USA > Illinois > Vermilion County > History of Vermilion County, Illinois : a tale of its evolution, settlement and progress for nearly a century, Volume I > Part 2
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A letter written by Count Frontenac, Governor of Quebec, to M. Colbert, Minister of the Navy at Paris, described Sieur Louis Joliet as a man of great experience in these sorts of discoveries, who already has been almost to that.
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
river, the mouth of which he promises to see. Joliet had previous to this time made several discoveries, among them being that of Lake Erie. Louis Joliet was a man of much learning, having been educated for a priest; but his love of adventure had proven stronger than his love of study and his interest in the life and affairs of the Indian deeper than either, so that life in the wilderness had lured the monk from the cloister.
Father Jacques Marquette, the devout and zealous priest, makes his own record, that upon receiving his appointment to accompany Joliet he was "enrap- tured at the good news of seeing my design on the point of being accomplished, and myself in the happy necessity of exposing my life for the salvation of all these nations, and particularly for the salvation of the Illini who had very earnestly entreated me to carry the word of God to their country."
These "Illini" were among the different tribes of Indians who traded at the Mission of the Holy Ghost on Lake Superior, of which Father Marquette had charge as he wrote concerning the Mississippi river. It is to this religious fervor that the country north of the Ohio river and east of the Mississippi river is indebted for being made known to the civilized world at this time. It is true that the interests of trade determined this expedition to a great extent, yet it would hardly have been accomplished had it not been for the enthusiasm of the men to carry the privileges of their church to the benighted heathen.
The devout priest who was seeking the salvation of the souls of the redmen to the glory of his church, had braved every personal danger in pushing across the wilderness to the Great Lakes, and it was one of these men who says he "was enraptured at the opportunity for 'exposing his life' in this continued service."
Unlike any other country, America has been conquered by the cross, rather than the sword. Freedom to worship God according to the dictates of his conscience brought the Puritan to the eastern coast; a desire to save the souls of the native, led the Jesuit priests into the wilderness of the Mississippi valley. Joliet and Marquette met at the Mission of St. Ignatius, at Michilimakinac. Marquette had two years previous to this time established this Mission of St. Ignatius. It was not on the Island of Mackinac, but on the point of land west of the island, extending from the north shore into the strait. The place is now called Point St. Ignace. Here the two men made ready for their journey. On May 17, 1673, they left the Mission of St. Ignatius and crossed Lake Michigan to the mouth of the Fox river. 'Ascending this stream as far as it was navigable, they carried their canoes across to the Wisconsin river. This carrying place, or portage as the French called it, is now marked by Portage City, in Wisconsin. Rowing down the Wisconsin river this little party found themselves entering the Mississippi river-the first white men upon the upper waters of the mighty stream. Their delight is told by Marquette in his Journal as "a joy I can not express."
De Soto had discovered the Mississippi river near its mouth, one hundred and thirty odd years before this time, but as yet Spain had neglected to take advantage of the discovery. Joliet and Marquette, with their Indian oarsmen and guide, explored the river to within a ten days' journey of its mouth, encountering various adventures. When they reached a point at about a league from the
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mouth of the Arkansas river, they were satisfied with what they had learned about the great waterway and retraced their steps. They had found that the Mississippi river did not lead through Virginia nor yet into California, but into the Gulf of Mexico. They had also satisfied themselves that it was not the much sought quick way to the Orient.
Returning up the Mississippi, Marquette became too ill to proceed, so they left their boats at the mouth of the Illinois river. Taking the advice of the natives when they were ready to continue their journey, they took the quicker route, going up that river. This change in their plans brought them within the boundaries of what is now the state of Illinois. The coming into this territory is the beginning of authentic history of the commonwealth of which Vermilion County is a part. Marquette makes record of this journey up the Illinois river by saying: "We had seen nothing like this river for the fertility of its land, its prairies, wood, wild cattle, stag, deer, swan, ducks, parrots and even beaver; its many lakes and rivers."
The vast stretch of prairie over which the eye roamed to the sky line, with its waving grass, presented a picture as beautiful and as awe-inspiring as must have been the outlook to the pilgrims in mid-ocean or the first sight of the Great Lakes to the white man. The soft sunshine, the gentle breeze, burdened with the fragrance of innumerable flowers, the gay winged insects, the water fowl, the singing birds, all lent charm to the scene. The buffalo and deer, not yet having been taught to fear the white man, came to the river's brink to satisfy their thirst. It was indeed a goodly land to look upon. These explorers ascended the Illinois river to where Peoria is now located where they found the large Indian village of Kaskaskia. Here they paused, and Father Marquette established a mission among the Indians. This mission, after more than two and a quarter centuries, yet exists, having been moved when the village was moved, to near the mouth of the Kaskaskia (Okaw) river. The Mississippi river changed its course, so that Kaskaskia is now an island in its waters, completely cut off from the Illinois shore. But the mission established by Marquette, remains the same in name and location.
Joliet and Marquette parted company after they left the village of Kaskaskia and Joliet returned directly to Quebec, where he made his report of the expedition, telling the direction and extent of the Mississippi river, as well as telling of the Illini country. The civilized world first learned through this report of the exist- ence of this great waterway, and of the fertile land in the heart of the new continent. The later explorations of Joliet, or missionary work of Marquette, in no way influences the section whose history is here being given. The glowing report of Joliet aroused public interest which crystalized into the subsequent plans of La Salle, who with the invincible Tonti, explored the Mississippi to its mouth a few years later and formally declared the entire Mississippi valley a part of France. The plans of La Salle included a chain of forts from Quebec to New Orleans. To this end he fortified Fort St. Louis (now known by the name of Starved Rock) and also attempted to plant colonies at the Gulf and, but for his untimely death, might have built a permanent New France in America.
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The New France, as recognized, included the vast domain north of the Ohio river and east of the Mississippi river. This territory is often spoken of as the country of the Illinois or the Illini, but in reality the country of the Illini was restricted on the east by that ridge which divides the tributaries of the Illinois river from those of the Wabash river. Such being the case, that territory now known as Vermilion County was never a part of the country of the Illini, and only in a general way, as being a part of the country north of the Ohio river and east of the Mississippi, seeks the beginning of its history in the discoveries of Joliet and Marquette. In truth Vermilion County is a part of the Wabash valley, belonged to the Wabash country, and must look for its early history in the story of that section.
Four years before the exploration of Joliet and Marquette, it is said, La Salle set out from Montreal upon an expedition into the far country to the southwest. Unfortunately, the account of this journey is among the records that have been lost since the middle of the eighteenth century. No official account can now be found of the two years following La Salle's leaving Montreal, upon this, his first journey. There is a memorandum in existence which states that "after leaving Lake Erie six or seven leagues distant, he came to a stream which he descended to the River Ohio," but no mention is made of the name of this stream. It is, however, highly probable that it was along the historic Wabash (or Oubache, as the Indians called that river), that La Salle made his way to the Ohio. Later, the French had a favored route from Lake Erie, via the Maumee and Wabash rivers to the Ohio river.
Granted that La Salle paddled his canoe down the Wabash river in 1669, and, by the right of discovery, has the prior claim to this section, and that the Wabash valley was made known through records now lost, conditions here remain about the same. La Salle's discovery made the Wabash valley a part of the same government as had claim to the Illinois country through the explorations of the Mississippi river by Joliet and Marquette.
The later exploration of the Mississippi river by La Salle himself, following in the lead of Joliet and Marquette, put this entire country of the Mississippi valley into New France, and the only question arises is whether history of the section which embraces what is now called Vermilion County, Illinois, begins in 1669, when La Salle is supposed to have discovered the Wabash valley, or in 1673 when Joliet and Marquette are known to have discovered the Illinois country, or yet later, in 1680 when La Salle formally took possession of the country drained by the great Mississippi river in the name of the king of France. But it matters little whether this section belonged to the careless monarch, whose interests in New France it was impossible to arouse, a few years sooner or later, for what possible effect could it have had upon the people whose homes were here at that time? What cared the dusky subjects who roamed the banks of the Vermilion and its tributaries, fought others of their race because of real or fancied wrongs, whether or not far away an indifferent France did or did not own the soil during this decade in the seventeenth century !
The journey down the Wabash must have been similar to that made by Joliet and Marquette, up the Illinois. Vast forests lined the banks, beyond which the grass waved on the Wea Plains and other prairies of Indiana. Singing birds in
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the tree tops, wild game coming in places to the river's brink, the ripple of the placid stream-all were the counterpart of that other journey made with the Lilies of France unfurled to the breeze of the new West on the Illinois river.
Whether Vermilion County, as a part of the state of Illinois, or a part of the Wabash Valley, was first explored, the fact is undisputed, it owes its discovery to the French and was made known to the civilized world through the records of the French government.
CHAPTER II. THE ORIGINAL PROPRIETORS OF WHAT IS NOW KNOWN AS VERMILION COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
THE AMERICAN INDIAN-THE TWO GREAT NATIONS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER -ORIGIN OF THE IROQUOIS-THE ALGONQUINS THE FRIEND OF THE FRENCH- THE IROQUOIS THE FRIEND OF THE BRITISH-THE MIAMI CONFEDERACY-THE ILLINI NEARLY RELATED TO THE MIAMIS THE PIANKESHAWS A TRIBE OF THE MIAMI CONFEDERACY-THE HABITS OF THE MIAMIS-THE PIANKESHAWS ALONG THE WABASH RIVER-THE KICKAPOOS-THEIR VILLAGES IN THIS SEC- TION-THE PEACE MEDAL THE KICKAPOO TREATIES-THE POTTOWATOMIES THE LAST TO LEAVE THIS TERRITORY-THE REMOVAL OF THE POTTOWATOMIES IN 1838-THE PASSING OF THE INDIAN.
When the Western Continent was discovered a new race of people was found. As the eastern coast was explored and colonized the natives proved to be quite similar, differing when at all, in degree of appearance and characteristics. Be- cause the discovery of America was made, in although a futile yet an earnest search for a shorter route to India, these natives were called Indians. Later, when it was learned that a new country instead of India had been found, the natives were distinguished by the name of American Indians. This new race was found to inhabit the entire new land from the Gulf of Mexico to the country north of the Great Lakes, and from the Atlantic ocean to the Mississippi river, and westward to the Rocky mountains.
In appearance the people of this newly found race were pleasing. They were tall, straight and well proportioned; of a copper-colored skin, long coarse and perfectly straight hair; strong features with high cheek-bones, and had black, piercing, expressive eyes. Bodily deformity was unknown and, until they adopted the vices of the Europeans, but little diseases prevailed among them. They had vigorous constitutions and astonishing powers of endurance.
One writer in the early times who had lived with them, summed up their characteristics in these words: "They were indolent, taciturn, and unsocial; brave and sometimes generous in war; unflinching under bodily torture; re- vengeful, treacherous, and morose when injured or offended; not always grateful for favors ; grave and sagacious in council; often eloquent in speech ; sometimes warm and constant in friendship, and occasionally courteous and polite."
While the American Indian from Florida to the Rocky mountains spoke a variety of dialects, there were, perhaps, not more than eight radically distinct
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languages among them. All the races were more or less nomadic in their habits, yet each tribe had its own territory as a habitat. The migration of the American Indian was from the west to the east, and generally, with a tendency toward a southern direction. The white man came into America and went from the east to the west; the red man went from the west to the east.
Nothing is really known of the origin of the race-all theories so far advanced lacked satisfactory substantiation, and become but conjecture. One fact alone remains undisputed, and that is the direction whence they came. In most of the tribes there was a legend, handed down from one generation to another of "having come from the shore of the great sea, far to the setting sun," without doubt meaning the Pacific ocean. As the white man explored the territory east of the Mississippi river, two great families of Indians were found. These families were known as the Algonquins and the Iroquois. They in turn were divided into many tribes or clans, each with a different name. These two families were to the white man, apparently, distinct people. They were antagonistic, and irrevocably sworn enemies. While the Algonquins were the more numerous, the Iroquois were the dominant nation. This, according to Indian tradition, had not always been the case, however. Long before the Europeans came to the new world, the Iroquois were a peaceful people. Their principal village was on the northern side of the lakes about where Montreal is now situated. They made "the planting of corn their business," and were under a sort of subjection to the Adirondacks. Adirondack was the Iroquois name for Algonquin, and was supposed to be the source of all the tribes con- sidered a part of the Algonquin family. The habitat of the Adirondacks sur- rounded the village of the Iroquois. Naturally the Adirondacks despised the Iroquois who had as their business, work "fit only for women." The 'Adirondacks delighted in the more manly employment of hunting, and going to war with other tribes.
As time went by, however, the game grew scarce and wandered further, and was more difficult to get and the Adirondacks felt the need of help from the young men of the Iroquois. So they induced these peaceable people to join them in the chase. An unforseen condition arose. The young Iroquois became more expert than their teachers in the hunt and showed a greater power of endurance of fatigue. This aroused the hatred of the Adirondacks, and one night they murdered the young men of the Iroquois whom they had with them. The chief of the Iroquois complained but they were treated with contempt. The Adiron- dacks had no fear of the Iroquois, thinking they were but "as women." At last the Iroquois were aroused to action and they determined upon revenge. The Adirondacks hearing this, declared war. The Iroquois were defeated, and forced from their country to the south side of the Lakes. Here they ever afterward lived, but they were a changed people. They had learned to fight, and in time they became a powerful nation. They formed a strong confederacy afterward called the Five and later the Six Nations. Their habitat was through what is now the State of New York. Living as they did in the midst of their old enemies, the Adirondacks, they yet became their conquerors. The Iroquois went east into New England, and west as far as the "Country of the Illini," subjugating
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
other tribes from whom they constantly exacted tribute. The Iroquois have fittingly been called the "Romans of the Western World."
The Algonquins, through their various tribes, inhabited the vast territory now included in all of Canada, New England, a part of New York and Pennsylvania, all of the States of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, eastern North Carolina north of Cape Fear, a large portion of Kentucky, and Tennessee, and all north and west of these States, east of the Mississippi river.
The early settlers of New England, the Dutch coming to the Hudson river, and the French discovering the St. Lawrence river, all found the Algonquins in possession of this part of the country. Those on the Hudson river early were made subject to the Iroquois. When Champlain established Quebec, he found the Algonquins very friendly. They were as usual making ready to fight their perpetual enemy, the Iroquois. Champlain taught them the use of the white man's arms and himself led them to victory in a memorable battle on the lake since called by his name. This act, simple as it seemed in itself, determined the history of 'America. The undying hatred of the French, on the part of the Iroquois, was aroused. They became the perpetual enemy of the Frenchman and all of his friends, and interests. Through their compact with the Dutch, which was inherited by their conquerors, the English, the Iroquois were always sworn to the interests of Great Britain, and were ever their allies. They held themselves a steady barrier to French invasion of New England, and were an aid to the colonies on the coast. On the other hand, the Algonquins were as loyal friends to the French, and their good will made the exploration of the representatives of this nation westward possible and their possession of the Mississippi Valley a matter of course.
The territory now known as Vermilion County, Illinois, was the home of the confederacies of the Algonquin family called the Miamis, with later the Kicka- poos, and Pottowatomies, with temporary occupancy by scattered bands of Shawnees and Delawares. The eastern limit of the possessions of the Illini was the ridge which divides the waters of the tributaries of the Illinois river from those of the Wabash river. The Miami Confederacy is the earliest known occupant of this section of country. The Miamis were without doubt origi- nally a branch of the great Illinois Nation. Their claim to relationship of the two made by earliest writers is agreed to by no less authority than Gen. William Henry Harrison, whose long official connection with both the Illinois and the Miamis, gives his theories great weight.
The separation of the tribes which took place before the white man explored the upper Mississippi river, and by the time of occupancy seemed to be com- plete. This separation was, indeed so complete that in the wars waged against the Illini by the Iroquois, the Sacs and Foxes, and other enemies, the Miamis never made offer of assistance, yet there were the best of reasons to believe they were one family originally. Their language, manners and customs were so nearly identical, that little doubt can exist that they were at one time the same nation. According to their own tradition, the Miamis and the Illinois as well, came, originally, from the Pacific ocean. Their first permanent stopping place of which the white man has knowledge, was at the Des Moines river. Here they separated. The migrations of the Miamis from the west of the Mississippi
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
river eastward, can be followed readily through the mass of records handed down from the missionaries, travelers and officers connected with the French. Their travel extended through what is now Wisconsin, and northern Illinois around the southern end of Lake Michigan, to Detroit and thence up the Maumee river and down the Wabash river and eastward through Indiana, and Ohio as far as the Great Miami river.
. Father Claude Dablon made a visit to a Miami village on the Fox river in 1670, and writes of the natives in a letter preserved in the Jesuit Relations of 1670 and 1671. He calls them the "Oumaimi, one of the Illinois Nation, which is, as it were, dismembered from the others in order to dwell in these quarters." He describes the Miami chief in these words: "The physiogomy of the chief, Telmchonia, was as mild and as attractive as any one could desire to see, and, while his reputation as a warrior, was great, his features bore a softness which charmed all those who beheld him. He never spoke to his subjects, but imparted his orders through some of his officers." This pen picture of a man whose subjects, and maybe relatives, lived in this section of country where we now have our homes, is interesting to us, but must not confuse us into thinking his people were without the well known characteristics of the savage of the plains.
The Miami Confederacy consisted of the Miamis proper, the Weas, and the Piankeshaws. This confederacy was known to the Iroquois and was often called "Twight-wees" by them.
The Miamis proper are known to have been at what is now the city of Fort Wayne, in charge of the portage at that place, as early as 1699, and a few years later the Weas are described as having their fort and cultivated fields on the plains below what is now the city of LaFayette, in Indiana. This section is even yet known as the Wea plains.
When the French first explored the Wabash river, they found the Pianke- shaws in possession of the land on either side of that stream from its mouth to the Vermilion river. A part, at least, of this territory, was ceded to the Dela- wares, who, in turn, in 1804, made a session of it to the United States.
From the time the white man came into this country of the Illini (or Illinois) its eastern limit was known to be the ridge which divides the waters flowing into the Illinois river from the streams which drain into the Wabash river. This same ridge was the western limit of the country of the Miamis.
There is no room for doubt that the earliest proprietors of the territory which is now Vermilion County, were the Miamis, or, to be yet more explicit, the first people known to have owned these fields and streams, these prairies and timber, belonged to the Piankeshaw tribe, of the Miami Confederacy. The superior number of the Miamis and their great valor enabled them to extend the limit of their hunting grounds eastward into Ohio, and far within the territory of the Iroquois. Unlike the Illini, the Miamis held their own until they were placed upon an equal footing with the tribes eastward by obtaining possession of firearms with which they were able to maintain their tribal integrity and inde- pendence. Again, unlike the Illini, they did not keep faith with the French. They traded and fought with the French, English and Americans as their inter- ests or passions inclined ; they made peace or declared war against other nations of their own race, as policy or caprice dictated. More than once they compelled
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
the arrogant Iroquois to beg, from the governor of New York, that protection which they, themselves, had failed to secure by their own prowess.
The Miamis became bold and independent, and did not appeal to the French as an attractive field for missionary work. As a result of this, the Jesuit Rela- tions and pastoral letters of the priesthood have less to say of this Confederacy than of any of the other western tribes, the Kickapoos alone excepted.
Trade with the Miamis was sought with great eagerness, by both the French and the English. This involved wars between the Miamis and the Iroquois and constant reduction of their numbers.
After the French were driven from the Mississippi Valley, the Miamis were compelled to defend their title from the arrogant claims of the British. They took a conspicuous part in the conspiracy of Pontiac. This conspiracy failed, and Pontiac went to Fort Chartres which he kept from the actual possession of the British for two years. The cessation of hostilities, and the transfer of Fort Chartres to the British, was secured through a conference between Pontiac and George Croghan, Department Superintendent of Indian Affairs. This conference was held within the country of the Miamis. Croghan and Pontiac met on the familiar trail, which crosses the southern part of Vermilion County. This trail crossed the southeast corner of the town of Sidell and it is even yet distinctly discernible in the northwestern part of Edgar County where it has been marked by a tablet.
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