Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Part 51

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913; Gale, W. Shelden
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1388

USA > Illinois > Knox County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois > Part 51
USA > Illinois > Lake County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois > Part 51
USA > Illinois > Mercer County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois > Part 51
USA > Illinois > Kane County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois > Part 51
USA > Illinois > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois > Part 51
USA > Illinois > Coles County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois > Part 51
USA > Illinois > Clark County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois > Part 51
USA > Illinois > McDonough County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois > Part 51
USA > Illinois > Schuyler County > Historical encyclopedia of Illinois > Part 51

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

At this point the history of Illinois, as a sepa- rate political division, begins. While its bounda- ries in all other directions were as now, on the north it extended to the Canada line. From what has already been said, it appears that the earliest white settlements were established by French Canadians, chiefly at Kaskaskia, Cahokia and the other villages in the southern part of the American Bottom. At the time of Clark's in- vasion, there were not known to have been more than two Americans among these people, except such hunters and trappers as paid them occasional visits. One of the earliest American settlers in Southern Illinois was Capt. Nathan Hull, who came from Massachusetts and settled at an early day on the Ohio, near where Golconda now stands, afterward removing to the vicinity of Kaskaskia, where he died in 1806. In 1781, a company of immigrants, consisting (with one or two exceptions) of members of Clark's command in 1778, arrived with their families from Mary- land and Virginia and established themselves on the American Bottom. The "New Design" set- tlement, on the boundary line between St. Clair

and Monroe Counties, and the first distinctively American colony in the "Illinois Country," was established by this party. Some of its members afterward became prominent in the history of the Territory and the State. William Biggs, a mem- ber of the first Territorial Legislature, with others, settled in or near Kaskaskia about 1783, and William Arundel, the first American mer- chant at Cahokia, came there from Peoria during the same year. Gen. Jolin Edgar, for many years a leading citizen and merchant at the capital, arrived at Kaskaskia in 1784, and William Mor- rison, Kaskaskia's principal merchant, came from Philadelphia as early as 1790, followed some years afterward by several brothers. James Lemen came before the beginning of the present cen- tury, and was the founder of a large and influ- ential family in the vicinity of Shiloh, St. Clair County, and Rev. David Badgley headed a colony of 154 from Virginia, who arrived in 1797. Among other prominent arrivals of this period were John Rice Jones, Pierre Menard (first Lieutenant-Governor of the State), Shadrach Bond, Jr. (first Governor), John Hay, Jolın Messinger, William Kinney, Capt. Joseph Ogle; and of a later date, Nathaniel Pope (afterward Secretary of the Territory, Delegate to Congress, Justice of the United States Court and father of the late Maj .- Gen. John Pope), Elias Kent Kane (first Secretary of State and afterward United States Senator), Daniel P. Cook (first Attorney- General and second Representative in Congress), George Forquer (at one time Secretary of State), and Dr. George Fisher-all prominent in Terri- torial or State history. (See' biographical sketches of these early settlers under their re- spective names.)

The government of the new Territory was organized by the appointment of Ninian Ed- wards, Governor; Nathaniel Pope, Secretary, and Alexander Stuart, Obadiah Jones and Jesse B. Thomas, Territorial Judges. (See Edwards, Ninian.) Stuart having been transferred to Missouri, Stanley Griswold was appointed in his stead. Governor Edwards arrived at Kas- kaskia, the capital, in June, 1809. At that time the two counties of St. Clair and Randolph comprised the settled portion of the Territory. with a white population estimated at about 9,000. The Governor and Judges immediately proceeded to formulate a code of laws, and the appoint- ments made by Secretary Pope, who had preceded the Governor in his arrival in the Territory, were confirmed. Benjamin H. Doyle was the first Attorney-General, but he resigned in a few

256

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

months, when the place was offered to John J. Crittenden-the well-known United States Sen- ator from Kentucky at the beginning of the Civil War-bnt by him declined. Thomas T. Crittenden was then appointed.

An incident of the year 1811 was the battle of Tippecanoe, resulting in the defeat of Tecumseh, the great chief of the Shawnees, by Gen. William Henry Harrison. Four companies of mounted rangers were raised in Illinois this year under direction of Col. William Russell, of Kentucky, who built Camp Russell near Edwardsville the following year. They were commanded by Cap- tains Samuel Whiteside, William B. Whiteside, James B. Moore and Jacob Short. The memo- rable earthquake which had its center about New Madrid, Mo., occurred in December of this year, and was quite violent in some portions of Southern Illinois. (See Earthquake of 1811.)

WAR OF 1812 .- During the following year the second war with England began, but no serious outbreak occurred in Illinois until August, 1812, when the massacre at Fort Dearborn, where Chicago now stands, took place. This had long been a favorite trading post of the Indians, at first under French occupation and afterward under the Americans. Sometime during 1803-04, a fort had been built near the month of Chicago River on the south side, on land acquired from the Indians by the treaty of Greenville in 1795. (See Fort Dearborn.) In the spring of 1812 some alarm had been caused by outrages committed hy Indians in the vicinity, and in the early part of August, Capt. Nathan Heald, commanding the garrison of less than seventy-five men, received instructions from General Hull, in command at Detroit, to evacuate the fort, disposing of the public property as he might see fit. Friendly Indians advised Heald either to make prepara- tions for a vigorous defense, or evacuate at once. Instead of this, he notified the Indians of his in- tention to retire and divide the stores among them, with the conditions subsequently agreed upon in council, that his garrison should be afforded an escort and safe passage to Fort Wayne. On the 14th of August he proceeded to distribute the bulk of the goods as promised, but the ammunition, guns and liquors were de- stroyed. This he justified on the ground that a bad use would be made of them, while the Indians construed it as a violation of the agree- ment. The tragedy which followed, is thus de- scribed in Moses' "History of Illinois:"

"Black Partridge, a Pottawatomie Chief, who had been on terms of friendship with the whites,

appeared before Captain Heald and informed him plainly that his young men intended to imbrue their hands in the blood of the whites; that he was no longer able to restrain them, and, surrendering a medal he had worn in token of amity, closed by saying: 'I will not wear a token of peace while I am compelled to act as an enemy.' In the meantime the Indians were riot- ing upon the provisions, and becoming so aggres- sive in their bearing that it was resolved to march out the next day. The fatal fifteenthi arrived. To each soldier was distributed twenty-five rounds of reserved ammunition. The baggage and ambulance wagons were laden, and the gar- rison slowly wended its way outside the protect- ing walls of the fort-the Indian escort of 500 following in the rear. What next occurred in this disastrous movement is narrated by Captain Heald in his report. as follows: 'The situation of the country rendered it necessary for us to take the beach, with the lake on our left, and a high sand bank on our right at about three hundred yards distance. We had proceeded about a mile and a half, when it was discovered (hy Captain Wells) that the Indians were prepared to attack us from behind the bank. I immediately marched up with the company to the top of the bank, when the action commenced; after firing one round, we charged, and the Indians gave way in front and joined those on our flanks. In about fif- teen minutes they got possession of all our horses, provisions and baggage of every description, and finding the Miamis (who had come from Fort Wayne with Captain Wells to act as an escort) did not assist us, I drew off the few men I had left and took possession of a small elevation in the open prairie ont of shot of the bank, or any other cover. The Indians did not follow me hut assembled in a body on top of the bank, and after some consultation among themselves, made signs for me to approach them. I advanced toward them alone, and was met by one of the Potta- watomie chiefs called Black Bird, with an inter- preter. After shaking hands, he requested me to surrender, promising to spare the lives of all the prisoners. On a few moments' consideration I concluded it would be most prudent to comply with this request, although I did not put entire confidence in his promise. The troops had made a brave defense, but what could so small a force do against such overwhelming numbers? It was evident with over half their number dead upon the field, or wounded, further resistance would be hopeless. Twenty-six regulars and twelve militia, with two women and twelve children, were killed. Among the slain were Captain Wells, Dr. Van Voorhis and Ensign George Ronan. (Captain Wells, when young, had been captured by Indians and had married among them.) He (Wells) was familiar with all the wiles, stratagems, as well as the vindictiveness of the Indian character, and when the conflict began, he said to his niece (Mrs. Heald), by whose side he was standing, 'We have not the slightest chance for life; we must part to meet no more in this world. God bless you.' With these words he dashed forward into the thickest of the fight. He refused to be taken prisoner, knowing what his fate would be, when a young

257

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

red-skin cut him down with his tomahawk, jumped upon his body, cut out his heart and ate a portion of it with savage delight.

"The prisoners taken were Captain Heald and wife, both wounded, Lieutenant Helm, also wounded, and wife, with twenty-five non-com- missioned officers and privates, and eleven women and children. The loss of the Indians was fifteen killed. Mr. Kinzie's family had been entrusted to the care of some friendly Indians and were not with the retiring garrison. The Indians engaged in this outrage were principally Pottawatomies, with a few Chippewas, Ottawas, Winnebagoes, and Kickapoos. Fort Dearborn was plundered and burned on the next morning." (See Fort Dearborn; also War of 1812.)

Thus ended the most bloody tragedy that ever occurred on the soil of Illinois with Americans as victims. The place where this affair occurred, as described by Captain Heald, was on the lake shore about the foot of Eighteenth Street in the present city of Chicago. After the destruction of the fort, the site of the present city of Chicago remained unoccupied until 1816, when the fort was rebuilt. At that time the bones of the vic- tims of the massacre of 1812 still lay bleaching upon the sands near the lake shore, but they were gathered up a few years later and buried. The new fort continued to be occupied somewhat irregularly until 1837, when it was finally aban- doned, there being no longer any reason for maintaining it as a defense against the Indians.

OTHER EVENTS OF THE WAR .- The part played by Illinois in the War of 1812, consisted chiefly in looking after the large Indian population within and near its borders. Two expeditions were undertaken to Peoria Lake in the Fall of 1812; the first of these, under the direction of Governor Edwards, burned two Kickapoo vil- lages, one of them being that of "Black Part- ridge," who had befriended the whites at Fort Dearborn. A few weeks later Capt. Thomas E. Craig, at the head of a company of militia, made a descent upon the ancient French village of Peoria, on the pretext that the inhabitants had har- bored hostile Indians and fired on his boats. He burned a part of the town and, taking the people as prisoners down the river, put them ashore below Alton, in the beginning of winter. Both these affairs were severely censured.

There were expeditions against the Indians on the Illinois and Upper Mississippi in 1813 and 1814. In the latter year, Illinois troops took part with credit in two engagements at Rock Island- the last of these being in co-operation with regu- lars, under command of Maj. Zachary Taylor, afterwards President, against a force of Indians supported by the British. Fort Clark at Peoria

was erected in 1813, and Fort Edwards at War- saw, opposite the mouth of the Des Moines, at the close of the campaign of 1814. A council with the Indians, conducted by Governors Edwards of Illinois and Clarke of Missouri, and Auguste Chouteau, a merchant of St. Louis, as Government Commissioners, on the Mississippi just below Alton, in July, 1815, concluded a treaty of peace with the principal Northwestern tribes, thus ending the war.

FIRST TERRITORIAL LEGISLATURE .- By act of Congress, adopted May 21, 1812, the Territory of Illinois was raised to the second grade-i. e., em- powered to elect a Territorial Legislature. In September, three additional counties-Madison, Gallatin and Johnson-were organized, making five in all, and, in October. an election for the choice of five members of the Council and seven Representatives was held, resulting as follows: Councilmen-Pierre Menard of Randolph County ; William Biggs of St. Clair; Samuel Judy of Madison; Thomas Ferguson of Johnson, and Benjamin Talbot of Gallatin. Representatives- George Fisher of Randolph; Joshua Oglesby and Jacob Short of St. Clair; William Jones of Madi- son ; Philip Trammel and Alexander Wilson of Gallatin, and John Grammar of Johnson. The Legislature met at Kaskaskia, Nov. 25, the Coun- cil organizing with Pierre Menard as President and John Thomas, Secretary; and the House, with George Fisher as Speaker and William C. Greenup, Clerk. Shadrach Bond was elected the first Delegate to Congress.

A second Legislature was elected in 1814, con- vening at Kaskaskia, Nov. 14. Menard was con- tinued President of the Council during the whole Territorial period; while George Fisher was Speaker of each House, except the Second. The county of Edwards was organized in 1814, and White in 1815. Other counties organized under the Territorial Government were Jackson, Mon- roe, Crawford and Pope in 1816; Bond in 1817, and Franklin, Union and Washington in 1818, making fifteen in all. Of these all but the three last-named were organized previous to the passage by Congress of the enabling act author- izing the Territory of Illinois to organize a State government. In 1816 the Bank of Illinois was established at Shawneetown, with branches at Edwardsville and Kaskaskia.

EARLY TOWNS .- Besides the French villages in the American Bottom, there is said to have been a French and Indian village on the west bank of Peoria Lake, as early as 1711. This site appears to have been abandoned about 1775 and a new

258

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

village established on the present site of Peoria soon after, which was maintained until 1812, when it was broken up by Captain Craig. Other early towns were Shawneetown, laid out in 1808; Belleville, established as the county-seat of St. Clair County, in 1814; Edwardsville, founded in 1815; Upper Alton, in 1816, and Alton, in 1818. Carmi, Fairfield, Waterloo, Golconda, Lawrence- ville, Mount Carmel and Vienna also belonged to this period; while Jacksonville, Springfield and Galena were settled a few years later. Chicago is mentioned in "Beck's Gazetteer" of 1823, as "a village of Pike County."

ADMISSION AS A STATE .- The preliminary steps for the admission of Illinois as a State, were taken in the passage of an Enabling Act by Congress, April 13, 1818. An important incident in this connection was the amendment of the act, mak- ing the parallel of 42° 30' from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi River the northern boundary, instead of a line extending from the southern extremity of the Lake. This was obtained through the influence of Hon. Nathaniel Pope, then Delegate from Illinois, and by it the State secured a strip of country fifty-one miles in width, from the Lake to the Mississippi, embrac- ing what have since become fourteen of the most populous counties of the State, including the city of Chicago. The political, material and moral results which have followed this important act, have been the subject of much interesting dis- cussion and cannot be easily over-estimated. (See Northern Boundary Question; also Pope, Nathaniel.)

Another measure of great importance, which Mr. Pope secured, was a modification of the provision of the Enabling Act requiring the appropriation of five per cent of the proceeds from the sale of pub- lic lands within the State, to the construction of roads and canals. The amendment which he secured authorizes the application of two-fifths of this fund to the making of roads leading to the State, but requires "the residue to be appropri- ated by the Legislature of the State for the encouragement of learning, of which one-sixth part shall be exclusively bestowed on a college or university." This was the beginning of that system of liberal encouragement of education by the General Government, which has been at- tended with such beneficent results in the younger States, and has reflected so much honor upon the Nation. (See Education; Railroads, and Illinois & Michigan Canal.)

The Enabling Act required as a precedent con- dition that a census of the Territory, to be taken

that year, should show a population of 40,000. Such a result was shown, but it is now confessed that the number was greatly exaggerated, the true population, asafterwards given, being 34,020. According to the decennial census of 1820, the population of the State at that time was 55,162. If there was any short-coming in this respect in 1818, the State has fully compensated for it by its unexampled growth in later years.

An election of Delegates to a Convention to frame a State Constitution was held July 6 to 8, 1818 (extending through three days), thirty-three Delegates being chosen from the fifteen counties of the State. The Convention met at Kaskaskia, August 3, and organized by the election of Jesse B. Thomas, President, and William C. Greenup, Secretary, closing its labors, August 26. The Constitution, which was modeled largely upon the Constitutions of Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana, was not submitted to a vote of the people. (See Constitutional Conventions, especially Conven- tion of 1818.) Objection was made to its accept- ance by Congress on the ground that the population of the Territory was insufficient and that the prohibition of slavery was not as ex- plicit as required by the Ordinance of 1787; but these arguments were overcome and the docu- ment accepted by a vote of 117 yeas to 34 nays. The only officers whose election was provided for by popular vote, were the Governor, Lieutenant- Governor, Sheriffs, Coroners and County Commis- sioners. The Secretary of State, State Treasurer, Auditor of Public Accounts, Public Printer and Supreme and Circuit Judges were all appointive either hy the Governor or General Assembly. The elective franchise was granted to all white male inhabitants, above the age of 21 years, who had resided in the State six months.

The first State election was held Sept. 17, 1818, resulting in the choice of Shadrach Bond for Governor, and Pierre Menard, Lieutenant- Governor. The Legislature, chosen at the same time, consisted of thirteen Senators and twenty- seven Representatives. It commenced its session at Kaskaskia, Oct. 5, 1818, and adjourned after a session of ten days, awaiting the formal admis- sion of the State, which took place Dec. 3. A second session of the same Legislature was held, extending from Jan. 4 to March 31, 1819. Risdon Moore was Speaker of the first House. The other State officers elected at the first ses- sion were Elijah C. Berry, Auditor; John Thomas, Treasurer, and Daniel P. Cook, Attorney-General. Elias Kent Kane, having been appointed Secre- tary of State by the Governor, was confirmed by

259

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

the Senate. Ex-Governor Edwards and Jesse B. Thomas were elected United States Senators, the former drawing the short term and serving one year, when he was re-elected. Thomas served two terms, retiring in 1829. The first Supreme Court consisted of Joseph Phillips, Chief Justice, with Thomas C. Browne, William P. Foster and John Reynolds, Associate Justices. Foster, who was a mere adventurer without any legal knowl- edge, left the State in a few months and was succeeded by Williamn Wilson. (See State Officers, United States Senators, and Judiciary.)

Menard, who served as Lieutenant-Governor four years, was a noteworthy man. A native of Canada and of French descent, he came to Kas- kaskia in 1790, at the age of 24 years, and engaged in mercantile pursuits. He was hos- pitable, frank, liberal and enterprising. The fol- lowing story related of him illustrates a pleas- ant feature of his character: "At one time there was a scarcity of salt in the country, and Menard held the only supply outside of St. Louis. A number of his neighbors called upon him for what they wanted; he declined to let them know whether he could supply them or not, but told them to come to his store ou a certain day, when he would inform them. They came at the time appointed, and were seated. Menard passed around among them and inquired of each, 'You got money?' Some said they had and some that they had not, but would pay as soon as they killed their hogs. Those who had money he directed to range themselves on one side of the room and those who had none, on the other. Of course, those who had the means expected to get the salt and the others looked very much dis- tressed and crestfallen. Menard then spoke up iu his brusque way, and said, 'You men who got de money, can go to St. Louis for your salt. Dese poor men who got no money shall have my salt, by gar.' Such was the man-noble-hearted and large-minded, if unpolished and uncouth." (See Menard, Pierre.)

REMOVAL OF THE CAPITAL TO VANDALIA .- At the second session of the General Assembly, five Commissioners were appointed to select a new site for the State Capital. What is now the city of Vandalia was selected, and, in December, 1820, the entire archives of the State were re- moved to the new capital, being transported in one small wagon, at a cost of $25.00, under the supervision of the late Sidney Breese, who after- wards became United States Senator and Justice of the Supreme Court. (See State Capitats. )

During the session of the Second General

Assembly, which met at Vandalia, Dec. 4. 1820, a bill was passed establishing a State Bank at Vandalia, with branches at Shawneetown, Edwardsville and Brownsville. John McLean, who had been the first Representative in Con- gress, was Speaker of the House at this session. He was twice elected to the United States Senate, though he served only about two years, dying in 1830. (See State Bank.)

INTRODUCTION OF THE SLAVERY QUESTION .- The second State election, which occurred in August, 1822, proved the beginning of a turbu- lent period through the introduction of some exciting questions into State politics. There were four candidates for gubernatorial honors in the field: Chief-Justice Phillips, of the Supreme Court, supported by the friends of Governor Bond; Associate-Justice Browne, of the same court, supported by the friends of Governor Edwards; Gen. James B. Moore, a noted Indian fighter and the candidate of the "Old Rangers," and Edward Coles. The latter was a native of Virginia, who had served as private secretary of President Monroe, and had been employed as a special messenger to Russia. He had made two visits to Illinois, the first in 1815 and the second in 1818. The Convention to form a State Constitu- tion being in session at the date of the latter visit, he took a deep interest in the discussion of the slavery question and exerted his influence in securing the adoption of the prohibitory article in the organic law. On April 1, 1819, he started from his home in Virginia to remove to Edwards- ville, Ill., taking with him his ten slaves. The journey from Brownsville, Pa., was made in two flat-boats to a point below Louisville, where he disembarked, traveling by land to Edwards- ville. While descending the Ohio River he sur- prised his slaves by announcing that they were free. The scene, as described by himself, was most dramatic. Having declined to avail them- selves of the privilege of leaving him, he took them with him to his destination, where he eventually gave each head of a family 160 acres of land. Arrived at Edwardsville, he assumed the position of Register of the Land Office, to which he had been appointed by President Mon- roe, before leaving Virginia.

The act of Coles with reference to his slaves established his reputation as an opponent of slavery, and it was in this attitude that he stood as a candidate for Governor-both Phillips and Browne being friendly to "the institution." which had had a virtual existence in the "Illinois Country" from the time Renault brought 500

260

HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.

slaves to the vicinity of Kaskaskia, one hun- dred years before. Although the Constitution declared that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall hereafter be introduced into the State," this had not been effectual in eliminating it. In fact, while this language was construed, so long as it remained in the Constitution, as prohibiting legislation authorizing the admission of slaves from without, it was not regarded as inimical to the institution as it already existed ; and, as the population came largely from the slave States, there had been a rapidly growing sentiment in favor of removing the inhibitory clause. Although the pro-slavery party was divided between two candidates for Governor, it had hardly contemplated the possibility of defeat, and it was consequently a surprise when the returns showed that Coles was elected, receiv- ing 2,854 votes to 2,687 for Phillips, 2,443 for Browne and 622 for Moore- Coles' plurality being 167 in a total of 8,606. Coles thus became Governor on less than one-third of the popular vote. Daniel P. Cook, who had made the race for Congress at the same election against McLean, as an avowed opponent of slavery, was successful by a majority of 876. (See Coles, Edward; also Cook, Daniel Pope.)

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Historical encyclopedia of Illinois, Part 51

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913; Gale, W. Shelden Publication date: 1899 Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1388

Author: Bateman, Newton, 1822-1897. cn; Selby, Paul, 1825-1913; Gale, W. Shelden
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: Chicago : Munsell Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1388