USA > Illinois > Illinois, historical and statistical, comprising the essential facts of its planting and growth as a province, county, territory, and state, Vol. I > Part 10
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* Penicaut's "Journal," French's " Louisiana," Part VI., 60; Sauvol's "Journal," French's " Louisiana, " Part III., 229-38. £ + French's " Louisiana, " Part VI., 126.
Beckwith's "Vermilion County," 224. § Dillon's "Historical Notes, " 63.
III
MAJ. GEORGE WASHINGTON.
The formation of the Ohio Land Company, in 1748-9, and the grant to it by the British government of half a million acres of land along the Ohio River, with the exclusive privilege of trading with the Indian tribes, precipitated the impending con- flict. Surveys and explorations by Christopher Gist, the agent of the company, followed in 1750-2, and a trading-post was established on Loramie Creek, forty-seven miles north of Dayton.
The French had, in the meantime, erected a fort at Presque Isle, on Lake Erie, and soon after advanced their posts to the Alleghany River. These hostile demonstrations were viewed with no little alarm by the governors of Pennsylvania and Vir- ginia. Gov. Dinwiddie, who was a stockholder therein,* was a ready listener to complaints by the Ohio Company of these belligerent acts, and appointed Capt. William Trent as a com- missioner to expostulate with the French commander on the Ohio concerning his aggressions on the territory of his Britannic majesty; but his mission proved a failure. Dinwiddie, however, was not discouraged, and at once began to look about for a person better fitted to represent the government in so delicate a mission. It was apparent that for such a task keen sagacity was as essential a qualification as high physical and moral courage.
One in whom these qualities were happily united was found in the person of Maj. George Washington, then adjutant-general of the Virginia militia, and assigned to the northern division. Thus the history of the "father of his country" becomes dis- tinctly connected with that of our own State, which, although at that time in hostile possession, eventually became a part of the State of the illustrious Washington. His commission bore date October 30, 1753. By its terms he was directed to pro- ceed to Logstown, where, after presenting his credentials to the French commander, he was to ascertain what had given occa- sion to the French invasion of British territory, what were the pretensions of the aggressors, and how they were likely to be supported. He was also directed diligently to inquire into the numbers of the French on the Ohio and in the adjacent coun- try; and correctly to inform himself as to the number and loca-
* Irving's "Washington," I., 67.
112
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
tion of the enemy's forts, and how the latter were garrisoned and appointed.
He began the same day what proved to be a perilous and difficult journey. Often sleeping on the ground without a tent, passing through the storms and snows of winter, in danger from treacherous foes in a wilderness country, he developed a reso- lution, prudence, sagacity, and hardihood which distinguished him as one eminently qualified to discharge important trusts involving civil as well as military responsibilities. He was cour- teously received by the French officer, Jacques Repentigny le Gardeur de St. Pierre, who replied to the governor's communica- tion that he would transmit the same to his general, the Marquis Duquesne, by whose answer his conduct would be governed.
On returning, the weather becoming more unfavorable and the roads deep with snow, the horses of the major and his com- panion gave out. They therefore determined to prosecute their journey by the nearest way, through the woods, on foot. This Washington found to be a difficult and dangerous expedient, as the following extract from his journal shows:
"I took my necessary papers, pulled off my clothes, and tied myself up in a watch-coat. Then with gun in hand and pack on my back, in which were my papers and provisions, I set out with Mr. Gist. The day following, just after we passed a place called 'Murdering Town,' we fell in with a party of French- Indians, who had lain in wait for us. One of them fired at Mr. Gist or me, not fifteen steps off, but fortunately missed. We took the fellow in custody and kept him until nine o'clock at night, then let him go, walking all the remaining part of the night, without making any stops, that we might get the start so far as to be out of the reach of their pursuit the next day. The next day we continued traveling until quite dark, and got to the river, which we expected to find frozen, but it was not- only about fifty yards from each shore. There was no way of getting over but on a raft, which we set about with but one poor hatchet, and finished just after sunsetting. This was a whole day's work. We next got it launched, then went on board of it, and set off; but before we were half-way over we were jammed in the ice in such manner that we expected every moment our raft to sink and ourselves to perish. I put out my
II3
FORT DUQUESNE.
setting pole to try to stop the raft, that the ice might pass by, when the rapidity of the stream threw it with so much violence against the pole that it jerked me out into ten feet of water, but I fortunately saved myself by catching hold of one of the raft logs. Notwithstanding all our efforts, we could not get to either shore, but were obliged, as we were near an island, to quit our raft and make to it. The cold was so extremely severe that Mr. Gist had all his fingers and some of his toes frozen, and the water was shut up so hard that we found no difficulty in getting off the island on the ice in the morning, and went on to Mr. Frazier's." They arrived at Williamsburg, Jan. 16, 1754.
The information brought by Washington having convinced the governor that the French were preparing to take military possession of the Ohio Valley, preparations were immediately made to counteract such a step. The Ohio Company having begun a fort at the confluence of the Alleghany and Monon- gahela rivers, Maj. Washington was ordered, in the spring of 1754, to proceed thither and superintend its completion. He set out from Alexandria with a force of one hundred and fifty men, but was so delayed by unforeseen difficulties of transpor- tation that he found on his arrival that the French were already there in advance of him. A force of about one thousand men, under Capt. Antoine Pécody, Sieur de Contrecœur, with a small park of light artillery, had suddenly appeared before the fort, and, after driving off the few militiamen and workmen who formed its garrison, had taken possession. The French com- pleted the fort and named it Fort Duquesne, after the governor of Canada. And this was the first blow struck in the French- and-Indian war, the formal declaration of which was not made until after the capture of Fort Necessity. Although the war thus commenced in the Ohio Valley extended over North America, only those events will be referred to here which relate to the Northwest and are directly connected with the Illinois country.
Washington, perceiving the situation, determined to proceed with his small command to the Ohio Company's storehouses, at the mouth of Redstone Creek. On his way he encountered a small party of French, under the Sieur de Jumonville de Villiers, who, it is alleged, had been despatched with a formal summons to Washington, requiring him to withdraw from the French ter- 8
II4
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
ritory. This party was successfully attacked by Washington, May 28, at a place called Little Meadows. It was his first battle, and resulted in the killing of ten of the French, includ- ing the commander, and the capture of twenty-one prisoners, while his own loss was but one killed and three wounded. From a letter found on the person of Jumonville, as well as from his conduct in waiting for reinforcements before delivering the message with which he had been charged, it would seem that the summons was in fact a mere pretext to cover his real design, which was to assume the initiative and attack Washing- ton as soon as he felt himself numerically able to do so.
On learning of the defeat and death of Jumonville, his brother, Coulon de Villiers, who had been despatched for this purpose from Montreal, set out from Fort Duquesne with an army of five hundred French and seven hundred Indians to avenge his death. In view of his inferiority in numbers-his force being but about three hundred all told, Washington re- treated to the Great Meadows, where a temporary fortification was thrown up, known as Fort Necessity. Here, on July 3, he was attacked by Villiers. His defense against great odds was most ably conducted, but in the end he was compelled to surrender to the French .*
This affair was directly connected with the history of the Illinois country. Fort Chartres had been reinforced under the commandant, the Chevalier Macarty Mactique, who had suc- ceeded Maj. St. Claire, in view of the threatening aspect of the situation in the Ohio Valley, with a sufficient number of com- panies to form a regiment of grenadiers. Macarty was in- structed to rebuild the fort, employing stone instead of wood in its construction.
Besides being more substantially built, the new fortification was to be erected on a larger scale, and was to be equipped with what were then known as the "latest" appliances of civil- ized warfare. The work was completed in 1754 at a cost of a million crowns-a sum equivalent to about $1,000,000 in U .- S. money, and pronounced by Capt. Philip Pittman, who inspected it in 1766, the "most convenient and best-built fort in North America." The new Fort Chartres was in the form of an
* Dillon's "Historical Notes," 71. Parkman's "Montcalm and Wolf," I., 153.
115
FORT CHARTRES.
PLAN OF FORT CHARTRES ON THE MISSISSIPPI.
Drawn from a survey made in 1820 by Nicholas Hansen of Illinois, and Lewis C. Beck.
A
SCALE OF FEET.
25
200
B
A
F
D
D
E
4 T
₩
&
U
G
A
RAVINE
AAA The exterior wall-1447 feet.
B The gate or entrance to the fort.
C A small gate.
DD The two houses formerly occupied by the commandant and commissary, each 96 feet in length and 30 in breadth.
E The well.
F The magazine.
GGGG Houses formerly occupied as barracks, 135 feet in length, 36 in breadth.
HH Formerly occupied as a storehouse and guard-house, 90 feet by 24.
I The remains of small magazine.
K The remains of a furnace.
I.LL A ravine, which in the spring is filled with water. Between this and the river, which is about half-a-mile, is a thick growth of cotton-wood.
The area of the fort is about four square acres.
II6
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
irregular quadrilateral. The total length of its four sides, by interior measurement, was four hundred and ninety feet. The entrance was an arched gate-way, fifteen feet high, while its walls, two feet two inches in thickness, rose to a height of eighteen feet, and contained four bastions, each having eight embrasures and a sentry-box. Within these walls were a store- house, ninety by thirty feet, two stories high, gable roofed; the government house, eighty-four by thirty-two feet, with iron gates and stone porch; the guard-house, with two rooms above for a chapel; two rows of barracks, each one hundred and twenty-eight feet long; and a magazine, thirty-eight by thirty- five feet, fifteen feet high; besides a prison with four dungeons and a guard-house.
Upon learning of the defeat and death of Jumonville, Capt. Neyon de Villiers of Fort Chartres, was dispatched with a company to join the force of his brother Coulon, from Fort Duquesne, and aid in overcoming "Monsieur de Wachenston," as he was called in the French despatches. The favorable result of this campaign gave the gallant captain and his post on the Mississippi a well-earned distinction.
The Illinois country was largely depended upon for supplies, which were transported in boats down the Mississippi and up the Ohio to Fort Duquesne, in which service Neyon de Villiers rendered valuable aid.
Upon hearing of the capture of the place afterward known as Fort Duquesne, and the surrender of Fort Necessity, the British government determined upon a more vigorous prosecu- tion of the war, the issue of which was fraught with such stupendous consequences. The contest was altogether unequal, so far as the colonies were concerned. The British white popu- lation in 1749 was estimated at one million and fifty-one thou- sand, while that of the French-exclusive of their Indian allies -was computed at only fifty-two thousand .*
The advantages of the British in all the resources of war and in holding the interior and lesser line of defence were even greater than was their superiority in numbers. But at first, success was with the French. The disastrous defeat of Gen. Edward Brad- dock, near Fort Duquesne, occurred July 9, 1755, in which his
Dillon's "Historical Notes," 66, and authorities there quoted.
117
REDUCTION OF FORT DUQUESNE.
loss in killed and wounded, out of a force of twelve hundred, amounted to seven hundred and fourteen, while that of the French and Indians was only sixty-seven. By this victory, the French were confirmed in the possession of Fort Duquesne, and left masters of the Ohio Valley for more than three years.
But a change of ministry in Great Britain had placed at the head of the foreign office the great Earl of Chatham, whose splendid genius, displayed in marshalling the resources of Great Britain and in directing its armies, was soon rewarded with a succession of brilliant victories which changed the aspect of affairs in North America. By 1758, the British forces having been largely reinforced from Europe, active operations were once more resumed in the Ohio Valley.
Early in September, Maj. Grant, with a force of eight hun- dred Highlanders and a company of Virginians, was ordered to attack Fort Duquesne. That fortress had just been reinforced by four hundred French grenadiers from the Illinois district, under command of the Chevalier Aubrey. Grant, dividing his troops, intending to draw the enemy into an ambuscade, was gallantly attacked in detail by Aubrey, who obtained a complete victory over him, inflicting a loss of three hundred .* A few days afterward, this intrepid commander made another sortie from the fort and surprised a British camp forty-five miles away, capturing enough horses to bring his command back mounted.+
On November 25, 1758, Gen. Washington, commanding the advance of a British army seven thousand strong, appeared before the fort. The French, who by this time numbered only four hundred, the most of whom had come from Fort Chartres, decided to destroy the fort and retreat by the light of its burning stockades. The greater portion of the garrison suc- cessfully retired to Fort Machault, some miles up the river, while the remainder, with the artillery-some of which was doubtless used at Fort Massac-made their escape by the Ohio River to the Illinois.#
The reduction of Fort Duquesne, which the British repaired
* Bancroft, IV., 312.
+ E. G. Mason's " Illinois in the Eighteenth Century."
# Paris Doc., 956; Parkman's "Montcalm and Wolfe," II., 159.
118
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
and rechristened Fort Pitt, terminated French domination in the Ohio Valley. The various tribes of Indians between the Ohio River and the lakes, who had hitherto been the allies of the French, upon seeing their discomfiture were ready to make terms with the conquerors .* Yet, when it was determined to attempt to raise the siege of Fort Niagara, all the Indian vil- lages in Illinois, with characteristic inconsistency, furnished volunteers to join the forces from Detroit and Mackinac, who were again gallantly led by the brave Aubrey in this desperate enterprise.
Upon reaching the scene, on July 24, 1759, they made a gal- lant charge upon the investing force, commanded by Sir William Johnson; but after a sharp conflict were repulsed with great loss. Of the Illinois volunteers a large number were killed, wounded, and taken prisoners, among the latter being their commander.+ The defeat was a disastrous one to the French authorities at Fort Chartres. Commandant Macarty reported that the expe- dition had cost him "the flower of his men, and that his garri- son was weaker than ever."
But the final and fatal blow which broke the power of the French in North America was given at Quebec, at the battle of the Heights of Abraham, September 13, 1759. Here the French met their entire overthrow at the hands of the British, under the noble Wolfe. The lives of the commanders of both armies were lost on the sanguinary field. The glorious result of this day's conflict was celebrated by the proclamation of a day of thanksgiving and rejoicing throughout the dominions of Great Britain.
The surrender of Montreal, Detroit, Mackinac, and other posts the following year practically ended the war. But Illi- nois remained loyal to France. Succeeding Macarty, Neyon de Villiers, who had proved himself so brave and efficient, was promoted to the command in 1761. It was hoped that although Canada was lost, Louisiana and Illinois, at least, might be saved to the French. But this was not to be. For the loss of Florida, France, on the same day, indemnified Spain, by ceding to that power New Orleans and all of Louisiana west of the Missis- sippi.+
* Irving's "Washington," I., 263. + Irving and Mason. # Bancroft, IV., 452.
119
TRIUMPH OF THE BRITISH.
This treaty sounded the death-knell of French hopes and ambitions in Illinois. The beautiful country which had been the birthplace of many and in which nearly all had so long resided, which had been first discovered and secured to them by French enterprise, and for the retention of which so many of their race and kindred had offered their lives on well-contested fields of battle, was theirs no longer. Its control had passed into the hands of a hated and hereditary foe, and its surrender was regarded by them with much the same feelings of profound personal loss as those of the French inhabitants of Alsace- Lorraine when their beautiful province was surrendered to the Germans a century later. Of the seven brothers who bore the family name of Villiers, six had been slain in defence of Canada .* The gallant Commandant Neyon was the only survivor. De- spondent, yet still devoted and hoping that Lower Louisiana had been saved to his country, with a few followers he departed for New Orleans. The last French commandant of the Illinois district was the veteran St. Ange, who under orders proceeded from Vincennes, and, with a force of forty men, held Fort Chartres for the new owners until they demanded possession. It was the last place on the continent of North America to fly the French flag.
It has been often said that the French sought the new world to advance the cause of religion, the Spaniards to seek for treasure, and the British to secure greater freedom of thought and action. Although this statement has too often served to emphasize a rhetorical period, it can not be said to be destitute of foundation in fact.
While it must be conceded that the French showed a capacity for undertaking large problems in political geography, a genius for exploration, and a talent for guiding their way to dominion in decidedly favorable contrast with the slower and "blundering processes of their British rivals,"+ they failed to utilize the results which they had accomplished, or to take advantage of what they had acquired. They saw and claimed more than they had the ability to hold or possess. Their line of dominion extended from the St. Lawrence around the great lakes and through the valley of the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico, a distance
* " Bossu's Voyages," Part I., 161.
+ Winsor's " America," IV., 23.
120
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
of over three thousand miles. Throughout this splendid domain they established missionary stations and erected forts; but such were the inherent imperfections of their system that, although they occupied the country for over eighty years, they had not succeeded in gathering a permanent population of over four thousand white inhabitants from Lake Michigan to New Or- leans. Agriculture was confined to small holdings. Instead of offering inducements to tillers of the soil to become owners of their farms, their grants were generally held under seign- iorial rights. And although rents were moderate, transfers and sales of lands were burdened with restrictions and heavy fines .* But another, and indeed the crowning, cause of the failure of the French settlements is found in the fact that their ener- gies were paralyzed by the vice-like grip of commercial monop- olies, under whose autocratic sway the inhabitants were forced to buy and sell in such quantities and at such times and prices as an oligarchy of favorites might see fit to establish, thus stamping out all mercantile competition and even ambition.
In addition to the defects in their systems of land titles and of commerce, the French authorities never sought to introduce any scheme of education. They apparently preferred that the people should remain in ignorance, lest greater knowledge might awaken discontent and possibly lead to revolt. That they did not care for an intelligent population is evidenced by the fact that during the entire period of French domination in Canada not a printing-press was to be found throughout the province.
The British policy was radically different. They stuck to the soil, which they were encouraged to cultivate; they built homes, which they had every interest to protect and defend. While they brought with them from the mother country their love of freedom and of what they termed "English privileges," they left behind their respect for class distinction. They organ- ized themselves into bodies of freeholders, in which every citizen had a voice and a vote. They encouraged learning and estab- lished schools and colleges, while the printing-press furnished them the newspaper, books, and pamphlets. They also encour- aged the practice of industrial arts, in order that each commu- nity might become self-sustaining. These settlements, mostly
* Bancroft, IV., 459.
121
NATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS.
in rocky New England, where was required a constant struggle for existence, continued to grow and increase so that, although planted at about the same time as those of the French, when the war broke out which resulted in the transfer of an empire from the one power to the other, the former numbered twenty to one of the latter.
The French loved to roam in the trackless woods or on the wild prairies with the natives. Their traders were after furs, their explorers intent upon discoveries, while their missionaries sought for souls. On the other hand, the British settler was most happy when seated by his own fireside in the home which his own hands had made. While more or less engaged in com- mercial pursuits, his chief interest was in the soil. For him the affairs of government exercised a peculiar charm; he was as punctual at the "town meeting" as at the house of divine wor- ship, and the fervor with which he discharged his round of religious duties was only equalled by the zeal with which he participated in elections. The christianizing of the Indians he was entirely willing to relegate to the clergy. The only interest which the average layman felt in either the temporal or spiritual welfare of his dusky, aboriginal brother was a possibly latent but certainly fervid desire to get him out of the way.
That the sturdy independence of the British induced a civili- zation far more hardy than the exterior polish of their French antagonists has been abundantly demonstrated at Crécy and Waterloo, in the old world, and at Niagara and Quebec in the new. And it is to the difference in the two civilizations that may be attributed the loss, by the French, of their magnificent domain in North America.
In France, an influential party, so far from deploring this loss as a national calamity, regarded the event as presaging the downfall of a corrupt dynasty, enervated by licentiousness and brutalized by power. Thoughtful minds recognized in the humiliation of the House of Bourbon the triumph of constitu- tional freedom over despotism. In their intense desire for a radical reform of the organization of government and of so- ciety, they were willing to endure even national humiliation, provided it tended toward national liberation from a galling
122
ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
yoke .* They fixed the responsibility for the downfall of French power in America where it belonged. They recognized the patriotism and fidelity with which Montcalm's veterans, practi- cally deserted by the home government, had loyally battled for their king. They paid ungrudging homage to their devotion, their endurance, and their chivalry; but this very appreciation of the gallant services of the men who had offered their lives on the altar of patriotism intensified their bitterness toward the despot who had necessitated the sacrifice, and accepted it with- out recognition. They foresaw the ultimate enfranchisement of the Anglo-American colonies, and between the lines of the · Treaty of Paris they read the promise of the liberation of France through the coming revolution.
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