History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part 2

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. ; O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 948

USA > Illinois > Union County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 2
USA > Illinois > Pulaski County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 2
USA > Illinois > Alexander County > History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois > Part 2

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).

The settlement and fort were in great dis- tress-at the point of starvation, indeed- and succor could not be obtained short of the Falls or Kaskaskia.

The Indians 'approached the settlement at first in small parties, and succeeded in kill- ing a number of the settlers before they could be moved to the fort. Half the people, both in the fort and its vicinity, were help- less from sickness, and the famine was so dis- tressing that it is said pumpkins were eaten as soon as the blossoms had fallen off the vines. The Indians continued their murder- ous visits in squads for about two weeks be- fore the main army of " braves" reached the fort. The soldiers aided and received into the fort all the white population that could be moved.

HISTORY OF CAIRO.

In the skirmishes to which we have al- luded, a white man was taken prisoner by the Indians, who, to save his life, exposed the true state of the garrison. The infor- mation seemed to add fury to the passions of the savages.

After the arrival of the main body of the savages, under Calbert, the fort was besieged three days and nights. During this time, the suffering and misery of the garrison were ex- tremely great. The water had almost given out: the river was falling rapidly, and the water in the wells receded with the river. The supply of provisions was quite exhausted, and sickness raged to such an extent that a very large number could not be moved from their beds. The wife of Capt. Piggott and several others died, and were buried within the walls of the fort while the savages were besieging the outside. It seemed reduced to a certainty, at this juncture, that, unless re- lief came speedily, the garrison would fall into the hands' of the Indians and be mur- dered.

The white prisoner now in the hands of the Indians detailed the true state of the fort. He told his captors that more than half its inmates were sick, and that each man had not more than three rounds of ammuni- tion, and that the garrison was quite desti- tute of water and provisions. On receiving this information, the whole Indian army re- tired about two miles to hold a council. In a few hours, Calbert and three chiefs, with a flag of truce, were sent back to the fort.

When the inmates of the fort discovered the flag, they sent out Capt. Piggott, Mr. Owens and another man, to meet the Indian delegation. The parley was conducted under the range of the guns of the garrison.

Calbert demanded a surrender of the fort at discretion, urging that the Indians knew its weak condition, and that an unconditional

surrender might save much bloodshed. He further said that he had sent a force of war- riors up the Ohio, to intercept the succor for which the whites had sent a messenger. He gave the assurance that he would do his best to save the lives of the prisoners, except in the case of a few whom the Indians had sworn to butcher. He gave the garrison one hour to form a conclusion.

The delegates from the whites promised that if the Indians would leave the country, the inmates of the fort would abandon it with all haste. Calbert'agreed to submit this prop- osition to the council, and was at the point of returning when a Mr. Music, whose fam- ily had been cruelly murdered, and another man at the fort, fired upon him and wounded him somewhat severely,

The warriors were engaged a long time in council, and, by almost a seeming interposi- tion of Providence, the long-wished-for suc- cor arrived during the time in safety from the "Falls." The Indians had struck the river too high up, and thereby the boat es- caped The provisions and men were hurried into the fort, a new spirit seemed to possess every one, and active exertions were at once made to place the fort in position for a stout resistance. The sick and the small children were placed beyond the reach of harm, and all the women and the 'children of any con- siderable size were instructed in the art of defense.

Shortly after dark, the Indians attempted to steal on the fort and capture it; but in this being most decidedly frustrated, they assaulted the garrison and tried to storm it. The cannon had been placed in proper posi- tion to rake the walls, so when the " red- skins " mounted the ramparts, the ;cannon swept them off in heaps. The Indians, with hideous yells, and loud and savage demon- strations, kept up a streaming fire from their

HISTORY OF CAIRO.

rifles upon the garrison, which, however, did but little execution. In this manner the bat- tle raged for hours; but at last the Indians were forced to fly from the deadly cannon of the fort to save themselves from destruction. Calbert and other chiefs rallied them again, but the same result followed; they were again forced to fly, and all further efforts to rally them proved ineffectual.

The whites were in constant fear that the fort would be fired by the Indians. This, indeed, was their greatest fear. At one time a huge savage, painted for the occasion, gained the top of one of the block-houses and was applying fire to the roof, when he was shot dead by a white soldier. His body fell on the outside of the wall, and was carried off by his comrades.

The Indians, satisfied they could not capt- ure the fort, abandoned the siege entirely, and, securing their dead and wounded, left the country. A large number of them had been killed and wounded, while none of the whites had been killed, and only a few wounded. The whites were 'rejoiced at this turn in affairs, as the number of Indians, and their ability to continue the siege, were calculated to terrify them.

With all convenient speed, the fort was abandoned. Many of the soldiers, together with settlers who had taken refuge in the fort, moved to Kaskaskia. They proved the first considerable acquisition of American population in Illinois. Since then, Fort Jef- ferson has remained abandoned, and is now but marked by here and there certain shape- less mounds and piles of debris that are in- distinguishable unless pointed out to the stranger. But this spot will ever retain a great interest to Americans, at least as long as the struggles and privations of those who pioneered the valley of the Mississippi retain a place in the memory of the American people.

While it is true that this first attempt of the white men to make a habitation and a home within the immediate neighborhood of Cairo was abandoned and the people dispersed, the most of them coming to Illinois and making their homes in Kaskaskia, it was not wholly a failure in behalf of civilization. The little band, as brave and true heroes as ever fought upon the immortal fields of Thermopylæ, had accomplished a great purpose-they had withstood the murderous midnight attack of the bloody, yelling fiends and drove them off. They taught him a bloody lesson, yet that is the only school a savage will learn in. This siege and battle were the first great step in making the shores of these rivers habit- able, and even though the fort was dismantled and abandoned, it is quite true it taught the savage to respect the power of the white man. It was not a long time after this de- ciding battle that we find the white man in his flat-boats, and soon in his keel-boats, in a small way commencing to carry on that great commerce that has since so filled the rivers, and dotted their shores with the pleasing evi- dences of civilization. This commerce of the flat-boat, the keel boat and the pirogue, continued to slowly increase and perform the scanty commerce of the day, until finally the steamboat, came, bearing upon its decks the great human revolution, that stands un- equaled in importance, and that will go on in its great effects forever.

In 1795, William Bird, then a mere child, in company with his father's family, landed at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. This family remained here only a short time, and then went to Cape Girardeau, where they resided, and in 1817 William Bird applied at the land office in Kaskaskia and entered the land mentioned in another part of this chapter. This family were the first white people, so far as can be now as-

HISTORY OF CAIRO.

certained, that ever put foot upon the spot now called Cairo.

December 18, 1811 .- The anniversary of this day the people of Cairo and its vicinity should never forget. It was the coming of the first steamboat to where Cairo now is- the New Orleans, Capt. Roosevelt, Command- ing. It was the severest day of the great throes of the New Madrid earthquake; at the same time, a fiery comet was rushing athwart the horizon.

In the year 1809, Robert Fulton and Chan- cellor Livingston had commenced their im- mortal experiments to navigate by steam the Hudson River. As soon as this experiment was crowned with success, they turned their eyes toward these great Western water-ways. They saw that here was the greatest inland sea in all the world, but did they, think you, prolong their vision to the present time, and realize a tithe of the possibilities they were giving to the world? They unrolled the map of this continent, and they sent Capt. Roose- velt to Pittsburgh, to go over the river from there to New Orleans, and report whether they could be navigated or not. He made the in- spection, and his favorable report resulted in the immediate construction of the steamer New Orleans, which was launched in Pitts- burgh in December, 1811.

Could Capt. Roosevelt now come to us in his natural life, and call the good people of Cairo together and relate his experiences of the day he passed where Cairo now stands, it would be a story transcending, in thrilling interest, anything ever listened to by any now living. All fiction ever conceived by busy brains would be tame by the side of his truth- ful narrative. His boat passed out of the Ohio River and into the Mississippi River in the very midst of that most remarkable convulsion of nature ever known-the great New Madrid earthquake. As the boat came

down the Ohio River, it had moored opposite Yellow Banks to coal, this having been pro- vided some time previously, and, while load- ing this on, the voyagers were approached by the squatters of the neighborhood, who in- quired if they had not heard strange noises on the river and in the woods in the course of the preceding day, and perceived the shores shake, insisting they had repeatedly felt the earth tremble. The weather was very hot, the air misty, still and dull, and though the sun was visible, like an immense glowing ball of copper, his rays hardly shed more than a mournful twilight on the surface of the water. Evening drew nigh, and with it some indications of what was passing around them became evident, for ever and anon they heard a rushing sound, violent splash, and finally saw large portions of the shore tearing away from the land and laps- ing into the watery abyss. An eye-witness says: "It was a startling scene-one could have heard a pin drop on deck. The crew spoke but little; they noticed, too, that the comet, for some time visible in the heavens, had suddenly disappeared, and every one on board was thunderstruck."

The next day the portentous signs of this terrible natural convulsion increased. The trees that remained on shore were seen wav- ing and nodding without a wind. The voy- agers had no choice but to pursue their course : down the stream, as all day this violence seemed only to increase. They had usually brought to, under the shore, but at all points they saw the high banks disappearing, over- whelming everything near or under them, particularly 'many of the small craft that were in use in those days, carrying down to death many and many who had thus gone to shore in the hope of escaping. A large island in mid-channel, which had been selected by the pilot as the better alternative, was

HISTORY OF CAIRO.

sought for in vain, having totally disap- peared, and thousands of acres, constituting the surrounding country, were found to have been swallowed up, with their gigantic growths of forest and cane.

Thus, in doubt and terror, they proceeded hour after hour until dark, when they found a small island, and rounded to, moor- ing at the foot of it. Here they lay, keeping watch on deck during the long night, listen- ing to the sound of waters which roared and whirled wildly around them, hearing, also, from time to time, the rushing earth slide from the shore, and the commotion of the falling mass as it became engulfed in the river. Thus, this boat, during the intensity of the earthquake, was moored almost in sight of Cairo; practically, it was at Cairo during the worst of the three worst nights.

Yet the day that succeeded this awful night brought no solace in its dawn. Shock fol- lowed shock, a dense black cloud of vapor overshadowed the land, through which no sun- beam found its way to cheer the desponding heart of man. It seems incredible to us that the bed of the river could be so agitated as to lash the waters into yeasty foam, until the foam would gather in great bodies, said to be larger than flour barrels, and float away. Again, it is still more incredible to be told that the waters of the two rivers were turned back upon themselves in swift streams, but these, and much more, are well-established facts. It is impossible now to depict all the wonderful phenomena of this world's won- der. There were wave motions, and perpen- dicular motions of the earth's surface, and there were, judging from effects, as well as testimony of those who witnessed it, sudden risings and bursting of the earth's crust, from whence would shoot into the air many feet jets of water, sand and black shale.

Just below New Madrid, a flat-boat belong-

ing to Richard Stump was swamped, and six men were drowned. Large trees disappeared under the ground, or were cast with fright- ful violence into the river. At times the waters of the river were seen to rise like a wall in the middle of the stream, and then suddenly rolling back, would beat against either bank with terrific force. Boats of con- siderable size were " high and dry" upon the shores of the river. Frequently a loud roar- ing and hissing were heard, like the escape of steam from a boiler. The air was impreg- nated with sulphurous effluvium, and a taste of sulphur was observed in the water of the river and the neighboring springs. Each shock was accompanied by what seemed to be the reports of heavy artillery. A man who was on the river in a boat at the time of one of the shocks declared that he saw the mighty Mississippi cut in twain, while the waters poured down a vast chasm into the bowels of the earth. A moment more and the chasm was filled, but the boat which contained this witness was crushed in the tumultuous effort of the flood to regain its former level. The town of New Madrid, that had stood upon a bluff fifteen or twenty feet above the high- est water, sank so low, that the next rise of the water covered it to the depth of five feet.

So far as can now be ascertained, but one person has put upon record his observations who saw it upon land. This was Mr. Bring- ·ier, an engineer, who related what he saw to Sir Charles Lyell, in 1846. This account represents that he was on horseback near New Madrid, when some of the severest shocks occurred, and that, as the waves ad- vanced, he saw the trees bend down, and often, the instant afterward, when in the act of recovering their position, meet the boughs of other trees similarly inclined, so as to be- come interlocked, being prevented from righting themselves again. The transit of the

HISTORY OF CAIRO.

waves through the woods was marked by the crashing noise of countless branches, first heard on one side and then the other; at the same time, powerful jets of water, mixed with sand, loam, and bituminous shale, were cast up with such impetuosity that both horse and rider might have perished had the swelling and upheaving ground happened to burst immediately beneath them. Some of the shocks were perpendicular, while others, much more desolating, were horizontal, or moved along like great waves; and where the principal fountains of mud and water were thrown up, circular cavities, called "sink holes," were formed. One of the lakes thus formed is over sixty miles long and from three to twenty miles wide, and in places fifty to one hundred feet deep. In sailing over the surface of this lake, one is struck with astonishment at beholding the gigantic trees of the forest standing partially exposed amid the waste of waters, like gaunt, mysteri- ous monsters; but this mystery is still in- creased on casting the eye into the depths, to witness cane-brakes covering its bottom, over which a mammoth species of tortoise is sometimes seen dragging its slow length along, while millions of fish sport through the aquatic thickets -the whole constituting one of the remarkable features of American scenery.

In that part of the country that borders upon what is called the "sunk country"-that is, depressions upon which lakes did not form -all the trees prior to the date of the great earthquake are dead. Their leafless, barkless, and finally branchless bodies stood for many years as noticeable objects and monuments of the earth's agitation, that was to that terrific extent as to break them and wholly loosen from them the supporting soil.

As before stated, the severest shocks were the first three days, but they lasted for three

months. In many sections, the people dis- covered the opening seams ran generally in a parallel course, and they took advantage of this by felling trees at right angles, and in severe shocks even the children learned to cling upon these, and thus many were saved.

Were we wrong in stating that the coming of the first steamboat to Cairo was a most memorable event ?

Such, indeed, faintly described, were some of the surroundings amid which the steamer New Orleans rode out of the troubled waters of the Ohio and into the yet worse troubled waters of the Mississippi River. It was nature's grandest exhibition. It was the coming of the first steamboat in such awful surroundings that made such a strange meet- ing of the excited energies of nature and a human thought-a silent thought of man's brain fashioned into a steam engine, propel- ling a boat by this new idea upon the West- ern waters! What grandeur, and awful force and terror in the one, and, compared to it how feeble and insignificant the human prod- net! How one, in its terrific grandeur, could change the whole face of our country in a moment, and make the feeble steamboat ap- pear as insignificant as the cork upon the storm-tossed ocean. A strange meeting of the two-those two things in the world which are so misread, and have been so long mis- understood by men! When nature puts on her suit of riot and force and begins the play of those fantastic tricks, men's souls are affrighted, and they fall upon their knees -those, often, who never did so before-and their feeble voices of supplication would ap- pease the storm or stop the earth's throes. The unusual display of the forces of nature appal men, and they worship what they con- ceive to be irresistible power. Hence, a country of earthquakes, tornadoes, cyclones and storms is very religious, and generally

HISTORY OF CAIRO.

full of superstition. A country where lurks danger and perils upon every hand unseen- dangers that accumulate like the horrors of the nightmare-will produce in the human mind little else than superstition and quak- ing fears; the horrible dread ingulfs them like a living hell, till the very soul responds to the hideous surroundings. Man is so con- stituted, he will bow down and worship what he fears, especially when it is an unseen, re- sistless power, displayed in such appalling force as to enfeeble and dwarf his intellect.

The ignorant squatters along the river- that is, some of them-had only known that the first steamboat and the great earthquake had come here together. It was firmly be- lieved that it was this flying in the face of God, and making a boat run with " bilin' water," that caused the earthquake. "Pre- sumptuous man had boiled the water, when, if God had wanted it to boil, he would have so made it." People had navigated the river in flat-boats, keel-boats and canoes, and under these the glad rivers went singing to the sea. But 'man must come with his fire boat, and the earth went into convulsions, and terror and desolation brooded over the land. God was mysterious, and man presumptuous. The earth indeed trembled when He frowned, and man must learn to be meek and humble; he was but as the grass that was mowed down by the scythe-a breath, a passing vapor.

But even the less ignorant of men-could he comprehend that in this boat was a great human thought, a wonderful invention of man ? He could see the weak hands of men guiding and controlling it. It's a mere toy and child's play, and he looks at it a moment in childish curiosity, perhaps smiles ap- provingly upon it. It's all a momentary pastime with him. It's too feeble to do more than receive a passing notice.

Think of it! The thoughts and inventions of genius are the one only powerful thing among men-they and their effects alone endure forever. All else passes away and is forgotten. In a little while, only the' traces of the great earthquake, even, can be found and pointed out, while the steam engine has been the first, the great power that has done more for civilization and human advancement in the past fifty years than all else combined. From this one feeble, imperfect boat has come the world's Armada, that now plows the waves of every river and sea, until the busy world upon the waters and its wealth of nations almost equals that upon land. It is ever present-ever living-ever growing in might, power and the welfare of the whole human family. The earthquake, in its effects upon mankind, compared to the engine, was as the mote to a world-a drop of water com- pared to the ocean. No one thing in the his- tory of the human family has so contributed to the good of the human race, as the engine be- cause it opened the way and made possible the sweeping advance of the past three-quarters of a century. Remember, since the engine came, the average of human life has been increased ten years; man knows now, where he guessed and feared before. In no century, in all the world's history, has civilization made such great strides forward as this. It made possible all those comforts and necessities we now en- joy. It has lightened the labors and burdens of men, and given the mind a chance to work. It has cheapened food, clothing, books and in- telligence itself, and is gathering momentum as it goes. Who may guess, who may dream of the yet benign and good effects to man that lay hidden in that grand and sublime thought of Fulton's that gave us the power of steam ?

Then, indeed, what a great, what an im-

HISTORY OF CAIRO.

mortal thing, was the first steamboat upon the Western waters! What a temporary thing was the earthquake that received it!

Had the 18th day of December, 1811, only been signaled by any one of the three events above referred to, it would have constituted it a memorable day. But the wonderful com- bination of events makes it out most prom- inently in the calendar, as a day calling up the most vivid and important recollections of any other in the country's history. Suitable monuments along the river from Pittsburgh to New Orleans should be placed sacred to the memory of Capt. Roosevelt.

As soon as the steamboat New Orleans had made its successful trip from Pittsburgh to New Orleans and return, the commerce of the Western waters really began to grow, and although it was six years after this success- ful steam voyage on the Ohio before a steam- boat attempted the waters of the Upper Mis- sissippi as far as St. Louis, yet Cairo soon began to attract the attention of river and commercial men as an important trans-ship- ping point.

The steamboat Orleans was furnished with a propelling wheel at the stern and two masts; for Fulton believed, at that time, that the occasional use of sails would be indis- pensable. Her capacity was a hundred tons.

The first appearance of this steamboat upon Western waters produced, as the reader may suppose, not a little excitement and admiration. A steamboat, to common observ- ers, was almost as great a wonder as a flying angel would be at present. The banks of the river, in some places, were thronged with spectators, gazing, in speechless astonish- ment, at the puffing and smoking phenome- non. The average speed of this boat was only about three miles per hour. Before her ability to move through the water without the aid of sails or oars had been exemplified,

comparatively few persons believed she could possibly be made to answer any purpose of real utility. In fact, she had made several voyages before the general prejudice began to subside, and for some months many of the river merchants preferred the old mode of transportation with all its risks, delays and extra expense, rather than make use of such a contrivance as a steamboat, which, to their apprehensions, appeared too marvelous and miraculous for the business of every-day life. How slow are the masses of mankind to adopt improvements, even when they appear to be most obvious and unquestionable!

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.

History of Alexander, Union and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part 2

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892? Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. ; O.L. Baskin & Co. Number of Pages: 948

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. ; O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 948