History of Fulton county, Illinois, Part 26

Author: Chas. C. Chapman & Co
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Peoria : C.C. Chapman & co.
Number of Pages: 1096

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of them had just came from the East and South and had never seen an Indian, and none were familliar with the Indian mode of warfare. The consequence was that as soon as they saw the long line of painted redskins and heard their terrible war-whoop, they were so frightened that they could not shoot their loaded guns. The Major and some of his brave officers tried to restore the panic-stricken ranks to order, but in vain ; and it was only the superior generalship of their cool and deliberate commander that prevented the slaughter of half his command. While Gen. Stillman's name will ever be coupled with this disastrous defeat, let no word of reproach be spoken of him for the cause of it. It was a defeat, an ignoble one ; but had the com- mander been less able, less cool, less brave, indeed less a general, many more of those frightened pioneers would have fallen in their own blood on the field of "Stillman's defeat."

Major Isaiah Stillman, afterward promoted to General, died at Kingston, Peoria county, April 16, 1861.

STILLMAN'S DEFEAT.

Dixon was the point where the regular and volunteer troops were to meet. Major Stillman with his men reached Dixon, May 10th. The steady, careful movements of the regulars made the volunteers very impatient, and the latter were also exceedingly anxious to ob- tain the laurels to be won. The men under command of Major Stillman were particularly anxious to " ketch " the Indians before they could get away. They said the regulars would come crawling along, stuffing themselves with beef, and the Indians would never be " ketched." The officers vielded to the impatience and jealousy of the men, and requested Governor Reynolds to let them go out and reconnoitre the country and find the Indians. Captain Eads, from Peoria, insisted very strongly that they should be allowed to go. The other captains all volunteered, for they did not wish to be termed cowards. The question with them was not whether the mat- ter was prudent and necessary, but whether they dared to go. Major Stillman consented to go, against his better judgment. He asked Mr. John Dixon's opinion, and the latter told him very decidedly that the business of "ketching" the Indians would prove very dis- astrous for a little force of less than three hundred men. Major Stillman then said that as all his officers and men were determined to go, he must lead them if it cost him his life. Stillman's force started, and just before night May 12, 1832, they encamped at White Rock Grove, in the eastern part of Marion township, Ogle county, near what is now called Stillman's creek. He was very near Black Hawk's encampment, but did not know it. Soon after becom- ing aware of the immediate presence of an armed force Black Hawk sent a small party of his braves to Stillman's camp with a flag of truce. On their approach they were soon discovered by some of the men, who, without reporting to their commander, and without orders, hastily mounted and dashed down upon the approaching Indians.

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The latter not understanding this sudden and apparently suspicious movement, all, save two who claimed to be Pottawatomies, retreated toward the camp of their chief. The whites killed two as they fur- ther pursued the retreating Indians. The two Indians who refused to run were brought into camp. They said: "Me good Pottawat- omie," but pointed over the hill and said, "Heap of Sac." When Black Hawk and his war chief, Ne-o-pope, saw the volunteers dash- ing down upon their camp, their flag of truce disregarded, and believing their overtures for peace had been rejected, they raised the terrible war-whoop and prepared for the fray.

At this juncture the volunteers formed and moved forward. Be- fore going far an Indian prisoner was brought into the camp and sent to the rear. The men moved on and made a halt near a slough. Here the officers went ahead and some kind of a parley was held with the Indians. The latter swung a red flag in defiance. Orders were then given to march forward, when Capt. Eads of Peoria came riding back, and said he was not easily fooled, and that there was not less than a thousand Indians coming. The men were then marched back in some confusion across the slough to high ground. There they formed, or tried to form, but were in bad order. The Indians then poured out of the timber, to the front, right and left, and both parties commenced firing; but the whites were in such bad order that those in the rear were in danger of shooting those in front. The Indians came on whooping, yelling and firing, and en- cireled around on both sides, Major Stillman ordered his men to mount and retreat and form a line across the creek, and also ordered them to break the line of the Indians on the left. Here was confil- sion, and one veteran says they did not go to the right or to the left but right straight for home. When they arrived at the creek great effort was made by the officers to halt their men and fight. The brave Capt. Adams cried ont to his men, " Come back, you cowards, and we will whip them." With eight men he made a stand and repulsed a squad of Indians each time, who made eight separate and distinct charges upon them. At last, seeing that with that little force he could do nothing, he told his men they would have to look out for themselves. Two brave soldiers were with him at this time and soon saw him fall; but he sold his life dearly. He had his horse shot from under him when the retreat began. He bore a deadly hatred towards the Indians, as they had killed many of his relations. Major Perkins was overtaken and killed about a mile and half from the creek, and his body terribly mangled. The loss at this disastrous engagement fell most heavily upon this county. Of thirteen sturdy pioneers who fell at this the battle of the Syea- more, Bird Ellis, John Walters, Tyus Childs and Joseph Farris were from Fulton county. There were three of the Farris boys in the company, and Jerry was with his brother Joseph when he was killed ; and he was fired at but escaped when the stalwart brave hit him over the head with his gun knocking him down. He crawled to a thicket of bushes and lay three days before he was rescued.

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HORRIBLE MASSACRE.

After the fatal engagement which has since been known as "Stillman's defeat " or " Stillman's run," the Indians began to com- mit great depredations upon the whites. Among other fiendish and murderous raids was one made upon a little settlement on Indian creek. Three families by the names of Davis, Hall and Pettigrew lived there. The Indians appeared in the day-time and massacred them in cold blood, taking a savage delight in their infernal deeds. Some of the inmates were immediately shot down, others were pierced through with spears or dispatched with the tomahawk. The Indians afterwards related with an infernal glee how the women squeaked like geese when they were run through the body with spears, or felt the tomahawk entering their heads. All the victims were carefully sealped, the children were chopped to pieces with axes, and the women were tied up by the heels to the wall of the house. There were two young ladies who tried to conceal themselves by crawling into bed. They were discovered by two young braves who deter- mined to have them for wives. Their names were Rachel and Silvia Hall, aged fifteen and seventeen. They were hurried by forced marches beyond pursuit. After a long and fatiguing journey with their cap- tors through a wilderness country, with but little to eat, and being subjected to a variety of fortune, they were at last rescued, $2,000 being given as a ransom. It is said that the Indians exacted by far the largest ransom for the elder sister, as she was more quiet and gave the Indians less trouble ; but they let the younger sister go pretty cheap, as she was so saucy and impudent that she made her eaptors much trouble. The women are still living in the northern part of the State. We are told by a lady who saw the Misses Hall just after their release, that they related to her all the details of the horrible murder of their father, mother and little sister, and their neighbors. They said they could see the scalp of their little sister every day in the wigwam. After their resene from the Indians, each of these young ladies were given a section of land by the United States.

The account of these atrocities spread rapidly throughout every settlement, creating the greatest panies among the pioneers. Many of them were frightened out of their wits, although no hostile In- dians were within fifty miles of them vet ; with these facts and rumors afloat, and the limited means of protection they had at hand, and each cabin being almost entirely isolated, we do not wonder at their timidity. The scare the settlers of Fulton county received is most graphically described by Mr. Swan in his History of Canton, under the title of "The Westerfield Defeat," which account we give below in full.

THE WESTERFIELD DEFEAT.

In the spring of 1832 the Black Hawk War was a source of great alarm to the citizens of Canton. Major Isaiah Stillman, of Canton,

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in command of a battalion of volunteer infantry, was in the field, and had under him most of the young men of the community. On the 13th of May, 1832, the force under his command met with a defeat above Dixon, in Lee county, on what has since been known as "Stillman's run," and the news soon reached Canton, coupled with the fact that Bird Ellis, Tyus Childs and John Walter, from the vicinity of Canton, had been killed, and a number of others from here wounded. This news not only cast a gloom over the community, but created a feeling of insecurity in the bravest of the settlers, and of decided alarm, amounting in many cases to absolute panic. The settlers were certainly liable to attack from the red- skins, who were known to be in force and on the war-path to the north. There was no adequate force in reach to prevent any ineur- sion they might feel disposed to make, when the " Westerfield De- feat," as it was called in derision, occurred. Perhaps never in the history of frontier life has there occurred so broad a farce with so many of the elements of tragedy and melodrama combined. The news of Stillman's defeat had reached Canton, and grief-stricken mothers were in the first anguish of their mourning for slaughtered sons, when rumors reached the settlement of a purpose on the part of Black Hawk and his warriors to move southward for an attack on scattered inhabitants. The excitement was intense. Stories of slaughtered families, of burnt homes, of captive women and children subjected to every fiendish indignity, were the current subjects of conversation at every gathering. Meetings were called in every neighborhood, and preparations for defense or refuge begun. Block- houses and stockade forts were ereeted, and scouts kept constantly in the prairies to the northward to warn the people of the approach of the Indians. One of these forts was erected around the store and residence of Joel Wright, on the corner of Wood and Illinois streets, where Mrs. Wilson now resides. This fort consisted of two block- houses and a palisade inclosure of split logs. This was built by standing the logs on end in a deep trench, which was then filled up and the dirt well pounded around the logs.

In March, 1832, seonts were sent out by the people of Canton to see if any indication of hostile Indians could be discovered. These scouts had been out several days, but had brought in no report of an alarming nature, when one day toward the last of the month Peter Westerfield, an old frontiersman, and Charley Shane, a French- man, determined to go on a scouting expedition on their own respon- sibility. They were both well mounted, and, crossing Big ereck north of town in the prairie, rode nearly north until they reached a point nearly in the line between Farmington and Ellisville, on Spoon river. The morning before they started out a number of mounted white men had crossed the prairie from Peoria to Quincy, and their trail, of course, was fresh and showed very plainly in the dried prairie grass. They had ridden in single file ( Indian fashion,) and a better scout then even Peter Westerfield might have been deceived

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by their trail. When Westerfield and Shane reached this trail, they both dismounted, examined it carefully, and both were satisfied that it had been made by a large party of mounted Indians. They can- tiously followed the trail until their suspicion crystallized into com- parative certainty, when, remounting, they started back toward C'anton to alarm the citizens, and take measures for the safety of themselves and families.

As they neared Big creek-which by the melting of snow had risen until it was out of its banks-they had a new cause for alarm. Jonathan Buffum and Ed. Therman had holed a wolf, and were shooting into the hole. They were in a direct line between where Westerfield and Shane reached Big creek and Col. Barnes' place, where John Lane now lives. These boys were not only shooting, but indulging in all sorts of unearthly yells, imitating Indians, screaming and hallooing. Another pioneer was squirrel-hunting in the same vicinity, and another party shooting at a mark in the same neighborhood.

Westerfield and Shane listened to these noises with undisguised fear. That it was Indians there could be no mistake,-Indians at bloody work, shooting, tomahawking and scalping the families of Col. Barnes and Henry Therman. They did not stop long to con- sider, but plunged headlong into the turbid waters of the raging Big creek, and right gallantly did their noble steeds buffet the mad waves until the angry stream divided them from the dreaded for. Their saddles were wet and heavy, and would load their beasts too much for the fearful race for life they were entering upon, and, with a coolness never too much to be admired, they dismounted and relieved their gallant steeds of the dripping leathern saddles, which were deposited for safety in a convenient thicket of hazel. This was the work of but a moment, when they remounted their bare- backed animals and were away over the smooth prairie, across the few ravines, and on, on to the fort at Canton. As they passed the cabin of Wheaton Chase they shouted, " Injins are killing Barnes' folks: flee for your lives!" Soon Coleman's grocery was reached, and the ery of "Injins! Injins!" reiterated. On, on to the fort they rode, and still their ery was "Injins! Injins!" "The Injins have killed everybody at Barnes' and Therman's !"

And now began a scene of the wildest confusion. Men shouted the dreaded alarm ; women screamed ; small boys, pale with fright, crept into the dense hazel-thickets and Hled for their lives. Some of these boys were thus hiding for days and days, subsisting on roots, berries and elm-bark. "To the fort! To the fort !" was now the cry, and soon the people were gathering, a pale, nervons, affrighted throng, within the little wooden inclosure which was then their only hope of safety. To us, who from the distance of nearly forty years contemplate the scene, it is a broad comedy ; but to those affrighted pioneers it was a tragedy, the denouement of which might · prove fatal to them and their loved ones. It was known that Keo-

David Haacke

CANTON

LIDHÅRT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS.

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kuk and three thousand warriors were encamped opposite the Yel- low Banks, held in check only by his promise of neutrality ; and who would believe the word of the treacherous red-skin ? Black Hawk's band, too, were on the war-path. They had defeated Major Stillman, and men from Canton were among the victims, while between here and the scene of that disaster there was no sufficient force for the protection of the infant settlement. All these facts were well known, and had been frequently canvassed among the settlers. Peter Westerfield was a man, too, in whose word the most unbounded confidence was placed. He was a Baptist licensed preacher, a man of undoubted courage, and had had a considerable frontier experience. He believed the trail he had seen, and the yells and firing he had heard, to be the work of Indians, and had no doubt that Col. Barnes' family had been massacred. What won- der the defenseless people were frightened !

Preparations for defense, however, were not neglected. The women filled several large kettles with water, and determined to aid all they could in the common defense by using it on the foe! There were incidents of broad comedy intermingled, even then, with the tragedy, that caused grim smiles to illumine even faces white with fear,-incidents that have served to enliven many a fireside description of those frightful days.

Joel Wright was, by common consent, selected as the commander of the fort, and Isaac Swan as his second in command. Joel was dressed in a light suit, with a linen roundabout. During the excite- ment he was everywhere,-assuring frightened women, issuing orders for defensive preparations, and distributing powder and lead to the men. Be it understood, the women preserved their courage far better than their lords, as was evidenced by the fact that when no male hand could be found sufficiently steady to pour melted lead into bullet-molds, a woman volunteered to make the bullets, and made them without spilling a drop of the metal. Mrs. Dr. Coy- kendall was particularly noted for her coolness and courage on this occasion, and did most of the bullet-molding.

To recount all the varied phases of this seare would itself require a volume. Some were dramatic, most farcical, as viewed through the light of forty years, and by the knowledge that there was absolutely no danger. Among the amusing incidents of the day was the arriv- al, at the fort, of Jerry Coleman and 'Squire McKim, who were at Coleman's mill, on Big creek, when Westerfield's news was com- municated to them. Jerry got the word a few seconds in advance of MeKim, and being lame, set out at once. McKim, however, was not long in overtaking him. MeKim wore an old-fashioned dress or swallow-tailed coat, and as he ran past the slow-paced Jerry, the coat-tails offered so tempting an aid to the boys's flight that he could not refrain from seizing hold of them with both hands. Me- Kim was a large, portly man, who weighed nearly two hundred; at the same time McKim was a frightened man, and fright is ever self-

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ish. He was not willing to be retarded by the weight of Jerry at- tached, like the weight to the tail of a kite, to his coat-skirts, so he turned on Jerry and tried to di-engage his hold ; but Jerry's grip was always good, and fear had turned it into a grip of iron : he would not let go. "For God's sake, Jerry, let me go, or we will both be killed ! Please, Jerry, let me save my own life !" But Jerry heed- ed not his pleadings ; like Sindbad's Old Man of the Sea, he could not be shaken off. McKim turned to run, but still the weight of the crippled boy would retard his speed, and he would turn again and plead and fight, and pray for deliverance from the tormenter. . Jerry loved life and feared Indians too much to be influenced either by praver, threats or blows. He hung on, and was still hanging on when MeKim dashed into the fort.

Jerry found his father gone and the store thrown wide open. He took possession and sold out the whole stoek of powder and lead in a few moments, not stopping to take an account of sales or settle with customers. It had cost him nothing, and he sold at cost and was satisfied.

Wm. Hannan, Charles Reeves and William Babbett, boys of per- haps a dozen years old, were so much infected with the contagion of fear that they determined to seek refuge in flight. They according- ly left town and took to the timber. They crossed Big creek north of jacob Ellis' mill, and struck down the creek through the timber to a point west of Lewistown, where they hid in a dense thicket. Young Reeves had on a pair of buckskin breeches, and during his flight he had got them completely saturated with water." When the party took to cover he pulled them off and hung them up on some brush to dry. This was a serious error on Charles's part, as the sequel showed. He had not taken into his calculation the peculiar idiosyncrasy of buckskin, and found, to his chagrin, that the pants which had' fitted exactly before they were wet, and been too large while saturated with the treacherous fluid, were in their dried state infinitely too small .- so much so that by no amount of stretching, coaxing or pulling could they be induced to come over his bare limbs. He had to give it up in despair, and made the rest of his trip through brush and briers in a primitive toilet, more simple and con- venient than pleasant. They were out all the day of the Wester- field care, all the succeeding night, and until the next night, sub- sisting on berries and elm-bark. How long they would have hidden no one can affirm-perhaps they would have been hiding until this day-had they not been attracted by the sound of an ox-driver's " Wo-haw, Buck," and ventured to " interview " him, thus learn- ing that danger was over and that they could safely return to their homes.

At Col. Barnes' the news was tardy in coming that Westerfield brought. The colonel was out serving at the head of his company under Stillman. Stephen Babbett's wife heard the alarm sounded on the east side of Big ceek, and, gathering up one child and calling

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to her two remaining children to follow, ran at her utmost speed to Barnes'. Henry Andrews, then a boy of perhaps fourteen years, saw her coming and called to know what was the matter. "Oh," she exclaimed, "the Indians are murdering everybody across the creek. The people are running and hallooing 'Indians! Indians!'" Andrews at once sent Col. Barnes' two younger boys over to old Mr. Swegle's to give them them the alarm, and in a short time they returned, bringing with them the old gentleman-who was far ad- vanced in years-and his old lady and daughter. Mrs. Barnes now took the direction of affairs, and directed the party to seek shelter in a thicket at the head of a neighboring ravine. To reach this thicket the party were instructed to strike the ravine at a point considerably below, and then to follow up the bed of the stream, wading in the stream to hide their trail. The two small boys led the way, and the old gentleman and the women and children followed. There were fourteen persons in all, and only one boy, armed with a trusty rifle to protect them, Henry Andrews, brought up the rear; and as he followed he picked his flint and prepared for the struggle for life and for the lives of the women and children who were confided to his guardianship.

"Oh, Henry," said Mrs. Barnes, "what can you do with so many of us ?" "I will do the best I can and kill as many of them as I can," responded Henry.

On reaching the cover of the dense hazel-thicket, the party took to cover, except Henry, who stood guard for a couple of hours ; and they seemed mortal hours to the boy, who looked each moment to have the red-skins pounce upon him. At last, grown tired of wait- ing, Henry determined to venture to Canton and see what the real condition of affairs might be. He proceeded very cautiously, keep- ing in the cover of the hazel-brush as much as possible, until he reached the "Morse quarter" adjoining Canton, when he came upon John Huff, who was out on guard. Huff was frightened, and it was with difficulty Henry succeeding in making himself known : he succeeded finally, and proceeded to the fort. Here he found the wildest confusion existing. All crowded around him, believing him sole survivor from among the settlers on the west side of the creek. Mutual explanations followed, and at once the scare was at an end. This scare was named, in honor of its progenitor, "Westerfield's De- feat," and as such it is still known. .

The Westerfield scare was by no means confined to Canton, but spread through all the surrounding townships. In the Mallory set- tlement-now Putman township-were many settlers, among whom were the Mallorys, Fellowses, Stricklands and Holcombs. There was an understanding between Isaac Fellows and Joel Coykendall, at Canton, that if any serious alarm was given, Joel should communi- cate the news to Fellows. No sooner had the word brought by Wes- terfield reached Canton, of proximity of Indians, than Joel mounted a fleet horse and rode at utmost speed to Fellows's, to warn him of

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danger, according to his promise. The men in the neighborhood had met that afternoon to drill, the place of muster being near old Mr. Holeomb's. Thither Covkendall was directed by Mrs. Fellows, who, terribly alarmed, gathered up her two children, Penella and Stephen, and calling for her sister-in-law, Mrs. Cyrus Fellows, started for the same place.

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History of Fulton county, Illinois, Part 26

Author: Chas. C. Chapman & Co Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Peoria : C.C. Chapman & co. Number of Pages: 1096

Author: Chas. C. Chapman & Co
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Peoria : C.C. Chapman & co.
Number of Pages: 1096