History of Madison County, Illinois With biographical sketches, Part 4

Author: Brink, W.R. & Co
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Edwardsville, Ill. : W. R. Brink & co.
Number of Pages: 698

USA > Illinois > Madison County > History of Madison County, Illinois With biographical sketches > Part 4

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In February, 1751, Christopher Gist was sent by the Ohio Company to examine its lands. He went to a village of the Twigtwees, on the Miami, about 150 miles above its mouth. From there he went down the Ohio River nearly to the falls, at the present city of Louisville, and in Novem- ber he commenced a survey of the company's lands. In 1751, General Andrew Lewis commenced some surveys in the Greenbrier country, on behalf of the company already mentioned. Meanwhile the French were busy in preparing their forts for defence, and in opening roads. In 1752 having heard of the trading houses on the Miami River, they, assisted by the Ottawas and Chippewas, attacked it, and, after a severe battle, in which fourteen of the natives were killed and others wounded, captured the garrison. The traders were carried away to Canada, and one account says several were burned. This fort, or trading house was called by the English writers Pickawillany. A memorial of the king's ministers refers to it as " Pickawellanes, in the centre of the territory between Ohio and the Wabash." This was the first blood shed between the French and English, and occurred near the present city of Piqua, Ohio. The English were determined on their part to purchase a title from the Indians of lands which they wished to occupy, and in the spring of 1752, Messrs. Fry,t Lomax and Pat on

were sent from Virginia to hold a conference with the natives at Logstown, to learn what they objected to in the treaty at Lancaster, and to settle all difficulties. On the 9th of June the commissioners met the red men at Logs- town. This was a village seventeen miles below Pittsburgh, upon the north side of the Ohio. Here had been a trading post for many years, but it was abandoned by the Indians in 1750. At first the Indians declined to recognize the treaty of Lancaster, but the commissioners taking aside Montour, the interpreter, who was a son of the famous Catherine Montour, and a chief among the six nations, being three-fourths of Indian blood, through his influence an agreement was effected, and upon the 13th of June they all united in signing a deed, confirming the Lancaster treaty in its fullest extent. Meanwhile the powers beyond the seas were trying to out-manœuver each other, and were professing to be at peace. The English generally outwitted the Indians, and secured themselves, as they thought, by their polite conduct. But the French, in this as in all cases, proved that they knew best how to manage the natives. While these measures were taken, another treaty with the wild men of the debatable land was also in contemplation. And in Sep- tember, 1753, William Fairfax met their deputies at Win- chester, Virginia, where he concluded a treaty. In the month following, however, a more satisfactory interview took place at Carlisle, between the representatives of the Iroquois, Delawares, Shawnees, Twigtwees, and Wyandots, and the commissioners of Pennsylvania, Richard Peters, Isaac Norris, and Benjamin Franklin. Soon after this, no satisfaction being obtained from the Ohio, either as to the force, position, or purposes of the French, Robert Dinwiddie, then Governor of Virginia, determined to send to them another messenger, and learn if possible their intentions. For this purpose he selected a young surveyor, who, at the age of nineteen had attained the rank of major, and whose previous life had inured him to hardships and woodland ways; while his courage, cool judgment, and firm will, all fitted him for such a mission. This personage was no other than the illustrious George Washington, who then held considerable interest in western lands. IIe was twenty-one years old at the time of the appointment .* Taking Gist as a guide, the two, accom- panied by four servitors, set out on their perilous marchi. They left Will's Creek, where Cumberland now is, on the 15th of November, and on the 221 reached the Monongahela, about ten miles above the fork. From there they went to Logstown, where Washington had a long conference with the chiefs of the six nations. Ilere he learned the position of the French, and also that they had determined not to come down the river until the following spring. The Indians were non-committal, they deeming a neutral position the safest. Washington, finding nothing could be done, went on to Ve- nango, an old Indian town at the mouth of the French Creek. Here the French had a fort called Fort Machault. On the 11th of December he reached the fort at the head of French Creek. Here he delivered Governor Dinwiddie's letter, received his answer, and upon the 16th set ont upon his return journey with no one but Gist, his guide, and a few

*Sparks' Washington, Vol. ii., pp. 428-417. 17

* Revised Statutes of Virginia.

+ Afterwards Commander-in-chief over Washington, at the commence- meut of the French War of 1773.

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

Indians, who still remained true to him. They reached home in safety on the 6th of January, 1754. From the letter of St. Pierre, Commander of the French fort, sent by Washing- ton to Governor Dinwiddie, it was perfectly clear that the French would not yield the West without a struggle. Active preparations were at once made in all the English colonies for the coming conflict, while the French finished their fort at Venango and strengthened their lines of fortifications to be in readiness. The Old Dominion was alive. Virginia was the center of great activities. Volunteers were called for, and from neighboring colouies men rallied to the conflict, and everywhere along the Potomac men were enlisting under Governor's proclamation,-which promised two hundred thousand acres on the Ohio. Along th's river they were gathering as far as Will's Creek, and far beyond this point, whither Trent had come for assistance, for his little band of forty-one men, who were working away in hunger and want, to fortify that point at the fork of the Ohio, to which both parties were looking with deep interest. The first birds of spring filled the forest with their songs. The swift river rolled by the Allegheny hillsides, swollen by the melting snows of spring and April showers. The leaves were appear- ing, a few Indian Scouts were seen, but no enemy seemed near at hand, and all was so quiet that Frazier, an old In- dian trader, who had been left by Trent in command of the new fort, ventured to his home at the mouth of Turtle Creek, ten miles up the Monongahela. But though all was so quiet in that wilderness, keen eyes had seen the low entrenchment that was rising at the fork, and swift feet had borne the news of it up the valley, and on the morning of the 17th of April, Ensign Ward, who then had charge of it, saw upon the Allegheny a sight that made his heart sink ;- sixty batteaux and three hundred canoes, filled with men, and laden deep with cannon and stores. The fort was called on to surren- der: by the advice of the Half-King, Ward tried to evade the act, but it would not do. Contrecœur, with a thousand men about him, said 'Evacuate,' and the ensign dared not refuse. That evening he supped with his eaptor, and the next day was bowed off by the Frenchman, and, with his men and tools, marched up the Monongahela." The French and Indian war had begun. The treaty of Aix la Chapelle, in 1748, had left the boundaries between the French and English possessions unsettled, and the events already narra- ted show that the French were determined to hold the coun- try watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries: while the English laid claim to the country by virtue of the discoveries by the Cabots, and claimed all the country from New Found- land to Florida, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The first decisive blow had been struck, and the first attempt of the English, through the Ohi> Company, to occupy these lands had resulted disastrously to them. The French and Indians immediately completed the fortifications begun at the fork, which they had so easily captured, and when com- pleted gave to the fort the name of Du Quesne. Washing- ton was at Will's Creek, when the news of the capture of the fort arrived. He at once departed to recapture it. On his way he entrenched himself at a place called the "Meadows," where he erected a fort called by him Fort Necessity. From

there he surprised and captured a force of French and Indi- ans marching against him, but was soon after attacked by a much superior force, and was obliged to yield on the morn- ing of July 4th. He was allowed to return to Virginia.

The English Government immediately planned for cam- paigns, one against Fort Du Quesne, one against Nova Sco- tia, one against Fort Niagara, and one against Crown Point. These occurred during 1755-6, and were not successful in driving the French from their possessions. The expedition against Fort Du Quesne was led by the famous Braddock, who, refusing to listen to the advice of Washington and those acquainted with Indian warfare, suffered an inglorious de- feat. This occurred on the morning of July 9th, and is gen- erally known as the battle of Monongahela or " Braddock's defeat." The war continued through various vicissitudes through the years 1756-7, when, at the commencement of 1758, in accordance with the plans of William Pitt, then secretary of state, afterwards Lord Chatham, active prepa- rations were made to carry on the war. Three expeditions were planned for this year: one under General Amherst, against Louisburg; another under Abercrombie, against Fort Ticonderoga; and a third under General Forbes, against Fort Du Quesne. On the 26th of July, Louisburg surren- dered after a desperate resistance of more than forty days, and the eastern part of the Canadian possessions fell into the hands of the British. Abercrombie captu red Fort Fronte- nac, and when the expedition against Fort Du Quesne, of which Washington had the active command, arrived there, it was found in flames and deserted. The English at once took possession, rebuilt the fort, and in honor of their illus- trious statesman, changed the name to Fort Pitt.

The great object of the campaign of 1759, was the reduc- tion of Canada. General Wolfe was to lay siege to Quebec ; Amherst was to reduce Ticonderoga and Crown Point; and General Prideaux was to capture Niagara. This latter place was taken in July, but the gallant Prideaux lost his life. Amherst captured Ticonderoga and Crown Point, without a blow; and Wolfe, after making the memorable ascent to the plains of Abraham, on September 13th, defeated Moutcalm. and on the 18th the city capitulated. In this engagement, Montcalm and Wolfe both lost their lives. De Levi, Mont- calm's successor, marched to Sillery, three miles above the city, with the purpose of defeating the English, and there, on the 28th of the following April, was fought one of the bloodiest battles of the French and Indian war. It resulted in the defeat of the French, and the fall of the city of Mon- treal. The Governor signed a capitulation by which the whole of Canada was surrendered to the English. This practically concluded the war, but it was not until 1763 that the treaties of peace between France and England were signed. This was done on the 10th of February of that year, and under its provisions all the country east of the Mississippi and north of the Ibervill river in Louisiana, were ceded to England. At the same time, Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain.

On the 13th September, 1760, Major Robert Rogers was sent from Montreal to take charge of Detroit, the only re- maining French post in the territory. He arrived there on

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

the 9th of November, and summoned the place to surrender. At first the commander of the post, Beletre, refused, but on the 29th, hearing of the continued defeat of the French army, surrendered. The North-west Territory was now entirely under the English rule. In 1762, France, by a secret treaty, ceded Louisiana to Spain, to prevent it falling into the hands of the English, who were becoming masters of the entire West. The next year the treaty of Paris, signed at Fon- tainhleau, gave to the English the dominion in question. Twenty years after, by the treaty of peace between the United States and England, that part of Canada lying south and west of the great lakes, comprising a large territory, was acknowledged to be a portion of the United States. In 1803 Louisiana was ceded by Spain back to France, and by France sold to the United States. By the treaty of Paris, the regions east of the Mississippi, including all these and other towns of the north-west, were given over to England ; but they do not appear to have been taken possession of until 1765, when Captain Stirling, in the name of the Majesty in England, established himself at Fort Chartres, bearing with him the proclamation of General Gage, dated December 30th, 1764, which promised religious freedom to all Catho- lics who worshiped here and the right to leave the country with their effects if they wished, or to remain with the priv- ileges of Englishmen. During the years 1775 and 1776, by the operations of land companies and the perseverance of individuals, several settlements were firmly established be- tween the Alleghenies and the Ohio river, and western land speculators were busy in Illinois and on the Wabash. At a council held in Kaskaskia, on July 5th, 1773, an association of English traders, calling themselves the " Illinois Land Company," obtained from the chiefs of the Kaskaskia, Ca- hokia, and Peoria tribes two large tracts of land lying on the cast side of the Mississippi river south of the Illinois. In 1775 a merchant from the Illinois country, named Viviat, came to Post Vincennes as the agent of the association called the " Wabash Land Company." On the 8th of October he obtained from eleven Piankeshaw chiefs a deed for 37,497, 600 acres of land. This deed was signed by the grantors, attested by a number of the inhabitants of Vincennes, and afterward recorded in the office of a Notary Public at Kas- kaskia. This and other land companies had extensive schemes for the colonization of the West; but all were frus- trated by the breaking out of the Revolutionary war. On the 20th of April, 1780, the two companies named consoli- dlated under the name of the " United Illinois and Wabash Land Company ;" they afterwards made strenuous efforts to have these grants sanctioned by Congress, but all signally failed. When the war of the Revolution commenced, Ken- tucky was an unorganized country, though there were several settlements within her borders.

In Hutchins' Topography of Virginia, it is stated that at that time Kaskaskia contained 80 houses, and nearly 1,000 white and black inhabitants, the whites being a little the more numerous. Cahokia contained fifty houses, 300 white inhabitants, and 80 negroes. There were east of the Missis- sippi river, about the year 1771-when these observations were made-" 300 white men capable of bearing arins, and

238 negrocs." From 1775 until the expedition of Clark, nothing is recorded and nothing known of these settlements, save what is contained in a report made by a committee to Congress in June, 1778. From it the following extraet is made: " Near the month of the river Kaskaskia, there is a village which appears to have contained nearly eighty fam- ilies from the beginning of the late Revolution ; there are twelve families at a small village at La Prairie Du Rochers, and nearly fifty families at the Cahokia village. There are also four or five families at Fort Chartres and St. Philip's, which is five miles further up the river." St. Louis had been settled in February, 1764, and at this time contained, inclu- ding its neighboring towns, over six hundred white and one hundred and fifty negroes. It must be remembered that all the country west of the Mississippi was under French rule, and remained so until ceded back to Spain, its original owner, who afterwards sold it and the country including New Or- leans to the United States. At Detroit, there were, accord- ing to Captain Carver, who was in the north-west from 1768 to 1776, more than one hundred houses, and the river was settled for more than twenty miles, although poorly cultiva- ted, the people being engaged in the Indian trade.

On the breaking out of the Revolution, the British held every post of importance in the West. Kentucky was formed as a component part of Virginia, and the sturdy pioncers of the West, alive to their interests, and recog- nizing the great benefits of obtaining the control of the trade in this part of the New World, held steadily to their purposes, and those within the commonwealth of Ken- tucky proceeded to exercise their civil privileges of electing John Todd and Richard Gallaway burgesses, to represent them in the assembly of the present state. The chief spirit in this far-out colony, who had represented her the year previous east of the mountains, was now meditating a move of unequalled boldness. He had been watching the move- ments of the British throughout the north-west, and under- stood their whole plan. He saw it was through their possession of the post at Detroit, Vincennes, Kaskaskia, and other places, which would give them easy access to the vari- ous Indian tribes in the north-west, that the British intended to penetrate the country from the north and south, and annihilate the frontier fortresses. This moving, energetic man was Colonel, afterwards General George Rodgers Clark. He knew that the Indians were not unanimously in accord with the English, and he was convinced that, could the British be defeated and expelled from the north-west, the natives might be easily awed into neutrality ; by spies sent for the purpose, he satisfied himself that the enterprise against the Illinois settlements might casily succeed. Patrick Henry was Governor of Virginia, and at once entered heartily into Clark's plans. The same plan had before been agitated in the Colonial Assemblies; but there was no one until Clark came who was sufficiently acquainted with the condition of affairs at the scene of action to be able to guide them.

Clark, having satisfied the Virginia leaders of the feasibility of his plan, received on the second of January two sets of instructions: one secret, the other open. The latter authoriz- ed him to proceed to enlist seven companies to go to Ken-

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

tucky, subject to his orders, and to serve three months from their arrival in the west. The secret order authorized him to arm the troops, to procure his powder and lead of General Hand, at Pittsburg, and to proceed at once to subjugate the country.

With these instructions Clark repaired to Pittsburg, choos- ing rather to raise his men west of the mountains. Here he raised three companies and several private volunteers. Clark at length commenced his descent of the Ohio, which he navigated as far as the falls, where he took possession of and fortified Corn Island, between the present sites of Louis- ville, Kentucky, and New Albany, Indiana. Remains of this fortification may yet be found. At this place he ap- pointed Col. Bowman to meet him with such recruits as had reached Kentucky by the southern route. Here he an- nounced to the men their real destination. On the 24th of June he embarked on the river, his destination being Fort Massac or Massaere, and then marched direct to Kaskaskia. The march was accomplished and the town reached on the evening of July 4. He captured the fort near the village, and soon after the village itself, by surprise, without the loss of a single man or killing any of the enemy. Clark told the natives that they were at perfect liberty to worship as they pleased, and to take whichever side of the conflict they would, and he would protect them from any barbarity from British or Indian foes. This had the desired effect, and the inhabitants at once swore allegiance to the Ameri- can arms, and when Clark desired to go to Cahokia on the 6th of July, they accompanied him, and through their in- fluence the inhabitants of the place surrendered. Thus two important posts in Illinois passed from the hands of the Eng- lish into the possession of Virginia. During the year (1779) the famous " Land Laws " of Virginia were passed. The passage of these laws was of more consequence to the pioneers of Kentucky and the north-west than the gaining of a few Indian conflicts. These grants confirmed iu the main all grants made, and guaranteed to actual settlers their rights and privileges.

After providing for the settlers, the laws provided for sell- ing the balance of the public lands at forty cents per acre. To carry the Land Laws into effect, the Legislature sent four Virginians westward to attend to the various claims over many of which great confusion prevailed concerning their validity vote .* These gentlemen opened their court on October, 13, 1779, at St. Asaphs, and continued until April 26, 1780, when they adjourned, having decided three thou- sand claims. They were succeeded by the surveyor,-George May, who assumed the duties ou the 10th day of the month whose name he bore. With the opening of the next year (1781) the troubles concerning the navigation of the Missis- sippi commenced. The Government of Spain exacted such measures in relation to its trade as to cause the overtures made to the United States to be rejected. The American Government considered they had a right to navigate its channel. To enforce their claims, a fort was erected below the mouth of the Ohio on the Kentneky side of the river. t

* Butler's Kentucky.

៛ American State Papers.

The settlements in Kentucky were being rapidly filled by emigrants. It was during this year that the first seminary of learning was established in the West in this young and enterprising commonwealth.

The settlers did not look upon the building of the fort in a friendly manner as it aroused the hostility of the Indians. Spain had been friendly to the colonies during their struggle for independence, and though for a while this friendship ap- peared in danger from the refusal of the free navigation of the river, yet it was finally settled to the satisfaction of both nations. The winter of 1779-80 was one of the most unusu- ally severe ones ever experienced in the West. The Indians always refered to it as the "Great Cold." Numbers of wild auimals perished, and not a few pioneers lost their lives. The following summer a party of Canadians and Indians, attacked St. Louis, and attempted to take possesion of it in consequence of the friendly disposition of Spain to the revolt- ing colonies. They met with such a determined resistance on the part of the inhabitants, even the women taking part in the battle, that they were compelled to abandon the con- test. They also made an attack on the settlements in Ken- tucky, but, becoming alarmed in some unaccountable man- ner, they fled the country in great haste. About this time arose the question in the Colonial Congress concerning the western lands claimed by Virginia, New York, Massachu- setts and Connecticut. The agitation concerning this sub- ject finally led New York, on the 19th of February, 1780, to pass a law giving to the delegates of that State in Congress the power to cede her western lands for the benefit of the United States. This law was laid before Congress during the next month, but no steps were taken concerning it until September 6th, when a resolution passed that body calling upon the states claiming western lands to release their claims in favor of the whole body. This basis formed the Union, and was the first after all of those legislative measures, which resulted in the creation of the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. In December of the same year, the plan of conquering Detroit again arose. The conquest might easily have been effected by Clark, had the necessary aid been furnished him. Nothing decisive was done, yet the heads of the Government knew that the safety of the North-West from British invasion lay in the capture and retention of that important post, the only unconquered one in the territory.

Before the close of the year, Kentucky was divided into the counties of Lincoln, Fayette, and Jefferson, and the act establishing the town of Louisville was passed. Virginia in accordance with the resolution of Congress, on the 2d day of January, 1781, agreed to yield her western lands to the United States upon certain conditions, which Congress would not accede to,* and the Act of Cession, on the part of the Old Dominion, failed, uor was anything farther done until 1783. During all that time the colonies were busily engaged in the struggle with the mother country, and in consequence thereof but little heed was given to the western settlements. Upon the 16th of April, 1781, the first birth north of the Ohio River of American parentage occurred, being that of Mary

# American State Papers.

HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

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History of Madison County, Illinois With biographical sketches, Part 4

Author: Brink, W.R. & Co Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Edwardsville, Ill. : W. R. Brink & co. Number of Pages: 698

Author: Brink, W.R. & Co
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Edwardsville, Ill. : W. R. Brink & co.
Number of Pages: 698