History of Macoupin County, Illinois, Part 6

Author: Brink, McDonough & Co.
Publication date: 1879
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 440

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Such was Fort Chartres, believed at the time to be the most convenient and best-built stronghold in North America! Just before the French surrender, forty families lived in the neighboring village, in which stood a parish church, under the care of a Franciscan friar, and dedicated to St. Anne. At the time of the surrender to the English, all, with the exception of three or four fami- lies, abandoned their homes, and removed to the west bank of the Mississippi, preferring the government of La Belle France to the hated English rule, ignorant that by secret treaty the territory west of the Mississippi had been ceded to Spain, even before the transfer of the region eastward was made to the English.

But the glory of the old fortress soon departed! In 1756 nearly half a mile intervened between Fort Chartres and the bank of the Mississippi. A sand bar, however, was forming opposite, to which the river was fordable. Ten years later the current had cut the bank away to within eighty yards of the fort. The sand-bar had become an island, covered with a thick growth of cottonwoods. The channel between it and the eastern bank was forty feet in depth. In the great freshet six years after, in 1772, in which the Ameri- can Bottom was inundated, the west walls and two of the bastions were swept away in the flood. It was abandoned by the British garrison, which took up its quarters in Fort Gage, on the bluff opposite Kaskaskia, which then became the seat of government From this date its demolition proceeded rapidly. In 1820 the south-east angle was still remaining. Only vestiges of the old Fortress can now be traced. Much of the stone was carried away, and used for building purposes elsewhere. Trees of stately growth cover the foundations. The river has retreated to its original channel, and is now a mile distant from the ruins. n growth of timber covers the intervening land, where less than a century ago swept the mighty current of the Father of Waters.

UNDER FRENCH RULE.

During the few years immediately succeeding the completion of Fort Char- tres, prosperity prevailed in the settlements between the Kaskaskia and the Mississippi rivers. Prairie du Rocher, founded about the year 1722, received considerable accessions to its population. Among the earliest French settlers to make their homes here were Etienne Langlois, Jean Baptiste Blais, Jean Baptiste Barbeau, Antoine Louvier, and the La Compte and other families, whose descendants are still found in that locality. New settlements sprang up, and the older ones increased in population. At Kaskaskia, the Jesuits

established a monastery, and founded a college. In 1725 the village became an incorporated town, and the king, Louis XV., granted the inhabitants a commons. The Bottom land, extending upward along the Mississippi, un- surpassed for the richness of its soil, was in the process of being rapidly settled by the large number of new arrivals in the colony. Fort Chartres, the seat of government and the headquarters of the commandant of Upper Louisiana, attracted a wealthy, and for Illinois, a fashionable population.

After having been fourteen years under the government of the Western Company, in April, 1752, the King issued a proclamation by which Louisiana was declared free to all his subjects, and all restrictions on commerce were re- moved. At this time many flourishing settlements had sprung up in Illinois, centering about Kaskaskia, and the inhabitants were said to be more exclu- sively devoted to agriculture than in any other of the French settlements in the West.

M. D'Artaguette, in 1732, became commandant of Fort Chartres, and Gov- ernor of Upper Louisiana. Between New Orleans and Kaskaskia the country was yet a wilderness. Communication by way of the Mississippi was inter- rupted by the Chickasaws, allies of the English and enemies of France, whose cedar barks shooting boldly out into the current of the Mississippi, cut off the connection between the two colonies. It was in an attempt to subdue these that M. D'Artaguette, the commandant, lost his life. An officer arrived at Fort Chartres from M. Perrier, Governor-General at New Orleans, in the year 1836, summoning M. D'Artaguette, with his French soldiers, and all the In- dians whom he could induce to join him, to unite in an expedition against the enemy. With an army of fifty Frenchmen, and more than one thousand Indians, accompanied by Father Senat and the gallant Vincennes, command- ant of the post on the Wabash, where now stands the city bearing his name, D'Artaguette stole cautiously in the Chickasaw country. His Indian allies were impatient, and the commander consented, against his better judgment. to an immediate attack. One fort was carried-another-and then in making the assault on the third, the young and intrepid D'Artaguette fell, at the head of his forces, pierced with wounds. The Indian allies made this reverse the signal for their flight. The Jesuit Senat might have fled, Vincennes might have saved his life, but both preferred to share the fate of their leader. The captives afterward met death at the stake under the slow torments of fire.

La Buissoniere succeeded as commandant at Fort Chartres. In 1739 a second expedition was undertaken against the Chickasaw country. La Buis- soniere joined Bienville, then Governor-general of Louisiana, with a force of two hundred Frenchmen and three hundred Indians. The whole force under Bienville was twelve hundred French, and five hundred Indians and negroes. His men suffered greatly from malarial fevers and famine, and returned the following spring without conquering the Chickasaws, with whom afterward, however, amicable relations were established.

The period from 1740 to 1750 was one of great prosperity for the colonies. Cotton was introduced and cultivated. Regular cargoes of pork, flour, bacon, tallow, hides and leather, were floated down the Mississippi, and exported thence to France. French emigrants poured rapidly into the settlements. Canadians exchanged the cold rigors of their climate for the sunny atmosphere and rich soil of the new country. Peace and plenty blessed the settlements.

La Buissoniere was followed, in 1750, by Chevalier Macarty as Governor of Upper Louisiana, and Commandant of Fort Chartres. Peace was soon to be broken. The French and English war, which terminated in 1759 with the defeat of Montcalm on the plains of Abraham, and the capture of Quebec, began with a struggle for the territory on the Upper Ohio. Fort Chartres was the depot of supplies and the place of rendezvous for the united forces of Louisiana, and several expeditions were fitted out and dispatched to the scene of conflict on the border between the French and English settlements. But France was vanquished in the struggle, and its result deprived her of her princely possessions east of the Mississippi.

CHARACTER OF THE EARLY FRENCH SETTLERS.

The early French inhabitants were well adapted by their peculiar traits of character for intercourse with their savage neighbors of the forest, with whom they lived on terms of peace and friendship. For this reason, the French colonists almost entirely escaped the Indian hostilities by which the English settlements were repressed and weakened. The freest communication existed between the two races. They stood on a footing of equality. The Indian was cordially received in the French village, and the Frenchman found a safe resting place in the lodge of the savage. In scenes of social pleasure, in expeditions to remote rivers and distant forests, in the ceremonies and exercises of the church, the red men were treated as brothers, and the accident of race

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HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

and color was made as little a mark of distinction as possible. Frequent intermarriages of the French with the Indians strongly cemented this union. For nearly a hundred years the French colonists enjoyed continual peace, while the English settlements on the Atlantic coast were in a state of almost constant danger from savage depredations.

It was doubtless greatly owing to the peculiar facility with which the French temperament adapted itself to surroundings, and the natural address with which Frenchmen ingratiated themselves in the favor of the savages, that this happy condition of affairs existed. But something must be ascribed to the difference of character between the French and English in regard to their aggressiveness. The English colonists excited the jealousy and fear of the Indians by their rapid occupation of the country. New settlements were constantly being projected, and the white population pushed farther and far- ther into the wilderness. When the Indians saw their favorite haunts broken up, and their hunting grounds invaded, a natural feeling of distrust and jealousy led them to warfare against the English. With the French it was different. There was but little disposition to found new settlements, or occupy the wilderness. They were essentially a social people, and the solitary life of a pioneer in the forest was repugnant to their disposition. They lived in compact villages. Their houses were in close proximity. With abundant room for spacious streets, they yet made them so narrow that the merry villagers could converse with ease across the street, each from his own cottage. Hunting was a favorite pursuit, and the chief means of support. With this mode of life the French were content. Ambition failed to incite them to conquer the wilderness, and push their settlements to unknown regions, and avarice was wanting to lead them to grasp after great possessions. The de- velopment of the "territorial paradise," as La Salle had called the region through which he passed on his first voyage down the Mississippi, was to be accomplished by another race.

A POSSESSION OF GREAT BRITAIN.

By the treaty of Fountainbleau, 1762, the vast possessions of France, east of the Mississippi, with the exception of the island of New Orleans, passed under British control. Fort Chartres and the other Illinois posts were sur- rounded by an impenetrable barrier of hostile savages, friends to the French and enemies to the English, and the French officers were authorized to retain command until it was found possible for the English to take possession. M. Neyon de Villiers was commandant of Fort Chartres, and upon his retiring in 1764, St. Ange d'Bellerive took upon himself the duties of that position. It was the time of Pontiac's conspiracy, when the Indian tribes, inflamed by the savage spirit of that warrior, were precipitating themselves on the English settlements from Canada to Carolina. The French commandant of Fort Chartres was besieged for arms and ammunition to be used against the English. The French flag was still flying over the Fort, and the fact of the territory having been ceded to Great Britain was not generally known, except to those in authority. The commandant was visited by embassies from the Illinois, the Delawares, Shawnees and Miamis, and finally Pontiac himself, at the head of four hundred warriors, entered the council hall. St. Ange d'Bellerive, unable to furnish arms, offered instead his good will. The reply · was received with dissatisfaction. The Indians pitched their lodges about the Fort, and for a time an attack was seriously apprehended. Finally Pontiac dispatched a chosen band of warriors to New Orleans to obtain from the Governor there the assistance St. Ange refused to grant.

Pontiac was killed a few years after. Disappointed by the failure of his plans against the English, he retired to the solitude of the forests. In the year 1769, he suddenly made his appearance in the neighborhood of St. Louis. Arrayed in the French uniform given him by the Marquis Montcalm a short time previous to the latter's death on the Plains of Abraham, he visited St. Ange d'Bellerive, who at that time had removed from Fort Chartres to St. Louis, where he had become one of the principal inhabitants and commandant of the Spanish garrison. While at St. Louis, he crossed the Mississippi to attend a social gathering of Indians at Cahokia. Becoming intoxicated he started to the neighboring woods, when an Indian of the Kaskaskia tribe, bribed by an English trader with a barrel of whiskey, stole up behind him and buried a tomahawk in the brain of the renowned warrior. St. Ange procured the body, and buried it with all the honors of war near the fort under his command in St. Louis. The tramp of a great city now sweeps over his grave.

Two attempts, on the part of the English, to take possession of Illinois and Fort Chartres, had been made by way of the Mississippi, but hostile Indians on the banks of the river had driven back the expeditions. Meantime a hundred Highlanders of the Forty-second Regiment, "those veterans whose

battle cry had echoed over the bloodiest fields of America," had left Fort Pitt, now Pittsburg, and descending the Ohio, appeared before Fort Chartres while the forests were yet rich with the varied hues of autumn. St. Ange yielded up the citadel. It was on the tenth day of October, 1765, that the ensign of France on the ramparts of the Fort gave place to the flag of Great Britain. Kaskaskia had now been founded more than three-fourths of a century.

On the surrender of Fort Chartres, St. Ange with his garrison of twenty- one soldiers retired from the country, and became commandant at St. Louis, an infant settlement just founded. A large number of the French residents of Kaskaskia and other settlements refused to live under English rule. Many of the wealthiest families left the country; some removed across the Mississippi to the small village of Ste. Genevieve, under the impression that on the west bank of the Mississippi they would still find a home under the government of France, while in truth that territory had been ceded to Spain by a secret treaty in 1762. Others joined in founding the city of St. Louis. The French settlements in Illinois, at a period immediately preceding this date, were at the zenith of their prosperity. From that day the French inhabitants have declined in numbers and influence. In 1765, the population of the Illinois settlements was computed as follows: White men able to bear arms, seven hundred; white women, five hundred; white children, eight hundred and fifty ; negroes, nine hundred; total, two thousand nine hundred and fifty. One- third of the whites, and a still larger proportion of the blacks, removed on the British taking possession. A population of less than two thousand re- mained. Few English, or Americans, with the exception of the British troops, were in the country.

Captain Stirling, who now had command of the Fort, issued a proclamation guaranteeing the inhabitants the liberty of the Catholic faith, permission to retire from the country, and enjoyment of their full rights and privileges, only requiring an oath of fidelity and obedience to His Majesty, the English King. Captain Stirling died some three months after his arrival. In the period that elapsed before the coming of his successor, St. Ange d'Bellerive returned from St. Louis, and discharged the duties of commandant. Major Frazier, from Fort Pitt, exercised for a time an arbitrary power, and his successor, Col. Reed, proved still worse. He held the office eighteen months, and during that time aroused the hatred of the settlements by his oppressive measures. Lieutenant Colonel Wilkins assumed command in 1768.

Captain Pitman, to whose book on "The Present State of the European Settlements on the Mississippi" reference has already been made, gives the following description of Kaskaskia, as it appeared in 1766:

The village of Notre Dame de Cascasquias is by far the most considerable settlement in the country of the Illinois, as well from its number of inhabi- tants as from its advantageous situation.

" Mons. Paget was the first who introduced water mills in this country, and he constructed a very fine one on the river Cascasquias, which was both for grinding corn and sawing boards. It lies about one mile from the village. The mill proved fatal to him, being killed as he was working it, with two negroes, by a party of Cherokees, in the year 1764.

"The principal buildings are the church and the Jesuits' house, which has a small chapel adjoining it; these, as well as some of the other houses in the village, are built of stone, and, considering this part of the world, make a very good appearance. The Jesuits' plantation consisted of 240 arpents (an arpent is 85-100 of an acre) of cultivated land, a very good stock of cattle, and a brewery which was sold by the French commandant, after the country was ceded to the English, for the crown, in consequence of the suppression of the order.

"Mons. Beauvais was the purchaser, who is the richest of the English subjects in this country; he keeps eighty slaves; he furnishes 86,000 weight of flour to the King's magazine, which was only part of the harvest he reaped in one year. Sixty-five families reside in this village, besides merchants, other casual people, and slaves. The fort which was burnt down in October, 1766, stood on the summit of a high rock opposite the village and on the op- posite side of the river. It was an oblong quadrangle, of which the extreme polygon measured 290 by 251 feet. It was built of very thick square timber, and dove-tailed at the angles. An officer and twenty soldiers are quartered in the village. The officer governs the inhabitants under the direction of the commandant at Fort Chartres. Here are also two companies of militia."

Of Prairie du Rocher, Pitman writes that "it is a small village, consisting of twenty-two dwelling-houses, all of which are inhabited by as many families. Here is a little chapel, formerly a chapel of ease to the church at Fort Chartres. The inhabitants are very industrious, and raise a great deal of corn and every kind of stock. The village is two miles from Fort Chartres.

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HISTORY OF MACOUPIN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

It takes its name from its situation, being built under a rock that runs parallel with the Mississippi river at a league distance, for forty miles up. Here is a company of militia, the captain of which regulates the police of the village."

In describing the distance from Fort Chartres, the author, doubtless, refers to Little Village, which was a mile or more nearer than Prairie du Rocher. The writer goes on to describe "Saint Philippe" as a "small village about five miles from Fort Chartres on the road to Kaoquias. There are about sixteen houses and a small church standing; all of the inhabitants, except the captain of the militia, deserted in 1765, and went to the French side (Missouri.) The captain of the militia has about twenty slaves, a good stock of cattle, and a water mill for corn and planks. The village stands on a very fine meadow about one mile from the Mississippi.

From the same authority we learn that the soil of the country is in general rich and luxuriant. It was favorably adapted to the production of all kinds of European grains, which grew side by side with hops, hemp, flax, cotton and tobacco. European fruits arrived to great perfection. Of the wild grapes a wine was made, very inebriating, and in color and taste much like the red wine of Provence. In the late wars, New Orleans and the lower parts of Louisiana were supplied with flour, beef, wines, hams, and other provisions, from this country. At present, its commerce is mostly confined to the peltry and furs which are got in traffic from the Indians; for which are received in turn such European commodities as are necessary to carry on that commerce and the support of its inhabitants."

CONQUEST BY CLARKE.

On the breaking out of the War of the Revolution, it is probable that the British garrison (removed in 1772 from Fort Chartres to Fort Gage, opposite Kaskaskia,) had been withdrawn. Illinois was remote from the theatre of action, and the colonists were little disturbed by the rumors of war which came from the Atlantic coast. The French inhabitants were rather in sym- pathy with the Americans than the English, but probably understood little the nature of the struggle. Illinois belonged to the jurisdiction of Virginia. George Rogers Clark, who visited Kentucky in 1775, seems to have been the first to comprehend the advantages which would result from the occupation of Illinois by the Americans. He visited Virginia, where he laid his plans before Patrick Henry, the Governor of the State. Clark received his in- structions, January, 1778, and the following month set out for Pittsburg. His instructions were to raise seven companies of men, but he could only suc- ceed in enlisting four, commanded by Captains Montgomery, Bowman, Helm, and Harrod. On Corn Island, opposite Louisville, on the Ohio, Clark an- nounced his destination to the men. At the mouth of the Tennessee, a man named John Duff was encountered, with a party of hunters, who had recently visited Kaskaskia, and also brought the intelligence that one Rocheblave, a French Canadian, was in command at that point, that he kept the militia well drilled, and that sentinels were posted to watch for the "Long Knives," as the Virginians were called, of whom the inhabitants were in terror. Securing his boats near Fort Massacre, (or Massac,) Clark undertook the journey across the country, one hundred and twenty miles, to Kaskaskia. It was accom- plished with difficulty. On the afternoon of the fourth of July, 1778, the exhausted band of invaders came to the vicinity of Kaskaskia, and concealed themselves in the hills to the east of the town. After dark Clark proceeded to the old ferry-house, three-fourths of a mile above the village, and at mid- night addressed his troops on the banks of the river. He divided his force into three parties. Two were to cross to the west side of the river, and enter the town from different quarters. The third, under the direction of Clark himself, was to capture the fort on the east side. Kaskaskia at that time was a village of about two hundred and fifty houses. The British commander last in charge had instilled in the minds of the people the impression that the Virginians, otherwise the " Long Knives," were a ferocious band of murderers, plundering houses, slaughtering women and children, and committing acts of the greatest atrocity. Clark determined to take advantage of this, and so surprise the inhabitants by fear as to induce them to submit without resistance. Clark effected an entrance to the fort without difficulty. The other parties at a given signal entered Kaskaskia at the opposite extremities, and with terrible outcries and hideous noises, aroused the terrified inhabitants, who shrieked in their alarm, "The Long Knives!" "The Long Knives are here!" The panic-stricken townsmen delivered up their arms, and the victory was accomplished without the shedding of a drop of blood. M. Rocheblave, the British commandant, was unconscious of the presence of the enemy, till an officer of the detachment entered his bed-chamber, and claimed him as a

prisoner. In accordance with his original plan of conquering the inhabi- tants by terror, and then afterward winning their regard and gratitude by his clemency, Clark, the next day, withdrew his forces from the town, and sternly forbade all communication between it and his soldiers. Some of the principal militia officers, citizens of the town, were next put in irons. The terror now reached its height. The priest, and a deputation of five or six elderly men of the village, called on Clark, and humbly requested permission to assemble in the church, to take leave of each other and commend their future lives to the protection of a merciful God, since they expected to be separated, perhaps never to meet again. Clark gruffly granted the privilege. The whole population convened at the church, and after remaining together a long time, the priest and a few others again waited upon the commander of the American forces, presenting thanks for the privilege they had enjoyed, and desiring to know what fate awaited them.

Clark now determined to lift them from their despair, and win their grati- tude by a show of mercy. " What," said he; "do you take us for savages? Do you think Americans will strip women and children, and take bread from their mouths? My countrymen disdain to make war on helpless innocence." He further reminded them that the King of France, their former ruler, was an ally of the Americans, and now fighting their cause. He told them to em- brace the side they deemed best and they should be respected, in the enjoyment of their liberty and the rights of property.

The revulsion of feeling was complete. The good news spread throughout the village. The church bell rang a merry peal, and the delighted inhabitants gathered at the chapel, where thanks were offered to God for their happy and unexpected deliverance. The loyalty of the inhabitants was assured, and ever after they remained faithful to the American cause. The French inhabitants of Kaskaskia were readily reconciled to a change of government. In October, 1778, the Virginia Assembly erected the conquered territory into the County of Illinois. This County embraced all the region north-west of the Ohio, and five large states have since been formed from it. Colonel Clark was appointed military commander of all the western territory, north and south of the Ohio, and Colonel John Todd, one of Clark's soldiers, who next to Clark had been the first man to enter Fort Gage, was appointed lieutenant-commandant of Illinois. In the spring of 1779, Colonel Todd visited Kaskaskia, and made arrangements for the organization of a temporary government. Many of the French inhabitants of Kaskaskia, Prairie du Rocher, and the other settlements, readily took the oath of allegiance to Virginia. Colonel Todd was killed at the famous battle of Blue Licks, in Kentucky, August, 1782, and Timothy de Montbrun, a Frenchman, succeeded him as commandant of Illinois County. Of his administration but little is known.

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History of Macoupin County, Illinois, Part 6

Author: Brink, McDonough & Co. Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Number of Pages: 440

Author: Brink, McDonough & Co.
Publication date: 1879
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 440