Combined history of Edwards, Lawrence and Wabash counties, Illinois. With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of their prominent men and pioneers, Part 4

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 4
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 4
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 4

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The great object of the campaign of 1759, was the reduc- tion of Canada. General Wolfe was to lay siege to Quebec ; Amherst was to reduce Ticonderoga and Crown Point; and General Prideaux was to capture Niagara. This latter place was taken in July, but the gallant Prideaux lost his life. Amherst captured Ticonderoga and Crown Point, without a blow; and Wolfe, after making the memorable ascent to the plains of Abraham, on September 13th, defeated Montcalm, and on the 18th the city capitulated. In this engagement, Montcalm and Wolfe both lost their lives. De Levi, Mont- calm's successor, marched to Sillery, three miles above the city, with the purpose of defeating the English, and there, on the 28th of the following April, was fought one of the bloodiest battles of the French and Indian war. It resulted iu the defeat of the French, and the fall of the city of Mon- treal. The Governor signed a capitulation by which the whole of Canada was surrendered to the English. This practically concluded the war, but it was not until 1763 that the treaties of peace between France and England were signed. This was done on the 10th of February of that year, and under its provisions all the country east of the Mississippi and north of the Ibervill river in Louisiana, were ceded to England. At the same time, Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain.

On the 13th September, 1760, Major Robert Rogers was sent from Montreal to take charge of Detroit, the only re- maining French post in the territory. He arrived there on

HIIS TORY OF EDWARDS, LAWRENCE AND WABASH COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.

the 9th of November, and summoned the place to surrender. At first the commander of the post, Beletre, refused, but on the 29th, hearing of the continued defcat of the French army, surrendered. The North-west Territory was now entirely under the English rule. In 1762, France, by a secret treaty, ceded Louisiana to Spain, to prevent it falling into the hands of the English, who were becoming masters of the entire West. The next year the treaty of Paris, signed at Fon- tainbleau, gave to the English the dominion in question. Twenty years after, by the treaty of peace between the United States and England, that part of Canada lying south and west of the great lakes, comprising a large territory, was acknowledged to be a portion of the United States. In 1803 Louisiana was ceded by Spain back to France, and by France sold to the United States, By the treaty of Paris, the regions east of the Mississippi, including all these and other towns of the north-west, were given over to England ; but they do not appear to have been taken possession of until 1765, when Captain Stirling, in the name of the Majesty in England, established himself at Fort Chartres, bearing with him the proclamation of General Gage, dated December 30th, 1764, which promised religious freedom to all Catho- lics who worshiped here and the right to leave the country with their effects if they wished, or to remain with the priv- ileges of Englishmen. During the years 1775 and 1776, by the operations of land companies and the perseverance of individuals, several settlements were firmly established be- tween the Alleghenies and the Ohio river, and western land speculators were busy in Illinois and on the Wabash. At a council held in Kaskaskia, on July 5th, 1773, an association of English traders, calling themselves the "Illinois Land Company," obtained from the chiefs of the Kaskaskia, Ca- hokia, and Peoria tribes two large tracts of land lying on the cast side of the Mississippi river south of the Illinois. In 1775 a merchant from the Illinois country, named Viviat, came to Post Vincennes as the agent of the association called the " Wabash Land Company." On the 8th of October he obtained from eleven Piankeshaw chiefs a deed for 37,497, 600 acres of land. This deed was signed by the grantors, attested by a number of the inhabitants of Vincennes, and afterward recorded in the office of a Notary Public at Kas- kaskia. This and other land companies had extensive schemes for the colonization of the West ; but all were frus- trated by the breaking out of the Revolutionary war. On the 20th of April, 1780, the two companies named consoli- dated under the name of the " United Illinois and Wabash Land Company ;" they afterwards made strenuous efforts to have these grants sanctioned by Congress, but all signally failed. When the war of the Revolution commenced, Ken- tucky was an unorganized country, though there were several settlements within her borders.

In Hutchins' Topography of Virginia, it is stated that at that time Kaskaskia contained 80 houses, and nearly 1,000 white and black inhabitants, the whites being a little the more numcrous. Cahokia contained fifty houses, 300 white inhabitants, and 80 negroes. There were east of the Missis- sippi river, about the year 1771-when these observations wcr made-" 300 white men capable of bearing arms, and

233 negroes." From 1775 until the expedition of Clark, nothing is recorded and nothing known of these settlements, save what is contained in a report made by a committee to Congress in June, 1778. Fromn it the following extract is made: "Near the mouth of the river Kaskaskia, there is a village which appears to have contained nearly eighty fam- ilies from the beginning of the late Revolution ; there are twelve families at a small village at La Prairie Du Rochers, and nearly fifty families at the Cahokia village. There aro also four or five families at Fort Chartres and St. Philip's, which is five miles further up the river." St. Louis had been settled in February, 1764, and at this time contained, inclu- ding its neighboring towns, over six hundred white and one hundred and fifty negroes. It must be remembered that all the country west of the Mississippi was under French rule, and remained so until ceded back to Spain, its original owner, who afterwards sold it and the country including New Or- leans to the United States. At Detroit, there were, accord- ing to Captain Carver, who was in the north-west from 1768 to 1776, more than one hundred houses, and the river was settled for more than twenty miles, although poorly cultiva- ted, the people being engaged iu the Indian trade.

On the breaking out of the Revolution, the British held every post of importance in the West. Kentucky was formed as a component part of Virginia, and the sturdy pioneers of the West, alive to their interests, and recog- nizing the great benefits of obtaining the control of the trade in this part of the New World, held steadily to their purposes, and those within the commonwealth of Ken- tucky proceeded to exercise their civil privileges of electing John Todd and Richard Gallaway burgesses, to represent them in the assembly of the present state. The chief spirit in this far-out colony, who had represented her the year previous east of the mountains, was now meditating a move of unequalled boldness. He had been watching the move- ments of the British throughout the north-west, and under- stood their whole plan. He saw it was through their possession of the post at Detroit, Vincennes, Kaskaskia, and other places, which would give them easy access to the vari- ous Indian tribes in the north-west, that the Britishi intended to penetrate the country from the north and south, and annihilate the frontier fortresses. This moving, energetic man was Colonel, afterwards General George Rodgers Clark. He knew that the Indians were not unanimously in accord with the English, and he was convinced that, could the British be defeated and expelled from the north-west, the natives might be easily awed into neutrality ; by spies sent for the purpose, he satisfied himself that the enterprise against the Illinois settlements might easily succeed. Patrick Henry was Governor of Virginia, and at once entered heartily into Clark's plans. The same plan had before been agitated in the Colonial Assemblies ; but there was no one until Clark came who was sufficiently acquainted with the condition of affairs at the scene of action to be able to guide them.

Clark, having satisfied the Virginia leaders of the feasibility of his plan, received on the second of January two sets of instructions: one secret, the other open. The latter authoriz- ed him to proceed to cnlist seven companies to go to Ken-

HISTORY OF EDWARDS, LAWRENCE AND WABASH COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.

tucky, subject to his orders, and to serve three months from their arrival in the west. The secret order authorized bim to arm the troops, to procure his powder and lead of General Hand, at Pittsburg, and to proceed at once to subjugate the country.

With these instructions Clark repaired to Pittsburg, choos- ing rather to raise his men west of the mountains. Here he raised three companies and several private volunteers. Clark at length commenced his descent of the Ohio, which he navigated as far as the falls, where he took possession of and fortified Corn Island, between the present sites of Louis- ville, Kentucky, and New Albany, Indiana. Remains of this fortification may yet be found. At this place he ap- pointed Col. Bowman to meet him with such recruits as had reached Kentucky by the southern route. Here he an- nounced to the men their real destination. On the 24th of June he embarked on the river, his destination being Fort Massac or Massacre, and then marched direct to Kaskaskia. The march was accomplished and the town reached on the evening of July 4. He captured the fort near the village, and soon after the village itself, by surprise, without the loss of a single man or killing any of the enemy. Clark told the natives that they were at perfect liberty to worship as they pleased, and to take whichever side of the conflict they would, and he would protect them from any barbarity from British or Indian foes. This had the desired effect, and the inhabitants at once swore allegiance to the Ameri- can arms, and when Clark desired to go to Cahokia on the 6th of July, they accompanied him, and through their in- fluence the inhabitants of the place surrendered. Thus two important posts in Illinois passed from the hands of the Eng- lish into the possession of Virginia. During the year (1779) the famous " Land Laws " of Virginia were passcd. The passage of these laws was of more consequence to the pioneers of Kentucky and the north-west than the gaining of a few Indian conflicts. These grants confirmed in the main all grants made, and guaranteed to actual settlers their rights and privileges.

After providing for the settlers, the laws provided for sell- ing the balance of the public lands at forty cents per acre. To carry the Land Laws into effect, the Legislature sent four Virginians westward to attend to the various claims over many of which great confusion prevailed concerning their validity vote .* These gentlemen opened their court on October, 13, 1779, at St. Asaphs, and continued until April 26, 1780, when they adjourned, having decided three thou- sand claims. They were succeeded by the surveyor,-George May, who assumed the duties on the 10th day of the month whose name he bore. With the opening of the next year (1781) the troubles concerning the navigation of the Missis- sippi commenced. The Government of Spain exacted such measures in relation to its trade as to cause the overtures made to the United States to be rejected. The American Government considered they had a right to navigate its channel. To enforce their claims, a fort was erected below the mouth of the Ohio on the Kentucky side of the river. t

* Butler's Kentucky.

American State Papers.

The settlements in Kentucky were being rapidly filled by emigrants. It was during this year that the first seminary of learning was established in the West in this young and enterprising commonwealth.

The settlers did not look upon the building of the fort in a friendly manner as it aroused the hostility of the Indians. Spain had been friendly to the colonies during their struggle for independence, and though for a while this friendship ap- peared in danger from the refusal of the free navigation of the river, yet it was finally settled to the satisfaction of both nations. The winter of 1779-80 was one of the most unusu- ally severe ones ever experienced in the West. The Indians always refered to it as the " Great Cold." Numbers of wild animals perished, and not a few pioneers lost their lives. The following summer a party of Canadians and Indians, attacked St. Louis, and attempted to take possesion of it in consequence of the friendly disposition of Spain to the revolt- ing colonies. They met with such a determined resistance on the part of the inhabitants, even the women taking part in the battle, that they were compelled to abandon the con- test. They also made an attack on the settlements in Ken- tucky, but, becoming alarmed in some unaccountable man- ner, they fled the country in great haste. About this time arose the question in the Colonial Congress concerning the western lands claimed by Virginia, New York, Massachu- setts and Connecticut. The agitation concerning this sub- ject finally led New York, on the 19th of February, 1780, to pass a law giving to the delegates of that State in Congress the power to cede her western lands for the benefit of the United States. This law was laid before Congress during the next month, but no steps were taken concerning it until September 6th, when a resolution passed that body calling upon the states claiming western lands to release their claims in favor of the whole body. This basis formed the Union, and was the first after all of those legislative measures, which resulted in the creation of the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. In December of the same year, the plan of conquering Detroit again arose. The conquest might easily have been effected by Clark, had the necessary aid been furnished him. Nothing decisive was done, yet the heads of the Government knew that the safety of the North-West from British invasion lay in the capture and retention of that important post, the only unconquered one in the territory.

Before the close of the year, Kentucky was divided into the counties of Lincoln, Fayette, and Jefferson, and the act establishing the town of Louisville was passed. Virginia in accordance with the resolution of Congress, on the 2d day of January, 1781, agreed to yield her western lands to the United States upon certain conditions, which Congress would not accede to,* and the Act of Cession, on the part of the Old Dominion, failed, nor was anything farther done until 1783. During all that time the colonies were busily engaged in the struggle with the mother country, and in consequence thereof but little heed was given to the western settlements. Upon the 16th of April, 1781, the first birth north of the Ohio River of American parentage occurred, being that of Mary/

· American State Papers.

HISTORY OF EDWARDS, LAWRENCE AND WABASH COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.

Heckewelder, daughter of the widely known Moravian Mis- sionary, whose band of Christian Indians suffered in after years a horrible massacre by the hands of the frontier settlers, who had been exasperated by the murder of several of their neighbors, and in their rage committed, without regard to humanity, a deed which forever afterwards cast a shade of shame upon their lives. For this and kindred outrages on the part of the whites, the Indians committed many deeds of cruelty which darken the years of 1781 and 1782 in the his- tory of the North-west. During the year 1782 a number of battles among the Indians and frontiersmen occurred, and between the Moravian Indians and the Wyandots. In these, horrible acts of cruelty were practiced on the captives, many of such dark deeds transpiring under the leadership of fron- tier outlaws. These occurred chiefly in the Ohio Valleys. Contemporary with them were several engagements in Ken- tucky, in which the famous Daniel Boone engaged, and who, often by his skill and knowledge of Indian warfare, saved the outposts from cruel destruction. By the close of the year victory had perched upon the American banner, and on the 30th of November, provisional articles of peace had been arranged between the Commissioners of England and her unconquerable colonies; Cornwallis had been defeated on the 19th of October preceding, and the lib- erty of America was assured. On the 19th of April follow- ing, the anniversary of the battle of Lexington, peace was proclaimed to the Army of the United States, and on the 3d of the next September, the definite treaty which ended our revolutionary struggle was concluded. By the terms of that treaty, the boundaries of the West were as follows : On the_ north the line was to extend along the centre of the Great Lakes; from the western point of Lake Superior to Long Lake, thence to the Lake of the Woods ; thence to the head of the Mississippi River ; down its center to the 31st parallel of latitude, then on that line east to the head of the Appalach- icola River; down its center to its junction with the Flint ; thence straight to the head of St. Mary's River, and thenca down along its center to the Atlantic Ocean.

Following the cessation of hostilities with England, several posts were still occupied by the British in the North and West. Among these was Detroit, still in the hands of the cnemy. Numerous engagements with the Indians through- out Ohio and Indiana occurred, upon whose lands adventur- ous whites would settle ere the title had been acquired by the proper treaty. To remedy this evil, Congress appointed Commissioners to treat with the natives and purchase their lands, and prohibited the settlement of the territory until this could be done. Before the close of the year another attempt was made to capture Detroit, which was, however, not pushed, and Virginia, no longer feeling the interest in the North-west she had formerly done, withdrew her troops, having on the 20th of December preceding, authorized the whole of her possessions to be deeded to the United States. This was done on the 1st of March following, and the North- west Territory passed from the control of the Old Dominion. To General Clark and his soldiers, however, she gave a tract of one hundred and fifty thousand acres of land, to be situ- ated anywhere north of the Ohio wherever they chose to

locate them. They selected the region opposite the falls of the Ohio, where is now the village of Clarksville, about mid- way between the cities of New Albany and Jeffersonville, Indiana.

While the frontier remained thus, and General Haldi- mand at Detroit refused to evacuate, alleging that he had no orders from his king to do so, settlers were rapidly gather- ing about the inland forts. In the spring of 1784, Pittsburg was regularly laid out, and from the journal of Arthur Lee, who passed through the town soon after on his way to the Indian council at Fort McIntosh, we suppose it was not very prepossessing in appearance. He says, "Pittsburg is in- habited almost entirely by Scots and Irish, who live in paltry log houses, and are as dirty as if in the North of Ireland, or even Scotland. There is a great deal of trade carried on, the goods being brought at the vast expense of forty-five shillings per hundred lbs. from Philadelphia and Baltimore. They take in the shops flour, wheat, skins and money. There are in the town, four attorneys, two doctors, and not a priest of any persuasion, nor church nor chapel."

·Kentucky at this time contained thirty thousand inhabi- tants, and was beginning to discuss measures for a separation from Virginia. A land office was opened at Louisville, and measures were adopted to take defensive precaution against the Indians, who were yet, in some instances, incited to deeds of violence by the British. Before the close of this year, 1784, the military claimants of land began to occupy them, although no entries were recorded until 1787. The Indian title to the Northwest was not yet extinguished, they held large tracts of lands, and in order to prevent bloodshed Con- gress adopted means for treaties with the original owners and provided for the surveys of the lands gained thereby, as well as for those north of the Ohio, now in its possession. On January 31, 1786, a treaty was made with the Wabash Indians. The treaty of Fort Stanwix had been made in 1781, that at Fort McIntosh in 1785, and through these vast tracts of land were gained. The Wabash Indians, how- ever, afterwards refused to comply with the provisions of the treaty made with them, and in order to compel their adherence to its provisions, force was used.

During the year 1786, the free navigation of the Mis- sissippi came up in Congress, and caused various discussions, which resulted in no definite action, only serving to excite speculation in regard to the Western lands. Congress had promised bounties of land to the soldiers of the Revolution, but owing to the unsettled condition of affairs along the Mississippi respecting its navigation, and the trade of the Northwest, that body, had in 1783 declared its inability to fulfill these promises until a treaty could be concluded be- tween the two governments. Before the close of the year, 1786, however, it was able, through the treatics with the Indians, to allow some grants and settlements thereon, and on the 14th of September Connecticut ceded to the general government the tract of land known as the " Connecticut Reserve," and before the close of the year a large tract of land was sold to a company, who at once took measures to settle it. By the provisions of this grant, the company were to pay the United States one dollar per acre, subject to a de-

HISTORY OF EDWARDS, LAWRENCE AND WABASH COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.

duction of one-third for bad lands and other contingencies, they received 750,000 acres bounded on the south by the Ohio, on the east by the Seventh range of townships, on the west by the Sixteenth range, and on the north by a line so drawn as to make the grant complete without the reservation. In addition to this Congress afterward granted 100,000 acres to actual settlers, and 214,285 acres as army bounties under the resolutions of 1789 and 1790. While Dr. Cutler, one of the agents of the company, was pressing its claims before Congress, that body was bringing into form an ordinance for the political and social organization of this Territory. When the cession was made by Virginia, 1784, a plan was offered, but rejected. A motion had been made to strike from the proposed plan the prohibition of slavery, which prevail- ed. The plan was then discussed and altered, and finally passed unanimously, with the exception of South Carolina. By this proposition the Territory was to have been divided into ten States by parallels and meridian lines. There were, however, serious objections to this plan ; the root of the diffi- culty was in the resolution of Congress passed in October, 1780, which fixed the boundaries of the ceded lands to be from one hundred to one hundred and fifty miles square. These resolutions being presented to the Legislatures of Vir- ginia and Massachusetts they desired a change, and in July 1786, the subject was taken up in Congress and changed to favor a division into not more than five States, and not less than three; this was approved by the Legislature of Virginia. The subject was again taken up by Congress in 1786, and discussed throughout that year, and until July 1787 when the famous " compact of 1787 " was passed, and the founda- tion of the government of the Northwest laid. This compact is fully discussed and explained in the sketch on Illinois in this book, and to it the reader is referred. The passage of this act and the grant to the New England Company was soon followed by an application to the Government by John Cleves Symmes, of New Jersey, for a grant of land between the Miamis. This gentleman had visited these lands soon after the treaty of 1786, and being greatly pleased with them, offered similar terms to those given to the New England Company. The petition was referred to the Treasury Board with power toact, and a contract was concluded the follow- ing year. During the autumn the directors of the New England Company were preparing to occupy their grant the following spring, and upon the 23d of November made arrangements for a party of forty-seven men, under the superintendency of General Rufus Putnam, to set forward. Six boat-builders were to leave at once, and on the first of January the surveyors and their assistants, twenty-six in number, were to meet at Hartford and proceed on their journey westward, the remainder to follow as soon as possi- ble. Congress in the meantime, upon the 3d of October, had ordered seven hundred troops for defense of the western settlers, and to prevent unauthorized intrusions, and two days later appointed Arthur St. Clair Governor of the Ter- ritory of the Northwest.

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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 4

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