History of La Salle County, Illinois, Part 9

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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TRIAL OF KEEWASSEE, TOQUAMEE AND COMEE.

The Hall sisters returned to La Salle County in March, 1833. They stated that they were posi- tive that Keewassee. Toquiamee and Comee were parties to the massacre. A complaint was filed before a justice of the peace charging them with the murder of William Hall and others. The preliminary trial resulted in their being held un- der bond of one thousand dollars each, to await the action of the grand jury which was to meet in April. Shabbona and five other chiefs were bondsmen. The grand jury met on April 20, 1834. and heard the testimony of the Hall girls but they failed to offer any positive testimony and no indictment was found. However, the bondsmen were not discharged. The court con- vcned again in May. The prisoners and bonds- men were called into court May 21st. All ap- peared except Keewassee, who had gone west with his band. Toquamee and Comee were dis- charged because the grand jury had failed to in- dict them.

The sureties, not having produced the body of Keewassee in court, were subject to pay the forfeiture of $1,000. More time was given them to produce the said Keewassee. The court was

OLD LOWELL MILL, BUILT IN 1840, AND NEW BRIDGE.

PAST AND PRESENT OF LA SALLE COUNTY.

to convene again in October. George E. Walk- er was sheriff and it devolved upon him to bring the prisoner into court. Mr. Walker was an Indian trader, understood the language and was on the most friendly terms with the Indians. They had the utmost confidence in him and he in them. He did not hesitate to start alone on his three-hundred-mile ride to bring his prisoner. He found his man in the far Indian country be- yond the Mississippi. A council was called and it was decided that the accused should accompany Mr. Walker to Ottawa to stand trial. Keewassee and another Indian started to what must have seemed to him as certain death. He bade his friends farewell, saying that he never expected to see them again.

. For many days the three traveled together through the Indian country, sleeping together at night. It was necessary for them to supply themselves with food and the Indians often went off on a hunt to supply the camp with meat. They had every opportunity to escape. But such was the sense of Indian honor that this was no temptation. Mr. Walker was completely in their power had they desired to take his life. While passing through an Indian encampment the pris- oner requested Mr. Walker to come on behind that it might not appear that he was under arrest.

They traveled along the old Indian trail lead- ing from Rock Island to Chicago, crossing the Fox River at Mission ford near Serena. They met a pioneer, Peter Dement, who knew Keewas- see. He said the party was traveling along the trail single file, Mr. Walker leading. Each car- ried a rifle. Keewassee was much dejected, said he was going to Ottawa to die. He would like

to be shot like a brave but did not want to be - family parties to hold picnics in the grove near hanged by the neck like a dog.

There was no jail in Ottawa, so it was neces- sary for the sheriff to guard the prisoner, not be- cause he would escape, but to avoid his being shot by white men seeking revenge. When court convened Keewassee was discharged for the same reason as were the others, that the grand jury had failed to indict him.

It is said that Keewassee had a scar on his face by which the Hall girls recognized him at the massacre. When brought back a prisoner he had so painted his face that they were not able to identify him positively.

When the Indians were liberated their friends made a great feast for them at Buffalo Rock. Sheriff Walker, D. F. Hitt, Wilbur Walker and others who had guarded the prisoners were in- vited. A fat deer had been killed and other In- dian delicacies provided and a general good time was had. Keewassee having washed the paint off

his face the scar was plainly visible. Knowing his guilt and fearing the vengeance of the friends of the victims, he disappeared during the night.

A year afterward Louis Ouilmette, a half- breed, well known among the Indian traders, vis- ited Meau-eus band in Iowa and there learned from the parties themselves that Keewassee led the attack on the Indian Creek settlement because of the dam in the creek and the beating that Da- vis gave him, and that Toquamee and Comee saved the girls because of the affection which they had for them.

SYLVIA HORN AND RACHEL MUNSON.

The reader will no doubt be interested in the subsequent history of the captive girls. Sylvia married William S. Horn. Rachel married Wil- liam Munson, who bought the claim taken up by Mr. Hall, killed at the massacre. They pros- pered and raised a large family. Mrs. Munson died May 1, 1870. One of their daughters. Phebe, married John Reed, of Ottawa. One of her daughters is the wife of James H. Eckles. comptroller of the currency under the second Cleveland administration and now president of the Commercial National Bank, Chicago. An- other daughter is the wife of Judge Kenesaw M. Landis, a prominent federal judge in Chicago.

William Munson erected a stately monument over the graves of the victims of the massacre which marked the spot until a new one was erected by the state and the grounds were im- proved and called Shabbona Park.

SHABBONA PARK.

It has been customary for Sunday Schools and the Munson monument. At one of these Mrs. Clara Wiley, of Earlville, read a paper describing the historic event which took place there, in which she advocated transforming the grounds into a park. Mr. L. G. Chapman, of Freedom, also interested himself in the matter and called the people's attention to the idea.

When Duncan Dunn was elected to the Board of Supervisors from Freedom township, he en- listed M. N. Armstrong in the park project. Mr. Armstrong drew up the petition to the Board of Supervisors to buy the ground. This petition was referred to a special committee consisting of M. N. Armstrong, E. B. Williams and Morris Lewis, all sons of pioneers. The Board pur- chased three and a half acres of land, fenced it and set out trees.

The Board and citizens memorialized the Gen- eral Assembly to appropriate $5,000 to erect a monument on the site of the massacre. Such a

PAST AND PRESENT OF LA SALLE COUNTY.

bill was passed in 1902 but Governor Yates ve- toed the bill on the plea of economy.

At the next session of the General Assembly the work was all gone over again and in 1904-5 Governor Deneen signed the bill.

The La Salle County Memorial Association was then incorporated. Directors: Duncan Dunn, president ; W. R. Lewis, secretary ; Charles Kember, treasurer : S. U. Lawry, M. J. Flaherty, Carlyle M. Pool. W. H. Chapman.

The Association then purchased three and a half acres more land, erected a beautiful monu- ment and improved the spring and the grounds. On August 29, 1906, the monument was unveiled.

In naming the park the Association does fitting honor to the Indian chief who tried so hard to save the lives of the people who were killed on this spot.

OTHER CASUALTIES.

DEATH OF ADAM PAYNE.

Rev. Adam Payne was a traveling preacher quite common at that time. He belonged to a sect called "Christian," popularly known as "New Lights." Adam Payne's family lived near Hold- erman's Grove, but he was at home very little of the time. He traveled from Canada to the Gulf and from the Atlantic to the far western Indian country. It was his custom to send word ahead of his coming, making appointments to preach in the open air. The frontiersmen col- lected from long distances and he preached to large audiences. At the close of the services he would take up a collection for traveling expenses. If more was given than he needed he gave it back to them to be used for some charitable pur- pose.

He was a man of striking appearance, tall, straight, well formed, with a black wavy beard two feet long. His black hair hung in clusters over his shoulders. He had a broad, high, white forehead and his face was lighted up with the message of salvation which he brought. His voice was powerful and had a peculiar charm. His earnestness, fertile imagination and wide ex- perience among all kinds of people afforded him a wealth of illustration. He soon gained con- trol of his motley audience and could readily awaken them to laughter or to tears. Every- where sinners were brought to repentance by this eloquent man, who seemed to the common people something more than human.

He had spent considerable time among the In- dians in northern Illinois, quite a number of whom claimed to be converted and tried to live the new life which he taught them. Rev. Jesse

Walker came in contact with them while he con- ducted his mission at Mission Creek.

In May, 1833, Adam Payne was returning from the east to visit his family. He stopped at Chicago for a few days, where he learned of the Indian war. The people tried to persuade him not to venture out into the Indian country. However, he believed that the Indians would not molest him. Having preached among them and being well known he thought there was no - danger.

He mounted a store box and began singing a hymn. His musical voice soon brought together about all the people about the fort and settle- ment. For two hours he held them spellbound with his eloquence, making a deep impression upon his hearers. This was Adam Payne's last sermon. He mounted his faithful horse, the com- panion of his travels in the wilderness, and rode away to the west. When he arrived at Fort Beggs, where Plainfield now stands, he remained all night with the Methodist preacher, Rev. S. R. Beggs. Next morning the occupants of the fort fled to Chicago. They tried to persuade Payne to go with them. But believing that he was in the keeping of the Almighty, he feared no danger in the face of duty. He disappeared riding off into the Indian country. Not finding his family at home, he supposed they had gone to Hennepin, where his brother, Aaron Payne, lived. They were at Ottawa at the time.

The facts about the death of Adam Payne were obtained by Mr. Matson from an Indian who participated in the murder and from Aaron Payne. his brother.

In the afternoon of a bright day he was riding along a strip of timber near Holderman's Grove, singing a hymn as was his custom. Three Indi- ans fired upon him, a ball entering his shoulder and another striking his horse. He started off to the southwest as fast as the horse could go. For five miles he kept out of the way of the pursu- ing Indians. But the noble animal fell dead and the Indians came up. Finding their victim un- armed, they danced about him in fiendish glee, while he, Bible in hand and pointing heaven- ward, pled with them not to murder their white brother. Two of them lowered their weapons, but the third one buried his tomahawk in his skull.

They cut off his head, considering the long hair a great prize. Arriving in camp they placed the head on a pole and indulged in a dance. The leader of the band was Mike Girty, an able but degenerate half-breed, who had acted as inter- preter for Payne while he preached to the Indi- ans. Though a desperate man himself, he greatly loved the preacher. At first he did not recognize

PAST AND PRESENT OF LA SALLE COUNTY.

the head but from the long hair thought it was the head of a woman. When he did recognize the face of his old friend, he was deeply moved. He snatched up his tomahawk and was about to kill the slayer of his friend but was prevented from doing so. He had the head lowered from the pole and buried and offered up a sacrifice to appease the wrath of the Great Spirit.

Some days after George E. Walker and a com- pany of rangers passing that way found the head- less body with the Bible, a spy glass and $50 in money. They buried the body where they found it, five miles northeast of Marseilles. The articles found on his body were given to his family.

About this time a head very much decom- posed was found and brought to Ottawa. It was supposed to be the head of Adam Payne because it, too, had long hair and beard. But it is likely that it was the head of a Dunkard preacher who was on his way from Chicago to Fulton County and who was never heard of.

AARON PAYNE'S RESOLVE.

When Aaron Payne learned of his brother's death he resolved on helping to drive the Indians out of the country. Perry Armstrong, who was then a boy, a refugee at Fort Hennepin, was an eye witness and thus describes the scene :

"How vivid are my recollections of the scenes that transpired in that little fort on the evening the news came of the murder of Adam Payne. A shadow of dark determination flashed across the countenance of Aaron as he sprang to his feet and exclaimed, 'I will avenge his death.' His wife tried to remonstrate against him leaving the fort in its weak and defenseless condition, filled as it was with women and children. Aaron re- plied : 'The God we serve will protect our little ones ; the voice of my brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground; I will avenge his death or perish in the attempt. Prepare me some food and arrange my clothing while I see to my weap- ons. Tomorrow's rising sun will find me upon the way to the Indians' camp.' Finding that re- monstrance was unavailing, every assistance was rendered to equip Reverend-Knight-Errant, and long ere the dawn of the succeeding day, mounted upon his roan mare, armed with a flint-lock rifle and a murderous blunderbuss, which he called Betsy, constructed of the butt end of an old Gov- ernment musket, and charged with some twenty slugs (for buckshot we could not obtain), he started, solitary and alone, on his mission of ven- geance."

In General Winfield Scott's autobiography we find this interesting item :

"While inspecting the hospital at Fort Craw-

ford I was struck with a remarkably fine head of a tall volunteer lying on his side and seeking re- lief in a book. To my question, 'What have you there, my friend?' the wounded man pointed to the title page of 'Young's Night Thoughts.' I sat down on the edge of the bunk, already inter- ested in the reader, to learn more of his history.

"The wounded volunteer said his brother, Rev. Adam Payne, fell an early victim to Black Hawk's band, and he (not in the spirit of revenge, but to protect the frontier settlements), volunteered as a private soldier. 'While riding in the battlefield of Bad Axe I passed a small Indian boy, whom I might have killed, but thought him a harmless child. After passing the boy fired, lodging two balls near my spine, when I fell from my horse.' The noble volunteers, although suffering great pain from his wound, said he preferred his con- dition to the remorse he should have felt if he had killed the boy, believing him to be harmless."

DEATH OF SCHERMERHORN, HAZELTON AND BERESFORD.

After the Indian Creek massacre the people remained within reach of the forts at Ottawa, La Salle and Hennepin. Scouting parties were sent out to ascertain whether any Indians were lurk- ing about. The settlers had left their stock and other property at their homes and were anxious to know whether these had been molested and if possible to secure some of this property and bring it to a place of safety.

An expedition of one hundred and fifty sol- diers was organized at Ottawa to visit Holder- man's Grove and the settlements along the Fox River to secure the settlers' stock. Those going from the south side of the river and accompanied by the soldiers went up the river to the ford known as Brown's Ford and crossed there. Mr. Schermerhorn and his son-in-law, Mr. Hazelton, who were on the north side and west of the Fox River, went up this stream to Dayton and crossed there. They expected to meet the other party, but being later they were more than a mile behind them. When they arrived at the William Dunnavan place they discovered a party of Indians in the timber. They turned and fled toward Ottawa, pursued by the savages who, however, did not fire, no doubt fearing to attract the attention of the soldiers who had passed on. They soon met a soldier who had lagged behind the rest. The Indians threw their spears but missed both him and his horse. Scher- merhorn and Hazelton being in a wagon could not go so fast and fell into the hands of the Indians. Schermerhorn's body was found north of David Grove's house, that of Mr. Hazelton about thirty rods nearer the timber. The soldier reported the

PAST AND PRESENT OF LA SALLE COUNTY.

attack at Ottawa. On the same day Capt. James McFadden, James Beresford and Ezekiel and Daniel Warren were on the south side of Indian Creek timber near where the massacre occurred about one-half mile south picking strawberries. The Warrens remarked that they were too near the timber, that Indians might be lurking there. They mounted their horses and rode off. Beres- ford and McFadden continued to pick berries. A dozen Indians fired upon them. McFadden had mounted. The bullet that passed through his ankle also passed through the horse. He, how- ever, lived long enough to carry his master out of danger. One of the Warrens offered McFad- den his horse and went on foot, having agreed that if the Indians pressed them too closely he should dismount and let the owner have the horse. The Indians did not pursue and the three reached Ottawa. Beresford had not mounted. The volley from the Indians wounded his horse and he could not mount. The last seen of him he was running and the Indians in close pursuit. His body was afterward found pierced by a bul- let and mutilated.

AFTER THE BLACK HAWK WAR.

The summer was well advanced before hostili- ties ceased. The settlers south of the river nearly all went to their homes and made a crop, but those north either remained at the forts or left the country for a place of safety.

The government began moving the Indians west of the Mississippi and in 1833 settlers be- gan to come in large numbers. The prospective opening of the canal attracted wide attention in the eastern states. The advantages. offered by this and the Illinois River as a highway for com- merce appealed to the people seeking a home in the west. The need of timber for fuel, building and fences. was a great drawback at first. It was thought that the prairie far from timber would never be occupied. The people who canie from timber countries could not conceive how it would ever be possible to get on with so little as there was in Illinois. Even in the east they were not used to railroad transportation. It seemed to them that hauling lumber a hundred miles or more was out of the question. They thought too that fences must be made out of rails and that it was impossible to get on with- out them. Wood was the only fuel known to them.

The result was that people going west pre- ferred to stop in the heavy timber of Indiana and laboriously hew out a farm and dig among the stumps for a generation. Those who came to Illinois settled in the timber along the streams

and those who could not get a farm in the timber bought a small lot, sometimes even five miles from their homestead. The discovery of coal solved the fuel question and the canal and railroads made it possible to buy lumber. Yet people were obliged to live in the most primi- tive way from 1830 to 1850. It was then that the canal and railroads began to operate and agricultural machinery, the plow, the mower and the reaper, came to relieve the farmer of his hardest toil. The country had been put in such state of cultivation that the prairie fire was no longer the dread of the farmer. It is a pity that so little is left us of the story of those twenty years. Our fathers were little given to writing, so that the story of their heroic struggle has gone out with the recollection of the early pioneers.

PERSONAL NARRATIVES.

The following narratives obtained by Hon. Elmer Baldwin and published in his history of La Salle County in 1877 are valuable in pre- serving a word picture of the life of the pioneer drawn by those who speak from personal ex- perience :

MRS. WALBRIDGE'S STATEMENT-FORMERLY THE WIFE OF EDWARD KEYES.

"We came to La Salle County in November, 1831. On our journey we traveled five days without seeing a house of any kind. At last we reached the hospitable cabin of Christopher Long, on Covell Creek, where we staid six weeks, when we moved on to the north bank of the Illinois River, about five miles east of Ottawa. I remember we moved from Covell Creek on Christmas eve, through a wild region. and I shall never forget the bright moonlight night when we arrived at our cabin. It was a wild, dreary-looking place. though I did not say any- thing of my feelings lest I should discourage my husband.

"Our house was about twelve feet wide and sixteen feet long, one story. of logs. The weather got so cold that we could build our chimney but little higher than where the mantel piece ought to be, and when the wind came from the south we had to open the door to let the smoke out.

"The bottom land around us was covered with very tall grass, and ours the only house on the bottom between Ottawa and Joliet, and but two or three in Ottawa. David Shaver lived about one mile north of us, and William Parr lived one and a quarter miles northeast.

PAST AND PRESENT OF LA SALLE COUNTY.

"We got through the winter very well, as the weather was quite mild. In the early spring, while I was at Mr. Long's, who had settled half a mile above us, and my husband was alone, two Indians called and took dinner with him. They told him that the Cho-Mokeman would come soon and kill all the pale faces. So we took the alarm, packed up our things and went to Posey County, in Indiana. This was in the spring of 1832, and we thus escaped the dangers of the Indian war.

"We returned to our cabin in the spring of 1833, which we found as we left it. After put- ting in our crops Mr. Keyes started for the East, and I stayed alone about two months. About a week after he left I was taken with the ague, and had it every other day. The days I had the chills Mrs. Parr would come and help me. Mr. Keyes went to Connecticut and Vermont. He wished me to go to some of the neighbors, but I thought I would stay and take care of what we had.

"The winter of 1833-34 was very cold, so the mill at Dayton was frozen up, and we pounded corn for our bread. We moved on the place in 1831 and 1833, and I have lived here ever since- and I have seen the wild region which looked so forbidding on that Christmas eve, in 1831, trans- formed into one of the most thriving and busi- ness-like places in the West.

"There is a peculiar and indescribable influence exerted over the mind by the plain, unadorned candor and simplicity of the early pioneers. When they professed a friendship for you it meant something ; it came from the bottom of the heart. Style and fashion had no place on the frontier."

This narrative of Mrs. Walbridge is some- what abridged, but enough is given in her own language to convey a true picture of the feelings that actuated the early pioneer. A woman that would stay alone for two months in that wild region, with the country full of Indians and wild animals, and sick with the ague, too, is made of no common stuff, and the spectacle of Mrs. Parr, leaving her own family, and cares. and going a mile and a quarter every other day to wait at the bedside of her lonely sick neighbor, is an example of self-sacrifice and kind- ness seldom found, except in a new country .- Baldwin.

NARRATIVE OF MRS. SARAH ANN PARR, DAUGHTER OF WIDOW ANNA PITZER.

We arrived in the county of La Salle on the 16th day of October, 1831, from Licking County, Ohio, and settled on the left bank of the Fox, about nine miles from Ottawa, on the place where

the Harneys now live. We left Ohio in May previous-my mother's family, in company with Aaron Daniels, Edward Sanders, Benjamin Flem- ing, and Joseph Klieber and their families.

There was but little talk about Indians during the winter, but in May there began to be rumors that the Indians were coming soon. About the middle of April, Shabbona, the Pottawatomie chief, came to our house, and told us the Indians would soon give us trouble. Soon after, we heard they had burned Hollenbeck's house. Mr. Fleming came to our house just as we were get- ting breakfast, and told us we must all put out for Ottawa, without a moment's delay. In great haste we got ready and started, without our breakfast, leaving the table standing. We stayed in Ottawa about a week, when my mother, my- self, and several others, went up to Dayton, be- cause there were only two houses in Ottawa, owned by David Walker and Joseph Cloud, and there was a small fort at Dayton, built by John Green around his house, which was supposed to make it safe, at night at least. About five days after, while we were all asleep, about eleven o'clock at night, a Frenchman brought word that Hall's, Davis' and Petigrew's families were all killed, up on the creek. In great panic, we got ready-or set off without getting ready-to go down the river, myself with seventeen others, in a large dug-out, or pirogue, as it was called. We were piloted down by Mr. Stadden and Aaron Daniels. The boat was so loaded that it dipped water several times ; however, we all landed safe. The balance of the Dayton folk walked down on the bank of the river to Ottawa, where we stayed some four weeks, when my mother and myself went to Sangamon, on the Sangamon River, six miles north of Springfield, where we stayed till the war was over. My mother, Anna Pitzer, was a widow, and it was not deemed safe for her to remain, for provisions were scarce and supplies very uncertain. I was sixteen at the time, but the recollection of those scenes is as vivid as if they occurred but yesterday.

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History of La Salle County, Illinois, Part 9

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