USA > Illinois > Vermilion County > History of Vermilion County, together with historic notes on the Northwest, gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and other authentic, though, for the most part, out-of-the-way sources > Part 30
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ENGLISH MEDAL.
273
The British medal was struck with a die. It is of pure silver, or silver containing very little alloy, nearly a quarter of an inch thick, and weighing nearly four ounces, troy weight. On the reverse side (not illustrated) is the coat-of-arms of Great Britain. The hole through which the string was passed, unlike the Washington medal, is badly worn, while the finer lines of the bust of the British king are also worn away, showing that that side of the medal had been worn against the breast or clothing of its owner. All the delicate lines on the coat-of-arms side are as perfect as when the medal was struck.
GEORGIUS III
DEI
GRATIA
It is without date. A correspondence with the custodian of medals in the British Museum in London, England, has resulted in disclos- ing that a duplicate is among the collections of that institution, and that the die with which they were struck was made either in the year 1786 or 1787, and that many like them had been presented to the Indians. *
day's walk below Quiatanon, referring, as is believed, to the mixed Kickapoo and Pot- tawatomie village at the mouth of the Vermilion River. Now, the same people occu- pied a village called the Old Kickapoo Town, within a short distance of the old bury- ing ground we have described, and this last was not abandoned as a permanent village until the year 1819, as the writer is informed by early settlers who were cognizant of the fact. It is probable that Kesis was buried there, and the medals with him, where they were afterward found in the manner narrated.
* This circumstance makes the medal illustrated another witness of the fact that subsequent to the treaty of peace in 1783 British subjects continued distributing
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274
HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST.
Resuming the notice of the treaty at Vincennes, peace being now proclaimed, Gen. Putnam informed the Indians that he should have a piece of artillery fired on the occasion ; that he would fire the first gun, and that each of those chiefs who had received belts should follow the example.
After the conclusion of this ceremony, all of the Indians - we here quote from Heckwelder's journal, which states that eight ean- non were fired, the first by Gen. Putnam himself, the rest by the chiefs who had received the belts -" all the Indians performed a danee in the council house, to express their rejoicings at the peace. Each nation was painted in a different style, and all took the utmost pains to make themselves appear as fierce and terrific as possible. They commenced by proceeding, with drums and singing, through all the streets of the town ; they then adjourned to the council house, where they sung and related their warlike deeds. The figures and grimaces which they made during this dance, the disfigured and ferocious countenances, the instruments of war they whirled about, with which they dealt blows upon the posts and benches, the rattling of deer's claws about their legs, the green garlands about their neeks and waists, and their naked bodies, presented a scene which I am unable to describe. All. however, passed off in an orderly manner, at least in their way."
The distribution of presents began on the 3d of September, and continued several days, and on the 5th of October Father Heck- welder, with sixteen of the chiefs and one Indian woman, in charge of Lient. Prior, two pilots and two soldiers, started overland on pack-horses for Philadelphia, by way of the falls at Louisville. At the latter place they continued the voyage in three canoes, passing up the Ohio by Fort Washington, Gallipolis," Marietta, Wheeling and Pittsburgh, at all of which places they were received with pub- lic demonstrations. From Pittsburgh they went, by way of Bethle- hem, to Philadelphia. The treaty coneluded by Gen. Putnam was laid before the United States Senate in February, 1793, where it lin- gered until January, 1794, the senate refusing to ratify it because the fourth article recognized the right of the Indians " to their lands, as being theirs and theirs only."+
"Most of the principal chiefs of the Wabash Indians," says the
medals bearing the coat-of-arms and bust of their king among the Indians within the ceded territory, thus keeping up the old relation of the latter as children of their " British father."
* Life of Heckwelder. by Rondthaler, p. 117.
+ Gen. Putnam had only carried out his orders, and the objectionable clause was almost literally in the words of his instructions from the Secretary of War.
275
BRITISH INVASION ON THE MAUMEE.
Secretary of War to the President, in a letter of the 2d of January, 1794, "who visited Philadelphia, having died of the smallpox, it would have been improper to attempt with the remainder any ex- planation of the fourth article of the treaty," and therefore the sell- ate refused, by a vote of twenty-one to four, to give it effeet. While the senate was engaged in deliberating over that, which at best might be called a technicality when compared with the benefit that would have resulted from a ratification of the treaty of Vincennes, the Indians were increasing in their feelings of hostility, and gather- ing in numbers, and concentrating their forces against the govern- ment. Still the latter renewed its efforts to secure a peace. In March, 1793, the President appointed Messrs. Randolph, of Vir- ginia, Lincoln, of Massachusetts, and Piekering, of Pennsylvania, to treat with the northwestern tribes, who proceeded to the Niagara River, intending to go from there to Sandusky. On their way they met Red Jacket and some other chiefs of the Seneea nation, who advised them that the western Indians, to whom the President had sent a speech, inviting them to a treaty, would not attend because the British had not been invited to be present, "and that it was necessary they should attend, because they originally called the Indians to war against the United States .* Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe, "commanding the king's forces in Upper Canada, antici- pating the coming of the commissioners, had in April "come from Niagara through the woods to Detroit, and had gone from thence to the foot of the Rapids, and three companies of Col. England's regiment had followed him, to assist in building a fort there."+ Having thus invaded the territory of the United States, Gov. Simcoe now intimated that he would be pleased to assist in attempting a reconciliation between the United States and the Indians. The com- missioners, unhappily, were not in a position to decline his friendly aid. and accordingly the preliminary courtesies between the Gov- ernor of Canada and the commissioners were opened at Navy Hall, the house of the former, opposite Fort Niagara, on the 17th of May. Here the latter were detained by delays they could not foresee or prevent. In the meantime large delegations of the several westward tribes already named, together with representatives of the Five Nations and Cherokees, were assembled in a grand council about Gov. Simeoe's rising fort at the Rapids of the Maumee, and were engaged in settling their minor differences, and agreeing upon a united plan of action preliminary to, and to be insisted upon, at the
* A. S. Papers on Indian Affairs, p. 342.
+ Letter from Detroit, dated April 17, 1794, idem p. 480.
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276
HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST.
treaty proposed to be held with the United States commissioners at Sandusky. Several messages, as a basis of peace, passed between the two parties, the views of each being widely apart. In August the commissioners went up the lake to the mouth of the Detroit River, so that less time would be consumed by the bearers of dis- patches between themselves and the Indian council at the Rapids. The Indians would not recede from their sine qua non, which was no less than the Ohio River as the boundary between themselves and the United States. This could not be conceded, for the reason that by the treaties of Fort McIntosh and Fort Harmar the govern- ment had acquired a large traet on the north and west side of that stream, portions of which had been purchased by citizens of the United States, who were then actually living upon the same. The commissioners agreed to purchase the lands over again from any tribes having elaims to any part thereof who had not been present or represented at the treaties by which the United States had acquired its title. Brothers, replied the Indians, money to us is of no valne, and to most of us unknown, and as no consideration whatever ean induce us to sell the lands on which we get sustenance for our women and children, we hope we may be allowed to point out a mode by which your settlers may be recompensed and peace thereby obtained. We know these settlers are poor, or they never would have ventured to live in a country which has been in continual trouble ever since they crossed the Ohio. Divide, therefore, this large sum of money which you have offered to ns among these people ; give to each, also, a portion of what you said you would give to us annually over and above this very large sum of money, and we are persuaded they would most readily accept of it in lien of the lands you sold them. If you add the great sums you must expend in raising and paying armies, with a view to force us to yield our country, you will cer- tainly have more than sufficient for the purpose of repaying these settlers for all their labor and improvements. You have talked to ns about concessions. It appears strange that you should expect any from us, who have only been defending our just rights against your invasions. We want peace ; restore us our country, and we will be enemies no longer. . . . We shall be persuaded that you mean to do ns justice if you agree that the Ohio shall remain the boundary line between us. If you will not consent thereto. our meeting will be altogether unnecessary."*
* Extracts from the joint answer of the Pottawatomies, Chippeways, Ottawas Miamis, Shawnees, Delawares, Wyandots, Muncies, the Seven Nations of Canada, the Senecas of the Au Glaize, Mohegans and other tribes, dated at Miami Rapids, August 13, 1793.
277
CLOSE OF THE INDIAN WAR.
The commissioners could make no such concessions, as must have been foreseen by the Indians and their evil advisers.
Gen. Wayne moved his forces from Fort Greenville, where he had wintered, and on the - day of Angust, 1794, obtained a deci- sive victory over the Indians, almost under the guns of the British fort. After destroying villages and fields the whole length of the Maumee and the Au Glaize, his army returned to Greenville, where he passed a second winter. In the following summer delegates from the several tribes met him, and after a conference extending over five months, a treaty was signed, leaving the Indians with the dimen- sions of their territories vastly curtailed, and themselves for the first time recognized as the children of a new father .- "The Fifteen Fires." as they called the United States.
Gen. Wayne's success, and the happy negotiations of Chief- Justice Jay, terminated the differences, for the present at least, between our government on the one side and the Indians and Great Britain on the other. The several military posts held by the English within our territory, including Fort Miami, erected by Gov. Simcoe, were surrendered early in 1796; Gen. Wayne, authorized by the president so to do, receiving possession of them on behalf of the United States. He at once arranged to have Detroit and the other works provisioned and garrisoned, and late in the season embarked by way of the lake for Erie. On the way he was attacked with gont of the stomach, of which he died before the vessel reached the port.
CHAPTER XXV.
THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY DIVIDED-WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON APPOINTED GOVERNOR OF THE INDIANA TERRITORY -ITS SUB- DIVISION INTO COUNTIES-BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF GOVERNOR HARRISON -TECUMSEH AND HIS BROTHER THE PROPHET'S CON- FEDERACY-ORGANIZATION OF ILLINOIS TERRITORY-INDIAN HOS- TILITIES -THE ADVANCE OF POPULATION-CONCLUSION.
PEACE being secured, emigration poured into Ohio so rapidly, extending itself westward to the Great Miami, that at the beginning of the year 1800 the population was nearly sufficient to entitle the territory to be advanced to the second grade of government .* Ac- cordingly, on the 7th of May of that year, congress passed an act for a division of the territory, to take effect on the 4th day of the following July.
By this act all that part of the Northwest Territory lying "to the westward of a line beginning at the Ohio, opposite the mouth of Kentucky River, and running from thence to Fort Recovery, and thence north until it shall intersect the territorial line between the United States and Canada, shall, for the purposes of temporary gov- ernment, constitute a separate territory, to be called the Indiana Territory."
The territory eastward of this line retained the old name of the "Territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio River," and by the terms of the act Chillicothe was made the seat of government of the latter, and Vincennes of the former. territory. + Gen. Wm. H. Harrison, then delegate in congress for the old Northwest Terri- tory, was appointed governor, and John Gibson, secretary, of the new Indiana Territory. The governor reached Vincennes early in the year 1801, having been preceded thither by the secretary the
* Under the Ordinance of 1787 there were two grades of territorial government. The first was composed of the judges and governor; the second grade began when the inhabitants numbered sixty thousand, and consisted of a territorial legislature, com- prising a house of representatives, elected by the people, and a council, appointed by the president and senate of the United States.
+ Old Land Laws, p. 451. The name given to the western subdivision could not have been more appropriate, as it contained within its boundaries the most numerous and by far the most populous Indian tribes east of the Mississippi. The name Indiana, however, was not original, having been formerly applied to a tract of country on the southeast of the Ohio, about the Great Kanawha, granted to Col. George Morgan, Indian trader and agent, prior to the beginning of the revolutionary war.
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TERRITORIAL COUNTIES.
previous July. Gov. Harrison called the judges of the territory together at Vincennes for the purpose of passing the necessary laws . and setting the machinery of government in motion. On the 3d of February the governor issued proclamations altering the boundaries of Knox, Randolph and St. Clair counties, previously formed, and creating the new county of Clark. By the terms of the first procla- mation the county of Knox was extended some thirty miles into Illi- nois, south of Vincennes, and extending from thence north by a little east to the mouth of the Calumet River, A line was extended from the westward boundary of Knox through the "Sink-Hole Spring "- a prominent landmark on the west side of the state, nearly on the present boundary line between the counties of Randolph and St. Clair - to the Mississippi. The territory south of this line was called Randolph county, Kaskaskia being the county seat. All of Illinois west of Knox, the whole of Wisconsin, and all that part of Michigan lying north of a line drawn northeast from the mouth of the Calumet River and west of the dividing line between Ohio and Indiana, ex- tended north through the Straits of Mackinaw, the boundary between the United States and Canada, was formed into the county of St. Clair, the county seat of which was established at Cahokia. The county of Knox began at the "cave in the rock," on the Ohio, thirty miles below the month of the Wabash, thence up the Ohio to the mouth of Blue River, and up this stream to the crossing of the old road from Vincennes to Louisville ; from thence to the nearest point on White River, and up the same to the branch thereof which runs toward Fort Recovery, and from the head-springs of said branch to Fort Recovery ; thence along the line separating Ohio from Indi- ana until its intersection with the line drawn northeast from the mouth of the Calumet River, and thence southward along the eastern boundary of St. Clair and Randolph counties to the Ohio River at the cave in the rock. The new county of Clark was a gore, its base being on the Ohio, between the mouths of the Big Blue and Ken- tueky rivers, bounded on the west by Knox county, and on the east by the Indian line of cession, running from the mouth of the Kentucky river north by east to Fort Recovery. Springfield, near the Ohio River, was made the county seat of Clark, while Vincennes remained the county seat of Knox. as before.
On the 29th of November, 1802, the eastern division of the northwest territory became a state, and was admitted into the Union, bearing the name of Ohio. While Ohio had remained as the northwest territory, the peninsula of Michigan was attached to it for judicial purposes. The greater portion of the peninsula had
280
HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST.
been organized into a county and given the name of Wayne, in 1796, by Gov. St. Clair, who was present with Gen. Wayne, at Detroit, when that post was surrendered to the United States by the English commander. By the act of congress providing for the admission of Ohio as a state, Michigan was taken from Ohio and attached to the Indiana territory. The people of Ohio resented what they considered as an illegal interference by congress, in thus disposing of territory which, under the ordinance of 1787, would have remained as a part of and tributary to Ohio, until such time as it was formed into a state .*
Gov. Harrison, on the 24th of January, 1803, issued a proclama- tion establishing the county of Wayne, the boundaries of which embraced the whole of the lower peninsula. except a strip running the length of Lake Michigan west of Branch county, and a small portion of Indiana and Ohio lying north of a line drawn due east from the southern extremity of the lake.+
On the 11th of January, 1805, congress established Michigan as a separate territory, and Gen. William Hull was appointed as its governor, Detroit being designated the capital. +
Gov. Harrison brought with him the prestige of an established reputation as a military officer and a statesman. As ensign he served with Gov. St. Clair, and as aide-de-camp of Gen. Wayne, he bore a distinguished part in the successful campaigns of the lat- ter against the northwest Indians. He was secretary of the north- west territory and a delegate in congress from the eastern division. On the formation of the Indiana territory he was not only made its governor, but commissioned as superintendent of Indian affairs in the northwest, which he administered with a skill and success never equaled by any other person through whom our government has had dealings with the Indians. During the long period he had
* By a literal construction of the ordinance of 1787, all that part of Michigan lying east from a line drawn from the mouth of the Miami north to the middle of the Straits of Mackinaw would have belonged to Ohio, while the territory lying west of this line would have remained as a part of Indiana until it was formed into a state.
+ The proclamation defines the boundaries as follows: "Beginning at a point where an east and west line passing through the southerly extreme of Lake Michigan would intersect a north and south line passing through the most easterly bend of said lake; thence north along the last mentioned line to the boundary of the United States; thence along the said boundary line to a point where a due east and west line passing through the southerly extreme of Lake Michigan would intersect the same; thence west to the place of beginning, and which said county shall be designated and known as the county of Wayne, and that the inhabitants of said county shall have and enjoy [from the date hereof ] all the rights, privileges and immunities whatsoever which to a county and the inhabitants thereof in any wise appertains." Detroit remained as the seat of government, and the officers who held commissions in the old county of Wayne were continued in office. Vide Executive Records of the Indiana territory.
# The name Michigan is derived from the two Chippewa Mitchaw (great) and Sagi- gan (lake). Vide Blois' Gazetteer of Michigan, p. 177.
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GEN. HARRISON.
charge of the Indian affairs, he extinguished the title of the Indians to a greater part of the territory within the limits of Indiana and Illinois, and in all his dealings with this unfortunate race his con- duct was marked with a uniform kindness and fair dealing that won for him the most implicit confidence and esteem of the Indians themselves and the applause of the government. His private and official correspondence abun- dantly illustrate the tender re- gard he had for the Indians, and the care with which he al- ways sought to protect their rights against the designs of the unscrupulous, while at the same time he was equally so- licitous to shield the white peo- ple against all aggressions from the red. It is said that Gov. Ilarrison was personally ac- quainted with almost every prominent chief of the many tribes within his jurisdiction, and by his address, tact and well- known integrity, he attracted to GEN. HARRISON. his person many of the leading savages in bonds of closest friendship. These prominent traits en- abled him to exert an influence over the Indians that few other men could have commanded, and by the exercise of which he often restrained the lawlessness of the savage and protected the pioneer's cabin.
Beginning with the time of his appointment as governor, and ending with the close of the war of 1812, his vigilance and skill during all the time of that memorable struggle shielded the ex- tended lines of the western frontier from incursions of the savages. The early settlers of western Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan might well have hailed him as the "father of the west."
His fame as a soldier and commander is a part of the military his- tory of the country. He was born in Charles City county, Virginia, February 9, 1773, and died April 4, 1841, at Washington, of an ill- ness supposed to have been induced in consequence of the fatigue and excitement incident to his inauguration as the ninth president of the United States. *
* The vignette of Gov. Harrison was supplied by Harper Bros., copyright owners of Lossing's Field-Book of the War of 1812, from which it is taken.
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HISTORIC NOTES ON THE NORTHWEST.
Early in 1806 Gov. Harrison was advised that a Shawnee Indian had set himself up as a prophet. This man avowed that he had been deputed by the Great Spirit to reform the manners of the red people ; to revive all their old customs which had been laid aside since their intercourse with the white people ; that all the manners in dress and other innovations borrowed by the Indians from the whites were to be abolished, and that when these reforms were effected the comfort and happiness enjoyed by their forefathers would be restored, on condition of their obedience to the will and orders of the Prophet. The latter pretended to fore- tell future events, declared that he was invulnerable to the arms or shot of his enemy, and he promised the same inviolability to those of his followers who would devote themselves entirely to his ser- vice, and assist him in the cause which he had espoused. * This new light dawned upon the Indians at Greenville. Ohio, in the person of " Lol- a-waw-chic-ka," or the Loud Voice, brother of Tecumseh. + The Prophet. the name by which he was generally desig- nated. soon gathered about A DRAN him a large number of follow- ers, composed of a few Shaw- "THE PROPHET.' nee warriors of his own tribe and numerous persons from other tribes, many of whom had fled for their crimes.
For some time the Prophet's influence in his own neighborhood was trifling ; his fame, however, spread among the more distant
* Memoirs of Gen. Harrison, p. 81.
+ Judges Hall and McKenney, in their History of the Indian Tribes of North America, vol. 1, p. 47, following Benjamin Drake's Manuscript of the Life of Tecumseh and the Prophet, before its publication by the author, give the name as Tens-kwau-ta- waw, meaning the Open Door. Drake's Life of Tecumseh, p. 88. The name of the prophet and its signification, as given in the text, is taken from a speech sent by the prophet to Gen. Harrison, in August, 1808, found in full in the Memoirs of General Harrison, p. 108, and being the name, with its meaning, as given by none other than the prophet himself, may be regarded as the more correct.
# The fine illustration of the prophet here given was first used in Lossing's Picto- rial Field Book of the War of 1812, p. 189, published by Harper Brothers, who kindly furnished the cut for insertion in this work.
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ENGLISH INFLUENCE.
tribes, and miracles without number were attributed to him. He gathered about him a horde of deluded savages, whose numbers were swollen daily by accessions of the disaffected from the various tribes, the Winnebagoes, and particularly the Kickapoos, furnishing large numbers of enthusiastic proselytes. So great was the infatna- tion of his followers that while listening to his teachings they wholly neglected to provide for their own subsistence, and as reports pre- vailed abroad that they were supplied with every luxury through the supernatural power of the Prophet, they were actually starving .* The principal Delaware chiefs being opposed to the schemes of the Prophet, the latter, to get rid of them, brought charges of witchcraft against three of the old Delaware chiefs, and caused them to be burned at the stake.
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