Combined history of Edwards, Lawrence and Wabash counties, Illinois. With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers, Part 3

Author:
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. L. McDonough & co.
Number of Pages: 490

USA > Illinois > Edwards County > Combined history of Edwards, Lawrence and Wabash counties, Illinois. With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 3
USA > Illinois > Wabash County > Combined history of Edwards, Lawrence and Wabash counties, Illinois. With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 3
USA > Illinois > Lawrence County > Combined history of Edwards, Lawrence and Wabash counties, Illinois. With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers > Part 3

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In the north, De La Motte Cadillac, in June, 1701, laid the foundation of Fort Pontchartrain, on the strait, (le De- troit), || while in the southwest efforts were making to realize the dreams of La Salle. The leader in the last named en- terprise was Lemoine D'Iberville, a Canadian officer, who from 1694 to 1697 distinguished himself not a little by battles and conquests among the icebergs of the " Baye D'Udson or Hudson Bay."

The post at Vincennes, on the Oubache river, (pronounced Wa-bā, meaning summer cloud moving swiftly), was estab- lished in 1702. It is quite probable that on La Salle's last trip he established the stations at Kaskaskia and Cahokia. Until the year 1750, but little is known of the settlements in the northwest, as it was not until this time that the atten-

*The authorities in relation to La Salle are Hennepin : a narrative pub- lished in the name of Tonti, in 1697, but disclaimed hy him (Charlevoix III, 365. Lettres Edifiantes.

+ Bancroft, iii. 196.

# There was an Old Peoria on the northwest shore of the lake of that name, a mile and a half above the outlet. From 1778 to 1796 the inhabi- tants left this for New Peoria, (Fort Clark) at the outlet. American State Papers, xviii. 476.

¿ Western Annals.

|| Charlevoix, ii. 284. Le Detroit was the whole strait from Erie to Huron. The first grants of land at Detroit, i. e., Fort Pontchartrain, were made in 1707.

HISTORY OF EDWARDS, LAWRENCE AND WABASH COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.

tion of the English was called to the occupation of this por- tion of the new world, which they then supposed they owned. Vivier, a missionary among the Illinois, writing " Aux Illinois," six leagues from Fort Chartres, June 8th, 1750, says : " We have here whites, negroes, and Indians, to say nothing of the cross-breeds. There are five French villages, and three villages of the natives within a space of twenty-one leagues, situated between the Mississippi and another river, called the Karkadiad, (Kaskaskia). In the five French villages are, perhaps, eleven hundred whites, three hundred blacks, and some sixty red slaves or savages. The three Illinois towns do not contain more than eight hundred souls all told .* Most of the French till the soil. They raise wheat, cattle, pigs and horses, and live like princes. Three times as much is produced as can be con- sumed, and great quantities of grain and flour are sent to New Orleans."

Again, in an epistle dated November 17th, 1750, Vivier says : "Fór fifteen leagues above the mouth of the Missis- sippi, one sees no dwellings k * * New Orleans contains black, white and red, not more, I think, than twelve hun- dred persons. To this point come all kinds of lumber, bricks, salt-beef, tallow, tar, skins, and bear's grease; and above all pork and flour from the Illinois. These things create some commerce, as forty vessels and more have come hither this year. Above New Orleans plantations are again met with ; the most considerable is a colony of Germans, some ten leagues up the river. At point Coupee, thirty-five leagues above the German settlement, is a fort. Along here, within five or six leagues, are not less than sixty habitations. Fifty leagues farther up is the Natchez post, where we have a garrison."

Father Marest, writing from the post at Vincennes, makes the same observation. Vivier also says, " Some individuals dig lead near the surface, and supply the Indians and Can- ada. Two Spaniards, now here, who claim to be adepts, say that our mines are like those of Mexico, and that if we would dig deeper we would find silver under the lead ; at any rate the lead is excellent. There are also in this coun- try, beyond doubt, copper mines, as from time to time, large pieces have been found in the streams."t

At the close of the year 1750, the French occupied in ad- dition to the lower Mississippi posts and those in Illinois, one at Du Qnesne, one at the Maumee, in the country of the Miamis, and one at Sandusky, in what may be termed the Ohio Valley. In the northern part of the north-west, they had stations at St. Joseph's on the St. Joseph's of Lake Michigan, at Fort Pontchartrain (Detroit), at Michilli- mackinac or Massillimacinac, Fox River of Green Bay, and at Sault Ste. Marie. The fondest dreams of La Salle were now fully realized. The French alone were possessors of this vast realm, basing their claim on discovery and settle- ment. Another nation, however, was now turning its attention to this extensive country, and learning of its wealth began to lay plans for occupying it and for securing the great profits arising therefrom.

* Lettres Edifiantes (Paris, 1781), vii. 97-106.

t Western Annals.

The French, however, had another claim to this country, namely, the

DISCOVERY OF THE OHIO.

The largest branch of the Mississippi river from the east, known to the early French settlers as la belle riviere, called " beautiful " river, was discovered by Robert Cavalier de La Salle, in 1669. While La Salle was at his trading-post on the St. Lawrence, he found leisure to study nine Indian dialects, the chief of which was the Iroquois. While con- versing with some Senecas, he learned of a river called the Ohio, which rose in their country and flowed to the sea.

In this statement the Mississippi and its tributaries were considered as one stream. La Salle, believing as most of the French at that period did, that the great rivers flowing west emptied into the Sea of California, was anxious to em- bark in the enterprise of discovering a route across the continent. He repaired at once to Quebec to obtain the approval of the Governor and the Intendent, Talon. They issued letters patent, authorizing the enterprise, but made no provisions to defray the expenses.

At this juncture the seminary St. Sulpice decided to send out missionaries in connection with the expedition, and La Salle offering to sell his improvements at La Chive to raise the money, the offer was accepted by the Superior, and two thousand eight hundred dollars were raised, with which La Salle purchased four canoes and the necessary supplies for the outfit.

On the 6th of July, 1669, the party, numbering twenty- four persons, embarked in seven canoes on the St. Lawrence. Two additional canoes carried the Indian guides.

In three days they were gliding over the bosom of Lake Ontario. Their guides conducted them directly to the Seneca village on the bank of the Genesee, in the vicinity of the present city of Rochester, New York. Here they expected to procure guides to conduct them to the Ohio, but in this they were disappointed. After waiting a month in the hope of gaining their object, they met an Indian from the Iroquois colony, at the head of Lake Ontario, who assured them they could find guides, and offered to conduct them thence. On their way they passed the mouth of Niagara river, when they heard for the first time the distant thunder of the cataract. Arriving among the Iroquois they met with a friendly reception, and learned from a Shawnee prisoner that they could reach the Ohio in six weeks. / De- lighted with the unexpected good fortune, they made ready to resume their journey, and as they were about to start they heard of the arrival of two Frenchmen in a neighboring village. One of them proved to be Louis Joliet, afterwards famous as an explorer in the west. He had been sent by the Canadian government to explore the copper mines on Lake Superior, but had failed and was on his way back to Quebec.

On arriving at Lake Superior, they found, as La Salle had predicted, the Jesuit fathers, Marquette and Dablon, occupying the field. After parting with the priests, La Salle went to the chief Iroquois village at Onondago, where he obtained guides and passing tlience to a tributary of the Ohio south of Lake Erie, he descended the latter as far as 15

HISTORY OF EDWARDS, LAWRENCE AND WABASH COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.

the falls of Louisville. Thus was the Ohio discovered by La Salle, the persevering and successful French explorer of the west in 1669.

When Washington was sent out by the colony of Virginia in 1753, to demand of Gordeur de St. Pierre why the French had built a fort on the Monongahela, the haughty com- mandant at Quebec replied : "We claim the country on the Ohio by virtue of the discoveries of La Salle, and will not give it up to the English. Our orders are to make prisoners of every Englishman found trading in the Ohio valley."

ENGLISH EXPLORATIONS AND SETTLEMENTS.

We have sketched the progress of French discovery in the valley of the Mississippi. The first travelers reached that river in 1673, and when the year 1750 broke in upon the father of waters and the great north-west, all was still except those little spots upon the prairies of Illinois and among the marshes of Louisiana.

Volney, by conjecture, fixes the settlement of Vincennes about 1735 .* Bishop Brute, of Indiana, speaks of a mis- sionary station there in 1700, and adds: "The friendly tribes and traders called to Canada for protection, and then M. De Vincennes came with a detachment, I think, of Carignan, and was killed in 1735."+ Bancroft says a mili- tary establishment was formed there in 1716, and in 1742 a settlement of herdsmen took place.} In a petition of the old inhabitants at Vincennes, dated in November, 1793, we find the settlement spuken of as having been made before 1742.§ And such is the general voice of tradition. On the other hand, Charlevoix, who records the death of Vincennes, which took place among the Chickasaws, in 1736, makes no mention of any post on the Wabash, or any missionary station there. Neither does he mark any upon his map, although he gives even the British forts upon the Tennessee and elsewhere. Such is the character of the proof relative to the settlement of Vincennes.

Hennepin, in 1663-4, had heard of the " Hohio." The route from the lakes to the Mississippi, by the Wabash, was explored 1676,|| and in Hennepin's volume of 1698, is a journal, said to be that sent by La Salle to Count Frontenac in 1682 or '83, which mentions the route by the Maumee T and Wabash as the most direct to the great western river.

In 1749, when the English first began to think seriously of sending men into the west, the greater portions of the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota were yet under the dominion of the red men. The English knew, however, of the nature of the vast wealth of these wilds.

In the year 1710, Governor Spotswood, of Virginia, had matured a plan and commenced movements, the object of which was to secure the country beyond the Alleghenics to the English crown. In Pennsylvania, also, Governor Keith and James Logan, Secretary of the Province from 1719 to

* Volney's View, p. 336.

+ Butlet's Kentucky.

# Ilistory U. S. iii. 346.

¿ American State Papers, xvi. 32.

[ Histoire General Des Voyages xiv., 758.

{Now called Miami.

1731, represented to the powers of England the necessity of taking steps to secure the western lands. Nothing, however,' was done by the mother country, except to take certain diplomatic steps to secure the claim of Britain to this unex- plored wilderness. England had from the outset claimed from the Atlantic to the Pacific, on the ground that the dis- covery and possession of the sea coast was a discovery and possession of the country ; and as is well known, her grants to Virginia, Connecticut, and other colonies, were through from " sea to sea." This was not all her claims; she had purchased from the Indian tribes large tracts of land. This was also a strong argument.

In the year 1684, Lord Howard, Governor of Virginia, held a treaty with the five nations at Albany. These wero the great Northern Confederacy, and comprised at first tho Mohawks, Oncidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas. Afterward the Tuscaroras were taken into the confederacy, and it became known as the six nations. They came under the protection of the mother country, and again in 1701 they repeated the agreement. Another formal deed was drawr. up and signed by the chiefs of the National Confederacy in 1726, by which their lands were conveyed in trust to Eng- land, "to be protected and defended by his majesty, to and for the use of the grantors and their heirs." The validity of this claim has often been disputed, but never successfully. In 1774, a purchase was made at Lancaster of certain lands within the "colony of Virginia," for which the Indians received £200 in gold and a like sum in goods, with a promise that as settlements increased, more should be paid. The commissioners from Virginia at the treaty were Col. Thomas Lee and Col. William Beverly.

As settlements extended, and the Indians began to com- plain, the promise of further pay was called to mind, and Mr. Conrad Weiser was sent across the Alleghenies to Logs- town. In 1784, * Col. Lee and some Virginians accom- panied him, with the intention of ascertaining the feelings of the Indians with regard to further settlements in the west, which Col. Lee and others were contemplating. The object of these proposed settlements was not the cultivation of tlio soil, but the monopoly of the Indian trade. Accordingly after Weiser's conference with the Indians at Logstown, which was favorable to their views, Thomas Lee, with twelve other Virginians, among whom were Lawrence and Augustine, brothers of George Washington, and also Mr. Hanbury, of London, formed an association which they called the "Ohio Company," and in 1748 petitioned tho ·king for a grant beyond the mountains. This petition was approved by the English government, and the government of Virginia was ordered to grant to the petitioners half a million of acres within the bounds of that colony beyond the Alleghenies, two hundred thousand of which were to be located at once. This portion was to be held for ten years free of quit-rent, provided the company would put there onc hundred families within seven years, and build a fort suffi- cient to protect the settlement. The company accepted tho proposition, and sent to London for a cargo suited to the Indian trade, which should arrive in November, 1749.

* Plain Facts, pp. 40, 120.

HISTORY OF EDWARDS, LAWRENCE AND WABASH COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.

Other companies were also formed about this time in Vir- ginia to colonize the west. On the 12th of June, 1749, a grant of 800,000 acres from the line of Canada, on the north and west, was made to the Loyal Company, and on the 29th of October, 1751, another of 100,000 acres to the Greenbriar Company. *

The French were not blind all this time. They saw that if the British once obtained a stronghold upon the Ohio, they might not only prevent their settlements upon it, but in time would come to the lower posts, and so gain posses- sion of the whole country. Upon the 10th of May, 1744, Vandreuil, the French governor, well knowing the conse- quences that must arise from allowing the English to build trading posts in the north-west, seized some of their frontier posts, to further secure the claims of the French to the west. Having these fears, and seeing the danger of the late movements of the British, Gallisoniere, then Governor of Canada, determined to place along the Ohio evidences of the French claim to, and possession of, the country. For that purpose he sent, in the summer of 1749, Louis Celeron, with a party of soldiers, to place plates of lead, on which were written out the claims of the French, in the mounds and at the mouths of the rivers. These were heard of by Willliam Trent, an Indian commissioner, sent out by Vir- ginia in 1752, to treat with and conciliate the Indians, while upon the Ohio, and mentioned in his journal. One of these plates was found with the inscription partly defaced. It bears date August 16th, 1749, and a copy of the inscrip- tion, with particular account, was sent by De Witt Clinton to the American Antiquarian Society, among whose journals it may now be found. These measures did not, however, deter the English from going on with their explorations.

In February, 1751, Christopher Gist was sent by the Ohio Company to examine its lands. He went to a village of the Twigtwees, on the Miami, about 150 miles above its mouth. From there he went down the Ohio River nearly to the falls, at the present city of Louisville, and in Novem- ber he commenced a survey of the company's lands. In 1751, General Andrew Lewis commenced some surveys in the Greenbrier country, on behalf of the company already mentioned. Meanwhile the French were busy in preparing their forts for defence, and in opening roads. In 1752 having heard of the trading houses on the Miami River, they, assisted by the Ottawas and Chippewas, attacked it, and, after a severe battle, in which fourteen of the natives were killed and others wounded, captured the garrison. The traders were carried away to. Canada, and one account says several were burned. This fort, or trading house was called by the English writers Pickawillany. A memorial of the king's ministers refers to it as " Pickawellanes, in the centre of the territory between Ohio and the Wabash." This was the first blood shed between the French and English, and occurred near the present city of Piqua, Ohio. The English were determined on their part to purchase a title from the Indians of lands which they wished to occupy, and in the spring of 1752, Messrs. Fry,f Lomax and Pat on

* Revised Statutes of Virginia.

t Afterwards Commander-in-chief over Washington, at the commence- meut of the French War of 1775.

were sent from Virginia to hold a conference with the natives at Logstown, to learn what they objected to in the treaty at Lancaster, and to settle all difficulties. On the 9th of June the commissioners met the red men at Logs- town. This was a village seventeen miles below Pittsburgh, upon the north side of the Ohio. Here had been a trading post for many years, but it was abaudoned by the Indians in 1750. At first the Indians declined to recognize the treaty of Lancaster, but the commissioners taking aside Montour, the interpreter, who was a son of the famous Catherine Montour, and a chief among the six nations, being three-fourths of Indian blood, through his influence an agreement was effected, and upon the 13th of June they all united in signing a deed, confirming the Lancaster treaty in its fullest extent. Meanwhile the powers beyond the seas were trying to out-manœuver each other, and were professing to be at peace. The English generally outwitted the Indians, and secured themselves, as they thought, by their polite conduct. But the Freuch, in this as in all cases, proved that they knew best how to manage the natives. While these measures were taken, another treaty with the wild men of the debatable land was also in contemplation. And in Sep- tember, 1753, William Fairfax met their deputies at Win- chester, Virginia, where he concluded a treaty. In the month following, however, a more satisfactory interview took place at Carlisle, between the representatives of the Iroquois, Delawares, Shawnees, Twigtwees, and Wyandots, and the commissioners of Pennsylvania, Richard Peters, Isaac Norris, and Benjamin Franklin. Soon after this, no satisfaction being obtained from the Ohio, either as to the force, position, or purposes of the French, Robert Dinwiddie, then Governor of Virginia, determined to send to them another messenger, and learn if possible their intentions. For this purpose he selected a young surveyor, who, at the age of nineteen had attained the rank of major, and whose previous life had inured him to hardships and woodland ways; while his courage, cool judgment, and firm will, all fitted him for such a mission. This personage was no other than the illustrious George Washington, who then held considerable interest in western lands. He was twenty-one years old at the time of the appointment .* Taking Gist as a guide, the two, accom- panied by four servitors, set out on their perilous march. They left Will's Creek, where Cumberland now is, on the 15th of November, and on the 22d reached the Monongahela, about ten miles above the fork. From there they went to Logstown, where Washington had a long conference with the chiefs of the six nations. Here he learned the position of the French, and also that they had determined not to come down the river until the following spring. The Indians were non-committal, they deeming a neutral position the safest. Washington, finding nothing could be done, went on to Ve- nango, an old Indian town at the mouth of the French Creek. Here the French had a fort called Fort Machault. On the 11th of December he reached the fort at the head of French Creek. Here he delivered Governor Dinwiddie's letter, received his answer, and upon the 16th set out upon his return journey with no one but Gist, his guide, and a few

*Sparks' Washington, Vol. ii., pp. 428-447.

HISTORY OF EDWARDS, LAWRENCE AND WABASH COUNTIES, ILLIN CIS.

Indiaus, who still remained true to him. They reached home in safety on the 6th of January, 1754. From the letter of St. Pierre, Commander of the French fort, sent by Washing- ton to Governor Dinwiddie, it was perfectly clear that the French would not yield the West without a struggle. Active preparations were at once made iu all the English colonies for the coming conflict, while the French finished their fort at Venango and strengthened their lines of fortifications to be in readiness. The Old Dominion was alive. Virginia was the center of great activities. Volunteers were called for, and from neighboring colonies men rallied to the conflict, and everywhere along the Potomac men were enlisting under Governor's proclamation,-which promised two hundred thousand acres on the Ohio. Along this river they were gathering as far as Will's Creek, and far beyond this point, whither Trent had come for assistance, for his little band of forty-one men, who were working away in hunger and want, to fortify that point at the fork of the Ohio, to which both parties were looking with deep interest. The first birds of spring filled the forest with their songs. The swift river rolled by the Allegheny hillsides, swollen by the melting snows of spring and April showers. The leaves were appear- ing, a few Indian Scouts were seen, but no enemy seemed near at hand, and all was so quiet that Frazier, an old In- dian trader, who had been left by Trent in command of the new fort, ventured to his home at the mouth of Turtle Creek, ten miles up the Monongahela. But though all was so quiet in that wilderness, keen eyes had seen the low entrenchment that was rising at the fork, and swift feet had borne the news of it up the valley, and on the morning of the 17th of April, Ensign Ward, who then had charge of it, saw upon the Allegheny a sight that made his heart sink ;- sixty batteaux and three hundred canoes, filled with men, and laden deep with cannon and stores. The fort was called on to surren- der: by the advice of the Half-King, Ward tried to evade the act, but it would not do. Contrecœur, with a thousand men about him, said 'Evacuate,' and the ensign dared not refuse. That evening he supped with his captor, and the next day was bowed off by the Frenchman, and, with his men and tools, marched up the Monongahela." The French and Indian war had begun. The treaty of Aix la Chapelle, in 1748, had left the boundaries between the French and English possessions unsettled, and the events already narra- ted show that the French were determined to hold the coun- try watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries: while the English laid claim to the country by virtue of the discoveries by the Cabots, and claimed all the country from New Found- land to Florida, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The first decisive blow had been struck, and the first attempt of the English, through the Ohio Company, to occupy these lands had resulted disastrously to them. The French and Indians immediately completed the fortifications begun at the fork, which they had so easily captured, and when com- pleted gave to the fort the name of Du Quesne. Washing- ton was at Will's Creek, when the news of the capture of the fort arrived. He at once departed to recapture it. On his way he entrenched himself at a place called the "Meadows," where he erected a fort called by him Fort Necessity. From

there he surprised and captured a force of French and Indi- ans marching against him, but was soon after attacked by a much superior force, and was obliged to yield on the morn- ing of July 4th. He was allowed to return to Virginia.

The English Government immediately planned for cam- paigns, one against Fort Du Quesne, one against Nova Sco- tia, one against Fort Niagara, and one ngainst Crown Point. These occurred during 1755-6, and were not successful in driving the French from their possessions. The expedition against Fort Du Quesne was led by the famous Braddock, who, refusing to listen to the advice of Washington and those acquainted with Indian warfare, suffered an inglorious de- feat. This occurred on the morning of July 9th, and is gen- erally known as the battle of Monongahela or " Braddock's defeat." The war continued through various vicissitudes through the years 1756-7, when, at the commencement of 1758, in accordance with the plans of William Pitt, then secretary of state, afterwards Lord Chatham, active prepa- rations were made to carry on the war. Three expeditions were planned for this year : one under General Amherst, against Louisburg; another under Abercrombie, against Fort Ticonderoga ; and a third under General Forbes, against Fort Du Quesne. On the 26th of July, Louisburg surren- dered after a desperate resistance of more than forty days, and the eastern part of the Canadian possessions fell into the hands of the British. Abercrombie captu red Fort Fronte- nac, and when the expedition against Fort Du Quesne, of which Washington had the active command, arrived therc, it was found in flames and deserted. The English at once took possession, rebuilt the fort, and in honor of their illus- trious statesman, changed the name to Fort Pitt.

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Combined history of Edwards, Lawrence and Wabash counties, Illinois. With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers, Part 3

Author: Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. L. McDonough & co. Number of Pages: 490

Author:
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. L. McDonough & co.
Number of Pages: 490