History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 28

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 1340

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108

HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO.

for Cook County, September 10, 1831. He seems to have been one of the first justices to hold court ; but as lawyer or Justice his business was not large in 1831. In 1532 it was but little better, Chicago's greatest interest of that year centering in the Black Ilawk War and the Asiatic cholera ; and Heacock made a living chiefly by his trade. About 1832 there appeared in a Buffalo paper several letters from him to his brother, a merchant of that place, describing Chicago and the territory immediately to the west, in glowing terms-the beauty of the country and the fertility of its soil. He referred to the land grant by Congress for the construc- tion of the Illinois & Michigan Canal ; and, to show the entire feasibility of the project, stated that in high water boats passed from the South Branch of the Chicago River into the Desplaines, and that by this means the American Fur Company transported their annual supplies to their trading posts on the Illinois River and its tributaries. At a meeting for incorporation of Chicago as a town, August 10, 1833, of the thirteen votes cast his was the only one against the 'ncorporation, which showed at least exceptional fidelity to con- viction and independence of opinion, recognized as characteristic of the man. At the Indian treaty of September 26, IS33, he re- ceived one hundred dollars. Meanwhile in the summer of 1833, the Chicago school section was subdivided, and all but four of its one hundred and forty-two blocks sold at auction for $38,865, on a credit of one, two and three years on the petition of the inhabit- ants .* Several of these lots came into possession of Mr. Heacock, among others, Lot 7, Block 117, frontage south on Adams Street. which he designed for a residence. He was among the original subscribers to the first Chicago newspaper in November, 1833. That his children might be nearer school, he removed, in 1834, into a house on the east bank of the South Branch, a little south of Randolph Street. The lands around Chicago being thrown on the market in 1834, Mr. Heacock became as extensive a purchaser as his means would permit, being one of the most sanguine men of his day as to the great development in store for the then insig- nificant town. He pre-empted the quarter section upon which his purchase from Lampsett was situated, going to Danville, Vermillion County, the nearest land-office in 1834, for his land certificate. In the spring of 1835, he built a house on what he supposed was his lot, only to find that he was on Monroe Street, not Adams, whither he proceeded to remove it on rollers. " This house," says his son, "he occupied, off and on, until his death." Here his fifth son and youngest child was born. Under date of August 5, 1335. we find him advertised as attorney, which is perhaps an indication that he did not seek re-election as a Justice ; and he appears as at- torney in the Chicago directories until 1848. Besides his profession, he cultivated some land at his place on the South Branch, called Heacock's Point, where he had been licensed to keep a tavern inaw, 1762, according to popular belief, and his age as stated at the time of his death, although the years of his life are somewhat doubtful. His father was a Scotch trader who had been an officer in the British army, and his mother was an Ottawa woman .* He married at Mackinaw and moved with his wife to the St. Joseph in Michigan, where he became an Indian trader, and, it is said, an associate of Joseph Bailly. With other friendly Pottawatomies he did all in his power to shield the Americans from the tury of the hostile Indians, at the time of, and after, the Fort Dearborn mas- sacre. He arrived on the scene too late to do anything to prevent the massacre, of which he was a witness ; but, on his return to St. Joseph, he received and sheltered the family of Mr. Kinzie, who received from himself and wife "all possible kindness and hospi- tality for several months."+ Not confining their good deeds to the family of Mr. Kinzie, the generous host and hostess. Finding that Captain and Mrs. Ileald, who had been brought to St. Joseph by Jean Baptiste Chandonnais, clerk of Mr. Kinzie, were in dan- ger of being recaptured and taken back to the Kankakee, he carried them safely in a bark canoe to Mackinaw, a distance of three hun- dred miles, where they were surrendered to the British command- ant. It is not known just when Robinson settled in Chicago, but he had been here, at least two seasons, and with Antoine Ouilmette had cultivated the field belonging to the fort, raising thereon corn, when Captain Bradley arrived to rebuild Fort Dearborn in IS16. In 1825 his personal property was assessed at $200, by the Peoria County Assessor. He served in 1823 and 1826 as Indian interpre- ter under Dr. Wolcott, at a salary of $365. during the latter year. He is recorded as a voter in 1825, 1826 and 1830, and on June 8 of the latter year was licensed to keep tavern in Chicago. He had owned prior to this time, a cabin or trading-post at Hardscrabble, but vacated it before IS26. On September 28, 1826, he was mar- ried by John Kinzie, J. P., to Catherine Chevalier, daughter of Francois and Mary Ann Chevalier. Francois Chevalier was chief of a united band of Pottawatomies, Ottawas and Chippewas ; with bis village at the Caiumet. At his death, Robinson became chief of the band. At the treaty of Prairie du Chien, July, 1829, he was granted two sections of land on the Desplaines ; by the treaty of Camp Tippecanoe, October 20, 1832, a life annuity of $200, and by the Chicago treaty of September, 1833, an additional an- nuity of $300. His exertions, with those of Billy Caldwell, pre- vented the tribe from joining the Sauks in the Winnebago War of 1827, and Black Hawk in 1832. During the latter part of his resi- dence in Chicago, he lived at Wolf Point, where he had a store or trading-house. After the Indians were removed beyond the Mis- sissippi, be settled with his family on his reservation on the Des- plaines, where he lived until his death, which occurred April 22, 1872. His wife died August 7, 1860. They were both, with two in April, 1831. His investments in real estate were large for the . sons and a daughter-in-law, buried on the bank of the river near the old home.

period, in accord with his anticipations of Chicago's future, and led to much distress of mind and financial embarrassment in the years succeeding the panic of 1837. It was perhaps owing to the pressure of this misfortune in his declining years that he was dis- abled by a stroke of paralysis in 1843, from which he never com- pletely rallied. During the cholera epidemic of 1849, he fled with his family to a farm he owned at Summit, where he himself, his wife, and two sons were attacked, and died in quick succession between the 28th and 30th of June. In the protracted discussion of the canal question, Mr. Heacock, with his strong individuality took an independent and isolated attitude in favor of a less deep and there- fore less expensive excavation, whence he got the mistaken nick- name of " Shallow Cut." With the name he received such flippant and superficial censure from I'ress and platform as usually falls to the lot of those who dare dissent from the public opinion of the hour. His views prevailetl, however, in the end. "As a public speaker," says Judge Goodrich, " he was pleasing. instructive and often elo- quent ; his earnest and straightforward outspokenness, his fine con- versational powers, his generosity and frankness of character, and his inexhaustible fund of narrative and anecdote made him most companionable." In politics he was a Jackson Democrat, but also a Free-soiler, and an earnest adversary of the dominant influence of the South in national affairs. " Ile was not regarded as a bril- liant lawyer," continues Mr. Goodrich, "and though the first on the ground he was soon crowded out of practice by the younger and more active members of the profession." It is however true that there were always lawvers enough for all the law business that offered ; and Heacock in those first years, 1827 to 1835, made more money as a carpenter than as a lawyer or justice. "He was, " says Judge Caton, "a very fair lawyer ;" and adds : "When no one occasion my youthful presumption got the better of me, the old man gave me the best dressing down I ever got."

THREE FRIENDLY CHIEFS AND THE OLDEST RESIDENT.

ALEXANDER ROBINSON ( Che-che-pin-qua ), a chief of the United Potawatomies, Chippewas and Ottawas, was born at Mack-

* It received ninety-five signatures, embracing most of the principal citizens,

BILLY CALDWELL (Sauganash), one of the most conspicuous, as well as one of the most notable, characters identified with the history of early Chicago, was an Indian half-breed. He was the son of a Colonel Caldwell, an Irish officer in the British army stationed at Detroit, and was born about the year 1780. His mother was a Pottawatomie, and is said to have been remarkable for her beauty and intelligence. Billy received a good education at the Jesuit schools of Detroit and learned to speak and write the French and English languages fluently. He also acquired the knowledge of a number of Indian dialects. Little is known in

Ma Lawith Captainel &

detail nf the events of his life, but we know that he took an active part against the Americans in the War of 1812. In person he was large and commanding, of great strength and power of endurance. At first his Indian name was "Straight Tree," on account of his fine appearance, but he is better known by the name of Sauganush, or the Englishman. Ile early fell under the influence of Tecum- seh, became the secretary of that warrior, and was intimately asso- ciated with him from 1so7 until Tecumseh's death. Very little is konwn of Caldwell's career as a warrior, for upon the subject of the war he was always remarkably reticent. He undoubtedly was engaged in most of the battles or actions in which Tecumseh was engaged, and he was often sent by his chief on important missions. Hle and Shaw-bo-nce, do not appear to have been present at Fort Dearborn before or at the time of the massacre, but we find them

* Wis. Hist Coll-, + " Wasbun," p. 100.

109

CHICAGO FROM 1816 TO 1830.

both here the next day when they were instrumental in saving the family of John Kinzie. It is altogether likely that they were the runners sent by Tecumseh to the Pottawatomies to inform them in regard to the fall of Fort Mackinac. and to bring them as far as possible in league with him. The incident of his saving the Kin- zie family is related in the sketch given elsewhere of the life of John Kinzie. Caldwell participated in the battle of the Thames, October 5, 1813, where Tecumseh was killed, but what active ser- vice he was engaged in after that is not known. The credential ne gave Shawbonee shows that he was a captain in the British Indian Department as late as 1816. That document reads as follows :

"This is to certify that the bearer of this name, Chamblie, was a faithful companion to me during the late war with the United States. The bearer joined the late celebrated warrior Tecumseh, of the Shawnee nation, in the year 1So7, on the Wabash River, and remained with the above warrior from the commencement of hostilities with the United States, until our defeat at Moravian Town, on the Thames, October 5, 1813. I also have been witness to his intrepidity and courage as warrior on many occasions, and he showed a great deal of humanity to those unfortunate sons of Mars who fell into his hands.

"B. CALDWELL, Captain I. D.

"Amherstburg, August, 1816."

At what time Caldwell took up his residence near Fort Dear- born is not definitely known, but probably about the year IS20. Chicago was still a trading post, but the fort had been rebuilt and an Indian Agent resided here. It was a central point where the indians gathered to receive their annuities and do their trading. In 1826 we find Caldwell duly appointed Justice of the Peace for Peoria County, but he probably was seldom called upon to act in his official capacity. He was a voter, and his name appears on the poll lists of 1826 and IS30. He usually officiated as one of the clerks of the election. By the treaty with the Pottawatomies held at Prairie du Chien in 1829, two and one-half sections of land on the Chicago River were granted to him, and by the subsequent treaties of 1832 and IS33 an annuity aggregating one thousand dollars was bestowed by the Government. The land was located on the North Branch, about six miles from the junction with the main river. This land he sold at an early day. There was also a house built for him by the Department for Indian Affairs on the North Side near where is now the corner of State Street and Chi- cago Avenue. He was always, after his removal to Fort Dearborn, the unchangeable friend of the whites, and his influence with his tribe was exerted to preserve peace. In 1827 at the time of the threatened outbreak by the Winnebagoes, and when the latter were doing all in their power to engage the Pottawatomies in a war with the whites, it was the influence of Caldwell and Shawbonee that pre- vented it. And again in 1832 he prevented his people from allying themselves with Black Ifawk in his desperate raid on the white settlements. Caldwell was very desirous of teaching his people the habits and customs of the whites. He wanted them to become educated and civilized. Wben Mr. Watkins started a school in 1832, Caldwell offered to pay the tuition and buy books and clothes for all Indian children who would attend school, if they would dress like the Americans, but it is stated none of them accepted. Neither did he approve the Indian custom of polygamy, and he never had but one wife. He found in her however a tem- per sufficiently hot for several, and his cabin is said to have often resounded with her animated tones, when rating her liege lord. She is said to have been a sister of the chief " Vellow Head", and a daughter of Nee-scot-ne-meg, one of the principal participators in the massacre of 1312. They had one son who died in youth. James M. Bucklin, the chief engineer of the Illinois & Michigan Canal in IS30, says of Caldwell:

" From Billy Caldwell, a half-breed, with some education and great intelligence, who had explored the country in every direction, I often procured valuable information during my explorations. It was he who first suggested making a feeder of the Calamic River."

When the time came for the removal of the Indians, under the various treaties made with them, Caldwell's influence was exerted to make the removal peaceful and successful. fle determined to leave his cherished white friends behind, and cast his fortunes with his people, and share their privations and trials with them. In 1836, under the leadership of Captain Russell the Government Agent, and Billy Caldwell, the Indians to the number of nearly twenty-five hundred assembled for the last time at Chicago, to receive their payments and then take up their line of march for their new home on the Missouri, at Council Bluffs. Through the influence of Sauganash the removal was accomplished with ease and success. He never returned again to the scenes of his youth and manhood. Age was coming on him, and the bustling activity of the ambitious young city had no charm for one whose life had been passed amid the wildness of nature. He seems to have taken some interest in public affairs and during the exciting presalential

campaign of 1840, he with his friend Shawbonee, published the following letter:

"COUNCIL BLUFFS, March 23, IS40. " TO GENERAL HARRISON'S FRIENDS :

" The other day several newspapers were brought to us; and peeping over them, to our astonishment we found that the hero of the late war was called a coward. This would have surprised the tall braves, Tecumseh of the Shawnees, and Round Head and Walk-in-the-Water of the Wyandotts. It the departed could rise again, they would say to the white man that General Harrison was the terror of the late tomahawkers. The first time we got ac- quainted with General Harrison, it was at the council-fire of the late Old Tempest, General Wayne, on the headquarters of the Wabash, at Greenville, 1796. Froni that time until ISI1, we had many friendly smokes with him; but from IS12 we changed our tobacco smoke into powder smoke. Then we found General Har- rison was a brave warrior and humane to his prisoners, as reported to us by two of Tecumseh's young men who were taken in the flee: with Captain Barclay on the toth of September, IS13, and on the Thames, where he routed both the red men and the British, and where he showed his courage and his humanity to his prisoners, both white and red. See report of Adam Brown and family, taken on the morning of the battle, October 5, 1813. We are the only two surviving of that day in this country. We hope the good white men will protect the name of General Harrison. We re- main your friends forever.

"CHAMBLEE [SHAWBONEE], Aid to Tecumseh. . "B. CALDWELL, [SAUGANASH]. Captain."

Caldwell did not long survive the removal, but died in his new home in Council Bluffs on the 23th of September, 1841. at the age of sixty-two. His most striking characteristic was his humanity. In this respect he resembled his great leader, Tecumseh. He did all in his power to alleviate the horrors of the war, and in time of peace did all he could to promote the feeling of friendship between the Indians and whites. Bly the first residents and settlers of Chicago he was highly respected, and some are still surviving who esteemed it no small privilege to accompany him on a hunting excursion. The esteem in which he was generally held is well re- flected in the action of Mark Beaubien, when he named -his new tavern. It was suggested to Mark that he should name his house after some great man. He could think of no greater personage than Billy Caldwell and so his tavern became celebrated as the "Sauganash."

SHAW-KO-NEE, whose name has been written in .many ways, among others, as Chamblie, in Billy Caldwell's certificate hereto- fore given, was the son of an Ottawa chief, and was born near the Maumee River in Ohio about the year 1775. He married the daughter of a Pottawatomie, and he seems thereafter to have been more identified with the Pottawatomies than with the Ottawas, though these tribes were always more or less intimately associated. His village was on the Illinois near where the present city of Ottawa now stands, but he subsequently removed it to what is now known as Shabbona Grove in De Kalb County. Shawbonee became associated with Caldwell and Tecumseh about the year 1807, and was their firm ally in all their enterprises, until the death of Tecumseh. Shawbonee was present at the battle of the Thames, and was by the side of Tecumseh when he was killed. He always maintained that it was Colonel Richard Johnson who fired the fatal shot that killed his chief. After the war was over he gave in his adherence to the United States Government, and from that time forth until the end of his life he was a strong and constant friend to the Americans, and on more than nne occasion risked his own life to save his white friend. At the time of the so-called Winnebago war, in 1827, there was no military force at Fort Dearborn, and it was greatly feared by the settlers in the neighborhood that the l'ottawatomies would be led to join with the northern tribes in war against the whites. After the annual payment was made in September of that year, rumors that Dig Foot's band, which had their villages on Lake Geneva, would certainly join with the Winnebagoes, fell thick and fast upon the ears of the startled settlers. At this juncture Shaw- bonee and Caldwell used their influence to restrain their own bands. and also volunteered to find out what were the plans of the Winne- bagnes, and whether Big Foot's band really intended to join with them. With this purpose in view they visited Big Foot's village. and by their astuteness and clever management, succeeded in pre- venting Big Foot's band from entering into the threatened alliance. The last attempt made to engage the Pottawatomies in war with the whites was that made by Black llawk in 1832. That cele- brated warrior, emulating the example of Tecumseh a quarter of a century before, sought to enlist all the India. tribes in a general war. A great council was hell at Indiantown in February, 1-32. and there with great eloquence and force Black Hawk enkirgrd upon the necessity of cooperation in order to save their hunting grounds frimm the encroachments of the whites. "Let all our trito .

IIO

HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO.

unite," said the tawny orator, "and we shall have an army of war- riors equal in number to the trees of the forest." The appeal was powerful and i: required all the influence of Shawbonee, Caldwell and Robinson to overcome it. But these men well knew the power and military resources of the whites, and how hopeless a war with them would be. Said Shawbonee in answer to Black Hawk's figure of speech as to their numbers, "Your army would equal in number the trees of the forest, and you would encounter an army of palefaces as numerous as the leaves on those trees." The coun- cil failed in uniting the Indians in a common cause aod although Black Hawk made one more effort to gain Shawbonee in bis cause, he utterly failed. Not only did Shawbonee repel all the efforts of Black Hawk, but when the war broke out, by his personal exer- tions, and at the risk of his life, he succeeded in warning some of the frontier settlers in time to save their lives. By the treaty of Prairie du Chien two sections of land werc granted to Shawbonee. This was located by him at the place where for many years his vil- lage had been situated in De Kalb County. A survey and plat were made accordingly, and here Shawbonee resided until his band was removed to the West in 1837. He accompanied them with his family, but unfortunately their reservation was in the neighborhood of that of the Sacs and Foxes. The feud which had arisen between the tribes on account of Shawbonee's refusal to co-operate with Black Hawk still existed, and culminated in the murder of Shaw- bonee's eldest son and nephew by some of the revengeful Sacs and Foxes. Shawbonce himself narrowly escaped and he was induced to return again with his family to his old home. He resided at his favorite grove with his family, for a number of years, until his tribe was removed to their new reservation in Kansas. This in- duced him to again join his red brethren. but he remained with them only for three years, when he again returned to his Illinois home. But a change had now recurred. The Land Department had or- dered a new survey and ignored Shawbonee's claim, holding that he had forfeited it by removal from it. It was entered at the land-of- fice at Dixon for sale, and when Shawbonee returned, he found his favorite bome in the possession of strangers. His eminent services in behalf of the whites in the early days were all forgotten and he was ruthlessly driven from the spot he so much loved and about wbich clustered so many of his dearest recollections. A few of his carly friends hearing of his circumstances, united in the purchase of a small tract of twenty acres near Morris. Here he lived with the remnants of his family until July, 1859, when he died. His re- mains lie buried in the cemetery of Morris. In personal appearance he was one of the finest specimens of the American Indian. Tall, straight, and muscular, he was said to have been a model of physi- cal manhood. Until late in life his habits were temperate, but the misfortunes of his later years often led him to the intemperate use of that liquor which has ever been the enemy of his race. He owed much to the teachings and precepts of Tecumseh, and he in all things endeavored to conform himself to the example of that great warrior. He was humane as well as courageous, and always exerted his influence to protect unfortunate captives from the vio- lence of the savages. A portrait of him adores the walls of the Chicago Historical Society rooms, and his name and memory are preserved in the records of that association.

GURDON S. HUBBARD, the earliest resident of Chicago now alive, was born in Windsor, Vt., August 22, 1802. He was the son of Elizur and Abigail (Sage) Hubbard. He received in his youth only the ordinary education afforded by the common schools.

GrundenS Hubbard

At the age of ten years he left home and went to North Bridge- water, Mass., where he was a pupil in the school of Kev. Daniel Huntington for nearly three years. In the spring of 1815 he returned to his parents at Windsor, and soon thereafter removed with them to Montreal, Canada. Soon after this removal the youth began life on his own account. He evinced a wonderful aptitude and taste for trade and traffic, even at this early age. llis hrst ventures were in the poultry trade between northern Vermont and Canada, which as a mere boy without capital or friends, he managed so as to bring him a living and something more. In the fall of 1816, he gave up the traffic and entered the hardware store of John Frothingham, of Montreal, as a clerk, where he continued until ISIs. In the spring of that year, being then sixteen years of age, he bound himself for five years, for the sum of St20 per year, to William W. Matthews, then the agent of the American Fur Company. U'nder this new engagement, he left Montreal fur the wilds uf the great Northwest, May 13, ISIS.

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History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 28

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas Number of Pages: 1340

Author: Andreas, Alfred Theodore
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago, A. T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 1340