USA > Illinois > Marshall County > Records of the olden time; or, Fifty years on the prairies. Embracing sketches of the discovery, exploration and settlement of the country, the organization of the counties of Putnam and Marshall, biographies of citizens, portraits and illustrations > Part 13
USA > Illinois > Putnam County > Records of the olden time; or, Fifty years on the prairies. Embracing sketches of the discovery, exploration and settlement of the country, the organization of the counties of Putnam and Marshall, biographies of citizens, portraits and illustrations > Part 13
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It is to be regretted that we have no account of the management, the perils, and hair-breadth escapes of the Indians in conducting their retreat.
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A RAPID RETREAT AND VIGOROUS PURSUIT.
All that we know is that for many miles before they were overtaken their broad trail was strewn with camp kettles and baggage of various kinds, which they had thrown away in the hurry of their flight. The sight of these articles encouraged Henry's men to press forward, hoping soon to put an end to this vexatious border war which had so much disturbed the peace of our Northern settlements. About noon, also, the scouts alead came suddenly upon two Indians, and as they were attempting to escape one of them was killed and left dead on the field. Dr. Addison Philleo coming along shortly after; scalped this Indian, and for a long time after- ward exhibited this scalp as evidence of his valor. Shortly after this the rear guard of the Indians began to make feint stands, as if to bring on a battle. In doing so, their design was merely to gain time for the main body to secure a more advantageous position. A few shots would be ex- changed, and the Indians would then push ahead, while the pursuing force would halt to form in the order of battle. In this way the Indians were able to reach the broken ground on the bluffs of the Wisconsin River by four o'clock in the afternoon, before they were overtaken.
About this time, while the advanced guard was passing over some uneven ground, through the high grass and low timber, they were sud- denly fired upon by a body of Indians who had here secreted themselves. In an instant Major Ewing's battalion dismounted and were formed in front, their horses being removed to the rear. The Indians kept up a fire from behind fallen trees, and none of them could be discovered except by the flash and report of their guns. In a few minutes General Henry arrived with the main body, when the order of battle was formed.
Colonel Jones' regiment was placed on the right, Colonel Collins' on the left, and Colonel Fry's in the rear to act as a reserve. Major Ewing's battalion was placed in front of the line, and Major Dodge's on the ex- treme right. In this order General Henry's forces marched into battle. An order was given to charge upon the enemy, which was handsomely obeyed by Ewing's battalion and Jones' and Collins' regiments.
The Indians retreated before this charge obliquely to the right, and concentrated their main force in front of Dodge's battalion, showing a design to turn his flank. General Henry sent an order by Major McCon- nell to Major Dodge, to advance to the charge; but this officer being of the opinion that the foe was too strong for him, requested a reinforce- ment. Colonel Fry's regiment was ordered to his aid, and formed on his
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RECORDS OF THE OLDEN TIME.
right. And now a vigorous charge was made from one end of the line to the other.
Colonel Fry's regiment made a charge into the bush and high grass where the Indians were concealed, and received the fire of their whole body. The fire was briskly returned by Fry and Dodge and their men, who continued to advance, the Indians standing their ground until the men came within bayonet reach of them, then fell back to the west, along the high, broken bluffs of the Wisconsin, only to take a new position among the thick timber and tall grass in the head of a hollow leading to the Wisconsin River bottom. Here it seemed they were determined to make a firm stand; but being charged upon in their new position by Ewing's battalion and Collins' and Jones' regiments, they were driven out of it, some of them being pursued down the hollow, and others again to the west, along the Wisconsin heights, until they descended the bluffs to the Wisconsin bottom, which was here about a mile wide and very swampy, covered with thick, tall grass, above the heads of men on horse- back. It being now dark, further pursuit was stopped, and General Henry and his forces lay upon the field of battle. That night Henry's camp was disturbed by the voice of an Indian loudly sounding from a distant hill, as if giving orders or desiring a conference. It afterward appeared that this was the voice of an Indian chief, speaking in the Win- nebago language, stating that the Indians had their squaws and families with them, that they were starving for provisions, and were not able to fight the white people, and that if they were permitted to pass peaceably over the Mississippi, they would do no more mischief. He spoke this in the Winnebago tongue, in hopes that some of that people were with Gen- eral Henry and would act as his interpreter. No Winnebagoes were present, they having run at the commencement of the fight, and so his language was never explained until after the close of the war.
Next morning early General Henry advanced to the Wisconsin River, and ascertained that the Indians had all crossed it, and made their escape into the mountains between that and the Mississippi. It was ascertained after the battle that the Indian loss amounted to sixty-eight left dead on the field, and a large number of wounded, of whom twenty-five were afterward found dead along the Indian trail leading to the Mississippi. General Henry lost one man killed and eight wounded. It appeared that the Indians, knowing they were to fight a mounted force, had been trained to aim high, but as General Henry had dismounted his forces and sent his
Somnel IM Laughlin
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CAPTAIN THROCKMORTON SALUTES A WHITE FLAG.
horses to the rear, the Indians shot over them. This will account for so few of Henry's men being killed or wounded.
After spending two days in preparation at the Blue Mounds, the whole force, now under the direction of General Atkinson, was again on the march in pursuit of the Indians. The Wisconsin River was crossed at Helena, and the trail of the Indians struck in the mountains on the other side. Day after day the whole force toiled in climbing and descend- ing mountains covered with dense forests, and passing through swamps of deep, black mud lying in the intervening valleys. But the march was slow compared with that preceding the battle of the Wisconsin. In this march were found, all along the route, the melancholy evidences of the execution done in the battle. The path of the retreating Indians was strewn with the wounded who had died on the march, more from neglect and want of skill in dressing their wounds than from the mortal nature of the wounds themselves. Five of them were found dead in one place where the band had encamped for the night.
About ten o'clock in the morning of the fourth day after crossing the Wisconsin, General Atkinson's advance reached the bluffs on the east side of the Mississippi. The Indians had reached the bank of the river some time before. Some had crossed, and others were making preparations to cross it. The steamboat "Warrior," commanded by Captain Throckmor- ton, descended to that place the day before. As the steamboat neared the camp of the Indians, they raised the white flag; but Captain Throckmor- ton, believing this to be treacherously intended, ordered them to send a boat on board, which they declined doing. In the flippant language of the Captain, after allowing them fifteen minutes to remove their squaws and children, he let slip a six-pounder at them, loaded with canister shot, followed by a severe fire of musketry; "and if ever you saw straight blankets, you would have seen them there." According to the Captain's account, the " fight " continued for an hour, and cost the lives of twenty- three Indians, and a number wounded. The boat then fell down the river to Prairie du Chien, and before it could return the next morning, the land forces under General Atkinson had come up and commenced a general battle.
It appears that the Indians were encamped on the bank of the Missis- sippi, some distance below the mouth of the Bad Axe River. They were aware that General Atkinson was in close pursuit; and to gain time for crossing into the Indian country west of the Mississippi, they sent back
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RECORDS OF THE OLDEN TIME.
about twenty men to meet General Atkinson, within three or four miles of their camp. This party of Indians were instructed to commence an attack, and then to retreat to the river three miles above their camp. Accordingly, when General Atkinson (the order of march being as before), came within three or four miles of the river, he was suddenly fired upon from behind trees and logs, the very tall grass aiding the concealment of the attacking party. General Atkinson rode immediately to the scene of action, and in person formed his lines and directed the charge. The In- dians gave way, and were pursued by General Atkinson with all the army except Henry's brigade, which was in the rear, and in the hurry of pursuit was left without orders. When Henry came up to the place where the attack had been made, he saw clearly that the wily stratagem of the untutored savage had triumphed over the science of a veteran General. The main trail of the Indians was plain to be seen leading to the river lower down. He called a hasty council of his principal officers, and by their advice marched right forward upon the main trail. At the foot of the high bluff bordering the river valley, on the edge of a swamp densely covered with timber, drift-wood and underbrush, through which the trail led fresh and broad, he halted his command and left his horses. The men were formed on foot, and thus advanced to the attack. They were pre- ceded by an advanced guard of eight men, who were sent forward as a forlorn hope, and were intended to draw the first fire of the Indians, and to disclose thereby to the main body where the enemy was to be found, preparatory to a general charge. These eight men advanced boldly some distance, until they came within sight of the river, where they were fired upon by about fifty Indians, and five of the eight instantly fell, wounded or dead. The other three, protected behind trees, stood their ground until the arrival of the main body under General Henry, which deployed to the right and left from the centre. Immediately the bugle sounded a charge, every man rushed forward, and the battle became general along the whole line. These fifty Indians had retreated upon the main body, amounting to about three hundred warriors, a force equal if not superior to that now confronting them. It soon became apparent that. they had been taken by surprise. They fought-bravely and desperately, but seem- ingly without any plan or concert of action. The bugle again. sounded the inspiring music of a charge. The Indians were driven from tree to tree, and from one hiding-place to another. In this manner they receded step by step, driven by the advancing foe, until they reached the bank of the
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. A TREATY OF PEACE SIGNED.
river. Here a desperate struggle ensued, but it was of short duration. The bloody bayonet, in the hands of excited and daring men, pursued and drove them forward into the waters of the river. Some of them tried to swim the river; others sought shelter on a small willow island near the shore.
After the Indians had retreated to the island in the river, Henry dis- patched Major McConnell to give intelligence of his movements to his commander, who, while pursuing the twenty Indians in another direction, had heard the firing where Henry was engaged. General Atkinson had left the pursuit of the twenty Indians, and hastened to share in the en- gagement. He was met by Henry's messenger near the scene of action, in passing through which the dead and dying Indians lying around bore frightful evidence of the stern work which had been done before his arrival. He, however, lost no time in forming his regulars and Dodge's battalion for a descent upon the island. These forces, together with Ew- ing's battalion and Fry's regiment, made a charge through the water up to their armpits to the island, where most of the Indians had taken their last refuge. All the Indians who attempted to swim the river were picked off with rifles or found a watery grave before they reached the op- posite shore.
Those on the island kept up a severe fire from behind logs and drift- wood upon the men as they advanced to the charge; and here a number of regulars and volunteers under Dodge were killed and wounded. But most of the Indians secreted there were either killed, captured, or driven into the water, where they perished miserably, either by drowning or by the still more fatal rifle. During these engagements a number of squaws were killed. They were dressed so much like the male Indians that, con- cealed as they were in the high grass, it was impossible to distinguish them. It is estimated that the Indian loss here amounted to one hundred and fifty killed, and as many more who were drowned in the river. Fifty prisoners were taken, mostly squaws and children. The residue of the Indians had escaped across the river before the commencement of the action. The twenty men who first commenced. the attack, led by Black Hawk in person, escaped up the river. The American loss amounted to seventeen killed, one of them a captain of Dodge's battalion and one a lieutenant of Fry's regiment, and twelve wounded.
September 21, 1832, General Scott and Governor Reynolds concluded a treaty of peace with the Winnebagoes, Sacs and. Foxes, by which these
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RECORDS OF THE OLDEN TIME.
tribes ceded to the United States vast regions of country, and agreed to remain at peace with the whites; and for the faithful performance of this promise, they surrendered Black Hawk and his two sons, "The Prophet," and six other leaders or chiefs of the hostile bands, to be re- tained as hostages during the pleasure of the President. These Indians were afterward taken to Washington, and shown around the cities of the east, our navy and army, and our general arrangements for war, offen- sive and defensive. When presented to President Jackson, Black Hawk said :
"I am a man and you are another. We did not expect to conquer the white people. I took up the hatchet to revenge injuries which could no longer be borne. Had I borne them any longer my people would have said, 'Black Hawk is a squaw; he is too old to be a chief. He is no Sac.' This caused me to raise the war-whoop. I say no more of it. All is known to you. Keokuk was once here. You took him by the hand, and when he wanted to return, you sent him back to his nation. Black Hawk expects that like Keokuk, he will be permitted to return too."
The President told him that when he was satisfied that all things would remain quiet, Black Hawk might return.
Black Hawk died October 3, 1840, and was buried with considerable pomp, on the banks of the Mississippi River, near the scenes of his boy- hood.
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DESCRIPTION OF HENNEPIN TOWNSHIP.
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HENNEPIN TOWNSHIP.
CHAPTER XXII.
TOPOGRAPHICAL.
ENNEPIN commemorates the name of the great discoverer and explorer supposed to have been one of the first white men who set foot within its limits. It embraces about forty-five sections of land within its boundaries, or 29,800 acres, in round numbers, as indicated by a recent county map. The Illinois River washes its borders for twelve miles or more, and its surface is made up of wide-extended, fertile bottoms, wooded hills and productive prairies.
Running through the Township is Coffee Creek, a considerable stream which rises in Section 18, thence runs in devious windings through Sec- tions 11, 12, 15 and 16, to the Illinois River below the city of Hennepin.
South of Florid, in the edge of a small prairie united to Grand Prairie on the east, rises the stream known as "Nelson's Run," which leads southwest through Section 2 to the river.
Further south Cedar Creek flows through a broken, timbered country, and in the northern part of the Township, Allfork Creek, an extremely tortuous stream rising in the prairie south of Greenville, makes a detour into Hennepin Township, in Section 36, and running west a mile and north another, enters the Illinois.
East of the city is a fine prairie, covered with fertile and highly culti- vated farms. The southern portion is broken and diversified with deep ravines, wide valleys, rugged hills, " hog-backs," and small patches of bar- rens, or little sections of openings and prairies which industrous Germans have long since transformed into fine farms, thrifty orchards and large meadows.
There is, or rather was, an abundance of excellent timber in this section of the County, but in many localities it has been cut down and the ground
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RECORDS OF THE OLDEN TIME.
become cultivated fields. Saw mills put up here and there have been for years transforming the monarchs of the forest into lumber.
There are small prairies here and there, one to the east of Hennepin, another at Union Grove and Florid. Here the first settlers built their houses, and a few still remain on farms taken up before the red man had ceased to be the sole possessor. The soil is fertile and adapted to raising grain, live stock or fruits, in all of which the township excels.
THE CITY OF HENNEPIN.
Hennepin, or rather the prairie on which the town stands, was an- ciently called Prairie de Prue, in honor of a French voyageur and trapper who once had a cabin there. The circumstances which called the town into being have been narrated elsewhere, and it need only be stated that under an act of the Legislature a committee was sent to examine vari- ous localities with a view to the location of a county seat, and select the one most appropriate and best fulfilling the required conditions.
At this time a heavy belt of timber ran along its front, extending back to the Court House and beyond, so densely filled with underbrush as to shut out all view of the river, the bank of which in front of the town rose abruptly forty or fifty feet high, but has since been graded down to suit the demands of commerce. Properly the town should date back to 1817, when Beaubien, a Frenchmen in the employ of the American Fur Com- pany, built a trading house one mile above the town, on land now owned by A. T. Purviance. Thomas Hartzell at this time was trading at some point below in opposition to the American Fur Company, but in 1824-5 he became their agent and removed here. Beside the old building first referred to he had erected a substantial store of hewn logs, which he con- tinued to occupy until the location of Hennepin, when he removed there. Across the ravine south of Hartzell a Frenchman named Antoine Bour- bonais had a cabin built somewhere about 1820.
The town was surveyed in 1831 by Ira Ladd, Sr., on Congress land. Twelve blocks were laid off at first, and eight afterward, to which several additions have since been made. Lots were extensively advertised, and the first sales were made at prices ranging from $11.68 to $87.86 each. (Ford's History). The first lot was sold to J. and W. Durley, at that time trading with the Indians in a cabin built by James Willis, opposite
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THE SETTLEMENT OF HENNEPIN.
the mouth of Bureau Creek, one mile above Hennepin. They proceeded at once to build on this lot, now the site of the Town Hall, corner of Front and Court streets, and when finished, removed their stock there.
Dunlavy & Stewart built a trading house at the same time, preceding the Durleys a few days in commencing business.
J. S. Simpson and a man named Gleason each built log cabins that fall, and Ira Ladd, first Sheriff of the county.
In the spring of 1832, the first hotel was built. It was a double log cabin, built by James S. Simpson, and run by John H. Simpson. About this time Hartzell built a store and removed here his stock of goods.
The old trading house deserves more special notice. Its foundations are still seen adjoining the pleasant residence of A. T. Purviance, and are a pleasing reminder of the days when the red man held sway over this territory, and neither steamboats nor commerce, in the modern acceptation of the term, existed on the river.
In 1832 came the Black Hawk war, and Hennepin was made the head- quarters and rallying point of the rangers. When news of the outbreak arrived, there was great consternation. Few of the settlers were armed, and no means of defense were available.
In this predicament, Thomas Hartzell came forward and offered to donate his log store for a block house. It was a noble act, and bespeaks his character. Every man and team in the settlement was set at work, and in two days the building was taken down, the logs hauled to the vil- lage, and a commodious block house, with embrasures for riflemen and an upper story, constructed, in which the families of settlers took refuge until the scare was over. It stood on Front street, and for a dozen years was one of the landmarks of the town until the authorities ordered its re- moval.
When the old building was torn down to be reconstructed into a fort, the chimney was left standing. A Frenchman with a half-breed wife oc- cupied the Beaubein cabin, and she often repaired to the old chimney to do her cooking. One day while thus engaged a high wind blew it down, killing her instantly.
The first election in the new County was held at the house of William Hawes, near Magnolia, and beside the Judges of Election, but one voter appeared (Warner). Of course there were no "split tickets," and Thomas Gallaher, George Ish and John M. Gay were declared elected as County Commissioners, Ira Ladd as Sheriff, and Aaron Paine as Coroner. James
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RECORDS OF THE OLDEN TIME.
W. Willis was subsequently appointed Treasurer. Hooper Warren filled the offices of Recorder, Clerk of the Circuit and County Courts, and Justice of the Peace.
Among the members of the bar who attended Court here were: Sen- ator David Davis, who came from Bloomington on horseback, and Judge John B. Caton, who came down from Chicago, riding an Indian pony .*
The first death in the Counties of Bureau, Putnam or Marshall was in the family of Aaron Mitchell, who lost a child in August or Septem- ber, 1829. There being no lumber in the country, a puncheon coffin was made by N. and S. Shepherd, and the child was interred near Captain Price's.
The first corpse buried in Hennepin Cemetery was that of Phillips, shot by the Indians, June 4, 1831. No memorial stone marks the place, and his grave is unknown.
. OLD TIME RECORDS.
Most of the early settlers were young men, and in those days a woman or a baby was as much of a novelty and excited as lively an interest as ever they did in "Roaring Camp." Some of the men, however, brought their wives," and with them came their "sisters, their cousins and their aunts," who speedily found husbands; and we find among the early records the following marriages:
John Shepherd to Tennessee McComas, July 5, 1831; by George Ish, County Judge.
Elisha Swan, of Lacon, was married to Zilpha Dent, February 25, 1832; by Rev. Zadok Hall.
Livingston Roberts to Margaret Dent, January 24, 1843; by Hooper Warren, Justice of the Peace.
Lemuel Russell to Sarah Ann Edwards, February 23, 1823; by Rev. Edward Hale.
Wm. Munson to Rachel Hall, March 7, 1833, by John M. Gay, Jus- tice of the Peace.
Wm. S. Horn to Sylvia Hall, May 5, 1833; by Rev. R. Horn.
The ladies whose names appear in the last two notices were the Hall girls, whose thrilling experience with the Indians is given elsewhere.
*Warren.
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LIST OF THE EARLY SETTLERS OF HENNEPIN.
The early ministers of the township were Revs. John McDonald, Elijah Epperson, Wm. Heath and Joel Arlington.
The first farm opened in the township was that of James Willis, at Union Grove, in 1828, and his was the first dwelling house outside of the village of Hennepin.
Elizabeth Shepherd was one of the first white women in this locality, coming in 1829.
Austin Hannum is claimed as the first white child born in the county. His parents lived in Magnolia.
Isabel Patterson, since Mrs. R. W. Bowman, was born in 1832, and Augustus Shepherd in 1830.
THE PIONEERS.
In the Court House at Hennepin hangs a large frame with the por- traits and names of many old settlers, and the date of their coming to the County. It will better preface what follows than aught else we can give:
1817-Thomas Hartzell.
1827-Thos. Gallaher, Jas. W. Willis.
1828-Stephen D. Willis, Smiley Shepherd.
1829-James G. Ross, Nelson Shepherd, Elizabeth Shepherd.
1830-Harvey Leeper, Flora Zenor, Augustus Shepherd, Wm. Pat- terson, L. E. Skeel, David Richey, Lucy Dick, Olive Skeel, Wm. M. Ham, Anthony Turk. Samuel D. Laughlin, Catherine Shepherd.
1831- Alvira Zenor, Lewis Durley, Lucy Durley, Mary Stewart, Mary Shepherd, George Dent, Comfort Dent, Williamson Durley, H. K. Zenor, Emeline Durley, E. G. Powers, Louisa Nash, John Gallaher, Aaron Gunn.
1832-John G. Ross (born here), Stephen W. Stewart, Nancy Skeel, Sarah Stewart, John W. Stewart, B. F. Whittaker, J. W. Leech, Mary Leech, Robert Leech, Mary A. Templeton, S. G. Leech, Sarah Brumfield, Thomas Brumfield, Mary Ann Noys, John Brumfield, Aaron Barlow, John N. Laughlin.
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