History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Part 48

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

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The following extracts from the supplementary nar- rative of Hezekiah Cunningham was furnished by H. W. Beckwith :*

" In the night time, about the 15th or 20th of July, t 1827, I was awakened by my brother-in-law, Alexander McDonald, telling me that Mr. Hubbard had just come in from Chirago with the word that the Indians were about to massacre the people there, and that men were wanted for their protection at once. The inhabitants of the country capable of hearing arms had been enrolled under the militia laws of the State, and organized as ' The Vermillion County Battalion,' in which I held a commission as Captain. 1 dressed myself and started forthwith to notify all the men belonging to my company to meet at Butler's l'oint (six miles southwest of Danville). the place where the county business was then comlucted and where the militia met to muster. The Captains of the other companies were notified the same as myself, and they warned out their respect- Ive companies the same as myself, and they rode the remainder of the night at this work, up and down the Little Vermillion.

"At noon the next day, the battalion was at Butler's Point ; most of the men lived on the little Vermillion Kiver, and had to ride or walk from six to twelve miles to the place of rendezvous. Volunteers were called for, and in a little while fifty men, the re- quired number, were raised. Those who agreed to go then held an election of their officers for the campaign, choosing Achilles Mor- gan, Captain: Major Bayles, First Lieutenant; and Colonel Isaac R. Moores, as Second, The names of the private nien, as far as I now remember them, are as follows : George M. Beckwith, John Beasley, myself (Hezekiah Cunningham), Julian Ellis, Scaman Cox, James Dixon, Asa Elliott, Francis Foley, William Foley. a Mr. Hammers, Jacob Heater, a Mr. Davis, Evin Morgan, Isaac Ginen, Jonathan Phelps, Joshua l'arish, William Reed, John Myers I'Little Vermillion John'), John Saulsbury, a Mr. Kirkman, An- thony Swisher, tieorge Swisher, Joseph Price, tieorge Weir, John Vaughn, Newton Wright and Abel Williams. Many of the men were without horses, and the neighbors who had horses and did not go, loaned their animals to those who did ; still there were five men who started afoot, as there were no horses to be had for them. We disbanded, after we were mustered in, and went home to cook five days' rations, and were ordered to be at Danville the next day. The men all had a pint of whisky, believing it essential to mix a little of it with the slough water we were to drink on our route. Abel Williams, however, was smart enough to take some ground coffee, and a tin cup along. using no stimulants whatever ; he had warm drinks on the way up to Chicago, and coming back all of us had the same.

" We arrived at the Vermillion River about noon on Sunday, the day after assembling at Butler's Point. - The river was up, run- ning, bank full, about a hundred yards wide, with a strong current. Our men and saddles were taken over in a canoe. We undertook

*Fergus's Historical Series, Nn. 10.

t The month must have been September or October. (See Narrative of G. S. Hubbard.)

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In swim our horses, and as they were driven into the water the cur- rent would strike them and they would swim in a circle and return to the shore a few rods below. Mr. Hubbard, provoked at this de- lay, threw off his coat and said, 'Give me old Charley,' meaning a large, steady-going horse, owned by James Butler and loaned to Jacob Healer. Mr. Hubbard, mounting this horse, boldly dashed into the stream, and the other horses were quickly crowded after him. The water was so swift that ' old Charley' became un- manageable, when Mr. Hubbard dismounted on the upper side and seized the horse, by the mane, near the animal's head, and swimming with his left arm, guided the horse in the direction of the opposite shore. We were afraid he would be washed under the horse or struck by his feet and be drowned ; but he got over without dam- age, except the wetting of his broadcloth pants and moccasins. These he had to dry on his person. as we pursued our journey.

" } will here say that a better man than Mr. Hubbard could not have been sent to our people. lie was well known to all the settlers. Ilis generosity, his quiet and determined courage, and his integrity, were so well known and appreciated that he had the con- fidence and good will of everybody, and was a well-recognized leader among us pioneers.

" At this time there were no persons living on the north bank of the Vermillion River near Danville, except Robert Trickle and George Weir, up near the present woolen factory, and William Reed and Dan Beckwith ; the latter had a little log cabin on the bluff of the Vermillion near the present highway bridge, or rather on the edge of the hill cast of the highway some rods. Here he kept store, in addition to his official duties as Constable and County Surveyor. The store contained a small assortment of such articles as were suitable for barter with the Indians who were the principal customers. We called it " The Saddle-Bags Store," because the supplies were brought up from Terre Haute in saddle-bags, that indispensable accompaniment of every rider in those days before highways were provided for the use of vehicles,

" Mr. Reed had been elected Sheriff the previous March, re- ceiving fifty-seven out of the eighty votes that were cast at the election, and which represented about the entire voting population of the county at that time. Both Reed and Dan wanted to go with us, and after quite a warm controversy between them, as it was impossible for them both to leave, it was agreed that Reed should go and that Beckwith should look after the affairs of both until Reed's return. Amos Williams was building his house at Danville at this time, the sale of lots having taken place the previous April. " Crossing the North Fork at Denmark, three miles north of Danville, we passed the cabin of Seymour Treat. Ile was build- ing a mill at that place ; and his house was the last one in which a family was living until we reached Hlubbard's Trading-Post on the north bank of the Iroquois River, near what has since been known as the town of Buncombe ; and from this trading-house there was no other habitation, Indian wigwams excepted, on the line of our march until we reached Fort Dearborn. * * *

" We reached Chicago about four o'clock on the evening of the fourth day, in the midst of one of the most severe rainstorms ] ever experienced, accompanied by thunder and vicious lightning. The rain we did not mind, we were without tents and were used to wetting., The water we took within us hurt us more than that which fell upon us, as drinking it made many of us sick. The pen- ple of Chicago were very glad to see us, They were expecting an attack every hour since Colonel Hubbard had left them, and as we approached they did not know whether we were enemies or friends, and when they learned that we were friends they gave us a shout of welcome." They had organized a company of thirty or fifty men, composed mostly of Canadian half-breeds, interspersed with a few Americans, all' under the command of Captain Beaubien. The Americans seeing that we were a better looking crowd, wanted to leave their associates and join our company. This feeling caused quite a row, but the officers finally restored harmony and the dis- contented men went back to their old command. The town of Chi- cago was composed at this time of six or seven American families, a number of half-breeds, and a lot of idle, vagabond Indians loiter- ing about. I made the acquaintance of Robert and James Kin- zic, and their father, John Kinzie. We kept guard day and night for some eight or ten days, when a runner came in-I think from Green Bay-bringing word that General Cass had concluded a treaty with the Winnehagos, and that we might now disband and go home. The citizens were overjoyed at the news ; and in their gladness they turned out one barrel of gin, one barrel of brandy, one barrel of whisky, knocking the heads of the barrels in. Everybody was invited to take a free drink: and, to tell the plain truth, every- body did drink. The ladies at Fort Dearborn treated us especially well. I say this without disparaging the good and cordial conduct of the men toward us. The ladies gave us all manner of good things to eat. They loaded us with provisions and gave us all those delicate attentions that the kindness of woman's heart would sug-

. The distance traveled by Colonel Hubbard on this expedition was not less than two hundred and fifty miles,

gest. Some of them-three ladies whom I understood were recently from New York, distributed tracts and other reading mat. ter among our company, and interested themselves zealously in our spiritual as well as temporal welfare,"

The company mentioned in the foregoing as organ- ized while Hubbard had gone for relief, was the first

militia contpany ever organized in Chicago of which any tradition or record is preserved. The commander of this company was Jean Baptiste Beaubien.

The first, truest and bravest volunteer militiamen of Cook County were Shawbonce and his friend " Billy Caldwell." Their names appear on no muster rolls, but their services as protectors of the whites against their savage foes have enrolled them in the hearts of their descendants forever. But for them the first families of Chicago would have had no descendants to perpetuate their lives or tell the story of their preservation. Mer- ited mention of these friends of early Chicago, ever true and brave, appears elsewhere.

In October, 1828, Fort Dearborn was again garri- soned and so remained with the exception of May and a part of June, 1832, until its final evacuation, May 10, 1837. When the Black Hawk War broke out, in the early spring of 1832, threatening the entire devastation of all the white settlements in the country west and northwest of the great lakes, the regular army was found inadequate to repel the threatened danger, and the mil- itia were again called into requisition, Under the call for troops the State of Illinois furnished one hundred and seventy-four companies of volunteers, which appear on the muster rolls of the United States, and served in some capacity during the war. In addition, many com- panies of State Militia were under arms, who performed

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meritorious services, but were not mustered into the serv- ice by any United States officer. No rolls of these companies are preserved in the archives of the Govern- ment. Fortunately, through the industrious historic re- search of Hon. John Wentworth and others, the roster of one of these companies, made up of early residents of Chicago, has been rescued from oblivion, as will appear in its proper connection. The participation of residents of Chicago in the war is detailed in the following sketch :

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 hand 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 anthority, 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 knowl- edge of their intention, and informed General Atkinson as early as April 12, 1832, when he wrote him :

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

· Black Hawk, although a chief of a band, was not at this time the leading chiel of the Sacs. Ile was, according to Indian polity, subservient to Keokuk, who was the leading chief of the nation. Chiefs gained their supremacy in three ways; by inheritance, by marriage with a chief's daughter, oc by bravery in war. Black Hawk was not a hereditary chief; he had gained his position by hravery in 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, Keokuk took no part in his raid, but, although his superior in rank, was powerless to control the band which acknowledged allegiance to him.

So, among the Pottawatomies, Big Foot, chief of a band. seemed not to be under the control of any other chiefs of that nation. Although Keokuk, the head chief, desired peace, Black Hawk did not heed his advice or orders.

sentiements. * * * From every information that I have received 1 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 warin friend of Armstrong, was in collusion with him to get up a scare and a new treaty. The Galenian, a paper puh- 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 hy Governor Reynolds to repel the threat- ened invasion, On Saturday. May 9, the militia hat 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 reconnaissance 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 his village at what is now Prophetstown, III. He was in full sympathy with Black Hawk, and although the Winnebagors would not join him in open war against the whites, his invitation to Black Hawk to come over and plant corn in his ter- ritory did not reassure the whites, It had the appearance of duplicity on the part of White Cloud, and aroused the suspicion that a general alliance of the Winnebagoes, Pottawatomics and Foxes against the whites would be the prob- able sequence of Black Hawk's visit.

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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 trnce 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 vin- 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 Whitesitle, 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, roh- bing, destroying, and murdering in sweet revenge for the ontrages of Stillman's men. The volunteers who thus precipitated the rupture were soon after nistered 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 settlers of Cook County, then comprising the present counties of MeHenry, Du- Page, Will and Lake. The settlers of DnPage 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 outhreak 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 fron 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 haunlet 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 unwelcoute information that a band of Saes, 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 ou the evening of the zoth. At that time the panie 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 bun- dred finding crowded but welcome acenmodations 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 utmost. 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:

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History of Cook County, Illinois From the Earliest Period to the Present Time, Part 48

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