History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 74

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

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CHICAGO DURING THE BLACK HAWK WAR .- Black Hawk,* a leading chief of the Sacs, had refused, in 1831, to comply with the terms of the treaty with his tribe, which he himself never signed for his band, which re- quired him to remove west of the Mississippi and relin- quish forever all title to lands heretofore owned by him or his band in Illinois. He claimed, with reasons that might have substantiated his claims in any court of law, had he been white, that neither he nor his band ever sold or intended to sell their town, near Rock Island, nor the adjacent farms. On returning from a hunt, in the summer of 1831, he found his village and the ad- jacent fields occupied by white settlers, who, under the treaty as proclaimed, had come in and taken possession of the cabins and the growing crops he and his band had planted. He determined, at all hazards, to reinstate his band in possession of their ancient homes. The Governor of Illinois, under the terms of the treaty, took a different view of the case, proclaimed the invasion of the State, and called on the United States to help expel the invaders. The result was the burning of the village, the defeat of Black Hawk, his retreat to the west bank of the Mississippi, and a treaty ; Black Hawk agreeing by its terms to remain on the west banks of the great river and to relinquish all claims to any part of the do- main of Illinois ever after.

The treaty was confirmed by the giving and receiv- ing of presents, and it was believed that the trouble was at an end.

The following spring, Black Hawk's band having had a poor hunt, and having lost the crops they had planted the previous season, found themselves poorer even than poor Indians usually were. They were poverty-stricken. They could not pay their debts to the Indian traders, and had run short of provisions and - ammunition. In their destitute condition, it is not strange that they looked lovingly toward their old homes, and held somewhat lightly the forced treaty they had made the fall before. It is stated, on what is deemed good authority, that George Armstrong, who had a trading-post at that time at Fort Armstrong, was a heavy creditor of the tribe, and was not averse to their return, as, out of the scare which might occur and the probable treaty which would ensue, he might, through his influence with the chiefs of the tribe, secure his debt from such subsidies as should come to them. Whether Armstrong influenced them to return is not known. It is certain, however, that he had early know !- edge of their intention, and informed General Atkinson as early as April 12, 1832, when he wrote hint :

" I have been informed that the British band of Sacs and Foxes (Black Hawk's) are determined to make war on the frontier

* Huk Hash, although a chief of a land, was not at this time the leading chief of the Sacs. He was, according to Indian polity, subservient to Kenank, who was the leading chief of the nation. Chicks gained their supremacy in three ways; by inheritance, by marriage with a chief's daughter, ur hy bravery in war. Black Hawk was not a hereditary chief; he had gained his quisition by bravery an war, and had drawn around him the best families of the tribe,-the heads of which had fought with him on many a bloody field. Krakuk took no part in his raid, but, although his superior in rank, was powerless to control the hand which acknowledged allecinace to him.

Sn, among the Pottawatumus, Big Foot, chief of a hand. sermed net tu in. under the controled any other chiefs ad that nation. Although Keakak, the head chief, desired peace, Black Hawk did not heed his advice or orders.

settlements. * * * From every information that I have received I am of the opinion that the intention of the British band of Sac Indians is to commit depredations on the inhabitants of the frontier."

It is quite likely that Black Hawk, who was a warm friend of Armstrong, was in collusion with him to get up a scare and a new treaty. The Galenian, a paper pub- lished in Galena, under date of May 2, 1832, says that " Black Hawk was invited by the prophet,* and had taken possession of a tract of forty miles upon Rock River, but did not remain long before commencing his march up the river. Captain William B. Green, after- ward a citizen of Chicago, who served in Stephenson's company of mounted rangers, said that " Black Hawk and his band crossed the river with no hostile intent, but to accept an invitation from Pittawak, a friendly chief, to come over and spend the summer with his people on the head-waters of the Illinois." Whatever may have been the causes or influences which determined Black Hawk, he decided to so far violate the terms of the treaty as to return. April 6, 1832, he crossed the Mis- sissippi with his whole band, including old men, women, children, warriors, ponies and household goods, as was common to the tribe on making a peaceful migration. The warriors numbered 386; the camp followers, prob- ably three times that number. It is well to remember that Black Hawk's soldiers at the maximum numbered less than half a thousand. Some stopped at the village of the Prophet; many dispersed among the neighboring villages, while Black Hawk, with the remnant of his party, numbering more non-combatants than warriors, made his way up the Rock River toward the Winnebago country. His return, in violation of the treaty, and the warning of Davenport, resulted in the hasty muster of the militia by Governor Reynolds to repel the threat- ened invasion. On Saturday, May 9, the militia had rendezvoused, to the number of eighteen hundred men, at Dixon's Ferry, awaiting the arrival of General Atkin- son's forces from Fort Armstrong. Prior to this, J. W. Stephenson, John Foley and -Atchison had returned from a reconnoitering expedition, and reported that the Indians "had dispersed among the neighboring tribes." The Galenian, in commenting on the report of these scouts said: " It is already proved that they will not at- tempt to fight it out with us, as many have supposed. Will the temporary dispersion of Black Hawk's band among their neighbors cause our troops to be disband- ed?" It seems to have been decided by the troops, if not by the Governor, that they would not disband until they had exterminated the trespassers. On May 10, Major Isaiah Stillman, with a force of about four hun- dred well-mounted volunteers, was permitted by the Gov- ernor to make a reconnoissance on the trail of the half- starved remnant of the migratory tribe; the Galenian says, "With a fixed determination to wage a war of extermination wherever he might find any part of the . hostile band." On the evening of May 12, Stillman's force encamped at White Rock Grove, in what is now Ogle County, about thirty-five miles from Dixon. They had with them a full commissary supply, including a barrel of whisky, and authorities are quite unanimous in saying that many of them were inspired by the maudlin courage they had imbibed. Black Hawk, with his war chief, Ne-o-pope, about a hundred and fifty warriors, and twice that number of women, children, and old men, was encamped but a short distance away. His proxim-

* The Prophet "White Cloud" was a Winnebago chief, then having hi- village at what is now I'rophetstown, 11]. He was in full sympathy with Hilde k Hawk, and although the Winnebagoe- would nut juin him in npen war again-1 the whites, his invitation to Hack Hawk to come over and plant curn m his ler- ritory did not reassure the whites. It had the appearance of duplicity on the part of White Chend, and aroused the suspicion that a gem ral allum. @ t.r. Winnebagos. Pottawatones and L'oves against the whites would In the prob- able sequence of Black Hawk's visit.

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HISTORY OF CHICAGO.

ity was unknown to the whites, but hearing of their arrival he determined to communicate with them. He accordingly sent a small party of his braves with a flag of truce toward Stillman's camp. On appearing in sight, some of Stillmen's men, without orders hastily mounted and rode furiously toward them, firing as they ad- vanced, killing two of the Indians and capturing two others. The rest of the party fled to Black Hawk's camp, pursued by the whites, and bear- ing tidings of the death of their comrades and the vio- lation of the flag of truce. 'The war-whoop was the re- ply to the outrage, and an immediate sally in force was made to avenge it. The drunken squad which had done the mischief 'and opened the war, murdered their two prisoners, and retreated to the camp. Here a general panic ensued, and the whole battalion fled for safety. Eleven of Stillman's men were killed before the escape was effected, among whom were Captain Adams and

Major Perkins. The place of slaughter, where the mutilated remains of the victims were afterward found and buried, is still known as "Stillman's Run." The panic-stricken soldiers fled to Dixon and other places of safety, spreading consternation among the settlers. General Whiteside, then in command at Dixon, marched immediately to the scene of the late disaster, but the hostile band had disappeared. He had only the melan- choly satisfaction of burying the mutilated remains of the victims of this ill-starred and rash encounter. Black Hawk and his braves were on the war-path. They had broken up into small parties, and, in the style of savage war-fare, were devastating the white settlements, rob- bing, destroying, and murdering in sweet revenge for the outrages of Stillman's men. The volunteers who thus precipitated the rupture were soon after mustered out . of the service, and for a few weeks thereafter the settlers were left to defend themselves against the aroused and merciless foe. The news of the breaking out of the war soon reached the settiers of Cook County, then comprising the present counties of McHenry, Du- Page, Will and .Lake. The settlers of Du Page County, being nearest the scene of danger, made a unanimous stampede for the stockades at Fort Dearborn as a place of refuge and safety. The news of the outbreak reached Naper's settlement, a few days after the discomfiture of Stillman's forces, and caused not a little anxiety. It being planting-time, the settlers, taking extra precautions against surprise, still remained to finish the work of get- ting in seed. On the morning of the 18th, Shata, a son of Shawbonee, a messenger sent by his father from the Pottawatomies, who remained friendly to the whites, reached the settlement with the intelligence that a party of Sacs were on the Fox River committing depredations. He stated that they had burned the dwellings and de- stroyed the property of Hollenbeck and Cunningham, then living at Hollenbeck's Grove (now Millbrook, Ken- dall County), continued their march up the river, and were then not more than ten miles from the settlement. No time was lost in hastily gathering together what few effects could be carried, and in the afternoon the families, with the exception of Christopher Payne's, started with an escort for Chicago, some of the men remaining to guard the hamlet and crops from de- struction, if possible. The following day Laughton, an Indian-trader living on the Desplaines River, came to the settlement with three Pottawatomie Indians and a half-breed named Burrasaw. They came in search of news regarding the threatened invasion. It was de- cided to visit the camp of the friendly Pottawatomies, and Laughton's party, joined by Captain Joseph Naper and a few other settlers, went to their camp in the Big

Woods, some ten miles away. They found the whole tribe engaged in a big feast, but managed to gather from them the unwelcome information that a band of Sacs, three hundred in number, were encamped in the Blackberry timber only four miles distant; that they were bent on mischief; that they would try to prevail on them to spare the settlement, etc. An old squaw, more sober than her lord, said to Naper " Puc-a-che," which Naper understood as the most forcible and im- perative expression in the dialect to indicate that only flight could avoid imminent peril. Translated into English it meant "be off," "go quick," or "run for your life." Laughton, who, from his intimate relations with the Pottawatomies as a trader, had no fear for him- self, remained. Naper and his companions returned at once to the settlement. There they waited further developments, meantime preparing for fight if it should prove necessary. They loaded on their remaining wagons what they would carry, and hid in a well what it was necessary to leave behind. While engaged in these preparations for flight, Laughton returned, ac- companied by some fifty Pottawatomies, to warn them to hasten their departure, as a band of Sacs had already crossed the Fox River, all efforts to dissuade them from hostile intent have proved unavailing. No further de- lay was made. The settlers hastily warned all within reach of the imminent danger, and with the family of Payne left behind the day before, followed their families in their flight to Chicago, which place was reached on the evening of the 20th. At that time the panic had become wide-spread and the fugitives were pouring in from all quarters. The arrival of the Naperville set- tlers brought the first reliable news of the near approach of the Indians. Fort Dearborn was at this time tem- porarily unoccupied as a military post. The troops of the garrison had been sent to Green Bay (Fort Howard) and Major Whistler, who had been ordered to re-garri- son the fort from Fort Niagara, had not yet arrived. So the refugees took possession of the fort, several hun- dred finding crowded but welcome accomodations in the deserted barracks and such improvised shelter as they could erect. Some Michigan Militia also came over and garrisoned the fort in an irregular way, crowd- ing its capacity to the utinost. The fort at this time was in charge of Colonel T. J. V. Owen, Goverment Agent of the Ottawa, Pottawatomie and Chippewa Indians. The means of defense at this time were certainly inade- quate to the scare, to say nothing of the actual danger. The Cook County and Chicago Militia again came to the front. Already the Chicago Militia was enrolled, as appears by the following quotation from the Fergus's Historical Series, No. 16, pp. 64-65:

"CHICAGO'S EARLY DEFENDERS .- In my pursuit of the names of the early settlers of Chicago, a friend has presented me with the following, which he assures me was copied, some years ago, from the original. The of- ficers are all dead. Captain Kercheval, once a promi- nent man in this city, and who represented it in the Leg- islature in 1838, died within a year or two in California, leaving a son who is a printer in this city. His widow resides at East St. Louis, Ill., with her sister, the widow of Colonel Thomas J. V. Owen, once Indian Agent here. The two Lieutenants having been Postmasters in this city, are well remembered. Of the soldiers, I know of but one living, David Mckee, of Aurora, Ill. If there is another living, he is wanted at the Chicago Historical Society's rooms, corner of Dearborn Avenue and On- tario Street.

" After this organization, Governor John Reynolds sent Major Daniel Bailey to Chicago, and he raised a bat-

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EARLY MILITARY HISTORY.

talion of four companies from the citizens of northern Illinois. The pay-rolls of these four companies of vol- unteers, I am told, is still preserved at Washington, D. C., where it was sent for the purpose of procuring land- warrants. It is hoped that a copy of it will soon be in the Chicago Historical Society's library. I doubt not but the names of many persons now living are upon it. "I am inclined to think the paper was drawn up by Colonel Richard J. Hamilton, the stepfather of our present Judge Murry F. Tuley, Thirty-seven is the number capable and willing to bear arms at that date. There was no clergyman here to be their chaplain, if they wanted one .* JOHN WENTWORTH.

"CHICAGO, October 17, 1879."

MUSTER ROLL.

May 2, 1832 .- We, the undersigned, agree to sub- mit ourselves, for the time being, to Gholson Kercheval, Captain, and George W. Dole and John S. C. Hogan, First and Second Lieutenants, as commanders of the Militia of the town of Chicago, until all apprehension of danger from the Indians may have subsided :

Richard J. Hamilton, Jeddiah Woolley,

Jesse B. Brown,

George H. Walker,

Isaac Harmon,

A. W. Taylor.

Samuel Miller,

James Kinzie,

John F. Herndon,

Davied Pemeton,

Benjamin Harris, James Ginsday,

S. T. Gage, Samuel Debaif,

Rufus Brown, John Wellmaker

Jeremiah Smith, William H. Adams

Heman S. Bond,

James T. Osborne,

William Smith, E. D. Harmon,

Isaac D. Harmon,

Charles Moselle,

Joseph Lafromboise,

Francis Labaque,

Henry Boucha,

Michael Ouilmette,

Claude Lafromboise,

Christopher Shedaker,

J. W, Zarlev,

David Mckee.

David Wade,

Ezra Bond,

William Bond, Samuel Ellis.

Robert Thompson,

This company never entered the service under the command of Captain Kercheval or Lieutenants Dole and Hogan, but the members were pledged to duty when-

ever and wherever required for defense. So, when the fugitives arrived from the Naper settlement, and the heads of the families indicated their intention to return immediately to look after their property, they found no difficulty in raising a company from the ranks of Ker-

cheval's volunteers to return with them. The company consisted of about thirty men, under the command of Jesse B. Brown and Richard J. Hamilton, and was made

* There were several clervymen accessible. Rev. William See, and Rev. Stephen R. Beggs were at Chicagoat the time.

up from the roster of high privates before given, to- gether with a dozen Naperville settlers, among whom were John and Joseph Naper, Christopher Payne, Baley Hobson, Alanson Sweet, Israel Blodgett, and Robert Strong.

On Saturday, May 21, this Chicago Militia company. known as Captain Brown's, left Fort Dearborn for the seat of war. They stopped at night at Laughton's and on the next day reached Naper's settlement, where the, found everything had remained undisturbed since the fugitives had left .he place. Thence they proceeded to Plainfield, where the settlers had erected a rough log fort and were apparently secure against attack. From there they marched to Holderman's Grove, where they spent the night and a part of the following day. While there an express from Ottawa came to them, bringing the intelligence that a party of Sacs had fallen upon the settlement at Indian Creek, and murdered all the set- tiers. The company immediately proceeded to Ottawa, and from thence to the scene of the tragedy, where they found, amidst a scene of complete destruction and deso- lation, the mangled and lifeless remains of fifteen of the settlers. The victims had all been scalped, and their bodies mutilated according to the extreme standard of savage warfare, the children being hacked in pieces, the bodies of the women nailed, suspended by their feet, to the walls of the houses, and those of the men mutilated in a manner so shocking as to be indescribable. They buried the dead and returned to Ottawa. From thence, with a reinforcement of twelve volunteers, under Major Bailey, they started on their return march. At Holder- man's Grove they found everything laid waste, and pro- ceeded to Plainfield, where they found the settlers with- in the fort in a state of great alarm, occasioned by the news they had just received of the Indian Creek mas- sacre. The following morning the Plainfield fort was abandoned, and the settlers, under the escort of the soldiers, set out for Fort Dearborn-all but Rev. Adam Payne, a peripatetic preacher, who refused to join the company. He started in the opposite direction for Ot- tawa, and was never again seen alive. His body was found some days after. His scalp and his long flowing beard had been torn off by the merciless band at whose hands he met his death. The company reached Chi- cago, with the new accession of fugitives and terror, on the evening of the 26th, after an arduous and heart-sick- ening, if not dangerous, campaign of five days.

With no regular garrison at the fort, it was deemed necessary to keep a volunteer patrol force constantly on the watch, to guard against the near approach or sud- den surprise of the dreaded and wily foe. The Michi- gan Militia in the garrison did good picket duty, but it devolved on the Chicago men and such allies as might be drawn from the men who had their families in the fort to make more extended reconnoissance. Soon after the return of Captain Brown's company two new com- panies were organized to reconnoiter the country toward the Fox River. Very meager accounts of these com- panies appear, as they were never mustered into the regular service, and no rosters of the companies have been preserved. In one of the series of articles entitled ""By-Gone Days," published in the Chicago Times, in 1875, the remembrance of these two companies is re- vived as follows : " Meanwhile the Chicago heroes had left no opportunity unimproved to cover themselves with laurels. Robert Kinzie had a company of fifty Pottawatomies under his command, who acted as scouts and runners, while Captain Jean Baptiste Beaubien. with a company of twenty or more . whites, scoured the country about Naperville, Plainfield and Ottawa, in a

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HISTORY OF CHICAGO.

style that was exceedingly lively." Hurlbut's "Chi- cago Antiquities," p. 308, says : "During the Indian excitement of 1832, Mr. Beaubien had command of some twenty-five men, who, as scouts, did duty for a short time." The only extended campaign of these two companies of which any account is preserved occurred in June, 1832.

BEAUBIEN AND KINZIE'S CAMPAIGN .- On the return of Captain Brown's company, a new company was raised to revisit the deserted settlements near Fox River, to ascertain whether the enemy had visited them, and look after the property left behind and the growing crops, if they had not been destroyed. Robert Kinzie was already on duty with a company of fifty Pottawatomie scouts, Captain Beaubien's company numbered some twenty- five mounted men, among whom were several of Brown's men who had re-enlisted. The two Napers and Alan- son Sweet were members. The command set out from Chicago on the morning of June 1. At noon they reached the Desplaines River, where they found Captain Kinzie already encamped with his band of Pottawato- mies. It was agreed that Kinzie with his scouts should proceed directly to the Naper settlement, while Captain Beaubien should make a detour to Captain Boardman's to look after the property there, it being expected that the latter, being better mounted, would reach the place of rendezvous first. Beaubien's company rode quite rapidly, found Boardman's property safe, and before sunset reached Ellsworth's Grove. A skirt of timber hid the settlement from view, but smoke was seen rising from the point where Naper's house was located; whether it was from its smouldering ruins or not was a question, to solve which John Naper volunteered to leave the company and go alone to the settlement. He was to fire one shot in case he found friends. He was watched by the little party until he disappeared in the woods. Soon after two shots were heard in quick suc- cession, and, as Naper did not reappear, the natural conclusion was that the Sacs had killed him. Two of the Chicago company, one mounted on a pack mule and the other on a diminutive pony which he had borrowed from the American Fur Company, manifested great trepidation, and without orders turned the heads of their slow and unreliable steeds toward the East Branch timber. Captain Beaubien was not slow to discover the depletion in his ranks, and rose to the exigencies of the occasion. He rode rap- idly after the fugitives, vociferating, "Halt ! Halt ! ! " Disregarding the orders of their commander, they con- tinued their flight, now hotly pursued by Captain Beau- bien. He soon ran them down, drew his pistol, and brought them to a halt and return to the ranks by the following statement of the case : " You run ? By Gar, you run, I shoot you." Soon after the return of the deserters Naper made his appearance bringing the re- lieving intelligence that friends only awaited them at the settlement. Kinzie and his Indian scouts had out- marched them, and were already encamped there. They rode with haste to the village, with light hearts and empty stomachs. A fat steer, somewhat wild, was run down by the l'ottawatomies with a din of yells, dispatched and brought in with great exultation over the success of the hunt, and the commissary still further supplied by breaking into the log store which had escaped the depredations of the Sacs, and bringing forth ample sup- plies of rum and tobacco for the Indians. In the even- ing the Pottawatomie scouts were prevailed upon to perform the " war dance " with all the variations that free rum and tobacco could suggest, after which enter- tainment the tired soldiers slept the sound sleep which

only fatigue can bring. The following morning Beau- bien's company rose refreshed. They had slept off the fatigue of the day before, and with renewed strength came renewed ardor for a conflict with the Sacs of whom they had failed to find traces thus far. Fearing that in the heat of some possible conflict, they might slay some of their allies, the Pottawatomies, they took from the stores a web of sheeting, tore it in strips, and as a pre- cautionary insignia, tied them about the head and waist of each friendly Indian. Thus having secured the safe- ty of Kinzie's Indian scouts, Captain Beaubien and his company left them, and started for the Big Woods in search of the enemy. All day they scoured the plains, without meeting a trace of the foe, returning quite jaded and disheartened to the Naper settlement late in the evening. On the following morning they set out on their return to Chicago, leaving Kinzie and his Indian scouts to keep watch for the Sacs, who never afterward appeared in force in that region. They had already gone up the Rock River, beyond the present boundaries of Illinois. Nothing exciting occurred during the re- turn journey except a slight emente in the ranks. One of the soldiers who had hastily enlisted without any preliminary drill in the manual of arms, placed the whole command in jeopardy by allowing his gun to fire itself off at unseasonable and unexpected times. As the guns were all strapped to the horse's sides, each had the full range of such members of the company as happened to go before. It is not strange that three unexpected discharges from the young man's gun before reaching Brush Hill, a distance of ten miles, should spread dis- content in the front ranks. They had steeled their hearts to all the terrors of Indian warfare, the deadly ambush, the savage assaults, the tomahawk and the scalping knife ; but this new element of annihilation which belched from an unmanageable gun at such un- certain seasons, and with such uncertain aim had a most demoralizing effect on the entire force. When, on reaching Brush Hill, and dismounting, the young man's gun fired itself off for the fourth time, Captain Beau- bien asserted his authority and ordered him to give up the dangerous weapon, which, in a mutinous and defiant manner, he refused to do, whereupon he was collared by the Captain, and after an exhibition of ground and lofty tumbling, such as the prairies had never smiled on before, disarmed. Equanimity, discipline, and safety being thus restored, the company resumed their march, reaching Chicago the same evening. The fugitives were re-assured by their return that there was no imme- diate danger. Occasional excursions were made during the succeeding weeks to the deserted settlements, each party returning with the welcome news that they had discovered no traces of Indians and that the crops were growing undisturbed. It was, nevertheless. not deemed prudent for the settlers to return to their homes, while the hostile Sacs were known to be still unconquered only one hundred and fifty miles away. They might return and repeat on some defenseless hamlet the horrors of Indian Creek. So all through the summer days of June the fugitives remained quar- tered in and about Fort Dearborn. Major Whistler arrived July 2, with a small detachment of soldiers from Niagara, to re-occupy the fort as a military post and prepare quarters for General Scott and his com- mand, whose arrival was daily expected. He arrived July 8, and on the following morning the dread news was known that with him had come an enemy more terrible than that from which they had fled. It was the scourge of cholera in its most fatal form. The soldiers died off like distempered sheep. The corpses were too

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History of Chicago. From the earliest period to the present time, Part 74

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