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TORICAL SKET
M. L.
GEN
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01707 8673 1
Gc 977.202 V745m Smith, Hubbard Madison, 1820 -1907. Historical sketches of Old Vincennes, founded in 1732
Presented to Col. George MC Coy and Wife, by the daughters of the author.
France any 8th- 1914
Hubbard Madison Smith M.D. 1908. 1820
HISTORICAL SKETCHES
OF
Old Vincennes
FOUNDED IN 1732
ITS
INSTITUTIONS AND CHIURCIIES, EMBRACING COLLATERAL. INCIDENTS AND BIOGRAPHIICAL SKETCHES OF MANY PERSONS AND EVENTS CON- NECTED TIIEREWITH
BY HUBBARD MADISON SMITH, M. D.
SECOND EDITION
VINCENNES, INDIANA February, 1903
Copyright, 1902. HUBBARD MADISON SMITH, M. D.
Press of Wm. B. Burford, Indianapolis.
Table of Contents.
1135560
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
First Missions and Settlement of Vincennes 11
CHAPTER II.
Campaign and Capture of Fort Sackville by George Rogers Clark. 32
F 1
CHAPTER III.
Date of Erection of Fort by Morgan Sieur de Vincennes -Fort's Removal-Camp Knox 57
CHAPTER IV.
Establishment of First Courts-Knox County Named- First Court House Built-Town of Vincennes Organ- ized -Old Town Hall Built-City Chartered -Its Commons Lands-Officers of City
74
CHAPTER V.
Schools: University of Vincennes-St. Gabriel's College -St. Rose Academy-Common Schools-Sisters of Providence-Parochial
91
CHAPTER VI.
Churches: St. Xavier Catholic-St. John's German Cath- olic-Presbyterian-Methodist Episcopal-Episcopal - Baptist - Christian -Cumberland Presbyterian - German-Protestant-St. John's Lutheran-St. John's Evangelical
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117
CHAPTER VII.
PAGE
Biographical Sketches: Francois Morgan Sienr de Vin- cennes - Colonel George Rogers Clark - Reverend Pierre Gibault-Colonel Francis Vigo-Francis Bus- seron
142
CHAPTER VIII.
Biographical Sketches, Continued: Governor William Henry Harrison-General Zachary Taylor-John Duf- field Hay-Nathaniel Ewing-Samuel Judah-Nich- olas Smith-Cyrus M. Allen-Jolin Wise-Andrew Gardner-L. L. Watson-J. L. Coleman-William Burtch-John Law-John Francis Bayard
168
CHAPTER IX.
Societies: Masonic-I. O. O. F .- Knights of Pythias- Grand Army of the Republic-Ben-Hur Lodge-Elks -Red Men-Catholic Knights-Medical-Bar Associ- ation 207
CHAPTER X.
Miscellaneous: The Press-University Library-Catholic Church Library -City Library - Banks-Board of Trade-Epidemics-Indian Mounds. 225
CHAPTER XI.
Governor Harrison's Residence-His Pow-wow with Te- cumsel-Battle of Tippecanoe 245
CHAPTER XII.
Clubs: Pastime-Fortnightly -Gibault Reading-Pal- ace. Old Honses: American Hotel-Prison-Cotton Factory - Bonner Mansion- Park-Wise Mansion .. 258
CHAPTER XIII.
Facts and Legends: Population-First Theatre-The Old Ferry-Primeval Conveyances-The "Old Trysting Boulder"-"Alice of Old Vincennes"-Addendum .. 273
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Table of Illustrations.
PAGE
Hubbard Madison Smith, M. D.
Frontispiece
Fort Sackville .
58
Map showing Location of Fort Knox after its removal 67
Camp Knox
71
Last Territorial Legislative Meeting Hall
73
Old Town Hall
79
John Badollet
82
Vincennes University
90
Old St. Xavier Catholic Church
118
New St. Xavier Catholic Cathedral
125
Presbyterian Church
127
Methodist Episcopal Church
132
General George Rogers Clark
145
Reverend Pierre Gibault
156
Colonel Francis Vigo
161
Governor William Henry Harrison
169
General Zachary Taylor
174
Nathaniel Ewing
184
John Wise .
187
Park-Wise Residence. .
188 190
Cyrus M. Allen
201
Samuel Bayard
204
Old American Hotel
250
Old Cotton Mill
254
Governor William Henry Harrison's Residence 259
.
Samuel Judalı
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Letter of Introduction.
The lethargy that has possessed the people in regard to the incidents connected with the early history of Vincennes seems to have been happily dispelled by that superb historical romance en- titled, "Alice of Old Vincennes," by the lamented and gifted author, Maurice Thompson; and, from general inquiry, a contri- bution on the subject, it is presumed, would be acceptable to many who take an interest in it.
No other part of the territory of our vast domain can claim greater interest than it does, considering the contentions for it, and the momentous results that have followed its conquest. Hence. believing this to be an opportune time to give the public a sue- cinct and as correct a history as is possible with the materials known to exist at this late day, I have ventured to assume the task.
In dealing with the main subjeet, collateral matters more or less connected have been treated of and statistical information given that should be interesting to all Indianians, and more espe- cially to Vincennes people. The mists of time have been gradu- ally covering from sight and memory many interesting views and facts of early years in this region, and, if not rescued now and made a matter of record, they will soon be lost forever. If, in my efforts to winnow from tradition and isolated records I have rescued but a few facts and items of interest from oblivion, 1 will consider my task of research not to have been in vain.
The author appreciates the encouraging words from friends in his labor to settle points of doubtful authenticity regarding Old Vincennes; and he is especially under obligations to the Hon. Charles G. MeCord, for facts gleaned from the records of our Courts, and Hon. Robert W. Miers, M. C., and Charles M. Staley, of the Engineering Department United States Army, Washington, D. C., for facts in the Government's archives, and to the Hon. Jacob P. Dunn, Secretary Indiana Historical Society. for data relating to the early settlement of Vincennes, through Hon. John K. Gowdy, United States Consul-General, Paris. France; and to Mr. Elbridge Gardner. an octogenarian and native of Vincennes; Mrs. Elizabeth Andre. now in her ninety-third year. and Mr. Vital Bouchie, in his ninety-second year of age.
HUBBARD M. SMITH, M. D.
Vincennes, Ind., October, 1902.
Preface.
The attempt to give in a succinct manner a truthful history of Vincennes from its first settlement has been a difficult one. since so few authentic records of facts exist; and any one essaying it must rely upon facts gleaned here and there, and from un- certain traditions to make a connected whole. This statement should not be wondered at, since more than a century and a half of time presents itself as the field from which the grains of truth must be gathered, often from the chaff of hearsay. Hence. the task at the start assumed herculean proportions, and, if mis- takes are not made, the gleaner must be considered infallible as to opportunities in gathering facts. And, if preconceived opinions are antagonized and cherished mythical images be shattered by stern and rugged facts, the possessors of them must draw con- solation from the thought that myths of traditions are ephemeral. while truths must abide.
Preface to Second Edition.
Having been complimented by the exhaustion of the first edition of my book in a few weeks, and having frequent calls for it for public and private libraries, at the solicitation of friends I present the edition now issued, hoping it may meet with like publie favor.
THE AUTHOR.
Vincennes, Ind., February, 1903.
Letter of Dedication.
To the Vincennes Historical Society:
Nearly three years ago you were kind and complimentary enongh to invite me to read a paper before your body on the history of Old Vincennes. My reply was that I was then not familiar enough with the subject to furnish you any valuable in- formation about it, but that I would write a paper on "Vincennes and Its People as I Knew Them Fifty Years Ago," which I did; and the effort was flatteringly received and published by the local press. The commendation given that paper was the inspiration for an investigation of the founding of the town, and the result has been the production of the present volume, after much thought and research. It embraces, I believe, valuable informa- tion and incidents not hitherto published in consecutive and permanent form suitable for libraries, and which I now take the liberty of dedicating to your honorable body.
Your most obedient co-worker,
HUBBARD MADISON SMITH, M. D.
Vincennes, Ind., October, 1902.
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Chapter I.
OLD VINCENNES-ITS SETTLEMENT.
The historian in his disposition must be patient of labor, persevering, inflexible in his love of truth and justice, and free from every prejudice .- Mosheim.
V INCENNES is situated on the site of the old Che-pe-ko-ke, Piankeshaw Indian village, on the east bank of the Wabash river, one hundred and fifty-one miles east of St. Louis, Mo .; one hundred and ninety-two miles west from Cincinnati, Ohio; one hun- dred and seventeen miles southwest of Indianapolis, and about fifty miles from Evansville, on the Ohio river, south, and Terre Haute on the Upper Wabash to the north ; being so centrally located between the leading cities named, studded with railroads reaching in all directions, it occupies an ideal location for a large city in the coming near future.
The site on which Vincennes is situated seems to have been a favorite location for the habitation of the human race for many hundred years, its beginning reaching far back into the distant past, and how many will never be known. From the heaps of shells, some even from the seashore, and skeletons found in this vicinity, some his- torians have suggested that the first race of inhabitants here were the Fishers, and the next the Mound Builders, as is evidenced by the many mounds in the immediate vicinity, and others scattered over a large area in the county. Then followed the Red Men, who continued to
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12
HISTORICAL SKETCHES
occupy it until dispossessed by the stronger, more enlightened Caucasian race.
This location, being so ideal in character, surrounded by beautiful forests, wide-spreading prairies, abounding in game, from grouse to buffalo, and dotted over in the summer season with its myriads of gorgeous flowers, like the stars of the firmament; broad savannas bordered by the gently flowing crystal waters of the placid Wabash river, swarming with the finny tribe, was well calculated to appeal strongly to less æsthetie tastes than those char- acteristic of the higher civilization of the Europeans. But it is not the purpose of the author to try to solve the question of the time of the first occupation of this place prehistorically, and by whom, but to seek a solution of the questions, when was the first advent of the white race to the Piankeshaw Indian village, Che-pe-ko-ke," and the time when Vincennes was founded.
The date of the first settlement or founding of Vin- cennes has been a mooted question for many years, owing to the inaccessibility of the earliest records concerning the subject, they being located in Paris, France, and the number of years intervening since its occurrence. The dis- cussions have been many, often based upon misconceptions received from various sources of information, hence tra- ditions have been, in many instances, recorded as veritable history. Then, in seeking solutions of the problem pre- sented, recorded facts must be relied on as far as they exist, as bases, aided by reason and corroborating circum- stances germane to the question, and by legitimate infer- ences.
"Meaning Brushwood, in English.
13
OLD VINCENNES.
In discussing the first settlement of Vincennes we must enter upon it dispassionately and without prejudice pro- duced by preconceived opinions formed on misinformation. and statements made should not rest upon the ipse dixit of any one, but should have for their bases well-authenti- cated facts, not traditions.
"To hold their claim upon the Mississippi valley the French, in 1702. determined to establish some posts along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and M. Juchereau did erect a fort at the mouth of the Ohio. Some writers have attempted to claim that Vincennes was the site of this fort, but the records oppose such a view.""
In his Memoirs (to the French Government) in 1702 De Iberville asked possession of the River Ohio, and that the Illinois Indians might be colonized. He said: "The Illinois, having been removed, I could cause it to be , occupied by the Mascontens and Kickapoos. Very little of these removals occurred as planned, but one tribe of the Mascontens came to the mouth of the River Ohio and settled near the fort."+
After Lamotte Cadillac founded a permanent settle- ment at Detroit and about the close of the year 1702 the Sieur Juchereau. a Canadian officer, assisted by the mis- sionary, Mermet, made an attempt to establish a post on the Ohio near the mouth of the river .; The contentions that Vincennes was the objective point of Sieur Juchereau and his Canadian settlers is disproved in many ways, the error occurring through early writers in using the name of the Wabash for the Ohio river. Judge Law, in his his-
W. H. Smith's Hist. Ind .. p. 12.
+ Minn. Hist. Society, Vol. I. pp. 341-343.
* Dillon Ilist. Ind., p. 21.
14
HISTORICAL SKETCHES
torical sketch of early Vincennes, made this mistake by misinterpreting the letter of November 9, 1712, written by Father Marest, then stationed at Kaskaskia, in which he said : "The French, having lately established a fort on the River Wabash, demanded a missionary, and Father Mermet was sent them."* That this letter referred to the Ohio, instead of the Wabash river, will be demonstrated. This statement of Law conflicts with the claim of the authors claiming 1702 as the time that a missionary first came to this point with Jucherean. If one had come in 1702, why the request of Marest to send a missionary in 1712, when it is said Mermet came here ? From the fact that up to the middle of the eighteenth century the Wabash river was regarded as the main stream and the Ohio as its tributary, much confusion follows in describing localities. In alluding to this matter of locations of Juchereau's posts, established in 1702 (at the month of the Ohio river), Dunn says: "It is unquestionable. Its complete history is preserved in contemporary official documents. It was abandoned three years after it was es- tablished and existed only as a landmark."+
The Mascoutens and the Prairie Indians, having been gathered about the fort of Jucherean, Father Mermet was sent to them at the instance of Charlevoix by Father Marest, who was in charge of the mission at Kaskaskia. He immediately engaged in the work of spreading the Gospel among the Indians. The following is Father Mermet's statement of his labors: "The way I took was to confound, in the presence of the whole tribe, the Char-
* Law's Hist. Vincennes, p. 12.
# Dunn Ind. Mag. West. Hist., Vol. XII, p. 579. Magazine of Amer. Hist .. XXII, p. 143.
15
OLD VINCENNES.
latan, whose Manitou or Great Spirit which he worshipped was a buffalo. After leading him insensibly to the avowal that it was not a buffalo that he worshipped, but the Mani- tou or Spirit which animated all buffaloes, which heals the sick and has all power, I asked him if all other beasts. the bear, for instance, and which some of his nation wor- shipped, was not equally inhabited by a 'Manitou,' which was under the earth ?" "Without doubt." said the grand medicine chief. "If this is so," said the missionary, "men ought to have a Manitou who inhabits them." "Nothing more certain," said the medicine man. "Then, ought not that to convince you," said the Father, pushing his argu- ment, "that you are not very reasonable ? For, if man upon the earth is master of all animals, if he kills them, if he eats them, does it not follow that the Manitou which inhabits him must necessarily have a mastery over all other Manitous ? Why, then, do you not make him, instead of the Manitou of the buffalo and bear, your Manitou when you are sick ?" "This reasoning," says the Father, "disconcerted the Charlatan." but, like other good logic in the world. I am sorry to add, in his own words, this was all the effect it produced .*
While Father Mermet was at this post, established at the mouth of the Ohio river, "a pestilential malady soon broke out among the Indians who were settled around it, and, notwithstanding the kind offices of the missionary, they died in great numbers. With the hope of arresting the progress of the fatal epidemic, the Indians determined to make a great sacrifice of dogs. Forty of these animals, innocent as they were of the epidemic, to satisfy their
" Dillon's Hist. Ind., pp. 21, 22.
1
16
HISTORICAL SKETCHES
suspicions Manitou, were immolated and carried on poles in solemn procession around the fort. But as their orgies were of no avail, the Indians soon moved away from the place of mortality. Mermet retired to the village of Kas- kaskia and Sieur Jnchereau abandoned the sickly post."*
This account of the labors of Father Mermet with the Mascontens, given by himself, corresponds with what Father Charlevoix said in relation to the former's labors with the Mascoutens at the mouth of the Ohio, at Sieur Juchereau's post, who made a trip down the Mississippi from Kaskaskia in 1721. He said: "The labors among · the Mascontens met with little success. The Sicur Juchereau, a Canadian, had begun a post at the mouth of the Ohio, which emptied into the Mississippi, constituting the shorter and most convenient communication between Canada and Louisiana, and a great many of the Indians had settled here. To retain them he had persuaded Father Mermet, one of the Illinois missionaries, to endeavor to gain them for Christ, but the missionary found an indocile tribe, exceedingly superstitions, and despotically ruled by medicine men."+
The testimony given by this distinguished and well- informed Father, independent of any other authenticated evidence, ought to be considered enough to give a quietus to the misstatements in relation to the alleged settlement that Sieur Juchereau established a mission or builded a fort on the site of Vincennes in 1702.
In ascertaining the time when Vincennes was founded the confusion existing in relation to the names of the two
* Charlevoix Letter, Ed. VI. 333, Charlevoix III-30: Dillon's Hist. Ind., pp. 21-22.
+ Shea's Charlevoix, Vol. V. p. 133.
17
OLD VINCENNES.
rivers referred to also obtains as to the words, "St. Vin cent" and "Vincennes," the first being the name of an individual and the second being only a title inherited from the Bissot family.
The fief of Vincennes was established in 1672. The Sieur de Vincennes, who died in 1719, was Jean Baptiste Bissot, the son of the first holder of the fief. * *
Louisa Bissot (daughter) married Seraphim Morgane de la Valtrie, and her son Francois Morgane (he dropped the e final in writing his name) was the founder of Post Vin- cennes. Sieur de Vincennes must not be con- founded with the members of the St. Vincent family, of whom there were two or three in the French service in the Northwest .*
Jean Baptiste Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes, died about the year 1717 and his nephew, Pierre (Francois) Morgan, son of Louisa Bissot, who obtained an ensign's commission in 1799, assumed the style of Sieur de Vincennes, and retained much of his unele's influence in the West. He was sent to the present Indiana to control the Miamis. He erected a post known as Ouiatenon, and about 1735 an- other on the Wabash, which took his name-Vincennes. +
It will be observed that the date, 1717. in the foregoing differs by two years from all other writers as to the time of the death of Jean Baptiste Bissot, and differs as to the time Vincennes founded the post that took his name, mak- ing it 1735, when Vincennes' letters from this place, known to exist, are dated as early as March, 1733, and from the tenor of them he must have been at the post at least as
" Dunn Ilist. Ind., p. 49.
+ Shea, " The Hoosier State." in the Catholic News, September 10, 1890.
18
HISTORICAL SKETCHES
early as 1732, as he speaks of the fort and buildings hav- ing lately been erected by himself.
Roy, in Memories de la Societie Royal du C. Canada, Section 1, 1892, p. 39, has this to say: "Jean Baptiste adopted the military service as a profession and illustrated the name Bissot de Vincennes. He was the founder of the Post Ouiatenon. In 1736 he died, burned by the Chicachas (Chickasaws). The name of the capital of Indi- ana, Vincennes, is borrowed from that officer."*
This statement is in contradietion of almost all writers on the subject. Jean Baptiste Bissot died at the Miami's post in 1719, and was not burned at the stake in Louisiana, but his nephew, Francois Morgan, Sieur de Vincennes, did suffer so in 1736 in company with his commander, Diron de Artaguette, Father Senat and other prisoners captured in battle by the Chickasaw Indians.
Having diseredited the claim that this site was occupied by Europeans in 1702 by the testimony of Law's History, page 15, where he said: "Records of the Catholic Church here make no mention of a missionary until the year 1749, when Father Meurin came here," and having the testi- mony of divers authorities that Sieur Juchereau erected his fort at the mouth of the Ohio river, instead of the Vincennes site, and that the Missionary Mermet's labors were at the mouth of the Ohio river, I will try to show the time when the Indian village Che-pe-ko-ke was first occupied by Europeans.
The Chronological History of the United States says: "1732-Vincennes founds Vincennes, the first European settlement in Indiana."+ Taking this statement as the
* Edmund Mallet, Ind. H. Soc .. p. 56.
+ Robert James Belford, in the N. Y. World's Chro. Hist. U. S., p. 60.
19
OLD VINCENNES.
central point of consideration on the question of the time as to when Vincennes was first settled, the testimony lead- ing to its establishment will be next presented.
In relation to the early history of alleged missions and forts established here, I quote from the Western Annals, a book published in 1851 at St. Louis. The author says: "Charlevoix, who records the death of Vincennes in 1736, makes no mention of any post on the Wabash, or any mis- sion there; neither does he mark any upon his map, although he gives even the British fort upon the Tennes- see and elsewhere."* * Vivier, in his letters of 1750, writing from "Aux Illinoix" and Fort Chartres, says nothing of any mission on the Wabash, although writing in respect to Western missions, and speaks of the necessity of a fort upon the Ouahache. How natural to refer to the post at Vincennes if one existed. In a volume of Memoirs on Louisiana, compiled from the minutes of M. Dumont, and published in Paris in 1753. but probably prepared in 1749, though we have an account of the Wabash. or St. Jerome, as it was called, its rise and course and the use made of it by the traders, not a word is found touching any fort, settlement or station on it.+ Vandriel, when Governor of Louisiana. in 1751. mentioned even then no post on the Wabash. although he speaks of a need of a post on the Ohio near to where Fort Massac was built afterwards, and names Fort Miami on the Maumee.
Mr. Justin Windsor, Librarian of Harvard University, one of the late investigators of the settlement of the Wabash, says: "The Mississippi Company (a company of
* A French Jesuit priest, historian and missionary to Canada, who explored the western country and the Mississippi river to its month. He arrived in Amer- iea at St. Joseph, Mich., a trading post, August 8, 1721.
+ Memories Historique Sur Louisiana, etc .. 1753-Paris.
20
HISTORICAL SKETCHES
traders in pelfry) had urged, September 15, 1720, the building of a fort on the Wabash as a safeguard against the English, and the need of it had attracted the attention of Charlevoix. Some such precaution, indeed, was quite necessary to overcome the savages, for now the Wabash- Maumee portage was coming into favor, the Indians had been prowling about it and murdering the passers.
"In 1724 La Harpe feared the danger of delay. In 1725 the necessity for some such protection alarmed Bois- briant early in the year. * * As a result, we find the Company of the Indies, December, 1725, instructing Boisbriant to beware of the English, and to let M. de Vin- cennes, then among the Miamis (who were then included in the Canadian provinces, and their principal settlement was at Green Bay, Wis.), know that the rivals were com- ing in that direction. The next year the company informed Perier (September 30, 1726) of their determination to be prepared, and anthorized him to concert with Vincennes to repel the English if they approached."*
Smith says: "There is no correct record of when the post of Vincennes was established, but it was probably in 1727. In that year Vincennes and his faithful lieutenant, St. Ange, were at Kaskaskia. * *
The journal of La Harpe, giving full particulars of the occurrences in Illinois and Oniatenon countries from 1698 to 1722, makes no mention of any post at. Vincennes."
General Harmar, who visited the post in 1787, in a let- ter to the Secretary of War, says: "I have been informed by the inhabitants that Vincennes had established a post sixty years before. That would place it at 1727. %
* The Miss. Basin, p. 148.
+W. H. Smith's Hist. Ind., p. 18.
21
OLD VINCENNES.
In the summer of 1726 the directors learned that their post was not yet established. * * Efforts had been made frequently by this trading company to have a post established at this point and had held out pecuniary induce- ment to that end, but had so far failed .*
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