USA > Illinois > St Clair County > Cahokia > Cahokia records, 1778-1790 > Part 11
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Winston had a small following among the French, led by Pierre Langlois, one of the justices, and Carbonneaux, the clerk of the court. Some of the Americans had also attached them- selves to his party. His contempt for the French was only less than his hatred of John Dodge, the leader of the third party, whom he regarded as his chief rival. The hostility of the two men dated back to the time when Montgomery was still commanding in the Illinois, and, since Dodge had always been associated with the military party, the personal strife between them appears to be a continuation of the struggle be-
1 The strength of the party is learned from the various petitions and memorials sent to Congress and elsewhere, to which reference is made in the text. (See p. cxvii., n. 2.) When the party gained control of the government in 1786, its leaders were men of Prairie du Rocher.
2 Memorials of the people, to Va. Commissioners, Menard Col., Tard. Papers.
3 Deposition of Carbonneaux, who was an adherent of Winston, Va. State Papers, iii., 430.
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tween the army and the civil government, which had broken out when John Todd was still in the county.1 That Dodge actually held a military commission at this time is extremely doubtful. He had been appointed Indian agent for Virginia and even used that title occasionally during the year 1782. Since Clark had never trusted him and his reputation among the Virginia officials was none too good, it is not probable that he had been promoted to a position in the army.2 However, after the departure of Captain Rogers, Dodge gave himself out as commandant of troops in Kaskaskia and was able to persuade many of the French people to acknowledge his authority. With him were associated Israel Dodge,3 who seemed ready enough to follow his energetic and capable brother, and the more turbulent American immi- grants. For the next few years John Dodge is the power in the village of Kaskaskia. Unfortunately most of the records of his interesting career, which the clerk of the court carefully preserved, have been destroyed, so that the details can only be obtained from the rather unsatisfactory petitions of the inhabitants to Congress.
Dodge's first attack was on the deputy county lieutenant, in the summer of 1782. The fear of renewed British invasions and possible treachery were his excuses. Winston had become thoroughly exasperated with the actions of the Virginia troops, and probably desired to identify himself with the French party. At any rate he went about among the people telling them that Dodge and the officers who had been in the Illinois were vaga- bonds and robbers, who had only come to the French villages for the purpose of pillaging. There is no proof that he enter- tained treasonable designs, and his remarks give evidence of be-
1 Winston to Todd, October 24, 1780, Va. State Papers, i., 380; Dodge to Clark, March 3, 1783, Dr. MSS., 52J78.
2 I have failed to find any such commission, He was always called captain, but the title was not received for service under Clark, as his name does not appear in any list of officers and troops serving in the West. (English, Conquest of the Northwest, ii., 1060 et seq.) Colonel Davies wrote to the governor of Virginia on June 22, 1782, that he did not think there were any troops in the Illinois or had been for some time. Va. State Papers, iii., 198.
3 Israel Dodge was the father of Hon. Henry Dodge, whose life is so closely connected with the history of the West.
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ing inspired solely by personal dislike and enmity to individuals; for he excepted Clark from his general condemnation.
On April 29th John Dodge issued an order, which he signed as captain commandant, to his brother Israel to take a party and bring Richard Winston before him to give an account of his con- duct. Even if he had held a military commission such an order was entirely illegal; and his next act was still more so, for he ordered that Winston should be imprisoned because he, "has been guilty of treasonable expressions Against the State and offi- cer who have the honr of wearing Commission in the Service of their Country; damned them all a set of thieves and Robers and only come to the Country for that purpose, The above Crime being proved before. i now deliver him to you prisoner and re- quest of you to Keep him in surety until he may be brought to justice." 1
The day of the arrest Mrs. Winston appealed to Antoine Bau- vais to assemble the court and summon the Dodges to appear and justify their actions. The court met at one o'clock the same day but refused to take cognizance of the affair, probably being willing that their two enemies should fight it out. On the next day Dodge wrote to Joseph Labuxiere, state's attorney, and asked for his co-operation. Labuxiere's training was not such as fitted him to oppose the military power. He had served under France and Spain where orders from the captain in command were obeyed, so he took up the case; but he protested that he would not hold himself responsible to the state or to Winston for the events and prejudice which might result therefrom. He said, however, that he was bound to give information to the council of Virginia and to General Clark and that he had been unable to persuade the court to draw up the process against Winston without a deposit of money, which neither he nor Dodge possessed. Labuxiere sum- moned the witnesses, who were named by Dodge, to appear before him. The first was Michel Perrault, captain of infantry, who testified that he wrote to Winston for some supplies belonging
1 The charge against Winston was true, for the French themselves said the same thing in a memorial to the Virginia Commissioners. Menard Col., Tard. Papers.
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to the state and that Winston sent part of them; that later the witness, being reduced to "indigence," had sold some of these, and Winston had then said to him that he was following in the footsteps of his superiors who were a band of thieves. The next witness was Major John Williams, former captain of infantry. He said that he had frequently heard Winston swear at all the officers of the Illinois troops except General Clark and declare that they had come to the country only to rob and steal. The third witness was Henry Smith, who called himself improperly a former captain in the Illinois battalion.1 He repeated the testi- mony of Williams. Labuxiere ended his account of the testi- mony with a statement that he was aware that he had exceeded his duties in thus summoning witnesses before him, but that he thought the importance of the case demanded his action.
While Winston remained in prison, some friend or his wife obtained possession of John Todd's record-book, which was pro- bably in Winston's house as it was the property of the county lieutenant, and entered therein this protest: "Kaskaskia in the Illinois 29th april 1782. Eighty and touce. This day 10 oClock A:M I was Taken out of my house by Isreal Dodge on an order Given by Jno. Dodge in despite of the Civil authoroty Disregardled the Laws and on ther Malitious acusation of Jhn Williams and michel perault as may appear by their deposition I was Confined By Tyranick military force without making any Legal aplica- tion to the Civil Magistrates. 30th the attorney for the State La Buxiere presented a petition to the Court against Richard Winston State prisonner in their Custody the Contents of which he (the attorney for the State) ought to heave Communicated to me or my attorney if any I had." 2
Winston was detained in prison for sixteen days, and after his release persuaded the justices to hear the case in which the civil authority had been so defied. On June the 30th they ordered
1 In 1781, when he was among those prosecuted by the court for killing cattle (see supra, p. cvi.) he testified that he was a laborer. His name does not appear on any list of Clark's troops.
2 John Todd's Record-Book in the library of the Chicago Hist. Soc. This protest is not in Winstons' handwriting. I have quoted it in full in order to correct several mistakes which are to be found in the printed version in Chi. Hist. Soc.'s Collections, iv., 289.
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Labuxiere to inform them of the witnesses whom he had interro- gated and to send them a list of questions which he desired to have asked, for they wished to end the affair, seeing that Winston intended to leave the country. The records do not contain an account of the proceedings before the court, but Winston was acquitted. After this interesting episode we lose all sight of Dodge for a few months, and when he reappears he has won for himself the mastery of the village of Kaskaskia. The steps by which he acquired his power are unknown; but the acts of Winston during the last months of 1782 no doubt prepared the way.1
Winston had good reasons for feeling that the court had not given him cordial support in his contest for the rights of the civil against the military power, and it was probably due to his influence that a new election of magistrates for Kaskaskia was held shortly after his release. On the sixteenth of June, an assembly of the people of Prairie du Rocher was held in the house of J. Bte. Barbau, commandant of the militia, to elect magistrates to fill the places of Barbau and Louvieres, who had been magistrates "during the time fixed by the code of government." They had held their positions since June, 1779. The two newly elected justices were Aimé Compte and J. Bte. Jacquemain.2 On the fifteenth of September Kaskaskia held a new election, only twenty- one men exercising the franchise, and six new magistrates were chosen-J. Bte. Bauvais, Louis Brazeau, François Charleville, François Corset, Vitale Bauvais, and Antoine Morin; but Winston issued a certificate of election to only the first four, to whom he also wrote a letter of congratulation.3
It is to be noticed that Vitale Bauvais and Morin were both members of the former court, which had refused to support Win- ston against Dodge. In spite of the act of the county lieutenant
1 The papers in the foregoing narrative may be found in the following places. In the Papers of Old Congress, xlviii., 4, are the two orders for arrest and imprisonment of Winston and Mrs. Winston's appeal with the call for the court on April 29. The correspondence between Dodge and Labuxiere with the depositions of the witnesses and the court's letter to Labuxiere belong to the Cahokia Records in Chicago Hist. Library.
2 Kas. Rec., Pol. Papers.
3 Kas. Rec., Pol. Papers and Letters.
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the other justices gave their support to their rejected associates and Vitale Bauvais was made president, a position he held as long as the court continued to sit.
Beaten once again at the election, Winston determined to use other means of asserting his authority, but he allowed at least two months to pass before proceeding to the final act. That act was decisive. Towards the end of November, he posted on the church door a notice abolishing the court of the district of Kaskaskia. Thus by act of the civil authority, and not by that of the military, the court of Kaskaskia came to an end. From this date until June, 1787, no bench of justices held sessions in that village.1
Winston himself had decided to go to Virginia. He wished to obtain justice against John Dodge, to petition for the remodeling of the government, and to recover the money which he had ad- vanced to the state. His loans to Virginia had been considerable and he found himself reduced from affluence to extreme poverty by his support of the American cause. One of the officials of the court, the clerk François Carbonneaux, had supported Winston in his action and was to accompany him to Virginia. On Decem- ber 3d, they persuaded a few Kaskaskians to appoint them their agents either to Virginia or to Congress for the above pur- poses. The signatures to this document reveal the strength of the party of the county lieutenant. Of the signers seven were Americans and ten were Frenchmen, of the latter five only could write and but one, Pierre Langlois, had held the position of justice of the peace.2
1 The existence of the court can be proved up to November 15th. (Kas. Rec., Petitions. That it was set aside by a placard on the church door is proved by a letter of the two Bau- vais and Corset in 1787. (Kas. Rec., Letters.) Winston is unquestionably the one who set the court aside, for in a memorial to the Va. commissioners, the French party wrote that he had "annulled, set aside, and revoked the good law which you have given us for the surety of the country." Menard Col., Tard. Papers.
2 From now on the petitions to Congress are numerous and it is necessary to depend upon them for much of the narrative, since the local material has been lost or destroyed. These petitions must be used with caution, for they emanate from different parties in the Illinois and their value can only be estimated after a careful analysis of their contents to determine who were the petitioners. First there was the party of Winston. The first petition was carried by Winston and Carbonneaux, but since Winston died in Richmond in 1784 (Dr. MSS., 4]37), Carbonneaux was the representative of this party at Congress. They wanted to remodel the existing government and to make Illinois into one district under a county lieutenant having sufficient power to maintain order. They had a contempt for the French, for their lack of intelligence, and for their failure to rule themselves. (Papers of Old Cong.,"xxx., 453.) The second party was that of John Dodge, who was more success-
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Before leaving the country Winston made provision for the maintenance of the county government by the appointment, on January 8th, of Jacques Timothe Boucher Sieur de Monbreun, as his successor, but this he did not make public till January 2Ist, at which time he confirmed the sale of the office of notary- clerk by Carbonneaux to Pierre Langlois.1 Before the arrange- ments for his departure were completed, the announcement of the arrival of the commissioners for western affairs, sent by the state of Virginia, had reached Kaskaskia, so that he had a further incentive for haste.
Although, for lack of other name, it is necessary to continue calling the government in the Illinois, the county of Illinois, legally the county had ended twelve months before Winston appointed his successor. It had been established by the act of the Virginia assembly in December, 1778, and was to last for one year and thereafter until the end of the next session of the assembly. It was renewed in May, 1780, and continued for a similar period.2
ful by means of intimidation in winning the support of the French people, including the deputy lieutenant left by Winston, and to whom the Americans looked for leadership. He was not, however, able to win over the prominent members of the French party, who remained distinctly hostile. Dodge and his followers advocated the establishment of Illinois as a separate state, being no doubt influenced by the similar demand of the county of Ken- tucky. Their petition was carried by Pentecoste in 1784. (Papers of Old Cong., xxx., 435, 463.) The third party was that of the French, led by Barbau, the Bauvais, Janis, and others. The people of Cahokia may be regarded as belonging to this party. The mem- bers were devoted to the court and the French law modified by the Virginia enactments, as they had been established by John Todd; but the party had no objection to changes in the civil organization which might be made by Congress; in fact its members demanded a government from Congress. Their petitions were carried by Major Lebrun and Mr. Parker. The writers of their communications were the clerks of the courts. (Papers of Old Cong., xli., 113; this vol., p. 567, 581.) The fourth set of petitions were written by a faction of the French party which remained irreconcilable after the attempted settlement by Colonel Harmar in 1787 and continued to protest against Dodge. (See post p. xxxvii.) The leaders were a priest, Father de la Valiniere, and the clerk of the court, Pierre Langlois, both of whom wrote the petitions. Their papers contain information of value as they conserve the older issues of the French party. (Papers of Old Cong., xlviii., 13, 19, 89.) The fifth set of petitions were of a very different character. They are those signed by Tardiveau, whose purpose was to gain from Congress concessions of land for all the French and Ameri- cans in the Illinois. He had persuaded members of all parties to sign agreements with him to pay him one tenth of the land thus obtained for his trouble. His petitions contain few details and statements of fact, since he could not afford to prejudice Congress against any of his clients. They are very wordy and full of flowery phrases and in proportion to their length contain little of value. He had obtained copies of all the important memori- als and papers in the Kaskaskia records and from these he drew his information; but since the copies he used are still in existence, they furnish better evidence than his interpre- tation of them. (See post, p. ciii. Tardiveau's petitions are in Papers of Old Cong., xlviii., 110 et seq.)
1 Memorial of Timothe de Monbreun, Va. State Lib .; Kas. Rec., Court Record, pt. ii., fols 2, 5.
2 Hening, Statutes at Large, ix., 555; x., 308; this vol., p. 9.
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At the next session there was an attempt to have the act continued, but without success.1 On the fifth of January, 1782, the general assembly adjourned and, "the statutory organization of Illinois expired " and from that time there was no government resting on positive provisions of law in the Illinois country, until Governor St. Clair inaugurated the county of St. Clair in 1790.2
The reason for this action of the legislature of Virginia is to be found in the negotiations with the United States in regard to the cession of this territory. A bill to that effect was passed by the assembly as early as January 2, 1781; but the business dragged through several sessions of the United States Congress, and the cession was not consummated until March 1, 1784.3 As is well known, it was not until 1787 that Congress passed an effective law regulating the government in the Northwest and not until the spring of 1790 that the governor appointed under that act reached the French settlements, so that during the period of eight years the people of the American Bottom were left to them- selves to settle the problem of government as best they could.
After repeated petitions from the West and many accusations against officers, Virginia determined in the year 1782 to send a board of commissioners to these regions to investigate the claims against her and the whole question of the finances of the Western army. The accounts and bills as they had come to Virginia were greatly confused; for Montgomery, George, and other officers had made drafts without authority, and the amounts appeared large and were drawn for specie, so that fraud was suspected.4 The commissioners did not start for the West until October. They sent from Lincoln county on December 4th a notice of their appointment and powers to Kaskaskia and Vincennes and
1 Jour. House of Del., Va., Oct. Sess., 1781; Boggess, Immigration into Illinois (thesis in MS).
2 See Boyd, "The County of Illinois," in Amer. Hist. Rev., iv., No. 4, p. 625.
3 Jour. of Cong., viii., 199, 203, 253; ix., 47 et seq .; Hening, Statutes at Large, xi., 571 et seq.
4 Montgomery was authorized by Clark to draw on him and the treasury of Virginia; but the people preferred drafts on Pollock in New Orleans. These Montgomery was forced to give and justified his action before a court of inquiry in 1781. Va. State Papers, iii., 433 . See also iii .. 56, and instructions and letter of Governor Harrison, Dr. MSS., 46J69, 72.
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requested that word be sent to Cahokia and St. Louis. A meeting at the Falls of the Ohio was set for January 15th.1
On arriving at the appointed place of meeting, the commis- sioners found no one. They suspected that Clark and his officers were conspiring to keep the French representatives from them, for they learned that the clerk of Kaskaskia, Carbonneaux, and the delegates from Vincennes had arrived at the Falls and been sent away .? Whether their suspicions were correct or not it is impossible to say. If correct, the attempt was not successful; for the commissioners were overtaken at Logan in the spring by Winston and Carbonneaux. The latter made an accusation of ignorance and neglect of duty against the justices of Kaskaskia. He also recommended a stronger government for the country and said that some persons were setting themselves up as lords of the land. The commissioners believed that he represented the better elements of his village, instead of a minority as was the case. Winston did not make any deposition at this time. He accompanied the commissioners to Richmond, where he died in great poverty in the year 1784.3
Winston and Carbonneaux were not the only ones to carry memorials to the commissioners. On March Ist, the members of the French party sent off a ten-page petition concerning the affairs in the Illinois, in which, although they tried to confine themselves to claims for payments, as they had been instructed to do by the commissioners, they recur now and then to the hard- ships which they had endured. At about the same time another memorial, signed by most of the men opposed to Winston, was forwarded and in this was given in detail an account of the double
1 Va. State Papers, iii., 327, 389; Kas. Rec., Notice and Letter.
2 In his journal Colonel Fleming, one of the commissioners, is very outspoken about his suspicions. (Dr. MSS., 2zz69). From the same journal it is evident that Carbonneaux and the delegates from Vincennes were at the Falls in time for the meeting on January 15. Winston did not start from Kaskaskia till the 21st of the month and the delegate from Caho- kia, Fr. Trottier, left sometime in March. (See post, p. 145). All the representatives were at Fort Nelson on March 30th and wrote a letter to Clark from there. (Dr. MSS., 50J80).
3 The deposition of Carbonneaux is obtained from an extract sent by Walker Daniel to the commissioners February 3d in Dr. MSS., 60J3 and Va. State Papers, iii., 430; notice of Wins- ton's death in Dr. MSS., 4J37. I regret that I have been unable to see the journal of this board of commissioners, which is in the Va. State Lib. Dr. Eckenrode, the state archivist, has fur- nished me with a few extracts from it, but there was no way of finding out what would be of use to me except by having the three hundred odd pages copied and this I was unable to have done .. 1
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dealing of the county lieutenant, who had told the military officers that the French must be ruled by the bayonet while he was urging the French to oppose further levies; and the memorialists further declared that Winston was responsible for the lawless condition which prevailed in the country.1
Those who had given freely of their goods for the support of the American cause were never to receive full recompense for their services. Most of the bills which were presented were finally paid by Virginia, but not until they had passed into the hands of speculators such as Bentley and Dodge, who had given to the original holders a very small percentage of the face value of the claims. Later the United States attempted to compensate the French people for the losses they had suffered by granting them concessions of land; but the delays were so long, their needs so pressing, and their foresight so poor that the men to whom the grants were made sold them for a song to land-jobbers and speculators, long before the difficult land question of Illinois was finally settled a generation after the occurrence of the events for which the French and others had ruined themselves.2
Between the appearance of the Virginia commissioners in January, 1783, and that of Colonel Harmar in 1787, the Illinois people were almost completely isolated. On account of the de- struction of the documents which would have furnished informa- tion on the events of the period, the view we obtain of the men and affairs is a very hazy one. This, however, is evident. The experience of the Kaskaskians during the years of the American occupation had unfitted them to rise to the dignity of self-govern- ment and the anarchy only grew worse; whereas in Cahokia the court founded by Todd remained in power and was able to pre- serve order. The difference in the destinies of the two villages can only be ascribed to the presence of the turbulent frontiersmen
1 They are both in the Menard Col., Tard. Papers, the first an original MS., the other a copy by the clerk.
1 Amer. State Papers, Pub. Land, passim; Record-Books at Chester, Ill. When the United States accepted the cession of the Northwest from Virginia, it was agreed to reimburse the latter for all claims for necessary supplies to Clark, provided they were allowed before Sep- tember 24, 1788. Many bills were presented and allowed before that time (Winsor, West- ward Movement, 247); but many still remained in the hands of the French unpaid. (Smith, St. Clair Papers, ii., 168.)
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