USA > Illinois > Whiteside County > History of Whiteside county, Illinois, from its first settlement to the present time, with numerous Biographical and Family Sketches > Part 76
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Mr. Washburne then came forward in response to the introduction, and was greeted with hearty applause. When quiet was restored he proceeded to deliver the following
PRESENTATION ADDRESS:
"The occasion of this gathering of so many of the officials of your county and so many of your citizens is well known to you all. On the threshold of the proceedings, however, you must permit me to tell you how great is my pleasure after an absence of nearly nine years from the country to find myself again at home and among my old friends and constituents of Whiteside county which so long honored me by their generous and abiding confidence. After a public ser- vice of more than a quarter of a century I have laid down the honors and re- sponsibilities of official position and am once more a private citizen. I do not, therefore, come to the county to-day to seek your suffrages, though I would fain have your good will, but on the other hand to testify to you my sense of the obligation for all your kindness and all the support you gave me as your Repre- sentative in Congress.
The general object of this occasion is also well known to you all, but you may expect from me some explanation in connection therewith. It was during my absence in Europe that I found at Brussels, Geo. Catlin, now deceased, the well-known American artist and one of the most distinguished painters of In- dian portraits of the time. Residing among the Indians for years, he had lent his gifted peneil to the work of putting on canvass the most celebrated Indians of the period. He was a great deal with the tribes of the "Northwest," and he painted one of the most remarkable scenes which preceded the Black Hawk war, of which this whole county became the theatre. This was a scene between Black Hawk and Keokuk, the two great chiefs of the united Sac and Fox na- tions of Indians, which was then divided into two parties. Black Hawk com- manded the war-like band; while Keokuk headed the band which was in favor of peace. His name being so intimately associated with the early history of the Rock river country, and which carried terror into all the humble cabins of our early settlers, the life, character and career of Black Hawk will always be ob- jects of interest to our people. No Indian of his time made so great an im- press upon the public, and his name will live when those of so many other dis- tinguished chiefs and warriors will have been forgotten. The originator and leader of the Indian hostilities in 1832, the war has always been known as the
[06-II.]
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" Black Hawk War." More than sixty years of age at the time, he had all the fire and energy of his earlier days. He was bold, able, cunning, cold, morose and vindictive, and hatred of the whites was with him a supreme passion. In the war with England in 1812, he was the head and front of all the Indian forces in the then " Northwest" who joined the British, and who disfigured the contest by all the atrocities of savage warfare. He was at the battles of River Raisin, Lower Sandusky, and other engagements. It was from his connection with the English that his band was always afterwards known as the "British Band." After the war was over he returned to his village near the mouth of Rock river, always known as the "Sac village," but only to stimulate still fur- ther the hatred of his tribe towards the white men, and to inspire terror at the mention of his name. He had on his side most of the young men, and the tur- bulent and ambitious spirits, all participating in his hostile sentiments, and all guided by his own strong will. Keokuk had more sagacity and prudence than his rival chief, Black Hawk. He was gifted with a persuasive eloquence rarely found among Indians, and by which he was enabled to retain a hold on the larger part of his people, and keep them in amity with the whites. It is impos- sible for me here to go into a history of the Black Hawk war, or the causes which led to it. In 1804 Gen. Harrison, then Governor of Indiana Territory and when Illinois was a part of it and embraced in St. Clair county, made a treaty with the Sac and Fox Indians by which all this section was purchased from them, and which included the old Sac village which I have spoken of, the stamping ground of Black Hawk and his band. This prominent chief was not. present at the treaty, though it is alleged that he agreed to it in the year 1816, for he once admitted that he "touched the goose quill" confirming it. Yet the idea of giving up his land and country to his hated enemy rankled in his heart, and he never ceased to assail the treaty as fraudulent, invalid, and insulting to his race. Though the greater portion of the Sac and Fox Indians had, in con- formity to treaty stipulations, removed from this section to the west of the Mis- sissippi, Black Hawk had determined to retain at all hazards the possession of the Rock river country. The land all about him having been surveyed and sold by the United States, the white settlers came in close proximity with his imme- diate possession at the Sac village. It was then that he vowed vengeance, put on the war paint, and sharpened the scalping knife and tomahawk. Having ta- ken the deliberate resolution to make war on the whites, he saw the importance of detaching his old rival, Keokuk, from them, and making him and the portion of his tribe who went with him his allies. Hence with all the form and cere- mony, which under important circumstances characterized what might be called official intercourse between great chiefs, a solemn interview was arranged be- tween Black Hawk and Keokuk, these noted chiefs. Keokuk had two warriors with him, and Black Hawk was accompanied by the "Prophet." Catlin was present and made a sketch from life. The recollection of the event was never . effaced from his memory. It was no quiet talk between these savages before the fire in the wigwam, but it is in the open air, and under the vaulted arches of the clear blue heavens. Keokuk gravely seats himself, and the two warriors stand pensively behind him. Black Hawk commences his speech, and for an hour and a half appeals in persuasive accents to his brother chief for help. In a wild and rude eloquence he portrays the fated destiny which impends over their race, threatened with being driven from the magnificent domains held from their Fathers. He paints their villages burned, their wigwams scattered, their wives and children torn from their country and homes, and the bones of their warriors killed in battle left to bleach on their hunting grounds. Warming up as he proceeds, great drops of perspiration roll out from his swarthy skin and
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fall like rain heavily upon the earth. The Prophet, mastering his feelings, listens with silent emotion. But the words of Black Hawk die away amid the breezes, and they awaken no echo of sympathy in the stoic heart of Keokuk. Cold, impassable, immovable, with far-reaching sagacity, he foresaw the conse- quences of a war with the whites, and refused to lend himself to any scheme hostile to them. But Black Hawk, less prudent and more impetuous, launched himself and his people into that bloody contest which resulted in freeing for- ever this whole country, then known as the "Northwest," from the presence of the hostile savages.
We whose lots have fallen in these pleasant places can perhaps imagine the agony which pierced the hearts of these original lords of the soil, when driven from the land of their fathers they cast a lingering glance behind to see their council fires extinguished and their monuments torn down.
" Ill-fated race, thy tribes have one by one,
" Sunk to their rest beneath the setting sun,
" Just like the bubbles which the ocean bore,
" The wave swept o'er them, they are seen no more."
"Interested in all that pertains to the Black Hawk war and in all that which concerned the earlier history of our section, I became somewhat enamoured of this historic painting. I had heard much of the Prophet. I was familiar with the country of the Winnebagoes and had been captivated with the romantic valley of Rock river which had been the paradise of the Indians. Thirty-five years ago, in the leafy month of June, I had followed up the bank of the river from Dixon's Ferry to Rockford, and the impressions of the unrivalled beauty of the country will never be effaced from my memory, and they will be to me a "joy forever." I bethought myself of the pleasant relations I had so long held to the people of Whiteside county, of the kindness and indulgence they had ex- tended to me, and the confidence they had reposed in me as their Representative to Congress. I did not forget that I had made a speech in the town that bears the Prophet's name, in the canvass of 1868, nor the cordiality with which I was welcomed. I therefore applied to Mr. Healy, the distinguished American artist, now residing in Paris, and who is without a superior as a portrait painter, to see if he would not undertake, from the original study of Catlin, to paint for me the portrait of the Prophet. Devoting himself to the peculiarities of the Indian character and providing himself with a large number of Indian portraits and photographs to aid him in his difficult task, he has produced the portrait I bring to you here. Large numbers have seen it and admired it as a splendid work of art in the artist's studio at Paris; but it will be for you to judge how much his marvelous pencil has done to rescue the memory of the Prophet from oblivion through the speaking canvass which may illustrate the history of your county in the far away ages. The portrait finished, I made the proposition to your Hon- orable Board of Supervisors to present it to the county as a historic souvenir. By a formal vote of the Board a resolution was proposed, couched in the most graceful terms, accepting it. I am now here for the purpose of performing what is a most agreeable mission, that of presenting the portrait of the Prophet to the county of Whiteside, through its official organ, the Board of Supervisors.
"On this occasion it is natural that there should be a desire to know some- thing of the character and history of him whose name is the center of so much interest here to-day. The Great Spirit sung long ago the death note of the Prophet. The incidents of his life and his career have mostly passed into for- getfulness, and I have been able to glean but little of his history. But you all know the beautiful town in your county which was his home, bearing his name and which will be perpetuated so long as its shores shall be laved by the clear
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY.
blue waters of Rock river. The Indian name of the Prophet was Wa-bo-kies-sheik. He was a son of a chief of the Sac and Fox tribes, but two of his wives were Winnebagoes. He became one of the most distinguished chiefs of that tribe and second in power and influence only to Black Hawk. He was a splendid specimen of his race, tall, well-proportioned, and graceful in all his movements. He had a keen, intelligent mind and an even and well-balanced temper. Dignified and self-possessed he always imposed by his presence. Cool, intelligent, clear-headed and of a serious character, he always exercised a great influence with his people. The lieutenant and right arm of Black Hawk, the courage, activity, and sagacity of the Prophet made him an invaluable aid though he did not indulge in the same hatred of the whites. His marriage with women who belonged to the friendly Winnebagoes had softened his prejudices towards the white man with whom he held intercourse. He was accessible to influences which could never reach Black Hawk. In his hunting expeditions, for some years before the break- ing out of hostilities, he was in the habit of visiting that section of country now known as Gratiot's Grove, Wisconsin, where Col. Henry Gratiot, agent of the Winnebagoes, one of the earlier and most distinguished of the early settlers of the Lead Mines then resided, and by whom he was always warmly welcomed, and for whom he entertained a strong friendship.
"It was the circumstance of the good relations and the high respect in which Col. Gratiot was held by all the Indian tribes of the Northwest, that after the breaking out of the war he was deputed by the military authorities to visit the Prophet at his village, Prophetstown, in the interests of peace, and with a view to some accommodation that might spare the inhabitants the horrors of a war- fare with savages. He bore a letter from Gen. Atkinson, who was in command at Fort Armstrong. This was an important though a dangerous mission. Col. Gratiot took with him his secretary and several Winnebago chiefs, all his fast friends, and all on good terms with the whites of the country in that time of so much peril. It is interesting to know who they were. There was Brokenshoul- der, an Indian of stalwart frame, great intelligence, courage and sobriety. He had previously been an enemy of the whites and was shot in the shoulder while scalping a white man near Fort Edwards, at Warsaw, in this State. Hence his name, Brokenshoulder. Whirling Thunder was a man of great repute for his sagacity and wisdom in council. White Crow was an Indian of bad character, tall, slim, with a hawk nose and with as much of a sinister look as a man could have who had only one eye; for one of his eyes had been put out in a brawl. He was addicted to gambling, fighting, drinking, and other disreputable practices. Little Medicine Man was a fine looking man, rather under ordinary size, quiet, subdued, gentlemanly. Little Priest was one of the most reputable of all the chiefs, able, discreet, wise, and moderate, and always sincerely friendly to the whites. The party took their canoes at Dixon Ferry and descended Rock river to the Prophet's village. No sooner had the canoes landed than the Indians surrounded the party with every demonstration of violence and made all of them prisoners. At the moment of the seizing of Col. Gratiot, the Prophet appeared on the scene. Seeing his old friend in danger he rushed upon his people and in- terfered in his defense, crying out "good man, good man, my friend, I take him to iny wigwam, I feed him, he be good friend of my Indians." Col. Gratiot being connected with the Chouteaus of St. Louis, the founders of the " American Fur Co." which vast concern wielded an immense influence among all the Indian tribes both east and west of the Mississippi, was called by the Indians "Chouteau." Arriving as a prisoner at the wigwam the Prophet said to him that if he came as "Chouteau" he should welcome him to his village, but if he came as a white man he must consider him, like all the whites, an enemy, and detain all the party
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.as prisoners. Col. Gratiot explained to the Prophet the peaceful object of his mission, which was in the interest of all the Indians, and how great would be the perfidy if he and his party should be detained or harmed. The situation of the Prophet was very embarrassing. He wanted to serve his friend, but the young men and warriors who were behind him were clamoring for the scalps of the prisoners, and would never consent to their departure. After keeping the pris- oners two or three days, the Prophet, uneasy, restless and disturbed by conflict- ing emotions, finally said to Col. Gratiot: "Chouteau, you have always been my friend, and the friend of my people, and you and your party must not be harmed, but there is great trouble, my young men will never consent to give you up and so you must leave without their knowledge; your canoes are on shore, go to. them at a moment when I shall indicate, and leave instantly, and go with all speed, the news will spread like wild fire and the young men will give you chase. All will depend on the strength of your good right arms." The Prophet was right. Hardly had they reached their canoes when the alarm was given, and all the young men of the village raised the war cry, rushed to their canoes to follow the prey they saw about to escape them. And never before, nor since, have the placid waters of Rock River been the theatre of such an excited contest. It was literally a race for life. A score of young and maddened warriors were in pursuit, amid shouts and cries and imprecations. But a sense of the overwhelm- ing danger nerved the arms of the pursued, for to be taken was certain death to all. And the pursuit continued with cheers and savage yells through long and dreary hours. Silence fell at last upon the pursuers. In the stillness of the night no sound was heard except the quick and regular stroke of the paddle wielded with gigantic strength. Sullen, resolute, determined, nothing could di- vert the attention of these red men of our prairies. who gave no heed to anything but the vital matter in hand. The race was at last to the swift, and the victory to the strong. As daylight appeared, the shores of the river revealed to the exhausted party that they had passed the point of danger and were within the limits of the white settlements. Doggedly, silently, the warriors gave up the chase, and the pursued were in a short time safely landed at Rock Island.
" I have these relations from the sons of Col. Gratiot; Col. Charles H. Gratiot, of Gratiot, Wisconsin, and Lt .- Col. Edward H. Gratiot, of Platteville, Wisconsin; who had often heard their father recount the story of his dangerous mission. It was the Prophet who on this occasion protected from violence, and probably saved the life of Col. Gratiot, who was the honored father of Mrs. Washburne. In this fact, so interesting to me, I am sure all the people of Whiteside county will readily sce another reason for my interest in the Prophet.
"I have spoken of the relations which Black Hawk during the war borc to his trusted friend and adviser, the Prophet. All here may not know that the present village of Prophetstown was in the theatre of hostile operations in the spring of 1832. Black Hawk, organizing his forces at the old Sac village, marched up Rock River and formed a camp at the Prophet's village. Col. John A. Wakeful, who was an officer in the Black Hawk war, and who wrote a history thereof, speaking of the Illinois troops in pursuit of Black Hawk, says: "We encamped in sight of the old Prophet's village; next morning we went through the town, and saw where Black Hawk had encamped with his whole army. His encampment was laid off in a manner showing great skill in warfare. No Amer- ican General could have laid it out in a more military style; from the appear- ance of the encampment, we were induced to believe that they remained there a week."
"The Prophet accompanied Black Hawk during the whole war, to whom lic was a sort of "Chief of Staff." After the battle of Bad Axe, which ended in a
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HISTORY OF WHITESIDE COUNTY.
complete rout of the Indian forces, Black Hawk and the Prophet escaped up ยท the Wisconsin river. They afterwards gave themselves up to two Winnebago chiefs, "One Eyed Decorri" and "Chaetar"-who took them to Fort Crawford at Prairie Du Chien. It was a moment of much interest, and many of the officers of the Fort were present. The account published at the time says that the prisoners appeared "in a full dress of white tanned deer skins." From Prairie Du Chien, Black Hawk and the Prophet and some subordinate chiefs were sent to Rock Island under charge of Lieutenant Anderson of the regular army-after- wards General Anderson of Fort Sumter memory-and delivered to the military authorities at Fort Armstrong. They were afterwards sent to Jefferson Bar- racks and confined till the Spring of 1833. Here Black Hawk and the Prophet attracted much attention. In his misfortune, Keokuk visited his old rival Black Hawk, and made great exertions for his release, and the release of the Prophet and other warriors; but the Government refused this and ordered them sent to Washington in April, 1833. In an interview with the President, Black Hawk closed his speech delivered on this occasion in the following words: "We did not expect to conquer the whites-they have too many houses, too many men. I took np the hatchet for my part, to avenge injuries which my people could no longer endure. Had I borne them longer without striking, my people would have said, 'Black Hawk is a woman! he is too old to be a chief ! he is no Sac!' these reflections caused me to raise the warwhoop." From Washington the warriors were sent to Fortress Monroe, where they were detained till the Fourth of July following, when President Jackson directed they should be sent home. They were taken to Baltimore, Philadelphia, and other cities, to show them the numbers and power of the white people. They everywhere attracted great at- tention. Among others, the ladies universally sought their acquaintance, and one young lady in her admiration of Black Hawk's son, actually kissed him be- fore crowds of people. In return for their politeness and sympathy, Black Hawk told them that they "were very pretty squaws." All this is recounted by Gov- ernor Ford in his History of Illinois.
"There were no further Indian troubles in our country after this. In the Spring of 1838, Black Hawk moved to Des Moines river, Iowa, about twenty miles from its mouth, where he lived until the 3d of October, 1840, when he was gathered to his fathers at the age of eighty years.
"While there is not much in the life and history of the Prophet generally known, I have found nothing to his discredit. In his relations towards the whites it might be said of him, "An enemy in war, in peace a friend."
"An old Indian trader, Thomas Forsythe, and for many years prior to 1830, Agent of the Sac and Fox Indians, says, "many a good meal has the Prophet given to people traveling past his village, and very many stray horses has he re- covered from the Indians, and restored to their rightful owners, without asking compensation therefor."
"I have spoken of this country at the time when it was in possession of the Indians and when they were compelled to retire before the advancing wave of civilization and progress. It might be interesting to go back farther, and to the by-gone ages when the Aborigines were the only possessors of the soil, unknown to and undisturbed by the white man, and to briefly trace how the very soil on which we stand to-day has passed under the jurisdiction of different nations, governments, states, territories and counties. The French and English who first laid claim to the lands of North America, founded their rights on two theories, quite different: The English relied on discovery, and the French on exploration and occupation. Relying on their right of discovery, the last charter granted by England to Virginia in 1609, extended her boundaries from sea to sea and com-
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prised within her limits Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and many other States of the present time-so according to the English claim Whiteside County was first under this Virginia charter. The French, however denied the validity of this title, claiming that the eastern slopes of the Alleghanies were the natural limits of British possessions, and that the vast area of country which extended on the other side of that chain of mountains belonged to them by the right of explora- tion and occupation.
"In the beginning of the Sixteenth Century the English had not yet gone beyond the Alleghanies, while the French by their missionaries and adventurers, had traveled through the whole of the western region and taken possession of the country. In 1673 Fathers Marquette and Joliet, coming by the Great Lakes, and by way of the Mississippi river, which washes the western boundary of your county, founded important settlements at Kaskaskia and Cahokia, now in this State. Shortly after, the great explorer of the Mississippi, LaSalle, coming from Lake Michigan, then called Lake "Illinois," descended the Illinois river, on the banks of which he founded Creve-Coeur, afterwards Fort Clark, now Peoria, en- . tered the Mississippi, and on the 9th day of April, 1682, took formal possession of the country in the name of Louis IV, and gave it the name of LOUISIANA. This was undoubtedly the better title, and Whiteside county may have been con- sidered to have been in French territory in 1682. Fort Chartres, which was an astonishing work of art and of military skill at that day was the seat of the government of Louisiana in 1720, and the first county seat of Whiteside County. It was situated on the east side of the Mississippi river, on what was the first road from St. Louis to Kaskaskia, and six miles above the old French village of Prairie du Rocher.
" After great disputes, contests and wars France in 1763 ceded to Great Britain, Canada and all that part of Louisiana east of the Mississippi, so White- side county in 1763 became again, and now without dispute, English territory. When the American colonies made peace with England in 1783, England ceded all this section of country to the United States, Whiteside county then for the first time could be called American territory, and attached to Virginia under the name of the "County of Illinois." In 1787 the whole of this country north- west of the river Ohio constituted one district-and now Whiteside county be- came a part of the territory of Ohio.
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