USA > Illinois > Stark County > History of Stark County, Illinois, and its people : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume I > Part 3
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How long this enstom had prevailed among the southern Indians no one knows, but it may account for the large number of small mounds throughout the region onec inhabited by the Natehez and their ancestors. It has also been learned that the Yamasee Indians of Georgia built mounds over the warriors slain in battle, and Charlevoix found among the Canadian tribes some who built earthworks similar in many respects to those deseribed by Thomas in the Huron-Iroquois District.
Early investigators found in many of the small mounds burnt or baked clay and charcoal, for which they were at a loss to account. Subsequent research has diselosed the fact that among certain tribes. particularly those of the lower Mississippi country, the family hut was built upon an artificial mound in many instances. This has led Brinton to advance the theory that the house was constructed of poles and the eraeks between the poles filled with elay. When the head of the family died, the body was buried under the center of the hut, which was then burned. As it is now known that this eustom was followed for perhaps many generations, Brinton's theory would account for the burnt clay and charcoal, as well as for the large number of small mounds, each containing a single human skeleton.
Another evidence that there is some relationship between the Mound Builders and the Indians of more recent times is found in the pottery made by some of the southwestern tribes, which is very similar in both texture and design to the pottery found in ancient mounds. Among the eliff dwellers archeologists have found weapons and utensils almost exactly like some of those found in the mounds, and some have even gone so far as to assert that the eliff dwellers are but the remnant of the onee numerous and widely distributed Mound Builders.
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In the light of these discoveries. it is not surprising that ethnologists are discarding the theory of a separate race and great age and advanc- ing in its stead one of a vastly different nature, viz: That the Mound Builder was nothing more than the ancestor, more or less remote, of the North American Indian. The new theory, however, has not de- creased the interest in the Mound Builders and their works. Says Thomas: "The hope of ultimately solving the great problem is per- haps as lively today as in former years. But, with the vast increase of knowledge in recent years, a modification of the hope has taken place."
MOUNDS IN STARK COUNTY
Nearly every county in the State of Illinois contains some evidence of having been inhabited by Mound Buikdlers. Stark County is no exception. Many of the mounds in the state have been completely obliterated by the plow and many others show only slight traces of their former outlines. Flint spear and arrow heads, stone axes, human bones and a few specimens of pottery have all been found within the limits of Stark County. Formerly the spear and arrow heads were so numerous as to exeite but little interest or comment. The most noted mound anywhere near Stark County is probably the one de- seribed by W. H. Adams. of Rochester, Peoria County, in a communi- eation to the Smithsonian Institution in 1885. Mr. Adams says:
"On the north side of the Spoon River, eighty rods west of the east line and twenty rods south of the north line of seetion 12. town- ship II, range 4, east of the fourth principal meridian. is a round mound about thirty feet in diameter, called by those in the neighbor- hood 'the hogback.' On the highest part of this hogbaek. at the surface, is some evidence of fire. The evidenees of a former fire increase very rapidly. At a depth of twelve to sixteen inches I found five skeletons. nearly all the bones of which were caleined by fire, and many of them entirely consumed. One of the skulls lay to the north. one to the northwest, one to the southwest. one to the south and one to the northeast. With the bones were fragments of sandstone burned red. At or near each skull, and nearly on a line between the point of the shoulder and the ear, was a water-worn pebble. except in one instance, and that was an angular piece of flint. The pebbles had not been acted upon by the fire, so that they were evidently placed there after the intense heat of the fire had subsided. From the appearance of the earth one would be strongly inclined to believe that the fire in
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HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
this instance had been one of unusual intensity. From the position of the skulls to each other, the feet of one body would reach to his neighbor's head, if laid at full length. One of the skulls was rather thinner than those we usually find in other mounds. Some of the teeth belonged to a person of great age; others of the teeth were very small, but I cannot say that they belonged to an infant. The skulls were in fragments, the largest piece obtained being about two inches square. On another hogbaek, east of the one described, commencing on seetion 12, township 11, range 4 east, extending across the north- west corner of seetion 7, township 11, range 5 east, and also some distance on section 6, township 11, are thirteen common round mounds. varying in height from eighteen inches to five feet. As far as ex- amined these are burial mounds and in one I found nineteen skeletons. This one was forty-five feet in diameter and five feet high. The bones were in a fair state of preservation. I opened four or five of this group and in each were found pieces of trap roek from one and one- half to two inches square; pieces of burned sand roek, small water- worn pebbles, and in the largest mound a very small fragment of red pottery."
Although the mounds thus described by Mr. Adams are not within the limits of Stark County they are situated near its southwest corner. The first "hogback" mentioned by him is a little southeast of the Village of Etherley, Knox County, and the thirteen burial mounds almost touch the southwest corner of Stark. All are near enough to sustain the belief that the Mound Builder was once an inhabitant of the county. Mr. Adams and T. M. Shallenberger gave considerable attention to the arehæology of the Spoon River Valley, and after the Indians were removed from the country these two men visited all the old camping grounds and villages of the red men, leveling numerous small mounds in search of historie relies. Few were found, however, except arrow and spear heads, such as those above referred to, and some fragmentary skeletons. It is doubtful whether the skeletons found on the old village sites were those of Mound Builders or the bones of Indians buried there in comparatively recent years.
There is a sort of grim pathos in the reflection that where the white people of Stark County now live in peace and prosperity there once dwelt a people of widely different manners and customs: that in the march of time they passed out of existenee, leaving only here and there the mounds and other relies to mark their place of residence. After the Mound Builder eame the Indian, who in turn retired before
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HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
the superior civilization of the white man, and there is also a pathos in the reflection that 2,000 years hence another race may indulge in as much speculation over the relics left by the present occupants of the country as our scientists have indulged in over the mounds and earth- works of America's aboriginal inhabitants.
CHAPTER III INDIAN HISTORY
DISTRIBUTION OF INDIAN NATIONS AT THE CLOSE OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY - THE ILLINOIS - SUBORDINATE TRIBES - THE SACS AND FOXES -- THE BLACK HAWK WAR-DEATH OF BLACK HAWK-THE POTTAWATOMI-THEIR VILLAGES IN STARK COUNTY-SHAB-BO-NEE -TREATIES WITH THE POTTAWATOMI -- THEIR CHARACTER-THE WINNEBAGO-INDIAN NAMES.
When Christopher Columbus first discovered the Western Hemis- phere, in 1492. he believed that he had at last reached the goal of his long cherished desires and that the country was the eastern shore of Asia. The first European explorers in America, entertaining a sim- ilar belief, thought the country was India and gave to the race of copper colored people they found here the name of Indians. Later explorations established the fact that Columbus had actually dis- covered a land hitherto unknown, but the name conferred upon the natives still remains. This race is divided into several groups, or families, each of which is marked by certain physical characteristics and the language spoken. At the beginning of the Sixteenth century the various groups, or at least the leading ones, were distributed over the continent of North America as follows:
In the far north were the Eskimo, a tribe that never played any important part in history. Their descendants still inhabit the country in the vicinity of the Arctic Circle, where some of them are occa- sionally employed as guides to polar expeditions.
The Algonquian family, the largest and most powerful of all the Indian nations or groups, oeeupied a large triangle, roughly bounded by the Atlantic coast from the most eastern point of Labrador to Cape Hatteras and lines from those two points to the western end of Lake Superior. To this great group belonged the tribes that once inhabited what is now the State of Illinois, the principal of which were the Illinois, the Sacs, the Foxes, the Shawnees, the Winnebagoes, the Ottawas, and the Pottawatomies.
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HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
In the center of the Algonquian country-along the shores of Lake Ontario and the upper waters of the St. Lawrence River-was the home of the Iroquoian tribes, to wit: The Oneidas. Onondagas, Mohawks, Cayugas and Senecas. To the early colonists these tribes became known as the "Five Nations." Some years later the Tus- caroras were added to the confederacy, which then took the name of the "Six Nations."
South of the Algonquian and Iroquoian families lay the country of the Muskhogean family, the principal tribes of which were the Creeks, Chickasaws, Choctaws and Cherokees. The people of this group were among the most intelligent and aggressive of the North American Indians.
In the great Northwest, about the sources of the Mississippi River and extending westward to the Missouri, was the country of the Siouan group, which was composed of a number of tribes noted for their physical prowess and warlike tendencies. South and west of this lay the domain of the bold, vindietive Comanche, Apache and other tribes, elosely allied to the Sioux in appearance, language and eustoms, while in various parts of the continent were minor tribes which claimed kinship with none of the great families. They were generally inferior in numbers, often nomadic in their habits, and con -. sequently are of little historie importance.
Volumes have been written upon the subject of the North Amer- iean Indian-his legends, traditions and habits-and it has not yet been exhausted. In a work of this nature it is not the design to give those tribes whose history is connected with the country now ineluded an extended aeeount of the Indian race as a whole, but to notiee only within the State of Illinois and Stark County.
THE ILLINOIS
The Illinois-or Illini, as they were at first known to the white men-belonged to the Algonquian family and was the tribe from which the State of Illinois took its name. The organization of the Illinois was in the nature of a confederaey, which was composed of five subordinate tribes-the Peoria. Kaskaskia. Tamaroa. Michigani (or Moingwena ) and the Cahokia. According to their traditions they were once a powerful tribe and took possession of their lands in Illinois by driving out some of the Sionan group. Later they made war on the Winnebago Indians and drove them northward. after which they held undisputed possession of the broad prairies of Illinois until about
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HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
the niiddle of the Seventeenth century, when they were attacked by the warlike Iroquois and forced to relinquish part of their domain.
The Illinois were expert hunters, skilled in the use of the bow and arrow, but could not successfully handle a eanoe. The principal cen- ter of their confederacy was at Kaskaskia, which, during the most prosperous days of the tribe, numbered some eight thousand inhabi- tants. Their cabins here were well built and covered with a waterproof matting. Generally each cabin contained four fires, around which the inmates would gather of evenings, the old warriors relating in- stances of skill and bravery in the chase or in battle for the edification of the members of the younger generation.
About the beginning of the war with the Iroquois, in 1656, some of the Illinois crossed the Mississippi River and established several villages in what is now Lee County, Iowa, where they were visited by Marquette and Joliet in the summer of 1673.
In the summer of 1680 another invasion of the Illinois country was made by the Iroquois, who attacked the Peoria and Kaskaskia tribes, the object having been to drive them out and get possession of their hunting grounds. Many of the Illinois were killed, their homes burned, their crops destroyed and about nine hundred were carried away as prisoners.
In 1769 the Ottawa chief, Pontiae, who had formed the conspiracy and led the uprising against the white settlements six years before, was killed by some of the Ilinois Indians. The great chieftain was the idol of his tribe and was also held in high esteem by the Chippewa and Pottawatomi Indians. The three tribes allied themselves in a war upon the Illinois to avenge the death of Pontiac. The Illinois, who had never fully recovered from the onslaughts of the Iroquois, were in no condition to meet sneh powerful enemies. Defeat after defeat followed in quick succession and the renmant of the tribe was driven to the summit of the bluff known as "Starved Rock," on the Illinois River, about half way between the present cities of La Salle and Ottawa. The bluff offered a good place of defense, as the sides of the rock are perpendicular, except in one place, and there not more than two persons could aseend abreast. Assault was therefore out of the question and the allies settled down to a siege. The Illinois held out until one dark, stormy night, when they made a sortie, but only a few succeeded in making their escape. Those few took to eanoes and paddled down the river, finally reaching St. Louis, where they were given shelter and food by the white occupants of the fort.
One account says that their pursuers soon afterward appeared be-
.
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HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
fore the fort and demanded the surrender of the Illinois, that the tribe might be completely exterminated, and that when their demands were denied they departed with threats of vengeance against the fort- threats that were never carried into execution. After spending some time at the fort, until their strength was fully recovered, the refugees recrossed the Mississippi and joined their kindred tribes in Southern Illinois.
Some writers say that the Illinois were greatly addicted to vice and were almost constantly at war until they were converted by the teachings of Father Marquette and other Jesuit missionaries. But, so far as ean be learned, the only aggressive wars ever waged by them were against the minor Sionan tribes and the Winnebagoes in the early days of their history, the accounts of which are only vague tradi- tions. In the wars with the Iroquois, and the allied tribes above mentioned, the Illinois fought on the defensive.
THE SACS AND FOXES
These two tribes, which at one time occupied a large tract of country in Western Illinois, and no doubt hunted where Stark County is now situated, are usually spoken of as one people, though they were two separate and distinct tribes. They became allied by force of circumstances for their mutual protection, each tribe maintaining its identity, though one chief ruled over both.
The Saes-also called Sauks and Saukies-belonged to the Algon- quian family and were known as "The people of the outlet." 'Their earliest known habitat was in the lower peninsula of Michigan, where they lived with the Pottawatomi. The name Saginaw, as applied to a bay and city in Michigan, means "the place of the Sac," and marks the place where they once dwelt. The Saes are first mentioned as a separate tribe in the Jesuit Relations for 1640, though they were then allied with the Pottawatomi, Maseoutens, Foxes and Kickapoos, and maintained friendly relations with the Miami and Winnebago tribes. Their traditions tell how they were driven from the shores of Lake Iluron by the Iroquois and their allies before the middle of the Seventeenth century. They then retired by way of Mackinaw and a few years later found a new abode along the shores of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Father Allouez, one of the early Jesuit missionaries, in writing of these Indians in 1667, says: "They are more savage than any of the other people I have met: they are a populous tribe, although they have no fixed dwelling place, being wanderers and vagabonds in the forests."
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HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
That portion of their traditions relating to their expulsion from the country on the west shore of Lake Huron and their pilgrimage to Green Bay is first told by Father Dablon, in the Jesuit Relations for 1671. Says he: "The Saes, Pottawatomies and neighboring tribes, being driven from their own countries, which are the lands southward from Missilimakinae, have taken refuge at the head of this bay, be- vond which one can see inland the Nation of Fire, with one of the Illinois tribes ealled Oumiami and the Foxes."
In the same year that this was written, the Hurons and Ottawas started on an invasion of the Sioux country. On the way they per- suaded the Saes and Pottawatomi to join the expedition. They were defeated in the undertaking and the surviving Saes returned to Green Bay, where they were content to live in peace for several years before making any more warlike demonstrations,
Dorsey divides the tribe into fourteen gentes, or elans. Marriages were usually made between men and women of different clans, though they were not forbidden among persons of the same elan. Polygamy was practiced to some extent, though in this respect the Saes were not so bad as some of the other Algonquian tribes. Their religion consisted of a belief in numerous "Manitous" and was rich in myth and fable.
The Foxes, also an Algonquian tribe, resembled in many particu- lars the Saes, with whom they became confederated. Their Indian name was Mesh-kwa-ke-hug (nearly always written Musquakies), signifying "People of the red earth." Their original dwelling place is somewhat uncertain. According to their traditions they onee lived along the Atlantic coast in the vicinity of the present State of Rhode Island. Subsequently some of them occupied the country along the southern shore of Lake Superior, from which they were driven by the Chippewas. In 1634 Jean Nicollet found some of them on the Fox River, not far from Green Bay, Wiseonsin, and in 1676 Father Allouez visited a band of Foxes on the Wolf River, in the same state. In his report of his year's work he speaks of a "Musquakie village of about five thousand inhabitants."
The name "Fox" originated with the French, who called these Indians "Reynors." They were regarded by the neighboring tribes as "avarieious, thieving, passionate and quarrelsome." With an in- tense hatred for the French they planned the attack upon the post at Detroit in 1712. The timely arrival of reinforcements saved the post and the Indians were signally defeated. The Foxes that took part in this movement then joined those spoken of by Father Allouez on the Wolf River.
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HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
About 1730 the Dutch and English traders, knowing the hatred of the Foxes for the French, formed an alliance with the tribe for the purpose of driving French competition from the fur country about the Great Lakes. On the other hand the French enlisted the coopera- tion of the Huron, Ottawa, Pottawatomi and some minor tribes. In the war which followed the Foxes were defeated and sought shelter with the Sacs who lived near Green Bay. The French authorities, thinking the Foxes had not been sufficiently punished, sent a force of French soldiers and Indians. commanded by an officer named De Vil- liers, to the Sae village on the shores of Green Bay to demand their surrender. The demand was refused by the Sac chiefs and a hard fought battle ensued, in which the Saes were defeated. but the refugees were not surrendered. This was the beginning of the alliance which afterward resulted in the two tribes being generally recognized as one.
In the meantime some of the Saes had migrated southward. into what is now the State of Illinois, and in 1731 they founded the Village of San-ke-nuk on the Rock River near its mouth. When those who remained in Wisconsin were defeated by the French and their Indian allies for defending the Foxes, they brought their refugees and joined the Sacs on the Rock River. At the beginning of the Nineteenth century there were about eight thousand Saes and Foxes living along the Rock River, their hunting grounds extending eastward to the Illinois River. When Lieut. Zebulon M. Pike went up the Mississippi River in 1805, he visited the Sac and Fox villages in Illinois.
Of all the Indian tribes, the Foxes were probably the only one that had what might be called a coat of arms. The design consisted of an oblique line (supposed to represent a river), with the figure of a fox at each end, but on opposite sides. Following a victory in war this emblem was painted or carved on rocks and trees to tell the story of their valor and at the same time serve as a warning to their enemies.
The Fox tribe, according to Dorsey, was divided into twelve gentes. Their principal deities were Wisaka and Kiyapata, who were brothers. The former ruled the day and the latter the night. The principal features of their religion were animal fable and a erude mythology. and they had many ceremonial observanees, anniversaries, etc. The Fox Indians practiced agriculture in a primitive way, raising corn, beans, tobacco, squashes and some other vegetables. In a few cases some big chief or warrior of note would be permitted to have more than one squaw, but polygamous marriages were the exception rather than the rule.
Two of the greatest chiefs in the history of the North American
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HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
Indians belonged to the allied tribes of the Saes and Foxes. They were Black Hawk and Keokuk, both born of Sae parents, but recog- nized as chiefs by the Foxes. Black Hawk was a warrior and Keokuk was a politician. The latter never played any considerable part in the history of Illinois.
THE BLACK HAWK WAR
Black Hawk, whose Indian name was Ma-ka-ta-wi-me-sha-ka-ka. was born at the Sac village on the Roek River in 1767. His father. Py-e-sa, was a direct descendant of Nan-a-ma-kee ("Thinder) and Black Hawk was therefore a member of the Thunder elan. Accord- ing to tribal tradition, Nan-a-ma-kee had been intrusted by the Great Spirit with the great medieine bag of the Sae nation and instructed to keep it always within the elan. When Black Hawk was about nine- teen years old his father was killed in an encounter with the Cherokee Indians and the youth thus became the custodian of the sacred medi- eine bag. This medieine bag had never been disgraced, and to prepare himself for the duty of preserving it unsullied Black Hawk took no part in the military affairs of his people for about five years, although he had been trained in the arts of war by his father and had already distinguished himself upon the field of battle. The five years were spent in praying to the Great Spirit to endow him with the necessary strength and wisdom to perform his duty. During that period he would frequently go to the promontory near his home on the Rock River. where he would pass hours at a time smoking and meditating. The promontory is still called "Black Hawk's Watch Tower."
On November 3, 1804. Gen. William H. Harrison, then governor of the Indiana Territory, negotiated a treaty at St. Louis with some of the minor chiefs of the Saes and Foxes, by which the eonfederated tribes ceded their lands east of the Mississippi River to the United States. retaining the privilege of dwelling thereon until the lands were actually taken up by white settlers, when they were to remove to a new reservation west of the Mississippi River. There was a great deal of dissatisfaction among a large element of the Saes and Foxes over the terms of this treaty. It was then the custom for these tribes to instruet their chiefs or delegates to a treaty couneil in advance as to what course was to be pursued, or afterward confirm the action of such chiefs or delegates by a vote. Some of the Indians claimed that the chief's who attended the conneil at St. Louis had no definite in- structions to sell the lands east of the Mississippi, and a portion of
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HISTORY OF STARK COUNTY
the allied tribes, under the leadership of Black Hawk, refused to confirm their action.
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