Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume II, part 1, Part 25

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago, Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 864

USA > Illinois > Sangamon County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume II, part 1 > Part 25

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While there is iack of specific information regarding the date of occupancy and location of Indian viliages in the "Sangamon Country," there is ahundant evidence that hands helong- ing to various trihes frequentiy roamed over this region, engaged either in warfare or in hunting on the prairies and in the forests aiong the Sangamon and its tributaries. A map show- ing the distribution of principal trihes on Illi- nois soii about the time of the coming of the early French explorers (1673-82) locates the Kickapoos in the northwesteru part of what is now the State of Illinois; the Iiiinois tribes

OLD MILL NEAR SALEM, MENARD CO:ILL. WHERE LINCOLN RAN A FLAT BOAT.)

FOR SALE BY ILLINOIS STAT REGISTER .SPRING

LINCOLN'S EARLY HOME. SALEM, MENARD CO, ILLINOIS.

FOR SALE BY H LINGIS STATE REGISTER, SPRINGFIELD.

LINCOLN'S GROCERY. SALEM, MENARD CO: ILLINOIS.

FOR

EXTRUINOIS STATE MAGISTER, SPRINGFIELD.

RUINS OF SALEM HOTEL LINCOLN'S BOARDING HOUSE) SALEM, MENARD CO; ILL.

FOR SALE BY ILLINOIS STATE REGISTER, SPRINGFIELD.

623

HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY

(including the Peorias, Kaskaskias, Cahokias, Tamaroas, and Mitchlgamls) In the west be- tween the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers and on both sides of the Illinois; the Miamis iu the eastern section with the Piankashaws still far- ther east on both sides of the Wabash; the Weas just south of Lake Michigan and the Pot- tawatomies still farther north along the west- ern shore of Lake Michigan in both Illinois and Wisconsin. At that period what Is now Central Illinois was an unexplored region, the knowledge of the French explorers being limited to the country along the lakes and the principal streams-the Mississippi, the Illinois, Wabash and the Ohlo-which furnished them means of water transportation, the only methods of travel for long distance then employed by the first white invaders. Moses' "History of Illinois" says: "The Kickapoos and Mascoutins, nomnl- nally the same, were found by Allouez, in 1670, near the mouth of Fox River in Wisconsin. They subsequently worked their way, in opposl- tion to the Plankashaws (on the east) and Illi- nois (on the west), southward to the river of the latter name, thence south to the Kankakee, and still later, fighting their way to the Ver- millon, the headwaters of the Okaw, and on to Sugar Creek, and thelr principal village at Mackinaw, McLean County."

Coming down to a later period, and in ac- cordance with the changes just described, a map in Moses' "History," showing the location of tribes in the Illinois Country in 1812-the period of the last war with Great Britain- presents them as follows: Kickapoos in the southeru central division; Pottawatomies to the north between the Iillnois and Mississippi Riv- ers and on the upper Illinois; Sacs and Foxes in the northwest and on the upper Mississippi ; the Winnebagos in the uorthern part of the State and east of the Sacs and Foxes; the Illi- nois Tribes in the partially settled counties east of the Mississippi from the vicinity of Kaskas- kia northward to the point where the Macoupin River empties into the Illinois; and the' Piank- ashaws in the sontheastern part of the State- although by that time it is claimed that most of the Piankashaws had removed to the southwest. The Mlamis, who had occupled a considerable extent of country west of the Piankashaws and north to Lake Michigan, also had removed eastward to Indiana and Western Ohio. What is now the Sangamon region, from its location,

may have been a sort of neutral (or "happy hunting ground"), entered at different times by representatives of varlous neighboring tribes. Yet there are also traditions that there were some bitter struggles between different Indian bands, making it a sort of "Dark and Bloody Ground," of which there Is some evidence fur- nished iu the vicinity of "Old Town" or "Kick- apoo Indian Fort" in McLean County. As a rnle, however, the early settlers in Sangamon County seem to have got along peacefully with thelr Indian predecessors.

Dr. Edwin James, the scientist and interpre- ter who accompanied Col. Stephen H. Long in his explorations among the Western Indians about 1819-22, quotes Alexander Robinson- the Pottawatomie half-breed chief, for sixty years after the Fort Dearborn massacre a resi- dent of Chicago and vlciuity-as saying in ref- erence to Indian fortifications in Central Illi- nois: "He (Robinson) had heard of one made by the Kickapoo and Fox Indians on the Sanga- mon River, a stream running into the Illinois. The fortification is distinguished by the name Et-na-ta-ek. It is known to have served as an intrenchiment to the Kickapoos and Foxes who were met there and were defeated by the Pot- tawatomies, the Ottawas and the Chippewas. No date is assigned to this transaction. We understood that the Et-na-ta-ek was near the Kickapoo village on the Sangamon."

Gov. JOHN REYNOLD'S REMINISCENCES .- Espe- cially reliable testimony as to Indian occupation of this region about the time of the War of 1812, Is furnished by former Gov. John Rey- nolds, who, as a pioneer of 1800 and later a "Ranger" of Central Illinois, was brought into personal contact with the Indians of that period. In the introductory chapter of his "Ploneer His- tory of Illinois" Gov. Reynolds says : "A small but energetic tribe of Kickapoos resided on the east side of Illinois between the Illluois and Wabash Rivers, and including the Sangamon River and the country thereabouts. Some lived In villages near the Elkhart Grove and on the Mackinaw River. They claimed rela- tlonship with the Pottawatomies, and perhaps the Sauks and Foxes also."

In another volume ("My Own Times") Gov. Reynolds gives the following account of a march through the Sangamon Country of a force of abont 350 men, iuclnding two companies of "Rangers" (of which Gov. Reynolds was a mem-

624

HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY

ber), mustered at Fort Russell near Edwards- ville, and led under command of Gov. Edwards, to the vicinity of Lake Peoria for the purpose of destroying the Indlau villages in that region. This movement occurred abont two months after the capture of Fort Dearborn, and the principal sufferers from the expedition were the bands of Black Partridge and Gomo, two chiefs who had beeu especially active in their efforts to prevent the Dearborn massacre. Referring to the march through what is now Sangamon County, Gov. Reynolds says: "We crossed the Sangamon River east of the present Springfield and passed not far east of Elkhart Grove. At

this day this grove presented a beautiful and charming prospect. It was elevated and com- manded a view over the natural prairies for many miles around. We next reached an old Indian village on Sugar Creek (a branch of the Sangamou) where we saw on the bark of the wigwams much painting, generally the Indians scalping the whites."

This exhibition of the Indian spirit, no doubt greatly excited the indignation of the "Rangers" and increased the bitterness of the attack made on the villages of Black Partridge and Gomo, although they had no responsibility for the murderous character displayed by the former occupants of these wigwams.

THE OLD INDIAN TRAIL IN SANGAMON COUNTY. -The following reminiscence of "The Old In- dian Trail" through Sangamon Connty from Peoria to St. Louis, taken from the papers of the late Zimri A. Enos, of Springfield, as pub- lished in the "Journal of the Illinois State His- toricai Society" for July, 1911, wlil be of special interest in this connection, as It refers (more fully) to the route followed by Gov. Edwards' army iu the march from Fort Russell to Peoria in 1812, as described In a quotatiou from Gov. Reynolds' "My Own Times" in a preceding por- tlon of this chapter :

"This trall, according to my understanding, was the ronte which the army under Gov. Ed- wards, in 1812, foliowed in their march from Fort Russell, near Edwardsville, to Peoria, and which ronte is designated in one of the early records of Sangamon County as the Old Ed- wards Trace, and Clear Lake is therein men- tioned as a place on the line of the Trace. This trail or trace should, as an interesting matter of history. be definitely established, before all evidence of its location Is gone. I have a gen-

eral idea of the route of the trail or trace from Edwardsville as far north as Elkhart, derived from a persoual knowledge of fixed points in it, the topography or character of the country over which it passed and, in the manner in which the Indians usually selected their routes, following the high ground or dividing ridges in the prai- rie, heading streams and avoiding passing through heavy timbers as much as possible, and seldom pursuing a straight line. I know that the path, from the house to the stable on a farm seven miles north of Edwardsville (which was settled In 1817), was and is now the line of the Old Trail. And in 1833 I traveled the Old Trail from Honey Point, north about elght miles, to where Zanesville now is; the trail was east of and considerably further out in the prai- rie than the wagon road between the same places, and was then very distinct. From Fort Russell north, for about eighteen miles to the ) old watering place at the head of Paddock Creek, a short distance north-east of the townl of Bunker Hill, the trail ran in a generally straight course through the prairie along the dividing ridge between the waters and timbers of Paddock Creek on the east and Indian Creek on the west, thence in a northeast course through the prairie to the points of timber at the head of Dry Creek (designated in old times as Honey Point), and thence' to the head of timber on Horse Creek (the three creeks running Into Ma- coupin Creek on the west), and thence north to Maconpin point, the little grove of timber at the head of Maconpln Creek-thence north through the prairie and between the timber lines of Brush Creek, Horse Creek and South Fork of the Sangamon River on the east and Sugar Creek on the west, entering Round Prairie and crossing the Sangamon River between the mouths of Sugar Creek and the South Fork- thence by Clear Lake and through the prairie to Buffalo Hart Grove-thence on the divide be- tweeu the waters of Lake Fork on the east and Wolf Creek on the west to Elkhart Grove- thence to the Rocky Ford of Salt Creek in the S. E. corner of Section 6, T. 19 N., R. 3 W .- thence north to an Indian village ou the north slde of Salt Creek at either Kickapoo or Sugar Creek, and thence to Peoria. After the crossing of Salt Creek, of the route from there on to Peoria, I have no information or definite Idea.

"This route of the trail. for over 100 miles from Edwardsville to Salt Creek (with the ex-

625

HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY

ception of the Sangamon River and timber), crossed no stream of any size and passed through little timber, followed nearly the water-sheds or divides of the streams through the prairie. The Hon. Wm. H. Herndon, in his lifetime, claimed a little variation of the route as ahove described, asserting that it crossed Sugar Creek from Round Prairie and passed along the west side of the Sangamon River, through German prai- rie, crossing the river at or near the site of Bogues' old mill in the N. E. corner of the S. E. quarter of Section 6, T. 16 N., R. 4 W., Third P. M., and thence north on the west side of Wolf Creek Timber to Elkhart Grove, in Sections 7 and 18, T. 18 N., R. 3 W. He stated that his father settled in German prairie in 1821, five miles northeast from Springfield, and, at that date, an Indian trail was not far from their cabin and he frequently saw the Indians traveling it. Both routes may have been trails that were traveled by the Indians. Since writ- ing the foregoing, I have discovered on the old- est known map of the Illinois Territory (now in the Historical State Library), a surprisingly ac- curate delineation of that part of the Sangamon River and the Lake Fork northeast of Spring- field, and between the two streams an Indian village marked thereon, in location exactly fit- ting Buffalo Hart Grove. The line of this Old Indian Traii was the wagon route of most of the early settlers of Sangamon County, and is accurately located in the subdivision sur- veys of Townships 9 and 10 North, Range 6 West, Third P. M., made by the U. S. Deputy Surveyor in 1818, and gives the distances from the section corners at which the section lines north and south and east and west intersected the trail. These connections of the survey lines with the trall were made in conformity with the general instructions issued by the Surveyor General to all deputy surveyors; but these two townships are the only ones on the line of the trail where any attention was paid to this in- struction. Mr. Joseph Stafford informs me that, when a boy riding in company with a grown brother along the road on the narrow divide between Horse Creek and Sugar Creek, his brother called his attention to and pointed out the line of the old Indian trail a little to the side of the road."

VISIT OF A GERMAN EXPLORER IN 1819 .- An- other interesting story of exploration of the Sangamon Country, In which evidence is given

of the presence of Indians within the limits of what is now Sangamon Connty, is told in the "Travels in Illinois in 1819" of Ferdinand Ernst, a German explorer who visited this re- gion during that year, and from which some liberal extracts are qnoted in another chapter in this volume. Mr. Ernst had visited Edwards- ville, Vandalla and a number of other points in Sonthern Illinois, and having had his atten- tion called to the beauties of the Sangamon Country, as he says, "started upon a journey to view the wonderful land upon the Sangamon before I (he) returned to Enrope." After leav- ing Vandalia, on the second day, he found him- self on Sugar Creek, in what is now Sangamon County, where Robert Pulliam had erected the first cabin in 1817, but which he did not permanently occupy uutil two years later. The next day, after traveling some distance toward the northwest, with the intention of reaching the mouth of the Sangamon River, Mr. Ernst says : "On the other side of Spring Creek is a camping ground of Indians, whence the ground rises to gentle hills where we found two springs shaded simply by a few trees. The water of these two brooks flows swift and clear through the luxuriant prairie, the high grass of which reaches above the head of the horsemen. From these two little hrooks rises a plain which ex- tends to Richland Creek." The inention in this connection of the two branches of Spring Creek, and later of Richland Creek, would indicate that the region passed over hy Mr. Ernst in this journey was in the vicinity of the present vil- lage of Curran, and that the site of the Indian camp was a few miles west of the present city of Springfield.

INDIANS IN ISLAND GROVE AND CURRAN TOWN- SHIPS .- At the time of settlement of Island Grove in 1818, it is stated that there were two Indian villages In what now constitutes Island Grove Township, one on Skillet Fork, a branch of Spring Creek, and another at the head of the Grove near the west line, with about 300 Indlans ' in each. One of these may have heen the vil- lage or "camp" discovered by Mr. Ernst In hls visit to this region in 1819. The Indians are said to have been remnants of the Pottawatomie and Delaware trihes.

In the "History of Sangamon County" (1881) John Smith, then still living In the vicinity of Curran, and who came to Sangamon County with his parents in 1822, is quoted as authority for

626

HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY

the statement that "two thousand Indians camped on Lick Creek soon after the arrivai of hls father's famlly there in 1822, and remained abont two weeks," also that "they were very friendly."

In consonance with this is the statement made In local history that when Maj. Elijah Iles, the first merchant in Springfield, came and there opened up the first store In July, 1821, "Indians were about as numerous as whites, and his sales to the different races were about equal." The Indians, it is said, paid for goods with fnrs and dressed deer skins, while the whites paid in silver coin, home-made jeans, beeswax, honey and butter."

INDIAN LANDS .- Beginning with the treaty of Greenville (1795) negotlated by Gen. Anthony Wayne with the Wyandots, Delawares, Ottawas, Chippewas, Miamis, Shawnees, Pottawatomies, Kaskasklas, Eel Rivers, Kickapoos and Pianka- shaws-for the first time including all the prin- cipal tribes in Illinois and as far east as Ohio- the United States entered npon a general line of policy in reference to the acquisition of Indian lands which later was followed. While this treaty related nominally to nearly 12,- 000,000 acres of land north of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi-with recognition by the In- dians of the rights of the early French settlers to the lands they tben occupied, and absolute conveyance to the Government of numerous tracts, including among the most important those within the territory of Illinois at the mouths of the Chicago and Illinois Rivers and about the sites of Fort Clark (Peoria) and Fort Mas- sac-in consequence of later concession to the Indians of Indefinite occupancy and until further sales, its chief feature was agreement, on the part of the Indians, to relinquish their ciaims to lands, in fntnre, only to the General Government. As a consequence future land cessions from different tribes and at different periods, in some cases (in whole or in part) covered the same areas, due to the fact that different tribes were at times claimants of the same tracts.

The most important iater treatles affecting Illinois lands were: first, one conclnded by Gov. Willlam Henry Harrison, with the Kas- kaskias (representing themselves, tbe Cabokias and Mitchlgamis), at Vincennes, August 13, 1803, and covering an area of 8,911,850 acres; second, the treaty of Edwardsville, negotiated,

(according to Moses' "History of Illinois," with the Peorlas and other Iliinols tribes, and accord- ing to Washburne, in a note to the "Edwards Papers,' with the Kickapoos) by Gov. Ninian Edwards and Auguste Chouteau In September, 1818, and covering 6,865,280 acres; and third, the treaty at Chicago, with the Pottawatomies, Chippewas and Ottawas, embracing 5,104,960 acres. The first of these treaties related to lands In Southern Illinois, the second to lands in the southern and central parts of the State, and the third and last to lands in Northern Iill- nois, covering the last sale of Indian lands in the State just before the removal of the In- dians west of the Mississippi. If these had em- braced separate snbdlvisions, the total area would have covered 20,SS2,000 acres, or nearly 32,500 square mlles-considerably more than one-half the area of the wbole State. The fol- lowing statement of the bonndaries of the pur- chase made at Edwardsville in September, 1818, will be found of Interest In this connection :

"Beginning at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers; thence up the Obio to the. mouth of Saline Creek abont twelve miles below the month of the Wabash; thence aiong tbe dividing ridge between the waters of said creek and tlie Wabash, to the general divlding ridge between the waters which fall into the Kaskas- kla River; thence along the said ridge until it reaches the waters which fall into the Illinols River ; thence down the Illinois to its confluence with the Mississippi and down the latter to the beginning."

This would indicate that the Edwardsville purchase covered nearly the whole of Southern Illinois, as well as the central part of the State, and evidently included much of the territory embraced in previous purchases, especlaliy tbe Harrison purchase of 1803-tbe object being to wipe out all Indian clalms. The eastern bound- ary of this purchase extended northward be- tween the tributaries of the Wabash and Kas- kaskia Rivers, through Lawrence and Champaign Counties, to the head waters of the Illinois and down that stream to the Mississippi, thus including the territory now embraced In Sanga- mon and adjoining connties-its area of 8,860,- 280 acres (or 10,727 square miles) amounting to nearly one-fifth of the entire State, although there is reason to believe much of this region had been acquired by previous purchases. Local history furnishes evidence that this purchase

SANGAMON RIVER

CARPENTER'S MILGY

CARPENTER'S MILL

TBEDy's DISTILLERY

KEEDY'S DISTILLERY

HOUSE WHERE HON. LYMAN TRUMBULL WAS MARRIED

627

HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY

marked the beginning of white settiements in Sangamon County, which really became active in 1819.

CHAPTER IV.

FIRST GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS.

FIRST GOVERNMENT OF ILLINOIS TERRITORY ESTAB- LISIIED BY THE FRENCH IN 1718-MILITARY CHARACTER AND REOION IT OCCUPIED-FORT CHARTRES ITS HEADQUARTERS-CESSION OF NEW FRANCE TO ENOLAND IN 1763-KASKASKIA BE- COMES THE CAPITAL-WAR OF THE REVOLUTION -CAPTURE OF KASKASKIA BY COL. OFOROE ROGERS CLARK-TERRITORY NORTHWEST OF THE OHIO BECOMES "ILLINOIS COUNTY" AND IS ATTACHED TO VIROINIA-IT IS CEDED TO TIIE GENERAL GOVERNMENT AND NORTHWEST TERRITORY ORGANIZED-SUBSEQUENT CHANGES- ILLINOIS TERRITORY ORGANIZED IN 1809-KAS- KASKIA REMAINS THE CAPITAL CONSTITU- TIONAL CONVENTION OF 1818-ILLINOIS ADMIT- TED AS A STATE-CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISION LOOKINO TO THE SELECTION OF A .NEW STATE CAPITAL.

(By Clinton L. Conkling.)

The earliest government set up within the bounds of what is now known as the State of IilInois was in 1718, under the "Company of the West," an association formed in Paris nnder a grant from the King of France for the govern- ment and exploitation of New France, then ciaimed by the French, and which included the northern portion and much of the great nn- kuown interior of the North American continent. This government was military in character and its headquarters were at Fort Chartres near Kaskaskia in the Great American Bottom. This fort was named after the Duc de Chartres, son of the Regent of France. A French Comandant was then Governor of the Illinois Country. When New France, which included the Illinols Country, was, by the Treaty of Paris in 1763, ceded to Great Britain, this commandant was succeeded in 1765 by a Captain of the English Army as governor, and in 1772 the seat of gov-

ernment was removed to Kaskaskia, which place is' called by Ford, in his "History of Illinois," the ancient seat of empire for more than one hundred and fifty years, both for the French and American inhabitants." Originally it was a village of the Illinois Indians, then a mission, and then a French trading post. It was the first capital of the Territory of Illinois and afterwards of the State until in 1819, and at the time of its transfer to Engiand was a piace of about seven hundred inhabitants. The whole population of what Is now the State of Iiii- nois did not then exceed three thousand. The War of the Revolution between the colonies and the mother country commenced with the fight at Lexington, Mass., in April, 1775. This was followed by the Declaration of Inde- pendence on July 4, 1776, and the General Gov- ernment was so closely engaged in the conduct of the war along the Atlantic seaboard, that it conid not send forces to attack the British out- posts in the West. At this juncture Colonel George Rogers Clarke of Virginia volunteered to lead an expedition against these western out- posts, and on the night of July 4, 1778, he, act- ing under a commission from the Governor and Council of Virginia, with a small force of men surprised the British garrison of Kaskaskia, and withont bloodshed captured the town and the fort at that place.

In October of the same year the Virginia House of Delegates passed an Act organizing ali the country west and north of the Ohio River Into the "Iilinols County," which embraced the territory now included in the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, and the portion of Minnesota east of the Mississippi River, a territory larger than Great Britain and Ireland. On December 12, 1778, Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia, at Willlamsburg, then the capital of that State, and so of the Illinols Conntry, commissioned Colonei John Todd of Kentucky as County Lientenant or Commandant of the new county, which he at once proceeded to organize as a county of the State of Vir- ginia, the county seat and headquarters of the commandant being at Kaskaskia. The laws of Old France, modified by local customs and con- ditions, constituted the law of the land, which was administered by magistrates, the proceed- ings and records belng preserved in the French language. "Later, however, the troops being withdrawn, anarchy and confusion prevailed,

628

HISTORY OF SANGAMON COUNTY

the established order failed and there was 110 stable system of government in force for some years. In 1784 the State of Virginia trans- ferred all her claim to this vast territory to the United States, and the claims of Connec- ticut and Massachusetts to what is now the northern part of Illinois were also relinquished.

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Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Volume II, part 1, Part 25

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913 Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Chicago, Munsell Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 864

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago, Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 864