USA > Illinois > Adams County > Quincy > Quincy and Adams County history and representative men, Vol. I > Part 5
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ARCHAEOLOGICAL REMAINS IN ADAMS COUNTY
There are no really remarkable mounds, or other archaeological remains, in Adams County, although those which have given a name to one of the most beautiful of the Quincy parks are quite striking and worthy of note. The stately earthwork shown in the illustration
ARROW HEADS FROM THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY
commands a sweeping view of the city from the south, with the Mis- sissippi River in the background.
As to these structures of the days and ages long gone, illustrated by local remains, the late Gen. John Tillson, of Quiney, has written as follows, his paper being called forth by an editorial in the Quincy Commercial Review commenting on certain statements made by Doctor Rice before the Wisconsin Historical Society: "Editor Re- view-In your issue of February 16th reference is made to a report of Doctor Rice, of Wisconsin, in regard to the origin and use of the so-called mounds scattered throughout the Mississippi Valley, in which he asserts that they are the remains of huts-residences-and that their use as places of sepulture was by a later race than that which erected them. It is also said that this is a new theory. There is therefore a good deal that is probable and considerable that is in- correct. First, as to the novelty of the theory; it is not new. It has been the belief of the carlier examiners of these remains, long prior
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to the birth of Doctor Riee of the Wisconsin Historical Society, that the great mass of the mounds found in the West (with an exception to be noted hereafter) were built for and used as residences-plares for living-with occasionally a larger one for publie use, such as a fort, place of worship or council.
"The material of their construction may have been wood-now completely decayed-but much more probably was of earth, as, near most of the mounds, can be observed an excavation like that near a briek-kiln or a railroad embankment, from which the soil appears to have been removed. Most of these mounds have a depression in the eenter, just sneh as would appear where the walls of a building had erumbled down and the roofs, of lighter material and less bulk, had dropped when less supported. If this theory is to be considered, the walls were of great thickness, for the reason that they were both the houses and defenses of the frail, scattered fragments of an almost exterminated race-the raee which research has almost conclusively proven of higher civilization than their snecessors-swept from ex- istenee by the Indian.
"The exception to which I allude above is this: That the iso- lated, conical mounds on high points of the bluffs were undoubtedly for burial purposes only. They were the monumental resting places of honored and eminent men; and Doctor Riee is no doubt correct in his statement that the moldered huts of these long-gone builders were used by a succeeding race as places of burial. This is an Indian cus- tom almost to the present day. But as to the other mounds, those not on the bluff peaks, their outline, so far as ean be ascertained, is usually rectangular, with the depression in the center above named. Their location, like those found near Bear Creek, Mill Creek and in the Redmond field south of Quiney on land just above overflow, was ae- cessible from the river and yet concealed therefrom. The utensils found therein, and all the surroundings, point to the plausibility of their having been domestic abodes.
"Another feature, sometimes noticeable, is that the tree growth from these mounds is often of a character unlike that found in the adjacent country; the evident product of some nuts, seeds or vege- table brought from afar and left in the hut, sprouting and growing elusters of trees not natural to the soil around.
"The examination of these vestiges of a long-gone race made half a century or more ago was more exhaustive and better based than any that ean he made now. It was made by skilful, learned and curious men who saw them in far better preservation than they are at pres- ent, before civilization had aided time in their destruction and when, as is not the ease now, all the Indian traditional history was at hand to throw its wavering light upon the subject. The best-based theory heretofore generally accepted as to the past occupation of this con- tinent is that races existed here advanced in civilization beyond any that have sneceeded them, until its discovery by Europeans; races contemporary in improvement with Greece and Rome, but far earlier Vol. 1-3
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in point of time; and that they were swept from supremacy by a vandalism such as burst upon Europe eenturies ago; that, just as theirs was inferior to European civilization, so more effectually have their memorials been extinguished and, unlike European eivilization, no sufficient vitality remained to conquer their conquerors.
"The mound builders were the probable successors of a more highly cultivated stock, the remains of whose existenee are found throughout Southern North America. In time, they were swept from the land by the modern Indian, whose centuries of existence, even before the withering presence of the white man premonished his extermination, have been marked by no solitary evidence of ad- vaneement (Not applicable to the present statue of the educated Indian of Oklahoma and other sections of the United States-Ed- itor). That the Indian built none of these mounds except those on the heights before mentioned is almost sure; that they have made use of those built by their predecessors is equally certain; and that most of these mounds were houses or forts is more than probable."
It is recorded that Marquette and Joliet met many Indian tribes in their journeys of discovery in the Mississippi Valley, whose vil- lages were seattered along its high eastern bluffs, and it is eertain that about July, 1673, the pious and intrepid priest at least passed the site of the present city of Quincy. Whether he actually landed in that loeality is not known.
The Indians found in Illinois by Marquette and Joliet belonged to the Algonquin family; and there was undying hatred between the Iroquois of the East and Algonquins of the Northwest.
THE ILLINOIS INDIAN CONFEDERACY
The Illinois Indians formed a loose confederacy of about half a dozen tribes, the chief of which were the Metehigamis, the Kaskas- kias, the Peorias, the Cahokias and the Tamaroas. In addition, there were the Piankashaws, the Weas, the Kiekapoos, the Shawnees and probably other tribes, or remnants, who occupied Illinois soil for longer or shorter periods. The first five tribes are probably all who should be included in the Illinois Confederacy.
The Metchigamies were found along the Mississippi River. Their principal settlement was near Fort Chartres. They also lived in the vicinity of Lake Michigan, to which they gave their name. They were allies of Pontiac in the war of 1764, and perished with other members of the Illinois Confederacy on Starved Roek, in 1769.
The Kaskaskias were originally found along the upper courses of the Illinois River, and it was among the members of this tribe that Marquette planted the first mission in Illinois. They moved from the upper Illinois to the month of the Kaskaskia River in 1700, and founded there the old City of Kaskaskia, which eventually became the center of French life in the interior of the continent. During the following century the Kaskaskias oeenpied the region at and
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about their city, but in 1802 were almost exterminated by the Shaw- nees at the battle near the Big Muddy, Saline County. The Kaskas- kias afterward moved to a reservation on the lower Big Muddy, and eventually to the Indian Territory. The Cahokia and Tamaroa tribes were merged with the Kaskaskias under one chief.
The Peorias made their home in the region of Lake Peoria and were always quiet and peaceable. The Piankashaws, a small tribe of the Miami confederation, first resided in Southeastern Wisconsin, and after the misadventure at Starved Rock moved to the Wabash River, and eventually to a Kansas reservation and to the Indian Territory. They were always very friendly to the white settlers.
Although the Miamis and the Pottawatomies were familiar to the early settlers of Western Illinois and Adams County, they were not settled representatives of the red men in those sections of the state, but rather made their appearance as warriors or hunters.
The Kickapoos seemed to have been intimately associated with the Miamis and Pottawatomics in the Indian campaigns against St. Clair, Wayne and Taylor. They were bold marauders and warriors, and were in special force at the batttle of Tippecanoe. They were scattered throughout the Illinois country, but for fifty years before the Edwardsville treaty of 1819 held strong sway over the castern part of what is now the state, and in the late '20s, when the bulk of the first permanent white settlers were arriving in the present Adams County, still occupied the soil of that region with undis- puted title to its possession among the people of their own raee. They were also located at some localities along the Mississippi.
The Kickapoos, as a tribe, first acknowledged the authority of the United States at the treaty mentioned, which was signed July 30, 1819. A month later, the Government concluded a treaty at Vin- cennes with a smaller division of the Kickapoos, known as the tribes of the Vermilion River, who chiefly claimed territory embracing the county by that name. Thus relinquishing all title to their lands in Illinois, the Kickapoos honorably observed their contracts and moved as a body to their western lands, although weak remnants of the tribe lingered until the early '30s on several favorite camping grounds. A few'of them were also found wandering along the shores of the Mis- sissippi.
The location of the mounds in the neighborhood of the Quincy bluffs points to the facts that its commanding site gave it favor as a residence and eenter of primitive people. When the first settlers commenced to loeate in the carly '20s the Indians were quite nu- merous in the neighborhood, and some time before they had quite a village there. It had been often sighted by the lumbermen as they floated past on their rafts as well as by half-breed boatmen and their Indian erews. The latter were usually composed of Saes and Kieka- poos. It is probable that the Indian village on the site of Quincy consisted largely of Kickapoos,
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"POOR ONE KICKAPOO ME"
A story is told by one of the early river men who frequented the locality before Quiney was placed on the map that upon one occasion in coming up the Mississippi River, about opposite the present site of the place, the Sae boatmen (and they were all of that tribe, ex- eept one Kickapoo) heard that one of their people had been killed by the Kiekapoos. It was solemnly decided by the Saukees that the solitary Kickapoo among them must be killed in retaliation. So they informed the trembling Indian that he must die. He was allowed to go into the woods (the boat then being tied up at the shore) and sing his death song, his eaptors watching him elosely to be sure that he did not escape. The white man, who was the owner of the cargo of goods and who told the story, said that he never heard sneh doleful strains as came from the poor Kickapoo, who supposed he was sing- ing his death song. The words, in broken English, were mainly these : "O-o-o, poor one Kiekapoo me; whole heap of Saukee! O-o-0, poor one Kickapoo me, whole, whole heap of Sankee! O-o-0, poor one Kickapoo me, whole, whole, whole heap of Saukee!" The nar- rator did not at first realize the bloody intentions of the Saes, but, when he did, managed to effeet the eseape of "poor one Kiekapoo me." Commenting on this story, a writer sympathetically adds: "I have never, since hearing this story, seen a crowd set upon one man without any justification, but what I have thought of that one poor Kickapoo surrounded by a whole heap of Saukees."
CHAPTER IV
COUNTY HISTORY IN THE MAKING
UNDER FRENCH DOMINION-JOLIET AND MARQUETTE ON ILLINOIS SOIL -LEGENDARY MONSTERS OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY-THE "PIASA" BIRD-MARQUETTE AND JOLIET GET DESIRED INFORMATION-RETURN VIA THE ILLINOIS RIVER-LAST DAYS OF MARQUETTE-LA SALLE CONSOLIDATES FRENCH EMPIRE IN AMERICA-BRAVE AND FAITHFUL TONTI-COMMERCIAL VENTURE INTO ILLINOIS COUNTRY-AFLOAT ON THE KANKAKEE-LA SALLE MEETS THE KASKASKIA INDIANS- BUILDS FORT CREVECOEUR BELOW PEORIA-SENDS FATHER HENNE- PIN TO UPPER MISSISSIPPI-THE DISASTERS AT STARVED ROCK AND FORT CREVECOEUR-LA SALLE'S SECOND VOYAGE-AT THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI-MESSENGER SENT TO FRANCE-DEATHS OF LA SALLE AND TONTI-PERMANENT PIONEER SETTLEMENTS OF ILLINOIS-FORT CHARTRES, CENTER OF ILLINOIS DISTRICT-FIRST LAND GRANT IN DISTRICT-LIFE AT THE PIONEER FRENCH ILLINOIS SETTLEMENTS-UNDER TIIE CROWN AND THE JESUITS-KASKASKIA, ILLINOIS JESUIT CENTER-FORTUNATE AND PROGRESSIVE ILLINOIS -THE ENGLISH INVADE THE OHIO VALLEY-FRENCH REBUILD FORT CHARTRES-ILLINOIS TRIUMPHS OVER VIRGINIA-NEW FORT CHARTRES IN BRITISH HANDS-FIRST ENGLISH COURT OF LAW IN ILLINOIS COUNTRY-PONTIAC BURIED AT ST. LOUIS-LAST OF FORT CHARTRES-"LONG KNIVES" CAPTURE KASKASKIA-DID NOT WAR ON "WOMEN AND CHILDREN"-BLOODLESS CAPTURE OF CAHOKIA AND VINCENNES-CLARK'S LITTLE ARMY REORGANIZED-COMBINED MILITARY AND CIVIL JURISDICTION-COUNTY OF ILLINOIS, WEST OF THE OHIO RIVER-COL. JOHN TODD, COUNTY LIEUTENANT- AMERICAN CIVIL GOVERNMENT NORTHWEST OF THE OHIO-ILLINOIS AS A TERRITORY-BOND LAW PROTECTS HOME SEEKERS-STATE MA- CHINERY SET IN MOTION-ILLINOIS COUNTIES IN 1818-WILD CAT BANKING-SLAVERY QUESTION AGAIN-THE FAMOUS SANGAMON COUNTRY-DUNCAN AND THE FREE SCHOOL LAW-ILLINOIS INTER- NAL IMPROVEMENTS-CAPITAL MOVED TO SPRINGFIELD-REMAINS OF INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT SYSTEM-CONSTITUTION OF 1848-LEGIS- LATIVE LESSONS THROUGH EXPERIENCE-REAL WILD CAT BANKS- NATIONAL BANKS FORCE OUT FREE BANKS-THE CONSTITUTION OF 1870.
As the greater ineludes the less, the past enlightens the present and, with the enveloping background kept in mind, the present is prophetie of the future, the study even of somewhat restricted history has gath-
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ered both dignity and charm. Therefore it is that to fully understand the story of Adams County development, the writer of today feels called upon to preface it by creating a background of general history dealing with the explorations and discoveries of the Mississippi Valley, and the evolution therein of French, English and American phases of civilization. Thus the Illinois Country. Illinois County, Illinois Ter- ritory, Illinois State and Adams County gradually evolve, and the reader is prepared to consider the details of that seetion of the com- monwealth with broad understanding and a deeper interest than if he had been suddenly east into the minutiæ of the subjeet.
UNDER FRENCH DOMINION
What was the old Northwest Territory, between the Ohio and the Mississippi rivers, and what are now the State of Illinois and Adams County remained under French dominion for nearly a century-from the historie voyages of Marquette and Joliet, in 1672-73, to the sur- render of Fort Chartres to the English in 1765. These pioneers of French discovery revealed to the world two great waterways from their northern domain to the portentous Father of Waters, which was discovered to eleave a new continent in twain, instead of being either diverted to the South Seas or the Atlantic Ocean. Their as- cent of the Illinois, on their return voyage, as a shorter and easier route between the Great Lakes and the Great River, was significant of the commencement of an era which marked the trend of the most wonderful development in North America of every material and in- telleetnal force which advances the eivilization of the white man of the Western Hemisphere.
The grand mareh of French exploration and discovery up the valley of the St. Lawrence, through Cartier and Champlain; around the fringes of the upper Great Lakes and gradually into the out- lying country by the same far-seeing, brave and patriotie Champlain : the wonderful eombination of church and state, which penetrated the wilderness, subdued its savages both by the mysteries of Catholi- cism, gentle and brotherly offices and the pageantry of a gorgeous government-all these successive steps leading to the voyages of Mar- quette and Joliet which drove the wedge into the very center of the American continent and commenced to let in the light of the world. have been so often told that they comprise the common knowledge of the reading universe.
JOLIET AND MARQUETTE ON ILLINOIS SOIL
A landing on Illinois soil was effected on their trip down the Mississippi, in JJune, 1673. On the 17th of that month their canoes. containing Joliet, Marquette, five French boatmen, or voyageurs, and two Indian guides, shot from the mouth of the Wisconsin into the broad Mississippi. The voyagers were filled with a joy unspeakable.
MARQUETTE IN THE ILLINOIS COUNTRY
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The journey now began down the stream without any ceremony. Marquette made accurate observations of the lay of the land, the vegetation and the animals. Among the animals he mentions are deer, moose, and all sorts of fish, turkeys, wild cattle, and small game.
Somewhere, probably below Rock Island, the voyagers discovered footprints and they knew that the Illinois were not far away. Mar- quette and Joliet left their boats in the keeping of the five French- men and after prayers they departed into the interior, following the traeks of the Indians. They soon eame to an Indian village. The chiefs received the two whites with very great ceremony. The peace pipe was smoked and Joliet, who was trained in all the Indian lan- guages, told them of the purpose of their visit to this Illinois country. A chief responded and after giving the two whites some presents, among which were a calumet and an Indian slave boy, the chief warned them not to go further down the river, for great dan- gers awaited them. Marquette replied that they did not fear death and nothing would please them more than to lose their lives in God's service.
After promising the Indians they would come again, they retired to their boats, accompanied by 600 warriors from the village. They departed from these Indians about the last of June and were soon on their journey down the river.
LEGENDARY MONSTERS OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY
As they moved southward the bluffs became quite a marked feature of the general landscape. After passing the mouth of the Illinois River, they came to unusually high bluff's on the Illinois side of the Mississippi. At a point about six miles above the present City of Alton, they discovered on the high smooth-faced bluffs a very strange object, which Marquette 'describes as follows: "As we coasted along the rocks, frightful for their height and length, we saw two monsters painted on these roeks, which startled us at first, and on which the boldest Indian dare not gaze long. They are as large as a calf, with horns on the head like a deer, a frightful look, red eyes, bearded like a tiger, the face somewhat like a man's, the body covered with seales and the tail so long that it twice makes the turn of the body, passing over the head and down between the legs, and ending at last in a fish's tail. Green, red, and a kind of black are the colors employed. On the whole, these two monsters are so well painted that we could not believe any Indian to have been the designer, as good painters in Franee would find it hard to do as well; besides this, they are so high upon the rock that it is hard to get conveniently at them to paint them."
THE " PIASA " BIRD
In an early day in Illinois, the description of these monsters was quite eurrent in the western part of the state. So also was a tra-
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dition that these monsters actually inhabited a great cave near. It described, however, but a single monster and but a single picture. The tradition said that this monster was a hideous creature with wings, and great claws, and great teeth. It was accustomed to devour every living thing which came within its reach; men, women, and children, and animals of all kinds. The Indians had suffered great loss of their people from its ravages, and a council of war was held to devise some means by which its career might be ended. Among other schemes for its extermination was a proposition by a certain young warrior to the effect that upon the departure of the beast on one of its long flights for food he would volunteer to be securely tied to stakes on the ledge in front of the mouth of the cave, and that a sufficient number of other warriors of the tribe should be sta- tioned near with their poisoned arrows so that when the bird should return from its flight they might slay it.
THE PIASA BIRD
This proposition was accepted and on a certain day the bird took its acenstomed flight. The young warrior who offered to sacrifice his life was securely bound to strong stakes in front of the month of the cave. The warriors who were to slay the beast were all safely hidden in the rocks and debris near. In the afternoon the monster was seen returning, from its long journey. Upon lighting near its cave, it discovered the young warrior and immediately attacked him, fastening its elaws and teeth in his body. The thongs held him securely and the more it strove to escape with its prey the more its elaws became entangled in the thongs.
At a concerted moment the warriors all about opened upon the monster with their poisoned arrows, and before the beast could extri- cate itself, its life blood was ebbing away. Its death had been com- passed.
The warriors took the body and, stretching it out as to get a good picture of it, marked the form and painted it as it was seen by Marquette. Because the tribes of Indians had suffered such
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destruction of life by this monster, an edict went forth that every warrior who went by this bluff should discharge at least one arrow at the painting. This the Indians continued religiously to do. In later years when guns displaced the arrows among the Indians, they continued to shoot at the painting as they passed and thus it is said the face of the painting was greatly marred.
Judge Joseph Gillespie, of Edwardsville, Illinois, a prolific writer and a man of unimpeachable character wrote in 1883 as follows: "I saw what was called the picture sixty years since, long before it was marred by quarrymen or the tooth of time, and I never saw any- thing which would have impressed my mind that it was intended to represent a bird. I saw daubs of coloring matter that 1 supposed exuded from the rocks that might, to very impressible people, bear some resemblance to a bird or a dragon, after they were told to look at it in that light, just as we faney in certain arrangements of the stars we see animals, ete., in the constellations. I did see the marks of the bullets shot by the Indians against the rocks in the vicinity of the so-called pieture. Their objeet in shooting at this I never could comprehend. I do not think the story had its origin among the Indians or was one of their superstitions, but was introduced to the literary world by John Russell, of Bluff Dale, Illinois, who wrote a beautiful story about it."
The bluff bas long since disappeared through the use of the stone for building purposes.
MARQUETTE AND JOLIET GET DESIRED INFORMATION
As Marquette and Joliet proceeded down the river they passed the mouth of the Missouri, which at that time was probably subject to a great flood. When considerably below the mouth of the Kaskaskia River they came to a very noted object-at least the Indians had many stories about it. This is what is known today as the Grand Tower. This great rock in the Mississippi causes a great commotion in the water of the river and probably was destructive of canoes in those days.
On they went down the river past the mouth of the Ohio, into the region of semi-tropical sun and vegetation. The cane-brakes lined the banks, and the mosquitoes became plentiful and very annoying. Here also, probably in the region of Memphis, they stopped and held couneils with the Indians. They found the Indians using guns, axes. hoes, knives, beads, ete .. and when questioned as to where they got these artieles, they said to the eastward. These Indians told the trav- elers that it was not more than ten days' travel to the mouth of the river. They proceeded on down the river till they reached Choctaw Bend, in latitude 33 degrees and 40 minutes. Here they stopped. held a conference, and decided to go no further.
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