USA > Illinois > Whiteside County > History of Whiteside county, Illinois, from its first settlement to the present time, with numerous Biographical and Family Sketches > Part 71
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CHAPTER XXVII.
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS.
The name of the great State of Illinois, the Empire State of the West, is derived from the aboriginal word Illini, signifying superior men. The termina- tion as it is now applied to the State, and its principal river, is of French origin. According to tradition the Illinois, with the Miami and Delaware tribes, emigrated from the far West, the first stopping on their eastward course in the vicinity of Lake Michigan, the second in the territory now comprising the States of Indiana and Ohio, and the third in that now covered by the State of Pennsyl- vania, and a portion of Southern New York. The Illinois soon became a pow- erful confederacy, and in time occupied the most beautiful and fertile region in the great Mississippi Valley. This territory was afterwards coveted by the fieree and persevering Iroquois on the one side, and the savage and relentless Saes and Foxes on the other. Years of incessant struggle followed, the Illi- nois endeavoring to hold their hunting grounds, maintain their existence as a nation, and their foes to drive them from it, and annihilate them. These long and severe contests so deeimated the numbers of the Illinois that they could finally no longer withstand the attacks of their enemies. The remaining few, however, tradition says, true to their charactistic spirit and bravery, were deter- mined not to surrender, and gathering at a rock on the Illinois river, known as "Starved Rock," kept out of the hands of their foes until every one met his or her death by starvation. .
The first white man who visited the territory now comprising the State of Illinois, of whom there is any record, was Nicholas Perrot, an agent of the Can- adian government to call a peace convention of Western Indians at Green Bay, with a view of opening negotiations for the discovery of the Mississippi river. The policy of the Canadian Government was to secure, if possible, the friend- ship and co-operation of the Indian tribes before venturing upon the expedition, as their opposition might prove troublesome, and very probably disastrous. Perrot was authorized to promise them the commerce and protection of the French Government, and in pursuance of his mission arrived at a point where Chicago now stands, in 1671, to meet the Miamas. The next white visitors were Fathers Claude Allouez and Claude Dablon, two Jesuit Missionaries, who came down from their mission at Green Bay, in 1672, and traversed a portion of Western Wisconsin, and Northern Illinois, visiting the various tribes of Indians on their route, and setting up the standard of the Cross wherever they found an opportunity. Following these Missionaries came the celebrated explorers, Joliet and Marquette, who had been recommended by M. Talon, the French Gov- ernor of Canada, to the home government, as suitable persons to execute the projected discovery of the Mississippi river. Both of these men had been edu- cated as Jesuit priests, although the former early abandoned his profession to engage in secular occupations. The latter possessed a mind of great religious susceptibility, and when quite young evinced a desire to enter the missionary field. He was consequently sent to America in 1666, by the Jesuit Order, as a missionary among the Indians, and in his zeal for the eause in which he was engaged, penetrated a thousand miles in advance of civilization. Both Joliet
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and Marquette possessed enterprise, boldness, and determination-characteristics eminently demanded by reason of the difficulties which surrounded their great undertaking.
On the 17th of May, 1673, the daring explorers, accompanied by five French- men, and with a simple outfit, commenced their perilous voyage. Starting from the Jesuit mission, on the straits of Mackinaw, they coasted along the northern shore of Lake Michigan, entered Green Bay, and thence passed up Fox river and Lake Winnebago. Arriving at the portage shown them by the friendly Indians, their light canoes and scanty baggage were soon carried to the Wisconsin river, down which they floated until the 17th of June, when its mouth was reached, and with great joy their frail barks were pushed out on the floods of the lordly Mississippi. Their course down the mighty stream was full of adventure, but of a character totally unlike that which was anticipated. It was yet early summer; nature was arrayed in its brightest robes of green; the weather was propitious, and the Indians met with on the banks of the river, friendly and hospitable. In this pleasant manner they journeyed until the middle of July, when the mouth of the Arkansas was reached. They had been on the river four weeks, and con- cluded they had descended sufficiently far to decide that its outlet was on the Atlantic side of the continent. It was also feared that if they went farther, dangers might be encountered by which the benefit of their discovery would be lost. They therefore retraced their course, and after several weeks of hard labor arrived at the mouth of the Illinois. Passing up this river they reached a large town of the Illinois confederacy called Kaskaskia, a name which afterwards be- came celebrated in the history of the State. Here they tarried a sufficient time to hold friendly meetings with the Indians, and also to secure the services of a chief and a posse of his men to conduct them to Lake Michigan. Resuming their journey they proceeded to the lake by the way of the rivers Illinois, Des- plaines, and Chicago, and thence following the western shore of the lake entered Green Bay in the latter part of September, 1673, after an absence of four months, and having made a journey of two thousand five hundred miles. When the news of the successful issue of the voyage reached France it created the greatest en- thusiasm at the Court, and among the people. It was believed that a vast dependeney had been opened up to the French Government which in future years would bring to it a lucrative commerce, and untold accumulations of wealth. The following year Marquette returned to Kaskaskia, and founded the mission of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, it being the first Jesuit mission established in Illinois and in the Mississippi Valley.
The French Government, however, did not occupy the territory now em- braced in Illinois until 1780, seven years after the exploration of Marquette and Joliet. This was effected by Robert Cavalier, better known as La Salle. He was born at Rouen, France, and early exhibited the traits of character which distinguished him in his western career. Being a Jesuit, he was deprived, under the laws of France, of inheriting the property of his father, and being thus cir- cumstanced, determined to emigrate to Canada, where he had a brother, a priest of the order of St. Sulpice, living. Upon his arrival he was given a traet of land on the St. Lawrence river by the Superior of the Seminary of St. Sulpice, at Montreal, and while employed in improving it, commenced the study of the Indian languages, and in three years is said to have made rapid progress in the Iroquois, and eight other tongues and dialects. During the time he was en- gaged in his studies he was visited by a band of Senceas, and learned from them that a river called the Ohio, rising in their country, flowed to the sea, but at such a distance that it required eight months to reach its mouth. In this state- ment the Mississippi and Ohio were considered as one stream, and with the geo-
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graphical views then prevalent, it was supposed to fall into the Pacific ocean, somewhere near the Gulf of California. Placing great confidence in this hy- pothesis, La Salle determined to make an exploration, but as no pecuniary aid could be procured at that time from the Government, he was compelled to rely on his own resources, and with these limited means purchased four canoes and the necessary supplies for the expedition. After he had everything completed, however, the government added some canoes and supplies, and the journey was undertaken. This was La Salle's first expedition, and although its results were beneficial, yet they were far from proving satisfactory.
When Frontenac became Governor of Canada, another expedition was fit- ted out, with La Salle as its commander, and starting above the Falls of Nia- gara, sailed to Green Bay. From thence they passed down to the mouth of the St. Joseph river, and ascending it, reached the present site of South Bend, Indi- ana, where they landed, and transported their canoes to the Kankakee river. Following this sluggish stream the expedition reached the Illinois river in Jan- uary, 1680, and floating down upon its placid waters soon reached an expansion of the river, now called Peoria Lake, where they disembarked. La Salle, wearied with difficulties, determined to erect a fort at this place, in which he and his men might pass the winter without molestation, and accordingly selected a site at the lower end of the lake, where the city of Peoria is now situated. Upon the completion of the fort, the name of Crevecœur, meaning broken-hearted, was given to it, an appellation fully in accord with its subsequent misfortunes. From this point La Salle, in accordance with his previous intentions, determined to further explore the Mississippi, but did not accomplish this purpose until 1682, two years later. Upon his return from Fort Frontenac, where he had gone for supplies, he found the Fort had been destroyed by the Iroquois, the enemies of the Illinois, and Tonti, his lieutenant, with the men he had left in charge, driven away. A fruitless search was made for them, and La Salle then passed down the Illinois to the Mississippi. Tonti was afterwards found among the Pottawatamies, near Green Bay.
In 1682 a temporary settlement was made by the French at the old Kas- kaskia village, in what is now La Salle county. This settlement was removed in 1690, with the mission connected with it, to Kaskaskia on the river of that name, emptying into the Mississippi, in St. Clair county. Undoubtedly the rea- son of the removal of the old Kaskaskia settlement and mission to the new locality was, because the dangerous and difficult route by Lake Michagan and the Chicago portage had been nearly abandoned, and the easier and safer route by the Mississippi, Fox, and Wisconsin rivers, taken by travellers and traders. The removal to the vicinity of the Mississippi brought the town within the line of travel. Cahokia was settled about the same time as Kaskaskia, although it is maintained that it is somewhat the older place. It never, however, attained such prominence as Kaskaskia.
From 1682 until 1765, the territory now comprising the State of Illinois was under French rule, and formed a part of Louisiana. During that time the population probably never at any one time exceeded ten thousand, including whites and blacks. Many settlements of considerable importance, however, sprung up throughout the vast domain, the principal ones in Illinois being: Kaskaskia, on the Kaskaskia river, five miles above its confluence with the Mis- sissippi; Cahokia, near the mouth of Cahokia ereek, and about five miles below the present city of St. Louis; Fort Chartres, twelve miles above Kaskaskia; and St. Philip, about forty miles below Cahokia, and four miles above Fort Chartres. These, with the exception of St. Louis, are the oldest French towns in the Mis- sissippi Valley. The village of Kaskaskia at one time numbered about three
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thousand inhabitants, and until 1818 was capital of the Territory. Fort Char- tres was built in 1718.
On the 10th of October, 1765, the ensign of France, on the ramparts of Fort Chartres, gave way to the flag of Great Britian. In alluding to this event, Bancroft says: "At the time the colonies of the Atlantic seaboard were assem- bled in preliminary Congress at New York, dreaming of liberty and independence for the continent, the great valley east of the Mississippi, with its broad rivers rushing from the mountains and gathering in the plain, its vast prairies unsur- passed for their wealth of soil, its boundless primeval forests with their deep solitudes, into which were presently to be summoned the eager millions of many tongues to build their happy homes, passed finally from the dominion of France under the yoke of Great Britian." The Anglo-Saxon, by this transfer, gained a permanent foothold on the banks of the great river; and new life, instinct with energy and progress, was infused into the country. Just prior to the English occupation there was a large exodus of the old Canadian French. Feeling assured that their ancient enemies would soon obtain control of the upper part of the French dependency, they moved their slaves and other personal effects from it, most of them going to St. Genevieve, across the Mississippi. Fair and liberal concessions were offered to those who remained, which had the effect of inducing many to stay. A proclamation for a civil administration of the laws of the country was issued on the 21st of November, 1768, and for this purpose a civil tribunal to consist of seven magistrates or judges, from among the people, was appointed, who were to hold monthly terms of court. A term of this court was held, commeneing December 6, 1768, at Fort Chartres, which was the first com- mon law jurisdiction ever exercised within the present limits of Illinois. This court proved to be anything but popular. The people were under the laws of England, and in obedience to them the administration of civil jurisprudence was sought to be brought nearer to the people, than it had been under the French laws. But the French mind, trained to abide by the dicta and decisions of the- ocratic and military tribunals, absolute in both civil and criminal cases, was unable to appreciate the trial by jury. Believing that their rulers were ever right, they gave themselves no trouble or pains to review their acts, and they thought it very inconsistent in the English to refer nice questions relating to property to a tribunal consisting of farmers, mechanies, and tradesmen, rather than to judges learned in the law. This perplexity in comprehending the com- mon law system prevailed even many years later, when Illinois had passed under the jurisdiction of the United States.
Seeing that it was impolitic to enforce the execution of the English system of law upon the newly acquired territory, the English Parliament. in 1774, re- stored to the people their ancient laws in civil cases, without the trial by jury, and guaranteed the free exercise of their religion, which rehabilitated the Roman Catholic clergy with the privileges stipulated in the articles of capitulation of Montreal in 1760. The act was known as the "Quebec Bill," which extended the boundaries of the province of Quebec to the Mississippi river, including all the French inhabitants at Detroit, Mackinaw, on the Wabash, and in the Illinois country. The object was to firmly attach these remote colonies, as well as all Canada, to the English Government, and to thwart the rising opposition of the colonies on the Atlantic seaboard to its policy. Other acts were passed of a con- ciliatory nature in reference to these people by the British Parliament, but their effect was not wholly what was desired. The eastern colonies became more and more irritated by these acts, in conjunction with those passed for their govern- ance, and finally the war of the Revolution commenced, which in the end was to
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do away with British rule in the Valley of the Mississippi, as well as along the Atlantie seaboard.
The honor of wresting Illinois from the British yoke is due to Col. George Rogers Clark. Col. Clark was a native of Albemarle county, Virginia, and was edu- cated as a Surveyor. Shortly after attaining his majority he enlisted as one of Governor Dunmore's staff, and was present in the campaign on the river Scioto, in 1774. For meritorious conduct he was offered a commission in the royal service, but as the feeling between the colonies and the mother country had already begun to be unfriendly, he declined. At the breaking out of the Revolutionary war he was one of the most active in behalf of the colonies, and was soon ap- pointed to important positions. For valuable services rendered, added to a full knowledge gained of the western frontier, he was made Lieutenant Colonel, and soon afterwards authorized to raise seven companies of fifty men each, with which to attack the British force at Kaskaskia. These troops were to receive the pay and allowance of militia, and to act under the laws and regulations of the State of Virginia then in force as to militia. Although strenuous efforts were made, only a portion of this force could be raised, and when those who had join- ed the expedition were ready to march to the destined point, there were but one hundred and fifty-three men in the ranks. This little army started from Coon Island, opposite Louisville, during a total eclipse of the sun, on the 24th of June, 1778, and on the 4th of July following reached Kaskaskia. The gar- rison entrenched in the fort at the town was then under the command of a French Canadian named Rocheblave, who kept his troops well drilled, had sentinels stationed on the Mississippi, and had ordered the hunters and Indians in their excursions through the country to watch for the rebels, or "Long Knives," as they designated the Virginians. The American force concealed themselves at first among the hills east of the Kaskaskia river, while parties were sent out by Col. Clark to reconnoiter. Everything being in readiness, the troops were di- vided into three parties, two of which crossing to the west side of the river, were to proceed to different parts of the town, while the other, under Col. Clark, was to capture the fort on the east side. The plan of attack was suc- cessfully executed, and Kaskaskia captured. So quickly and thoroughly was this done, that the British commandant was not aware that he was a prisoner until an officer of the detachment which had entered the fort, entered his bed- room and tapped him on the shoulder. Kaskaskia being safely in the hands of the Americans, an expedition was planned for the capture of Cahokia. Major Bowman and his company were selected as one party for the new contest, the other being made up of the French militia who had renounced Great Britian after the capture of Kaskaskia, the entire detachment being but little inferior in numbers to that which invaded the country. The expedition reached Ca- hokia before the news of the surrender of Kaskaskia was known to the inhabitants, and being guided by the same skill which proved so successful at the latter place, the former also soon fell into American hands. Following this achieve- ment came the capture of Vincennes, and British domination in the West was at an end.
In 1778 Illinois, by reason of its capture by Col. Clark, became a part of Virginia, and in October, 1778, the Legislature of that State passed an act or- ganizing the county of Illinois, which included all the territory of the common- wealth west of the Ohio river. As it then existed, Illinois was the largest county in the world, exceeding in superficial extent the whole of Great Britain and Ireland. On the 1st of March, 1784, Virginia executed a deed of cession of all this territory to the United States, the deed being signed by her delegates in Congress, Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Hardy, Arthur Lee, and James Monroe.
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It stipulated that the territory should be cut into States not less than one hun- dred and not more than one hundred and fifty miles square; to be republican in form, and to be admitted into the Union with the same rights of sovereignty, freedom, and independence as the other States; that indemnity for the expenses her expeditions incurred in subduing the British posts in the west, be allowed her; that land not exceeding one hundred and fifty thousand acres should be allowed George Rogers Clark, his officers and soldiers; and that the proceeds of the sales of the lands ceded should be considered a common fund for all the States, present and future. The cession was accepted by the United States, and Congress passed an ordinance to establish a form of government for all the territory in the west. The title of the United States to the lands northwest of the Ohio river, however, did not become complete until September 13, 1786. The name of the North-Western Territory was then applied to it.
The celebrated ordinance of 1787, the fruit of the wisest and ablest legis- lation ever undertaken by man, was passed by the Congress of the United States on the 13th of July, 1787. The contest for its adoption was long and severe, but in the end justice and right triumphed. The following are the six unaltera- ble articles of compact between the people of the original States and the people of the Territory: I. No person, in peaceable demeanor, shall be molested on account of his mode of worship or religious sentiments. II. The inhabitants to be guaranteed the benefits of the writ of habeas corpus and trial by jury; a pro- portionate representation in the legislature, and judicial proceedings according to the course of the common law; all persons shall be bailable, unless for capi- tal offences, where the proof shall be evident, or the presumption great; all fines shall be moderate, and no cruel or unusual punishments shall be inflicted; no man shall be deprived of his liberty, or his property, but by the judgment of his peers, or the law of the land; should the public exigencies make it neces- sary, for the common preservation, to take any person's property, or to demand his particular services, full compensation shall be made for the same; no law ought ever to be made or have force in said Territory, that shall in any manner interfere with, or affect private contracts or engagements made in good faith and without fraud. III. Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of edu- cation shall forever be encouraged; good faith, justice and humanity towards the Indians is to be observed, their lands not to be taken without consent, and peace and friendship to be cultivated. IV. The territory, and States to be formed therein, are to remain forever a part of the United States, subject to her laws; the inhabitants to pay a just proportion of the public debt, contracted or to be contracted; the lands of the United States, and those of non-residents, not to be taxed higher than those of residents; and the navigable waters of the lakes to remain forever free to all citizens of the United States. V. The territory not to be divided into less than three States, but Congress, at its option, may form one or two more States in that part which lies north of an east and west line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan; with sixty thousand inhabitants such States to be admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States; and VI. "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." Such was the fun- damental law which shaped the destiny of the great and flourishing States which originally formed a part of the North Western Territory. By means of that law States were saved from the blighting curse of slavery. Maj. Gen. Arthur St. Clair was elected by Congress the first Governor of this Territory.
The act of Congress approved May 7, 1800, divided the great North West-
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ern Territory, and provided that all that part lying westward of a line beginning on the Ohio river opposite the mouth of the Kentucky, running thence north via Fort Recovery to the British Possessions, should constitute a separate Ter- ritory, and be called Indiana. This Territory included the present States of Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Indiana, except a small piece on the eastern side between the mouth of the Kentucky and Great Miama rivers. This Territory continued until by act of Congress approved February 3, 1809, all that part of it ly- ing west of the Wabash river, and a direct line drawn from that river and Post Vin- cennes, due north to the territorial line between the United States and Canada, was formed into a separate Territory, and called Illinois. This boundary included the present State of Wisconsin within the limits of Illinois Territory. The seat of Government was located at Kaskaskia, and Ninian Edwards was appointed the first Governor.
By 1818 the population of Illinois had increased to such an extent that her people desired a position among the sisterhood of States. Accordingly a peti- tion was sent in January of that year from the Territorial Legislature, then in session at Kaskaskia, to Nathaniel Pope, the delegate in Congress, praying for the admission of the Territory into the Union as an independent State. Mr. Pope immediately brought the subject before Congress, and at an early day thereafter was instructed by the committee to which the matter was referred, to report a bill in pursuance of the petition. This was done, and the bill duly reported, but owing to a pressure of other business, it did not become a law un- til April. The bill, as it became a law, contained several amendments to the original one submitted, and which were in the main those proposed by Mr. Pope. The amendments were: 1st, to extend the northern boundary of the new State to the parallel of 42 degrees 30 minutes north latitude, and 2d, to apply the three per cent. fund arising from the sales of the public lands, to the encour- agement of learning, instead of making roads, as had been the case at the ad- mission of Ohio and Indiana. Gov. Ford, in his valuable work, says: "these important changes were proposed and carried through both Houses of Congress by Judge Pope, upon his own responsibility. The Territorial Legislature had not petitioned for them; no one at that time having suggested or requested the making of them; but they met the unqualified approbation of the people of Il- linois." We might add that the feeling of approbation has steadily increased from that day to the present, and will keep on increasing as long as the people feel the need of education.
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