USA > Illinois > McLean County > The good old times in McLean County, Illinois : containing two hundred and sixty-one sketches of old settlers, a complete historical sketch of the Black Hawk war and descriptions of all matters of interest relating to McLean County > Part 11
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From all that can be learned this does not appear to be en- tirely correct. The regulars were commanded by Colonel Zachary Taylor, and the Wisconsin volunteers by Major Dodge. These officers, with General Atkinson, who commanded the en- tire army, were in the advance, and possibly might have been drawn a little out of the way by the stratagem of Black Hawk ; but it probably did not interfere very seriously with their move- ments. The point is not one of importance, as very little honor can be claimed for driving a small band of starved savages into the river.
While the Black Hawk war was in progress a great many inducements were held out by the Sacs and Foxes to the Rock River Winnebagoes to join in the war, and Ford's History tells us that the Winnebagoes were very treacherous and inclined to favor Black Hawk. There is no doubt that the Winnebagoes were very much opposed to the war. Their Indian corn was
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destroyed, and it annoyed and harrassed them very seriously. The Winnebagoes were much opposed to the coming of the Sacs and Foxes, and gave information concerning them to the whites; but when the Sacs and Foxes determined to get away and go to the west of the Mississippi River, the Winnebagoes were will- ing to assist them a little. Some of the Winnebagoes were no doubt strongly tempted to join in the war against the whites, as they feared that some evil might be intended for them. After the war Decori, a Winnebago chief, said to General Street : "My father, many little birds have been flying about our ears of late, and we thought they whispered to us that evil was intended for 'us, but now we hope they will let our ears alone."
On account of the neutrality of the Rock River Winnebagoes and because they had not been able to raise any corn, the gov- ernment ordered three thousand rations of flour to be issued to them during the following winter. This was done by John Dixon with great care and fidelity.
Our readers would doubtless be glad to know the fate of Black Hawk. When Black Hawk found that his stratagem to mislead the whites at the battle of the Bad Axe was unsuccess- ful, he and his little band of twenty men, among whom were his son and the chiefs Wishick, Naapape and the Prophet, started northward, and went near the head waters of the Wisconsin River in the Chippewa country. A band of Indians, composed of Sioux and Winnebagoes started after them, with the promise that if Black Hawk and the other chiefs were captured no harm should be done to them. They captured Black Hawk and brought him back with his son and the chiefs Wishick, Naapape and the Prophet, and delivered them up to General Street at Prairie du Chien. Black Hawk and the chiefs surrendered to a young Winnebago Indian, called Cheater, and, when they were given over to General Street, Cheater was allowed to make a little speech. Among other things he said to General Street: "My father, near the Dalles, on the Wisconsin River, I took Black Hawk. No one did it but me. I say this in the ears of all present; they know it to be true. My father, I am no chief, but what I have done is for the benefit of my nation; and I now hope for the good that has been promised us. My father, that one Wabokishick (the Prophet) is my kinsman. If he is hurt, I
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do not wish to see it. The soldiers sometimes stick the ends of their guns into the back of the Indian prisoners when they are going about in the hands of the guard. I hope this will not be done to these men."
The good sense and fine feeling shown by this young savage is unusual, even among white men.
The volunteers were mustered out of service at Dixon, and they were perfectly willing to go home. They had seen many fatiguing marches and much severe fighting. When they entered the army they were as verdant and ignorant of their duties as can well be imagined. But they learned wisdom by experience, and when they were mustered out of service they had received a practical education in the realities of life, which assisted many of them afterwards to rise to positions of trust and re- sponsibility.
Peace was concluded with the Sacs and Foxes at Jefferson Barracks, below Rock Island. Here were collected all the chiefs of the Sacs and Foxes, both those who had been en- gaged in war and those who had been at peace. A treaty was made by which the United States acquired not only all the lands east of the Mississippi River, but also a large slice of Iowa Ter- ritory from the Des Moines to the Turkey River. The four captured chiefs, with Black Hawk's son, were held by the Uni- ted States as hostages for the faithful execution of this treaty. At this treaty there were present General Scott, who had come from Washington with the intention of taking command of the army and conducting the campaign against the Indians. But his troops were attacked on the route with the Asiatic cholera, and he did not arrive until the fight at Bad Axe ended the contest.
Black Hawk and his son were kept nearly a year in captivity, but on the fourth of June, 1833, they were ordered to be re- leased. It has been the custom of the government to take every prominent savage it can catch, around through the country and show the uncivilized barbarian what a big people the Americans have become. This is done for the purpose of showing the poor fellow how hopeless it is to contend against us, so that when he goes back to his kindred barbarians he will make them keep the peace, and will tell them that the "long knives" (white men) are more numerous than the leaves of the forest, the peb-
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bles by the riverside, or the stars in the sky. Acting on this theory the government invested a little money in the traveling expenses of Black Hawk. It sent him and his son around to the large cities, to New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia and others. Great crowds turned out to see the hero of the Black Hawk war. They shook his hand and made a great ado over him, as Americans always do when they catch a poor savage. The ladies all admired Black Hawk, junior; they said he was "perfectly splendid," and one of them actually kissed the little barbarian before crowds of people. If he had only carried a cane and parted his hair in the middle he would have driven the whole of them crazy.
Black Hawk returned to his people, as he greatly desired, and lived with them in peace for some years after the stormy times of his campaign in Illinois. He died on the third of Oc- tober, 1840, and his grave was made on the bank of the Missis- sippi.
It has been necessary while writing this account of the Black Hawk war to criticise some of the statements made in relation to it in Ford's "History of Illinois." This history is a valuable one; it contains a great deal of information set forth in the clearest manner. Judge Ford seemed to take pleasure in setting forth the facts as they were ; and he had a love of poetic justice and delighted in bringing the truths out of hidden corners. But his very love of justice sometimes made him a little unjust, and caused him to exaggerate those faults, which were plain to him. His "History of Illinois" is invaluable and may be pronounced one of the greatest works of the age.
A great many men served in the Black Hawk war who af- terwards became great generals or great statesmen.
General Harney, who was a distinguished officer in the Mex- ican war, was captain of a company of regulars during the Black Hawk campaign.
Colonel Edward Baker was a private in the Black Hawk war. He was afterwards a member of Congress from the north- ern district of Illinois, and still later was a United States Senator from Oregon. At the breaking out of the late rebellion he was very decidedly in favor of coercive measures, and entered the army as a colonel. He was killed at the battle of Ball's Bluff, one of the first of the campaign.
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John T. Stuart was a private in the volunteer service during the Black Hawk war. He was afterwards for many years a member of Congress from Illinois. It was in his law office that Abraham Lincoln prepared himself to become a member of the bar. For many years Mr. Stuart was, perhaps, the most influ- ential man in the State.
General Albert Sidney Johnson was a lieutenant in the reg- ular army during the Black Hawk war. I have not been able to find out anything relating to his ability during the hardships of this Indian campaign. He was an aid to General Atkinson. At the outbreak of the late rebellion he hesitated for some time as to the course he should take, and at last decided to go with the South. He commanded the rebel army at the battle of Shiloh, and it is a matter of regret that the ability he there displayed was not employed in a nobler cause. He was killed on the field of Shiloh, and his death was a severe blow to the rebel cause. He was a man of fine appearance and splendid talents.
General Zachary Taylor was a Colonel at the beginning of the Black Hawk war, and was second in command. He was the leading spirit, and the campaign was conducted according to his plans. He was breveted a Brigadier during the war against the Seminoles in Florida, and was made a Major General for his services at the outbreak of the Mexican war. The subsequent career of General Taylor is so well known that it is impossible to add anything to it here. The reputation he acquired in the Mexican war made him President of the United States.
General Robert Anderson was a young lieutenant in the reg- ular service during the Black Hawk war. He was a slender, pale looking young man, and his health seemed very poor. He was a man who thought a great deal of performing his duty. He was very conscientious, and wished to attend to every duty faith- fully and religiously. His defence of Fort Sumpter, at the opening of the rebellion, gave him a national reputation, but the anxiety to which he was subjected so affected his health that he was unable to perform any service afterwards. He said himself that "for several days and nights he had no sleep during those terrible scenes at the outbreak of the rebellion, and that since then he has been unable to bear any mental anxiety."
Jefferson Davis was a young lieutenant in the regular army.
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He was a Southerner, and did not like the Yankees, but he had the Yankee trait of inquisitiveness. His curiosity was particu- larly aroused concerning the Indians, their habits, peculiarities, and modes of life, and he was continually asking questions about them. His subsequent life is well known. He was Col- onel of a Mississippi regiment during the Mexican war. After the close of that war he made some uncomplimentary remarks concerning the Illinois troops. This aroused the anger of Col- onel Bissell, of Illinois, who sent Davis a challenge. The matter was explained away in some shape, and Mr. Davis apologized so that the duel never was fought. Mr. Davis was afterwards Uni- ted States Senator from Mississippi, and still later President of the Southern Confederacy.
Abraham Lincoln was a private in the volunteer service dur- ing the Black Hawk war, under the call for thirty days. But when the call for sixty days was made he had become so popular by his humorous and pointed stories that he was elected captain of a company. Mr. John Dixon says that Lincoln was the pleasantest man he ever knew. In the evening Lincoln would sit by the camp fire and tell stories until the lights were ordered out. His stories nearly always illustrated some truth or pointed some moral. He was decidedly the most popular man in the army, although he was certainly the most awkward looking. When he sat around the camp fire with his long arms and legs twisted up, he appeared to be the worst looking and best natured backwoodsman in the volunteer service.
General Scott had very little to do with the Black Hawk war. He was sent with reinforcements of regular troops to the West, by way of Chicago, but the Asiatic cholera carried off so many of them that he was delayed in getting to the seat of war. General Scott was a very precise and dignified man, and his dignity and precision gained for him the title of "Fuss and Feathers." He thought a great deal of his friends, but was cold and formal to strangers. He loved a good joke almost as well as Mr. Lincoln, but his jokes were of a different kind. Mr. John Dixon, who had charge of the cattle belonging to the army, was introduced to General Scott as the "Major of the Steer Battalion." General Scott asked very promptly, whether Major Dixon had any report to make. Mr. Dixon replied with
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equal promptness, that one of his command had deserted, eight had been killed, and sixteen were on parade, and he pointed to the steers straying around the camp. The General replied :
"Major Dixon, you have deserved well of your country ; you have suffered more than any other officer in my command."
When Mr. Dixon saw General Scott in Washington, the lat- ter, recognizing his friend instantly after eight years of separation, greeted him warmly as "Major Dixon." It is not necessary to say anything here of the life of General Scott, as it is written in the history of his country.
OLD SETTLERS OF M'LEAN COUNTY.
ALLIN TOWNSHIP.
PRESLEY THORNTON BROOKS.
Presley T. Brooks was born November 9, 1821, in Hart County, Kentucky. His father's name was Miles Brooks and his mother's name before her marriage was Lucy Pulliam. Both were born in Virginia and were of Scotch or Irish descent. Miles Brooks volunteered as a soldier in the war of 1812 and started from home on a campaign, but the war closed and the troops were discharged.
In the year 1828 Mr. Brooks, sr., sold his property in Ken- tucky for the purpose of going to Illinois or Missouri. He started late in the fall of 1828, but stopped in Indiana until September, 1829, when he came to Illinois. During the winter of 1829 and '30 he stayed at Clearry's Grove in what was then Sangamon County, but is now contained in the county of Me- nard. During that winter he selected and entered land at a grove which has ever since been called Brooks' Grove, in the present county of McLean. In February, 1830, Mr. Brooks moved from Sangamon County to Hittle's Grove in Tazewell County, and on the fourteenth day of March of that year he moved into a very rough log cabin in Brooks' Grove. The Brooks family was the first to settle in the present Allin town- ship. This was before the organization of the county of MeLean. The Indians, wolves and deer seemed to have things all their own way and were very numerous. The Indians were exceedingly kind and friendly and always wanted to trade some of their pappooses for white children.
Mr. Brooks relates nothing remarkable concerning the winter
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of the deep snow, beyond what is stated in other places in this volume. The Brooks family was snowbound for six weeks and, during that time, saw no living persons outside of their own family circle.
In 1832, when the Black Hawk war occurred, the settlers were panic-stricken, and Mr. Brooks says: "When old Black Hawk was captured, there was rejoicing, you better believe."
Mr. Brooks describes the sudden freeze of December, 1836, and says it came so suddenly that fowls were frozen into the slush of snow and water, which covered the ground. The west wind came cold after a thaw "as quick as thought," and the water and slush became a sheet of ice.
Mr. Brooks had no opportunity to attend school until about fifteen years of age. During the winter of 1836 and '37 he boarded about six miles from home and attended school for about six weeks. During the next summer he went to school for three months and his education was finished. Money was valuable in the early days. Mr. Brooks went to Chicago in 1846, and one dollar paid all of his expenses. But as he camped out during the trip this does not appear so wonderful. In the fall of 1847 Mr. Brooks made a visit to his native hills in Ken- tueky and returned with his sister's family to Illinois.
The people of Allin township seem to take pleasure in em- ploying the services of Mr. Brooks in the various township offices. He has been constable, justice of the peace and super- visor, and has been elected to these offices without opposition and in some cases against his will. At one time he refused to qualify as a justice of the peace, when his townsmen held a special meeting and chose him once more, and he consented to act. He has been school treasurer, assessor and collector, and if a new office could be invented in Allin township Mr. Brooks would, in all probability, be called to fill it.
On the twenty-ninth of December, 1842, Mr. Brooks married Miss Eliza Silvey Larison, and in April following began keeping house at Brooks' Grove. There Mr. Brooks had built a frame house, one of the first in the township. In November, 1870, the Brooks family moved to Stanford where they have resided ever since. His son-in-law, William J. Haines, lives on the old farm. Mr. Brooks has had ten children, of whom eight are
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living. They are : Malinda Catherine, wife of William Haines ; Miles Brooks, one of the partners of the firm of Brooks & Son ; Mary, wife of George W. Kaufmann, who resides half a mile northwest of Stanford; Abel Brooks is a teacher, and lives at home ; Rachel B., Lucy Ann B., Millie Frances B., and Eliza Ellen B., the pet, live at home.
As to personal appearance, Mr. Brooks is five feet, nine inches, in height, well set, wears glasses when he reads and writes. His hair is turning gray, but he has plenty of it ; he has a short aquiline nose and blue eyes. He has been very successful in life, which is due in a great measure to his wife.
GREENBERRY LARISON.
Greenberry Larison was born January 21, 1810, in Bloom township, Morgan County, Ohio, on the banks of the Mus- kingum River. The ancestors of his father, Abel Larison, came from Holland, and were among the earliest settlers in New York. His mother's ancestors settled in Maryland at an early day, but Mr. Larison does not remember from what country they origi- nally came. The Larison family is very large. There is now in New York a large property, worth perhaps eight millions of dollars which it is thought, belongs to the Larison family ; but matters are so mixed that it is doubtful whether they will receive any benefit from it. It consists of some real estate which was leased for ninety-nine years. The term of the lease expired five or six years ago, but the difficulty now is to find all the heirs and to prove their right. Henry Ward Beecher's church stands upon one of the lots comprised in the real estate claimed by the Larison family.
There were ten children in the Larison family, five boys and five girls ; Greenberry was the oldest boy. The little education he received was obtained in a log school house, where he at- tended about three months in the year up to the age of seven- teen or eighteen. He was a pretty bright scholar, as good as there was in the settlement. He learned reading, writing, spell- ing and geography, and was taught to cipher up to the rule of three : but grammar was badly neglected.
When Mr. Larison was seventeen years of age he killed his first deer. The circumstances were these. There was a pretty
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maid at his father's house, and though Greenberry was then young he wished to do something manly and chivalrous. He took his father's gun and went hunting, and when about a mile and a half from home he killed a deer, a fine buck. The happy youth cut off the head of the deer, put a stick through its neck and dragged it home in triumph, and succeeded in getting there before the pretty maid had left. The name of the charming maiden was Araline Whitehead, but a few years afterwards it was changed to Mrs. Larison.
When Mr. Larison was sixteen years of age he had sho wn himself very bold and venturesome on the water, and had found some valuable articles and parts of cargoes, which had been lost from flatboats which had been wrecked on the river. He hunted among the drifts and became so skillful that at the age of sixteen he "followed the river." This is a rough life, and the boatsmen are the hardest of characters. On the Muskingum River merchandise was floated on flatboats. These flatboats were sixty or seventy feet in length and eighteen or twenty feet wide, and were loaded with merchandise until they sank two or three feet in the water. It can very readily be seen that they were unwieldy, and in order to move them a hundred feet across the current the boatmen were obliged to let them float a half mile or more. Unless the boatmen were skillful they could not stop or hitch up their flatboat along the shore. A rope thrown from the boat around a tree would soon tighten up and snap in two. In order to manage their craft the boatmen were obliged to know the river and understand all the currents and shoals and eddies. If they wished to stop their boat they tried to run it into still water, or, better than this, into an eddy, and gradually bring the unwieldy craft ashore. Sometimes the boat was car- ried by the current on rocks, or crowded into shore on some log and a hole torn in the side or bottom. When such a misfortune happened the boat was sure to sink, and the merchandise was of course pretty widely distributed by the water. Some of it would be carried down stream or sunk in an eddy, or caught in a drift. It was in hunting for articles of merchandise lost from sunken flatboats that Mr. Larison learned the river and acquired skill in the management of water crafts. He followed the river for some years, whenever the Muskingum was not frozen too
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hard for flatboats to run, and he learned all the currents and eddies.
But he was not destined to be a flatboatman all his life. At the age of twenty he married Araline Whitehead, the handsome young lady who had captivated his affections a few years before. This interesting event took place on the first of April, 1830. In the fall of that year Mr. Abel Larison came West with all of the family except Greenberry, and settled at Kickapoo, near what is now called the village of Waynesville. It was not until April, 1831, that Greenberry Larison eame to Illinois. He came by water and landed at Pekin. He had, in coming up the river, been carried past this place up to Fort Clark (Peoria), but came back to Pekin, and from there aeross to Kickapoo, where his father lived. His father had bought three claims, those of Wil- liam and James Murphy and Josiah Harp. The latter claim was given up to Greenberry Larison on his arrival. At that time he had a five frane piece in his pocket, a bed, and cooking utensils enough for his young wife to cook their seanty meal. He settled on the farm without a horse, cow, pig, sheep or goat. There was on the place a curiosity in the shape of a wooden grindstone. It had been made probably by Josiah Harp, from whom the claim had been bought. When made it was of green wood, and had sand and fine gravel pounded into it. When it had seasoned, the sand and gravel were held fast, and though it did not sharpen an axe very well or put on a fine edge it would give it a lively scratching. The grindstone was a very important article always. Mr. Larison was obliged to go sixteen miles from his place to 'Squire Gates', in Blooming Grove, on the farm now known as the Kitchel farm, to get his axes sharpened.
Mr. Larison worked hopefully though he expected and re- ceived many set-backs. In the fall of the year in which he came West he had become wealthy enough to own a fine litter of six pigs, but, during the second night after this sudden wealth had been thrust upon him, the prairie wolves came up within thirty feet of his house and captured the youthful porkers and they were never heard of more. "Riches take to themselves wings and fly away." But Mr. Larison did not despair; during the fall he bought a eow on credit agreeing to pay for her by the following Christmas. He made the money to pay for her by 9
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cutting cord-wood at twenty-five cents a cord from the logs lying where Mr. Scott now lives. He also made rails for Mr. William Murphy at thirty-three cents per hundred and boarded himself and walked three miles to work.
He had in the early days some slight opportunity for seeing and understanding the Indians. In the fall of 1831 some In- dians came to William Murphy and offered him a little Indian girl five years of age for four bushels of ground wheat, but he declined the offer. When Mr. Larison heard of this he was astonished and anxious to get the child and willing to give the wheat. He asked Murphy why he refused the bargain, and the latter, having had some experience and knowledge of the In- dians, replied that they would soon return and steal the little girl away.
The season of 1831 was cool and short and few of the farm- ers raised good corn. The winter previous was the winter of the deep snow, and the climate was so chilled that the effect was felt during the whole season of 1831. There was a frost every month in the year and the corn could not ripen. It was so worthless that seed corn could not be gathered to plant during the following season. In the spring of 1832 nearly all the seed corn was brought from Ohio and Kentucky and sold for two and a half dollars per bushel and sometimes for more. John Duffy of Randolph Grove brought on a lot of small yellow corn that matured early and this is yet called the Duffy corn.
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