USA > Illinois > Cook County > History of Cook County, Illinois : being a general survey of Cook County history, including a condensed history of Chicago and special account of districts outside the city limits : from the earliest settlement to the present time, volume I > Part 3
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It will be seen that the tract of country now called Cook county, Illinois, was first the property of the Indians-presumably the Mas- coutens, then the Illinois, and then the Pottawatomies. At the date of exploration France claimed it as a part of New France (Canada), and the English Atlantic colonies claimed it as a west- ward extension of their grants. But France perfected her claim and thus became the first white owner of Cook county. In 1684 it was included in the grant to La Salle, but was soon freed by his early death. In 1701 the English, by their treaty with the Iroquois, secured a claim to the country westward to the Mississippi, but this claim probably extended no further northward than the Calumet, and, therefore, did not embrace all of Cook county, though it did embrace much of the Illinois country. In 1712 this county was included in the grant to Crozat; in 1714 it passed in the grant to the Western Company, which in 1718 united with the Eastern Com- pany; and in 1723 it was embraced in the grant to the Royal India Company-all French, of course. From 1732 to 1763 it remained under the immediate government of France. In 1763 it passed to England as a result of the Seven Years' war, and in 1783 was ceded to the United States. It was claimed by Spain at the close of the Revolution, but this claim was never seriously considered, and after a score of years was abandoned. The cession of Louisiana to the United States in 1803 settled the rights of the latter to the Mississippi.
THE INDIANS
I T DOES not appear that the Miamis, except perhaps for short periods, ever occupied the present site of down- town Chicago. Their permanent home was on St. Joseph river, Michigan, and their domain probably extended as far as the Little Calumet, and therefore may have embraced the southern part of Cook county. It is known, however, that the Mascoutens, who were closely related to the Miamis, were early at the mouth of the present Chicago river; in fact their domain joined that of the Miamis on the west. It is probable that the occasional attacks of the Five Nations from the East may have driven the Miamis to the present Chicago river to live temporarily. It is known that before 1671 the Miamis and Mascoutens occupied villages in common in Wisconsin, and that a portion of the Miami tribe continued to live there as late as 1697. In 1699 St. Cosme and his associates found the Miamis at Chicago (St. Joseph, Michigan), where there was a mission in charge of Fathers Pinet and Bineteau. Although the name Chicago is here used, reference to St. Joseph is undoubted, owing to the fact that Fathers Pinet and Bineteau at that date had a mission at the latter place and not at the former. In 1721 Charlevoix wrote as follows : "Fifty years ago the Miamis were settled on the southern extremity of Lake Michigan, in a place called Chicago, from the name of a small river which runs into the lake, the source of which is not far distant from that of the river of the Illinois." This reference also is to St. Joseph. The Kankakee was then called the river of the Illinois, near the head of which the St. Joseph river had its source. The Des Plaines at no time was called the Illinois. The Miamis, it is known, were then located on the St. Joseph, then called Chicago. A little later the Weas, also related to the Miamis, occupied at least a part of the present Cook county. At the treaty of Greenville, August 3, 1795, Little Turtle, chief of the Miamis, claimed that the domain of his tribe extended westward as far as the present Chi- cago, but the Indians usually claimed more than was due them. His tribe really claimed to the Calumet. The Illinois, also related to the Miamis, at times no doubt occupied the present soil of Cook county ; so of the Kickapoos. Still later the combined Pottawato- mies, Ottawas and Chippewas drove the Illinois and their allies from this vicinity and kept possession until they were dispossessed by the whites. All of the tribes mentioned above were of Algonquin or Chippewa stock, and were thus closely related. ยท
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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
The Treaty of Greenville, concluded at Greenville, Ohio, August 3, 1795, between the United States, on one side, and the Wyan- dots, Delawares, Shawnees, Ottawas, Chippewas, Pottawatomies, Miamis, Eel Rivers, Weas, Kickapoos, Piankeshaws and Kaskas- kias, on the other, provided that there should pass to the United States "one piece of land six miles square at the mouth of the Chi- cago river, emptying into the southwest end of Lake Michigan, where a fort formerly stood." By this treaty the whites were allowed a free passage "from the mouth of Chicago river to the commencement of the portage between that river and the Illinois and down the Illinois to the Mississippi." The above tribes, or portions of them, as above stated, had claimed, from time imme- morial, the soil at what is now Cook county, and Chicago. Several of them that had no just claim to this tract (Wyandots and Dela- wares) were joined in the treaty in order to forestall any subse- quent claim against the Government.
On November 3, 1804, the Sacs and Foxes ceded to the United States all the country south of the Wisconsin, and a direct line drawn from a point thirty-six miles up the river to Sakaegan Lake (which is supposed to be about thirty miles from the shore of Lake Michigan), thence to a branch of the Illinois river. But this was really Winnebago territory. The Ottawas, Chippewas and Potta- watomies protested against this sale of their lands by the Sacs and Foxes.
To the War of 1812, with its accompanying influence for the worse upon the Indians, was due the attack of the Indians at the Lee residence and at Fort Dearborn. Charles Lee owned a farm on the South Branch about four miles from its mouth; his house stood on the northwest side of the river and was first called "Lee's Place," and later "Hardscrabble." Lee himself and his family lived near the fort, and his "place" was occupied by Liberty White, a Frenchman named Debou, a discharged soldier and a boy. On April 6, 1812, a war party of eleven Winnebagoes appeared and killed two of the men, the other man and the boy having become suspicious and escaped to the fort. On their way they notified the family of Burns, living on the river at what is now North State street, of their danger, and a squad of soldiers was sent to escort them to the fort. All of the families gathered in the fort and the Indians left the neighborhood. This ended the affair, but the next two months the Indians hovered around and the whites had to be on their guard.
War between England and the United States was declared June 18, 1812, and on July 16 Fort Mackinac was captured by the enemy. On August 9, a message with news of the war was received here from Gen. William Hull, at Detroit, commander of the West- ern Department, accompanied with an order to Capt. Nathan Heald, commander of Fort Dearborn, to evacuate the fort and return with
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P. D. Harmon
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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
his command to Detroit. Under the circumstances, this was an insane order and could have been issued only by such a timorous officer as General Hull. The force here consisted of fifty-four pri- vates, twelve militiamen and three or four officers, and in the fort were about a dozen women and twenty children. Captain Heald presumed upon the friendship of the Pottawatomies and waited six days, until about four hundred of that tribe had assembled. He expected they would act as escort to his charge all the way to Detroit. On the 13th Capt. William Wells arrived from Fort Wayne with thirty friendly Miamis to assist Captain Heald on his march. All of the ammunition and guns not needed and all of the whisky were destroyed and thrown into the river or the lake. The destruction of the liquor greatly inflamed the Indians, and was one of the causes that induced the Pottawatomies to turn against the whites. The Indians held a council and resolved on the destruction of the garrison. Notwithstanding this fact was made known to Captain Heald, and notwithstanding the opposition of John Kinzie and the friendly Indians, of whom there were several, the com- mander determined to obey the order of General Hull and evacuate the fort. The massacre which resulted was due to this determina- tion and not to any necessity to evacuate. Disobedience of the orden would have been fully justified with almost certain massacre star- ing the garrison in the face in case of evacuation. The fort could have been held for months, or until relief from Detroit or else- where could have arrived. Captain Heald undoubtedly thought the Pottawatomies could be trusted and relied upon that hope. He did not seem to take into consideration that the Indians might be acting at the instigation of the British, and, as it transpired later, this was actually the fact, but the determination to evacuate was carried out. At 9 o'clock on the morning of the 15th all marched forth. At the head were fifteen of the Miamis and the other fifteen brought up the rear ; between were the women and children in wagons and on horseback; and around them were the regulars and the militiamen. The march led south along the lake shore. On the west, beginning a little south of the fort, was a sand ridge extending parallel with the shore far to the south. When the march began the Pottawato- mies accompanied the party as a supposed escort, but when the sand ridge was reached they passed to the west side of it. Concealed by the ridge, they hurried forward, and about a mile and a half from the fort made preparations to attack the whites when they should arrive near the shore opposite. Captain Wells, riding in advance, was the first to see signs of attack and came hurriedly back. When opposite the Indians, the latter began firing from their place of concealment on the ridge and were charged upon by the troop, and the fighting became brisk. The Indians managed to flank the whites and thus reached the wagons, and there the slaugh- ter mostly occurred. The Miamis fled at the first attack and took no Vol. I-4.
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part in the massacre. Twenty-five non-commissioned officers and privates and eleven women and children alone escaped the slaugh- ter ; all the rest were butchered. The survivors were surrendered by Captain Heald upon condition that their lives would be spared. Nearly all the wounded were put to death. The Indians engaged numbered about four hundred. Their loss was probably fifteen. Captain Wells, Ensign Ronau and Surgeon Van Voohis were among the killed. The former was horribly mutilated, his head cut off and his heart taken out and eaten by the savages. That this attack was at the instigation of the British is shown by the fact that Captain Heald, the commander, after he had recovered from his wounds at St. Joseph, was delivered to the British at Mackinac and by them paroled. Friendly Indians saved several whites from death. The following day the fort and the agency building were destroyed by fire, and for four years thereafter lay in ruins. So far as known, the bodies of the dead were permitted to rot where they fell.
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On August 24, 1816, the Ottawas, Chippewas and Pottawatomies residing on the Illinois and "Milwakee" rivers and their branches, and on the southwestern parts of Lake Michigan, ceded to the United States "all their right, title and claim to all the land con- tained in the before-mentioned cession of the Sacs and Foxes, which lies south of a due west line from the southern extremity of Lake Michigan to the Mississippi." They also ceded the following tract : "Beginning on the left bank of the Fox river of Illinois, ten miles above the mouth of said Fox river; thence running so as to cross Sandy creek, ten miles above its mouth; thence in a direct line to a point ten miles north of the west end of the portage between Chi- cago creek, which empties into Lake Michigan, and the river Des- plaines, a fork of the Illinois; thence in a direct line to a point in Lake Michigan ten miles northward of the mouth of Chicago creek; thence along the lake to a point ten miles southward of the mouth of said Chicago creek; thence in a direct line to a point on the Kankakee, ten miles above its mouth; thence with the said Kan- kakee and the Illinois river to the mouth of Fox river; and thence to the beginning." By this treaty the United States relinquished to the above tribes all other land contained in the aforesaid cession by the Sacs and Foxes lying north of a due west line from the southern extremity of Lake Michigan to the Mississippi, except reservations in Wisconsin. This treaty of the Sacs and Foxes referred to did not touch any part of what is now Cook county ; its eastern boundary was in part the Fox river. Two of the Indian names signed to this treaty of 1816 were Black Bird and Black Partridge.
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"In 1816 a tract of land bordering on Lake Michigan, including Chicago and extending to the Illinois river, was obtained from the Indians for the purpose of opening a canal communication between the lake and the river. Having been one of the commissioners that
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treated for this land, I personally know that the Indians were induced to believe that the opening of a canal would be very advan- tageous to them, and that under authorized expectations that this would be done they ceded the land for a trifle."-(Governor Ed- wards' Message. )
On August 19, 1825, at "Prairie des Chien," it was conceded by the United States that "the Illinois Indians have also a just claim to a portion of the country bounded south by the Indian boundary line aforesaid (running from the south end of Lake Michigan directly westward to the Mississippi), east by Lake Michigan, north by the Menominee country (about the Milwaukee river), and north- west by Rock river."
In 1825, and before, Alexander Wolcott was Indian agent at Chi- cago. He had granted in 1823 and 1824 licenses to trade with the Indians to the following persons : Jeremie Clermont, David Laugh- ton, Jacob Harsen, Isidore Chabert, Stephen Mack, Jr., Nathaniel Leonard, Jr., Cole Weeks, John Baptiste Beaubien and Archibald Clybourn. Clermont was at Milwaukee, Laughton on Vermilion river, Harson on the Kankakee, Chabert on the Iroquois, Mack on Rocky (Rock) river, Leonard at Milwaukee, Weeks at Grand Bois and Beaubien and Clybourn at Chicago. Each of the latter had only $500 of capital thus employed.
In 1828 occurred the Winnebago Indian alarm; they killed a few emigrants, when a volunteer force overawed them. The In- dian trade was the only good trade here at this time. Alexander Wolcott was Indian agent in 1827 at Chicago; Stephen Mack on Rock river, Archibald Clybourn, by a substitute, on Rock river; Elisha Taylor at Milwaukee, George Hunt on Rock river, and Clermont Lauzon at Milwaukee. In 1829 the superintendency of Indian affairs of Michigan territory embraced Chicago, and the latter included all the country along Lake Michigan from Milwau- kee to Grand river in Michigan. Alexander Doyle was sub-agent of Indians at Chicago in 1829. At this date there was an aggrega- tion of 105 soldiers at Fort Dearborn under Major Fowle; they were two companies of the Fifth infantry.
By the treaty of July 29, 1829, held at "Prairie de Chien" with the Chippewa, Ottawa and Pottawatomie Indians, the United States secured the following tract: "Beginning on the western shore of Lake Michigan at the northeast corner of the field of Antoine Ouil- mette, who lives near Gross Point, about twelve miles north of Chicago; thence running due west to Rock river; thence down said river to where a line drawn due west from the most southern bend of Lake Michigan crosses said river; thence east along said line to the Fox river of the Illinois; thence along the northwestern boundary line of 1816 to Lake Michigan; thence northwardly along the western shore of said lake to the place of beginning."
From this cession there was reserved to Billy Caldwell "two and
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HISTORY OF COOK COUNTY
a half sections on the Chicago river above and adjoining the line of the purchase of 1816; to Victoire Pothier one and a half sections on the Chicago river above and adjoining the tract of land herein granted to Billy Caldwell; to Jane Miranda, one quarter section on the Chicago river above and adjoining the tract herein granted to Victoire Pothier ; to Archange Ouilmette, a Pottawatomie woman, wife of Antoine Ouilmette, two sections for herself and her chil- dren on Lake Michigan south of and adjoining the northern bound- ary of the cession herein made by the Indians aforesaid to the United States."
It was agreed that these tracts of land should never be leased or conveyed by the grantees or their heirs to any persons whatever without permission of the President of the United States, and that the United States, at its own expense, should cause to be surveyed the northern boundary line of this cession from Lake Michigan to Rock river as soon as practicable. The commissioners to conclude this treaty were John McNeil, Pierre Menard and Caleb Atwater. John H. Kinzie (Indian sub-agent), Lieut. Col. Zachary Taylor, Alexander Wolcott (Indian agent), and Thomas Forsyth (Indian agent ), were present. At this treaty there were paid by the United States for Indian depredations the following claims: To Antoine Ouilmette $800 for damage by the Indians at the time of the Chicago massacre and during the War of 1812; to the heirs of John Kinzie, for damages at the Chicago massacre, and at St. Joseph (Michigan), during the War of 1812, $3,500; to Margaret Helon, for losses at the Chicago massacre, $800, and to James Kin- zie, for money due him, $485.
By the treaty of October 20, 1832, at Camp Tippecanoe, the Pottawatomie Indians ceded the following tract to the United States: "Beginning at -a point on Lake Michigan ten miles south- ward of the mouth of Chicago river; thence in a direct line to a point on the Kankakee river ten miles above its mouth; thence with said river and the Illinois river to the mouth of Fox river, being the boundary of a cession made by them in 1816; thence with the southern boundary of the Indian territory to the state line between Illinois and Indiana; thence north with said line to Lake Michigan ; thence with the shore of Lake Michigan to the place of beginning." There were many reserves at Little Rock village, Twelve Mile Grove, Thorn Creek, Soldier's Village, Hickory Creek, Skunk Grove, villages of Minemaung, Mesheketeno, Waisuskucks, Sha- bonier. It was provided that thereafter annually there should be paid to Billy Caldwell $600. The following claims, among many, were paid by the Government: Gurdon S. Hubbard, $5,573; An- toine Le Clerc, $55; Alexander Robinson, $91; Peter Menard, Jr., $37. At this treaty the following tracts in Cook county were reserved : Section 7, Township 37 north, Range 15 east (near the mouth of Calumet river) ; Section 8, Township 37 north, Range
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15 east (also near the mouth of Calumet river) ; Section 33, Town- ship 35 north, Range 14 east (near Steger) ; Southwest quarter of Section 5, Township 37 north, Range 15 east (near the mouth of Calumet river) ; Sections 31 and 32, Township 36 north, Range 14 east (near Homewood).
The Black Hawk war of 1832 only indirectly affected Fort Dear- born and Chicago. By May 10, of that year, about seven hundred persons, among whom were 213 women and children, were congre- gated in Fort Dearborn for protection. The men here with guards out remained on their farms to care for the stock, etc. Colonel Owen, commander of the fort; Gholson Kercheval and Colonel Hamilton, extra quartermasters, did all they could for the comfort of the settlers. From fifteen to twenty persons were crowded often in a single room. The Sauks and Foxes sent delegates here to in- duce the Pottawatomies to join them in their war on the whites. They brought strong pressure to bear on Billy Caldwell, chief of the Pottawatomies, located here, and upon Alexander Robinson, another chief. Finally Colonel Owen, Colonel Hamilton and Chiefs Caldwell and Robinson held a council with them on the North side, on which occasion Blackfoot and others savagely attacked the Gov- ernment for the wrongs done the Indians and declared that now was the time to get even, and the young braves present favored their views. But Colonel Owen, in a dispassionate speech, showed how such a course would react upon the Indians and completely changed the tide. The Indians retired, consulted and finally re- turned and gave their hands to Colonel Owen, asserting that they were friends of the United States and would furnish 100 braves to go against the Sauks and Foxes. Upon hearing this conclusion of the Pottawatomies and their allies, the Chippewas and Ottawas present in the vicinity of Chicago, the delegates of Black Hawk's band departed. If the latter had succeeded in inducing the former to join them against the whites, there might have been another massacre at Fort Dearborn. The leading men here visited threat- ened points within twenty or thirty miles of Chicago and assisted in protecting the people. Companies of militia escorted to Chicago the whites gathered at James Walker's, near Plainfield, and at Holderman's Grove. The troops here joined the general move- ment westward against the Indians. On July 8, Gen. Winfield Scott arrived here with a large force and brought with him what was as bad as the Indians-the cholera. The soldiers who died of this disease were buried on Lake street and no record was kept of the interments. About twenty years later, when excavations in Lake street were made, their bodies were discovered and removed to the City cemetery.
By the treaty of October 27, 1832, the Kaskaskia, Peoria, Mich- igamia, Cahokia and Tamarois Indians-all of the Illinois nation- ceded to the United States all their claims to lands in Illinois and Missouri.
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By the treaty of September 26, 1833, concluded at Chicago with the Chippewa, Ottawa and Pottawatomie Indians, the claim of the United States to the following tract was reaffirmed and made per- manent, viz .: "All their land along the western shore of Lake Michigan and between this lake and the land ceded to the United States by the Winnebago nation (Rock river), bounded north by Milwaukee river, and on the south by the line running due west from southern point of Lake Michigan to the Mississippi-contain- ing in all about 5,000,000 acres." The Indians were removed west by the provisions of this treaty. Mrs. Mann, daughter of Antoine Ouilmette, other children of Ouilmette, the Laframboise children, the Beaubiens, Billy Caldwell, Billy Caldwell's children, Alexander Robinson, Joseph Laframboise, and others, received cash in lieu of reservations.
On September 26, 1833, the treaty with the Pottawatomies (about 7,000) was held on the North Side under a tent. Thomas J. V. Owen, George B. Porter and William Weatherford signed the treaty on behalf of the United States. The Indians ceded all their remaining territory in northern Illinois and Wisconsin-about 20,- 000,000 acres. The Indians were mostly encamped in the woods on the North Side, but a large band was under a cottonwood tree at Lake and State streets. Many speculators were present. "There were scenes enacted which it would be no credit to humanity to narrate. Quite a large number of our present citizens were here at the time of the treaty-( Annual Review of Chicago, 1854). The Indians were fleeced by the whites of nearly all they obtained at this treaty.
"NOTICE :- The Chicago treaty of September 26, 1833, having been ratified only on certain conditions, and as it is not known that these conditions will be assented to on the part of the Indians: Therefore be it known, that all persons presuming to settle on the ceded tract will be immediately removed therefrom."-(J. V. Owen, Indian Agent, August, 1834.)
Mr. Calhoun, an eye witness, thus in part describes in his paper the payment of the Indian annuity on October 28, 1834: "About $30,000 worth of goods were to be distributed. They assembled to the number of about 4,000. The distribution took place by piling the whole quantity in a heap upon the prairie on the west side of the river near the corner of Randolph and Canal streets. The Indians were made to sit down upon the grass in a circle around the pile of goods-their squaws sitting behind them. The half-breeds and traders were appointed to distribute the goods, and they leisurely walked to the pile and taking an armful proceeded to throw to one and another of those sitting on the grass, and to whom they were appointed to distribute, such articles as they saw fit, and then returned to the pile to replenish. Shortly the Indians began to show an anxiety not to be overlooked in the distribution and at first got on their knees, vociferating all the time in right
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lusty Indian gibberish. Then they rose on one foot, and soon all were standing, and they began to contract the circle until they finally made a rush for the pile. I saw then a manner of dispersing a mob that I never saw exemplified before nor since. The crowd was so great around the pile of goods that those who were back from them could not get to them and the outsiders at once com- menced hurling whatever missiles they could get hold of, literally filling the air and causing them to fall in the center where the crowd was the most dense. These, to save a broken head, rushed away, leaving a space for those who had hurled the missiles to rush in for a share of the spoils." This statement was made by Mr. Calhoun in 1854 upon the request of the author of Annual Review of Chicago. Indians were killed at every distribution. Only two such distributions were made here.
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