USA > Illinois > Livingston County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume I Pt 1 > Part 34
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FORMAN, William S., ex-Congressman, was born at Natchez, Miss., Jan. 20, 1847. When he was four years old, his father's family removed to Illinois, settling in Washington County, where he has lived ever since. By profession he is a lawyer, and he takes a deep interest in politics, local, State and National. lle represented his Senatorial District in the State Senate in the Thirty-fourth and Thirty-fifth General Assem- blies, and, in 1858, was elected, as a Democrat, to represent the Eighteenth Illinois District in the Fifty-first Congress, being re-elected in 1890, and again in '92, but was defeated in 1894 for renomi- uation by John J. Higgins, who was defeated at the election of the same year by Everett J. Mur-
phy. In 1896 Mr. Forman was candidate of the "Gold Democracy" for Governor of Illinois, receiving 8, 100 votes.
FORQUER, George, carly State officer, was born near Brownsville, Pa., in 1791 -- was the son of a Revolutionary sollier, and offer half-brother of Gov. Thomas Ford. lle settled, with his mother (then a widow), at New Design, Ill., in 1804. After learning, and, for several years, following the carpenter's trade at St. Louis, he returned to Ilinois and purchased the tract whereon Waterloo now stands. Subsequently he projected the town of Bridgewater, on the Mis- sissippi. For a time he was a partner in trade of Daniel P. Cook. Being unsuccessful in business, he took up the study of law, in which ho attained marked success. In 1824 he was elected to repre- sent Monroe County in the House of Represent- atives, but resigned in January of the following year to accept the position of Secretary of State, to which he was appointed by Governor Coles, as successor to Morris Birkbeck, whom the Senate had refused to confirm. One ground for the friendship between him and Coles, no doubt, was the fact that they had been united in their opposition to the scheme to make Illinois a slave State. In 1828 he was a candidate for Congress, but was defeated by Joseph Duncan, afterwards Governor. At the close of the year he resigned the office of Secretary of State, but, a few weeks later (January, 1829), he was elected by the Legislature Attorney-General. This position he held until January, 1833, when he resigned, hav- ing, as it appears, at the previous election, been chosen State Senator from Sangamon County, serving in the Eighth and Ninth General Assem- blies. Before the close of his term as Senator (1835), he received the appointment of Register of the Land Office at Springfield, which appears to have been the last office held by him, as he died, at Cincinnati, in 1837. Mr. Forquer was a man of recognized ability and influence, an elo- quent orator and capable writer, but, in common with some of the ablest lawyers of that time, seems to have been much embarrassed by the smallness of his income, in spite of his ability and the fact that he was almost continually in office.
FORREST, a village in Livingston County, at the intersection of the Toledo, Peoria & Western and the Wabash Railways, 75 miles cast of Peoria and 16 miles southeast of Pontiac. Considerable grain is shipped from this point to the Chicago market. The village has several churches and a graded school. Population (1850), 375; (1900), 952.
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FORREST, Joseph K. C., journalist, was born in Cork, Ireland, Nov. 26, 1820; came to Chicago in 1840, soon after securing employment as a writer on "The Evening Journal," and, later on, "The Gem of the Prairies, " the predecessor of "The Tribune," being associated with the latter at the date of its establishment, in June, 1817. During the early years of his residence in Chi- cago, Mr. Forrest spent some time as a teacher. On retiring from "The Tribune," he became the associate of John Went worth in the management of "The Chicago Democrat," a relation which was broken up by the consolidation of the latter with "The Tribune," in 1861. He then became the Springfield correspondent of "The Tribune," also holding a position on the staff of Governor Yates, and still later represented "The St. Louis Democrat" and "Chicago Times, " as Washington correspondent ; assisted in founding "The Chicago Republican" (now "Inter Ocean"), in 1865, and, some years later, became a leading writer upon the same. He served one termi as Clerk of the city of Chicago, but, in his later years, and up to the period of his death, was a leading contributor to the columns of "The Chicago Evening News" over the signatures of "An Old Timer" and "Now or Never." Died, in Chicago, June 23, 1896.
FORRESTON, a village in Ogle County, the terminus of the Chicago and Iowa branch of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, and point of intersection of the Illinois Central and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railways; 107 miles west by north from Chicago, and 12 miles south of Freeport; founded in 1854, incorporated by special charter in 1868, and, under the general law, in 1888. Farming and stock-raising are the principal industries. The village has a bank, water-works, electric light plant, creamery, vil- lage hall, seven churches, a graded school, and a newspaper. Population (1890), 1.118; (1900), 1,047.
FORSYTHE, Albert P., ex-Congressman, was born at New Richmond, Ohio, May 24, 1830; received his early education in the common schools, and at Asbury University. He was reared upon a farm and followed farming as his life-work. During the War of the Rebellion he served in the Union army as Lieutenant. In politics he early became an ardent Nationalist, and was chosen President of the Illinois State Grange of the Patrons of Industry, in December, 1875, and again in January, 1878. In 1878 he was elected to Congress as a Nationalist, but, in 1880, though receiving the nominations of the con- . bined Republican and Greenback parties, was defeated by Samuel W Moulton, Democrat.
FORT, Greenhury L., soklier and Congress- man, was born in Ohio, Oct. 17, 1825, and, in 1831, removed with his parents to Ilinois. In 1850 he was elected Sheriff of Putnam County; in 1552, Clerk of the Circuit Court, and, having mean- while been admitted to the bar at Lacon, bernme County Judge in 1857, serving until 1861. In April of the latter year he enlisted under the first call for troops, by re-enlistments serving till March 24, 1866. Beginning as Quartermaster of his regiment, he served as Chief Quartermaster of the Fifteenth Army Corps on the "March to the Sea," and was mustered ont with the rank of Colonel and Brevet Brigadier-General. On his return from the field, he was elected to the State Senate, serving in the Twenty-fifth and Twenty- sixth General Assemblies, and. from 1873 to 1881, as Representative in Congress. He died, at Lacon, June 13, 1883.
FORT CHARTRES, a strong fortification erected by the French in 1718, on the American Bottom, 16 miles northwest from Kaskaskia. The soil en which it stood was alluvial, and the limestone of which its walls were built was quarried from an adjacent bluff. In form it was an irregular quadrangle, surrounded on three sides by a wall two feet two inches thick, and on the fourth by a ravine, which, during the spring- time, was full of water. During the period of French ascendency in Illinois, Fort Chartres was the seat of government. About four miles east soon sprang up the village of Prairie du Rocher (or Rock Prairie). (See Prairie du Rocher.) At. the outbreak of the French and Indian War (1756), the original fortification was repaired and virtually rebuilt. Its cost at that time is esti- mated to have amounted to 1,000,000 French crowns. After the occupation of Illinois by the British, Fort Chartres still remained the seat of government until 1:72, when one side of the fortification was washed away by a freshet, and headquarters were transferred to Kaskaskia The first common law court ever held in the Mis- sissippi Valley was established here, in 1768, by the order of Colonel Wilkins of the English army. The ruins of the old fort, situated in the northwest corner of Randolph County, once con- stituted an object of no little interest to anti- quarians, but the site has disappeared during the past generation by the encroachments of the Mississippi.
FORT DEARBORN, the name of a United States military post, established at the month of the Chicago River in 1803 or 1801, on a tract of land six miles square conveyed by the Indians in
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the treaty of Greenville, concluded by General Wayne in 1795. It originally consisted of two block houses located at opposite angles (north west and southeast) of a strong wooden stockade with the Commandaut's quarters on the east side of the quadrangle, soldiers' barracks on the south, officers' barracks on the west, and magazine, contractor's (sutler's) store and general store- house on the north-all the buildings being con- structed of logs, and all, except the block-honses. being entirely within the enclosure. Its arma- ment consisted of three light pieces of artillery. Its builder and first commander was Capt. John Whistler, a native of Ireland who had surrendered with Burgoyne, at Saratoga,, N. Y., and who subsequently"became an American citizen, and served with distinction throughout the War of 1812. He was succeeded, in 1810, by Capt. Nathan Heald. As early as 1800 the Indians around the fort manifested signs of disquietude, Tecumseh, a few years later, heading an open armed revolt. In 1810 a council of Pottawato- mies, Ottawas and Chippewas was held at St. Joseph, Mich., at which it was decided not to join the confederacy proposed by Chief Tecumseh. In 1811 hostilities were precipitated by an attack upon the United States troops under Gen. William Henry Harrison at Tippecanoe. In April, 1812, hostile bands of Winnebagos appeared in the vicinity of Fort Dearborn, terrifying the settlers by their atrocities. Many of the whites sought refuge within the stockade. Within two months after the declaration of war against England, in 1812, orders were issued for the evacuation of Fort Dearborn and the transfer of the garrison to Detroit. The garrison at that time numbered about 70, including officers, a large number of the troops being ill. Almost simultaneously with the order for evacuation appeared bands of Indians elamoring for a dis- tribution of the goods, to which they claimed they were entitled under freaty stipulations. Knowing that he had but about forty men able to fight and that his march would be sadly hindered by the care of about a dozen women and twenty children, the commandant hesitated. The Pottawatomies, through whose country he would have to pass, had always been friendly, and he waited. Within six days a force of 500 or 600 savage warriors had assembled around the fort. Among the leaders were the Pottawatomie chiefs, Black Partridge, Winnemeg and Topenebe. Of these, Winnemeg was friendly. It was he who had brought General Hull's orders to evacuate. and, as the crisis grew more and more dangerous,
he offered sound .ilvice. He urged in faut pyrus departure before the Indians had tim . to af ree upm a line of action. But Captain Heald decided to distribute the stores am ne the sav- ages, and thereby secure from them a friendly escort to Fort Wayne. To this the aborigines readily assented, believing that thereby all the whisky and ammunition which they knew to be within the enclosure, would fall into their hands. Meanwhile Capt. William Wells, Indian Agent at Fort Wayne, had arrived at Fort Dearborn with a friendly force of Miamis to act as an escort. lle convinced Captain Heald that it would be the height of folly to give the Indians liquor and gun. powder. Accordingly the commandant emptied the former into the lake and destroyed the latter. This was the signal for war. Black Partridge claimed he could no longer restrain his young braves, and at a council of the aborigines it was resolved to massaere the garrison and settlers. On the fifteenth of August the gates of the fort were opened and the evacuation began. A band of Pottawatomies accompanied the whites under the guise of a friendly escort. They soon deserted and, within a mile and a half from the fort, began the sickening scene of carnage known as the "Fort Dearborn Massacre." Nearly 500 Indians participated, their loss being less than twenty. The Miami escort fled at the first exchange of shots. With but four exceptions the wounded white prisoners were dispatched with savage ferocity and promptitudo. Those not wounded were scattered among various tribes. The next day the fort with its stockade was burned. In 1816 (after the treaty of St. Louis) the fort was rebuilt upon a more elaborate scale. The second Fort Dearborn contained, besides bar- racks and officers' quarters, a magazine and provision-store, was enclosed by a square stock- ade, and protected by bastions at two of its angles. It was again evacuated in 1823 and re-garrisoned in 1828. The troops were once more withdrawn in 1831, to return the following year during the Black Hawk War. The final evacuation occurred in 1836.
TORT GAGE, situated on the eastern bluffs of the Kaskaskia River, opposite the village of Kas- kaskia. It was erected and occupied by the British in 1772. It was built of heavy, square timbers and oblong in shape, its dimensions bring 290x251 feet. On the night of July 1, 1728, it was captured by a detachment of American troops commanded by Col. George Rogers Clark, who held a commission from Virginia. The soldiers, with Simon Kenton at their head, were secretly
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admitted to the fort by a Pennsylvanian who happened to be within, and the commandant, Rocheblave, was surprised in bed, while sleeping with his wife by his side.
FORT JEFFERSON. I. A fort erected by Col. George Rogers Clark, under instructions from the Governor of Virginia, at the Iron Banks on the east bank of the Mississippi, below the mouth of the Ohio River. He promised lands to all nudult, able-bodied white males who would emi- grate thither and settle, either with or without their families. Many accepted the offer, and a considerable colony was established there. Toward the close of the Revolutionary War, Vir- ginia being unable longer to sustain the garrison, the colony was scattered, many families going to Kaskaskia. II. A fort in the Miami valley, erceted by Governor St. Clair and General Butler, in October, 1791. Within thirty miles of the post St. Clair's army, which had been badly weakened through desertions, was cut to pieces by the enemy, and the fortification was aban- doned.
FORT MASSAC, an early French fortification, erected about 1711 on the Ohio River, 40 miles from its mouth, in what is now Massac County. It was the first fortification (except Forl St. Louis) in the "Illinois Country," antedating Fort Chartres by several years. The origin of the name is uncertain. The best authorities are of the opinion that it was so called in honor of the engineer who superintended its construction; by others it has been traced to the name of the Frenel Minister of Marine; others assert that it is a corruption of the word "Massacre, " a name given to the locality because of the massaere there of a large number of French soldiers by the Indians. The Virginians sometimes spoke of it as the "Cherokee fort." It was garrisoned by the French until after the evacuation of the country under the terms of the Treaty of Paris. It later became a sort of depot for American settlers, a few families constantly residing within and around the fortification. At a very early day a military road was laid out from the fort to Kaskaskia, the trees alongside being utilized as - ing post until 1718, when it was raided by the milestones, the number of miles being out with irons and painted red. After the close of the FORT WAYNE & CHICAGO RAILROAD. (See Pittsburg, Fort Wayne & Chicago Kuilway.) Revolutionary War, the United States Govern- ment strengthened and garrisoned the fort by FORT WAYNE & ILLINOIS RAILROAD. (See New York, Chicago & St. Invis Ribmay way of defense against inroads by the Spaniards. With the cession of Louisiana to the United FORTIFICATIONS, PREHISTORIC. Closely related in interest to the works of the mound. builders in Illinois-though, probably, owing their origin to another era and an entirely different States, in 1803, the fort was evacuated and never re-garrisoned. According to the "American State Papers," during the period of the French
occupation, it was both a Jesuit on- ionary station and a trading post.
FORT SACKVILLE, a British fortification, erected in 1769, on the Wabash River a short di tance below Vincennes. It was a stockade. with bastions and a few pieces of camon. In 1778 it fell into the bands of the Americans, and was for a time commanded by Captain llelm, with a garrison of a few Americans and Minois French. In December, 1778, Itehm and one private alone occupied the fort and surrendered to Hamilton, British Governor of Detroit, who led a force into the country around Vincennes.
FORT SHERIDAN, United States Military Post, in Lake County, on the Milwaukee Division of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway. 21 miles north of Chicago. (Highwood village adjacent on the south.) Population (1890), 451 ; (190) , 1,555.
FORT ST. LOUIS, a French fortification on a rock (widely known as "Starved Ruck"), which consists of an isolated cliff on the south side of the Illinois River nearly opposite Utica, in La Salle County. Its height is between 130 and 1- feet, and its nearly round summit contains an area of about three-fourths of an acre. The side facing the river is nearly perpendicular and, in natural advantages, it is well-nigh impregnable. Here, in the fall of 1682, La Salle and Tonty began the erection of a fort, consisting of earth- works, palisades, store-houses and a block house, which also served as a dwelling and trading post. A windlass drew water from the river, and two small brass cannon, mounted on a parapet, com- prised the armament. It was solemnly dolirated by Father Membre, and soon became a gathering place for the surrounding tribes, especially the Illinois. But Frontenac having been succeeded as Governor of New France by De la Barre, who was unfriendly to La Salle, the latter was dis placed as Commandant at l'ort St. Louis, while plots were laid to secure his downfall by cutting off his supplies and inciting the Iroquois to attack him. La Salle left the fort in 1693, to return to France, and, in 1702, it was abandoned as a military post, though it continued to be a trad. Indians and barned. (See Ist Sulle.)
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race-are those works which bear evidence of having been constructed for purposes of defense at some period anterior to the arrival of white men in the country. While there are no works in Illinois so elaborate in construction as those to which have been given the names of "Fort Ancient" on the Maumee in Obio, "Fort Azatlan" on the Wabash in Indiana, and "Fort Aztalan" on Rock River in Southern Wisconsin, there are a number whose form of construction shows that they must have been intended for warlike pur- poses, and that they were formidable of their kind and for the period in which they were con- structed. It is a somewhat curious fact that, while La Salle County is the seat of the first fortification constructed by the French in Illinois that can be said to have had a sort of permanent character ( see Fort St. Louis and Starred Rock), it is also the site of a larger number of prehistorie fortifications, whose remains are in such a state of preservation as to be clearly discernible, than any other section of the State of equal area. One of the most formidable of these fortifications is on the east side of Fox River, opposite the mouth of Indian Creek and some six miles northeast of Ottawa. This occupies a position of decided natural strength, and is surrounded by three lines of circumvallation, showing evidence of consider- able engineering skill. From the size of the trees within this work and other evidences, its age has been estimated at not less than 1,200 years. On the present site of the town of Marseilles, at the rapids of the Illinois, seven miles east of Ottawa, another work of considerable strength existed. It is also said that the American Fur Company had an earthwork here for the protection of its trading station, erected about 1816 or '18, and consequently belonging to the present century. Besides Fort St. Louis on Starved Rock, the out- line of another fort, or outwork, whose era has not been positively determined, abont half a mile south of the former, has been traced in recent times. De Baugis, sent by Governor La Barre, of Canada, to succeed Tonty at Fort St. Louis, is said to liave erected a fort on Buffalo Rock, on the opposite side of the river from Fort St. Louis, which belonged practically to the same era as the latter .- Thero are two points in Southern Illinois where the aborigines had constructed fortifica- tions to which the name "Stone Fort" has been given. One of these is a hill overlooking the Saline River in the sonthein part of Saline County, where there is a wall or breastwork five feet in height enclosing an area of less than an acre in extent. The other is on the west side of
Lusk's Creek, in Pope Coury, where a breast work has been constructed by los ly piling up the stones aero, a ridge of tongue of land with vertical sides and surrounded by a hend of the creek. Water is easily obtainable from the creek below the fortified ridge. - The remains of an old Indian fortification were found by early settlers of MeLean County, at a point called "Old Town Timber," about 1>22 to 1825. It was believed then that it had been occupied by the lilians during the War of 1812. The story of the Indians was, that it was burned by General Harrison in 1812; though this is improbable in view of the absence of any historical mention of the fact. Judge H. W. Beckwith, who examined its site in 1850, is of the opinion that its history goes back as far as 1732, and that it was erected by the Indians as a defense against the French at Ras- kaskia. There was also a tradition that there had been a Trench mission at this point .- One of the most interesting stories of early fortifications in the State, is that of Dr. V. A. Boyer, an old citizen of Chicago, in a paper contributed to the Chicago Historical Society. Although the work alluded to by him was evidently construct Jafter the arrival of the French in the country, the exact period to which it belongs is in doubt. According to Dr. Boyer, it was on an elevated ridge of timber land in Palos Township, in the western part of Cook County. He says: "1 first saw it in 1833, and since then have visited it in company with other persons, some of whom are still living. I feel sure that it was not built dur- ing the Sao War from its appearance. . . . It seems probable that it was the work of French traders or explorers, as there were trees a century old growing in its environs. It was evidently the work of an enlightened people, skilled in the science of warfare. . . . As a strategic point it most completely commanded the surrounding country and the crossing of the swamp or 'Sag'." Is it improbable that this was the fort occupied by Colonel Durante in 1695? The remains of a small fort, supposed to have been a French trad- ing post, were found by the pioneer settlers of Lake County, where the present city of Waukegan stands, giving to that place its first name of "Little Fort." This structure was seen in 1825 by Col. William S. Hamilton (a son of Alexander Hamilton, first Secretary of the Treasury), who had served in the session of the General Assembly of that year as a Representative from Sangamon County, and was then on his way to Green Bay, and the remains of the picket s or palisades were visible as Jate as 1835. While the date of its
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erection is unknown, it probably belongel to the latter part of the eighteenth century. There is also a tradition that a fort or trading post, erected by a Frenchman named Garay (or tunrie) stood on the North Branch of the Chicago River prior to the erection of the first Fort Dearborn in 1803.
FOSS, George Edmund, lawyer and Congress- man, was born in Franklin County, VI., July 2, 1863: graduated from Harvard University, in 1885; attended the Columbia Law School and School of Political Science in New York City, finally graduating from the Union College of Law in Chicago, in 1889, when he was admitted to the bar and began practice. He never hell any political office until elected as a Republican to the Fifty-fourth Congress (1894), from the Seventh Illinois District, receiving a majority of more than 8,000 votes over his Democratic and Populist competitors. In 1896 he was again the candidate of his party, and was re-elected by a majority of over 20,000, as he was a third time, in 1898, by more than 12,000 majority. In the Fifty fifth Congress Mr. Foss was a member of the Committees on Naval Affairs and Expenditures in the Department of Agriculture.
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