History of Grundy County, Illinois, Part 3

Author:
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago, O. L. Baskin
Number of Pages: 506

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he delivered Governor Dinwiddie's letter, received his answer, took his observations. and on the 16th set out upon his return journey with no one but Gist, his guide, and a few Indians who still remained trne to him, notwithstanding the endeavors of the French to retain them. Their home- ward journey was one of great peril and suffering from the cold, yet they reached home in safety on the 6th of January, 1754.

From the letter of St. Pierre, commander of the French fort, sent by Washington to Governor Dinwiddie, it was learned that the French would not give up withont a struggle. Active preparations were at once made in all the English colonies for the coming confliet, while the French fin- ished the fort at Venango and strengthened their lines of fortifications, and gathered their forces to be in readiness.

The Old Dominion was all alive. Vir- ginia was the center of great activities; vo'- unteers were called for, and from all the neighboring colonies men rallied to the conflict, and everywhere along the Potomac men were enlisting under the governor's proclamation-which promised two hun- dred thousand aeres on the Ohio. Along this river they were gathering as far as Will's Creek, and far beyond this point, whither Trent had come for assistance for his little band of forty-one men, who were working away in hunger and want, to for- tify that point at the fork of the Ohio, to which both parties were looking with deep interest.

"The first birds of spring filled the air with their song; the swift river rolled by the Allegheny hillsides, swollen by the melting snows of spring and the April

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showers. The leaves were appearing: a few Indian sconts were seen, but no enemy seemed near at hand; and all was so quiet, that Frazier, an old Indian scout and trader, who had been left by Trent in command, ventured to his home at the mouth of Turtle Creek, ten miles up the Monongahela. But, though all was so quiet in that wilder- ness, keen eyes had seen the low intreneh- me it rising at the fork, and swift feet had borne the news of it up the river; and upon the morning of the 17th of April, Ensign Ward, who then had charge of it, saw upon the Allegheny a sight that made his heart sink -- sixty batteaux and three hundred canoes filled with men, and laden deep with cannon and stores. * *

* That evening he supped with his captor, Contrecoeur, and the next day he was bowed off by the Frenchman, and with his men and tools, marched up the Monongahela."

The French and Indian war had begun. The treaty of Aix la Chapelle, in 1748, had left the boundaries between the French and English possessions unsettled, and the events already narrated show the French were determined to hold the country wa- tered by the Mississippi and its tributaries; while the English laid claims to the country by virtue of the discoveries of the Cabots, and claimed all the country from New- foundland to Florida, extending from the Atlantie to the Pacific. The first deeisive blow had now been struck, and the first attempt of the English, through the Ohio Company, to occupy these lands, had re- sulted disastrously to them. The French and Indians immediately completed the forti fications begun at the Fork, which they had so easily captured, and when completed gave to the fort the name of Du Quesne.

Washington was at Will's Creek when the news of the capture of the fort arrived. 1Ie at onee departed to recapture it. On his way he entrenched himself at a place called the " Meadows," where he ereeted a fort called by him Fort Necessity. From there he surprised and captured a force of French and Indians marching against him, but was soon after attacked in his fort by a much superior force, and was obliged to yield on the morning of July 4th. He was allowed to return to Virginia.

The English Government immediately planned four campaigns; one against Fort Du Quesne; one against Nova Scotia; one against Fort Niagara, and one against Crown Point. These ocenrred during 1755-6, and were not successful in driving the French from their possessions. The expedition against Fort Du Quesne was led by the famous General Braddock, who, re- fusing to listen to the advice of Washington and those acquainted with Indian warfare, suffered such an inglorious defeat. This occurred on the morning of July 9th, and is generally known as the battle of Monon- gahela, or " Braddock's Defeat." The war continued with various vicissitudes through the years 1756-7; when, at the commence- of 1758 in accordance with the plans of William Pitt, then Secretary of State, afterward Lord Chatham, active prepara- tions were made to carry on the war. Three expeditions were planned for this year: one, under General Amherst, against Louisburg; another, under Abercrombie, against Fort Ticonderoga; and a third, un- der General Forbes, against Fort Du Quesne. On the 26th of July, Louisburg surrendered after a desperate resistance of more than forty days, and the eastern part

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of the Canadian possessions fell into the hands of the British. Abercrombie eap- tnred Fort Frontenae, and when the ex- pedition against Fort Dn Quesne, of which Washington had the active command, ar- rived there, it was found in flames and de- serted. The English at once took posses- sion, rebuilt the fort, and in honor of their illustrious statesman, changed the name to Fort Pitt.

The great objeet of the campaign of 1759, was the reduction of Canada. Gen- eral Wolfe was to lay siege to Quebee; Am- herst was to reduce Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and General Prideaux was to cap- ture Niagara. This latter place was taken in July, but the gallant Prideanx lost his life in the attempt. Amherst captured Ticonderoga and Crown Point withont a blow; and Wolfe, after making the memor- able ascent to the plains of Abraham, on September 13th, defeated Montealm, and on the 18th, the city capitulated. In this engagement Montcalm and Wolfe both lost their lives. De Levi, Montealm's suc- eessor, marched to Sillery, three miles above the city, with the purpose of deteat- ing the English, and there, on the 28th of the following April, was fought one of the bloodiest battles of the French and Indian war. It resulted in the defeat of the French, and the fall of the city of Montreal. The Governor signed a capitulation, by which the whole of Canada was surrendered to the English. This practically coneln- ded the war, but it was not until 1763 that the treaties of peace between France and England were signed. This was done on the 10th of February of that year, and un- der its provisions all the country east of the Mississippi and north of the Iberville

river, in Louisiana, were ceded to England. At the same time Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain.

On the 13th of September, 1760, Major Robert Rogers was sent from Montreal to take charge of Detroit, the only remaining French post in the territory. He arrived there on the 19th of November, and sum- moned the place to surrender. At first the commander of the post, Beletre, refused, but on the 29th, hearing of the continued defeat of the French arms, surrendered. Rogers remained there until December 23d, under the personal protection of the cele- brated chief, Pontiae, to whom, no doubt, he owed his safety. Pontiac had come here to inquire the purposes of the English in taking possession of the country. He was assured that they came simply to trade with the natives, and did not desire their country. This answer conciliated the sav- ages, and did much to insure the safety of Rogers and his party during their stay, and while on their journey home.

Rogers set out for Fort Pitt on Deeem- ber 23d, and was just one month on the way. His route was from Detroit to Mau- mee, thence aeross the present State of Ohio directly to the fort. This was the common trail of the Indians in their jour- neys from Sandusky to the Fork of the Ohio. It went from Fort Sandusky, where Sandusky city now is, crossed the Huron river, then called Bald Eagle Creek, to "Mo- hickon John's Town" Creek, on Mohikon Creek, the northern branch of White Woman's river, and then erossed to Bea- ver's town, a Delaware town on what is now Sandy Creek. At Beaver's town were probably one hundred and fifty warriors, and not less than three thousand acres of

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eleared land. From there the track went up Sandy Creek to and across Big Beaver, and up the Ohio to Logstown, thenee on to the fork.

The Northwest Territory was now en- tirely under the English rule. New settle- ments began to be rapidly made, and the promise of a large trade was speedily mani- fested. Had the British carried out their promises with the natives, none of those savage buteheries would have been perpe- trated, and the country would have been spared their recital.

The renowned chief, Pontiac, was one of the leading spirits in these atrocities. We will now pause in our narrative, and notice the leading events in his life. The earliest authentie information regarding this noted Indian chief, is learned from an account of an Indian trader named Alexander Henry, who, in the spring of 1761, penetrated his domains as far as Missillimacnac. Ponti- ae was then a great friend of the French, but a bitter foe of the English, whom he considered as encroaching on his hunting grounds. Henry was obliged to disguise himself as a Canadian to insure safety, but was discovered by Pontiae, who bitterly reproached him, and the English for their attempted subjugation of the West. He declared that no treaty had been made with them; no presents sent them, and that he would resent any possession of the West by that nation. He was at the time about fifty years of age, tall and dignified, and was civil and military ruler of the Ot- tawas, Ojibwas and Pottawatomies.

The Indians, from Lake Michigan to the borders of North Carolina, were united in this feeling, and at the time of the treaty of Paris, ratified February 10, 1763, a gen-

eral conspiracy was formed to fall suddenly upon the frontier British posts, and with one blow strike every man dend. Pontiae was the marked leader in all this, and was the commander of the Chippewas, Otta was, Wyandots, Miamis, Shawanese, Dela- wares and Mingoes, who had, for the time, laid aside their local quarrels to unite in this enterprise.

The blow eame, as near as can be ascer- tained, on May 7, 1763. Nine British posts fell, and the Indians drank, "scooped np in the hollow of joined hands," the blood of many a Briton.

Pontiac's immediate field of action, was the garrison at Detroit. Here, however, the plans were frustrated by an Indian woman disclosing the plot the evening pre- vious to his arrival. Everything was car- ried out, however, according to Pontiae's plans until the moment of action, when Major Gladwyn, the commander of the post, stepping to one of the Indian chief's, suddenly drew aside his blanket and dis- elosed the concealed musket. Pontiac though a brave man, turned pale and trembled. lle saw his plan was known and that the garrison were prepared. He endeavored to exeulpate himself from any such intentions; but the guilt was evident. and he and his followers were dismissed with a severe reprimand, and warned never to again enter the walls of the post.

Pontiae at onee laid siege to the fort, and until the treaty of peace between the British and the Western Indians, conelnd- ed in August, 1764, continued to harass and besiege the fortress. He organized a regular commissariat department, issued bills of eredit written out on bark, which to his credit, it may be stated, were punctu-

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ally redeemed. At the conclusion of the treaty, in which it seems he took no part, he went farther south, living many years among the Illinois.

He had given up all hope of saving his country and race. After a time he endeav. ored to unite the Illinois tribe and those about St. Louis in a war with the whites. IIis efforts were fruitless, and only ended in a quarrel between himself and some Kaskaskia Indians, one of whom soon after- ward killed him. His death was, however, avenged by the northern Indians, who nearly exterminated the Illinois in the wars which followed.

Had it not been for the treachery of a few of his followers, his plan for the ex- termination of the whites, a masterly one, would undoubtedly have been carried ont.

It was in the spring of the year follow- ing Rogers' visit that Alexander Henry went to Missillimacnae, and everywhere found the strongest feelings against the English who had not carried out their promises, and were doing nothing to con- ciliate the natives. HIere he met the chief, Pontiae, who after conveying to him in a speech the idea that their French father would awake soon and utterly destroy his enemies, said: "Englishman, although you have conquered the French, you have not yet conquered us ! We are not your slaves! These lakes, these woods, these mountains, were left us by our ancestors. They are our inheritance, and we will part with them to none. Your nation supposes that we, like the white people, can not live without bread and pork and beef. But you onght to know that He, the Great Spirit and Master of Life, has provided food for us

upon these broad lakes and in these moun- tains."

Ile then spoke of the fact that no treaty had been made with them, no presents sent them, and that he and his people were yet for war. Such were the feelings of the Northwestern Indians immediately after the English took posses- sion of their country. These feelings were no doubt encouraged by the Canadians and French, who hoped that yet the French arms might prevail. The treaty of Paris, however, gave to the English the right to this vast domain, and active preparations were going on to occupy it and enjoy its trade and emoluments.

In 1762, France, by a secret treaty, ceded Louisiana to Spain, to prevent it falling into the hands of the English, who were becoming masters of the entire West. The next year the treaty of Paris, signed at Fontainbleau, gave to the English the do- main of the eonntry in question. Twenty years after, by the treaty of peace between the United States and England, that part of Canada lying south and west of the Great Lakes, comprehending a large terri- tory which is the subject of these sketches, was acknowledged to be a portion of the United States; and twenty years still later, in 1803, Louisiana was ceded by Spain back to France, and by Franee sold to the United States.

In the half century, from the building of the Fort of Crevecoeur by La Salle, in 1680, up to the erection of Fort Chatres, many French settlements had been made in that quarter. These have already been noticed, being those at St. Vincent (Vin- eennes). Kohokia or Cahokia, Kaskaskia and Prairie du Rocher, on the American

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Bottom, a large tract of rich alluvial soil in Illinois, on the Mississippi, opposite the site of St. Lonis.

By the treaty of Paris, the regions east of the Mississippi, including all these and other towns of the Northwest, were given over to England, but they do not appear to have been taken possession of until 1765, when Captain Stirling, in the name of the Majesty of England, established himself at Fort Chartres bearing with him the procla- mation of General Gage, dated December 30, 1764, which promised religious freedom to all Catholics who worshipped here, and a right to leave the country with their effects if they wished, or to remain with the privileges of Englishmen. It was shortly after the occupancy of the West by the British that the war with Pontiae opened. It is already noticed in the sketch of that chieftain. By it many a Briton lost his life, and many a frontier settlement in its infancy ceased to exist. This was not ended until the year 1764, when, failing to capture Detroit, Niagara and Fort Pitt, his confederacy became disheartened, and, receiving no aid from the French, Pontiac abandoned the enterprise and departed to the Illinois, among whom he afterward lost his life.

As soon as these diffienlties were defi- nitely settled, settlers began rapidly to sur- vey the country, and prepare for oceupa- tion. During the year 1770, a number of persons from Virginia and other British provinces explored and 'marked out nearly all the vainable lands on the Monongahela and along the banks of the Ohio, as far as the Little Kanawha. This was followed by another exploring expedition, in which George Washington was a party. The

latter, accompanied by Dr. Craik, Capt. Crawford and others, on the 20th of Octo- ber, 1770, descended the Ohio from Pitts- burgh to the mouth of the Kanawha ; as- eended that stream about fourteen miles, marked out several large tracts of land, shot several buffalo, which were then abun- dant in the Ohio valley, and returned to the fort.

Pittsburgh was at this time a trading post, about which was clustered a village of some twenty houses, inhabited by In- dian traders. This same year, Capt. Pitt- man visited Kaskaskia and its neighbor- ing villages. Ile found there about sixty - five resident families, and at Cahokia only forty-five dwellings. At Fort Chartres was another small settlement, and at Detroit. the garrison were quite prosperous and strong. For a year or two settlers con- tinned to locate near some of these posts, generally Fort Pitt or Detroit, owing to the fears of the Indians, who still main- tained some feelings of hatred to the Eng- lish. The trade from the posts was quite good, and from those in Illinois large quan- tities of pork and flour fonnd their way to the New Orleans market. At this time the policy of the British Government was strongly opposed to the extension of the colonies west. In 1763, the King of Eng- land forbade, by royal proclamation, his colonial subjects from making a settle- ment beyond the sources of the rivers which fall into the Atlantic Ocean. At the instance of the Board of Trade, measures were taken to prevent the settlement with- out the limits prescribed, and to retain the commerce within easy reach of Great Britain.

The commander-in-chief of the king's

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forees wrote in 1769 : " In the course of a few years necessity will compel the eolo- nists, should they extend their settlements west, to provide mannfactures of some kind for themselves, and when all connection upheld by commerce with the mother eoun- try ceases, an independency in their gov- ernment will soon follow."

In accordance with this poliey, Gov. Gage issued a proclamation in 1772, com- manding the inhabitants of Vineennes to abandon their settlements and join some of the Eastern English colonies. To this they strenuously objeeted, giving good reasons therefor, and were allowed to re- main. The strong opposition to this pol- icy of Great Britain led to its change, and to sneh a conrse as to gain the attachment of the French population. In December, 1773, influential citizens of Quebec peti- tioned the king for an extension of the boundary lines of that province, which was granted, and Parliament passed an aet on June 2, 1774, extending the boundary so as to include the territory lying within the present states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan,

In consequence of the liberal poliey pur- sned by the British Government toward the Freneli settlers in the West, they were disposed to favor that nation in the war which soon followed with the colonies; but the carly alliance between France and America soon bronght them to the side of the war for independence.

In 1774, Gov. Dunmore, of Virginia, began to encourage emigration to the Western lands. He appointed magistrates at Fort Pitt, under the pretense that the fort was under the government of that commonwealth. One of these justiees,

John Connelly, who possessed a tract of land in the Ohio Valley, gathered a force of men and garrisoned the fort, calling it Fort Dunmore. This and other parties were formed to select sites for settlements, and often eame in conflict with the Indians, who yet claimed portions of the valley, and several battles followed. These ended in the famous battle of Kanawha, in July, where the Indians were defeated and driv- en across the Ohio.

During the years 1775 and 1776. by the operations of land companies and the per- severance of individuals, several settle- ments were firmly established between the Alleglienies and the Ohio River, and west- ern land speculators were busy in Illinois and on the Wabash. At a council held in Kaskaskia, on July 5, 1773, an association of English traders, calling themselves the " Illinois Land Company," obtained from ten chiefs of the Kaskaskia, Cahokia and Peoria tribes two large tracts of land lying on the east side of the Mississippi River south of the Illinois. In 1775, a merchant from the Illinois country, named Viviat, came to Post Vincennes as the agent of the association called the " Wabash Land Com- pany." On the Sth of October he obtained from eleven Piankeshaw chiefs, a deed for 37,497,600 aeres of land. This deed was signed by the grantors, attested by a num- ber of the inhabitants of Vincennes, and afterward recorded in the office of a notary publie at Kaskaskia. This and other land companies had extensive sehemes for the colonization of the West: but all were frus- trated by the breaking ont of the Revolu- tion. On the 20th of April, 1780, the two companies named consolidated under the name of the " United Illinois and Wabash

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Land Company." They afterward made strennous efforts to have these grants sanc- tioned by Congress, but all sigually failed.

When the War of the Revolution com- meneed, Kentucky was an nnorganized country, though there were several settle- ments within her borders.

In Hutchins' Topography of Virginia, it is stated that at that time " Kaskaskia contained SO houses, and nearly 1,000 white and black inhabitants-the whites being a little the more numerons. Caho- kia contains 50 houses and 300 white in- habitants and SO negroes. There were east of the Mississippi River, about the year 1771 "-when these observations were made-" 300 white men capable of bearing arms, and 230 negroes."

From 1775 until the expedition of Clark, nothing is recorded and nothing known of these settlements, save what is contained in a report made by a committee to Con- gress in June, 1778. From it the follow- ing extract is made:

" Near the mouth of the River Kaskas- kia, there is a village which appears to have contained nearly eighty families from the beginning of the late revolution. There are twelve families in a small village at la Prairie du Rochers, and near fifty families at the Kahokia Village. There are also four or five families at Fort Char- tres and St. Phillips, which is five miles farther up the river."

St. Louis had been settled in February, 1764, and at this time contained, including its neighboring towns, over six hundred whites and one hundred and fifty negroes. It must be remembered that all the conn- try west of the Mississippi was now under French rule, and remained Bo until ceded

again to Spain, its original owner, who afterwards sold it and the country inelnd- ing New Orleans to the United States. At Detroit there were, according to Capt. Carver, who was in the northwest from 1766 to 1768, more than one hundred houses and the river was settled for more than twenty miles, although poorly cultivated- the people being engaged in the Indian trade. This old town has a history, which we will here relate.

It is the oldest town in the Northwest, having been founded by Antoine Lade- mnotte Cadillac, in 1701. It was laid out in the form of an oblong square, of two acres in length and an aere and a half in width. As described by A. D. Frazer, who first visited it and became a permanent resident of the place, in 1778, it comprised within its limits that space between Mr. Palmer's store (Conant Block) and Capt. Perkins' house (near the Arsenal building), and extended back as far as the publie barn, and was bordered in front by the Detroit River. It was surrounded by oak and eedar pickets, about fifteen feet long, set in the ground, and had four gates-east, west, north and south. Over the first three of these gates were bloek honses provided with four guns apiece, each a six pounder. Two six-gun batteries were planted fronting the river, and in a parallel direction with the block houses. , There were four streets running east and west, the main street be- ing twenty feet wide and the rest fifteen feet, while the four streets crossing these at right angles were from ten to fifteen feet in width.

At the date spoken of by Mr. Frazer, there was no fort within the enelosure, but , a citadel on the ground corresponding to

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the present northwest corner of Jefferson Avenne and Wayne Street. The citadel was inclosed by piekets, and within it were erected barracks of wood, two stories high, sufficient to contain ten officers, and also barracks sufficient to contain four hundred men, and a provision store built of brick. The citadel also contained a hospital and a guard-house. The old town of Detroit, in 1778, contained about sixty houses, most of them one story, with a few a story and a half in height. They were all of logs, some hewn and some round. There was one building of splendid appearance, ealled the "King's Palace," two stories high, which stood near the east gate. It was built for Governor Hamilton, the first governor commissioned by the British. There were two guard-houses, one near the west gate and the other near the Govern- ment House. Each of the guards con- sisted of twenty-four men and a subaltern, who mounted regularly every morning be- tween nine and ten o'clock. Each fur- nished four sentinels, who were relieved every two hours. There was also an offi- cer of the day, who performed strict duty. Each of the gates was shut regularly at sunset ; even wicket gates were shut at nine o'clock, and all the keys were deliv- ered into the hands of the commanding officer. They were opened in the morning at sunrise. No Indian or squaw was per- mitted to enter town with any weapon, such as a tomahawk or a knife. It was a standing order that the Indians should de- liver their arms and instruments of every kind before they were permitted to pass the sentinel, and they were restored to them on their return. No more than twenty-five Indians were allowed to enter

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History of Grundy County, Illinois, Part 3

Author: Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago, O. L. Baskin Number of Pages: 506

Author:
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago, O. L. Baskin
Number of Pages: 506