USA > Illinois > Vermilion County > History of Vermilion County, Illinois : a tale of its evolution, settlement and progress for nearly a century, Volume I > Part 7
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William Henry Harrison was appointed governor of the territory of Indiana at the time of its organization, in 1800, and not only that but he was made general Indian agent for that territory which extended to the Mississippi river on the west, and to the line of the state of Ohio on the east. This territory held the most numerous and most populous Indian tribes west of the Mississippi river.
William Henry Harrison served his country in many and various ways, and at last was given the highest honor the nation can confer upon any one yet no where did he render greater service than in the official dealings he had as super- intendent of Indian affairs. He extinguished the title of the Indians to a greater part of the territory in Indiana and Illinois and in all his dealings with them his conduct was marked by a kindness and fair dealing which won him their con- fidence and esteem. His correspondence, both official and private, well shows that he had a tender regard for, and understanding of, the unfortunate race and a desire to protect their rights against the designs of the unscrupulous white man. At the same time he was as anxious to shield the white man from the aggressions of the Indian. It is said that Governor Harrison, while in this of- ficial capacity, was acquainted with almost every prominent chief of the many tribes within his jurisdiction, and by his tact and honest dealing he attracted many of the leading savages to bonds of closest friendship.
It was during his term as superintendent of Indian affairs that he was in- strumental in securing the treaty by which the coveted strip of land, now known as the Harrison Purchase, was ceded to the United States. This land, a por- tion of which lies within the boundary of what is now Vermilion County, was long coveted by Harrison, but it was not until the treaty held at Fort Wayne, September 30th, 1809, that it was obtained. This land was run out in 1810, but, because of the trouble with the Indians at that time, nothing more was done then.
This preliminary survey was made by John McDonald, of Vincennes, who was probably the first man who ever set a surveyor's compass thus far up the Wabash. Events quickly followed which led to the battle of Tippecanoe and the war of 1812, during all of which time the enmity of the savages kept the settlements of southern Illinois and Indiana in constant peril and held back im- migration. After the close of the war the Harrison Purchase was surveyed and the hardy pioneer took possession.
This, however, opened up but a small portion of what is now Vermilion County. It was not until the treaty of 1819, made at Edwardsville, Illinois, on the thirtieth day of July, between the United States and the Kickapoo Indians, that the territory therein described of which Vermilion County is a part, was surveyed and opened to the occupancy of the white man.
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The territory ceded at this time was bounded as follows :- Beginning at the northwest corner of the Vincennes tract (about twenty miles northwest of Vin- cennes), thence northeasterly to the dividing line between the states of Indiana and Illinois, thence along said line to the Kankakee river; thence with said river to the Illinois river; thence down the latter to the mouth; thence with a direct line to the northwest corner of the Vincennes tract, the place of beginning. The language of his treaty recites that, "said Kickapoo tribe claims a large portion by descent from their ancestors, and the balance by conquest from the Illinois nation and undisputed possession for more than half a century."
This new territory was duly surveyed and became the undisputed property of the white man. When this survey was made the fact was discovered that there was a discrepancy between it and the survey of the Harrison Purchase, of three- quarters of a mile. Because of this fact, there is a dip of that extent in the lower part of not only this county but of those south as far as the territory of the Purchase goes.
THE HARRISON PURCHASE.
Any map of Vermilion county shows an odd extension of irregular shape on the south side, very near to the eastern border. This extension looks as though a wedge-shaped piece of land had been attempted to have been driven into the county, and did not get entirely in. Following the lines marking the east and west boundaries of this wedge, they are found to meet at a little east of Ridge Farm. The area included in this boundary is that part of the Harrison Purchase which falls within Vermilion County. When William Henry Harrison, who was at that time the Superintendent of Indian affairs of the Indiana Teritory, had arranged the purchase of the land he so much desired for the United States and had concluded the treaty with the Delawares, the Kickapoos, the Pottowatomies, the Miamis and the Eel River Indians, at Fort Wayne, September 30, 1809, he came back to locate the new possession. He and the selected Indians met at a certain rock in a grove a little to the east of what is now Ridge Farm. Knowing nothing of the use of the compass, the Indians stipulated that the line bounding the east of the tract should run in the direction of the sun at ten o'clock in the morning, and that the western boundary line should run in the direction of the sun at one o'clock in the afternoon. The agreement was that such territory as fell within the boundary of the extent of a man's riding in two days and a half, would be included in this purchase. All the requirements were met and, it is said, that on the return trip, the grove from which the riders started was their pilot back. It was the only grove of trees in that part of the country and it safely piloted them back, and was for that reason called Pilot Grove.
The west line of this tract of land extends south and west, passing through Marshall, the east line crosses the Wabash at the mouth of Raccoon Creek, below Newport, Indiana, and continues north and east of Terre Haute. The easterly line of this survey has always been called the "ten o'clock line" and the westerly boundary the "one o'clock line" by old settlers and early surveyors. Near the north side of the Harrison Purchase lay a very fertile section which early attracted settlement, and was known as the North 'A'rm Prairie. This was the source of the early settlement of Vermilion County. On account of the
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HISTORY OF VERMILION COUNTY
difference in the survey of the Harrison Purchase and the later U. S. survey of three quarters of a mile, the boundary lines of Vermilion and Edgar Counties on the south, and Edgar and Clark Counties on the north, have always been irregular.
SECOND SURVEY.
That small portion of the "Harrison Purchase" which extended into Vermilion County was the only part of this territory which was surveyed up to 1821. After the treaty made at Edwardsville, July 30, 1819, which forever extinguished the claim of the Indians, the United States surveyors came. Unlike their prede- cessors, the Indians, their work was to be permanent; it was to last through all time, and to be a law to all future dwellers in the land. The lines, as then fixed and marked by these surveyors, are the lines which now divide the townships and farms of the county and which determine its boundaries, and the location of its public roads. A detailed account of the first surveys of Vermilion County has been secured from the General Land Office at Washington, and is as folows:
Beginning with Tp. 23, R. 14 W. it is found that E. Steen recorded survey in November 18, 1882.
Township 22, R. 14 W. is the same.
Township 21, R. 14 W. is recorded by John Messinger, June 13, 1821.
Township 20, R. 14 W. is recorded by James Thompson, August 23, 1821.
Townships 19, 18, and 17, R. 14 W. are the same as Tp. 20, R. 14 W.
Townships 23 and 22, R. 13 W. are recorded by E. Steen, November 18, 1822. Township 21, R. 14 W. is recorded by J. Messinger, June 13, 1821.
Township 20, R. 14 W. is recorded by Beal Greenup, July 5, 1821.
Townships 19, 18, and 17, R. 13 W. are recorded in the same way.
Townships 21, 22, and 23, R. 12 W. are recorded by E. Steen, November 18, 1822.
Townships 17, 18, 19, and 20, are recorded by Joseph Borough, September 12, 1821.
Townships 21, 22, and 23, R. II W. are recorded by W. L. Hamilton and Elias Rector, December 3, 1822.
Townships 17, 18, 19, and 20, are recorded by J. B. McCall, November 12, 1822.
In making these surveys these men marked the section corners by throwing up mounds of earth around stakes which had been charred in the camp fire, and driven into the ground, and they were left so well marked that other sur- veyors easily found them after many years.
CHAPTER VIII. EARLY MILITARY INVASION OF VERMILION COUNTY.
INVASION BY SPANISH TROOPS-OBJECT OF THIS MARCH ACROSS THE STATE OF ILLINOIS-EVIDENCE OF THIS COMPANY OF SOLDIERS CROSSING VERMILION COUNTY-ILLINOIS RANGERS-THE COMMAND UNDER GEN. SAMUEL HOPKINS- GEN. HOPKINS' ARMY A. BAND OF UNDISCIPLINED MEN-REGIMENT, A MOB ON RETREAT- CANNON BALL FOUND IN BLUFF OF MIDDLE FORK RIVER-WHAT DOES IT PROVE?
After the close of the Revolutionary war, there was an invasion of the North- west Territory made by Spanish troops who crossed the state and came into what is now Vermilion County. The point toward which these troops were marching was the British fort at the mouth of the St. Joseph river near the south end of Lake Michigan. Whether any more important results were con- templated than a temporary possession of this fort, has never been known. The land west of the Mississippi river, since known as the Louisiana Purchase, at that time belonged to Spain. St. Louis was its capital. It was from this point that the invasion was made.
On January 2, 1781, a small army of perhaps one hundred and fifty men under a Spanish officer crossed the Mississippi river on their way to march across the state of Illinois. This army was about equally divided between white men and Indians, while the white men were about half Frenchmen and half Spanish soldiers. Their objective point was the nearest fort which yet floated the flag of Great Britain. This was old Fort St. Joseph, located in southern Michigan. The only possible motive for this expedition was the hatred of the Spanish for Great Britain, and this was an echo of the trouble in the old country between these two, at that time, important European powers which were at war with each other. The march was started in mid-winter. Since the waterways were frozen, the march must be made by land, and since they did not dare venture on the prairies because of the extreme cold winds and the danger of losing their way, their line of travel was along the banks of the streams. It is not exactly known what trail they took, but it is agreed by all writers that they left the state at about where Danville now is, going thence in a northerly direction, to South Bend, Indiana. This distance of four hundred miles in the dead of winter must have occasioned much suffering. Although this coming of a foreign people had no effect upon affairs of this section, a natural interest in them makes a record of their after course admissible here.
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This impoverished Spanish army was under command of Don Eugenie Pourre. They surprised Fort St. Joseph, and captured it without trouble. Hauling down the flag of Great Britain and hoisting that of Spain, they took up their triumphal march back to St. Louis, whence they sent word of the cap- tured territory to Spain. It took a year to get the report to Spain, and no important results were ever recorded of this expedition. It might be that this was one link in a chain which Spain was forging to gain possession of more land in America; it may be that Vermilion County at that time really stood in danger of becoming a part of Spain in the new world, and had it not been for the clear vision and firm stand taken by Jay, Franklin and Adams this heroic march across this section would have proven a decisive act to that end.
As a proof that this particular section lay in the way of this march, the finding of two cannon balls in a valley a few miles west of Danville, has been cited. These cannon balls found some years ago about where the old Kickapoo village once stood, were in the range of any small piece of artillery planted on the nearby hills, and they are considered by some writers to be a relic of this expedition, but it seems with little reason, a more reasonable accounting for their presence is the fact of a later invasion of the section by Gen. Hopkins' army.
It must be remembered that, at the close of the war of the Revolution, and until after the war of 1812, the northern and western frontiers suffered a great deal at the hands of the Indians who were instigated to utmost cruelty by the remnants of the representatives of Great Britain. Although defeated at the first war Great Britain was not convinced that 'America was a lost province, until after the second war. The Indians in the Wabash valley were particularly hostile. Western Indiana and eastern Illinois comprised a section where life was always in danger. The massacre at Fort Dearborn occurred less than two months after war had been declared with Great Britain in 1812, and aroused the people of the Illinois Territory. Governor Edwards gathered and organized a force of Illinois Rangers at Camp Russell, near Edwardsville into two regiments, placing these troops under the command of Col. Russell of the regular army.
Another available force was the two thousand mounted riflemen of Kentucky who were under the command of Gen. Samuel Hopkins, a veteran Revolutionary officer. These troops were in camp at Vincennes. To effect the best results it was agreed that the forces should act in concert to the end of destroying Indian villages in this terrorized section. Gen. Hopkins was to move up the Wabash river to Fort Harrison, burning Indian towns and driving the refugees before him. Then he was to cross the Wabash river into Illinois Territory, march across the Grand Prairie to the Illinois river at Peoria Lake, where he would be met by Gen. Russell and Gov. Edwards, the united forces to annihilate the Indians along the Illinois river. The plan was a good one for the men who were hunting what they considered wild animals that were a menace to the life of human beings. However, this campaign has gone down in history as a cruel attempt to wanton murder of many who were perfectly innocent, and is equaled only by records of revolting massacres on the part of the wildest savages themselves. The unnecessary cruelties perpetrated at La Pe, reflects anything but credit to the Illinois Rangers. La Pe was a French and Indian village, upon the site of which the present city of Peoria is built. Its people were in no
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way hostile. Yet the traders, voyageurs, Indians and even the agent, who was a loyal and confidential officer of the government, were all compelled to watch their village as it was burning, and then to march many miles from their homes to be left to wander back to their desecrated town, and accept what remained of it as best they could. This is but one instance of this onesided warfare. General Hopkins was chagrined because of the refusal of his troops to proceed after the fourth day's march, yet that disgrace was not more lasting than was the other obedience to orders which in themselves were a reflection on the manhood of the commanding officers. Had Gen. Hopkins and his men gone on and par- ticipated in the cowardly conduct of the Illinois Rangers, history would have given them an even less glorious place.
This army under command of Gen. Hopkins was composed of an aggregation of undisciplined men, enlisted as they believed to defend their own borders of Kentucky alone. Discontent arose before they left Vincennes at the idea of going into the interior of the territory, and it increased as they proceeded until, at Fort Harrison, some of the men broke off and returned home. After this, harmony appeared to prevail until they reached the Grand Prairie, when the silence necessary to an army in an enemy's country was broken, the abundant game tempting the men to straggle, and a constant firing ensued in spite of the commands of Gen. Hopkins himself. It was the rainy season, there were no competent guides to be had, they lost their way, and confusion prevailed only short of insubordination. When they encamped for the night of the fourth day out in a grove of timber affording water, the Indians in front set fire to the prairie grass which compelled the soldiers to fire the grass around the camp for protection. This was the last test of the endurance of the troops, and the officers determined to disobey the orders of Gen. Hopkins, and return to their homes. They agreed to his dictated order of return march, he, thinking he could destroy some Indian villages on the way, but the men broke through all restraint, the regiment became a mob, and each man chose the way he desired. The actual line of march taken by these troops is determined only by the direction and the distance known to have been traveled. Knowing the direction of these troops and the distance traveled, the decision of whence came the cannon balls found on the bluffs of the Middle Fork in 1869 is more readily made.
Judge Cunningham, in his history of Champaign County, gives as his opinion, and adds reasonable proof, that the grove with water "which fixed their camp on October 19th, was the Big Grove on the Salt Fork timber, and that the prairie, which then skirted it, was the scene of the brave old General's discom- fiture. " That being the case, there is little doubt that the old Kickapoo village within "one and a half miles" of the old salt springs, was devastated by these very troops. While cutting down an abrupt bluff of the Middle Fork of the Vermilion river, ten miles west of Danville for the passage of the Indiana, Bloomington & Western Railway in 1869, the workmen took from the loose shalc composing the bluff, two cannon balls of iron, each about three inches in diameter, which balls were in the possession of the late Hon. H. W. Beckwith previous to his death. There was no one able to account for their presence in that bluff. The only reasonable assumption appears to be that these balls were thrown from light field pieces which Gen. Hopkins' army carried with them.
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The only other armed force which ever passed this way was the Spaniards who came in 1781. If this army did pass near the Indian village it is hardly possible that it carried guns of sufficient caliber to have thrown these balls where they were found. Gen. Hopkins made his campaign in the early autumn when transportation across the country was comparatively easy, the distance from Fort Harrison, his base of supplies, being not more than eighty miles. His object was the destruction of Indian villages and the Kickapoo village was here where the cannon balls were found. Furthermore, General Hopkins had a force of 2,000 well-armed and mounted men while the Spanish force did not exceed 150 men and officers combined, who were on a long winter march and were provided, we must conclude, with nothing to impede the work in hand, which it must be borne in mind was to surprise and capture a force much smaller than their own, protected only by a weak stockade.
HOUSE BUILT BY FRANCIS WHITCOMB Still standing in Catlin
CHAPTER IX.
FIRST SETTLEMENTS.
THE FIRST SETTLEMENT WAS MADE AT THE SALT SPRINGS-THE NEXT WERE MADE AT BUTLER'S POINT AND JOHNSON'S POINT-BROOK'S POINT-MORGAN'S-THE M'DONALD NEIGHBORHOOD-YANKEE POINT AND QUAKER POINT-THE LITTLE VERMILION-VERMILION AND ELWOOD-WALKER'S POINT-DANVILLE; WHEN SETTLED-THE LE NEVE SETTLEMENT- SETTLEMENTS ON THE MIDDLE FORK OF THE BIG VERMILION-MOTIVES FOR SETTLEMENTS-DIRECTION WHENCE SET- TLERS CAME.
The first settlement made in Vermilion County was at the Salt Springs. This settlement was made while yet the springs were a part of Edgar County. Joseph Barron discovered the salt springs on the Vermilion and returned to Fort Har- rison to take out necessary papers that he might immediate develop them. While he was gone, Truman Blackman, who had been one of his party organized an- other party and made an expedition to the same place that he might claim the discovery. When Blackman himself returned to make out his papers, he left two men to stay in possession until the third could come back with his family and make a settlement. Francis Whitcomb and the two Beckwiths, who were left at the springs were all single men and can not be counted as settlers until after the coming of Seymour Treat who was gone after his family.
In the later patr of November, 1819, Seymour Treat arrived at the Springs with his wife and family, bringing his household goods, the first settler of what is now known as Vermilion County. Seymour Treat had been here before, he having been one of the party who came with Truman Blackman, and returned to Fort Harrison for his family and tools to develop the salt works. He came up the Wabash river to the mouth of the Vermilion river and thence to the springs in a pirogue. This way had probably been the one taken by Barron, and avoided by the second exploring party, perhaps because of the fear of their expedition being discovered.
The first thing to be done upon the arrival of Treat and his family was to get some place where they could have shelter. The Beckwiths and Whitcomb were all good axemen and with their help it was not long before a good cabin was put up. This, the first house built in this section, was constructed of small logs. It was about fourteen feet square with one room. Thus the first settle- ment was begun and Seymour Treat, Francis Whitcomb, and the two Beckwiths were the first settlers. Treat afterward moved to the site of what was later
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Denmark and building a mill there became the first settler of what, for a time, was a very important settlement and came very nearly being made the county seat.
These first settlers of what is now Vermilion County came from the South, Treat and Whitcomb from Fort Harrison and the Beckwiths from the North Arm Prairie, where they were living with Jonathan Mayo. These two young men came from New York State three years previous to this time, just as the Harrison Purchase was being surveyed, and located for two years in Vigo County, Indiana, coming to the North Arm Prairie in 1818. The two young men and Francis Whitcomb were better enabled to endure the hardships which they found in this part of the country than were the women and children. With their nearest neighbors on the North Arm Prairie some forty miles away, the loneli- ness was more than can be imagined. The men could hunt and fish and find ad- venture in the wild country surrounding them, but the women and little children were left to work as their only way of passing the time, or to the more wearing idleness which gave opportunity to grieve over broken home ties, in the more densely populated old home towns.
The year after the settlement was made at the salt springs, James Butler came to the point of timber near where the Catlin Fair Grounds were later lo- cated, and entered land. Two or three of his neighbors came with him from Clark County, Ohio, and also took up claims. Johnson built his cabin on the right hand side of the road leading west of Catlin and on the east side of the branch which was called by his name. Here he put in a crop and the next spring re- turned to Ohio to fetch his family to their new home. It was a lonely place to build a home and it took courage for a woman to take her little children into this wilderness. Their nearest neighbors were at the Salt Springs. Even at that place there were but few people. The men who first came out with Butler from Ohio lost courage and refused to return with him, preferring to stay in their old homes. Life in new settlements was bad enough when several families united in forming a colony, but when one family left their old home and settled in a strange place alone, it took great courage. A half dozen years previous to this time Butler had left his boyhood home in Chittenden County, Vermont, to locate in Ohio and had never been satisfied, so that this opportunity to go yet farther west pleased him. Illinois was a new country, having been a commonwealth but two years at this time. But the loneliness and uncertainty of a life among the Indians in this far away place beyond civilization, in spite of the treaty now in force, were more than the friends of Butler could face, so it was but the one family who made this settlement at Butler's Point.
Within two or three years Butler's Point became an important settlement. Robert Trickle, John Light, Asa Elliott and Harvey Luddington (the latter from the salt works) all came to this settlement before Butler had been here two years, and this settlement was conspicuous in the affairs of the earliest days of this section. 'About the time Asa Elliott came Francis Whitcomb moved from the Salt Works settlement to the nearby place where Catlin is now located, married and made it his permanent home, living there until late in life when he moved yet further west. About two years after the Butler's Point settlement was assured, a little clearing in the timber some six miles west of the Salt Works
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