USA > Illinois > Sangamon County > History of Sangamon County, Illinois, together with sketches of its cities, villages and townships, educational, religious, civil, military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens > Part 2
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COUNTY ILLINOIS 1881.
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HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
INTRODUCTORY.
Illinois, the fourth State in the Union in wealth, population and political power, lies in the very heart of the upper valley of the Mississippi. Stretching over five degrees of latitude, from 373 to 423=, it has considerable diversity, both of soil and climate. The boundary line of the State is about twelve hundred miles. From the point where it joins the Wisconsin line on the north- east, Lake Michigan bounds it on the east for fifty miles to the northeast corner of Indiana; thence a line is drawn due south one hundred and sixty-eight miles to the Wabash river. The Wabash and the Ohio rivers constitute the remainder of the eastern and southern boundary, while the lordly Mississippi washes its entire western border. The extreme length of the State is three hundred and seventy-eight miles; the extrer. . breadth, in the latitude of Danville and Rushville, is two hundred and ten miles, and the average breadth is about one hundred and fifty miles.
Illinois contains 55,405 square miles, or more than 35,000,000 acres of land. Fully two-thirds of this is prairie, and nearly all of it is suscepti- ble of proper cultivation. The State has ten thousand more square miles than New York or Ohio, and is larger than Pennsylvania and New Jersey combined, and is almost as large as all the New England States taken together.
THE MOUND-BUILDERS.
That Illinois was inhabited by a race of men prior to the present Indian race that yet inhabit a portion of the Union hardly admits of a doubt. It is clearly demonstrated by the well authenti- cated accounts of discoveries made that a civil- ized people, and one highly cultivated, once ocenpied the great prairie State and various parts of the country now constituting the American Union, but the date of their rule in the western
world is so remote that all traces of this history, progress and decay, lie buried in the deepest obscurity. This pre-historie race is known as the Mound-Builders, from the numerous large mounds of earth-works left by them. Their char- acter can be but partially gleaned from the inter- nal evidences and peculiarities of all that remains of them-the mounds. Remains of what were apparently villages, altars, temples, idols, ceme- teries, monuments, camps, fortifications, and pleasure grounds, have been found, but nothing showing of what material were their habitations.
The question as to the origin of the Mound- Builders is an interesting one. If they were not the ancestors of the Indians, who were they? Those who do not believe in the common parent- age of mankind contend that they were an indigenous race of the western hemisphere; others think they came from the East, and imagine they are coincident with the religion of the Hindoos and Southern Tartars and the supposed theology of the Mound-Builders. They were, no doubt, idolaters, and it has been conjectured that the sun was the object of their adoration. The mounds were generally built in a situation affording a view of the rising sun; when enclosed in walls their gateways were toward the cast ; the caves in which their dead were occasionally buried always opened in the same direction ; whenever a mound was par- tially enclosed by a semi-circular pavement, it was on the east side; when bodies were buried in graves, as was frequently the case, they were laid in a direction east and west: and, finally, medals have been found representing the sun and his rays of light.
At what period they came to this country, is likewise a matter of speculation. From the comparatively rude state of the arts among them, it has been inferred that the time was
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. HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
very remote. Their axes were of stone. Their raiment, judging from fragments which have been discovered, consisted of the bark of trees, interwoven with feathers; and their military works were such as a people would erect who had just passed to the pastoral state of society from that dependent alone upon hunting and fishing.
The mounds and other ancient earth-works constructed by this people are far more abund- ant than generally supposed, from the fact that while some are quite large, the greater part of them are small and inconspienons. Along nearly all our water courses that are large enough to be navigated with a canoe, the mounds are almost invariably found, covering the base points and headlands of the bluffs which border the narrower valleys; so that when one finds himself in such positions as to com- mand the grandest views for river scenery, he may almost always discover that he is standing upon, or in close proximity to, some one or more of these traces of the labors of an ancient people.
animals were exhumed on this stream about three miles from the same place.
Mr. Breckenridge, who examined the antiqui- ties of the Western country in 1817, speaking of the mounds in the American Bottom, says: "The great number and extremely large size of some of them may be regarded as furnishing, with other circumstances, evidences of their antiquity. I have sometimes been induced to think that at the period when they were con- structed there was a population here as numer- outs as that which once animated the borders of the Nile or Euphrates, or of Mexico. The most numerous, as well as considerable, of these remains are found in precisely those parts of the country where the traces of a numerous population might be looked for, namely, from the month of the Ohio on the east side of the Mississippi, to the Illinois river, and on the west from the St. Francis to the Missouri. I am perfectly satisfied that cities similar to those of ancient Mexico, of several hundred thousand souls, have existed in this country."
One of the most singular earth-works in the State was found on the top of a ridge near the OTHER RACES. east bank of the Sinsinawa creek in the lead region. It resembled some huge animal, the Following the Mound-Builders as inhabitants of North America, were as it is supposed, the people who reared the magnificent cities the ruins of which are found in Central America. This people was far more civilized and advanced in the arts than were the Mound-Builders. The cities built by them, judging from the ruins of | broken columns, fallen arches and crumbling walls of temples, palaces and pyramids, which in some places for miles bestrew the ground, must have been of great extent, magnificent and very populous. When we consider the vast period of time necessary to ereet such colossal structures, and, again, the time required to reduce them to their present ruined state, we can conceive something of their antiquity. These cities must have been old when many of the ancient cities of the Orient were being built. head, cars, nose, legs and tail, and general out- line of which being as perfect as if made by men versed in modern art. The ridge on which it was situated stands on the prairie, 300 yards wide, 100 feet in height, and rounded on the top by a deep deposit of clay. Centrally, along the line of its summit, and thrown up in the form of an embankment three feet high, ex- tended the outline of a quadruped measuring 250 feet from the tip of the nose to the end of the tail, and having a width of 18 feet at the center of the body. The head was 35 feet in length, the ears 10 feet, legs 60 and tail 75. The curvature in both the fore and hind legs was matural to an animal lying on its side. The general outline of the figure most nearly resem- bled the extinct animal knowr to geologists as the Megatherium. The question naturally The third race inhabiting North America dis- tinet from the former two in every particular, is the present Indians. They were, when visited by the early discoverers, without cultivation, refinement or literature, and far behind the Mound-Builders in the knowledge of the arts. The question of their origin has long interested archeologists, and is the most difficult they have arises, by whom and for what purpose was this earth figure raised? Some have conjectured that mmubers of this now extinct animal lived and roamed over the prairies of Illinois when the Mound-Builders first made their appearance on the upper part of the Mississippi Valley, and that the wonder and admiration, excited by the colossal dimensions of these huge creatures, , been called upon to answer. Of their predo- found some expression in the erection of this cessors the Indian tribes knew nothing; they figure. The bones of some similar gigantic I even had no traditions respecting them. It is
STARVED ROCK, ON THE ILLINOIS RIVER.
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HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
quite certain that they were the successors of a race which had entirely passed away ages before the discovery of the New World. One hypo- thesis is that the American Indians are an origi- nal race indigenous to the Western hemisphere. Those who entertain this view think their pecu- liarities of physical structure preclude the possi- bility of a common parentage with the rest of mankind. Prominent among those distinctive traits is the hair, which in the red man is round, in the white man oval, and in the black man flat. A more common supposition, however, is that they are a derivative race, and sprang from one or more of the ancient peoples of Asia. This last is doubtless the true theory.
INDIANS.
When Christopher Columbus had finally sne- ceeded in demonstrating the truth of his theory that by sailing westward from Europe land would be discovered, landing on the Island of Bermuda he supposed that he had reached the East Indies. This was an error, but it led to the adoption of the name of "Indians" for the inhabitants of the newly discovered country, by which name the red men of America have ever since been known.
At the time of the discovery of America the Algonquins, one of the most powerful tribes of Indians, occupied the seaboard, while the Iro- quois, another great tribe, inhabited the country almost surrounded by them. The Algonquins spread over vast territory, and various tribes of Algonquin lineage sprung up over the country, in time adopting distinct tribal customs and laws. An almost continuons warfare was car- ried on between tribes, but when the white men came a confederacy of Indian tribes were formed and every foot of territory was fiercely disputed. The Algonquins formed the most extensive alliance to resist the eneroachment of the whites, especially the English. Such was the nature of King Philip's war. This King, with his Algonquin braves, spread terror and desolation throughout New England. With the Algonquins as the controlling spirit, a confed- Pracy of continental proportions was the result, embracing in its alliance the tribes of every name and lineage from the northern lakes to the gulf. Pontiac, having breathed into them his implacable hate of the English intruders, ordered the conflict to commence, and all the British colonies trembled before the desolating fury of Indian vengeance.
ILLINOIS CONFEDERACY.
The Hlinois confederacy, the various tribes of which comprised most of the Indians of Ilinois at one time, was composed of five tribes: the Tamaroas, Michigans, Kaskaskias, Cahokas, and Peorias. The Illinois, Miamis and Delawares were of the same stock. As early as 1670, the priest, Father Marquette, mentions frequent visits made by individuals of this confederacy to the missionary station at St Esprit, near the western extremity of Lake Superior. At that time they lived west of the Mississippi, in eight villages, whither they had been driven from the shores of Lake Michigan by the Iroquois. Shortly afterward they began to return to their old hunting ground, and most of them finally settled in Illinois. Joliet and Marquette, in 1673, met with a band of them on their famous voyage of discovery down the Missis- sippi. They were treated with the greatest hospitality by the principal chief. On their return voyage up the Illinois river they stopped at the principal town of the confederacy, situ- ated on the banks of the river seven miles below the present town of Ottawa. It was then called Kaskaskia. Marquette returned to the village in 1675 and established the mission of the Immac- ulate Conception, the oldest in Illinois. When. in 1679, LaSalle visited the town, it had greatly increased, numbering 460 lodges, and at the an- nnal assembly of the different tribes, from 6,000 to 8,000 souls. In common with other western tribes, they became involved in the conspiracy of Pontiac, although displaying no very great warlike spirit. Pontiac lost his life by the hands of one of the braves of the Illinois tribe, which so enraged the nations that had followed him as their leader that they fell upon the Illi- nois to avenge his death, and almost annihilated them.
STARVED ROCK.
Tradition states that a band of this tribe, in order to escape the general slaughter, took refuge upon the high roek on the Illinois river known as Starved Rock. Nature has made this one of the most formidable military fortresses in the world. From the waters which wash its base it rises to an altitude of one hundred and twenty-five feet. Three of its sides it is impos- sible to scale, while the other may be climbed with difficulty .. From its summit, almost as inaccessible as an eagle's nest, the valley of the Illinois is seen as a landscape of exquisite beauty. The river near by struggles between a
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HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
number of wooded islands, while further below it quietly meanders through vast meadows till it disappears like a thread of light in the dim distance. On the summit of this rock the Illi- nois were besieged by a superior force of the Pottawattomies whom the great strength of their natural fortress enabled them to keep at bay. Hunger and thirst, however, soon accomplished what the army was unable to effect. Surrounded by a relentless foe, without food or water, they took a last look at their beautiful hunting grounds, and with true Indian fortitude laid down and died from starvation. Years after- wards their bones were seen whitening in that place.
At the beginning of the present century the remnants of this once powerful confederacy were forced into a smaller compass around Kas- kaskia. A few years later they emigrated to ' the southwest, and in 1850 they were in the Indian Territory, and numbered but eighty-four persons.
EARLY DISCOVERIES.
Nicholas Perrot, a Frenchman, was the first white man to visit the present great State of Illinois. In the year 1671 he was sent to Chi- cago by M. Talon, Intendant of Canada, for the purpose of inviting the Indians to a peace con- vention, to be held at Green Bay. The object of this convention was the formation of a plan for the exploration of the Mississippi River. De Soto, the Spanish explorer, had discovered the river nearly one Indred and fifty years previously, but did not effect a settlement or explore the country any further. It remained as it was until the French determined to visit
it, for which purpose it was deemed a wise pol- icy, as far as possible, to secure the friendship and co-operation of the Indians before ventur- ing upon an enterprise which their hostility might render disastrous, A plan was accord- ingly arranged, and Lonis Joliet joined Father Jacques Marquette, at the Jesnit Mission, on the Strait of Mackinaw, and, with five other Frenchmen and a simple outfit, the daring explorers on the 17th of May, 1673, set out on their perilous voyage to discover the Missis- sippi. Coasting along the northern shore of Lake Michigan, they entered Green Bay, and passed thence up Fox River and Lake Win- nebago to a village of the Muscatines and Miamis, where great interest was taken in the expedition by the natives. With guides they proceeded down the river. Arriving at the portage, they soon carried their light canoes
and scanty baggage to the Wisconsin, about three miles distant. Their guides now refused to accompany them further, and endeavored, by reciting the dangers incident to the voyage, to induce them to return. They stated that huge lemons dwelt in the great river, whose voices could be heard a long distance, and who engulfed in the raging waters all who came within their reach. They also represented that if any of them should escape the dangers of the river, fierce tribes of Indians dwelt upon its banks ready to complete the work of destrule- tion. They proceeded on their journey, how- ever, and on the 17th of June pushed their frail barks on the bosom of the stately Missis- sippi, down which they smoothly glided for nearly a hundred miles. Here Joliet and Mar- quette, leaving their canoes in charge of their men, went on the western shore, where they dis- covered an Indian village, and were kindly treated. They journeyed on down the In- known river, passing the month of the Illi- nois, then running into the current of the muddy Missouri, and afterwards the waters of the Ohio joined with them on their journey sonthward. Near the month of the Arkansas, they discovered Indians who showed signs of hostility ; but when Marquette's mission of peace was made known to them, they were kindly received. After proceeding up the Arkansas a short distance, at the advice of the natives they turned their faces northward to retrace their steps. After several weeks of hard toil they reached the Illinois, up which stream they proceeded to Lake Michigan. Following the western shore of the lake, they entered Green Bay the latter part of September, having traveled a distance of 2,500 miles.
FIRST SETTLEMENTS,
On his way up the Illinois, Marquette visited the Kaskaskias, near what is now Utica, in LaSalle county. The following year he returned, and established among them the mis- sion of the Immaculate Conception. This was the last act of his life. He died in Michigan, May 18, 1675. The town was named Kaskas- kia by Marquette.
The first military occupation of the country was at Fort Crevecoeur, erected in 1680; but there is no evidence that a settlement was com- meneed there, or at Peoria, on the lake above, at that early date. The first settlement of which there is any authentic account was com- menced with the building of Fort. St. Lonis, on the Illinois river, in 1682; but this was soon
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HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
abandoned. The oldest permanent settlement, not only in Illinois, but in the valley of the Mississippi, is at Kaskaskia, situated six miles above the month of the Kaskaskia river. This was settled in 1690 by the removal of the mis- sion from old Kaskaskia, or Ft. St. Louis, on the Illinois river. Cahokia was settled about the same time. The reason for the removal of the old Kaskaskia settlement and mission was probably becanse the dangerous and difficult route by Lake Michigan and the Chicago port- age had been almost abandoned, and travelers and traders traveled down and np the Missis- sippi by the Fox and Wisconsin rivers. It was removed to the vicinity of the Mississippi in order to be in the line of travel from Canada to Louisiana, that is, the lower part of it, for it was all Louisiana then south of the lakes. Illinois came into possession of the French in 1682, and was a dependency of Canada and a part of Louisiana. During the period of French rule in Louisiana, the population prob- ably never exceeded ten thousand. To the year 1730 the following five distinct settlements were made in the territory of Illinois, mumber- ing, in population, 140 French families, abont 600 "converted" Indians, and many traders ; Cahokia, near the mouth of Cahokia creek, and about five miles below the present city of St. Lonis; St. Philip, about forty-five miles below Cahokia; Fort Chartres, twelve miles above Kaskaskia : Kaskaskia, situated on the Kaskas- kia river six miles above its continence with the Mississippi, and Prairie du Rocher, near Fort Chartres. Fort Chartres was built under the direction of the Mississippi Company in 1718, and was for a time the headquarters of the mil- itary commandants of the district of Illinois, and the most impregnable fortress in North America. It was also the center of wealth and fashion in the West. For about eighty years the French retained peaceable possession of Illinois. Their amiable disposition and taet of ingratiating themselves with the Indians ena- bled them to escape almost entirely the broils which weakened and destroyed other colonies Whether exploring remote rivers or traversing hunting grounds in pursuit of game, in the social cirele or as participants in the religious exercises of the church, the red men became their associates, and were treated with the kind- ness and consideration of brothers. For more than a hundred years peace between the white man and the red was unbroken, and when at last this reign of harmony terminated it was not caused by the conciliatory Frenchman, but
by the blunt and sturdy Anglo-Saxon. During this century, or until the country was occupied by the English, no regular court was ever hell. When, in 1765, the country passed into the hands of the English, many of the French, rather than submit to a change in their institu- tions, preferred to leave their homes and seek a new abode. There are, however, at the present time, a few remnants of the old French stock in the State, who still retain to a great extent the ancient habits and customs of their fathers.
ENGLISH RULE.
In 1750 France claimed the whole valley of the Mississippi, and England the right to extend her possessions westward as far as she might desire. Through colonial controversies, the two mother countries were precipitated into a bloody war within the Northwestern Territory, George Washington firing the first gun of the military struggle which resulted in the overthrow of the French not only in Illinois, but in North Amer- ica. The French evinced a determination to retain control of the territory bordering the Ohio and Mississippi from Canada to the Gulf, and so long as the English colonies were con- fined to the sea-coast there was little reason for controversy. As the English, however, became acquainted with this beautiful and fertile por- tion of our country, they not only learned the value of the vast territory, but also resolved to set up a counter claim to the soil. The French established numerous military and trading post- from the frontiers of Canada to New Orleans. and in order to establish also their claims to jurisdiction over the country, they earved the lilies of France on the forest trees, or sunk plates of metal in the ground. These measures did not, however, deter the English from going on with their explorations; and though neither party resorted to arms, yet the conflict wax gathering, and it was only a question of time when the storm should burst upon the frontier settlement. The French based their claims npon discoveries, the English on grants of territory extending from ocean to ocean, but neither party paid the least attention to the prior claims of the Indians. From this position of affairs, it was evident that actual collision between the contending parties would not much longer be deferred. The English Government, in antici- pation of a war, urged the Governor of Virginia to lose no time in building two forts, which were cumpped by arms from England. The French anticipated the English, and gathered a consid- erable force to defend their possessions. The
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HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.
Governor determined to send a messenger to the nearest French post and demand an explana- tion. This resolution of the Governor brought into the history of our country for the first time the man of all others whom America most loves to honor, namely, George Washington. lle was chosen, although not yet twenty-one years of age, as the one to perform this delicate and difficult mission. With five companions, he set ont on November 10, 1753, and after a perilous journey returned January 6, 1754. The strug- gle commenced, and continued long, and was bloody and fierce; but on the 10th of October, 1765, the ensign of France was replaced on the ramparts of Fort Chartres by the flag of Great Britain. This fort was the depot of supplies and the place of rendezvous for the united forces of the French. At this time the colonies of the Atlantic seaboard were assembled in prelimin- ary congress at New York, dreaming of liberty and independence for the continent; and Wash- ington, who led the expedition against the French for the English king. in less than ten years was commanding the forces opposed to the English tyrant. Illinois, besides being con- structively a part of Florida for over one hun- dred years, during which time no Spaniard set foot upon her soil or rested his eyes upon her beautiful plains, for nearly ninety years had been in the actual occupation of the French, their puny settlements slumbering quietly in colonial dependence on the distant waters of the Kaskaskia, Illinois and Wabash.
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