USA > Illinois > Macoupin County > History of Macoupin County, Illinois : biographical and pictorial, Volume I > Part 4
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As soon as the massacre became known, dispatches were sent to France for troops and supplies of ammunition to endeavor to recover the captives, if pos- sible. In the meantime the natives that were friendly to the French were in- duced to go upon the war path, and soon some twelve hundred warriors were gathered together and sct forward against the murderers. The Natchez were still at their carousals, unaware of the danger that awaited them. The friendly natives, led by the French, attacked the enemy and a great slaughter ensued. gaining a great victory. Not long after, the French troops arrived, completing the victory and releasing the prisoners. The larger part of the Natchez and Choctaw Indians fled across the Mississippi but were followed by the troops and large numbers of them killed, four hundred being taken prisoners and sent south to New Orleans and then to Jamaica, where they were sold as slaves.
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That was the last massacre upon Illinois soil until the massacre at Fort Dear- born in the war of 1812.
A GALLANT DEED.
It was during the war of the American Revolution that George Rogers Clark, a young Virginian, performed a most gallant deed, which enrolled his name for- ever among the noble heroes who performed such heroic acts of valor in the early settlement of the great west. Young Clark applied to Patrick Henry, then gov- ernor of Virginia, for troops, arms and supplies, with which he intended to ob- tain possession of the British outposts in the Illinois territory and thus strike a blow at the British power in the great northwest. Clark had been active in some military operations against the Indians in Kentucky, just previous to the war and had gained a most splendid reputation in the gallant deeds there per- formed. Governor Henry cordially approved of the enterprise as planned by Clark, and issued orders at once for the necessary troops and equipments. He was commissioned a lieutenant colonel in the Virginia militia and given twelve hundred pounds in the depreciated currency of the state, with which to pur- chase supplies necessary for such an expedition and authorized to enlist three hundred and fifty men. His instructions from the governor were very explicit in every detail. He enjoined upon Colonel Clark generosity and humanity in dealing with the enemy, which was in striking contrast to that adopted by the British, who were then paying bounties to the savages for scalps of the women and children of the rebels, as they called the Americans.
Colonel Clark raised but a part of the men necessary for the expedition but rather than wait for more, resolved to proceed with those he had. He proceeded to Fort Pitts and then embarked upon the Ohio: After starting on the voyage down the river, Colonel Clark informed the men that the object of the expedition was to take Kaskaskia, then the only stronghold in the Illinois territory. He landed on a small island in the river, opposite where Louisville now stands, where he erected a fort to protect his base of supplies. Everything being in readiness, on June 24, 1778, he left the island with but one hundred and fifty- three men and floated down the river to Fort Massac, opposite the mouth of the Tennessee river. Here they landed, and hiding their boats in a small stream near the fort, with but two guides he started overland for Kaskaskia, one hun- dred and twenty miles distant. The country was a wilderness and the little army depended almost wholly for subsistence upon the game found in the country. They arrived in the vicinity of Kaskaskia on the afternoon of July 4th, and having obtained a very good description of the village and fort, divided their forces into three companies, and when darkness had set in, started for the fort. The attack was a complete surprise and the town and fort were taken without the shedding of a drop of blood. The commandant of the place had nicknamed the Virginians "Long Knives," and when the troops entered the town, that was the cry from the inhabitants on every hand. Kaskaskia contained at that time some two hundred and fifty houses, and hence was quite a large village for that part of the country to have. Order having been restored in the town, Colonel Clark then started for Cahokia and reached there before the town had heard of the taking of Kaskaskia. It was then taken without resistance and thus the
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gallant colonel had become the conqueror of the whole territory, of which he came in possession in the name of his state, and patron in the enterprise.
On the 23d of November, 1778, the Virginia house of delegates passed a vote of thanks to Colonel Clark and his brave "little army" for the very important services they had rendered their state.
COLONEL CLARK TAKES VINCENNES.
After arranging the affairs for the government of the territory, he started across the country to Vincennes to obtain possession of a British post at that place. As it was a surprise to the garrison in the place it was easily taken and held, and thus the last British post in the whole northwest was wrested from British control. Soon after the Virginia house of delegates organized the whole country taken possession of by Colonel Clark, into a county and named it Illi- nois. This included all the country north and west of the Ohio to the Mississippi.
DEATH OF COLONEL CLARK.
Colonel Clark served in several campaigns in the west with great gallantry and after the attempt at betrayal by the traitor, Arnold, he enlisted in the Con- tinental army and served under Baron Steuben until the close of the war, and independence was gained. His later life was passed in private and as age ad- vanced he suffered from rheumatism contracted from exposure in his many campaigns. He died at Locust Grove, near Louisville, in 1818, and his remains were deposited near the river that forms the southern boundary of the land he was so instrumental in recovering to his state and the nation.
The memory of Colonel Clark is perpetuated in the state where his gallant deeds are so well remembered and appreciated, for the year following his death, the legislature of the new state gave his name to a county then formed and a few years later when the infant city by the great lake took form, one of the first streets settled and named was Clark street, now one of the leading business streets in the great metropolis of the west.
THE ORDINANCE OF 1787.
July 13, 1787, congress passed an act entitled "Ordinance of 1787" for the government of the great northwest territory, ceded by Virginia to the United States three years before. That act was the law of the land and regulated not only the government of the territory but made special provisions regarding in- heritances, descents, wills, conveyances, sales, etc., saving, however, to the French and Canadian inhabitants their laws and customs. The law provided for a gov- ernor, secretary and three judges, and the governor and judges had the power to make the laws for the territory, subject to the approval or disapproval of congress.
The governor was all powerful and ruled the territory at will, subject only to the ordinances, and as congress dictated from time to time. Not less than three nor more than five states were to be formed in the territory. The boundaries
.PROPERTY OF REV. JOHN W. RICE, MEDORA
One of the first houses in Medora, built in 1835. The south half is of logs and the house is now occupied.
LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
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of each state were fixed, though no names were given to them. They were designated, however, as the Eastern, now Ohio, the Western, now Illinois, the Northwestern, now Wisconsin, the Northern, now Michigan, and the Middle State, now Indiana.
It provided, further, that there should be "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude," except as a punishment for crimes but provided for the return of fugitives to the original states when such service or labor could be lawfully claimed. It was that latter provision that in after years led so much to the mak- ing of history upon the subject of slavery and resulted in placing Illinois as a prominent factor in the settlement of the question, as results show. But the most important article in the ordinance and the one that the people of these five great states should be forever grateful to the framers for, was as follows: "Re- ligion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government, and the hap- piness of mankind, schools and the means of education, shall forever be en- couraged." . That was the great bulwark of the liberties of the country and upon that the foundation was built, the splendid system of education which has ever been the great leading feature in the settlement of the country, and which has certainly placed Illinois in the van of modern civilization.
THE FIRST GOVERNOR.
General Arthur St. Clair was the first territorial governor, with his head- quarters or seat of government at Marietta, Ohio. He was born in Scotland and served with distinction in the French and Indian wars, also in the Revolution, and had been in public life so much that he became identified with the interests of the west to that extent, which made his appointment most appropriate and sat- isfactory to the people.
PROTESTANTISM IN ILLINOIS.
In 1790 the white population of Illinois, in round numbers, was about 2,000. A year or two previous to that, James Smith, a Baptist minister, came to New Design, a small village in Monroe county, and commenced his labors and that is placed by historians as the beginning of Protestantism in the state. In 1793, one Joseph Lillard, Methodist missionary, arrived there and from that time . forward, Protestantism became an important factor in the religion of the state.
ILLINOIS A PART OF INDIANA.
From 1787 to 1809, Illinois was a part of Indiana Territory, but in the latter year it was formed into a territory by itself, as before stated in this work. This territory, which was created to commence its existence on the first day of March in that year, embraced the tract west of the Wabash river and north to Canada.
AN EARTHQUAKE.
November 11, 1811, an earthquake occurred, which caused great fear among the then scattered hamlets of the territory and especially in the American bottom Vol. 1-3
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along the Mississippi river, where chimneys were thrown down, houses damaged and bells rung. This was the first earthquake mentioned in the history of the state and pretty much the last, although slight tremblings have since been felt.
THE MAMMOTH.
There was a time when the mammoth and mastadon roamed these prairies in great numbers and their bones were often to be found in the marshy places where they had become mired, or had gone to drink. At what time this was, is a mystery. The Illinois knew nothing of them, nor had they even a tradition of any such an animal.
But there is one thing certain, and that is, that people lived here at the same time those huge animals did. In exhuming the bones of one of them near Beards- town several years ago, an arrow head and the broken point of a copper spear were found among the bones, showing that the animal came to its death by the hand of man. Another skeleton, standing erect, was found in a marsh. A fire had been kindled against its sides, and ashes, pieces of charred wood, arrow heads and stone axes were found with the bones. It is the theory that it became mired in the mud and was then attacked and killed by the natives.
A short distance from Peoria lake, numerous bones were found in the early settlement of the county. The place was a salt lick and quite marshy. Some of the bones were of immense size, showing the animal in life, at least fifteen feet in height and twenty-two in length. The largest elephant of the present day would be but a pigmy in comparison with it.
THE ILLINOIS RIVER.
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The Illinois river from its junction with the Des Plaines and Kankakee is two hundred and sixty miles in length, exclusive of its many windings, and two hundred and ten miles of it are navigable 'for steamboats. It is a sluggish stream with only twenty-eight feet fall, nearly all of which is above Peoria lake. The mouth of the river where it enters the Mississippi is twelve miles wide between the bluffs, and when that river is high, it backs up the Illinois seventy-two miles. The bottom lands along the river are very fertile but much of them are overflowed, especially since the drainage canal from Chicago to Joliet was opened.
The scenery along the river is beautiful, the stream being dotted along its whole course with innumerable islands, some of which are quite large. The first fort ever built in the Illinois country was upon the banks of the stream, as was also the first Catholic mission. It was a favorite stream with the natives, its sluggish current being just the place for their light bark canoes. At a later period the Mackinaw boat of the American Fur Company, took the place of the canoe and was used until navigation by steam supplanted it.
A FARMER MECHANIC.
'An anecdote is related of an old farmer down in Monroe county by the name of James Lemon. He was one of the old sort of Baptist preachers, but an ex-
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cellent man and just the right sort to settle up a new country, for he was quite ยท a mechanical genius and made all his tools used on his farm, even his harness for his horses. The collars he made of straw or corn husks, which were plaited and sewed together by himself. Being engaged in plowing a piece of stubble ground and having turned out for dinner, he left the harness on the beam of his plow. His son, a wild youth, who was employed with a pitch fork to clean the plow of the accumulated stubble, stayed behind and hid one of the horse collars. This he did, that he might rest while his father made a new collar. The old man returning, soon missed the collar and after reflecting a few moments, very much to the disappointment of the truant son, pulled off his leather breeches, stuffed the legs of them with the stubble, and then straddled them upon the horse's neck for a collar, proceeding with his plowing as bare legged as when he came into the world.
INSTRUCTING A JURY.
In some of the trials by jury in southern Illinois at an early day the judges had some very queer experiences. In a certain trial, the judge, when he came to instruct the jury as to the law, gave his instructions to them on the part of the learned judge. The instructions, however, were sound and very much to the point. Still the jury could not agree on a verdict and therefore returned to the court room. The judge asked the jury the reason why they could not agree, when the foreman answered with great apparent honesty and simplicity, "Why judge, this 'ere is the difficulty. The jury want to know whether that 'ar you told us when we first went out was r'al'y the law, or only just your notion." The judge, of course, informed them that it was really the law and they soon found a verdict accordingly.
THE WAR OF 1812.
Of course the war of 1812 reached Illinois and was severely felt in several localities. War was declared by President Madison, June 18th, and August 15th following occurred the massacre at Fort Dearborn, on the Chicago river. The fort had been erected by the government at the mouth of the river, in 1804, and was occupied by a small garrison under Captain Heald, as commandant. The garrison consisted of seventy men and in the fort were quite a number of women and children. Orders were issued for the evacuation of the fort and on that day all marched out, but they had only gone a short distance when they were attacked by a large body of savages and nearly all murdered.
Steps were at once taken to suppress the Indian uprising and avenge the bloody deed and an expedition was planned to attack a considerable number of the savages at Peoria lake. The expedition, however, proved a failure and only some of the native villages were burned. The year following another campaign was undertaken to Peoria, where another fort was built and named "Fort Clark" in honor of Colonel George Rogers Clark. The soldiers scoured the country, driving the Indians before them but no general engagement took place.
In 1814 a force was sent to Rock Island under Major Campbell, where an engagement with the Sacs and Foxes took place without any definite result. Later in the same year, Major Zachary Taylor (afterward president of the
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United States), also went to Rock Island and had an engagement with the Indians and the British.
Toward the end of that year hostile operations began to slacken and in the summer of 1815 peace was restored between the United States and the Indian tribes of the northwest, and the settlers of the state enjoyed comparative peace and quiet for many years, there being no further trouble with the natives until 1832, when Black Hawk stirred up the spirit of revenge in the Indian breast and sought to drive the white settlers from the state.
The soldiers in the war of 1812 were given bounties in the lands, which are known as the Military tract, which extended between the Mississippi and Illi- nois rivers, from the mouth of the Illinois, northward one hundred and sixty- nine miles.
ILLINOIS FROM 1815 TO 1818.
The territory from the close of the war of 1812 to the time of its admission into the Union as a state, continued to improve and increase in population, and the territorial laws were well and faithfully administered. The population in 1815 was estimated at about 16,000 but when admitted as a state, as heretofore stated, it was about 50,000, showing a degree of prosperity seldom equalled in so remote a territory. On the 16th of September, 1805, there were five counties in the territory and the governor, by proclamation ordered an election to be held for six councilmen and six representatives, one of each for each county. Gal- latin was apportioned two of each. They were to meet at Kaskaskia, then the seat of the territorial government, on the 10th of November. The election was held as directed and all met at the appointed time, all of the twelve being boarded at one house and lodged in one room.
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ONE ILLITERATE MEMBER.
Among the members assembled was one John Grammar, from Johnson county. This was his first appearance in public life. He had no education, could neither read nor write, and yet he was a man of much natural shrewdness. He knew nothing of legislation or laws and so he adopted a rule to vote against every new measure that came up for passage, whether good or bad, he deeming it easier to conciliate his constituents by voting against a good measure than by voting for a bad one. He wore the most unique and original clothing of any of the members and for that matter, it was probably the most original, as well as odd, suit that any member of a public body has worn since that time. Not hav- ing suitable clothing to wear to the legislature, it is recorded of him that he and his family gathered a quantity of hickory nuts. These he took to the Ohio salines and traded for blue stranding, such as the Indians wore for breech cloth. When the women of the neighborhood got together to make the cloth into garments. they found it very scant and so they decided to make a bob tailed coat and knee pants, with long leggings. Arrayed in this primitive suit, he appeared at the
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seat of government and attended the daily sessions as though arrayed in broad- cloth and fine linen.
THE LAWS PASSED.
The most of the laws passed by this legislature were good and beneficial and some of them were so popular that they were reenacted by the new state after it was admitted to the Union. But there were some laws passed that were bar- barous in the extreme. Punishment of crimes and misdemeanors was by whip- ping on the bare back, confinement in the stocks, standing in a pillory and branding with a hot iron. These several punishments were ordered administered by the court that tried the culprit. The number of stripes that could be inflicted was from ten to five hundred. It was not the worst that received the most stripes by any means. For instance, burglary and robbery were punished with not exceeding thirty-nine, while for bigamy three hundred could be inflicted. An- other law was passed, placing a bounty of fifty to one hundred dollars for the killing of an Indian warrior or the taking of a squaw or child captive.
TRADE AND COMMERCE.
Commerce at that time was in its infancy. All foreign goods and articles not produced in the territory were brought from New Orleans by way of the river in keel boats, pushed up against the current by long poles with the most severe labor, and towed around the points with long ropes. The only other way they had of obtaining goods was by wagons over the Allegheny mountains from Philadel- phia to Pittsburg, thence in flat boats down the Ohio and landed at convenient points, then taken in wagons and carried where wanted. The trip down the Mississippi and back took fully six months, while that. east required at least three.
. THE FIRST STEAMBOAT.
The first steamboat to ascend the Mississippi to St. Louis was the General Pike, and that was August 2, 1817. Agriculture was the principal pursuit of the people during territorial times but hunting and trapping were followed in win- ter by nearly all. There were few merchants and they only kept such articles as were mostly needed by the settlers. Tea, coffee and sugar were but little used and seldom to be found in the stores. Coarser goods for clothing and articles indispensable to the housekeeper, were usually kept. Cabins were built without glass, nails, locks or hinges, and the furniture was manufactured in the same rude fashion. The settlers all learned to make what was needed for use and that answered all purposes.
EDUCATION.
We have already alluded to the provision in the ordinance of 1787 regarding free schools and the constitutional convention that met in Kaskaskia in 1818 to form the first constitution. Inserted in that first organic law of the state the very letter as well as the spirit of the provision for free schools and the act of congress that enabled the territory to prepare for statehood, provided that
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section 16 in every township in the state should be "for the use of schools." It also provided that five per cent of the net proceeds from the sale of public lands in the state should be divided, two-fifths of which should be devoted to the making of roads and three-fifths to the cause of education. Those provisions were accepted by the state and became the basis of our present school system. Thus with every settlement a provision was made for a public school, and al- though funds were low and often hard to obtain, yet the "schoolmaster" was abroad in the land from the very beginning of the state government.
STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS.
In 1854 the law was passed creating the office of state superintendent of schools and also for a complete system of free schools.
The State Normal University was established by law in 1857, being located some two miles north of Bloomington. The purpose for which it was established was "to qualify teachers for the common schools of the state." The constitu- tion of 1870 gave the legislature power to "provide a thorough and efficient sys- tem of free schools, whereby all the children of this state may receive a good common school education."
THE FIRST GOVERNOR.
We have already alluded to the election of Shadrach Bond as the first gov- ernor, the act removing the state capital from Kaskaskia to Vandalia, and of that establishing the state bank.
The total revenue of the state for the year 1818 was but $7,510.44. It was during his administration that the first steps were taken to construct the Illinois and Michigan canal, though but little was done except the recommendation of Governor Bond that some steps should be taken for the construction of such a waterway.
In 1822 Edward Coles was elected governor and held the office until 1826. During his administration the state was seriously embarrassed by its financial conditions brought upon it by the state bank and some attempt was made to remedy the difficulty, but without much success.
The governor in his first message also recommended the importance of a great waterway from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi river, and by act of the legislature, January 17, 1825, the Illinois and Michigan canal was incorporated but nothing further was done in the matter.
Almost every measure recommended by Governor Coles was so bitterly op- posed even by his own party, that but little benefit accrued to the state during his administration.
December 6, 1826, Ninian Edwards was inaugurated governor and it was dur- ing his administration that an appropriation was made for the erection of a penitentiary at Alton. The act was passed and work begun. January 20, 1826, the act incorporating the Illinois and Michigan canal was repealed and thus the first chapter in the construction of that work was ended. The great objection to the act was that the state should construct the canal instead of it being con- structed by a private company.
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