USA > Illinois > St Clair County > History of St. Clair County, Illinois. With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 6
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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 surrounded by an impenetrable barrier of hostile savages, friends to the French and enemies to the English, and the French officers were authorized to retain
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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
command until it was found possible for the English to take pos- session. M. Neyon de Villiers was commandant of Fort Char- tres, 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 am- munition 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 fur- nish 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 appear- ance in the neighborhood of St. Louis. Arrayed in the French uniform given him by the Marquis Montcalm a short time pre- vious 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 gather- ing 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 Missis- sippi, 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 ram- parts of the Fort gave place to the flag of Great Britain. Kas- kaskia 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 set- tlements refused to live under English rule. Many of the wealth- iest families left the country ; some removed across the Mississip- pi, 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 ter- ritory 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 popu- lation of less than two thousand remained. 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 inliabitants the liberty of the Catholic faith, permission to retire from the country, and enjoy- ment 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 com- mand 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 inhabitants as from its advantageous situa- tion.
" Mons. Paget was the first who introduced water mills in this country, and he constructed a very fine one on the river Cascas- quias, 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 cat- tle, 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 Englishı 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
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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
and on the opposite side of the river. It was an oblong quad- rangle, 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 vil- lage. 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 inhab- ited by as many families. Here is a little chapel, formerly a chapel of ease to the church at Fort Chartres. The inhabitants are very industrions, and raise a great deal of corn and every kind of stock. The village is two miles from Fort Chartres. 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 pre- sent, 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 pro- bable that the British garrison (removed in 1772 from Fort Chartres to Fort Gage, opposite Kaskaskia,) had been with- drawn. 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 sympathy with the Americans than the English, but probably understood little the nature of the struggle. Illinois belonged to the jurisdiction of Virginia. George Rogers Clarke, who visited Kentucky in 1775, seems to have been the first to com- prehend 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. Clarke received his instructions, January, 1778, and the follow- ing month set out for Pittsburg. His instructions were to raise seven companies of men, but he could only succeed in enlisting
four, commanded by Captains Montgomery, Bowman, Helm, and Harrod. On Corn Island, opposite Louisville, on the Ohio, Clarke announced 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 Cana- dian, 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,) Clarke undertook the journey across the country, one hundred and twenty miles, to Kaskaskia. It was accomplished with difficulty. On the afternoon of the fourth of July, 1778, the exhausted band of invaders came to the vicinity of Kaskas- kia, and concealed themselves in the hills to the east of the town. After dark Clarke proceeded to the old ferry-house, three-fourths of a mile above the village, and at midnight 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 Clarke himself, was to capture the fort on the east side. Kaskaskia at that time was a village of about two hun- dred 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 chil- dren, and committing acts of the greatest atrocity. Clarke determined to take advantage of this, and so surprise the in- habitants by fear as to induce them to submit without resistance. Clarke effected an entrance to the fort without difficulty. The other parties at a given signal entered Kaskaskia at the opposite extremities, and with terrible outcrics 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 inhabitants by terror, and then afterward winning their regard and gratitude by his clemency, Clarke, 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 Clarke, and humbly requested permission to assemble in the church, to take leave of cach other and com- mend their future lives to the protection of a merciful God, since they expected to be separated, perhaps never to mcet again. Clarke gruffly granted the privilege. The whole popula- tion convened at the church, and after remaining together a long time, the priest and a few others again waited upon the com- mander of the American forces, presenting thanks for the privilege they had enjoyed, and desiring to know what fate awaited them.
Clarke now determined to lift them from their despair, and win their gratitude by a show of mercy. "What!" said he; "do you take us for savages ? Do you think Americans will
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strip women and children, and take bread from their mouths ? My countrymen disdain to make war on helpless innocents." 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 embrace 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 inhabi- tants of Kaskaskia were readily reconciled to a change of gov- ernment. 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 Clarke was appointed military commander of all the western territory north and south of the Ohio, and Colonel John Todd, one of Clarke's soldiers, who next to Clarke 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.
LAND TENURES.
The early French settlers held the possession of their land in common. A tract of land was fixed upon for a Common Field, in which all the inhabitants were interested.
Besides the Common Field, another tract of land was laid off as the Commons. All the villagers had free access to this as a place of pasturage for their stock. From this they also drew their supply of fuel.
Individual grants were likewise made. Under the French system, the lands were granted without any equivalent considera- tion in the way of money, the individuals satisfying the authori- ties that the lands were wanted for actual settlement, or for a purpose likely to benefit the community. The first grant of land, which is preserved, is that made to Charles Danie, May 10th, 1722. The French grants at Kaskaskia extended from river to river, and at other places in the Bottom they commonly extended from the river to the bluff. Grants of land were made for almost all the American Bottom, from the upper limits of the Common Field of St. Phillip's to the lower line of the Kas- kaskia Common Field, a distance of nearly thirty miles.
The British commandants, who assumed the government on the cession of the territory by France, exercised the privilege of making grants, subject to the approval of his Majesty, the King. Colonel Wilkins granted to some merchants of Philadelphia a magnificent domain of thirty thousand acres lying between the village of Kaskaskia and Prairie du Rocher, much of it already covered by French grants previously made. For the better car- rying out their plans, the British officers, and perhaps their
grantees, destroyed, to some extent, the records of the ancient French grants at Kaskaskia, by which the regular claim of titles and conveyances was partly broken. This British grant of thirty thousand acres, which had been assigned to John Edgar, was afterward patented by Governor St. Clair to Edgar and John Murray St. Clair, the Governor's son, to whom Edgar had pre- viously conveyed a moiety by deed. Although much fault was found with the transaction, a confirmation of the grant was secured from the United States government.
When Virginia ceded Illinois, it was stipulated that the French and Canadian inhabitants, and other settlers, who had professed allegiance to Virginia, should have their titles con- firmed to them. Congress afterwards authorized the Governor to confirm the possessions and titles of the French to their lands. In accordance with this agreement, Governor St. Clair, in 1790, issued a proclamation directing the inhabitants to exhibit their titles and claims to the lands which they held, in order to be confirmed in their possession. Where the instruments were found to be authentic, orders of survey were issued, the expense of which was borne by the parties who claimed ownership. The French inhabitants were in such poverty at this time that they were really unable to pay the expenses of the surveys, and a memorial signed by P. Gibault, the priest at Kaskaskia, and eighty-seven others, was presented to Governor St. Clair, praying him to petition Congress for relief in the matter. In 1791, Congress directed that four hundred acres of land should be granted to the head of every family which had made improve- ments in Illinois prior to the year 1788. Before this, in 1788, Congress had also directed that a donation be given to each of the families then living at either of the villages of Kaskaskia, Prairie du Rocher, Cahokia, Fort Chartres, or St. Phillips. These were known as " bead-right " claims.
At an early date, speculation became active in the land claims of different kinds; bead-rights, improvement rights, mili- tia rights, and fraudulent claims were produced in great num- bers. The French claims were partly unconfirmed, owing to the poverty of that people, and these were forced on the market with the others. The official report of the commissioners at Kaskaskia, made in 1810, shows that eight hundred and ninety land claims were rejected as being illegal or fraudulent. Three hundred and seventy were reported as being supported by per- jury, and a considerable number were forged. There are fourteen names given of persons, both English and French, who made it a regular business to furnish sworn certificates, professing an intimate knowledge, in every case, of the settlers who had made certain improvements upon which claims were predicated and when and where they were located. A Frenchman, clerk of the parish of Prairie du Rocher, " without property and fond of liquor," after having given some two hundred depositions in favor of three land claimant speculators, " was induced," in the language of the report, "either by compensation, fear, or the impossibility of obtaining absolution on any other terms, to de- clare on oath that the said depositions were false, and that in giving them he had a regard for something beyond the truth."
The report of the commissioners raised many doubts in regard to the validity and propriety of a number of confirmations by the Governors, and much dissatisfaction among the claimants ; and in consequence, Congress, in 1812, passed an act for the revision of these land claims in the Kaskaskia district. The
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HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
commissioners under this law were Michael Jones, John Cald- well and Thomas Sloo. Facts damaging to persons who occu- pied positions of high respectability in the community, were disclosed. They reported that the English claim of thirty thou- sand acres confirmed by Governor St. Clair to John Edgar and the Governor's son, John Murray St. Clair, was founded in neither law nor equity, that the patent was issued after the Governor's power ceased to exist, and the claim ought not to be confirmed. Congress, however, confirmed it.
For a period of several. years, emigration was considerably retarded by the delay in adjusting land titles. The act of Con- gress passed in 1813, granting the right of pre-emption to set- tlers, was influential in bringing the public lands into market. Emigrants poured into the country, and improvements were rapidly made.
CIVIL ORGANIZATION.
The history of Illinois has been traced while a possession of France, and when under the British government ; and the for- mation of Illinois as a County of Virginia has been noted. The several States afterwards agreed, on the adoption of the Articles of the Confederation, to cede their claims to the western laud to the General government. Virginia executed her deed of cession March 1st, 1784. For several years after, there was an imper- fect administration of the law in Illinois. The French customs partly held force, and affairs were partly governed by the pro- mulgations of the British commandants issued from Fort Char- tres, and by the regulations which had subsequently been issued by the Virginia authorities.
By the ordinance of 1787, all the territory north-west of the Ohio not constituted into one district, the laws to be administered by a governor and secretary, a court was instituted of three judges. A general assembly was provided for, the members to be chosen by the people. General Arthur St. Clair was selected by Congress, as Governor of the north-western territory. The seat of government was at Marietta, Ohio.
In the year 1795, Governor St. Clair divided St. Clair County. All south of a line running through the New Design settlement (in the present County of Monroe) was erected into the County of Randolph. In honor of Edmund Randolph of Virginia, the new county received its name. ·
Shadrach Bond, afterward the first Governor, was elected from Illinois, a member of the Territorial Legislature which convened at Cincinnati, in January, 1799. In 1800 the Territory of In- diana was formed, of which Illinois constituted a part, with the seat of government at Vincennes. About 1806, among other places in the West, Aaron Burr visited Kaskaskia in an en- deavor to enlist men for his treasonable scheme against the government. In 1805, George Fisher was elected from Ran- dolph County a member of the Territorial Legislature, and Pierre Menard was chosen member of the Legislative Council.
By act of Congress, 1809, the Territory of Illinois was con- stituted. Ninian Edwards was appointed Governor of the newly organized Territory, and the seat of government established at Kaskaskia. Nathaniel Pope, a relative of Edwards, received the appointment of Secretary.
For nearly four years after the organization of the Territorial Government no legislature existed in Illinois. All election for representatives was held on the eighth, ninth, and tenth of
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