USA > Illinois > Union County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 1
USA > Illinois > Pulaski County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 1
USA > Illinois > Alexander County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 1
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LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN
977.39 P42h
I .H.S.
-
HISTORY
OF
ALEXANDER, UNION AND PULASKI COUNTIES. ILLINOIS.
EDITED , BY WILLIAM HENRY PERRIN.
ILLUSTRATED.
CHICAGO : O. L. BASKIN & CO., HISTORICAL PUBLISHERS, 183 LAKE STREET. 1883.
ulverNagel oyne
PRINTERS 18 &120 MONROE SI (
CHICAGO
977,39 P42h
PREFACE.
THE history of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, after months of persistent toil and research, is now completed, and it is believed that no subject of universal public impor- tance or interest has been omitted, save where protracted effort failed to secure reliable results. We are well aware of our inability to furnish a perfect history from meager public documents and numberless conflicting traditions, but claim to have prepared a work fully up to the standard of our promises. Through the courtesy and assistance generously afforded by the residents of these counties, we have been enabled to trace out and put on record the greater portion of the important events that have transpired in Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, up to the present time. And we feel assured that all thoughtful people in these counties, now and in future, will recognize and appreciate the importance of the work and its permanent value.
A dry statement of events has, as far as possible, been avoided, and incidents and anecdotes have been interwoven with facts and statistics, forming a narrative at once instructive and inter- esting.
We are indebted to John Grear, Esq., for the history of Jonesboro and Precinct; to Dr. J H. Sanborn for the history of Anna and Precinct; to Dr. N. R. Casey for the history of Mound City and Precinct, and to George W. Endicott, Esq., of Villa Ridge, for his chapter on Agricult- ure and Horticulture of Pulaski County. Also to H. C. Bradsby, Esq., for his very able and exhaustive history of Cairo, as well as the general history of the respective counties, and to the many citizens who furnished our corps of writers with material aid in the compilation of the facts embodied in the work.
September, 1883.
THE PUBLISHERS.
General MAY
0
P 9
852588
CONTENTS.
PART I. CAIRO.
PAGE.
{ HAPTER I .- City of Cairo-The First Steamboat on West- ern Waters-Great Earthquake of 1811-First Settle- ment of Cairo-Holbrook's Schemes-A Mushroom City and the Bubble Bursted-Early Navigation of Western Rivers-Capt. Henry M. Shreve, etc., etc ........ 11
( HAPTER II .- Crash of the Cairo City and Canal Company in 1841-The Exodus of the People-Pastimes and Social Life of Those Who Remain-Judge Gilbert- How a Riot was Suppressed-Bryan Shannessy- Gradual Growth of the Town Again-The Record Brought Down to 1853, etc .. 31
( HAPTER IH .- Cairo Platted-First Sale of Lots-The Foundation of a City Laid-Beginning of Work on the Central Railroad-S. Staats Taylor-City Gov- ernment Organized and Who Were Its Officers-In- crease of Population-The War-Soldiers in Cairo- Battle of Belmont-Waif of the Battle-field -" Old Rube "-Killing of Spencer-Overflow of '58-Wash Graham and Gen. Grant - A Few More Practical Jokes, ete., etc .. 47
CHAPTER IV .- Decidedly a Cairo Chapter-('airo and Its Different Bodies, Politie and Corporate-Cairo City and Bank of Cairo-Cairo and Canal Company-Cairo ('ity Property-Trustees of the Cairo Trust Property -The Illinois Exporting Company-D. B. Holbrook -Justin Butterfield-Recapitulation, etc., etc ............ 67
CHAPTER V .- The Levees-How the Territorial Legisla- ture by Law Placed the Natural Town Site Above Overflows - First Efforts at Constructing Levees- Engineer's Reports on the Same-Estimated Height and Costs-The Floods-The ('ity Overflowed-Great Disaster, the Cause and Its Effects-The Levees are Reconstructed and They Defy the Greatest Waters Ever Known. 90
CHAPTER VI .- The Press-Its Power as the Great Civil- izer of the Age-Cairo's First Editorial Ventures- Birth and Death of Newspapers Innumerable-The Bohemians-Who They Were and What They Did- " Bull Run " Russell- Harrell, Willett, Faxon and Others-Some of the "Intelligent Compositors "- Quantum Suffieit 126
( IIAPTER VII .- Societies : Literary, Social and Benevolent -The Ideal League-Lyceum-Masonic Fraternity- Its Great Antiquity-Odd Fellowship -The Cairo Casino-Other Societies, etc. 155
CHAPTER VIH .- Cairo-Her Condition.in 1861-1875-18833 -The Ebb and Flow of Business and Population- War and the Panic Which Followed-Steamboats- Mark Twain-Pilots-Some Steamboat Disasters-And a Joke or Two by Way of Illustration, etc ..... ........ 160
CHAPTER IX .- The Church History-St. Patrick's-Ger- man Lutheran - Presbyterian - Baptist- Methodist and Other Denominations-The Different Pastors - Their Flocks, Temples, the ('ity Sehools, etc., etc ...... 176
CHAPTER X .- Railroads - The Illinois Central -Cairo Short Line-The Iron Mountain-Cairo & St. Louis- The Wabash-Mobile & Ohio-Texas & St. Louis-The Great Jackson Route-Roads Being Built, etc., etc .... 195
CHAPTER XI .- Conclusion-The Future of the City Con- sidered-Iler Present Status and Growth-Present C'ity Officials, etc. 21.
PART II. UNION COUNTY.
CHAPTER I .- Introduction-Geology-Importance of Edu- eating the People on This Subject-The Limestone Distriet of Illinois-Economical Geology of Union, Alexander and Pulaski Counties-Medical Springs, Building Material, soil, ete .- Wonderful Wealth of Nature's Bounties-Topography and Climate of this Region, etc .. 225
CHAPTER 11 .- Pre-historic Races-The Mound-Builders- Fire Worshipers-Relics of these Unknown People- Mounds, Workshops and Battle-Grounds in Umdon, Alexander and Pulaski Counties-Visits of Noxious Insects-History Thereof, etc. 241
CHAPTER III .- The Daring Discoveries and Settlements by the French-The Catholic Missionaries-Discov- ery of the Mississippi River-Some Corrections in History - A World's Wonderful Drama of Nearly Three Hundred Years' Duration, etc. 252
CHAPTER IV .- Following the Footsteps of the First Pio- neers-Who They Were-How They Came-Where They Stopped-From 1795 to 1810-Cordeling-Bear Figlit- First Schools, Preachers, and the Kind of People they Were-John Grammar, the Father of Illinois State- Craft, etc .... 264
CHAPTER V .- Settlers in Union, Alexander and Pulaski- Lean Venison and Fat Bear-Primitive Furniture-A
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
Pioncer Boy Sees a I'lastered House-How People Fortcd-Their Dress and Amusements-Witchcraft, Wizards, etc .- No Law nor Church-Sports, etc .- Gov. Dougherty-Philip Shaver and the Cache Massacre- Families in the Order they ('ame, etc., etc. 275
CHAPTER VI .- Organization of Union County-Act of Legislature Forming It-The County Seal-Commis- sioners' Court-Abner Field-A List of Families-Cen- sus from 1820 to 1880-Dr. Brooks-The Flood of 1844- Willard Family-Col. Henry L. Webb - Railroads- Schools-Moralizing, etc., etc ... 285
CHAPTER VII .- The Bench and Bar-Gov. Reynolds- Early Courts-First Term and Officers-Daniel P. Cook -Census of 1818-County Officers to Date-Abner and Alexander P. Field-Winsted Davie-Young and Mc- Roberts-Visiting and Resident Lawyers-Grand Juries Punched-Hunsaker's Letter-War Between Jonesboro and Anna-County Vote, etc., etc. 301
CHAPTER VIII .- The Press-Finley and Evans, and the First Newspaper-" Union County Democrat"-John Grear-The "Record," "Herald," and Other Publica- tions-How the Telegraph Produced Dronght-Dr. S. S. Conden-Present Publishers and Their Able Papers, etc. 318
CHAPTER IX .- Military History-"Wars and Rumors of Wars"-And Some of the Genuine Article-Revolu- tionary Soldiers-Mexican War-Our Late Civil Strife -Union County's Honorable Part In It-The One Hun- dred and Ninth Regiment-Its Vindication in History, etc., etc ... 323
CHAPTER X .- Agriculture-Similarity of Union County to the Blue Grass Region of Kentucky-Adaptability to Stock-Raising - Fair Associations - Horticulture - Its Rise, Wonderful Progress and Present Condition-Va- rieties of Fruit and Their Culture-The Fruit Garden of the West-Vegetables-Shipments-Statistics, etc., etc .. 334
CHAPTER XI .- Jonesboro Precinct - Topography and Physical Features-Coming of the Whites-Pioneer Hardships-Early Industries-Roads, Bridges, Taverns, etc .- Religious and Educational-State of Society- Progress and Improvements, etc 352
CHAPTER XII .- City of Jonesboro-Selected and Sur- veyed as the County Seat-Its Healthy Location-Early Citizens-Some who Remained and Some who Went Away-First Sale of Lots-Growth of the Town-Mer- chants and Business Men-Town Incorporated-Schools and Churches-Secret Societies, etc 357
CHAPTER XIII .- Anna Precinct-General Description and Topography-Early Settlement-The Cold Year- Organization of Precinct-Incident of the Telegraph- Schools and Churches-Bee-Keeping, Dairying, etc .- Crop Statistics-A Hail-Storm, etc .. 363
CHAPTER XIV .- City of Anna-The Laying-out of a Town-Its Name-Early Growth and Progress-Incor- porated-Fires-Notable Events-Societies, Schools and Churches-Manufactures-Organized as a City-Hos- pital for the Insane-C'ity Finances. 371
PAGE.
CHAPTER XV .- South Pass, or Cobden Precinct-Its To- pographical and Physical Features-Early Settlement of White People-Where They Came From and a Record of Their Work-Growth and Development of the Pre- cinct-Richard Cobden-The Village: What it Was, What It Is, and What It Will Be-Schools, Churches, etc., etc. 392
CHAPTER XVI. - Dongola Precinct - Surface, Timber, Water-Courses, Products, etc. - Settlement - Pioneer Trials and Industries-Schools and Churches-Mills- Dongola Village: Its Growth and Development-Leav- enworth-What He Did for the Town, etc .. 402
CHAPTER XVII .- Ridge or Alto Pass Precinct-Surface Features, Boundaries, and Timber Grown-Occupation of the Whites-Pioneer Trials-Industries, Improve- ments, etc .- The Knob-Churches and Schools-Vil- lages, etc., etc .. 410
CHAPTER XVIH .- Rich Precinct-Description, Bounda- ries and Surface Features-Settlement of the Whites- Where They Came From and Where They Located- Lick Creek Post Office-Schools and Churches-C'aves, Sulphur Springs, etc ... 414
CHAPTER XIX .- Stokes Precinct-Topography and Boun- daries-Coming of the Pioneers-Their Trials and Tribulations-Mills and Other Improvements-Mount Pleasant laid out as a Village-Churches, Schools, etc., etc. 419
CHIAPTER XX .- Saratoga Precinct-Its Formation and De- scription-Topography, Physical Features, etc .- Early Settlement-The Wild Man of the Woods-Mills- Saratoga Village -Sulphur Springs-An Incident- Roads and Bridges-Schools, Churches, etc., etc ........... 425
CHAPTER XXI .- Mill Creek Precinct-Its Natural Char- acteristics and Resources-One of the Earliest Settle- ments in the County-Pioneer Improvements-Schools and Churches-Villages, etc. 431
CHAPTER XXII .- Meisenheimer Precinct -Its Surface Features, Timber, Streams and Boundaries-Settle- ment of the Whites-Early Struggles of the Pioneers -Schools and Schoolhouses-Religious-Mills, Roads, etc .. etc. 433
CHAPTER XXIII .- Preston and Union Precincts-Their Geographical and Topographical Features- Early Pioneers-Where They Came From, and How They Lived-The Aldridges and Other " First Families "- Swamps, Bullfrogs and Mosquitoes-Schools, Churches, etc ... 135
PART III.
ALEXANDER COUNTY.
CHAPTER I .- First Settlement of the County-The Way the People Lived-Growth and Progress-Geology and Soils-The Mound-Builders-Trinity-America-Col. Rector, Webb and Others-Wilkinsonville-Caledonia -Unity-Many Interesting Events-etc., etc., etc ...... ++3
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
( HAPTER HI .- The Act ('reating the County-llow it was Named-Some Interesting Extracts from Dr. Alexan- der's Letters-The Prominent People-Col. John S. Hlacker-Official Doings of the Courts-County Officers in Succession-Different Removals of the County Seat -Preacher Wofford-etc., etc 454
CHAPTER III .- Census of Alexander County Considered- The Kind of People They Were-How They Improved the Country-Who Built the Mills-Dogs Versus Sheep -Periods of Comparative Immigration-Acts of the Legislature Etlecting the County, etc., etc 466
CHAPTER IV .- War Record-1812-15-Black Hawk War- Some Account of It, and ('apt. Webb's Company- Roster of the ('ompany-War with Mexico-Our Late Civil War - Politics - Representatives and Other Officials-John Q. Harmon-State Senators, etc .- Some Slanders Upon the People Repelled, etc., etc .......... 472
CHAPTER V .- Bench and Bar of Alexander County-State Judiciary and Early Laws Concerning It-Judicial Courts-How Formed-First Justices of the Supreme Court-Who Came and Practiced Law-Judges Mul- key, Baker, I. N. Ilaynie, Allen, Green, Wall, Yocum, Linegar and Lansden-Local Lawyers, etc .... 479
CHAPTER VI .- The Precincts of Alexander ('ounty-To- pography and Boundaries-Their Early Settlement- Dangers and JHardships of the Pioncers-Villages- Schools and Churches-Modern Improvements, etc ..... 491
PART IV. PULASKI COUNTY.
CHAPTER I .- Geology, Meteorology, Topography, Timber, Water, Soil, etc .- Great Fertility of the Land-Its Ag- ricultural and Horticultural Advantages-What Far- mers are Learning-Address of Parker Earle, etc ........ 503
CAAPTER II .- Organization of the County-The Facts That Led to the Same-Act of the Legislature-Estab- lishment of the ('ourts-the First Officers-Removal of the Seat of Justice - The Census-Precinct Organi- zation-Lawyers-Schools, Churches, etc., etc., etc ...... 510
CHAPTER III .- About Early Leading Citizens-George Cloud, II. M. Smith, Capt. Riddle, Justus Post-Pulaski in War-Black Hawk, Mexican and the Late Civil War-ilistory of the Men Who Took Part-A. C. Bartleson, Price, Atherton-Mr. Clemson's Farmn, etc., etc . 521
( HIAPTER IV .- Agriculture-Early Mode of Farming in Pulaski County- Incidents-Stock-Raising-Present Improvements - Horticulture - First Attempts at Fruit-Growing-Apples-Tree Peddlers-Strawberries -Peaches-Grapes and Wine-Other Fruits, Vegeta- bles, etc., etc .... 526
CHAPTER V .- Mound City-Early Ilistory of the Place- The Indian Massacre-Joseph Tibbs and Some of the
PAGE.
Early Citizens of "The Mounds"-tien. Rawlings- First Sale of Lots-The Emporium Company-llow It Flourished and Then Played Out-The Marine Ways-Government Hospital-The National C'eme- tery, etc ...
535
CHAPTER VI .- Mound City-Decline and Death of the Emporium Company-Overflow of the Ohio in 1858- Flood of 1862, 1867, 1882 and 1883-Leveeing the City -Bonds for the Payment of the Same-A Few Mur- ders, With a Taste of Lynch Law, etc 553
CHAPTER VII .- Mound City-It Becomes the County Seat County Othcials-Judge Mansfield-Lawyers-F. M. Rawlings and Others-Jo Tibbs Again-The P'ress- " National Emporium "-Other Papers-First Physi- cians of the ('ity-Schools-Teachers and Their Sala- ries, etc., etc. 561
CHLAPTER VIII .- Mound City-Its Church History-Catho- lic Church-The Methodists, cte .- Colored Churches- Fires and the Losses which Resulted-Manufactories -Secret and Benevolent Societies-Something of the Mercantile Business- Population of the City-Its Officers and Government, etc ... 570
('IIAPTER IX .- Election Precincts Aside from Mound City -Boundaries, Topographical Features, etc .- Advent of the White People and their Settlements-llow they Lived - Progress of Churches and Schools-Growth and Development of the County. 580
PART V.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Cairo ... ..... 3
Cairo-Extra. 56a
UNION COUNTY .- Anna Precinct. 57
Jonesboro Precinct. 92
l'obden Precinct. 118
Alto Pass Precinct
153
Dongola Precinct 170
Meisenheimer Precinct
182
Stokes Precinct. 190
Saratoga Precinct
197
Rich Precinct
204
Union Precinet 209
Preston Precinct 211
Mill Creek Precinct. 212
Anna and Jonesboro-Extra. 214
ALEXANDER COUNTY .- Elco Precinct 218
Thebes Precinct
228
East Cape Girardeau Precinct. 235
Unity Precinct.
239
Clear Creek Precinct
243
Santa Fé Precinct. 247
Beech Ridge Precinct. 249
Lake Millikin Precinct 250
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
PULASKI COUNTY .- Mound City Precinct.
251
Hambleton, W. L
565
Villa Ridge Precinct.
298
Hight, W. A.
511
Grand Chain Precinct
311
Hileman, Jacob
331
Ohio Precinct.
319
Hoffner, C.
13
Wetaug Precinct
Hughes, M. L
277
Leavenworth, E.
61
Pulaski Precinct
331
Burkville Precinct
334
Mason, B. F
205
Meyer, G. F.
313
Morris, James S
439
Parmly, John
457
Ross, B. F
103
Arter, D ..
547
Casey, N. R.
241
Casper, P. H.
97
Davie, Winstead
223
Stokes, M
79
Endicott, G. W
529
Toler, J. M.
367
Finch, E. H
151
Wardner, H.
475
Gaunt, J. W
259
Weaver, John
493
Grear, John
349
Williams, A. G.
18"
282
Hess, John.
PORTRAITS.
133
Safford, A. B
25
Sanborn, J. H.
385
Scarsdale, F. E
169
Spencer, H. II.
115
('lemson, J. Y
421
326
Ullin Precinct.
295
Miller, Caleb
PAGE.
HISTORY OF ALEXANDER, UNION AND PULASKI COUNTIES.
PART I.
HISTORY OF CAIRO,
BY H. C. BRADSBY.
CHAPTER I.
CITY OF CAIRO-THE FIRST STEAMBOAT ON WESTERN WATERS-GREAT EARTHQUAKE OF 1811- FIRST SETTLEMENT OF CAIRO-HOLBROOK'S SCHEMES-A MUSHROOM CITY AND THE BUBBLE BURSTED-EARLY NAVIGATION OF WESTERN RIVERS-CAPT. HENRY M. SHREVE, ETC., ETC.
" And leaves the world to solitude and me."-Gray.
T THE earliest settlement of Cairo, on the promontory of land formed by the junc- tion of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, dates back only sixty-six years ago. There are persons yet living, not only who were born then, but who can even remember events of that time with distinctness. But these clear- headed old people are nearly all gone, and in a very few years there will be nothing left us but the traditions of 1817, unless the pres- ent opportunity is conserved, and the facts placed in a permanent form while it is yet possible to obtain them from those who not only saw, but were a part of the long-ago events that have led to the present changed condition of affairs. The tooth of time eats away the living evidences of what occurred more than fifty years ago with unerring swiftness.
The life of a nation or city, compared to time, is but a breath, although it may sur- vive generations and centuries, and how in- conceivably brief, then, is the longest space of a single human life.
Man's nature is such that he is deeply concerned in the movements of those who have gone before him. Whether his fore- fathers were wise or foolish, he wants to learn all he can about them; to study their customs, habits and general movements. And while those are yet left who were par- ticipants in the earliest gathering of a peo- ple in any particular locality, it is easy enough to sit down by the fireside and listen to the story of the fathers; of their trials, their triumphs, their failures, their ways of thought and their general actions; but in a moment, and before you have had time to re- flect upon the loss, they are all gone, and the places that knew them so well will know them no more forever; and then it is the chronicler, who puts in permanant form all these once supposed trifling details, has performed an invaluable, if not an imperishable, service. The proper study of mankind is man. It is the one inexhaustible fountain of real knowl- edge; and the " man" that is best studied is your own immediate forefathers or predeces- sors. To learn and know them well is to
12
HISTORY OF CAIRO.
know all you can learn of the human family. To solve the complex problem of the human race does not so much consist in trying to study all the living and the dead, as in mastering, in so far as it is possible, the chosen few.
Many thousands of years ago, preparations first began to be made for a habitation for man upon the very spot now occupied by the city of Cairo. The uplift of the rocks that formed the first dry land upon the continent in and about the Huron region had pro- ceeded slowly in their southwesterly direc- tion for a very long time. This was then a part of the Gulf of Mexico, and it was slow and very gradual the uplift went on, and the waters of the Gulf receded south of the junc- tion of the two rivers, and the Lower Missis- sippi River began to form. From Freeport southward, along the line of the Illinois Cen- tral Railroad, there is a gradual descent to the valley of the Big Muddy River, in Jack- son County, where the level of the railroad grade is only fifty-five feet above that of the river at Cairo. At that point, there is a sud- den rise of nearly seven hundred feet, the only true mountain elevation in Illinois. It runs entirely across the southern portion of the State, finally crosses the Ohio, in the vicinity of Shawneetown, and then istlost beneath the coal measures of Kentucky. The forces beneath the surface made this up- lift, and it is supposed by geologists that this must have taken place before the Gulf receded below the present junction of the rivers.
Cairo stands upon an alluvium and drift of about thirty feet in depth, and while it prob- ably was many centuries in gathering here so as to rise above the face of the waters, yet it has been here a comparatively long time, as is evidenced by the immense trees of oak, and walnut, and many others that do not
grow in swamps or grounds that more than occasionally overflow, and beneath these great trees that have braved the storms of hundreds of years has been found . the re- mains, deep in the soil, of other great forests that had preceded the one found here by the first discoverers. It takes the geological æons to prepare the way for man's coming, and man can only come when the prepara- tions for his reception are complete.
Mr. Jacob Klein, the brick-maker of Cairo, and who has carried on this business success- fully the past nineteen years, determined three years ago to try the experiment of get- ting pure water by digging. He has sunk three wells; the first was sixty-five feet deep where it struck 'a heavy bed of gravel and promised an abundant supply of water, but the very dry season of three years ago his water supply was short. He then had the second well sunk. This is 100 feet deep, and, like the first, stopped in the gravel.
Not still satisfied, Mr. K. contracted for the third well, to be put down with a two and a half inch pipe. The contract called for a well 300 feet deep. The contractor went down 206 feet and stopped, and then Mr. Klein took up the work himself and car- ried it to 218 feet, when he struck the rock. A bed of white clay was encountered, five feet thick. resting upon the rock. Here, clearly. was once the bed of the river. From the clay. which is 213 feet below the surface, the strata are coarse sand and seams of coarse gravel until the alluvium of the surface is reached. Mr. Klein reached an inexhaustible supply of pure, soft water, which stands within fifteen feet of the surface at all seasons of the year, and for all purposes is as fine water as was ever found. It is described to be as soft as rain water and clear and cold, and is never affected by the stage of waters in the river. It never flows during a long stage of high
13
HISTORY OF CAIRO.
water, as do the shallow wells when the town begins to fill with sipe water. Mr. Klein is satisfied that from ten to twenty feet farther down, which will pass through the rock he has now reached, will give him a flowing artesian well, and this improvement he has in contemplation of making the present or next year. This is the first real effort ever made here to get pure well water, and has demonstrated the fact that it is beneath us, in inexhaustible quantities and of the very best quality.
Without the attention being specially called to the fact, there are very few people who wouldi suppose that the white man had come almost in what is a suburb now of Cairo, and built his fort and fought the " redskins " one hundred and two years ago; yet such is the fact. Fort Jefferson is one of the favorite picnic resorts of the people of Cairo. It is only six miles below here, and across on the Kentucky shore. To the gay party starting out for a festival day, it is but little, if anything, more than merely cross- ing the river into Kentucky to go to Fort Jefferson. How many of all our people, es- pecially the young, know, when they wander about the place, that they are upon historic ground ? Let us tell them something of its tragic story, and when they next stroll about in its grateful shades and resting places, let them look for the fast fading landmarks of the old fort, and remember that Mrs. Capt. Piggott and many other noble souls lie buried there; and also let them recall the heroic efforts of those, not only who died that ,we might live, but of those who so heroically struggled to drive back the red fiends.
This fort was erected by George Rogers Clark, under the direction of Thomas Jeffer- son, in 1781. Jefferson was then 'Governor of Virginia, and, being advised the Spanish Crown would attempt to set up a claim to
the country east of the Mississippi River, he took this step to foil the design.
Immediately after the erection of the fort, Clark was called away to the frontiers of Kentucky, but was succeeded by Capt. James Piggott.
Immigration to the fort was encouraged, and several families settled at once in its vicinity, and for a living proceeded to culti- vate the soil. For a short time, the settle- ment flourished. During 1781, however, the Chickasaw and Choctaw Indians became ex- ceedingly incensed at the encroachments of the whites (their consent for the 'erection of the fort not having been obtained), and they commenced an attack upon the settlers in the neighborhood. The whole number of war- riors belonging to these tribes at that time was about twelve hundred, including the celebrated Scotchman Calbert, whose pos- terity figured as half-breeds. As soon as it was decided an attack would be made upon the fort by the Indians, a trusty messenger was dispatched to the Falls of the Ohio for further supplies of ammunition and provisions.
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