USA > Illinois > Jefferson County > History of Jefferson County, Illinois > Part 8
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presenting advantages over New York.
Chicago has stepped iu between New York and the rural banks as a financial center, and scarcely a banking institution in the grain or cattle regions but keeps its reserve funds in the vaults of our com- mercial institutions. Accumulating here throughout the spring and summer months, they are summoned home at pleasure to move the products of the prairies. This process greatly strengthens the northwest in its financial operations, leaving home capital to supplement local operations on behalf of home interests.
It is impossible to forecast the destiny of this grand and growing section of the Union. Figures and predictions made at this date might seem ten years hence so ludicrously small as to excite only derision.
EARLY HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
The name of this beautiful Prairie State is derived from Illini, a Delaware word signifying Superior Men. It has a French termination, and is a symbol of how the two races-the French and the Indians- were intermixed during the early history of the country.
The appellation was no doubt well ap- plied to the primitive inhabitants of the soil whose prowess in savage warfare long withstood the combined attaeks of the fieree Iroquois on the one side, and the no less savage and relentless Saes and Foxes on the other. The Illinois were once a powerful confederaey, occupying the most beautiful and fertile region in the great Valley of the Mississippi, which their en- emies coveted, and struggled long and hard to wrest from them. By the fortunes of war, they were diminished in numbers, and finally destroyed. "Starved Rock," on the Illinois River, according to tradi- tion, commemorates their last tragedy, where, it is said, the entire tribe starved rather than surrender.
EARLY DISCOVERIES.
The first European discoveries in Illi- nois date back over two hundred years. They are a part of that movement which, from the beginning to the middle of the seventeenth century, brought the French
Canadian missionaries and fur traders into the Valley of the Mississippi, and which at a later period established the eivil and ecelesiastieal authority of France, from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexi- co, and from the foot-hills of the Alleghe- nies to the Rocky Mountains.
The great river of the West had been discovered by De Soto, the Spanish con- queror of Florida, three quarters of a eent- ury before the French founded Quebee in 1608, but the Spanish left the country a wilderness, without further exploration or settlement within its borders, in which eon- dition it remained until the Mississippi was discovered by the agents of the French Canadian government, Joliet and Mar- quette, in 1673. These renowned explor- ers were not the first white visitors to Illi- nois In 1671-two years in advance of them-came Nicholas Perrot to Chicago. lle had been sent by Talon as an agent of the Canadian government to eall a great peace convention of Western Indians at Green Bay, preparatory to the movement for the discovery of the Mississippi. It was deemed a good stroke of policy to se- cure, as far as possible, the friendship and co-operation of the Indians, far and near, before venturing upon an enterprise which their hostility might render disastrous, and which their friendship and assistance would
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do so much to make successful; and to this end Perrot was sent to call together in council, the tribes throughout the North- west, and to promise then: the commerce and protection of the French government. He accordingly arrived at Green Bay in 1671, and procuring an escort of Pottawat- omies, proceeded in a bark canoe upon a visit to the Miamis, at Chicago. Perrot was therefore the first European to set foot upon the soil of Illinois.
Still there were others before Marquette. In 1672, the Jesnit missionaries, Fathers Clande Allonez and Claude Dablon, bore the standard of the Cross from their mis- sion at Green Bay through western Wis- consin and northern Illinois, visiting the Foxes on Fox River, and the Masquotines and Kickapoos at the mouth of the Mil- waukee. These missionaries penetrated on the route afterwards followed by Marquette as far as the Kickapoo village at the head of Lake Winnebago, where Marquette, in his journey, secured guides aorcss the portage to the Wisconsin.
The oft repeated story of Marquette and Joliet is well known. They were the agents employed by the Canadian govern- ment to discover the Mississippi. Mar- quette was a native of France, born in 1637, a Jesuit priest by education, and a man of simple faith and of great zeal and devotion in extending the Roman Catholic religion among the Indians. Arriving in Canada in 1666, he was sent as a mission- ary to the far Northwest, and, in 1668, founded a mission at Sault Ste. Marie. The following year he moved to La Pointe, in Lake Superior, where he instructed a branch of the Hurons till 1670, when he removed south and founded the mission at St. Ignace,
on the Straits of Mackinaw. Here he re- mained, devoting a portion of his time to the study of the Illinois language under a native teacher who had accompanied him to the mission from La Pointe, till he was joined by Joliet in the spring of 1673. By the way of Green Bay and the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, they entered the Mis- sissippi, which they explored to the mouth of the Arkansas, and returned by the way of the Illinois and Chicago Rivers to Lake Michigan.
On his way up the Illinois, Marquette visited the great village of the Kaskaskias, near what is now Utica, in the county of La Salle. The following year lie returned and established among them the mission of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, which was the first Jesuit mission founded in Illinois and in the Mississippi Valley. The intervening winter he had spent in a hut which his companions erected on the Chi- cago River, a few leagues from its month. The founding of this mission was the last act of Marquette's life. He died in Mich- igan, on his way back to Green Bay, May 18, 1675.
FIRST FRENCH OCCUPATION.
The first French occupation of the terri- tory now embraced in Illinois was effected by La Salle in 1680, seven years after, the time of Marquette and Joliet. La Salle, having constructed a vessel, the "Griffin," above the falls of Niagara, which he sailed to Green Bay, and having passed thence in canoes to the month of the St. Joseph River, by which and the Kankakee he reached the Illinois, in January, 1680, erected Fort Cravecaur, at the lower end of Peoria Lake, where the city of Peoria
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is now situated. The place where this an- cient fort stood may still be seen just below the outlet of Peoria Lake. It was destined, however, to a temporary existence. From this point, La Salle determined to deseend the Mississippi to its mouth, but did not accomplish this purpose till two years later -in 1682. Returning to Fort Frontenac for the purpose of getting materials with which to rig his vessel, he left the fort in charge of Tonti, his lieutenant, who during his absence was driven off by the Iroquois Indians. These savages had made a raid up- on the settlement of the Illinois, and had left nothing in their track but ruin and desola- tion. Mr. Davidson, in his History of Illinois, gives the following graphie account of the picture that met the eyes of La Salle and his companions on their return:
" At the great town of the Illinois they were appalled at the scene which opened to their view. No hunter appeared to break its death-like silence with a salutatory whoop of welcome. The plain on which the town had stood was now strewed with charred fragments of lodges, which had so recently swarmed with savage life and hi- larity. To render more hideous the picture of desolation, large numbers of skulls had been placed on the upper extremities of lodge-poles which had escaped the devonr. ing flames. In the midst of these horrors was the rude fort of the spoilers, rendered frightful by the same ghastly relics. A near approach showed that the graves had been robbed of their bodies, and swarms of buzzards were discovered glutting their loathsome stomachs on the reeking corrup- tion. To complete the work of destruction, the growing corn of the village had been ent down and burned, while the pits con-
taining the prodnets of previous years, had been rifled and their contents scattered with wanton waste. It was evident the suspected blow of the Iroquois had fallen with relent- less fury."
Tonti had escaped, La Salle knew not whither. Passing down the lake in search of him and his men, La Salle discovered that the fort had been destroyed, but the vessel which he had partly constructed was still on the stocks, and but slightly in- jured. After further fruitless search, failing to find Tonti, he fastened to a tree a painting representing himself and party sitting in a canoe and bearing a pipe of peace, and to the painting attached a letter addressed to Tonti.
Tonti had escaped, and after untold pri- vations, taken shelter among the Potta- wattomies near Green Bay. These were friendly to the French. One of their old chiefs used to say, "There were but three great captains in the world, himself, Tonti and La Salle."
GENIUS OF LA SALLE.
We must now return to La Salle, whose exploits stand out in such bold relief. He was born in Rouen, France, in 1643. Ilis father was wealthy but he renounced his patrimony on entering a college of the Jesuits, from which he separated and came to Canada a poor man in 1666. The priests of St. Sulpice, among whom he had a brother, were then the proprietors of Mon- treal, the nucleus of which was a seminary or convent founded by that order. The Superior granted to La Salle a large traet of land at La Chine, where he established himself in the fur trade. He was a man of daring genins, and outstripped all his
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competitors in exploits of travel and com- meree with the Indians. In 1669, he vis- ited the headquarters of the great Iroquois confederacy, at Onondaga, in the heart of New York, and obtaining guides, explored the Ohio River to the falls at Louisville.
In order to understand the genius of La Salle, it must be remembered that for many years prior to his time the mission- aries and traders were obliged to make their way to the Northwest by the Ottawa River (of Canada) on account of the fierce hostility of the Iroquois along the lower lakes and Niagara River, which entirely closed this latter route to the Upper Lakes. They carried on their commerce chiefly by canoes, paddling them through the Ottawa to Lake Nipissing, carrying them aeross the portage to French River, and deseend- ing that to Lake Huron. This being the route by which they reached the Northwest accounts for the fact that all the earliest Jesuit missions were established in the neighborhood of the Upper Lakes. La Salle conceived the grand idea of opening the route by Niagara River and the Lower Lakes to Canadian commerce by sail vessels connecting it with the navigation of the Mississippi, and thus opening a magnificent water communication from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico. This truly grand and comprehensive purpose seems to have animated him in all his wonderful achievements and the matchless difficulties and hardships he surmounted. As the first step in the accomplishment of this object he established himself on Lake Ontario, and built and garrisoned Fort Frontenac, the site of the present city of Kingston, Canada. Here he obtained a grant of land from the French crown, and
a body of troops by which he beat back the invading Iroquois and cleared the passage to Niagara Falls. Having by this masterly stroke made it safe to attempt a hitherto untried expedition, his next step, as we have seen, was to advance to the Falls with all his outfit for building a ship with which to sail the lakes. He was successful in this undertaking, though his ultimate pur- pose was defeated by a strange combination of untoward circumstances. The Jesuits evidently hated La Salle and plotted against him, because he had abandoned them and co-operated with a rival order. The fur traders were also jealous of his superior success in opening new channels of com- meree. At La Chine he had taken the trade of Lake Ontario, which but for his presence there would have gone to Quebec. While they were plodding with their bark canoes through the Ottawa he was constructing sailing vessels to command the trade of the lakes and the Mississippi. These great plans excited the jealousy and envy of the small traders, introduced treason and revolt into the ranks of his own companions, and finally led to the foul assassination by which his great achievements were prematurely ended.
In 1682, La Salle, having completed his vessel at Peoria, descended the Mississippi to its confluence with the Gulf of Mexico. Erecting a standard on which he inscribed the arms of France, he took formal posses- sion of the whole valley of the mighty river, in the name of Louis XIV, then reigning, in honor of whom he named the country LOUISIANA.
La Salle then went to France, was ap- pointed Governor, and returned with a fleet and immigrants, for the purpose of
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planting a colony in Illinois. They arrived in due time in the Gulf of Mexico, but failing to find the month of the Mississippi, up which La Salle intended to sail, his supply ship, with the immigrants, was driven ashore and wrecked on Matagorda Bay. With the fragments of the vessel he constructed a stockade and rude huts on the shore for the protection of the immi- grants, calling the post Fort St. Louis. He then made a trip into New Mexico, in search of silver mines, but, meeting with disappointment, returned to find his little colony reduced to forty souls. He then resolved to travel on foot to Illinois, and, starting with his companions, had reached the valley of the Colorado, near the month of Trinity river, when he was shot by one of his men. This occurred on the 19th of March, 1687.
Dr. J. W. Foster remarks of him : " Thus fell, not far from the banks of the Trinity, Robert Cavalier de la Salle, one of the grandest characters that ever figured in American history-a man capable of originating the vastest schemes, and en- dowed with a will and a judgment capable of carrying them to successful results. Had ample facilities been placed by the King of France at his disposal, the result of the colonization of this continent might have been far different from what we now behold."
CARLY SETTLEMENTS.
A temporary settlement was made at Fort St. Louis, or the old Kaskaskia village, on the Illinois River, in what is now La Salle County, in 1682. In 1690, this was removed, with the mission connected with it, to Kaskaskia, on the river of that name,
emptying into the lower Mississippi in St. Clair County. Cahokia was settled about the same time, or at least, both of these settlements began in the year 1690, though it is now pretty well settled that Cahokia is the older place, and ranks as the oldest permanent settlement in Illinois, as well as in the Mississippi Valley. The reason for the removal of the old Kaskaskia settle- ment and mission, was probably because the dangerous and difficult route by Lake Michigan and the Chicago portage had been almost abandoned, and travelers and traders passed down and up the Mississippi by the Fox and Wisconsin River route. They re- moved to the vicinity of the Mississippi in order to be in the line of travel from Can- ada to Louisiana, that is, the lower part of it, for it was all Louisiana thien south of the lakes.
During the period of French rule in Lonisiana, the population probably never exceeded ten thousand, including whites and blacks. Within that portion of it now included in Indiana, trading posts were es- tablished at the principal Miami villages which stood on the head waters of the Manmce, the Wea villages situated at Ouiatenon, on the Wabash, and the Pian- keshaw villages at Post Vincennes; all of which were probably visited by French traders and missionaries before the close of the seventeenth century.
In the vast territory claimed by the French, many settlements of considerable importance had sprung up. Biloxi, on Mobile Bay, had been founded by D'Iber- ville, in 1699; Antoine de Lamotte Cadillac had founded Detroit in 1701; and New Orleans had been founded by Bienville. under the auspices of the Mississippi Com-
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pany, in 1718. In Illinois also, considera- ble settlements had been made, so that in 1730 they embraced one hundred and forty French families, about six hundred "con- verted Indians," and many traders and voyageurs. In that portion of the country, on the east side of the Mississippi, there were five distinct settlements, with their respective villages, viz .: Cahokia, near the mouth of Cahokia Creek and about five miles below the present city of St. Louis; St. Philip, about forty-five miles below Ca- hokia, and four miles above Fort Chartres; Fort Chartres, twelve miles above Kaskas- kia; Kaskaskia, situated on the Kaskaskia River, five miles above its confluence with the Mississippi; and Prairie du Rocher, near Fort Chartres. To these must be add- ed St. Genevieve and St. Louis, on the west side of the Mississippi. These with the exception of St. Louis, are among the oldest French towns in the Mississippi Valley. Kaskaskia, in its best days, was a town of some two or three thousand inhabitants. After it passed from the crown of France its population for many years did not ex- ceed fifteen hundred. Under British rule, in 1773, the population had decreased to four hundred and fifty. As early as 1721 the Jesuits had established a college and a monastery in Kaskaskia.
Fort Chartres was first built under the direction of the Mississippi Company, in 1718, by M. de Boisbraint, a military officer, under command of Bienville. It stood on the east bank of the Mississippi, about eighteen miles below Kaskaskia, and was for some time the headquarters of the mil- itary commandants of the district of Illinois.
In the Centennial Oration of Dr. Fowler, delivered at Philadelphia, by appointment
of Gov. Beveridge, we find some interesting facts with regard to the State of Illinois, which we appropriate in this history:
In 1682 Illinois became a possession of the French crown, a dependency of Canada, and a part of Louisiana. In 1765 the Eng- lish flag was run up on old Fort Chartres, and Illinois was counted among the treas- ures of Great Britain.
In 1779 it was taken from the English by Col. George Rogers Clark. This man was resolute in nature, wise in council, prudent in policy, bold in action, and heroic in danger. Few men who have figured in the history of America are more deserving than this colonel. Nothing short of first- class ability could have rescued Vincennes and all Illinois from the English. And it is not possible to over-estimate the influence of this achievement upon the republic. In 1779 Illinois became a part of Virginia. It was soon known as Illinois County. In 1784 Virginia ceded all this territory to the general government, to be cut into States, to be republican in form. with "the same right of sovereignty, freedom, and inde- pendence as the other States."
In 1787 it was the object of the wisest and ablest legislation found in any merely human records. No man can study the secret history of
THE "COMPACT OF 1787."
and not feel that Providence was guiding with sleepless eye these unborn States. The ordinance that on July 13, 1787, finally be- came the incorporating act, has a most marvelous history. Jefferson had vainly tried to secure a system of government for the northwestern territory. He was an emancipationist of that day, and favored the
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exclusion of slavery from the territory Vir- ginia had ceded to the general government; but the South voted him down as often as it came up. In 1787, as late as July 10th, an organizing aet without the anti-slavery clause was pending. This concession to the South was expected to carry it. Congress was in session in New York City. On July 5th, Rev. Dr. Mannasseh Cutler, of Massa- chusetts, came into New York to lobby on the northwestern territory. Everything seemed to fall into his hands. Events were ripe.
The state of the publie eredit, the growing of Southern prejudice, the basis of his mis- sion, his personal character, all combined to complete one of those sudden and marvelous revolutions of public sentiment that onee in five or ten eenturies are seen to sweep over a country like the breath of the Almighty. Cutler was a graduate of Yale-received his A. M. from Harvard, and his D. D. from Yale. He had studied and taken degrees in the three learned professions, medieine, law, and divinity. He had thus America's scientifie examination of the plants of New
best indorsement. He had published a England. His name stood second only to that of Franklin as a scientist in America. He was a courtly gentleman of the old style, a man of commanding presence, and of inviting face. The Southern members said they had never seen such a gentleman in the North. He came representing a company that desired to purchase a tract of land now ineluded in Ohio, for the purpose of plant- ing a colony. It was a speeulation. Gov- ernment money was worth eighteen cents on the dollar. This Massachusetts company had collected enough to purchase 1,500,000 acres of land. Other speculators in New
York made Dr. Cutler their agent (lobbyist). On the 12th he represented a demand for 5,500,000 acres. This would reduce the national debt. Jefferson and Virginia were regarded as authority concerning the land Virginia had just ceded. Jefferson's poliey wanted to provide for the publie credit, and this was a good opportunity to do some- thing.
Massachusetts then owned the Territory of Maine, which she was erowding on the market. She was opposed to opening the northwestern region. This fired the zeal of Virginia. The South caught the inspiration, and all exalted Dr. Cutler. The English minister invited him to dine with some of the Southern gentlemen. He was the cen- ter of interest.
The entire South rallied round him. Massachusetts could not vote against himn, because many of the constituents of her members were interested personally in the western speculation. Thus Cutler, making friends with the South, and, doubtless, using all the arts of the lobby, was enabled to command the situation. True to deeper convietions, he dietated one of the most compact and finished documents of wise statesmanship that has ever adorned any human law book. He borrowed from Jef- ferson the term "Articles of Compaet," which, preceding the Federal constitution, rose into the most saered character. He then followed very closely the constitution of Massachusetts, adopted three years be- fore. Its most marked points were:
1. The exclusion of slavery from the ter- ritory forever.
2. Provision for public schools, giving one township for a seminary, and every sec- tion ummbered 16 in each township; that
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is, one thirty-sixth of all the land, for public schools.
3. A provision prohibiting the adop- tion of any constitution or the enactment of any law that should nullify pre-existing contracts.
Be it forever remembered that this com- pact declared that " Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good govern- ment and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall always be encouraged."
Dr. Cutler planted himself on this plat- form and would not yield. Giving his unqualified declaration that it was that or nothing-that unless they could make the land desirable they did not want it-he took his horse and buggy, and started for the constitutional convention in Phila- delphia. On July 13, 1787, the bill was put upon its passage, and was unanimously adopted, every Southern member voting for it, and only one man, Mr. Yates, of New York, voting against it. But as the States voted as States, Yates lost his vote, and the compaet was put beyond repeal.
Thus the great States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin-a vast empire, the heart of the great valley-were consecrated to freedom, intelligence and honesty. Thus the great heart of the na- tion was prepared for a year and a day and an hour. In the light of these eighty-nine years I affirm that this act was the salva- tion of the republie and the destruction of slavery. Soon the South saw their great blunder, and tried to repeal the compaet. In 1803, Congress referred it to a commit- tee of which John Randolph was chairman. He reported that this ordinance was a com- pact, and opposed repeal. Thus it stood a
rock, in the way of the on-rushing sea of slavery.
With all this timely aid, it was, after all, a most desperate and protracted strug- gle to keep the soil of Illinois sacred to freedom. It was the natural battle-field for the irrepressible conflict. In the southern end of the State, slavery preceded the compaet. It existed among the old French settlers, and was hard to eradicate. The southern part of the State was settled from the slave States, and this population brought their laws, customs and institu- tions with them. A stream of population from the North poured into the northern part of the State. These sections misun- derstood and hated each other perfectly. The Southerners regarded the Yankees as a skinning, tricky, penurious race of ped- dlers, filling the country with tinware, brass clocks and wooden nutmegs. The Northerner thought of the Southerner as a lean, lank, lazy creature, burrowing in a hut, and rioting in whisky, dirt and igno- rance. These causes aided in making the struggle long and bitter. So strong was the sympathy with slavery, that in spite of the ordinance of 1787, and in spite of the deed of cession, it was determined to allow the old French settlers to retain their slaves. Planters from the slave States might bring their slaves, if they would give them a chance to choose freedom or years of service and bondage for their ehil- dren till they should become thirty years of age. If they chose freedom they must leave the State in sixty days or be sold as fugitives. Servants were whipped for of- fenses for which white men are fined. Each lash paid forty eents of the fine. A negro ten miles from home without a pass
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