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 7
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 7
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 7
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A POSSESSION OF GREAT BRITAIN.
By the treaty of Fountainbleau, 1762, the vast possessions of France, east of the Mississippi, with the exception of the island of New Orleans, passed under British control. Fort Chartres and the other Illinois posts were surrounded by an impenetrable barrier of hostile savages, friends to the French and enemies to the English, and the French officers were authorized to retain command until it was found possible for the English to take possession. M. Neyon de Villiers was commandant of Fort Chartres, and upon his retiring iu 1764, St. Ange d'Bellerive took upon himself the duties of that position. It was the time of Pontiac's conspiracy, when the Indian tribes, inflamed by the savage spirit of that warrior, were precipitating themselves on the English settlements from Canada to Carolina. The French commandant of Fort Chartres was besieged for arms and ammunition to be used against the English. The French flag was still flying over the Fort, and the fact of the territory having been ceded to Great Britain was not generally known except to those in authority. The commandant was visited by embassies from the Illinois, the Delawares, Shawnees and Miamis, and finally Pontiac himself, at the head of four hundred warriors, entered the council hall. St. Ange d'Bellerive, unable to furnish arms, offered instead his good will. The reply was received with dissatisfaction. The Indians pitched their lodges about the Fort, and for a time an attack was seriously apprehended. Finally Pontiac dispatched a chosen band of warriors to New Orleans to obtain from the Governor there the assistance St. Ange refused to grant.
Pontiac was killed a few years after. Disappointed by the failure of his plans against the English, he retired to the solitude of the forests. In the year 1769, he suddenly made his appearance in the neighborhood of St. Louis. Arrayed in the French uniform given him by the Marquis Montcalm a short time previous to the latter's death on the Plains of Abraham, he visited St. Ange d'Bellerive, who at that time had removed from Fort Chartres to St. Louis, where he had become one of the principal inhabitants and commandant of the Spanish garrison. While at St. Louis, he crossed the Mississippi to attend a social gathering of Indians at Cahokia. Becoming intoxicated he started to the neighboring woods, when an Indian of the Kaskaskia tribe, bribed by an Eng- lish trader with a barrel of whiskey, stole up behind him and buried a tomahawk in the brain of the renowned warrior. St. Ange procured the body, and buried it with all the honors of war near the fort under his command in St. Louis. The tramp of a great city now sweeps over his grave.
Two attempts, on the part of the English, to take posses- sion of Illinois and Fort Chartres, had been made by way of the Mississippi, but hostile Indians on the banks of the river had driven back the expeditions. Meantime a hundred Highlanders of the Forty-second Regiment, those veterans " whose battle cry had echoed over the bloodiest fields of America," had left Fort Pitt, now Pittsburg, and descending the Ohio, appeared before Fort Chartres while the forests were yet rich with the varied hues of autumn. St. Ange yielded up the citadel. It was on the tenth day of October, 1765, that the ensign of France on the ramparts of the Fort
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HISTORY OF EDWARDS, LAWRENCE AND WABASH COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.
gave place to the flag of Great Britain. Kaskaskia had now been founded more than three-fourths of a century.
On the surrender of Fort Chartres, St. Ange with his gar- rison of twenty-one soldiers retired from the country, and became commandant at St. Louis, an infant settlement just founded. A large number of the French residents of Kas- kaskia and other settlements refused to live under English rule. Many of the wealthiest families left the country ; some removed across the Mississippi, to the small village of Ste. Genevieve, under the impression that on the west bank of the Mississippi they would still find a home under the govern- ment of France, while in truth that territory had been ceded to Spain by a secret treaty in 1762. Others joined in found- ing the city of St. Louis. The French settlements in Illinois, at a period immediately preceding this date, were at the zenith of their prosperity. From that day the French in- habitants have declined in numbers and influence. In 1765, the population of the Illinois settlements was computed as follows: White men able to bear arms, seven hundred; white women, five hundred; white children, eight hundred and fifty ; negroes, nine hundred; total, two thousand nine hun- dred and fifty. One-third of the whites, and a still larger proportion of the blacks, removed on the British taking pos- session. A population of less than two thousand remained. Few English, or Americans, with the exception of the British troops, were in the country.
Captain Stirling, who now had command of the Fort, issued a proclamation guaranteeing the inhabitants the liberty of the Catholic faith, permission to retire from the country, and enjoyment of their full rights and privileges, only requiring an oath of fidelity and obedience to His Majesty, the English King. Captain Stirling died some three months after his arrival. In the period that elapsed before the coming of his successor, St. Ange d'Bellerive returned from St. Louis, and discharged the duties of commandant. Major Frazier, from Fort Pitt, exercised for a time an arbitrary power, and his successor, Col. Reed, proved still worse. He held the office eighteen months, and during that time aroused the hatred of the settlements by his oppressive measures. Lieutenant Colo- nel Wilkins assumed command in 1768.
Captain Pitman, to whose book on " The Present State of the European Settlements on the Mississippi " reference has already been made, gives the following description of Kas- kaskia, as it appeared in 1766.
The village of Notre Dame de Cascasquias is by far the most considerable settlement in the country of the Illinois, as well from its number of inhabitants as from its advan- tageous situation.
" Mons. Paget was the first who introduced water mills in this country, and he constructed a very fine one on the river Cascasquias, which was both for grinding corn and sawing boards. It lies about one mile from the village. The mill proved fatal to him, being killed as he was working it, with two negroes, by a party of Cherokees, in the ycar 1764.
" The principal buildings are the church and the Jesuits' house, which has a small chapel adjoining it; these, as well as some of the other houses in the village, are built of stone,
and, considering this part of the world, make a very good appearance. The Jesuits' plantation consisted of 240 arpents (an arpent is 85-100 of an acre) of cultivated land, a very good stock of cattle, and a brewery which was sold by the French commandant, after the country was ceded to the English, for the crown, in consequence of the suppression of the order.
" Mons. Beauvais was the purchaser, who is the richest of the English subjects in this country ; he keeps eighty slaves; he furnishes 86,000 weight of flour to the King's magazine, which was only part of the harvest he reaped in one year. Sixty-five families reside in this village, besides merchants, other casual people, and slaves. The fort which was burnt down in October, 1766, stood on the summit of a high rock opposite the village and on the opposite side of the river. It was an oblong quadrangle, of which the extreme polygon measured 290 by 251 feet. It was built of very thick square timber, and dove-tailed at the angles. An officer and twenty soldiers are quartered in the village. The officer governs the inhabitants under the direction of the commandant at Fort Chartres. Here are also two companies of militia."
Of Prairie du Rocher, Pitman writes that "it is a small village, consisting of twenty-two dwelling-houses, all of which are inhabited by as many families. Here is a little chapel, formerly a chapel of ease to the church at Fort Chartres. The inhabitants are very industrious, and raise a great deal of corn and every kind of stock. The village is two miles from Fort Chartres. It takes its name from its situation, being built under a rock that runs parallel with the Missis- sippi river at a league distance, for forty miles up. Here is a company of militia, the captain of which regulates the police of the village."
In describing the distance from Fort Chartres, the author, doubtless, refers to Little Village, which was a mile or more nearer than Prairie du Rocher. The writer goes on to de- scribe "Saint Philippe " as a "small village about five miles from Fort Chartres on the road to Kaoquias. There are about sixteen houses and a small church standing ; all of tho inhabitants, except the captain of the militia, deserted in 1765, and went to the French side (Missouri ) The captain of the militia has about twenty slaves, a good stock of cattle, and a water mill for corn and planks. The village stands on a very fine meadow about one mile from tho Mis- sissippi.
From the same authority we learn that the soil of the country is in general rich and luxuriant. It was favorably adapted to the production of all kinds of European grains which grew side by side with hops, hemp, flax, cotton and tobacco. European fruits arrived to great perfection. Of the wild grapes a wine was made, very inebriating, and in color and taste much like the red wine of Provence. In the late wars, New Orleans and the lower parts of Louisiana were supplied with flour, beef, wines, hams, and other pro- visions, from this country. At present, its commerce is mostly confined to the peltry and furs which are got in traf- fic from the Indians; for which are received in turn such European commodities as are necessary to carry on that com- merce and the support of its inhabitants." 31
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HISTORY OF EDWARDS, LAWRENCE AND WABASH COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.
CONQUEST BY CLARKE.
On the breaking out of the War of the Revolution, it is probable that the British garrison (removed in 1772 from Fort Chartres to Fort Gage, opposite Kaskaskia,) had been withdrawn. Illinois was remote from the theatre of action, and the colonists were little disturbed by the rumors of war which came from the Atlantic coast. The French inhabitants were rather in sympathy with the Americans than the Eng- lish, but probably understood little of the nature of the struggle. Illinois belonged to the jurisdiction of Virginia. George Rogers Clarke, who visited Kentucky in 1775, seems to have been the first to comprehend the advantages which would result from the occupation of Illinois by the Ameri- cans. He visited Virginia, where he laid his plans before Patrick Henry, the Governor of the State. Clarke received his instructions, January, 1778, and the following month set out for Pittsburg His instructions were to raise seven com- panies of men, but he could only succeed in enlisting four commanded by Captains Montgomery, Bowman, Helm, and Harrod. On Corn Island, opposite Louisville, on the Ohio, Clarke announced his destination to the men. At the mouth of the Tennessee, a man named John Duff was encountered, with a party of hunters, who had recently visited Kaskaskia, and also brought the intelligence that one Rocheblave, a French Canadian, was in command at that point, that he kept the militia well drilled, and that sentinels were posted to watch for the "Long Knives," as the Virginians were called, of whom the inhabitants were in terror. Securing his boats near Fort Massacre (or Massac,) Clarke undertook the journey across the country, one hundred and twenty miles, to Kaskaskia. It was accomplished with difficulty. On the afternoon of the fourth of July, 1778, the exhausted band of invaders came to the vicinity of Kaskaskia, and concealed themselves in the hills to the east of the town. After dark Clarke proceeded to the old ferry-house, three-fourths of a mile above the village, and at midnight addressed his troops on the banks of the river. He divided his force into three parties. Two were to cross to the west side of the river, and enter the town from different quarters. The third, under the direction of Clarke himself, was to capture the fort on the east side. Kaskaskia at that time was a village of about two hundred and fifty houses. The British commander last in charge had instilled in the minds of the people the impres- sion that the Virginians, otherwise the " Long Knives," were a ferocious band of murderers, plundering houses, slaughter- ing women and children, and committing acts of great atro- city. Clarke determined to take advantage of this, and so surprise the inhabitants by fear as to induce them to submit without resistance. Clarke effected an entrance to the fort without difficulty. The other parties at a given signal en- tered Kaskaskia at the opposite extremities, and with terri- ble outcries and hideous noises, aroused the terrified inhabi- tants, who shrieked in their alarm, "The Long Knives !' "The Long Knives are here!" The panic stricken towns- men delivered up their arms, and the victory was accom- plished without the shedding of a drop of blood. M. Roche- blave, the British commandant, was unconscious of the pres- ence of the enemy, till an officer of the detachment entered
his bed-chamber, and claimed him as a prisoner. ' In accord- ance with his original plan of conquering the inhabitants by terror, and then afterward winning their regard and grati- tude by his clemency, Clarke, the next day, withdrew his forces from the town, and sternly forbade all communication between it and his soldiers. Some of the principal militia officers, citizens of the town, were next put in irons. The terror now reached its height. The priest, and a deputation of five or six elderly men of the village, called on Clarke, and humbly requested permission to assemble in the church, to take leave of each other and commend their future lives to the protection of a merciful God, since they expected to be separated, perhaps never to meet again. Clarke gruffly granted the privilege. The whole population convened at the church, and after remaining together a long time, the. priest and a few others again waited upon the commander of the American forces, presenting thanks for the privilege they had enjoyed, and desiring to know what fate awaited them.
Clarke now determined to lift them from their despair, and win their gratitude by a show of mercy. " What!" said he; " do you take us for savages ? Do you think Americans will strip women and children, and take bread from their mouths? My countrymen disdain to make war on helpless innocents." He further reminded them that the King of France, their former ruler, was an ally of the Americans, and now fighting their cause. He told them to embrace the side they deemed best, and they should be respected in the enjoyment of their liberty and the rights of property.
The revulsion of feeling was complete. The good news spread throughout the village. The church-bell rang a merry peal, and the delighted inhabitants gathered at the chapel, where thanks were offered to God for their happy and unexpected deliverance. The loyalty of the inhabitants was assured, and ever after they remained faithful to the American cause. The French inhabitants of Kaskaskia were readily reconciled to a change of government. In October, 1778, the Virginia Assembly erected the conquered territory into the County of Illinois. This County embraced all the region north-west of Ohio, and five large states have since been formed from it. Colonel Clarke was appointed military commander of all the western territory north and south of the Ohio, and Colonel John Todd, one of Clarke's soldiers, who next to Clarke had been the first man to enter Fort Gage, was appointed lieutenant-commander of Illinois. In the spring of 1779, Colonel Todd visited Kaskaskia, and made arrangements for the organization of a temporary government. Many of the French inhabitants of Kaskaskia, Prairie du Rocher, and the other settlements, readily took the oath of allegiance to Virginia. Colonel Todd was killed at the famous battle of Blue Licks, in Kentucky August, 1782, and Timothy de Montbrun, a Frenchman, succeeded him as commandant of Illinois County. Of his administra- tion but little is known.
THE "COMPACT OF 1787."
In 1632 Illinois became a possession of the French crown, a dependency of Canada, and a part of Louisiana. In 1765 the English flag was run up on old Fort Chartres, and
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HISTORY OF EDWARD, LAWRENCE AND WABASH COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.
Illinois was counted among the treasures of Great Britain. In 1779 it was taken from the English by Col. George Rogers Clark : this man was resolute in nature, wise in coun- cil, prudent in policy, bold in action, and heroic in danger. Few men who have figured in the early history of America are more deserving than he. Nothing short of first-class ability could have rescued " Vincins " and all Illinois from the English, and it is not possible to over-estimate the in- fluence of this achievement upon the republic. In 1779, Illinois became a part of Virginia. It was soon known as Illinois county. In 1784 Virginia ceded all this territory to the general government to be cut into states, to be republi- can in form, with "the same right of sovereignty, freedom and independence as the other states."
In 1787 it was the object of the wisest and ablest legisla- tion found in any merely human records. No man can study the secret history of The Compact of 1787 and not feel that Providence was guiding with sleepless eyes these unborn states. The ordinance that on July 13, 1787, finally became the incorporating act, has a most marvelous history. Jefferson had vainly tried to secure a system of government for the north-western territory. He was an emancipationist of that day, and favored the exclusion of slavery from the territory Virginia had ceded to the general government, but the south voted him down as often as it came up. In 1787, as late as July 10, an organizing act without the anti-slavery clause was pending. This concession to the south was expected to carry it Congress was in session in New York city. O1 July 5, Rev. Dr. Manasseh Cutler, of Massachusetts, came into New York to lobby on the north- western territory. Everything seemed to fall into his hands. Events were ripe: the state of the public credit, the growing of southern prejudice, the basis of his mission, his personal character, all combined to complete one of those sudden and marvelous revolutions of public sentiment that once in five or ten centuries are seen to sweep over a country like the breath of the Almighty. Cutler was a remarkable man ; a graduate of Yale, he had studied and taken degrees in the three learned professions, law, divinity and medicine, Har- vard had given him his A. M., and Yale had honored herself by adding his D. D. He had thus America's best literary indorsement. He had published a scientific examination of the plants of New England. His name stood second only to that of Franklin as a scientist in America. He was a courtly gentleman of the old style, a man of commanding presence, and of inviting face. Thesouthern members were captivated by his genial manners, rare and profound abilities. He came representing a company that desired to purchase a tract of land now included in Ohio, for the purpose of plant- ing a colony. Government money was worth eighteen cents on the dollar. This Massachusetts company had collected enough to purchase 1,500,000 acres of land. Other specu- lators in New York made Dr. Cutler their agent; on the 12th he represented a demand for 5,500,000 acres. This would reduce the national debt. Jefferson and Virginia were regarded as authority concerning the land Virginia had just ceded. Jefferson's policy wanted to provide for the publio credit, and this was a good opportunity to do some-
thing. Massachusetts then owned the territory of Maine, which she was crowding on the market. She was opposed to opening the north-western region. This fired the zeal of Virginia. The South caught the inspiration, and all exalted Dr. Cutler. The English Minister invited him to dine with some of the Southern gentlemen. He was the centre of in- terest; the entire South rallied around him. Massachusetts could not vote against him, because many of the constituents of her members were interested personally in the western speculation ; thus Cutler, making friends with the south, and doubtless using all the arts of the lobby, was enabled to command the situation. True to deeper conviction, he dictated one of the most compact and finished documents of wise statesmanship that ever adorned any human law book ; he borrowed from Jefferson the term " Articles of Compact," which preceding the federal constitution, rose into the most sacred character. He then followed very closely the constitu- tion of Massachusetts, adopted three years before,-its most marked points were :
1st. The exclusion of slavery from the territory forever. 2d. Provision for public schools, giving one township for a seminary, and every section numbered 16 in each town- ship; that is, one thirty-sixth of all the land for public schools.
3d. A provision prohibiting the adoption of any consti- tution, or the enactment of any law that should nullify pre-existing contracts.
Be it forever remembered that this compact declared that " Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and means of education shall always be encouraged." Dr. Cutler planted himself on this platform and would not yield. Giving his unqualified declaration that it was that or nothing -- that unless they could make the land desirable they did not want it-he took his horse and gig and started for the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. On July 13, 1787, the bill was put upon its passage, and was unanimously adopted, every Southern member voting for it, and only one man, Mr. Yates of New York, voting against it, but as the States voted as States, Yates lost his vote, and the compact was put beyond repeal. Then the great States of Ohio, In- diana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin-a vast empire, the heart of the great valley-were consecrated to freedom, intelligence, and honesty. In the light of these ninety-five years, it is evident to all that this act was the salvation of the republic and the destruction of slavery. Soon the south saw their great blunder, and tried to repeal the compact. In 1803 Congress referred it to a committee, of which John Randolph was chairman. He reported that this ordinance was a compact, and opposed repeal. Thus it stood a rock in the way of the on-rushing sea of slavery. With all this timely aid it was, after all, a most desperate and protracted struggle to keep the soil of Illinois sacred to freedom. It was the natural battle field for the irrepressible conflict. In the southern end of the State slavery preceded the compact, It existed among the old French settlers, and was hard to eradicate. The southern part of the State was settled from the slave States; and this population brought their laws, 83
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HISTORY OF EDWARDS, LAWRENCE. AND WABASH COUNTIES, ILLINOIS.
customs, and institutions with them. A stream of popula- tion from the North poured into the northern part of the State These sections misunderstood and hated each other perfectly. The Southerners regarded the Yankees as a skin- ning, tricky, penurious race of peddlers, filling the country with tinwarc, brass clocks, and wooden nutmegs. The Northerner thought of the Southerner as a lean, lank, lazy creature, burrowing in a hut, and rioting in whisky, dirt and ignorance. These causes aided in making the struggle long and bitter. So strong was the sympathy with slavery that in spite of the ordinance of 1787, and in spite of the deed of cession, it was determined to allow the old French settlers to retain their slaves. Planters from the slave States might bring their slaves, if they would give them a chance to choose freedom, or years of service and bondage for their children till they should become thirty years of age. If they chose freedom they must leave the State in sixty days or be sold as fugitives. Servants were whipped for offences for which white men are fined; each lash paid forty cents of the fine. A negro ten miles from home without a pass was whipped. These famous laws were imported from the slave States, just as they imported laws for the inspec- tion of flax and wool when there was neither in the State. These black laws are now wiped out. A vigorous effort was made to protect slavery in the State Constitution of 1818 ; it barely failed. It was renewed in 1826, when a convention was asked to make a new constitution. After a hard fight the convention was defeated ; but slaves did not disappear from the census of the State until 1850. There were mobs and murders in the interest of slavery. Lovejoy was added to " the list of martyrs-a sort of first fruits of that long line of immortal heroes who saw freedom as the one supreme desire of their souls, and were so enamored of her that they pre- ferred to die rather than survive her.
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