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 4
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By the treaty of 1803, which recites the fact of their waning condition, in consideration of the increase of their annuity from $500, under the treaty of Greenville, to $1000, of $300 toward building a church, and the annual payment of $100 to a Catholic priest for seven years, they ceded all their lands, excepting a reservation of seven hundred acres, to the United States, and were thenceforward taken under the protection of the government.+
By this time drunkenness had completed their deterioration, physical as well as moral, and, from a race of hardy, valiant warriors, they had degenerated into a mere handful of idle, worthless hangers-on about the frontier settlements. Having disposed of their possessions in Illinois, the remnant of the tribe finally removed to their reservation in the Indian Terri-
* Their numbers, as reported by Capt. G. Imlay in his description of the West in 1791, were as follows: Kaskaskias, two hundred and fifty; Cahokias, two hundred and sixty; and Peorias, four hundred.
+ All these facts are in conflict with the statement attributed to Gen. Harrison, made undoubtedly upon erroneous information, that the Illinois confederacy was reduced to thirty persons in 1800.
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tory, where they are now, under the name of Peorias, and num- bered, in 1885, one hundred and forty-nine. They are reported, by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, to be "for the most part an active, well-to-do race of farmers, who live in comfortable frame-houses." Evidently they now possess but few traits of the original native-the blood has been changed.
The Miamis, having had tribal relations with the Illinois, from whom they separated prior to 1673, were called by the Iroquois and early colonists Twigh-twees. They were divided into four principal tribes, known as the Miamis proper, the Eel Rivers, the Weas, and the Piankashaws. Having, as is alleged, emigrated from west of the Mississippi, through Wisconsin, about 1672 they were found around the southern bend of Lake Michigan. In 1684, they had villages near the Starved Rock, and numbered there two thousand warriors. Later, the Weas had a village near Chicago, but left it in 1718, and, passing around the head of Lake Michigan, settled farther east near other kindred bands. The Piankashaws remained in Illinois and subsequently fixed their villages on the Vermilion and Wabash rivers, their territory extending westward to the water- shed between the latter and the Illinois.
The superiority in numbers and bravery of the Miamis, and their enterprise in procuring fire-arms, enabled them to main- tain their tribal independence much longer than many other confederacies. They were opposed to the French, British, and Americans by turns, and retarded the early settlement of the country by the bold and sagacious defence of their possessions. Gen. Harrison said of them that they composed the finest body of light troops in the world. They were classed with the Shawnees and Delawares as superior to other tribes in moral and intellectual qualities.
The labors of the missionaries among them were not success- ful. They became the enemies of the French in 1694, because of their furnishing arms to the Sacs and Foxes, and, excepting the Piankashaw division, were never afterward on good terms with them. This band, however, having their headquarters in the vicinity of Vincennes, had formed a closer intimacy with the French, even to the extent of intermarriage. On account of their friendly relations, Col. Clark easily succeeded in trans-
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ferring' their allegiance from the British to the Americans, and this feeling of amity was continued during the Indian wars against the whites subsequent to the Revolution, although they often innocently suffered from avenging blows, which should have fallen upon others. And, in answer to their appeal, Presi- dent Washington issued his proclamation especially forbidding attacks upon them by the whites .*
The Piankashaws ceded their lands in Illinois by treaties in 1805 and 1809, and removed first to Kansas and subsequently to the Indian Territory, where they have since remained.
The Pottawatomies, formerly a subdivision of the Chippewas and Ottawas, are first mentioned in history as dwelling beyond the river St. Lawrence, and to the north of Lake Huron. In 1670, they were established at Green Bay. Their next migra- tion was toward the south. A portion of the tribe located in Northern Michigan, another division settled in Northern Ohio, while still a third section established themselves in that part of Illinois lying north of the Kankakee and Illinois rivers and west of the territory of the Winnebagoes and Sacs and Foxes. The name signifies "we are making a fire," hence they were called by other tribes "fire-makers."
They were described as being "tall, fierce, and haughty-a warlike people, fond of hunting and fishing." They early became attached to the French, and continued on friendly rela- tions with them in all their efforts to colonize the Northwest, during all of which period, including the French and Indian war, they were hostile to the British. They were among the most active supporters of Pontiac in his great conspiracy, and although, in the beginning of the Revolution, they joined in the border wars against the Americans, those of them in Illi- nois yielded to the persuasions of Col. Clark to lay down their arms. They were, however, prominent members of the Miami- Shawnee confederacy, and became parties to the treaty of Greenville. While they did not look with favor on the attempt of the Americans to settle the country, they were not so demon- strative in their hostility as some other tribes. On account of their habit of frequently roaming from one belt of timber to another, and never remaining long at one place, they were called "squatters."
* Beckwith's " Illinois and Indiana Indians."
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ABORIGINES-ORIGIN, LOCATION, AND HABITS.
In 1763, of the nineteen hundred and thirty warriors of the Algonquin confederacy who met Sir Wm. Johnson at Niagara, to form a treaty of peace, four hundred and fifty were Potta- watomies. This would seem to indicate that they were at this time the first in numbers, if not the most powerful, of western tribes. However this may be, as will hereafter appear, they were always "the first to be present at a treaty where lands were to be ceded, and claimed the lion's share." They united with Tecumseh, and were won over to the British cause in the war of 1812.
The Kickapoos and Mascoutins, nominally the same, were found by Father Allouez, in 1670, near the mouth of Fox River in Wisconsin. They subsequently worked their way, in oppo- sition to the Piankashaws and Illinois, southward to the river of the latter name, thence south of the Kankakee, and still later, fighting their way, to the Vermilion, Sangamon, and Mackinaw rivers, where they remained for over a hundred years. Their villages were on the Vermilion, the Embarras, the head- waters of the Okaw, and on Sugar Creek; and their principal village at Old Mackinaw, in McLean County. They were called Prairie Indians, and although comparatively few in numbers, they were extremely fierce and strongly disposed to war. They were tall, sinewy, and active; industrious and cleanly in their habits, remarks Gov. Reynolds, and were better armed and clothed than other Indians. They were inferior to the Miamis, Delawares, and Shawnees in the management of large bodies of men, but excelled all other tribes in predatory warfare. Small parties of from five to twenty, with unequaled celerity, would swoop down upon an unprotected settlement a hundred miles distant, and, capturing the women and children, would burn the cabins, kill the cattle, and make off with the the horses, before an alarm could be given.
The French were unable to influence, much less to tame, them. Superior to surrounding tribes in energy and intelli- gence, they were the persistent and uncompromising enemies of the whites in the very centre of the Illinois country. The early settlers on, and adjacent to, the American Bottom were for years kept in continual alarm by their midnight attacks and menacing presence. With the close of the war of 1812, to the
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ILLINOIS-HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
great relief of the pioneers, the Kickapoos ceased their hostili- ties. But when they finally ceded their lands, a portion of them manifested their continued dislike to the whites by refus- ing to settle within the limits of the United States, preferring to go to Texas. Some of them went to Mexico, while others removed first to Kansas and then to the Indian Territory, where they now reside. In 1875, the quasi-civilized portion numbered three hundred and eighty-five, and the wild Mexican band four hundred and twenty.
The Sacs or Osaukies, and Foxes, called by the French Outagamies, were two allied tribes, whose principal village was near Green Bay, where they were found in 1666, to the number of four hundred warriors. Their names were familiar as house- hold words to the inhabitants of Illinois during the century of their menacing contiguity. Father Allouez, who first discovered them, says: "They were very much disparaged, and reputed by other natives as penurious, avaricious, thievish, and quarrel- some." Or, as Judge Hall describes them at a later period: "They were always the restless and discontented Ishmaelites of the lakes, their hand against every man and every man's hand against them." He further speaks of them, however, as "remarkable for the symmetry of their form and fine personal appearance. Few tribes resemble them in this particular; still fewer equal their intrepidity. They are physically and morally the most striking of their race. Their history abounds in tales of daring adventures and romantic incidents."
Of all the Algonquin tribes with whom the French came in contact, they alone-with their kindred, the Kickapoos-proved not only deaf to the blandishments of flattery, but unalterably obdurate to all overtures of friendship, and, indeed, utterly implacable. Except on one occasion, when a few of them joined the French in their attack upon forts George and Henry, they continued to be their irreconcilable enemies, encroaching upon their territory, dispersing their forces, and attacking their allies whenever the opportunity offered.
After numerous successful forays into the country of the Illi- nois, which the French at that time claimed to own, the Sacs and Foxes finally, about the year 1718, established themselves per- manently on Rock River. Continuing their attacks upon the
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ABORIGINES-ORIGIN, LOCATION, AND HABITS.
Illinois, in conjunction with the Kickapoos, a few years later they drove them as a body south from their ancient villages. Being engaged at the time in a war with the Iowas, whom they conquered and incorporated with themselves, they took no part in the contest which ended with the treaty of Greenville. But in the war of 1812, a large portion of them, under the leader- ship of Black-Hawk, engaged on the side of the British. Their history thereafter will be taken up in its order.
The Winnebagoes, calling themselves "fish eaters," were of the Dakota stock. They came from the West, and for many years were engaged in war with the Illinois for the possession of the northern part of their country; but were unsuccessful, the latter claiming to have driven them back, in 1640, to the head of Green Bay, where they located and were first encountered by the French missionaries in 1647. They had the reputation of being good-natured, manly, and uncouth; they distinguished themselves for bravery in the battles with Gov. St. Clair and Gen. Wayne, and in the later wars against the whites they bore them- selves with remarkable valor, being specially mentioned by Gen. Harrison in his report of the battle of Tippecanoe. They ranged themselves on the side of the British in the war of 1812.
Their territorial limits in Illinois, which had long been a sub- ject of dispute, were settled by the Prairie-du-Chien treaty of 1825, as follows: "Southeasterly by Rock River, from its source near the Winnebago Lake [in Central Wisconsin] to the Winnebago village about forty miles above its mouth," near the mouth of the Pecatonica, in Jo Daviess County. Further men- tion of them will be made hereafter.
The Shawnees came from Florida and Georgia, but did not obtain a footing in Illinois until about 1750, when they located in the vicinity of that ancient town on the Ohio River which was named after them. They were a bold, roving, adventurous nation, whose leadership by Tecumseh and his brother-the Prophet, a few years later, marks a striking period in the annals of the West. They remained in Illinois only a few years, when they joined the remainder of the tribe on the Scioto River.
Between the policy of the European nations in their treat- ment of the American aborigines and that pursued by the United States, there exists a wide difference. The former 4
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boldly claimed the ownership of the country with accompany- ing right of sovereignty. They occupied and used what land they saw fit, and paid therefor what they pleased, by way of gratuity. Of all the Europeans, there can be no doubt that the French were most successful in checking the nomadic, pred- atory disposition of the Indians, and establishing with them at least quasi-friendly relations. On the other hand, the Ameri- cans, under the policy marked out by the first administration under the Constitution, proceeded upon the theory of conced- ing the possessionary right of the natives to the public domain, of which they could be deprived only by treaty and purchase. But the red man soon perceived that he was regarded as an interloper, an inharmonious and distasteful presence which must be got rid of at any cost.
To meet the wishes, if not the imperative requirements, of the white settlers, treaties were negotiated with the Indians, whereby the latter formally ceded territory desired by the whites in consideration of money and habitations provided else- where. That such changes of location were not in accordance with the wishes of these "children of the forest" is indisputable. But they submitted, more or less reluctantly, to the inevitable, and a paternal government was instituted over them, by which schools were provided and other means taken to hasten their civilization. Whether this course was best for the welfare of the Indian, can not now with certainty be determined; but that it was for the interest of his white supplanter, there can be no doubt.
It must be admitted that hitherto the Nation's enforced guardianship of its two hundred and seventy thousand red men, and their attempted civilization, have not been successful. Verbose treaties have been solemnly executed with these savages, with formalities similar to those observed in entering into compacts with foreign nations, and yet these same tribes have parted with every attribute of national sovereignty. The government has loudly and repeatedly declared its intention of teaching them self-reliance, and at the same time persists in treating them as though they were children. To give them wagon-loads of toys and trinkets can not supply the place of moral example. As Judge James Hall says, "the march of mind will never penetrate into our forests by the beat of the
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ABORIGINES-ORIGIN, LOCATION, AND HABITS.
drum, nor civilization be transmitted in bales of scarlet cloth and glass beads."
The sums annually expended in maintaining a policy so in- defensible are vast in amount. If such expenditure resulted in the moral or material advancement of those for whom it is appropriated, no voice would be raised in opposition. But so far from the disbursement resulting in the elevation of the red men, it tends to sink them lower in the depths of degradation. The governmental machinery for the outlay and distribution of these sums is complex and cumbersome, and its administration has in not a few instances given rise to grave national scandals.
The asperities of the Indian character can not be softened, nor his morals improved, by pampering his indolence and fos- tering his egotism. We hold these dependants "in pupilage." Neither common-sense nor reflection approves of the conduct of the parent who supports his son in idleness, while his disci- pline is of the most capricious character; who encourages the indulgence of his vicious propensities without instructing him how to secure an honest livelihood; or attempting to instil into his mind, by both precept and example, the duty of industry and the principles of sound morality.
But while these grave objections may be urged against the policy of our government in its dealings with the Indian question, the "Nation's wards," notwithstanding the opportuni- ties offered them, have shown very little willingness for or capa- bility of self-government; and in view of the fact that after half a century's experience and intercourse with civilization, the unmixed red man yet cherishes what would seem to be an ineradicable preference for the wild woods to cultivated fields, the migratory wigwam to the permanent home, and the skins of animals and blankets to the garments of civilization, the question still arises whether he possesses either the physical or intellectual organization which might enable him to reach any higher place in the scale of being than that of his aboriginal condition .*
* The following authorities have been consulted in writing the foregoing chap-
ter: Mckinney's "Indian Tribes"; Schoolcraft; Reynolds; Brown, Peck, and Beck's "Western Gazetteers"; Beckwith's "Illinois and Indiana Indians"; French's " Louisiana "; " Annals of the West"; American State Papers; Thomas Hutchins' "Topographical Descriptions"; Bancroft's "United States"; Hall's "Ill. Monthly Magazine. "
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PERIOD I .- UNDER THE FRENCH, 1682-1781.
CHAPTER III. Early Explorations and Discoveries, 1673 - 1700.
T HE discovery of America marked a new era in the world's progress. Colonies composed of the hardy and adven- turous of the old world were transferred to and established in the new. Unaccustomed channels of trade opened up the way for an ever-expanding commerce; while the poor and oppressed found a home and a refuge where man could work and think for himself. Not only the struggle for wealth, but for empire also, was transferred from the well-contested fields of the east- ern to the virgin forests and untrodden prairies of the western continent.
The Spaniards planted their colonies amid the ruins of the decayed civilization of the Aztecs, and among the orange groves of Florida, where, in 1565, they founded St. Augustine, the oldest city in the United States. The French sought the less genial, though less enervating, banks of the St. Lawrence; while the British, with a keener eye to prospective commercial advantages, confined themselves at first to the broken outlines of the Atlantic coast.
While that mighty artery of commerce, the Mississippi River, which drains one-seventh of the continent of North America, and passes through or forms the boundary of ten states of the American Union, was first seen and explored below the thirty- seventh parallel of latitude by Hernando de Soto, in 1541, Illinois owes its first settlement by white men, over a century later, to the adventurous courage of French explorers, a brief outline of whose tireless and rugged perseverance is essential to a thorough comprehension of its early history.
Jacques Cartier, the sturdy sailor of Breton, was the pioneer French discoverer in America. He was the first to sail up the river St. Lawrence and gave to that stream its name. He reached the site of the future city of Montreal in 1535. Al-
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though other explorers soon followed, it was not until July 3, 1608, that a permanent European settlement was made upon Canadian soil, at Quebec, where a French colony was planted by that most illustrious of French mariners, Samuel de Champlain. To him may be ascribed the honor of the discovery of lakes Huron and Ontario, as well as the beautiful sheet of water which bears his name. To his efforts was also due the establishment of new settlements and posts along the St. Lawrence River and around the chain of great lakes to the West. Reaching out beyond these inland seas, the mighty rivers and boundless prairies of the West were also added to the conquests of his master and patron, Louis XIV., "the grand monarch."
Among those who followed Champlain, and whose names have been honored as the most enterprising and successful of the early French inland explorers on account of the import- ance of their discoveries relating to Illinois, the following are deserving of especial mention :
I. Jean Nicolet. He came from Cherbourg in 1618, having previously sailed under Champlain. He lived with the Algon- quin Indians many years, and, having learned their language, was much esteemed as an interpreter. To him belongs the honor of discovering Lake Michigan, then generally called the "Lac des Illinois," on July 4, 1634. He also visited the Chip- pewas at Green Bay, the Menominees and the Winnebagoes at the lake of the latter name, where a large number of these natives gathered to see and hear him. He made a favorable impression, and was invited to a feast at which one hundred and twenty beavers were served. From this point he jour- neyed six days to the home of the Mascoutins on Fox River. Having heard of a large tribe of Indians called the Illinois, he proceeded southward to visit them, and had friendly inter- views with them in some of their northern villages. After his return to Quebec, he was continued in the office of commissary and interpreter, in which position he gave great satisfaction, until his death by drowning, in October, 1642. He unlocked the doors to the Far West, and opened up the way for the fur-trader, the voyageur, and the missionary .*
On the meagre accounts from which the history of those early
* C. W. Butterfield's "Jean Nicolet."
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days is made up, many of them based upon mere hearsay, and upon vague and conflicting statements, in which Indian names with French pronunciations are often calculated to mis- lead as to localities, it is hardly possible to predicate positive statements of fact without provoking controversy. Still it may be asserted with tolerable certainty that Nicolet was the first white man to tread the soil of Wisconsin and Illinois.
2. In 1658-9, Pierre Esprit Radisson, a noted traveler and trader, on his third voyage reached, it is claimed, the upper Mississippi. He made careful notes, from which he prepared full accounts of his explorations from 1652 to 1684, which have lately been published .* Although a native of France, he was a subject alternately of either France or Great Britain, as facili- ties for explorations were afforded by the respective countries. He was accompanied in his voyages by his brother-in-law, Médard Chouart, known also as Sieur des Groseilliers. They originated the forming of a settlement at Hudson Bay, out of which grew the celebrated company of that name.
In consequence of the favorable reports of these explorers, an expedition was sent out from Montreal in August, 1660, to trade with the newly-found natives west of Lake Superior. Among those who accompanied this party were Father René Ménard and his servant, Jean Guerin. Having wintered at Keweenaw Bay, on the southern shore of the lake, in June, 1661, they resumed their journey to find the Hurons. Being soon after forsaken by their guides, they lost their way, and became separated from each other. Ménard was either killed or died from exposure. Perrot states that in the course of these wanderings "the father followed the Ottawas to the lake of the Illinois [Michigan], and in their flight westward as far as the upper part of Black River." If this statement be true, Ménard and Guerin+ saw the Mississippi twelve years before Joliet and Marquette.
3. Nicholas Perrot. The results of the labors of this ex- plorer are not only important in themselves, but because of the intelligent and interesting account of them which he com- mitted to writing; and which, although it remained in man-
* " Radisson's Voyages." By the Prince Society, Boston, 1885.
+ " Winsor's America," Vol. IV., p. 171.
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uscript until 1864, was frequently referred to and proved to be a valuable contribution to the literature of that period. His explorations from the year 1670 to 1690 extended to the valley of the Fox River and around the great lakes.
On June 14, 1671, the first conference was held between the natives and the French at Sault Ste. Marie, under the direction of the Sieur St. Lusson. It was a notable gathering, and there were present, by invitation, representatives from seventeen dif- ferent tribes, from the head-waters of the St. Lawrence, the Mississippi, the lakes, and as far south as Red River. The object of the council was to arrange what by courtesy was called a treaty, by which the French government was to take possession of the country. Fifteen Frenchmen were present, in- cluding Fathers Allouez, Druilletes, and Dablon, and also Joliet, Moreau called La Taupine, and Perrot who acted as the princi- pal guide and interpreter of the occasion. The arms of France were marked upon a cedar post, a cross was raised, and the ceremonies concluded by St. Lusson making the formal an- nouncement that he did then and there take possession of lakes Huron and Superior, and all the countries contiguous and adjacent thereto and "southward to the sea," which had been or might thereafter be discovered, in the name of the King of France.
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