USA > Illinois > Christian County > History of Christian County, Illinois > Part 4
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* Afterwards Commander-in-Chief over Washington, at the commencement of the French War of 1775.
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
an agreement was effected, and upon the 13th of June they all united in signing a deed, confirming the Lancaster treaty in its fullest extent. Meanwhile the powers beyond the seas were try- ing to out-manœuver each other, and were professing to be at peace. The Englishi generally outwitted the Indians, and secured themselves, as they thought, by their politic conduct. But the French, in this as in all cases, proved that they knew best how to manage the natives. While these measures were taken, another treaty with the wild men of the debatable land was also in con- templation. And in September, 1753, William Fairfax met their deputies at Winchester, Virginia, where he concluded a treaty. In the month following, however, a more satisfactory interview took place at Carlisle, between the representatives of the Iroquois, Delawares, Shawnecs, Twigtwees, and Wyandots, and the com- missioners of Pennsylvania, Richard Peters, Isaac Norris, and Benjamin Franklin. Soon after this, no satisfaction being obtained from the Ohio, either as to the force, position, or pur- poses of the French, Robert Dinwiddie, then Governor of Vir- ginia, determined to send to them another messenger, and learn if possible their intentions. For this purpose he selected a young surveyor, who, at the age of nineteen had attained the rank of major, and whose previous life had inured him to hardships and woodland ways ; while his courage, cool judgment, and firm will, all fitted him for such a mission. This personage was no other than the illustrious George Washington, who then held consider- able interest in western lands. He was twenty-one years old at the time of the appointment .*
Taking Gist as a guide, the two, accompanied by four servitors, set out on their perilous march. They left Will's Creek, where Cumberland now is, on the 15th of November, and on the 22d reached the Monongahela, about ten miles above the fork. From there they went to Logstown, where Washington had a long conference with the chiefs of the six nations. Here he learned the position of the French, and also that they had determined not to come down the river until the following spring. The Indians were non-committal, they deeming a neutral position the safest. . Washington, finding no- thing could be done, went on to Venango, an old Indian town at the mouth of the French Creek. Here the French had a fort called Fort Machault. On the 11th of December he reached the fort at the head of French Creek. Here he delivered Gover- nor Dinwiddie's letter, received his answer, and upon the 16th set out upon his return journey with no one but Gist, his guide, and a few Indians who still remained true to him. They reached home in safety on the 6th of January, 1754. From the letter of St. Pierre, commander of the French fort, sent by Washington to Governor Dinwiddie, it was perfectly clear that the French would not yield the West without a struggle. Active preparations were at once made in all the English colonies for the coming con- flict, while the French finished their fort at Venango and strength- ened their lines of fortifications to be in readiness. The Old Dominion was all alive. Virginia was the center of great activities. Volunteers were called for, and from the neighboring colonics men rallied to the conflict, and everywhere along the Potomac nien were enlisting under the Governor's proclamation,-which promised two hundred thousand acres on the Ohio. Along this river they were gathering as far as Will's Creek, and far beyond this point, whither Trent had come for assistance, for his little band of forty one men, who were working away in hunger and
* Sparks' Washington, Vol. ii., pp. 428-447.
want, to fortify that point at the fork of the Ohio, to which both parties were looking with deep interest. The first birds of spring filled the forest with their songs. The swift river rolled by the Allegheny hillsides, swollen by the melting snows of spring and April showers. The leaves were appearing, a few Indian scouts were seen, but no enemy seemed near at hand, and all was so quiet that Frazier, an old Indian trader, who had been left by Trent in command of the new fort, ventured to his home at the mouth of Turtle Creek, ten miles up the Monongahela. But though all was so quiet in that wilderness, keen eyes had seen the low entrenchment that was rising at the fork, and swift feet had borne the news of it up the valley, and on the morning of the 17th of April, Ensign Ward, who then had charge of it, saw upon the Allegheny a sight that made his heart sink ;- sixty batteaux and three hundred canoes, filled with men, and laden deep with cannon and stores. The fort was called on to surrender : by the advice of the Half-King, Ward tried to evade the act, but it would not do. Contrecœur, with a thousand men about him, said ' Evacuate,' and the ensign dared not refuse. That evening he supped with his captor, and the next day was bowed off by the Frenchman, and, with his men and tools, marched up the Mon- onghahela." The French and Indian war had begun. The treaty of Aix la Chapelle, in 1748, liad left the foundries between the French and English possessions unsettled, and the events already narrated show that the French were determined to hold the country watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries : while the English laid claim to the country by virtue of the discoverics by the Cabots, and claimed all the country from New Foundland to Florida, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The first deei- sive blow had been struck, and the first attempt of the English, through the Ohio Company, to occupy these lands had resulted disastrously to them. The French and Indians immediately completed the fortifications begun at the fork, which they had so easily captured, and when completed gave to the fort the name of Du Quesne. Washington was at Will's creek, when the news of the capture of the fort arrived. He at once departed to re- capture it. On his way lie entrenched himself at a place called the "Meadows," where he erected a fort called by him Fort Necessity. From therc he surprised and captured a force of French and Indians. marching against him, but was soon after attacked by a much superior force, and was obliged to yield on the morning of July 4th. He was allowed to return to Virginia.
The English Government immediately planned four cam- paigns, one against Fort Du Quesne, one against Nova Scotia, one against Fort Niagara, and one against Crown Point. These occurred during 1755-6, and were not successful in driving the French from their possessions. The expedition against Fort Du Quesne was led by the famous Braddock, who, refusing to listen to the advice of Washington and those acquainted with Indian warfare, suffered an inglorious defeat. This occurred on the morning of July 9th, and is generally known as the battle of Monongahela or "Braddock's defcat." The war continued through various vicissitudes through the years 1756-7, when, at the commencement of 1758, in accordance with the plans of William Pitt, then secretary of state, afterwards Lord Chatham, active preparations were made to carry on the war. Thrce expeditions were planned for this year: one under General Amherst, against Louisburg ; another under Abererombie, against Fort Ticonderoga ; and a third under General Forbes,
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
against Fort Du Quesne. On the 26th of July, Louisburg surrendered after a desperate resistance of more than forty days, and the eastern part of the Canadian possessions fell into the hands of the British. Abererombie captured Fort Frontenac, and when the expedition against Fort Du Quesne, of which Washington had the active command, arrived there, it was found in flames and deserted. The English at once took possession, rebuilt the fort, and in honor of their illustrious statesman, changed the name to Fort Pitt.
The great object of the campaign of 1759, was the reduction of Canada. General Wolfe was to lay siege to Quebec ; Am- herst was to reduce Ticonderoga and Crown Point; and General Pridcaux was to capture Niagara. This latter place was taken in July, but the gallant Prideaux lost his life. Amherst cap- tured Ticonderoga and Crown Point, without a blow; and Wolfe, after making the memorable ascent to the plains of Abraham, on September 13th, defeated Montcalm, and on the 18th the city capitulated. In this engagement, Montealm and Wolfe both lost their lives. De Levi, Montcalm's suecessor, marched to Sillery, three miles above the eity, with the purpose of defeating the English, and there, on the 28th of the following April, was fought one of the bloodiest battles of the French and Indian war. It resulted in the defeat of the French, and the fall of the city of Montreal. The Governor signed a eapitu- lation by which the whole of Canada was surrendered to the English. This practically eoneluded the war, but it was not until 1763 that the treaties of peace between France and Eng- land were signed. This was done on the 10th of February of that year, and under its provisions all the country east of the Mississippi and north of the Iberville river in Louisiana, were ceded to England. At the same time, Spain eeded Florida to Great Britain.
On the 13th of September, 1760, Major Robert Rogers was sent from Montreal to take charge of Detroit, the only remaining French post in the territory. He arrived there on the 9th of November, and summoned the place to surrender. At first the commander of the post, Beletre, refused, but on the 29th, hearing of the continued defeat of the French army, surrendered. The North-west Territory was now entirely under the English rule. In 1762, France, by a secret treaty, coded Louisiana to Spain, to prevent it falling into the hands of the English, who were becoming masters of the entire West. The next year the treaty of Paris, signed at Fontainbleau, gave to the Engiish the domi- nion in question. Twenty years after, by the treaty of peace between the United States and England, that part of Canada lying south and west of the great lakes, comprehending a large territory, was acknowledged to be a portion of the United States. In 1803 Louisiana was ecded by Spain back to France, and by France sold to the United States. By the treaty of Paris, the regions east of the Mississippi, including all these and other towns of the north-west, were given over to England ; but they do not appear to have been taken possession of until 1765, when Captain Stirling, in the name of the Majesty of England, estab- lished himself at Fort Chartres, bearing with him the proclama- tion of General Gage, dated December 30th, 1764, which pro- mised religious freedom to all Catholics who worshiped here and the right to leave the country with their effects if they wished, or to remain with the privileges of Englishmen. During the year: 1775 and 1776, by the operations of land companies
and the perseverance of individuals, several settlements were firmly established between the Alleghenies and the Ohio river, and western land speeulators were busy in Illinois and on the Wabash. At a couneil held in Kaskaskia, on July 5th, 1773, an association of English traders, calling themselves the " Illinois Land Company," obtained from the chiefs of the Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Pcoria tribes two large tracts of land lying on the east side of the Mississippi river south of the Illinois. In 1775 a merchant from the Illinois country, named Viviat, came to Post Vineennes as the agent of the association called the "Wa- bash Land Company." On the 8th of October he obtained from eleven Piankeshaw chiefs a deed for 37,497,600 acres of land. This deed was signed by the grantors, attested by a number of the inhabitants of Vineenncs, and afterward recorded in the office of a Notary Public at Kaskaskia. This and other land compa- nies had extensive sehemes for the colonization of the West; but all were frustrated by the breaking out of the Revolutionary war. On the 20th of April, 1780, the two companies named consolidated under the name of the " United Illinois and Wabash Land Company ;" they afterwards made strenuous efforts to have thesc grants sanetioned by Congress, but all signally failed. When the war of the Revolution commeneed, Kentucky was an unorganized country, there being settlements within her borders.
In Hutchins' Topography of Virginia, it is stated that at that time Kaskaskia contained 80 houses, and nearly 1,000 white and black inhabitants, the whites being a little the more numcrous. Cahokia contained fifty houses, 300 white inhabitants, and 80 negroes. There were east of the Mississippi river, about the year 1771-when these observations were made-"300 white men capable of bearing arms, and 230 negroes." From 1775 until the expedition of Clark, nothing is recorded and nothing known of these settlements, save what is contained in a report made by a committee to Congress in June, 1778. From it the following extract is made : " Near the mouth of the river Kaskaskia, there is a village which appears to have contained ncarly eighty fanii- lies from the beginning of the late Revolution ; there are twelve families at a small village at La Prairie Du Rochers, and nearly fifty families at the Cahokia village. There are also four or five familics at Fort Chartres and St. Philip's, which is five miles further up the river." St. Louis had been settled in February, 1764, and at this time contained, including its neighboring towns, over six hundred white and one hundred and fifty negroes. It must be remembered that all the country west of the Mississippi was under Freneh rule, and remained so until ceded back to Spain, its original owner, who afterwards sold it and the country ineluding New Orleans to the United States. At Detroit, there were, according to Captain Carver, who was in the north-west from 1768 to 1776, more than one hundred houses, and the river was settled for more than twenty miles, although poorly culti- vated, the people being engaged in the Indian trade.
On the breaking out of the Revolution, the British held every post of importance in the West. Kentucky was formed as a component part of Virginia, and the sturdy pioneers of the West, alive to their interests, and recognizing the great benefits of obtaining the control of the trade in this part of the New World, held steadily to their purposes, and those within the common- wealth of Kentucky proceeded to exercise their civil privileges by elceting John Todd and Richard Gallaway burgesses, to rep- resent them in the assembly of the present state. The chief spirit
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
in this far-out colony, who had represented her the year previous east of the mountains, was now meditating a move of unequalled boldness. He had been watching the movements of the British throughout the north-west, and understood their whole plan. He saw it was through their possession of the posts at Detroit, Vincennes, Kaskaskia, aud other places, which would give them easy access to the various Indian tribes in the north-west, that the British intended to penetrate the country from the north and south, and annihilate the frontier fortresses. This moving, ener- getic man was Colonel, afterwards General George Rogers Clark. He knew that the Indians were not unanimously in accord witlı the English, and he was convinced that, could the British be defeated and expelled from the north-west, the natives might be easily awed into neutrality; by spies sent for the purpose, he satisfied himself that the enterprise against the Illinois settle- ments might easily succeed. Patrick Henry was Governor of Virginia, and at onee entered heartily into Clark's plans. The same plan had before been agitated in the Colonial Assemblies ; but there was no one until Clark came who was sufficiently acquainted with the condition of affairs at the scene of action to be able to guide them.
Clark, having satisfied the Virginia leaders of the feasibility of his plan, received on the second of January two sets of instrue- tions : one secret, the other open. The latter authorized him to proceed to enlist seven companies to go to Kentucky, subject to liis orders, and to serve three months from their arrival in the west. The sceret order authorized him to arm the troops, to proeure his powder and lead of General Hand, at Pittsburg, and to procced at onee to subjugate the country.
With these instructions Clark repaired to Pittsburg, choosing rather to raise his men west of the mountains. Here he raised three companies and several private volunteers. Clark at length commeneed his descent of the Ohio, which he navigated as far as the falls, where he took possession of and fortified Corn Island, between the present sites of Louisville, Kentucky, and New Albany, Indiana. Remains of this fortification may yet be found. At this place he appointed Col. Bowman to meet him with such recruits as had reached Kentucky by the southern route. Here he announced to the men their real destination. On the 24th of June he embarked on the river, his destination being Fort Massac or Massacre, aud thenee inarched direct to Kas- kaskia. The march was accomplished and the town reached on the evening of July 4. He captured the fort near the village, and soon after the village itself, by surprise, without the loss of a single mau or killing any of the enemy. Clark told the natives that they were at perfect liberty to worship as they pleased, and to take whichever side of the conflict they would, and he would protect them from any barbarity from British or Indian foes. This had the desired effect, aud the inhabitants at onee swore allegiance to the American arms, and when Clark desired to go to Cahokia on the 6th of July, they accompanied him, and through their influence the inhabitants of the place surrendered. Thus two important posts in Illinois passed from the hands of the English into the possession of Virginia. During the year (1779) the famous " Land Laws" of Virginia were passed. The passage of these laws was of more consequence to the pioneers of Kentucky and the north-west than the gaiuing of a few Indian conflicts. These grants confirmed in the main all grants made, and guaranteed to actual settlers their rights and privileges.
DIVISION OF THE NORTH-WEST TERRITORY.
The iuercased emigration to the north-west, and extent of the domain, made it very difficult to conduct the ordinary operations of government, and rendered the efficient action of courts almost impossible ; to remedy this it was deemed advisable to divide the territory for civil purposes. Congress, in 1800, appointed a committee to examine the question and report some means for its solution.
This committee on the 3d of March reported : "In the three western countries there has been but one court having cognizance of crimes, in five years, and thic immunity which offenders expe- rienec attracts, as to an asylum, the most vile and abandoned crimiuals, and at the same time deters useful citizens from making settlements in such society. The extreme necessity of judiciary attention and assistance is experienced in civil as well as in criminal cases. * * *
* To remedy this evil it is expedient t.) the committee that a division of said territory into two distinct and separate governments should be made, and that such division be made by beginning at the mouth of the Great Miami river, running directly north until it intersects the boundary between the United States and Canada."
The report was accepted by Congress, and, in accordance with its suggestions, that body passed an act extinguishing the north- west territory, which act was approved May 7th. Among its provisions were these :
" That from and after July 4 next, all that part of the terri- tory of the United States north-west of the Ohio river, which lies to the westward of a line beginning at a point opposite the mouth of the Kentucky river, and running thenee to Fort Recovery, and thence North until it shall intersect the terri- torial line between the United States and Canada, shall, for the purpose of temporary government, constitute a separate territory and be called the Indian Territory."
Gen. Harrison (afterwards President), was appointed goveruor of the Indian Territory, and during his residence at Vincennes, he made several important treaties with the Indians, thereby gaining large tracts of land. The next year is memorable in the history of the west for the purchase of Louisiana fron France by the United States for $15,000,000. Thus by a peace- ful manner the domain of the United States was extended over a large traet of country west of the Mississippi, and was for a time under the jurisdiction of the north-western government. The next year Gen. Harrison obtained additional grants of land from the various Indian nations in Indiana and the present limits of Illinois, and on the 18th of August, 1804, completed a treaty at St. Louis, whereby over 51,000,000 acres of land were obtained.
During this year, Congress granted a township of land for the support of a college, and began to offer inducements for settlers in these wilds, and the country now comprising the state of Michigan began to fill rapidly with settlers along its southern borders. This same year a law was passed organizing the south-west territory, dividing it into two portions,-the terri- tory of New Orleans, which city was made the seat of govern- meut, and the district of Louisiana, which was annexed to the domain by General Harrison.
On the 11th of January, 1805, the territory of Michigan was formed, and Wm. Hull was appointed governor, with headquar-
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
ters at Detroit, the change to take effect June 30th. On the 11th of that month, a fire occurred at Detroit, which destroyed almost every building in the place. When the officers of the new territory reached the post, they found it in ruins, and the inhabitants scattered throughout the country. Rebuilding, how- ever, was commeneed at once. While this was being done, Indiana passed to the second grade of government. In 1809, Indiana territory was divided, and the territory of Illinois was formed, the seat of government being fixed at Kaskaskia, and through her General Assembly had obtained large tracts of land from the Indian tribes. To all this the celebrated Indian Tecumthe, or Tecumseh, vigorously protested,* and it was the main cause of his attempts to unite the various Indian tribes in a conflict with the settlers. He visited the principal tribes, and succeeded in forming an alliance with most of the tribes, and then joined the cause of the British in the memorable war of 1812. Tecumseh was killed at the battle of the Thames. Tecumseh was, in many respects, a noble character,-frank and honest in his intercourse with General Harrison and the settlers ; in war, brave and chivalrous. His treatment of prisoners was humane. In the summer of 1812, Perry's victory on Lake Erie occurred, and shortly after, active preparations were made to capture Fort Malden. On the 27th of September, the American army, under command of General Harrison, set sail for the shores of Canada, and, in a few hours, stood around the ruins of Malden, from which the British army under Proctor had re- treated to Sandwich, intending to make its way to the heart of Canada by the valley of the Thames. On the 29th, General Harrison was at Sandwich, and General McArthur took posses- sion of Detroit and the territory of Michigan. On the 2d of October following, the American army began their pursuit of Proctor, whom they overtook on the 5th, and the battle of the Thames followed. The victory was decisive, and practically closed the war in the north west. In 1806, occurred Burr's insurrection. Ile took possession of an island in the Ohio, and was charged with treasonable intentions against the Federal gov- ernment. Ilis capture was effected by General Wilkinson, acting under instruction of President Jefferson. Burr was brought to trial on a charge of treason, and, after a prolonged trial, during which he defended himself with great ability, he was acquitted of the charge of treason. His subsequent carcer was obseure, and he died in 1836. Had his scheme succeeded, it would be interesting to know what effect it would have had on the northi- western territory. The battle of the Thames was fought October 6th, 1813. It effetnally closed hostilities in the north-west, although peace was not restored until July 22d, 1814, when a treaty was made at Greenville, by General Harrison, between the United States and the Indian tribes. On the 24th of De- comber, the treaty of Ghent was signed by the representatives of England and the United States. This treaty was followed the next year by treaties with various Indian tribes throughout the north-west, and quiet was again restored.
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