USA > Illinois > Jefferson County > History of Jefferson County, Illinois > Part 7
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The next spring, by order of the Secre- tary of War, they were taken to Washing- ton. From there they were removed to Fortress Monroe, " there to remain until the conduet of their nation was such as to justify their being set at liberty." They were retained here until the 4th of June, when the authorities directed them to be taken to the principal cities so that they might see the folly of contending against the white people. Everywhere they were observed by thousands, the name of the old chief being extensively known. By the middle of August they reached Fort Arm- strong on Rock Island, where Black Hawk was soon after released to go to his eountry- inen. As he passed the site of his birth- place, now the home of the white man, he was deeply moved. His village where he was born, where he had so happily lived, and where he had hoped to die, was now another's dwelling place, and he was a wanderer.
On the next day after his release, he went at once to his tribe and his lodge. His wife was yet living, and with her he passed the remainder of his days. To his credit it may be said that Black Hawk always remained true to his wife, and
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served her with a devotion uncommon among the Indians, living with her upward of forty years.
Black Hawk now passed his time hunt- ing and fishing. A deep melancholy had settled over him from which he could not be freed. At all times when he visited the whites he was received with marked atten- tion. He was an honored guest at the old settlers' rennion in Lee County, Illinois, at some of their meetings, and received many tokens of esteem. In September, 1838, while on his way to Rock Island to receive his annuity from the Government, he con- tracted a severe cold which resulted in a fatal attack of bilious fever which termina- ted his life on October 3d. His faithful wife, who was devotedly attached to him, mourned deeply during his siekness. After his death he was dressed in the uni- form presented to him by the President while in Washington. He was buried in a grave six feet in depth, situated upon a beautiful eminence. "The body was placed in the middle of the grave, in a sitting posture, upon a seat constructed for the purpose. On his left side, the eane, given him by Henry Clay, was placed upright, with his right hand resting upon it. Many of the old warrior's trophies were placed in the grave, and some Indian garments, to- gether with his favorite weapons.
No sooner was the Black Hawk war con- cluded than settlers began rapidly to pour into the northern parts of Illinois, and into Wisconsin, now free from Indian depredations. Chicago, from a trading post, had grown to a commercial center, and was rapidly coming into prominence. In 1835, the formation of a State Govern- ment in Michigan was discussed, but did
not take active form until two years later, when the State became a part of the Federal Union.
The main attraction to that portion of the Northwest lying west of Lake Miehi- gan, now included in the State of Wiscon- sin, was its alluvial wealth. Copper ore was found about Lake Superior. For some time this region was attached to Michigan for judiciary purposes, but in 1836 was made a Territory, then including Minnesota and Iowa. The latter State was detached two years later. In 1848, Wisconsin was admitted as a State, Madison being made the capital. We have now traced the vari- ous divisions of the Northwest Territory (save a little in Minnesota) from the time it was a nnit comprising this vast territory, until circumstances compelled its present division.
OTHER INDIAN TROUBLES.
Before leaving this part of the narrative, we will narrate briefly the Indian troubles in Minnesota and elsewhere by the Sioux Indians.
In August, 1862, the Sioux Indians liv- ing on the western borders of Minnesota fell upon the unsuspecting settlers, and in a few hours massacred ten or twelve hun- dred persone. A distressful panie was the immediate result, fully thirty thou- sand persons fleeing from their homes to distriets supposed to be better protected. The military authorities at once took vetive measures to punish the savages, and a large number were killed and captured. About a year after, Little Crow, the chief, was killed by a Mr. Lampson near Scattered Lake. Of those captured thirty were hung at Mankato, and the remainder, through
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fears of mob violence, were removed to Camp MeClellan, on the outskirts of the City of Davenport. It was here that Big Eagle came into prominence and secured his release by the following order:
"Special Order, No. 430. " WAR DEPARTMENT, "ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE,
" WASHINGTON, Dec. 3, 1864.
" Big Eagle, an Indian now in confinement at Davenport, lowa, will, upon the receipt of this order, be immediately released from confinement and set at liberty.
" By order of the President of the United States.
" Official :
" E. D. TOWNSEND, Ass't dj't Gen.
" CAPT. JAMES VANDERVENTER,
Com'y Sub. Vols.
"Through Com'g Gen'l, Washington, D. C."
Another Indian who figures more promi- nently than Big Eagle, and who was more cowardly in his nature, with his band of Modoc Indians, is noted in the annals of the New Northwest: we refer to Captain Jack. This distinguished Indian, noted for his cowardly murder of Gen. Canby, was a chief of a Modoc tribe of Indians inhabiting the border lands between California and Oregon. This region of country comprises what is known as the " Lava Beds," a tract of land described as utterly impenetrable, save by those savages who had made it their home.
The Modocs are known as an exceedingly f'erce and treacherous race. They had, ac- cording to their own traditions, resided here for many generations, and at one time were exceedingly numerous and powerful. A famine carried off nearly half their num- hers, and disease, indolence and the vices of the white man have reduced them to a poor, weak and insignificant tribe.
Soon after the settlement of California and Oregon, complaints began to be heard
of massacres of emigrant trains passing through the Modoc country. In 1847, an emigrant train, comprising eighteen souls, was entirely destroyed at a place since known as " Bloody Point." These occur- rences caused the United States Govern- ment to appoint a peace commission, who, after repeated attempts, in 1864, made a treaty with the Modocs, Snakes and Kla- maths, in which it was agreed on their part to remove to a reservation set apart for them in the southern part of Oregon.
With the exception of Captain Jack and a band of his followers, who remained at Clear Lake, about six miles from Klamath, all the Indians complied. The Modocs who went to the reservation were under chief Schonchin. Captain Jack remained at the lake withont disturbance until 1869, when he was also induced to remove to the reservation. The Modocs and the Klamaths soon became involved in a quarrel, and Captain Jack and his band returned to the Lava Beds.
Several attempts were made by the In- dian Commissioners to induce them to re- turn to the reservation, and finally becom- ing involved in a difficulty with the com- missioner and his military escort, a fight ensued, in which the chief and his band were routed. They were greatly enraged and on their retreat, before the day closed, killed eleven inoffensive whites.
The nation was aroused and immediate action demanded. A commission was at once appointed by the Government to see what could be done. It comprised the fol- lowing persons: Gen. E. R. S. Canby, Rev. Dr. E. Thomas, a leading Methodist divine of California; Mr. A. B. Meacham. Judge Rosborough, of California, and a Mr.
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Dyer, of Oregon. After several interviews, in which the savages were always aggres- sive, often appearing with sealps in their belts, Bogus Charley came to the commis- sion on the evening of April 10, 1873, and informed them that Capt. Jaek and his band would have a " talk " to-morrow at a place near Clear Lake, about three miles distant. Here the Commissioners, aceom- panied by Charley, Riddle, the interpreter, and Boston Charley, repaired. After the usnal greeting the council proceedings com- menced. On behalf of the Indians there were present: Capt. Jack, Black Jim, Schac Nasty Jim, Ellen's Man, and Hooker Jim. They had no guns, but carried pistols. After short speeches by Mr. Meacham, Gen. Canby and Dr. Thomas, Chief Schonchin arose to speak. He had scarcely proceeded when, as if by a preconcerted arrangement, Capt. Jack drew his pistol and shot Gen. Canby dead. In less than a minute a dozen shots were fired by the savages, and the massacre completed. Mr. Meacham was shot by Schonchin, and Dr. Thomas by Boston Charley. Mr. Dyer barely escaped, being fired at twice. Riddle, the interpre- ter, and his squaw escaped. The troops rushed to the spot where they found Gen. Canby and Dr. Thomas dead, and Mr. Meacham badly wounded. The savages had eseaped to their impenetrable fastnesses and could not be pursued.
The whole country was aroused by this brutal massacre; but it was not until the following May that the murderers were brought to justice. At that time Boston Charley gave himself up, and offered to guide the troops to Capt. Jack's stronghold. This led to the capture of his entire gang, a number of whom were murdered by Ore-
gon volunteers while on their way to trial. The remaining Indians were held as pris- oners until July, when their trial occurred, which led to the conviction of Capt. Jack, Schonchin, Boston Charley, Hooker Jim, Broncho, alias One-Eyed Jim, and Slotuek, who were senteneed to be hanged. These sentences were approved by the President, save in the case of Slotuck and Broncho whose sentences were commuted to impris- onment for life. The others were executed at Fort Klamath, October 3, 1873.
These elosed the Indian troubles for a time in the Northwest, and for several years the borders of civilization remained in peace. They were again involved in a conflict with the savages about the country of the Black Hills, in which war the gallant Gen. Custer lost his life. Just now the borders of Ore- gon and California are again in fear of hos- tilities; but as the Government has learned how to deal with the Indians, they will be of short duration. The red man is fast passing away before the march of the white man, and a few more generations will read of the Indians as one of the nations of the past.
The Northwest abounds in memorable places. We have generally noticed them in the narrative, but our space forbids their description in detail, save of the most important places. Detroit, Cincinnati, Vincennes, Kaskaskia and their kindred towns have all been described. But ere we leave the narrative we will present our readers with an account of the Kinzie house, the old landmark of Chicago. and the discovery of the source of the Missis- sippi River, each of which may well find a place in the annals of the Northwest.
Mr. John Kinzie, of the Kinzie house,
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established a trading honse at Fort Dear- born in 1804. The stockade had been erected the year previous, and named Fort Dearborn in honor of the Secretary of War. It had a bloek honse at each of the two angles, on the southern side a sallyport, a covered way on the north side, that led down to the river, for the double purpose of providing means of escape, and of pro- enring water in the event of a siege.
Fort Dearborn stood on the south bank of the Chicago River, about half a mile from its mouth. When Major Whistler built it, his soldiers hauled all the timber, for he had no oxen, and so economically did he work that the fort cost the Govern- ment only fifty dollars. For a while the garrison could get no grain, and Whistler and his men subsisted on acorns. Now Chieago is the greatest grain center in the world.
Mr. Kinzie bought the hut of the first settler, Jean Baptiste Point au Sable, on the site of which he erected his mansion. Within an inelosure in front he planted some Lombardy poplars, and in the rear he soon had a fine garden and growing orchard.
In 1812 the Kinzie house and its sur- ronndings became the theater of stirring events. The garrison of Fort Dearborn consisted of fifty-four men, under the charge of Capt. Nathan Heald, assisted by Lieutenant Lenai T. Hehn (son-in-law to Mrs. Kinzie), and ensign Ronan. The sur- geon was Dr. Voorhees. The only resi- dents at the post at that time were the wives of Capt. Heald and Lieutenant Helm and a few of the soldiers, Mr. Kinzie and his family, and a few Canadian voyageurs with their wives and children. The sol- diers and Mr. Kinzie were on the most
friendly terms with the Pottawatomies and the Winnebagoes, the principal tribes around them, but they could not win them from their attachment to the British.
After the battle of Tippecanoe it was observed that some of the leading chiefs became sullen, for some of their people had perished in that confliet with Ameri- can troops.
One evening in April 1812, Mr. Kinzie sat playing his violin and his children were dancing to the music, when Mrs. Kinzie came rushing into the house pale with terror, exclaiming, "The Indians! the Indians!" " What ? Where ?" eagerly inquired Mr. Kinzie. " Up at Lee's, kill- ing and sealping," answered the frightened mother, who, when the alarm was given, was attending Mrs. Burns, a newly-made mother, living not far off. Mr. Kinzie and his family crossed the river in boats, and took refuge in the fort, to which place Mrs. Burns and her infant, not a day old, were conveyed in safety to the shelter of the guns of Fort Dearborn, and the rest of the white inhabitants fled. The Indians were a scalping party of Winnebagoes, who hov- ered around the fort some days, when they disappeared, and for several weeks the in- habitants were not disturbed by alarms.
Chieago was then so deep in the wilder- ness, that the news of the declaration of war against Great Britain, made on the 19th of June, 1812, did not reach the eom - mander of the garrison at Fort Dearborn till the 7th of Angust. Now the fast mail train will carry a man from New York to Chieago in twenty-seven hours, and such a declaration might be sent, every word, by the telegraph in less than the same number of minutes.
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PRESENT CONDITION OF THE NORTHWEST.
Preceding chapters have brought us to the close of the Black Hawk war, and we now turn to the contemplation of the growth and prosperity of the northwest under the smile of peace and the blessings of our civilization. The pioneers of this region date events back to the deep snow of 1831, no one arriving here since that date taking first honors. The inciting cause of the immigration which overflowed the prairies early in the '30s was the reports of the marvelous beauty and fertility of the re- gion distributed through the East by those who had participated in the Black Hawk campaign with Gen. Scott. Chicago and Milwaukee then had a few hundred inhab- itants, and Gurdon S. Hubbard's trail from the former city to Kaskaskia led almost through a wilderness. Vegetables and clothing were largely distributed through the regions adjoining the lakes by steam- ers from the Ohio towns. There are men now living in Illinois who came to the State when barely an acre was in cultiva- tion, and a man now prominent in the bus- iness circles of Chicago looked over the swampy, cheerless site of that metropolis in 1818 and went southward into civilization. Emigrants from Pennsylvania in 1830 left behind them but one small railway in the coal regions thirty miles in length, and made their way to the Northwest mostly with ox teams, finding in Northern Illinois petty settlements scores of miles apart, although the southern portion of the state was fairly dotted with farms. The water courses of the lakes and rivers fur- nished transportation to the second great army of immigrants, and about 1850 rail- roads were pushed to that extent that the
crisis of 1837 was precipitated upon us, from the effects of which the Western country had not fully recovered at the outbreak of the war. Hostilities found the colonists of the prairies fully alive to the demands of the occasion, and the honor of recruit- ing the vast armies of the Union fell largely to Gov. Yates, of Illinois, and Gov. Mor- ton, of Indiana. To recount the share of the glories of the campaign won by our Western troops is a needless task, except to mention the fact that Illinois gave to the nation the President who saved it, and sent out at the head of one of its regiments the general who led its armies to the final victory at Appomattox. The struggle, ou the whole, had a marked effect for the bet- ter on the new Northwest, giving it an im- petus which twenty years of peace would not have produced. In a large degree this prosperity was an inflated one, and with the rest of the Union we have since been compelled to atone therefor. Agriculture, still the leading feature in our industries, has been quite prosperous through all these years, and the farmers have cleared away many incumbrances resting over them from the period of fictitious values. The pop- ulation has steadily increased, the arts and sciences are gaining a stronger foothold, the trade area of the region is becoming daily more extended, and we have been largely exempt from the financial calam- ities.
At the present period there are no great schemes broached for the Northwest, no propositions for government subsidies or national works of improvement, but the capital of the world is attracted hither for the purchase of our products or the expan- sion of our capacity for serving the nation
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at large. A new era is dawning as to transportation, and we bid fair to deal al- most exclusively with the increasing and expanding lines of steel rail running through every few iniles of territory on the prairies. The lake marine will no doubt continue to be useful in the warmer season, and to serve as a regulator of freight rates; but experienced navigators forecast the decay of the system in moving to the sea- board the enormous crops of the West. Within the past few years it has become quite common to see direct shipments to Europe and the, West Indies going through from the second-class towns along the Mississippi and Missouri.
As to popular education, the standard has of late risen very greatly, and our schools would be creditable to any section of the Union.
More and more as the events of the war pass into obscurity will the fate of the Northwest be linked with that of the Southwest.
Our public men continue to wield the full share of influence pertaining to their rank in the national autonomy, and seem not to forget that for the past sixteen years they and their constituents have dictated the principles which should govern the country.
In a work like this, destined to lie on the shelves of the library for generations, and not doomed to daily destruction like a newspaper, one can not indulge in the same glowing predictions, the sanguine statements of actualities that till the col- umns of ephemeral publications. Time may bring grief to the pet projects of a writer, and explode castles erected on a pedestal of facts. Yet there are unmistaka-
ble indications before us of the same radical change in our great Northwest which char- acterizes its history for the past thirty years. Our domain has a sort of natural geographical border, save where it melts away to the southward in the cattle raising districts of the Southwest.
Our prime interest will for some years doubtless be the growth of the food of the world, in which branch it has already out- stripped all competitors, and our great rival in this duty will naturally be the fertile plains of Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado, to say nothing of the new empire so rapid- ly growing up in Texas. Over these regions there is a continued progress in agriculture and in railway building, and we must look to our laurels. Intelligent observers of events are fully aware of the strides made in the way of shipments of fresh meats to Europe, many of these occan car- goes being actually slaughtered in the West and transported on ice to the wharves of the seaboard cities. That this new enterprise will continue there is no reason to doubt. There are in Chicago several factories for the canning of prepared meats for European consumption, and the orders for this class of goods are already immense. English capital is becoming daily more and more and more dissatisfied with railway loans and investments, and is gradnally seeking mammoth outlays in lands and live stock. The stock yards in Chicago, Indianapolis and East St. Louis are yearly increasing their facilities, and their plant steadily grows more valuable. Importations of blooded animals from the progressive coun- tries of Europe are destined to greatly im- prove the quality of our beef and mutton. Nowhere is there to be seen a more enticing
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display in this line than at our state and county fairs, and the interest in the matter is on the increase.
To attempt to give statistics of our grain production would be uscless, so far have we surpassed ourselves in the quantity and quality of our product. We are too liable to forget that we are giving the world its first article of necessity-its food supply. An opportunity to learn this fact so it nev- er can be forgotten was afforded at Chicago at the outbreak of the great panic of 1873, when Canadian purchasers, fearing the pros- tration of business might bring about an anarchical condition of affairs, went to that city with coin in bulk and foreign drafts to secure their supplies in their own currency at first hands. It may be justly claimed by the agricultural community that their com- bined efforts gave the nation its first impe- tus toward a restoration of its crippled industries, and their labor brought the gold preminm to a lower depth than the govern- ment was able to reach by its most intense efforts of legislation and compulsion. The hundreds of millions about to be disbursed for farm prodnets have already, by the an- ticipation common to all commercial nations, set the wheels in motion, and will relieve ns from the perils so long shadowing our efforts to return to a healthy tone.
Manufacturing has attained in the chief cities a foothold which bids fair to render the Northwest independent of the outside world. Nearly our whole region has a dis- tribution of coal measures which will in time support the mannfactures necessary to our comfort and prosperity. As to trans- portation, the chief factor in the production of all articles except food, no section is so magnificently endowed, and. our facilities
are yearly increasing beyond those of any other region.
The period from a central point of the war to the outbreak of the panic was marked by a tremendous growth in our railway lines, but the depression of the times caused almost a total suspension of operations. Now that prosperity is return- ing to our stricken country we witness its anticipation by the railroad interest in a series of projects, extensions, and Icases which bid fair to largely increase our transportation facilities. The process of foreclosure and sale of incumbered lines is another matter to be considered. In the case of the Illinois Central road, which formerly transferred to other lines at Cairo the vast burden of freight destined for the Gulf region, we now see the incorporation of the tracts connecting through to New Orleans, every mile co-operating in turning toward the northwestern metropolis the weight of the interstate commerce of a thousand miles or more of fertile planta- tions. Three competing routes to Texas have established in Chicago their general freight and passenger agencies. Four or tive lines compete for all Pacific freights to a point as far as the interior of Nebraska. IIalf a dozen or more splendid bridge structures have been thrown across the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers by the railways. The Chicago and Northwestern line has become an aggregation of over two thousand miles of rail, and the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul is its close rival in extent and importance. The three tines running to Cairo via Vincennes form a through route for all traffic with the States to the southiward. The trunk lines being mainly in operation, the progress made in
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the way of shortening tracks, making air- line branches, and running extensions does not show to the advantage it deserves, as this process is constantly adding new facili- ties to the established order of things. The panic reduced the price of steel to a point where the railways could hardly afford to use iron rails, and all our northwestern lines report large relays of Bessemer track. The immense crops now being moved have given a great rise to the value of railway stocks, and their transportation must result in heavy pecuniary advantages.
Few are aware of the importance of the wholesale and jobbing trade of Chicago. In boots and shoes and in clothing, twenty or more great firms from the East have placed here their distributing agents or their factories ; and in groceries Chicago supplies the entire Northwest at rates
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