USA > Illinois > The early history of Northern Illinois > Part 2
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THE MOUND-BUILDERS
grading of streets and the erection of houses; and a large one was levelled where the Court- house was built.
These first settlers of Illinois were simple, harmless people. They do not seem to have been especially warlike as were many of their successors, the Indians.
This group with its almost countless relics has been recently and is still being subjected to intensive study, and the opinion seems to be growing that the Indian groups sprang from these "builders in earth."
The Mound-builders have been exterminat- ed or have died out. But their records have been assembled in many museums or other display-places, so that the unborn generations in Illinois, as they come along, can become well acquainted with these first settlers of their state.
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CHAPTER V THE INDIANS
T HE second group of settlers to occupy the entire state of Illinois was known as The American Indians. The Indians misnamed by Columbus, who, having gotten into the front yard of Europe, thought that he had reached India on the other side of the world, have car- ried the name indicating a case of mistaken identity, ever since.
Their relation to their predecessors is not clear. Seemingly they were physically su- perior and more warlike than the Mound- builders. Perhaps they drove these first set- tlers before them and exterminated them. Perhaps the Mound-builders faded out before an unfavorable environment. Perhaps these Mound-builders degenerated into the Indian groups.
Concerning the Indians, it is commonly ac- cepted that they are Asiatic in origin, and by whatever devious path they came, either by their own devices or by those of ancestral stocks, made their way from Siberia to the United States.
The devious path they followed, has been referred by us several times to the specialists, the anthropologists, ethnologists, and archae- ologists. Their relationship to the Shadow-
35
THE INDIANS
men, Aztecs and Mound-builders is a problem belonging to these men. Reaching the north- western coast of North America, seemingly, the Indians moved slowly down the Pacific coast, then east across the southern part of our country, then north and west to occupy the entire land. We will not concern ourselves with that period of settlement, perhaps taking centuries and bringing many changes in the customs and habits of the Indians themselves. It will serve our purpose to think of them as they were when Columbus discovered Amer- ica; or when the first white men, Spanish, French, English, came to colonize these lands.
Although the entire United States was oc- cupied by the Indians, the country was not thickly settled. A few million people would be a fair estimate. An occasional speculator has put the figure as high as ten or even fifteen million people; but most estimates are much less than that.
The Indians never settled thickly. Their be- liefs and manner of living made that impossi- ble. No individual Indian owned any land. The land was owned or claimed by the tribe ; but the ownership might be challenged by any other tribe and be taken possession of, if it could defeat the first tribe in battle. Moreover each tribe wanted a large, unocccupied space around its village for hunting and fishing ; and these spaces between the tribal headquarters
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THE INDIANS
were the causes and scenes of innumerable battles.
It followed logically that the different groups of Indians constantly shifted in im- portance, certain groups like the Iroquois or Sioux becoming dominant over wide stretches of territory, and others dwindling or disap- pearing. Cooper's "The Last of the Mohicans" tells of such an occurrence.
There was no over-all organization to bind these Indian settlers together. There were not even any widely-spread bonds of sympathy apparent. The people were divided into hun- dreds of tribes, a few hundred people being the limit. Some of these tribes were friendly, spoke the same language and formed a loose federation, and fought together in wars. But often there was hostility, there were wars and bitter antagonisms that might last for genera- tions.
There was no common language. This is not strange for there were no newspapers, maga- zines, radio broadcasts or travel back and forth, which tend to unify the languages. The aloofness of the Indians tended to multiply the dialects. In our country as a whole, there were perhaps a hundred widely different languages or stock-languages, so different that these language-groups could not understand one an- other; and in any group using a stock-lan- guage, there were wide variations of speech.
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THE INDIANS
As these lists of stock-speeches have been pre- pared by our linguists, we recognize groups by such names as Algonquin, Eskimauan, Iro- quoian, Siouian, etc.
The customs of the Indians varied widely. But they usually built a village with rude homes made of logs, slabs, stones, dirt, etc., and using tents or wigwams for hunting-trips or travelling.
Their clothing was simple, the skins of various animals, bison, bear, rabbits, squirrels being largely used. There was also more or less weaving, various plants furnishing the material.
Hunting and fishing provided much of the food, but there were many other items such as cranberries, blueberries, raspberries, plums, wild cherries, nuts, mushrooms, wild rice, etc. In their gardens, sunflowers, corn, pumpkins, etc., were raised, the ground being cultivated with rough, stone spades.
There are other interesting fields for study. The making of pottery and baskets, the use of stone and metals as copper, lead and gold for equipment; the training of wild horses, dogs and other wild animals. But there are many volumes on these subjects available for any interested person.
Let us restrict our field to Illinois as the white men found it. Many of our cities and villages as they now are, mark the sites of In-
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THE INDIANS
dian villages in earlier days. Dixon, Freeport and Galena in this immediate neighborhood are such examples.
The Sacs and Foxes, two closely-related tribes, occupied the mid-section of Northern Illinois. The Winnebagoes, perhaps an off- shoot of the ones just mentioned, occupied the Galena area of the state. To the east toward Lake Michigan, the Pottawatomies lived. Far- ther south, in the Peoria neighborhood, the Kickapoos, a more warlike group, had their homes.
Along the eastern part of the state, the Miamis were established. In the southeastern part of the state, the Shawnees claimed title and over the large remaining section we can write "The Illinois Tribes" who had prestige enough to give their name to Virginia's Illi- nois County, the Illinois Territory, and to the state itself when it became separated from the Illinois Territory.
But these territorial boundaries had no overhead government to approve or defend them. Each Indian tribe or smaller group was a law unto itself, staying in a region as long is it could defend itself against trespassers, or taking over any other territory if it was strong enough to kill or drive away those occupying the land.
Perhaps the worst fighting took place be- tween the native Indians, and bodies of war-
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THE INDIANS
riors from tribes living in other parts of the country who leaving their squaws and chil- dren at home invaded the Illinois territory in search of better hunting lands or highly- prized scalps, these being especially sought after by the boys growing to manhood, to prove their right to be called "braves." Per- haps the greatest scourge in the history of our Indians was an invasion by the dreaded Iro- quois Indians living in far away New York; a large body of warriors inflicting great losses on some of the Illinois tribes.
The Indians could not write but they wrote their names all over Illinois. The stars in the sky do not seem much more numerous as we look at them than do the Indian names when we gaze at an Illinois map. The Foxes dwell- ing in Rock River valley, named a river, lake, village and many streets. The Winnebagoes, lead-miners when they worked, in the north- western corner of the state, gave their name to Winnebago County and village; and Win- nebago Street stretches through many an Illi- nois town. For a number of years I lived in a town between Freeport and Rockford. I sailed my boat on the PECATONICA river, lived in a town with the same name, in a county named WINNEBAGO and in a state named ILLINOIS. That is being made over into an In- dian so far as environment has its way. Dwel- lers in Freeport live on the banks of a river,
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THE INDIANS
the Pecatonica with its Indian name. Some of them walk to their homes located on Iroquois Street and are reminded of the Indian scourge. And I am told that there is a subdivi- sion of Freeport in which many streets carry Indian names. Glancing over two or three pages of the Freeport telephone directory, I found there the following Indian names : Win- neshiek, Wyandotte, Illinois, Shawnee, Iro- quois, Miami, Chippewa, Erie and Dakota, as names of streets. An interesting diversion carrying more benefit than the working of a cross-word puzzle or playing a game of bridge, is to make a list of all of the Indian names to be found in one's local county.
The Indians with their history interwoven closely with the history of the white explorers, traders and settlers, form an interesting part of our immediate history.
At La Pointe-Lead mined by the Indians was loaded on steamers.
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SECTION A extending to the Admission of Illinois into Statehood in the Year 1818
Part II The History of America from the Coming of the White Men to The Declaration of Independence
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CHAPTER 1
THE NORSEMEN
T HE first white men to make settlements in North America were called Norsemen or Northmen or Vikings; the first two names be- ing given because their homes were along the NORTH coasts of western Europe; the name Vik-ings being given because the word mean- ing "inletmen" indicates that they lived main- ly in the deep inlets reaching from the sea into the mountainous regions of Norway and Sweden and Denmark. They fascinate us by their fearlessness and daring. They even chal- lenged and put to severe test the power of the Roman Empire.
They frequently scourged the British Islands held as a part of the Roman Empire, and were especially ferocious in their treat- ment of Christians. We quote H. G. Wells who says, "they delighted in the burning of monas- teries and nunneries and the slaughter of their inmates."
Even more recklessly they challenged and braved the fury of the North Atlantic Ocean, sailing in long, narrow boats, propelled most- ly by oars.
They pushed these frail carriers to the shores of Iceland and took possession of that land, and settled it as a colony. They pushed
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THE NORSEMEN
on to Greenland and established colonies here, and then they went farther asea to reach the eastern shores of America.
Along the eastern coast of our continent, the shores of Maine and farther north, they did considerable colonizing. And all this took place hundreds of years before Columbus dis- covered America. The height of their explora- tions and conquests were from the fifth to the ninth centuries A. D. Eventually when their power was broken in Europe, their settlements collapsed and made no lasting impression on our American life.
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CHAPTER 2 THE SPANIARDS
T HE Spaniards deserve to head the list as the first white men who colonized the United States in a large way, and whose set- tlements are still a real part of our American life.
There are numerous FIRST places long ago awarded to them. Columbus an Italian but sailing under the flag of Spain, discovered the Americas October 11, 1492, and in the next few years, established several Spanish col- onies in the West Indies Islands. He discov- ered South America in 1498, and explored Central America in 1502. Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean in 1513. Ponce de Leon dis- covered the coast of Florida and explored its interior in 1512, but did not discover the "Fountain of Eternal Youth." Cortez con- quered Mexico in 1519. Magellan skirted the Americas, discovered the Strait of Magellan and sailed around the world in 1520. DeSoto discovered the Mississippi River in 1541. In 1542 Cabrillo explored the coast of California. In 1565 Melendez founded St. Augustine and in 1582 Espejo founded Santa Fe.
Any reader can spend some interesting min- utes by spreading out a map of the United States and laying a ruler from the Atlantic to
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THE SPANIARDS
the Pacific Ocean, crossing St. Augustine and the Santa Catalina Islands and note the broad band containing many Spanish names of cities, mountains, rivers, islands, etc., includ- ing some in southern Illinois. The Spaniards were outstanding colonists. They made large contributions to the American civilization.
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CHAPTER 3
THE FRENCH
S O FAR as dates are concerned, the English should be placed ahead of the French, for the Cabots discovered the mainland of North America four years before Columbus discov- ered the mainland of South America. Except for the Northmen the English were the first white men to see the mainland which we now call the United States. But the English enter so much more prominently into the life of our nation and our state that I will first write of the French who entered more prominently into the early years of the history of the Illi- nois territory than the English did. (At the beginning of the seventeenth century there was no English colony in America.)
French fishing-boats were plying their trade along the Newfoundland coast as early as 1503. But it was a hundred years later before the first permanent French colony, Port Royal, was founded by De Monts and Champlain, in 1605. The French settlements at first were along the St. Lawrence river, extending to- ward the Great Lakes.
Some of these French names are indelibly stamped upon Illinois soil. In 1673 a Jesuit missionary named Marquette and a trader named Joliet made their way via the Great
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THE FRENCH
Lakes to the Mississippi, and went down to the mouth of the Arkansas river. In 1679, an adventurous explorer named La Salle with a small company including a priest named Hen- nepin sailed in a small boat through the Great Lakes to Green Bay. Some of them went down the Illinois River to the Mississippi and up that noble stream as far as the Falls of St. Anthony. There is a map extant of the Galena lead-mine region, known as Hennepin's Map, with the date of 1687. These French names, as La Salle, Joliet, Hennepin and others, have been given to various Illinois towns, rivers, etc. Perhaps every Illinois river, like the Peca- tonica and Rock and Fox were rippled by the paddles of these enterprising missionaries and traders, making their way to the Indian vil- lages.
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CHAPTER 4 THE ENGLISH
To O THE English belongs the credit for dis- covering the North American continent before either the Spaniards or French, the Cabots having the honor in 1494. Then for al- most a century the English did not display any interest in the western hemisphere. In 1579, Francis Drake explored the California coast. In 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert made an unsuccessful attempt to establish a colony at Newfoundland. In 1584 and later, his half- brother, Sir Walter Rawleigh made several unsuccessful attempts to establish colonies along the Virginia coast.
But in the early part of the next century, the English commenced colonization in ear- nest. In 1607, Jamestown in Virginia was founded. In 1620, the Pilgrim Fathers came and founded Plymouth Colony. In 1630, Gov- ernor Winthrop with 1500 would-be settlers came to establish Massachusetts Bay Colony. In that party was my direct ancestor, Nich- olas Knapp and two of his brothers. These last two groups were the beginning of the great Puritan migration to America. The English did not at first compete with the Spanish and French for the interior of the western conti- nent but were satisfied to build their colo-
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UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY
THE ENGLISH
nies solidly along the Atlantic seaboard.
They had some competition, for in 1609, an Englishman named Henry Hudson, in the service of Holland, discovered the Hudson River and explored the neighboring territory. The Dutch claimed the country and named it New Netherlands, this being the beginning of the great state of New York. However the Dutch did not enter seriously into competi- tion with the others.
The Spanish with their center of operations being the broad belt from Florida to southern California, the French with their most impor- tant area of settlements being the St. Law- rence river basin, and westward into the Great Lakes area, were the serious competitors.
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CHAPTER 5 The Struggle Among the European Powers for Dominance in AMERICA
E 'VEN while the European powers were making the earliest settlements, most of them far removed from each other, antag- onisms were manifesting themselves. With this great continent vacant so far as the white men were concerned, this seemed foolish. There was room enough for all.
The English and Dutch quite naturally were rivals from the beginning. The Dutch colonies in New York were in the very heart of the English settlements; but the English, French and Spaniards with their settlements more widely scattered were also embroiled from the beginning.
Some of the wars by these three powers did not touch American soil, being fought on the high seas or the continent of Europe, but whatever other issues were involved, America was the great prize for which they contended. Some of these struggles were among the In- dian tribes with the European powers seem- ingly not concerned. But the Indians were easily duped and often intrigued into battle by the veiled plots of England, France and Spain.
Finally as a result of wars, treaties and pur-
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DOMINANCE IN AMERICA
chases, England became the possessor of the prize as all of you know. And then a struggle assumed a different form, a struggle between England and the colonies.
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CHAPTER 6 The Struggle between the Mother- land and the Colonies
T HE so-called Mother-land considered America a storehouse of wealth to be used for British enrichment and to be obtained by pressure; and the colonists were subjects "without inalienable rights," to be ruled from across the ocean by England. But many of the colonists had left England and other Euro- pean countries to escape that kind of domina- tion. They had come to America and had en- dured the almost incredible hardships of the pioneer days to establish homes and build a land where they could be free.
With the passing years the issue became more bitter, the lines more sharply drawn, with numerous tories among the colonists, but with the group demanding independence becoming increasingly powerful, until at length the war became inevitable. Patrick Henry was shout- ing with a voice heard from New England to the Gulf of Mexico, "I repeat it sir, we must fight," and George Washington was busy or- ganizing the Virginia militia.
In April of 1775, the first shots were fired at Lexington and Concord Bridge. During the following years, the colonists enduring every privation, hunger, disease, lack of equipment,
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THE STRUGGLE
fought on, their dogged determination being their most powerful weapon, and with Wash- ington, the world's most inspiring leader and greatest general leading them; until October 19, 1781, Cornwallis surrendered and our freedom had been won.
July 4, 1776, The Declaration of Independ- ence was adopted by the Congress already or- ganized.
September 3, 1783, Great Britain acknowl- edged the independence of the United States.
The representatives of the United States gave formal expression to the beliefs of the people "that all men are created equal : that they are endowed by their Creator with cer- tain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
With many scars, and sore wounds and new-made graves, the dauntless United States set out to establish a nation where the INDI- VIDUAL, the lonely, friendless man, standing all alone, has an inalienable right, God- created, his freedom.
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SECTION A
Part III
The United States from its Beginning to the Admission of Illinois into Statehood
D ID ever a greater task face a people than was faced by the American colonies when they had won their independence? They were free-to go in a thousand directions that would lead to destruction, or to find and take the one path that would lead to possible greatness through the freedom guaranteed to the indi- vidual man, the least man.
Every member of this great commonwealth today ought to be profoundly grateful for the group of outstanding leaders-Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Adams and the others who led the people through the deep waters in their great venture. And he ought to be thankful for the inspired words that came from unselfish, patriotic minds, "All legislative powers shall be vested in a Congress of the United States", to be chosen by the voters of the several states.
In this backslidden day when the ugly head of the serpent of totalitarianism is raised at home and abroad, that poisonous creature, lusting for power and more power, denying and seek- ing to deny to the people their guaranteed rights, every school-boy and girl should know by heart the first article of the Constitution of
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INDEPENDENCE TO STATEHOOD
the United States. It should be worn as a front- let upon the forehead of every loyal American.
Under this Magna Charta, the new nation set out into the wilderness. Naturally there were many difficult situations, many knotty problems.
Here is an illustration involving our own future state of Illinois. When the United States came into being, Illinois belonged to three of the thirteen original colonies, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Virginia. Massachusetts claimed Northern Illinois for some British king or other dignitary had given it all of the land lying west of its present location. And Connec- ticut claimed it for some other king or digni- tary had made the same gift to Connecticut, and the surveyor's lines got tangled enough so that if the matter had not been adjusted, the folks living today in Polo or Oregon, would have been living in both states, and then some other king or dignitary had given the entire state to Virginia. After the United States ob- tained its independence, Virginia published a map of the state of Virginia, including all of this Middle-west which it labelled Illinois County. Illinois had come into existence as a map if nothing else. This probably was the first time that the name Illinois was shifted from Indians to real estate. This snarl was straight- ened out by Federal government's action in having fences built across the back yards of
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INDEPENDENCE TO STATEHOOD
these three states, and taking possession of all of the land west of the fences and calling it The Northwest Territory. So this great tract of land was ready to welcome settlers and they re- sponded enthusiastically.
The states along the Atlantic Ocean soon be- came overcrowded, or so it seemed then. The early settlers had become accustomed to roomy quarters and would rather move than have a neighbor near enough to see what went on in the back yard.
The families were large. The number of children in each family compared favorably with the entire number today in a small vil- lage. As with honey-bees, frequent swarmings were necessary.
And from many parts of Europe, the poor people greatly aroused by the stories of "won- derful America" that came to them, tried in every way to get to The Land of Boundless Opportunity.
With only the fringe of the country occupied, the United States began to march. The people crowded north to fill up the corners of the New England states. They spilled over the crest of the Alleghenies into the lap of the great Middle- west. All along the mountain-ranges it hap- pened. The moving-wagons streamed into western New York and Pennsylvania. The Carolinas, Maryland, Virginia, all of them con- tributed to the great parade.
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INDEPENDENCE TO STATEHOOD
We watch the stream of families floating down the Ohio River, many of them stopping along the way to stake their claims and build their cabins, while others floated farther down. So Ohio was settled and became a state, and then Kentucky and then Indiana; and the ter- ritory remaining was called the Illinois Terri- tory. This included our present state, and also the states of Michigan, Wisconsin, some of Minnesota, and probably would have extended to the North Pole if anyone had asked for the northern boundary.
Because the Ohio river downstream, was the easy way to travel, it came to pass that south- ern Illinois was settled quite thickly while the central and northern parts of the territory had no settlers. This was the situation when the people sought statehood. There had to be a population of 40,000 to have this privilege granted. Therefore the best counters were sent out and they reported a population of 45,000. Fortunately the count was not checked and Illi- nois was admitted into statehood in 1818.
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