USA > Illinois > Cook County > Chicago > Discovery and conquests of the Northwest, with the history of Chicago, Vol. I > Part 39
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456
Battle of the Thames.
enemy delivered their fire. The few regular troops of the Twenty-seventh regiment, under their colonel (Paull), occupied, in column of sections of four, the small space between the road and the river, for the purpose of seizing the enemy's artillery, and some ten or twelve friendly Indians were directed to move under the bank. The crotchet formed by the front line and General Desha's division was an important point. At that place, the venerable governor of Kentucky was posted, who at the age of sixty-six preserves all the vigor of youth, the ardent zeal which distinguished him in the revolutionary war, and the undaunted bravery. which he manifested at King's Mountain. With my aides-de-camp, the acting assistant adjutant general, Captain Butler, my gallant friend Commodore Perry, who did me the honor to serve as my volunteer aide-de- camp, and Brigadier-General Cass, who, having no command, tendered me his assistance, I placed myself at the head of the front line of infantry, to direct the movements of the cavalry and give them the necessary support. The army had moved on in this order but a short distance, when the mounted men received the fire of the British line, and were ordered to charge; the horses in the front of the column recoiled from the fire; another was given by the enemy; and our column at length getting in motion, broke through the enemy with irresistible force. In one minute the contest in front was over; the British officers, seeing no hopes of reducing their disordered ranks to order, and our mounted men wheeling upon them and pouring in a destructive fire, immediately surrendered. It is certain that three only of our troops were wounded in this charge. Upon the left, however, the contest was more severe with the Indians. Colonel Johnson, who com- manded on that flank of his regiment, received a most galling fire from them, which was returned with great effect. The Indians still further to the right advanced and fell in with our front line of infantry, near its junc- tion with Desha's division, and for a moment made an impression upon it. His excellency, Governor Shelby, however, brought up a regiment to its support, and the
457
Death of Tecumseh.
enemy receiving a severe fire in front and a part of John- son's regiment having gained their rear, retreated with precipitation. Their loss was very considerable in the action, and many were killed in their retreat."
Tecumseh was slain in this battle .* Colonel Rich- ard M. Johnson, afterward vice-president of the United States, without doubt believed himself to be the one who achieved the honor. There is good testimony that he killed an Indian whom he thought to be he, + but there is conflicting testimony as to who killed Tecumseh. Shabonee, whose integrity may be vouched for by many of the old settlers of Chicago who are still living, was near Tecumseh when he was killed, and attributed his death to Colonel Johnson.#
Mr. William Hickling, a well known citizen of Chi- cago, was familiarly acquainted with Shabonee and Caldwell, who both lived at Chicago in her early day, and in a paper which he read before the Chicago His- torical Society in 1877 the following statement is made, which brings to light some new facts relative to the battle of the Thames:
"Caldwell held in high regard, and often spoke of the military genius and other qualifications of Tecumseh, looking upon him as the greatest warrior chief of his time. Caldwell, like his leader Tecumseh, during the last year of their military career, while operating in connection with the British on our frontier, and in Canada, lost all confidence in the ability of General Proctor, the British commander. It is well known that Tecumseh was bitterly opposed to the evacuation of Fort Malden, and subsequently, when the British com- mander halted in his retreat, and formed his lines for a combat at the Moravian towns, it was because General Tecumseh informed him that he and his Indians thought
* Sleep well, Tecumseh, in thy unknown grave, Thou mighty savage, resolute and brave! Thou master and strong spirit of the woods, Unsheltered traveler in sad solitudes, Yearner o'er Wyandot and Cherokee, Couldst tell us now what hath been and shall be!
-Charles Mair, in His Drama, " Tecumseh."
t See Hist. Coll. State Hist. So. of Wis., page 372.
# See Hist. Coll. State Hist. So. of Wis., page 373.
458
Departure of the British.
the army had retreated far enough, and were not going any further without first having a fight. Tecumseh was summoned to the British headquarters to discuss the plan of battle. We have the authority of Caldwell to say that Tecumseh and General Proctor had a vio- lent quarrel over the plans laid out by the latter for the conflict; that Tecumseh left the British headquarters in disgust, after only a short interview, and returned to the old position occupied by him an hour or so previous, and then sent Caldwell to see General Proctor, and urge upon him the necessity of changing his plan of battle. Soon after the departure of Caldwell from his Indian allies, the battle commenced with great fury. The death of Tecumseh and the rout of the British and Indian forces are well known in history. Caldwell was not able to again join his Indian friends, until after the battle was over. He always expressed himself as well satisfied that had General Tecumseh, instead of General Proctor; held command over both armies (British and Indians) the result of the campaign, and especially its fatal finale at the 'Thames,' would have been different. Shabonee, Tecumseh, Caldwell and Black Hawk were in counsel together, sitting on a log or fallen tree, smoking their pipes, and talking over the events of the times, when the messenger from Gen- eral Proctor arrived, summoning Tecumseh to his head- quarters."
The soil of the northwest was now unpressed by the foot of any armed foe except at Michilimackinac. The campaign thus closed, Governor Shelby's volunteers were honorably discharged, and General Harrison, with his force of regulars, embarked from Detroit on the 23d of October, in obedience to orders from the war department, after having appointed General Cass as provisional governor of Michigan, and leaving a force of 1, 000 troops under his command. Early the next spring, in 1814, the government authorities of St. Louis, ap- prehensive of a British invasion from Michilimackinac, sent a detachment of soldiers to repair the old fort at Prairie du Chien and defend the place against an at- tack.
459
The British Take Prairie du Chien.
That these apprehensions were well grounded soon became apparent, for a large force of British and Indians shortly afterward came down the Wisconsin river, under Colonel McKay, and laid siege to the place. It was taken after an obstinate defense, its garrison paroled and sent to St. Louis. In the month of July, the same year, an expedition was fitted out at Detroit to capture Michilimackinac, Commodore Sinclair commanding the fleet, and Colonel Crogan, the hero of Fort Stephenson, the land forces. The latter landed on the island, but fell into an ambuscade in approaching the fort, and were severely repulsed, when the expedition returned without effecting its object, and Michilimackinac, as well as Prairie du Chien, remained in British possession till given up by the terms of peace, at the close of the war. The first hostile blow in this war had fallen upon the northwest on the upper lakes, under an impression that having conquered this part of the country, and guaranteed a goodly portion of it to certain Indian tribes as independent nations, the New England states would, through their influence in the English end of the scale, put an end to the war in a peaceful solution of the question. Even with these conditions, and in that early age, such a solution of the issue, to English eyes, seemed possible, especially as it was no secret to Eng- lish diplomatists that if the counsels of the New Eng- land states had ruled alone, the war would not have been declared, at least till more time had transpired to tone down the pretentious spirit of the English, goaded to frenzy, as they were, by the formidable conquests of their great adversary, Napoleon.
In this dream the English calculated without their host, for when the pinch came the New England states manifested no disposition to desert the west, or to give it up, either to English or Indian hands, although from conscientious scruples they did object to invading Can- ada. The attempt to establish an independent nation of savages north of the Ohio river was equally imprac- ticable, and, as might have been supposed, resulted in the English breaking faith with the Indians when peace was made, without fulfilling their obligation. The
460
Testimony of Ruddel and Caldwell.
proof that such an obligation was entered into by the English with the Indians is implied by the tenacity with which they insisted (even as a sine qua non to a treaty of peace) on the integrity of an Indian confed- eracy, with its distinct boundaries.
The boundary was to be the same as that estab- lished at the treaty of Greenville in 1795. It would have given the Indians the northern portions and the larger half of the entire northwest.
At or before the breaking out of the war this allure- ment was held out to Tecumseh, and by it his alliance secured and his masterly energies brought to bear in favor of the English, notwithstanding the fatal results of the prophet's defeat at Tippecanoe. Besides, the manifest evidence of this, which was brought to the surface during the peace negotiations at Ghent, is the oral testimony of two witnesses, Rev. Mr. Ruddel, of Kentucky, and Billy Caldwell, chief of the Pottawat-
tamies, who lived at Chicago. Mr. Ruddel was taken captive by the Shawanese, raised by them to manhood and delivered up to his kindred at the treaty of Green- ville. On coming into the walks of civilization, he soon educated himself and became an efficient minister of the Gospel in the Christian denomination. After the close of the war of 1812 he felt a strong desire to visit his early friends among the Shawanese, and especially those of Tecumseh, to learn what he could of the his- tory of the fallen chief; and from them he learned that the English did pledge to Tecumseh to secure for the Indians, as allies, permanent possession of the territory not included in the lands relinquished to the whites, at the treaty of Greenville. With this guarantee Tecum- seh again took up the sword, although his tribe had made peace with General Harrison, after the Tippe- canoe campaign. The first year of the war justified his expectations, but when the recoil came, and Proc- tor retreated from American soil, Tecumseh became dissatisfied and doubted the ability of the English to fulfill their obligations. This he freely expressed at a private conference with his chiefs just before the battle of the Thames. Billy Caldwell was at this conference,
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They basely deserted us, got defeated, and after putting in our claims in the negotiations at Ghent, finally left us to make peace with the Americans on the best terms we could. The Americans fairly whipped us, and then treated with us honorably, and no Briton shall touch one of my papers." "Mr. Caldwell had a trunk well filled with papers and documents, pertaining to Tecumseh." The conditions and issues that came before both the English and Americans at the negotiations of peace at Ghent were peculiar. It was necessary, in order to bring about peace, that both nations should make hu- miliating concessions. * The following is copied from reports of the American peace commissioners at Ghent, to the secretary of state, asking instructions: "GHENT, 19th of August, 1814. "It was a sine qua non that the Indians should be included in the pacification and as incident thereto; that the boundaries of their territory should be per- manently established. Peace with the Indians is so simple as to require no comment. * What is the probable result of this negotiation is hard to suppose. The question of a speedy peace, we rather apprehend, depends on the prospects of things in Europe and the turn of events in the congress of Vienna. In case peace should not be made, this fact will be apparent to every one, that the war, on our part, if offensive in its onset, will be purely defensive in its future progress and termination. With the general pacification of Europe, the chief causes for which we went to war with Great Britain have, from the nature of things, ceased to affect us; it is not for us to quarrel for forms. Britain may pretend to any right she pleases, provided she does not exercise it to our injury .- Niles Register, December 10, 1814. 462 Negotiations at Ghent. " With respect to the boundary which was to divide their territory from that of the United States, the object of the British government was that the Indians should remain as a permanent barrier between our western settlements and the adjacent British provinces, to prevent them from being conterminous to each other; and that neither the United States nor Great Britain should ever hereafter have the right to purchase or acquire any part of the territory thus recognized as be- longing to the Indians. British state papers, Vol. I, Part II, page 1589." Peace was necessary for both nations; England had been in the vortex of European war for twelve years; American discontent was cropping out in protests from the legislatures of Massachusetts and Connecticut, * and from the Hartford convention, composed of delegates from throughout New England. The handiwork of the sword had exhausted Europe, and he who would try to prolong its devastations was an enemy to mankind. Conservatism was above par, and the American government set the example by in- structing her peace commissioners to add no fuel to the council fires at Ghent, by mentioning the subject of "Right of Search or Impressment of American Sea- men." This was an admission that time, and not the sword, had won our cause. It also rebuked the policy of Jefferson, which rejected the terms offered by Eng- land to Messrs. Monroe and Pinckney in 1808, which were that an informal assurance should be given that the practice of right of search should be discontinued. + History would fail to fulfill its mission if it did not state here that when the war was declared Napoleon was in * Early in 1814 the legislature of Connecticut passed a resolution to consider what measures should be taken to preserve the liberties and rights of her citizens, when the secretary of war called upon her for troops to invade Canada; and on the 7th of October, the same year, the governor of Massachusetts convened an extra session of the legisla- ture to take into consideration the dangers of an English invasion of her state, as a consequence of the war, which many of her statesmen deemed unnecessary. + Jefferson's rejection of the terms was because he declined to insert them in the treaty. Perhaps his residence in Paris as American min- ister had dazzled his eyes with French glory to the detriment of Eng- land, and he was not unwilling to exact from her both the letter and the spirit of radical justice. 463 Ratification of the Treaty. the height of his power. Now he was an exile at Elba, and England's well drilled army was released from the service at home which had placed him there, and consequently ready for an American campaign. Still she was not ambitious to undertake it, choosing rather to relinquish her first terms than prolong the war. Besides her plan for an independent Indian na- tion in the northwest was another provision, which was to bar the Americans from building any fortifications on the shores of the lakes, or placing any armed vessels of war on their waters,* on the ground that such a pro- vision was necessary to preserve Canada from the dan- ger of an American invasion. These impracticable terms being given up, an attempt was made to define the boundary between the two governments on the northeastern and on the northwestern frontier, but this involved more complications than were expedient to be undertaken at the time, and the matter was left for fu- ture adjustment, and so remained till settled by the Ashburton treaty of 1846. The treaty was signed on the 24th of December, 1814, and ratified at Washing- ton on the 17th of February, 1815.+ The battle of New Orleans was fought during this interval, after the signing of the treaty, for then its combatants had not heard the news of the peace. The war was not without its glories to American arms, though its main issue was a dead one a few days after its declaration, when the British revoked their orders in council which had been so obnoxious to American interests, as told in a previous chapter. Treaties of peace with the various western tribes of Indians who had been victimized into participation in * Am. State Papers, 1811 to 1815, page 607. + In considering the conditions of the peace, as we have been in- formed of them, we cannot but regard them as honorable to this coun- try. The American government began the war on account of the orders in council, and to enforce the relinquishment of impressment on board their merchant vessels. The orders in council were repealed by our government before they knew of the commencement of the war. The war was continued by America after she knew of the repeal of the orders in council, to compel us to relinquish the right of impressment. It was America, and not Great Britain, which claimed stipulation on this point. The war is concluded by a peace in which no such stipula- tion is made .- London Courier, December 27, 1814. 464 Peace with the Indians. the war followed the successful negotiations at Ghent, of course, for these hapless wretches were no longer able to raise a hostile arm .* General Harrison and Lewis Cass, on the part of the United States, negotiated with the Delawares, Shaw- anese, Senecas and Miamis at Greenville, where, nine- teen years before, General Wayne had held the famous treaty with western tribes, which took the first half of the country from them, and the moiety had been taken by piecemeal, till but little was left to give. William Clark, governor of Missouri, Ninian Edwards, governor of Illinois territory, and Hon. Auguste Chouteau, ot St. Louis, treated with the northwestern tribes, among whom were the Pottawattamies, in July, 1815, on the east bank of the Mississippi river, just above the mouth of the Missouri. The Sac nation did not attend this convention, but the September following a treaty was made with such portions of their tribe as felt friendly with the United States. Black Hawk was not among these, and did not attend the treaty. This tenacious brave still clung to the British interests, even after hope had fled, and remained in this moody frame of mind till the western march of settlements began to en- croach on the rights of his tribe, by occupying the beautiful Rock river valley, in 1832. Then came the Black Hawk war, which will be told in its place. Kaskaskia was at this time the capital of Illinois territory, where the executive court was held in an an- tique French building made during that early civiliza- tion that had been begun in the valley of the Missis- sippi, at this historic place, in 1700. Here its charit- able mantle had fallen upon three generations, and here it now extended good fellowship to the new regime, though about to bring more progressive institutions to the country destined to overshadow French social life in Illinois. Several of the buildings erected in the past century are still standing here in a good state of preser- vation. Its civil and church records are very exten- sive, dating back to the time of its first settlement. * The history only of such campaigns in this war has been written here as bore relation to the northwest. 465 Kaskaskia the Mediæval Landmark. An interesting chapter of early French history and heraldry has lately been gleaned from them by E. G. Mason, Esq., of Chicago, which was published in the Chicago Times. It brings to light new data for the ro- mancer, as well as the historian. Some future day Kaskaskia, as the old mediæval landmark between savage and civilized life, will be looked upon with in- creasing interest. But as yet the onward march of western settlements has exhausted nearly all its force in laying the dimension stone, on which to build permanent institutions in the broad wilds, to which the war of 1812 opened the doors. Michigan St. N78º30E. 1000 5 4321 654321 654321 Street 15 /6 /7 /8 19 20 21 22|23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 3/ 32 33 34 35 Water lots 60 Ft. Front 432 1 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 /3 Water 6 7 Dearbom FORT R.8ºE line of South Pier S.74ºE St. RESERVATION. Section of a map of Chicago published in 1834 by Joshua Hatha- way, Jr. Compiled from original sur- veys filed in the clerk's office of Cook county. It is reproduced here to show the veritible locality of Fort Dear- born, with its surroundings. The records from which this map was made may be seen in the abstract office of Title Guarantee and Trust Company. State U 78 9 10/ 12 .8 9 10 11 12 13 14 7/ N47º50.E 12345 RIVER U CHAPTER XX. The Fur Trade of Canada under a French Charter- The Huguenot Sailors-Dutch Rivalry-The Hud- son Bay Co .- The Northwest Co. Its Rival-The Two Companies Merged into One-The American Fur Co. under John Jacob Astor-Astoria Founded, and Taken by the Hudson Bay Co .-- Mr. Astor Begins Anew at Mackinaw-Hardihood of the Engagees-The Amer- ican Fur Co. Establish a Branch at Chicago-Gurdon S. Hubbard as Clerk for the American Fur Co .- Arrives at Chicago-His Report of the Place-Descends the Desplaines-His Report of the Indians and Their Wigwams-Hostile Repartee with an Indian-The Factory System-First Wedding in Chicago-Great Indian Treaty at Chicago-Gov. Cass Opens the Coun- cil-Three Thousand Indians Eat Rations at Govern- ment Expense- Speech of Metea- Col. E. Childs' Description of the Country-The Great West as a New Arena for Progress-Religious Freedom-Its Effects - Distributive vs. Concentrated Learning- Our Norman Pedigree and Its Effects-The Lakes a Highway to the West-Fort Dearborn Rebuilt-Pre- liminary Survey for the Illinois and Michigan Canal -John Kinzie Returns to Chicago-Indian Treaty Relinquishing Lands from Chicago to the Illinois River-Illinois Admitted into the Union as a Sovereign State-Its Northern Boundary Extended-Reasons for It-Chicago the Central Key of the Nation. Soon after Champlain had made the first permanent settlement of Canada at Quebec, in 1608, it became evident to his patron sovereign, the French king, that 466 Great Value of the Fur Trade. 467 the fur trade was the great secular interest of the coun- try. Indeed, its magnitude was a tempting bait even for the court of France, and it compromised its dignity by establishing a control over it by which it should reap a portion of its profits. Accordingly the company of St. Malo was formed, with chartered rights, paying a tribute to the French king, offset with plenary power to dole out privileges to the miserable courier du bois of Canada to obtain furs. as best they could, and sell them to the company at stipulated prices. Serious abuses soon grew out of this monopoly, and the king was obliged to cast about for more competent men with whom to intrust the patent, or, rather, men who would not abuse the trust by conniving at a contraband trade, and sharing its illegitimate profits. Now the king was in a dilemma. It was all-important to him that Canada should have no taint of heresy (which meant Protest- antism), and yet among all his subjects it was difficult, if not impossible, always to select material for posi- tions of trust without recourse to the Huguenots, who really were composed of the most efficient men of France at that time. Under this pressure, two Hugue- not brothers, the DeCaens, were appointed to succeed the company of St. Malo in 1621. They immediately sailed for Quebec, and as might be supposed, enlisted a crew of Huguenot sailors to man their vessels for the carrying trade. All went smoothly till their arrival at Quebec, where the psalm singing and prayer of the customary morning and evening devotions of these con- scientious seamen offended the priests, as well as Champlain, the governor. * Here was a fresh difficulty, that threatened a dead-lock on the start; but the mat- ter was compromised by allowing the sailors to pray as usual, but not to indulge in psalmody while in the har- bor of Quebec; "A bad bargain," said Champlain, the governor, "but the best I could make." Under these auspices the fur trade was resumed, and it soon brought increased revenues to the crown. Traders and priests advanced into the wilds-the former to gather crops of Need help finding more records? 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