USA > Illinois > McHenry County > History of McHenry County, Illinois : together with sketches of its cities, villages and towns : educational, religious, civil, military, and political history : portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens, also a condensed History of Illinois > Part 6
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Mr. Kinzie, who knew the Indians well, begged Capt. Heald not to confide in their promises, or distribute the arms and ammu- nitions among them, for it would only put power in their hands to destroy the whites. This argument, true and excellent in itself, was now certainly inopportune, and would only incense the treach- erous foe. But the Captain resolved to follow it, and accordingly on the night of the 13th, after the distribution of the other property, the arms were broken, and the barrels of whisky, of which there was a large quantity, were rolled quietly through the sally-port, their heads knocked in and their contents emptied into the river. On that night the lurking red-skins crept near the fort and discovered the destruction of the promised booty going on within. The next morn- ing the powder was seen floating on the surface of the river, and the Indians asserted that such an abundance of "fire-water" had been emptied into the river as to make it taste " groggy." Many of them drank of it freely.
On the 14th the desponding garrison was somewhat cheered by the arrival of Capt. Wells, with 15 friendly Miamis. Capt. Wells heard at Fort Wayne of the order to evacuate Fort Dearborn, and knowing the hostile intentions of the Indians, made a rapid march through the wilderness to protect, if possible, his niece, Mrs. Heald, and the officers and the garrison from certain destruction. But he came too late. Every means for its defense had been destroyed the night before, and arrangements were made for leaving the fort on the following morning.
The fatal morning of the 16th at length dawned brightly on the world. The sun shone in unclouded splendor upon the glassy waters of Lake Michigan. At 9 A. M., the party moved out of the south- ern gate of the fort, in military array. The band, feeling the solem- nity of the occasion, struck up the Dead March in Saul. Capt.
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Wells, with his face blackened after the manner of the Indians, led the advance guard at the head of his friendly Miamis, the garrison with loaded arms, the baggage wagons with the sick, and the women and children following, while the Pottawatomie Indians, about 500 in number, who had pledged their honor to escort the whites in safety to Fort Wayne, brought up the rear. The party took the road along the lake shore. On reaching the range of sand-hills separating tlie beach from the prairie, about one mile and a half- from the fort, the Indians defiled to the right into the prairie, bring ing the sand-hills between them and the whites. This divergence was scarcely effected when Capt. Wells, who had kept in advance with his Indians, rode furiously back and exclaimed, "They are about to attack us. Form instantly and charge upon them!" These words were scarcely uttered before a volley of balls from Indian muskets was poured in upon them. The troops were hastily formed into line, and charged up the bank. One veteran of 70 fell as they ascended. The Indians were driven back to the prairie, and then the battle was waged by 54 soldiers, 12 civilians, and three or four women-the cowardly Miamis having fled at the outset- against 500 Indian warriors. The whites behaved gallantly, and sold their lives dearly. They fought desperately until two-thirds of their number were slain; the remaining 27 surrendered. And now the most sickening and heart-rending butchery of this calam- itous day was committed by a young savage, who assailed one of the baggage wagons containing 12 children, every one of which fell beneath his murderous tomahawk. When Capt. Wells, who with the others had become prisoner, beheld this scene at a distance, he exclaimed in a tone loud enough to be heard by the savages, " If this be your game, I can kill too;" and turning his horse, started for the place where the Indians had left their squaws and children. The Indians hotly pursued, but he avoided their deadly bullets for a time. Soon his horse was killed and he severely wounded. With a yell the young braves rushed to make him their prisoner and re- serve him for torture. But an enraged warrior stabbed him in the back, and he fell dead. His heart was afterwards taken out, cut in pieces and distributed among the tribes. Billy Caldwell, a half- breed Wyandot, well-known in Chicago long afterward, buried his remains the next day. Wells street in Chicago, perpetuates his memory.
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In this fearful combat women bore a conspicuous part. A wife of one of the soldiers, who had frequently heard that the Indians subjected their prisoners to tortures worse than deatlı, resolved not to be taken alive, and continued fighting until she was literally cut to pieces. Mrs. Heald was an excellent equestrian, and an expert in the use of the rifle. She fought bravely, receiving several wounds. Though faint from loss of blood, she managed to keep in her saddle. A savage raised his tomahawk to kill her, when she looked him full in the face, and with a sweet smile and gentle voice said, in his own language, " Surely you will not kill a squaw." The arm of of the savage fell, and the life of this heroic woman was saved. Mrs. Helm had an encounter with a stalwart Indian, wlio attempted to tomaliawk hier. Springing to one side, she received the glancing blow on her shoulder, and at the same time she seized the savage round the neck and endeavored to get his scalping-knife which hung in a slieath at liis breast. While she was thus struggling, she was dragged from his grasp by another and an older Indian. The latter bore lier, struggling and resisting, to the lake and plunged her in. She soon perceived it was not his intention to drown her, because he held her in such a position as to keep hier head out of the water. She recognized liim to be a celebrated chief called Black Partridge. When the firing ceased she was conducted up the sand-bank.
SLAUGHTER OF PRISONERS.
The prisoners were taken back to the Indian camp, when a new scene of horror was enacted. The wounded not being included in the terms of the surrender, as it was interpreted by the Indians, - and the British general, Proctor, having offered a liberal bounty for American scalps, nearly all the wounded were killed and scalped, and the price of the trophies was afterwards paid by the British general. In the stipulation of surrender, Capt. Heald had not particularly mentioned the wounded. These helpless sufferers, on reaching the Indian camp, were therefore regarded by the brutal savages as fit subjects upon which to display their cruelty and satisfy their desire for blood. Referring to the terrible butchery of the prisoners, in an account given by Mrs. Helm, she says: "An old squaw, infuriated by the loss of friends or excited by the sanguin- ary scenes around her, seemed possessed of demoniac fury. She seized a stable-fork and assaulted one miserable victim, who lay
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at night, within a few miles of the village, without their presence being known to the Indians. Four men were sent out that night to reconnoiter the position of the village. The four brave men who volunteered for this perilous service were Thomas Carlin (after- ward Governor), and Robert, Steplien and Davis Whiteside. They. proceeded to the village, and explored it and the approaches to it thoroughly, without starting an Indian or provoking the bark of a dog. The low lands between the Indian village and the troops were covered with a rank growth of tall grass, so high and dense as to readily conceal an Indian on horseback, until within a few feet of him. The ground had become still more yielding by recent rains, rendering it almost impassable by mounted men. To prevent de- tection, the soldiers had camped without lighting the usual camp- fires. The men lay down in their cold and cheerless camp, with many misgivings. They well remembered how the skulking sav- ages fell upon Harrison's men at Tippecanoe during the night. To add to their fears, a gun in the hands of a soldier was carelessly discharged, raising great consternation in the camp.
AN INDIAN KILLED.
Through a dense fog whichi prevailed the following morning, the army took up its line of march for the Indian town, Capt. Judy with his corps of spies in advance. In the tall grass they came up with an Indian and his squaw, both mounted. The Indian wanted to surrender, but Judy observed that he "did not leave home to take prisoners," and instantly shot one of them. With the blood streaming from his mouth and nose, and in his agony "singing the death song," the dying Indian raised his gun, shot and mortally wounded a Mr. Wright, and in a few minutes expired. Many guns were immediately discharged at the other Indian, not then known to be a squaw, all of which missed her. Badly scared, and her hus- band killed by her side, the agonizing wails of the squaw were heart-rending. She was taken prisoner, and afterwards restored to her nation.
TOWN BURNED.
On nearing the town a general charge was made, the Indians · fleeing to the interior wilderness. Some of their warriors made a stand, when a sharp engagement occurred, but the Indians were routed. In their flight they left behind all their winter's store of
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provisions, which was taken, and their town burned. Some Indian children were found who had been left in the hurried flight, also some disabled adults, one of whom was in a starving condition and with a voracious appetite partook of the bread given him. He is said to have been killed by a cowardly trooper straggling behind, after the main army had resumed its retrograde march, who wanted to be able to boast that he had killed an Indian.
About the time Gov. Edwards started with his little band against the Indians, Gen. Hopkins, with 2,000 Kentucky riflemen, left Vincennes to cross the prairies of Illinois and destroy the Indian villages along the Illinois river. Edwards, with his rangers, ex- pected to act in concert with Gen. Hopkins' riflemen. After marching 80 or 90 miles into the enemy's country, Gen. Hopkins' men became dissatisfied, and on Oct. 20 the entire army turned and retreated homeward before even a foe had been met. After the victory of the Illinois rangers they heard nothing of Gen. Hopkins and his 2,000 mouuted Kentucky riflemen; and apprehensive that a large force of warriors would be speedily collected, it was deemed prudent not to protract their stay, and accordingly the retrograde march was commenced the very day of the attack.
PEORIA BURNED.
The force of Capt. Craig, in charge of the provision boats, was not idle during this time. They proceeded to Peoria, where they were fired on by ten Indians during the night, who immediately fled. Capt. Craig discovered, at daylight, their tracks leading up into the French town. He inquired of the French their where- abouts, who denied all knowledge of them, and said they " had heard or seen nothing; " but he took the entire number prisoners, burned and destroyed Peoria, and bore the captured inhabitants away on his boats to a point below the present city of Alton, where he landed and left them in the woods,-men, women, and children,- in the inclement montli of November, without shelter, and without food other than the slender stores they had themselves gathered up before their departure. They found their way to St. Louis in an almost starving condition. The burning of Peoria and taking its inhabitants prisoners, on the mere suspicion that they sympathized with the Indians, was generally regarded as a needless, if not wanton, act of military power.
Lohn Moxancy
Mars J. Heaney
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SECOND EXPEDITION AGAINST THE INDIANS.
In the early part of 1813, the country was put in as good defense as the sparse population admitted. In spite of the precaution taken, numerous depredations and murders were committed by the In- dians, which again aroused the whites, and another expedition was sent against the foe, who had collected in large numbers in and around Peoria. This army was composed of about 900 men, collect- ed from both Illinois and Missouri, and under command of Gen. Howard. They marched across the broad prairies of Illinois to Peoria, where there was a small stockade in charge of United States troops. Two days previously the Indians made an attack on the fort, but were repulsed. Being in the enemy's country, knowing their stealthy habits, and the troops at no time observing a high de- gree of discipline, many unnecessary night alarms occurred, yet the enemy were far away. The army marched up the lake to Chili- cothe, burning on its way two deserted villages. At the present site of Peoria the troops remained in camp several weeks. While there they built a fort, which they named in honor of Gen. George Rogers Clark, who with his brave Virginians wrested Illinois from the English during the Revolutionary struggle. This fort was de- stroyed by fire in 1818. It gave a name to Peoria which it wore for several years. After the building of Fort Crevecoeur, in 1680, Peo- ria lake was very familiar to Western travel and history; but there is no authentic account of a permanent European settlement there nntil 1778, when Laville de Meillet, named after its founder, was started. Owing to the quality of the water and its greater salu- brity, the location was changed to the present site of Peoria, and by 1796 the old had been entirely abandoned for the new village. After its destruction in 1812 it was not settled again until 1819, and then by American pioneers, though in 1813 Fort Clark was built there.
EXPEDITION UP THE MISSISSIPPI.
The second campaign against the Indians at Peoria closed with- out an engagement, or even a siglit of the enemy, yet great was the benefit derived from it. It showed to the Indians the power and resources of his white foe. Still the calendar of the horrible deeds of butchery of the following year is long and bloody. A joint ex- pedition again moved against the Indians in 1814, under Gov.
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Clark of Missouri. This time they went up the Mississippi in barges, Prairie du Chien being the point of destination. There they found a small garrison of British troops, which, however, soon fled, as did the inhabitants, leaving Clark in full possession. He im- mediately set to work and erected Fort Shelby. The Governor returned to St. Louis, leaving his men in peaceable possession of the place, but a large force of British and Indians came down upon them, and the entire garrison surrendered. In the mean time Gen. Howard sent 108 men to strengthen the garrison. Of this number 66 were Illinois rangers, under Capts. Rector and Riggs, who oc- cupied two boats. The remainder were with Lieut. Campbell.
A DESPERATE FIGHT.
At Rock Island Campbell was warned to turn back, as an attack was contemplated. The other boats passed on up the river and were some two miles ahead when Campbell's barge was struck by a strong gale which forced it against a small island near the Illinois shore. Thinking it best to lie to till the wind abated, sentinels were stationed while the men went ashore to cook breakfast. At this time a large number of Indians on the main shore under Black Hawk commenced an attack. The savages in canoes passed rapidly to the island, and with a war-whoop rushed upon the men, who retreated and sought refuge in the barge. A battle of brisk musketry now ensued between the few regulars aboard the stranded barge and the hordes of Indians under cover of trees on the island, with severe loss to the former. Meanwhile Capt. Rector and Riggs, ahead with their barges, seeing the smoke of battle, attempted to return; but in the strong gale Riggs' boat became unmanageable and was stranded on the rapids. Rector, to avoid a similar disaster, let go his anchor. The rangers, however, opened with good aim and telling effect upon the savages. The unequal combat having raged for some time and about closing, the commander's barge, with many wounded and several dead on board,-among the former of whom, very badly, was Campbell himself,-was discovered to be on fire. Now Rector and his brave Illinois rangers, comprehending the horrid situation, performed, without delay, as cool and heroic a deed-and did it well-as ever imperiled the life of mortal man. In the howling gale, in full view of hundreds of infuriated savages, and within range of their rifles, they deliberately raised anchor,
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lightened their barge by casting overboard quantities of provisions, and guided it with the utmost labor down the swift current, to the windward of the burning barge, and under the galling fire of the enemy rescued all the survivors, and removed the wounded and dying to their vessel. This was a deed of noble daring and as heroic as any performed during the war in the West. Rector hur- ried with his over-crowded vessel to St. Louis.
It was now feared that Riggs and his company were captured and sacrificed by the savages. His vessel, which was strong and well armed, was for a time surrounded by the Indians, but the whites on the inside were well sheltered. The wind becoming allayed in the evening, the boat, under cover of the night, glided safely down the river without the loss of a single man.
STILL ANOTHER EXPEDITION.
Notwithstanding the disastrous termination of the two expedi- tions already sent out, during the year 1814, still another was pro- jected. It was under Maj. Zachary Taylor, afterward President. Rector and Whiteside, with the Illinoisan, were in command of boats. The expedition passed Rock Island unmolested, when it was learned the country was not only swarming with Indians, but that the English were there in command with a detachment of regu- lars and artillery. The advanced boats in command of Rector, White- side and Hempstead, turned about and began to descend the rapids, fighting with great gallantry the hordes of the enemy, who were pouring their fire into them from the shore at every step.
Near the mouth of Rock river Maj. Taylor anchored his fleet out in the Mississippi. During the night the English planted a battery of six pieces down at the water's edge, to sink or disable the boats, and filled the islands with red-skins to butcher the whites, who might, unarmed, seek refuge there. But in this scheme they were frustrated. In the morning Taylor ordered all the force, except 20 boatmen on each vessel, to the upper island to dislodge the enemy. The order was executed witli great gallantry, the island scoured, many of the savages killed, and the rest driven to the lower island. In the meantime the British cannon told with effect upon the fleet. The men rushed back and the boats were dropped down the stream ont of range of the cannon. Capt. Rector was now ordered with his company to make a sortie on the lower island, which he did,
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driving the Indians back among the willows; but they being re-in- forced, in turn hurled Rector back upon the sand-beach.
A council of officers called by Taylor had by this time decided that their force was too small to contend with the enemy, who outnumbered them three to one, and the boats were in full retreat down the river. As Rector attempted to get under way his boat grounded, and the savages, with demoniac yells, surrounded it, when a most desperate hand-to-hand conflict ensued. The gallant ranger, Samuel Whiteside, observing the imminent peril of his brave Illinois comrade, went immediately to his rescue, who but for his timely aid would undoubtedly have been overpowered, with all his force, and inurdered.
Thus ended the last, like the two previous expeditions up the Mississippi during the war of 1812, in defeat and disaster. The enemy was in undisputed posession of all the country north of the Illinois river, and the prospects respecting those territories boded nothing but gloom. With the approach of winter, however, Indian depredations ceased to be committed, and the peace of Ghent, Dec. 24, 1814, closed the war.
ILLINOIS AS A STATE.
ORGANIZATION.
In January of 1818 the Territorial Legislature forwarded to Nathaniel Pope, delegate in Congress from Illinois, a petition pray- ing for admission into the national Union as a State. On April 18th of the same year Congress passed the enabling act, and Dec. 3, after the State government had been organized and Gov. Bond had signed the Constitution, Congress by a resolution declared Illi- nois to be "one of the United States of America, and admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States in all respects. "
The ordinance of 1787 declared that there should be at least three States carved out of the Northwestern Territory. The boundaries of the three, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, were fixed by this law. Congress reserved the power, however, of forming two other States out of the territory which lies north of an east and west line drawn through the southern boundary of Lake Michigan. It was generally conceded that this line would be the northern boundary of Illinois ;
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but as this would give tlie State no coast on Lake Michigan; and rob her of the port of Chicago and the northern terminus of the Illinois & Michigan canal which was then contemplated, Judge Pope had the northern boundary moved fifty miles further north.
BOUNDARY CHANGED.
Not only is Illinois indebted to Nathaniel Pope for the port where now enter and depart more vessels during the year than in any other port in the world, for the northern terminus of the Illinois & Michigan canal, and for the lead mines at Galena, but the nation, the undivided Union, is largely indebted to him for its perpetuity. It was he,-his foresight, statesmanship and energy,-that bound our confederated Union with bands of iron that can never be broken. The geographical position of Illinois, with her hundreds of miles of water-courses, is such as to make her the key to the grand arch of Northern and Southern States. Extending from the great chain of lakes on the north, with snow and ice of the arctic region, to the cotton-fields of Tennessee ; peopled, as it is, by almost all races, classes and conditions of the human family ; guided by the various and diversified political, agricultural, religious and educational teachings common to both North and South,-Illinois can control, and has controlled, the destinies of our united and beloved republic. Pope seemingly foresaw that a struggle to dissolve the Union would be made. With a prophetic eye lie looked down the stream of time for a half century and saw the great conflict between the South and North, caused by a determination to dissolve the confederation of States; and to preserve the Union, he gave to Illinois a lake coast.
Gov. Ford, in his History of Illinois, written in 1847, while speaking of this change of boundary and its influence upon our nation, says:
"What, then, was the duty of the national Government? Illinois was certain to be a great State, with any boundaries which that Government could give. Its great extent of territory, its unrivaled fertility of soil and capacity for sustaining a dense population, together with its commanding position, would in course of time give the new State a very controlling influence with her sister States situated upon the Western rivers, either in sustaining the federal Union as it is, or in dissolving it and establishing new gov- ernments. If left entirely upon the waters of these great rivers, it
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was plain that, in case of threatened disruption, the interest of the new State would be to join a Southern and Western confederacy; but if a large portion of it could be made dependent upon the com- merce and navigation of the great northern lakes, connected as they are with the Eastern States, a rival interest would be created to check the wish for a Western and Southern confederacy.
" It therefore became the duty of the national Government not only to make Illinois strong, but to raise an interest inclining and binding her to the Eastern and Northern portions of the Union. This could be done only through an interest in the lakes. At that time the commerce on the lakes was small, but its increase was con- fidently expected, and, indeed, it has exceeded all anticipations, and is yet only in its infancy. To accomplish this object effectually, it was not only necessary to give to Illinois the port of Chicago and a route for the canal, but a considerable coast on Lake Michigan, with a country back of it sufficiently extensive to contain a popu- lation capable of exerting a decided influence upon the councils of the State.
"There would, therefore, be a large commerce of the north, west- ern and central portion of the State afloat on the lakes, for it was then foreseen that the canal would be made; and this alone would be like turning one of the many mnouthis of the Mississippi into Lake Michigan at Chicago. A very large commerce of the center and south would be found both upon the lakes and rivers. Asso- ciations in business, in interest, and of friendship would be formed, both with the North and the South. A State thus situated, having snch a decided interest in the commerce, and in the preservation of the whole confederacy, can never consent to disunion; for the Union cannot be dissolved without a division and disruption of the State itself. These views, urged by Judge Pope, obtained the unquali- fied assent of the statesmen of 1818.
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