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 9
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 9
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79
98
RECORDS OF THE OLDEN TIME.
THE BLACK HAWK WAR.
CHAPTER XV.
THE TREATY OF 1804.
HIS important episode in the history of Marshall and Putnam Counties demands extended notice, and for what follows we are mainly indebted to Ex-Governor Thomas Ford, who was a personal actor therein, and probably the very best man that could be found to tell the story. In order to a full and complete understanding of the causes that led to it, it will be necessary to refer to a treaty made by General Harrison, at St. Louis, in 1804, with the chief of the Sac and Fox nations of Indians, by which those Indians ceded to the United States all their lands on Rock River, and much more elsewhere.
"This grant was confirmed by a part of the tribe in a treaty with Governor Edwards and Auguste Chouteau, in September, 1815, and by another part in a treaty with the same Commissioners in May, 1816. The United States had caused some of these lands, situate at the mouth of Rock River, to be surveyed and sold. They included the great town of the nation, near the mouth of the river. The purchasers from the Gov- ernment moved on their lands, built houses, made fences and fields, and thus took possession of the ancient metropolis of the Indian nation. It
consisted of about two or three hundred lodges made of small poles set upright in the ground, upon which other poles were tied transversely with bark at the top, so as to hold a covering of bark peeled from the neighboring trees, and secured with other strips sewed to the transverse poles. The sides of the lodges were secured in the same manner. The principal part of these Indians had long since moved from their town to the west of the Mississippi.
"But there was one old chief of the Sacs, called Mucata Muhicatah, or Black Hawk, who always denied the validity of these treaties. Black Hawk was now an old man. He had been a warrior from his youth. He had led many a war party on the trail of an enemy, and had never been
·
.
99
CHARACTER OF BLACK HAWK.
defeated. He had been in the service of England in the war of 1812, and had been aid-de-camp to the great Tecumseh. He was distinguished for courage and for clemency to the vanquished. He was an Indian patriot, a kind husband and father, and was noted for his integrity in all his deal- ings with his tribe and with the Indian traders. He was firmly attached to the British, and cordially hated the Americans. At the close of the war of 1812 he did not join in making peace with the United States, but himself and band kept up their connection with Canada, and, were ever ready for a war with our people. He was in his personal deport- ment grave and melancholy, with a disposition to cherish and brood over the wrongs he supposed he had received from the Americans. He was thirsting for revenge upon his enemies, and at the same time his piety con- strained him to devote one day in the year to visit the grave of a favorite daughter buried on the Mississippi River, not far from Oquawka. Here he came on his yearly visit, and spent a day by the grave, lamenting and be- wailing the death of one who had been the pride of his family and of his Indian home. With these feelings was mingled the certain and melan- choly prospect of the extinction of his tribe, and the transfer of his coun- try, with its many silvery rivers, rolling and green prairies, and dark forests, the haunts of his youth, to the possession of a hated enemy; while he and his people were to be driven, as he supposed, into a strange country, far from the graves of his fathers and his children.
" Black Hawk's own account of the treaty of 1804 is as follows. He says that some Indians of the tribe were arrested and imprisoned in St. Louis for murder; that some of the chiefs were sent down to provide for their defence; that while there, and without the consent of the nation, they were induced to sell the Indian country ; that when they came home, it appeared that they had been drunk most of the time they were absent, and could give no account of what they had done, except that they had sold some land to the white people, and had come home loaded with presents and Indian finery. This was all the nation ever heard or knew about the treaty of 1804.
" Under the pretence that this treaty was void, he resisted the order of the Government for the removal of his tribe west of the Mississippi. In the spring of 1831 he re-crossed the river, with his women and children and three hundred warriors of the British band, together with some allies from the Pottawatomie and Kickapoo nations, to establish himself upon his ancient hunting-grounds and in the principal village of his nation. He
-
100
RECORDS OF THE OLDEN TIME.
ordered the white settlers away, threw down their fences, unroofed their houses, cut up their grain, drove off and killed their cattle, and threat- ened the people with death if they remained. The settlers made their complaints to Governor Reynolds. These acts of the Indians were con- sidered by the Governor to be an invasion of the State. He immediately addressed letters to General Gaines, of the United States army, and to General Clark, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, calling upon them to use the influence of the Government to procure the peaceful removal of the Indians, if possible ; at all events, to defend and protect the American citizens who had purchased those lands from the United States, and were now about to be ejected by the Indians. General Gaines repaired to Rock Island with a few companies of regular soldiers, and soon ascertained that the Indians were bent upon war. He immediately called upon Gov- ernor Reynolds for seven hundred mounted volunteers. The Governor obeyed the requisition. A call was made upon some of the northern and central counties, in obedience to which fifteen hundred volunteers rushed to his standard at Beardstown, and about the 10th of June were organ- ized and ready to march to the seat of war. The whole force was divided into two regiments, an odd battalion and a spy battalion. The first regi- ment was commanded by Col. James D. Henry, the second by Col. Daniel Lieb, the odd battalion by Maj. Nathaniel Buckmaster, and the spy bat- talion by Maj. Samuel Whiteside. The whole brigade was put under the command of Maj. Gen. Joseph Duncan, of the State Militia. This was the largest military force of Illinoisans which had ever been assembled in the State, and made an imposing appearance as it traversed the then un- broken wilderness of prairie.
The army proceeded in four days to the Mississippi, at a place now called Rockport, about eight miles below the mouth of Rock River, where it met General Gaines in a steamboat, with a supply of provisions. Here it encamped for the night, and the two Generals concerted a plan of operations. General Gaines had been in the vicinity of the Indian town for about a month, during which time it might be supposed that he had made himself thoroughly acquainted with the localities and topography of the country. The next morning the volunteers marched forward, with an old regular soldier for a guide. The steamboat with General Gaines ascended the river. A battle was expected to be fought that day on Van- druff's Island, opposite the Indian town. The plan was for the volun- teers to cross the slough on to this island, give battle to the enemy if
101
GENERAL GAINES' FRUITLESS CAMPAIGN.
found there, and then to ford the main river into the town, where they were to be met by the regular force coming down from the fort. The island was covered with bushes and vines, so as to be impenetrable to the sight at the distance of twenty feet. General Gaines ran his steamboat up to the point of the island, and fired several rounds of grape and can- ister shot into it to test the presence of an enemy. The spy battalion formed in line of battle and swept the island; but it was soon ascertained that the ground rose so high within a short distance of the bank; that General Gaines's shot could not have taken effect one hundred yards from the shore. The main body of the volunteers, in three columns, came fol- lowing the spies; but before they had got to the northern side of the island, they were so jammed up and mixed together, officers and men, that no man knew his own company or regiment, or scarcely himself. General Gaines had ordered the artillery of the regular army to be sta- tioned on a high bluff which looked down upon the contemplated battle- field a half mile distant, from whence, in case of battle with the Indians in the tangled thickets of the island, their shot were likely to kill more of their friends than their enemies. It would have been impossible for the artillerists to distinguish one from the other. And when the army arrived at the main river, they found it a bold, deep stream, not fordable for a half mile or more above by horses, and no means of transportation was then ready to ferry them over. Here they were in sight of the Indian town, with a narrow, deep river running between, and here the princi- pal part of them remained until scows could be brought to ferry them across it.
" When the volunteers reached the town they found no enemy there. The Indians had quietly departed the same morning in their canoes for the western side of the Mississippi. Whilst in camp twelve miles below, the evening before, a canoe load of Indians came down with a white flag to tell the General that they were peaceable Indians, that they expected a great battle to come off the next day, that they desired to remain neutral, and wanted to retire with their families to some place of safety, and they asked to know where that was to be. General Gaines answered them very abruptly, and told them to be off and go to the other side of the Mississippi. That night they returned to their town, and the next morn- ing early the whole band of hostile Indians re-crossed the river, and thus entitled themselves to protection."
Says Governor Ford: "It has been stated to me by Judge William
102
RECORDS OF THE OLDEN TIME.
Thomas, of Jacksonville, who acted as Quartermaster of the brigade of volunteers, that Gaines and Duncan had reason to believe, before the commencement of the march from the camp on the Mississippi, that the Indians had departed from their village, that measures had been taken to ascertain the fact before the volunteers crossed to Vandruff's Island, that General Duncan, in company with the advanced guard, following the spies, preceded the main body in crossing, and that this will account for the con- fusion and want of order in the march of the troops.
"I was myself in company with the spies, arriving at the river a mile in advance of the army. I saw General Gaines ascend with his boat to the point of the island; was within one hundred yards of him when he fired into the island to test the presence of the Indians; I marched ahead with the spies across the island, saw with my own eyes the elevation of the land near the shore, which would have prevented cannon shot from taking effect more than one hundred yards. I also knew the condition of the island as to bushes and vines, and saw the artillery firing from the fort stationed on the high bluff on the opposite side of the river. I was on the bank of the main river when General Duncan came up, followed soon after by his brigade in the utmost confusion, and heard him reprimand John S. Miller, a substantial and worthy citizen of Rock Island, for not letting him know that the main river was on the north side of the island; and I heard Miller curse him to his face at the head of his troops for re- fusing his services as guide when offered the evening before, and then cen- suring him for not giving information which he had refused to receive. I give the facts as I personally know them to be true, and leave it to others to judge whether the two Generals, knowing of the departure of the Indians, had taken proper measures to ascertain the presence of an enemy, or had made the best disposition for a battle if the Indians had been found either at their village or on the island. Much credit is undoubtedly due to Gov- ernor Reynolds and General Duncan for the unprecedented quickness with which the brigade was called out, organized, and marched to the seat of war, and neither of them are justly responsible for what was arranged for them by General Gaines.
"The enemy having escaped, the volunteers were determined to be avenged upon something. The rain descended in torrents, and the Indian wigwams would have furnished a comfortable shelter; but notwithstand- ing the rain, the whole town was soon wrapped in flames, and thus per- ished an ancient village which had once been the delightful home of six or
·
103
A BRIEF PEACE-RENEWAL OF HOSTILITIES.
seven thousand Indians ; where generation after generation had been born, had died, and been buried; where the old men had taught wisdom to the young; whence the Indian youth had often gone out in parties to hunt or to war, and returned in triumph to dance around the spoils of the forest, or the scalps of their enemies; and where the dark-eyed Indian maidens, by their presence and charms, had made it a scene of delightful enchant- ment to many an admiring warrior.
"The volunteers marched to Rock Island next morning, and here they encamped for several days, precisely where the town of Rock Island is now situated. It was then in a complete state of nature, a romantic wil- derness. Fort Armstrong was built upon a rocky cliff on the lower point of an island near the center of the river, a little way above; the shores on each side, formed of gentle slopes of prairie extending back to bluffs of considerable height, made it one of the most picturesque scenes in the Western country. The river here is a beautiful sheet of clear, swift-run- ning water, about three-quarters of a mile wide; its banks on both sides were uninhabited except by Indians, from the lower rapids to the fort, and the voyager up stream, after several days' solitary progress through a wilderness country on its borders, came suddenly in sight of the white- washed walls and towers of the fort, perched upon a rock surrounded by the grandeur and beauty of nature, which at a distance gave it the ap- pearance of one of those enchanted castles in an uninhabited desert so . well described in the Arabian Nights Entertainment.
General Gaines threatened to pursue the Indians across the river, which brought Black Hawk and the chiefs and braves of the hostile band to the fort to sue for peace. A treaty was formed with them, by which they agreed to remain forever after on the west side of the river, and never to recross it without the permission of the President or the Governor of the State. And thus these Indians at last ratified the treaty of 1804, by which their lands were sold to the white people, and they agreed to live in peace with the Government.
"But notwithstanding this treaty, early in the spring of 1832, Black Hawk and the disaffected Indians prepared to reassert their right to the disputed territory.
"The united Sac and Fox nations were divided into two parties. Black Hawk commanded the warlike band, and Keokuk, another chief, headed the band which was in favor of peace. Keokuk was a bold, sa- gacious leader of his people, was gifted with a wild and stirring eloquence
104
RECORDS OF THE OLDEN TIME.
rarely to be found even among Indians, by means of which he retained the greater part of his people in amity with the white people. But nearly all the bold, turbulent spirits, who delighted in mischief, arranged them- selves under the banners of his rival. Black Hawk had with him the chivalry of his nation, with which he re-crossed the Mississippi in the spring of 1832. He directed his march to the Rock River country, and this time aimed, by marching up the river into the territory of the Potta- watomies and Winnebagoes, to make them his allies. Governor Reynolds, upon being informed of the facts, made another call for volunteers. In a few days eighteen hundred men rallied under his banner at Beardstown. This force was organized into four regiments and a spy battalion. Colonel Dewitt commanded the First Regiment, Colonel Fry the Second, Colonel Thomas the Third, Colonel Thompson the Fourth, and Col. James D. Henry commanded the spy battalion. The whole brigade was put under the command of Brigadier General Samuel Whiteside, of the State militia, who had commanded the spy battalion in the first campaign.
105
STILLMAN'S DEFEAT.
CHAPTER XVI.
DEFEAT OF MAJOR STILLMAN.
N the 27th of April, General Whiteside, accompanied by Gov- ernor Reynolds, took up his line of march. The army pro- ceeded by way of Oquawka, on the Mississippi, to the mouth of Rock River, and here it was agreed between General Whiteside and General Atkinson, of the regulars, that the volunteers should march up Rock River about fifty miles, to the Prophet's town, and there encamp to feed and rest their horses, and await the arrival of the regular troops in keel boats, with provisions.
Judge Thomas, who again acted as quartermaster to the volunteers, made an estimate of the amount of provisions required until the boats could arrive, which was supplied, and then General Whiteside took up his line of march. But when he arrived at the Prophet's town, instead of remaining there, his men set fire to the village, which was entirely con- sumed, and the brigade marched on in the direction of Dixon, forty miles higher up the river. When the volunteers had arrived within a short distance of DiRon, orders were given to leave the baggage wagons behind, so as to reach there by a forced march. And for the relief of the horses, the men left large quantities of provisions behind with the wagons. At Dixon, General Whiteside came to a halt, to await a junction with Gen- eral Atkinson, with provisions and the regular forces; and from here par- ties were sent out to reconnoitre the enemy and ascertain his position. The army here found upon its arrival two battalions of mounted volun- teers, consisting of 275 men, from tee counties of McLean, Tazewell, Peoria, and Fulton, under the command of Majors Stillman and Bailey. The officers of this force begged to be put forward upon some dangerous service, in which they could distinguish themselves. To gratify then, they were ordered up Rock River to spy out the Indians. Major Stillman be- gan his march on the 12th of May, and pursuing his way on the south- east side, he came to "Old Man's" Creek, since called "Stillman's Run," a small stream which rises in White Rock Grove, in Ogle County, and
106
RECORDS OF THE OLDEN TIME.
falls into the river near Bloomingville. Here he encamped just before night, and in a short time a party of Indians on horseback were discov- ered on a rising ground about one mile distant from the encampment. A party of Stillman's men mounted their horses without orders or com- mander, and were soon followed by others, stringing along for a quarter of a mile, to pursue the Indians and attack them. The Indians retreated after displaying a red flag, the emblem of defiance and war, but were over- taken and three of them slain. Here Maj. Samuel Hackelton, being dis- mounted in the engagement, distinguished himself by a combat with one of the Indians, in which the Indian was killed, and Major Hackelton after- ward made his way on foot to the camp of General Whiteside. Black Hawk was near by with his main force, and being prompt to repel an assault, soon rallied his men, amounting then to about seven hundred warriors, and moved down upon Major Stillman's camp, driving the dis- orderly rabble, the recent pursuers, before him. These valorous gentle- men, lately so hot in pursuit when the enemy were few, were no less hasty in their retreat when coming in contact with superior numbers. They came with horses on a full run, and in this manner broke through the camp of Major Stillman, spreading dismay and terror among the rest of his men, who immediately began to join in the flight, so that no effort to rally them could possibly have succeeded. Major Stillman, now too late to remedy the evils of insubordination and disorder in his command, did all that was practicable, by ordering his men to fall back in order, and form on higher ground; but as the prairie rose behind them for more than a mile, the ground for a rally was never discovered; and besides this, when the men once got their backs to the enemy, they commenced a retreat without one thought of making a further stand. A retreat of undisci- plined militia from the attack of a superior force is apt to be a disorderly and inglorious flight. And so it was here; each man sought his individual safety, and in the twinkling of an eye the whole detachment was in utter confusion. They were pursued in their flight by thirty or forty Indians for ten or twelve miles, the fugitives in the rear keeping up a flying fire as they ran, until the Indians ceased pursuing.
" But there were some good soldiers and brave men in Stillman's de- tachment, whose individual efforts succeeded in checking the career of the Indians, whereby many escaped that night who would otherwise have been the easy victims of the enemy. Among these were Major Perkins and Captain Adams, who fell in the rear, bravely fighting to cover the
107
WHAT A BARREL OF WHISKY DID.
retreat of their fugitive friends. But Major Stillman and his men pur- sued their flight without looking to the right or the left, until they were safely landed at Dixon. The party came straggling into camp all night long, four or five at a time, each new comer being confident that all who had been left behind had been massacred by the Indians. The enemy was stated to be just behind in full pursuit, and their arrival was looked for every moment. Eleven of Stillman's men were killed, and it is only astonishing that the number was so few. -
NARRATIVE OF EDWIN S. JONES.
As this is mainly a local history, we give the individual recollections of Edwin S. Jones of this affair, now and for many years past a respected citizen of La Prairie. He was an Orderly Sergeant in Captain Eads' com- pany, and enlisted at Peoria, where they were several days in camp pre- vious to setting out. They were equipped with the old-fashioned musket of that day, and decidedly averse to discipline, each individual considering himself a free American citizen, able singly to subdue and capture a half dozen Indians. At Boyd's Grove, where they camped for the night, they were joined by Captain Barnes and his company, and at Bureau by Cap- tain Baughman and twenty-eight men, when they received orders to push on to Dixon, where the Indians stole many of their horses. While here they were joined by a detachment of the regular army under Col. Zack Taylor, and Lieuts. Jeff. Davis and Sidney Johnson. Between the volun- teers and regulars jealousy and ill feeling at once sprung up, the former looking upon the soldiers as "stuck up" and supercilious, while the reg- ulars frowned with contempt upon the "greenhorn farmers," fresh from the plow and hoe. The volunteers, burning with impatience to pounce upon the foe and capture them, and fearing lest that honor might in any way be divided with the regulars, could hardly be held within bounds, and when their commander, Major Stillman, received orders to reconnoitre the enemy's position, the men hailed it as a permission to attack the Indians if found.
On the 10th of May, 1832, they started up Rock River in the midst of a pelting storm, the volunteers, being without tents or shelter. They marched several miles and went into camp, cold, wet and cheerless, re- maining until Monday, when they moved forward to Rock River, where
108
RECORDS OF THE OLDEN TIME.
Major Stillman took charge of the detachment to which the writer be- longed, known as the "odd battalion." A portion of the command came from Tazewell County, and were an unusually "hard lot." They had brought with them a barrel of whisky, of which the men had partaken freely, and Major Stillman, fearing its demoralizing effects, ordered it taken in charge by Mr. Jones, which duty he performed until relieved, when he proceeded to join his company. As he was mounting his horse an order came to "Forward," but the Tazewell troops refused to go until they had got their "bitters." They smashed in the head of the barrel and filled their coffee pots, besides drinking freely; then joined in the march. Arriving at what has since been known as "Stillman's Run," then called "Old Man's Creek," they found a region of swamps and morasses, into which they plunged, and found considerable difficulty in getting through, after which the command went into camp. While preparing their dinners a party of mounted Indians approached and fired from a distance, which set the horses to rearing, and created something of a panic. The cry of "In- dians! Indians!" was raised, when the drunken soldiers mounted their horses and went galloping forward, yelling like maniacs. The warriors came on in good style and began firing, by which several of our men fell, when, with scarcely a return shot, the cowardly rabble turned and ran for dear life, throwing away guns, hats and coats. They were frightened out of their wits, and their cowardly fear communicated to the whole camp, which broke up in wild disorder. But all were not cowards, and a few resolute men rode out and met the savages, giving them a blizzard which emptied a few saddles and sent them to the right about. Another party now appeared, and news came that the Indians had surrounded the men who had pursued them, and we pushed on to their relief. On the way several dead Indians were found, and three were taken prisoners. The captives said they came to make peace and not to fight. We rode on a hard canter for five miles, until a wide swamp was reached, beyond which the retreating Indians were seen. Orders came to plunge in, and in we went. Horses were mired and the men too, and when we had got well into the trap-for trap it was-we were surrounded by the painted devils, who came whooping and yelling and pouring the contents of their muskets right in our faces. No man who has ever heard an Indian yell will won- der that men who had never been under fire became panic-stricken. An officer in the rear shouted "Halt!" and then came the word to retreat to solid ground. We did so, but the Indians were shooting wickedly,
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.