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 18
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Various lists and additions thereto were made out by the governor under the foregoing resolutions and act of congress, up to the time of the division of the Northwest Territory, and even thereafter, from which great confusion and uncertainty arose. Many of the original claimants were dead, many had removed, some had assigned their claims, and not a few persons presented themselves as having resided in the territory at the time pre- scribed, but who had never been heard of by the traditional "oldest inhabitant." But no surveys were made under the direction of the governor, and the law remained practically a dead letter, to the great dissatisfaction and inconvenience of the people. Another plan for the adjustment of these claims had therefore to be adopted. This was embraced in the act of March 26, 1804, establishing land-offices at Vincennes and Kas- kaskia. Under this act Michael Jones was appointed register and Elijah Backus, receiver; who were also authorized to act as commissioners with full power to receive and adjudicate such claims; which were classified thus: (1) Ancient grants, (2) donation, or head-rights, as they were called; (3) improvement, and (4) militia claims. John Caldwell was added to the commission in 1812, and Shadrach Bond was acting as register
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LAND-CLAIMS IN ILLINOIS.
when the final report was made in 1815. Naturally the age of these claims and difficulty attending their proof, opened wide the door to fraudulent speculators. The assignment of a claim frequently implied as a necessary adjunct the production of a perjured deposition to establish it. There were filed with the commissioners seven hundred claims, of which they reported that two hundred were subsequently admitted to be false by the persons making them. Signatures to deeds and assignments were frequently forged, and in these questionable transactions some of the leading citizens of Kaskaskia were implicated. Many of those who had left the country and were not aware of the act of congress sold their claims for a mere song.
Many French inhabitants fled the country in consequence of being told that they would be required, under the Ordinance of 1787, to abjure their religion and forfeit their slaves if they re- mained. As might have been expected, such ignorant fugitives gladly disposed of their titles at a merely nominal price.
Finally, as reported by the commissioners, more than thirty years after the claims originated, of the 2294 claims presented, II7I had been confirmed. Of the 254 donation claims con- firmed in the first report and approved by congress, 194 had been assigned. Of the 172 in the second report, every one had passed into the hands of new parties. Exclusive of the ancient- grant claims, the following persons, who were the largest holders at the time of the presentation of the final report, had their titles confirmed to the number of acres set after their respective names:
Nicholas Jarrot, 25,000; John Rice Jones, 9400; William Morrison, 15,040; John Edgar, 49,200; James O'Hara, 6000; Jean François Perry, 5500; William McIntosh, SSoo.
Although a state of war existed between the Indians and the inhabitants of Kentucky and the Northwest Territory, which was characterized by great ferocity and vindictiveness on both sides during the years from 1781-5, the white settlements in St. Clair County, which by this time numbered forty or fifty fami- lies, escaped serious molestation. The act of congress of June, 1785, warning settlers to depart from the public lands, as it was the intention of the government to have them surveyed and offered for sale, aroused the jealousy of tribes on the Wabash,
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ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
who determined to make war upon the white settlers in St. Clair and Knox counties, the latter having been laid out at Post Vin- cennes .*
The salient features of the war, if the desultory guerilla war- fare may be dignified by that title, were marauding expeditions and midnight attacks, in which the Kickapoos bore a prominent part. During the years 1786-1795, these sanguinary raids were of frequent occurrence in the Illinois country, and resulted in the capture or massacre of many of the inhabitants.
A few individual cases, which have come down to us through particular mention, may be especially noticed: During one of these predatory incursions in 1786, James Andrews, with his wife and daughter, James White and Samuel McClure were killed. In 1788, John Vallis was killed and Wm. Biggs taken prisoner. The same year, Samuel Garrison and Mr. Reddich were killed and scalped, and Benj. Ogle wounded. In 1789, David Waddle was wounded and scalped, but afterward re- covered ; James Turner and John Ferrel with three others were killed, and several wounded. . In 1790, James Worley was among the killed.
As a defense and protection against these attacks, block- houses were built in all the settlements. These were from one and a half to two stories high. In their construction, ornament was discarded for utility, and symmetry sacrificed for strength. The lower story was provided with port-holes through which to shoot. The second story projected three or four feet over the first, and its floor was perforated with similar holes.
Occasionally, more elaborate architectural plans were fol- lowed; several families made common cause in mutual protec- tion against the treacherous foe. In such cases four houses were erected on the four corners of a square piece of ground, the intervals between being filled by heavy timbers set endways in the ground to a height of fifteen feet. Within the enclosure were cabins for the residence of the families, care being taken to choose a location near a spring of running water. Wells were sometimes dug on the inside to be used in case of siege. When danger seemed imminent, horses and other stock were driven inside the inclosure for safe keeping. The trees were nearly all
* Dillon, 201.
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GOV. ST. CLAIR'S DEFEAT.
cut down to guard against ambuscades; but even this precau- tion did not avail to prevent occasional casualties when the gates were opened in the early morning.
In 1791, all overtures for peace having been rejected by the Indians, who plainly showed their ability and willingness to fight for the lands of which they claimed to have been deprived, Gov. St. Clair determined to establish a series of forts in the enemy's country in the neighborhood of the Miami village and to attack him wherever met. His experience in the Revolu- tionary war was not without value to him in the performance of the task which his official position imposed upon him, and served him in good stead at a time when experience was more rare than courage. He started on his campaign on September 7. On November 3, his forces, numbering some 1450 men, reached a point near what was afterward the site of Fort Henry, and went into camp. Here on the morning of September 4, just before sunrise, he was unexpectedly attacked by a force of 1200 Indians, commanded by Little Turtle and Blue Jacket, with whom were the notorious Simon Girty and a few other ren- egade whites. The militia fled at the first fire, but the regulars stood firm, and to save the day, which was going against them, made repeated and most heroic bayonet charges. Their deter- mined valor, however, did not avail, and a retreat was ordered. The fierce yells of triumph from a thousand savages, and the furious onslaught of the now victorious foe, turned the scene into a pandemonium of destruction and death.
The brave old commander, though so severely afflicted with the gout as to be unable to seat himself in his saddle, was in the thickest of the fight, continually urging his men to stand and charge. He had four horses killed while trying to secure a mount. He was not in uniform. His long grey hair flying in the wind was as conspicuous as were the white plumes of Henry of Navarre at Ivry. He led the charge which drove back the first assault and the one which cut a way through the enemy and made retreat possible. The loss was fearful, especially among the officers, thirty-nine of whom were left dead upon the field. Of the men, five hundred and ninety were killed or miss- ing. Twenty-two officers and two hundred and forty-two men were wounded. The loss of the Indians was estimated at only
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ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
one hundred and fifty. The value of the property secured by them was estimated at $32,810 .*
As might have been expected, their success in this engage- ment encouraged the "red skins" to still bolder acts of hostility. But the American settlements in St. Clair County had been lately reinforced and greatly strengthened by the immigration of the families of Whiteside, Ogle, Judy, and others from Ken- tucky, who, by their daring, became a terror to the Indians, and kept them at bay.
Gen. St. Clair having resigned his command in the army, was succeeded by Gen. Anthony Wayne. The campaign entered upon by him resulted in the victory of the Maumee Rapids, on August 20, 1794, and led to a suspension of hostilities. The Indians having by this time become convinced that it was idle for them to prolong the struggle, even should the British re- deem their doubtful promises of support and co-operation, con- cluded to agree to a general conference, which resulted in the Treaty of Greenville, August 3, 1795.
The news of the execution of this important treaty was hailed with joy throughout the Northwest. Other treaties being made soon after, immigration revived and the people resumed their peaceful pursuits, nor was the improvement of the country again interrupted by the disturbing element of Indian depredations for over fifteen years.
Among those facts of general American history which sustain an intimate relation to the Northwest at this period, may be mentioned the diplomatic complications which existed between the United States on the one hand, and Great Britain, France and Spain, on the other. That the monarchial governments of Europe would have rejoiced to witness the downfall of republi- can institutions in the new world, is a question not admitting of much doubt. Whether or not any or all of the great powers hoped for an ultimate partition of the continent of North Amer- ica-each in its own interest, the fact remains that American affairs constituted one of the chief topics of discussion in the cabinets of the old world. The latter regarded the successful establishment of a republic on the western shores of the Atlan- tic as a standing menace to the integrity of those ancient insti-
* Dillon's " Historical Notes, " and Smith's " St. Clair Papers."
205
FOREIGN COMPLICATIONS.
tutions whose perpetuity they sought to maintain. Two modes of securing the overthrow of the new government presented themselves; one to embroil the United States in a foreign war, and the other, to sow the seeds of sectional jealousy and dissen- sion.
Great Britain having, in 1794, erected forts within the terri- torial limits of the United States, on the Maumee River, from which aid was extended to the hostile Indians, an acrimonious controversy arose respecting the same. The attitude of Great Britain toward our government at this period was so especially offensive that only the firm prudence of President Washington and the diplomatic skill of John Jay averted the precipitation of hostilities, which, to say the least, might have been fraught with grave peril to the young republic. On November 19, 1794, at London, a treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation, was con- cluded with Great Britain which happily settled all existing causes of quarrel with that government .*
In 1793, the French Republic, now in the midst of its strug- gles with the monarchies of Europe to maintain its existence, in view of the essential aid which France had rendered the United States in the Revolution, through its minister, Edmond Charles Genet, endeavored to persuade the American government to make common cause with France, and render it equally valu- able assistance. He was received with much favor by the peo- ple generally. Becoming intoxicated by the fumes of popular adulation, he ventured to endeavor to make proselytes to his own political theories and to enlist recruits in the French cause. He secretly organized Jacobin clubs in the East, and dispatched emissaries to establish similar organizations in the West-not- ably in Kentucky. Failing to secure the cooperation of the government in his schemes, he urged upon the people of the West the advisability of setting up for themselves a new and independent government. He called for volunteers against Spain, offering large inducements and high positions in the French army. A force of two thousand men enlisted for this service, at the head of which, with a commission as major-gen- eral, was Gen. George Rogers Clark.
But while both President Washington and the members of his
* Dillon's " Indiana," 382, et seq.
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ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
cabinet were personally in sympathy with the republican move- ment in France, they wisely determined that the best interests of the United States required the government to maintain a strict neutrality as between France and the other powers. The conduct of Minister Genet was so rash, impolitic, and even un- friendly, that his recall was insisted upon by the American government.
By order of the President, Gov. St. Clair issued a proclama- tion informing the people of the contemplated invasion of Spanish territory, and warning them of the dangerous conse- quences of participating in it; and on March 24, 1794, he issued a second proclamation to the same effect, and ordered Gen. Wayne to garrison and provision Fort Massac, for the pur- pose of preventing the contemplated expedition from going down the Ohio. Genet's wild scheme having been thus frus- trated by the adoption of these measures was necessarily aban- doned.
This action of the United States, and especially its ratifica- tion of the late treaty with Great Britain, was claimed by the French government to operate as a suspension of the treaty made between France and the United States in 1778-the French directory charging our government with a breach of friendship, an abandonment of its neutrality, as well as a viola- tion of its tacit engagements. Amicable relations between France and Spain were renewed by the treaty of August, 1796, and in December following James Monroe, our minister at Paris, was officially notified that France declined longer to re- ceive a minister from the United States.
Leaving for the present this threatening attitude of France toward the United States, the machinations of the Spanish authorities in the Western country against the peace and integ- rity of the American Union will be now briefly noticed.
The discontent of the inhabitants of Kentucky and certain portions of North Carolina, afterward embraced within the limits of Tennessee, over the question of the navigation of the Mississippi River below the thirty-first degree of latitude, which had been reluctantly conceded to Spain by the United States in 1782, was now greatly aggravated by the repeated refusals of congress, in answer to their petitions, to take up this question
207
NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
and to insist that all impediments to the free navigation of that river should be removed .*
Seven states, indeed, had authorized Minister Jay to conclude a treaty with Spain in which the United States would agree to. forbear to navigate the Mississippi for twenty-five or thirty years.+
The Mississippi formed the natural outlet of the products of the West. Spain not only had possession of the lower portion of this great artery of commerce, but controlled its navigation and had more than once seized American vessels attempting its passage, confiscating both boat and cargo.
Said Mr. Madison, "the Mississippi is to the people of the Western country everything. It is the Hudson, the Delaware, the Potomac, and all navigable streams of the United States formed into one stream." +
The people expressed their own views on the subject as fol- lows: "The Mississippi is ours by nature. Its mouth is the only issue which nature has given to our waters and we wish to. use it for our vessels. No power shall deprive us of this right. If congress refuses us effectual protection we shall adopt the measures which our safety requires, even if they endanger the peace of the Union, and our connection with other states. 'No protection, no allegiance.'" §
The restlessness and discontent of the people was also in- creased by the refusal of congress to admit Kentucky as a state. To have admitted Kentucky would have disturbed the sectional preponderance of the East in the national counsels; and as the proposed new commonwealth sought admission as a slave-state, eastern members promptly and emphatically declared that if the demand of Kentucky was granted, they would peremp- torily insist upon the admission of Maine or Vermont as a free- state.
Spain, not unmindful of its failure to secure a portion of the territory of the Northwest east of the Mississippi in 1783, had never ceased to cast a longing eye upon that rich domain, to strengthen its possessions on the west. Its aim now was to.
* Madison's Works, IV, 558.
+ "Magazine of Western History," I, 365, Dillon's " Indiana, " 189.
+ " American State Papers, " II, 513. § Barbe Marbois' "Louisiana, " 235.
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ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
take advantage of this revolutionary feeling in the Northwest, of which it had been the primary cause, and to incite the people either to establish a separate government, or to attach them- selves with their territory to Louisiana. Efforts for the accom- plishment of this end were sedulously put forward for nearly five years. Spanish agents visited leading men in the coveted territory and freely offered both men and money to aid them in the prosecution of the scheme. Gen. Miro, the Spanish gov- ernor at New Orleans, was active and adroit in his efforts to urge the people of the disaffected district to revolt. Neither were there wanting ambitious leaders therein, who not only lent a willing ear to these counsels, but were also ready to cooperate with him in his plans.
But fortunately the people of Kentucky were divided among themselves regarding the policy to be pursued. While some favored the establishment of a new republic, others were in- clined to attach the would-be state to Louisiana ; a third fac- tion believed that the Spanish power in North America might be overthrown by a well-planned attack on New Orleans, and there was yet a fourth party who contended that the panacea for their political woes was to be found in the establishment of a French protectorate.
But in the meantime, pending negotiations between Spain and the United States were finally concluded by the treaty of October 27, 1795, among whose provisions were the following: That the middle of the Mississippi should be the Western boundary of the United States; that the navigation of the en- tire river should be free to the people of the United States, and that the latter should, for three years, have the privilege of using the port of New Orleans as a port of both entry and ex- port, being subject to the payment of local charges only. It is a remarkable fact that as the navigation of the Mississippi was reluctantly conceded by the United States to Spain in 1782, in consequence of the fear that the states of South Caro- lina and Georgia, then occupied by the British, might fall into the hands of that government, so the favorable concessions by Spain, in the treaty of 1795 to the United States, were secured from that government because it desired to interpose the United States as a neutral power and barrier between Canada and
209
ATTEMPTS TO DIVIDE THE UNION.
Louisiana in the then pending war between Spain and Great Britain.
On the part of Spain, however, the treaty of 1795 seems to have been signed with a mental reservation. No sooner had the British war cloud disappeared from the horizon than Baron Carondolet, the Spanish governor at New Orleans, declared that the agreement for the free navigation of the Mississippi "was only a temporary arrangement," and renewed his efforts to foment the spirit of discontent in the West. Thomas Power, who, as his emissary, had already been over the ground on a similar mission, was again dispatched to sow the seeds of discord. The terms of his commission as well as of his in- structions were secret, and a system of private communication, through signs and cipher dispatches, was arranged before his departure. He was directed to impress upon the leading citi- zens, to whom he was sent, the necessity for withdrawing from the federal Union and forming a separate Western government. The best talent the country afforded was to be employed in writing well-timed publications, to expose the inconveniences and disadvantages of any further connection with the Atlantic States, and to enlarge upon the benefits to be derived from autonomy. To cover the cost and expenses of this branch of the work, the Baron pledged one hundred thousand dollars.
Immediately after the promulgation of the declaration of in- dependence, Fort Massac was to be seized by the putative gov- ernment, which would be supplied with munitions of war by the King of Spain, and one hundred thousand dollars donated for raising and maintaining troops. Power traveled through Tennessee and Kentucky with great secrecy and after holding interviews with leading citizens proceeded to Detroit to confer with Gen. Wilkinson, who had been regarded as an active ad- herent of the scheme of disintegration, but the latter had appar- ently begun to lose faith in the "well-laid plan " for separation, and, although he had private conferences with Power, he sent him away publicly under guard, and in disgrace.
The people of the West having secured, by the treaty of 1795, the right to navigate the great river without hindrance, and a place of storage at New Orleans without being subjected to unreasonable charges, now found but little cause of com-
I4
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ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
plaint against the general government. Their attachment to the new constitution had grown stronger as their desire for sep- aration had weakened, and in March, 1796, Spain, having lost all hope of effecting a secession of the western country from the Republic, evacuated the fort of Natchez, which was the next day taken possession of by the United-States troops.
To return to the French. The refusal of that government to receive a minister from the United States, and the depredations committed by its vessels upon American commerce, compelled our government to adopt and enforce measures of defence and retaliation. These were (I) to raise a provisional army, (2) to suspend commercial relations between the two countries, (3) to authorize the armed resistance of merchant vessels, and (4) to enact stringent penalties for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States.
Meanwhile a great change had taken place in the internal administration of France. The new ministry, perceiving that it was for French interest to maintain friendly relations with the United States, intimated as much to our minister at the Hague. As a result a treaty of international amity was again concluded between the two governments on September 30, 1800. And thus happily were averted those foreign complications which had threatened serious disaster to the young republic.
In 1798, it having been ascertained that the Northwest Terri- tory contained a population of five thousand inhabitants, steps were taken to advance it to the rank of a territory of the second grade. An election was ordered for representatives to a gen- eral assembly, which was to convene at Cincinnati, February 4, 1799. To this body Shadrach Bond was elected a delegate from St. Clair County and John Edgar from Randolph. After nominating persons whose names were to be sent to the Presi- dent from among whom he might appoint the council, an adjournment was had until September, when the organization was completed. During the first session, which terminated December 19, forty-eight acts were passed, of which thirty- seven were approved by the governor and eleven vetoed.
The territorial legislature was composed of an able body of men, among them being Return J. Meigs, afterward judge of the Supreme Court, governor of Ohio, and postmaster-general;
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DIVISION OF THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY.
Thomas Worthington and Edward Tiffin, both of them subse- quently governors of the State and senators in congress; Gen. James Findlay, for many years a member of congress from the Cincinnati district; Jacob Burnet and Solomon Sibley. Serious and unhappy differences of opinion upon proposed legislation between the governor and the legislature were soon apparent, provoking no little controversy, which probably hastened the creation of Indiana Territory, and the admission of Ohio as a state.
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