History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Part 10

Author: Andreas, A. T. (Alfred Theodore), 1839-1900
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : A.T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 875

USA > Illinois > Cook County > History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time > Part 10

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).

MICHICAN

PAYS DES

Checagon

Linois

PAYS DESC

R.da Trakuką

MIAMIS

R. des frignois

Rouabachi ou de S.Jerome

SECTION OF CHARLEVOIX'S MAP (1774).

Pierre Francois Charlevois, the noted French historian and traveler, passed down the cast shore of Lake Michigan, and to the Maimippi, by way of the Kankakee and Illinois rivers, in 1721. In 1744 he published his Histoire de la Nouvelle France, and with it his journal wrillen while in America. The jour- nal was translated into English soon after; the history remained untranslated until an edition was published in English by J. G. Shea at New York (1865-78). A map from which the above section is Taken accompanied Charlevoix's History of New France.

From a letter of De La Source, one of the mission- aries who accompanied St. Cosme to the Mississippi, it is learned that the boy who was lost in the tall grass of the prairie, after an absence of about two weeks, finally " made his way back to Chicagou, where Brother Alex- ander was," He was insane and utterly exhausted. The party returned to Chicago from the lower Missis- sippi early in 1700, and remained there until Easter, the letter of De La Source being written at "Chicagou." From the allusions made by St. Cosme to " our people "

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LAC

MASCOUTENS

Portage las Carass

EARLY EXPLORATIONS.

before whom he said mass on All Saints' Day, and with whom he " passed the night at Chicagon," and also from his direction to "Brother Alexander," who remained behind in charge of the cache on the shore of Lake Michigan, to " take some of the French who were at Chicagou," to aid him in his search for the lost hoy, it must be inferred that the place had become of consid- erable importance, as the point of disembarkation from the lake, on the route from Canada to Louisiana ; that it had become the residence of several French traders, and, during a portion of the year, of the Jesuit fathers connected with the Miami mission.

Soon after the opening of the eighteenth century, this route to the Mississippi became so dangerous that it was gradually abandoned, and finally almost forgot- ten. The long war between the Illinois and the Iroquois had made the Kaskaskias fearful and timid. They were directly in the path of the enemy from the location of their village, which, lying far up the river, was first struck by their war parties on their raids into the coun- try of the Illinois.

D'Iberville had landed, and a French settlement at the mouth of the Mississippi was to be established. The Kaskaskias were eager to leave the dangerous locality in which they lived, and still be able to enjoy the friend- ship and protection of their friends, the French. Father Gravier, who for several years had been in charge of the mission of the Immaculate Conception, at the Kas- kaskia village on the Illinois, went to Michilimackinac carly in 1669, leaving the parent house in the care of Father Marest, and its branches (one of which was at Chicago, among the Miamis) in charge of Fathers Bine- tean and Pinet. He returned in the fall of 1700, leaving Chicago for the Illinois on the 8th of September. When he arrived at the old village of the Kaskaskias, near the present site of Utica, in LaSalle County, he found that all that tribe, accompanied by Father Marest, had de- serted their village and the neighboring Peorias on the Illinois, and departed for the lower Mississippi. Gravier followed his Rock, promising the Peorias to return to them at their village at Peoria Lake, Marest was taken violently ill on his arrival at the present site of Kaskas- kia, and with his Indians halted there, where he was joined by Gravier, and the new Kaskaskia mission was founded and named also the mission of the Immaculate Conception, in honor of Marquette and his old mission on the Illinois River.

LAKE

LOS. Fr Xavier

ILINOIS

MASCOUTENS

The Great Rix.

Thecagou

KICAPOU

Ilinois R.

MIAMIS

fiami

SECTION OF THE SENEX MAP OF 1710.

In 1700, DeCourtemanche and two Jesuit priests were dispatched by the Governor-General of Canada, to

visit the various tribes in what is now Michigan and Illinois, and invite them to send deputies from their tribes to Montreal in order to arrange terms of peace with the Iroquois. DeCourtemanche reached the St. Joseph River December 21, 1700, and found the Miamis preparing to send war-parties against the Iroquois, as were also all the Illinois tribes, except the Kaskaskias. After visiting the latter tribe, he " returned to Chicago ; there he found some Weas (Ouyatanous), a Miami tribe, who had sung the war song against the Sioux and Iro- quois." He induced them to lay down their arms and send deputies to the council at Montreal, the deputies to

Cation des Renards

Quisconsiak'S Portaqe

S. Francely Xor

LAC DES ILINOIS

R. de Hana nás

Melboli R.

O mix de pump

R.au Pansien.

& Checagon R.

R.a la Noche

Maskoules Du Nation dn feu les Kıcapoıı

R.des Ilinous

SECTION OF DE L'ISLE'S MAP OF 1703.

meet him at Michilimackinac. The chief of the Miamis at this time was Chickikatalo, "a noble looking and good old man," who made a speech at Montreal, in which he assured the French of his friendship for themn, and desire to promote their interests by every means in his power. Before the council, the Kaskaskias had de- parted for the Mississippi, and great dissatisfaction was expressed by the other tribes at their taking this step.

Two years later, in 1702, Fort St. Louis was aban- doned as a military post. Then followed long and bloody wars between the French of Louisiana and their Illinois allies, with various trihes of the Northwest, commencing with the Foxes of Wisconsin. Charlevoix says of the latter, during the early part of the eighteenth century. "The Outagamies (Foxes: infested with their robberies and murders, not only the neighborhood of the bay ( Green Bay ), but almost all the routes com- municating with the remote colonial posts, as well as those leading from Canada to Louisiana." After the Foxes, cane the Pottawatomies, who finally almost ex- terminated the old allies of the French, and the Chica- gou route, formerly so often traversed by French mis- sionaries and traders on their way to the Illinois and Mississippi, was, as before stated, forsaken, if not for- gotten.

Father Julian Bineteau, who preached to the Miamis at Chicago, died not long after the visit of St. Cosme, from sickness contracted while following the Indians on their summer hunt over the parched and burning prairies. Father Francis Pinet, his companion, went to the great village of the Peorias, after the removal of the Kas- kaskias, and there founded the Cahokia mission-where he died soon after. Father Gravier, according to his promise, returned to the village of the Peorias, where he was dangerously wounded, and descending the Mis-

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HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO

sissippi in search of medical treatment, died on the voyage in 1706. The labors of the French mission- aries, and the attempts at founding French colonies in Louisiana were no longer extended to the region north of the Illinois, and with the exception of a struggling

Melleka R

Miskouakimisa

MICHIGAN

les Mascoutens ou Nation du Feu.

Chicayou.

les Quicapon

Chicagen R

Ancien Village t Ilinoir

R.de

Riviere desTiasis

Macopin

SECTION OF DE L'ISLE'S MAP OF 1718.

Guillatumor de t.'tsle was a muted French gengrapher, Imen in Pause, Febru- ary >8. 1675. died Jaunary 35. 1726. In lyon he reconstructed the current European system of geography by the publication of new and entrect map -. cumprising representations if all the known world. In troz he was admitted la the Royal Academy of sciences, and was afterward appointed tutat in gengne- phy to louis XV., with title of " Find Geographer to the King." He is kakel to have made ry maps, many of which were of rate value. There of thew maps are in the library of the Chicago Historical Society -- theme of 1700, 170}, 1718. The maps of 170; und 1718, sections of which are given herewith, are en. titled " Carte Du Canada on de la France," and "Carte de Is Lamisiagr et du Conse de Mississipi," respectively.

village at Starved Rock, even the once powerful Illinois had been driven by 1720, from all their 'villages above Peoria Lake. In that year Fort Chartres was built on the banks of the Mississippi, near the two French set- tlements of Kaskaskia and Cahokia-a protection to both. About the year 1718, the Miamis were driven from the vicinity of Chicago, and in 1722, the Illinois vil- lages at Starved Rock and at Peoria Lake were besieg- ed by the Foxes, Boisbriant, the commander at Fort Chartres, sent a force to their relief, which arrived after the contest had ended, leaving the Illinois victorious. So greatly had they suffered for years, however, from these constant attacks, that they returned with the French to the shelter of Fort Chartres, and with their abandonment of the river, the only protection to the route from Canada by way of the Illinois to the French settlements was taken away. Charlevoix says of their victory and subsequent removal to southern Illinois :

" This saccess did not, however, prevent the Illinois, although they had only twenty men, with some children, from leaving the rock and Pimitory (l'eoria lake) where they were kept in constant alarm, and proceeding to unite with those of their brethren (the Kaskaskias) who had settled upon the Mississippi, This was a stroke of grace for most of them, the small mimber of mission- aries preventing their supplying so many towns scattered so far apart ; but, on the other sulle, as there was nothing to check the raids of the Foxes along the Illinois River, communication be- Tween Louisiana and New France became much less practicable."

In 1725 Boisbriant, the commandant at Fort Char- tres, was made acting governor of Louisiana, and M. DeSiette, a captain in the royal army, took his place at the fort. Difficulties with the Foxes and their allies had been continually growing worse since the removal af the Illinais-the French being now more exposed ta their attacks. The colonists were murdered almost under the guns of the fort, and the whole country of the upper Illinois was a battle-ground. Delignerie was the French commandant at Green Bay, and labored assiduously to bring abont a peace between the northern tribes and the Illinois, On the 7th of June, 1726, he assembled the Sauks, Winnebagoes and Foxes at his post, and "told them from the king. that they must not raise the war club against the Illinois, or they would have reason to repent it," He was fairly well satisfied withthe answer of the chiefs, and hoped the peace would be stable ; Itt DeSiette, at Fort Chartres, had less con- fidence in the Foxes, or their word, and suggested to DeLignerie that the best method would be to extermin- aie them at one. De Ligneric, while believing with De- Siette that this would be the very best possible method. if it could be carried ont, feared the plan woukl not be a success, and that the Foxes would " array all the upper nations against ns," and " the French of either colony be unable to pass from post to post, but at the risk of robbery and murder." This had been the case too long, and the commandant at Green Bay advised the impatient DeScitte to " cause his people the Illinois ) if they have made any prisoners, to send them back to the Foxes," as he has " told the latter to do with theirs. if their young men bring in any from the country." He continues :

"If all goes well here for a year, I think i will be necessary în have an interview at "Chikagou," or at the Rock (Starved Rock) with you and your Illinois, and the nations of the bay. We will indicate to them the time of the meeting, where it will probably be necessary to make a fori, and to fix the number of the French and Indians who are to be al the sput. These are my thoughts. Do me the honor lo give me your, It my health will allow I shall go there with pleasure, and if i shall thus happen, it will give me greal joy to see you."

KIKAPOUS O

LAKE

MASKOUTENS

G Fort La Salle

Land Carriage of Chekakon

O MASKOUTENS

O AONIATINONIS

Fort Crevecoeur

SECTION OF MOLL'S MAP OF 1720.

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EARLY EXPLORATIONS.

This interview at "Chikagou " was not destined "to tion was conelmuled in July, 1773, " to the entire satis- thus happen," as things did not " go well " between the faction of the Indians," of whom the land was bought "in consideration of the sum of five shillings to them in hand paid," and certain goods and merchandise. The boundary, or rather the mention of certain points in this northern tract, was as follows : French and the Foxes during the coming year, and in August, 1727. M. De Beanharnais, then commanding in Canada, informed M. DeSiette by letter at Fort Chartres, that he was determined to make war upon the Foxes the coming spring, and that the information was given " in order that he Siette might make preparations, and give assistance by disposing the Illinois and the French of the Mississippi to join the Canadians," finishing his let- ter by saying, " It is reasonable to suppose that the pen- ple of Louisiana will come to this war with more ardor than the Canadians, as they are much more exposed to

MASCOUTENS on Gens du Feu

R.Noire

Chicagou

Portage dag thehunt !

R.S.Joseph

R. Galline

SECTION OF D'ANVILLE'S MAP OF 1755.

the incursions of the Foxes, who alan and even kill them continually."

DeSiette joined the Canadian forces at Green Bay the following spring, and a battle ensued at Butte des Morts, Wis., in which the French and their allies, the Illinois, were successful ; but hostilities did not ceasc, and communication between Canada and the Mississippi by way of the Illinois River was as dangerous as before. For nearly half a century the name of Chicago is not mentioned, and there is no record of any visit of a white man to the locality. DuPratz, an old French writer, and a resident of Louisiana from 1718 until 1734, says of the "Chicagou " and Illinois route in 1757 : " Such as come from Canada, and have business only on the Illinois, pass that way yet ; but such as want to go directly to the sea, go down the river of the Wabache to the Ohio, and from thence into the Mississippi." He predicts, also, that unless " some curions person shall go to the north of the Illinois River in search of mines," where they are said to be in great numbers and very rich, that region " will not soon come to the knowledge of the French."

In June, 1773. William Murray, a subject of Great Britain, residing in Kaskaskia, held a council, in the presence of the British officers and authorities stationed at the place, with the chiefs of the several tribes of Illi- nois Indians, in which he proposed to them, that for a certain consideration, they should deed to him two tracts of land east of the Mississippi ; one of which was north of the Illinois River, and extended beyond the present site uf Chicago. Mr. Murray states* that the negotia-

" An accusant of the Proceedings of the Illinois and Quabache Companies," published in Philadelphia in 1796.

"Beginning at a place or point in a direct line oppinite to the month of the Mississippi River ; thence mp the Mississippi by the several courses thereof to the mouth of the Illinois River, about sis leagues, be the same more or less ; and then op the linvis River. by the several courses thereof, in Chicagon or Garlick Creek, ahont ninety leagues or thereabouts, be the same more or less ; then nearly a northerly course, in a direct line to a certain place remark. able, being the ground on which an engagement or battle was fought about forty or fifty years ago between the l'ewaria and Renard Indians, about tilly leagues. be the sane more or less ; theuce by the same course in a direct line to two remarkable hills chne together in the middle of a large prairie or plain, about four- teen leagues, be the same more or less ; thence a north uf east course, in a direct line to a remarkable spring known by the Indians by the name of Foggy Spring, about fourteen leagues, be the same more or less ; thence the same course, in a direct line lo a great mountain to the northward of the White Buffaloe plain, about fif. teen leagties, be the same more or less ; thence nearly a wanhwest course in a direct line to the place of beginning, about forty league". be the same more or less.

Before the consummation of this purchase, Murray had associated several other Englishmen with himself, and fonned the " Illinois Land Company," which was re-organized as an American company. at Philadelphia. on the 29th af April, 1780, when a constitution for the

250 Miles

LAKE

Mississippi

R. & Port

Chicagon.

the

. 9:

Portage

QUADOGHE

Minois R.Route.

So call'd by y Sir Nations y Extent of their Territories & Hounds of their Deed of Sale to Cornel Britian 1201 renewed in(120 $/745.

SECTION OF MITCHELL'S MAP OF 1755

regulation of its affairs was drawn up, and a plan of settlement agreed upon. America was then at war with England, and although Mr. Murray asserts that at the time settlers and purchasers were ready to contract with the company "and a large settlement could have been promoted, and possession taken of the lands, with the consent of the natives," still it was deemed advisable to suspend all operations until the establishment of peace. and, in the meantime, submit their claims to the con- sideration of Congress. For this purpose a meeting was held at Philadelphia, February 1, 1781, at which a memorial was agreed upon, and presented at the ses. sion of that year, setting forth the claims of the com.

. ** Semunt of Proceedings of Illinois and Ouahache Land Companies."

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R.de Chuagou

Bottom of the Las

R. Galline

HISTORY OF EARLY CHICAGO.

pany, and concluding with a proposal to cede all the land included in the purchase of the Indians to the United States, on condition that one-fourth should be re-con- veyed to the company. The report of the committee of the House, of which Samuel Livermore was chair. man, was favorable to the petitioners. The Senate committee reported adversely : " In the opinion of the committee, deeds obtained by private persons from the Indians, without any antecedent authority, or subse- quent information from the Government, could not rest in the grantees mentioned in such deed a title to the lands therein described." The report of the Senate committee was finally adopted and the petition dis- missed.

One of the objections of the Committee of 1781 to granting the petition of the Illinois Land Company was that "one of the deeds, beginning on the north side uf the Illinois River, contains only a number of lines, without comprehending any land whatever." This refers to the tract, extending up the Illinois to Chica- gou or Garlick Creek, thence some two hundred and seventy-nine miles in a northeasterly course, and front that point by a southwesterly course of one hundred and twenty miles, reaching by some means a " point opposite the mouth of the Missouri River "-the place of beginning. Mr. Murray says :

" Some doubts have been entertained concerning the accuracy of the courses of some of the lines mentioned in this parcel of land, north uf the Illinois River, yet there are so many ter- minations of these lines, by well-known marks and statiuns, that on every equitable construction the deed will be found to close itself, and to comprehend a well-described tract of country. . . . Is has a well-known place of beginning, and remarkable well- known corners described, proceeding ruund 10 the said beginning : and the rectificalinn of an error in a course or two as to the points of the compass closes the survey, maintaining all the corners."

He explains further that the ludians are only bound to regard "natural boundaries" and " natural corners," and do not regard points of the compass or estimates of distances, etc.

The claims of the company were again brought before Congress in 1792, and yet again in 1797, but with no more favorable results than in 1781.

On the 3d of August, 1795, by the terms of the

CedarR.

Chicago

POO

WATOMIS

SECTION OF CAREY'S MAP OF 1818.

treaty of Greenville, a " piece of land six miles square, at the mouth of the Chicagu River, emptying into the southwest end of Lake Michigan, where a fort formerly

stood," was ceded by the Indians to the United States, in anticipation of its being made a military post.

MODERN CHICAGO AND ITS SETTLEMENT.

" Baptiste Point DeSaible, a handsome negro, well educated and settled at Eschikagou ; but much in the French interest."

This apparently unimportant fact, recorded July 4, 1779, by Colonel Arent Schuyler Del'eyster, then Brit-

LAKE ILLINOIS

R.Chigogon

F. Miamis Ou Ouamis

Porlage

MASCOUTENS

Chigagen

Portage

Portage-

Haakiki ou Macanen R.

F. Crevecœur

SECTION OF POPPLE'S MAP. 1733-

A section of a map from Henry Hopple's allas. " America Septentrionalen." published in london in 1731. Mr. C. C. Baldwin, in a tract on early Isaps, 301% (w'e Chicagu Antiquities. p. anisi these maps "were undertaken with the approlastin of the Lords of Trade, using all the maps, charts and observations that could be found, and especially the authentic records and actual surveys transinittedl hy the guvernors of the British plantations. . . . The engra- ver has bestowed much labor upon them, but the progress is backwards."

ish commander at Michilimackinac, is the initial point from which may be traced the growth of Chicago, from a single rude cabin on the sand-point at the mouth of the river, to the magnificent city which stands to-day, the type of modern progressive civilization.

What was Eschikagou in 1779, and why did this handsome and well educated pioneer scttle here ?

Colonel DePeyster says elsewhere in the volume of Miscellanies, from which the above statement is quoted: "Eschikagou is a river and fort at the head of 1.ake Michigan."

Possibly the fort " where Durantaye commanded," was alluded to, or the French under Siette might have built a fort at Chicago, as they desired to do, when on their way to join the Canadian force at Green Bay, and make war on the Foxes of Fox River, in the spring of 1729. When Del'eyster wrote of Chicago and its first settler, the French lilies had been lowered from Fort Chartres, and Louisiana was in the hands of the English. It had been British soil fourteen years before there is any record of a person "curious " enough to penetrate the country north of the Illinois and make a home on the shore of Lake Michigan, The biography of Jean Bap- tiste Point DeSaible, the pioneer settler of Chicago, is very brief. He was a native of Santo Domingo, "well

Da zedby Google

MODERN CHICAGO AND ITS SETTLEMENT.

educated and handsome." Before settling on the banks of the Chicago River he had lived among the Peorias, with a friend named Glamorgan-also a Domingoan- who was reputed to be possessor of large Spanish land grants near St. Louis; and to the home of this friend he returned to die, in 1796.

By the treaty of Ryswick, September, 20, 1697, the western portion of the island of Hayti was ceded to France,-the French colony thereafter taking the name of the island, while the Spanish colony, founded in 1496,

tested English had possession of the home of the Peorias, and the equally detested Spaniards ruled the country across the Mississippi, the French colonists and all who remained faithful to them, would have few favors and little inducement to remain. Of the two Domingoan friends, settled at Peoria, Glamorgan was worldly wise, and with many others who sought favor with the Span- ish Government, received his reward in lands near St. Louis. Baptiste Point DeSaible remained faithful to the French, and finally left his home to make another

Nuetk

the

Country uf the Stoux

Neadoys

Nato of Fire

codwixx

CL UNY.TRY

River

THE COUNTRY

of the

COUNTRY

IPANIR

Lo Meter Jihomine

of the

44-

PAROU

The Miliisipi

LOUISIANA

COUNTRY

South

SECTION OF DU PRATZ'S MAP OF LOUISIANA, 1757.

on the eastern shore, retained its old name of Santo Domingo. From the time of this treaty the Spanish colony made little progress for half a century, while the Haytian colony rapidly grew rich and prosperous, soon becoming one of the most valuable possessions of France, Among its population were a large number of free colored people, mostly mulattoes, many of whom had received a liberal education in France and possessed large estates, although they were excluded from political privileges. Under this state of affairs it would be nat- ural for an ambitious mulatto to leave the old Spanish colony and seek a fortune among the French in Louisi- ana. Many San Domingoans had been brought as slaves to Fort Chartres by Renault, in 1722, and were employed in the mines and otherwise, and the wonderful stories told by French adventurers of the riches of the country, constantly attracted others, equally adventurous, to its shores. The French were beloved by the natives and by all who settled among them and lived their easy, cheer- ful life. It may easily be believed that when the de-

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History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Part 10

Author: Andreas, A. T. (Alfred Theodore), 1839-1900 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago : A.T. Andreas Number of Pages: 875

Author: Andreas, A. T. (Alfred Theodore), 1839-1900
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : A.T. Andreas
Number of Pages: 875