million lUinoisans trust that this influence wiU
a. E. A, Snively, Trans, 111, State Hist, Soc. 1904, p. 205.

215
continue to be exerted in line with our civic motto of
"State Sovereignty and National Union," so that while
the greatness of Illinois shall be the pride of its citi
zens, this citizenship will exult in the satisfaction of be
longing to a national and indivisible Union of States.

216

CONTENTS.

Title Leaf 
Author's Preface  3
Chain of Title  6
Chain of Title  9
Indians  H
Spain  12
Map  13
England  16
Map  1'7
Spanish, English and French
Discoveries  19
Map  22
Spain  23
Map  26
France  27
Map  30
England  31
Map  34
Prance  35
Map  40
The Illinois Indians  41
First "Whites and First Sta
tion in Illinois  47
Discovery of coal in Illinois, 53
First Fort in Illinois  57
Map  60
Further French Occupation,, 61
Map  ''2
England  73
Map  '^6
Fort Chartres and the Con
quest of the N, W  77
Map  82
Virginia and the County of
Illinois  83
Map  88
United States— N, "W". Terri
tory  89
Map  94
Map  97
Map  99
Map  102
The "W"ar of 1812  106
The State of Illinois  109
Bond, 1818-1822  113

Map  117
The First Legal Execution, , ,120
Coles, 1822-1826  122
Edwards, 1826-1830  126
The Educational System  130
Reynolds and Ewing, 1830-
1834  133
The Black Hawk War  135
Duncan, 1834-1838  140
Lovejoy's Assassination  146
Slavery in Illinois  153
An Act Respecting Free Ne
groes, etc  158
Carlin, 1838-1842  170
The Mormons  175
Ford, 1842-1846  177
Mexican VP^ar  183
General James Shields  185
French, 1846-1849-1853  187
The Illinois Central Railroad, 188
Matteson, 1853-1857  189
BisseU and "Wood, 1857-1861. ,190
Lincoln and Douglas  192
Yates, 1861-1865 
Civil War  195
Oglesby, 1865-1869  197
Palmer, 1869-1873  198
Chicago and the Chicago Fire. 199
Oglesby and Beveridge, 1873-
1877  201
Cullom, 1877-1881  202
Cullom and Hamilton, 1881-
1885  203
Oglesby, 1885-1889  205
Fifer, 1889-1893  207
Altgeld, 1893-1897  208
The World's Columbian Ex
position  209
Tanner, 1897-1901 
Cuban War  210
Yates, 1901-1905  212
Deneen, 1905-  213
Newspapers  214
Contents  216
Index  217

217

INDEX.

Ackerman, 145.
Aco, 50.
Actual cultivation, 65.
Actual possession, 24.
Actual transfer, 73.
Admission, 110.
Advent of white men, 37.
Affleck, 120.
Agricultural college, 197.
Alamo, 184.
Albion, 143.
Alger, 211.
Allouez, 36, 44, 49.
Altgeld, 208.
Alton, 42, 84, 126, 133, 140, 143,
147.
Amending of constitution, 123,
196, 207.
Amendments, 157, 197, 198.
American Bottom, 42, 84, 104, 111,
144, 145.
Ancient village of the Illinois,
46.
Population of, 48, 49.
Arkansas country, 37, 44.
Armstrong, 139.
Army of Clark, 79.
Assassination of LaSalle, 62.
Assassination of Lovejoy, 145,
146, 156.
Assassination of Pontiac, 46, 73.
Atkinson, 129, 137, 138.
Aubuchon, 69.
Author's preface, 3.
Bad Axe, 138.
Bahamas, 12.
Ball, 74.
Bancroft, 31.
Bank, 113, 123, 126, 133, 140, 180,
187.
Baptism of Aco, 50.
Baptisms, record of, 49.
Baptist, 95, 128.
Bateman, 132.
Bayliss, 132.

Bay, Chegoimegon, 35.
Bay, Galveston, 62.
Bay, Massachusetts, 30.
Bay, Matagorda, 62.
Beard, 121.
Beardstown, 136, 137, 138,
Beck, 55, 108, 113, 116, 119, 199.
Becker, 51.
Beckwith, 41, 42, 43.
Belgium, 184,
Belle Fontaine, 84, 96,
BelleviUe, 103. 120, 121, 143.
Bennett, 120, 121,
Beveridge, 201.
Bienville, 66, 67.
Big Muddy river, 142.
Bineteau, 50.
Bingo, 153.
Birth of new party, 189.
Bissell, 190, 191,
Black Code, 155.
Black Hawk, 128, 135, 136, 137,
138, 139.
Black Hawk War, 108, 128, 134,
135,
Black Laws, 119, 122, 126, 155,
157, 158-169.
Blacks, 64.
Blacksmith, 58, 145.
Blind, 132.
Bloomington, 142, 143.
Blue Licks, 85.
Bluifs, 42, 84, 142, 144,
Boisbriant, 65, 66, 67, 77.
Bond, 84, 111, 113, 123, 130, 185.
Bonds, sale of, 170.
Book A, 95.
Bottom, American, 42, 84, 104,
111, 144, 145.
Boul, 145.
Boundaries, 110.
Boundary dispute, 110, 181.
Bounties, 108.
Bourbonnais, 69.
Brazil tobacco, 45.

218

Breese, 37, 41, 42, 43, 52, 53, 62.
Bribe, 45.
British, 68, 108.
Brown, 41, 108, 171, 182.
Brownsville, 114.
Brooks, 132.
Buena Vista, 186, 190.
Buffalo's wool, 67.
Bureau of labor statistics, 56.
Cabin, first, 49.
Cabot, 16.
Cabot's discovery. 17.
Cahokia, 42, 43, 46, 52, 62, 68, 69,
73, 74, 76, 79, 84, 95.
Cahokia creek, 42.
Cahokia mound, 42.
Cahokia village, 42.
Cahokias, 40, 41, 42, 52.
Cairo, 112, 142.
California. 186.
Camp Alger. 211.
Campbell, 108,
Camp Russell, 108.
Canada, 19, 27, 35, 36, 51, 61, 69,
91, 103, 109.
Canada, Intendant of, 35, 36,
Canal, Illinois cfe Michigan, 123,
124, 127, 133, 140, 141, 172, 180,
187, 188, 200, 203.
Canal, Chicago Sanitary, 123.
Canal commissioners, 141.
Canal, Drainage. 207.
Canal, Panama, 173.
Canton, 143.
Cape Fear, 31,
Capital, 113, 140, 174, 197.
Carbondale, 132.
Carlin, 170, 176.
Carlyle, 143.
Carolina, English, 63.
Carolina, Fort, 24.
Carthage, 143, 178, 179.
Cartier, 26, 27, 35.
Cartier to Frontenac, 41, 44, 49.
Cartwright, 96.
Cascaschia, 48.
Casey, 133.
Caton, 46.
Cattle, 67.

-Cemetery, 51.
Centennial, 201.
Central railroad, 143, 172, 187,
188.
Cerro Gordo, 186.
Chain of title, 6, 7, 9, 10.
Chain of Lakes, 23, 35, 77.
Champlain, 35.
Charleston, 132, 143.
Charlevoix, 41, 45, 46, 54, 66, 67.
Charboniere, 54.
Chegoimegon, 35.
Chester, 42, 50, 83, 84, 111.
Chicago, 52, 106, 116, 141, 172, 199,
202, 207, 208, 209, 213.
Chicago river, 49. 106, 199.
Chicago Historical Society, 83,
182.
Chicago creek, 116.
Chicago sanitary canal, 123.
Chicago drainage district, 172.
Chicago fire, 198, 199, 200.
Chickamauga, 211.
Chickasaws, 267.
Chief Justice Marshall, 10,
Chief Pottawatomie, 46.
China, 36,
China, northwest passage to, 37.
Chouteau, 74, 112.
Church of Kaskaskia, 49.
CivU War, 193, 195.
Claim, English, map of, 17, 30, 72.'
Claim, French, 36,
Map of, 26, 34,
Clark, 74, 78, 79, 83, 84, 90, 107.
Clark, Fort, 107, 108,
Clay, 103.
Clayton, 143,
Cleveland, 175.
Coal, 53, 54, 55, 56, 144,
Code Noir (black), 155.
Coles, 122, 155.
College, agricultural and indus
trial, 197.
College, Illinois, 128.
College, McKendree, 128, 213
College, Shurtleff, 128.
Collet, 70.
Columbus, 12, 143, 207, 209.

219

Columbus' discovery, 13.
Columbian Eicposition, 207, 208,
209.
Commandant, 66, 67, 73.
Commandant, first, 65, 84.
Commandant, Spanish, 84.
Commandants, French, 50, 67, 68,
70, 73.
Common, 66.
Common fields, 66.
Commutation of sentence, 206.
Company, London, 30, 31.
Company, Plymouth, 30, 31.
Company, Royal India, 64, 65, 66,
67, 153.
Company of the west, 64, 65, 153.
Commissioners to move dead, 51.
Concurrent jurisdiction, 110, 111,
119.
Confederacy of Illinois, 41.
Map of, 40.
Population of, 42.
Conference, peace, 36, 195.
Confirmation to French and Can
adian inhabitants, 89, 90, 154.
Confirmation to Virginia citizens,
90.
Congress, Indian, 36,
Connecticut, 89,
Connecticut colony, 30,
Conquest of the Northwest, 74,
76, 77, 79, 83.
Map of, 76.
Conspiracy of Pontiac, 74.
Constituent assembly, 146.
Constitutional convention, 196,
198.
Constitutions, 110, 155, 156, 157,
187.
Amending of, 123, 196, 207.
Constructively, 36.
Constructive possession, 24, 31.
Contents, 216.
Controversy, boundary, 110, 181.
Cook, 51, 155.
Copper, 54, 55.
Counterfeiting, 179.
Counties —
Adams, 125.

Alexander, 113.
Bond, 104.
Boone, 145.
Brown, 173.
Bureau, 145.
Calhoun, 125.
Carroll, 173.
Cass, 145.
Champaign, 134.
Christian, 173.
Clark, 113.
Clay, 124.
Clinton, 41, 124.
Coles, 134.
Cook, 134, 213.
Crawford, 104.
Cumberland, 181.
DeKalb, 145.
DeWitt, 173.
Douglas, 191.
DuPage, 173.
Edgar, 124.
Edwards, 104, 114, 126.
Effingham, 134.
Fayette, 115.
Ford, 191.
Franklin, 105.
Fulton, 124,
Gallatin, 104,
Greene, 115.
Grundy, 174.
Hamilton, 92, 115.
Hancock, 125, 176, 177, 17S
Hardin, 174.
Henderson, 174.
Henry, 124, 125.
Iroquois, 134.
Jackson, 104.
Jasper, 134.
Jefferson, 113.
Jersey, 173,
Jo Daviess, 128,
Johnson, 104.
Kane, 145,
Kankakee, 187.
Kendall, 174.
Knox, 125.
Lake, 173,
LaSalle, 37, 54, 134, 141.

220

Lawrence, 115.
Lee, 173.
Livingston, 145,
Logan, 173.
McDonough, 125.
McHenry, 145.
McLean, 115, 134.
Macon, 128.
Macoupin, 128.
Madison, 104, 213.
Marion, 124,
Marshall, 173.
Mason, 174,
Massac, 181.
Menard, 115, 173.
Mercer, 125.
Monroe, 65, 84, 96, 104.
Montgomery, 115.
Morgan, 124.
Moultrie, 181,
Ogle, 145.
Peoria, 125.
Perry, 128.
Platt, 174.
Pike, 115, 116, 117, 199.
Pope, 104.
Pulaski, 181.
Putnam, 125.
Randolph, 69, 77, 96, 97, 99, 102,
105.
Richland, 174.
Rock Island, 134.
St. Clair, 69, 85, 94, 95, 96, 97,
99, 102, 105, 120. 121, 142, 213.
Saline, 187.
Sangamon. 115.
Schuyler, 125.
Scott, 173,
Shelby, 128.
Stark, 174.
Stephenson, 145.
Tazewell, 57, 128.
Union, 105.
Vermilion, 125.
"Wabash, 125.
Warren, 125.
"Washington, 92, 105.
Wayne, 113.
"White, 104,

Whiteside, 145.
Will, 145,
Williamson, 173.
Winnebago, 145.
Woodford, 174,
Country, Arkansas, 37, 44.
Country, Illinois. 47, 53, 61, 62, 63,
66, 67, 68, 70, 74, 78, 79, 82, 83,
84, 95, 153.
Country, Miamis, 61.
Country, Rock river, 108, 136, 137,
142.
Coureurs de Bois, 55.
Court, 73, 90.
Courts, primitive, 84.
Cove Spring, 96.
Craig, 107.
Creve Coeur, 57, 61.
Cross of cedar, 36.
Crows, 95.
Crozat, 63, 64, 65.
Cuba, 210, 211.
Cuban War, 210.
Cullom, 202, 203, 204, 209,
Cultivation, actual, 65,
Cunning thieves, 46,
Currency, depreciation of, 114,
Customs of Paris, 64,
Dablon, 35. 36, 44,
Dane county, 173.
Danville, 143.
D'Artaguette, 67.
Das Deutsche Element, 112.
Daughters of the American Revo
lution, 57, 74,
Dauphin, Lake, 48,
Davidson & Stuve, 171.
Davis, 190, 202,
Deaf and Dumb, 132.
Dearborn, Fort, 106, 199,
Death of Marquette, 49.
Debate, Lincoln and Douglas, 192,
193, 194.
DeBertel, 68.
Decatur, 142, 143.
DeChastes, 26, 27.
Declaration of Independence, 146.
Degan, 205.
DeGourges, 24.

221

DeKalb, 132.
DeLaBuissoniere, 67.
DeLaVega, 23.
DeLeon, 22, 23, 24.
DeMonts, 26, 27, 35,
Deneen, 213.
Dental Brief, 41,
Depreciation of currency, 114,
Description of Louisiana, 48, 54,
57.
Description of Port Chartres, 78.
DesLlettes, 67.
DesMoines river, 44,
DesPlaines river, 49,
DeSoto, 22, 24,
DesUrsins, 65, 66.
Discoveries, Spanish, English
and French, 19.
Discovery by Cabot,- 17.
Discovery by Columbus, 13.
Discovery of the Great West, 35,
49, 62,
District, intermediate, 30, 31,
Division of papers, 69,
Dixon, 137, 138, 139,
Doniphan, 175,
Doty, 182,
Douglas, 176, 189, 191, 192, 193,
Drainage Canal, 207.
Drake, 24.
Dram shops, 204.
Duel, sham, 120.
Duncan, 124, 131, 136, 140, 143,
170, 214.
DuQuoin, 43.
Early French settlers, 66.
Earthquakes, 103.
Eastern Indians, 43.
Eastern Normal, 132.
Eastern State, 91.
East St. Louis, 144.
Education, 92, 128, 130, 131, 132.
Educational Institution, 132.
Edwards, 83, 103, 104, 107, 108,
123, 128, 129, 132, 136, 150.
Edwardsville, 114, 143, 213.
Election, flrst. 111.
Emancipation, gradual, 148, 192.

Emancipation Proclamation, 193,
196.
Employees in mines, 56.
Enabling act, 181.
Encroachments of Mississippi
river, 48, 78.
England, 16, 31, 68, 73, 78, 106,
184.
English, 35, 73, 74, 78, 79, 83.
English Carolina, 63.
English claim, map of, 17, 30, 72.
English occupation, 73.
English, Spanish and French dis
coveries, 19.
Enumeration of Illinois Indians,
43,
Establishment of the Faith, 42,
45, 49, 57,
Etter, 132,
Ewing, 133.
Execution, flrst legal, 119, 120,
Expediency, 181,
Extermination of Illinois tribes,
43, 46, 73.
Extinction, ultimate, 192,
Factories, 64.
Fairfield, 142.
Faith, establishment of the, 42,
45, 49, 57,
Ferdinand and Isabella, 12,
Ferland, 51, 52.
Fields, common, 65.
Fifer, 207.
Fike, 120.
First American school master, 96.
First cabin, 49.
First commandant, 65, 84.
First county, 95.
First election. 111,
First foreign-born Governor, 208.
First fort, 57.
First Governor, 111, 113, 130, 185.
First home, 199.
First legal execution, 119, 120.
First Lieutenant-Governor, 111.
First native bom Governor, 212.
First railroad, 144.
First state election. 111.
First station, 47.

222

First whites, 47.
Florida, 23, 24, 27, 184.
Ford, 105, 123, 171, 177, 178, 180.
Forest rangers, 55.
Forge, 58.
Fort Carolina, 24.
Fort Chartres, 66, 67, 68, 69, 73,
74, 76, 77, 78.
Fort Clark, 107, 108.
Fort Dearborn, 106, 199.
Fortifled post, 58.
Port Massac, 70, 76, 95.
Fort Recovery, 99, 103.
Portress Monroe, 139.
Fort St, Louis, 62,
Fort Sheridan, 211.
Fowls, 67,
Fox Indians, 108, 129, 135,
Fox river, 37, 55, 135,
Prance, 27, 31, 35, 63, 66, 67, 68,
73, 184.
France, New, 27, 35, 47, 50, 53, 61,
63, 64, 67,
Map of, 60.
Freeman, 132.
Preeport, 192,
Free schools, 124, 131.
French, 187.
French-Canadian government, 62.
French-Canadian inhabitants, 89,
90, 154.
French claim, 36.
Map of, 26, 34.
French commandants, 50, 67, 68,
70, 73.
French, English and Spanish dis
coveries, 19.
French-Indian War, 68, 92.
French possessions, 68.
French settlements, 79.
French settlers, 66.
French slaves, 156.
French traders, 55.
Friars, 53.
Frontenac, Cartier to, 41, 44, 49.
Fuel, 66.
Fugitives, 91.
Fugitive slave law, 156,
Fund commissioners, 141,

Further French occupation, 61.
Fur traders, 35,
Gage, 73.
Gaines, 136, 137,
Galena, 129, 142.
Galveston Bay, 62,
Garrison, 84.
Gayarre, 65, 70,
Gazetteer, Beck, 55, 108, 113, 116,
119, 199,
Gazetteer, Peck, 108, 128, 141, 171,
199,
Gentiles, 175, 176, 179,
German immigration, 112.
Germany, 208.
Gibault, 79.
Gilman, 156.
Godfather, 115.
Gomo's Town, 108.
Good heels, 45.
Gradual emancipation, 148, 192.
Grand Marais, 144,
Grant, 195, 198,
Grant, Renault, 66,
Grants, Indian, 65.
Gratiot, 79.
Gravier, 49, 50, 52.
Great Lakes, 23, 35, 77.
Great Marsh, 144.
Great Miami river, 91.
Great river, 35, 37, 44.
Great Wabash river, 142,
Great "West, 180,
Great West, discovery of, 35, 49,
62.
Great western mail route, 142,
144.
Green Bay, 37, 49.
Greyhounds, 45.
Griffin, 53.
Guanajuata, 183.
Guinea, 64.
Gulf, 61, 62, 63, 124, 173.
Gun, 46.
Habits and habitat of Indians,
44.
Halifax, 31.
Hamilton, 203, 204.
Hardy, 90.

223

Harper, 204.
Harris, 153.
Harrison, 43, 96, 106, 135, 213.
Havana, 210.
Hay, 121.
Hay Market, 205, 208.
Heald, 106, 107.
Heels, good, 45.
Hennepin, 48, 53, 54, 56, 57, 138.
Henry IV, 27.
Henry, Patrick, 79, 83.
Henry VII, 16.
Herald, Illinois, 214.
Hidalgo, 183.
Higher education, 128.
Highlanders, 73.
High license, 204.
Hillsboro, 143.
Historical library, 207, 212.
Historical Society, Chicago, 83,
182.
Historical Society, Illinois State,
70, 211, 212.
Historical Society, Missouri, 70.
Hog-hide register, 69.
Hopkins, 107.
Horned cattle, 67.
Horsepower, 145,
Huguenot colony, 24.
Hutchins' topographical descrip
tion, 43, 54.
Iberville, 73.
Idle, 45.
lUinese, 40, 45.
Illini, 11, 41, 42, 52.
Illinois, 109, 110, 111, 112.
Illinois, ancient village of the,
46.
Illinois and Indiana Indians, 41,
42, 43.
Illinois and Louisiana under
French rule, 70.
Illinois & Michigan canal, 123,
124, 127, 133, 140, 141, 172, 180,
187, 188, 200, 203,
Illinois Central railroad, 143, 172,
187, 188.
Illinois college, 128,
Illinois confederacy, 41,

Map of, 40.
Population of, 42.
Illinois country, 47, 53, 61, 62, 63,
66, 67, 68, 70, 74, 78, 79, 82, 83,
84, 95, 153,
Illinois, county of, 82, 83,
Illinois Indians, 11, 37, 41, 44, 47,
48, 61, 62, 64, 67, 68, 73,
Enumeration of, 43,
Extinction of, 43, 46, 73,
Illinois Herald, 214,
Illinois, Lake, 49,
Illinois river, 37, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47,
48, 49, 52, 54, 55, 95, 107, 108,
116, 133, 135, 142, 172, 199,
Illinois Territory, 102, 103,
Map of, 102,
Illinois University, 130,
Immaculate Conception, mission
of, 49, 50,
Independence, 175.
Indiana, 83, 110, 116, 143,
Indiana regiment, 190.
Indiana Territory, 43, 96, 99, 105,
Map of, 99,
Indian congress, 36,
Indian grants, 65,
Indian massacre, 199.
Indian migration to southern Illi
nois, 50.
Indian, Peoria, 74,
Indian right, 10.
Indians, 11, 69, 84, 106, 107, 108,
126, 128, 129, 135, 137, 138.
Indians, Arkansas, 37.
Indians, eastern, 43.
Indians, habits and habitat of, 44,
Indians, Peoria, 40, 41, 43, 61.
Indians, Sac and Pox, 108, 135.
Indian Territory, 44.
Indian tribes of the west, 31, 35,
36.
Industrial college, ¦ 197.
Inglis, 132.
Inhabitants, French and Cana
dian, 89, 90, 154.
Inhabitants, original, 10.
Institution for blind, 132.

224

Institution for deaf and dumb,
132.
Intendant, 35, 36, 67,
Intermediate district, 30, 31.
Internal improvements, 140, 141,
142, 143, 170, 171.
Iowa, 44, 139, 186.
Ireland, 185,
Iron, 54.
Iron rails, 145.
Iroquois, 48, 61, 62.
Isabella and Ferdinand, 12.
Iturbide, 183,
Jackson, 136, 139,
Jackson Park, 208,
Jacksonville, 128, 132, 140, 143,
212,
James, 104,
James I, 31,
Jarrot, 156,
Jefferson, 90, 146.
Jefferson Barracks, 138.
Jesuit, map, 44.
Jesuit Relation, 35, 44.
Jesuits, 47, 67.
Johnston, 193.
Joliet, 172.
JoIIiet, 24, 37, 41, 47, 48, 53.
Jolllet & Marquette route, 34.
Jonesboro, 192.
Journal, Kennedy's, 54, 55.
Journal, Marquette's, 37, 42, 44.
Judith, 153.
Jurisdiction, concurrent, 110, 111,
119.
Kankakee river, 54.
Kaskaskia, 41, 48, 49, 50, 51, 55,
62, 66, 68, 69, 73, 76, 78, 79, 84,
110, 113, 124, 185, 214.
Kaskaskia church, 49.
Kaskaskia mound, 41.
Kaskaskia, new, 51.
Kaskaskia river, 41, 43, 48, 50,
142.
Kaskaskias, 40, 41, 43, 49, 50, 90,
199.
Kennebec, 147.
Kennedy's Journal, 54, 55,
Kentucky, 7'8, 103, 107, 111, 152.

Kentucky river, 96.
Keokuk, 136.
Kickapoos, 37.
Kidd, 84.
Kirtland, 175.
Knowledge, 92, 130.
Koerner, 112.
Kuilka, 48.
Labor statistics, 56.
LaCharboniere, 54.
Lacroix, 69.
LaFayette, 124, 185,
LaHontan, 45,
Lake Dauphin, 48.
Lake Front. 209,
Lake Illinois, 49,
Lake Michigan, 41, 47, 48, 49, 91,
106, 109, 110, 116, 133, 141, 18L
Lake of the Woods, 91, 109.
Lake Peoria, 41,
Lakes, 61, 123, 124.
Lakes, Great, 23, 35, 77,
Lake Superior, 35, 44, 47.
Laon, 47.
LaSalle, 35, 37, 49, 53, 55, 57, S«,
60, 61, 62, 63, 172.
Latter Day Saints, 175,
Laudonniere, 24.
LaVantum, 48,
LaVille de Maillet, 76.
Law, 64.
Law, fugitive slave, 156.
LawrencevUle, 142,
Leaflets, Old South, 31,
Lebanon, 128, 143, 213.
LeClercq, 42, 45, 49, 57,
Lee, 90, 193,
Legislature, proroguing of, 196.
Length of state, 112.
Le Rocher, 46, 62.
LeSueur, 52.
Lexington, 211.
Liberator, 183.
Liberty of the press, 149,
Library, Historical, 207.
License, high, 204.
Lillard, 96.
Lincoln, 189, 191, 192, 193, 194.
Liquors, 204.

225

Little Miehilmakinack river, 94,
95.
Little river, 95.
Little "Wabash river, 142.
Logan, 195, 202, 205.
London, 170.
London company, 30, 31,
Louis XIV, 36, 53, 61.
Louisiana, 50, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65,
66, 67, 68, 70, 73, 184.
Louisiana, description of, 48, 54,
57.
Louisiana, map of, 60,
Louisiana Purchase Exposition,
212.
Lovejoy, 147, 192,
Lovejoy's assassination, 145, 146,
156.
McKendree college, 128, 213.
Mackinac, 36.
Mackinaw, 61, 143.
Mackinaw river, 55.
McLaughlin, 57.
McLean, 115.
Macomb, 132, 143.
Madison, 103, 106.
Magazine, Powder, 78.
Mail route. Great Western, 142,
144,
Maine, 147.
Maine, the, 210,
Makarty, 68.
Maloney, 213.
Manchester, 175.
Man of Illinois, 146,
Map, county of Illinois, 82,
Map, English claim, 17, 30, 72,
Map, French claim, 26, 34,
Map, Illinois confederacy, 40.
Map, Illinois Territory, 102.
Map, Indiana Territory, 99.
Map, Jesuit, 44.
Map, Louisiana, 60.
Map, New Prance, 60.
Map, Northwest, 76, 88, 94, 97.
Map, Pike county, 117.
Map, Randolph county, 97, 99,
102.

Map, St. Clair county, 94, 97, 99,
102.
Map, Spanish claim, 13, 22.
Map, Smith's state, 116.
Marest, 43, 50.
Margry, 57, 70.
Maroni, 175.
Marquette, 24, 35, 36, 37, 41, 44,
47, 49, 51, 199.
Marquette & Jolllet route, 34.
Marquette's Joumal, 37, 42, 44.
Married women, 195.
Marietta, 92.
Marshall, Chief Justice, 10.
Maryland, 111.
Mascoutens, 37, 54.
Mason, 37, 43, 52, 62, 79, 83, 95.
Massac, Fort, 70, 76, 95.
Massachusetts, 89.
Massachusetts Bay, 30.
Matagorda Bay, 62.
Matteson, 189.
Mausoleum, 194.
Meachelle, 46.
Mead, 211.
Melendez, 22, 24.
Membre", 42, 45, 48, 53, 57, 62,
Men, superior, 42.
Menard, 111, 112, 115.
Meredosia, 143, 171,
Mesnard, 36,
Messenger, 181.
Metchigamea, 40, 41, 44,
Metchigamis, 43,
Methodist missionary, 96,
Mexican War, 182, 183, 186, 190,
Mexico, 183, 184, 186.
Mexico, gulf of, 61, 62, 63, 124,
173.
Mexico, New, 63.
Miami country, 53, 54, 61.
Miami river. Great, 91.
Miamis, 37.
Michigan, 41, 83.
Michigan, Lake, 41, 47, 48, 49, 91,
106, 109, 110, 116, 133, 141, 181.
Michigan University, 212.
Middle state, 91. ,
Migration of Indians to southern
Illinois, 50.

226

Miles, 152.
Military tract, 108.
Military tribunal, 73.
Mines, 54, 56.
Mining, 65, ,
Minnesota, 186,
Missilimakinae, 45.
Mission, Immaculate Conception,
49, 50.
Mission, St. Esprit, 34, 44.
Mission, St. Ignace, 34, 36, 37, 47,
62, 199.
Missionaries, 35,
Missionary^ station, pioneer, 36.
Mississippi^ 67.
Mississippi regiment, 190.
Mississippi river, 24, 37, 41, 42,
43, 44, 45, 47, 48, 50, 61, 62, 63,
68, 73, 77, 84, 89, 91, 95, 108, 109,
110, 123, 129, 135, 136, 137, 138,
139, 142, 144, 145, 172, 188.
Encroachments of, 48, 50, 78.
Mouth of, 61.
Mississippi scheme, 64.
Missouri, 44, 84, 121, 122, 135, 155,
175, 176, 177, 208,
Missouri compromise, 192,
Missouri Historical Society, 70.
Missouri river, 63,
Mobbing of press, 149, 150.
Monroe, 90.
Monroe, Fortress, 139.
Monterey, 186.
Montreal, 34, 35.
Monument, Bond, 111.
Monument, flrst fort, 57.
Monument, Menard, 112.
Moore, 84, 153.
Morality, 92, 130.
Morelos, 183.
Mormons, 174, 175, 177, 179, 180,
Moses, 41, 83, 105, 123, 171, 182,
199.
Mound, Cahokia, 42.
Mound, Kaskaskia, 41.
Mount Carmel, 143.
Mount Sterling, 143.
Mulattoes, 119, 126.

My Own Times, 103, 105, 108, 120,
144, 156, 181.
Nauvoo, 176, 177, 178, 179.
Nauvoo legion, 176.
Negroes, 69, 119, 126, 189.
Negro lynched, 149.
Negro servitude, 153.
New Brunswick, 19.
New Chartres, 69.
New Design, 96.
New England, 182.
Newfoundland, 19, 27.
New France, 27, 35, 47, 50, 53, 61.
63, 64, 6T.
Map of, 60.
New Kaskaskia, 51.
New Mexico, 63.
New Orleans, 66, 68.
New party, 189.
Newport News, 211.
Newspapers, 214, 215.
New vessel, 61.
New voyages to North America,
45.
New York, 89, 175, 209.
Neyon de Villiers, 68.
Normal, 131, 132.
Normal, eastern, 132.
Normal, northern, 132.
Normal, southern, 132.
Normal, state, 132.
Normal university, 131, 132, 190.
Normal, western, 132.
North America, 23, 77.
Savages of, 45.
North Carolina, 27.
Northern Cross railroad, 143.
Northern Normal, 132.
Northwest, 83, 85, 90, 106, 108.
Conquest of, 74, 76, 77, 79, 83.
Map of, 76, 88, 94, 97.
Northwestern Law School, 213.
Northwest passage to China, 37.
Northwest Territory, 88, 89, 94, 97,
109, 153.
Nova Scotia, 19.
Observer, St. Louis, 148.
Occupation, 65, 73.
O'Pallon, 128.

227

Officers' quarters, 58.
Oglesby, 197, 201, 205, 208.
Ohio, 83, 92, 96, 175, 208.
Ohio river, 63, 77, 89, 90, 91, 95,
96, 109, 110, 111, 119, 145, 188.
Olden cemetery, 51.
Olden Illinois settlement, 51.
Old South Leaflets, 31.
Ontario, 213.
Ordinance of 1787, 90', 109, 122,
130, 153, 181.
Orient, 36.
Origin, 186.
Original inhabitants, 10.
Ottawa, 138.
Ottumwa, 186,
Oumamis, 45,
Outagamins, 45, ,
Palmer, 198,
Palmyra, 175.
Palo Alto, 186.
Panama canal, 173,
Papers, division of, 69,
Pardon of Hay Market defend
ants, 208,
Paris, 73, 143.
Paris, customs of, 64.
Paris of the "West, 50, 183.
Paris, treaty of, 73.
Parkman, 35, 37, 49, 62,
Pasturage, 66,
Patent for Virginia, 30,
Patent letters, 63,
Patent of Louis XIV, 53,
Peace conference, 36, 195,
Peck, 108, 128, 141, 171, 199,
Peck's seminary, 128, 181,
Penitentiary, 126, 133, 190,
Pennsylvania, 89, 91,
Penobscot, 147,
Peoria, 43, 57, 65, 76, 107, 140, 143.
Peoria Chapter, D, A. R., 57,
Peoria Indian, 74,
Peoria Lake, 41,
Peorias, 40, 41, 43, 61.
Periodicals, 214.
Perrot, 36.
Philadelphia, 201.
Piggott, 84.

Pioneer dead, removal of, 51.
Pioneer History, Reynolds,' 43, 95,
108.
Pioneer missionary station, 36.
Piracy, 184.
Pisticoui river, 54, 55.
Pittsburg, 145, 202.
Plymouth company, 30, 31.
Political discussion, 189,
Ponce de Leon, 22, 23, 24.
Pontiac, 43, 73, 74.
Pontiac, assassination of, 46, 73.
Pope, 109, 110, 177.
Population, 95, 103, 113, 116, 128,
174, 187, 191, 198, 199, 200, 202,
207, 211.
Population of ancient Illinois vil
lage, 48, 49,
Population of Illinois confeder
acy, 42,
Porto Rico, 210, 211,
Possession, 65, 73,
Possession, actual, 24,
Possession, constructive, 24, 31,
Possessions, French, 68,
Post, fortified, 58,
Post Vincennes, 91, 102, 103, 109.
Pottawatomie chief, 46.
Pottawatomis, 136,
Powder, 45.
Powder magazine, 78.
Powell, 132,
Prairie du Chien, 129, 138,
Prairie du Pont, 68.
Prairie du Rocher, 66, 77, 84,
Precious stones, 64.
Press, liberty of the, 149.
Mobbing of, 149, 150.
Primitive courts, 84,
Prophet's Town, 106, 137.
Proroguing of legislature, 196,
Protestantism, 96.
Prothonotary, 69,
Public works, commissioners of,
141.
Purgatory swamp, 142.
Quebec, 34, 35, 36, 47, 60.
Quincy, 143, 205.
Raab, 132.

228

Radebaugh, 182.
Railroad, first, 144.
Railroads, 133, 143, 144, 145, 171,
172, 187, 188, 204.
Rails, iron, 145.
Randolph County, map of, 97, 99,
102.
Rangers, 106.
Reapportionment, 203.
Recollects, 53.
Record B, 121.
Record C, 121.
Record of baptisms, 49.
Recovery, Port, 99, 103.
Red Bird, 129.
Reform movements, 201.
Register, hog-hide, 69.
Registrar of the bench, 69.
Registre des Insinuations, 69.
Relation^ of 1670-1671, 35, 44.
Religion, 92, 130.
Removal of capital, 113, 140, 174,
197.
Removal of pioneer dead, 51.
Renault, 65, 122, 153.
Renault grant, 66.
Repeal of incorporation of Illinois
& Michigan Canal Company,
127.
Repeal of Missouri compromise,
192.
Republican party, 192.
Resaca de la Palma, 186.
Revenue laws, 202.
Revolution, American, 78, 83, 92.
Reynolds, 43, 44, 95, 96, 103, 105,
106, 108, 120, 121, 123, 133, 137,
144, 156, 181.
Ribaut, 24.
Ribourde, 53.
Right of Indian, 10.
Rights of man, 146.
Rivers —
Bad Axe, 138.
Big Muddy, 142.
Chicago, 49, 106, 199.
DesMoines, 44.
DesPlaines, 49.
Fbx, 37, 55, 135,

Great, 35, 37, 44.
Great Miami, 91.
Great Wabash, 142.
Illinois, 37, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48,
49, 52, 54, 55, 95, 107, 108, 116,
133, 135, 142, 172, 199.
Kankakee, 54.
Kaskaskia, 41, 43, 48, 50, 142.
Kentucky, 96.
Little, 95.
Little Miehilmakinack, 94, 95.
Little Wabash, 142.
Mackinaw, 55.
Mississippi, 24, 37, 41, 42, 43, 44,
45, 47, 48, 50, 61, 62, 63, 68, 73,
77, 84, 89, 91, 95, 108, 109, 110,
123, 129, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139,
142, 144, 145, 172, 188.
Encroachments of, 48, 50, 78.
Mouth of, 61.
Missouri, 63.
Ohio, 63, 77, 89, 90, 91, 95, 96,
109, 110, 111, 119, 145, 188.
Pisticoui, 54, 55.
Rock, 108, 136, 137.
St. Lawrence, 27, 35.
Trinity, 62.
"Vermilion, 55, 141.
Wabash, 91, 95, 103, 106, 109,
110.
"Wisconsin, 37, 45, 135, 138,
Roads, 130,
Roeheblave, 74, 79, 84,
Rock Island, 108, 136, 142.
Rock river, 108, 136, 137,
Rock river country, 108, 136, 137,
142.
Rock, Starved, 46, 49, 62,
Rock Spring seminary, 128, 181.
Route, Marquette & Jolllet, 34.
Royal India company, 64, 65, 66,
67, 153.
Russell, 107.
Russell, Camp, 108.
Rutherford, 84.
Sacs and Poxes, 108, 129, 135.
Ste. Anne, 66.
St. Augustine, 24.
St. Ange de Belle Rive, 67, 68, 73,

229

St. Clair, 67, 68, 92.
St. Clair County, map of, 94, 97,
99, 102.
St. Cosme, 52, 62.
St. Esprit mission, 34, 44.
Ste. Genevieve, 68, 69.
St. Ignace, 34, 36, 37, 47, 62, 199.
St. Lawrence river, 27, 35.
St. Louis, 68, 69, 70, 74, 112, 124,
135, 138, 144, 209.
St. Louis Chapter, D. A. R., 74.
St. Louis, Fort, 62.
St, Louis Observer, 148,
St, Mary's of the Falls, 36,
St. PhiUIpe, 66, 69.
St. VIncjents, 90.
Salem, 143.
Sale of bonds, 170.
Saline Reserves, 126.
Saltillo, 186.
Salt Lake, 180.
Santa Anna, 183, 184.
Sanitary district, 207.
San Jacinto, 184.
Saucier, 78.
Saussier, 78.
Sault Sainte Marie, 36.
Savages of North America, 45.
Savannah, 142.
School lands, 127, 130, 131.
Schools, 92, 124, 127, 130, 131, 132,
133, 140, 187, 189.
Scotland, 92.
Scott, 70.
Sea kings, 12.
Sea to sea, 31.
Secretary of State, 131,
Secretary of Treasury, 115.
Secretary of War, 43.
Secret treaty, 73.
Seely, 96.
Seer stone, 175.
Seminary, 130.
Seminary, Rock Spring, 128, 181.
Sentence of Hay Market defend
ants, 206.
Separate property of married
women, 195.
Servants, 119.

Servitude, negro, 153.
Settlement, olden Illinois, 51.
Settlements, French, 79.
Settlers, 84, 106, 188.
Settlers, French, 66.
Sham duel, 120.
Shawneetown, 114, 124, 140, 180.
Shea, 42, 45. 48, 49, 54, 57.
Shelbyville, 142, 143.
Shenandoah valley, 186.
Sheridan, Fort, 211.
Shields, 182, 184, 185, 186.
Short, 120.
Shurtleff college, 128,
Sidney, 143,
Sioux, 138.
Slade, 132,
Slate, 54,
Slave law, fugitive, 156,
Slavery, 69, 91, 122, 126, 153, 156,
197.
Slaves, 65, 69, 119, 153, 156.
Slaves, French, 156.
Smith, 95, 116, 175, 176, 177, 178,
179.
Snively, 214.
Snyder, 78.
Society, Chicago Historical, 83,
182.
Society, Illinois State Historical,
70', 171, 211, 214.
Society, Missouri Historical, 70.
Soldiers, 195.
Soldiers & Sailors Home, 205.
Southerly bend, 91, 109, 110.
Southern Hotel, 74.
Southern Illinois Normal, 132.
Spain, 12, 23, 24, 73, 210.
Spanish, 35.
Spanish claim, map of, 13, 22.
Spanish commandant, 84.
Spanish, English and French dis
coveries, 19.
Spanish territory, 84.
Springfield, 112, 140, 143, 170, 171,
174, 177, 194, 197, 210.
Special legislation, 198.
Starved Rock, 46, 49, 62.

230

state Bank, 113, 123, 133, 140, 180,
187.
State, eastern, 91.
State, middle, 91.
State, western, 91, 109.
State Historical Library, 207, 212.
State Historical Society, 70, 211,
212,
State House, 197,
State Normal, 132,
State of Illinois, 109, 110, 111, 112.
Station, first, 47.
Station, pioneer missionary, 36.
Statue of Menard, 115.
Steamboats, 105.
Sterling, 73.
Stevens, 108, 139,
Stillman, 137,
Stillman's Run, 137.
Stones, precious, 64,
Strikes, 202,
Stuart, 120.
Stuve, 171.
Superintendant of Schools, 131,
132.
Superior, Lake, 35, 44, 47,
Superior men, 42,
Surveyor, 213.
Swing, 200.
Swiss, 112.
Talon, 36.
Tamaroa, 42,
Tammarois, 40, 41, 42, 52,
Tampico, 186,
Tanner, 210,
Taylor, 108, 138.
Taxation for schools, 127.
Tecumseh, 106.
Terre Haute, 143.
Territorial record 1809-1818, 104.
Territory, Illinois, 102, 103.
Territory, Indian, 44.
Territory, Indiana, 43, 96, 99, 103.
Territory, Northwest, 88, 89, 94,
97, 109, 153.
Territory, Spanish, 84.
Texas, 184.
Thieves, cunning, 46.
Thievish, 46.

Thomas, 103, 144.
Thread, 67.
Three Rivers, 35,
Three R's, 131,
Tippecanoe, 106,
Title, chain of, 6, 7, 9, 10.
Title page, 1.
Tobacco, Brazil, 45,
Todd, 83, 85,
Todd's Record, 83,
Tons of coal, 56,
Tonti, 44, 53, 57, 58, 61, 62, 63.
Topographical Description,
Hutchins', 43, 54.
Tract, Military, 108.
Traders, French, 55.
Traders, fur, 35.
Transfer, actual, 73,
Transportation, 204.
Treasury, Secretary' of, 115,
Treaty of Paris, 73.
Treaty, secret, 73.
Trial by jury, 73.
Tribe northwest of Ohio, 10.
Tribes of Peoria, 40, 41, 43, 61.
Tribes of the West, 31, 35, 36.
Tribes, western, 73.
Tribunal, military, 73.
Trifles, 46.
Trinity river, 62.
Ultimate extinction, 192.
Union College of Law, 213.
United States, 85, 89, 90, 91, 106,
108, 109, 124, 135, 136, 178, 183,
184, 186, 199, 203, 204.
University, 130.
University, Normal, 131, 132, 190.
University of niinois, 132.
Upper Alton, 128, 143.
Urbana, 132.
Utica, 37, 48, 55.
Vandalia, 113, 140, 142, 170.
Vera Cruz, 183, 186.
Vermilion river, 55, 141.
Vessel, new, 61.
Verrazani, 26, 27.
Versailles, 65.
Vicksburg, 83.
Victoria, 186.

231

Vigo, 79.
Village of Cahokia, 42.
Village of Illinese, 45.
Village of Illinois, ancient, 46.
Village of Pike County, 116, 117,
199.
Vincennes, 69, 76, 79, 103, 107, 142.
Vincennes, Post, 91, 102, 103, 109.
Virginia, 31, 74, 78, 79, 83, 84, 85,
89, 90, 91, 92, 111, 182, 195.
Virginia, patent for, 30.
Virginia settlers, 84,
Wabash river, 91, 95, 103, 106, 109,
110,
Wabash, Great, 142,
Wabash, Little, 142,
Wandering, 45,
Wallace, 70,
War, Black Hawk, 108, 128, 134,
135,
War, Civil, 193, 195,
War, Cuban, 210,
War, French-Indian, 68, 92,
War, Mexican, 182, 183, 186, 190.
War of 1812, 106.
War, Winnebago, 129.
Warsaw, 143.
War, Secretary of, 43.
War with Spain, 210.
Washings of river, 50.
Washington, 139, 195, 209.
Water-way, 123, 172, 173, 203.
Wells, 78.
Wesley City, 57.
"West, Company of the, 64, 65, 153,
West, Discovery of the Great, 35,
49, 62.

Western mail route. Great, 142,
144.
Western Normal, 132.
Western state, 91, 109.
Western tribes, 73.
West, Great, 180.
West, Indian tribes of the, 31, 35,
36,
"West Indies, 153.
"West, Paris of the, 50.
Wheat, 67.
Wheaton, 10.
Wheeler, 57.
White men, advent of, 37,
Whites, first, 47.
Whiteside, 137.
Width of state, 112.
Wife, Rocheblave's, 84.
Williams, 73.
Winnebagos, 129, 136, 138.
Winnebago War, 129.
Winsor, 41, 44, 49.
Wisconsin, 37, 83, 109, 110, 112,
129, 181. 182.
Wisconsin river, 37, 45, 135, 138.
Witchcraft, 95.
Witnesses, 126.
Woelk, 41.
Wood, 190, 191.
"Woods, Lake of the, 91, 109.
Wool, 67.
World's Columbian Exposition,
207, 208, 209.
World's Pair, 209.
Yates, 195, 212.
Young, 179.

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