History of La Salle County, Illinois, Part 13

Author: Hoffman, U. J. (Urias John), b. 1855
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1286

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In 1836 Shabbona's band was ordered to re- move. The old chief disliked to be separated from his people and to leave his home at his grove was also repugnant. But duty to his band demanded that he go with them to their new home. The Indian agent offered to furnish wagons to move their belongings but Shabbona said they did not need assistance. There were one hundred forty-two persons in the band and they had one hundred and sixty ponies. They moved by easy stages. They camped on Bureau Creek for six weeks in the fall hunting. They exchanged game for vegetables raised by the set-

PAST AND PRESENT OF LA SALLE COUNTY.

tlers in the vicinity. Late in the fall they moved beyond the Mississippi to their reserva- tion in Iowa.

DEATH OF PYPEGEE AND PYPS.

Soon after Shabbona's band arrived in Iowa the Sacs and Foxes were moved to a place about fifty miles from Shabbona. Neopope, one of their chiefs, was very bitter against him because of his part in the Black Hawk war and meant to kill Shabbona at the first opportunity. In the fall of 1837 Shabbona and his son, Pypegee, and nephew. Pyps, and five others went on a buffalo hunt about one hundred miles from home. They expected to stay sometime to lay in a sup- ply of meat. Neopope thought this a good op- With a band of war- portunity to slay him.

riors he followed his trail. In the dead of night they attacked the camp, killed Pypegee and Pyps. Shabbona, his son, Smoke, and the four

others escaped. Neopope took up their trail and closely followed them to within a few miles of their home. They were without anything except the little clothing which they had on. For three days and two nights they fled without food or rest. Thus Pypegee and Pyps paid the pen- alty for befriending the settlers.

SHABBONA RETURNS TO HIS GROVE.

N. Matson in his Life of Shabbona says, "On a cold, wet day, in the latter part of November, 1837, I discovered a few Indians crossing the prairie, going eastward on the Sac and Fox trail. On coming up with them, I found it was Shab- bona with his two squaws, children and grand- children, about twenty-five persons in all. The old chief appeared pleased to meet me, holding on to my hand for sometime, and dismounting from his pony. He inquired after his many white friends, but said he could not see them now, for his heart was full of trouble. I in- quired of him why he came back to Illinois, to which he replied by saying that he could not live in Iowa, the Sacs and Foxes had killed his son and nephew, and hunted him down as though he was a wild beast, and to save his life he had fled from home during the darkness of night. The old chief continued : "Poor Pypegee and Pyps, they were such good boys ; the pride of the band; but their bodies, scalped, disrobed and mutilated, are now lying on the cold ground, food for wolves, while their spirits are in the happy hunting grounds, where I shall meet them before many moons.' Here Shabbona ceased talking, wiped away the tears with the corner of his blanket, and for a moment gave himself up to

feelings of sadness. After remaining silent for a short time as though engaged in meditation, he pointed to himself, his squaws, his papooses, and also to a suckling babe, all of whom had large stripes of black paint on their foreheads, showing that they were in mourning for departed loved ones."

It would be pleasant to think of the old chief and his family of thirty coming back to his 1,280 acre reservation and living in peace with the white people who would show him the respect and kindness due his heroic efforts in their be- half. But the newcomers knew nothing of Shabbona and had they known they would have cared little for a "dirty Indian." The pioneer is sure that this is a free country and on the bor- der he makes free with everything that no one guards.

Shabbona returned to find that every tree in his great forest that would make rails had been cut and the rails used to fence the neighboring fields. Even the trees in the shade of which his loved ones slept the long sleep had been cut down, the posts marking the graves of his chil- dren had been knocked down and the mounds had been trampled down.

The home coming of this family of mourners was indeed sad. Shabbona put up new posts and painted them and in fasting and prayer he sought consolation of the Great Spirit whom he always most devoutly worshiped. A great sorrow in the old chief's life was the death of twin sons about ten years of age who were buried there. As nearly as possible he made yearly pilgrimages to their graves, repainted the posts, lay face downwards on the little graves for hours at a time, believing that he communed with their spirits in the land of shades.

NEOPOPE'S ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE SHABBONA.

In the spring of 1838 members of Shabbona's family discovered an old squaw hiding in the timber near the village. Her face was painted and nearly concealed in her head dress. She had a gun, a knife, a tomahawk, and a pony jaded by much travel. She refused to give any information as to who she was, where she came from or where she was going. She at once left the grove. Years afterwards after Neopope's death, Shabbona learned that it was he disguised as a squaw who had come all the way from the West to assassinate him. Having no opportuni- ty and being discovered, he abandoned his design.

SHABBONA IS ROBBED OF HIS LAND.

About one hundred acres of Shabbona's land was under cultivation and well fenced. This he

PAST AND PRESENT OF LA SALLE COUNTY.

rented to white people and, together with his an- nuity of two hundred dollars, he managed to clothe his family. Much of their time was spent in visiting his people who had removed to Kansas.

Shabbona had every reason to believe that he owned his land and that he had a right to sell it. His right and title to the land had never been questioned.

In 1845 he sold all of it except one hundred acres, his cornfield, and part of the grove where his children were buried. It was bought by Azell and Orris Gates. They agreed to pay a fair price for it, a small payment down and the rest and the interest in installments running a long term of years. Shabbona appointed a Mr. Turner his agent to collect the rents, interests and payments and he went to Kansas to join his band.

In 1850 Shabbona returned expecting to se- cure the rents, interest and one installment which was due. But instead of receiving these he was informed that there was nothing coming to him and that his land had been sold by the gov- ment.

This is the way the elder Gates consum- mated a "deal." One of these is the grand- father of G. W. Gates, the multimillionaire. As soon as Shabbona had gone west they filed af- fidavits with the land commissioners at Wash- ington that Shabbona had abandoned his land and had gone west to live on the reservation. They claimed that the land now reverted to the government and made application to buy it. The Department without giving Shabbona an oppor- tunity to be heard decided that Shabbona had forfeited his claim and the land was offered for sale. The Messrs. Gates bought it at $1.25 an acre.

Perry Armstrong thus describes the effect on Shabbona : "He came to receive the money due on his contract, together with the accumu- lated rents upon his hundred acres of improved land, to find all gone-land and rent dissipated by this decision of the Commissioner of the Gen- eral Land Office. His large frame was con- vulsed, his eyes filled with bitter tears, his strong limbs trembled and weakened under their burden until he fell prone upon the earth, weeping and moaning like a disconsolate child with a broken lieart. Here he remained for a long time, then rising, he beat his breast with his hands, his eyes fixed on space, while sobs and wails filled the surrounding air. Then drawing forth his paint- bag and glass he painted his entire face black. and then sought the shade of a tree in a secluded spot in the grove, where, like Jacob of old. he wrestled with the Great Spirit several days with- out food or water, invoking that pity from on

High which he could not find on earth, in this his sorest need. An outcast and scapegoat of his nation and race, and a stranger among the nat- ural enemies of his people, his condition was such as to call forth pity and commiseration from any human heart not made of stone.

"Thus was this poor old Saugenash driven from his own land and Eden by those who should have taken special delight in doing him honor for the good he had done. Slowly and sadly he left Shabbona's grove (his no more forever) and wended his way to a grove on Big Rock Creek, now in Kendall County, Illinois, near Plano, where he pitched his camp and remained several weeks without knowing what to do or where next to go. Here he was visited by many of the early pioneers and kindly treated. His faithful wife Conoka, together with three daughters and a few grandchildren, were with him. The white people of that vicinity sup- plied them with food and eventually suc- ceeded in restoring the old chief to comparative cheerfulness."

Between 1851-1857 Shabbona spent most of the time traveling and visiting. He was a welcome guest all over northern Illinois. People every- where treated him kindly. Besides visiting his people in Kansas he also visited his relatives in Canada.

One of his best friends was George E. Walker, of Ottawa, who with his partner Hickling was the leading merchant in Ottawa. They had been friends from 1826, when Walker settled at the mouth of the Fox. He was always ready to advance him blankets, ammunition or what he needed. knowing that Shabbona would pay in due time.

In 1857 Lucien P. Sanger started a subscrip- tion paper to purchase the old chief a home. Five hundred dollars was soon raised and twenty acres of land was bought six miles east of Seneca in Grundy County.

The ladies of Ottawa undertook to raise the money to build a house on the land. The Fourth of July was utilized for this purpose. Shabbona on his pony led the procession during the exer- cises in the afternoon. It was announced from the platform before the oration that the pro- ceeds would be devoted to building a house for the old chief. The hall was crowded and tickets sold for a high price. The money thus raised was increased by subscription and enough was soon gathered to build a good house.

An incident occurred at this ball that shows the shrewdness as well as the humor of the old chief.

Some one suggested that Shabbona pick out the prettiest lady in the hall. This met with uni- versal approval. George E. Walker informed

PAST AND PRESENT OF LA SALLE COUNTY

Shabbona what he was to do. His face over- spread with a smile and his eyes sparkled. The ladies were seated about the hall. Shabbona ex- amined each one with great care, requiring each one to walk to the opposite side of the hall and back again. He slighted none. Even Conoka, his squaw, six feet tall, and weighing four hun- dred pounds, was as closely inspected as the rest. When he had inspected the last lady in the hall he walked up to Conoka, had her step out, putting his hand on her shoulder, he said, "Much big, heap prettiest squaw." Thus he avoided giving offense and added greatly to the mirth of the company.

Shabbona's children and grandchildren lived in the house but the chief and his wife lived in a wigwam in a ravine near by. He lived only two years longer ; for in 1859, at the age of eighty- four, he died and was buried in the cemetery at Morris.

Perry Armstrong and George E. Walker were pallbearers and the funeral was largely attended. Five years afterward, in 1864, Conoka was driv- ing from her home to Morris. She was so heavy that she never sat on a seat or chair, but always on the floor. When driving, she sat in the bot- tom of the little wagon. On this day she was holding a little grandchild in her lap. It is sup- posed that as the ponies were crossing the creek they stopped to drink and got the lines under the tongue, Conoka pulled them too much to one side, tipped the wagon box and threw herself out. She was found lying face downward, her arms under her. clasping the child. Being unable to rise, they drowned in six inches of water. She and the grandchild were buried by the side of the old chief.

The family now moved to the reservation of the tribe near Holton, Kansas, where they have lived to this day. They have not been prosper- ous. To this, however, there is one exception. Obnesse, the son of Shabbona's Kickapoo squaw, became a prosperous farmer. Being a Kickapoo, he does not live on the reservation of the Potto- watomies but on that of the nation of his mother. This is fifteen miles from where his half brothers and sisters lived. He supplied them with all the wheat they needed and in other ways looked after the needs of his less fortunate kin.

SHABBONA'S MONUMENT.

On October 23, 1903, a monument to Shab- bona was dedicated at his grove in Evergreen Cemetery at Morris. It is strange that so ap- propriate an act should have been so long de- layed. That it was finally accomplished is due to the untiring efforts of Perry A. Armstrong. He worked for many years.

Shabbona said he desired no monument, his life was monument enough. One of his nieces, an educated and cultured woman, when written to about a monument made the very practical remark that it would be better if the good people who wished to do honor to the old chief would use the money to provide food and clothing for his children who were in want. At the time of his death there was considerable feeling aroused over the fact that Ottawa people were defeated in securing the burial of the chief in one of their cemeteries. This no doubt delayed the erection of the monument.

At the Old Settlers' meeting at Ottawa in 1897 Charles F. Gunther made a motion to ap- point a committee to devise means for the erec- tion of a suitable monument to the memory of Shabbona. The committees named consisted of C. F. Gunther, P. A. Armstrong. S. R. Lewis, R. C. Jordan. E. Y. Griggs, L. M. Sawyer. M. N. Armstrong, L. A. Williams, Joseph Boyd, R. E. Barber, G. M. Hollenbeck. When the committee organized it made P. A. Armstrong chairman ; C. F. Gunther. G. M. Hollenbeck, R. C. Jordan, vice presidents ; L. A. Williams, sec- retary, and E. Y. Griggs, treasurer.

Mr. Gunther spent several hundred dollars in having prepared a souvenir membership certifi- cate. He also contributed liberally. But the subscriptions did not come in rapidly. It was the intention to erect an imposing monument. But the slowness with which the funds were collected was discouraging.

Fortunately a large boulder was discovered which was about to be broken up to go into the foundation of the Presbyterian Church at Mor- ris. Mr. Armstrong saw that here was a mont- ment eminently appropriate and prepared by na- ture herself. In its journey from Canada in the ice of the Glacial Period one side was planed off and polished. On this was chisled "Shab- bona, 1775-1859."

At the dedicatory exercises speeches were made by Perry Armstrong. ex-Congressman Thomas J. Henderson. R. C. Jordan and M. N. Arm- strong. The address of Mr. Jordan is a fitting close for this record of the life of him who was called the "Friend of the White Man," but whose purpose at the same time was to be the friend of his own people.

R. C. JORDAN'S ADDRESS.

Character speaks louder than words. A great man never dies. And great are the people who are great enough to know what is great.

Man has shown an innate goodness by his dis- position in all ages to laud the good deeds of his fellows. And that he has ever cherished ideals

PAST AND PRESENT OF LA SALLE COUNTY.

higher than self is proven by the tributes offered to the memory of his dead. These tributes have pictured the highest ideals of his time.

As clouds that encircle the mountain melt away in the sunlight; so in the halo of the grave. misdeeds pass out of sight and the ideal stands clearly defined in the tributes offered.

Thus the tombs of a people become teachers and are among its richest legacies.

This one speaks of a great hero who helped to make history here.

It weakens our faith in the old dogma that man is born in sin and prone to do evil, for it speaks of a child of nature who had a spark of divinity.

In the critical transitions of society, when at times there has been imperative need of wise counsel and brave leadership, the man who with will power, conscience, capability and courage has come promptly into action, has been the great man of the hour. He may have thought calmly previously, but he has not stopped for meditation when duty called. His performance has been as sudden as the exigency that pro- woked it.

I need not repeat to you the story of that May day, in 1832, never to be forgotten by the inhabitants of this valley, when a great horde of , blood thirsty Indian warriors determined to inas- sacre the early settlers of this region.

These savages when acting from a sense of outraged injustice dealt terrible blows. In their warfare, they were no respectors of persons. Innocent women and children fell before them without mercy.

Bent upon slaughter they had completed their organization. They had engaged in the war dance. They had unsheathed their knives. The war paint was upon their faces. And with blood in their eyes, with hellish yells, they were about to start on their ungodly mission when there came out of their midst-A Man! A man of commanding appearance, lines of firmness upon his face. vet touched with gentleness, giving him the stamp of a hero.

He was chief of three tribes. He had fought by the side of the great Tecumseh.

On the evening of that memorable day, to save them from calamities they knew not of, he sorrowfully turned his back upon his own peo- ple. His heart was filled with a great purpose. He stood ready for the emergency. Back of him stretching into the centuries was a wild ro- mance. There were the happy hunting grounds over which he had roamed the buffalo and the deer. There had lived his people. There they had sailed their canoes upon the rivers and had pitched their tents upon the banks. There they

had warred. There they had wooed. There they had worshiped. The night was closing on that picture. Before him a grander civili- zation was developing and there were innocent lives to save.

He stood on the dividing line between two civilizations. It would appear that for him there was no part in either. But true to his purpose he dashed into the night to rescue a people of another race, our people. This act made him the white man's friend and by it he became a factor in the greatest development the world has ever known.

This stone speaks of that thrilling midnight ride. It calls to our children to cherish the spirit back to that ride with its purpose as noble as that of Paul Revere.

It speaks of a remnant of a great people mournfully wandering from Canada and Ply- mouth Rock toward the setting sun.

It tells of folded tents, of bows that have been broken and fires that have gone out.

It speaks of a real romance that in its pathos and heroism eclipses the incident of ordinary fiction.

It is a sermon against man's damnable in- humanity to man.

It is fitting that Shabbona's monument should consist of a great boulder. It is typical of the life that it is intended to commemorate.

It has been a checkered career. It has been through ice and snows and terrific gales. It has been amid scenes of savagery and civiliza- tion. It roamed with the wild elements over our prairies to find its final resting place amid the homes of the white man.

It is like a diamond in the rough. Its im- perishable character came fresh from nature as did that of the hero over whose grave it rests. In helping to dedicate I freely offer my tribute.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN LA SALLE COUNTY.

In 1832, when Black Hawk and his band of Indians came into Illinois from Iowa, the set- tlers were much alarmed, thinking that he meant hostilities. He, however, claimed that he was going into Wisconsin on invitation of the Winne- bagoes to raise a crop of corn. That he had his women and children with him seems strong evi- dence of the truth of his claim. A war party never took women and children with them. He did not contemplate immediate hostilities, but there is no doubt he expected to begin them as soon as he could confederate the other Indians with him.

A company was enlisted at New Salem, of which Abraham Lincoln, a youth of twenty-three,

PAST AND PRESENT OF LA SALLE COUNTY.

was chosen captain. This was on the 21st of April. The company went up the Rock River and was at Dixon when Stillman's defeat occurred on May 14th. It remained in that vicinity till the 2Ist, when it began its march to the mouth of the Fox River to be mustered out. On the 23d they had gone as far as Sycamore Creek in De Kalb County, where Lincoln's men plundered an Indian village. On the 24th they reached an Indian village near where Paw Paw now stands. Here the soldiers also plundered. On the 25th the Fox River was reached, at Mission ford at the mouth of that creek near the bridge east of Serena. Most of the day was spent in searching the men for articles stolen from the two Indian villages. On the 26th they marched twelve miles down the river on the east side and went into camp. On the 27th they reached Ottawa, where the men were mustered out. Capt. Lincoln at once re-enlisted as a private. Lieut. Robert Anderson of Fort Sumter fame was the officer who mustered him into service. Fort Johnston was built on the South Bluff a little east of the mouth of the Fox where Dr. Weis' house now stands. It was named after Lieut. Albert Sydney Johnston, who was killed in the battle of Shiloh. At the time Lincoln was in camp in Ottawa, there were present Col. Zachary Taylor, afterward President, Gen. Atkinson, Lieut. A. S. Johnston, Lieut. Robert Anderson.

Lincoln's company remained in camp where the main part of Ottawa is now situated until June 6th, when his company under command of Capt. Iles started northward over the same trail over which he had come. On June 10th the company reached Galena. It then started to Fort Wilbourne, located just across the river from Peru. The company had enlisted for only twenty days. At Fort Wilbourne the company was mustered out by Lieut. Robert Anderson on the 14th. The next day Lincoln was mustered into Capt. J. M. Early's company. This was an independent company and was engaged in scouting in the northern counties of the state and in Wisconsin. On July 10th Capt. Early's company was discharged. Lincoln lost his horse, a borrowed one, for he had not money enough to buy one when he enlisted. He was therefore compelled to go on foot. He and his companion, George Harrison, walked from Dixon to Peru, thence to Peoria. Here they bought a canoe. While Harrison was laying in provisions for the journey down the river, Lincoln made a paddle with which to propel the canoe down the river. Below Pekin they overtook two men floating down the river on a log raft. The two canoe men were invited to join them, which they did. The journey would proceed more slowly, but

there would be more company. At Havana they sold their canoe and traveled on foot to New Salem

Nothing of any particular importance occured in Lincoln's life as a soldier. He was never in a battle, yet his experience served him afterward for many homely illustrations of situations in life. They no doubt served to awaken into life many of the traits of character which afterward fitted him so well to do the world so great a service.

Reared in poverty, ignorance and the crude customs of the pioneers among whom he lived, and being especially ungainly in his movements, he no doubt felt his short comings in the presence of more favored and cultured people. This all would tend to give him that diffidence and bashfulness which is a constant apology for one's existence. The manner of his being chosen captain shows that the awkward and crude youth "knew his place" and was willing to stay in it. Lincoln had gained popularity at New Salem by his sociable nature, honesty and straight forwardness and by having come off victor in a wrestling match into which he was forced. When a company was to be organized to go to the Black Hawk war the boys about New Salem talked of making Lincoln captain. When the day came to choose a captain William 'Kirkpatrick, who had been captain of a com- 'pany, expected to be elected. He made a speech telling what he had done and what he would do for the glory of the flag if they elected him. There were also others who were candidates. The method of voting was for the candidate to stand out and all who choose him would take their places behind him. The one who had the greatest number of men behind him was elected. It was expected that "Abe" Lincoln would step out, but his diffidence was too great, he stepped in line behind one of the candidates. Some of his friends seized him, pushed him out of the line and shouted : "Fall in behind Abe". When the votes were counted three-fourths stood be- hind "Abe". Mr. Lincoln afterward said, "No one can know how much this election pleased me." This probably was one of the first expe- riences in the modest, awkward young man's life that made him feel that he might aspire to leadership among men.

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History of La Salle County, Illinois, Part 13

Author: Hoffman, U. J. (Urias John), b. 1855 Publication date: 1906 Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1286

Author: Hoffman, U. J. (Urias John), b. 1855
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago : S.J. Clarke Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1286