The History of Peoria County, Illinois. Containing a history of the Northwest-history of Illinois-history of the county, its early settlement, growth, development, resources, etc., etc., Part 13

Author: Johnson & co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Johnson & Company
Number of Pages: 932

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Tonti had now, at the great peril of his life, tried every expedient to prevent the slaughter of the Illinois. There was little to be accomplished by longer remaining in the country, and as longer delay might imperil the lives of his own men, he determined to depart, not knowing where or when he would be able to rejoin LaSalle. With this object in view, the party, consisting of six persons, embarked in canoes, which soon proved leaky, and they were compelled to land for the purpose of making repairs. While thus employed, Father Ribourde attracted by the beauty of the surrounding landscape, wandered forth among the groves for meditation and prayer. Not returning in due time. Tonti became alarmed, and started with a companion to ascertain the cause of the long delay. They soon discovered tracks of Indians, by whom it was supposed he had been seized, and guns were fired to direct his return, in case he was alive. Seeing nothing of him during the day, at night they built fires along the bank of the river and retired to the opposite side, to see who might approach them. Near midnight a number of Indians were seen flitting about the light, by whom, no doubt, had been made the tracks seen the previous day. It was afterward learned that they were a band of Kickapoos, who had for several days been hovering about the camp of the Iroquois in quest of scalps. They had fell in with the inoffensive old friar and scalped him. Thus, in the 65th year

GENERAL HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

SONO-CHANDLER CHIS

AN IROQUOIS CHIEF.

GENERAL HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

of his age, the only heir to a wealthy Burgundian house perished under the war-club of the savages for whose salvation he had renounced ease and affluence.

INHUMAN BUTCHERY.

During this tragedy a far more revolting one was being enacted in the great town of Illinois. The Iroquois were tearing open the graves of the dead. and wreaking their vengeance upon the bodies made hideous by putrefaction. At this desecration, it is said, they even ate portions of the dead bodies, while subjecting them to every indignity that brutal hate could infliet. Still nnsated by their hellish brutalities, and now unrestrained by the presence of the French, they started in pursuit of the retreating Illinois. Day after day they and the opposing forces moved in compaet array down the river, neither being able to gain any advantage over the other. At length the Iroquois obtained by falsehood that which number and prowess denied them. They gave out that their object was to possess the country, not by destroying, but by driving out its present inhabitants. Deceived by this false statement, the Illinois separated, some descending the Mississippi and others crossing to the western shore. The Tamaroas, more credulous than the rest, remained near the month of the Illinois, and were suddenly attacked by an overwheln- ing force of the enemy. The men fled in dismay, and the women and children, to the number of 700, fell into the hands of the ferocions enemy. Then followed the tortures, butcheries and burnings which only the infuriated and imbruted Iroquois could perpetrate. LaSalle on his return discovered the half-charred bodies of women and children still bound to the stakes where they had suffered all the torments hellish hate could devise. In addition to those who had been burnt, the mangled bodies of women and children thickly covered the ground, many of which bore marks of brutality too horrid for record.

After the ravenous horde had sufficiently glutted their greed for carnage. they re- tired from the country. The Illinois returned and rebuilt their town.

TONTI SAFE AT GREEN BAY.

After the death of Ribonrde, Tonti and his men again resumed their journey. Soon again their craft became disabled, when they abandoned it and started on foot for Lake Michigan. Their supply of provisions soon became exhausted, and they were compelled to subsist in a great measure on roots and herbs. One of their companion wandered off in search of game, and lost his way, and several days elapsed before he rejoined them. In his absence he was without flints and bullets, yet contrived to shoot some turkeys by using slugs cut from a pewter porringer and a firebrand to discharge his gun. Tonti fell sick of a fever and greatly retarded the progress of the march. Nearing Green Bay, the cold increased and the means of subsistence decreased and the party would have perished had they not found a few ears of corn and some frozen squashes in the fields of a deserted village. Near the close of November they had reached the Pottawatomies, who warmly greeted them. Their chief was an ardent admirer of the French, and was accustomed to say: " There were but three great captains in the world,-himself, Tonti and LaSalle." For the above account of Tonti's encounter with the Iroquois, we are indebted to David- son and Stuve's History of Illinois.

LA SALLE'S RETURN.

LaSalle returned to Peoria only to meet the hideous picture of devastation. Tonti had escaped, but LaSalle knew not whither. Passing down the lake in search of him and his men, LaSalle discovered that the fort had been destroyed ; but the vessel which he had partly constructed was still on the stocks, and but slightly injured. After further fruitless search he fastened to a tree a painting representing himself and party sitting in a canoe and bearing a pipe of peace, and to the painting attached a letter addressed to Tonti.

GENERAL HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

LaSalle was born in France in 1643, of wealthy parentage, and educated in a college of the Jesuits, from which he separated and came to Canada, a poor man. in 1666. He was a man of daring genius, and outstripped all his competitors in exploits and travel and commerce with the Indians. He was granted a large tract of land at LaChine, where he established himself in the fur trade. In 1669 he visited the headquarters of the great Iroquois confederacy, at Onondaga, New York, and, obtaining guides, explored the Ohio river to the falls at Louisville. For many years previous, it must be remembered, missionaries and traders were obliged to make their way to the Northwest through Canada on account of the fierce hostility of the Iroquois along the lower lakes of Niagara river, which entirely closed this latter route to the upper lakes. They carried on their commerce chiefly by canoes, paddling them through Ottawa river to Lake Nipissing, car- rying them across the portage to French river, and descending that to Lake Huron. This being the route by which they reached the Northwest, we have an explanation of the fact that all the earliest Jesuit missions were established in the neighborhood of the upper lakes. LaSalle conceived the grand idea of opening the route by Niagara river and the lower lakes to Canada commerce by sail vessels, connecting it with the navigation of the Mississippi, and thus opening a magnificent water communication from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico. This truly grand and comprehensive purpose seems to have animated him in his wonderful achievements, and the matchless difficulties and hardships he surmounted. As the first step in the accomplishment of this object he established himself on Lake Ontario, and built and garrisoned Fort Frontenac, the site of the present city of Kingston, Canada. Here he obtained a grant of land from the French crown, and a body of troops, by which he repulsed the Iroquois and opened passage to Niagara Falls. Having by this masterly stroke made it safe to attempt a hitherto un- tried expedition, his next step, as we have seen, was to build a ship with which to sail the lakes. He was successful in this undertaking, though his ultimate purpose was de- feated by a strange combination of untoward circumstances. The Jesuits evidently hated LaSalle and platted against him, because he had abandoned them and united with a rival order. The fur traders were also jealous of his success in opening new channels of commerce. While they were plodding with their bark canoes through the Ottawa, he was constructing sailing vessels to command the trade of the lakes and the Mississippi. These great plans excited the jealousy and envy of small traders, introduced treason and revolt into the ranks of his men, and finally led to the foul assassination by which his great achievements were permanently ended.

LA SALLE'S ASSASSINATION.

Again visiting the Illinois in the year 1682, LaSalle descended the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. He erected a standard upon which he inscribed the arms of France, and took formal possession of the whole valley of this mighty river in the name of Louis XIV., then reigning, and in honor of whom he named the country Louisiana. LaSalle then returned to France, was appointed Governor, and returned with a fleet of immi- grants for the purpose of planting a colony in Illinois. They arrived in due time in the Gulf of Mexico, but failing to find the mouth of the Mississippi, up which they intended to sail, his supply ship, with the immigrants, was driven ashore and wrecked on Matagorda Bay. With the fragments of the vessel he constructed rude huts and stock- ades on the shore for the protection of his followers, calling the post Fort St. Louis. He then made a trip into New Mexico in search of silver mines, but, meeting with disap- pointment, returned to find his colony reduced to forty souls. He then resolved to travel on foot to Illinois. With some twenty of his men they filed out of their fort on the 12th of January, 1687, and, after the parting-which was one of sighs, of tears, and of em- braces, all seeming intuitively to know that they should see each other no more-they started on their disastrous journey. Two of the party, Du Haut and Leotot, when on a

GENERAL HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

hunting expedition in company with a nephew of LaSalle, assassinated him while asleep. The long absence of his nephew caused LaSalle to go in search of him. On approaching the murderers of his nephew, they fired upon him. killing him instantly. They then despoiled the body of its clothing, and left it to be devoured by the wild beasts of the forest. Thus, at the age of 43. perished one whose exploits have so greatly enriched the history of the New World. To estimate aright the marvels of his patient fortitude, one must follow on his track through the vast scene of his interminable journeyings, those thousands of weary miles of forest, marsh. and river, where. again and again, in the bit- terness of baffled striving, the untiring pilgrim pushed onward toward the goal he never was to attain. America owes him an enduring memory ; for in this masculine figure, cast in iron, she sees the heroic pioneer who guided her to the possession of her richest heritage.

Tonti, who had been stationed at the fort on the Illinois, learning of LaSalle's un- successful voyage, immediately started down the Mississippi to his relief. Reaching the Gulf, he found no traces of the colony. He then returned, leaving some of his men at the mouth of the Arkansas. These were discovered by the remnant of LaSalle's followers, who guided them to the fort on the Illinois, where they reported that LaSalle was in Mexico. The little band left at Fort St. Louis were finally destroyed by the Indians, and the murderers of LaSalle were shot. Thus ends the sad chapter of Robert Cavalier de LaSalle's exploration.

FIRST SETTLEMENT.

The first mission in Illinois, as we have already seen, was commenced by Marquette in April, 1675. He called the religious society which he established the " Mission of the Immaculate Conception," and the town of Kaskaskia. The first military occupation of the country was at Fort Crevecoeur, erected in 1680 : but there is no evidence that a set- tlement was commenced there, or at Peoria, on the lake above, at that early date. The first settlement of which there is any authentic account was commenced with the build- ing of Fort St. Louis on the Illinois river in 1682; but this was soon abandoned. The oldest permanent settlement, not only in Illinois, but in the valley of the Mississippi, is at Kaskaskia, situated six miles above the mouth of the Kaskaskia river. This was settled in 1690 by the removal of the mission from old Kaskaskia, or Ft. St. Louis, on the Illinois river. Cahokia was settled about the same time. The reason for the removal of the old Kaskaskia settlement and mission, was probably because the dangerous and diffi- cult route by Lake Michigan and the Chicago portage had been almost abandoned, and travelers and traders traveled down and up the Mississippi by the Fox and Wisconsin rivers. It was removed to the vicinity of the Mississippi in order to be in the line of travel from Canada to Louisiana, that is, the lower part of it, for it was all Louisiana then south of the lakes. Illinois came into possession of the French in 1682, and was a dependency of Canada and a part of Louisiana. During the period of French rule in Louisiana, the population probably never exceeded ten thousand. To the year 1730 the following five distinct settlements were made in the territory of Illinois, numbering, in population, 140 French families, about 600 "converted" Indians, and many traders : Cahokia, near the mouth of Cahokia creek and about five miles below the present city of St. Louis ; St. Philip, about forty-five miles below Cahokia : Fort Chartres, twelve miles above Kaskaskia : Kaskaskia, situated on the Kaskaskia river six miles above its con- fluence with the Mississippi, and Prairie du Rocher, near Fort Chartres. Fort Chartres was build under the direction of the Mississippi Company in 1718, and was for a time the headquarters of the military commandants of the district of Illinois, and the most im- pregnable fortress in North America. It was also the center of wealth and fashion in the West. For about eighty years the French retained peaceable possession of Illinois. Their amiable disposition and taet of ingratiating themselves with the Indians enabled

GENERAL HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

them to escape almost entirely the broils which weakened and destroyed other colonies. Whether exploring remote rivers or traversing hunting grounds in pursuit of game, in the social circle or as participants in the religious exercises of the church, the red men became their associates and were treated with the kindness and consideration of brothers. For more than a hundred years peace between the white man and the red was unbroken, and when at last this reign of harmony terminated it was not caused by the conciliatory Frenchman, but by the blunt and sturdy Anglo-Saxon. During this century, or until the country was occupied by the English, no regular court was ever held. When, in 1765, the country passed into the hands of the English, many of the French, rather than submit to a change in their institutions, preferred to leave their homes and seek a new abode. There are, however, at the present time a few remnants of the old French stock in the State, who still retain to a great extent the ancient habits and customs of their fathers.

The first settlement by Americans was made by a few families from Virginia, who founded a small colony near Bellefontaine, in Monroe county, in 1784.

THE MISSISSIPPI COMPANY.

During the earliest period of French occupation of this country, M. Tonti, LaSalle's attendant, was commander-in-chief of all the territory embraced between Canada and the Gulf of Mexico, and extending east and west of the Mississippi as far as his ambi- tion or imagination pleased to allow. He spent twenty-one years in establishing forts and organizing the first settlements of Illinois. September 14, 1712, the French govern- ment granted a monopoly of all the trade and commerce of the country to M. Crozat, a wealthy merchant of Paris, who established a trading company in Illinois, and it was by this means that the early settlements became permanent and others established. Crozat surrendered his charter in 1717, and the Company of the West, better known as the Mississippi Company, was organized, to aid and assist the banking system of John Law, the most famous speculator of modern times, and perhaps at one time the wealthiest pri- vate individual the world has ever known ; but his treasure was transitory. Under the Company of the West a branch was organized called the Company of St. Philip's, for the purpose of working the rich silver mines supposed to be in Illinois, and Philip Ren- ault was appointed as its agent. In 1719 he sailed from France with two hundred miners, laborers and mechanics. During 1719 the Company of the West was by royal order united with the Royal Company of the Indies, and had the influence and support of the crown, who was deluded by the belief that immense wealth would flow into the empty treasury of France. This gigantic scheme, one of the most extensive and won- derful bubbles ever blown up to astonish, deceive and ruin thousands of people, was set in operation by the fertile brain of John Law. Law was born in Scotland in 1671, and so rapid had been his career that at the age of twenty-three he was a "bankrupt. an adulterer, a murderer and an exiled outlaw." But he possessed great financial ability, and by his agreeable and attractive manners, and his enthusiastic advocacy of his schemes, he succeeded in inflaming the imagination of the mercurial Frenchmen, whose greed for gain led them to adopt any plans for obtaining wealth.

Law arrived in Paris with two and a half millions of francs, which he had gained at the gambling table, just at the right time. Louis XIV. had just died and left as a legacy empty coffers and an immense public debt. Every thing and every body was taxed to the last penny to pay even the interest. All the sources of industry were dried up ; the very wind which wafted the barks of commerce seemed to have died away under the pressure of the time ; trade stood still ; the merchant, the trader, the artificer, once flour- ishing in affluence, were transformed into clamorous beggars. The life-blood that ani- mated the kingdom was stagnated in all its arteries, and the danger of an awful crisis became such that the nation was on the verge of bankruptcy. At this critical juncture

GENERAL HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

John Law arrived and proposed his grand scheme of the Mississippi Company : 200.000 shares of stock at 500 livres each were at first issued. This sold readily and great profits were realized. More stock was issued, speculation became rife, the fever seized every body, and the wildest speculating frenzy pervaded the whole nation. Illinois was thought to contain vast and rich mines of minerals. Kaskaskia, then seafeely more than the set- tlement of a few savages, was spoken of as an emporium of the most extensive traffic, and as rivaling some of the cities of Europe in refinement, fashion and religious culture. Law was in the zenith ot his glory, and the people in the zenith of their infatuation. The high and the low, the rich and the poor, were at once filled with visions of untold wealth. and every age, set. rank and condition were buying and selling stocks. Law issued stock again and again, and readily sold until 2,235.000,000 livres were in circulation, equaling about 8450.000,000. While confidence lasted an impetus was given to trade never before known. An illusory poliey everywhere prevailed, and so dazzled the eve that none could see in the horizon the dark cloud announcing the approaching storm. Law at the time was the most influential man in Europe. His house was beset from morning till night with eager applicants for stock. Dukes, marquises and counts, with their wives and daughters, waited for hours in the street below his door. Finding his residence too small, he changed it for the Place Vendome, whither the crowd followed him, and the spacious square had the appearance of a public market. The boulevards and public gardens were forsaken, and the Place Vendome became the most fashionable place in Paris : and he was unable to wait upon even one-tenth part of his applicants. The bubble burst after a few years, seattering ruin and distress in every direction. Law, a short time previous the most popular man in Europe, fled to Brussels, and in 1729 died in Venice, in obscurity and poverty.

CHAPTER III.

ENGLISH RULE.

First Throes of the American Revolution - More About Gen. Clark - Ilis Gallant Exploils - 11e Captures Kaskaskia and Vincennes - The County of Illinois Established - Patrick Henry - John Todd - A Civil Government I'rovided.

As early as 1750 there could be perceived the first throes of the revolution, which gave a new master and new institutions to Ilinois. France claimed the whole valley of the Mississippi, and England the right to extend her possessions westward as far as she might desire. Through colonial controversies the two mother countries were precip- itated into a bloody war within the Northwestern Territory, George Washington firing the first gun of the military struggle which resulted in the overthrow of the French not only in Illinois but in North America. The French evinced a determination to retain control of the territory bordering the Ohio and Mississippi from Canada to the Gulf, and so long as the English colonies were confined to the sea-coast there was little reason for controversy. As the English, however, became acquainted with this beautiful and fertile portion of our country, they not only learned the value of the vast territory, but also re- solved to set up a counter claim to the soil. The French established numerous military and trading posts from the frontiers of Canada to New Orleans, and in order to establish also their claims to jurisdiction over the country they carved the lilies of France on the forest trees, or sunk plates of metal in the ground. These measures did not, however, deter the English from going on with their explorations ; and though neither party resorted to

GENERAL HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

arms, yet the conflict was gathering, and it was only a question of time when the storm should burst upon the frontier settlement. The French based their claims upon discov- eries, the English on grants of territory extending from ocean to ocean, but neither party paid the least attention to the prior claims of the Indians. From this position of affairs, it was evident that actual collision between the contending parties would not much longer be deferred. The English Government, in anticipation of a war, urged the Governor of Virginia to lose no time in building two forts, which were equipped by arms from England. The French anticipated the English and gathered a considerable force to de- fend their possessions. The Governor determined to send a messenger to the nearest French post and demand an explanation. This resolution of the Governor brought into the history of our country for the first time the man of all others whom America most loves to honor, namely, George Washington. He was chosen, although not yet twenty- one years of age, as the one to perform this delicate and difficult mission. With five companions he set out on Nov. 10, 1753, and after a perilous journey returned Jan. 6, 1754. The struggle commenced and continued long, and was bloody and fierce ; but on

GEN. GEORGE ROGERS CLARK.

the 10th of October, 1765, the ensign of France was replaced on the ramparts of Fort Chartres by the flag of Great Britain. This fort was the depot of supplies and the place of rendezvous for the united forces of the French. At this time the colonies of the Atlantic seaboard were assembled in preliminary congress at New York, dreaming of lib- erty and independence for the continent; and Washington, who led the expedition against the French for the English king, in less than ten years was commanding the forces opposed to the English tyrant. Illinois, besides being constructively a part of Florida for over one hundred years, during which time no Spaniard set foot upon her soil or rested his eyes upon her beautiful plains, for nearly ninety years had been in the actual occupation of the French, their puny settlements slumbering quietly in colonial dependence on the distant waters of the Kaskaskia, Illinois and Wabash.

GEN. CLARK'S EXPLOITS AND SUCCESSES.

The Northwest Territory was now entirely under English rule, and on the breaking out of the Revolutionary war the British held every post of importance in the West. While the colonists of the East were maintaining a fierce struggle with the armies of

GENERAL HISTORY OF ILLINOIS.

England, their western frontiers were ravaged by merciless butcheries of Indian warfare. The jealousy of the savage was aroused to action by the rapid extension of American settlement westward and the improper influence exerted by a number of military posts garrisoned by British troops. To prevent indiscriminate slaughters arising from these causes, Illinois became the theater of some of the most daring exploits connected with American history. The hero of the achievements by which this beautiful land was snatched as a gem from the British crown, was George Rogers Clark, of Virginia. He had closely watched the movements of the British throughout the Northwest. and under- stood their whole plan ; he also knew the Indians were not unanimously in accord with the English, and therefore was convinced that if the British could be defeated and ex- pelled from the Northwest, the natives might be easily awed into neutrality. Having convinced himself that the enterprise against the Illinois settlement might easily succeed, he repaired to the capital of Virginia, arriving November 5, 1777. While he was on his way. fortunately, Burgoyne was defeated (October 17), and the spirits of the colonists were thereby greatly encouraged. Patrick Henry was Governor of Virginia, and at once entered heartily into Clark's plans. After satisfying the Virginia leaders of the feasibility of his project, he received two sets of instructions-one secret, the other open. The latter authorized him to enlist seven companies to go to Kentneky, and serve three months after their arrival in the West. The secret order authorized him to arm these troops, to procure his powder and lead of General Hand at Pittsburg, and to proceed at once to subjugate the country.

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The History of Peoria County, Illinois. Containing a history of the Northwest-history of Illinois-history of the county, its early settlement, growth, development, resources, etc., etc., Part 13

Author: Johnson & co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago : Johnson & Company Number of Pages: 932

Author: Johnson & co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Johnson & Company
Number of Pages: 932