USA > Illinois > Atlas of the State of Illinois, to which are added various general maps, history, statistics and illustrations > Part 21
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The county contains twelve other villages, beside the town of Curlyle. Its climate is mild in winter, like that of St. Louis, the western houndary being about thirty miles due east oľ that city.
It possesses several distinct, wide-stretching prairies of un- surpassed fertility and black loamy soil, while the timher belts partake more of a clayey character. The amount of timber has been largely reduced to furnish fuel, in the absence of any adequate supply of coal. The variety of woods, however, is quite large, embracing water oak, swamp white oak, hurr oak, red oak, black and common walnut, silver maple, locust, syca- more, white and red elm, box elder, cottonwood, etc.
The number of acres of improved land, in 1870, was 149,- 402; value of farms, 810,666,922; value of live stock, $1,115,284; production of coru, 980,891 bushels; winter wheat, 535,123 bushels ; spring do., 231,231 hnshels ; potatoes, Irish, 53,270 bushels; hay, 10,767 tons; butter, 502,253 pounds; wool, 87,861 pounds. There were fifty-eight manu- facturing establishments, producing values to the amount of $796,545.
COLES COUNTY.
COLES COUNTY was organized from Crawford County, in 1831. The County Commissioners were A. Clark, I. Lewis and James S. Martin. The first Sheriff was A. Yocum. Mr. Jones was the first County Clerk. Among the oldest scttlera now living are Dr. T. B. Trower, Dr. A. Ferguson, A. P. Dunbar, O. B. Ficklin, D. F. Hawks, L. B. Hutchinson, Dr. R. Stoddard and W. E. Adams. The county is situated near the center of the eastern portion of the State, and ranks among the wealthiest and best improved counties in Illinois. It is bounded on the north by Douglas, on the east by Edgar and Clark, on the south hy Cumberland and on the west by Shelby and Moultrie Counties. The northern and western por- tions of the county aro mostly prairie, and the southeastern heavily timbered. The principal stream is the Okaw or Em- barras River. The Kaskaskia passes through the northwestern part. The railroads are the Indianapolis & St. Louis, the Illi- nois Central, the Decatur, Sullivan & Mattoon, and the Paris & Decatur. The number of miles of railroad within the county is sixty-two. Coles County is situated within the limits of the Illinois coal region, and comprises a rieb farming dis- triet. The number of acres of improved land in 1870 was 208,337. Cash value of farms, $9,186,010, and the total value of live stock 81,579,113.
COUNTY HISTORIES.
Corn is the chief agricultural produet. Next in order ure oats, wheat, potatoes, fruit, butter, sorghum, honey, tobacco, wool, pork and bay. The amount of corn raised in 1870 was 2,133,111 bushels. Tho uumber of manufacturing establish- ments was 84; number of steam engines employed, 29; num- ber of hands, 463; amount of capital invested, 8334,000. During the year the value of sawed lumher manufactured was $95,736 ; carriages and wagons, $77,333; woolen goods, $52,650 ; furniture, 847,600; tobacco and snuff, exclusive of cigars, 842,100; irou and castings, $39,000; tin, copper and sheet-iron ware, $30,575; saddlery and harness, 837,260; marble and stone work, 827,500; hrick, $18,000; boots und shoes, $14,600; agricultural implements, $11,000; and malt liquors, $10,000. The number of church organizations was 58; number of edifices, 52; and the value of church property, 8126,000. The Presbyterian organizations number 18; the Methodists, 14; Baptists, 13; Christians, 6; United Brethren, 3, and Romanist, 1. Charleston, the county seat, is situated near the center of the county, and is one of the handsomest cities in Illinois. It contains many elegant public buildings, private residences and business blocks. Tho town was laid out in April, 1831, hy Charles Martin and Jolin Parker. It was incorporated in 1865. Tho population is ahout 4,000, and the place is the center of a largo trade. Mattoon, at the crossing of the Central and St. Louis Railroads, is a city of about 4,500 inhabitants. It is ahout 130 miles from St. Louis, aud has the advantage of four markets: St. Louis, Chicago, Indianapolis and Cairo. It contains several elegant school buildings and substantial business hlocks. It is an important shipping point for grain, flour, hecf, pork, horses, shcep and tobacco. There are several large steam clevators here. The town is in the midst of a level prairie, and bas a healthy growth. Ashmore is located in the edge of the finest farming district in the county. Of the remaining towus, Oakland, Stockton and Milton are tho most important.
CHICAGO AND COOK COUNTY.
THE origin of the name Chicago is wrapped in mystery. Over two centuries ago, the Indians of the Mississippi region were familiar with the portage to the Des Plaines from the Chicago, and had a tradition that an Indian chief, drowned in the latter river, gave it his name. Endless variety in the spelling of the word marks the early maps and histories. La Salle called the site Chekagou. About 1720, an Illinois chief, named Chicajoux, visited the Court of France, and received a incdal from the king.
Charlevoix, in his History of New France, states that Nicho- las Perrot, an ambassador sent out hy the Inteudant of Canada, to call a congress of Indian trihes at the Falls of St. Mary, was, in the spring of 1671, escorted by the Pottawattomies from Green- Bay to the headquarters of the Miamis, at Chi- cago,* at the lower end of Lake Michigan.
Jacques Marquette, a Jesnit missionary, and Louis Joliet, a for trader, were, in 1673, ordered by the Governor of Canada to explore the Mississippi region, and reached the site of Chicago, then an almost interminable marsh, in July of that year. Marquette revisited the place on December 14, 1674, and hecame disabled by infirmities and the severe cold. With two voyageurs he ascended the river about two leagues, built a hut and passed the winter, resuming his journey on March 30. He was undoubtedly the first white sojourner on the site of the city, and is reported to have gathered a flock of native sleep.
The next explorers of the Northwest were two Jesuit priests, La Salle and Hennepin, the former of whom is credited by Prof. J. W. Foster with having passed the month of Chicago River in canoes about 1675, and revisited the site on Deeem- her 27, 1681.
It appears quite certain that Tonti, a navigator employed hy the explorcra, renched Lake Michigan through Chicago River in the fall of 1680, and that, in March of that year, La Salle was at the mouth of the Calumet, where he was forced to build n raft to cross the stream.
* Futher St. Cosme and party, sent out by the Bishop of Quobee to explore the Mississippi region, report bovlog left Micbilimackinac, Sopt. 14, 1600, nud reached Chicago October 21, finding ou the banks of Camel Lakes drault mission bonne, among the Mails, In charge of Father Mlnot. This Is The earliest record of whllo visllors in the region of Chicago.
It is claimed that among the thirty-five missions established between Frontenao aud New Orleans by the Jesuits, in 1700, was one ut Chicajoux.
General Cass obtained in Franco a letter written by M. de Ligney, at Green Bay, in 1726, to M. de Sictte, among tho Illinois Indians, in which be refers to Chicajonx as a geographi- cal point.
A geography, published in London in 1747, contains an accurate map of the uorthwestern country, with Chicago cor- rectly located, and the river with its north and south branches.
The title to six square miles of territory at the mouth of the Chicago River (where a fort formerly stood) was obtained hy the United States ou August 3, 1795, through a treaty made at Greenville, Ohio, by Gen. Wayue with the Pottawattomie and otber tribes.
The Indians about Chicago River stated to the earlier white residents tbat, in 1796, a San Domingo negro, named Jean Baptiste Point-au-Sable, had a home on the North Side, where he claimed a tract of land, but not long after weut to a French villago near Peoria, and died under the roof of a fellow-coun- tryman named Glamorgan. The actual date of his arrival is unknown, but his resideneo hero is something more than tradition.
Le Mai, a Frenchman, is known to have taken possession of an improved site on the north bank of the river and com- menced trade with the Indians about the commencement of the century.
The next eveut in Chicago was the commencement of Fort Chicago on the tract ceded hy the Indians, for which purpose Licut. William Whistler was seut hither with a company of regular troops, arriving in the summer of 1803. With him came his bride, fifteen years of age, wbo was unquestionably the first white lady who lived in the region. Tbo schooner Tracey brought supplies to the party.
Mrs. Wbistler bas placed on record tho fact that on her ar- rival thero were but three wbite residents, Ouilmette, Le Mai and Pettell.
In the spring of 1804, before the completion of Fort Dear- horn, John Kinzie, a native of Quchec, established bere an agency for the American Fur Company, purchasing the claim of Le Mai and completing his unfinished cabin. The first eutry on tho books of Mr. Kinzie hears the date of May 12th. The records show the simultaneous appearance of James Kin- zie, his brother.
In December, 1804, was born the first child of the region, Ellen Marion Kinzic. The first male child was John H. Whistler, born in Fort Dearborn October 7, 1807. Maria, the second daughter of Mr. Kinzic, was horn soon afterward, and Robert A., the youngest son, in 1810.
The following sketch of the infant metropolis at this period was drawn by our distinguished citizen, B. F. Taylor :
A wide-winged bird, a schooner brown, Swamp shoreward in a lazy way, And sbook ber lifted plumage down, Where in a wild-rice cradle boy. As tender as a water-cress, The Moses of the wilderness ? An empty Egypt lay in sight, No Sphynx to stare tho ages out No Pharaoh nor Israelite.
A painted suvago lounged about, A paddle in his gray dug-out, And watched the cbill beside the boke ; Fort Dearborn's guns were marble mule. The world walked in by trail and wake, As silent as a naked foot.
Ah, picket line beyond the law, Where cloudless nights wero such a boon For half the year the sentry saw His nearest neighbor in the moon ?
Wolf Point, the title given to the land west of the forks of the river, camo from an Indian named Moaway, "the wolf," who formerly lived there.
Capt. Beard, in the summer of 1810, brought supplies to the fort, his wife accompanying him. The garrison then num- bered 28, and the white lady was a great curiosity to the troops.
The earliest farm of which any record exists was on the west side of the South Brauch, ahout four miles from the mouth of tho river. There is a tradition that the first occupant was an Indian trader named John Crafts, hut the carliest knowu elaimant was a Mr. Lee, who, in 1811, lived iu the vicinity of
186
COUNTY HISTORIES.
the fort, and employed a Mr. White with three farm hands to cultivato the land.
In the spring of 1812, Mr. Kinzie had neighbors in the family of Mr. Burns, who occupied a log cobin about a fourth of a mile up the river.
On tho evening of April 7th, the farmers at Leo's place were surprised by the advent of a dozen Winnebagoes. Fcaring tronblo, two of the wbites quietly started for the fort, but had proceeded but a short distance when they heard the report of guns at the farm cabin. Hastening to the fort, a cannon was fired to warn a fishing party of soldiers, who were not far from the sceno of the tragedy. The latter stopped at the farm house to caution the inmates, and found Mr. White and a lahorer dead and scalped. It was snhsequently ascertained that the savages were only prevented from massacreing every settler by the report of the cannon.
A few discharged soldiers and some families of half breeds now intrenched themselves in the ageney hnilding, n double log cabin standing about twenty rods west of the fort, and hos- tile movements were frequently made by the Indians.
The declaration of war in 1812 was a rude shoek to the settlement. On August 7th, Winnemeg, a friendly Pottawatto- mie, reached Fort Dearborn with dispatches from Gen. Hull, ordering, if practicable, the evaluation of the fort and the dis- tribution of all government property among the Indians. The chief solicited a private interview with Mr. John Kinzie, and carnestly protested against such a step. Capt. Heald was given the benefit of this advice, but decided to leove, despite the re- monstrance of the garrison. The Indians in the vicinity daily became more defiant.
Fort Chieago had two block houses on the sontbern side, and on the northern n sally- port to the river. The officers were Capt. Heald, Lieut. Helm, Ensign Ronan anıl Surgeon Van Voorhees, and the command numbered about seventy five men. Lieut. Helm was a son-in-law of Mr. Kinzie.
A council with the Pottawattomies was held by Capt. Heald on August 12th, at which he requested an escort to Fort Wayne, and announced his intention to distribute among them the ammunition and provisions, to all which they assented. The appeals of Mr. Kinzie, however, caused the commandant to destroy tho arms, ammunition and liquors, tho goods at the agency being given to the Indians on the ilay following.
Thus there was left no alternative but the evacuation of the fort-a measuro hastened by the arrival, on August 14th, from Fort Wayne, of Capt. Wells with fifteen friendly Miamis.
At a second council with the Pottawattomies, they ex- pressed great indignation at the destruction of the ammunition and liquors, and in the evening a conspicuous chief, named Black Partridge, came to the fort and delivered up a medal given him hy the Americans in token of mutual friendship, saying that his young men were resolved to murder the whites, and he could not restrain them. With the direst anticipations, the garrison prepared for departure.
The events of August 15th are thus pictured by the wife of Lieut. Helm, who was rescued from death by Black Partridge:
"The troops marcbed out at 9 o'clock in the morning, the band playing the Dead March. John Kinzie accompanied them. Capt. Wells, with bis face blackened in token of bis impending fate, took his place at the head of the column, with his little band of Miamis. Their route was southward, along the lake shore. As they reached a rango of sand hills dividing the prairie from the beach, the escort of 500 Pottawattomies went to the right on tho prairies, instead of continuing along the beach with the garrison. They had proceeded only about a mile and a half, when Capt. Wells rodo furiously back, shouting, 'They are about to attack us; form instantly and charge upon them l' Scarcely were the words utterod when a volley was ponred upon them from the sand hills. The troops bastily formed, and bravely charged up the hills, driving the savages from their first positions. Afterward they charged upon those who had con- cealed themselves in a ravine between the sand hills and the prairie. The Indians here massed, and a desperate and bloody fight ensued, in which the number of the whites was reduced to twenty-eigbt. Rallying for a final charge, they broke through tbo hostile ranks and guined rising ground not far from the oak woods. As farther con- test was hopeless, Licut. Helm sent out a half-breed boy named Peresh Leclero to propose a capitulation. To this the Indians con- sented, and it was stipulated that the lives of the survivors should be spared, and a ransom permitted as soon as possible. But in the meantime a horrible scene had been enacted. Ono young savage, climbiug into tho baggage wagon containing the children of the white families, twelve in number, tomahawked the entire group. This was during the engagement near the sand bills. When Capt. Wells, who was fighting near, beheld this, ho exclaimed : ' Is that their game, butchering women and children? Then, I will kill, too!' So saying, he turned his horse's head and started for the Indian
comp, near tho fort, where had been left their squaws and children. Several Indians pursued him as he galloped along. IIo laid himself flat on the neck of his borse, loading and firing in that position as he would occasionally turn on bis pursuers. At length their balls took effect, killing his horse and severely wounding himself. At this moment ho was met by Winnemeg and Wau-ban-see, who en- denvored to save him from the savages, who had now overtaken him. As they supported him along, after having disengaged him from his horse, he roceived his death blow from another Indian, Pce-so-tum, who stabbed him in the book. One of the soldiors' wives, Mrs. Corbin, had, from the first, expressed tho detormination never to fall into the hands of the savages, believing that their prisoners were al- ways subjected to tortures worse than denth. When, therefore, a party camo upon her to make her a prisoner, sho fought with des- peration, refusing to surrender, altbougb assured, hy signs, of safety and kind treatment, and literally suffered herself to be cut to pieces rather than become their captive. Sergt. Holt, early in the engage- ment, received a ball in the neck. Finding himself badly wounded, he gove his sword to his wife, who was on horseback near him, tell- ing her to defend herself; he then made for the lake to keep out of tho way of the halls. Mrs. Holt rode a very fine horse, which the Indians were desirous of possessing, aud they, therefore, attacked her, in hopes of dismounting her. They fought only with the butt euds of their guns, for their object was not to kill her. She hacked and hewed at their pieces as they were thrust against her, now on this side, now on that. Finally, sho broko looso from them and dashed out into the prairie. The Indians pursued her, shouting and laughing, now and then calling out: "The brave woman ! Do not hurt her!' At length they overtook her again, and, while she was engaged with two or three in front, one succeeded in seizing her by the neck behind, and dragging her, although a largo and powerful woman, from her horse. Notwithstanding that their guns had been so hacked and injured, and even themselves ent severely, they seemed to regard her only with admirotion. They took ber to a trader on the Illinois River, by whom she was restored to her friends, after having received every kindness during her captivity. The experience of Mrs. Helm is given in her own words: ' At this moment & young Indian raised his tomahawk at me. By springing aside, I partially avoided the blow which was intended for my skull, hut which alighted on my shoulder. I seized him around the neck, and, while cxerting my utmost efforts to get possession of his scalp- ing-knife, which hung in n scabbard over his breast, I was dragged from his grasp by another and older Indian. The latter bore me, struggling and resisting, toward the Inkc. Notwithstanding the rapidity with which I was hurried nlong, I recognized, as I passed them, the lifeless remains of the unfortunato Sergeant. Some mur- derous tomahawk had stretched him upon the very spot where I had last seen him. I was immediately plunged into the water, and held there with a forcible hand, notwithstanding my resistance. 1 soon perceived, however, that the object of my captor was not to drown mo, for ho held me firmly in such a position as to place my head abovo the water. This reassured me, and, regarding him attentively, I soon recognized, in spite of the paint with which be was disfigured, The Black Partridge.' "
The Miamis fled at the outset of the battle, branding the Pottawattomies as murderers. Mrs. Heald was ransomed from an Indian by one of Mr. Kinzie's elerks and carried to the trad- ing house, where Mr. Kinzio extracted a bullet from her arm. Mrs. Helm was escorted to the residence of her stepfather, Mr. Kinzie, by Black Partridge. Captain Heald survived the mas- sacre, and with his wife went to St. Joseph, Michigan. Lieut. Helm, badly wounded, was carried by some friendly Indians to Peoria and there released. To the affection entertained for Mr. Kinzie by the red men is due the saving of life here re- corded.
To the care of some friendly Indians Mr. Kinzie had intrusted his wife, children and servants, to be conveyed by boat around the head of Lake Michigan to rejoin the troops. They were detained at the mouth of the river by a messenger from a chief of the St. Joseph's band. The firing soon caused terrible alarm, which was heightened by the appearance of an Indian with Mrs. Heald. When they had returned to their home, the family were closely guarded by Indian friends. The few white prisoners were ilistributed among their captors, The number killed was ahout fifty.
On the morning following, the work of plundering the dead having heen completed, the savages, adorned with shawls, rib- bons and feathers, returned to the fort and reduced it to ashes.
Very soon after the massacre, a party of lostile Pottawatto- mies from the Wabash made their appearance with blackened faces, and scarched the house of Mr. Kinzie for prisoners. Just at this moment, a half breed chief, named Billy Caldwell, made his appearance with friendly intent, and is credited by the Kinzie family with having saved them from the tomahawk.
the family of Mr. Lee, who resided outside the fort, only his
wife and babe were spared, Blaek Partridge carrying them to his village on the Au Sahle.
This leaves Chicago a wilderness so far as regards white set- tlement, the gap in history only being filled hy the announce- ment that a French trader, named Du Pin, possessed himself of the deserted house of Mr. Kinzie. The fort was rebuilt in 1816, by Captain Hezekiah Bradley and a force of regulars, ebristened Fort Dearborn, and garrisoned by two companies. It comprised barracks on the east side, and a block house near the river on the west; the whole with the parade and offices was enclosed with palisades, having a large gateway entranee from the south. The river nt this time made a bend as it passed the fort, and its channel turned to the south on the east side, so that the fort had the river on two sides, and extended along south as far as Madison street, where its waters mingled with the lake. Between the river channel and the lake lay a hank of sand extending as a tongue between the two. On this hank the Indians were aceustemed to beach their canoes.
During that summer, Mr. Kinzie and family returned to Cbi- eago, the latter having spent the greater portion of the time at Detroit, and the former enduring insult and imprisonment as a prisoner of war. By degrees he established trading posts at remote points, all contributing to the main house at Chicago.
The fort had a fielil fenced in on the lake shore, south of the palisades, over the ground of Dearborn Park and Wabash and Michigan avennes, where they raised garden vegetables and corn for the use of the dependents, and as a relish to the salt pork and beef and hard-tack officially furnished. The country afforded sustenance and a pleasant variety in game and fish. Supplies of the staple articles of food in flour, meats and gro- eeries were brought hy row hoats from St. Louis up the Illinois and the Des Plaines and the portage of the South Branch, or from Mackinaw by a schooner that made an annual trip to this post, bringing supplies to the fur traders.
In December, the Ottawas, Chippewas and Pottawattomies ceded to the United States certain lands lying witbin a line from a point on the left bank of Fox River, ten miles above its confluence with the Illinois, through the space between Chicago Creek and the Aux Plaines River to a point on Lake Michigan ten miles north of the mouth of Chicago Creek, for which they received a considerable quantity of goods and an annual eom- pensation of 81,000 for twelve years.
Chicago in 1817 is thus pietnred by Robert A. Kinzie: " My hrother was away and I was absolutely the only boy in all Chicago. I had all the fun to myself. I used to wander up the North Branch and shoot ducks, loiter through the North woods and shoot pigeons, swim, fish, and follow my own incli- nations. There were lots of Indians around; they came and went ahont as they pleased, but molested no one. This, of course, was years after the massacre. As to Chicago proper, it consisted of an old structure which we called 'Cobweb Castle' (the old agency building on the North Side of the river, east of State street), our poplar shaded home, the fort on the south bank, and n government factory of somo sort, subsequently oe- enpied by old Col. Beauhien."
Gen. John McNeil, who was stationed at Fort Dearhorn after its reoccupation, claimed for his daughter the honor of having been the first child horn therein.
At a date which cannot be given, Charles Jewett, of Ken- tucky, reestablished the Indian Ageney.
In 1818, Jean Baptiste Beaubien became a resident, erecting a log cabin and opening a trading house for the American Fur Company.
Gurdon S. Huhhard visited the settlement in November, and immediately established trading posts sonth ward, taking up his residenee in Danville.
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